Beacon Awards 2018-19PROSPECTUS

About the awards

Changes for 2018/19

Why apply

Overview of application process

Awards General criteria

The assessment process

Award winners

Awards categories

Award Sponsors

Changes for 2018/19

For the first time, The AoC Beacon Awards and the Tes FE Awards will be presented alongside each other at the annual TES FE Awards ceremony in London in February 2019.

We are delighted that Tes will be the AoC beacon Awards media partner to help us share and celebrate the commended and winning case studies.

The application and assessment of the AoC Beacon Awards and Tes FE Awards will remain independent; however, we will jointly announce our respective finalists at the AoC Annual Conference and Exhibition gala dinner in Birmingham on 20 November.

About the awards

The Association of Colleges (AoC) Beacon Awards celebrate the best and most innovative practice among UK further education (FE) colleges. It is managed by the Association of Colleges and run through the AoC Charitable Trust - a registered charity.

Now in its 24th year, the awards showcase best practice and innovation in colleges. It is designed to promote the interdependence of colleges, businesses and professional and voluntary organisations. The awards also highlight excellence and helps share best practice across the sector.

Why apply

The awards offer colleges the opportunity to showcase the inspiring and innovative ways they support students, staff and communities. It represents the very best approaches that colleges are adopting to meet the skills needs of local employers and the career aspirations of their students.

Benefits of applying:

y Colleges can reflect on the successful approaches they have developed to teaching and learning, as well as review the positive impact that they have on their students

y Commended colleges that have reached the Beacon Standard will have their individual case studies profiled on the AoC website and good practice pages and will also feature in the AoC Annual Conference Beacon Awards supplement in association with Tes

y Winning colleges will be able to host a one-day workshop in Spring 2019 to showcase and share their outstanding practice

y Winning colleges will receive a grant to help towards costs associated with hosting the workshop and to assist in taking forward the development of their initiative.

Award winners can use the AoC Beacon Awards logo on their college headed paper, websites and other promotional materials.

Overview of application process

The new application and assessment process will provide colleges with more time but will still retain key dates that applicants will need to ensure they meet. Please see Guidance for Applicants on applying for an award which sets out the deadlines for each stage of the 2018/19 Beacon Awards Programme.

Applications for 2018 Awards can only be accepted through the online application process and submitted electronically.

STAGEONE

Application (via online form on AoC website)

Assessment moderation of applications

submitted. Applicants that meet criteria will be invited to apply for

Stage 2

STAGETWO

Full application

Finalists will be announced at the

Association of Colleges’ conference

STAGETHREE

Assesser visits to finalists

Winners announced at the awards ceremony in

22 February 2019

Awards General criteria

Applicants are advised to read the AoC Beacon Awards Guide for Applicants 2018 and the Chief Assessors report 2017 to ensure they are well-prepared to apply.

Your entry should show evidence of innovation and sustainable teaching, and learning practice or other relevant provision that has a demonstrable impact. The initiative can be a programme, course, project or other form of teaching, involving learning, advice, guidance or support.

The entry, which should be made by a senior member of staff who has close contact with the initiative, must:

1. Meet the specific requirements set out in the award category to which the submission relates

2. Promote equality and diversity

3. Be subject to evaluation/quality assurance to influence the continuing development of the initiative

4. Have been running for at least one academic year by 31 May 2018

5. Have features that actively promote exemplary teaching and learning

6. Benefit one or more groups of students/trainees identified and described in the entry

7. Have wider relevance and value to other colleges as an example of good practice

Please note that new initiatives, which have not completed a full cycle of implementation, meaning that evidence of outcomes are unavailable, will not be eligible for consideration.

All entrants must be colleges incorporated under the Further and Higher Education Act 1992.

The assessment processAssessment of the applications for the AoC Beacon Awards is carried out by specialist independent assessors, led by the Chief Assessor, Deputy Chief Assessor and overseen by the Trust.

All AoC Beacon Awards, highly-commended and winners are awarded or withheld at the sole and absolute discretion of the AoC Charitable Trust and those acting on its behalf. No explanation will be provided on these decisions.

