Projects & Programmes

Culture Campus Liverpool CPD Portal (CCLiP) www.cclip.org.uk

Introduction:
CCLiP based on ‘XCRI’ offers the opportunity for professional development courses, events and opportunities, offered by the Liverpool HEIs and cultural sector employers to be viewed through a single portal.

CoL held the initial leadership role engaging all nine cultural employers of LARC and COOL, and the three HEIs to the first critical path point - a rather dry process of mapping each organisation’s data format, process and marketing against the XCRI schema. Drawing on national expertise, the particular nuisances pertinent to employers interests were accommodated. The University of Liverpool, Centre for Lifelong Learning as the lead accountable body took on the implementation and project management thereafter.
CCLiP is potentially an exemplar of a shared service use, hitting a number of government department agendas; in common with it’s precursor, CPD Noticeboard, it has generated considerable interest across the education sector. The project is due to be launched in January 2011.

The experience of City of Learning with the CPD Noticeboard creation, and its relationship with the city’s cultural employers was drawn upon for the Culture Campus Portal (CCLiP).

University of Liverpool made a successful bid to JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee), a HEFCE linked agency - innovation in the use of ICT for education and research for £227K. The project builts on precursor projects, Learning Matrix, JISC funded £220K, LJMU led, and CPD Noticeboard, CoL led and funded £225K.

The CCliP project aimed to produce a portal, based on an efficient, automatic data population system ‘XCRI’, to offer CPD opportunities from both the 3 HEIs and the 9 cultural employers (LARC - 8, and COOL):
UoL, LJMU, Hope with the LARC partners and SMAC
- LARC (Liverpool Arts Regeneration Consortium) - Liverpool Arts and Regeneration Consortium (the Bluecoat, FACT, Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse, National Museums Liverpool, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Tate Liverpool, Unity Theatre)
- SMAC (Small and Medium Arts Consortium) now called COOL

It involves the use of the new UK eProspectus standard, ‘XCRI’, a schema for structuring information about courses and opportunities. XCRI is essentially a form of XML used by many organisations, small and large. It offers organisations:
- enhanced capabilities for course marketing and management information
- one authoritative source of courses information
- the keying in and quality assurance of data once for multiple purpose use – 20 websites can be populated and updated instantly
- an aid for shared services whilst retaining individual data ownership
- there are no vendor lock-in issues
- is free, the UK eProspectus standard; expected European norm in 2012

XCRI – automatic portal data population
- ability to populate and update 2-+ websites instantly

CCLiP based on XCRI presents the opportunity for professional development courses, events and opportunities offered by the Liverpool HEIs and cultural sector employers to be viewed through a single portal (with no extra inputting/editing work) – and also through any other portal based on XCRI.

An increasing number of HEIs and FECs across the country are using the schema. Edge Hill are quite advanced in their implementation prompted by the CPD Noticeboard work. UCAS have undertaken initial pilot work with XCRI and as they progress from Stage 3 of their 10 stage data strategy review, are expected to go to further stages of trial implementation in spring 2011. In 2010, the then DCSF directed that all 14-19 partnerships should use XCRI for their prospectus portal. From this a number of schools have taken on board the schema. The University of Nottingham has been leading on the 14-19 developments.

Once data is structured in the XCRI standard format (eg postcode always in a separate field, course start date always listed in standard numerical format 10/01/11, rather than eg Semester 2), an organisation can advertise and update with no retyping, on any XCRI compatible portal. This could be European Business Schools offerings, or cultural events in the north west, widening participation activities offered by schools, FECs, HEIs, employers in the city region. Only the specific fields the organisation wishes to be advertised at each respective outlet will be made available

As a free national standard schema, XCRI offers a robust foundation for e.g. an events listing for cultural organisations, some data sharing across Local Enterprise Partnerships, a range of module offerings from different education providers.

