Education Scotland
Foghlam Alba
Learning community inspection
A report by Education Scotland
Inspection of the learning community
surrounding Culloden Academy
The Highland Council
1 November 2011
We inspect learning communities in order to let those who use services and the
local community know whether learning communities provide appropriate learning
opportunities and help learners in their development. We are also interested in
how community and voluntary groups are helped to contribute to making
communities better places to live and work. At the end of inspections, we agree
ways in which staff and volunteers can improve the quality of learning for young
people and adults and how the impact of community and voluntary groups can be
further developed.
At the beginning of the inspection, we ask managers and staff about the strengths
of the learning community, what needs to improve, and how they know. We use
the information they give us to help us plan what we are going to look at. During
the inspection, we join other activities which young people, adults and community
groups are involved in. We also gather the views of learners, active community
members and staff. We find their views very helpful and use them together with
the other information we have collected to arrive at our view of the quality of
provision locally.
This report tells you what we found during the inspection and the quality of
learning and development provided. We describe how well learners are doing
and how good the learning community is at helping them to learn. We comment
on how well staff, learners and groups work together and the difference they are
making in the learning community. Finally, we focus on how well the learning
community is led and how leaders help the learning community achieve its aims.
If you would like to learn more about our inspection of the learning community,
please visit www.educationscotland.gov.uk.
Contents
1.
The learning community
2.
Particular strengths of the learning community
3.
How well do participants learn and achieve?
4.
How well are communities developing and achieving?
5.
How effective are providers in improving the quality of services?
6.
Does the learning community have a clear sense of direction?
7.
What happens next?
1. The learning community
The learning community around Culloden Academy lies to the east of Inverness
within the Culloden and Ardersier wards of The Highland Council. It has a mixed
urban and rural population of around 11,000 people. The main sources of
employment in the area include manufacturing, transport and communications
and work in the public sector. Levels of unemployment are lower than the
national average and lower than the rest of The Highland Council area. Levels of
economic and social deprivation are low and household incomes are above
average. In addition to Culloden Academy and its associated primary schools,
community facilities in the area include a well used public library and community
centre and a number of local village halls.
2. Particular strengths of the learning community
•
Improving youth work provision over the last year is enabling young people to
achieve more.
•
Strong informal links with primary schools, active schools and libraries.
•
Effective and inclusive practice in youth work and with English for speakers of
other languages (ESOL) learners.
3. How well do participants learn and achieve?
The quality and range of youth work programmes is improving. Staff increasingly
make good use of accredited awards to record young people’s achievement.
Numbers of young people, in particular girls, participating in youth work is
increasing. The successful Active Schools programme is increasing numbers of
primary age children taking part in physical activities after school. Youth Service
and Adult Basic Education (ABE) service regularly report progress against agreed
performance measures as part of corporate reporting. The information gathered,
helps to inform improvement planning. Commissioned Community Based Adult
Learning (CBAL) programmes demonstrate clear links to Single Outcome
Agreement themes. Local CBAL provision has increased.
The learning community has no effective management information system in
place. As a result the quality and use of management information is variable.
Quarterly service level reports are overly detailed and descriptive. This reduces
the effectiveness of improvement planning. Numbers of literacy and numeracy
learners remain low and static.
1
Young people
Growing numbers of young people are achieving well through increased
participation in youth work in the area. Award bearing programmes such as
Award Scheme Development and Accreditation Network in Culloden Academy
and successful work with primary children through the Active Schools programme
are helping young people to achieve well and develop new skills. Through the
Pink Thistles project, children at P7 are taking on effective leadership roles.
Young people completing the Young Leaders course have increased in
confidence, are better able to speak in public and now act as mentors and positive
role models. The few young people taking part in The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award
are achieving considerable success. They appreciate the positive impact this has
on other aspects of their learning and development at school and in other settings.
Small but increasing numbers of young people are achieving Dynamic Youth
Awards and Millennium Volunteer Awards through volunteering and undertaking
projects in the community. The Mountain Bike Club and the Come Dine With Me
programme help young people to improve their health and fitness. Through
Culloden Academy, young people have extensive opportunities to take part in
sports, music and cultural activities after school.
Projects have been developed to support young people moving into secondary
school from cluster primary schools and to help young people in the process of
leaving school. These and other aspects of joint work would benefit from better
joint planning and coordination. Young people do not have sufficient opportunities
to be consulted regularly. They are not supported sufficiently to take part in
Highland Youth Voice. Opportunities to develop the successful Active Schools
programme with secondary school age groups have not yet been taken up.
Learning community partners should now build on good progress made over the
past year. Better joint planning with Culloden Academy and other partners is
needed to ensure opportunities for achievement and accreditation are more fully
developed.
Adults
Adult learners are achieving well in a small range of groups and activities.
Culloden library provides valued adult and family learning opportunities. Parents
attending the Bookbug group are now reading more to their children at home.
They are also making more effective use of the library for personal development.
Craft group learners are gaining new skills and developing a strong sense of
achievement. Literacy learners have improved confidence and experienced
success in achieving personal goals. A few have gained accreditation. A high
quality and effective ESOL programme is helping learners progress well towards
qualifications. Short courses recently delivered by the Workers Educational
Association (WEA) have increased the choice and take up of available CBAL
opportunities in the local area.
