Provider Manual

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Performance Management 10Contract Clarification 10 • Contract issue 10 • Delivery profiles 11 • Payment terms and weighting 11 • Performance targets 11ESF Compliance 12Tutor and Venue Delivery Information 12 • Contract Monitoring 12 • Course Approval 12 • Data Validation 12 • Performance Review and Monthly Meetings 13 • Contract Closure 13Automatic Reconciliation 13

Payments 14Payment for Services 1416-19 Bursary Fund 15Free Meals for Disadvantaged Learners 15Additional Learner Support (ALS) 15

Quality Assurance 16Safeguarding 16Self-Assessment 17Business Improvement Planning 17Quality Reviews 18 • The Learner Journey 18 • Recruitment 18 • Employer Engagement 18 • Initial & Diagnostic Assessment 18 • Induction 19 • Progress Tracking 19 • Teaching and Learning 19 • Verification, Assessment and Achievement 19 • Progression and Destinations 20Observation of Teaching, Learning, Assessment and Reviews 20 • OTLA Process 21 • Grading 21 • Joint Observations 21 • Appeals 21 • Moderation 21Learning Walks 22Maths, English and ICT 22Schemes of Work & Lesson Plans 22Quality and Risk Management 22

Contents

Introduction 4

Commissioning 6

Phases of Commissioning 6NEPO Registration 6Invitation to Tender 7Standard Questionnaire (SQ) 7SQ Evaluation 8SQ Pass/Fail Notification 8Call-Off application (COA) 9COA Evaluation 9COA Pass/Fail Notification 9Query Resolution 9

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Introduction

South Tyneside Council’s Skills Service is an ESFA Prime Provider for post-16 education and training.

This document sets out the main features of commissioning, contract management and quality assurance for 2018-19.

The intention is to give you, the training provider, key information that will help you plan and meet the Skills Service’s compliance and quality assurance requirements.

This is one important document which is part of our wider quality framework. You need to understand this manual and other documentation made available to you, ensuring that you adhere to the expectations within.

All policies and additional documents can be found on our Quality Management System website which can be accessed via the web link below.

www.southtyneside.gov.uk/skillspaperwork

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06 07Commissioning

PurposeThis section sets out and explains our commissioning cycle.

Each year, The Skills Service commissions education and training provision via open and competitive tendering. This allows the Council to fill gaps in provision, address market failure, drive up quality and ensure that high quality learning providers not currently engaged in post-16 education, learning and training activity have an opportunity to secure contracts.

We have developed a commissioning approach to reflect best practice, to respond to legislative requirements and to take account of requirements set out in the Local Authority’s Constitution. Our commissioning priorities are set out in the Post-16 Education and Training Local Strategic Commissioning Statement.

Phases of CommissioningThe commissioning process is managed in two phases, a Standard Questionnaire (SQ) to establish a provider framework followed by a Call-Off Application (COA) issued to successful SQ applicants. Both stages are managed via the North East Procurement Organisation (NEPO) .

NEPO RegistrationThe NEPO portal is the facility through which the Skills Service procures all education and training delivery. All SQs, COAs and queries in relation to these must be submitted via NEPO. All prospective providers must be registered on the NEPO portal in order to access opportunities by registering at www.nepo.org.

Invitation to TenderAn Invitation to Tender (ITT) is issued to the NEPO portal for bidders to view and consider. The ITT contains a pack of documentation to guide and support bidding organisations through the commissioning process, application forms and criteria for the Standard Questionnaire (SQ) stage and sample application forms and criteria for the Call-Off Application (COA) stage.

The Invitation to Tender is created for:

• Prospective providers who are required to go through a pre-qualification Standard Questionnaire stage to become an approved provider; and

• Existing providers who are required to go through a Call-Off Application stage in order to access funding where providers can bid into a number of Lots.

The Commissioning Packs are issued via the North East Procurement Organisation (NEPO) web portal www.nepo.org.

We will determine how frequently the NEPO portal will open to receive SQs and/or COAs subject to availability of funding and the mix and balance of its existing provision.

Standard Questionnaire (SQ)All prospective providers are required to complete a Standard Questionnaire (SQ). The aim of the SQ is to determine your capability to deliver against set criteria:

• Grounds for Exclusion

• Insurance

• Equality and Diversity

• Litigation and Contract Performance

• Financial information

• Technical Capacity:

• DBS Clearance

• Learner Recruitment

• Track Record

• Teaching Staff

• Quality Assurance

• Progression and Impact

• Employer Engagement

• Information, Advice and Guidance

• Social Added Value

Bidders must indicate which Lots they wish to be included in should they pass the SQ stage. Any queries in relation to the process must be submitted to the Council via the NEPO portal.

Review• Sanctions

• Reconciliation

Development• Guidance

• Specification

• Commissioning Statement

AnalysisGrowth

Employment Sectors

Procurement• NEPO

• SQ Process

• ITT Process

Delivery• Subcontractors

• Performance

• Continuous Improvement

• Quality

Skills South Tyneside

Commissioning Process

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SQ EvaluationWe will oversee the scoring of SQs to determine the capacity and capability of bidders in relation to the SQ scoring criteria.

South Tyneside Council corporate finance will undertake scoring of the Financial Information element of the SQ.

SQ Pass/Fail NotificationNotifications are issued to each COA bidder via the NEPO portal in the form of a notification letter and completed COA Evaluation Matrix.

When an SQ passes, bidders will be invited to submit a Call-Off Application for their respective Lots at the next opening of the NEPO portal for COAs.

When an SQ fails, bidders may re-submit at a future opening of the NEPO portal.

It is the responsibility of bidders to maintain up-to-date contact details on the NEPO portal.

Call-Off application (COA)Bidders who are successful at the SQ stage will be invited to submit a COA for any Lots they have indicated an interest in during the SQ stage.

Within the COA bidders must respond to questions in relation to the following:

• Organisational Profile

• Course Information

• Delivery Profile

• Description of Provision

• Programme Demand

• Geography

• Learner Profile

• Outcomes for Learners and Progression

Bidders must upload fully completed COAs to the NEPO Portal and into the relevant Lot based ITT round. Late submissions and submissions to the incorrect Lot will be rejected.

COA EvaluationWe evaluate COAs in accordance with the published evaluation matrix and timetables. Feedback is produced on the COA Evaluation Matrix confirming any contract award and additional feedback in relation to the COA submission.

COA Pass/Fail NotificationNotifications are issued to each COA bidder via the NEPO portal in the form of a notification letter and completed COA Evaluation Matrix.

Query ResolutionIn the interest of fairness, openness and transparency, all queries relating to the SQ/COA process must be submitted to The Skills Service via the NEPO portal. Providers must not canvass or request information pertaining to the bidding process directly from Council Officers.

10 11Performance Management

PurposeThis section sets out the expectations and requirements of providers who have been awarded a contract to deliver education and skills on behalf of The Skills Service.

Providers awarded a contract are allocated to a Skills Officer who oversees the operational relationship, performance management arrangements and implementation of any remedial action.

Contract Clarification Following a successful Call-Off Application, you will be contacted by your Skills Officer to arrange a contract clarification meeting. Key stages covered at the meeting are set out above.

Contract IssuedYou must read and check the contract. Any queries must be raised at the Contract Clarification stage.

Two copies are issued. Both copies must be signed and returned to The Skills Service. The Skills Officer will arrange for counter signature and return the final copy to you.

Contracts with an initial value of less than £100,000 will be signed off by the Corporate Lead - Economic Strategy & Skills. Contracts with an initial value of greater than £100,000 will be signed off by the Corporate Director for Economic Regeneration. The Strategic Commissioning Manager will witness contracts on behalf of The Skills Service.

Delivery ProfilesDelivery profiles show when learners associated with a schedule are planned to start, complete and achieve. This information is used by you and The Skills Service to track performance of the schedule.

Any changes to the planned delivery profile can be discussed and agreed at this meeting. Any changes must reflect a realistic pattern of delivery and avoid back-loading of starts towards the end of the academic year.

Payment Terms and WeightingAll providers are set up on standard payment terms of 30 days. Payment weighting are dependent upon the programme type, and are clearly defined within the contract. Invoicing procedures and payments will be confirmed at this meeting.

Performance TargetsAll providers have standard performance indicators set out in the scorecard, including:

• Learner demographic

• Success rates

• In borough numbers

• Timeliness and accuracy of paperwork

• Destination tracking

• Learner satisfaction

Risk Management and SanctionsYou are expected to meet the performance targets agreed for your schedules. Repeated failure to meet your targets or contractual obligations may result in the application of sanctions. These might include but are not limited to:

• Course rejection for incomplete or late course approval.

