Thematic Report Archives - Page 2 of 16 - Estyn

Improvement Resource Type: Thematic Report

Improvement Resource Type: Thematic Report

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Recommendations

The Welsh Government should:

  • R1    Work with Qualifications Wales and the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research to review the use of Essential Skills Wales qualifications in apprenticeships
  • R2    Refresh the Wales Essential Skills Toolkit (WEST) and resources
  • R3    Working with partners, develop opportunities for professional learning to enhance practitioners’ understanding of the pedagogy and capacity to deliver essential skills

Work-based learning apprenticeship providers should:

  • R4    Develop partnership working approaches to ensure that:
    • learners have meaningful opportunities to study and take assessments bilingually or through the medium Welsh 
    • learners’ additional learning needs are promptly identified, evaluated and appropriately supported
  • R5    Ensure that learners who have already attained the required ESW qualifications or are exempted by proxy continue to develop their literacy, numeracy and digital skills
  • R6    Offer professional learning that develops tutors’ and assessors’ pedagogy to deliver essential skills

Lead providers should:

  • R7    Ensure that self-evaluation reflects on the effectiveness of the delivery models in use across the provider’s partners and sub-contractors and takes action to reduce the potential disadvantages identified in this report

Improvement Resource Type: Thematic Report

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Improvement Resource Type: Thematic Report

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Recommendations

Schools should:

R1      Improve the quality of information provided to, for example, parents, and clearly state what the school regards as additional learning provision

R2      Ensure that ALNCos have sufficient time and resource to carry out their duties

R3      Ensure that the professional learning of school staff has a sufficient focus on high quality teaching for pupils with ALN

Local authorities should:

R4      Ensure that all schools are aware of their duties under the ALNET Act

R5      Provide clear, accurate and up-to-date information to stakeholders, in particular in relation to:

  • what constitutes additional learning provision in its schools
  • those IDPs that are to be maintained by the local authority and those to be maintained by schools

R6      Continue to quality assure and review practice and additional learning provision to ensure funding and professional learning supports roll out effectively for:

  • person centred practices
  • individual development plans
  • Welsh-medium services, resources and provision

R7      Develop and publish their strategy for post-16 learners with ALN

The Welsh Government should:

R8      Ensure that all settings have a clear understanding of the legal definitions contained in the ALNET Act and the ALN Code and provide practical examples to aid understanding

R9      Fully evaluate the impact of additional funding allocated to local authorities

R10    Ensure that future guidance and funding is provided in a timely fashion to allow both local authorities and schools to plan sufficiently
 

Improvement Resource Type: Thematic Report

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Improvement Resource Type: Thematic Report

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Initial Teacher Education partnerships should:

R1 Plan purposeful opportunities to develop students’ Welsh language skills and pedagogy in all aspects of ITE programmes to ensure consistent support throughout the programme, including when on school experience
R2 Ensure that provision to support the Welsh language focuses on the development of students’ personal skills and teaching to develop pupils’ Welsh skills; this should include language acquisition pedagogy in Welsh-medium, English -medium and bilingual schools
R3 Monitor and evaluate the impact of provision for Welsh language development taking into account how students use their Welsh language skills and language acquisition pedagogy to support pupils’ progress in schools
R4 Create opportunities for collaboration between ITE partnerships to develop and expand support for teaching through the medium of Welsh

Leaders in partnership schools should:

R5 Prioritise and develop a strategy for the development of the Welsh language in response to the expectations set out by partnerships and Welsh Government policies

The Welsh Government should:

R6 Ensure clarity of expectation in the professional standards for teaching and leadership to focus on how teachers and leaders develop practice that impacts positively on pupils’ Welsh skills
R7 Ensure that ITE partnerships collaborate with school improvement partners to develop a more consistent, coherent and specialised provision for the development of the education workforce’s Welsh language skills and pedagogy as part of the professional learning continuum

Improvement Resource Type: Thematic Report

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PRUs and mainstream schools should:

  1. Share practice with each other and work with local authorities, pupils, and parents to strengthen opportunities for pupils to return to mainstream education
  2. Monitor pupils’ attendance closely to ensure they access their full provision and, in particular, to safeguard pupils where they access education part-time in a different provider

Local authorities and their school improvement services should:

  1. Support more pupils to return to mainstream school where appropriate through:
  • strengthening short term intensive support in EOTAS provision
  • ensuring placement decisions are taken promptly and identify an agreed duration, clear roles and responsibilities and a review date
  1. Secure curriculum provision in PRUs which meets the needs of all pupils working with the management committee and teacher in charge
  2. Secure curriculum provision in EOTAS providers other than PRUs
  3. Strengthen the quality assurance and monitoring processes to ensure effective delivery of the curriculum offer in all EOTAS providers
  4. Robustly challenge and monitor the attendance of pupils across EOTAS providers including the appropriate use of part-time timetables and pastoral support programmes

The Welsh Government should:

  1. Update and ensure delivery of the EOTAS Framework for Action including all relevant accompanying EOTAS guidance to reflect the recommendations of this report

Improvement Resource Type: Thematic Report

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Recommendations

Further education colleges should:

  • R1 Ensure that all learners benefit from opportunities to take part in learning activities and discussions about forming and maintaining healthy relationships
  • R2 Develop strategies to prevent and tackle misogynistic attitudes and cultures developing among groups of learners
  • R3 Ensure that all relevant staff members undertake professional learning that enables them to confidently recognise and respond to sexual harassment as well as help learners develop their understanding of healthy relationships
  • R4 Ensure that all learners feel safe and comfortable in all areas of college buildings, grounds, virtual spaces, and transport
  • R5 Record, categorise and analyse instances of sexual harassment, assault and abuse in a consistent way that enables leaders to identify trends and take appropriate measures in response

The Welsh Government should:

  • R6 Make clear which aspects of Welsh Government education guidance relating to sexual harassment apply to further education colleges and clarify any differences between requirements in schools and further education colleges
  • R7 Provide appropriate guidance to colleges to help them adopt a co-ordinated and consistent approach to recording and categorising instances of sexual harassment

Improvement Resource Type: Thematic Report

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Recommendations

Governing bodies and schools should:

  • R1 Improve governors’ ability to challenge senior leaders about all aspects of the school’s work
  • R2 Ensure that governors have regular and worthwhile opportunities to observe first-hand the progress that their school is making towards meeting its priorities
  • R3 Undertake regular self-evaluation of the work of the governing body to identify strengths and areas to improve
  • R4 Evaluate the impact of governor training on their role as effective strategic leaders and identify future training requirements

Local authorities and school improvement services should:

  • R5 Evaluate the quality of their governor training more rigorously to make improvements where needed
  • R6 Collaborate to ensure greater coherence and consistency in high-quality training opportunities between different parts of the country
  • R7 Provide more effective support and advice to governing bodies to help them in their role as effective strategic leaders

The Welsh Government should:

  • R8 Update the guidance for local authorities on what to include in training for school governors on understanding the role of data in supporting self-evaluation and improvement in schools in line with national changes to assessment practices
  • R9 Produce information on the important role of parent governors to help encourage parents, particularly those from different ethnic minority backgrounds, to apply to become a parent governor
  • R10 Create a competency framework to assist governing bodies improve their effectiveness