A report by HM Inspectors on behalf of the
Scottish Funding Council
Ayr College
16 April 2010

The external review process
HM Inspectors undertake an independent review of the quality of provision in Scotland’s colleges on behalf of the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council (SFC) under a service level agreement between the council and HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE).
Review teams include HM Inspectors, associate assessors and a student team member.
During external reviews, members of the review teams observe learning and teaching and hold discussions with learners and staff. They examine information on learner attainment and evaluate learner progress and outcomes. They meet with members of the Board of
Management and obtain feedback from community groups, partners and employers that work with the college.
The primary purpose of this report is to convey fully the main outcomes arising from the external review, to acknowledge the college’s strengths and to provide a clear agenda for future action to improve and enhance quality.
This report contains confidence statements that express the review team’s overall evaluation of high quality learning, learner engagement and quality culture .
The report also uses the following terms to describe numbers and proportions: almost all most
over 90%
75-90% more than a few few
This report is Crown Copyright.
15-49%
up to 15%
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1. Introduction
The college and its context
The external review
3. Summary
Strengths
Main points for action
4. How well are learners progressing and achieving relevant, high quality outcomes?
5. How effective are the college’s learning and teaching
processes?
6. How well are learners engaged in enhancing their own learning and the work and life of the college?
7. How well is the college led and how well is it enhancing the quality of its services for learners and other stakeholders?
8. Signposting excellent and sector-leading and innovative
practice
9. What happens next?
10. How can you contact us?
Appendices
Glossary of terms
The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework
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11
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The college and its context
In carrying out the external review of Ayr College, HMIE took the following college context fully into account.
Ayr College has been serving the communities of South and East Ayrshire since it was established in the 1940s. Most programmes are delivered at its campuses in Ayr,
Cumnock and Girvan. Further provision is available in community-based venues. In addition, a flexible learning unit at Ayr and a college Learning Bus shared with South
Ayrshire Council provide flexibility for learners wishing to study at times and venues to suit their own needs. The college operates the Bright Sparks nursery for the children of learners and the wider public at its Dam Park campus in Ayr.
The college has established a number of partnerships locally, nationally and internationally. In the immediate catchment area of the college, there are partnerships with education authorities and local schools. Regionally, there are links with employers and a recent initiative with the University of the West of Scotland (UWS) will result in a joint development of enhanced aircraft engineering facilities. There are close links with
UWS for provision of computing programmes up to undergraduate degree level. The college has links with educational organisations and institutions abroad, particularly in
India and Nepal. A number of national initiatives and strategies have influenced college strategy. These include the National Performance Framework, Skills for Scotland , More
Choices, More Chances (MCMC), and Curriculum for Excellence .
South Ayrshire has a population of over 110,000 with 70% of the population living in the towns of Troon, Prestwick and Ayr. The rest of the area is predominantly rural, including the smaller towns of Maybole and Girvan. The population of South Ayrshire declined by just under 1% between 1991 and 2001 and is projected to decline by a further 1% between 2001 and 2021. In contrast, the number of school age children (aged 5-16) is expected to decline by just over 16% in the same period. It is anticipated that, by 2021, people aged 60 and over will make up 35% of the population. Nine percent of South
Ayrshire residents live within Scotland’s 15% most deprived neighbourhoods.
East Ayrshire has been identified as a key area for those young people who will benefit from the Scottish Government’s MCMC strategy. Those not engaged in employment, education or training in 2006 amounted to 13% of all young people in this age group, compared to a Scottish average of 9%.
Recently, the college has restructured its management posts to align operational management more closely with its vision and strategy. A wide range of continuing professional development (CPD) events and activities has supported this restructuring.
In the academic year 2008-09, the college enrolled over 6500 learners. It employs over
400 staff. The range of programmes in the college portfolio covers SCQF levels 1-9.
The college’s revenue budget for the academic year 2008-09 was approximately
£15.7M, with grant-in-aid from the SFC accounting for about 74% of the total.
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The external review
The external review by HMIE took place during the week beginning 30 November 2009.
We examined learning and teaching and other important activities that impact on the quality of the learner experience. We evaluated these against the three key principles of high quality learning , learner engagement and quality culture , using the 17 reference quality indicators outlined in External quality arrangements for Scotland’s colleges,
September 2008 . We used information from previous visits to the college to decide the scope of the review.
