Inspection of the learning community
Inspection of the learning community surrounding Clydebank High School
West Dunbartonshire Council
9 December 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 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 Clydebank 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 around Clydebank High School includes the town of
Clydebank. The town is also served by two denominational secondary schools,
St Columba’s High School and St Andrew’s High School.
According to the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation, the area is amongst the
poorest in Scotland. The proportion of jobless people is above the Scottish
average but at a similar level to the rest of West Dunbartonshire Council. There is
a higher percentage of first time mothers under the age of 20 in Clydebank than in
the rest of the council area and for Scotland as a whole. Overall, people’s
perceptions of Clydebank as a good place to stay are less positive than similar
places in Scotland.
3. Particular strengths of the learning community
•
Highly committed and hard working staff within the Community Learning
and Development Section and in partner agencies.
•
Good and some very positive impacts and outcomes for learners.
•
Positive contributions by adult learning and college staff to improving the
health and wellbeing of adults.
•
Effective approaches by youth work staff to youth engagement and
empowerment.
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4. Examples of good practice
•
Routes 4 U.
•
Women of Worth.
•
Youth involvement in Clydebank Rebuilt regeneration programme.
•
Whitecrook Playscheme.
•
Faifley Youth Action Group.
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’s CLD Section (CLDS) gather a lot of information about how they
work and the number of people with whom they work. However, they are not
good at demonstrating the outcomes of their work. The quality of learning
opportunities for young people and adults are generally sound. Some voluntary
sector partners, such as Y-Sort-It, a youth organisation, and West Dunbartonshire
Community Volunteer Centre (WDCVS), show the outcomes of their work well.
WDCVS had used an innovative research tool to evaluate the social benefits of
the work they do.
Young people
Participants’ learning and achievement is good. Some are making very good
progress as a direct result of the support provided by partners but this was
uneven overall. There is a high level of participation by young people in the broad
range of youth work opportunities offered by partners. CLDS staff regularly gather
evidence of participants’ attendance and retention. Almost all staff use effective
methods to engage young people in activities and ensured a safe, inclusive and
stimulating environment for learning. CLDS staff are taking positive action to
address issues of sectarianism and territorialism. The Faifley Youth Action Group
had produced a reflective CD on attitudes to territorialism and sectarianism
following a trip to Belfast.
Most young people interviewed feel included and thought that their opinions were
valued. They spoke positively about their experiences and the responsibility given
to them in planning activities, fund raising and decision-making. The young
people who attended the Tullochan Trust are making very good progress towards
their personal development targets agreed with staff. Members of the Y-Sort-It
Web-Bytes group had successfully developed their language and visual skills
through taking digital photographs, producing a newsletter and a podcast on the
origin of clothes as part of their interest in the exploitation of low paid workers in
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the Third World. CLDS staff deliver Get Up and Go, a club for young people with
disabilities. They use imaginative approaches to supporting the development of
participants, including their health, through games and other activities. The club is
supporting members’ enjoyment of learning and developing friendships as well as
providing a respite for parents.
CLDS staff support four youth action groups, including a Romany Group, that
work effectively on a range of community-based activities. This is a particularly
effective example of sustained teamwork which had made a significant difference
to young people’s understanding of local issues and had raised their awareness of
their responsibilities to each other and the local community. A number of young
people had engaged in volunteering activities. As a result of these experiences
some young people had benefited from improved employability including taking up
posts as youth workers. Overall, youth work partners need to improve how they
record and report the outcomes of their work to stakeholders.
Adults
A majority of adult participants benefit a great deal from learning programmes and
could articulate the positive impact of their experiences. Others were at an earlier
stage of their development. Participants in the Routes 4 U course run by
Clydebank College and the Women of Worth project run by the CLDS had
significantly increased their confidence to learn.
CLDS staff had been very successful in developing members’ skills, gaining
accreditation and finding employment through the Wake Up and Go Group.
Adults involved in the Whitecrook Playscheme had grown in confidence, ambition
and skills. Learners whose first language is not English were very positive about
the impact of the starter programme on their confidence and ability to engage in
the wider community. Members of the Computers For Life Group, a group for
adults with additional support needs, were developing their skills in the use of
Information and Communication Technology (ICT). CLDS staff have made very
effective use of the Steps to Excellence programme as the foundation for adults’
future participation in learning and in their communities. Learners received good
advice, support and guidance through the Routes to Learning project. The CLDS
and Clydebank College work well together to improve progression routes for
learners and accessible learning opportunities, particularly in ICT. CLDS staff and
partners had introduced an innovative method of tracking learners, the Learners’
Passport, which was at an early stage of development.
6. How well does CLD help the community to develop?
Overall, members of community groups are well supported, and are skilled and
confident. They had influential roles in their local projects. However,
arrangements for community planning are under review. As a result, the influence
of the community on more strategic decisions was not strong. CLDS staff
supported young people well to have positive influences in their communities
through youth action groups and forums and through groups in schools. Some
community groups and youth groups are providing effective services for their
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communities. For example, the Whitecrook summer playscheme engages
significant numbers of children and their carers in activities. Young people from all
of the schools in Clydebank had taken part in a range of creative art activities as
part of the Clydebank Rebuilt regeneration project. Most community groups are
well planned and managed.
7. How effective are providers in improving the quality of services?
The CLDS and some partners are committed to using self-evaluation as a means
of improving services. West Dunbartonshire Council for Voluntary Service and
Y-Sort-It, a voluntary youth organisation, are particularly effective at reporting the
value of their work. Partners use a range of methods to record participation and
to gather feedback from learners on the impact of programmes and activities.
CLDS staff regularly plan, evaluate and record their work, often in consultation
with participants. The engagement of learners was a strength. However, despite
a considerable commitment to self-evaluation the effectiveness of these activities
varied considerably in tracking improvements in the outcomes of provision.
Educational Services recognised the need to improve this and had started to
review quality assurance across the life-long learning services within the
department.
8. Do CLD providers have a clear sense of direction?
Arrangements for community planning were being reviewed at the time of the
inspection. The area had also lost a number of community support staff in the
recent past. As a result, Clydebank did not have arrangements in place to involve
communities effectively in improving the town. Partnership arrangements for CLD
were limited to effective work between a small number of key partners. The
CLDS focuses well on delivering effective services but needs greater engagement
at strategic level to realise its full potential. The section also need additional
support to plan and report effectively in the context of the Council’s Single
Outcome Agreement with The Scottish Government.
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9. What happens next?
There are some important improvements needed, but because CLD providers
have a good understanding of their strengths and areas for improvement, and
communities are achieving well, we have ended the inspection process at this
stage. We will monitor progress through our regular contact with the education
authority.
We have agreed the following areas for improvement with the education authority
and its partners.
•
Extend partnership work among providers who contribute to CLD to secure
improved outcomes for individuals and communities.
•
Clarify the high level outcomes being sought by providers within the
Council’s Single Outcome Agreement and develop improved ways of
reporting outcomes to stakeholders.
•
Increase support to the CLD Section to improve planning, self-evaluation
and reporting.
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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 Clydebank High School.
Improvements in performance
Impact on young people
Impact on adults
Impact of capacity building on communities
Improving services
Managing Inspector: Jim Rooney
9 December 2008
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satisfactory
good
good
good
satisfactory
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 December 2008
HM Inspectorate of Education
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