Excellence Gateway
The numbered points below are specific to this section of the Guide. If you would like to look at any particular topic, please click the links below which will display the relevant text and tools. If you would like the full version of the Guide, click the Home tab and select either the Word or the PDF option.
There is no prescribed approach to improvement planning; however, there are many examples of good practice. First and foremost, it is essential to engage the entire staff, so that the improvement plan becomes a regular agenda item and is reported on at team and staff meetings. This sets the stage for a culture of quality improvement in which all staff expect and maintain exceptionally high standards. Secondly, it is important that actions are evaluated, assessed and improved continuously and promptly to prepare you for short notice inspection.
As you self-assess and identify areas for improvement, you will measure against external regulatory key items; see essentials section. Additionally, you may measure yourself against grade one organisations, internal key performance areas and 'stretch' targets for continuous improvement. You can also use the improvement plan to show how the organisation will build on its overall key strengths, maintaining them and using them to plan future provision.
Effective quality improvement plans have arrangements for monitoring progress and evaluating success. If this is done on a regular basis, no less often than fortnightly or monthly, it becomes part of the process of quality improvement rather than a hurried exercise 'just in time' for inspection. Inspection notice will reduce to no more than 20 days from September 2009, and will be possibly less.
It is recommended that all strengths and weaknesses be included in your Improvement Plan. These areas should be referenced from the self-assessment report. In your plan, you might consider at least these headings:
How do you review and improve your action planning? Ask:
When planning for improvement, you may benefit from using techniques to identify the root cause of the problem, manage the improvements as a project and continuously assess and evaluate the actions. If you are focused on outcomes using continuous evaluation, you will be ready for inspection at any time.
Root cause analysis can be used by all providers. It is an approach which gets you to the cause of the problem not the symptom.
An area for improvement which requires root cause analysis is one that recurs with the greatest frequency and consumes the greatest resource to resolve. Once an area for improvement is identified, finding the cause of a problem can speed the improvement process and ensure the right issues are addressed. This will prevent you spending time on problem areas that are the result of other problems and will focus you on those that will provide the most improvement and positive change. Changing two or three areas which cause the most problems may improve the entire organisation.
As you identify the strengths for further development and areas for improvement you will need to assess the gaps. Use these steps:
You may want to consider using a project management approach for larger improvement action projects; it will help you to keep your complex plans on track.
If your actions are complex, a project management approach could make them more manageable and speed the solution. Writing a statement of work, identifying appropriate resources and a project team, monitoring and reporting status can ensure a complicated improvement action is progressing according to plan and is kept on track. It also provides lessons learned for future actions. A basic project management approach can be used for managing and monitoring a variety of actions.
There are other specialist tools such as Becta's Generator, which helps you to plan for improvements in your use of technology for learners; see GENERATOR Technology Improvement Leadership Tool.
Ofsted inspectors at inspection or monitoring visits are likely to take a keen interest in the progress of quality improvement plans, especially if they have any indication that a specific subject sector area or activity is underperforming.
Successful improvement planning is outcome-focused. As you identify the cause of the problem and plan and manage the improvement actions, you can continuously evaluate your performance against what you have achieved and are achieving. Use a cyclical process of observing the action, evaluating the consequences of the action and making adjustments to do this. As you focus on outcomes throughout this process, you apply what you are learning from your actions immediately instead of months or even a year later. As you plan your action, you plan the evaluation. You can also link the actions to staff performance through appraisals, or through setting and agreeing goals with them for improvements in their performance. Doing this will link self-assessment and improvement planning to your performance management processes for staff.
The scenario
You have above average numbers of early leavers from some of your programmes. You have interviewed leavers and those who are still on programme, and identified that your induction process is the main cause of learners leaving the programme. You have defined the problem and have developed an improved induction process.
The response
Rather than waiting months to determine the success of the new programme, you evaluate the induction straight after it finishes and again three months later. This approach provides you with immediate information you can use to continue your induction programme if it is successful, or to make the changes which your evaluation will have identified. Engaging the learners in the evaluation and in further improvements can contribute further to success. This approach is a simple cycle of observe, evaluate and adjust. If embedded in the system and used by the entire staff, it becomes part of the organisational culture resulting in continuous improvement and readiness for inspection.
Additional benefits and transferring the knowledge and skills
The staff who have planned and implemented the changes to induction can have this recognised in their appraisals or reviews of performance. They can tell others in the organisation about them. They can train others and transfer their knowledge and skills. If they have the skills, they can coach others to help them implement a successful learner induction programme in their areas.
Ask yourself about continuous evaluation:
You can find this page and download any referenced resources from the Excellence Gateway at http://excellence.org.uk/self-assessment-guide.
