Inspection of the learning community
Inspection of the learning community surrounding Alford Academy
Aberdeenshire Council
10 February 2009
Contents
1.
About the report
2.
The learning community
3.
Particular strengths of the learning community
4.
Examples of good practice
5.
How well do participants learn and achieve?
6.
How well does CLD help the community to develop?
7.
How effective are providers in improving the quality of services?
8.
Do CLD providers have a clear sense of direction?
9.
What happens next?
1. About the report
This report tells you about community learning and development (CLD) activities
in the communities surrounding Alford Academy. It complements a separate
report on the school. We explain how well people involved in community learning
activities do in a wide range of experiences, and the quality of learning activities
on offer to them. We describe how communities can influence decision making
and how they can respond positively to their own issues. We also talk about how
organisations work together and how they improve lives in local communities.
Finally, our report looks at the vision for the area, and how well all organisations
and the community are working together to achieve it.
2. The learning community
The learning community around Alford Academy includes the town of Alford and
the villages of Millbank, Tullynessle, Tough and Strathdon.
The number of jobless people is considerably lower than both the Scottish
average and the rest of Aberdeenshire, although many people are in low-skilled
jobs. The Alford learning community covers some 600 square miles, with a small
but increasing population. Learning providers face considerable challenges due
to infrequent public transport, small pockets of priority groups, and rising school
rolls. The local authority CLD service has faced some staffing challenges due to
illness and the implications of a service review. This review was about to be
concluded at the time of the inspection.
3. Particular strengths of the learning community
•
Very effective work with parents of young children.
•
Effective partnership working.
•
Commitment and dedication of staff.
•
Very good examples of community empowerment and volunteering.
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4. Examples of good practice
•
The positive impact of the Storysacks project on volunteering.
•
The significant impact on the local community of the development of
Tullynessle and Forbes Community Hall.
By visiting www.hmie.gov.uk you can find out more about these examples of good
practice.
5. How well do participants learn and achieve?
The Council has gathered information about all of its provision over a number of
years, allowing trends in participation to be identified. The range of information
gathered will soon be improved with the introduction of a new software package.
It would be improved further by all partners sharing information locally, and by
choosing carefully what information is gathered to demonstrate the success of
work in the area. Some important information on performance exists, such as
police and fire service data showing the positive difference made by local youth
projects. All partners regularly report progress on targets set in the Marr
Community Plan. This indicates steady progress. The number of people
benefitting from council provision has remained constant despite recent staffing
shortage. The quality of learning activities is generally high.
Young people
Young people are achieving very well as a result of the activities and projects in
which they participate. They reported considerable growth in their confidence and
self-esteem, as well as core skills they could use in other aspects of their lives.
High quality issue-based work is offered by CLD youth work staff, in partnership
with police, fire service and with colleagues from health. A voluntary committee
provides a varied programme of junior youth work that is well attended. Young
people are becoming more successful learners, growing in confidence and
improving their employability through involvement in one-to-one work and group
work delivered by CLD youth work staff in, and after, school. Some young people
are very active in the development of Alford Youth Forum. The Forum had
secured premises in Alford to run a Youth Café. Youth Forum members have
improved their communication, working with others and problem solving through
delivery of peer education, fundraising activity and presentations to school
assemblies. Forum members were recognised for their volunteering efforts
through Millennium Volunteer Awards. However, more use can be made of
nationally recognised ways of fostering achievement.
Adults
The opportunities on offer provide very good learning experiences, but the range
of adult education opportunities offered in the area is limited. A good range of
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parenting groups/classes is helping to address issues of confidence, isolation and
relationship-building. These opportunities make very good links with health
visitors and the local library and have family literacy built into their programmes.
The Storysack project is a very good learning experience for all involved. The
project aims to produce a supply of bags which contain a story book and related
activities for parents to use with their children. People who volunteered in this
project ranged from young people in youth work settings to older adults. The
whole experience of volunteering to produce the storysacks was highly significant
to those involved. Publicity of adult learning opportunities across the partnership
is good, making good use of community publications and local newspapers. CLD
staff and partners work very well together to provide good learning opportunities,
but a wider range of opportunities needs to be developed. There is scope to
develop the use of the Community Computers@Alford facility and the use of IT in
all adult learning, given the rural nature of the area. Although literacies is built into
the parenting groups, targeted literacy work needs to be developed further.
6. How well does CLD help the community to develop?
Community organisations and community representatives are very active within
the learning community. Community organisations and members highly regard
the support provided by CLD partners. They feel equal partners in decision
making and are successfully influencing decisions and obtaining funding for their
projects. Community organisations and community planning partners are working
together effectively to strengthen and improve local services. Alford Youth Forum
had been influential in securing improvements to services for young people.
