QIA Improvement Adviser Service

The QIA Improvement Adviser Service is a network of consultants working with organisations in the further education system that have been identified as unsatisfactory by external inspection, Learning and Skills Council (LSC) or Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) review; are currently satisfactory but not improving; or who aim to aspire/are aspiring to excellence.

Quality Improvement Agency (QIA) has created this managed network of Quality Improvement Advisers to support organisations on a one-to-one consultancy basis. The Advisers will work alongside organisations to put together tailored packages of support to target specific areas of provision or key themes such as leadership and management, quality assurance and improvement, where improvement is needed in order to bring about sustained quality improvement and/or the achievement of excellence.

Organisations will be matched with an Improvement Adviser, or Advisers, with relevant skills and expertise. All Advisers are experts in quality improvement. These Advisers will deliver direct support to the providers, as well as co-ordinating a package which draws on all the support available across QIA programmes.

The programme will offer providers a three level support service, each to be informed by an inaugural meeting between the provider and the service. These meetings will initially determine the scope of the support to be provided by the service. These levels are:

• A rapid response element of the service will be for Improvement Advisers to work with organisations enabling them to make improvements required by the LSC or DWP or supporting them to tackle areas of significant underperformance identified by the Inspectorate. It is usual that the initial meeting will be attended by representatives of QIA, LSC or DWP.

• The intermediate support will be for providers who are consistently providing satisfactory provision, but who wish to improve grades and success rates to above the national benchmarks. The level of support is generally determined by a scoping visit between the provider and adviser, sometimes attended by the LSC or DWP. The resultant improvement action plans for these first two levels of support are closely monitored and supported by QIA, LSC or DWP.

• Organisations aspiring to excellence will receive support co-ordinated by Improvement Advisers and will draw upon the experiences and good practice of Beacon providers.

QIA delivers the Improvement Adviser Service through a contractor and the programme is subject to external evaluation to ensure continuous improvement of the service.

Applications must be initially endorsed by the local or regional LSC or DWP officer.

QIA Improvement Adviser Service - Information Leaflet

Case Studies

The Improvement Adviser Service has made a real impact in its first year of operation, helping many colleges and providers to lift their performance. As a result, a majority of organisations have achieved very positive re-inspection results and many have improved their grades from 'unsatisfactory' to 'good'. Find out how these organisations have benefited from the service by clicking on the case study links below: