Building the Foundations of A LIFELONG LEARNING SOCIETY
SECTION 12
MONITORING
Q27. How should pupil's ongoing engagement with further education be monitored and evaluated?
Further Education Sector
12.1 The general view was that schools and colleges should work collaboratively on monitoring and evaluation through ongoing liaison between college and school staff. Information exchange should be planned and occur regularly to take account of attendance, progress, conduct and welfare.
12.2 Glenrothes College said that records need to be established and maintained with progress being reviewed jointly with schools retaining responsibility for monitoring pupil progress. Glasgow College of Food Technology said that twice yearly progress reports and daily attendance reporting should be used and all courses should be monitored and evaluated by course teams. Motherwell College suggested that pupils should be given the opportunity to provide feedback on their experience.
12.3 Jewel & Esk Valley College and James Watt College stated that quality and effectiveness are evaluated using HMIE self-evaluation frameworks.
12.4 Kilmarnock College, Lauder College, Falkirk College, West Dunbartonshire Council (and Clydebank College) said that there was a need to develop a set of national tools for tracking learner attainment and progression.
School Sector
12.5 Respondents generally agreed that education authorities and colleges need to have agreed protocols and quality assurance arrangements with schools and colleges having clearly defined roles. There must be shared responsibility for gathering information and monitoring issues relating to attendance, behaviour and attainment.
12.6 Renfrewshire Council and Moray Council commented on the value of self evaluation by pupils which can provide information on the quality and effectiveness of provision. South Lanarkshire Council identified the need for systems to ensure accurate recording including pupil progress reports.
12.7 Glasgow City Council said that there must be analysis of pupil achievement in schools courses versus pupil achievement in college courses and that FE colleges must feed back information to school for report cards.
Others
12.8 The National Deaf Children's Society said ongoing engagement should be monitored and evaluated by the staff who are involved. The STUC advised that the focus should be on positive outcomes in terms of pupils personal achievements and successes. Learning and Teaching Scotland commented that schools have a responsibility to audit curricular provision against needs of their students. The Institution of Electrical Engineers said that schools should maintain a progress file on each student.