[SEETLLD R0SCCG/M05]

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REVIEW OF SCOTLAND'S COLLEGES

CORE GROUP

MINUTES OF THE MEETING

Friday 15 December 2006 , 10am -Noon , G05/06 Meridian Court

Participants

Stakeholders

Scottish Funding Council - David Wann, Riona Bell

Association of Scotland's Colleges - Neil Cuthbert, Tony Jakimciw

HMIE - Wray Bodys

Scottish Enterprise - Charlene O'Connor

Scottish Qualifications Authority - John Young

National Union of Students Scotland - James Alexander

Confederation of British Industry Scotland- Alan Mitchell

Scottish Further Education Unit - Brian Lister

Universities Scotland - Kirsty Rimmer

SKILL Scotland - John Ireson

STUC - Marian Healy

Educational Institute of Scotland - Ken Wimbor

Scottish Youth Parliament - Marie Grogan MYSP

John Burt, Angus College

Scottish Executive

Aileen McKechnie, Head of Further and Adult Education Division (Chair)

Col Baird, Reviews Team Leader, Scotland's Colleges

Victoria Beattie, Reviews Team, Scotland's Colleges

Margaret McLachlan, Reviews Team, Scotland's Colleges

Hugh McAloon, Higher Education Learning Support

Claire Woodward-Nutt, Higher Education Learning Support

Colin MacBean, Analytical Services Division

Apologies

Mark Batho - Head of Lifelong Learning Group

UNISON - Douglas Black

Association of Directors of Education in Scotland

Highlands and Islands Enterprise - Diane Duncan

Association of Scotland's Colleges -Ian Macpherson, Sue Pinder

Universities Scotland - David Caldwell

Federation of Small Businesses in Scotland - Julie Hepburn

Issues Discussed & Points Agreed

(i) Minutes of Last Meeting

• Agreed to amend the minute to include comments which will be provided by Wray Bodys, HMIE.

ACTION POINT: Wray Bodys to provide secretariat with amended text to previous minute.

The minute will be amended to include these comments and then published on the Executive's website.

Aileen McKechnie, welcomed everyone to the fifth Core Group meeting and thanked them for their continued commitment to the Review.

Action Points from previous meeting

• Members to consider providing SLALE with case studies which highlight the benefits a new college estate can have on learners, staff, local communities and the local economy.

No case studies had been received to date. Members were asked to submit any relevant material to secretariat as soon as possible.

ACTION POINT: Members to submit to secretariat, any relevant case studies which highlight the benefits a new college estate can have on learners, staff, local communities and the local economy.

• West LothianCol legeto provide a copy of the Chamber of Commerce report into the impact of the College's estate on the local community.

It is anticipated that West Lothian College will submit this shortly.

• Funding Council to alert Stewart McKillopto the discussions about college estates.

The Funding Council continue to remain in contact with Stewart McKillop regarding college estates.

• The Funding Council and colleges to note the DDA requirement to gather of statistics on the disabled students and disabled staff.

This DDA requirement has been noted by both the Funding Council and Colleges.

• Comments raised by members on the draft report to be taken back to SLALE for consideration.

Comments have been taken back to the SLALE working group which is currently preparing the group's draft final report.

• Secretariat to cancel the October meeting and to canvass for dates for the January meeting.

Done.

(ii) Update on the Difference Colleges Could Make

Having completed the first phase of its work (examining the difference colleges make), members have been considering the difference colleges could make over the next few years.

Work from the Long Term Strategic Future workstream had provided useful background information for this workstream, taking into consideration Scottish Executive priorities and how colleges underpin these priorities for Scotland.

The Core Group was provided with an update on the issues being discussed by this workstream. They were informed that this workstream had held workshops and brainstorming events this had resulted in the identification of 10 key areas of opportunity for the sector.

The 10 key areas identified are:

• NEET
• Delivering in Scotland's highly deprived areas
• Delivering in remote and rural areas
• Adult Literacy and numeracy
• ESOL
• School/College partnerships
• Nurturing entrepreneurship
• Health & social care
• Developing community hubs
• Volunteering

It was suggested that that consideration should also be given to address opportunity created by intermediate and high-level skills which are employer based. There was some general discussion about European funding.

Action Point: Difference Colleges Could Make Working Group to conclude report for consideration by the core group.

It is anticipated that a draft report on the second phase of the work of this workstream will be available in January 2007.

(iii) Accountability and Governance (A&G) Working Group

Aileen McKechnie informed Members that:

• The Core group had been issued with a copy of the A&G working group's Interim Report.
• DTZ had now concluded its research into Accountability and Governance in the college sector, including examining good practice.
• The DTZ report had been made available for comment at the last A&G workstream meeting on 8 November and had been generally well received.
• Minor amendments would be made to the report prior to publication in early January.
• The working group had discussed findings and recommendations from the DTZ report with a view to agreeing what messages and recommendations should be incorporated and taken forward in the working group's own final report, which is expected to be available in January 2007.

ACTION POINT: Secretariat to circulate a copy of the DTZ report to Core Group members.

