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Preparing for your College Review

Hannah ClarkeDavid Scott

Simon VarwellSimon Jones

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Learning Objectives

By the end of today you will:

• Have developed a deeper understanding of the college review process

• Have gained an understanding of the role of the Learner Engagement Questionnaire

• Have developed skills to enable effective engagement with your students

• Be able to plan for involvement in a college review

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Agenda

 14:10 - 14:30 How does the college review work?

14:30 - 15:15 The Learner Engagement Questionnaire

 15:15 - 16:00 Gathering student responses 16:00 - 16:45 Planning for your review

16:45 - 17:00 Conclusions and close

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2015-16 Review sparqs contactNewbattle College w/b 9-Nov-15 Simon Jones

Perth College w/b 23-Nov-15 Simon Varwell

City of Glasgow w/b 11-Jan16 David Scott

West Lothian w/b 25-Jan-16 Simon Jones

Dumfries & Galloway w/b 8-Feb-16 Simon Jones

North Highland w/b 22-Feb-16 Simon Varwell

Inverness w/b 7-Mar-16 Simon Varwell

Forth Valley w/b 14-Mar-16 Simon Jones

Document title Transforming lives through learning

Document title Transforming lives through learning

Preparing for your college review

HMI Margaret Rose Livingstone

Student Team Member – Julia Fitzgerald

Preparing for your college review Transforming lives through learning

Themes

•Who we are and what we do•Pre-review•Review week•Post review

Preparing for your college review Transforming lives through learning

Education Scotland- who we are and what we do …

Part of the directorate that deals with Lifelong learning and post-16 provision.

We review or inspect - •Colleges•Private colleges and English language schools•Prison education•Community learning and development•Career information, advice and guidance services•Modern apprenticeship providers

Preparing for your college review Transforming lives through learning

The context

•HM Inspectors undertake reviews of standards and quality in Scotland’s colleges on behalf of SFC

Preparing for your college review Transforming lives through learning

What is the main purpose of the review?

•to support and promote quality enhancement in colleges to provide the best possible experience for the learner;•to provide information to Scottish Ministers and the public on the quality of colleges and the education and training they provide;•to complement college-led internal review and self-evaluation; and•to identify excellent practice.

Preparing for your college review Transforming lives through learning

Working with colleges: three key principles:

•High quality learning:

•Learner engagement

•Quality culture

Preparing for your college review Transforming lives through learning

Evaluative activities

Annual engagement

Subject based or thematic aspect reports

External reviews of colleges

Preparing for your college review Transforming lives through learning

High quality learning

•How effective are the college’s learning and teaching processes?•How well are learners progressing and achieving relevant, high quality outcomes?

Preparing for your college review Transforming lives through learning

Learner engagement

•How well are learners engaged in enhancing their own learning and the work and life of the college?

Preparing for your college review Transforming lives through learning

Quality culture

•How well is the college led and how well is it enhancing the quality of its services for learners and other stakeholders?

Preparing for your college review Transforming lives through learning

Pre-review phase

Managing inspector:• meets Principal and Chair of the Board/Regional Lead, staff

and learners;• agrees essential documentation from college or access to

college intranet;• arranges for the return of the Learner Engagement

Questionnaire;• liaises over arrangements with College Nominee.

Preparing for your college review Transforming lives through learning

Review week(varies depending on size and nature of college)

3 x full days in college:• Monday all day• Tuesday all day• Wednesday all day• Evening classes as appropriate• Outreach classes as appropriate• Team meeting at the end of each day – in college (attended

by college nominee)

Preparing for your college review Transforming lives through learning

Arriving at evaluations

•discussions with learners and other stakeholders

•discussions with staff and managers

•observations of learning and teaching

•review essential documentation such as learning and teaching packs, internal review or self-evaluation reports, achievement information, including PI data

Preparing for your college review Transforming lives through learning

Discussion of findings

Friday – MI, one colleague and STM:

• discussion of findings with Principal, SMT and student

president.

Preparing for your college review Transforming lives through learning

From draft to final report

•summary evaluations two weeks after external review •draft report sent, accuracy check meeting, Principal and Chair/Regional Lead•publication of report on the Education Scotland website•development of a learners’ version of the report

Preparing for your college review Transforming lives through learning

What will the report say?

• Overarching statement of effectiveness;

Effective

Limited effectiveness

Not effective• Plus supporting statements to provide

detail

Preparing for your college review Transforming lives through learning

After the external review

• College prepares action plan• SFC determines whether follow-up required• College HMI visits college and monitors progress on

Main Points for Action and areas for development• Within a year – college BoM publishes response

• Annual engagement process by Education Scotland

Preparing for your college review Transforming lives through learning

What will the report say?

• Overarching statement of effectiveness;

Effective

Limited effectiveness

Not effective• Plus supporting statements to provide

detail

Preparing for your college review Transforming lives through learning

the principle of student engagement implies … that colleges … support the development of students as co-creators of their learning who take responsibility for their own learning … and … are involved in decision-making about their curricula, teaching and learning, and all aspects of the student experience.

- ‘Final report of the Scottish Funding Council’s Joint Quality Review Group’, 2008

Preparing for your college review Transforming lives through learning

Quality improvement and enhancement beyond the review …

Learners

Reviewers(HMIs, AAs and STMs)

Co-creators of learning

Co-evaluators of the learner experience

Staff

Co-evaluators of the learner experience

Preparing for your college review Transforming lives through learning

Annual engagement visits

Preparing for your college review Transforming lives through learning

Any questions?

MargaretRose.Livingstone@educationscotland.gsi.gov.uk

Preparing for your college review Transforming lives through learning

Education Scotland

Denholm House

Almondvale Business Park

Almondvale Way

Livingston EH54 6GA

T +44 (0)141 282 5000

E enquiries@educationscotland.gov.uk

 

www.educationscotland.gov.uk

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The Learner Engagement Questionnaire

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Learner Engagement Questionnaire

• Aim: To become familiar with the Learner Engagement Questionnaire.

• By the end of this session you will;– Understand the purpose of the Learner

Engagement Questionnaire– Be familiar with the content of the Learner

Engagement Questionnaire– Have begun to develop questions that will help

you answer the Learner Engagement Questionnaire.

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Important things to remember

• Need to say how you’ve consulted and how many with.

• Need to ensure that you engage with a range of the student body.

• Need to generalise feedback.• Learner voice needs to be central throughout.• Use the prompts that are outlined in the Learner

Engagement Questionnaire.

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Activity: Learner Engagement Questionnaire

In small groups:

• Look at the example response and think about its strengths and weaknesses?

• What would you change or do differently?

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Remember!

“The Questionnaire aims to capture and reflect the collective views of the whole student body across the college” – so the feedback gathered by your students’ association should be representative and balanced

Feedback that is perceived as being representative and balanced is more likely to lead to change and enhancement, which is the reason we have the review!

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Gathering Student Responses

In this session we will discuss the most effective ways to gather student feedback for the Learner Engagement Questionnaire.

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Consultation tools

In small groups:

• Select 2-3 examples of consultation and list the pros and cons of each.

• Consider how different students can be engaged via different methods.

• What would work best at your college?

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Surveys

Pros:

• Easy to collate or transcribe data

• Can reach lots of students at once

• Depersonalised

Cons:

• Data will not be ‘rich’

• We already get so many surveys

• Can be a lot of work to administer

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Focus Groups

Pros:

• Interviewer can interact and ask follow-up questions

• Data is very rich and contextualised

• Quicker than interviewing people separately

Cons:

• Small groups make it hard to be representative

• They can definitely go off topic

• Slower than a big survey!

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Student InterviewsPros:

• Extremely rich, detailed feedback

• Can ask questions that might get a different response in group settings

• Easier to explain the purpose and context of the engagement

Cons:

• Not representative

• Harder to get balanced feedback

• Time consuming

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Asking questions

In small groups:

• Go through the sample LEQ and come up with questions that are specific to your college and can be used for your response. (use the worksheet on pages 6 & 7)

• Think about what methods would you would use.– Would you utilise other sources?

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Using existing data

• Internal college survey data (Learner satisfaction surveys/pre-exist survey)

• Course rep feedback• Staff/student liaison committee reports/minutes• Outcomes of students’ association campaigns• Annual Engagement Reports • Previous Education Scotland review reports

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Hints and tips

• Use methods that you feel comfortable with.• Ensure you triangulate the data. • Use methods which are suitable for your

student body.• Use at least two different methods. • Make sure you have enough time to carry out

consultation. • Don’t do it on your own – utilise students and

staff to help gather opinion.

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Remember…

• It is important to consult across the college. • To leave adequate time for each stage of the

research. • There is no right or wrong way to collate

responses. • To keep feedback accurate, balanced,

constructive and depersonalised.• To get help from the student body or support

staff.• The Student Team Member is available for

guidance.

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Planning for your review

This final session will help you plan how best to get the most out of the review and the additional resources you should draw on to do this.

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Consultation Toolkit

• Aim: what do you want to find out and why?

• Target population: who do you want to consult with and why?

• Methods & approaches: what tools are you going to use and how?

• Partners: who would you involve?

• Timescales: what do you need to do and by when?

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Activity: timescales

On your own:

• Make notes within the consultation toolkit to assist you in planning for your review.– What methods will you use?– What information can you already utilise?– Who will you inform?– How long will you need for each aspect?

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Planning for your review

• Find out when the review is taking place. • Meet with others involved in the review. • Find out who the Student Team Member is. • Consider the challenges at the start. • Familiarise yourself with the LEQ.• Ensure methods are relevant to the student

body.• Utilise other students and staff members. • Utilise methods already being used.• LET STUDENTS KNOW IT’S HAPPENING!

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Utilising the outcomes

• What do you want to get out of the review?

• What will be the most important outcomes for learners?

• How will you use the results to make positive change within the college?

• Who will you share the outcomes of the review with?

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Thank you!

• Hannah.Clarke@sparqs.ac.uk• David.scott@sparqs.ac.uk• Simon.Varwell@sparqs.ac.uk• Simon.jones@sparqs.ac.uk

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2015-16 Review sparqs contactNewbattle College w/b 9-Nov-15 Simon Jones

Perth College w/b 23-Nov-15 Simon Varwell

City of Glasgow w/b 11-Jan16 David Scott

West Lothian w/b 25-Jan-16 Simon Jones

Dumfries & Galloway w/b 8-Feb-16 Simon Jones

North Highland w/b 22-Feb-16 Simon Varwell

Inverness w/b 7-Mar-16 Simon Varwell

Forth Valley w/b 14-Mar-16 Simon Jones