Technology offers learners different methods for coming to the same outcome. But no one is saying that it’s easy to find the right formula, says Carolyn Lewis

What encourages trainers to use technology to support learning and assessment? It could be the number of statistics that are published on technology use, such as how many hours a day learners spend on social networking, or it could be the increasing numbers of employers demanding flexibility and less time away from the workplace, instructions from Ofsted inspectors to embrace more technology or a drive to become more commercially sustainable.

All these reasons are valid, but there is another important consideration: what learners want.

So how do we take on board the objectives of those in charge of the finances without losing sight of learners needing to be at the centre of what we do?

Often trainers do not use technology because, they say, “my learners need constant support” or “my learners need their programme of learning spoon-fed to them”. But surely we need to be developing their independence and organisational skills if we are to prepare them for the world of work.

Many young adults know more about taking charge of their lives than we give them credit for. How often have you seen a teenager feed their curiosity by turning to their mobile phone to find something out, or to organise a night out with friends on Facebook?

Technology can make learning more varied, interesting, fun and well supported”

Watch a teenager on their smartphone and consider the skills that they are using; research, communication, organising, comprehending and, in some cases, analysis, synthesis and evaluation — even if they are in simplistic forms. They are comfortable using these skills and probably don’t equate them to other areas of their lives.

Technology allows us to harness these skills, to offer learners different methods for coming to the same outcome. No one is saying that it’s easy; neither do they have perfect formula for engaging the non-engaged. But applying the skills that come naturally through the use of technology to learning gives us the best possible chance of achieving it.

It would be easy simply to find a great e-tool and then think “what can I use this for and what learners am I going to try it out on?”

Don’t do this.  The technology should be identified for a need and benefit. For instance, how can you improve things for learners who are not great at communicating? The answer might be mobile Skype or Whatsapp, but your choice is likely to take into account any barriers that your learners might face to using technology.

A protected online learning environment offers safeguarding and support, and gives you the ability to integrate different resource types — video, audio, text and games —to meet different learning styles. The flipped classroom model can improve engagement as it encourages online learning as the outcomes are visible when put into the practical face-to-face environment that follows.

Technology does offer learners the freedom of independent learning, but skills need to be developed first.  Most of all, technology can make learning more varied, interesting, fun and well supported, but if learners haven’t experienced it, how can they express it as their preferred style?

In an ideal world, learning using technology should be delivered by staff who are comfortable using it with learners who say it is their preferred way of learning.  However, lack of skills, and lack of awareness of how technology can be used often becomes a barrier that needs to be challenged.

Carolyn Lewis, managing director Vocational Innovation 

After a cautious start, David Hughes now has bags of enthusiasm for the European Agenda for Adult Learning. He explains why

We were cautious when the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) was invited to act as the UK co-ordinator for the European Agenda for Adult Learning. Many years involved in administering and applying for EU funding had probably clouded my vision, but my spirits rose as I found out more and now, after a few months, I can see enormous benefits from taking on the role. A two-day conference in Cardiff last week kick-started our work.

So why are we so enthusiastic about this work and what relevance does it have to FE Week readers? There are many answers, but the main theme is what we can learn from each other and the sense of perspective that working with European partners brings.

That perspective can help to overcome the negative feelings that thrive during austere times, replacing them with a better understanding of what we should be proud of in the UK in adult learning. It also provides examples of what we need to aspire to.

But the beauty of engaging with EU partners is that it forces each of us to describe, explain and justify the policy, practice, statistics and outcomes of adult learning in our own country. That very act is instructive because it requires intelligent research, reflection and judgment — things that we often avoid because our working lives require us to deal with the urgent and the operational. Stepping outside the day-to-day fray and reaching a considered judgment is a useful leadership trick that often provides new insights.

Over the next couple of years NIACE, as the UK co-ordinator, will run a number of innovation projects and peer-learning activities that build on last week’s conference. The role of adult learning and skills to enhance Europe’s economy and society is central to the work of the EU, its member states and other participants in the lifelong learning programme.

Our robust systems of inspection and national qualifications are looked on with cautious interest”

The EU Agenda, adopted in November 2011, stresses the need for adult educators to make a case for investment, better analyse learner participation and motivation, and develop robust strategies to engage adults who have benefited least from initial education.

All these issues are common challenges across the 27 member states, even if the contexts and scale of the challenges differ.

Our work for the conference forced us to reflect on the position in the UK and the inherent complexity of the differences between the four home nations.

The many challenges expressed by EU partners, with examples of good policy and practice, always make me feel that things are not all bad here.

When we describe the UK position our European partners’ responses veer from the bewildered to the envious. Our reputation for Adult Learners’ Week precedes us, as does the respect for the level of debate, publications and teaching materials that NIACE and others contribute to.

Our robust systems of inspection and national qualifications are looked on with cautious interest and we appear high up in statistics about investment and participation in adult learning.

Conversely, we have long known that we need to learn more about vocational learning and training, about employer engagement in education, about learning for citizenship and approaches to inclusion.

I am convinced that we can continue to learn from others and benefit from the reflection on our own policies and practices. Ultimately adults across Europe will also benefit if the best ideas and practices from the 27 states drive the vision for adult learning across the EU.

David Hughes, chief executive, NIACE

The increased freedoms and flexibilities that study programmes will allow are to be welcomed, says Dean O’Donoghue. But how they will be judged by Ofsted?

From September all post-16 providers will introduce 16 to 19 study programmes, coinciding with the raising of the participation age (RPA) and a revised funding methodology.

