copied to Matthew Paul
It didn't take much to realise that the centre referred to in Matthew Paul's
posting was probably Hereward and only 5 minutes to check the likely student
and the facts. The student was in fact advised to contact other ACCESS
Centres and told that although the next available slot was mid January they
would be contacted if there was a cancellation. In fact the case was handled
very professionally and perhaps it would have been more appropriate for the
LEA officers involved to call me or John Goodacre to ascertain the facts
before making a post like this. Still, we are grateful to St.John for brining
this to our attention as it provides us with an opportunity to clarify the
situation and move on.
The assessment room at Hereward IS fully booked until 19th January but we
have been working with local universities to provide assessments at
alternative venues, unfortunately the university in this case has not been
able to meet with us yet to discuss this. So far we have made arrangements
with UC Worcs, De Montford at Milton Keynes and (just today) Birmingham and
I'll be conducting some assessments at Worcs and MK in 2 weeks that will be
administered through Hereward.
Alternatively, any LEA that requires an urgent assessment by an experienced
assessor in the Midlands and does not require an NFAC stamp on the report can
contact me direct. I'll take this opportunity to explain that I am leaving
'formal employment' at Hereward from next week but will be undertaking
assessments for the centre as a 'freelance' as well as being available for
assessments elsewhere.
Now, I feel we have responded positively to the increased demand and have
offered some practical solutions to speed up the process. The steps we have
put in place have resulted in 50% more assessments booked so far this year
with one fewer assessors (Irena 'retired' to Wales last week). With so much
'pressure on the system' and with the impact of Post Grad, Part-time and OU
entitlement still to come it would be constructive if HEI's, LEA's and
assessors could work together flexibly to resolve difficulties rather than
start an argument. I'm open to ideas, so call me Matthew and St.John if you
have any further suggestions.
warm regards,
Michael Trott
[log in to unmask]
Tel 01386 792617
In a message dated 01/11/00 St.John Skeates writes:
Hi all
This was posted on LEA Admin. I figured folks here might have something
to say on the subject :)
St.John Skeates
Awards Section
Bedfordshire County Council
-----Original Message-----
From: Matthew Paul [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, November 01, 2000 11:06 AM
To: [log in to unmask]; Skeates,St.John DEAL Awards Tm
Subject: DSA Needs Assessments
We are experiencing situations where students are being sent off to
Access Centres only to find that the earliest booking they can get for a
needs
assessment is mid-January. I realize that demand has grown enormously in
the last couple of years but, clearly, in some cases, this may have
implications for the students' attendance on their courses.
One particular student at an institution in the Midlands has been
compelled to travel back down to London for the assessment, which seems a
little
silly. The Access Centre to which she was referred by her institution
took the view that they were doing their best, however they had not even
suggested to the student that, rather than wait 3 months for an
appointment there, she should try other centres. Not very
customer-friendly,
methinks. I'm not saying that that kind of practice is widespread, but the
fact
that it exists at all is a little worrying.
Are any other LEAs or HEIs encountering similar problems? My feeling is
that the problem could be overcome if co-ordinated updates on
availability at the Access Centres could be sent to LEAs and HEIs at
regular, say
monthly, intervals. Perhaps the National Federation of Access Centres
could take on such a responsibility? (But then I suppose that not all the
centres belong to NFAC...)
Matthew Paul
Principal Pupil & Student Support Officer
London Borough of Richmond upon Thames
Tel: 020 8891 7588
Fax: 020 8891 7714
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
>>
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