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Seeking excellence: key questions of the CIF
How effective are teaching, training and learning?
The evaluation requirements of the CIF state that inspectors should evaluate:
How Subject Learning Coaches can help your organisation to achieve these outcomes
Meeting course or programme requirements
Subject Learning Coaches can help curriculum managers to identify strengths and weaknesses in existing course provision and delivery and in planning innovative ways of helping learners to meet assessment objectives.
As well as supporting staff, Subject Learning Coaches have a vital role to play in promoting the value of effective self-assessment and self-improvement processes.
What the inspectors might say…
New staff are well mentored and supported through a college-wide scheme and also by the experienced team of staff with subject specialist coaches.
FE college inspection report
A team of advanced skills teachers provide supportive observations and lead a comprehensive programme of staff development to share good practice.
Sixth-form college inspection report
Monitoring learners’ progress
Subject Learning Coaches can introduce your staff to new tools and resources developed by the National Teaching and Learning Change Programme, including multimedia resources that set engaging tests of understanding and skills. Such approaches to monitoring progress allow learners to assess their own knowledge and skills at the same time as alerting staff to their learners’ achievements and difficulties. For example, the use of quizzes and interactive games at the end of a session or at the start of the next one can check how much learners have retained. Equally, quizzes and games can be an appealing yet highly effective way of testing the outcomes of modules or units of study.
Why not involve your Subject Learning Coaches in a review of assessment techniques and processes to identify ways of making assessment more effective?
What the inspectors might say…
Teachers check students’ understanding carefully using oral questioning, multiple-choice question papers and gapped handouts. Teachers provide clear guidance notes and make good use of quizzes and technical handouts. Some tutors have designed learning materials that extend students’ skills beyond the course specifications.
FE college inspection report
Identifying and providing for additional learning needs
Completing the Professional Training Programme and regularly attending the subject coaching networks will enable Subject Learning Coaches to develop and try out approaches to teaching, training and learning that are inclusive and that take account of diverse learning needs and preferences. But the process doesn’t stop there. A key part of the Subject Learning Coach role is to provide peer coaching to their colleagues. Subject Learning Coaches will take a proactive role in disseminating good practice widely throughout the curriculum area they work in. They’ll do this by coaching others in such areas as trying out new software, adopting new techniques or adapting existing resources to meet a wider range of learning needs.
What the inspectors might say…
Students with learning difficulties and/or disabilities achieve demanding individual learning goals and work well both on their own and in groups. For example, they have access to a range of multimedia resources that use video and/or audio. All students are assessed at induction for assistive software needs.
FE college inspection report
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