September 2002

Meeting with Edexcel

Peter Pendle, Ann Wardle (ACM council member) and Nadine Cartner recently met with John Kerr (Chief Executive) and Paul Sokoloff (Director, Qualifications). The wide ranging discussion was fruitful and laid the foundation for closer collaboration in the future. One message from ACM members was to confirm that the quality of Edexcel’s service has improved significantly over the last twelve months. One of the issues that members have asked us to raise concerns the change in external verifier arrangements from a subject specific function to a more general QA function. The reason for this explained Edexcel is to ensure a model that is reasonably economic for both parties, although colleges are still able to buy into the subject specific support if they wish to.

ACM and Edexcel were largely in agreement about the changes both organisations would like to see to the qualifications system and hope to work more closely on these issues in the future. Specifically we agree that:

• vocational qualifications should not be academic qualifications in disguise. In particular we need to contest the idea that if the
• learner does not face an examination the qualification is not credible;
• an inclusive curriculum frame-work should have pathways but no walls;
• we need a 14+ curriculum framework with a core curri-culum;
• we need to press for greater credibility for teacher assess-ment; in this context the examining body function becomes that of
• quality assurance.
  
  We were interested to know if foundation degrees had any negative impact on HNDs/HNCs, and this turns out not to be the case. There are small pockets of foundation degrees, but the provision of Highers remains constant. Given the shared interest and agreement on the issues we discussed, it was felt that the two organisations could work more closely together in the future. There are Edexcel groups on which we hope to establish ACM representation, the two organ-isations will exchange responses to relevant consul-tations, and representatives from the two organisations will meet on a regular basis.

GFTU EDUCATION PROGRAMME

Did you know that as a member of our union you are entitled to apply for courses run by the General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU)?

Courses run by the GFTU are held in all parts of the country and take place mainly at weekends in comfortable hotels. Many of the courses are aimed at unions reps and provide reps with the skills and knowledge to better represent members and the union. In this day and age it is essential that our reps be well qualified to do their important jobs. Upcoming courses include:

Public Speaking for Women
Trade Unionists
25-27 October, Scarborough

Key Issues for Black and Asian
Trade Unionists
25-27 October, Scarborough

Advanced Course: Intensive update for senior trade unionists and officials only; covers key developments in labour law and industrial relations
1-3 November, Durham

Risk Assessment for Safety Reps
4-7 November, London

Basic Representatives Course
15-17 November, Belfast

Family-Friendly Law and Practice
29 November-1 December, Glasgow

Tackling Discrimination
17-19 January, Northampton

Communications and Confidence
Building for Women
28 February – 2 March, Glasgow

Dealing with Changes to
Employment Law
28 February – 2 March, Glasgow

If you are interested then ask for a nomination form from us and we will gladly send one to you. For more information on the courses currently available, contact the ACM administration office on 0116 275 5076 or by email at admin@acm.uk.com.