Read the latest Common Awards student bulletin
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1. Introduction
Welcome to the first, and pilot edition of the Common Awards student bulletin, put together by the Common Awards team within Durham University. We aim to bring you news specific to Common Awards students, including details of upcoming events open to students, and developments relevant to you.
We would hope to provide an edition on a termly basis or when we have information to share, but please do provide feedback on whether you find this useful and what else you might like to hear about.
2. Student Conferences
This academic year, we are pleased to announce that two NEW day-conferences for Common Awards students are being hosted by Common Awards. These will be in-person events, free* to students studying on Common Awards programmes at one of our partner Theological Education Institutions.
26 April 2024 at St Paul’s Cathedral, London
This FREE* day conference will be a study-day at St Paul’s Cathedral with N.T. Wright, world-renowned New Testament scholar, best-selling author, and former Bishop of Durham. Over the course of multiple sessions, he will guide students and answer questions on a variety of related topics, including: views of salvation and the eschaton; God’s creation and the new creation; apocalyptic themes in the New Testament; and how these matters inform God’s calling on the Church, in light of the Gospel. Students will also have the opportunity to see the cathedral and to meet students from other TEIs.
The Speaker:
Rt Rev’t Prof N.T. Wright is Senior Research Fellow at Wycliffe Hall, former Bishop of Durham in the Church of England (2003-2010), and was formerly Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at the University of St Andrews.
*Travel expenses not included.
For more information, please visit the Common Awards website Events for Students page. Students may also sign up to our mailing list here to receive a reminder when bookings are open.
9 July 2024 at Durham Cathedral, Durham
Students will come away from this FREE* day-conference with a deeper understanding of how to wisely and faithfully engage with matters of mental health. This conference focuses on two areas that have a rich tradition of study both in psychology and in the long history of Christian practice: hearing voices and depression. Our speakers will address, in each case, contemporary clinical understandings of these two experiences, their various theological interpretations, and also speak to the benefits and short-comings of each. Students will also have the opportunity to see the cathedral, the grounds of Durham University, and to meet students from other TEIs.
Speakers will include:
Rev’d Prof. Chris Cook, former Director of the Centre for Spirituality, Theology & Health (retired in 2022), qualified doctor, former Professor of Psychology, and ordained in the Church of England.
Dr Tasia Scrutton, Associate Professor in the School Philosophy, Religion, and History of Science at Leeds University and author of Christianity and Depression.
3. Common Awards webinar series
Common Awards is currently running two webinar series, which are free for Common Awards staff and students.
Environment, Theology, and Action Webinar Series
About these events
The background of this webinar series began at the 2023 Common Awards Annual Conference. There we explored the roles that theological education can play in enabling churches and wider society to face the multiple overlapping crises, including the climate crisis, that form the environmental crisis. This included:
and
As the conference was face-to-face, we committed to providing future webinars for students and staff and we are delighted to present this webinar series. In some cases the material will be recorded and available for subsequent viewing.
For further information about these webinars please contact Dr Emily Kempson: emily.s.kempson@durham.ac.uk
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Webinar Series
07 March 2024 1:00 - 2:30pm; tickets are available here
Join your host Dr Selina Stone (Durham, Common Awards) for a conversation with Dr Steven Horne, about Gypsy Traveller life and faith in Britain. Dr Horne has for the first time, articulated in writing, theologies which emerge from the life, faith and ministry of Gypsy Roma communities, an often overlooked group. Gypsies and Jesus: A Traveller Theology, was published in 2022.
For more information please see our Student Events page or contact Dr Selina Stone: selina.r.stone@durham.ac.uk
07 May 2024 1:30 - 3:00pm; tickets are available here
Dr Selina Stone (Durham/Common Awards) is joined by Rev Dr Carlton Turner and Dr Eve Parker to discuss theologies from India and the Bahamas
4. Student Representative Elections – call for nominations
Earlier this year you should have received a communication from us via your TEI, asking for students to nominate themselves to stand for election as a Common Awards student representative on the Common Awards Management Board in 2024/25. The deadline for nominations is Monday 12 February 2024 so please do send us a nomination form if this is something that interests you.
