Validated self-evaluation
North Ayrshire Council
19 February 2013
Contents
Page
1.
The aims, nature and scope of validated self-evaluation
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2.
Validated self-evaluation in North Ayrshire Council
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3.
Education Scotland’s assessment of the quality of
self-evaluation in North Ayrshire Council
2
4.
What does the Council plan to do next?
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Appendix: Link to North Ayrshire Council self-evaluation
1.
The aims, nature and scope of validated self-evaluation
2.
Validated self-evaluation in North Ayrshire Council
Senior Officers and elected members from North Ayrshire Council made a
considered and well planned decision to engage with Education Scotland in a
Validated Self-Evaluation (VSE). They met in advance of Education Scotland’s
involvement with the authority and agreed the areas that should be evaluated. The
three themes were chosen as those which would add greatest value to the authority
and which elected members felt would benefit from closer scrutiny to ensure
continued improvement. The themes were in the areas:
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early years;
additional support needs; and
attainment and achievement.
Groups of authority staff were assigned to a theme and worked together during
February and March 2012. Members of the themed groups involved a wide range of
staff from Education and Skills, the National Health Service, Community and Culture,
Social Work, and a parent representing Parent Councils. Each group was chaired by
a senior member of staff from Education and Skills. The groups refined their original
remits and agreed on the main strands within their theme which required a closer
look. For example, the Additional Support Needs (ASN) group felt that they needed
to widen their remit to include meeting the needs of all children as well as vulnerable
children and young people. Similarly the attainment and achievement group focused
on three areas which they described as the ‘conduits for improvement’, namely:
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learning and teaching;
enrichment and capacity building; and
Recognising achievement.
The meetings which took place before Education Scotland joined the teams allowed
each group to write an evaluative statement which was presented to Education
Scotland and senior officers at the start of the VSE. At this meeting, the Chief
Executive and Director of Education and Skills presented a very detailed summary of
the challenges faced by the authority. Evidence presented by officers was
informative and provided opportunities for reflection and further refinement of the
self-evaluation statements. It also allowed Education Scotland staff to engage
immediately in professional dialogue with senior officers and chairs of the theme
groups, leading to further evaluative activities to be carried out jointly during the
VSE.
At the end of our joint activity senior officers from Education and Skills and Education
Scotland, met to review the outcomes from the field work carried out during the VSE.
A full and frank discussion took place with strong concordance between the findings
of North Ayrshire officer and those of Education Scotland. It was agreed that there
were major strengths in the Early Years sector, which provide a good foundation for
building on future attainment and achievement in school aged children and young
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people. The authority also continued to build positively on their work to support
children with additional support needs. It was agreed that the main area of
continued concern was the lack of improvement in attainment in national
qualifications in some secondary schools across the authority. It was agreed that it
would be helpful for Education Scotland to work with the authority to support these
schools. Education Scotland staff and local authority staff did this by drilling down
further to identify the areas requiring more focused and sustained attention. In doing
this it was acknowledged that the authority had made significant progress in its
identification of key areas for improvement and had provided very good support and
challenge to address the issues. In the longer term it was agreed that Education
Scotland would be well placed to work in partnership with the authority to look at the
broader area of attainment across the authority and in particular the Broad General
Education and the Senior Phase to build on the good work which the authority had
started.
3.
Education Scotland’s assessment of the quality of self-evaluation in
North Ayrshire Council
The preparation for the VSE was well structured and planned by senior officers and
elected members. There was a clear remit for each of the themed groups, and the
membership was appropriately representative of the large number of partners
engaged in self-evaluation for improvement within North Ayrshire Council.
