A project aimed using research evidence and employer collaboration to improve student success rates in GCSE maths and English resits and reduce the risk of learnerspeople not being in education, employment or training (NEET).
In their Outstanding Teaching, Learning, and Assessment (OTLA 3) project in 2017/18 Kendal College and HMP Haverigg built on a previous Education and Training Foundation (ETF) project piloting the 'Effective Practice Guidelines' (EPGs) for assessment and tracking. They tested EPG-recommended approaches, such as ‘limiting assessment to what is necessary’ and ‘assessing for self-belief and motivation’. They focused on GCSE maths progress (or lack of it) at a microscopic level to enable learners to recognise, record and ‘own’ their progress.
Using action research to promote more effective partnerships between teachers and student support assistants.
A project addressing the challenges of teaching mandated maths GCSE to often unmotivated learners.
This Outstanding Teaching, Learning, and Assessment (OTLA 3) project in 2017/18 sought to prompt adult GCSE and Access students to make more effective use of feedback from teachers. Since learners enrol at college with a variety of academic starting points, the project team hoped this would help them set meaningful stretch targets for learners and enable learners to set their own short-term goals and take greater control of their learning.
This Outstanding Teaching, Learning, and Assessment (OTLA) project aimed to change student attitudes to maths and English by providing exciting and engaging challenges, set by real employers and based on real-world scenarios. Students created a set of 11 career-specific online videos with accompanying task sheets. Local employers collaborated. When the videos were used with students there was a 7% increase in the number who agreed with the statement “Everyone needs to get a maths qualification” and a 2% increase in the number agreeing "Everyone needs to get an English qualification”.
A case study report of providing sustainable reflective and evaluative practice for early career vocational teachers.
This Outstanding, Teaching, Learning, and Assessment (OTLA) project from 2016/17 aimed to address the Ofsted recommendation to embed IT (information technology) to support ‘out of classroom’ extension activities to a wide range of community learning courses delivered by Bristol City Council in partnership with North Somerset and South Gloucestershire. The culture within their provision was of staff resistance to the use of IT, due to skills shortfall, as well as the inherent difficulties associated with delivering courses across many disparate venues with mostly self-employed staff.
In this Outstanding Teaching, Learning, and Assessment project (OTLA 2) in 2016/17 West Lancashire College and Halton Borough Council (HBC) wanted to improve the quality of their teaching, learning and assessment (TLA) in response to Ofsted feedback. HBC also wanted to increase aspiration and motivation in some of their tutors. They used growth mindset techniques to create a cultural shift from which shared organisational objectives were set.
Cheshire College South and West outstanding teaching, learning, and assessment (OTLA 2) project in 2016/17 focused on using information and learning technology to improve teaching and learning in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects, including engineering, construction and motor vehicle.
