Download Learner Involvement Strategy - St Brendan`s Sixth Form College

Learner Involvement Strategy 2016/17
1.
Principal’s Statement
At St Brendan’s Sixth Form College we are committed to involving students in our key
strategic decision-making and in the management of our operational processes.
We have found from experience that listening to students and incorporating many of
their ideas and recommendations into College policies, practices and procedures helps
us to improve the quality of our provision and has resulted in a College which is more
responsive to student need and provides an improved all-round service.
We are committed to embracing and responding to the views of students and offering
them the opportunity to have direct involvement in assessing and shaping their own
learning experience. We believe that this will have a significant and effective impact on
improving the quality of the students’ experience and increasing their success.
This Learner Involvement Strategy sets out the means by which students can influence
decision- making in the College in order to improve their experience and help shape
their outcomes.
Michael Jaffrain
2.
Student Union Statement
As the Student Union Executive Team, we are an active part of student voice at St.
Brendan’s. We recognise the importance of good communication between the staff and
the students, and believe that this communication is vital for effective management of the
College. The better the quality of communication between students and staff, the more
co-operative,
effective
environment
we
will
create
for
the
College.
So far, St. Brendan’s has a very good reputation of enhancing student voice. But as
always, there is room for improvement. We believe this strategy will help us to make
these improvements, and to maintain the high standards we already have and the
standards we will achieve.
3.
What is Learner Involvement?
Learner Involvement is all about students expressing their views, helping to make
positive changes, and getting the most from their time here at St Brendan’s. The
key areas we will look at are:
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Consultation: seeking students’ views through formal and informal methods
e.g. focus groups, questionnaires etc.
Representation: using formal structures such as Tutor Representatives and
student governors
Participation in the College community: through internal events and enrichment
activities and, externally, through links with the local community i.e. Student
Ambassadors, charity events, sports and clubs, Community Christmas Party.
Benefits of Learner Involvement
The benefits to both the student and the College of effective learner involvement are:
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4.
happy, independent, motivated and confident students
students who feel more involved and are motivated to put something back into
the College and the wider community
students who feel safe and are able to raise any concerns e.g. regarding
safeguarding or equality and diversity
increased participation, retention, achievement and progression
better feedback on the student experience to inform quality improvements and
strategic decision making
better decisions about allocation of resources and finance
services and facilities which are better targeted to student needs
early identification of poor practice or areas that need to be monitored due to
a poor student experience
identification and sharing of best practice.
Aims & Objectives
Our aim is to create a whole College culture of student involvement, with opportunities
for all students, individually and collectively, to get actively involved in improving
teaching, learning and the whole College experience, and to participate in a variety of
activities within the College and its wider community.
In order to achieve the aims above we need to work towards the following objectives:
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to establish a range of ways in which students’ views can be heard
to ensure that the appropriate resources are made available to enable and
encourage these mechanisms to work.
to involve students in decision making at all levels
to encourage all students to participate and engage fully in College life
to ensure all staff are able to support student involvement and where
appropriate be trained in how to work collaboratively with students
to train students to effectively represent their peers, and where possible for
students to help deliver the training
to ensure that effective mechanisms are in place to gather and respond to
feedback from students
to ensure that students are fully involved in impact assessment of policies and
procedures
to develop Equality, Diversity and Inclusion recording systems that allow us to
monitor the mechanisms we have in place to ensure they are being used by
all students regardless of race, religious beliefs, sexuality, gender etc and if
they are not then positive action will be taken to address this.
5.
Learner involvement – current activity
Consultation - aimed at gathering students’ views through formal and informal
feedback methods
General student surveys are administered three times a year to all our students
(following induction, mid-year and at the end of the year). Feedback is presented
through the Senior Leadership Team to individual managers through the College Wide
Leadership Team to ensure that improvements occur where needed. We need to
improve how we inform students about the changes we have made as a result of their
feedback.
Within curriculum areas, questionnaires are used at least once a year (in February) to
gather information specific to their subject areas. The information gathered from these
questionnaires is usually used in the curriculum area’s Self-Assessment Report (SAR)
but processes need to be improved for feeding this information back to students. These
also need to be backed up by a range of other mechanisms to gather qualitative
information such a focus groups or meetings during Student Forums.
Many other areas of the College use different methods to gather information about
student views to inform their self-assessment e.g. Learning Support and Learning
Resource Centre surveys.
An agreed set of questions relating to College functions or reviews are developed for
the year and given to Tutor Representatives to gather information from their peers e.g.
they were consulted on the Achievement, Attendance and Effort data and how we
present it, which resulted in proposals for a new format and the introduction of Target
Aspirational Grades, and on the quality of pastoral support which impacted on the
college-wide review and led to the revised Tutorial structure.
Representation – using formal structures such as Tutor Representatives and
Student Governors
Tutor Reps: Students are given the opportunity to volunteer for the role of Tutor Reps.
These Tutor Reps are expected to attend Student Forum meetings, and have training at
the start of the year to support them in their role. They seek the views of their tutor
groups on general and specific College issues and feed this back at Student Forum
meetings and then report back any changes made to their tutor groups. A new job
description was developed for Tutor Reps last year.
