Inspection of the learning community
Inspection of the learning community surrounding Dalziel High School
North Lanarkshire Council
11 November 2008
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 community growth?
7.
How effective are providers in improving the quality of services?
8.
What happens next?
1. About the report
This report tells you about community learning and development (CLD) activities
in the communities surrounding Dalziel High School. 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 surrounding Dalziel High School includes the Northern
Motherwell area. The main employment had been coal, steel and heavy industry
but now the economy in the area has changed. There have been significant
increases in employment in banking and finance, and in health and education.
The redevelopment of the former steel works at Ravenscraig in Motherwell is one
of the largest urban regeneration projects in Europe and will create housing,
shops, the new Motherwell College Campus and a major sports stadium.
However, a quarter of the population live in an area which is amongst the most
deprived in Scotland.
3. Particular strengths of the learning community
•
Range of projects working with young people in the area building confidence,
successful learners, citizenship and team-working.
•
Clear learning progression for adults who became more confident in
themselves. They were applying their learning and using this confidence in a
range of situations in their lives.
•
A broad range of community groups were active in the area and these groups
were inclusive and involved all cultures and backgrounds.
•
Strong work of the Home School Partnership.
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4. Examples of good practice
•
Youth participation.
•
Youth work training programme.
•
Capacity building toolkit.
•
50+ (Getting on with life event).
•
Laryngectomy group (information and support for people after surgery).
•
Biro Babes (a creative writing group for women).
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?
Young people
CLD providers offer a very good range of projects working with young people in
the area. These projects build confidence and enable young people to become
successful learners and active citizens. Young people learn new skills such as
team-working and film-making. There is a strong focus on including young people
from disadvantaged areas. There are innovative approaches to dealing with
important issues in young people’s lives, for example, health, wellbeing and
safety. A good variety of award programmes and volunteering opportunities raise
aspirations and increase respect for young people.
Adults
CLD providers offer a very good menu of programmes working with adult learners
in the area. Learners move on successfully to new learning opportunities such as
further education. Participants become more self-confident and use this
confidence in a range of situations in their lives. Many learners are more involved
in their communities as a result. Learners obtain very positive results from their
experiences. This includes learning about healthy diet, first aid, as well as helping
to address issues such as mental health and living with cancer. There is good
use of creative and innovative approaches to address significant barriers to
learning in the work of the Biro Babes, Ailsa Sure Start parents group and with
Congolese refugees.
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6. How well does CLD help community growth?
CLD staff actively support a number of community initiatives in the inspection
area. Groups such as North Motherwell Community Forum, North Motherwell
food co-op and laryngectomy group deliver good services in response to need.
Community groups are equal partners in decision making. Effective planning,
management and evaluation arrangements are in place. Community groups
include people from almost all sections of the community. Staff and groups use
networks and partnerships effectively to strengthen and build local services. CLD
providers need to better engage with black and minority ethnic populations and
broaden the age range present in community groups. Support for Motherwell
Community Forum needs to be clarified.
7. How effective are providers in improving the quality of services?
Partnership work is very well developed at local level. CLD services work
effectively in a range of productive partnerships with other services such as health
and police. The Council CLD service offers effective leadership locally. Staff
effectively measure and plan their work. The CLD strategic partnership
encourages joint working across a wide range of agencies. Partners actively
engage in decision making. There is trust, shared goals and lack of competition
between partners. Partners support each other in their work. This has reduced
duplication and ensures that resources are used where they are needed most.
8. What happens next?
CLD providers have a very 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 raise the profile of young people’s achievements.
•
Further develop specific youth literacies approaches.
•
Adult learning needs to target a broader age profile.
•
Further opportunities should be extended for learners to use their learning in a
broader range of community activity.
•
The quality of IT hardware available should be improved and updated.
•
Encourage community groups to reflect all adult age groups.
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•
Better engage with black and minority groups in capacity building activity.
•
Clarify support for Motherwell Community Forum.
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 Dalziel High School.
Improvements in performance
Impact on young people
Impact on adults
Impact of capacity building on communities
Partnership working
good
very good
very good
very good
excellent
HM Inspector Managing Inspector: Philip Denning
11 November 2008
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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 2008
HM Inspectorate of Education
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