With the launch last year of its Foundation Degree in Cultural Events Management, Bishop Grosseteste College is leading the way in providing vocational, work-based training degrees for the cultural sector. Matthew Blades highlights the value of this approach.
Did you know that 17.7 million workers across the UK (63% of the working population) said that they made a New Years resolution in 2005 to improve their skills and/or gain a formal qualification from their learning and training? Astute managers will have no doubt have responded by finding opportunities for their workforce to develop and grow in ways they clearly aspire too. This is certainly true in the East Midlands, particularly across Lincolnshire, where we are enjoying a vibrant cultural renaissance across the arts, heritage, museums and leisure tourism. This local revival and, indeed, the renewed interest regionally in what the cultural sector can achieve economically, artistically and socially is fuelling a demand for new knowledge and different skills. Vocational work-based training, and the ways in which knowledge and skills are acquired and used, has taken on a new significance for practitioners throughout the sector.
A new approach
This is good news indeed, particularly for a sector that tends to fall short in the area of providing targeted training opportunities, and where many hold the view that formal education and on-the-job training are two distinct and non-complementary routes. Lets be honest, education and qualifications have often distanced cultural sector workers from acquiring marketable new skills and extending their knowledge. You have to remember, the sector is made up of practitioners who have only themselves to rely on to create, manage and extract value from their own work. They often lack the means or the time to devote themselves to learning in the traditional sense, and the evidence suggests that this affects their long-term economic and career prospects. With the help of employers, sector advocates and regional development agencies, Bishop Grosseteste College (BGC) is turning this situation around, and our Foundation degree in cultural events management provides a valuable route for engaging cultural sector practitioners in accessible, work-based learning programmes.
Employment-driven
Described by the Department for Education and Skills as a modern, vocational higher education qualification BGCs foundation degree is a response to the very particular needs of employers and employees at the local level. It aims to meet both current and future skills gaps, and reflects BGCs determination to support the strategic growth of practitioners and their organisations. An employers advisory group has been enlisted to influence our thinking on course maintenance, business and professional development issues, as well as innovation, research and enterprise. Through this, the sector becomes an authentic partner in the design of the degree and the delivery of the training.
The programme offers a highly personalised experience for participants. By drawing on their previous training experiences, we adapt the learning process and provide tools for them to analyse their own preferred learning style for use at work. This process is supported not just by the College and the employer, but also by a carefully crafted mentoring programme. For Clare Freeman, an arts development assistant at one of Lincolnshires district authorities and a participant on the foundation degree, the outcome is a learning opportunity very different to the normal higher education experience: The course has everything I want&. It relates directly to the work I am doing at the Council. Its allowed me to study at work, with projects based on real workplace experiences. I can feel its giving me more confidence in my job and helping me to think in new ways about how I could move my career forward.
Workplace benefits
By working closely with employers and senior managers, BGC has also witnessed how management can really champion the development of vocational, work-based training. Nicki Gardener, Senior Arts Development Officer and Clares line manager, was surprised at the fast return: In a matter of weeks the course had an impact, which continues& providing Clare, and the Council, with practical methodologies to overhaul our systems, plan new work to better achieve key aims, at the very least checking that current practice is effective and worthwhile& The workplace benefits are huge: tasks that would ordinarily be vital in principle, but all too easy to overlook, have become legitimate. Arguably some of the ideas in our programme arent new, but, as Nicki implies, they are effective: by focusing attention on day-to-day work experiences and the workplace environment, a foundation degree offers real opportunities to upskill practitioners to higher levels of potential.
These experiences are complemented by time on campus to encourage the transfer of knowledge from one context to another and to allow experimentation with different concepts. As a result, the relationship between workplace and problem-based learning becomes a catalyst for change and development, rewarding the organisation and the participant. Simon Hollingworth, Manager at the Lincoln Drill Hall, sums this up: Francesca, a member of our box office team, was interested in the course and we were keen to support her. What I was totally unprepared for was the impact the course projects would have on the organisation. In fact, as the weeks have progressed, we have begun to realise that having a member of staff on the course is doing us all a power of good!
Business growth
Although foundation degrees are employment-related qualifications, we shouldnt exclude from the debate the needs of freelance, contract and self-employed workers, who make up a considerable part of our sector. Through work placements and working alongside organisations as placement hosts, the programme is able to equip these practitioners with skills that benefit both themselves and their businesses. Mark Clarke, who runs his own crafts business, Craft Times, reflects on his experience with the course to-date: I came to the course because I needed to extend my network of professional associates, to become more proficient in the skills required to manage my business and to deliver projects successfully. The nature and flexibility of the course means its not only benefiting me, but also the development needs of my business.
Marks aspirations for himself and his business are setting the tone for BGCs future plans. The response to the foundation degree has been such that we are now looking at the viability of establishing a bespoke centre for the creative and cultural industries, specifically to build partnerships and relationships between the local cultural and creative organisations, regional support agencies, and higher education. We envisage a centre that will not only raise the profile of the cultural industries through advocacy, but also provide infrastructural support services to underpin business growth and personal development, so that artist practitioners, cultural managers and cultural businesses across our region can move closer towards realising their full potential.
Matthew Blades is Programme Leader for the Foundation Degree: Cultural Events Management at Bishop Grosseteste College.
t: 01522 583717;
e: matthew.blades@bgc.ac.uk