Concrew Training

The need to differentiate and develop a differentiated learning environment or classroom is widely preached – and with good reason too, but what does the term differentiation actually mean? More importantly what does a differentiated classroom look like and how is it best achieved? Effective teaching needs to be aligned to the needs of individual students. The teacher/trainer needs to take account of the individual students’ knowledge, abilities and learning styles and then deliver the lesson or course in a way that enables individual students to maximise their learning, development and progression. Differentiating during teaching and training sessions isn’t always easy. The more diverse the student cohort, the more challenging effective differentiation becomes. On a one-to-one basis differentiation is relatively easy but as the group or class size increases this becomes a complex and potentially daunting task. A task that presents real challenges, even for the most skilled tea

Twenty-three male workers at a Welsh University who were paid less than their female counterparts have won around £500,000 in compensation after suing for sex discrimination. Eighteen caretakers and tradesmen took the University of Wales, Trinity St David (UWTSD) to an employment tribunal claiming they were paid less than women on the same pay grade, including secretaries and office workers. The university's lawyers told a Cardiff tribunal that they would no longer be contesting the claim and agreed to pay out to the claimants and five more men on the same pay grade. UWTSD had initially argued that the pay difference was not due to gender but because of changes to the men's contracts. Paul Doran, the men's solicitor, is expected his clients to share a £500,000 payout. Concrew Training provides equal pay audits to help prevent issues like this arising

The law on flexible working changes on June 30th. The right is being extended to ALL employees. Employers must ensure that workplace policies and codes of practice are up to date, fully complying with these changes. The new regulations mean that employers will have a duty to consider all requests BUT will still have the flexibility to refuse requests on genuine business grounds. If you receive a request for flexible working, there are three important steps that must be taken:- 1. Arrange to discuss the request with the employee as quickly as possible 2. If there is likely to be any delay in discussing the request, the employee must be swiftly informed 3. The process of considering any request, including appeals, must be completed within three months of the date the request Our Employment Legislation workshop covers this and other recent/pending changes http://concrew-training.co.uk/home/support-for-education/equality-and-diversity/understanding-employment-law

Based in London? Running a non profit making organisation or project? Looking for funding? The London funding market is one of the most competitive in Europe, the recession and other local factors have increased both the level of competition and the demand for funding from all types of community, learning, charitable, social enterprise and non-profit making organisations. This workshop examines some of the more common funds that London based organisations can access, local, regional, UK wide and European. It considers how these funds can be utilised to expand, develop and grow services and explains how to find and access them. It includes information and presentations on European Funding, LEP Funding, Charitable Trust Funding, Social Investment, Crowd Funding and a range of other funding opportunities. The increasing role of the Local Enterprise partnership, new European funding streams, changes to the Skills Funding Agency budget and new social investment programmes all provide e

Keeping up-to-date with the latest in #EmploymentLaw has never been easy but the pace of change throughout 2013 and 2014 has been extensive and significant. April 2014 alone saw changes to: * #ACAS early reconciliation * Discrimination Questionnaires * Changes in Tribunal compensation limits * Financial Penalties in the tribunal * Increases in statutory payments * SSP record keeping obligations * Illegal migrants The expected changes to flexible working and health and work service have been delayed until June 2014. Add to this rapid rate of change, the growth of the compensation culture and the tendency for employees to be more aware of their rights than ever before and it becomes obvious that all employers need to keep on top of the changes to avoid facing an employment tribunal, or worse litigation. #Concrew Training's one day workshop brings managers and staff up to date on the very latest in employment legislation, rights, responsibilities and

#Concrew Training has now published details of its workshops on #bidding, #tendering and accessing #funding http://concrew-training.co.uk/home/bidding-funding

The art of communication is the language of Leadership. Even with brilliant technical abilities many people fall short by being unable to communicate them, effectively, to the desired audience. How you think, act and behave is directly linked to your communication skills, and in turn your communication is linked to getting the results you want. More at: http://concrew-training.co.uk/home/staff-business-development/personal-development/high-impact-communication

Traditionally, the public sector has been seen to fall outside the scope of competition law – or be a very low priority for regulators. But, with the changing nature of education provision, this is no longer the case. The regulatory body is paying more attention to the sector and recent changes mean that it now has greater powers to intervene if it's not happy with how colleges or training companies are operating. Many further education providers are unfamiliar with the risks they face; More at: http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/may/18/competition-law-common-pitfalls-colleges-further-education

A wide range of risks can be faced by any Board, Governing Body or Corporation in the public, private or indeed voluntary sectors. These risks may be summarised as: - Governance and management risks. - Operational risks. - Financial risks. - Environmental and external risks. - Compliance risks. Against this backdrop over-aching risks a wide range of equality and diversity issues need to be considered from both an employment and service delivery perspective, including: 1. The Business Consideration Do those at the top understand what is meant by the business or economic case for equality and diversity in terms of either employment or service delivery? What is the cost of doing something? What is the cost of not doing something? Success for an applicant in a tribunal can mean thousands of pounds being spent on preparation for the case and subsequent compensation. With the defeat often comes appalling local and national publicity damaging the corporate reputation of the whole organisa

Differentiation doesn't, however, matter quite so much with primary age pupils, says Alison Mackey, professor of linguistics at Georgetown University in the States. "The younger children are, the less important individual differences are to their learning outcomes," she says. "Researchers think this is because the younger they are, the more they rely on their 'implicit' learning mechanism. This ties in with the idea that there is a critical, or sensitive period, during which young children have an advantage over other learners in terms of ultimate attainment in language acquisition." As children get older, she explains, and begin to switch from that early ability to absorb language naturally to a more explicit way of learning, "things like [needing to develop specific] strategies become important." http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2014/may/14/differentiation-language-teaching-primary-secondary-students Looking for hin