Learning community inspection
A report by HM Inspectorate of Education
Inspection of the learning community
surrounding Airdrie Academy
North Lanarkshire Council
26 April 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 surrounding Airdrie Academy covers Airdrie North and
the villages of Glenmavis and Greengairs. The population of the learning
community is around 29,000 and the area has a mixed catchment with some
significant deprivation. Those claiming Job Seeker Allowance in Whinhall is
higher than the Airdrie average. Within the learning community there are many
strong and active community groups delivering high quality services for local
people.
2. Particular strengths of the learning community
•
Very strong and varied programme of learning opportunities for young people
leading to very good outcomes.
•
Excellent range and variety of accredited learning programmes for adults and
young people.
•
Very good partnership working leading to positive outcomes for learners.
•
Community groups delivering high quality services in response to local need.
•
Committed and enthusiastic staff whose contribution is viewed positively by
learners and community groups.
3. How well do participants learn and achieve?
Community learning and development (CLD) providers are demonstrating
improvements across the learning community area. Most learners are achieving
against targets set. Young people, in particular, are progressing well and
achieving through an extensive range of award programmes. Uptake of The Duke
of Edinburgh’s Award has almost doubled the target set for the current year. This
is leading to good progression routes for young people. In some areas such as
provision for English speakers of other languages and adults in family learning
there is an improving trend. Voluntary Action North Lanarkshire (VANL) are
exceeding volunteering targets set, resulting in increased capacity in the local
community. Achievements for adults and young people are strong and many are
progressing on to further learning and employment. Referrals to the 16+ Hub for
young people without a positive destination is improving over the last year.
Almost all of those referred in Airdrie were offered a place, comparing favourably
to the rest of North Lanarkshire. However, CLD providers now need to improve
planning arrangements by sharing performance data more widely. Some targets
set could be more ambitious and take account of comparators. Planning with
partners could be more targeted at locality level.
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Young people
The quality of learning and achievement for young people is excellent. Almost all
young people are achieving well as successful learners, confident individuals,
responsible citizens and effective contributors. Providers actively encourage
young people to have a say and influence their learning. Young people delivering
peer education programmes are more confident through leading workshops with
younger children. Many progress on to volunteering, employment or university.
CLD providers actively promote award programmes that lead to very good
outcomes for young people. CLD partners help young people achieve life skills
through the XL Programme at Airdrie Academy. Almost all young people who
participate in youth work programmes gain accreditation, for example through
Youth Achievement Awards, Millennium Volunteering and First Steps to Youth
Work. Others gain Sports Leader awards as a result of strong partnerships with
North Lanarkshire Council’s Sports Development Team. Many progress to
coaching, further training and volunteering. Increasing numbers of young people
are gaining bronze and silver Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards. The Friendly
Information Zone (FIZ) sexual health service helps many young people to make
positive choices.
A well-established summer programme helps young people to settle better into
Airdrie Academy. All young people completing the programme are gaining
awards through the North Lanarkshire Challenge and gain skills in mathematics,
sciences and home economics. Almost all participants in 16+ Hubs achieve well.
They gain First Aid certificates, Sports Leader awards and Youth Achievement
Awards. The majority progress on to positive outcomes. The @Home Centre
offers an impressive programme of learning opportunities for young people.
Almost all achieve well though award programmes, arts and music.
Adults
A very good range of learning opportunities is available, particularly those
supporting parents and family learning. Good working partnerships with local
colleges provides a range of Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) accredited
courses, such as psychology and food and hygiene. Almost all learners
demonstrate increased confidence and self-esteem. Parents have progressed to
helping children with maths homework and speaking in public. Learners
described how taking part in adult learning had changed their lives for the better.
Many learners could identify ways in which they had used their learning in the
wider community or in supporting their families. A few volunteers would benefit
from having a clearer understanding of their own learning and their roles as
volunteers. Adult Literacy and Numeracy learners are using their individual
learning plans and weekly records of work to reflect on and revise their learning.
Almost all learners showed great enthusiasm for further learning and are
progressing well. A learner forum would help to build on and develop this further.
Very good relationships between staff and learners are producing a very relaxed
and welcoming learning environment. CLD providers now need to continue to
support the Multi Agency Support Team to further enhance partnership working
and build on good outcomes for families.
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4. How well are communities developing and achieving?
Local groups and organisations are making a very positive impact on their
communities. Almost all community groups are delivering high quality services
which meet clearly identified local needs. Rochsoles Community Resource
Project delivers a wide range of high quality services including community
advocacy. Friends of Centenary and West End Park is improving community led
environmental action. Almost all active community members are skilled, confident
and deliver a wide range of good quality services. CLD partners offer a very
effective range of training opportunities which enhance the robustness of
community groups and their focus on outcomes. Good support is provided to new
organisations such as the Whinhall Action Group. Some opportunities exist for
groups to share practice and support each other better in their learning. The
Community Food and Health Partnership is effectively meeting targets around
healthy eating, exercise and obesity. VANL coordinates an employability
programme with well-evidenced positive outcomes and progression routes for
learners. The programme very effectively addresses barriers such as quality
childcare and lack of confidence. Small community groups positively contribute to
wider plans. Rawyards Tenants and Residents Association delivers services
which help reduce anti-social behaviour and improve mental health. The
Parkinsons self-help group makes a significant and important difference to the
quality of life for service users and carers. Most community groups use evaluative
evidence to improve the services they deliver. Almost all groups avoid duplication
of services and complement each other's work. However, further support would
help them to better articulate the impacts they deliver.
5. How effective are providers in improving the quality of services?
CLD providers are planning well for improvement. Youth workers improve
provision through effective use of programme planners. These are appropriately
linked to CLD priorities and reflect the four capacities of Curriculum for
Excellence. Most providers gather feedback from stakeholders to improve
programmes, for example, through awards programmes for young people.
Phacts, the Airdrie Young Person’s Health Project, conducted an effective impact
assessment in Airdrie secondary schools to help plan future provision. FIZ
produce helpful statistics to identify client use of their services. Young people
regularly using the @Home Centre have personal portfolios to record their
progress. CLD staff regularly reflect on their work and identify improvements.
However, more focus on joint self-evaluation involving all partners in the learning
community would help identify priorities more effectively. This would also help
inform the work of the CLD Partnership. There is some reporting to stakeholders,
for example, in the Growing Through Learning report and regular celebrations of
achievement. This could be extended to a wider audience. There is scope to
extend joint self-evaluation with Airdrie Academy to achieve the aspirations of
Curriculum for Excellence.
3
6. Does the learning community have a clear sense of direction?
Partners across the learning community have a clear sense of direction.
Community groups in particular are working very effectively to deliver positive
outcomes for learners. Some good work with Airdrie Academy is helping young
people achieve. Young people are being very well supported to achieve their
potential, particularly those who face some type of disadvantage. There is a
strong commitment to improve and develop new and exciting services. Good
partnership working is helping to ensure that there is limited duplication.
Extending this to include an increased focus on joint self-evaluation should in turn
further improve planning at a locality level.
7. What happens next?
CLD providers have a good understanding of their strengths and areas for
improvement and communities are achieving very well. As a result we have
ended the inspection process at this stage.
We have agreed the following areas for improvement with the education authority
and its partners.
•
Further develop local planning arrangements through sharing of performance
data.
•
Improve joint self-evaluation between partners, including Airdrie Academy.
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”.
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 Airdrie Academy.
Improvements in performance
Impact on young people
Impact on adults
Impact of capacity building on communities
Improving services
Managing Inspector: Sheila Brown
26 April 2011
4
good
excellent
very good
very good
good
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