The overall move to fixed level funding will require post-16 providers to be creative with their curriculum. The expectation from the Education Funding Agency is that funding will service an average of 600 guided learning hours (glh).

The programmes will allow for more innovative teaching and support the drive for greater breadth, ensuring that learners gain  personal social and employability skills. In her review of adult learning, Alison Wolf said that study programmes provided an opportunity “to create a personalised curriculum for learners”. What she didn’t expand on was how one student’s personalised curriculum might be judged against that of another, or what a “good” personalised curriculum would look like.

One key freedom is the capacity to increase the amount of non-qualification provision, which will be accounted for through auditing (with accountability shifting more towards glh).   Non-qualification outcomes and activities can boost teaching and learning at any level. For example, recent research by the Education Employer Task Force shows that the most successful academic students benefit hugely from work experience to support their UCAS applications.

Traineeships will encourage more non-qualification provision such as personal development, work-readiness and work experience.  Colleagues working with learners  with special educational needs and disability (SEND) have considerable freedom and flexibility to use non-qualification outcomes to demonstrate the development of communication and number skills through life skills and employability contexts; we await the outcome of the Wirral Lifelong Learning Service pilot with interest.

Inspectors will evaluate the extent to which learners develop personal, social and employability skills”

But how will Ofsted judge flexibility, freedom and personalisation? Chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw has made clear that Ofsted will focus on the “attainment and progress of learners with progress being at the heart of judgment”. Inspectors will evaluate the extent to which learners develop personal, social and employability skills, and progress to courses leading to higher-level qualifications and into jobs that meet local and national needs.

The criteria will apply equally to learners at entry level and those with SEND.  Ofsted isn’t known for its enthusiasm for innovation or individualism.  Inspectors have their set of criteria and it is up to the lecturer or institution to make sure that they point them in the right direction; labelling  appropriate content in block capitals and flashing neon is optional, but recommended.

The big question, surely, is how you evaluate and document the extent to which skills — be they personal, social, employability, communication or number — are developed if the provision is non-qualification?  I can only answer this with more questions: “How can distance travelled be demonstrated without some form of assessment?”  “What kind of test is fit for purpose methodology for personal, social and employability skills?” And “doesn’t this rather undermine the point of non-qualification provision?”

Either the inspectorate has to allow more leeway for professional interpretation than it has in the past or we will find ourselves clinging to qualification outcomes that are costly and don’t respond to the Department for Education’s drive for the more enriching parts of the curriculum to become less formal.  It’s almost as if we’ve been caught in a paradox….

Dean O’Donoghue, national development co-ordinator for ASDAN Education 

Good governance is about far more than a checklist: it is about supporting and developing an institution to enhance opportunity and success, says Dr Paul Phillips

I have to hand it to chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw. He is a man on a mission, turning his attention to governance.

At face value, he seems to want to hold governors to account and to ensure that they robustly challenge the performance of an institution.

He suggests the creation of a ‘score card’, that some governors should be paid and that key businesses should encourage their staff to become governors.

From my perspective, he does not go far enough; good governance is invaluable and, in my own career, in both the school and college sector, governing bodies have ranged from the abysmal to the brilliant.

I always see a fine line between governance and management, and some governors do try to cross that line at times. I don’t know if it is a ‘power thing’ or an unfulfilled aspiration, but too many times I have seen unjustified interference break down good relations between governors and heads of institutes.

When a school or college gets a bad inspection report, governing bodies usually say it’s about what managers failed to deliver.  But isn’t it also about how governors failed in their judgments of a situation?

Then we have the issue of strategy versus management. How often do I hear that governors set the strategy but managers deliver, to it? Governance is about supporting and developing an institution, and challenging and then endorsing a strategy for an organisation.

It still returns us, however, to the question of what is good governance and how this impacts upon an organisation. I’ll bet many can remember when governance was a checklist rather than a source of challenge to sound leadership.

But let’s support this initiative, while making sure that it is comprehensive and can be interrogated. From the perspective of the FE college sector, a three-pronged approach is needed to look at accountability and responsibility, meeting the needs of the community and checking that the learner gets the best opportunity to succeed and progress. Isn’t that common sense? Yes, you say, but I believe that it is rarely put into action.

Unjustified interference breaks down good relations between governors and heads of institutes”

Let’s take a traditional 11 to 18 school or academy, and look at the young people at age 15. Can the governing body and the head of the institution justifiably confirm that each of them is shown the merits of both academic education and vocational learning, including apprenticeships? I do not believe it to be the case. Similarly in an FE college, do the governing body and senior management deliver everything the community needs or consider how, in doing so, success rates may be damaged?

Am I maligning Sir Michael’s moves? Far from it. Governors need to be able to assess the initial advice and guidance concepts within their institution and the ‘score card’ is the first step. It is crucial to advance governance in the sector.

Do you remember the famous Morecambe and Wise sketch with Andre Previn where Eric says: “I am playing the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order.”

A witty line that resonates within education today. The main ingredients for much needed success are there, but how they are ordered and prioritised is often not clear. Governance also varies according to an institution’s environment. Brilliant governance is about completing that jigsaw to enhance opportunity and success.

Paid governance? There are times when a governor or a group of governors should be paid but it should relate to need and how such work will guarantee positive and measured transformation.

I may regret these words, but I am generally a fan of Ofsted because it does make us focus on learner success, the learner journey and inspirational teaching. So what is inspirational governance? Now that’s another story.

Dr Paul Phillips, principal and chief executive, Weston College, North Somerset