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Common Awards (Theology, Ministry and Mission)
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March 2023 Bulletin

1 March 2023
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  1. Upcoming Deadlines
  2. Common Awards Webinars
  3. Student Elections
  4. Common Awards Student Survey 2023
  5. TEI Invoices
  6. Boards of Examiners
  7. Consultations – Step Marking, Misconduct, Classifications
  8. TEI Forum
  9. Academic Misconduct
  10. Curriculum Development
  11. Further Information

1. Upcoming Deadlines

1st March – Invoices issued to all TEIs (payment terms: 30 days)

2nd March – Common Awards Webinar: Should Christians Celebrate Passover?

9th March – Common Awards Webinar: What have animals got to do with Christian ministry?

10th March – Deadline: Ministry Team Curriculum Development requests

10th March – Deadline: TEIs to submit APL Credits and supporting documentation for late entrants

10th March – Deadline: TEIs to submit Module Registration Data for quality assurance checks for late entrants

14th March – Deadline: CAMB Student Representative Election closes

21st March – Deadline: TEIs to submit Common Awards Management Board (CAMB) Student Representative Election Results to Common Awards Team

27th March – Durham’s Common Awards team announces the results of the Student Representative Election

31st March – Deadline for TEI Management Committees to respond to consultations

31st March – Common Awards Webinar: Living God's Love Online: Benedictine hospitality in a virtual learning environment

2. Common Awards Webinars

Should Christians Celebrate Passover?

The next Common Awards webinar is on Thursday 2nd March 2.00-3.30pm, entitled 'Should Christians Celebrate Passover?’ and will feature a conversation with Debbie Young-Somers and Jon Morgan

In recent decades, it has been quite common for Christians to celebrate Passover meals – Passover Seders – using words and rituals developed over the centuries by Jewish people. This is sometimes done with the intention of celebrating Christianity's Jewish roots, or as an interfaith gesture. The history of Christian anti-semitism, however, makes this a deeply problematic thing to do. In this webinar, Debbie Young-Somers (a Rabbi at Edgware and Hendon Reform Synagogue) and Jon Morgan (an Honorary Research Fellow at Exeter University) will explore this question in depth.

The webinars are aimed at Common Awards students and staff but open to others with an interest in the subject areas addressed. Each webinar will include leading scholars and/or faith practitioners who will offer diverse insights into a range of topics that will directly relate to the core modules taken by Common Awards students.

Free tickets are available here:  https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/should-christians-celebrate-passover-tickets-533712226637

What have animals got to do with Christian ministry?

This webinar is on Thursday 9th March 11.30am-1.00pm, entitled 'What have animals got to do with Christian ministry?’ and will feature a conversation with David Clough, Cherryl Hunt, Sarah Lawrence and Joel Pierce.

This webinar is based on work done in the 'Christian Ethics of Farmed Animal Welfare' project, based at the University of Aberdeen and led by David Clough. The project helps churches and individual Christians think through their responsibilities to the farmed animals that surround them. In this webinar, the presenters will explore some of the ideas behind the project, and some of the ways in which animal welfare can and should feature in theological education and in the life of the churches.

The webinars are aimed at Common Awards students and staff but open to others with an interest in the subject areas addressed. Each webinar will include leading scholars and/or faith practitioners who will offer diverse insights into a range of topics that will directly relate to the core modules taken by Common Awards students.

Free tickets are available here:  https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/what-have-animals-got-to-do-with-christian-ministry-tickets-533739588477

Living God's Love Online: Benedictine hospitality in a virtual learning environment

This webinar is on Friday 31st March 2.00pm-4.00pm, entitled ‘Living God's Love Online: Benedictine hospitality in a virtual learning environment’ and will feature a conversation with Lucy Dallas.

Lucy Dallas, Director of Pastoral Studies with the Eastern Region Ministry Course, will lead this webinar on nurturing community in a Virtual Learning Environment, drawing on the ways in which hospitality is practiced in Benedictine communities.

This webinar will be of use both to Common Awards staff and students who want to think more deeply about formation and fellowship in online learning, whether in a theological education context or in the church more widely.

The webinars are aimed at Common Awards students and staff but open to others with an interest in the subject areas addressed. Each webinar will include leading scholars and/or faith practitioners who will offer diverse insights into a range of topics that will directly relate to the core modules taken by Common Awards students.

