The Quality Standards for resource provisions

For deaf children and young For deaf children and young people in mainstream schoolpeople in mainstream school

• 10.20 am Welcome and Introduction, Cathie Finestone

• 10.30 am Why Quality Standards? Who and what are

they for?, • 11 am Using the Quality Standards to evaluate provision

• 12.30 pm Lunch break

• 1.15 pm Using the Quality Standards to improve provision and outcomes

• 2.30 pm Questions and summary

Programme

Starting points Why quality standards, what are they for?

• Review and development planning is an integral part of school and service improvement.

• It takes a variety of forms- External through local authority/ board/ national

inspection processes- Internal through the process of school,

department cycle of review, departmental review

- The reflective practitioner

Evaluating resourced provision; what is our evidence?

• How do we know how effective the provision we make is – what is our evidence base?

• What do resource bases do that should be evaluated? What questions should we be asking ourselves about the provision we make?

• What should we be evaluating within the mainstream school?

• Who should be evaluating the quality of provision for Deaf and HI pupils?

External

• The names and mechanisms vary across the UK

• The intended outcomes are the same

- Securing the achievement and well being of pupils

- Assuring the quality of what is in place and the capacity to improve

- Celebrating good practice

“ The inspectors at present are very expensive and a mob. Under the revised code they will be still

more expensive and still more of a mob.”

Matthew Arnold, 1882

Whether we are talking about a -mainstream school or about an

element of provision such as that for pupils who are deaf. The key questions remain the same

How well are we doing?

How do we know?

How can we do better?

Equality and Disability Guidance requires us to

• Narrow or close the gap

• Secure access and inclusion;

The world is paved with good intentions

• Deaf children placed within mainstream schools or within additionally resourced provision linked to mainstream schools may experience different forms of provision and different balances of mainstream/ withdrawal/specialist teaching

• What checks and balance are in place to ensure that it really can deliver such outcomes?

• How can we be sure we are using similar yardsticks?

Tests for self evaluation

• How good is your evidence?

• How well do we serve our learners?

• How do we compare with others?

• Have we listened to everyone in the school, including parents & pupils?

• Have we integrated self evaluation into our management processes?

• Is it a spur to action?

The Quality Standards are designed to

• Support schools and services in their self evaluation of the provision they make for children who are deaf

• Enable staff, leaders and managers to consider relative responsibilities and roles including how the teaching and learning of children who are deaf within the mainstream school will be supported and evaluated

• Help parents and carers to understand what they might expect to be in place within a provision.

• Support school and service improvement planning including their partnership working with children and young people, parents and carers and other agencies

Using the Quality Standards to evaluate provision

When we were devising the quality standards what questions did we ask?

• Why does the unit/ resource exist, what is it meant to achieve?

• Indeed why do support services for children who are deaf/ HI exist?

• Use of QS should be linked to the statement of purpose of the provision and any distinctive features that it has

Format

• 17 quality standards relevant to all pupils with sometimes worded specifically to take account of needs of pupils who are deaf/HI

• Exemplification of provision and data that might provide evidence of such standards being met

• Most schools/ service use traffic lights system but also then use exemplification to drive reflection and actions for further improvement

The quality standardsOutcomesQS1: Educational progress and expectationsExpectations in terms of achievement of deaf children and young people are high and there is a strong focus on raising attainment. Deaf children and young people’s progress should be at least similar to other pupils of similar ability and there should be evidence of any attainment gap narrowing

QS2 Taking responsibility and making a positive contributionDeaf children and young people take on responsibilities and make a positive contribution to the school and the wider community

QS3 Keeping and feeling safeDeaf children and young people develop good personal safety skills and independent living skills. The safeguarding policies and practice of the school meet the needs of deaf children and young people.

The Quality Standards

QS4 Social and emotional well-being• Deaf children and young people develop social skills, have good

levels of self-esteem and confidence and develop a positive self identity

QS5 Enhancing economic prospects

The profile of post school destinations of deaf young people is similar to that of all students

Leadership and Management

QS6 Vision and Planning

The school has a clear and ambitious vision for the resource provision that creates an inclusive ethos, high expectations and a commitment to improve outcomes for deaf children and young people

QS7 Financial management

The resources allocated to the school for the resource provision are well managed and effectively targeted on supporting the progress of deaf children and young people. The provision can demonstrate value for money

Staffing

QS8 StaffingThe level, qualifications, specialist skills and knowledge, training

and deployment of staff in the resource provision ensures that• Mainstream staff receive the specialist support they need to ensure

deaf children and young people make progress• Deaf children and young people receive the support they require to

fully participate in the life of the school and make good progress

Leadership and management cont.....

QS9 use of technology

Deaf children and young people have access to up to date technology that is appropriately managed to improve their ability to access spoken language, the curriculum, the auditory environment and support development of their language skills

QS10 Roles and responsibilities

The respective roles of the governing body, headteacher/senior school manager, special educational needs coordinator or additional support for learning coordinator and head of the resource provision are clear and known to all staff in the school, parents and deaf children and young people. Etc etc

Teaching and learning

QS13 teaching and learning• The resource provision provides specialist support, advice and

training to class and/or subject teachers and teaching assistants to ensure the effective teaching and learning of deaf children and young people so that pupils make satisfactory educational progress and any attainment gap with other pupils is narrowed

Using the quality standards

These are not designed for services/ resourced provision for resource bases to use in isolation from whole school improvement planning

Dependent on the individual school/ service

approach to SIP they would• Carry out a baseline audit of the resourced

provision( this is the total provision)

• Make a judgement using agreed criteria – inspectorate or traffic lights?

• Identify areas of strength and areas for development

• Link to whole school areas for improvement

Using the Quality Standards to improve provision

Activity: In pairs and threes

• Take two standards and consider the requirements

• Evaluate a provision you know in relation to these

• Identify a requirement or something similar to it that you would seek to improve

• Consider how you might implement this

Using the Quality Standards to improve provision and outcomes

Start from outcomes/ achievement

Not from provision

What is it we want to improve – then how will we do this