The external review team talked with learners, staff at all levels in the college, members of the Board of Management, employers, external agencies and other users of the college. We found examples of excellent practice which we describe in this report
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See Section 8 page 16
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The following are holistic judgements made by HMIE on the basis of the external review activities which took place in November/December 2009. These judgements relate to the key principles of high quality learning, learner engagement and quality culture .
HMIE is confident that:
• learners are progressing well and achieving relevant, high quality outcomes;
• the college has in place high quality learning and teaching processes;
• learners are actively engaged in enhancing their own learning and the work and life of the college; and
• the college is led well and is enhancing the quality of its services for learners and other stakeholders.
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Strengths:
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The college is making good progress on the five strategic aims it set out in its strategic plan.
•
Early retention, retention and attainment have all improved over the last three years.
•
The college has an extensive range of outreach provision which meets the needs of local communities well.
•
The design of new college programmes incorporates measures that ensure very effectively that learners develop appropriate levels of essential skills.
•
There are very effective strategic and operational partnerships with external bodies.
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Almost all learners are making good progress in their learning.
•
Sustainability is included in many areas of the curriculum and underpins many wider activities undertaken by the learners in the college.
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Programme review is a thorough and systematic process which takes good account of learner feedback and performance indicator data.
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Learners communicate their views and secure improvements through a wide range of effective methods.
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Learners on many programmes, including learners with additional support needs, benefit from organising and delivering charitable and community events.
•
The college Academic Board plays an important role in improving and enhancing the quality of learners’ experiences.
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Members of the Board of Management are fully involved in enhancing the quality of learners’ experiences.
•
A very useful training programme for curriculum leaders has enhanced their effectiveness as leaders of learning and teaching.
Main points for action:
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College managers should ensure that robust data on learner progression beyond the college is available to curriculum teams to support internal review.
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The college should further develop and promote approaches to effective learning and teaching to ensure consistently high quality learning.
•
College staff should take more account of the prior learning and experience of mature learners in full-time FE programmes in personal learning and development classes to ensure that they value and benefit from them.
•
The college should make arrangements to ensure that funding for learners is made available promptly after application for such funding.
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HMIE is confident that learners are progressing well and achieving relevant, high quality outcomes.
How well does the college perform against its educational aims, objectives and
targets?
The college is making good progress on the five strategic aims it set out in its strategic plan. The strategic plan takes good account in its target setting of local community and national priorities, and the college works effectively with external stakeholders to generate and achieve these targets. For example, the college is achieving well its aim of promoting an inclusive culture that enhances diversity and accessibility for all through its work with school pupils, with learners benefiting from the Scottish Government’s
MCMC strategy, and with learners in receipt of additional support.
The college has also made progress against the aims set out in the current college operational plan. This is helped by systematic monitoring of targets and the close involvement of college staff in the generation of related team operational plans.
However, the college is aware of the need for curriculum teams to address more clearly college operational plan objectives relating to quality enhancement and learning and teaching.
Employers and other external stakeholders, including local community organisations, express a high level of satisfaction with the working relationship they have with the college and the range of services provided.
How effective is the college at achieving and maintaining high levels of retention, attainment and progression?
The college monitors and reviews key performance indicators (PI) which show improvement in early retention, student retention and attainment over the last three years. Retention and attainment are broadly in line with sector average values. In a few subject areas, there is very high attainment.
Improvements in a number of programmes have been achieved through comprehensive support from the college’s Programme Remediation scheme. Programme teams also use robust analysis of PI in retention and attainment to identify areas for development and take prompt action to address them.
Information on the destinations of learners after they leave Ayr College is not made readily available to programme teams or used effectively to review programmes. The college has recognised this area for development and plans are already in place to collate destination information for programme teams.
How well does the college fulfil its statutory duties?
The college’s arrangements for child protection, including school pupils, are comprehensive. Online child protection awareness training is available for staff on the college virtual learning environment (VLE).
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The college has a single equalities policy that meets well the duties and other requirements of current race, disability and gender legislation. It also addresses equalities regulations relating to age, sexual orientation, religion and belief. The college assesses effectively the impact of all its key policies, procedures and arrangements. It will complete its assessment of the impact of all its procedures in the near future.
