Anglia Ruskin University. Graduate Leaders in Early Years Programme Audit Monitoring Report by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education

Transcription

1 Graduate Leaders in Early Years Programme Audit Monitoring Report by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education November 2014

2 Contents Report of monitoring visit... 1 Section 1: Outcome of the monitoring visit... 1 Recommendation... 1 Section 2: Changes since the 2014 monitoring... 1 Section 3: Update on the Early Years Professional Status audit/monitoring action plan... 2 Effectiveness of the Providers Actions... 2 Section 4: Candidate/trainee-centred quality assurance... 2 Section 5: Thematic element: Management of contract transfer/exit... 3 Section 6: Outstanding or exceptional practice... 4 Section 7: Background to the monitoring visit... 4

3 Report of monitoring visit Section 1: Outcome of the monitoring visit Graduate Leaders in Early Years Programme Audit Monitoring: From the evidence provided in the annual return and at the monitoring visit, the audit/monitoring team concludes that has made commendable progress. Recommendation The team has also identified a recommendation for the enhancement of the provision by the Prime Organisation. The team considers that it would be desirable for the Prime Organisation to: complete the written rolling action plan in the light of the supplementary progress information received by the team shortly before the monitoring visit (paragraph 5). Section 2: Changes since the 2014 monitoring 1 through its Mpowernet unit is the Prime Organisation for the delivery of Early Years Professional Status/Early Years Teacher Status programmes working with its Delivery Partners, Edge Hill University and the University of East London. 2 There were three main changes since the last monitoring visit. They are: significant staffing changes at each of the three centres; the putting in place of appropriate arrangements to secure an orderly contract closure (see Section 5 below); and the successful recruitment of new student cohorts. 3 Following the recommendation in the 2014 monitoring report, the University of East London, with the support of the Prime Organisation, restructured Early Years Professional Status/Early Years Teacher Status provision into the Initial Teacher Education Department, increased the staffing resource allocated to the programmes, and appointed an administrator and finance assistant (see paragraph 6 below). This has increased the support to the Project Manager and provides additional cover as necessary. At the same time, the Prime Organisation has increased the access by the University of East London to Anglia Ruskin University Consultants, who have also completed all University of East London final assessments and have supported Development Reviews. More recently, Edge Hill University has established an Early Years Education Area within the Faculty of Education to create stronger alignment with Initial Teacher Training. As the Prime Organisation will no longer be engaged in Initial Teacher Training, Mpowernet has extended its operations into other areas of the University, but still remain committed to Early Years Teacher Status programmes. However, staffing levels have been reduced to reflect the smaller number of places allocated. 4 The Project Closure Report listed success performance criteria for the January 2013 Early Years Professional Status cohort and the September 2013 Early Years Teacher Status cohort. Retention for each was 94 per cent against a target of 85 per cent; the Early Years Professional Status completion rate was 94 per cent against a target of 85 per cent. Completion data for the Early Years Professional Status target is currently not available. The consortium delivered 83.5 per cent and 87 per cent of recruitment targets in January and September respectively. Student satisfaction levels scored over 95 per cent against a target of 70 per cent. 1

4 Graduate Leaders in Early Years Programme Audit Monitoring: Section 3: Update on the Early Years Professional Status audit/monitoring action plan Effectiveness of the Provider's actions 5 The Prime Organisation undertook an inclusive process in the development of the action plan in response to the last audit report. Delivery Partners stated that they were consulted and had their views listened to in the development of the action plan. The action plan is comprehensive in addressing the recommendation and good practice identified in the 2013 audit. 6 The key recommendation to address the staffing issues at the University of East London has been completed. The Prime Organisation put in place extra consultant support for the Delivery Partner before the QAA audit report was published. The Prime Organisation confirmed that all support had been put in place to satisfactorily deliver Early Years Professional Status, namely an administrator, finance support and two lecturing staff from the Delivery Partner's early years team. 7 The actions outlined in the action plan have all been closed down. Much of the good practice identified in the action plan has been shared across the consortium. For example, both the University of East London and the Prime Organisation have established versions of the Trainee Consultative Forums that operated at Edge Hill University. There are instances where the good practice developed through this contract has been extended by some of the Delivery Partners. For example, the good practice identified in relation to how trainees were interviewed has built upon by one Delivery Partner; Edge Hill University now interview candidates with an employer from an Early Years setting. 8 The Prime Organisation has taken a pragmatic view to the development of the action plan by building upon and extending the previous action plans developed in response to the first two audit reports. Through this process good practice has been captured year on year. The Prime Organisation has evaluated the impact of the action plan via the multitude of methods operating to capture the trainee and stakeholder feedback. The monthly monitoring meetings between the Prime Organisation and Delivery Partners also act as a vehicle to monitor the effectiveness of the action plans. Section 4: Candidate/trainee-centred quality assurance 9 The Prime Organisation and Delivery Partners view trainees as 'collaborative partners' and provide them with time to complete the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) final programme survey. The Prime Organisation and Delivery Partners confirmed that they value the trainee voice and provide trainees with multiple formal and informal mechanisms to feedback on their experience of the programme. 10 Across the consortium there are a range of mechanisms in place for capturing the trainee voice with the most common methods being that of surveys, Trainee Consultative Forums and Trainee Focus Groups. The approach to gaining trainee feedback is extensive but not consistent, in terms of the methods used, across the consortium. The two Delivery Partners have formalised the Trainee Consultative Forums and provide training for trainee representatives. One of the Delivery Partners has formalised the training, which is provided by the Students' Union. Another Delivery Partner has made significant use of Bristol Online Surveys to gain trainee feedback on all stages of their experience on the programme including: recruitment and interview; induction; training days; and placements. The Prime Organisation and Delivery Partners provide trainees with generic addresses where they can raise issues and find tutor and mentor contact details. The Prime Organisation and 2

