Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills

1A: How to achieve success in learner achievement

Providers should consider carefully how they can most effectively enable offenders on community supervision to achieve their full potential in literacy, numeracy and ESOL. There is a wide range of potential barriers which can impact on offenders' capacity to improve their literacy, numeracy or ESOL skills. Potential barriers include:

accommodation needs
employment needs
emotional difficulties such as anger management
behavioural difficulties
drug, substance and/or alcohol misuse
withdrawal symptoms from drug, substance and/or alcohol misuse
relationship problems
low or no qualifications
an educational history fragmented by absenteeism, truancy, and temporary and permanent exclusion from school
learning difficulties and/or disabilities, including dyslexia
low self-esteem
lack of perception of self as a learner
a sense of stigma about having literacy, numeracy and ESOL needs
a sense of stigma about having committed an offence and being on community supervision.

Assessment

To maximise the progress offenders can make within the context of community supervision, it is crucial to have in place a rigorous assessment process, tailored to individual learner needs. Information on the assessment of an offender's literacy, numeracy and ESOL needs should be fed into the offender's sentence plan. Screening and initial and diagnostic assessment are the starting points for any individual learning plan (ILP). Screening is used to find out whether or not someone might have a literacy, numeracy or ESOL need. The Fast Track tools, developed by the Basic Skills Agency (BSA) are examples of screening tools. An ESOL screening tool, funded by the Skills for Life Strategy Unit, is available (DfES Publications on 0845 602 2260, reference STESOL) as an early release consultation document. The Skills for Life Strategy Unit is also funding the development of generic literacy and numeracy screening tools. These will be available in paper and on-screen versions, and will cover Entry Level 1 to Level 2.

Screening should be conducted at pre-sentence report (PSR) stage, when the NPS prepares reports on offenders to assist the courts in sentencing. Screening will usually be conducted by the PSR author, that is the member of probation staff who writes the PSR report. Mechanisms should be in place to transfer screening results from the probation area to the provider.

If a potential literacy, numeracy or ESOL need is identified by the screening process, initial assessment is then conducted to identify the learner's skills against a level or levels of the national standards. Providers must use a tool that gives a reliable assessment of the learner's level in relation to the national standards. Examples include the BSA's revised Initial Assessment materials and Cambridge Training and Development's (CTAD's) Target Skills. There is an ESOL initial assessment tool funded by the Skills for Life Strategy Unit and available from DfES Publications Tel 0845 602 2260 (reference IAESOL). This assesses listening and speaking skills from Entry Level 1 to Level 2. The Skills for Life Strategy Unit is also funding the development of generic literacy and numeracy initial assessment tools. These will be available in paper and on-screen versions, and will assess from Entry Level 1 to Level 2.

Initial assessment is sometimes conducted by trained probation staff, such as education, training and employment (ETE) officers. Initial assessment should be conducted as near to the start of community supervision as possible, to increase potential learning within the context of community supervision.

Diagnostic assessment gives detailed information on a learner’s strengths and weaknesses, to form the basis for their ILP and learning programme. Materials must be aligned to the national standards and ideally to the relevant core curriculum. Suitable tools include the diagnostic assessment materials for literacy, numeracy and ESOL, that are funded by the Skills for Life Strategy Unit. These include materials to identify dyslexia indicators. Diagnostic assessment should include consideration of the learner’s self-confidence, previous learning experience, attitudes to literacy, numeracy and ESOL, and preferred learning styles. It should also identify where learners could benefit from additional support with, for instance, learning difficulties or disabilities, and/or dyslexia. Many offenders may engage more readily with electronic rather than paper-based assessments.

For further information about dyslexia, A Framework for Understanding Dyslexia, commissioned by the Skills for Life Strategy Unit, can be accessed on the Read Write Plus website at: www.readwriteplus/bank or from DfES Publications on 0845 602 2260 (reference AFDD2).

Offenders’ potential barriers to learning, highlighted earlier, may mask an individual’s ability. Assessment should therefore be conducted sensitively, and should aim to identify an individual’s current achievement and his or her potential. The assessor should ensure that the offender is clear about the assessment process, including its purpose. Feedback from assessments should be discussed with offenders, in terms they understand. Offenders should have the opportunity to participate actively in feedback. Procedures should be in place to transfer screening and initial and diagnostic assessment results between providers and the probation area, so that assessment information can feed into the sentence plan, and so that relevant information from the sentence plan can inform arrangements for literacy, numeracy and ESOL. Providers need to ensure that all relevant staff understand the assessment process and what the results signify.

See the Read Write Plus website at: www.dfes.gov.uk/readwriteplus
/teachingandlearning for further details on screening and initial and diagnostic assessment.

Individual learning plans

An effective ILP helps to ensure that the learner’s goals and needs are at the heart of the learning process. ILPs are ‘live’ documents that are referred to and updated throughout a learning programme, as well as providing part of an audit trail. ILPs should take into account relevant information from the sentence plan. ILPs should contain the following:

assessment information
short- and long-term learning goals
personal and social goals (short- and long-term if feasible)
review dates
space to record the achievement of targets
the signatures of the learner and teacher.