The college has analysed its equalities data, carried out evaluations of the effectiveness of its equalities arrangements, and identified likely causes of impact on particular groups of learners. It has specified appropriate actions to be taken to address issues affecting these groups and published a summary of its findings on the college website. All programme teams have analysed learner retention and attainment under the three categories of race, disability and gender. The teams have identified appropriate actions to ensure equity and fairness for all learners. The college website has appropriate accessibility options for users with sensory impairments. The college ensures that appropriate health and safety arrangements are in place in the premises of employers engaging with government-funded trainees.
How accessible, flexible and inclusive are the college’s programmes and
services?
The college has a strong commitment to social inclusion and provides a wide range of flexible programmes. This ensures that hard-to-reach learners and pupils from local schools can access college courses without difficulty. The college has an extensive range of outreach provision which meets the needs of local communities well. It has very good relationships with local schools and delivers a good range of programmes for pupils with additional support needs to complement provision in schools. The college has timetabled core skills classes to ensure that all learners have opportunities to gain certification, but a few of these classes have not taken place.
The college makes effective use of pre-course diagnostic testing to ensure that learners are placed on programmes which are appropriate to their prior levels of essential skills.
Online resources available through the college VLE enhance flexible learning opportunities for many learners.
How well do programmes and services meet learner needs?
The college curriculum reflects well the needs of local communities and of Scottish
Government strategies. The college has very good relationships with a range of employers and stakeholders and offers a suitable range and level of programmes which meet the needs of learners well. Almost all learners have appropriate opportunities to develop core and essential skills as part of their vocational programmes. The design of new college programmes incorporates measures that ensure very effectively that learners develop appropriate levels of essential skills.
Curriculum teams respond positively to issues raised by learners by making appropriate changes to the learning and teaching experience. Equalities issues are included in learner induction programmes.
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How well do learners make progress, attain qualifications and achieve more widely?
Almost all learners are making good progress in their learning and course work. Many learners gain relevant citizenship and employability skills by participating individually or as class groups in charitable fundraising events and through engaging with employers and local businesses. Many learners enter national and local competitions in which they achieve good levels of success. This helps them to develop their employability skills.
Many learners are also involved in activities that promote environmental sustainability.
Almost all learners are fully aware of the core and essential skills that they are gaining.
Most of these skills are delivered in an integrated and contextualised way as part of vocational programmes and many learners develop these skills beyond the level required for certification. The college has made a commitment to provide all learners with opportunities to develop their own individual learning plans (ILP) and to identify preferred approaches to learning.
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HMIE is confident that the college has in place high quality learning and teaching processes.
How well does the college develop and deliver programmes and services to meet
the needs of learners from all backgrounds?
The college promotes equality and diversity very well through a wide range of visual display material and helpful information for staff. The curriculum leaders’ training programme and handbook reinforces their awareness of cultural and diversity issues.
Equalities matters are addressed in a number of appropriate and effective ways, including analysis of case studies and design of appropriate class activities.
Support services meet well the needs of learners with additional needs, disabilities and sensory impairments. These services are well promoted to learners and staff to reduce barriers to access and to improve achievement and attainment. This ensures that programmes meet the needs of specific groups, including local school pupils. It also ensures that planning for learning focuses on the achievement of a broad range of vocational, core and essential skills to develop learning fully.
How well do learners learn?
Almost all learners make very good progress in classes. They build their self-confidence and demonstrate appropriate levels of skills and knowledge. They are highly motivated and participate well in the range of learning activities in classes but, for a few learners, the pace of learning is too slow. Most learners work effectively, both independently and in teams, in response to staff encouragement and facilitation. They are proactive in seeking clarity from teaching staff when it is needed. They also reflect well on their learning and are able to learn in ways which suit them. In almost all classes, learners gain in confidence and extend their skills and understanding beyond the requirements for certification.
Almost all learners use appropriate resources with confidence, including ICT and the
Internet for coursework, research and class presentations. Many learners use the college’s VLE effectively to augment their classroom and workshop-based learning.
However, more than a few learners are unaware of the learning resources available through the VLE. In more than a few classes, learner absence rates are high.
