University of Worcester. Graduate Leaders in Early Years Programme Audit Monitoring Report by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education

Transcription

1 Graduate Leaders in Early Years Programme Audit Monitoring Report by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education January 2014

2 Contents Section 1: Outcome of the monitoring visit... 1 Recommendations... 1 Section 2: Changes since the 2012 audit... 1 Section 3: Update on the EYPS audit/monitoring action plan... 1 Section 4: Candidate/trainee-centred quality assurance... 3 Section 5: Thematic element: Management of standards... 3 Section 6: Processes for monitoring and quality assuring Delivery Partners... 4 Section 7: Outstanding or exceptional practice... 5 Section 8: Background to the monitoring visit... 5 Delivery Partner visits... 6 Report of visit to the University of Gloucestershire... 6 Report of visit to Newman University Glossary... 14

3 Report of monitoring visit Section 1: Outcome of the monitoring visit Graduate Leaders in Early Years Programme Audit Monitoring: From the evidence provided in the annual return and at the monitoring visit, the audit/monitoring team concludes that (the Prime Organisation) has made commendable progress. Recommendations 1 The team has also identified a number of recommendations for the enhancement of the provision by the Prime Organisation. 2 The team considers that it would be desirable for the Prime Organisation: to consider making evaluation of actions more specific in order to measure more effectively their impact (paragraph 10) to explore opportunities for tutors, mentors, assessors and student representatives from across the partnership, to meet and share their experiences and practice (paragraph 31). Section 2: Changes since the 2012 audit 3 The Prime Organisation has introduced the Teachers' Standards (Early Years), providing training and comprehensive supporting documentation to all partners, teaching staff, candidates/trainees, mentors and assessors. Meetings with each of these groups confirm that the introduction of the Teachers' Standards (Early Years) has been effective with well developed support from the Prime Organisation. Newman University is now a full partner offering all pathways. There has been a change of programme leadership at the University of Gloucestershire, where an existing course tutor has taken over the leadership of the programmes. The development of the Data Portal at the Prime Organisation enables effective data analysis, Disclosure and Barring Service monitoring, and monitoring of candidate and trainee progress across the partnership. Section 3: Update on the EYPS audit/monitoring action plan 4 The Prime Organisation has continued to develop the two areas of good practice identified at the November 2012 audit. Joint candidate/trainee and mentor sessions are now held across the partnership, enabling a good understanding of the mentoring process by candidates. Candidate/trainee safeguarding training takes place across the partnership using a variety of mechanisms including e-learning, external agency training and certificated training days. 5 The Prime Organisation has continued to develop the 10 strengths identified at the 2012 audit. Communications within the partnership remain strong. Partners are now able to access their own candidate/trainee data on the Prime Organisaton s portal, allowing them to continually track progress. 6 Careers guidance is posted on the virtual learning environment (VLE) for access across the partnership. The effectiveness of the recruitment strategy, particularly for male candidates/trainees, has resulted in 100 per cent recruitment being achieved. The effectiveness of the quality assurance process continues to support continuous improvement, for example, further development of the assessment procedure. In addition, 1

4 the use of assessor training sessions to gather staff feedback has further contributed to enhancement of the assessment process in settings. Enhancement is also supported by the continued effective use of mechanisms to identify and disseminate good practice, for example, the circulation of published papers and candidate and staff presentations at conferences. 7 Candidate/trainee opportunities to feedback views through Progress and Development reviews continue to support their progress, for example, identifying evidence gaps. 8 Candidate/trainee attendance at steering group and programme leader meetings remains consistently high and their contributions are used effectively, for example, a candidate case study showing the impact of EYPS on their settings. 9 Candidate/trainee engagement and support for the VLE continues to be a strength. The VLE now includes more information relating to careers advice, placements, assessment and partnership discussion boards. 10 The Prime Organisation has been thorough in implementing the action plan related to the recommendations as demonstrated by the extensive evidence and documentation supplied. All actions have been successfully completed. Although written evaluation of the success indicators was limited in some cases, the Prime Organisation was able to clearly articulate the impact of the actions on the provision to the audit team. It would be desirable for the Prime Organisation to consider making evaluation of actions more specific in order to measure more effectively their impact. There is a thorough and effective process for ensuring that actions are monitored and completed at programme, course and Prime Organisation levels. 11 The Prime Organisation has made commendable progress on the two advisable recommendations. Since the audit, safeguarding training is mandatory for all candidates/trainees, and is recorded on the assessment and moderation checklist. The Prime Organisation's updated safeguarding policy stipulates that all applicants complete a Disclosure and Barring Service application before commencing their programme. 12 The Prime Organisation has made commendable progress on the eight desirable recommendations. An enhanced monitoring and dissemination process ensures that partners receive external moderator feedback. The appointment procedure and associated guidance for external moderators has been strengthened to ensure reports are produced after each moderation round. Access to careers advice has been developed to ensure its availability to all pathways across the partnership through careers centres and VLEs. 13 Timely information and improved guidance now ensures that candidates/trainees are well informed of placement requirements and are able to work any distance from the Prime Organisation. Mechanisms to improve candidates/trainees understanding of the mentoring process, including combined mentor/candidate/trainee training sessions have been successfully provided. 14 Candidates/trainees are now provided with clear information of the pathway they are following. Disability screening is now in line with the Prime Organisation's Initial Teacher Education provision requirements. 2