Definition of CPD - following the experience with CPD Noticeboard, a broad definition of CPD offerings was adopted for the portal. In essence, courses, seminars, events, programmes which were not leading to a full U/G award were included. Such as: Masters degrees, PhDs, one day conferences, Tate research seminars, exhibitions at NML, concert at Hope, Bluecoat literary seminars etc.
The overall aim being to draw people to the site and to easily see and find a large array of opportunities.

Aimhigher Greater Merseyside
www.ahgtm.ac.uk

Liverpool City of Learning played a major role leading the strategic development of Aimhigher Greater Merseyside, supporting cutting edge partnership working, enhancing the developing opportunities in widening participation to higher education work with: Schools; Further Education Colleges; Universities; Connexions Greater Merseyside; Work Based Learning Providers; Learning & Skills Council; Community Groups; Employers

Aimhigher nationally is a government initiative led by the Department for Education and Skills with funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England. Its chief purpose is to support the drive to widen participation in higher education, enabling a greater proportion of young people from traditionally under represented groups access to a higher education opportunity. Aimhigher Greater Merseyside is a partnership across the six local authority districts working to inspire, motivate and enable young people to succeed and progress to higher education.

The partnership’s vision is that by 2010 every young resident from Greater Merseyside with the potential capability and who wishes to take up a higher education opportunity will be able to do so, so that the proportion of under 30 year olds taking up higher education opportunities approaches 50%.

Greater Merseyside & West Lancashire Lifelong Learning Network
www.merseyandwestlancslln.ac.uk

Liverpool City of Learning helped take forward the initial partnership work for developing the Lifelong Learning Network across the sub-region consulting with partners and working on the bid proposal.
The Greater Merseyside & West Lancashire Lifelong Learning Network (LLN) comprises Edge Hill University, The University of Liverpool, The Open University in the North West and a range of further education colleges within the sub-region, which are working to provide modern and flexible qualifications and progression routes. The new opportunities developed by the LLN focused on the areas of: Health and Social Care, Creative Industries, Tourism, Hospitality, Sport and Active Leisure and offers:
• vocational learners of all ages study pathways from GCSE and equivalent vocational qualifications, through to foundation degrees, undergraduate degrees and higher qualifications. These pathways will be easy to navigate and meet clearly-identified career objectives,
• provides employers with skilled people to join the workforce in priority areas, with ongoing professional development support.
• New Foundation Degree routes to develop integrated practitioners working with children and young people, meeting the challenges of Every Child Matters in health, education and community settings. The FDs will be offered at Edge Hill and a range of venues across the region.
• Pre-degree Year 0 provision based at Carmel College, St Helens, leading to entry to Medicine and Surgery or Dental Sciences programmes at the University of Liverpool.
• improved information and guidance on existing and new vocational pathways, and be available to a wide variety of people from age 16 upwards – for example,those already in work, unemployed people, school leavers or those wanting to embark on a career change.

Liverpool Professional Education Research and Practice Group

The Steering Group comprises senior members of education faculties of the HEIs, Liverpool headteachers and local authority representatives.
Origins of the Liverpool Professional Partnership Group (LPPG) - Liverpool City of Learning provided the strategic partnership framework for educational research and development:

• In 1999, when the Excellence in Cities initiative commenced, Excellence in Liverpool sought a forum for engaging with agencies other than schools and the LEA. The Excellence in Liverpool Wider Partnership emerged, comprising a range of public, private and voluntary organisations and Liverpool City of Learning was invited to take the chair.
  
• The HEIs involved in the Wider Partnership, supported by Liverpool City of Learning, extended their input through an additional sub-group looking specifically at professional development links between the higher education sector and schools based around the Excellence in Liverpool initiative. In bids to the DfEE (now DfES), the partnership name, Liverpool Excellence Partnership was adopted.
  
• The HEIs, with Excellence in Liverpool, expressed a commitment to supporting the raising of standards and achievement in education and lifelong learning, and to a collaborative cross-sector approach, which added value and strength through the consortium approach.
  