How well do teaching and the use of resources ensure effective learning?
Many teaching staff apply a broad range of appropriate approaches in lessons and encourage active participation by learners. A few teaching staff do not challenge the late arrival of learners in class and this often disrupts learning for other class members.
Many staff make clear the intended outcomes of lessons and relate teaching activities well to prior learning and learners’ experiences. Staff provide good clear demonstrations, explanations and relevant expansion of issues where required.
Almost all staff use praise very effectively to encourage learners further and build their confidence, skills and independence in learning. However, a few teaching staff do not use direct questioning of individual learners sufficiently to ensure that they are fully
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engaged in the work of the class and are making progress. Most teaching staff make good use of ICT resources and well-prepared learning materials. There are more than a few examples of very effective teaching practice in which learners experience lessons that incorporate all of the above strengths but generally the standard of teaching is not consistently high enough across all teaching staff and curriculum areas.
How effective is the context and planning for learning and teaching?
Teaching staff plan classes well. Their positive relationships with learners ensure that they take good account of individual needs in planning learning and teaching activities.
Programme teams also take good account of learner feedback to adjust programme design. Teaching staff build the confidence of learners very well by encouraging them to reflect on their learning and to share those reflections with fellow learners and staff. A few learners have not been well enough informed about timetable arrangements when staff are absent.
As a result of the strong college-wide focus on essential skills, staff plan the delivery of a very wide range of skills. They embed and contextualise most core skills in the vocational curriculum. The college audits annually the planning and delivery of core skills. Any gaps identified at audit are filled by integrated activities or discrete provision.
The college provides relevant citizenship and employability activities for learners in partnership with a wide range of community organisations and charities. Sustainability is included in many areas of the curriculum and in wider activities undertaken by the learners in the college.
How well is assessment used to promote effective learning?
In most classes, teaching staff integrate assessments well into learning and teaching activities which build effectively on learning and provide opportunities through project work to engage and challenge learners. Learners are well prepared for assessments.
Most learners receive detailed feedback from teaching staff on both formative and summative assessment. This enables them to focus on specific aspects of their learning and thereby improve their learning and skills. At the end of classes, teaching staff promote a variety of creative reflection techniques, including reflective diaries. Learners’ additional support needs in relation to assessment are planned for and well supported.
How well are potential and current learners provided with information, advice and
support?
The college provides well designed and helpful pre-course information, including a useful guide to the college for parents of younger learners. Summer taster programmes at Cumnock Community Campus have been particularly helpful in enabling learners to make well-informed choices about their programme of study. Guidance and support for the admission process and throughout programmes are effective. The support services provided by learning development advisers (LDA) are valued by learners and many younger learners and school leavers find the life-skills sessions useful. However, the approaches and resources adopted by staff in Personal Learning and Development
(PLD) classes for full-time FE programmes do not take sufficient account of the prior learning and experience of mature full-time learners with the result that this group of learners does not generally value or benefit from these classes.
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Learners encountering difficulties with core skills have their needs identified and appropriate additional support provided. Learning support staff in the study centre and in the SkillZone are effective in encouraging learners to access and benefit from the wide range of high quality support available.
How well does the college sustain continuous enhancement through self-evaluation and internal review activities?
Programme review is a thorough and systematic process which takes good account of learner feedback and PI data. The review process generates relevant actions for improvement which are monitored regularly and programme teams share reports with class representatives. Although curriculum leaders have made some progress in developing their evaluative writing skills, a few still rely too heavily on examples in their training manual drawn from published reports. As a result, their evaluative thinking and reflection have not developed sufficiently.
Programme teams integrate classroom observation very well into internal review processes. This provides a useful source of evidence which enables the teams to identify actions to improve learning and teaching. However, examples of excellent teaching practice are not shared systematically within and across curriculum teams.
There are good links between the college and local schools, resulting in effective joint review of programmes for school pupils. These links have also resulted in shared CPD activities for college and schools teaching staff.
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HMIE is confident that learners are actively engaged in enhancing their own learning and the work and life of the college.
How well do learners engage in enhancing their own learning?