• Payment suspended where paperwork submissions are consistently outside of prescribed timescales.

• Payment or contract suspension where course amendments are not suitably notified.

• Data rejection due to high error rating.

• Notice of concern or notice of withdrawal where success rates are consistently low.

• Payment suspended where poor or /no destination tracking data is submitted.

• Contract suspension or withdrawal where Observation of Teaching Learning and Assessment Grades are persistently below Grade 2.

• Contract suspension or withdrawal for failure to meet or address safeguarding and/or health and safety responsibilities.

Data Validation and Payments

Performance Review and Monthly

Meetings

Course Approval and Delivery

Contract Closure

Contract Clarification

Contract Monitoring and

Performance Management

Automatic Reconciliation and

Growth

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Any performance deemed by The Skills Service to be a serious non-conformance will result in a Notice of Concern being issued to you. This will be accompanied by intensive monitoring and short-term action planning for immediate improvement.

Once a Notice of Concern is issued, the council has the right to require you to suspend recruitment until the Notice has been lifted. This will happen only when actions within timescales have been addressed to the satisfaction of The Skills Service.

If actions are not addressed, a Notice of Withdrawal of funding will be issued.

ESF ComplianceAs part of our contractual obligations to the ESFA, The Skills Service must ensure compliance to the European Union Social Fund (ESF) requirements as it may have been used as match funding. In order to do this we need to provide information to comply with the ESF requirements and adhere to certain criteria. You must supply us with a copy of your Environmental Sustainability Policy, Equal Opportunities Policy, photograph evidence of your ESF plaque displayed in your building and evidence that the ESF logo is on your website.

Tutor and Venue Delivery InformationYou must ensure enhanced DBS checks for each tutor are no more than 3 years old. Evidence must be confirmed with The Skills Service.

Tutors must also be appropriately qualified to the standards set by us. Qualification details for all tutors must be confirmed by you.

Delivery venues must have a venue risk assessment completed within the last 12 months.

Contract MonitoringThe contract monitoring process is undertaken by the Skills Officer when you begin delivery of training and education. Quality and performance monitoring is carried out by Skills Officer and these arrangements are in place to track delivery, maximise outcomes for learners and to support providers to meet quality standards required by us. The four stages of contract monitoring are as follows.

Stage 1: Course Approval

You must submit a fully completed Course Approval to your Skills Officer at least 14 days prior to the course start date. The Skills Service uses the Course Approval to validate that the venue is safe for learners through the risk assessment process as well as confirming that the tutor is adequately qualified and DBS checked. Unless already submitted at contract clarification evidence of these requirements should be submitted with the Course Approval form.

You must submit one Scheme of Work and Lesson Plan as a package for each schedule for any course that you propose to run at least 14 days before the planned course start date.

Upon approval, your Skills Officer will forward a course code to you. You must use the course code on all paperwork relating to the course in question to assist with course tracking.

We reserve the right to withhold course approval until all evidence is received and meets requirements.

Stage 2: Data Validation

You must submit paperwork to evidence the existence of the learner, eligibility for funding and attendance and successful completion of courses. Key evidence:

• Enrolment forms - submitted to The Skills Service no later than 14 days after course start date

• Course register - first copy submitted to The Skills Service no later than 14 days after course start date and the final copy submitted 14 days after the course end date

• Personal Learning Plans or Group Learning Plan - submitted no later than 14 days after the course end date

• Awarding Body Certificates (for accredited provision)

We expect a minimum of 90% data accuracy. Poor data quality may result in payments being delayed or data being rejected.

Data queries will be raised with you within 7 days of receipt of the data. All validated data submissions will be processed within 7 days.

You must respond to queries within 7 days of the query being raised with you.

Stage 3: Performance Review and Monthly Meetings

The Skills Service produces a scorecard for each schedule every month for the Skills Officer to analyse and discuss with you at monthly performance meetings.

Information from the scorecard, feedback from the provider, self-assessment report, OTLA and quality audits is collated on your Provider Action Plan and discussed at monthly meetings.

You must comply with the targets set within the agreed timescales and agree new targets when necessary. The Action Plan allows us to build a picture of overall performance for your contract.

Your Skills Officer will maintain a record of performance related discussions and provide regular updates at Skills Service team meetings and, if required, more frequent discussions with the Strategic Commissioning Manager.

