College sector overview report 2023 to 2024: Learning, teaching and assessment
Most curriculum staff, understand the purpose of KPIs and use data constructively to improve learning and teaching, and assessment practices. They collaborate effectively with colleagues to analyse data and plan for improvement. However, in too many colleges the impact of this on individual programmes is not evident. Almost all teaching departments use student satisfaction surveys, end-of-semester evaluations, and feedback from student forums to adjust and enhance programmes. Actions to improve the quality of learning and teaching are either implemented quickly or actioned the following academic term. However, the impact these improvement actions on learner outcomes is not measured sufficiently well to determine what is making a difference and why. Staff often rely on anecdotal evidence of how improvement has been supported, rather than robust data.
Almost all managers empower teaching teams to use creative approaches to plan, design and deliver programmes. Most curriculum teams draw on feedback from employers to incorporate the development of meta skills aligned to industry needs. However the majority of colleges have not fully embedded the development and tracking of meta skills within programmes. This limits the opportunity for learners to recognise and articulate their skills to prospective employers. Many employers confirm that learners often struggle to express their skills sufficiently well during recruitment interviews.
In almost all colleges, informal feedback arrangements help learners to convey their views about their learning experience and support needs to teaching staff on an ongoing basis. These can relate to a wide range of influences on the learner experience such as learning and teaching approaches, class timetabling or assessment scheduling. These arrangements work well, and learners are confident about sharing their views with class lecturers and pastoral guidance staff.
Most colleges arrange college-wide development events that provide good opportunities for staff to identify and share good practice. Staff value these sessions to further develop and extend their teaching skills. However, a few colleges do not have arrangements in place to identify and share good practice internally. This reduces the ability of staff across curriculum areas to learn about and adopt effective practice.
Almost all colleges develop strong relationships with industry that supports economic growth in their region well, particularly in engineering, care, sustainability projects, and hospitality and tourism. Managers provide effective leadership in a range of collaborative transformational projects that include digital transformation and the green economy. Curriculum managers engage well with local authorities to develop and deliver programmes to meet employer and legislative requirements. These include professional development awards (PDAs) in vocational areas including care and hospitality. These arrangements are well-established and provide teaching staff with useful insight to current and emerging industry needs.
Curriculum teams work well with industry partners to further enhance the learning experience. They coordinate appropriate work placements and host informative workshops and presentations from industry representatives that widen learners’ understanding of the vocational area. Staff highlight potential opportunities for employment and the range of career opportunities available to learners. This helps to raise learner aspirations and build connections and routes to future employment.