Commendably, senior officers allowed staff to take responsibility for deciding on the
self-evaluation activities required to explore particular themes in detail, and to
produce the starter papers for the VSE. They provided support when asked and
clarified questions which arose from the team members of the group. Devolved
leadership was strong with a high degree of transparency and integrity. The
self-evaluation process undertaken by the themed groups prior to, and during, the
VSE week was robust and thorough. Team members supported and challenged
each other very well, and used the outcomes of their discussions to revisit and adjust
their original self-evaluation statements. This led to an improved emphasis on
outcomes and impact which had been variable across the three groups at the start of
the VSE. Questions used with stakeholders were adjusted during the week as a
result of modelling and challenge by Education Scotland staff. Better questioning led
to more precision in relation to the strengths and areas for improvement identified by
the groups. The broad range of visits, observations and dialogue with different
stakeholders and within the groups gave team members a firm basis on which to
make comparisons and draw conclusions. The multi-agency membership of the
themed groups allowed for very good external challenge. For example, the parent
representative in the attainment and achievement theme helped identify
inconsistencies in the level of challenge in attainment meetings between
headteachers and faculty heads in different schools. Similarly, the presence of
colleagues from Community and Culture allowed the groups to identify further
opportunities for partnership working to better track and monitor achievement
beyond school. This led to a more in-depth analysis by team members leading to
very robust conclusions and further areas for improvement. The data available to all
themed groups was rich and plentiful. However, in some circumstances this could
be used more analytically. Over the week, groups were beginning to use the data
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more effectively to develop audit trails and to determine the long term impact of
interventions deployed by the authority. For example, the ASN group identified the
need to make more effective use of data on Looked After Children to better inform
future practice and areas for improvement. Similarly, the Early Years group
identified the need to use existing data to demonstrate the impact of the high level of
preventative spend in the early years on improved parenting and outcomes for young
children. By the end of the week all groups were clear and confident in reaching
conclusions about high level strengths and areas for continued improvement. A
strong and wide ranging evidence base supported the evaluative statements made
by the themed groups. The activities which were identified by the groups allowed
them to test out their hypotheses about strengths and areas for improvement and
were triangulated well with existing and new data.
What strengths has the validated self-evaluation identified?
The following key strengths were identified.
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Strong and effective leadership with a clear vision provided by elected members,
the Chief Executive, the Director of Education and Skills and other senior council
officials.
Very effective delegated leadership given to team members leading to ownership
of the self-evaluation process and a robust improvement plan.
Strong partnership working across council departments and Community Planning
Partners leading to greater impact and a shared sense of purpose and direction.
Strong ethos of trust and accountability which supported creative and innovative
approaches.
Very effective early years work leading to effective prevention and early
intervention across the sector and within the communities. Much of this work
may be considered as innovative practice.
Strong additional support for learning provision which continues to be good
practice, particularly for children with social and emotional difficulties.
High quality analysis and professional discussion during the VSE leading to a
clear understanding of the significant features requiring further improvement to
achieve consistently high standards.
What is the Council’s capacity for improvement?
Education Scotland found the self-evaluation of North Ayrshire to be robust and
comprehensive. Council staff were open and transparent in their engagement with
Education Scotland resulting in very high quality dialogue, challenge and support.
Senior officers were very clear about what needed to be improved and agreed with
the strengths and areas for improvement identified by the themed groups. Very
strong leadership from senior officers allowed staff to develop their skills in
self-evaluation and to feel empowered and responsible for taking forward the
improvement areas resulting from the VSE. The strong commitment from all staff,
the robust and transparent way in which they engaged in self-evaluation and the
further work jointly identified by Education Scotland and the authority provided
Education Scotland with confidence that North Ayrshire Education and Skills
department has a very good capacity for continuous improvement.
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4.
What does the Council plan to do next?
The authority identified a number of key strengths and areas for continued
development which are described in its self-evaluation statements for each theme
(see link below). The strategic development areas jointly agreed between Education
Scotland and North Ayrshire were:
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to continue to ensure that appropriate action is taken so that schools improve
attainment in national qualifications at SCQF levels 4, 5 and 6;
to build on and further develop, approaches to tracking and monitoring progress
through the Broad General Education; and
to use the rich data sources collected by schools and the authority to tease out
which strands of early intervention and prevention, add most value to the
outcomes for children and young people in the short, medium and longer term.
Further details of areas identified for improvement are given in the report prepared
by North Ayrshire Council as part of the VSE process.
Laura-Ann Currie
HM Inspector
Education Scotland
19 February 2013
How can you contact us?
Should you wish to comment on any aspect of validated self-evaluation you
should write to Mr Alastair Delaney, Strategic Director, at Education Scotland,
Denholm House, Almondvale Business Park, Almondvale Way, Livingston, EH54
6GA. Alternatively, if your query is related to this report, you may also write to
Ms Elma Murray, Chief Executive, North Ayrshire Council, Cunninghame House,
Irvine, KA12 8EE.
Appendix: North Ayrshire Council self-evaluation
http://www.north-ayrshire.gov.uk/EducationAndLearning/EducationAndLearning.aspx
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