Tullynessle and Forbes Community Hall Committee secured significant sums of
money to improve community facilities and services. CLD staff are supporting
Alford Community Development Group to provide a range of learning and leisure
opportunities within the learning community. Group members identified that they
had developed their confidence and skills to undertake effectively their roles. The
Early Years Forum is an active and vibrant group of agencies and volunteers.
Within the Forum, community representatives are able to influence the decisions
and actions of the group. They are also able to contribute to planning and
evaluation of events and activities. The work of the Forum is having a positive
impact on the lives of parents and children. There are good examples of
individuals progressing from learning and development opportunities to become
active volunteers. CLD partners should develop approaches to engaging with
older people to identify their learning and development needs. CLD partners
should also further develop accreditation routes for volunteering and citizenship
and opportunities for the recognition of achievement.
7. How effective are providers in improving the quality of services?
Local authority staff make consistent use of a well-established quality framework,
including a regular review conducted by staff from another part of Aberdeenshire.
They make good use of national quality frameworks to review and evaluate the
difference they are making to learners and communities. Participants in activities
are regularly asked for feedback. In developing this further, approaches should
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focus more on the difference the experience has made to participants. Staff are
using some innovative methods such as the Voxur box, a way of recording an
evaluation on video. Needs assessment results and event evaluations are fed
back to the community through local media such as ‘Fits Gan On’ and the early
years newsletters. The Council and partner agencies should now work together
to evaluate their combined impact, and monitor progress towards agreed targets.
Staff delivering learning would benefit from a greater understanding of how to
describe the intended outcomes of their work, and how self-evaluation makes it
easier for them to evaluate progress and make improvements.
8. Do CLD providers have a clear sense of direction?
Partners work very well together to get the best results for learners and
communities. They unite around a clear sense of direction provided by the Marr
Community Plan. CLD staff work very effectively with the school and other
partners to help young people achieve to their full potential. Partnerships
supporting adult learning and the building of community capacity are strong and
purposeful, helping to improve achievements for learners and communities.
9. 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.
•
Continue to improve approaches to quality improvement.
•
Further develop approaches to achievement, accreditation and progression
between learning experiences.
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Quality indicators help CLD providers and inspectors to judge what is good and
what needs to be improved in the work of the school. You can find these quality
indicators in the HMIE publication “How good is our community learning and
development? 2”
The 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
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 Alford Academy.
Improvements in performance
Impact on young people
Impact on adults
Impact of capacity building on communities
Improving services
Managing Inspector: Alastair Delaney
10 February 2009
5
good
very good
good
very good
good
How can you contact us?
HMIE has responsibilities to evaluate the quality of pre-school education, all
schools, teacher education, community learning and development, colleges and
local authorities. We also publish reports of interest to the public and
professionals about services for children and evaluate child protection services.
From this extensive evidence we are able to give the professional advice needed
to support the development of educational policy.
For more information about the work of HMIE, including examples of good
practice and links to Journey to Excellence, please visit our website at
www.hmie.gov.uk
To find out more about inspections go to www.hmie.gov.uk. Please contact the
Business Management and Communications Team if you require any of our
information available in translated or other appropriate versions.
If you wish to comment about any of our inspections, contact us at
HMIEenquiries@hmie.gsi.gov.uk or alternatively you should write to Business
Management and Communications Team, HM Inspectorate of Education,
Denholm House, Almondvale Business Park, Almondvale Way, Livingston
EH54 6GA.
Our complaints procedure is available from Rona Littleproud, HM Inspectorate of
Education, Denholm House, Almondvale Business Park, Almondvale Way,
Livingston EH54 6GA or phone 01506 600258 or from our website at
www.hmie.gov.uk.
If you are not satisfied with the action we have taken at the end of our complaints
procedure, you can raise a complaint with the Scottish Public Services
Ombudsman (SPSO). The SPSO is fully independent and has powers to
investigate complaints about Government departments and agencies. You should
write to the SPSO, Freepost EH641, Edinburgh EH3 0BR. You can also
telephone 0800 377 7330, fax 0800 377 7331 or email ask@spso.org.uk. More
information about the Ombudsman’s office can be obtained from the website
www.spso.org.uk.
Want to join us?
In addition to HMI, inspection teams often include people who are not HMI but are
involved directly in education. They are called Associate Assessors and most
work in community learning and development. Most inspection teams also
include a member of the public called a Lay Member. More information about
how you can become an Associate Assessor or Lay Member is available at
www.hmie.gov.uk .
Crown Copyright 2009
HM Inspectorate of Education