Improvement Resource Type: Thematic Report

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

Improvement Resource Type: Thematic Report

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Recommendations

School leaders should:

  • R1    Provide staff with high-quality professional learning about evidence-based strategies to develop pupils’ reading skills across the curriculum
  • R2    Monitor and evaluate robustly the impact of reading strategies and interventions
  • R3    Plan within their cluster for the progressive development of pupils’ reading skills from Year 6 to Year 7, including making appropriate use of feedback and progress reports from personalised assessments

Teachers and classroom-based support staff should:

  • R4    Plan meaningful and engaging opportunities for pupils to develop their reading skills progressively 
  • R5    Use high-quality, suitably challenging texts to develop pupils’ reading skills alongside teaching the strategies pupils need to access and engage with these texts

School improvement partners should:

  • R6    Work together closely to ensure greater consistency and synergy in professional learning opportunities around reading for school leaders, teachers and teaching assistants

The Welsh Government should:

  • R7    Continue to promote and develop the whole-school approach to oracy and reading toolkit

Improvement Resource Type: Thematic Report

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