Inside the ETF Teaching and Learning Conference
There is something quietly radical about rooms full of practitioners talking honestly about practice. Not performatively, not through the lens of Ofsted desires, not diluted into vague but inapplicable ‘best practice’ bingo. Just further education (FE) and skills professionals, who do the amazing knotty work of teaching in this diverse sector, being given space to talk, listen, reflect, challenge and collaborate.
At face value, the ETF Teaching and Learning Conference in Leeds was a conference. Efficient staff, keynotes, breakouts, lanyards, coffee queues, a bold choice from the venue of spring onion-based cuisine when people are going to sit close together in warm rooms. But beneath this, it felt like something more important – a collective reminder to people that what they do is complex, skilled and worth paying attention to. That could have meant that things felt serious and po-faced, but it was the opposite. With smiles abundant, everybody connected, chatted, laughed, and even when discussing shared challenges, stayed solution-focused.
The day was relentlessly practice focused. Inclusion that is real and doable. Assessment that acknowledges the existence of AI without panicking. Cognitive science in context. Professional identity and dual professionalism. Sustainability in its widest sense. Courage and curiosity. Not shiny pebbles and nebulous assertions dropped from those up high, but grounded thinking rooted in classrooms, workshops and learning spaces. What conferences like this can also do is make visible what it means to have a professional body that belongs to practitioners rather than sitting above them – a genuine infrastructure for standards, recognition, development and connection that gives shape to both individual and shared professional identity.
Why meaningful CPD matters for FE practitioners
Siobhan Dawson’s session on inclusive practice landed strongly, with the determination that inclusion is a universal duty, not a bolt-on. I heard about emotions felt by students thrown in and expected to achieve without their individual circumstances considered, with quick assumptions made that they ‘can’t cope’. This provoked an uncomfortable reflection for me about how some organisations still treat beginner teachers, particularly those entering FE from industry. We know it’s wrong to throw a learner in without appropriate support, then label them incapable when they struggle – yet many do something eerily similar to new staff, throwing them into classes with nothing but the promise of a short Level 3 Initial Teacher Education (ITE) course at some point, and expect them to navigate pedagogy, assessment, curriculum, behaviour and all manner of systems. If inclusion is everyone’s business, that must include the staff too.
One of the quieter tensions for me was that the people in that room were those enabled to be there. Time. Funding. Permission. That is not a given. There are many who would thrive in spaces like this, but are prevented from engaging with meaningful continuing professional development (CPD) by cultures that treat development as a tick box, a favour, or an individual responsibility for evenings and weekends. We must be brave about naming this. Engagement with professional standards, communities of practice and quality CPD should not be a luxury for the lucky few. Ripple effects are not enough on their own.
Psychological safety, connection and joy in teacher development
There were moments of gentle silliness too. I was overwhelmed by the level of competition generated by my DIY and very tenuous educational theorist guessing game (Black Eyed Peas link to formative assessment, anyone?). Laughter and shared nonsense are not distractions from professionalism. They are signs of psychological safety and collective energy – and it led to wonderfully creative conversations about ITE.
The thing I noticed most was the feeling at the end. Sometimes at the end of conferences, people are done, and look like they are waiting for the bailiffs to come and remove their will to live. But here, people did not rush off. They stayed for a glass of fizz or juice and chatted more, connecting faces to names that had previously lived only in Teams squares. After a full day of thinking and peopling, so many people still wanted one more conversation (and a photo in the ETF frame!).
Building professional identity and community in FE
In a sector stretched to the edges, we can’t expect to bring Glastonbury levels of gathering on a regular basis. But what feels realistic is committing to making moments of professional gathering less occasional and less accidental. Membership, community, shared spaces and shared standards offer ways for colleagues to feel part of something larger. Bringing professionals together, in person or online, isn’t a nice extra, it is vital for a healthy profession. But it must have tangible purpose.
In ‘The Art of Gathering’, Priya Parker talks about ‘the great paradox of gathering’ in that ‘there are so many good reasons for coming together that often we don't know precisely why we're doing so’. In Leeds, there were subtle but powerful ‘whys’. To remind people they are not imagining the complexity of their work. To let practitioners see themselves reflected back with respect. To strengthen the threads that make a profession feel like a profession. Purpose does not need to be grand, it just needs to be shared, named and held. And if you ever doubt the power of that, remember that a room full of educators willingly stayed afterwards, talked joyfully about teaching and learning – and were still all too polite to mention the spring onions.
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