ERIC ED435809: Improving College Effectiveness: Raising Quality and Achievement.

105 Pages·1999·1.3 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
ED 435 809 CE 079 340
AUTHOR
Somekh, Bridget; Convery, Andy; Delaney, Jean; Fisher, Roy;
Gray, John; Gunn, Stan; Henworth, Andrew; Powell, Loraine
Improving College Effectiveness: Raising Quality and
TITLE
Achievement.
Further Education Development Agency, London (England).
INSTITUTION
ISSN-1460-7034
ISSN
PUB DATE
1999-00-00
NOTE
104p.
AVAILABLE FROM
Further Education Development Agency, Citadel Place,
Tinworth Street, London SEll 5EH, United Kingdom (12 British
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Collected Works - Serials (022)
PUB TYPE -- Reports - Research (143)
FEDA Report; v2 n12 1999
JOURNAL CIT
EDRS PRICE MF01/PC05 Plus Postage.
Change Strategies; *Educational Change; *Educational
DESCRIPTORS
Improvement; Foreign Countries; Literature Reviews; National
Surveys; Postsecondary Education; *Program Effectiveness;
Program Improvement; Research Needs; Technical Institutes;
Vocational Education
*United Kingdom
IDENTIFIERS
ABSTRACT
Work undertaken to improve the effectiveness of the United
Kingdom's schools and further education (FE) sectors was identified and
assessed in a study entailing four data collection methods: literature
review; questionnaire administered to all FE college principals in England
and Wales; expert seminar and face-to-face interviews with high-level
representatives of all major agencies responsible for the schools, higher
education (HE), and FE sectors; and focus group and telephone interviews with
quality managers in a sample of colleges. Although the questionnaire elicited
a response rate of only 18 %, the respondents were representative of the FE
sector as a whole. Among the main obstacles to improving sector effectiveness
identified by the principals were the following: lack of finance and funding;
lack of management systems and training for middle managers; and need for
lecturing staff to adopt new teaching methods. Confusion over the terms
"effectiveness" and "improvement" was discovered. It was concluded that
systematic quantitative and qualitative research based on a theoretical
framework clarifying its relationship to Further Education Funding Council
policy and practice is critical to future work to improve the schools, FE,
and HE sectors. (Appended are the following: research methodology,
bibliography that contains 125 references, and information about the study's
authors.)
(MN)
Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made
from the original document.
Further Education
Development Agency
Improving college effectiveness:
raising quality and achievement
Bridget Somekh, Andy Convery,
Jean Delaney, Roy Fisher, John Gray, Stan Gunn,
Andrew Henworth, Loraine Powell
fed
!r
f
BEST COPY AVAILABLE
PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
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DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS
of Educational Research and Improvement
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ATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION
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his document has been reproduced as
received from the person or organization
originating it
Minor changes have been made to
improve reproduction quality
TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)
this
° Points of view or opinions stated in
document do not necessarily represent
official OERI position or policy
Further Education
Development Agency
effectiveness:
Improving college
achievement
raising quality and
Bridget Somekh, Andy Convery,
John Gray, Stan Gunn,
Jean Delaney, Roy Fisher,
Powell
Andrew Henworth, Loraine
feda uyr,p0)
3
Published by FEDA
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Citadel Place, Tinworth Street, London SE11 5EH
Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone]
e-mail: [email protected]
Registered with the Charity Commissioners
Editor: Sara Clay
Designers: Mike Pope and Dave Shaw
Printed by: Henry Ling Ltd, Dorchester, Dorset
ISSN 1460 7034
© 1999 FEDA
All rights are reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
electrical, chemical, optical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without
the prior written permission of the copyright holder.
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Contents
4
Acknowledgements
5
Foreword
7
Summary
13
1 Introduction
19
2 The state of the colleges
25
3 Definition of terms
29
4 School effectiveness research
39
5 Research on issues relating to college effectiveness
in further education
57
6 Systems for inspection and improvement
69
7 Frameworks for research and development
77
8 Recommendations
Appendices
89
1 Methods of study
92
2 Bibliography
102
3 The authors
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Acknowledgements
The scoping study Improving college effectiveness was carried out on behalf
of FEDA by the Research Units on the Management of Change and on
School Effectiveness, School of Education and Professional Development,
University of Huddersfield.
This publication is drawn from the research report co-authored by the
project team listed below; the final draft was edited by Bridget Somekh.
Project team
Bridget Somekh, University of Huddersfield
Andy Convery, Redcar and Cleveland College
Jean Delaney, University of Huddersfield
Roy Fisher, University of Huddersfield
John Gray, Homerton College, Cambridge
Stan Gunn, University of Huddersfield
Andrew Hensworth, Bishop Burton College
Loraine Powell, University of Huddersfield
Paul Martinez, FEDA, project manager
Project steering group
Sue Brown low, FEDA
Emer Clarke, FEFC
Stella Dixon, FEDA
Anna Reisenberger, FEDA
Barry Smeaton, DfEE
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Foreword
has been the need
Since incorporation, one of the main drivers for colleges
has been expressed through the very detailed
to improve efficiency. This
and the
requirements of the funding regime: efficiency targets, convergence,
allocation and claw back mechanisms.
has been blunt: the direct
By contrast, the driver to improve effectiveness
linking of funding to retention and achievement.
be more
There is now a professional and political consensus that we need to
achievement, both
effective. In particular, we need to improve retention and
rapidly and significantly.
welcome and timely.
Against this background, this report is particularly
of previous research,
It contains a robust and, indeed, critical review
of the issue
inspection and developmental activities, and current perceptions
head on. In
within the sector. It confronts difficulties and complexities
of work that has
addition, it summarises very succinctly the huge amount
the school sector
already been done on effectiveness and improvement in
and makes this accessible to colleges.
Above all, I welcome the rigorous analysis of problems and the recommen-
problem is
dations for future research and development. If understanding a
forward.
halfway to resolving it, then this report takes us some way
s
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Raising standards is at the forefront of the Government's agenda for further
education. At the same time, colleges have been set new and demanding
recruitment targets to widen participation and encourage lifelong learning.
In his letter to the FEFC in December, David Blunkett said:
Raising standards is absolutely essential if the sector is to make the
contribution to the lifelong learning agenda for which the Comprehensive
Spending Review settlement provides. Rates of retention and achievement
must be raised significantly, college by college, course by course and
year by year.
The recommendations in this report help us focus on an agenda for research
that will unite all institutions, managers and teachers in the sector: raising
student achievement.
FEDA, with AoC are taking forward many of the recommendations
in a three-year programme funded by the DfEE to raise quality and
offers support
effectiveness. The
Raising quality and achievement programme
strategies that include:
a quality information and advice service
quality improvement teams
benchmarking and information
development projects
leadership and governance for achievement
best practice
research into and evaluation of strategies that work.
Chris Hughes
Chief Executive, FEDA
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Summary
The aims of this study were to:
identify relevant work on improving effectiveness from the
FE and school sectors, and assess its relevance
define the agenda and make recommendations for future work.
Further and
This report outlines the major changes in policy since the
the sector
Higher Education Act (1992). There is a wide range of colleges in
and a lack of agreement on their purpose and, therefore, no consensus on
of measuring
what constitutes an effective or improving college. Methods
difficult where
effectiveness often depend on comparing like with like; this is
within and
the purpose, curricula and client groups are extremely diverse
between colleges.
obstacles to
Principals surveyed for the project see the following as the main
improving effectiveness:
the lack of finance and funding which has led to poor pay and
conditions and low staff morale
the lack of management systems and training for middle managers;
the increase in bureaucracy
the need for lecturing staff to adopt new methods of teaching,
including the use of IT in college and for distance delivery.
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Definition of terms
There is confusion about the terms 'effectiveness' and 'improvement'.
Efficiency is not the same as effectiveness. The former is concerned with the
relationship between inputs and outputs, whereas the latter is concerned
with whether the objectives or purposes of the institution have been
achieved. Improvement implies change over time. An improving institution
may not be an effective institution, and effective institutions may not be
efficient or cheap.
The focus for improving effectiveness should be the teacher, because it is
relatively easy to relate outcomes to teaching. However, there has to be
a
generally agreed definition of quality, and this can change over time.
Evidence from research
There is an extensive body of research relating to the schools sector within
the specific research paradigm known as 'school effectiveness' research
(SER). Its defining features are that: it is concerned with the outcomes of
education; institutions should be compared like-with-like; and processes are
mainly of interest insofar as they are related to outcomes.
There is increasing interest in research into how schools improve. Schools
that start to change have usually worked on:
the school's attitude and approach to planning
the way the school is run and organised
the way the curriculum is organised
the ethos or culture of the school
aspects of the quality of teaching and learning.
Few comparable research studies relate to further education. Gray et al.
(1995) showed that about 11% of 16-19 institutions appear to make a
difference, and that the kind of institution appears to have some effect on
students' examination performance. Conway (1997) describes how GCSE
scores can be used to predict students' performance, can improve the work
of departments that are underperforming, and can be combined with
valuing each student as an individual.
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