• From this partnership foundation, a number of successful developments emerged operating at national, regional and local levels, including: Liverpool Excellence Partnership National Learning Mentor Training, Connexions Personal Adviser Training, Gifted and Talented Evaluation work with Excellence in Liverpool, Cheshire & Merseyside Graduate Teacher Programme, Higher Level Teaching Assistants Training
• The partnership is keeping track of new government policies as they come to the forefront, and the LPPG role ahead, in line with this includes; determining the processes for establishing successful Learning Networks, of which Liverpool is in the vanguard of establishing, and maximising Collaborative Learning.

Principles of the Partnership:

• Supporting the raising of standards and achievement in education and lifelong learning.
• Commitment to working collaboratively, and adding value and strength through a consortium approach
• Underpinning educational practice with research and academic theory, and bringing a different dimension to teachers’ and other school staff members’ intellectual activity.
• Commissioning specific pieces of research to investigate or support the development of local initiatives which have local and/or national implications.
• Facilitating professional development for practitioners, and supporting and enabling education practice.
• Supporting a coherent approach to a range of initiatives, locally, regionally and nationally, that are linked to raising achievement through professional development, research and evaluation and evidence-based practice.
• Providing a framework for both responding to identified professional development needs and opening up dialogue to address gaps.
  Schools Learning Networks Research www.liverpool.ac.uk/learningnetworks
  Extract from: The City of Liverpool, Education, Library & Sports Services Proposed Structure for One Linked Organisation Consultation Document, June 2004 (page 5).
  Schools Learning Networks are being established in order to improve:
  • collaborative working between schools,
  • quality of, and entitlement to, continuing professional development (CPD), opportunities for school staff, to improve the quality of learning and teaching, and standards of attainment and achievement,
  • development of innovative practices and the identification and dissemination of good practice and use of schools’ specialisms.
  Features:
  • Increased resourcing to schools via Learning Networks.
  • Greater levels of ownership by schools.
  • Systems which support the development of innovative practices.
  • Benefits to pupils, school staff and governors arising from collaboration.
  • Opportunities to combine and share resources for the mutual benefit of members.
  • CPD can be provided which best meets the needs of school staff and governors at a local level.
  • The successful model of the West Derby Learning Network can be used to guide developments.
  • DfES and national strategies are beginning to indicate that schools should be working collaboratively in networks.
  

Schools Learning Networks Research
www.liverpool.ac.uk/learningnetworks

Extract from: The City of Liverpool, Education, Library & Sports Services Proposed Structure for One Linked Organisation Consultation Document, June 2004 (page 5).

Schools Learning Networks are being established in order to improve:
• collaborative working between schools,
• quality of, and entitlement to, continuing professional development (CPD), opportunities for school staff, to improve the quality of learning and teaching, and standards of attainment and achievement,
• development of innovative practices and the identification and dissemination of good practice and use of schools’ specialisms.

Features:
• Increased resourcing to schools via Learning Networks.
• Greater levels of ownership by schools.
• Systems which support the development of innovative practices.
• Benefits to pupils, school staff and governors arising from collaboration.
• Opportunities to combine and share resources for the mutual benefit of members.
• CPD can be provided which best meets the needs of school staff and governors at a local level.
• The successful model of the West Derby Learning Network can be used to guide developments.
• DfES and national strategies are beginning to indicate that schools should be working collaboratively in networks.

Learning Networks will be the vehicle through which support for schools – staff and pupils – will be delivered. In order to establish Learning Networks, a number of services which have been provided by Education, Library and Sports Services will cease and the resources will be delegated to the networks. For example, it will no longer be possible to sustain the support which has been provided across a range of subjects / aspects. The establishment of Learning Networks is a radical change in the way Education, Library and Sports Services will operate with schools. Schools in Learning Networks will have much more autonomy over how resources are used and how their Learning Network will develop. The critical factor will be how well schools in their Learning Networks will collaborate in order to meet the needs of all.
Aim of the Research
• City of Learning has allocated funding for research and development linked with the new changes underway in Liverpool that will support research relating to the new changes underway in schools that will support the raising of attainment and achievement of pupils. This initial sum could be used to lever in further funds. In discussion with stakeholders a key area has been identified for action research concerning the newly emerging ‘School Learning Networks’ that Liverpool is developing in order to create opportunities to enhance continuing professional development to raise attainment and achievement.