5 Section 4: Candidate/trainee-centred quality assurance 15 A range of mechanisms is used by the Prime Organisation to involve candidates in quality assurance and programme development. An effective system of candidate/trainee representation, known as Student Academic Representatives (StARs), and identified as a strength of the provision at the 2012 audit, provides a valuable forum for candidates/trainees to provide feedback and observations relating to their respective pathways. Training from the Prime Organisation helps the StARs in their role. They attend clinics approximately every six weeks with tutors to discuss issues. Appropriate staff responsibilities are assigned to issues which require action and progress fed back to groups by their StARs. This feedback is also fed into semesterly Early Childhood Management Committees, also with StARs in attendance. A StAR also attends the Institute Quality Committee. Appropriate details of external examiner reports are fed back to candidates/trainees via StARs. 16 Questionnaires are used formally and informally. Formal summative module evaluations are completed by candidates/trainees after module completion. Comments, analysed by the module leader, are sought on content, teaching style and suggested improvements. These form the basis for action and improvements and key findings, and related actions are presented to the following cohort in each module outline. For example, candidates/trainees were informed that the previous cohort had suggested more use of the VLE. This had been addressed with greater use of e-books and video materials. A composite analysis of module evaluations is produced by the Programme Leader for EYPS. Findings inform and feed into the programme and quality assurance improvement processes, and are also considered by the Institute of Education Quality Committee with StARs in attendance. Informal mid-module evaluations also inform the quality improvement process. 17 Additional feedback is sought during candidate/trainee development and progress reviews with the completion of a reflection form. The effectiveness of these reviews is supported by the feedback, for example one candidate noted that assessor feedback was extremely supportive and offered constructive suggestions for improvement. 18 External examiner feedback from reports is fed back to appropriate candidates and courses through StARs' clinics and StARs representation at course management committee meetings. Although candidates do not see full external examiner reports, student representatives of the Institute of Education Quality Committee will see them. Section 5: Thematic element: Management of standards 19 The Prime Organisation has organised training for all tutors, mentors and assessors involved with the new Teachers' Standards (Early Years), following a series of meetings with the Steering Group and the Programme Leader Group to ensure that there is a shared understanding of the Standards. Each delivery organisation is assisted by the Guidance to the Standards for the Award of Early Years Teacher Status Handbook that contains amplification of each Standard and examples of the evidence that would demonstrate achievement of that Standard. Trainees receive a comprehensive Early Years Teacher Trainee Handbook that provides detailed information on all aspects of their programme and includes the relevant Standards, and tutors identify the specific Standards that are mapped against the academic modules. 20 All candidates/trainees are registered onto the Data Portal and VLE by their pathway to ensure that they cannot access information that does not relate to their Standards. Copies of the appropriate Standards and handbooks are provided to each candidate/trainee, in hard copy and via the VLE, at their Induction meeting. The Data Portal 3

6 contains relevant information on each candidate/trainee and enables the Prime Organisation to generate a variety of statistical reports for analysis and monitoring. Rigorous administrative systems are in place to monitor all aspects of the delivery, staff training, candidate/trainee assessment, moderation processes and document version control. 21 The majority of assessors are staff of the Prime Organisation and have attended specific training for their role. They are supported by a dedicated Teachers' Standards (Early Years) Assessor Handbook and regular updates on the VLE. New assessors will shadow an experienced assessor before undertaking the assessment of a candidate/trainee. As part of the quality assurance processes, each assessor will address only one pathway at any given time. 22 Mentors receive training for their role and have an individual handbook. All documentation relevant to the mentor is available via the VLE, which also has a discussion forum area where mentors may raise and respond to issues. Records of attendance at the training events are maintained and where a mentor is unable to attend the training, a member of the team will visit their setting to provide one-to-one training. The majority of mentors are either experienced practitioners or/and EYPS qualified. Trainees have been invited to attend the mentor training sessions. 23 Staff from the Prime Organisation have attended training events arranged by the Delivery Partners and receive regular reports and weekly returns on a range of key performance indicators and predetermined requirements. Section 6: Processes for monitoring and quality assuring Delivery Partners 24 As part of the monitoring process, the audit team made visits to specific Delivery Partners. The reports of these visits are appended to this report and are used to inform this section of the Prime Organisation report. 25 Formal contracts are in place with each Delivery Partner that specify quality assurance requirements and the procedures to which the Delivery Partner must adhere. Performance results against key performance indicators is collected regularly from each Delivery Partner via weekly returns to the Prime Organisation and entries into the Data Portal. Delivery Partners provide an annual evaluation report for all pathways, addressing a range of given headings, with a progress review of existing actions, where appropriate, and the production of an updated action plan. Additionally, annual monitoring visits are made to each Delivery Partner with reports on their progress considered by the Institute Quality Committee. 26 The Prime Organisation has implemented an effective management and monitoring structure for the Partnership. A Steering Group, chaired by the 's Head of Centre for Early Childhood, meets termly with representatives from the senior staff of each Delivery Partner. Programme Leader Group meetings are held twice termly and the EYPS Project Manager attends these and the Steering Group meetings to ensure that communication is effective. These groups have designed a number of handbooks and guides, which are used across the partnership to ensure a consistency of approach. Individual Delivery Partners may add specific information to these but retain all centrally agreed information. 27 The Data Portal is used to store all key information relating to the partnership. Delivery Partners access this to view information on their candidates/trainees and the Prime 4

