Who and what is the Learning Improvement
Service?
The Learning Improvement Service was set up by
Phil Hatton (read about Phil
here),
an
ex-Ofsted
HMI and National Adviser. Through his extensive experience in
leading inspections, surveys, good practice, advisory work and
improvement consultancy, Phil has a unique and wide
understanding of best practice in the Further Education
sector, particularly in colleges and in work-based learning.
He is
utilising
his knowledge to help colleges and other
providers of training improve the learning experience they
give to their learners. The LIS only wants to work with those
who have a real will to improve their provision, by
establishing where you are now and where you would like to be
in the future. We do not intend to just help to ‘patch you up’
to get you through an inspection, but to help you make
sustainable improvements. We use only the best people, who
know what they are doing, because they have done it
themselves. Below is a brief summary of the main ways that we
can support you (however, please contact us if you require
something else not listed below):
Consultancy support to improve key aspects of your provision
- consultancy support to cover key
aspects of quality improvement systems such as self-assessment
reporting, position statements, improvement planning,
observation of teaching, learning and assessment, sharing of
good practice, course reviews and evaluation, the user voice
and being prepared for short or full Ofsted Inspections. Phil
can also help you to improve English and maths and ensure that
your safeguarding is exemplary.
Providing
a ‘critical friend’ service
to check and validate
self-assessment, observations of teaching and other key
quality processes such as course reviews – confirmation that
you are moving in the right direction – we’ll work with you to
confirm you are doing the right things in the right way,
responding specifically to your needs, keeping you on target
to improve your provision. This is one of the key areas of our
work particularly from September through to February. Phil
will also provide you with support by email or phone if needed
prior to and during inspections.
Safeguarding, Prevent
and British Values Reviews –
Phil has developed real expertise
in what the best practice of the sector is and can work with
you over two days to check out every aspect and leave you with
a position statement of where you are and what you can do to
be outstanding. Phil can also provide bespoke training and
materials to raise awareness of staff, governors and learners
Apprenticeships and
subcontracting
– Phil knows all there is to know about these two areas and has helped
transform some of the biggest college and worst performing
providers in terms of their success rates. The ideal scenario
is a five day visit to check and sample how you do things,
suggest improvements and provide you with the resources
needed, finishing with a half-day staff development that is
bespoke to your improvement needs. Please contact Phil as long
in advance as possible to get time allocated for this
Internal inspection or
review of areas requiring improvement
- a
tried and tested way to improve an area is to first gain an
informed view of exactly where that area is in terms of
strengths and weaknesses, using an expert with extensive
inspection experience. Unlike an Ofsted inspection, all
feedback to staff and managers observed in an area is given
constructively to help improve practice for the benefit of
learners (while also giving you robust evidence for your OTLA
system, SAR and QIP). An internal review could be for an area
of learning or for a cross-college aspect such as
safeguarding, equality and diversity, or course reviews. All
consultants undertaking this work are personally known to Phil
Hatton as to their ability to do so. The LIS will only conduct
such work when they have the right person to do it (often Phil
himself). You will receive a report that focusses on ways of
improving the area reviewed, based on the best practice of the
sector that is proven to work (not just telling you what has
been seen, which is the usual practice of most consultancy
companies).
Helping individual institutions
in the sector achieve good or outstanding teaching, learning
and assessment through establishing robust observation
of teaching, learning and assessment (OTLA) systems
– depending on where your system is we can its validate
current robustness by conducting observations (joint ones are
best value as they train your staff) and scrutinising the gradings and paperwork historically awarded. If more
work is required, we’ll equip you with the tools (training,
paperwork and systems) to establish an OTLA system that
delivers accurate and well recorded findings by your
observers. Your observation system will help keep a focus on
promoting improvement, identifying and promoting the sharing
and adaptation of good practice by teachers (a reoccurring
weakness in Ofsted inspections in the past year). We will
provide you with the training, paperwork and systems to move
your staff forward, encouraging their collaboration in the
development and sharing of resources, so your staff will
deliver learning in true teams. We will support you with
either graded or ungraded systems. An approach of conducting
joint ‘learning walkthroughs’ of 20 to 25 minutes duration is
providing many institutions with an overview of their
provision and enables the judgements of college observers to
be tested out for their accuracy and breadth.