Short- and long-term targets, for accredited and non-accredited outcomes, should be referenced to the national standards and the core curricula. Targets should be appropriate to the skill level of an individual. For one offender, this may mean the national test at Level 2. For another, it may mean an individual learning to write his or her name and address. Whatever the level, targets should be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timebound).

Learners should understand the purpose of their ILPs. ILPs should be written in language that is accessible to the learner. Make it clear that the learner is the ‘owner’ of his or her ILP. At the end of each teaching session, teacher and learner should comment in the ILP on the learner’s progress, and link these comments to steps that will be taken in the next session. In this way, ILPs can increase learners’ awareness of small steps in progress.

For further information about planning learning and reporting achievement, including examples of completed ILPs, see Planning Learning and Recording Progress and Achievement: A guide for practitioners. This is available from DfES Publications on 0845 602 2260, reference PLRA1 (or see the Read Write Plus website at: www.dfes.gov.uk/readwriteplus/planninglearning).

Formative assessment

Effective teachers conduct regular formative assessments of learners’ progress against the goals and targets in their ILPs. These should be carried out alongside progress reviews. All formative assessment must be mapped to the national standards and the core curricula. Formative assessment enables learners to understand what they have achieved and what they need to do to progress further. Through seeing the small steps in their progress, offenders are more likely to understand the bigger picture of their learning journey. Formative assessment results must be recorded. Providers should use formative assessment to analyse the progress of individuals and groups in literacy, numeracy and ESOL, set targets, evaluate teaching and collect evidence of achievement.

Review and monitoring

Regular reviews of progress and achievement should be conducted as part of formative assessment. Record the scheduled and actual dates of reviews in ILPs. Reviews should include detailed information on:

progress and achievement in literacy, numeracy and ESOL
attendance
attitude to learning
aspirations
equal opportunities.

A learner works with his ILP easily accessible, to consult and amend in the session.

Progress and achievement must be expressed in terms of outcomes that can be measured and assessed. Short-term targets should be very focused. Outcomes must be recorded. Teachers should check that learners understand their targets. Learners should be fully involved in the review process, to help maximise their engagement in learning.

As with any learner, offenders on community supervision will respond positively when their progress and achievement are recognised and confirmed. Progress reviews should inform the ILP and clarify where further assessment is needed.

Summative assessment

Summative or end-of-programme assessment is important in assessing the distance the learner has travelled during the learning programme. Accreditation should help raise the self-esteem of offenders on community supervision and can also help offenders get work or get a better job.

Accreditation, in terms of the certificate at Entry Level, the national test at Levels 1 and 2, Key Skills in Communication and Application of Number and GCSE at grades A*-G, can be counted towards the national Skills for Life targets.

Tests are now increasingly available on demand and on-screen to improve access and provide a more motivating and rewarding experience for learners. A second CD of practice on-screen tests, including a mini-test that gives a preliminary indication of which level to try, is now available via the Move On website and the Read Write Plus website, as well as being distributed with the revised test toolkit. This includes review feedback for each test item. Tutors and learners can also create their own tests from the items stored in the Skills for Life Strategy Unit item bank project website at: www.itembank.org.uk. This is a site that aims to enable tutors and learners to create whole test papers or papers devoted to particular topics.

Record-keeping

All providers must keep accurate, up-to-date records of learners. Providers and the NPS should have systems in place that enable relevant monitoring information on offenders to be shared. This will enable, for instance, assessment results, ILPs and progress reviews to be linked to sentence plans. Where feasible, assessment results and ILPs should follow the learner, so that learning programmes can build effectively on prior learning, whether this has taken place as part of a custodial sentence or in the community.

For more details on screening and initial and diagnostic assessment, see the Read Write Plus website at: www.dfes.gov.uk/readwriteplus/teachingandlearning

Programme design

Learning programmes should address individual learners’ needs and interests, taking into account the length of community supervision and the number of hours each week that the learner is able to attend. Embedded programmes, which combine literacy, numeracy or ESOL with a vocational or recreational programme, offer a real opportunity to deliver motivating education and training that learners perceive as relevant to their lives.

Support for learners

Support for learners can be provided by a variety of appropriately trained individuals such as learning support assistants, volunteers, education, training and employment (ETE) officers and staff from external agencies. Support helps meet individual learner needs and potentially facilitates offenders’ reintegration into the community.

To support learners effectively, teachers should use a range of teaching methods, to meet different learning styles and individual needs. Adult learners often have a ‘spiky’ profile, so differentiation and extension activities are essential. Support can make a substantial difference to learners’ achievements in literacy, numeracy and ESOL. Support arrangements should be carefully documented in order to monitor any issues.

For some offenders with low literacy, numeracy or ESOL skills, success can mean very small steps, such as learning to write their own name and address or a simple sentence. Other learners may progress from one level to the next of the national standards, gaining either the certificate at Entry Level, or the national test at Level 1 or 2. Certificates and award ceremonies to mark achievement will help raise offenders’ self-esteem.

The achievement of offenders on community supervision in literacy, numeracy and ESOL can be judged through data on: