Excellence Gateway
This case study was produced by JISC RSC (Regional Support Centres) London on behalf of the Excellence Gateway.
Sector relevance: Adult and community learning
Keywords: Improving responsiveness to learners, improving institutional effectiveness, teaching and learning, curriculum development, recruitment, employers, equality and diversity, financial management, information and communication technology, ICT, partnership/collaborative working
The Harrow Adult Community and Family Learning Service uses the Monterpoint management information system (MIS) and takes data from this to Arcview, a geographical information system (GIS). This enables some very sophisticated reporting for a small adult and community learning service. These reports enable Harrow Council and the Harrow Personal and Community Development Learning (PCDL) Partnership to be much more responsive to learners' needs.
Harrow Council provides courses in adult, community and family learning across the Borough. This is a mixed delivery service, part contracted-out. Courses are delivered via a range of organisations including Harrow and Stanmore Colleges, a number of voluntary organisations and the Council itself. Harrow also works in partnership with other providers of adult education in Harrow, including the Workers Educational association (WEA) and the University of the Third Age (U3A) to provide a comprehensive lifelong learning programme across the Borough.
A historically low-funded service, Harrow's direct provision is nevertheless growing, with learning opportunities that include:
In their 2007 OFSTED inspection the Service achieved Grade 2 (Good) in all areas/themes inspected. Particular praise was given to the family and community learning provision.
The Harrow's Adult Community and Family Learning Service comprises a small team of 11 (full-time equivalent) employees and sessional tutors. The team have a successful record of attracting external funding for project work.
Not long ago, Harrow faced the challenge of exchanging information with over 30 UKOnline learning centres. Obtaining data from the centres and giving them access to their own data became part of the Management Information System (MIS) Strategy and prompted their choice of a web-based product.
Over the last few years a new challenge has been the changes at national level in the funding and provision of Personal and Community Development learning (PCDL). This has led to a reduction in learners on formal PCDL courses, increasing fees and more private and voluntary sector providers
Harrow also faces the challenge, as a mixed-delivery service, of demonstrating the added value it provides in terms of management, quality and strategic direction.
A successful Adult Learning Inspectorate (ALI) inspection in 2003 found “good use of data for planning”. This spurred on Harrow's Adult Learning Service to find out what they could do in a more consistent way to include the colleges and other contracting providers in data collection. They were also keen to be able to answer deeper questions. The flat data they had was not giving them the information they needed to check achievement against their targets and priorities.
A small authority with overarching priorities such as “improve the health and well being of the older person,” Harrow started to collect data not just about learners but also about their geographical location, to help with planning provision and to provide evidence of targeted delivery.
Harrow decided to map geographical areas against relevant indicators for their 3 year development plan for adult learning. They identified indicators they could map from the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) such as educational achievement and free school meals.
For example, the location of First Step learners in Harrow, typically on IT, family literacy and numeracy courses, identified by their postcodes, could be mapped against social indicators such as free school meals. This allowed Harrow to build up a picture of whether they were targeting provision most effectively. Maps were first produced in 2005 and are updated annually.
Image 1: The distribution of 'first step' learners in Harrow
Adding information about the location of centres provided another check on provision, says Karen Bhamra, Adult and Community Learning Programme Development Officer for Harrow:
“It is easy to see, retrospectively, where you have met targets or where you haven't; it is much harder to see why you haven't if you haven't, and much harder to plan to achieve them without using correlation methods. For example, if we find a high correlation of certain indicators we know where to put a Family Learning Literacy and Numeracy class (FLLN) to reach the people we are directly targeting.”
This led to a much broader mapping exercise, supported by the PCDL planning group. “We set out to canvass all providers, charities, voluntary sector and private to give a fuller picture of learning provision across the Borough,” says Karen.
This comprehensive and detailed survey had a high response rate, reporting over 30,000 learning opportunities. Resulting quantitative data was compared and analysed with geographical and other information, such as the Index of Multiple Deprivation (2007) and was published in May 2008 as A mapping of provision of learning opportunities in Harrow (see useful links at the end of this case study to download the report).
This document provides both a comprehensive view of where learning is provided and also where there are gaps or duplication. Its maps and graphical representation of data also present this information in an easily accessible format for other organisations in Harrow.
ArcView, an application in wider use within the Borough Authority, is used to produce the maps and aerial views. MIS data – for example, postcodes – are extracted to a spreadsheet. These are then geo-coded and presented alongside other relevant indicators.
Image 2: The location of people with no qualifications in Harrow
An example of the use to which this richer data can be put is a current English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) project for parents. Publicity for the project was targeted very directly to relevant streets and estates, saving both time and money. The helps the Service keep its marketing costs low at less than £5000 per year.
Harrow's use of GIS is helping them to plan future provision, to achieve LSC targets and also to achieve those set by the local authority. Harrow's funding profile means they need to be very clear about the benefits of the service to the wider community. Improved data has also allowed providers to avoid “chasing” the same learners and wasting public resources.
The mapping exercise helps Harrow and also the 20 voluntary sector partners they work alongside. It is possible to separate out their respective learners and provide evidence to support these groups in their applications for funding.
The main findings of the report were made available to the PCDL Planning Group for the 2008/09 academic year and beyond.
The use of GIS in Harrow:
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