Students as partners in colleges’ self-evaluative activity and enhancement planning Hannah Clarke, sparqs Steph Kirkham, sparqs Al Wilson, Edinburgh College Students’ Association Gloria Laurini, Fife College Students’ Association

Session Outline Background to student engagement in reviews and the self-evaluative method in colleges. Activity: from information provider to partner in self-evaluation. Examples of practice – Edinburgh College Students’ Association (ECSA) and Fife College Students’ Association (FCSA). Activity: what does effective student engagement in the self-evaluative process look like and how can it be achieved?

How Good is Our College? (HGIOC) 2016/17- The emphasis of HGIOC – acronyms are all in the back of your handbooks INWARDS: Emphasis on self evaluation – the college being equipped to work with its students and staff to look inwards and be reflective about its strengths and weakenesses, areas of great practice and areas for development OUTWARDS: The sector should work together, learning from each other and what is happening else where to challenge itself and develop our own thinking FORWRADS: Thinking about what the future might hold, what industries students need to be prepared for, what the best learning methods for those would be, what skills we will need and how we can work towards getting there

Aims of HGIOC Strengthen college ownership of evaluation and planning for improvement; Provide external challenge and validation; Integrate with SFC Outcome Agreements; Develop regional approaches to the management of quality; Establish baseline across sector and identify areas of challenge.

Why should we bother engaging students in self-evaluation and enhancement processes? In your groups, discuss the reasons why colleges should engage students in reviews.

Student engagement: a government priority “It is a Scottish Government priority that student engagement in colleges should be progressed and that the role of students’ associations in all aspects of college life should be further developed.” “…the work of students’ association and learner voice is integral to colleges understanding the needs of diverse student groups…” Supplementary Guidance for College Evaluative Reports and Enhancement Plans 2017-18 (Scottish Funding Council, 2017)

Student engagement in HGIOC Scottish Funding Council expects that students are involved in quality arrangements and college Outcome Agreements. At a minimum this means students being consulted about their views and providing feedback. The ambition is of students working in partnership with colleges and being able to contribute to improvements, enhancing the experience of all learners.

Activity: What role do students play in self-evaluation?

Information Provider Actor Expert Partner Completing surveys (e.g. Student Satisfaction and Engagement Survey). Giving feedback in focus groups. Giving your opinion in class chats. Responding to course reps’ questions. Shaping the content and tools of feedback. Responding to and adding to others’ comments. Identifying common themes in feedback. Suggesting priorities for decision-making. Providing detailed evidence about your own learning experiences. Contributing experiences of a particular type of student, such as an under-represented group. Meeting with review teams. A student as an external validator (Student Team Member etc.) Full members of committees (Quality/Learning and Teaching Committee etc). Proposing ideas, not just commenting on others’. Jointly shaping plans and strategies. Working and learning together with staff and management. Occasionally leading on projects.

The role of students in self-evaluation For effective student engagement to take place students should be involved in, both: Planning and supporting college self-evaluative activity; Contributing to the review process as external reviewers or ‘validators’.

Our Experience at Edinburgh College Student Mental Health Workshop Our Experience at Edinburgh College Not re-inventing the wheel Constant data collection Synchronisation Officer Induction & Handover Challenges Looking Inwards Looking Outwards Looking Forwards How Good Is Our College? Class Rep Conference 2018

Not re-inventing the wheel Student Mental Health Workshop Not re-inventing the wheel Class Rep Cycle of Engagement Not doing new stuff Aligning objectives with outcomes Class Rep Conference 2018

Always gathering information Student Mental Health Workshop Always gathering information Gather info all year round – not retrospectively Getting Reps to do the work Theming feedback Class Rep Conference 2018

Aligning calendars & processes Student Mental Health Workshop Aligning calendars & processes Planning how it all fits together before we get started Consider what happens after the feedback is gathered Class Rep Conference 2018

Officer Induction & Handover Student Mental Health Workshop Officer Induction & Handover President & President-Elect working together post-elections Class Rep Conference 2018

Challenges to engagement Student Mental Health Workshop Challenges to engagement HGIOC is not exciting to most people How is it meant to work?! Changes from year-to-year Internal & External – complementary Culture of staff & students Class Rep Conference 2018

FCSA FIFE COLLEGE and HGIOC FCSA involvement in the HGIOC process

Year 1 Year 2 1st year meeting was not very clear to the FCSA, partially involved by Quality, however not sure about what happened after that Our Welfare and Equality president was not aware of the process when she attended a HGIOC event in November 2017 After our enquiries the Quality team met with the FCSA and discussed the plans for the 1st review Quality department invited FCSA to qualitative writing workshop FCSA trained to use erep (online reporting system) and able to produce our own qualitative comments Catch up meetings with Quality department regarding learner survey and upcoming review visit FCSA present at review meeting with Ed Scotland and the SFC Invited and attended workshop for the following year VS

How do we engage students in the process? Explain the role of the Quality department during class rep training Get the curriculum involved by offering class rep talks to all classes Class rep meetings Focus groups

Activity: Student Partnership in college self-evaluation Now it’s your turn! In your groups, consider the examples of effective student engagement and consider: What are the challenges to achievement? What support you might need to do this?

Next steps… How can we support you? Let us know! Hannah.Clarke@sparqs.ac.uk Steph.Kirkham@sparqs.ac.uk