QIA - Improvement Strategy

Improvement in qualification success

a) FE Colleges:Based on current target of 76% in 2007/08

Source: LSC learner outcomes SFR (annual) next update April 07. NB: Colleges only
- excludes external institutions

• All of the actions in the Improvement Strategy will contribute to this measure.

b) WBL full framework success.

Source: LSC WBL ILR data (annual) next update Nov 06
Improvements in the full framework success rate exceeded the expectations for 33% in 04/05.

• All of the actions in the Improvement Strategy will contribute to this measure.

The sector is on track to achieve the level 2 at age 19 Public Service Agreement (PSA) target but as attainment reaches higher levels, the marginal gains required become more difficult to realise. The success rate for full level 2 courses has increased by 5.6 percentage points to 61.4% between 2003/04 and 2004/05. Estimates suggest that another 15,000 people need to reach this level to be sure of meeting the target of raising the proportion of 19 year-olds who achieve level 2 by a further 2 percentage points between 2006 and 2008.¹

• A support programme for colleges and providers will be introduced to support the introduction of the 14 - 19 curriculum reforms, ensuring they meet employers' needs (ref 2.3.3)

UK skills lag behind our major competitors. Around 6.2 million adults in the workforce lack level 2 qualifications in England. To meet the level 2 target for the adult population requires there to be an increase of one million adults in the workforce with level 2 or above between 2003 and 2006, and an overall increase of 3.6 million level 2 or above adults in the workforce between 2001 and 2010. Success rates for adults on long level 2 qualifications were 59% in 2004/05.² The Train to Gain programme has recorded starts rising from 70,500 in 2003/04 to 96,000 in 2004/05.³ Research shows that people with a level 2 qualification are three times more likely to receive further training as those without qualifications and earn around 20 per cent more than those without a level 2 qualification.⁴

• The Development Programme for Train to Gain (ref 2.3.1)
• Support colleges and providers as the new Qualification and Credit Framework is introduced (ref 3.4.4)

The sector is on track to meet the interim target of 1.5 million for delivering Skills for Life qualifications by 2007, with approximately 1.3 million adults having improved their basis skills by the end of 2005. The target is to improve the basic skills levels of 2.5 million adults between 2001 and 2010. Success rates for the subject area which includes Skills for Life qualifications (Sector subject area 14: Preparation for Life and Work) were 72% in 2004/05.⁵ Learners on these programmes make up more than a tenth of all FE learners, just under half of work-based learning learners and almost all adult and community learning participants. These learners can be characterised as predominantly under 19, male, LLDD and from BME groups.⁶

• The Skills for Life Improvement Programme (ref 3.3.10)

Success rates for learners from Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) groups show variation. For instance, the success rate for Black Caribbean males in 2004/05 was 63%, compared to the overall success rates of 74%.⁷ Around one fifth of LSC-funded FE, work-based learning and adult and community learners are from BME groups, compared to a national profile of one in ten for all people in England.⁸ Around 18% of the young FE learner population are from BME groups.⁹

Success rates for learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities (LLDD) show no significant differences. However, current trends indicate that the number of learners with LLDD in the sector is likely to increase. There are data quality and validity issues in this area.¹⁰

The LSC National Learner Satisfaction Survey provides important evidence on how satisfied learners were with their courses. In 2004/05, overall satisfaction increased to its highest level since the Survey began. The quality of teaching and learning has been shown to be the key driver in learner satisfaction and this remains very high. The survey also highlights that 38% of all reasons given for why learners left their courses early were related to the course or provider, as opposed to being on the wrong course (15% of reasons) or for personal reasons.

In work-based learning, the proportion of learners reporting that they were extremely satisfied with their overall learning experience was at an all time high of 25%. However, 22% of early leavers stated that they were on the wrong course or programme and 4% that the work involved was not what they had envisaged. 9% of learners said they were not satisfied with their learning experience.

