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

31 March 2023
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  1. Upcoming Deadlines
  2. Student Survey - May 2023
  3. Student Survey 2024: Working Group
  4. Curriculum Updates
  5. TEI Invoices
  6. TEI Forum - April 2023
  7. Webinar Series
  8. New Common Awards Podcast
  9. Christian Ethics of Farmed Animal Welfare Project
  10. Boards of Examiners
  11. Annual Conference for Theological Educators 2023
  12. 2023 Seedcorn Grants: Extended Deadline
  13. Greening the Curriculum: May 11th 10-12 Online
  14. Further Information

1.  Upcoming Deadlines

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

31st March – Deadline to provide Common Awards Student Survey student data  

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

3rd April - TEIs to submit student email addresses for the Common Awards Student Survey

6th April – Deadline for TEI staff to submit expressions of interest to join the Common Awards Student Survey Working Group.

12th April – Launch of new Common Awards Podcast

21st April – Deadline to register attendance at TEI Forum

27th April - TEI Forum

2nd May – Common Awards Student Survey opens

4th May – Common Awards Management Board

5th May – Extended deadline to submit Seedcorn grant applications

10th May – Common Awards Webinar: Post-Colonialism, Christina Ministry and the Climate Crisis

26th May - Deadline for TEIs to submit Curriculum Development requests for programme and module changes 

2.  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 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 the 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. This information is also required 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 reach the reporting threshold).

3.  Common Awards Student Survey 2024: Working Group

The annual Common Awards Student Survey allows students to provide feedback on their academic experience (on areas including learning and teaching, study support, learning communities and student voice). The Common Awards Student Survey was launched in 2017 and has been running on an annual basis ever since. The survey is designed to provide TEIs and the University with useful comparative data (over 3-year cycles) to make and monitor enhancements to provision.

The next 3-year cycle will commence in 2024. The Common Awards Survey Working Group (which was established to help support the creation of the original survey) will be reconstituted to review the questions, and the administrative processes supporting the survey, in consultation with TEIs over the coming weeks and months. 

We are therefore looking for expressions of interest to staff in TEIs to join the Common Awards Survey Working Group. More information can be found on our website: Student Survey Working Group  Expressions of interest should be received by Thursday 6th April 2023.

4.  Curriculum Updates

Four new modules have been approved for delivery from September 2023. They are:

Which category each module fulfils can be found here: Level 4 Modules - Durham University, Level 5 Modules - Durham University, Level 6 Modules - Durham University, Level 7 Modules - Durham University.

The T5 Core Mapping Document (a core list of modules and the programme learning outcomes they meet, which can be found in the Templates and Forms section of the website) will be updated shortly.

5.  TEI Invoices

All TEIs should have received 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.  TEI Forum

The TEI Forum is due to take place on 27th April, this will be held virtually. The Forum will be discussing the results of the recent consultations on Classifying Certificates and Diplomas, Step Marking, and revisions to the Academic Misconduct Policy.

Please use this booking form  to register your attendance by 21st April.

Please also contact Lucy Dallas (Chair) directly with any agenda items.

7.  Common Awards Webinar Series

Join us for our next Common Awards Webinar "Post-Colonialism, Christian Ministry and the Climate Crisis" on Wednesday 10th May, 1.30-3pm.  Selina Stone will be joined by Dr Lisa Adjei and Dr Anupana Ranawana from Christian Aid to explore how global mission might be reimagined beyond colonial frameworks which promote western dominance. Special focus will be given to the climate crisis which disproportionately impacts the historically colonised nations and peoples of the 'global south'. Tickets are free and are available here

8.  New Common Awards Podcast!

With monthly episodes starting on April 12th, a new Common Awards podcast will give a new way to access presentations, conversations and training events hosted by the Common Awards team.

Over the past few years, the team has made videos of these events available, but we know that some people will find the podcast format easier to fit into their lives. The first episode, available from 12 noon on April 12th, will contain a presentation by HyeRan Kim-Cragg, first recorded in June 2020. Subsequent episodes include such speakers as Allan Boesak, Jione Havea, Esther Mombo, Karen O’Donnell, Cathy Ross, and John Swinton.

You can find the podcast via our new Audio and Video Resources page, which also includes links to existing resources such as our EDI videos and webinars, TEI good practice videos, and research theme videos:  Audio and Video Resources

9.  Christian Ethics of Farmed Animal Welfare Project

The Christian Ethics of Farmed Animal Welfare project has produced some resources to help TEIs to encourage students to explore the theological and ethical questions raised by the farming of animals. The resources include books, reading lists and suggestions of how you may be able to include this theme in different areas of the curriculum, including Biblical Studies, Doctrine, Ethics, Theological Reflection and Mission. You can watch a recording of the webinar which the team did on 9th March at https://youtu.be/0ayS8JbC9CI. More information about the project and the resources available can be found here.

10. Boards 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. We would be grateful if you could inform the Common Awards Team of the dates of your 2022/23 Boards of Examiners once the meetings have been scheduled.
  • TEIs are reminded that they are very welcome to send a representative from their TEI Board of Examiners (normally the Chair) to observe 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.

11. The Annual Conference for Theological Educators 2023

The 2023 Annual Conference for Theological Educators will be taking place on July 3rd – 5th at High Leigh Conference Centre.

The theme of the conference will be: 'Theological Education and the Environmental Crisis'.

We will be exploring 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. We will explore:

    • the scale of the challenges facing us,
    • the ways in which the environmental crisis might shape TEIs’ curricula;
    • the changes in culture and practice that it might demand of TEIs, and
    • the ways in which theological education and the churches might help foster deeper responses.

Speakers will include:

Norman Wirzba, author of This Sacred Life

Ruth Valerio, author of Saying Yes to Life

Martin Hodson, co-author of A Christian Guide to Environmental Issues

and Anupama Ranawana, author of Liberation for the Earth

We will contact TEIs as soon as bookings open later this month. You can find more information about the conference, including a provisional timetable and FAQs here.

12. 2023 Seedcorn Grants: Extended Deadline

The deadline for seedcorn grant applications has been extended to Friday 5th May.

Funding is available for research or development projects in any relevant area – any kind of conversation, investigation or experiment that can help us explore together the future of ministry and mission, and the forms of theological education that will best serve them.

This year, we are particularly interested in projects that relate to theological education and mental health, or to diversity, inclusion and belonging – but we will also consider projects in any other area of theology, ministry and mission.

Please read our Seedcorn Grant-Call for applications, and use our Seedcorn Grant-application form.

13. Greening the Curriculum: May 11th 10-12 Online

This event is hosted by the Theological Colleges Environment Network (TCEN) on 11th May 10-12 noon. It is intended for students, staff and trustees of theological colleges. We will get to hear about the “why” and “how“ of running environmental themes through our programme as a natural expression of college life. This reflects the shift from ecology as an ‘issue’ to add to our curriculum to being a defining element of our missional context. We’ll hear input from Professor David Clough, Dr Anne Tomlinson and Rev Dr Richard Tiplady, followed by breakout rooms and discussion.   

You can register via this link: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUod-CgqjIiGdZUyOqmt5NoabhhKCm6wfZF#/registration

14. Further Information

The full 22/23 academic calendar is available here.

With thanks,

The Common Awards Team