The college has made commitments to increase learner engagement, to provide all learners with opportunities to develop their own ILP and to help them to learn in ways which suit them best. Teaching staff welcome the college initiatives in learner engagement. Many learners develop their ILP with support from teaching staff, almost all of whom demonstrate considerable flexibility and responsiveness in meeting the needs and aspirations of individual learners. Teaching staff welcome and are very committed to the drive within the college to increase learner engagement.
Learners are confident in raising issues of teaching, learning, and curriculum content with teaching staff, knowing that their views are valued and that they will receive quick and positive responses. Learners have proposed changes to teaching and learning approaches, assessment methods and the pace of learning. Where appropriate, individual learners and classes also negotiate changes to their curriculum. There are good examples of programme teams implementing enhancements in response to issues raised by learners. Many learners are also taking more responsibility for enhancing their learning and skills development beyond formally timetabled classes.
Many learners reflect well on how they are being taught, how they learn best and what they have learned. At the end of classes, they use a useful range of reflective techniques to evaluate both the extent of their learning and the effectiveness of learning and teaching approaches. Many learners work independently between classes and enhance their understanding of their subject area. Increasingly, learners are using the college VLE for self-directed study.
How well do learners engage in enhancing the work and life of the college?
A Learner Involvement Group has been formed to oversee and take forward learning and the wider social participation of learners in the life and work of the college. The introduction of learner focus groups has stimulated much greater learner engagement in evaluating the curriculum, learning and teaching, support services and college resources. These focus groups meet four times each year with curriculum leaders and address a range of issues beyond the particular programmes of individual learners.
Learners are represented on key Board of Management committees. They are also represented on the Academic Board and on other college committees such as those for sustainability and for equality and diversity.
Learners also express their views effectively through questionnaires, rating and commenting on aspects such as initial guidance, college facilities and ongoing support.
Last year the college introduced learner members as part of internal college quality review teams.
Almost all learners are aware of the roles of class representatives and the purpose of learner focus groups. They value them as a means of expressing their views, resolving
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issues and making improvements to their experiences. Class representatives have been, or are soon to be, trained for their roles through an in-house training programme based on student participation in quality scotland (sparqs) materials. This training has been helpful to class representatives and student association officers. Class representatives meet together monthly to discuss potential improvements that could be made to the overall experiences of learners in the college, including enhancements to cross-college services and facilities. They attend twice-yearly programme review team meetings. These meetings do not take place without learner representation. However, class representatives do not always feed back outcomes of meetings to their classes.
Learners involved as class representatives and members of focus groups, programme teams and college committees have developed high levels of confidence and essential skills, particularly in relation to citizenship. Learners on many programmes, including learners with additional support needs, benefit from organising and delivering charitable and community events. Learners enjoy promoting the services of the college and enhancing its reputation within the community. Through their involvement in these activities learners develop core skills such as communication, working with others and problem solving.
Class representatives are important contributors to the internal review process.
Programme teams value learners’ views highly and take very good account of these views in improving and enhancing programme content, delivery and assessment methods. As a result, learners contribute fully to decisions affecting the quality of their experience in the college.
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HMIE is confident that the college is led well and is enhancing the quality of its services for learners and other stakeholders.
The college Board of Management has identified five strategic aims to take the college forward during the period 2009-12. One of these aims places particular emphasis on the college’s contribution to economic development through high quality learning and teaching. The quality of learners’ experiences is central to the college’s mission and values. Staff understand the strategic aims well and are committed to their implementation.
The college uses a wide range of sources to inform its strategic aims and its portfolio planning. Curriculum directors undertake an annual review of curriculum portfolios to ensure that they continue to meet local, regional and national need. College plans take good account of the needs of local schools. There is a strong emphasis on addressing the needs of young people likely to benefit from the Scottish Government’s
MCMC strategy, particularly in the Cumnock area. The college liaises well with its partners in the community, particularly in schools, to support a wide range of learners.
Staff at all levels contribute effectively to the preparation of the college strategic plan.
This ensures a sense of shared ownership by all staff of the college’s strategic aims and targets. The college has ensured that learners can contribute effectively to quality improvement and enhancement through their membership of key board committees and college groups whose work has a significant impact on the quality of their experience.
A college-wide audit of core skills inclusion in programmes ensures that all curriculum teams plan appropriately for the development of learners’ core and essential skills. The college has recently trained a large number of teaching staff in essential skills delivery.
