Walsall College – real world learning
How Walsall College brings real-world educational experiences to its learners
Arriving at Walsall College, I am enthused by the level of diversity learners and staff bring to the College’s identity, making it a rich community that serves Walsall. The enthusiasm continues during my meeting with Jat Sharma, Principal and Chief Executive, James Norris, Assistant Principal – Commercial Development, David Turner, Assistant Principal – Quality & Student Experience, Richard Brennan, Assistant Principal – Curriculum, Natalie Priest, Head of HR, Sarah Cattell, Workforce Development & Innovation Manager and the ETF’s Area Relationship Development Lead, Louise Jones.
Walsall has clearly made use of its Corporate Membership with SET in an extraordinary way. The College supports its staff with a multiprong workforce development commitment delivered through embedding the ETF’s professional standards, co-designing and delivering CPD with the ETF on sustainability, making an impact on T Level development and supporting career progression through advanced teacher status. As Jat and his team take me through their engagement with the ETF and SET to date, I could not but commend how they have tapped into every resource available making it relevant to their organisation and aligning it to their context. The commitment of the Walsall team to transforming practice and outcomes for learners, as featured in our Together we transform initiative, is clearly evident across all their work.
Our conversation on professionalism exceeds my expectations. Not only does Jat feel professionalism is the core of workforce development, he goes even further to suggest we should ensure it is translated into all processes within a college. We hence embark on a great discussion around how professional standards can become a lever for an effective appraisal, a topic for group staff coaching, a corporate objective, an element of career progression pathways embedded in human resources. I am equally interested in hearing about the importance of networks within and beyond the College, both regionally and nationally, in the form of communities of learning. Could advanced practitioners support each other towards achieving professional status through a network? Could those providers who excel in a particular area of continuing professional development work together as part of a network to enhance their learning? Could we move to more thematic and regional ways of working together?
As we walk around the College, that vibrant narrative of professionalism comes to life. I enter the hairdressers’ salon, which looks, feels and even smells like a real salon. I would never imagine I was in an educational setting. Likewise, the restaurant, health ward and sports centre all feel very close to the real world, offering learners a true experience of their chosen career. Could this feeling be down to good professional development? I ask Jat. He responds with a firm yes. The more we invest and develop our staff, the better they deliver for our learners.