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Postiadau Diweddaraf

Postiadau Diweddaraf

Rhannu'r dudalen hon

 

Leaders demonstrate a strong moral purpose

In all the schools and colleges we visited, leaders demonstrate a clear moral purpose towards promoting inclusion and celebrating diversity. They recognise its importance and see its relevance to young people. 

For example, in the primary schools we visited, leaders ensure that pupils are taught about LGBT issues in a developmentally appropriate way that helps them understand what they see in the their family, their community and the media.

Leaders act as positive role models in their use of language and challenge staff to consider how their language may reinforce prejudice, such as stereotyping related to sex, gender or sexual orientation.

Pupil voice plays a key role

In the effective providers we visited, there is a clear role for learners in establishing and promoting the school or college’s approach to supporting inclusion and exploring diversity. 

For example, all the secondary schools we visit

Postiadau Diweddaraf

Rhannu'r dudalen hon

Are attitudes towards youth workers changing?

Recently, youth workers were asked to deliver across a wide range of activities. They have done this enthusiastically, energetically and effectively. 

However, youth workers feel undervalued as professional educators and say their skills are underused particularly in formal education settings and pupil referral units. 

We found that ‘many secondary schools are beginning to see the value of having a youth worker on the staff, but in many cases, they work only with the most challenging young people and are seen as aids to behaviour management, or as support for young people with ‘problems’, rather than for their educational expertise and particular skills in working with young people.’

Clearly, in inspection jargon, there are still areas for development.
 

How has the pandemic affected youth work?

During the pandemic, the new context has highlighted the value and flexibility of youth work and youth workers. Before the pandemic, during our field work for the 2020 report, we were struck by the passion of students and lecturers for their chosen field. It’s more than a profession to them; it’s a vocation in the true sense of the word. They believe in what they do. 

We’ve been collating information on how different sectors responded to COVID-19. Again, the picture in the youth work sector was a positive one.

We found that local and national youth work providers built on well-established patterns of partnership working to be proactive and agile in their response to the pandemic. Youth workers and trainers have, over the past few years, developed and promoted an understanding of the issues involved in digital youth work. This helped youth workers to be ahead of the game when delivering services and contact online. 

As a result, youth workers across Wales set up virtual groups so that young people could stay connected. These included activity groups for young people with disabilities, young carers and groups for young mums, where they can discuss issues and practise skills such as cookery together online. Vulnerable young people were particularly targeted to participate. Youth workers sometimes delivered packs to homes so that young people could take part in activities online together, for example the ingredients to cook something or the parts to build a skateboard.

In Blaenau Gwent, youth workers set up virtual youth clubs online and found that more young people ‘attended’ these clubs regularly than would usually attend their clubs at a physical centre. The virtual Welsh-medium youth club they set up was particularly successful and is helping to change the approach to Welsh-medium youth work. 

Many youth workers worked in hubs, particularly in secondary schools, to provide support for young people. Detached youth workers continued to make contact with young people outside their homes, especially those causing concern to local residents. These youth workers used their skills to build relationships with young people, promote their wellbeing, help them consider how their actions affect other people, and signpost them to support where relevant.
 

Recent findings

In October 2020 we published our report The Value of Youth Work Training – A sustainable model for Wales. The report paints a positive picture of training (level 2 up to post-graduate level) across Wales. The first 3 main findings set the tone: 

‘Youth work qualifications equip students with a sound background in youth work practice and provide them with the skills they need to carry out their profession. The youth work sector has made valuable progress against nearly all of the recommendations in ‘A survey of professional qualification training for youth workers in Wales.’ 

‘Youth work students generally achieve well even though many have entered higher education from non-traditional education and social backgrounds, and may have faced significant challenges in their lives. Their own experiences often mean that they can understand and empathise with the issues affecting young people.’

‘Youth work training programmes align well with the five key aims outlined in the Youth Work Strategy for Wales 2019. Course content at all levels has a suitable balance between academic and practical training and gives students the skills they need to carry out jobs in a wide variety of youth and community work settings.’ 

However, our main findings also highlighted the old misconceptions regarding the role and value of youth work: 
‘Many secondary schools are now beginning to see the value of having a youth worker on the staff, but in many cases they work only with challenging young people and are seen as aids to behaviour management, or support for young people with ‘problems’, and are often undervalued as educators in their own right.’

‘After training, youth workers are not required, as teachers are, to complete a probationary year, nor are they entitled to professional learning opportunities as a right. The lack of a qualified youth worker status (QYWS) equivalent to qualified teacher status (QTS) means that youth workers do not benefit in the same way as teachers from ongoing training for and recognition of their professional skills. There is also a lack of funding to support ongoing training opportunities. Senior youth workers are not included in national or regional educational leadership programmes and this hampers the development of leadership within the profession.’

