PAPER D

 

 

Committee :     AUDIT COMMITTEE

 

Date :               17 NOVEMBER 2005

 

Title :                ADULT AND COMMUNITY LEARNING INSPECTION REPORT

 

REPORT OF THE ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF CULTURAL AND LEISURE SERVICES

 

 

SUMMARY/PURPOSE

 

1.         The Audit Committee is asked to receive the report and recommend option one ‘that no further action should be taken in respect of the Adult and Community Learning Inspection Report’.

 

BACKGROUND

 

2.         In April 2001 and in accordance with Government directives, the responsibility and funding for Adult and Community Learning passed from the Council to the Local Learning and Skills Council for Hampshire & the Isle of Wight (LLSC).

 

3.         The Council continues to be the main provider of the services on the Island. The range and scale of the services are now agreed annually with the LLSC and captured in an Adult & Community Learning Plan which was approved by Full Council on 20th July 2005. The plan can be found at www.eduwight.iow.gov.uk/student/higher education/adult ed/images/3yrDevPlanALPMarch2005-2006.pdf This serves as a Service Level Agreement with the LLSC and sets out how the Council will compliment the LLSC funded programme with its own directly funded Adult & Community Learning Activities.

 

4.                  The Adult & Community Learning Plan is focussed around three main strands of activity which underpin many of the key strategic objectives of the Island as a whole:

 

·       Learning for personal development

·       Family Learning, Literacy, Language and Numeracy

·       Social Inclusion, widening participation and regeneration programmes

 

5.         The plan helps to underpin one of the key messages in the emerging new Community Strategy – “We will create an Island where young and old alike have the skills and qualifications necessary for a happy and fulfilled life”, and supports the delivery of the Cultural Strategy.

 

6.         The plan makes a contribution to the achievement of each of the four priorities of the Local Area Agreement:-

 

·         Economic development and regeneration

·         Healthier communities and older people

·         Safer communities

·         Children and young people

 

7.         Successful achievement of the plan will contribute to a number of the priorities in the Aim High Corporate Plan.

 

 

8.         In accordance with Government directives all publicly funded Adult Learning provision is subject to regular inspection by the Adult Learning Inspectorate (ALI) against the standards published in the Common Inspection Framework. The Isle of Wight Council


            Adult & Community Learning Service (ACL) was inspected by ALI in June 2005 and their report was published in August 2005 and is available on the ALI website www.ALI.gov.uk. A copy is available on the Public Folders link on the Intranet.

 

9.                   Inspections are carried out in accordance with the Common Inspection Framework by      teams of full-time inspectors and part time associate inspectors who have knowledge of   and experience in, the work which they inspect. All providers are invited to nominate a     senior member of their staff to participate in the inspection as a team member.

 

10.               Grades given for areas of learning and leadership and management are used to make     a judgement about the overall effectiveness of the provider. Inspectors use a four point    scale to summarise their judgements about the quality of provision in curriculum areas and leadership & management with contributory grades for equality of opportunity and quality assurance.

 

11.         The descriptors for the four grades are:

·       Grade 1 – outstanding

·       Grade 2 – good

·       Grade 3 – satisfactory

·       Grade 4 – inadequate

 

            An outstanding provider should typically have leadership and management and at least              half of the areas of learning judged to be a grade 1. All area of learning grades will be                  graded 1 or 2.

 

            A good provider should have leadership and management and at least half of the area               of learning grades judged to be grade 2 or better and few grade 3s and no grade 4s.

 

            A satisfactory provider should have adequate or better grades in leadership and                        management and in at least two thirds of the area of learning grades, some of which                     may be grade 4.

 

            Provision deemed inadequate is where more than one third of areas of learning grades             and/or leadership and management are judged inadequate.

           

OUTCOME OF CONSULTATIONS

 

12.              The ALI inspection of the Isle of Wight Council Adult and Community Learning Service took place between 13th – 17th June 2005. Six inspectors undertook a total of 30 inspection days and interviewed a total of 70 learners, 55 staff and 21 subcontractors. They visited 28 learning venues and interviewed 10 partners/external agencies.

 

13.              The Inspectors judged the ACL Service to be good with sufficient capacity to make improvements and were broadly confident in the reliability of the self-assessment process.

 

14.              Grades given by the Inspectors were :-

 

·         Grade 2 Good - Leadership and Management with contributory grades for equality of opportunity grade 2 and grade 3 for quality improvement.

·         Grade 1 Outstanding – Family Learning.

·         Grade 3 Satisfactory – Visual, Performing Arts and Media.

 

15.              The key challenges Inspectors identified for the ACL Service were :-

 

·         Maintain the good learning opportunities in carnival activities and the outstanding family learning provision.

·         Make better use of the outcomes of quality improvement.

·         Improve assessment practices.

·         Plan and develop the provision more effectively.

