On 1st August 2016, full responsibility for the Welsh for Adults sector was transferred to the National Centre for Learning Welsh (the Centre). The Centre’s current strategic aims include the following:
Develop an innovative programme of attractive and suitable courses for learners by making full use of technology
Develop innovative schemes to ensure opportunities and contexts in which learners can use their Welsh with confidence
Raise the profile of the sector and increase the numbers who start courses and continue to learn Welsh
The Centre restructured Welsh for Adults provision across Wales by establishing 11 Learn Welsh providers from 2016 onwards. It provides funding to these Learn Welsh providers to offer Welsh for Adults provision within their communities.
In a short period of time, the Centre has succeeded in ensuring consistency in Learn Welsh provision across Wales. It has developed a digital platform as a convenient and accessible means for learners to search for a course, enrol and pay. The platform is used creatively by providing courses and a host of digital resources, in addition to providing a platform for the sector’s practitioners to share good practice and conduct valuable continuous professional development.
Identify how the excellent area of practice/sector-leading practice that was identified during the inspection relates to a key question, quality indicator and/or a specific aspect:
When the Centre was first established, a purposeful decision was made to invest in developing a unique digital platform for the sector. It is a multi-layered platform that includes various elements that provide a ‘one-stop shop’ for learners. The platform includes:
Course Search: this enables learners to search, enrol and pay for courses
Virtual resource library: this includes over 1,500 digital resources to support learners’ learning
Data Management System: which allows the Centre to gather data that it is able to release as a Publisher of Official Statistics
Learning Management System: this includes a unique ‘My learning’ area for all learners, where they are able to track progress, identify resources to support learning and recognise achievements
Course Builder: this allows the Centre to add to the learning methods that are provided for learners, including self-study methods and virtual learning.
The platform is also important for sharing information and news.
Description of the nature of the strategy or activity that has been identified as excellent/sector-leading practice:
In 2018, the Centre published a Digital Framework for the sector, which outlines in detail the provision that it intends to develop in order to develop and promote digital teaching and learning. Based on the Digital Framework, and in consultation with the sector, an annual plan is agreed to continue to develop the platform. Plans for 2021-22 include:
A ‘catch-up’ service for learners who miss lessons, which will be tracked and recorded
A third party area, which will provide a focal point for some sector partnerships and allow resources and courses to be contextualised and tailored to specific sectors
An Academy area, which will include a ‘my learning’ area for tutors, where it will be possible to provide a range of professional learning opportunities that will be tracked and recorded individually for each user.
What effect has this work had on provision and learners’ standards:
The digital platform has become a central part of the Learn Welsh service, and prospective learners, learners, tutors, support staff and the Centre’s staff use elements of it regularly.
Over 85,000 individuals have an account on the digital platform.
The digital platform has had over 500,000 visitors over a 12-month period.
Over 2,000 Learn Welsh courses are advertised on the digital platform.
All of the Centre’s learners (17,000+) are enrolled on 30,000+ courses across the digital platform. Each has a unique account and access to a ‘My learning’ area, which provides important information about their learning.
There are over 1,000 digital resources available to support learners with their learning.
There are 300 hours of self-study content on the platform, all of which records and tracks learners’ progress.
There are over 130 of varied digital resources available to tutors to support their teaching.
There are over 140 varied data reports within the digital platform’s data management system.
The digital platform was central to facilitating moving most of the sector’s provision online within a matter of weeks at the beginning of the pandemic, with the enthusiastic and professional co-operation of individual Learn Welsh providers. As a result, and despite the pandemic, the Centre has succeeded in increasing the number of adults who are learning Welsh.
The National Centre for Learning Welsh formed strategic partnerships with various bodies (public, voluntary and cultural) to create opportunities for learners to use the Welsh language outside thei ...Read more