Minority ethnic learners involved in the survey were less likely to be extremely satisfied with their overall learning experience compared with the results for all learners.¹¹

• Set up student committees in colleges and extend the CEL national training programme for leading learners (ref 1.3.3 and 1.3.5)
• Set up the National Learner Panel (ref 1.3.1)
• Colleges and providers to put in place learner involvement strategies (ref 1.3.2)
• Two student governors on college governing bodies with access to appropriate training and LLUK developing standards for the Staff Student Liaison Officer (ref 1.3.4 and 1.3.6)
• Develop consistent and comparable institutional level Learner Satisfaction Surveys (ref 1.2.1)

More evidence is emerging of the needs of care leavers. At the age of 19, only 19% of this group are in further education and 6% in higher education compared to 38% of all young people participating in one or the other. Over 30% of care leavers are not in education, employment or training at age 19 compared to 13% of all young people.¹²

Half of male prisoners and over two thirds of female adult prisoners have no qualifications at all. More than half of all prisoners screened on reception are at or below level 1 in reading, writing and maths. Evidence shows that employment is one of the key factors in reducing the risk of reconviction, and employment prospects are considerably enhanced by improved basic skills.¹³

In 2005, the number of young people aged 16-18 not in any form of education or training rose slightly to 11%. The target is to reduce this proportion to 8% by 2010. Young men are more likely to be in the NEET group (25% compared to 22% for young women).¹⁴

• Implement Framework for Excellence which will include a specific indicator of Responsiveness to Learners (ref 1.2.2)
• Strengthen teaching and learning pathways, develop effective models for assessing learner needs and embed personalisation and Skills for Life (ref 1.2.4)
• Provide all materials in accessible formats (ref 1.4.2)
• Develop services and activities based on an understanding on the gaps between the achievement rates of different groups of learners (ref 1.4.3)
• Develop a single response to the proposals for improving outcomes for children in and leaving care (ref 1.4.4)
• Take forward actions from the review of information, advice and guidance for adults and young people (ref 1.1.1 and 1.1.2)
• Develop pastoral support pilots which will test and evaluate different approaches, drawing on research already undertaken (ref 1.1.3)

The LSC carries out a National Employer Skills Survey (NESS) every two years. In 2003, 33% of employers were very satisfied with the services provided by FE colleges. In 2005, 43% of employers were very satisfied with the quality of teaching and learning they had received from an FE college. However, the incidence and extent of recruitment difficulties and specifically skills-related recruitment difficulties in the labour market in 2005 show very little change compared with 2004, with 7% of establishments reporting the existence of hard-to-fill vacancies and 4% citing skills shortages among applicants as at least part of the reason why these vacancies were proving hard to fill. Overall a relatively small proportion of the total workforce (6%) is described as not being fully proficient; lack of proficiency continues to be more likely to be reported among lower level occupations such as sales and 'elementary' positions.¹⁵

• Enable employers to become partners with colleges and providers (ref 2.1.1)
• Set up a steering group to include the Sector Skills Councils and employer representatives to ensure that the development of improvement services are informed by the needs of employers (ref 2.1.2)
• Make fit for the purpose and rationalise standards for excellence in employer engagement (ref 2.2.1)
• Launch a Good Practice Guide on Employer Engagement and the Excellence Gateway (ref 2.3.4 and 2.3.5)
• Develop the 'Business Interchange' programme to offer teachers, tutors and trainees structured experience and training in relevant business sectors (ref 2.3.8)
• Extend the CEL/AoC work shadowing scheme (ref 2.3.9)Take forward actions from the review of information, advice and guidance for adults and young people (ref 1.1.1 and 1.1.2)
• Develop new and existing staff in the generic skills they will need to deliver the 14-19 diplomas (ref 2.3.12)
• Stage the Worldskills 2011 competition (ref 2.4.1)

The Chancellor of the Exchequer asked Lord Sandy Leitch to review 'the UK's optimal skills mix in 2020 to maximise economic growth, productivity and social justice, and to consider the policy implications of achieving the level of change required'.