A quarterly formal reconciliation process takes place as set out in the Automatic Reconciliation section. A review of starts and outcomes against the profile informs decisions concerning growth and reconciliation. This is reviewed at monthly contract meetings.

Your performance will be a contributing factor when considering growth requests and future funding allocations.

Stage 4: Contract Closure

The contract will be closed at the end of the term of the contract or at the end of the academic year which is 31st July. In order to close the contract, all evidence relating to starts for the academic year must be returned no later than 31 August.

All evidence of achievements must be returned by no later than 30 September.

Automatic ReconciliationThe purpose of the reconciliation process is to take remedial action against underperformance, and provide funding growth to providers who demonstrate strong performance subject to activity aligning with Skills Service priorities and affordability. This evidence based approach helps ensure best use of public funding allocations by redirecting Education Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) funding to provision which is demonstrating strong performance and continues to align to the Council’s commissioning priorities.

We use census points to monitor the performance of contracts against the delivery profile. Reconciliation will occur against the year to date delivery profile for learner starts in line with the following thresholds and timescales:

Minimum delivery against profiled starts

Census Point

90% End of October

95% End of January

97% End of April

Any difference in allocated funding and volumes where delivery does not meet these minimum thresholds will be reconciled and reduced to reflect the true pattern of delivery.

Where performance falls below the minimum delivery against profiled starts for a second time, we will reconcile any difference in allocated funding and volumes and extrapolate this difference across the remainder of the academic year.

You must be clear about your responsibilities and possible consequences in relation to contract, performance and funding requirements.

16-19 Bursary FundThe 16-19 Bursary Fund is money given by the government to The Skills Service to help learners stay in learning. Learners must be aged 16-18 on 31st August and on a programme of learning funded by us.

There are two types of bursary. The vulnerable bursary pays up to £1,200 a year for young people in a defined group identified by government. The discretionary bursary is awarded by The Skills Service to individuals depending on their personal circumstances. Students aged 19 to 24 who are subject to an Education Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan) may apply for a discretionary bursary.

Free Meals for Disadvantaged LearnersThe Skills Service provide free meals to disadvantaged students who are aged over 16 and enrolled on one of our 16-18 traineeships or study programmes. ‘Disadvantage’ is defined as the students being in receipt of, or having parents/guardian who are in receipt of a specified state benefit.

The Guide to Free Meals clarifies the eligible benefits. The application form for free meals is included in the 16-19 Bursary Fund application form.

Application forms for 16-19 Bursary or Free Meals and accompanying evidence of entitlement should be received by The Skills Service within four weeks of the learner’s start date. Failure to submit application forms/evidence within this timescale can result in any payments awarded not being backdated.

Additional Learner Support (ALS)The Skills Service is committed to actively promoting equality of opportunity ensuring that all learners reach their learning potential and achieve success on an appropriate course of study. The Service aims to provide sensitive advice and guidance to all learners prior to entry to raise aspiration and to assess any additional needs in a timely and comprehensive manner. Learners are to be encouraged to disclose their needs confidentially at all stages of the learner journey.

There are limited amounts of funding available for Additional Learner Support (ALS) therefore the impact of its interventions is reviewed annually to ensure that the funding is used to the best effect and impacts positively on learner achievement.

Application forms, eligibility and guidance notes for bursaries, free meals and learner support are available through The Skills Service Quality Management https://www.southtyneside.gov.uk/skillspaperwork.

Payments

PurposeThis section explains the payments for services, and the financial support funds potentially available to learners and providers.

Payment for servicesWe will confirm when you can raise an invoice for the delivery and indicate the amount of the claim upon receipt of fully accurate and validated data.

You must send the invoice for this amount to your Skills Officer, along with relevant information and documents to support your claim.

This should include:

• The invoice. It must contain the relevant purchase order number as supplied by South Tyneside finance team

• A Project Claim Form. A fully completed form. All claim paperwork must contain the relevant course code supplied by The Skills Service

• The register. An accurately completed register to evidence starts, attendance and achievement.

Payment of the invoice will be in line with the terms set out in the agreed payment terms within your contract with The Skills Service. Payments will only be made once claims have been fully validated.

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Self-AssessmentSelf-assessment is an integral part of quality assurance within The Skills Service and across providers. It is not just about proving quality, but improving it. Each provider self-assessment contributes to the overarching self-assessment report which is submitted annually to Ofsted.