The wide range of college strategies and policies supports well the college aim to achieve and maintain high levels of retention and attainment.
Curriculum issues are discussed at the highest level of the college. At the same time, operational curriculum managers and leaders are accountable and responsible for their areas of management and leadership. In this way, curriculum managers and leaders have direct responsibility for many operational targets as part of their normal duties, leaving only the strategically important or college-wide operational targets in the college operational plan. The current college operational targets are much more concise than in previous years, enabling close monitoring of their implementation by senior managers.
College managers have implemented an essential skills policy which incorporates arrangements to develop learners’ core skills through the delivery of the vocational curriculum. Curriculum teams lead effectively the development of core skills through the vocational content of programmes and members of the college core skills team ensure that the evidence requirements for core skills certification are met. In this way, curriculum teams are empowered to develop learners’ core skills independently of the
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requirements for certification, with the result that, in many cases, the development of these skills goes beyond the requirements for certification. However, the college has not developed fully enough its approaches to effective learning and teaching to ensure consistently high quality learning across all curriculum areas.
Learning development advisors play an important role in implementing the college’s essential skills policy. They work with full-time learners in timetabled classes of FE programmes to develop such skills as curriculum vitae preparation, employability, employment interview techniques, and citizenship. Their work is valued highly by younger learners on full-time FE programmes.
The college Academic Board plays an important role in improving and enhancing the quality of learners’ experiences. It oversees the college’s programme remediation arrangements, in which programmes with poor retention or attainment receive close support over a period of time, in order to improve learner retention and attainment.
Almost all programmes which have been placed in remediation have shown sufficient improvement to be removed from the scheme. The academic board also oversees arrangements for self-evaluation, classroom observation and internal review.
The senior management team discusses and takes decisions on all aspects of college support services that have an impact on the quality of provision. All support services in the college have carried out an annual internal review, identifying the strengths and areas for development of each service. All reports identify well-specified targets for quality improvement and enhancement. This initiative is fairly recent and its impact on improving the quality of learners’ experiences of support services has yet to be fully realised. Many full-time FE learners have not received payment of bursary entitlements early enough in their programme. These learners have experienced anxiety about incurring debt and a few have experienced hardship.
The principal has introduced a wide range of changes to the work and life of the college and at a pace that reflects her concern to implement improvement and enhancement at the earliest possible stage. She has worked very effectively with colleagues at all levels in the organisation and with the Board of Management in taking forward these changes.
Members of the Board of Management are fully involved in enhancing the quality of learners’ experiences. They place particular emphasis on basing their discussions at board level on direct evidence from learners of the quality of their programmes. The board also monitors closely retention and attainment indicators in evaluating the quality of provision.
Shortly after her appointment, the principal launched a review of the college quality assurance and enhancement arrangements. A number of enhancements to these arrangements have resulted from this review. These new arrangements have had a positive impact on the quality of learners’ experiences. This impact is monitored by the college quality unit which reports to the senior management team.
A very useful training programme for curriculum leaders has enhanced their effectiveness as leaders of learning and teaching. In addition, the training programme has provided valuable guidance on how to write evaluatively. More generally, staff
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throughout the college welcome the opportunities for CPD that the college provides, including programmes for aspiring managers and for existing managers seeking to enhance their effectiveness. College senior managers have demonstrated through a number of initiatives their commitment to respond appropriately to important issues of leadership.
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During the HMIE external review, the college submitted examples of what it considered to be excellent practice and the review team also identified examples worthy of dissemination.
The college has introduced a range of measures to enhance learner engagement. This has resulted in significant progress by the college in engaging learners fully in its work and life. In particular it has developed a broader, deeper and more relevant range of opportunities for learners to contribute than previously. Almost all staff have undertaken
CPD to ensure that their interactions with learners promote a willingness to engage effectively.
College staff organise focus groups of learners to gather their views and provide opportunities for discussion. These meetings of focus groups have resulted in many enhancements to the work and life of the college. Programme team meetings always take place with the full attendance of the appropriate class representatives. If the class representatives are unable to attend a programme team meeting, it is rescheduled to enable them to attend.
College internal review teams include a learner member who collects and evaluates evidence, and plays a full role at internal review meetings. Numerous college committees and groups include learner members. The college communicates well to learners the impact of their contributions to enhancing the work and life of the college.