7 Organisation may access all information to produce specific reports and monitoring data for analysis by the committees. Attendance at training events for staff, assessors and mentors is also recorded on the Data Portal. 28 The Prime Organisation has provided training and Continuing Professional Development events across the partnership. Specific training events have addressed the requirements for candidates/trainees, tutors, assessors and mentors when introducing the Early Years Teachers' Standards. A member of the Prime Organisation's staff has attended each training event at the individual Delivery Partner to ensure consistency of approach. 29 External moderators are appointed by the Prime Organisation and are required to attend a briefing day to ensure that they are aware of the requirements of their role. They are provided with all essential information including copies of all handbooks relevant to their candidates/trainees. To avoid any incorrect application of Standards, all files sent for moderation are colour coded to reflect the associated pathway and are also labelled with the set of Standards that have been used. External moderators complete a standardised moderation form with the outcomes and recommendations made available to the Delivery Partners and then incorporated into the action planning process. Section 7: Outstanding or exceptional practice 30 The audit team confirms that the following areas have made an exceptional contribution to the development of an effective and collaborative partnership: the development of the Data Portal for recording a range of statistical information that partners use to generate reports on individuals and against a range of key performance indicators, and the VLE that provides easy access to a variety of essential information and supportive documentation that is specific to each pathway the achievement of 100 per cent recruitment through negotiation with the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) to agree a degree of virement of numbers across the pathways the inclusion of candidates/trainees at the mentor training events to ensure that both parties understand the roles and responsibilities of mentors. 31 The audit team consider that to further enhance practice it would be desirable for the Prime Organisation to explore opportunities for tutors, mentors, assessors and student representatives from across the partnership, to meet and share their experiences and practice. Section 8: Background to the monitoring visit 32 The monitoring visit serves as a short check on the Prime Organisation's continuing management of Standards, the management and enhancement of the quality of learning opportunities, and the information it produces about learning opportunities. In addition, it provides an opportunity for QAA to advise the Prime Organisation of any matters that have the potential to be of particular interest in the next monitoring visit or audit. 33 The monitoring visit was carried out by Phil Bassett and Rob Mason on 15 January

8 Delivery Partner visits Graduate Leaders in Early Years Programme Audit Monitoring: Report of visit to the University of Gloucestershire The Delivery Partner works with the following Prime Organisations:. Section 1: Introduction 34 The University of Gloucestershire is an original Delivery Partner of the University of Worcester (Prime Organisation). The EYPS and Early Years Teachers' Standards programmes are delivered at the University of Gloucestershire's Francis Close campus in Cheltenham. The University of Gloucestershire offers all pathways within the EYPS and Early Years Teachers' Standards awards: Graduate Practitioner Pathway (GPP), Undergraduate Practitioner Pathway (UPP), Graduate Entry Pathway (GEP) and Undergraduate Entry Pathway (UEP). Section 2: Candidate/trainee-centred quality assurance 35 A range of mechanisms is used by the University of Gloucestershire (the Delivery Partner) to involve candidates in quality assurance. 36 The Board of Studies is the primary body for academic quality assurance at course level and has a clear responsibility for continuous evaluation of the course and the actions which result from it. Meetings are termly and membership includes delivery staff and course representatives. Candidate/trainee representatives from each pathway are nominated by other course members. Training is offered and organised by the students' union and monitored by programme leaders. Views are then sought from candidates/trainees and discussed with programme leaders. Significant items are taken to the meetings. Items of a minor nature are usually resolved by programme leaders. In addition, external examiners' reports and the annual monitoring report are discussed at the Board of Studies, ensuring that candidates/trainees have sight of any recommendations. Contributions and suggestions from candidate/trainee representatives are acted upon effectively by the Delivery Partner, for example, an assignment submission date had been changed to a later date to fit in with Easter. The helpfulness of this change was confirmed by candidates/trainees. Actions from meetings and their progress is fed back to candidates/trainees by their representatives. 37 Formal evaluations of each module are carried out using electronic questionnaires. An analysis of the feedback is sent to module tutors who draw up appropriate responses. The analysis also feeds into the annual monitoring process. Significant items are sent to the Board of Studies for further consideration and action planning. Items which can be resolved easily are discussed with candidates/trainees and dealt with by programme leaders. Representatives feedback to course members on these actions. The annual Gloucestershire Student Survey enables those students not in their final stage of study to give feedback on their overall experience of the provision. 38 Informal discussions are used to gather feedback during weekly teaching sessions. Issues are dealt with by tutors and programme leaders, depending on their type and importance. Serious items are sent to the Board of Studies and actions reported back to courses by representatives. 6

