At a Glance
Positive About Inclusion were commissioned by the Education Partnership North East (EPNE) to design and deliver a bespoke workshop to enhance a Professional Development Day for governance and policy staff, increasing awareness and understanding of their roles in creating an inclusive culture and supporting the EPNE partnership to progress the EDI agenda.
About the Client
EPNE is a dynamic partnership between Sunderland College, Hartlepool sixth form and Northumberland College. It is one of the largest college groups in the country with campuses across the North East region from Berwick-upon-Tweed to the Tees Valley. It has a combined student community of over 21,500. The team play a critical role in supporting the colleges governors and the leadership teams with governance oversight, policy development and data protection.
Challenges and Objectives
The workshop was required to be engaging yet challenging. Providing opportunities for the team to refresh their EDI knowledge and awareness as well as reflect on the relevance of EDI in their work and their position within the partnership’s infrastructure. One of the key objectives was for members of the team to reflect on their scope of influence and identify positive steps they could take as individuals and as a team to own and drive the EPNE EDI agenda forward.
“The tone and pace of the session was perfect. The refresher portion of the workshop did not reiterate things we already knew; it added to our knowledge and understanding.”
Christine Stretesky, EPNE
Solution
By setting the EDI refresher element of the workshop within a societal context and through the use of education-based examples the workshop provided an opportunity for open discussion and the sharing of best practice. The participants reflected on their spheres of influence to identify the actions and behaviours they could adopt to add value to EPNE and beyond.
“Lucy and Karen’s facilitation of our discussion on spheres of influence was really eye opening. It allowed us to identify next steps that were ambitious and achievable.”
Christine Stretesky, EPNE
Impact
The team valued the way in which the refresher training was delivered through an external lens to place it in a current context. Having external, independent facilitators provided an opportunity to discuss the issues with those who could provide a different perspective and challenge.
Through the workshop participants identified a suite of actions that they are going to complete as part of the personal and professional development.
“Having Lucy and Karen facilitate the session allowed us to focus as a team without any one of us leading. This gave us the opportunity to think collectively with experts on hand to help us explore our thoughts and ideas. “
Christine Stretesky, EPNE