Learners have access through the learner intranet to all documentation relating to quality enhancement and improvement, giving the learner body as a whole a real sense of shared ownership of quality initiatives. Their evaluations of their experiences of the college are informed by a fuller understanding than before of their entitlements, responsibilities and expectations.
The CPD activities have resulted in staff understanding more fully and valuing enthusiastically the contributions of learners to quality enhancement and improvement in the college. These activities, taken along with the initiatives to involve learners more meaningfully in evaluating their experiences, have resulted in significant progress by the college in engaging learners fully in its work and life.
In the past few years, teaching staff have identified a very wide range of broader learning experiences which enable learners to develop skills which add value to the vocational skills associated with their programme of study. In addition to the personal achievement of learners, these broader learning experiences have benefits for the college and sometimes for the wider community.
The wider achievements of learners are clearly and appropriately linked to their vocational programme and their broader learning experiences beyond the vocational content. In addition, these wider achievements are closely linked to the college’s strategic aim to promote an inclusive culture that enhances diversity and accessibility for all .
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A comprehensive programme of activities engages most full-time learners in opportunities that provide very good evidence of their wider achievement, and all curriculum teams document and publicise these wider achievements of their learners.
These activities are central to the design of programmes. For example, during session
2008-09, learners engaged in approximately 70 different activities, including: fundraising for good and charitable causes; external competitions; internal award and recognition ceremonies; involvement with community projects; organising trips and outings; and organising seminars, plays and fashion shows.
Through staff encouragement, learners take ownership of these activities that demonstrate wider achievement, and appreciate their value in the development of their essential skills. As a result of this comprehensive focus in the college on wider achievement and its relationship to essential skills development, most learners now understand, value and reflect on the development of their citizenship, employability, and personal, learning and core skills.
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HMIE will continue to monitor progress during annual engagement visits to the college.
Iain Lowson
HM Inspector
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If you would like a printed copy of this report
This report has been produced as a web-only publication and is available on our website at www.hmie.gov.uk.
This supports the sustainability of natural resources and the Scottish Government’s
Greener Scotland agenda. Copies of the report can be printed for individual use.
Please contact the Business Management and Communications Team (BMCT) if you wish to enquire about our arrangements for translated text or copies of this report in other formats.
If you wish to comment about this college report or about college external reviews
We welcome comment on our reports. It is important, too, that we act upon the views of readers of our reports. To assist us in this process, we would encourage you to click the link below which will take you to our readability survey.
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Alternatively if you are reading this report in hard copy please type the following address into your web browser. http://www.hmie.gov.uk/AboutUs/InspectionResources/Readability+survey.htm
If you wish to comment about any of our reviews, contact us at
HMIEenquiries@hmie.gsi.gov.uk or alternatively you should write in the first instance to
BMCT, HM Inspectorate of Education, Denholm House, Almondvale Business Park,
Almondvale Way, Livingston EH54 6GA.
You can find our complaints procedure on our website or alternatively you can contact our Complaints Manager, at the address above or by telephoning 01506 600259.
Crown Copyright 2010
HM Inspectorate of Education
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Glossary of terms
CPD Continuing Professional Development
HMIE HM Inspectorate of Education
ICT Information and Communications Technology
LDA Learning Development Adviser
MCMC More Choices, More Chances
PLD Personal Learning and Development
SCQF Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework
SFC Scottish Funding Council sparqs student participation in quality scotland
UWS University of the West of Scotland
VLE Virtual Learning Environment
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The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework brings together all Scottish mainstream qualifications into a single unified framework. The framework includes: degree provision, HNC and HND, SQA National Qualifications, and SVQs. There are 12 levels ranging from Access 1 at SCQF level 1 to Doctoral degree at SCQF level 12.
Each qualification whether a unit, group of units or larger group award has also been allocated a number of SCQF credits. Each credit represents 10 notional hours of required learning. Doctoral degrees based on a thesis are an exception to this.
Other learning may be credit rated and included in the framework provided it leads to a clear set of learning outcomes and has quality-assured learner assessment. All of
Scotland’s colleges were awarded SCQF Credit Rating powers in January 2007.
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