Chair’s Presentation to Congress AGM 2009
Election of managing officers – by postal vote
You will have noticed that this year the election of managing officers was conducted entirely by postal vote. What are the benefits? It’s about improving our procedures. In theory, under the usual system, a member could vote twice: by post and then at Congress! We have also long felt that the turnout rate is rather poor – usually between 2 and 300 out of nearly 8,000 of us – so we wondered if a postal vote would improve the turnout. This proved to be the case: this year, the turnout was 1200—still a minority of members, but by general standards of democratic organisations like ours, this is actually very good—and the process stands scrutiny.
Minority Groups – increasing participation
At last year’s AGM, there was a question from the floor about what we were doing to increase the participation and involvement of minority groups in the Wheel – and I’m sure you are all too familiar with the external perception of us, in part justified, that we are too white, middle class and female. As National Governing Body, we have a responsibility to widen participation and I responded to that questioner last year by saying that we could and should do better in this respect. We have actually had an Equity Policy in place since 2005 but we do need to be more proactive. During the last year, we have had a look at this. After discussion and research on ways we could tackle it, the NEC made the decision last November to employ a company who specialises in helping NGBs improve their reach.
The starting point is to find out what we really look like in terms of membership, because although we all think we know, we need the evidence. So very soon, an audit of all members will take place. Have a look in the next Spectrum for how this will work. You will be asked a few very simple questions about your age, ethnic origin, your sex and whether you have a disability. Once the audit has been done, we will have the necessary information to take the next steps – for example, to see which groups we need to be targeting and how we can do it.
I’m really quite enthused about this and where it could potentially go and would urge you to participate in the audit. It will be conducted on-line, but if you would prefer to fill out a piece of paper you will be able to do that instead.
BWY Scottish Region
We now have a twelfth BWY region!
We have been involved in a dialogue in the last year with Wheel members in Scotland, who number nearly 200 and have a volunteer structure – but who, up until now, have not been represented on the NEC. They told me that they felt somewhat ignored and unrepresented. Last year, the volunteers in Scotland organised a ballot of all Scottish Wheel members to find out if they wanted regional representation. The result was a resounding yes. As a result, we now have a Regional Officer for Scotland and a regional committee.
We are very aware of the presence of Yoga Scotland, who are the Governing Body for Yoga in Scotland. They are fully aware of what has been going on and we are keen to continue to liaise with them and NOT to step on their toes in terms of our activity in Scotland. YS have expressed some misgivings on that front, but we have assured them that it is not about extending our reach or influence in any way. It’s about representation of our members in their own organisation’s structure.
BWY Approved Centres
There are currently four Yoga Centres in England that carry the title BWY Approved Centres. Another project in the last year has been to create an explicit set of criteria for having this status. The criteria include such things as:
- Yoga must be the principle discipline taught there
- Nothing should be taught that would be deemed unethical according to yoga principles
- Must be a non-profit-making organisation
- Must be available to disadvantaged groups
We have also made it possible for Centres to apply to the Wheel for grants for specific projects. The funding for such grants comes solely from income from BWY investments. There are fairly strict strings attached as well, for example that
- A BWY representative must sit on their Board
- The Centre must meet any targets the Wheel considers appropriate
Thus far, one such grant has been awarded – to the Yorkshire Yoga Centre in North Yorkshire. We have also had applications from other centres to have AC status and for grants, which have so far been unsuccessful.
BWY Awarding Body
This is one of our biggest projects of the last year and I’m very pleased to be able to tell you that our application to be allowed, in principle, to set ourselves up as an Awarding Body was accepted in November by OfQual, the government body which confers this status.
I outlined last year how being an Awarding Body would mean changes in our structure. Essentially, the AB has the BWY’s name on it, but is officially a separate organisation with its own committee structure. The Wheel will submit syllabi – from Foundation Course, through Diploma Course to post Diploma Modules – to the AB. This means means that those courses will be placed in what is called the Qualifications Credit Framework (QCF) – where they have to be to be nationally recognised.
We’ve had to review the content and assessment methods of the current Diploma Course and also to embark on a training programme for our Verifiers in order to meet the requirements of this new position. That’s really positive because we can always improve on current ways of doing things. It’s about raising the quality of what we do and ensuring that the Diploma continues to hold its place as the gold standard in yoga teacher training.
Please note that before the Awarding Body is set up, the membership will have the opportunity to vote on the new structural changes, along with the vote on becoming an Incorporated Charity.
Accredited Groups
We have been in dialogue with our Accredited Groups about the changes afoot when the Awarding Body comes on stream. Under our current accreditation programme, the groups teach their own courses, which are deemed to be of an equivalent standard to ours, and their students are awarded BWY diplomas. Under the AB system, anybody receiving a diploma certificate will have to have graduated from a course or Centre that taught that syllabus, not a different one. Our Accredited Groups decided that, for a variety of reasons, they did not wish to go down this route. Therefore we are currently working in consultation with them on a new recognition programme to take the place of the current one.
The new system is still a work in progress, but essentially it will be the creation of a set of criteria for external groups and courses that are deemed to meet a sufficiently high standard to be approved by the BWY, National Governing Body for Yoga.
BWY as an Incorporated Charity
This is our other major project of the last year and I’m pleased to be able to report that we have made a lot of progress with this. Changing the charitable status of the BWY to that of ‘Incorporated Charity’ means that we can operate more effectively in the 21st Century in a number of ways. For example, the Wheel will become a legal entity in its own right and can hold property, rather than its Trustees doing so – as is the current set up. This means that Trustees and volunteers are better protected.
The CEO has been working with specialist legal advisors on a new governing document which will replace the current Constitution. We have also taken this opportunity to review our committee structures and have come up with a new improved version! In future, the NEC will be split into two groups: there will be a managing/decision-making body, consisting of 6 to 8 people, and a Regional Officers committee. Regional Officers will be represented on the managing body to ensure that regional representation continues. What this means in practice is that we will be able to make decisions and do business much more quickly and efficiently. We are currently rather slow!
We are looking at significant structural changes here, and therefore the membership must have the opportunity to vote to give its approval. Our legal advice has confirmed that we will be required to hold a special, or extraordinary, general meeting of members. This will take place this summer. You will receive all the information soon, both on exactly what you are voting on – changes regarding Incorporation and Awarding Body – and the whens and wheres of the process.
Finance
The CEO and the Treasurer manage the finances of the BWY. This year we have changed our insurers and are now with a different company, Towergate. They offered us a better deal than before and are also willing to work with us more closely and tailor the policy to our needs.
Overall, we remain in a strong and healthy financial position, despite the current economic climate and although we are spending money on major projects and structural change we are confident that we will continue in this vein.