You can see all the findings and the full list of recommendations in the report. A recommendation for local authorities notes that they should encourage schools to recognise the specialist skills and professional knowledge youth workers bring to supporting the development of the new curriculum. Also, regional consortia should explore ways to include youth workers alongside teachers in professional learning and educational leadership training opportunities. Read the full report for all our findings and recommendations.
 

Strategies

Since our 2018 report, things have moved on. As well as the publication of the Youth Work in Wales Principles and Purposes, the Interim Youth Work Board published the Youth Work Strategy for Wales that was co-developed with young people and the sector. 

The five key aims of the Welsh Government Youth Work Strategy for Wales are: 

  • Young people are thriving 
  • Youth work is accessible and inclusive 
  • Voluntary and paid professional youth work staff are supported throughout their careers to improve their practice 
  • Youth work is valued and understood 
  • A sustainable model for youth work delivery 

The Welsh Government also published an Implementation Plan that sets out arrangements for delivering the youth work strategy.
 

That’s the theory. But how valued is youth work throughout education?

Our 2018 report, Youth Support Services in Wales: The Value of Youth Work, outlined the place of youth work in youth support services. While clearly demonstrating the vital role of this work the report highlighted several issues. These included the lack of an ‘overall strategy for the planning, provision or funding of services, and policy makers and providers do not have one clear, shared vision for the delivery of services, or how youth work contributes to young people’s personal development and their role in community and wider society’. 

Another common issue identified was that the term ‘youth work’ is often confused with ‘work with young people’. This leads to conflicting ideologies and priorities, which does not help to support policy development. For example, youth work refers to a professional methodology for working with young people. It is based on a clear set of values and underpinned by the voluntary nature of the relationship between the young person and the youth worker, but this is often confused with the settings in which it is delivered. It is also confused with general work with young people even when there is no supportive or educational aspect. 
 

Postiadau Diweddaraf

Rhannu'r dudalen hon

What makes an effective community school?

Earlier this year we published Community schools: families and communities at the heart of school life. It focused on three areas of work:

  •  strengthening family and community engagement
  •  helping the community access their assets and resources
  •  services located together in the school or in community hubs

Here are some of the aspects we felt made a considerable contribution to effective community schools.

Leadership

We often hear from leaders that their schools are at the heart of the community.

However, we found that the most effective community schools place families, communities and their wellbeing at the heart of the school.

This is because leaders in these schools have a strong community vision and sense of civic responsibility. They understand the social and economic challenges faced by the community and the impact these have on pupils and their families. They believe, fiercely, that their school has an important role to play in tackling inequity by working in close partnership with families and the wider community.

Key staff with a focus on family and community engagement

Undoubtedly, tenacious leadership plays an important role in establishing a strong community ethos in a school but it’s the shared vision and actions of every member of staff that turns this ethos into a reality for families.

We visited a number of schools that employed staff with a specific responsibility for family and community engagement. These staff were key to the success of a community school as they had particular skills, aptitudes and knowledge that helped them establish links with families and the community.

Perhaps most important of all is that they carry out their role with drive combined with sensitivity. They believe that, by working in partnership, the school supports families to resolve challenges or, for instance, develop skills and confidence to seek employment.

Parental involvement

In the schools we visited, we were struck by the way the staff involved parents as partners

in education.

The school was as much a place for parents as it was for pupils and staff:

  • Parents had open access to a room they could use for meeting up with one another or for attending a family learning session.
  • Parents saw the school as the first place to go to for help and guidance, not just related to their children but help for health issues, housing or parenting, or just a chat to clear the air about a problem they might have.
  • In some cases, parents took on roles that linked the school and community and developed community leadership skills themselves.

When we visited schools, we were privileged to meet families whose lives had been changed for the better because of the way in which the school had supported them and their children.

What struck us was the respect they had for the school because the school had treated them with dignity and respect.

Partnerships with other services and agencies

It was exciting to see how schools can be central to providing not just education but a range of services to the community.

We saw schools that had services such as health, housing and adult and community learning onsite. These arrangements brought real benefits, not just for the community but also for the school.

It meant that staff from different services could work together to help families overcome challenges. Members of the community also liked having access to services in a central place as these schools were on the doorstep of the local community.

Using school resources and assets

Although some of the schools had new, purpose-built facilities that helped them develop community activities and services, not all did.

However, that didn’t stop schools without purpose-built facilities from finding ways of adapting their building so that the community could benefit. It just meant that headteachers and family engagement staff had to think creatively about how best families and the community could access the school safely.

Creative thinking seemed to be a common theme. We saw examples of how schools had taken the initiative to set up playgroups, work in partnership with sport providers or just create a calm space where families could meet together.

What can be done to help more schools develop approaches that place families and community at the heart of everything they do?

