Later this month I will be at a conference on Leadership for Further Education at Lancaster. This relates to the Department for Management Learning. Previously there have been conferences on Management Theory at Work where I contributed papers on quality. There won't be another of these so the FE context is an opportunity to look at a 'practitioner'point of view. I did have a draft proposal for a paper for this conference but it was not accepted. See version on website.

I started looking at quality from a print company situation. Now working with websites and internet access I think there are comparisons with educational organisations. Not sure how this will fit. At the first Management Theory at Work conference there was a keynote from John Burgoyne on "The Virtual, Knowledge-managing, Learning Organisation?" . I don't think there were any conclusions on this. The discussion got lost in 'critique' as fas as I could make it out. However I think the ssues relate to education and companies.

The sessions of interest include-

Quality Management or Quality Confusion? Are Quality Management Techniques in FE Actually Preventing the Development of Transactional Leadership? - Michael Hammond, Dudley College, UK

Will there be any positive approach to quality?

Networking For Learning and Leading - Debra Ferreday, Vivien Hodgson & Chris Jones Centre for Excellence in Leadership, UK

Reading Management Learning I have come across 'anti-performativity' which seems to explain some of the approach. I'm not sure what interest there is in forms of e-learning that can be applied.

Action Learning – Learners’ Perceptions of a Networked Management Learning Activity - Karen Kerr & Lesley Whelan, Scottish Further Education Unit, UK

Developing Leadership Skills: The Appropriateness of Online and Face-to-Face Methods for Different Groups of Learner - David Silbergh & Kate Lennon, Glasgow Caledonian University, UK

My guess is that these will be presented as if there was an intention to offer learners something close to what they were looking for.