Thematic Report Archives - Page 6 of 16 - Estyn

Improvement Resource Type: Thematic Report

Improvement Resource Type: Thematic Report

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Recommendations

In the case of future similar grants, leaders in schools and colleges should:

  • R1 Ensure they have a clear vision for the outcomes they desire from additional spending
  • R2 Work with a wide range of partners to develop strategies to support learners’ progress and wellbeing
  • R3 Regularly track and evaluate the impact of additional spending in order to adjust current plans and inform future planning
  • R4 Consider building on successful changes to practice made during the pandemic
  • R5 Ensure that learners’ progress in Welsh is priority, irrespective of the linguistic backgrounds of learners

Regional consortia and local authorities should:

  • R6 Track and evaluate the success of different models of providing additional support to learners across their areas, referring to the indicators suggested in this report

The Welsh Government should:

  • R7 Ensure that conditions for any future catch up grant spending are flexible and are equivalent for schools and colleges

Improvement Resource Type: Thematic Report

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Recommendations

Further education colleges, work-based learning providers and adult learning in the community partnerships should:

  • R1 Quality assure remote and blended learning provision to ensure that all courses or programmes meet a minimum quality standard so as to reduce the variability in provision
  • R2 Ensure that leaders and teachers have access to professional learning that supports the development of how to design effective remote and blended teaching and learning, as well as further develop teachers’ pedagogical and assessment skills
  • R3 Share emerging and innovative remote and blended learning practice within and across post-16 sectors in Wales and beyond

The Welsh Government should:

  • R4 Continue to support the sector with guidance to enable providers to develop quality remote and blended approaches, particularly in supporting the return to direct teaching and training and the assessment of practical vocational and technical skills
  • R5 Commission professional learning for the post-16 sector, which is free to providers and helps them to develop specific expertise in remote and blended learning design, teaching, training and learning for their sector to reduce variability of quality in provision
  • R6 Enable adult learning in the community partnerships and learners to access a national centralised digital platform to provide remote and blended learning more easily
  • R7 Encourage and support providers to share emerging practice in remote and blended learning within and across post-16 sectors in Wales

Improvement Resource Type: Thematic Report

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Recommendations

Further education colleges, work-based learning providers and adult learning in the community partnerships should:

  • R1 Target resources to promote positive mental health and emotional wellbeing carefully in order to avoid overloading learners and staff with too much information
  • R2 Identify carefully those learners most at risk from disengaging from learning or experiencing mental health and emotional wellbeing issues and monitor their wellbeing on a regular basis
  • R3 Prioritise the provision of support according to need to ensure that all learners requiring urgent help with their mental health and emotional wellbeing receive support as quickly as possible
  • R4 Work as closely as possible with external agencies to make overall support for mental health and emotional wellbeing as seamless as possible and minimise, or ideally avoid, the need for multiple points of contact
  • R5 Make clear how support for mental health and emotional wellbeing can be accessed by all learners, including those studying with subcontractors or partner providers
  • R6 Ensure that all counselling staff, and other staff in similar roles, receive appropriate supervision or mentoring and undertake specific professional learning in how to provide remote support effectively

The Welsh Government should:

  • R7 Ensure that the outcomes of Welsh Government-funded mental health projects are evaluated fully and share the findings across all post-16 sectors

Improvement Resource Type: Thematic Report

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Recommendations

Non-maintained settings, nursery and primary schools should:

  • R1 ensure that poverty and disadvantage are not barriers to learners developing secure language and literacy skills
  • R2 develop a culture of reading that encourages and enthuses all learners, including boys and those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to read for pleasure and provide opportunities to listen to adults reading aloud
  • R3 develop explicitly learners’ vocabulary knowledge so that it supports the development of their speaking, reading and writing skills

Primary schools should:

  • R4 develop a clear strategy to support the effective teaching of reading, including addressing learners’ decoding skills, vocabulary development and advanced reading skills
  • R5 provide appropriately challenging and relevant opportunities to support the progressive development of learners’ listening and speaking skills, particularly in key stage 2
  • R6 support the development of learners’ writing skills through the explicit teaching of sentence construction, punctuation and spelling, relevant opportunities to write and precise feedback to guide further improvement