The primary purpose of Self-Assessment is to:

• Review performance against standards and expectations

• Compare performance against previous years and benchmarks

• Recognise strengths and areas for improvement and development

• Identify and respond to the needs of learners

• Prepare for external assessment including inspection

Self-Assessment is mapped to the Ofsted Common Inspection Framework (September 2015) and is designed to assess performance, identify strengths and plan for any areas of improvement. In line with how Further Education and Skills will be inspected, the self-assessment template should be completed separately for each funding stream that you deliver; Study Programme, Traineeships, Apprenticeships, Community Learning and Adult Skills.

All providers are expected to be involved and contribute to self-assessment. Specifically, this means:

• Conducting your own programme review and evaluation

• Completing the self-assessment template provided by The Skills Service

• Attending a validation panel

• Responding to any actions identified through self-assessment, the validation process and added to the Provider Action Plan.

Self-assessment will take place annually, between September and December.

Business Improvement PlanningActions arising from the self-assessment process and other ongoing quality activities will be included in The Skills Service Business Improvement Plan (BIP). The BIP will identify:

• Actions to be taken

• Persons responsible for taking action

• Impact

• Timescales

• Success criteria

• Progress

A review of progress against the BIP will form part of ongoing strategic management review through our Senior Management Team meetings and Performance Clinics .

Specific actions for the provider will be taken forward via the Provider Action Plan.

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Outstanding Delivery

Quality Assurance

PurposeThis section provides guidance on quality assurance arrangements governing the quality of teaching, learning and assessment.

Safeguarding We are committed to ensuring that children, young people and vulnerable adults are safe and protected from all forms of abuse and neglect and will promote the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults within our service area. Where a commissioned provider or a member of their staff has a concern about a learner because of something they have observed or heard about from a third party a Skills Service Safeguarding Incident/Concerns Form must be completed and returned to The Skills Service.

Completion of this form must not delay any consultation with Children/Adult Services or police over concerns of a serious nature.

All disclosures/concerns should be discussed with the designated safeguarding lead in an individual’s organisation who will follow their own Prevent policy and/or safeguarding policies and procedures which must complement South Tyneside Safeguarding Children Board procedures for children and young people aged 0-18.

The Skills Service Safeguarding Policy is available through The Skills Service Quality Management https://www.southtyneside.gov.uk/skillspaperwork.

Scheme of Work and Lesson

Plan Reviews

SafeguardingProgress

Tracking on Programme

Learner Journey

Observation of Teaching,

Learning, and Assessment

Quality Reviews

Self Assessment

Maths, English, and

ICT

PREVENT and British

Values

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Induction

All learners must receive comprehensive induction. You must demonstrate the extent to which learners:

• Have full details of what the learner can expect from the programme

• Understand the Learner Handbook

• Understand expectations for attendance and punctuality

• Understand Equality & Diversity, Safeguarding and Health & Safety policy

• Understand Prevent and British Values

• Understand how to access additional learner support

• Are clear about their learning outcomes

• Receive IAG and practical support

Progress Tracking

The Personal Learning Plan (PLP) must be used to record personal progress. Specifically, it must:

• Review and agree learners’ individual learning goals

• Review the tutor’s delivery strategies for individuals or groups of learners

• Identify learners at risk of falling behind, support learners to progress and achieve

• Ensure that formative assessment takes place regularly to review progress against the learning plan.

Additionally, you must complete and return the bi-monthly progress tracker upon request.

Quality review will focus on the extent to which:

• You evaluate learners’ progress compared with their starting points, based on their rate of learning, acquisition of knowledge, skills and behaviours and whether they have achieved their individualised, challenging targets

• You work with learners to ensure that teaching, learning and assessment are tailored to enable all learners to make good progress and prepare for their next steps

• Assessments and reviews are timely, frequent, fair, informative and reliable

• Achievement and progress in English and mathematics is evident, where appropriate.

Teaching and Learning

The Skills Service wants all learners to have the best possible experience. To achieve this, your teaching and assessment methods and resources must inspire and challenge all learners and meet their different needs, including the most able and the most disadvantaged.

You must be able to demonstrate the impact that you are having on learning.

