Kenny's Story
Realising Our Goal: Building Networks and Communities of Practice
Networks and communities of practice built at Learning South West’s professional development events give heart to isolated education and skills practitioners across the region.
Kenny Grant is the Head of Quality and Vocational Standards at the Fire Service College at Moreton-in-Marsh in the Cotswolds where he is responsible for quality assurance in training and development at England’s only Fire Service College. His team are currently involved in a project to provide a Quality Assurance Framework and Toolkit to the local authority fire and rescue services in England, as part of a strategy to develop advisory materials in Quality Assurance and Qualifications for these fire services.
According to Kenny, who has been attending professional development events at Learning South West since early 2006, the programme offers a vital lifeline amongst learning and skills practitioners: “The professional development programme is doing much to inform my work at the Fire Service College and within the sector as a whole and can help learning and skills practitioners escape the sense of isolation and provide an opportunity for networking.
“It is very encouraging to be able to visit a regional organisation and talk to other practitioners about their approach in an open fashion – it gives me a wider view of the profession and its impact on the specific sector in which I am working.”
Kenny added: “Events offer a marvellous opportunity for updating and becoming more conversant with national initiatives. They reinforce and extend the information available and are a timely opportunity to recharge the batteries and get back to your roots – the Geoff Petty event made me reconsider ‘how will this look for the learner?’ in all I do.
“Learning South West’s events have a palpable cohesion to them and are good value for money. It is a lovely organisation and very professional.”
Kenny Grant pictured with Paula Jones, Learning South West’s Regional Learning and Skills Development Manager and Karen Wilkinson, LLUK’s Standards and Qualification Officer.
The Fire and Rescue Sector Vocational Standards Group (FRSVSG) includes representatives from local authority, airport, petro-chemical and Ministry of Defence (MOD) fire and rescue services, throughout the UK. It aims to attain membership of a Sector Skills Council (SSC) by March next year. As an advisor to the group, Kenny found the Learning South West 2007 Conference, attended by several members of other SSCs, very timely and helpful.
“It is vital for the Fire and Rescue Sector to become a member of a Sector Skills Council so we can continue to develop the national occupational standards, which form the basis of training and development in our sector, and set the qualifications arising from the standards.
“The conference was excellent and illustrated the challenges which face every group of employers trying to collaborate on standards and qualifications.”
Fire Service Training at Morton-in-Marsh