BEST LEARNING / PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME
Association of University Directors of Estates – AUDE Summer School
AUDE’s Summer School is the flagship L&D programme from the Association of University Directors of Estates. It is a four-day residential programme: launched in 2018, it has been held annually since, and improved upon throughout. Summer School helps identify and support the next generation of estates leadership. Learning emphasises behaviours as much as knowledge, including the ‘soft skills’ that will enable participants to thrive in complex working environments. For this cohort – already established in their careers – the value added is around issues such as influencing the board, personal leadership styles, resilience, and stakeholder management. This combination of content, delivered from a position of sector expertise, is not easily available to delegates elsewhere, if at all. Delegates representing international partner organisations have been able to attend Summer School since 2021. There is no reciprocal opportunity for UK delegates into those countries – the equivalent programmes don’t exist, which suggests the AUDE Summer School now has international credibility, and is considered a leading programme for this specific cohort of learners. More than one-quarter of all UK universities have now sent multiple delegates to Summer School, suggesting a rapid change from ‘start-up programme’ to ‘embedded/essential activity’ during this five-year period.
British Dietetic Association – Practice-Based Learning Resources
BDA has developed innovative, high quality practice-based learning (PBL) resources for pre-registration dietetic learners, in response to the challenges in securing sufficient capacity for mandatory PBL, following the Pandemic and ongoing pressures facing dietetic services. It secures the future pipeline of a highly skilled dietetic workforce by preparing dietetic learners for the workplace whatever the role, setting or career aspiration.
This innovative approach utilises novel technological resources for PBL, which are available to all dietetic learners to reduce in the disparity between the number of PBL opportunities available versus those required.
It provides sustained support for the development of the workforce, and enables further developments to improve the continual professional development offering to the membership.
It offers all learners the same experience irrespective of their educational journey, comprising of different learning approaches, adopting varied media to offer PBL at the learner’s pace and at a time that could be structured flexibly to suit individual circumstances, showing appreciation to all those, who through a really difficult period gave of their time and expertise to do something meaningful that will have lasting impact on the profession.
Institute of Employability Professionals – IEP Accredited Learning
IEP is the membership body for employability professionals – the people who support others gain work, progress in work and retain work. Our vision is ‘Employability professionals ‘everywhere’ are the best they can be’. Our members strive to improve the lives of disadvantaged individuals by equipping them with skills, knowledge, and resources for better employment opportunities. We have introduced new learning and qualifications to provide a robust professional learning pathway for employability practitioners at all career levels which we have continued to develop over the past 12 months. The IEP Programme is a blended learning approach that includes eLearning, work-based learning, and collaborative and social learning session plans. This learner-centered approach focuses on building essential competencies and capabilities for success and improving outcomes for participants.
Since introducing our qualifications IEP membership has grown by over 50% and to date we have almost 11500 qualified and certificated completers across all levels of IEP accredited learning (2500 growth in past 12 months) which is more than at any time in the employability sector’s history. An additional 8000 learners are currently enrolled or in progress across our different accredited programmes
Institution of Occupational Safety and Health – Blueprint Continuing Professional Development Tool
Blueprint is IOSH’s new online learning tool, designed to support members’ continuing professional development in occupational safety and health (OSH). It sets the global standard in proficiency and ethical practice for the profession.
Its library of 1,380 learning resources (representing 600+ hours of learning) were specially written by IOSH or commissioned from other expert organisations. IOSH’s competency framework underpins Blueprint, linking it to progression through IOSH’s membership grades.
Members undertake a self-assessment exercise that maps out a personalised development plan. They identify the resources to help them to fill knowledge gaps or support their career goals. They can also undertake a special module on ethical practice.
Since Blueprint’s launch in November 2022, take-up has surpassed expectations: 45% of members at all levels in 149 countries have logged in; 19% have carried out diagnostic self-assessments; 16% have taken advantage of the resources, each undertaking an average of six CPD activities.
Blueprint is essential to IOSH’s strategy to improve the standing of the OSH profession and to make safety and health a key factor in business planning. It will have a major impact on workers, organisations, communities and economies.
National Residential Landlords Association – NRLA Training Academy
The NRLA Training Academy is an integral part of the National Residential Landlord Association’s offer. From new landlords starting out in the business to seasoned investors and letting agents keen to expand their knowledge, the NRLA Training Academy offers something for everyone, with a range of affordable courses that can save landlords thousands in the long run.
The NRLA runs more than 40 courses for members and non-members, with members receiving a 20% discount. These include eLearning, eClassroom and face-to-face courses, as well as bespoke training packages for organisations and local authorities. In response to industry need and member demand the NRLA has also worked with awarding body, Ascentis to develop and deliver an
OfQUAL regulated L3 Award and Certificate in Managing Property and Residential Lettings.
In the last 12 months the NRLA has trained more than 8,000 landlords, exceeding expected revenue targets by 12% allowing the team to invest in more technology which will further improve the user experience. More than 4,000 landlords have also used NRLA training courses to become accredited, an increase of 20% on the previous year.
Society for Education and Training – Professional Standards
Using a unique engagement methodology based on principles of effective collaborative research, the Society for Education and Training (SET), on behalf of the Education and Training Foundation, undertook a revision of its Professional Standards for teachers, drawing on the talents and expertise of government departments, sector bodies and practitioner groups. Published in May 2022, they define effective practice for the sector and have become the ETF’s most popular product, with roadshows, presentations, activity cards and workshops supporting their embedding across the Further Education and Training sector. They have received widespread endorsement as a mechanism for improving teaching quality.
The Garden Centre Association – GROW (Garden Retail Online Workshops)
The Garden Centre Association (GCA) developed our Garden Retail Online Workshops (GROW) online training system to allow our members to train their staff in a time and cost-effective way.
The objectives of GROW are simple: firstly, to help garden centre staff to improve their knowledge and gain confidence and expertise, and secondly (but equally importantly) to help them to improve the quality of the customer’s experience at their garden centre.
We use the extensive knowledge of subject matter experts from within our membership to help us write each of our courses, which are designed to be completed in 20-25 minutes. Even the most complex of subjects are simplified using content-rich exercises and interactions that are brought to life with relevant photography. This results in stimulating and engaging content that learners will not only respond to, but most importantly, remember.
Since GROW was launched in 2013, we have continued to add more courses each year to make the system the most comprehensive training package available for the garden centre sector and we now have over 75 courses that are available to over 11,000 UK-based garden centre employees.
The Grain and Feed Trade Association – Gafta and D2L advance agribusiness learning
The Grain and Feed Trade Association (Gafta) promotes international trade in agricultural commodities, spices and general produce. Training is an important part of its offering to 1,900 members which comprise individuals and organisations of traders, brokers, lawyers and other professionals, across 98 countries. Gafta set out to expand its learning platform Agribility, built on the D2L Brightspace platform, by adding short courses and maximising functionality. It incorporated the platform into face-to-face training and continues to elevate course design to optimise learner engagement, which has contributed to a substantial uplift of 49% in learner engagement over time. Gafta had previously successfully commercialised its training offering to expand the availability of learning within agribusiness and benefit the wider industry.
