Technical workshops for strategic and senior leaders in Further Education

The Education and Training Foundation (ETF) has announced a series of three technical workshops for senior leaders that will take place in the first quarter of 2023 and be delivered in collaboration with experts from King’s College London and ChangeSchool. The free-to-attend sessions will address priority issues currently facing the FE and Training sector: finance, resilience and cultural change. 

The first workshop – Surviving and thriving in times of financial strain – will be led by Professor Crawford Spence, Professor of Accounting and Director of the FinWorks Futures Research Centre at King’s Business School. It will consider new perspectives in terms of how colleges think about their businesses and help to provide solutions during these times of uncertainty. Whilst focused on financial matters, the workshop will be appropriate for all FE senior leaders, including finance professionals. It takes place online from 9am to 11am on Thursday 26 January.

The second – Resilience in leadership – will be led by Dr Robyn Klingler-Vidra, Reader in Entrepreneurship and Sustainability at King’s Business School and Associate Dean of Global Partnerships. The session will help support both individual leaders and their organisations to navigate the period of acute disruption and uncertainty in which they are operating, providing tools for thinking about individual roles and perspectives to positively adapt and bounce back from adversity and create environments where everyone thrives. It will take place online from 9am to midday on Thursday 23 February.

The final workshop – Directing and leading cultural change– will be led by ChangeSchool, an executive development institute. It will develop the skills and use the tools to enhance proficiency, understanding and knowledge that will enable attendees to both implement and successfully execute cultural change strategies. This all-day (10am to 4pm) face-to-face session will take place in Birmingham on Thursday 30 March.

Anju Virdee, Interim National Head of Leadership Development at the ETF, said:

“This is a very challenging time, with the effects of the Covid pandemic and global instability impacting upon all of us, including colleagues and learners across FE and Training. We are pleased to continue our approach of partnering with leading experts and organisations to deliver this series of three workshops to support senior leaders in the sector.”

Dr Tim Sellick, Client Director at King’s Business School, said:

“The sessions have been designed to address priority issues with the aim of fertilising knowledge from leaders in FE, challenging existing orthodoxies, and providing new insight that will support colleagues navigating the current  challenging environment for the sector.”

For further details of, and to book places at, any of the 12 technical workshops for senior and strategic leaders, including the three being delivered in conjunction with KCL and ChangeSchool, visit the ETF Course Booking site.

The workshops are part of a wider offer of ETF support for leaders in the FE and Training sector. For further details please visit the Leadership area of the ETF website.