We made a number of recommendations but we’ll just look at some of the key ones in this blog:

  • Local authorities should support schools to appoint family engagement staff as we saw the difference these staff made to family and community engagement.
  • All schools should have strategic plans that show how they will work with families and community. This includes thinking about how they can evaluate the effectiveness of the work.
  • Local authorities have an important role to play in supporting schools to be effective community schools. We recommend that schools should strengthen the ways in which they work across local authority services and look at how these could be located in schools.
  • As local authorities plan to build new schools, they should consider how to include family and community areas within the boundaries of the school.
  • It’s important that we have a shared understanding of what a community school is so, nationally, we need a set of defining characteristics for community schools.

This blog only scratches the surface of a report that looks at the features of effective community schools.

It’s not easy to capture so briefly the richness of the experiences effective community schools provide for families and local people. Read more in the full report.

Postiadau Diweddaraf

Rhannu'r dudalen hon

School leaders rarely talk of building pupils’ resilience as a main aim or objective. Resilience is often strengthened as a result of other work carried out to support pupils. Schools are becoming more and more aware of issues that affect their pupils and are becoming better at identifying those who need help with their wellbeing and mental health.

A number of cases of good practice in this area are highlighted in some of our recent thematic reports such as  Knowing your children – supporting children with adverse childhood experiences Healthy and Happy and Effective school support for disadvantaged and vulnerable pupils 

In July we published Learner Resilience – building resilience in primary schools, secondary schools and pupil referral units.

This report highlighted that factors that support resilience are generally relate to:

  • self-esteem and self-confidence
  • belief in our own ability to cope
  • a range of approaches to help us cope
  • good relationships with others who we can rely upon to help

Emotional wellbeing and mental health

The best schools understand that pupils’ emotional wellbeing is the responsibility of all staff and that every interaction and engagement with pupils has an impact on their sense of worth.  In these schools, staff know that all their words, actions and attitudes influence a pupil’s self-esteem, self-confidence and ultimately, their wellbeing.
It’s important that pupils have regular opportunities to express their emotions and share their feelings at school. Successful schools have clear approaches for listening to and addressing pupils’ concerns quickly. They are alert to how pupils are feeling during the day, and work with pupils to identify particular staff members to whom they can turn if needed.

Nurturing approaches can be very successful in helping to build resilience in pupils who are struggling to cope with their current circumstances.  Trained staff can help pupils develop their personal and social skills and lay the foundations for building positive relationships with adults and peers. They equip pupils with the tools to help them become more resilient in the face of different challenges.

Schools that are good at building the resilience of their pupils are those that have a strong vision around promoting the emotional wellbeing and mental health of all their pupils.  As well as having a whole-school approach to wellbeing, these schools also provide specific interventions for pupils who are particularly in need of support.  These schools also place a strong emphasis on the wellbeing of their staff.

Attendance

They also tend to have very few, if any, fixed term exclusions over a long period.  They strive to understand and get to the root cause of particular challenges facing pupils and are willing to try different approaches to address the issues.

Vulnerable pupils

Vulnerable pupils can face challenges that particularly affect their ability to be resilient.   Effective schools work closely with the home by providing enrichment activities and additional information that can consolidate their work in helping to build the resilience of vulnerable pupils.  These schools often work closely to support the families of vulnerable pupils.

Using external expertise

Successful schools use the expertise of relevant external agencies to supplement their work. These agencies can bring skills and expert knowledge that are not always available within schools and, when the relationship between all parties is strong, they work together in the pupils’ best interest, strengthening their resilience and improving their lives.

Transition

Transitions, such as moving school, are periods where children can suffer emotional distress, or a decline in progress and commitment to learning, all of which can also undermine resilience.  All schools aim to ease the transition process for pupils, particularly at key transition points.  Schools that focus clearly on pupils’ resilience have worthwhile strategies for supporting pupils moving mid-term, especially when receiving pupils who may have struggled at their previous settings. They get to know the new pupils quickly, ensuring that support is available from the outset.

A continual process

It is evident there is no easy way to build resilience in pupils.  Successful schools understand that it is a continual process that takes considerable investment in time, energy and resources.

The recent pandemic has challenged pupils like never before.  Pupils have had to cope and adapt to whole new ways of living and of learning.

Some will have coped with the recent situation better than others.

Some will have flourished and found new interests and ways of working, while others will have struggled outside of their comfort zones.

Good schools will continue to offer help to all their pupils, and all schools will now need to identify those that are struggling to cope academically and those dealing with personal adversity.  They will need to offer the support those pupils need in order to deal with their individual circumstances.

Our Learner Resilience report may well highlight ideas for schools to help support their pupils.

Postiadau Diweddaraf

Rhannu'r dudalen hon

Recent studies by Public Health Wales found that almost a half of the adults in Wales experienced adversity at least once in childhood with 14% suffering four or more times while growing up. These types of experiences have a highly negative impact on child health, including mental health, social engagement, behaviour and school attendance.

