About The Education and Training Consortium

History

The Education and Training Consortium traces its origins to innovative arrangements adopted in 1966 by the Huddersfield College of Teacher Training (Technical). It then began to deliver training to in-service FE staff off-site and in a number of centres distant from its base at Holly Bank, Huddersfield.

Initially this provision was delivered by tutors from Huddersfield in different geographical locations at designated FE colleges. Progressively over the intervening decades the colleges became increasingly involved in the support and delivery of the courses until that responsibility was effectively transferred to the host colleges. The Teacher Training College at Huddersfield became part of the Polytechnic there and then the University and these bodies continued to support delivery of the qualifications through an extensive network of colleges.

The University remains responsible for the quality assurance of these awards but, under the final agreement reached in 2002 that establishes The Consortium, it is just one of many partners in a unique collaborative partnership between FE and HE.

Mission

 

Inspiring today's professionals to meet tomorrow challenges

Consortium Aim:

To continue to be nationally recognised as a leading provider of high quality teacher/trainer education for the lifelong learning sector.

Vision and values:

We are a democratic and collaborative parnership committed to:

• Openness and transparency
• Accessibility and flexibility
• Equality and diversity
• Innovation and responsiveness to change
• Professional development through practice, reflection and study
• High standards and good practice in learning and teaching
• Continuing improvement through evaluation and research

 

Equality & Diversity

Policies and Procedures in Consortium for Post-Compulsory Education and Training (CPCET) / the Consortium

Practice within The Consortium delivers professional development to over 2,000 teachers and trainers in the PCET sector each year. Its Steering Committee therefore sees it as having a substantial contribution to make towards achieving equality and reflecting diversity in the sector. In terms of basic procedures to support good practice in this area, the Consortium adopts the policies and procedures of the University of Huddersfield.

The Consortium also pursues its responsibilities in this area through an attempt to model good practice in the conduct of its own affairs. In addition to applying University processes to its own conduct, the Consortium seeks to promote practice that will enhance equality and diversity among partners in all their Consortium-related activities.

 

Two elements of this process are:

The Consortium monitors its own processes in order to identify ways of improving its equality and diversity practice. In January 2005 the Consortium undertook an analysis on the students and staff involved with its pathways. The report by Penny Noel "Enhancing Equality within the Consortium" is available for Consortium tutors to examine. In addition to this numerous resources are produced by Huddersfield University Distributed Centre for Excellence in Teacher Training (HUDCETT)

Consortium students and staff, as well as other interested parties, are asked to draw our attention to any areas of practice where they see scope for improvement.