Once we started drafting the next advertised blog, we found it was just getting bigger and bigger and it has forced us to change our plans. So over the next few days there will be a number of blogs laying the groundwork to bring you up to speed on some key topics. We feel that you need this information in order to make informed choices about how you want the network to proceed.
1) The funding and how it's divided.
In 2010 the Department of Education started a program where a pool of money was allocated to run Professional Development Seminars specifically for CRTs. Through discussion with the Victorian Institute of Teaching, they decided on an effective way to distribute and utilise the funds. The first step was to allocate these funds to regions based on the number of CRT in that region. This set the amount of funds to run PDs in each region.
Next they decided on who should be responsible for allocating these funds to run PD seminars. They utilised the currently running CRT Support Networks so the region's funding was divided again in equal portions based on the number of CRT Support Networks in that region. The leaders of the CRT Support Networks then became responsible for organising PD seminars.
2) Accessing the funding.
The funding is in the hands of 2 groups. The first is the CRT Network leaders who's job it is to organise the PD and apply for funding and the Vic Dept of Education who decide whether PD meets the criteria for recieving funding.
It's the job of the Network leader to talk to local Principals and find out what training they think local CRTs should have. They then have to look at what the principals say and see which areas might also meet the criteria for funding.
The next step is to contact presenters and get quotes on cost and a content outline for the Seminar. They then negotiate with the presenter on cost and content outline until they think it will be approved by the Department.
An application is then submitted to the Department and it is either approved or denied.
If it's approved, the CRT Support Network leader then goes ahead and books the presenter, sets a date, arranges the Venue, the catering, accodomodation for the presenter if required, etc. They are also in charge of advertising the seminar, taking bookings and getting bums on seats.
3) Recent Developments.
One of the drawbacks of the system is that CRT Support Network leaders are CRTs, not event planners and not management. This means some of us were having a hard time understanding the guidelines and submitting successful applications as well as organising everything else that goes hand in hand with running a seminar. This meant that some network leaders were doing the negotiation, submission of applications and all the other work that goes on with getting a PD to run, multiple times for each seminar that went ahead.
The Department has taken a couple of initiatives in order to correct these problems.
The Department has recently begun adding presenters giving preset content to a list. These presenters are guaranteed to be approved on base cost and the content to be delivered. Because venue, catering, travel and accomodation all add to this cost we don't yet know if it is an automatic approval provided it's reasonable.
However, regional CRT Support Network leaders have been assured that they will not have an application rejected because of travel and accomodation costs provided they are reasonable.
Note that it is not an exclusive list. We can still apply for funding for other Professional Development Seminars.
Secondly, they have begun to offer network leaders some training to deal with these issues and make the application for and running of PDs as quick and painless as possible.
4) Summary.
What this means is that the funding is allocated according to local needs as well as a set of guidelines made by someone 100's of kilometers away. It's a framework that makes sure that state-wide and regional needs are both treated as important. It's not without restriction though.
Although we have funding available we can't just run any PD we want using Department funding. There are guidelines in place because the funding was provided for training in specific areas so that's where it needs to be spent. We can tailor those to the specific needs of our region but we cannot go outside of them.
It also means that it's not a bottomless pit from which to draw funds. We have a specific amount of money to spend and how we spend it is directly related to how many seminars we get. The more we spend on each seminar, the fewer seminars we can run. For our network this means a lot of organization, experimentation and penny-pinching to make sure we get the absolute maximum out of this funding as possible.
Hopefully this gives you some idea of how it all works and what's been going on behind the scenes for the past year.
Mel.
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