Supporting children and young people who live in difficult situations is an important aspect of a school’s work. Our January 2020 report, ‘Knowing your children – supporting pupils with adverse childhood experiences’, explored the impact schools have on the wellbeing of pupils with adverse childhood experiences (ACES). The Public Health Wales research tells us that influences such as friends, trusted adults, the community and school all help children to build resilience and deal better with severe hardships.

Why schools?

School staff are the professionals who spend most time with children and young people. Social workers and health workers may work with them but do not see them every day, unlike teachers and support staff. This means that schools are best placed to identify difficulties and support and influence children and young people.

We find that the best schools know their pupils and families well and work productively to support them in a non-judgmental way. They use their experience and findings from research and training to support children and young people and help them get the most out of school.

What do the best schools do to support their children and build up their resilience?

These are some of the beneficial activities going on in primary and secondary schools:

  • Nurturing sessions to allow time for pupils to eat, socialise and play games together before and after school and during breaks.
  • Purposeful and beneficial activities which use creative subjects like music and art to promote positive mental health.
  • After-school clubs which engage children and young people, enable them to work productively with trusted adults and peers and build up their resilience. These include cookery clubs, gardening clubs, ICT clubs and sport clubs.
  • A positive behaviour policy where staff use language that engages pupils and supports their emotions, and favours restorative approaches rather than punishment to change poor behaviour.
  • Safe and quiet areas or rooms where pupils, particularly older ones, can relax or have some personal reflection time when they feel overwhelmed or anxious.
  • Programmes of support for targeted groups of children run by trained staff such as anger management, emotion coaching, play therapy and mindfulness.
  • Parental engagement classes and groups to support vulnerable adults. Activities include cookery and literacy lessons, parenting classes and running clothing sales and food banks.
  • Regular meetings with partners from social services and health to ensure that everyone works together for the benefit of families who need support.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made it more difficult for schools to provide their usual levels of support for vulnerable pupils.  Now pupils are returning to school, we need to make sure that they are protected, and that schools provide an environment where pupils feel safe and supported. The NSPCC has lots of useful advice and resources for children and young people, as well as their parents and carers.

How can schools and public services provide better support?

Our ‘Knowing your children’ report features many interesting case studies of good practice in primary and secondary schools across Wales as well as examples of beneficial multi-agency work. Schools should first ensure that they place a strong focus on building and maintaining trusting, positive and open relationships with families. Finally, schools should provide calm, nurturing and supportive spaces for children and young people to relax and feel safe when they feel stressed, worried or sad.

Postiadau Diweddaraf

Rhannu'r dudalen hon

No one could foresee the changes to education that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought. As settings had to close their doors to the majority of their learners in March, staff and leaders across Wales rose to the challenge of continuing to support learner wellbeing and progress in different ways. 

Keeping everyone informed
In a changing landscape regular, clear communication with learners, families and staff has been vital. Leaders provide staff with regular updates, staff meetings are held online and families are kept informed through emails.  

Leaders and staff are working closely with families to establish clear expectations. Knowing your learners, families and communities well has proved key to successful engagement with distance learning.  

Parents have appreciated where schools have tried to maintain a sense of community through online assemblies and continuing to celebrate achievements for example. This has often improved engagement, particularly for younger learners.

As the length of time learners have been out of schools, settings and other providers, increased, communication has evolved to include learner and parental feedback on the quality of the provision and adaptations that may be required.

Wellbeing support
Schools, settings and other providers have maintained their support networks through a variety of means including telephone calls, text messages, emails and home visits from wellbeing officers. 

There have been deliveries of food parcels and the loan of digital equipment to allow learning to continue. In a few cases, online wellbeing activities including relaxation and self-reflection have been created to promote staff and learner wellbeing.

There are specific challenges in relation to distance learning for vulnerable learners. In the most effective practice, learners with additional learning needs have been provided with additional guidance and support and adapted support plans. 

One special school organised minibus visits around the county twice weekly. This allowed physical resources to be delivered to families, for example mobility aids and ICT equipment. This was very popular with staff and families and allows valuable face to face interaction at a safe distance. 

At one PRU, the few pupils in receipt of PRU-based counselling continued their individual sessions by either email, text or phone. All of the counsellors completed a module to be able to offer phone counselling.

Innovative digital delivery
Staff have provided learning activities using innovative approaches delivered through a variety of online platforms. 

Staff from a specialist resource base within a mainstream secondary school have provided its pupils with a weekly timetable of interactive activities on appropriate live streaming platforms. These engaging activities include wildlife watching, Makaton sign of the week, dance and fitness activities, craft sessions, storytelling, singing sessions and show and tell activities. 

At one PRU, staff provided pupils with planned learning activities such as relaxation techniques, social stories, literacy and numeracy, as well as class assemblies and the opportunity to follow a commercial programme to promote their social, emotional and behavioural wellbeing. Visual timetables, lesson objectives and success criteria were provided to try to maintain a similar routine to the usual lesson format.

