Prof Tony Wall ᴄᴍʙᴇ

We're going on tour! if you'd like to join our SME masterclass this year, see below 👇

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Worth Reading: This article examines the role of university leadership in supporting funding applications, identifies funding opportunities emerging from relationships and networks, and discusses the services provided by research support offices. https://lnkd.in/e7jEVuHv

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9th International Action learning Conference - 7-9th April 2025 is to be held in Manchester. The theme for the 2025 International Action Learning Conference is Creating the conditions for developing people and organisations with a focus on two areas in particular: Collective capability – action learning has a tradition of people interacting and working together to achieve ‘something’. Collective capability describes those ‘somethings’ as being delivered through a process of collective agency. Papers are welcomed on action learning and how it supports that focus of collective capability/agency/leadership. Action learning as an agent in leadership development – action learning is used throughout many industries as an agent for development of leaders. Please share papers on how action learning supports or is the key component of leadership development within programmes or as one-off activities. Proposals for papers, workshops or other suggested contributions are invited for submission: Refereed papers – abstracts of 300 words Accounts of practice or workshops – outline of 150 words Please email submission to: [email protected] by 25 October 2024. Please use this email address for any queries about the conference.

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🤔 How can we ensure that communications about organisational transformations are of a high quality and effective? 🔊 The week has got off to a great start here at Durham University Business School with the second our business insights sessions for the #UG Managing Organisational Change module. We were delighted to welcome Jane Austin, HRD @Wave Utilities who gave a very engaging session on leading change in a startup company. One of the key points we focused on was the importance of communication and Jane shared some of her approaches for communicating about change (see presentation below). The quality of communications can have a significant impact on the outcomes of a business transformation. Empirical research has consistently demonstrated that effectively managed communication during transformational change is related to a range of positive employee outcomes. For example, studies (such as Parker, Jimmieson and Johnson, 2013) show a direct link between high-quality communication about change and reduced anxiety and uncertainty as well as enhanced self-efficacy to cope with impending changes. 📣 One way to ensure high quality communications is to deliver the message with the appropriate tone and style using: ➡️  Compassion: Show the audience that you care about their perspectives. Inform employees as soon as possible about the transformation: Why, When and How the process will evolve and within what expected time span. Emphasise ‘what is in it for the organization and for individuals and teams and ensure clarity on the ‘why’ – the rationale for the change. Remember to repeat and update this message regularly. ➡️ Clarity: Communicate clearly and repeat key messages. ➡️   Conciseness: Ensure that the message is short enough to internalize because long, complicated sentences can be hard to understand and demand more concentration. Keep communications short, clear and concise. ➡️ Connection: Connect emotionally with the audience and provide opportunities for employees to give feedback by: ensuring appropriate channels for employee voice  and that different groups feel able to access them; actively seeking people’s ideas; and taking action on feedback. ➡️  Candor. Admit what you don’t know, for instance, if an employee asks you whether there will be redundancies, and you are not sure whether they will happen or not. Your response might be: “I wish I could tell you exactly what is going to happen. We will give you updates as soon as we know them.” (source: Hodges, 2024). What else have you learnt that is important for ensuring high quality communications? Would love to hear your views. Lisa Davis Neil Graney Ushma Bhatt Ann-Marie Blake Emma Earl Jessica Crow Kimberly Shaw Nick Kemp Hayden Swerling Nicole Gahagan, Ed.D. Camilla Hemström Nisha Joshi - Leadership Coach and Delivery Consultant Jennifer Hoe Lisa Cardow Algy Ayson, MBA, PGDip, CMgr FCMI, MAPM #communications #businesstransformations #peoplecentricchange

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Only 3 days to go before applications close for this post.

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In addition to the ones mentioned below, you might want to try our short #course #climatesolutions #climateaction, #free if completed within three weeks: https://lnkd.in/eKgwY6mU

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Government signals move away from the sole academic focus in England's schools. Our Nuffield Foundation report recommended a national programme to measure pupils’ wellbeing to create greater focus on wellbeing that is strongly linked to children’s evolving skills. Worryingly for the UK, it registered the fourth lowest levels of life satisfaction among 15-year-olds of all 74 countries surveyed by the OECD. A happy child is a learning child. https://lnkd.in/eirnXS2G

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Practitioner Enquiry Tip of the Week: fitting evidence collection into teaching and learning. Dolly's rule is that enquiry should fit into the 9-5. If this is going to happen then pedagogic evidence needs to be seen and valued as research evidence /1 🧵 #PractitionerEnquiryTotW A major pragmatic step in enquiry therefore can be finding creative and useful ways of double counting evidence - it is useful for your enquiry, but more importantly it is also useful for student learning. This is the second category that I introduced in last weeks' TotW /2 Assessment techniques are a gold mine in this territory, whether summative or formative, formal or informal, self, peer or teacher assessment, these techniques can all be really helpful in supporting this quest for a pragmatic pedagogical/ methodological cross over /3 For example, you are interested in how students engage in a specific learning activity, so getting them to regularly self assess or peer assess against a set of clear objectives is useful for you (and your enquiry), but also it should be useful for them to learn that skill /4 Alternatively, you're interested in progression in writing, you could ask children to pick their best piece of work and annotate it with why before and after a scheme of work, providing useful enquiry evidence, but will also insight for you and CYP into their progression /5 Finding useful ways to summarise learning is also helpful. E.G. you're interested in impact of a school trip. Ask children to mind map all they know about a related theme before they go, and then add to it after they return in a different colour. It will show the progression /6 Another option is to make research part of learning and teaching - P1 children become learning detectives: recording (digitally or emergent writing) when they see learning happen. This reinforces language of learning and gives you insight into what they think learning is /7 Or, commission a group of students to collect data, to interview each other about a learning activity. They learn about the process of interviewing, gain speaking and listening skills, and learn about intent of activity (for them & others). The possibilities really are endless/8 You are all far more expert than me in regard the evidence that works well in your classroom. Use that. Good pedagogic evidence is not that far removed from good research evidence, and if practitioner enquiry is to be doable then the two must overlap and complement each other /9