9 39 Other opportunities for EYPS and Early Years Teachers' Standards candidates/trainees to be involved with quality assurance include membership of periodic review and evaluation panels, professional department review user groups and internal quality audit panels. Specific training is provided for candidate/trainee representatives engaged in these activities. Although EYPS candidates have sat on these bodies in previous years, at the time of the monitoring visit none were currently involved. Section 3: Processes for working with the Prime Organisation(s) to monitor and quality assure the Delivery Partner 40 The Strategic Lead for the Delivery Partner attends the Steering Group meetings and the Programme Leader attends the Programme Leaders meetings. All handbooks and guidance developed by the partnership groups are followed but, by agreement, the Delivery Partner has added additional information to reflect the Gloucestershire experience. The ability to add to documentation and to offer improvements to existing practice, drawing from existing processes within the individual partner organisations, is viewed as a positive feature of the partnership by staff. Formal communication systems are well established and informal systems, using Skype, the VLE and work effectively. Updated information is sent to the partners and made available on the Prime Organisation's VLE. 41 The Prime Organisation has produced training materials which were then customised by the Delivery Partner when delivering training on the Early Years Teachers' Standards to tutors, assessors, mentors and trainees. A member of staff from the Prime Organisation has attended training delivered by the Delivery Partner. All staff and mentors delivering the Early Years Teachers' Standards award have received training. The Delivery Partner was required to submit an action plan to the Prime Organisation detailing how the transition to the Early Years Teachers' Standards would be managed. Candidates/trainees have access to the Delivery Partner's VLE and may only access their pathway site, which ensures that the correct guidance and documentation is viewed. 42 The Delivery Partner submits weekly reports to the Prime Organisation on a variety of information that relates to the key performance indicators of the partnership and essential information that is recorded on the Data Portal. External examiner feedback from academic assignments, action plans, candidate/trainee Development and Progress Review training evaluations, and minutes from the Board of Studies meetings are all presented to the Prime Organisation as part of the monitoring process. 43 An annual monitoring visit from the Prime Organisation concentrating on the methods employed by the Delivery Partner to ensure that candidate/trainees voices are heard and responded to, and the ways in which the management of the three different sets of Standards and the management of the transition from EYPS to Early Years Teachers Standards has been conducted. Following the review, the Delivery Partner is required to submit an updated action plan to the Prime Organisation. Section 4: Thematic element: Management of standards 44 The Prime Organisation has established a Strategic Lead Group, which is attended by senior staff from all Delivery Partner organisations. This Group, together with the Programme Leaders Group, has devised and overseen the development of a set of common handbooks and training materials that are used across the partnership. 45 Trainees and candidates receive an induction session that delivers a generic introduction to the awards, then specific information relating to their individual pathway, 7