You must evidence the extent to which:

• Tutors have relevant teaching qualifications and sector subject specialisms held in line with the Education and Training Foundation Professional Standards

• A comprehensive approach to Continuous Professional Development is in place for all staff

• The planning of learning is effective

• Records of observations of teaching, learning and assessment or support, information and advice sessions are maintained

• Arrangements for observing teaching, learning and assessments and reviewing learners’ work at employer premises are maintained, where appropriate

• Learning materials are evaluated and used by learners

• Technology is used to deliver and assess learning

• Teaching impacts on learning, skills development and behaviours

Verification, Assessment and Achievement

For regulated programmes, you must demonstrate awarding body approval and compliance with their audit requirements.

For non-regulated programmes, you must treat non-regulated provision with the same rigour as accredited provision. You must demonstrate procedures to ensure that the outcomes, achievement and delivery of non-regulation provision is in-line with both national inspection requirements and key local commissioning priorities.

Fundamental to quality is that it is fit for purpose and appropriate for the length, duration and type of course. The ESFA funded revised RARPA guidelines from March 2017 provides further details and must be followed.

Quality ReviewsWe undertake an annual Quality Review with each provider. The Review will normally last 0.5 days, depending on the size of your contract and risk to the Service. The dates are to be agreed, taking into consideration the delivery profile. The expectations and format of the visit will be discussed and agreed with you prior to the review.

Review findings will be published in a provider report, with any actions being monitored through the Provider Action Plan. Quality Review will focus primarily on the key learning processes or learner journey.

The Learner Journey

During any learning programme learners ‘travel’ through a series of recognised stages from entry to exit in what is known as the learner journey. You should be able to evidence good practice at each of the stages set out below.

Recruitment

All existing and prospective learners must receive current, accurate and impartial information advice and guidance (IAG) regarding all aspects of their learning programme.

You are expected to answer learner queries and support learners to select the most suitable course. Where necessary, learners must be signposted to other organisations where more in depth guidance is needed.

You must demonstrate you provide accurate, timely and impartial careers guidance which enables learners to make informed choices about their learning programme.

Quality Review will focus on the extent to which learners receive thorough and impartial careers guidance to enable them to make informed choices about their current learning and future career plans. You must record IAG in the Personal Learning Plan and provide supporting evidence.

Employer Engagement

The Post-16 Education and Training Local Strategic Commissioning Statement indicates our ambition to host a learning offer that is capable of engaging individuals, no matter their individual starting point, and provide a route to a sustainable employment outcome.

Quality Reviews will determine the extent to which:

• Providers collaborate with employers and other partners to ensure that the range and content of the provision is aligned to local and regional priorities (this may include inviting local employers to sit on their governing or supervisory board)

• Employers are involved in the design and implementation of programmes.

• Employer feedback informs programme development.

Initial & Diagnostic Assessment

Initial assessment should be used to inform learners’ starting points and to plan learning. All initial and diagnostic assessment findings must be recorded in the PLP.

Initial assessment should identify a learner’s level, allowing for the right learning programme to be selected. Specifically, you should record the following:

• Prior learning and qualifications

• Work experience and occupational skills

• Pre-course information, advice and guidance

• Career & learning goals

• Additional support needs

• Numeracy and literacy assessment

Materials used should be contextualised to the vocational area where appropriate.

An on-going and more detailed personal profile should be developed which provides the basis for the Personal Learning Plan (PLP) and is known as Diagnostic Assessment.

Quality Reviews will focus on the extent to which staff identify learners’ support and additional learning needs quickly and accurately through effective initial assessment, leading to the provision of high quality and effective support to help learners achieve as well as they can.

Additional learner support requirements must be referred to your Skills Service Officer.

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Progression and Destinations

We want learners to progress as soon as they are ready to higher-level learning and/or into sustained employment or gain promotion at work.

You must evidence the extent to which you monitor the progression and destinations of your learners (including whether learners enter secure and sustained employment) and use this information to improve provision.

Learner destinations must be tracked, recorded and submitted quarterly. All learners who have left in the previous quarter will remain in scope for the rest of the academic year, or until they have are employed.

Observation of Teaching, Learning, Assessment and ReviewsThe aim of the observation process is to be supportive and developmental for tutors and assessors and to raise the quality of teaching, learning and assessment to be outstanding.

Tutors and assessors should be observed at least once a year. This might occur during a Quality Review visit, as part of a joint observation by the Skills observation team, or as part of your own OTLA processes. All tutors and assessors awarded grade 4 or grade 3 must be given short-term targets and be re-observed within three months. Progress is monitored through the Provider Action Plan.

A clear set of observation criteria will be shared with all tutors and assessors prior to the observation.

