The programmes, initially developed for Westminster Kingsway College (WKC), highlight best practice in teaching and are particularly intended for those teaching in colleges of further education.

Designed to help all users develop planning and pedagogical skills, the Teaching Best Practice programmes are suitable for both new lecturers needing to acquire and develop new skills and for existing teachers as part of their continuous professional development (CPD) activities.

"The programmes, which use video to highlight examples of best practice in teaching and learning, focus on teaching skills and classroom management skills", explained Echelon's Hugh Garai, "As such, they are applicable to teachers of all academic disciplines."

WKC commissioned the programmes following some feedback following an Ofsted inspection of the college. Peter Armah, WKC's head of human resources and development, explained: "We decided to develop some programmes that outlined best practice around key topics such as 'effective differentiation', 'managing classroom behaviour', 'managing punctuality and attendance', 'integrating key skills into the curriculum', and 'making effective use of information and learning technology (ILT)'".

The programmes are suitable for team discussion, reflective practice, independent, and active learning. They can be used for curriculum team meetings, college planning and development days, subject-sector days, centre days, and cross-college days, as well as for one-to-one support.

Armah explains "We realised that other colleges face similar issues to WKC and so could benefit from these types of programmes. From there, it was a short step to deciding to make these learning materials available to the whole further education sector", he added.

According to Garai, Echelon completed the last of the nine programmes, each of which contains ten modules, at the end of 2008. Although the programmes were originally designed for WKC, other colleges - including a large college in the east of Scotland - have also been using them with great success.