5 Graduate Leaders in Early Years Programme Audit Monitoring: Delivery Partners confirmed that they see improved trainee outcomes in terms of achievement and retention as the key benefits of engaging students in the Quality Assurance and Quality Enhancement agenda. 11 The Prime Organisation and Delivery Partners have a range of mechanisms, both formal and informal, in place for feeding back to trainees. The Prime Organisation provides an online forum for all trainees and one Delivery Partner provides virtual learning environment pages that contain the formal minuted feedback on the Trainee Consultative Forums. The Prime Organisation and Delivery Partners provide feedback to trainees through the extensive network of consultants, tutors and mentors who work with trainees. Trainees are provided with feedback on their training evaluations at the start of their next session with tutors or consultants. 12 The Prime Organisation and Delivery Partners evaluate the trainee contribution to the Quality Assurance and Quality Enhancement agenda via the outcomes achieved by trainees in terms of retention and completion. Trainee experiences and outcomes have been central to the development of the consortium exit plan. Section 5: Thematic element: Management of contract transfer/exit 13 Mpowernet has led the development and implementation of the exit strategy to ensure all outstanding data, information and closure responsibilities of the Prime Organisation and the Delivery Partners can be accounted for and finalised by December Included within the Annual Return was a comprehensive action chart clearly identifying the various elements to be considered, identification of responsibilities, deadlines, and a status report on progress within each element. The Delivery Partners confirmed their involvement in preliminary discussions on the closure strategy and timelines, and clearly understood their responsibilities for compiling, retaining and cleansing data and retaining relevant information. 14 The closure plan was informed by the Prime Organisation's Standard Operating Procedures, which require a regularly updated Business Risk Assessment form, and, ahead of project closure, a Project Closure Report. Mpowernet provided copies of the former as background and the team was able to discuss with the Prime Organisation a draft completed version of the latter during the monitoring visit. The Project Closure Report included a summary of the project, lessons learned, a statement on the relevant performance metrics, the required closure tasks and a financial review of the project. Mpowernet was responsible for completing these documents on behalf of the consortium. 15 The Prime Organisation confirmed that any deferred assessments had been rescheduled for October 2014, and that the updated NCTL database together with the Mpowernet overall project database would be cleansed by the end of November All invoices had been processed and regular budget monitoring will continue until mid-december After December 2014, trainee data on the Mpowernet database (to which the Delivery Partners have view-only access) would be stored to adhere to the Prime Organisation's retention and archiving policy, then deleted three years later. The Prime Organisation confirmed that the Delivery Partners' access to the database would be discontinued on the final date of the contract. It was the shared view of the Prime Organisation and the Delivery Partners that requests from trainees/candidates for qualification information beyond that date would be directed to NCTL. The Prime Organisation and Delivery Partners confirmed that their institutions were compiling 3

6 Graduate Leaders in Early Years Programme Audit Monitoring: appropriate asset registers, and that there was agreement between the partners on the ownership of intellectual property. 17 The Prime Organisation and one of the Delivery Partner representatives were aware of the need to compile for NCTL a final programme evaluation report, and the Prime Organisation expected discussions with NCTL on this to begin early in The team concluded that the closure plan was well understood and comprehensive, and that the closure arrangements were effective and on schedule. Section 6: Outstanding or exceptional practice 19 The team identified the following areas of outstanding practice. The establishment and use of a Consultant Online Assessment Portal enabling consultants to log in, select from, and then book already loaded trainee assessment dates. This was developed by the Prime Organisation, is used also for University of East London trainee assessments, and was shared with Edge Hill University during a monthly telephone conference. The portal has worked well and has led to considerable time savings by both consultants and centre staff. The Early Years Resource Room at that demonstrates to trainees the environment they are likely to encounter in a nursery setting. The adoption by all three Delivery Partners of the outstanding practice of formally capturing the trainee voice initially developed at Edge Hill University. The Prime Organisation and University of East London have established Trainee Consultative Forums which, though presenting a challenge to embed, have enabled trainees and staff to benefit from the opportunities these groups have provided for direct face-to-face discussions on a range of programme matters. (See also paragraph 7 above). Section 7: Background to the monitoring visit 20 The monitoring visit serves as a short check on the Prime Organisation's continuing management of standards, the management and enhancement of the quality of learning opportunities, and the information it produces about learning opportunities. In addition, it provides an opportunity for QAA to advise the Prime Organisation of any matters that have the potential to be of particular interest in the next monitoring visit or audit. 21 The monitoring visit was carried out by Professor Peter Bush (Lead Auditor) and Mr John Deane (Auditor) on 6 November

7 QAA R Dec 14 The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education 2014 Southgate House, Southgate Street, Gloucester GL1 1UB Tel: enquiries@qaa.ac.uk Website: Registered charity numbers and SC037786