Tutor News Autumn Term Edition
SEPTEMBER 2026
WELCOME TO THE OUR AUTUMN EDITION Welcome to the Autumn edition of the Tutor News eMagazine. It is very exciting to be so close to the new 2026/27 academic year. We have so many new developments to look forward to this year and, although some changes are understandably scary, we know you, as our teaching and learning staff, will be brilliant as always. We have new CPD workshops, new programmes, new partners and new locations. We will continue to grow our learner numbers across both BCP and Dorset, ensuring that we engage with the hardest to reach learners as well as those in the hardest to reach locations. Watch this space!
BESPOKE OFFERS FOR TUTORS IN THE HAIR, BEAUTY AND SPA SALONS To book an appointment please text 0785 445963 or email us at salons@salbcp.com
Tutor News Autumn Term Edition
Attendance on a face-to-face workshop must be booked at least 48 hours in advance. To book, please email Baylie at bhart@salbcp.com
QUALITY ASSURANCE
As the new academic year begins, there will be a focus on Ofsted readiness. Every development or improvement we make is for our learners every day, and not ‘just’ for Ofsted. However, the reality is that an inspection is due, and there is a new framework called the ‘Toolkit’ that we all need to be prepared for. As a reminder, ‘What tutors need to know’ about the new Toolkit is on the StaffHub Quality Assurance training - Ofsted Toolkit.pptx along with a number of other training presentations. What is new is the 2026/7 CPD calendar. Following our termly quality moderation activity, face-to-face workshops have been planned. CPD Calendar for Autumn Term 2026 You can now book onto the following workshops: Title
Date
Venue
Time
Facilitator
Mini Symposium
21.8.26
PALC – Rm 1
10.30-12.30
Baylie Hart
Ofsted Toolkit - what this means for tutors
4.9.26
DALC – Rm 5
10.30-12.30
Baylie Hart
Maximising the use of your LSA
20.10.26
KP – Rm 2
10.00-12.00
Laura West & Becca King
Assessment for Learning and Re-capping
24.11.26
KP – Rm 5
9.30-11.30
Laura West & Becca King
Gateway Portfolio Building
10.12.26
KP – Rm 5
Gateway Portfolio Building
10.12.26
KP – Rm 1
5/7/2026
Nicky Payne
Sharing Good Practice
9.12.26
PALC – Hair Salon
10/12/2026
Baylie Hart
Assessing, Feedback and Observing Learners
5.11.26
DALC Rm 5
10/12/2026
Michelle Small
Assessing, Feedback and Observing Learners
9.11.26
KP Rm 4
1/3/2026
Michelle Small
1.30-3.30
Nicky Payne
Tutor News Autumn Term Edition
Over Easter, we made some changes to room layouts in our classrooms across our centres. We have started to see the impact of this and benefits to learners with more active learning activities and more general engagement from learners. It has been really great to see lots of smiling faces and laughter in classes! The Quality Assurance section in the Staff Hub is filling up. Here you will find all Quality Assurance related information, training and opportunities. For any tutor delivering online classes in 2026/27, you will be required to watch the Online Learning PowerPoint before your course starts. All CPD and training can be found here: Quality Assurance: For those wishing to extend their skills and knowledge about teaching online, there is an excellent Online Teaching course on Open Learn (Open University) that is free for educators: Take your teaching online | OpenLearn - Open University
START OF YEAR EVENT We are excited to be holding our Start of Year event on September 9th from 10am-1pm. This is a tradition for Skills and Learning, but this year it has had a bit of a revamp. If you are an active tutor, you should have by now received your invitation from your manager. Following positive feedback across the board for the Exceptional Teaching Symposium held in March, we have decided to follow a similar model for this event. You will be spending more time in your teams with your managers so all of the content will be relevant to you and your teaching practice.
Tutor News Autumn Term Edition
CURRENT NEWS OR PLANS FOR NEW INITIATIVES OR PARTNERSHIPS At the beginning of September, there is a free taster week in both Dorchester and Weymouth. This is to show off what brilliant courses potential learners can enrol in the area. We are expecting our shiny new Course Guide any time soon, so look out for that in our centres, libraries and community centres. Our APMs and BEOs have been busy working with partners across BCP and Dorset. Some of this partnership working has resulted in: Beauty workshops for the Virtual School; maths and English for care leavers in Weymouth; income generating AI training for employees of solicitors and the YMCA in Poole. We are also expanding some of our programmes to new locations in Dorset. The BEOs have been working with the town council in Lyme Regis to secure fantastic free venues in the town and on the seafront where we plan to deliver Art, Languages and Creative Writing courses, as well as working with a community group in the area who would like us to deliver ESOL to their members. You may have seen on social media one of our BEOs has been very busy regularly attending libraries, community centres and churches across BCP every month. By doing this, he is able to connect with many existing and potential learners, sharing opportunities to attend courses or hear about our Connect to Work programme. If you see him out and about, stop by and say hello – he will be the one in the SAL T-shirt!
Tutor News Autumn Term Edition
TUTOR DILEMMA SECTION In this section, we are inviting tutors to submit any dilemmas they might have. This might be a teaching dilemma or something more operational within one of the other teams, such as IT. We will then ask the most relevant members of the team to provide the answer in the following edition. Thank you to those who sent in their dilemmas. Please keep sending them in.
I often feel pressured to act as a bit of a counsellor when adult learners in my class face outside life pressures (childcare issues, work stress, financial strain), blurring the line between tutor and support worker/friend. How can I manage this as I feel there is a blurred line and have to balance my responses carefully? Answer: Being adult education tutors, especially where you will have been teaching the same adults for months, or even years, it is very difficult to navigate that blurred line between tutor and friend. You will have built up relationships with these learners and become to know them and their lives. However, it is very important that you maintain that professional boundary. Just because you and a learner see the relationship as one thing, someone else could see it as another. Strategies you can use are: Set out the boundaries and what your role is in the induction or classroom contract at the start of the course.
Tutor News Autumn Term Edition
TUTOR DILEMMA SECTION Define your exact communication windows and stick to them. Only use SAL communication channels e.g. Teams chat. You should not have learner’s personal numbers and you should not be communicating with them about anything other than their immediate course or associated activity such as exams. You should not be communicating with learners once they have finished their course with you. Remember – they are SAL learners not your learners! Apply the same communication rule to every learner without exception. If a learner crosses the above boundaries, validate their concerns without asking for more detail, shift the focus back to their studies and refer them to the appropriate person where appropriate, such as Learner Support or Safeguarding. If you are unsure or worried, please speak to your line manager.
To submit your dilemmas or if you want to make any suggestions or feedback on the Tutor News, please email Baylie at bhart@salbcp.com
RECRUITMENT OPPORTUNITIES At the time of writing, we have a vacancy within Skills and Learning Counselling team, which can be found here on the BCP recruitment website: Jobs and careers with BCP Council
Tutor News Autumn Term Edition
ADULT EDUCATION PUZZLE