Lord Leitch's final report, 'Prosperity for All in the Global Economy - World Class Skills', was published on 5 December 2006.

The report states that the current UK skills profile is as follows:

• 7 million adults lack functional numeracy and 5 million adults lack functional literacy
• In OECD 30, UK ranks:
  • 17th for low skills
  • 20th for intermediate skills
  • 11th for high-skills
• 35% of working-age population do not have full Level 2
• 36% qualified to intermediate (Level 2-3), compared to 50%+ in Germany and New Zealand.

Leitch also recommends a challenging ambition for the UK to commit to becoming a world leader in skills by 2020, benchmarked against the upper quartile of the OECD. The recommended targets to deliver this ambition are:

• 95% of adults to achieve functional literacy and numeracy, up from 85% and 79% respectively in 2005
• Over 90% of adults qualified to at least Level 2, up from 69% in 2005; with commitment to achieve 95% as soon as possible
• Shift balance of intermediate skills from Level 2 to level 3; 1.9 million additional Level 3s (4 million in total) to 2020, increase Apprenticeships to 500,000
• Over 40% of adults qualified to Level 4 and above, up from 29% in 2005.

• The Train to Gain Development Programme will work with providers to develop high quality, responsive provision which meets employers' needs (ref 2.3.1)
• Diploma Development partnerships will represent the employers' voice and a support programme for colleges and providers will be introduced to support the 14-19 curriculum reforms (ref 2.3.2 and 2.3.3)
• Launch the National Skills Academies and work with them and other specialist networks and providers to ensure their good practice is shared (2.3.6 and 2.3.7)
• Ensure the Qualifications and Credit Framework reflects employers' needs (ref 2.3.10)
• The New Standard for employer responsiveness and vocational excellence (ref 3.5.7)

The overall success rate for LSC funded FE provision was 74% in 2004/05 but this masks wide variation in the success rates across sector subject areas and for different groups of learners and providers. For instance, success rates in FE in Construction, Planning and the Built Environment and Information and Communication Technology were 62%, whereas in Health, Public Services and Care, the success rate was 84%.¹⁶

The gap in success rate for long courses between the best performing general FE colleges (90th percentile) and the worst performing (10th percentile) continues to narrow and in 2004/05 was 18%. In Sixth Form Colleges, the figure is 21%.¹⁷

In work-based learning provision, the overall success rate for all frameworks or NVQs in 2004/05 was 53%. The lowest performance in success rates by sector subject area was Preparation for Life and Work at 44%, whilst the highest performance was in Science and Mathematics at 67%.¹⁸ The gap in full framework success rates for long courses between the best providers (90th percentile) and the worst (10th percentile) was 42% in 2004/05.¹⁹

Success rates have risen significantly in the FE sector. The performance gap between the best and worst providers in general FE colleges has also started to narrow. Success rates for 2004/05 in the worst colleges (10th percentile) were 63%, compared to 81% for colleges in the 90th percentile. For Sixth Form Colleges, the comparable figures are 67% and 87%. However, for long courses in FE colleges the performance gap has not narrowed and for NVQ level 2 provision it has widened, with 10% of FE colleges having a success rate in this area of 43% or below.²⁰

• Launch the Excellence Gateway to provide access to a wide range of improvement products and services tailored to people working at all levels in different types of college and provider organisations (ref 3.1.2)
• QIA will commission programmes and services and services to build the sector's capacity for self improvement, to support them to become more autonomous institutions and speed up the pace of improvement (ref 3.1.1)
• The Framework for Excellence will provide a way to measure their performance (ref 3.5.5)
• Jobcentre Plus/DWP will introduce Star Rating - a new system of measuring provider performance (ref 3.5.6)
• Performance will be assessed against the new minimum levels of performance using the most recent validated performance data available (ref 3.6.1)
• Issue a notice to improve for inadequate provision, this will be identified through work of the Inspectorate and other evidence of poor or failing provision (ref 3.6.2)
• Support by QIA's Improvement Adviser Service will be provided at an early stage where inadequate provision is identified (ref 3.6.3)

Ofsted's inspections in 2005/06 show that the trend of improvement over the first cycle of inspections of further education and sixth form colleges has continued.