10 with an introduction to the specific Standards. All trainees and candidates were aware that the is the Prime Organisation. At the University of Gloucestershire, candidates and trainees are assigned to a specific area on the VLE to ensure that they cannot access an incorrect set of Standards or materials that are not appropriate to their pathway. Additionally, a different member of staff manages each set of Standards and each is colour coded to provide an additional level of distinction. All candidates/trainees are taught on separate pathways to ensure the appropriate Standards are delivered to them. Trainees and candidates confirm that they have no access to areas of the VLE that were not specific to their pathway and their Standards. Candidates and trainees were aware of the Prime Organisation's VLE but made more use of their Delivery Partner's for resource access and the discussion areas. 46 All tutors delivering on the EYPS and Early Years Teachers' Standards awards have received training on the Standards. Tutors have access to all documentation pertinent to the pathway they support. They ensure that the academic delivery sessions identify the Standards that are appropriate to the classroom work and provide additional tutorials to the Early Years Teachers' Standards trainees to discuss their understanding of the Standards that were explored in the taught sessions. Tutors are aware of the quality assurance processes for the partnership and understand the roles of the various committees. They are involved in the compilation of annual reports and know how to access the external examiner and moderator reports. 47 Assessors all receive training for their role. Only experienced mentors may assess across pathways and against different sets of Standards. New assessors shadow an experienced assessor following their training. Tutors may train as assessors but may not assess their own candidate/trainee. 48 The Prime Organisation requires regular reports from the Delivery Partner with information also submitted via the Data Portal. The Steering and Programme Lead meetings monitor the data collected and review reports received from the partners. Section 5: Outstanding or exceptional practice 49 Examples of exceptional practice were demonstrated by the Delivery Partner. These include the effective involvement of candidates/trainees in two research projects during In the first candidates/trainees acted as co-researchers in a project entitled 'Learning for Sustainable Futures'. This has impacted on taught modules which are research informed and the embedding of learning for sustainable futures in the curriculum. Findings were presented at a National Conference in The second project entitled 'Perception, Promotion and Participation in Sweden and the UK' involved a research visit to Sweden by a small number of candidates/trainees. Findings were disseminated at a Society for Research in Higher Education Conference in December A key finding of the project was how professional networking benefitted by using digital media technologies to share knowledge, understanding and examples of practice. 51 The use of Early Years Professional and Teacher Training Symposiums provided a range of effective opportunities for candidates to engage in leading. In 2013, one symposium had a significant impact on candidates/trainees review and reflection of safeguarding in their settings. An Early Childhood Studies Conference in May 2013 provided candidates/trainees with a wide range of opportunities to disseminate their research about their practice. In addition, two candidates published their findings in academic journals. 8

11 Section 6: Background to the monitoring visit 52 The monitoring visit serves as a short check on the communication processes the Prime Organisation(s) has in place to ensure the dissemination of important information to the Delivery Partner, the processes the Prime Organisation has in place to monitor and quality assure the Delivery Partner and the systems and processes in place to manage up to three sets of programme Standards. 53 The monitoring visit was carried out by Phil Bassett and Rob Mason on 22 January

12 Delivery Partner visits Report of visit to Newman University Graduate Leaders in Early Years Programme Audit Monitoring: The Delivery Partner works with the following Prime Organisations:. Section 1: Introduction 54 Newman University is situated on the outskirts of southwest Birmingham at Bartley Green. Newman University (the Delivery Partner) became a member of the University of Worcester (the Prime Organisation) partnership in January 2012, initially offering the Graduate Practitioner Pathway (GPP) and Undergraduate Practitioner Pathway (UPP). As of September 2013, they offer all four Early Years Teachers' Standards pathways including the GPP, UPP, Graduate Entry Pathway (GEP) and Undergraduate Entry Pathway (UEP). Section 2: Candidate/trainee-centred quality assurance 55 A range of effective mechanisms are used to involve candidates and trainees in quality assurance. These are outlined at induction. Key points of quality assurance processes are included in student handbooks. 56 The Staff/Student Consultative Committee (SSCC), which meets twice a semester, is the main forum for discussing and acting upon candidate views. Representatives from each pathway are elected by peers and attend the meetings. Training for the role is offered by their students' union. Uptake for SSCC representative training is low and tutors have provided guidance to resolve this. Representatives seek feedback from trainees for discussion at meetings, and report on agreed actions. Meeting minutes are ed to trainees and posted on the intranet. Candidates confirm that the SSCC process is an effective vehicle for dealing with issues. 57 Formal module evaluations are carried out each semester and are administered by tutors and pathway representatives. The Delivery Partner recognised that response rates to electronic trial surveys were very low at 5 per cent. Efforts to resolve this using paper surveys have been effective. Survey results are analysed by the quality department and summaries returned to module tutors. Module teams then review the data and complete a report and action plan. Module leaders are responsible for acting on the report. Reports and actions are also made available to trainees when the next module starts. Data from the reports and actions feed into the formal annual monitoring process. 58 Informal mid-point module evaluations use a variety of survey methods, for example, questionnaires, VLE forums and class discussions. Tutors prepare a response to issues raised, share these with trainees, and where possible and appropriate, adapt the remainder of the module in light of the points raised. Serious issues are progressed to SSCC and the standard quality processes. 59 EYPS candidate/trainee feedback forms were used in , and Early Years Initial Teacher Training trainee feedback forms are being used in to evaluate programme quality including recruitment, induction, development and progress reviews, placement and mentoring, support, and assessment. Action plans are produced in response and shared among the Early Years team to inform maintenance and development of Standards. 10

