UWE Bristol’s Department for Initial Teacher Education is a member of both NASBTT and UCET. The University offers a range of early childhood, primary and secondary education and teaching programmes, at undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral level, as well as professional development courses for those in work.
Dr Karan Vickers-Hulse, who is one of two Associate Heads of Department following her appointment in January 2021, is the main UWE Bristol connection with NASBTT. “We work with SCITT and School Direct providers so it is important to understand the challenges faced by partners,” she said. “NASBTT insight, resources and training are always geared towards school-based ITT and therefore complement what I receive elsewhere. The NASBTT weekly newsletter is really valuable – I always look through it and share pertinent bits of information with my colleagues – and have accessed a range of events and toolkits as well.”
With UWE Bristol expecting an Ofsted inspection, Karan said that NASBTT’s recently-updated ITT Criteria Compliance Audit was particularly valuable. “Generally I share NASBTT materials at least once a week, but the pro formas are brilliant and this one has highlighted some gaps in terms of being ready for Ofsted,” she revealed. “Having attended the related Ofsted webinar I circulated the slides to colleagues which saved me time in pulling together a similar overview. At UWE Bristol we have a big focus on foundation subjects, and we collated and shared with our phase leaders the discussion in the Ofsted webinar and related tips in the chat about creating the necessary time in our programmes for these. Colleagues then came together and developed a plan to meet the foundation requirements. It was a real team effort, drawing on good practice that others are doing courtesy of NASBTT, to provide a solution to our need.”
Karan explained that the NASBTT video resource bank was also having a huge impact on colleagues and students. “This is shared in our department portal, and is really helpful,” she said. “It is so difficult to get high-quality video footage that is not from Teachers TV in the 90s but I love the format that NASBTT has developed and ultimately this, and the toolkits they produce, support curriculum design. NASBTT membership is excellent value for money and if anyone here said we were considering not renewing our membership I would fight them hard.”
An active researcher, Karan presented an introduction to her research into non-binary trainees at the recent NASBTT Annual Conference 2021.
Case study developed: November 2021