01 October 2024
Joanne Leather MCIPPdip, education manager at IPP Education Ltd, shares details of this year’s Tutor and Assessor Training Conference 2024 and highlights its focus on quality and standardisation
IPPE, as an Ofqual registered awarding organisation, has a responsibility to ensure that our tutors, moderators and assessors undertake development opportunities throughout the year. Every July, we bring together our amazing teams for a conference of guidance and training, helping them keep up to date and develop the required skills to offer our learners the experience they deserve.
Networking plays a large part in the development too, as sharing knowledge and experiences enhances growth, but perhaps most importantly collaboration between the education teams allows us all to hone our skills.
The Tutor and Assessor Training Conference 2024 content was heavily focussed on quality and standardisation but the event, which took place both online and face to face, was also about the celebration of our teaching and assessing teams.
IPPE’s tutors, moderators and assessors are also working practitioners within the payroll, pensions or reward industries. In their educational roles, these individuals are far more than conveyors of content and quality; they are coaches, mentors, emotional supporters and a calm presence for our students. They dedicate their time to the next generation of payroll and pension leaders and contribute to these industries with their skills and knowledge. IPPE highly values these incredibly talented and caring people.
The CIPP and IPPE pride themselves on the culture the businesses practise and promote. Our company values are held in high regard, and we incorporate them into all that we do. The Tutor and Assessor Training Conference 2024 demonstrated these values with an itinerary that showcased our commitment to educating and supporting the industries that we serve.
Teamwork always plays a part in any event, with collaboration from the education, events, design and membership teams to enable the day to run smoothly and efficiently. Outside of these planning and execution stages though is the collaboration of all the teaching and assessing teams and the way they support each other throughout the year. There is a heartwarming sense of community and genuine care when we all get together.
Trust and honesty are the values I most appreciate. Andrew Pain was our motivational speaker this year. He discussed imposter syndrome and also spoke about psychological safety. At IPPE we promote psychological safety throughout our teams, believing that every individual should feel empowered to have their say and be respectfully heard. This value was demonstrated during the conference with discussions seeking the tutors’ and assessors’ views on content for future development of our products, services and teaching methods.
Communication is an essential part of everyone’s life in all its facets. I certainly couldn’t successfully fulfil my role without communicating with my teams. The teaching and assessing teams have built firm professional relationships through effective communication.
Of course, there’s always room for some fun and when I was approached by a couple of tutors with the idea of a light-hearted activity, I was fully on board. So, following lunch we all learned techniques to prepare our voices for presentation, a wonderful way to wake us all up and have a few laughs in the process.
Professionalism was demonstrated throughout the conference. Our dedicated events team managed everything venue wise, while the education teams managed the plenary and workshop sessions. Our attendees experienced a flawless itinerary that ran like clockwork. The event speakers were knowledgeable and engaging covering many topics such as standardisation, moderation and assessment strategies.
Striving for excellence is the foundation of all that we do in education. We continually seek feedback to improve, evolve and grow. Key workshops took place to reflect and discuss how we improve the student experience and engagement. We also shared developments in our tutor and assessor development programme which is available for professional growth and Continual Professional Development (CPD). Our CEO Jason Davenport often says, “Every day is a school day.” I believe this to be true as we are repeatedly learning and evolving, whether that be through academic study or through life experiences.
The event concluded with awards for long service, achievements and our Tutor of the Year, recognising the dedication and commitment our tutors and assessors have to IPPE and the education of payroll and pensions professionals.
Three years’ service
Rachel Akister
Sarel Daysh
Usha Madan
Jake Shergold
Five years’ service
Angela Clow
Harriotte McNamara
Sophie Chapman-Ledward
Ten years’ service
Julia Watkin
Linda Shotton
Andrea Musson
Fifteen years’ service
Mike Hollingsworth
Miloslava Mainstone Kalibanova
Twenty years’ service
Dianne Hoodless
Twenty five years’ service
Alison Ward
Sonia Grant
For this year’s achievements we celebrated the first cohort of Gateway to Gold learners. You may have been reading about Polly Sinclair’s journey through this qualification in the previous issues of Professional magazine. I also completed this qualification alongside Polly and the rest of our cohort to achieve our level 6 Gateway to Gold certificate in Transformational Leadership.
Congratulations to:
Ann Anderson
Sonia Grant
Ros Hendren
Vicky Hilton
Christine Lane
Joanne Leather
Carolyn McGowan
Vivien Piper
Polly Sinclair
Pete Statham
Michelle Sutton
Ian Walters
Tutor of the Year
Ian Walters received some wonderful feedback from students and colleagues he has supported. His students praised him for having unwavering patience, showing them support and guidance throughout their study.
One student wrote, “Ian is a remarkable hard working, passionate, knowledge sharing individual”, while another stated, “I cannot express how grateful I am for the incredible support and guidance you’ve given myself and the rest of the group this year. Your kindness and genuine care have really made all the difference”.
There were many more comments received which truly reflect Ian’s commitment to his students and mentees. Congratulations Ian, it’s a well-deserved achievement.
Another year’s training and development may have taken place but our passion for learning is still as vibrant as it always has been. Planning has already started for the 2025 conference and, as always, we are striving for an even bigger and better experience.
This article featured in the October 2024 issue of Professional.