Posted: 06/09/2021
Doncaster College are proud to have been awarded the Further Education Tutorial Network Quality Standard Accreditation for supporting individual progress and development. This is the first award of its kind nationally for Tutorial provision and has been developed by the sector, for the sector.
This award has allowed Doncaster College the opportunity to look at how they deliver one-to-one pastoral care and tutorial support, and build on the solid foundation of excellent practice they already had, in order to consider how their approach could be improved. They worked with a consultant from FETN who helped them focus on every aspect of the student journey and inspired new approaches.
Dr Sally Wootton, Founding Director of FETN noted, “We are delighted to present this award to Doncaster College. It has been extremely rewarding to see the impact the QSA process has had and the quality of their individual tutoring provision.
The rationale for developing this award is to support the sector to improve Tutorial provision, and FETN leads the sector nationally to improve all aspects of Tutorial provision. This award specifically focusses on individual Tutorial and student support.
The Quality Standard Accreditation encourages reflection against detailed criteria to review all aspects of Tutorial practice, co-ordination and management. The process is supported by a FETN Consultant to provide expert advice and guidance. This work produces action plans which drive meaningful change and improvement.”
This work has been a key priority for the organisation and Natalie Marshall, Lead Practitioner, noted “Working towards this accreditation has been a real journey as we looked at every element of how we support our students. The support from the FETN Consultant has been invaluable in providing us with access to expertise and knowledge, and has been a real ‘critical friend’ to allow us to shape the provision for the future.”
Gavin Hinchliffe, PDBA Manager, collaborated on this project and noted “One to one provision enables us to support our students in a safe and secure manner whilst developing their interpersonal skills. It is essential that, with the many issues and concerns students may have, the QSA has allowed us to conduct a purposeful audit of how we build on our existing practice in our journey towards outstanding.”
Doncaster College are the first organisation to complete this process and will share their journey at the FETN national conference on 19th November 2021.
You can find out more about the FETN Quality Standard Accreditation here: http://fetn.org.uk/news-articles/quality-standard-accreditation-for-tutorial-provision/ . You can also email info@fetn.org.uk or call 07800585595.
For an informal discussion about the process of gaining the accreditation please contact Natalie Marshall on Natalie.marshall@don.ac.uk