NADP Chair's Update
March 2009
I am going to aim to update members once a month, while ongoing updates will also appear via the 'announcements' system from the office.
NADP is ten years old this year and the Annual Conference dinner will be our members celebration so get your frocks and tuxedoes out, everyone, for this event which we hope our President Mat Fraser will be able to attend.
The Annual Conference details are available - it is booking up fast, so early booking is recommended.
Evaluations from our conferences have been very positive and continue to show an extremely high rate of satisfaction as well as being very well attended. This shows that we are not only putting on high quality events but also matching members' needs. I am pleased to say that the conference sub-committee are continuing to plan carefully with an eye on what other conferences in the sector are being offered so that we avoid either duplication of effort or clashes of dates.
We are all very firm in our resolve to work in collaboration with others towards a very student focussed agenda, with NADP's slant on this being about assisting the workforce to develop their skills to achieve best practice.
We are hosting a birthday lunch in April, to mark our first ten years, so that we can further our aim of collaborating closely with other agencies and raising our profile. We have invited VIPs and representatives of other organisations such as SKILL, with whom we are working very closely, and the BDA with whom we are strengthening our links. Karen Docherty and Elaine Urquhart are invited (from DSADSA QAGQAG and the SLC respectively) and we hope they are able to take advantage of the opportunity to meet members of the board and find out more about NADP members' roles, of which the DSA is only one aspect.
We will use the lunch as another opportunity to promote working together to assist students to access their entitlement focus which is central to everything NADP does.
The first edition of The Journal of Inclusive Practice in Further and Higher Education is out now. You can order a copy of this and other publications from the office. Copies are free to members. David Pollak is guest editing the next journal which is on the theme of Neurodiversity. He has recently edited a book on this theme which contains contributions from NADP members and is being reviewed by SKILL.
You may remember from the last Annual General Meeting [AGM] my presentation of the action plan for this year. I will update you on developments at this years' AGM. As a quick insight: the board is progressing on each of the areas. We have enlisted the help of Professor Alan Hurst to work on the idea of finding a way to evidence the professional standing of all members of our organisation, coming as we do from a range of backgrounds. More on this - and other themes - at conference.
The executive board has a strategic planning event in April and is also meeting in sub groups to progress the action plan.
I was able to flag up the work of NADP at the Pathway's conference in Australia in December and there was a great deal of interest in the way we are able to network across the UK in order to support each other to assist students.
Paddy Turner has been representing the views of NADP at the DIUS-led Targeted Student Finance Stakeholders Interest Group (TSFSIG). It meets approximately 3 times per year and discusses any issues or developments related to student finance. Naturally, this includes the DSA and the ALF which are both of interest to members. The payment of diagnostic assessments via the ALF is currently high on the agenda and has, in conjunction with the reduction in the overall ALF budgets and the high level of claims made by NHS funded students, brought about a determination to review the purpose of the ALF. The TSFSIG are requesting involvement in discussions regarding this and the future of the resourcing of diagnostic assessments. As ever, Paddy is very keen to hear your views or ideas on this subject or, indeed, any other aspect of student finance that is concerning you. The next meeting of this group will be on April 21st.
I have also been part of consultations with HEFCE and EHRC in relation to the entitlements of disabled students in post 14 education.
The board is really busy. As you will have seen from the announcements we have co-opted some new members in order to help with specific developments but also because we value their general expertise. One area we are trying to progress is a smoother transition from entitlement to support in education to accessing Access to Work funding. This is one project that our new President is taking a particular interest in developing.
The Website and marketing sub-committee plans to survey members in the summer term for views on the NADP website, so that we can implement any revisions in time for the new academic year.
The Conferences sub-group is planning two one day conferences on the Multi-disciplinary team in the Autumn and we are already thinking ahead to the Annual Conference 2010.
As usual, the board would welcome members' ideas on what they would like to see in the way of developments or initiatives for us or for the sector, including ideas for Conferences.
Remember, we are just like you, we have day jobs, we care about the work we do for students - why don't you think about joining us? As always elections will take place at the AGM and you will get a chance beforehand to nominate yourself or others for consideration - think about it - make a difference!!!