The quality of teaching in colleges was generally good. Where it was good or better, teachers demonstrated a high standard of subject expertise and learners were engaged. However, in some areas, including engineering, too much of the teaching of theory lacked sufficient variety and failed to interest learners. Assessment was often a weaker aspect of teaching. In construction, for example, insufficient work-based assessment was identified as an area for improvement on some inspections. However, there were some areas of relative strength such as in health and social care.

Success rates have been improving in agriculture, horticulture and animal care, in arts, media and publishing, and in ICT. In ICT, achievement was generally good and success and retention rates were high, particularly on Level 3 courses. However, not all colleges improved their overall provision and this was largely due to weaknesses in achievement on foundation and intermediate level courses and the underdeveloped use of assessment to support learning. The quality of courses in construction was satisfactory overall. In some areas, including engineering, too much of the teaching of theory lacked sufficient variety and failed to interest learners. Overall, more attention was being paid to personalised learning but marked variations in practice remained, and this was an area of weakness in some colleges.

In some colleges, there were still too few opportunities for work experience and little involvement of employers in the curriculum and overall, achievement in key skills in colleges was inadequate.

The overall quality of English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) courses had improved; however, a small number of ESOL courses were unsatisfactory and there remained areas of weakness in most colleges.

Generally, the leadership and management of colleges are improving; they are good or better in about six in 10 of those inspected. There is a close link between the quality of leadership and management and the overall effectiveness of colleges. In all but two colleges inspected in which overall effectiveness is good or better, leadership and management are also good or better. In all but one of the colleges judged inadequate overall, leadership and management are also inadequate.

Inspections in 2005/06 show less encouraging outcomes for independent specialist colleges. Two of the colleges which are satisfactory overall demonstrate inadequate capacity to improve. The proportion of independent specialist colleges showing good or better capacity to improve is less than half.

The Adult Learning Inspectorate reported a dramatic improvement in inspection results for work-based learning providers, with only 12% being judged inadequate; half the proportion reported in 2004-05. However, ALI inspectors found examples of Train to Gain provision where little or no teaching of new skills took place and where little or no value had been added to the capability of the individual employee or employer, or to the national stock.

Despite some improvements, 22% of adult and community learning provision are still found to be inadequate. Teaching was once again less often found wanting than good leadership and management although the gap had narrowed significantly.

About one-third of grades awarded to Jobcentre Plus/DWP providers in 2005-06 were good or outstanding. The inadequacy rate for Workstep programmes this year was 33% which is still too high but greatly improved from 54% in 2004-05.

The number of prisons found to be inadequate on inspection has fallen year-on-year since inspection started in this area in 2002 although 16% of the prisons and young offender institutions inspected in 2005-06 were still considered to have inadequate learning and skills provision. There is still a need for greater clarity in prisons that educational provision must secure specified learning goals and progress.

• Ofsted will work with QIA to ensure that inspection findings are used in the development of quality improvement tools which most appropriately match the needs of providers (ref 3.1.4)
• Ofsted will continue to undertake a number of subject and survey reports each year to assess and report on the quality of provision in the sector (ref 3.1.6)
• Inspection will be extended to all offender learning (ref 3.5.3)

In 2005, 80% of full-time FE teachers and 60% of part-time teachers were qualified or working towards a qualification. The interim targets for 2006 are 90% of full-time and 60% of part-time teachers.²¹

• LLUK will develop a framework for initial teacher/tutor/trainer training incorporating QTLS status and introduce a framework for continuing professional development for further education teaching staff. IFL will confer QTLS status and monitor teachers CPD as a requirement of maintaining the licence. CEL will run programmes to support staff in the further education system and is developing a suite of training courses designed to prepare staff at all levels and from all types of provider for leadership and management roles (3.3.2 to 3.3.10).