S. . W. . Durham Train inin ing Ltd. The Road to Outstanding - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

S. . W. . Durham Train inin ing Ltd.

The Road to Outstanding – Trevor Alley - CEO NFEC National Conference Friday 5th December 2014

Key Steps to Success

• “Support and Challenge” visits by HMI
• Changing the culture
• A new appointment at CEO level
• Improvements in the quality of teaching, learning and assessment.
• A new format of CPD activities introduced
• Visits to other (good) providers
• Improvements in the embedding of English and maths
• Regular quality review weeks
• Introduction of Data dashboard
• Tracking systems developed and shared by staff, learners and

employers.

• Staff wanted to improve!

Philosophical Approaches

Create the right structure

Find the right people Face facts, but have faith Communicate Vision Competencies to develop & manage performance Coaching and Mentoring for Behavioural and Skills Development Whole Organisation Use Data from Reviews for Business Planning Encourage People to Collect and Use Data Use Action Research Approach and Celebrate Learning

Philosophical Approaches (1998)

Chaos

• Too little

procedure

• Anarchy
• Confusion
• Risk Taking
• Too many

connections

• Free-for-all
• Informal

contacts

• Gossip

Edge of Chaos

• Sustainability
• Knowledge
• Learning

Order

• Too much

procedure

• Too many rules
• Rigidity
• No risk
• Too few

connections

• Command and

control

• Formal contacts
• Isolation

“Support and Challenge” visits by HMI

• “We knew what we needed to do, but we were not making it

happen”.

Changing the culture

• All staff required to achieve a minimum of grade 2 with support given

where required.

• A 10 week CPD programme delivered - back to basics, covering all

elements of the learner journey.

• All staff with a grade 3 or 4 mandated to attend coaching sessions -

strength based personal change.

• A new quality audit process introduced.
• Weekly SMT meetings focused on learners’ progress.
• Management of performance increased and this resulted in 2 staff

being dismissed and other staff and managers leaving.

Ofsted

• “Tutor-assessors benefit from a comprehensive system of
• bservational support that focuses on learning and improving the

learner experience. They receive developmental feedback, and there are several case studies, which demonstrate clearly how standards have improved so that the almost all teaching and learning are good

• r better.”

A new appointment at CEO level

• Appointment of a CEO with Engineering and Ofsted experience led to

a further cultural change. Staff were better able to accept actions required from a CEO who had this background.

• Crucially, the views of the CEO were shared by the Performance

Improvement Manager, who no longer felt like “A voice in the wilderness” and together this formed the basis of strategies to improve.

Improvements in the quality of teaching, learning and assessment

• Work had already begun on these issues prior to the previous

inspection, led by the Performance Improvement Manager, Karen Raby, though there had not been sufficient time for the impact to have been measured.

• Case Studies were made available to Ofsted inspectors during the

inspection week, which clearly demonstrated the impact that teaching and learning and support strategies had on improving individual members of staff grades

• Two key staff appointments had also previously been made.
• A Data Analyst
• Learning and Development Adviser.

Ofsted

• “The quality of teaching, learning and assessment is now
• utstanding”

A new format of CPD activities

• This started with the delivery by the CEO of a session titled “The

journey to outstanding”.

• Sessions were designed to accommodate areas for improvement

identified during observations.

• Typically, they included topics such as the use of questioning,

differentiation, embedding of E & D, safeguarding etc.

Ofsted

• “..established a culture of continuous improvement supported by a

rigorous and extensive programme of professional development.”

Visits to other (good) providers

• Valuable insight was given into what that organisation had done to

improve their provision, much of which was transferrable to our

• rganisation.

Improvements in the embedding of English and maths

• In January, Ofsted announced that there would be increased rigour in

the inspection of English and maths , and the extent to which it is embedded throughout the curriculum.

• Delivery staff used a template to “self assess” the current practices

delivered as part of the CPD activities, and used this to develop strategies for further embedding these subjects.

• Resources were developed as a result of the above exercise. E.g.
• English Study guide for learners
• Marking guidelines and poster
• Study skills advice for BTEC learners
• Success rates in functional skills maths and English have consequently

shown big improvements.