13 60 External examiner reports are discussed at SSCC meetings and can be accessed by trainees on the quality assurance page of their VLE. A candidate/trainee also attends final approval programme validations, acting as a full panel member. Other informal methods for candidate/trainee involvement in quality assurance include focus groups, and informal questionnaires, for example, for induction. Section 3: Processes for working with the Prime Organisation(s) to monitor and quality assure the Delivery Partner 61 The Delivery Partner judges the two-way communication process with the Prime Organisation to be a strength of the partnership model and ensures a strong collaborative ethos. Senior staff from the Delivery Partner attend the Prime Organisation Steering Group meetings and the Programme Leader attends the Prime Organisation Programme Leader Group meetings. These meetings promote the strategic development of the partnership and undertake the monitoring of progress against key performance indicators. Programme reports and action plans from the Prime Organisation groups are distributed to staff at the Delivery Partner by their representatives on each of the central committees. The Delivery Partner's Director of Quality works closely with the Prime Organisation's Quality Office to ensure that there is a satisfactory match between the two systems that avoids duplication of workload for the Delivery Partner. 62 The service level agreement provides a clear context within which the Delivery Partner must work and establishes the quality assurance procedures required. 63 The Delivery Partner complies with the requirements of the Prime Organisation's handbooks including the Mentor Handbook, the Assessor Handbook, and the Trainee Handbook. 64 The Delivery Partner, by agreement with the Prime Organisation, has added additional information to reflect the Delivery Partner experience. Formal reporting processes include weekly returns via the Data Portal to the Prime Organisation, and are seen as an effective and rigorous means of monitoring across a variety of statistical data throughout the year. 65 The Prime Organisation conducts an annual audit of their Delivery Partners to ensure that all issues around quality assurance are being addressed and that the programme is being delivered to a high standard. The audit visit requires the attendance of the Programme Leader, the Steering Group representative, members of the teaching team and trainees. As a result of the audit, the Prime Organisation produces a report and the Delivery Partner provides an action plan to respond to any issues. 66 The Prime Organisation appoints external moderators and external examiners, and their comments are addressed by the Early Years Initial Teacher Training Team at the Delivery Partner. An action plan is agreed to address areas for development and to sustain good practice identified, which is sent to the Prime Organisation. 67 Informal communication processes, in the form of s and Skype calls, are valued by the Delivery Partner staff. They make use of the VLE to disseminate materials across the partnership and have the opportunity, through both the formal and informal systems, to promote innovation, for example, the inclusion of trainees at the mentor training events and the adoption of their placement booklet across the partnership. 11

14 Section 4: Thematic element: Management of standards 68 The Delivery Partner was involved in the delivery of the EYPS standards in and is involved in the delivery of the Teachers' Standards (Early Years) in Senior staff and tutors from the Delivery Partner were informed of the release of the Early Years Teachers' Standards by the NCTL and the Prime Organisation arranged a meeting for all Delivery Partners to work on the development of new handbooks for this award. Delivery Partners mapped the new Standards against their academic modules. Updated documentation from the Prime Organisation was then provided, prior to the start of training sessions to ensure that all tutors, trainees, mentors and assessors had the appropriate paperwork. 69 Trainees have received training on their Standards and confirm that their mentors are knowledgeable. They are supported in their academic work by tutors who have matched the Standards to their module learning outcomes and the assessment tasks that are set. Trainees are invited to attend mentor training sessions with their mentors. Trainees are able to access only the area of the VLE that addresses their Standards. They are supported by the Handbook for Work Placement in addition to the generic trainee handbooks. 70 The Prime Organisation provided training for all Delivery Partner tutors. Tutors visit trainees at their settings to ensure that all processes are in place, that procedures are being followed and to address any issues that may have arisen. No tutors are mentors. 71 Mentors are selected by the Pathway Leads at the Delivery Partner based on potential mentors' roles and responsibilities. The Pathway Lead visits a potential mentor to discuss the role and requirements and assess their capability for the appointment. A number of mentors are past students who have achieved EYPS. There are no formal criteria for the selection of mentors but the Mentor Handbook provides guidance on the role and the Handbook for Work Placement Settings describes the arrangements for hosting a trainee. All mentors must be trained before accepting a trainee. Trainees are invited to attend the mentor training and when a mentor cannot attend, a member of staff will attend the setting to deliver the training. 72 Currently, four of the five assessors are tutors at the Delivery Partner. The Prime Organisation provided assessor training for staff at the Delivery Partner and they then shadowed experienced assessors from the Prime Organisation before undertaking the role independently. Assessors attend an 'external' moderation meeting where they consider work from trainees from other organisations within the partnership to ensure that there is a consistency of Standards across the partnership. 73 Delivery Partner staff, mentors and trainees are confident in their understanding of the Standards and make good use of the central and Delivery Partner documentation to support their work. Section 5: Outstanding or exceptional practice 74 The audit team identified one example of exceptional practice. This has encouraged and promoted early years provision in the region and involved an approach by the Delivery Partner to the Local Authority to develop a collaborative working arrangement. A steering group has been formed with key members of the Birmingham Early Years Workforce Development Team, early years professionals and tutors from HEIs, including the Delivery Partner. Meetings of the group have been effective in the dissemination of information and updates about the EYPS and Early Years Initial Teacher Training programme. In addition, the collaboration provides a vehicle for the development of early years teacher and graduate 12

