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!