It is expected that each provider maintains its own robust policy and annual plan for observations.

OTLA Process

The Skills Service will conduct graded observations. A graded observation must last at least 40 minutes. Observations will be conducted over a range of activities, including classroom learning, learner reviews, work-based assessment. Skills observations may be announced (pre-arranged) or unannounced, depending upon the needs and priorities of the Service.

Learners are asked a series of standardised questions (Learner Voice). Employers are asked a series of standardised questions also if relevant (Employer Voice).

Feedback is used along with the observation to form the overall grade.

Grading

Joint Observations and Direct Observations (those conducted by The Skills Service) will continue to be graded and sub-graded according to the observation criteria and report format.

Tutors and assessors will receive verbal feedback either immediately or by an arranged face-to-face or telephone discussion within 24 hours of the observation. A copy of the report and action plan will be given to the tutor/assessor and their line manager within 5 working days.

Joint Observations

The Skills Service will jointly observe with your nominated IQA to confirm your arrangements for internal observations. When the joint observation concurs, we will ratify and record all your observations of the tutors delivering on our commissioned learning.

Tutors may raise a concern or make a formal complaint about the conduct of an observation.

Concerns need to be supported with sufficient evidence. We will make arrangements to discuss concerns and consider the evidence presented.

Appeals

Where a tutor disagrees with the outcome of their observation and wishes to appeal against the grade they should:

• Discuss with the observer at the time of the observation.

• Where disagreement still exists, complete and return a Skills Appeals Form within 5 working days of receiving the report.

We will present the appeal to the OTLA Moderation Panel for consideration and decision. The decision of the panel will be binding. The panel may consider the possibility of undertaking a second observation.

Moderation

All observations and grades will be verified at a Moderation Panel. The purpose of the panel is to scrutinise reports to ensure consistency and standardisation, and to confirm that the grade given is justified by the evidence recorded.

The panel will also hear appeals from tutors and suppliers regarding grading or procedural matters and identify training needs for observers.

Learning WalksA Learning Walk is a structured short visit (approximately 15-30 minutes) to a programme to assess a particular theme for improvement. Themes are decided by evaluating the key areas for improvement emerging from quality visits and observations of teaching, learning and assessment. Likely themes are, but not exclusively, attendance and punctuality, recording progress and achievement, Prevent and British Values, Induction.

Learning walks will be either announced or unannounced.

Maths, English and ICTA range of barriers exist within the broad heading of inclusion and access, especially within the segments of the population that are under-represented – those with low maths, English and ICT skills are one such group.

Improving the core skills of South Tyneside residents remains a major priority for The Skills Service with the most recent Skills for Life Survey (2011) revealing 48% of North East residents being below Level 2 in English whilst an overwhelming 82% are below Level 2 in their maths skills.

You must ensure that you give strategic priority to the provision of English and mathematics to ensure that learners improve their levels of skills in these subjects compared with their starting points.

Schemes of Work & Lesson PlansTutors need to have qualifications, training, subject knowledge and experience relevant to their roles and use these to plan and deliver learning appropriate to learners of all abilities, reflect good industry practice and meet employers’ needs.

The Skills Service provides templates for schemes of work and lesson plans.

You must submit at least one Scheme of Work/Lesson Plan for any course/schedule that you propose to run at the start of the academic year or at least 14 days before you plan to deliver a course. These should be emailed together as a package to your Skills Officer.

IQAs must quality assure and approve the schemes of work and lesson plans submitted as part of your own quality assurance arrangements. Submissions will be required annually to ensure that plans are updated following course evaluation and self-assessment, ensuring that standards are maintained and improved.

The SOW/LP should follow our standard documentation. You may submit your own in-house documentation provided it meets our expectations.

The SOW/LP should be submitted together – be up-to-date and for a commissioned schedule.

The scheme of work/lesson plan will be evaluated and feedback given within 5 working days. Feedback will be either ‘meets expectations’ or ‘does not meet expectations’.

Planning that meets expectations may have no actions or may contain recommendations for continued improvement. Recommendations are expected to be considered and discussed at Quality Review.

Planning that does not meet expectations will contain actions that must be corrected and re-submitted within 5 working days.

You must ensure that changes required to meet expectations are applied to all schemes and lesson plans.

We hope that this manual is helpful and informative. For any questions not answered in the manual or via the additional documents provided for policies, processes or procedures, please contact your Skills Officer for clarification.

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