15 networks. To further promote the initiative and work of the group a graduate workforce conference was held in 2013 with a further one proposed for Section 6: Background to the monitoring visit 75 The monitoring visit serves as a short check on the communication processes the Prime Organisation(s) has in place to ensure the dissemination of important information to the Delivery Partner, the processes the Prime Organisation has in place to monitor and quality assure the Delivery Partner and the systems and processes in place to manage up to three sets of programme Standards. 76 The monitoring visit was carried out by Phil Bassett and Rob Mason on 23 January

16 Glossary This glossary explains terms used in this report. Formal definitions of key terms can be found in the Early Years Professional Status Audit: Handbook for Prime Organisations and delivery partners: Action plan Advisable recommendation After EYPS/Early Years Teacher Status audit or monitoring, the Prime Organisation will be asked to develop an action plan, set out in a format provided by QAA, describing how the Prime Organisation plans to take action on the findings of the audit. The action plan forms part of the final version of the report. EYPS/Early Years Teacher Status reports will include recommendations about how a Prime Organisation might improve the management of its EYPS/Early Years Teacher Status provision. Recommendations are categorised according to priority. Advisable recommendations relate to matters that the audit team believes have the potential to put quality and/or standards at risk and hence require preventative corrective action. Annual return Audit Auditor Conflicts of interest The annual return is an integral part of the overall monitoring process. It will serve as a check on the Prime Organisation's continuing management of standards, the management and enhancement of the quality of learning opportunities and the information it produces about learning opportunities. It takes the form of a short briefing paper together with links to key documents that provide evidence of any action taken in response to all previous good practice and recommendations. In this handbook 'audit' means EYPS/Early Years Teacher Status audit. EYPS/Early Years Teacher Status audit evaluates all aspects of the provider's management of its EYPS/Early Years Teacher Status provision and leads to judgements and a conclusion about the management of that provision within the context of the Prime Organisation's agreement with its awarding body the NCTL. Auditors are external peers with current or recent experience of managing, developing, delivering and/or assessing higher education in higher education institutions and/or Prime Organisations. Auditors are not employees of QAA, although they are paid for taking part in EYPS/Early Years Teacher Status audit. Auditors are trained specifically for the role by QAA. Auditors will not be eligible to be part of a team when a conflict of interest is identified. Conflicts include situations where: they have worked for, or studied at, the Prime Organisation or its Delivery Partners during the last five years they have undertaken external examining, external moderating or consultancy work at the Prime Organisation or its Delivery Partners during the last three years they have recently made an application for a post at the Prime 14

17 Organisation a close relative is working or studying at the Prime Organisation or its Delivery Partners the Prime Organisation is an institution where the auditor himself/herself has studied for a higher education qualification (usually but not always deemed to present a conflict of interest). Delivery Partner Desirable recommendation An organisation contracted by the Prime Organisation to deliver EYPS or Early Years Teacher Status programmes on behalf of the Prime Organisation. EYPS/Early Years Teacher Status reports may include recommendations about how the Prime Organisation might improve the management of its higher education provision. Recommendations are categorised according to priority. Desirable recommendations relate to matters that the audit team believes have the potential to enhance quality, build capacity and/or further secure standards. Essential recommendation EYPS/Early Years Teacher Status reports may include recommendations about how the Prime Organisation might improve the management of its EYPS/Early Years Teacher Status provision. Recommendations are categorised according to priority. Essential recommendations refer to issues that the audit team believes are currently putting quality and/or standards at risk and hence require urgent corrective action. Evidence EYPS/Early Years Teacher Status audit and monitoring are evidencebased processes. This means that audit teams conduct their enquiries primarily by comparing evidence about the Prime Organisation's management of its provision with its own policies and procedures, the agreements it has with the NCTL and its Delivery Partners, and against the expectations set out in the NCTL Handbook for Early Years Teacher Status and Early Years Professional Status (EYPS) Prime Organisations and their Delivery Partners (August 2013). Evidence may be available in a wide range of formats and will vary from Prime Organisation to Prime Organisation. It is likely to include formal agreements, policies and procedures for the management of the candidate or trainee learning experience, external moderator's reports, minutes of meetings and records of moderation and assessment. This is not an exhaustive list of evidence that may be provided. Exceptional or outstanding practice Facilitator EYPS/Early Years Teacher Status reports are likely to include features of practice that the auditors consider to be exceptional or outstanding. Such features will be considered as making a positive contribution to the provision and likely to be of interest to the wider EYPS/Early Years Teacher Status sector. For the audit, the Prime Organisation is invited to nominate a facilitator. The facilitator acts as a single point of contact between the Prime Organisation and the lead auditor, and through her/him the EYPS/Early 15

