We commissioned research in 2021 to understand the role of Advanced Practitioners (APs) in supporting their colleagues during the pandemic.
The AP role is a wide ranging one and the pandemic presented different challenges for them and their organisations. Nevertheless three factors emerged to maximise the potential for APs to succeed. This included strong communities of practice, an organisational culture with shared values that promoted self-efficacy during difficult times and virtual spaces that were specifically curated to supporting APs.
We commissioned the to better understand how Further Education (FE) providers use Advanced Practitioner-type roles to improve Teaching, Learning and Assessment (TLA). While Advanced Practitioners (APs) have been used in various guises across the FE and skills sector and anecdotal commentary describes these roles as being beneficial to the development of practitioners and useful in the improvement of TLA, there is limited current research or evaluation of these roles in practice.
The presents an overview of the results of in-depth case studies and a survey at 19 provider organisations. The research outlines the use and perceived impact of Advanced Practitioners to date, highlights effective practice, and provides practical illustrations and learning points for others seeking more effective ways to work with teachers, coaches, assessors and trainers to develop their practice.