2
A more consistent and systematic approach to assessing progress in literacies is
needed to ensure that all participants get the most from their learning. Clearer
targeting could benefit the significant number of adults in the area with no
educational qualifications. Learner numbers are low overall. Learners are
encouraged to continue their learning but there are no accredited learning
opportunities available in the local area and provision of guidance is limited.
4. How well are communities developing and achieving?
Smithton and Culloden Community Council are successfully highlighting and
addressing local issues with The Highland Council and other key agencies.
A comprehensive community consultation exercise has been completed. As a
result the Community Council is now actively engaged in an ambitious project to
bring new community sports amenities to the area. The local Ward Forum
provides an effective vehicle for The Highland Council to consult and inform local
people on key council developments. Discussions about future flood prevention
successfully engaged over 200 people. The Ward Discretionary Budget has
funded a variety of successful community led projects including Croy Youth Club.
Voluntary organisations such as Signpost actively support community
organisations in areas such as governance, employment and charitable law. An
e-bulletin service network ensures local organisations are regularly informed and
kept up to date. Children at Balloch Primary School are working closely with the
local village trust to map and upgrade a local woodland area and contribute
interesting articles to the village newsletter.
It is not clear within The Highland Council where the responsibility lies for
supporting Community Capacity Building (CCB). As a result people do not know
who to approach. Opportunities for people to contribute to decision making are
limited to participation in Ward Forum consultation. Local community groups and
services communicate in an unplanned and informal way. There are no formal or
effective networks in place. Information on community organisations and their
achievements is incomplete.
5. How effective are providers in improving the quality of services?
Planning for improvement and evaluating the impact of work is inconsistent.
Regular Youth Services team days provide a good opportunity for practitioners to
reflect and share practice. Youth Service staff use priority planners to effectively
plan specific projects with agreed outcomes. Quarterly planning updates offer an
effective mechanism for Youth Services staff to reflect on progress, record impact
and agree improvement actions. Personal Development Plans assist individual
staff to reflect on past year achievements, review existing priorities and set new
targets. Young people’s evaluations could be improved to better capture the
impact participation has had on individuals.
Methods used to gather feedback from participants in adult learning are too
narrow and limited. Learners within the WEA commissioned classes are
encouraged to evaluate progress through an individual learning plan and through
3
individual evaluations. However, ABE staff do not systematically record learners’
progress. Staff do not work to individual work plans based on agreed outcomes.
There is no benchmark from which to measure progress. As a result it is difficult
to clearly evidence the impact of their work. Opportunities for practitioners to
participate in effective peer practice reviews no longer operate. Partners do not
make best use of media such as the local press, newsletters and websites to
communicate and report on progress to the wider community.
6. Does the learning community have a clear sense of direction?
Effective informal networks operate across a range of partners. Constructive and
productive links exist between Youth Services, Active Schools, Skills
Development Scotland and local primary schools. However, there is no strategic
plan across schools and learning community partners for taking forward
Curriculum for Excellence. As a result young people at Culloden Academy are
not yet fully benefiting from planned partner agency input. There is no overall
partnership plan or shared vision for the learning community. Leadership and
planning for CCB is not clear enough.
7. What happens next?
There are some improvements needed, but because CLD providers have a
satisfactory understanding of their strengths and areas for improvement, and
communities are generally achieving well, we have ended the inspection process
at this stage. Our District Inspector and CLD Link Inspector along with the local
authority will discuss the most appropriate support in order to build capacity for
improvement and will maintain contact to monitor progress. We will request a
report, within one year of the publication of this report, on the degree to which the
learning community is continuing to improve. Depending on the progress which
has been made, we will consider whether or not to carry out any further inspection
visits.
We have agreed the following areas for improvement with the local authority and
its partners.
•
Improve support for CCB and strengthen partnership approaches to learning
community planning.
•
Improve joint working between CLD partners and Culloden Academy in
support of Curriculum for Excellence.
•
Develop a more consistent and outcome focused approach involving adult
learners in assessing and recording progress.
•
Improve the youth voice with the young people of Culloden.
4
Quality indicators help CLD providers and inspectors to judge what is good and
what needs to be improved in the learning community. You can find these quality
indicators in the HMIE publication “How good is our community learning and
development? 2”.
Education Scotland 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 Culloden Academy.
Improvements in performance
Impact on young people
Impact on adults
Impact of capacity building on communities
Improving services
Managing Inspector: Peter Hamilton
1 November 2011
5
satisfactory
good
satisfactory
satisfactory
weak
This 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
If you would like to find out more about our inspections or get an electronic copy
of this report, please go to www.educationscotland.gov.uk.
Please contact us if you want to know how to get the report in a different format,
for example, in a translation, or if you wish to comment about any aspect of our
inspections. You can contact us at enquiries@educationscotland.gsi.gov.uk or
write to us at BMCT, Education Scotland, Denholm House, Almondvale Business
Park, Almondvale Way, Livingston EH54 6GA.
Text phone users can contact us on 01506 600 236. This is a service for deaf
users. Please do not use this number for voice calls as the line will not connect
you to a member of staff.
You can find our complaints procedure on our website or alternatively you can
contact www.educationscotland.gov.uk to our Complaints Manager, at the
address above or by telephoning 01506 600259.
Crown Copyright 2011
Education Scotland