1C: How is success in learner achievement recognised?

The standards of students’ work in class and in their portfolios are high. Students are set and achieve demanding targets. The vocational context of the basic skills teaching stimulates students to achieve at a high level. […] Students are attentive, responsive and enthusiastic in lessons [and] retention rates and attendance rates are very good.

Achievement of national qualifications is excellent. In 2002/03, almost 3,000 students achieved a City and Guilds 3792 qualification in literacy or numeracy at Entry Level, Level 1 or Level 2. Significant numbers of students have successfully completed the new national tests in literacy and numeracy. The pass rate for key skills communication and application of number at Levels 1 and 2 is more than twice the national average. The college makes a significant contribution to local LSC targets for basic skills improvement. Students at all levels share a strong sense that they are making good progress.

Students' achievements are very good. In 2002/03, retention and pass rates on all ESOL and EFL courses leading to nationally recognised qualifications were significantly above the national averages. Retention and pass rates on literacy and numeracy courses are excellent. Students make good progress in lessons. The achievement of individual targets is good. Students are highly motivated, gain in confidence and self-esteem and are productively involved in their learning. They develop a wide range of skills such as writing letters, measurement and personal writing. Students of ESOL and EFL develop very good language and IT skills. In additional language support lessons, students develop good levels of language skill. For example, in one lesson, an art student developed her oral and literacy skills effectively during a role play exercise in which she discussed her art portfolio. Standards of written and oral work are high.

Students are attentive, responsive and enthusiastic in lessons. The integration of basic skills and vocational skills helps students to achieve challenging goals. In several lessons, students were reading and understanding demanding specialist vocabulary and texts relating to their vocational areas that were pitched at a much higher level than their assessed level of literacy. In a lesson on exotic animals, Entry Level students were reading, writing and using specialist words, for example, vivarium, chelonians, and amphibians, with confidence.

All students make good progress in developing key skills, which are an integral part of vocational courses. Most students progress to further courses, with 89 per cent of the students progressing to other programmes.

Students’ pass rates on basic skills courses are particularly high and their work in lessons is good. Basic skills are an integral part of the vocational elements of courses.

Retention rates on literacy, numeracy and social and life skills courses are very good, a strength identified in the self-assessment report. From September 2003 to April 2004, of those learners who remained in the prison for the full duration of their programme, the retention rates were 99 per cent on literacy courses, 91 per cent on numeracy courses and 100 per cent on OCN social and life skills courses. Achievement rates on numeracy courses are very good. From September 2003 to April 2004, 87 per cent of those who completed their course successfully achieved their qualification. Achievement rates on Entry Level 3 and Level 1 courses were 92 per cent and 90 per cent respectively.