Award winnersThere are certain requirements that a college will need to follow and these are explained in the Guidance for Applicants. It applies to each college and AoC Beacon Award. Those applying should confirm with their college Principals/CEO that the college will honour these requirements before they apply and proceed on this basis. Please note the changes for 2018/19 below:

• Organise and host a local best practice workshop, ideally at their college to share, promote and celebrate the award. This event will also host the local Beacon Award presentation ceremony

• A contribution towards the costs of hosting the event will be available through the AoC Charitable Trust and Beacon Awards sponsors

• This will be free to AoC Member colleges and staff to attend although places can be limited dependent on venue and host college

• The best practice workshop will need to be held between March and June 2019 which will include the local presentation ceremony. This will be set up in consultation with AoC and the award sponsor. (please see Guide for Applicants for more information)

• The AoC Charitable Trust will require the college to provide a date within two weeks of winner announcement

• Be available to present a breakout session at AoC’s Annual Conference to highlight their initiative in 2019

Award winners are permitted to use the AoC Beacon Awards logo on their college-headed paper, websites and other promotional materials.

Awards categoriesThere are eight categories for this year’s awards.

This award supported by the British Council recognises, celebrates and promotes excellence in international collaboration. International work comes in many forms, and international experiences are a key mechanism in staff and organisational development and ultimately in improving outcomes for learners.

Entries are invited from colleges that have improved organisational or staff capacity and/or learner outcomes through international projects. We are particularly interested in those projects which have contributed to quality improvements at an organisational, staff or learner level and those that offered an international experience to learners, either through mobility or collaborative work in the UK, who may not otherwise have had one.

This award supported by the Careers and Enterprise Company seeks to celebrate an outstanding examples of ‘Careers Education and Guidance’. In a world where enterprise, education and work opportunities are constantly changing, students need easy access to high quality support and information. Learning how to make informed decisions is increasingly critical to a successful life.

The award is not explicitly targeted at any single group but is likely to celebrate highly effective engagement with schools, employers and other agencies, to provide learners with excellent impartial careers education, advice and guidance. Assessors will be particularly interested to see applications where colleges have supported learners of any age, to research, develop and establish their own enterprises.

British Council international award The Careers and Enterprise Company careers education and guidance award

Edge wants to recognise, celebrate and promote examples of excellent practical teaching and learning. We believe that practical technical and professional learning is vital to young people and to the UK as part of a 21st century global economy.

We invite entries for this award from colleges which have developed practical teaching and learning approaches that enable students to have experiences that are:

Real: with opportunities for students to tackle real life problems by learning from and working with employers and social enterprises, using the tools, skills and equipment that the sector uses

Meaningful: the students themselves can explain why they are working on a particular task and the benefits to themselves and others of completing the task well

Challenging: students have opportunities to work alongside experts in their field and are challenged to perform at new levels of skill

Stretching: the students themselves can describe their new skills and insights, and demonstrate the distance they have travelled in their education

Life-changing: the college can demonstrate that new opportunities are now open to students and how their experience at college has made a substantive difference to their future life chances.

This award is focused on curriculum development, perhaps innovative practice that might be new to the college or to the sector. It could involve new kinds of opportunities and courses, or new ways of learning. Applications which show how colleges can successfully reach new learners in the workplace, through distance or open learning, or in partnership with schools, universities or employers, are welcome. Of importance will be the sustainability of such innovation, and recognition by peers in the sector that this way of developing the curriculum is new, dynamic and effective.

Edge award for excellence in the practical delivery of technical and professional learning

This award celebrates the important work colleges are doing to support the mental health and wellbeing of their learners and staff. The rise in ill health amongst learners and the greater public is of great concern and is attracting heightened attention nationally. Project proposals might include innovative ways of supporting learners at risk of leaving courses, effective and comprehensive staff wellbeing programmes, dynamic approaches to the education of staff and learners about mental health and wellbeing.

Entries are welcome from colleges that show how they have successfully supported people in their local communities, existing learners or teaching and support staff will be welcome. Of importance will be the sustainability of such innovation and some recognition by those outside the college that this work has longer term benefit and is sustained over time.

This award seeks to celebrate an outstanding example of a college’s ability to reach out and widen participation. The winner will have well established and exceptional strategies to target underrepresented groups and/or provide transformational educational opportunities targeted at ‘non-traditional’ FE college students.

Assessors will look for effective and imaginative approaches undertaken to attract and motivate learners. Outcomes will be measured in the successful acquisition of skills, knowledge or qualifications and clear progression routes to further learning or employment. It is likely that the target group will be adults and local, but they could also be located regionally or nationally.

Skills and Education Group award for social mobility and widening participation AoC mental health and wellbeing award

This award sponsored by City and Guilds recognises exemplary practice in the delivery of provision: responsive to the needs of employers. The winner will need to demonstrate an outstanding ability to work with and provide a direct service to employers.

Entries will show that a college is highly effective in meeting employers’ skills needs and/or apprenticeship requirements. In addition, it is likely that there will be excellent examples of the college engaging with employers - to support the development of employability skills within the curriculum. Applications should demonstrate a clear, long-term vision of partnership and working with employers. The provision offered should enable the development of a skilled workforce and contribute to local and regional economic development. The successful project is also likely to be very responsive to identified skills priorities and levels of unemployment.

This award supported by Jisc seeks to celebrate an outstanding example of the use of technology carefully designed to improve the student experience - in a digital age. Underpinning the project is likely to be enhancements to teaching, learning and assessment and/or the creation of business efficiencies. In every case, changes made will be valued by learners and easily evidenced. The innovative use of technology might be applied across specific provision or support a college wide approach.

The project will be above and beyond what is the ‘norm’ and applications are not restricted to a specific type of courses, for example, ‘Information Technology’. Outstanding use of technology might be targeted at specific age groups or more generally those who study for all their time at a main campus or remotely.

Award for effective use of technology in further education

City and Guilds award for college engagement with employers

This award is supported by RCU and AoC seeks to celebrate outstanding examples of student support provided by a College for a significant group of learners, across a whole provision or college wide approach. This award might cover both student and learning support. The provision will be above and beyond what is the ‘norm’ and applications are not restricted to a specific type of course or programme. For example, applications would be welcome from colleges describing their bespoke provision for students with autistic spectrum disorders, or an outstanding example of information, advice and guidance, or excellent student or learning support for adults returning to learn.

Support for students award

Award Sponsors

The support of sponsors is crucial to the success of the Beacon Awards and we are delighted that sponsors have once again demonstrated their commitment and support to the 2018/19 awards programme and the FE College sector.

Our sponsors also provide valuable advice on award categories, the application and assessment process and assist with promoting the college sector and sharing best practice; and for some sponsors specific involvement in the individual award title and its criteria.

We are delighted to confirm our sponsors who have generously agreed to support the 2018/19 Beacon Awards programme.

Read more about the sponsors in the following pages.

British CouncilThe British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We create friendly knowledge and understanding between the people of the UK and other countries. We do this by making a positive contribution to the UK and the countries we work with – changing lives by creating opportunities, building connections and engendering trust.

Our work in Skills Development

y Supports economic development and the stability of developing, post-conflict and fragile states

y Improves the prospects of young people to pursue employment opportunities

y Creates opportunities for individuals to broaden their horizons and be equipped with the skills needed in today’s global and multicultural world of work.

We do this by encouraging closer links between education, employers and policy makers in the UK and the countries we work in. We bring international agencies, governments and skills organisations together to share challenges and solutions for their education and training systems. We continually develop our work through piloting different approaches to raise the profile and quality of skills development globally.

The Careers & Enterprise CompanyThe Careers & Enterprise Company exists to prepare and inspire young people for the fast-changing world of work by creating career opportunities and connections to potential employers.

We have built a national network to connect schools and colleges, employers and career programme providers. We are working on the ground with these schools and colleges to help create high-impact careers opportunities for young people.

Created as a social enterprise in 2015, our team blends expertise from education, business, the private sector, third sector, academia and government to help young people to build a rewarding career.

