Learning community inspection
A report by HM Inspectorate of Education
Inspection of the learning community
surrounding Aboyne Academy
Aberdeenshire Council
23 August 2011
We inspect learning communities in order to let those who use services and the
local community know whether learning communities provide appropriate learning
opportunities and help learners in their development. We are also interested in
how community and voluntary groups are helped to contribute to making
communities better places to live and work. At the end of inspections, we agree
ways in which staff and volunteers can improve the quality of learning for young
people and adults and how the impact of community and voluntary groups can be
further developed.
At the beginning of the inspection, we ask managers and staff about the strengths
of the learning community, what needs to improve, and how they know. We use
the information they give us to help us plan what we are going to look at. During
the inspection, we join other activities which young people, adults and community
groups are involved in. We also gather the views of learners, active community
members and staff. We find their views very helpful and use them together with
the other information we have collected to arrive at our view of the quality of
provision locally.
This report tells you what we found during the inspection and the quality of
learning and development provided. We describe how well learners are doing
and how good the learning community is at helping them to learn. We comment
on how well staff, learners and groups work together and the difference they are
making in the learning community. Finally, we focus on how well the learning
community is led and how leaders help the learning community achieve its aims.
If you would like to learn more about our inspection of the learning community,
please visit www.hmie.gov.uk.
Contents
1.
The learning community
2.
Particular strengths of the learning community
3.
How well do participants learn and achieve?
4.
How well are communities developing and achieving?
5.
How effective are providers in improving the quality of services?
6.
Does the learning community have a clear sense of direction?
7.
What happens next?
1. The learning community
The learning community around Aboyne Academy lies within an area of rural
Aberdeenshire. The population of approximately 11,000 is centred mainly in and
around Aboyne, Ballater and Braemar and in a number of smaller villages. The
proportion of elderly people is high. In addition to jobs in the oil industry, the main
sources of employment are tourism, agriculture and forestry. The area is more
affluent than the national average and the level of unemployment is low. There is
a high level of engagement by the local community in planning for the Marr area.
Availability of affordable housing is a major issue for local people.
2. Particular strengths of the learning community
•
Highly committed and effective volunteer community representatives.
•
Outstanding, vibrant and active community organisations.
•
Strong levels of community engagement in local community planning.
•
High quality English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) work.
•
Confident, articulate and motivated young people.
3. How well do participants learn and achieve?
Strong and effective community groups and organisations are involving large and
increasing numbers of local people in developing and improving their
communities. Marr area monitoring tables are used to review and report on
progress against targets set in local area community plans. These show some
good examples of improvements in performance and strong impact on local
communities. Vibrant community groups have ambitious plans and are making
good progress. The quality of community learning and development (CLD)
activities is high in work with community trusts and provision of ESOL. CLD staff
are beginning to improve systems for monitoring progress in youth work and adult
learning but currently these mainly report only numbers taking part. Targets set
for accreditation of youth achievement and for numbers engaged in adult literacy
and numeracy are not sufficiently ambitious. Numbers engaged in adult literacy
and numeracy are very low. There are too few local opportunities for learners to
gain qualifications. There is too little information on the impact of work with young
people and adult learners. Improved sharing and tracking of young people’s
achievement across youth work providers in the area and with the school would
improve provision overall.
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Young people
Young people are confident, articulate and motivated and they participate
effectively in the life of the community. They develop team-working, leadership
and other skills through their involvement in sports, arts, cultural and community
activities. Community Trusts and voluntary groups work hard to involve young
people and actively seek their views on their priorities for the area. Young people
in the cinema project in Tarland are working effectively and developing more
confidence through taking part in detailed consultation. They are now involving
younger age groups in their project. Those campaigning for a local skate park in
Aboyne demonstrate confidence and an ability to clearly present their case.
Young people in Logie Coldstone enthusiastically lead activities for younger age
groups including a regular junior youth club. There are good examples of
intergenerational work including the Junior Highland Games Forum through which
young people now successfully run a popular annual games event. Better
communication and joint planning between CLD and school staff to improve
quality and programme design would improve learners’ experiences overall.
There are too few opportunities for young people to gain accreditation of
achievement in youth work which results in missed opportunities to celebrate high
levels of peer leadership. A clearer partnership approach would enable better
provision of information on aspects of health. There is insufficient overview of the
impact of young people’s participation across voluntary and public sector groups
and organisations. Staff have not yet taken sufficient account of Curriculum for
Excellence in youth work planning. Staff now need to better assess learning and
track progression against the experiences and outcomes.
Adults
Adults involved in local voluntary community groups are developing confidence
and learning skills in aspects of management, planning, consultation,
communication and committee work. A few volunteers have gained qualifications,
for example, through working with Homestart in the Marr area. Work with ESOL
learners is of a high quality. Tutors are highly responsive to learners’ needs and
adapt programmes accordingly. ESOL learners are making very good progress.
Their confidence has improved and developments in their understanding of
English has improved their employment opportunities, earnings and access to
health services. The number of literacies learners is very low with all provision
delivered on a one to one basis. Improved opportunities to link literacy and
numeracy skills to wider work with adult community groups are needed. More
effective communication with partners, including the library service and health
professionals could improve engagement with more vulnerable adults. There are
few local opportunities for adults to gain qualifications. Delivery and planning of
adult learning and training relevant to the needs of the local economy is too
limited. Staff find it difficult to attract the minimum number of learners to access
Aberdeen College’s outreach service. Older adults would appreciate access to
more self-managed informal learning opportunities at the Deeside Centre. There
is scope to address some of the constraints on provision through better joint
planning and communication between CLD, school and library staff.