Supporting Welsh-medium education
In many Welsh-medium schools, most pupils come from homes where Welsh is not spoken. 

Staff have tried to overcome this by providing pupils with learning activities that encourage them to use their Welsh as naturally as possible. The focus is on reading, understanding and, most importantly, speaking Welsh. Opportunities for pupils to develop presentations and create their own versions of Welsh songs and rhymes have been particularly successful in primary schools. 

Supporting professional learning
In a few providers, comprehensive programmes of professional learning activities have been rolled out to all staff with the focus on blended learning training.  

The providers have supported this training by using a set of guiding principles for the planning and delivery of teaching, training and assessment.  Staff are being trained and updated in the use of digital technology and online platforms.  

Planning for the future
Learners and staff across all sectors have been surveyed to obtain feedback on their experiences during lockdown and to help inform planning for future learning delivery. 

The key messages from learners are that they are missing their friends, teachers and the school environment. While many say that they are coping well with remote delivery, a minority admit that they sometimes find it difficult to maintain motivation and sustain engagement with remote learning activities.

Leaders have produced comprehensive recovery plans. These include logistical aspects and curriculum arrangements, and set out the responsibilities of members of staff and communication strategies for parents.

As we start the new term and the new ‘normal’ we will all have to continue to be both flexible and creative in how we adapt to meet the needs of learners across Wales.

Read more examples of how education and training providers are supporting wellbeing and learning during COVID-19.
 

Postiadau Diweddaraf

Rhannu'r dudalen hon

It was a shock to the system when the country went into lockdown in March. Most schools, colleges and other education and training providers stopped or reduced their face-to-face work with learners almost overnight and replaced it with remote and online working. We stopped inspecting at very short notice and we paused our monthly stakeholder email, blog posts, and stopped promoting effective practice and the Annual Report to give stakeholders space to change how they delivered learning.

So what have we been doing since March?

In his blog post back in June, our Chief Inspector Meilyr Rowlands thanked everyone working in education and training for their hard work and commitment during these difficult times. He explained how we’ve been working with Welsh Government and regional consortia to offer advice and guidance for providers on supporting continuity of learning in schools and pupil referral units. This included guidance to make sure that no learner is excluded from learning, as well as advice on how to use technology to continue education in schools and pupil referral units (PRUs). We also contributed to support and guidance for other important areas, including:

  • Safeguarding
  • Parents
  • Welsh medium schools whose pupils live in English speaking homes
  • Health and wellbeing
  • Blended learning
  • A-level delivery

Throughout lockdown, we’ve kept in touch with education and training providers through phone and video calls, and meetings with some of our stakeholder groups, including our headteacher reference group. This means that we’ve been able to start building up a picture of how providers across the nation have responded to the crisis. It’s been particularly important for individual HMI to offer pastoral support to any providers currently identified as causing concern. These providers tell us that they’ve really appreciated having an HMI to chat things through with and to reassure them about how we’re planning to support them as things get back to normal. Our contact with providers has helped us to publish a series of Support to keep Wales learning documents on our website. These offer useful insights into how some schools, pupil referral units and post-16 providers have addressed the challenges they’ve faced in recent months.

What will we be doing from September?

Now that schools and other providers are increasing their operations, we’re beginning to re-establish our voice so that we can:

  • Continue to support schools and other education providers by highlighting a range of useful Estyn resources.
  • Reassure parents, learners and the public.
  • Provide advice to the Welsh Government on how the return to learning is going.
  • Continue the conversation about Curriculum for Wales.

During the first part of the autumn term, we’ll continue engaging with schools and other providers by phone or video calls. This will help us to find out more about their work over the past few months and how well learners and staff are settling into new ways of working. We’ll be asking leaders and staff how useful the support they’ve received has been. These conversations will help us to identify further guidance that might be useful for them. We’ll also be asking local authorities how they’ve been helping schools and PRUs to respond to the crisis and how they are using lessons learned to plan for any similar crisis in the future. We’ll share the information we gather from these conversations with Welsh Government to help them to understand the national response to the pandemic crisis.

Later in the term, if the time is right, we’re hoping to start making short face-to-face visits to providers. If all goes well and the situation continues to improve, these visits will increase in length over time. The focus of our conversations with schools and PRUs during these visits will move gradually from the response to COVID-19 to the curriculum. This was always our plan for this academic year, so that we could engage with all maintained schools and PRUs and support them to plan and prepare for the roll-out of Curriculum for Wales. It’s important that we can get back to talking about this once schools and PRUs are ready to do so. In colleges and other post-16 providers, our focus will be on blended learning and learner wellbeing.

During the autumn term, we’ll also continue with our support for schools and providers causing concern. We’ll be in touch with them in September or October to see how they’re getting on and to offer pastoral visits later in the term. These will help us to re-engage with them informally and talk to them about how and when we’ll return to our usual schedule of follow-up visits.