(iv) Staffing, Learners and Learning Environments Working Group (SLALE)

Marian Healey informed the Group that SLALE had been recently working on three key pieces of work. These were:

• Profile of College Staff
• Continuous Professional Development (CPD) of College Staff
• Estates/Learning Environments

Profile of College Staff

• 11 Colleges had participated in the profiling of the workforce exercise. This exercise was now complete and was considered to be of high value for the sector. The working group is currently drafting recommendations in relation to this and it was anticipated that one of these recommendations would be for a similar exercise to be carried out on an annual basis.
• Other areas being addressed include:
• Sustaining and improving levels of staff satisfaction
• Improving rewards/awards
• Line management issues
• Responding to changing stakeholder expectations
• CPD
• Assisting staff to adapt to changing learners, approaches to learning and curriculum
• Succession planning
• It was suggested that that the Funding Council carry out a review of data collection to ensure that the sector is clear about the purpose and value of data collected.

CPD

• A sub group has been examining CPD issues and has recently submitted its draft report to the main SLALE group. Some of the key recommendations included in this draft report were that :
• All full-time staff to receive 6 days CPD - with proportionate arrangements being made for part-time staff.
• Reflection time should be provided.
• Upgrade and improve industrial up-skilling - looking at best practice in Northern Ireland for example.
• Allow for new lecturers to be teacher trained over a three year period, the cost of which would equate to £5.2 million. This overall cost includes the cost for 6 hours remission for 40 weeks per year.
• Code of practice to remain flexible.
• Expanding the role and remit of the Professional Development Forum.

Estates/Learning Environment

• SLALE recognises that the Funding Council is best placed to advise on estates development, however is keen that the sector should be in a stable state.
• Members of SLALE remain unconvinced that PFI approach would be the best route for the Glasgow City Centre project. Scottish Executive's Analytical Services Division advised that current PFI projects do not experience the same problems as some of the earlier projects and that PPP/PFI should, therefore, not automatically be excluded from consideration as a way of funding new estates. It was noted that PPP/PFI arrangements ensure the ongoing maintenance of college estates which is part of the cost of the contract.
• The Funding Council's Financial Memorandum will ensure that responsibility for college estates is passed to boards of management.
• Learning resources are being considered in addition to state of the art buildings - for example materials for supporting students with disabilities or special learning needs.

ACTION POINT: SQA to provide the SLALE working group with information on state of the art equipment.

(v) Long Term Strategic Futures Scenario Development Project Report

The Colleges' Long Term Strategic Future working group has been considering the strategic challenges and opportunities that may present themselves to colleges over the next 15 years. To assist in this task they used scenario development techniques and commissioned the help of Malcolm Hutchison, a consultant with much experience of futures work.

Malcolm Hutchinson informed Members that:

• His report on the development of scenarios had been completed in November 2006.
• The Core Group had now received a copy of this report for information.
• The four scenarios contained in the report are pictures of 'plausible Scotlands' in 2021 in which the college sector may have to operate.
• This information will be shared with the other working groups but should not, at this time, influence their work or unnecessarily delay the delivery of their findings.
• The scenarios will be incorporated within the final report as an indication of some of the challenging issues ahead for the sector. This will allow some initial implications for policy and strategy development to be considered.
• It is anticipated that further scenario thinking, using these initial narratives, will be developed after the review is published. The narratives can be considered as one of a number of strategic thinking tools used to support the evolution of robust, flexible and adaptive policies and strategies over the years ahead.

Claire Woodward-Nutt provided an update on the working group's final report which will include Malcolm Hutchinson's report as an annex. Members were told that the final report will be fairly high level and will outline what the group believe will be the challenges and opportunities and will outline potential next steps for the sector. The report will contain the following themes for strategic action:

• Positioning and purpose;
• Leadership;
• Collaboration and partnership;
• Responsiveness to learners and employers; and
• Modernising learning and teaching.

ACTION POINT: Secretariat to circulate a copy of the Scenario Development Project report to all workstreams with the caveat that they should not influence or delay the delivery of their findings. MalcolmHutchinson to provide a form of words which should be used in the covering e-mail.

(vi) Leitch Review and Scotland's Colleges

• The Executive will give consideration to the recently published Leitch Review as part of its consultation on the refresh of the Lifelong Learning Strategy.
• The Executive has written to all stakeholders alerting them to this and will be hosting seminars and consultation events prior to any response being given.
• The Funding Council advised that a member of the Leitch Review had been invited to attend their Corporate Plan launch event in January 2007.

(vii) A.O.B

Members were reminded that the next Core Group meeting has been arranged for 19th January 2007 at 10am in Meridian Court. It is expected that each of the 4 Workstreams will present their final or near final reports/recommendations to the Core Group at this meeting. Therefore it was noted that this could be a longer meeting and that a working lunch will be provided.

It was noted that due to staff absence within the Reviews Team colleagues from the Higher Education and Learning Support Department had been providing assistance with the writing of two working group's reports. In particular both Hugh McAloon and Claire Woodward-Nutt were thanked for ongoing support in taking forward the Review.

Action Points

• Wray Bodys to provide secretariat with amended text to previous minute.

• Members to submit to secretariat, any relevant case studies which highlight the benefits a new college estate can have on learners, staff, local communities and the local economy.

• Difference Colleges Could Make Working Group to conclude report for consideration by the core group.

• Secretariat to circulate a copy of the DTZ report to Core Group members.

• SQA to provide the SLALE working group with information on state of the art equipment.

• Secretariat to circulate a copy of the Scenario Development Project report to all workstreams with the caveat that they should not influence or delay the delivery of their findings. Malcolm Hutchinson to provide the form of words which should be used in the covering e-mail.

Margaret McLachlan

Review Team Secretariat

December 2006