Sharing exemplary practice and
systems in self-assessment with you, leading to quality
improvement planning that moves you forward
– we’ll support you in developing your
capacity to self-assess all of your work honestly and robustly
so that your staff ‘own’ the resultant self-assessment reports
and improvement plans, understanding their part in moving you
forward. Few are
really good at self-assessment, we can make sure that you are
and that self-assessment moves you forward. Several colleges
and providers have received very positive feedback about their
SARs in 2016 following support and the use of LIS templates,
particularly the use of a two page Executive Summary SAR that
helps focus improvement actions. If you have a 50 page SAR it
will not be an effective improvement tool.
Helping you to produce position
statements
– if you think you are likely to be inspected
it is important to be able to say where you are ‘now’ as
self-assessment looks back on the past year - we’ll support
you in writing effective
position statements for key areas
that tell you and others exactly where you are for that area. They are a
great way to demonstrate to inspectors that you know your
provision and have helped a number of LIS clients move from a
grade 4 inadequate to a grade 2 good. Phil has also helped a
number of colleges achieve grade 1s for their leadership and
management. An exemplar position statement can be seen
here but is not as good as what you will finish
up with (samples can be shared)!!
Conducting a confidential
‘health check’ of your organisation by one or more of the top
and most experienced recent HMIs (and previously lead
inspectors with the FEFC, TSC and ALI)
– if it is sometime since your last inspection
or there have been significant changes in management or what
you offer, a ‘health check’ could be invaluable. We’ll examine
your leadership, management, performance and quality
improvement against and beyond the requirements of the
September 2015 Common Inspection Framework in a way that can
only be achieved by being carried out by the right people.
Depending on institutional size and complexity, this totally
confidential and focused ‘health check’ will ensure you know
your provision inside out and have no surprises should you be
inspected. It will help you to decide and
prioritise
how to move your provision on.
Being prepared for inspection with two days
notice
– we’ll support you in developing your
capacity to be ready at short notice to show your institution
in the best light, honestly but robustly, as it should be.
With just two days notice
to prepare it is worth investing in being
‘institutionally ready’. Phil has been in colleges when the
call came and those prepared well respond calmly and
effortlessly. We can tell you what to expect and what to have
ready, dispelling the myths and taking the ‘fear’ out of
inspection by having leads for the key areas that inspectors
will focus on. Some
colleges have benefitted from bespoke training for individual
key staff including their governors.
Providing resources that really impact to
help you improve particular areas of your work
– for example, materials to train governors, staff and
learners in areas such as safeguarding, Prevent, British
Values, equality and diversity, attendance, course reviews,
self-assessment reporting, general quality improvement and the
improvement of teaching, learning and assessment through
observation and improvement planning. For example, Phil has
designed poster campaigns to improve attendance and raise
awareness of safeguarding and radicalisation, as well as with
English and maths
Supporting leaders, managers and governors to understand their role and part in
monitoring performance and promoting improvement
– we’ll work with you to understand exactly where you are now
and provide tailor made support that responds specifically to
your needs, whether it be individual one-to-one support or
workshops for groups of people.
Providing ‘Masterclasses’
in key areas that are often
cited as areas for improvement in inspection, providing
resources that can be adapted for use in the institutions that
attend or commission for internal delivery - these will be a
full or half day of hard, but rewarding work. They should only
be attended by staff who have the ability and authority to
introduce the ways of working that are covered. Attendance at
a masterclass gives your institution a licence
to adapt the materials shared with you. Our Masterclasses are
completely different from anything that has been offered
previously by others, and in terms of possible improvement
impact, will be the best money your institution has ever
invested. They can be offered on site for key managers in a
college. They will include customisable resources such as
posters to encourage attendance for the Improving Attendance
and Punctuality Masterclass.
PLEASE CLICK Here FOR MORE DETAIL |