governance good practice guide

college self-assessment

introduction

Colleges aiming for excellence through effective self-assessment need to:

• be holistic across the whole organisation, not just the curriculum
• reflect the views of learners and employers
• include benchmarking or external review
• be developmental, and demonstrate continuing self-improvement through action plans and target setting.

In order to be able to fulfil a stewardship and quality role effectively, governors and clerks need to have an understanding of the self-assessment processes and practices in their college, and of how well they are implemented – not just at governing board level but at college-wide level, too.

Governing board members need to have a shared understanding of what constitutes good performance as a college and as a board, and how this is measured and improved.

Bearing in mind the strategic role of governance, the level of actual involvement of board members in self-assessment activities will vary from college to college. This will depend on a number of factors: the size and complexity of the college, its current quality 'position', performance trends, the relationship of trust between the board and the principal, and so on.

The further education system is highly diverse: what works for one college may not be suitable for another. There is no one 'right way' of undertaking self-assessment and no quick-fix solution.

Recognising the role of a robust self-assessment process and effective self-assessment practices in meeting the strategic challenges ahead, governing boards are also taking the opportunity to revisit:

• the college's self-assessment process and practices
• who is involved
• how involved governors get in the college process
• their own governance self-assessment process and practices.

A clear understanding of strengths and weaknesses, and the actions needed to improve are essential if the board is to make informed strategic decisions about education and training direction, specialisation and collaboration.

Effective self-assessment will help colleges meet the strategic challenge of building skills for the economy and to take the leadership initiative for real strategic influence in regional and local skills economies.

The Governance Good Practice Guide supports this reflective, strategic approach and aims to help those involved in governance to place their own and their college's involvement in self-assessment within a broader regional and national context.

why should colleges aim for excellence?

Quality is the cornerstone of success: high-performing colleges may move to a three-year funding plan; they may benefit from a lighter touch from audit and inspection, and access to growth and contestable funds, as well as an easier path to specialisation and capital support.

While performance has improved immensely in recent years, too many colleges have provision that is stuck at inspection grade 'satisfactory'. The latest sector quality improvement initiatives are aimed at addressing not only failing colleges but also what are described as 'coasting' colleges – requiring colleges to demonstrate the capacity to improve and show real continuing progress and improvement across the whole of the FE system.

Unsatisfactory provision is unacceptable and, if it does not improve through intervention within a set time frame, it will not be funded.

Good or excellent provision is the order of the day, to ensure that learners and employers are receiving a high-quality product and good value from colleges.

action/reflection view all action/reflection points for this section

Why does your college self-assess?

• Is it simply to comply with external requirements or is it to secure ongoing quality and business improvements?

How does your college self-assess?

• Do the self-assessment arrangements involve everyone, both internal and external stakeholders?
• Are the arrangements adequately resourced in terms of allocation of time, development and staffing resources?
• Are the arrangements owned throughout the organisation, not just by senior managers?
• Do the arrangements encourage honest and open discussion within a reflective, mature, no-blame, whole-organisation culture?
• Do the arrangements look outwards as well as inwards, sharing good practice in-college and with other learning and skills providers by peer referencing and learning from others?

As a member of the governing board:

• do you know what your college's strong and weak areas of provision are?
• are these consistent with the strengths and weaknesses identified in the college's self-assessment report and in the Ofsted inspection report?
• do you know how your college's performance compares with that of other local, regional and national providers?
• is your college concentrating on what it does best?
• are there areas of provision that might better be delivered by someone else?
• do you know about problems before they happen?
• does your college self-assessment feed into formulating a curriculum strategy and proposals for strategic direction?