We are committed to collaborating with others and our network is growing rapidly. We are already working with half the schools and colleges in England and, through our investment funds, are on course to provide 500,000 young people with opportunities to interact with employers.

The government’s new Careers Strategy, launched in December 2017, puts us at the heart of driving forward careers provision for young people, giving us a core role in the implementation of the strategy.

The Skills and Education Group

The Skills and Education Group is a membership body for further education and skills providers and has been supporting the sector for over 100 years. We do this through providing professional development services for the FE & Skills workforce through our emfec brand. Our Group offer high-quality services and support to the education and skills sector locally, nationally and internationally through our partnerships, which is achieved through our vision and mission which is “supporting the development and delivery of further education and skills providers, to enable them to enhance the lives of young people and adults”. At our heart, we are about supporting the social mobility of people, which is why supporting the AoC Beacon Awards is important to us as a group.

Edge Foundation

Edge Foundation is the independent education charity dedicated to shaping the future of education to meet the demands of the 21st century global economy and ensure opportunity for all.

Technical and creative skills are critical to our modern digital economy. Edge believes that high quality technical and professional learning should be a key part of a coherent, unified and holistic education system to support social mobility and enable all young people to fulfil their potential.

Our plan for education

y Create a broad, balanced and relevant 14-19 curriculum y Make school work relevant to the workplace; get employers involved

y Give teachers more support and freedom; encourage collaboration between institutions to share best practice and resource

y More high-quality apprenticeships for young people to help them earn and learn

y Ensuring a flexible, dynamic and value for money higher education system that helps prepare young people for the real world.

JISC

JISC provides digital solutions for UK education and research. Our vision is for the UK to be the most digitally-advanced higher education, further education and research nation in the world. We provide UK universities and colleges with shared digital infrastructure and services, such as the superfast Janet Network. We help the sector save time and money by negotiating sector-wide deals with IT vendors and commercial publishers. We offer expert and trusted advice on digital technology for education and research, built from over 30 years’ experience.

We know that digital technology can transform the student experience. We have the experience, expertise and know-how to drive that transformation.

City and Guilds

We provide market intelligence and market research for the further education sector.

Our mission is to develop and deliver practical and relevant research solutions for clients through innovation, professionalism and market expertise. We strive to be seen by the sector as the market leader in innovative data analysis and pragmatic and effective research.

y Our products and services should help our clients to improve what they do through increasing efficiency, effectiveness or reputation

y Our recommendations will be relevant and based on a sound understanding of our clients

y Our research methodologies will be flexible enough to adapt to the needs of each client.

y We will constantly refresh our approaches and scan the outside world for better ways to deliver value to our clients. Professionalism will guide every stage in our processes and we will benchmark ourselves against best practice in our industry.

RCU

We provide market intelligence and market research for the Further Education Sector.

Our mission is to develop and deliver practical and relevant research solutions for clients through innovation, professionalism and market expertise. We strive to be seen by the sector as the market leader in innovative data analysis and pragmatic and effective research.

y Our products and services should help our clients to improve what they do through increasing efficiency, effectiveness or reputation

y Our recommendations will be relevant and based on a sound understanding of our clients.

y Our research methodologies will be flexible enough to adapt to the needs of each client.

y We will constantly refresh our approaches and scan the outside world for better ways to deliver value to our clients. Professionalism will guide every stage in our processes and we will benchmark ourselves against best practice in our industry.

Welsh Government

Welsh Government is pleased to continue its support for the AoC Beacon Awards in recognition of the achievements of the Further Education sector. The Awards signify an opportunity to highlight best practice and celebrate the sector’s outstanding work for the benefit of learners, employers and local communities.

© AoC Charitable Trust 20182-5 Stedham Place, London WC1A 1HU

020 7034 9900 | awards@aoc.co.uk

@AoC_info | #AoCBeacon

www.aoc.co.uk/beacon

AoC Beacon Awards were set up by The Partnership Trust in 1994.

Since August 1996 they have been administered by the Association of Colleges.

AoC Beacon Awards are run through AoC Charitable Trust which is a Registered Charity in England and Wales (charity number 1040631) and in Scotland (charity number SC039064).