Thank you to all of you who attended and took part in the Annual Meeting for Members held on 15th October 2010 and the Annual General Meeting held on 9th November 2010.

The Annual Meeting for Members was an interesting and productive meeting with Officers and Trustees from the Group presenting the Annual Report for 2009-10 and also discussing the way forward for the Group in the year ahead, as detailed in our Vision & Service Delivery Plan for 2010-11.

For those who were unable to attend a copy of the presentation is available here.

We asked members at the meeting to raise questions that were then answered at the Annual General Meeting on 9th November.

Out of much debate and discussion, members asked that the following questions were tabled at the AGM. We have detailed each answer from the AGM below:

Learning

Question: Do we have any understanding of the future developments in education?       

Answer: The combined manifestos of the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Government provide us with a clue to the combined agenda for the Coalition Government's policy for education. The Secretary of State has provided some clear pointers to the priorities for school provision with information on Free Schools and Academies. It is still very early to gauge what the implications will be for the Comprehensive Spending Review.

Question: Does the possibility of more school centred ITE present opportunities for the Robert Owen Group?

Answer: Yes in theory once we see the nature of any proposed school centred Initial Teacher Education. If the money were to be given directly to the schools as the bodies individually responsible for the Initial Teacher Education then the Robert Owen Group would have to develop a menu of services that could be bought into as appropriate. At present we are working hard to improve the quality and effectiveness of what we do and we await the future with interest.                  

Question: Have we considered what our response will be to the potential changes brought about in the current political situation?

Answer: This is a difficult one for us as we have yet to see the implications of the Comprehensive Spending Review for service delivery. We are here to serve our members and whatever changes come about we will make every effort to respond with a service delivery offering to our members.                                                                                                                           

Services

Question: Where are we with the Fair Literacy Campaign?

Answer: The Fair Literacy Campaign is currently on hold because we have run out of funding and we have to respond to the outcomes of the visit to Bangladesh in 2008 of the Robert Owen Group led by Alan Bloomfield. We believe that the next phase will involve the appointment of a Field Worker who will work with the Bangladeshi UK community to raise the next wave of resourcing.                                                                 

The Way Forward

Question: Will the Robert Owen Group be in a position to pick-up potential shortfalls in provision of services to schools, following the spending review?

Answer: Yes providing we are clear what our members want and what they are either prepared to pay for or alternatively be prepared to support us in fundraising.