Exeter College – energy and inspiration
How Exeter College demonstrates its values of ambition, collaboration and energy
In this first in the series, Katerina visits Exeter College, – the first tertiary college to be established in England in 1970. Covering East and South Devon, it serves a student population of between 10,000 and 12,000 a year, offering learners a variety of ways into industry or further study. The College offers A Levels, BTECs, Apprenticeships, Higher Technical Education, a range of adult learning courses and T Levels.
As I walk out of the station at Exeter St David’s on a very sunny day in June, I come across signs to Exeter College and then less than 10 mins later I arrive at the amazing reception building where the digital provision is hosted. E-bikes at the front, an Apple bootcamp and the hub of digital T Levels – who could ask for anything better from a college that lives and serves at the heart of a vibrant community?
I have lunch with Principal John Laramy and Assistant Principal Sam Hillman. We are served excellent food (and the best basil ice cream and strawberries dessert ever) by very professionally trained college students while we discuss T Levels and what makes the college excellent. There are so many ingredients to get a college right and Exeter seems to have all of them: great academic achievement, inspirational leadership, breadth and depth of curricula, impressive facilities and lots of positive energy. I am truly impressed to hear John describing ‘energy’ as one of the college’s values.
The T Levels programme has offered lots of opportunities for better connecting with staff and generating new ideas while it has created an impetus to develop and progress content and teaching and learning methods. This has not been without its challenges, particularly around assessment, but the college has welcome the support offered by ETF and there are now ever more opportunities to connect colleges better in creating and sustaining networks for teaching and learning.
Next stop is the tour of the college with Vice Principal Jade Otty, Director of Teaching and Learning Development Dee Rowett and my colleague Kerry-Ann Pilato, Area Relationship and Development Lead, Southwest.
Both Kerry-Ann and I are pleased to be here on the day of the GCSE maths exams, and we see learners in action. We go around the media centre including a BBC radio, fashion, arts and performing arts section, the special education needs provision, and the health, biology, childcare and digital unit. It is impressive to see the consistency in the quality of provision. Despite the numerous buildings scattered around the city centre (I am told there are over a dozen), there is a consistent culture across learners and staff.
We discuss and reflect on the needs of workforce development and how the ETF can best progress its charitable purpose to offer learners the best experience by enhancing professionalism. There is a clear appetite for stronger communities of practice for teaching and learning, a push for raising the profile of advanced teachers and the need to ‘lift up FE’ as a great career. And an appreciation that high quality workforce development leads to better staff retention outcomes while clear standards and career progression pathways keep people in the job for longer.
We finish with a cup of coffee at John’s office discussing the joy of teaching in colleges. John is clearly a source of energy and inspiration and I very much look forward to continuing our conversations with him as part of our steering group for our range of leadership development programmes.