·         Improve the sharing of good practice.

·         Introduce a more innovative arts programme linked to other subcontractors’ provision.

·         Improve the college-based curriculum.

 

16.              The Inspectors identified the key strengths and weaknesses found in Leadership and Management and in the areas of learning for Family Learning and Visual and Performing Arts as detailed below :-

 

Leadership and Management

Strengths

·         Clear focus on the strategic development of the service

·         Good network of partnerships to meet community needs

·         Good use of traditional local interests to promote social inclusion

·         Good initiatives to promote understanding of cultural diversity

 

Weaknesses

·         Inadequate assessment practices for non-accredited learning

·         Insufficient formal sharing of good practice

 

Visual & Performing Arts & Media

Strengths

·         Good development of vocational IT skills

·         Very good standards of performance for the carnival

·         Particularly effective promotion of equality and diversity through arts development activities

 

Weaknesses

·           Insufficient focus on learning in many lessons

·            Insufficient use of assessments to measure progress

·            Insufficient development of college-based curriculum

 

Family Learning

Strengths

·           Very good retention rates

·           Excellent range of achievements

·           Good standards of teaching & learning

·           Good support for learners

·           Very productive partnerships

·           Particularly good management of the curriculum area

 

Weaknesses

·         Insufficient development of learners’ evaluative skills

 

17.         Following the publication of the Inspection Report the Isle of Wight Council was required within six weeks to submit to the LLSC for approval a Post Inspection Improvement Plan detailing how the ACL Service planned to build on the strengths identified in the report and address the weakness and challenges. The Improvement Plan was submitted to the LLSC as required and has been formally approved. The Improvement Plan has subsequently been incorporated into the overall ACL Development Plan. Both the Post Inspection Improvement Plan and the Development Plan are available on the Public Folders Link on the Intranet.

 

18.         The Adult Learning Inspectorate will monitor annually the performance of the Adult & Community Learning Service and will undertake a further inspection under cycle 2 within the next four years.          

 

19.         Since the successful inspection the ACL Service has been invited to share best practice and support other ACL Services in preparing for inspection including Surrey County Council, Hampshire County Council, Portsmouth County Council, Southampton City Council and other local providers.

 

20.         The Service has also been invited to participate in a national event as one of the top 20 high performing local authority ACL Services as identified through inspection to identify the elements required to ‘Perform High’ for a national publication.

 

21.         The Family Learning Service is presenting at the national conference ‘Every Family Matters’ in Coventry. This event links policy to practice and demonstrates how Family Learning can support Local Authorities to meet inspection criteria for Joint Area Reviews.

 

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

 

22.     The total cost of delivering the Adult and Community Learning Plan for the academic year 2005/06 is £442,595. This is based on LLSC funding of £260,798 with the balance funded by the Council from its core revenue budget (£117,713) and also Public Service Agreement (PSA) pump priming grant (£64,084). Both the Council and PSA monies are within the existing revenue budget for 2005/06 financial year.

 

23.     The quality improvement activities associated with the Post Inspection Improvement Plan will require funding some of which it is intended to be included within existing budgets. Some activities will however require additional funding. External sources i.e. LLSC will be utilised where available. Additional LLSC funding however is unlikely and therefore the successful delivery of the plan may impact on front line service delivery.

 

LEGAL IMPLICATIONS

 

24.     The Learning and Skills Council has a statutory duty under the Learning and Skills Act 2000 to “increase demand for learning amongst adults”. In fulfilling this duty, it may choose to work with any learning provider in an area. It also, if necessary, has the ability to “compel” a local authority to secure provision of adult learning provision in its local area. If a local authority does not secure the required provision, then the Secretary of State may require it to do so, subject to the LLSC making adequate resources available to it.

 

OPTIONS

 

1.                  Take no further action following the Inspection.

 

2.                  Request the Cabinet member for Economy, Regeneration, Tourism and Leisure to investigate and provide a further report on any matters arising from the Inspection Report and the Post Inspection Improvement Plan.

 

3.                  Request a further report on any matters raised in inspection giving the Audit Committee cause for concern.

 

4.                  Make recommendations to the Cabinet member to improve the Post Inspection Improvement Plan.

 

RECOMMENDATIONS

 

25.        Option 1 - That no further action be taken following the inspection.

 

 

BACKGROUND PAPERS

 

Adult Learning Inspectorate Report June 2005

Adult & Community Learning Post Inspection Improvement Plan September 2005

Adult & Community Learning Development Plan September 2005 update

 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

 

Adult and Community Learning Plan 2005/06

 

APPENDICES ATTACHED

 

None.

 

 

 

 

Contact Point : John Metcalfe, Associate Director, Cultural and Leisure Services

                        ( 823825 Email: [email protected]

 

 

 

 

 

 

JOHN METCALFE

Associate Director, Cultural and Leisure Services