Minimum Contract Level Collaborative Quality Assurance July 2011 Chris Bealey, LSIS Adviser Richard Mole, Skills Funding Agency Emphasise for contractors (lead/sub –contractors): existing and at different levels of maturity Panel intros – CM ref to working with various groups to help them put together their contracts and specifying who does what Colin to remind group about written comments/questions … eg panel will respond after Stephen’s presentation 1

Outcomes Develop a recognition of your responsibilities in CQA Share the key principles of QA and CQA To review a simple model of CQA and determine how evidence can be shared and analysed Quick poll after this to establish if participants are lead providers, sub contractors or both – tick the box type 2

Responsibilities – an external view Ofsted and other agencies will hold the lead contractor responsible for provision under that contract whether sub-contracted or not. This responsibility includes the quality of provision, quality of outcomes and overarching self-assessment processes, judgments and improvement plans. Make this quite bald – lead contractors must be aware that they have full responsibility and cannot use the ‘we didn’t know’ excuse A provider may be sub-contracted to more than one lead contractor and external agencies will be able to make a judgement about the overall work of this provider in their funded provision. Link this back to the UPN 3

Key Principles of CQA Trust founded on clear and reliable communication A shared understanding for quality shared by all partner organisations Review and audit as part of a clearly communicated quality cycle Emphasise the need for trust and professionalism. Eg CQA relies on professionals working together positively and effectively in an open and mature manner for the benefit of learners, the organisation(s) and the public good. Could give examples here like Stephen Howard at learning plus – he was very clear about his role having an ‘inspection’ function and where necessary invoking sanction 4

A simple model of QA and its CQA context This is a version of EQM, to give a clear context for discussion. A business model but all elements are relevant and useful for the next QI seminar, some terminology should just be unpicked. Core values of the model: Outcome oriented Customer/stakeholder focus Leadership and constancy of purpose Management by process and facts People development and involvement Continuous learning, innovation and improvement Partnership development and responsibility We focus on the processes bit interpreted as the learner journey 5

Processes – the learner journey Recruitment Initial assessment Induction Individual learning plans Teaching and learning Assessment Progress reviews Achievement Progression This is the key element to provoke discussion and will feed from Ofsted training, notes to come. 6

Evidence gathering and analysis Documentation Data Observations Learners work Stakeholder feedback These are generic form of evidence, the key questions are how they are gathered honestly and accurately, how they are analysed and ultimately what is the impact on the learners? Poll after this slide and initial dialogue to identify which areas are considered the most difficult to evidence, ranking activity or most difficult 3 or 4, whichever works out easiest. This to prompt next discussion. We also have available the slides from the Ofsted update. These cover both the updating of the CIF and specific references to data and T&L. We can use these here as appropriate The subject of observations could be an hour on its own. If a key discussion point ensure coverage of: management of the process eg structure, sufficiency and quality, staff development, themes (use of ICT etc) Records - type and usage Validity – moderation – internal/external Grading – common patterns/disparities 7

A sample Quality Cycle

Any questions? Questions if required from panel to stimulate discussion… ·       Future challenges:   ·        

Wrapping Up We’ll send you now These slides Evaluation link You maybe be interested in further support from the LSIS MCL Support Programme. A range of resources are available on the Excellence Gateway site www.excellencegateway.org.uk/MCLsupport  Further web seminar events are planned,  you can find details and registration on events.lsis.org.uk/Pages/Event/Stage1/Events.aspx If you would like to talk to an MCL Partnership Adviser please send an e-mail to mclsp@lsis.org.uk