Local authorities and regional consortia should:

  • R7 provide high-quality professional learning that meets the individual needs of settings and schools, to ensure that all learners, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, improve their language and literacy skills

The Welsh Government should:

  • R8 evaluate settings’ and schools’ use of targeted funding, such as the early years pupil development grant and the pupil development grant, to improve eligible learners’ language and literacy skills

Improvement Resource Type: Thematic Report

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Improvement Resource Type: Thematic Report

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Recommendations

Non-maintained settings, nursery and primary schools should:

  • R1 plan carefully for continuity and progression in the skill development of learners from all linguistic backgrounds as they acquire the Welsh language
  • R2 provide regular listening and speaking activities to develop learners’ vocabulary and syntactic patterns, and encourage them to apply these new skills in formal and less formal activities
  • R3 track rigorously the progress, vocabulary development and language acquisition of specific groups of learners, including the more able

Primary schools should:

  • R4 provide opportunities for learners to listen to, read and appreciate Welsh literature and poetry by Welsh authors, particularly in key stage 2
  • R5 ensure regular opportunities for learners to write freely and independently

Local authorities and regional consortia should: 

  • R6 provide training to deepen practitioners’ understanding of how learners acquire the Welsh language, and in effective language immersion methodology

The Welsh Government should:

  • R7 develop national guidelines on language immersion in order to support teaching and learning in Welsh language acquisition

Improvement Resource Type: Thematic Report

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Recommendations

Schools and colleges should:

  • R1 Ensure strong partnership working to develop collaborative provision with other providers where this helps to improve quality or expand choice
  • R2 Ensure that post-16 provision delivered in partnership with other providers is underpinned by written agreements of responsibilities, and is included fully within improvement planning processes
  • R3 Ensure that advice and guidance to learners is impartial, focused on learners’ needs, and informed by the provision, standards and support available at all local post-16 education and training providers
  • R4 Share information to support the transition of learners to other providers in line with Welsh Government guidance
  • R5 Submit accurate information about the programmes learners undertake, including the provider of each learning activity, as part of their annual data submissions to the Welsh Government

Local authorities and regional consortia should:

  • R6 Ensure that strategic planning involves the wider community of local schools and colleges
  • R7 Work together with colleges on joint professional learning activities where appropriate
  • R8 Work with colleges to ensure that a suitable range of post-16 provision is available locally through the medium of Welsh

The Welsh Government should:

  • R9 Review and consolidate legislation, policy and guidance for 16-19 provision to ensure consistency and clarity of expectations in a way that builds on the developments of Curriculum for Wales
  • R10 Apply a consistent approach to the oversight and quality monitoring of post-16 provision, including planning and funding considerations
  • R11 Provide prospective learners and their parents with clear information about learner progress and outcomes for school sixth forms and further education colleges in Wales
  • R12 Ensure that any future Commission for Tertiary Education and Research addresses the findings and recommendations of this thematic review

Improvement Resource Type: Thematic Report

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Improvement Resource Type: Thematic Report

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Recommendations

Recommendations for the Welsh Government to work with regional consortia, local authorities, and other partners and providers to:

  • R1 Urgently address barriers to learning at home, particularly where this is due to a lack of access to suitable computers or adequate connectivity
  • R2 Improve the quality of the distance and blended learning experiences for pupils by supporting more effective teaching across and within schools and PRUs
  • R3 Develop a coherent approach to improve progress in literacy, numeracy and personal and social skills of vulnerable pupils disproportionally affected by the pandemic, for example pupils eligible for free school meals
  • R4 Establish strategies to monitor and address the long-term impact of the pandemic on the physical and mental health of pupils
  • R5 Create opportunities to take stock and evaluate the impact of policies and practices developed since the start of the pandemic to inform future ways of working and curriculum design

Improvement Resource Type: Thematic Report

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