Although most providers won’t see us face-to-face for a while, there are a few exceptions. For instance, we’ll need to visit some independent schools and independent specialist colleges this term for annual monitoring visits and registration visits. For these schools, we will consider individual material change requests and make decisions on whether we need to visit the sites and respond accordingly. During the autumn term, we will evaluate the possibility of restarting core inspections for all providers other than maintained schools and PRUs in the Spring term. If it is not possible to do this, we will continue with our programme of engagement phone calls and visits. There’s also statutory work for us to do this term on joint inspections of education in the justice sector.

So as you can see, just as all education providers are adapting to new ways of working at the moment, so are we. We’re meeting the challenges of virtual meetings,  and engaging with colleagues and organisations across the country and taking part in online professional learning activities.

Now is the time for us all to work together. It’s an opportunity to make sure that the futures of our children and young people are secure, despite the disruption that COVID-19 has caused.

Postiadau Diweddaraf

Rhannu'r dudalen hon
A collage showing a woman using a tablet, a man on a phone holding a product, a man working with machinery, and a woman operating a drill press.

Supporting wellbeing and mental health

Support for learners’ wellbeing and mental health is constant, particularly for those learners on traineeship programmes. One provider has seen a surge in safeguarding referrals and requests for counselling sessions. These are often due to family challenges and other outside influences. Provider staff are in regular contact with their learners and continue to offer counselling services where required. Many learners have little or no access to IT equipment or the internet. Where this is the case, providers have loaned learners laptops or tablet computers and carry out one to one learning sessions by telephone.

Using electronic portfolios

Providers that have been using electronic portfolios for a substantial period of time have been able to use the resources to maintain engagement and activities with their learners. These providers and learners have benefited from being competent and confident in using the available resources and therefore did not lose time undertaking training before their use. As a result, learners have been able to complete work where appropriate, have it marked and returned and complete supplementary activities that will help develop their knowledge and skills.

Daily coffee break

One provider schedules informal daily ‘coffee break’ video staff meetings that allow staff at all levels to engage in ‘relaxed chats’. Managers and staff have welcomed and appreciated the approach that is attempting to give a form of normality to the working day. These interactions give staff the flexibility to discuss work-related and non-related issues in a supportive environment.

Guidance for staff

One provider has develop protocols and guidance for returning to on-site face to face delivery. This booklet is designed to inform and support all staff, including sub-contractors’ staff involved in the recruitment of and delivery to all apprenticeship and traineeship learners. It sets out the provider’s priorities for a fully digital delivery model and high quality teaching, training and learning to support a blended learning approach. The guidance also sets out clear information to ensure that staff have appropriate plans in place to ensure continued learning and progression opportunities.

Reviewing practice across partners

One provider is maintaining regular contact with its sub-contractors by reviewing the support they are giving learners. They also use this engagement to identify where practice may be having a particularly positive impact on their learners. The provider has identified differences in the way sub-contractors are delivering and undertaking assessments remotely where possible. They are planning to establish a development group looking at sharing the use of online teaching and learning materials across a learning area.

Back to business

One provider has developed a series of “Back to Business” virtual meetings for its employers. Each meeting has invited guest speakers, such as the Hair and Barber Council, to give employers industry updates, to talk about salon safety measures and to explain how to deep clean salons ahead of re-opening. These meetings have been well attended by many employers within the industry.

Supporting professional learning

In one provider, a comprehensive programme of professional learning activities has been rolled out to all staff with the focus on blended learning training. The provider has supported this training by using a set of guiding principles for the planning and delivery of teaching, training and assessment. All staff are being trained and updated in the use of digital technology and the online platform. Blended learning resources are being developed and made available on the provider’s intranet.

Consortium virtual meetings

One provider continues to manage and support its consortium partners through a range of virtual meetings. Meetings are held regularly and cover a range of topics including wellbeing, health and safety issues, risk assessment plans for re-opening and staff training requirements for a digital world. The consortium members share their best practice, different approaches and concerns for the future. The provider has developed a common approach to professional learning delivery for all staff, including mandatory technical and pedagogical training. 

Postiadau Diweddaraf

Rhannu'r dudalen hon
4 photos showing a person in a yellow top reading a book in front of a blackboard that has mathematical formulae written ont it, a laptop, another laptop with someone typing, and an open book in front of someone writing

Keeping everyone informed

In one college, leaders publish regular updates for anyone with questions or concerns about COVID-19 in a clearly designated area of the college website. The information includes convenient links to government guidance, as well as explaining how the college is continuing to operate during the lockdown period. The college has posted additional guidance on its site to support its safeguarding policy and its citizenship code to reflect the exceptional circumstances and the revised ways of working. It includes clear details relating to the gradual re-opening of its campuses from 15 June 2020 in response to updated government guidelines. All information is available bilingually and a live chat facility is operational during normal college hours to help answer any queries or concerns.

