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Working in Partnership for Quality Improvement
John Gush and Chris Berry
The findings so far
The project brief
The project is funded by LSIS
It should take account of 2007 study that identified the benefits to colleges and learners of partnership working
It should explore these benefits further, in particular the way in which they contribute to quality improvement
How we went about this exploration
The questionnaire
The follow up conversations
Interviewing the partners
The conference
The case studies
What is still to do?
Gather information from the conference workshops
Conclude the case studies
Take account of LSC data on the “improving choices” process on going in the East of England and other regions – not yet received
Results from the questionnaire Who did we ask?
Natspec member colleges that are currently funded by the LSC
There are 70 member colleges all together
Of which 56 are funded by the LSC
There is one LSC funded ISC that is not in Natspec
How many responded?
Of the 56 colleges asked to respond
51 responded
92%
What did their responses tell us?
There is a wide range of partnership working that takes place in ISCs
Partnerships with other providers for curriculum delivery
Partnerships for community engagement and work experience
Partnerships around training and CPD
What else did their responses tell us?
The value of professional partnerships aimed at quality improvement
The impact of partnership working on learners
The benefits and difficulties of operating partnerships
In particular the issue of quality assurance
How many ISCs use partnerships to support curriculum delivery?
100% of respondents use partners to support curriculum delivery
The range of partnerships include: GFEs, ACL providers, work placements for experience or work shadowing, schools, sport, arts, crafts
25% of respondents use partners to support curriculum delivery as a central and defining aspect of their curriculum delivery
Many ISCs work with more than one GFE partner
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A few of the many other partners Health clubs Charities, schools CADS-SPORTS Young Enterprise, Adullam (drugs& alcohol) Virtual College Medway boat community Hevel Harriers Drama Co plaster work Nat Trust furniture-making Swindon Advocacy Movement Worshipful Co. Cooks Care Homes
Sheepdog trainer Lighthouse Project (Halesowen) Future Skills Dudley Lunch On Run (Training) Remploy, Tower Croft Project Film Theatre & TV Cos Bnei Akavia RDA group Stockport Youth Action "Improving Choices" (LSC) OWL project café & recycling Ian Karten Centre Garden Centres
The % of ISC students engaged in partnership provision
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The number of ISC students engaged in partnership provision
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The number of partnerships that each ISC works with
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Some of the benefits for students
individual students developing social and communication skills
Expands range of options for learners 'real work' experience opportunities
We are able to offer a very wide range of courses unachievable without partnership with GFEs
positive feedback from learners, keen!!
Some of the difficulties in operating delivery partnerships
establishing a partnership with those not interested
lack of sufficient expertise in partner organisations
LLDD not always seen as important area
Overall costs are very high
no direct control of timetabling (inflexibility) changes
learning who to talk to
Do the students achieve better in partnership arrangements?This question produced a very mixed response,
possibly the question was too loose to answer with clarity
13 = not enough evidence to give a clear response
12 = yes
10 = no
6 = not applicable
5 = similar achievements from those in partnership to those who are not
No
Gut feel - sorry to say this but no. We work hard at the partnerships but I would say that generally there is no difference in achievements. There is however the enhancement and the experiences of attending other providers which can be invaluable
No - they just achieve a qualification that is appropriate to their individual needs
No difference
Similar. Pass rates at [GFE] within 2% either way of [ISC]. Non-accredited learning is less for [GFE] compared with [ISC]
Not better - just achieve in courses that we are not able to provide but which meet the needs of the particular student
Partnerships are formed around individually identified needs matched to identified opportunities. Success is measured by benefit to learner identified in ILP.
Students from [ISC] gain external qualifications which they would not be able to gain otherwise. Students from [GFE] gain real work practical experience which they could not gain at their own college.
Yes
In some instances the 'partnership course' is used as a means of induction to mainstream. This means that when students move to mainstream they are more likely to be ready to engage. In my experience students who engage in a 'partnership course' often go on to take a higher level course post [ISC]
bigger community scene = better chance of success
Yes but often in those softer areas of learning, confidence, self esteem, social skills, coping skills etc etc. The different learning arenas I believe provides increased motivation and increased likelihood of generalisation of learning
Yes
the strength of partnership delivery is the explicit "commissioning" of course elements which draws together programmes towards an identified student outcome sometimes more coherently.
Yes, though that is not BETTER as the external colleges just provide the courses not provided at [ISC]
OWL “improving choice” project attendees doing INCREDIBLY well. Café provides a real location.
Quality assurance in partner organisationsSome problems were reported regularly
Some will not have us in so we ask for copies of their observation and data records. Not ideal.
not happy with the quality assurance arrangements at GFE
Teacher observation information not shared
No formalised OTL of THEIR provision. "Thank you, you can go now" atmosphere
QA has been very patchy and informal
The only option, if dissatisfied, is to withdraw the learners
Quality assurance in partner organisations (cont)
But there is also some very good practice
combined observations, [ISC] observes its own support worker within GFE lesson, partner GFE observes learning support staff - findings shared
Paired OTL
joint formal observation and feedback
We have found that our grades are trusted by [GFE] staff
So - does partnership working enhance quality improvement?
There were 48 responses to this question
1 = no, but …
1 = doubt it
1 = numbers too small to comment
2 = in some respects
43 = yes
The professional partnerships that make it all possible
this is impossible without partnerships
Huge benefits and no downside to the partnerships
PRD activity has been most helpful
help to see wood for the trees
Good input into local disability agendas
Peer Review & Development is HUGELY beneficial
less isolation, networking, sharing of good practice
Professional partnerships (cont)
Improvement in adopted processes feeding into the continued quality improvement of the College
PRD - really good rigour!
strong desire to work together to share good practice
Positive-exposure - breaks the organisational bubble factor
The college has a more robust QI system
helped to identify areas of weakness
"not being alone"
How many colleges have partnership agreements? Too many said No
48 responded
32 = yes
14 = no
2 = n/a
Two additional aspects of partnership
Training for partner staff
25 out of the 51 respondents reported that they were engaged in staff training for their partner organisations
Some examples of training for partner staff
Specialist autism training for GFE teaching staff
Plymouth University - staff development
Great Ormond St + Uni students
VI training to partners
Sign language teaching
AAC training, dual-training
Police & Soc Wk trainee places
Partnerships with LA etc
26 out of the 51 responded that they had developed partnerships with their LA
Partnership working with LAs is getting under way
12 colleges reported involvement in the 14-19 partnerships
6 colleges reported involvement in LDPBs
3 colleges reported involvement with PCTs and health authority networks
A further 8 assorted partnerships were reported
But …
No to Local Authority - not 14-19 Board nor LDPB - CAN'T BREAK IN!!
NO MOVEMENT!
CHALLENGING!
REAL CONCERN!