fforwm Annual Conference 2009: Transformations in Further Education

fforwm's 16th annual conference, "Transformations in Further Education", was held on 3 and 4 June 2009 at Venue Cymru, Llandudno.

fforwm's annual conference provides the FE sector with an opportunity to celebrate success and highlight the many achievements within the sector. It also provides the college sector with an opportunity to reflect on policy developments and network with colleagues and key decision makers.

The Conference attracts key political speakers, prominent academics, representatives from business and industry and partners from the public and voluntary sector. It provides an excellent networking opportunity.

A strong programme was lined up under the following themes:

• Transformations in the Economy
• Responding to Economic Transformations
• Transformations in Quality and Leadership
• Transformations: Lessons from Across the UK

Speakers included:

• the Deputy Minister, John Griffiths (whose speech was delivered by a deputy)
• Chairman of DMM, Richard Cuthbertson MBE, on the partnership between businesses and colleges
• expert academic and columnist on the economy, Prof Dylan Jones Evans
• fforwm Board member & Principal of Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor, Ian Rees, on the fforwm Board's intention to work on developing a national Welsh-medium strategy for FE
• fforwm's Head of Quality, Berni Tyler, on leadership and management in FE
• the Chief Executive of Warwickshire College (and ex-Chair of the 157 Group of Colleges), Ioan Morgan on "Being Indispensible"; and also
• contributions from fforwn's sister organisations: Neil Cuthbert of Scotland's Colleges, John D'Arcy of the Association of Northern Ireland Colleges and David Collins of the Association of Colleges, who provided a perspective on how colleges in the rest of the UK were responding to the recession
• and of course, the annual conference address by Dr John Graystone, fforwm's Chief Executive.

Click on the hyperlinks for their presentations.

Workshops held during the conference were action-oriented and lively discussion formed a key part of proceedings. Amongst the workshops were:

• Good Practice in 14-19 Partnerships, led by Ann Keane, Estyn
• FE Transformations and the Law, led by Paul Pugh and Catherine Lewis, Eversheds
• Managing the Change: VQR and Credit, led by Katy Burns, fforwm, and Janet Barlow, OCN Wales
• Partnership Working through Self Regulation, led by Berni Tyler, fforwm, and Marian Jebb, Welsh Assembly Government
• Continuous Professional Development: determining priorities for 2010+, led by Michelle Sayers and Mark Isherwood, LLUK
• ILT Strategy Development: "Learners Today", led by Peter Scott, RSC Wales

Celebrating Talent: An awards ceremony for the winners of the fforwm Annual Awards was held on the first evening of the conference. The categories for 2009 are available from here. Also at the conference dinner, guests were entertained by performing arts learners from Yale College Wrexham and Coleg Llandrillo Cymru. They did a fantastic job!

Sponsors & supporters: fforwm is very grateful to the following organisations for their support and sponsorship of the annual conference and awards 2009:

• City & Guilds/ILM
• Edexcel
• Lifelong Learning UK (LLUK)
• OCN Wales
• OCR
• RSC Wales
• Tribal
• Welsh Assembly Government
• WJEC