The Common Awards Management Board (CAMB) is a committee with responsibility for and oversight of the quality and standards of the overarching Common Awards partnerships and programmes. The membership of the Board includes students from TEIs who represent the whole of the Common Awards student body. Student representatives are able to contribute to Common Awards decision-making, policy development and the ongoing monitoring and development of Common Awards on a national level.
The Common Awards team at Durham University facilitates the election process for student representatives to the Management Board.
Your voice is important
~ Are you interested in being one of the Common Awards student representatives?
~ Would you like to have a say in the ongoing monitoring and development of the Common Awards on a national level?
~ Would you like to represent your fellow students and contribute to Common Awards decision-making and policy development?
If so, please consider standing for election!
Student representatives are elected for one year. The role of the student representatives is:
Please note that we will reimburse travel and subsistence costs for student representatives, and we will provide advice and support to the representatives throughout the year.
To stand for election, please complete this form and return it to common.awards@durham.ac.uk by Monday 12 February 2024
Elected student representatives would attend their first Common Awards Management Board as observers at the meeting on 8 May 2024, and officially begin the role in September 2024.
For more information please visit the Common Awards website. If you have any questions about the position, or the process, please contact the team (common.awards@durham.ac.uk).
5. Student Feedback to the Management Board
Common Awards students at all TEIs may provide feedback to the Management Board at any time, via either your own TEI student representatives, or via the Common Awards Student Representatives. The Board takes the issue of anonymity very seriously; individual students will not be named in any student feedback considered by the Board, and any identifying information will be removed before feedback is considered.
The next meeting of the Management Board will take place in early May. If you would like to contact the Common Awards student representatives their details are as follows:
Examples of the types of student feedback that it would be appropriate to be raised at the level of the Management Board:
o For example: do students feel there is a sufficient range and depth of modules available? Are the assessment methods balanced and appropriate and is it clear what is expected of students for each assessment type? Do students feel the programmes allow them to develop the necessary skills and subject knowledge?
o For example: are these processes clear and unambiguous to follow? Is sufficient information provided?
o For example: what things do students feel are going well and are there any areas that could be improved? Are there any areas of good practice that they wish to highlight?
We wouldn’t expect to take student feedback to the overarching Management Board regarding TEI-specific issues, such as issues relating to the resources, staffing or programme delivery at any individual TEI. These types of issues should be considered at TEI Management Committees.
6. Student Feedback – Common Awards Student Survey (CASS)
As part of the Common Awards partnership, Durham University runs an annual survey for all students currently registered on any of the Common Awards programmes which it validates. The survey provides you with the opportunity to provide anonymous feedback to your TEI. The results of the survey are shared with TEIs to help enhance the student experience.
The survey includes questions on the learning and teaching experience, academic and pastoral support, the learning resources available, and the student voice. You will also have the opportunity to provide free-text comments on your overall experience at the TEI.
Your TEI will contact you in March each year of your programme to request permission to share your email address with the University for this purpose (on the basis of legitimate interest, in GDPR terms). You will be given an opportunity to opt out of sharing it, and can opt out of completing the survey at any time without your responses being included in the dataset.
For further information on the Survey, please see the relevant Common Awards webpage.
7. Common Awards Student Guide
In 2023/24 we produced our first ‘Welcome to Durham University’ Student Guide for students starting new programmes with TEIs.
This guide has been created in response to the Common Awards Student Survey feedback, to help improve students’ understanding of the Common Awards partnership, the relationship between their TEI and the University, the role of the University in their time as a Common Awards student, and any key information they may find useful. The guide is intended to complement induction information already shared by TEIs.
8. Further Information
The Common Awards website contains a section aimed at students which you may find useful, particularly the pages on what Common Awards can provide to you as a student, and what your TEI can provide.
If you would like to contact the Common Awards team you may do so via your TEI’s ‘key contact’, or by emailing us directly on common.awards@durham.ac.uk
Thank you,
The Common Awards Team
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