BAICE 1999 AGM

11 September 1999, New College, Oxford

  1. Apologies were noted from Colin Brock, Kenneth King, and Joanna leMetais.
  2. The minutes from the last AGM were approved.

3.    Matters arising:

  • A BAICE day conference will be at the Institute of Education, University of Sussex, on Friday 5 May 2000.
  • The BAICE conference will be held 8 – 10 September 2000 at the School of Education, University of Birmingham.  The theme is Democracy and Citizenship.
  • A subcommittee has been set up to plan the WCCES conference to be held in London in 2004.  The Association thanked the London Institute of Education for offering to organise and hold the conference.

4.    BAICE presidents 1998 – 1999 and 1999 – 2000:  Stephen Matlin of the Commonwealth Secretariat was thanked for his active presidency over the past year.  Peter Jarvis will be president for the coming year, and he was welcomed, in particular for his involvement in adult education.

5.    ALSISS (Academy for Learned Societies in the Social Sciences):  Michael Crossley briefed the AGM on developments towards the launch of AFSS, the Academy for Social Sciences.  The initial plan to launch in November 1999 is still in place, but much remains to be done before implementation will be complete. It was noted that relationships with the Royal Society in Edinburgh should be established.

Relationships with the ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) were also raised.  The

procedures and terms of tenure for BAICE nominees (Keith Watson and Patricia Broadfoot) to the

virtual colleges for assessing grant proposals should be checked.

It was also noted that there is an ESRC competition for funding for training events, for which

the BAICE executive committee is considering making a bid.

6.    A list of current members and nominations for the executive committee was distributed.  The AGM agreed the list, including the nomination and election of Maggie Wilson as a new member of the committee, and Michael Crossley as a returning member.  Dawn Quist (resigning treasurer) and Caroline Dyer (resigning membership secretary) were thanked for their efforts while in office.

7.    The AGM received the treasurer’s report.  Highlighted were the small discrepancy in the accounts, the large payments to Elsevier, and the conference fund accounts for the BAICE 1998 conference.  The nature of the payments requested by Elsevier will be investigated.  As it was felt that the account balance should be used to support the society, new investments for this year have included support for students to attend day conferences, and the funding of a BAICE lecture at the Oxford Conference.  The treasurer will provide full reports with details about business expenses, and an audit will be held in 2000, in line with the requirements of the constitution.

8.    Membership report:  as at the AGM, membership figures were very slightly down from the time of the merger.  However, it was pointed out that the latest figure includes only fully-paid-up members, and historically, many members join at the Oxford conference.  A target of 200 members was proposed for the coming year.

9.    The substantive changes to the constitution were reviewed.  In particular, it was noted that:

  • there is a new category of membership for students and retired people;
  • the number of people to sit on the executive committee has been clarified, and includes the editor of Compare;
  • other changes were minor, including use of the word ‘Association’ rather than ‘Society’.

The AGM ratified the changes.  It was advised that the association consider incorporation and/or

charity status, as many similar societies are doing.

10. The editors of Compare reported on the journal.  Rosemary Preston has joined Fiona Leach as co-editor of the journal, and John Lowe is now book reviews editor.  Colin Brock and Ruth Aedo-Richmond were thanked for their efforts when they were editors.  Special editions to come, including the upcoming BAICE 1998 Conference issue and plans for a similar issue for BAICE 2000, were noted. It was also reported that a greater number of submissions has allowed greater selectivity, and that there is now a large reviewer database (about 60 reviewers) and transparent systems for reviewing.  John Lowe explained that he will be using this database to approach people for reviewing books as well.  It was noted that the International Journal of Education and Development acknowledges all reviewers used throughout the year in the annual final edition;the same could be done in Compare.  It was also noted that it would be helpful to publish the date when an article was submitted or accepted.   Graham Hobbes of Carfax presented a financial report.  The editorial board is looking at ways of involving the international advisory board in strengthening the journal.  Fiona Leach’s committed efforts as editor, and the work of her editorial assistant were recognised by the AGM.

11. The members of the executive committee were thanked for their hard work over the past year.

12.   The next AGM will be held at the BAICE conference in Birmingham on Saturday 9 September  2000.

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