1A: How to achieve success in learner achievement?

The individual or group learning plan

All learners need an individual or group learning plan based on the outcomes of initial assessment. The plan needs to reflect their aspirations as well as their previous learning experience and their current levels of competence. It needs to identify in what ways the learner aims to improve his or her life in the medium- to longer-term through the acquisition of the skills of literacy, numeracy and language. The conclusions arrived at through initial assessment, recorded on an individual or group learning plan, provide the springboard for further action and acts as the template against which all progress and achievement is measured. More will be said about the process of initial assessment and the development of individual and group learning plans under CIF Question 2.

The task for providers is to capture information about progress and achievement, not just at the level of the individual, but across the whole organisation. This can then be used to arrive at a clear view of how good the organisation is at helping learners change their lives through the development of literacy, numeracy and language skills. For more detail on the whole-organisation approach, see CIF Question 5.

The introduction of the national adult literacy and numeracy core curricula and the associated standards helps managers collect, more systematically than ever before, data about how well learners are doing and what they have accomplished. The core curricula overcome many of the difficulties associated with monitoring progress in relation to non-accredited learning. If all individual and group learning plans and progress reviews are referenced to the core curricula and standards, the levels at which learners are achieving and their rates of progress at once become clear, even if they are not studying for qualifications.

Retention and achievement data

Data can be used to:

• compare your organisation's current performance with what has gone before
• compare and contrast performance in different parts of your own organisation
• compare the performance of your organisation with that of other providers.

There are a number of key points to bear in mind about the use of data:

• data need to be analysed, rather than just amassed to be of any use
• you need to be sure that you are using data to compare like with like
• data trigger the start of a conversation about performance, not its conclusion.

Keep track of how many learners start, continue and complete each year. Keep track of their level on starting, their level on completing and their rate of progress between these points.

 

Keep track of how many learners who entered for qualifications gained them.

Analyse the data you gather. This means working out what proportion of learners completed programmes and achieved some measure of success.

While examples of individual success can be powerful material both for you and for those outside your organisation, they don't give an overall view of how learners fared, and they don't direct your attention towards areas of provision that are particularly good or particularly weak.

Year-on-year comparisons

Use the data you collect to compare your organisation's performance from one year to the next. Keeping track of performance over an extended period will alert you to situations in which something worked particularly well, or alternatively, where things went seriously adrift. Bear in mind that no two cohorts of adult learners are the same; each group will vary in motivation and life experience. Establishing trends is by no means an exact science.

Performance comparisons

You could use data to help you compare the performance at one centre with the performance at another. Or you could compare the effectiveness of centre-based work with that of neighbourhood-based work. But again, be aware of the fact that there are different factors at work. For example, it is relatively easy to calculate a retention rate for a group that enrols at the start of each term, but not so easy to do it for a group that slowly evolves as a result of painstaking community intervention.

Organisational comparisons

You can also using the data you collect to compare your organisation's performance with that of other, similar organisations. National averages for achievement and retention rates will begin to emerge as the new qualifications come on stream, and more providers begin to reference learners' achievements to the national standards. But when you make comparisons, check that you are comparing like with like. Some providers enter learners for qualifications as soon as they enrol, others only when they judge that the learner will succeed. Even initiatives with the same name, for example 'family learning' may have different focuses, and this makes comparison difficult.

In the first instance, you may find it useful to form a network with other, similar, providers against whom you can benchmark your organisation's performance. Alternatively, find a single organisational 'buddy' with whom you can be frank and free about how well you are doing.

Attainment and standards

Pay careful attention to attainment - how well learners are doing given their starting point, the length of time they have been studying and their aspirations. Learners' work is the most obvious indication of how well they are progressing. However, tutors are naturally familiar with the work of their own learners. Consider asking a third party to take a look, to gauge how the work measures up against the initial assessment and the goals expressed in the individual or group learning plan - in other words, develop an internal verification system. This will, in any case, be a necessary aspect of the arrangements operated by awarding bodies. If your organisation is small, you may be able to set up a reciprocal arrangement with another provider.

Learners' work belongs to them, but seek their permission to keep copies of their work in your files so that you can monitor progress and check standards more effectively.

Ways of capturing progress and achievement

Look for a variety of ways of capturing learners' progress and achievements. Learner diaries, photographs, video-recordings and audio tapes are all legitimate ways of substantiating statistics. Make sure you have examples of literacy and ESOL learners' development of oral communication skills.

The ultimate test of learning is the ability of learners to apply it. The core curricula aim to promote active citizenship as well as personal autonomy and employability. Encourage learners to provide you with evidence of how they are applying their learning outside lessons. Consider surveying learners regularly about what personal, social and economic gains learning has brought them at home, at work or in their community. Ask what contributions they have been able to make in these contexts as a result of learning. It is important to keep good qualitative data.

Find ways of keeping track of what learners plan to do once they leave you (destination data). Research how they are applying their learning after they leave, perhaps up to several years down the track. It may not be feasible to do this regularly for all aspects of your work, but you could consider having a phased research programme spanning a number of years and sharing the costs with another provider.

Another important point is to monitor attendance rates. Learners' patterns of attendance give some indication of their level of commitment. Sometimes rates are low on centre-based courses after public holidays, and erratic on neighbourhood-based projects where people are dealing with a range of difficult personal circumstances. Determine what you consider to be acceptable in different types of provision and use this as a factor in gauging whether or not the provision is effective.

Attainment and national qualifications

Before Skills for Life there was little clarity and consistency for qualifications in literacy and numeracy. The new qualification developed by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) in partnership with awarding bodies has brought credibility to these qualifications by making them part of the National Qualifications Framework. Now for the first time adult learners can see how they can use their achievements as a springboard for progress in to general qualifications such as GCSEs or work-related qualifications such as key skills or national vocational qualifications (NVQs).