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*** INTERNATIONALLY EXCELLENT *** The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is a process of expert review to assess the quality, impact, significance and volume of research in UK higher education institutions. We are proud to announce that the network team's latest publication: How is theory used to understand and inform practice in the alternative provision sector in England: trends, gaps and implications for practice, was rated 3* or of a quality that is INTERNATIONALLY EXCELLENT. #alternativeprovision #schoolexclusion #SEND

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Interesting in this buzzing event? Book here 💥

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Our analysis of how well secondary school pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds perform in major multi-academy trusts (MATs) across all regions suggests there is much room for improvement when it comes to delivering equitable outcomes for all our children. At one trust based in London, for example, 60 per cent of disadvantaged pupils achieved both English and maths GCSE at grade 5 or above in 2022/23. This compares to 34 per cent at the highest-performing trust in the south west and 5 per cent for another trust in the peninsula. Our article in Schools Week: https://lnkd.in/eHqzX9gk

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Access and Participation Planning is evolving again... I do however, quite like the concept of promoting collaboration between tertiary education, the wider community and commerce sectors and regionalising the conversation and agreements on future APPs. However, I do worry slightly for the smaller providers and how their voice will be heard in the midst of the big players out there - I think this is going to take some robust mechanisms and excellent chairing to make it fair and equitable.

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Need to understand Carbon Management (and more) in your business? Expert support available in East Midlands workshops ↘️

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💡 10 KEY QUESTION for curriculum design, redesign or review in further and higher education. Whether you are undertaking a full institutional review, a programme review at department or programme level, setting up HE programmes for the first time, or preparing for an external validation, inspection or audit... ...Here are 10 KEY QUESTIONS to consider: 1. Standards: Does the programme comply with subject benchmark statements, FHEQ and professional or industry bodies? 2. Learning Outcomes: Are the learning outcomes clearly defined, measurable, and constructively aligned with teaching strategies and assessment methods? 3. Structure and Sequencing: How does the design break learning down into logical, well-sequenced opportunities? 4. Inclusive: How does the programme meet the needs of students with diverse needs and disabilities, and from different backgrounds and scaffold the learner journey from starting points to independence? 5. Research-Informed: In what ways is the curriculum informed by current research and professional practice? 6. Engagement: To what extent are planned teaching methods designed to actively engage students in the learning process? 7. Assessment for Learning: To what extent are the planned assessments aligned with the learning outcomes, varied, well-spaced and with opportunities for constructive formative feedback? 8. Knowledge and Skills Development: How does the programme balance knowledge and skills development? 9. Sustainability and Social Responsibility: To what extent does the programme incorporate principles of sustainability and social responsibility, encouraging students to address global challenges? 10. Wellbeing: How does the design support workload and wellbeing for staff and students? If you are engaged in curriculum review and looking for external support or just a sounding board, I can help with: ⭐ Advising on the design and development of new programmes (foundation degrees, UG, PG, apprenticeships) ⭐ Reviewing current programmes to map to institutional curriculum design principles, best practice in learning and teaching , external requirements ⭐ Running training to support staff in new programme development (FE/HE) ⭐ Evaluating assessment practices using the TESTA tool (Transforming the experience of students through assessment) ☎️ Connect with me, send me a message or visit my website to find out more! #furthereducation #university #highereducation #feleaders #heleaders #workbasedlearning #apprenticeships

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Great to see UK Research and Innovation putting a call out for their Talent colleges. Supporting the next generation of talented researchers is so important - especially recognising excellence wherever it is found. It is also encouraging to see the emphasis on equality, diversity, and inclusion and the strong encouragement for applications from underrepresented groups, and for researchers at all career stages (for the Peer Review College). It is absolutely critical that all decision-making bodies in research have appropriate diversity and representation to support all talent researchers to fulfil their potential. This will make a significant contribution to creating a positive and developmental research culture. Academic and professional services research leaders play a key role in supporting staff in underrepresented groups, and/or who are earlier in their careers, to apply. Especially if this is something they may not have considered, or believe they are qualified for. #Research #EDI #ResearchCulture

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Great to contribute to this book for science teachers - I write about evidence myths as well as evidence best bets for teachers. The widespread belief that pupils can be classified as visual, auditory or kinaesthetic learners for example is persistent, despite several reviews debunking ‘learning styles’. The idea is that as individuals we all have a particular approach or preferred ‘style of learning’. Yet the evidence is clear: there are no benefits from the approach. https://lnkd.in/e2MqqHsB

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This is an interesting blog from the Staff and Educational Development Association blog https://lnkd.in/eF3jZvTz How much does our academic CPD offer address these issues? How does the whole academic community learn from and value the different perspectives of its members?

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Research Leadership Development Programme supports the development of research leaders at all levels in an institution to improve on existing research culture and research outcomes. https://lnkd.in/euvA7ZcA #HigherEd #Research #Leadership

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