Innovative digital delivery

Teachers in one college are continuing to provide learning activities and support to learners using innovative approaches delivered through a variety of online platforms and mobile applications. Examples include teachers creating their own videos and podcasts, posting video resources on Vlogs, setting up virtual classrooms to enable collaborative working and interaction with learners, and using blogs to share interesting examples of learners’ work. An online community area has also been created for teachers to share examples of innovative and effective practice with their colleagues.

Wellbeing support team

Staff in one college maintain support for learners’ wellbeing and mental health by using a variety of engagement mechanisms during the period in which on-campus facilities are unavailable. Contact and support methods include telephone and video calls, text messaging, email, online messaging through various learning platforms and virtual live chat available via website and mobile applications. A team of twenty wellbeing officers are also visiting learners’ homes to check on their wellbeing, when other forms of contact have not been successful or appropriate. They have also delivered food parcels and IT equipment to those in most need of additional help. The college delivers around three hundred food parcels a week and has loaned over a thousand pieces of equipment so far. A new online wellbeing area including links to activities such as yoga and meditation techniques has also been created during the lockdown period to help promote and support learner and staff wellbeing.

Supporting individual needs

In one college, support staff have drawn up and updated individual support plans for all learners who have been assessed as having additional learning needs (ALN) to reflect new ways of working during the lockdown period. Implementation and evaluation of these plans is overseen by the college’s ALN co‑ordinator. Learners have been provided with one to one support by telephone or video call to support them with completion of their work. Learning coaches provide learners and staff with additional guidance and help as required. The use of video calls has been particularly beneficial for those learners who need visual support in their learning.

Encouraging learner feedback

One college issued a learner survey shortly before the lockdown was announced and introduced remote learning in place of on-campus delivery. Despite this sudden disruption to learning activities, the response rate to the survey was close to usual expectations. In order to gain feedback on the impact of new arrangements for curriculum delivery and the effectiveness of ongoing support mechanisms, the college has decided to continue with regular campus council and learner representatives’ meetings and now holds these remotely using virtual platforms while college campuses are closed. These meetings provide learners with important opportunities to provide feedback and raise any concerns about the effectiveness of the new arrangements, as well as to make suggestions for improvement. Existing procedures for individual feedback and complaints are also being maintained during this period and personal tutors use regular ‘check-in’ calls to gather additional feedback.

Making progression easy

Current learners at one college have easy access to progression advice and opportunities during lockdown. Instead of having to apply for the next level of their course, learners are sent an invitation by email and text to come into college for a progression interview. Learners wanting to progress onto a different course at the college can complete an application online in order to secure a conditional place on the course prior to an interview later in the summer. The college’s employment hub also opened from mid-July to provide face-to-face support and progression advice.

Supporting transition into college

One college has worked to support transition for Year 11 pupils from its partner secondary schools. It has liaised with the schools and responded to requests to help provide Year 11 pupils with a progression focus for continuing their studies. The activities provided are tailored to facilitate progression onto individual AS level subjects such as economics, law, RE and chemistry. The college has provided access to its virtual learning environment to enable learners to engage with these resources.

Tips for teachers

One college has produced a guide for teachers outlining its top ten protocols for remote learning. The booklet is designed to help teachers work well, work safely and create a positive learning community. Tips for teachers include developing a class code of conduct, establishing times during the week when teachers are available online to answer questions and ideas on how to encourage collaborative learning online. The guide also offers advice to staff on how to develop activities to stretch and challenge learners and how to deal with inappropriate language or poor behaviour during online sessions.

Strengthening internal communications

One college reviewed and strengthened its communications procedures following the imposition of lockdown restrictions. Senior leaders provide regular updates to staff on policy, health and wellbeing through a weekly newsletter. Staff and team meetings are now held online and managers engage with staff via telephone or online platforms.  Vlogs have also been used to share useful video updates and a staff wellbeing survey has been undertaken to check how staff are feeling during the lockdown and to provide them with an opportunity to suggest actions for improving staff and learner wellbeing.

Making campuses safe

Senior leaders in one college have visited all college campuses to make sure that all necessary social distancing and safety arrangements have been put in place throughout. Arrangements include social distance floor markings, initially based on the two metre guidance and designed to be easily adaptable to reflect any subsequent changes in guidance; one-way systems for entry, exit and movement around campuses wherever possible; and cordoned-off areas for drop-off and collection of learners at the start and end of the college day. The college has also made arrangements for masks, gloves, hand sanitising gel and any other required personal protective equipment to be available, where appropriate. Particular attention has also been given to making sure that adequate social distancing is maintained for staff and that practical areas such as workshops, laboratories and salons are COVID-19 secure.