• Overall aim of the research: To identify the processes involved in establishing an effective Learning Network and its role in promoting collaborative professional development aimed at improving teacher and pupils learning.

Objectives
1. To explore the structural, managerial, economic and cultural issues involved in establishing a Learning Network.
2. To investigate the impact of the Learning Network on the professional development experiences of staff.
3. To identify and evaluate the impact of the Learning Network on the opportunities presented to pupils for personalised learning.
4. To assess the impact of the Learning Network on schools’ collaborative arrangements for pupil enrichment activities.

The research was used to inform future developments of schools policies and practices and generated eleven peer reviewed academic publications.

Every Child Matters Research

• Collaborative learning research and development projects based on the new Government Policy agenda ‘Every Child Matters’.
  Collaborative Learning Projects is the latest development of the Liverpool Professional Practice Group (LPPG), following closely on from the Learning Networks Research. Earlier projects emerging from the group included Liverpool Excellence Partnership Learning Mentor Training, Connexions Personal Adviser Training, Gifted & Talented Evaluation work with Excellence in Liverpool, Cheshire & Merseyside Graduate Teacher Programme, Higher Level Teaching Assistants.
• Following discussions with Liverpool Children’s Services, it was agreed the overall theme to be addressed would be the emerging ‘Every Child Matters’ new government policy agenda.
• CoL secured £200K for independent but co-ordinated research by the four universities into different strands of this government policy. This included brokering relations between the HEIs and schools across Merseyside and working to the principle that the research should benefit schools.
• All the work of the partnership has built on the joint and cross-sector approach to development work supporting the raising of achievement and attainment. The overarching framework of the LPPG is instrumental in enabling the total outcome, to be more than the sum of the individual elements.
• A key aspect of the projects was the active dissemination of findings throughout the work, as well as at the conclusion. The projects are intended to provide tools for learning from, rather than direct delivery of services.
  Summary of the Four Collaborative Learning Research Projects, based on the “Every Child Matters”
• LJMU – Addressing the needs of children during transition from key stage 2 to key stage 3, which can result in academic discontinuity as well as undue anxiety for the students involved, and how they can be helped in managing the transition process.
  Schools: Shorefields Technology College, Parklands High School, Broughton Hall High School Technology College, Feeder primary schools to be identified after survey, Clifford Holroyde School (special school).
• UoL – Working with professional development and action research from widening participation school/college co-ordinators role and contribution to the design, co-ordination and evidence base of an effective widening participation progression curriculum.
  Schools: Aimhigher Co-ordinators across Gt Merseyside are identifying schools.
• Hope – Research and develop the re-conceptualisation of existing partnerships in tune with recent legislation, including CPD and inquiry-based learning for the whole school workforce; case-studies to look into professional learning for education studies, students, student teachers, support staff, NQTs, mentors.
  Schools: a range of schools from across the north west
• Edge Hill – To identify aspects of ECM that schools are currently finding challenging, and support and evaluate ways these may be addressed.Schools: Garswood Primary School, St Helens, Evelyn County Primary School, Knowsley
  

Learning Matrix

The Matrix commenced as a pilot project in 2005, funded by HEFCE JISC, led by LJMU, supported by CoL, with the aim of enabling non-traditional students considering progression to higher education to access appropriate learning opportunities from a partnership of further education and higher education institutions through a common learner interface.

Since the initial pilot work, developments are underway in 2006 to enable a professional development arm of the Matrix system to be realised. This would enable enquirers to search for professional development courses in Merseyside using a system with up-to-date user-friendly search facilities, and additional contemporary facilities included up to date personal account information, with details of potential courses listed, personal development plan support aids, and being kept informed of future potential courses which my be of interest. To view CPD Noticeboard go to: www.cpdnoticeboard.ac.uk. Other developments linked to the Matrix are the North West Lifelong Learning Network project to provide learning portals for the networks which commence October 2006.
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