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4. How well are communities developing and achieving?
Highly committed, confident and well-informed volunteer community members
have an outstanding impact on the development of local communities. Very high
levels of engagement in community planning has enabled communities to develop
a clear shared vision and direction. Vibrant community development groups,
community trusts and social enterprises operate with increasing levels of success
within Marr Area Partnership. Groups are successfully securing funding and other
resources to implement ambitious plans. Clear and robust structures support
effective community leadership. Groups have established clear and carefully
considered plans following extensive and successful consultation exercises with
local residents. Highly motivated community representatives place a high value
on the support and guidance provided by CLD staff, Area Managers and staff from
the Cairngorm National Park Authority (CNPA). Group members are very well
informed on community need and long term plans for housing and economic
development. They have a strong influence in shaping area plans.
In Braemar, the local community trust has established community management of
the castle and are now actively working together on a highly ambitious project to
improve it as a visitor attraction and community resource. Members are
developing projects to promote tourism, local history and environmental
improvements. Young people from Aboyne Academy are actively engaged in
developing a high quality exhibition on local history in the castle. Ballater One
Voice Our Future has achieved a very high degree of involvement by the local
community in its plan for the development of the village. Improvements to the
local sports facilities and the park have been carried out as a first step towards
implementing their ambitious plans. Logie Coldstone Community Trust manage
the community hall, run community events and support full community
involvement in planning for housing, education and other services. Community
groups communicate effectively together, share resources and information and
learn well from each other’s experience. Communication through high quality
local newsletters, reports, websites and regular events is very effective. Groups
have made substantial efforts to ensure that young people contribute their views
to planning. Confident community members are justifiably proud of the
achievements of their organisations. They reflect carefully on their work and are
clear about what they want to improve.
5. How effective are providers in improving the quality of services?
Communities have a strong voice in identifying local priorities and improvements.
Monitoring and reporting on progress by community trusts is very effective.
Stakeholders in community planning are informed of progress through regular
village newsletters and community events. There are good examples of
outcome-focused reports and action plans within the Marr Area Partnership. Most
CLD staff reflect effectively on the quality of their work and use feedback from
participants on programmes to consider improvements. However, meetings of the
Aboyne Children’s Services Network have been infrequent and as a result
stakeholders have been unable to contribute to reviews in some aspects of work.
Clearer and more outcome-focused evaluation and planning is needed in youth
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work and adult learning. Staff now need to improve their use of work planning
systems that include clear achievements and priorities for improvement.
Improvement in information gathering, communication with partners and analysis
of need is required to make planning for improvement more effective.
6. Does the learning community have a clear sense of direction?
Marr Area Partnership provides a strong and sustainable framework to support
local communities and community groups have a very clear sense of direction.
Support to build community capacity is highly effective. Joint working and
planning amongst CLD, Area Managers and CNPA is strong. Staff deployment,
development and capacity across CLD priorities requires review and clearer
priority setting for youth work and adult learning is needed.
7. What happens next?
There are some important improvements needed, but because CLD providers
have a good understanding of their strengths and areas for improvement, and
communities are achieving well, we have ended the inspection process at this
stage. We will monitor progress through our regular contact with the education
authority.
We have agreed the following areas for improvement with the local authority and
its partners.
•
Develop a systematic approach to planning for improvement at a local level.
•
Set clear priorities with partners for the delivery of adult learning.
•
Work with partners to increase opportunities for accreditation in youth work.
Quality indicators help CLD providers and inspectors to judge what is good and
what needs to be improved in the learning community. You can find these quality
indicators in the HMIE publication “How good is our community learning and
development? 2”.
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HMIE checks five important quality indicators to keep track of how well all Scottish
CLD provision is doing. Here are the results for the learning community
surrounding Aboyne Academy.
Improvements in performance
Impact on young people
Impact on adults
Impact of capacity building on communities
Improving services
Managing Inspector: Peter Hamilton
23 August 2011
5
satisfactory
satisfactory
satisfactory
excellent
satisfactory
This report uses the following word scale to make clear judgements made by
inspectors.
excellent
very good
good
satisfactory
weak
unsatisfactory
outstanding, sector leading
major strengths
important strengths with some areas for improvement
strengths just outweigh weaknesses
important weaknesses
major weaknesses
If you would like to find out more about our inspections or get an electronic copy
of this report, please go to www.hmie.gov.uk.
Please contact us if you want to know how to get the report in a different format,
for example, in a translation, or if you wish to comment about any aspect of our
inspections. You can contact us at HMIEenquiries@hmie.gsi.gov.uk or write to us
at BMCT, HM Inspectorate of Education, Denholm House, Almondvale Business
Park, Almondvale Way, Livingston EH54 6GA.
Text phone users can contact us on 01506 600 236. This is a service for deaf
users. Please do not use this number for voice calls as the line will not connect
you to a member of staff.
You can find our complaints procedure on our website www.hmie.gov.uk or
alternatively you can contact our Complaints Manager, at the address above or by
telephoning 01506 600259.
Crown Copyright 2011
HM Inspectorate of Education