2020–21 Advanced Practitioner programme Communities of Practice applications open

Applications are now open for the Communities of Practice (CoP) element of the 2020–21 Education and Training Foundation (@E_T_Foundation) Advanced Practitioner (AP) programme.

Communities of Practice is a blended programme with collaboration and quality improvement at its heart. There are 100 places available across three CoP pathways:

• Constellation B – the foundation pathway – is a six-month blended programme for APs who haven’t previously been involved in the ETF’s AP programme.
• Constellation C – the CPD graduates pathway – is for APs who have participated in previous years and enables them to continue their AP journey.
• Constellation C+ – the graduates and national agents of change pathway – will support graduates of constellation C to work as national agents of change.

All Communities of Practice applicants will be invited to explain how they intend to support the development of maths and English as they work with staff.

The 2020–21 AP programme will also provide mentoring support for up to 15 Advanced Practitioners from BAME communities and/or declaring a disability to ensure the APs it is supporting are representative of the wider student population across the breadth of the Further Education and Training sector.

The deadline for applications is 5pm on Thursday 17 September

As well as Communities of Practice, the Advanced Practitioner programme, which is being delivered on behalf of the ETF by touchconsulting Ltd, consists of two other elements.

The first, three blended CPD modules, has been designed to support experienced APs and managers of APs. The first module will focus on the Thinking Environment, the second on developmental observations, and the third on leading Advanced Practitioner teams. Delivery of the modules will begin in October 2020 and places will be bookable from early September.

The second is a three-day, in-house course for organisations looking to develop their AP team. The aim of the ‘Developing APs’ course is to develop a shared understanding amongst an organisation’s APs and help managers align their role with their organisation’s vision within a developmental model. The course will also see managers undertake detailed self-assessment on how they implement the AP-type role, drawing on the Manager Guide, which forms part of the AP Toolkit. Bookings for this course will also open in early September.