HE Course Guide for Sept 2027_web - Flipbook - Page 13
The Education and Training Consortium (ETC)
was formally constituted in 2001 as the (then)
Consortium for Post-Compulsory Education
and Training (CPCET), a pioneering collaborative
partnership between FE and the University of
Huddersfield focusing on teacher education
awards for the ‘Lifelong Learning Sector’. The scale and complexity of the collaboration is unique.
Geographically, ETC members are dispersed across the four regions of England. The Consortium includes
large, urban General Colleges of Further Education (GCFEs) as well as smaller FE institutions and sixth form
colleges. The collaborative nature of the relationships between partners is a key characteristic. In the field of
teacher education for the lifelong learning sector, the rationale for close partnership underpins curriculum
design and development, research and human resource planning. As key sites of practice, the colleges
within the Consortium offer a huge store of knowledge and expertise.
As the validating body for the Initial Teacher Education (Lifelong Learning) awards delivered at Bury College,
The University of Huddersfield retains responsibility for academic standards and quality assurance; however,
the Consortium arrangement was designed to maximise partner college involvement in managing the
development and delivery of provision. The distribution of new knowledge and innovation in teaching and
learning constitutes a considerable challenge within the context of a large and geographically dispersed
learning network, but the ETC demonstrates that effective collaboration between HE and FE can be of
great benefit financially, strategically, academically and culturally to both parties. The key beneficiaries
are the students who, in this case, are both in-service and pre-service trainee
teachers and, of course, the FE learners they teach.
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