Template used by staff

Challenges Evidence of good practice Areas for development/personal action plan Listening Spelling Grammar Engineering drawing standards and abbreviations Work planning sheets Aims and objectives Non-computer writing Essay/report writing Formal/casual speech Notetaking Personal – grammar, punctuation skills for VTAs Write in text language Slang words Using and understanding spell and grammar checks (laziness) Pace and clarity of speech Log books Technical reports BTEC unit 02/03 Standard policy to use and check initially Standard of structure and set up – every discipline Use basic sessions in communication skills for first years Ensuring the learners are aware of any specific technical terms UPK questions – have to read, understand then answer Technical drawings log book Technical report writing Work planning Expand on common terms – produce a glossary with detailed explanation of terms Confidence in own abilities to demonstrate to learners Over-emphasising – to knock learner confidence in abilities Awareness of technical language in discipline areas Very good achievement rates for Functional Skills maths and English including evidence where some learners have moved up 2 levels – statistics to show Very good identification of additional learning needs and support given to address issues Update of own personal skills – L2 FS maths and English tests Level 2 diagnostics The learners’ lack of knowledge or ability Learners’ opposition to written work UPK answers in portfolio Read – answer - write

Poster developed as part of self assessment

• Marking Codes
• The following codes will be used by VTAs to give feedback on your written work:
• ^

Word/s missing from the sentence

• Sp

This is a spelling error

• P

There is a punctuation error

• Gr

There is a grammar error

• T

There is an error in the tense used

• ?

Your meaning is unclear here

• //

You need to start a new paragraph here

• Remember:
• ALL work you do needs to be produced to the highest standard you can produce it. This includes written work,

as well as practical work.

• Use your English Study Guide, dictionaries, bksb resources and the recommended websites to help develop

your skills and always proof read your work before you hand it in.

• QUALITY MATTERS!

Ofsted

• “Learners develop excellent skills in English, mathematics and

information and communication technology.”

Regular quality review weeks

• Regular quality review weeks were carried out on a quarterly basis.
• Two part time Ofsted inspectors and the Performance Improvement

Manager carried out observations, interviews with staff, learners and employers, examination of data, learners work etc. (Mirroring the current Ofsted framework).

• Actions from this fed into CPD etc.

Data dashboard

• A data dashboard was created.
• The focus of meetings at all levels – board meetings, senior management

meetings, curriculum manager meetings and meetings with delivery staff.

• All data could be “drilled down” to individual learners, thus allowing for

action plans to be developed at individual learner level, if required.

• It reported on :
• current and possible success rates
• learners within 84 days of planned end date
• review and assessment dates
• attendance and punctuality etc.

Data Dashboard - Overview

Data Dashboard - Overview

Apprenticeships: Programme type and age breakdown

Apprenticeships: VTA and age breakdown

Apprenticeships: List of learners with unfinished frameworks (potential achievers) and unachievers

Ofsted

• “The tracking and monitoring of the work that learners complete is

exemplary and ensures that most learners make rapid progress and complete their studies well within planned timescales.”

Tracking systems were developed and shared by staff, learners and employers.

• Tracking systems were developed and shared by staff, learners and

employers.

• Students were encouraged to set and reflect upon their own targets
• n a daily basis (for full time learners). This has helped to drive up

performance levels, especially in practical classes.

Student tracking example

Students set their own targets and review progress against them

Date SMART Target SMART Target achieved If SMART Target not achieved; what prevented this? Write in the box provided. Yes No

Ofsted

• “Outcomes for learners have improved dramatically because leaders

and managers, tutor-assessors and apprentices make exceptionally good use of the tracking and monitoring system to ensure apprentices know what they have achieved and what they need to do to complete the next steps in their training and improve their work.”

Staff wanted to improve!

• None of the above would have mattered if staff had not had the

desire to be outstanding.

• All staff have worked immensely hard to achieve this result.
• Staff are passionate about their learners and often go above and

beyond their duties in order to ensure that learners achieve their maximum potential.

• They have fully embraced the actions required to improve, especially

in improving the quality of teaching and learning.

Next steps for SWDT

• Share best practice between staff in formal and informal professional

development, including coaching and mentoring, so that all staff can further develop:

• the effective techniques for checking learning to ensure that all learners have

understood and have made good progress

• their use of different teaching strategies, including discussions about local

and national issues and detailed and thorough questioning, to reinforce learners’ knowledge and understanding of equality and diversity.

• Encourage more employer involvement in progress reviews, to assist

in target setting to meet individual learner’s needs and further improve their progress.

Key Messages

• Demonstrable commitment from the top.
• Performance management.
• Use of reviews to inform improvements.
• Statistics in the form of learners names.
• Provide case studies at inspection where possible to provide

evidence of good practices

• “….learners at the heart of all that they do so that all learners can

reach their full potential. “

Questions ?