18 Years Teacher Status team. The facilitator's responsibilities include, in consultation with the coordinator, ensuring that auditors have the relevant evidence to enable them to conduct the audit (including when the team is off-site), bringing additional information to the attention of the auditors and helping to clarify any matters of fact. Lead auditor Lead auditors are contracted by QAA to manage a number of EYPS/Early Years Teacher Status audits. They are selected for their experience of the management of higher education. The lead auditor in consultation with the QAA officer manages the audit on behalf of QAA, discussing and agreeing the programme for the visit with the Prime Organisation and the rest of the EYPS/Early Years Teacher Status team; identifying the most effective way of engaging with candidates; leading the team at the visit; editing reports; responding to any comments on the reports from the Prime Organisation; and keeping in touch with the Prime Organisation. The lead auditor is the Prime Organisation's first and main point of contact during the audit/monitoring visit. Monitoring process Monitoring visit The process will consist of an annual return, a monitoring visit to the Prime Organisation, visits to two or more Delivery Partners and an overarching thematic element. A preparatory meeting will take place during the term prior to the monitoring visit. The QAA officer will visit the Prime Organisation to discuss the structure of the monitoring visits as a whole and to answer any remaining questions. Each Prime Organisation will be asked to nominate a member of staff to act as the internal facilitator for the monitoring process. Their prime function will be to act as the first point of contact between the Prime Organisation and the monitoring team and QAA officer. They will also be expected to ensure the Delivery Partners to be visited are fully briefed on the requirements for the Delivery Partner visits. The meeting should involve those who are most immediately involved in the productions of the annual return and where possible, representatives of the Delivery Partners. The visit will result in a short update to the audit/monitoring report. If a full audit/monitoring visit take place, a new report will be produced. National College for Teaching & Leadership (NCTL) Partnership agreement On 1 April 2013, the National College merged with the Teaching Agency to become the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL). The new agency has two key aims: improving the quality of the workforce and helping schools to help each other to improve. Prime Organisations have formal partnership agreements, sometimes called memoranda of understanding or memoranda of cooperation with their delivery partners. These agreements will be very useful to EYPS/Early Years Teacher 16

19 Status audit or monitoring teams in identifying the parameters of each particular audit/monitoring visit, particularly with regard to setting out the responsibilities of all of the contributing partners. Peer review Preliminary meeting Prime Organisation QAA EYPS/Early Years Teacher Status is a peer review process. This means that the reviews/audits are conducted by people with current or very recent experience of managing, developing, delivering and/or assessing early years education and training or higher education in institutions and/or Prime Organisations. Typically, six weeks before an audit or monitoring visit, there is a preliminary meeting for the visit between Prime Organisation staff and the QAA officer. The purpose of the preparatory meeting is to develop the agenda for the visit and identify further evidence for the Prime Organisation to supply to the team, based on an analysis of the Prime Organisation's self-evaluation and the candidate submission. The term 'Prime Organisation' refers to the lead university, college or other training organisation that is contracted to deliver EYPS programme. Many Prime Organisations work with partners, referred to as 'Delivery Partners' in order to deliver their NCTL contractual responsibilities. The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) was established in 1997 and is an independent body funded by subscriptions from UK universities and Prime Organisations of higher education, and through contracts with the main UK higher education funding bodies. QAA's mission is 'to safeguard standards and improve the quality of UK higher education'. QAA does this by working with universities and other higher education Prime Organisations to define academic standards and quality, and by carrying out and publishing reviews against these benchmarks. QAA officer Recommendations Reference points A QAA officer supports each EYPS/Early Years Teacher Status audit or monitoring. The QAA officer's role is to ensure that the process is applied in accordance with the method handbook and that the Prime Organisation meets its obligations to provide information in a timely manner. The QAA officer will attend the preparatory meeting and possibly one or more days of a visit for monitoring purposes. The QAA officer does not take part in the audit. EYPS/Early Years Teacher Status reports will include recommendations for the Prime Organisation about how it might improve the management of its higher education provision. Recommendations for actions are categorised as essential, advisable or desirable according to priority. EYPS/Early Years Teacher audits and monitoring processes are guided by a main point of reference. This is the Handbook for Early Years Teacher Status and Early Years Professional Status (EYPS) Prime Organisations and their Delivery Partners (August 2013) published by the NCTL. When reaching decisions and making recommendations auditors will refer to this publication. 17