Free tickets are available here:  https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/living-gods-love-online-benedictine-hospitality-in-a-virtual-environment-tickets-547589854997

3. Student Elections

Candidates have come forward for student elections and each TEI individually should be holding an election process for students to vote on their chosen candidate.  Following their election process, each TEI then provides the Common Awards Team with a list of all candidates who received votes in ranked order by 21 March 2023. Once ranked preferences have been received from each TEI, the Common Awards Team uses a Single Transferable Vote system to identify the three candidates with the highest number of votes across all TEIs.  Results will be announced on 27 March 2023.

4. Common Awards Student Survey 2023

The 2022/23 Common Awards Student Survey will run from Tuesday 2nd May – Friday 26th May 2023. The survey will be entirely managed and analysed by Durham, with TEI-specific results shared with each TEI over the summer. The survey will be available to all students registered on Common Awards programmes in 2022/23.

TEIs are reminded of the following deadlines in relation to the Student Survey:

Sharing information with students: ASAP

Please contact your students using the email text provided in the previous email (dated 22 February), to give them the opportunity to confirm if they do not wish to have their email addresses shared with us.

Providing student data to Durham: 31st March 2023

  • Student Emails: please use the report available in Moodle (at the bottom of page with other registration reports for Durham (Student Survey List)) to provide the Common Awards Team with a list of email addresses (excluding any students who have opted out) for current Common Awards Students by 31st March 2023
  • Multi-Centre TEIs only: please ensure that you indicate which TEI centre each student should be allocated to, noting that no student can be allocated to more than one centre (by 31st March 2023). If no centres are indicated – which will be the norm for most TEIs – all students will be allocated to the TEI. Where centres are indicated, we will provide TEIs with centre-specific data (as long as response rates are high enough).

5. TEI Invoices

All TEIs will receive invoices at the beginning of March. The invoices are based on a snapshot of student records data from 1st December; all changes communicated to us before 1st December will have been reflected in the invoices. Please note that payments are expected within 30 days.

If there are any questions or queries regarding invoices, please contact the team as soon as possible.

6. Board of Examiners

  • The Overarching Board of Examiners are due to be held on September 4th (Summer) and December 1st (Winter), 2023. We therefore ask that TEIs hold their own Board of Examiners no later than 4th August 2023 (Summer) and 3rd November 2023 (Winter). This allows the Common Awards Team enough time to process the data received from TEIs, and resolve any queries, before the Overarching Board of Examiners. However, please do let us know if these dates present any problems for your TEI.
  • TEIs are reminded that they are very welcome to send a representative from their TEI Board of Examiners (normally the Chair) to the meetings of the overarching Board. Up to three TEI BoE representatives may attend each board. This can be a good way for TEIs to discover more about how the overarching Board works, and to see how we handle decisions about their students. The next meeting of the Board is due to be held online, on 4th September 2023 from 12pm – 5pm. Please contact the team if a representative from your TEI Board of Examiners wishes to attend this meeting.

7. Consultations – Step Marking, Misconduct, Classifications

A reminder that we would welcome responses from TEI Management Committees on all consultations by Friday 31st March 2023, and would be grateful if feedback could include opinions from student as well as staff members of the Committees. You may submit your responses by email, or by using the online forms available on each consultation page. Please only submit one response per TEI, per consultation.

A consultation on whether Common Awards should move over to a Step Marking scheme

A consultation on revisions to the Common Awards Academic Misconduct Policy

A consultation on whether undergraduate Certificates and Diplomas should be classified

 You can access all consultations from this page on our website.

8. TEI Forum

The next TEI Forum meeting is scheduled via Zoom for Thursday 27th April from 12pm-4pm.  Please contact Lucy Dallas (Chair) directly with any agenda items.

Forum members will be sent a registration form shortly.

9. Academic Misconduct

Please remember that academic misconduct report minutes should be submitted in a timely manner to the Common Awards team for review by your ULO.  More information on the process can be found here.

10. Curriculum Development

TEIs are asked to submit any changes to publicity or promotional materials alongside curriculum development requests in order to streamline the process of approval(s).

11. Further Information

The full 22/23 academic calendar is available here.

With thanks,

The Common Awards Team