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2019 Full Inspection Report

Areas for development

Internal systems and infrastructure

1. Embedding wider career management skills to support the learner is not fully developed and embedded to effectively support positive destinations for the learner (QI 3.2)
2. College systems do not always have the functionality to respond to external stakeholder requirements for data (QI 3.2)
3. Accessibility to data and the ability to analyse data is not sufficient at all levels of the college organisational structure to ensure the effective use of data to identify issues and seek improvement (QI 3.2)
4. Allocation and coordination of work based core skills is not fully effective to ensure improvement of PIs and learner success, particularly in the area of working with others (QI 3.2)

Communication and sharing of good practice

5. College receipt of the early communication of identification of additional support needs for school leavers is not yet timely to ensure an effective transition for all pupils (QI 3.1)
6. Celebration and formal recognition of successful learning and achievement is inconsistent across all curriculum areas (QI 3.2)

Planning and monitoring

7. The success rates of the students from SIMD10 remained static at 60%, however there was a decrease of 12.9% for FTHE. PTHE showed a 15.3% increase. Successful outcome for FTHE SIMD10 students and Care Experienced students is significantly poorer than non FTHE SIMD10 students (QI 3.2)
8. Successful outcome for Care Experienced students is significantly poorer than non-Care Experienced (QI 3.2)
9. Opportunities for the promotion of equality and diversity in lessons are not always utilised as a learning opportunity to broaden learner knowledge and understanding (QI 3.1)
10. Gender Imbalance in STEM related programmes showed an improvement from last session with 57% male and 43% female to 55% male to 45% female (QI 3.1)
11. There is a need to address staff development covering the review of statistical PI data for professional services teams to ensure shared ownership and understanding of their impact on the learner experience (QI 3.2)
12. Withdrawal rates on many courses continues to be an issue for 8 of the 16 Education Scotland subject groups delivered at FE level and 6 of the 14 Education Scotland subject groups delivered at HE level (QI 3.2.
13. Successful completion on courses shows FTHE as the only high-level category with a decline in performance, a greater focus is needed on sectors and courses affecting this along with Education Scotland subject group and course level review to ensure an improvement towards and above sector average. Student Outcome and retention on FTFE and PTFE programmes showed an improvement from the previous session. The smallest improvement was FTFE 1.7% for Completed Successfully and the highest improvement was 5.7% for PTFE Completed Successfully, however the performance is still below Sector Average for all PI measures. FTHE PI data shows a slight decline in retention (down 1.4%) and Completed Successfully (down 1.3%) increasing the gap from Sector Average. PTHE showed significant improvement in retention (up 5.1%) and Completed Successfully (up 8.6%) with this PI now only 1.9% below sector average and the highest in the past 3 years (QI 3.2)
14. Students who would benefit from the use of assistive technology are not always identified early, promotion of awareness and access to is not always communicated effectively (QI 3.1)
15. A focus is required on curriculum design and qualification aims to address the partial success on FTHE and FTFE courses to improve performance to above sector average (QI 3.1)
16. Closer partnership work is required to ensure more detailed and consistent advice is provided to school pupils at transition stages in order to improve outcomes for senior phase pupils on college programmes (QI 3.1)

Internal systems and infrastructure

1. Pre-enrolment and recruitment information does not always provide students with clear content, level and adequacy of information they might require prior to course start in order to make fully informed choices and to achieve a successful outcome (QI 2.4)
2. Data sharing from some secondary schools is not always timely or sufficiently detailed to support successful transitions to college (QI 2.5)
3. A shared teaching practice pilot model needs to be rolled out across all areas to support the improvement of learning and teaching (QI 2.3)
4. Good practice in integrated planning between curriculum and support for learning is not effective across all curriculum areas (QI 2.4)
5. On more than a few courses the assessment burden including the integration of essential skills do not fully support learner engagement (QI 2.3)
6. ICT resources and the use of e-assessment are not commensurate with the needs of staff and students across most campuses (QI 2.3)
7. Whilst there is a significant increase in the number of respondents, student surveys do not provide a representative view of the student voice across all curriculum areas (QI 2.3)
8. The effectiveness of the Course/Academic Tutor role is variable across departments (QI 2.4)
9. In some curriculum areas essential skills are not sufficiently contextualised or integrated to provide purposeful learning (QI 2.3)
10. Staff access and analysis of performance data is increasing but is not always sufficiently supporting the forensic detail needed (QI 2.2)
11. The analysis and sharing of reasons for success and PI improvement is not fully formalised to ensure benefits are gained across other provision and modes of study (QI2.2)

Communication and sharing of good practice

12. College priorities and good practice are not always
13. There is no formal College mechanism for the recording of positive feedback on the quality of the learner experience (QI 2.4)
14. Although most curriculum areas are utilising learning and teaching approaches incorporating project based and digital skills, this is not consistent across all areas (QI 2.3)
15. Arrangements for gaining learner feedback incorporate adhoc approaches on learning and teaching approaches (QI 2.3)
16. Provision of some SCP activity is limited to a small number of schools (QI2.3)

Planning and monitoring

17. The full benefits of data sharing and transition information are not being utilised sufficiently to maximise planning and improvement at curriculum level (QI 2.5)
18. Employability skills are not always prioritised within curriculum planning and delivery (QI 2.2)
19. Enterprise activity remains limited to specific curriculum areas (QI 2.2)
20. All faculty curriculum plans focus on RSA/LMI, but need to incorporate the wider views of local employers and industry stakeholders in a more systematic fashion to ensure curriculum content is aligned to the knowledge and skills required (QI 2.2)
21. The full impact of CLPL plans needs to be monitored to ensure impact is effective and improving quality of provision and the learner experience (QI2.3)