Student Forums: These termly meetings chaired by the Student Union team are open
to all students who are encouraged to attend. They provide an opportunity for students
to raise any issues they have relating to College life and also receive feedback on
actions taken since previous meetings. They are a key aspect of our Learner Voice
system and are co-ordinated by the Student Liaison Officer who delivers the questions
to the Tutor Groups and collates feedback.
Student Union Executive Team: This is a team of six students who are proposed and
elected by the student body and supported by the Student Liaison Officer. They meet
weekly to plan College activities e.g. awareness raising, charity events, themed weeks
etc and represent the views of students in College. They are accountable to the student
body.
Student Governors: The College has two Student Governors. A Student Governor is
elected as part of the Student Union and the President of the Student Union also takes
on the role of Governor. Student Governors have access to training provided by the
National Union of Students and are supported in their role by other Governors and the
Student Liaison Officer. They attend Governors meetings, reporting on the work of the
Student Union team and representing the views of the student body.
Subject Representatives: Each subject within the four Faculties elect a Subject
Representative who provides feedback from students to teachers and Directors of
Faculty. They take part in subject forums, steering groups and consultations at key
times.
Participation in College-wide Steering Groups: The College has a student rep on the
Health and Safety, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and Chaplaincy Steering groups
providing feedback from the Student Union Executive Team and the Student Forums.
Participation in the College community – through internal events and activities
and, externally, through links with the local community.
Student Ambassadors: At the start of each year Student Ambassadors are recruited
and trained to represent the College at a variety of events including Open Evenings and
visits to schools.
College of Sanctuary- in 2014 students represented us at the Mansion House, the
House of Commons in relation to our new College of Sanctuary status, and also led a
school pupils’ training day for sanctuary ambassadors. The SU Executive are also
asked to represent the College in other ways at different events.
Most curriculum areas offer opportunities to participate in enrichment activities including
trips, competitions and regular groups. Some of these are open to all students and
others are specifically for those students studying within that area. Examples of such
activities include trips to New York City, Washington, Paris, theatre and exhibition trips,
visiting speakers etc.
Outside the curriculum, there is a wide range of extra curricular activities, ranging from
College sports teams, charity events, volunteering, trips, etc. The College has an active
CAFOD and Social Action group who undertake a range of volunteering/charity
functions. Envision provides opportunities to develop social action programmes in the
community and several groups of students graduated from their scheme last year.
Several of the enrichment groups have been led by students, others are staff led but the
students decide what the group will be doing by attending the Freshers’ Fair. The
College also has a wide range of sporting activities available to students.
6.
Involving students – the strategy for 2016/17
Consultation - aimed at gathering students’ views through formal and informal
feedback methods
A co-ordinated approach is being developed across curriculum areas through a focus
group including Directors of Faculty, Head of Teaching, Learning and Assessment, the
Academic Mentoring Team and Student Liaison Officer who all have responsibility for
Learner Voice as part of their remit. Staff training and awareness of the value of learner
involvement needs to be developed and good practice shared as to how to incorporate
this into normal practice. This will be developed through the use of online and physical
forums, in-class surveys, as well as ‘on the spot’ student feedback using ipads in social
areas of the College.
Representation – using formal structures such as course representatives and
student governors
Subject and faculty representatives will be asked to attend meetings with Directors of
Faculty where appropriate. Training for the Reps will be delivered by the Student Liaison
Officer and AGP Co-ordinators.
The Student Union Executive Team currently support the Tutor Reps. Each Student
Union member will be assigned a Mentor on the staff team who will help them to
develop the skills needed for and within their role on the Executive Team.
Student Governors: The Governors will now report to the Student Council and can get
their feedback on key issues. We are hoping for regular and active attendance at the
Governors’ meetings and engagement with the student body to promote the role and the
work of the governors as well as ensuring that students’ views are all being represented.
Participation in the College community – through internal events and activities
and, externally, through links with the local community.
Enrichment: The Freshers’ Fair this year was organised by the Student Liaison Officer
with support from and the SU. There was excellent participation and it is now important
to maintain the momentum and get all the new initiatives that are proposed started e.g.
SU:TV, SU Newsletter etc.
A number of other opportunities are being developed as part of our work on the Catholic
ethos and through the CAFOD and social justice work such as volunteering links with
refugee and asylum seeker groups, and a new student charity of the year will be
adopted which it is anticipated will also lead to involvement opportunities.
Recording involvement
There is no consistent process for recording participation in enrichment, volunteering
and other learner voice activities and this needs to be developed as a matter of urgency.
7.
Responsibilities, Quality & Monitoring
The Senior Leadership Team have strategic responsibility for ensuring that the College
can respond to student voice, however other staff and students will have the
responsibility for putting this strategy into practice.
In term 3, a working group including the Student Liaison Officer, Head of Support
Services, a Director of Faculty, and members of the Student Union will meet to develop
a Learner Involvement Action Plan (to be reviewed annually), the outcomes of which will
be included in each area’s development plans.
The strategy will be embedded within the College’s Quality processes and we intend to
measure the following, in order to ensure that this strategy is working:
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Recruitment and achievement rates
Level of learner satisfaction
Level of learner participation
We need ensure that, across all these areas, students participating in learner
involvement activities are representative of our student body in terms of equality,
diversity and inclusion. Methods of recording participation in all these areas need to be
developed in order to do this and if participation is not representative then we will take
positive action to resolve this.