Welcoming learners back

Following the initial easing of lockdown arrangements from the end of May 2020, one college has recommenced building works at two campuses and staff have undergone a phased return to college campuses. Leaders have used national protocols to ensure COVID-19 safe working arrangements in colleges to implement the necessary arrangements, which have enabled most staff to return to college campuses during June 2020. They have updated all risk assessments to include COVID-19 related issues and the college has welcomed over 250 learners, across several vocational areas, back to college during the first three weeks of the phased re-opening of college facilities to complete their qualifications by undertaking essential practical assessments. 

Planning for the future

In one college, learners and staff have been surveyed to obtain feedback on their experiences during lockdown and to help inform planning for future learning delivery and staff working arrangements as restrictions are eased gradually. The key messages from learners are that they are missing their friends, tutors and the college environment. While many say they are coping well with remote delivery, a minority admit that they sometimes find it difficult to maintain motivation and sustain engagement in remote learning activities.  A few staff indicate that they would like to continue to work from home. College leaders are using the feedback to draw up detailed plans, which would cover and can be adapted to a range of national and local scenarios that may occur when the new teaching year begins in September 2020.

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A grid of 4 photos showing a person teaching an adult learner in a classroom, a desk with pens and a calculator, a close-up of someone's hand while writing with a yellow pen, and a close-up of an open book being read by someone

Staff commitment to engaging learners

Throughout the lockdown period, adult learning in the community tutors have put the wellbeing of the learners first and they have committed to keep classes running by using a wide range of different strategies to engage with learners. Tutors have explored and learned how to use a range of digital tools suitable to their subject area to connect with those learners who are able to work online. However, many more vulnerable and hard-to-reach learners have not always been able to use digital hardware or software, either to lack of equipment or connection problems. Tutors have gone out of their way to keep track of and support these learners. In many cases, tutors have posted or delivered hard copy materials to learners’ homes, sometimes along with food parcels. This has helped them to be reassured about the learners’ circumstances and to signpost learners to any of the support facilities they might need. In a few cases, the tutor is the only person with whom learners have spoken in the week. Learners very much appreciate that tutors have taken these extra steps to support them in a difficult situation.

Supporting those learners without digital connection

Chairs of adult learning in the community partnerships acted swiftly at the start of lockdown to ensure that adult learning in the community could continue. Many chairs of partnership are employees of the local authority who in normal circumstances often have several roles to fulfil within the local authority. However, during this period, many have had to assume additional roles in the local authority, such as overseeing ‘track and trace’ arrangements, overseeing the recruitment and deployment of volunteers or co-ordinating the work of youth workers and youth volunteers to maintain contact and provide help to the socially isolated. In many cases, this has facilitated a joined-up approach with other local authority departments and adult learning in the community partners to have a clear focus on supporting the most deprived and socially isolated adult learners in the community, both in terms of wellbeing and learning. Leaders have sought additional technological hardware from various sources, including the local authority, to set up lending facilities for those learners who do not have such equipment. Where local authorities have loaned pupils digital equipment, this has helped a few adult learners, as they are able to share the equipment with their children.

Wales without borders

An unexpected outcome of providing adult learning in the community courses online is that in many cases the numbers of learners registering for and attending classes has increased.  For many learners this is because they find it easier to schedule the time into their commitments and they free up time to do other things, as they do not have to travel to class. In many cases, ESOL learners have taken part in online classes and quizzes with members of their families to learn language together. Several partnerships have experimented with putting ‘interest’ courses online using a range of strategies, such as online streaming or tutor recorded videos. These courses have recruited learners successfully. ‘Coffee’ and ‘afternoon tea’ clubs also allow learners to keep in social contact. Additionally, putting courses online has attracted a growing number of learners from other UK countries, and as far away as Sydney and Moscow, to register for courses. As a result, a public service in England has asked one partnership to provide an online British Sign Language course for its employees. The inclusion of learners from around the world has broadened the points of view expressed in sessions and has enlivened discussions. The accessibility of adult learning in the community courses online is helping to heighten the profile of Wales around the world.

Assuring the quality of accredited blended learning

At the point when the government imposed lockdown, many learners were in the process of completing accredited courses. Adult learning in the community leaders liaised with the awarding bodies, and together they agreed ways in which leaders could monitor, standardise and verify learners’ work remotely, and thereby confidently allow learners to achieve their qualifications and progress to different courses in the coming academic year. To monitor teaching and learning, leaders agreed with tutors and learners that they would ‘attend’ the class, so that they could have direct experience of the teaching and learning. Leaders set up an appropriate etiquette so that all parties were aware of how leaders would carry out the monitoring. By doing this, leaders were also able to engage with learners and ask them directly about their experiences of the course in general and of online learning in particular. This information will help leaders and tutors to refine blended learning provision in the future. To undertake standardisation meetings, leaders organised online meetings with tutors with clear agendas and protocols using digital technology, which allowed them to share relevant items on screen.