In Wales, the quality assurance system for further and adult education is characterised, as in other sectors of education, by moves towards a culture of self-improvement. A new set of performance measures for further education (FE) and school sixth forms / sixth-form colleges, introduced by the Welsh Government in 2018, supports this progression and is intended to give a rounded picture of learner outcomes in the post-16 sector. As outlined in the overview of the new measures, Post-16 consistent performance measures (2018), they are used:

• by schools and colleges, to monitor and evaluate their own performance and plan their improvement;
• by the Welsh Government, to analyse the outcomes of post-16 learning and track improvements;
• by learners, parents and employers to make informed choices about post-16 learning.

Since 2018/19, the new performance measures have also been used by Estyn, the education and training inspectorate, in its inspection work (see ‘External inspection' below).

Historical note: In 2009, the Quality and Effectiveness Framework (QEF) was introduced to help ensure that Welsh Government-funded further and adult education and training was of high quality and met the needs of learners. At the heart of the QEF were three indicators: learner outcomes, responsiveness, and leadership and management. These aimed to reflect the Government’s strategic priorities; be measurable, easily understood and transparent; be used to support Estyn inspections; and be derived from existing data returns and information. Welsh Government area teams collected evidence against each indicator through desk-based reviews of each provider. These highlighted providers’ good features and any areas of concern. Providers whose performance fell below ‘good’ levels had to demonstrate what action they would take to improve their standards, while providers with a good track record of delivering high quality learning underwent ‘lighter touch’ assessments.

A key element of the QEF was the annual Post-16 Learner Voice Wales Survey, which took place between 2013 and 2015 and gave learners the opportunity to provide anonymous feedback on their experiences of their education and training. The results informed Estyn’s work to drive improvement in the sector.

Responsible bodies

The primary responsibility for assessing and improving the quality of provision in adult and further education and training lies with the providers themselves. 

The main providers of adult education and training are further education colleges, but there are also adult and community learning providers; private and voluntary (third) sector training providers; and distance learning providers. Further education colleges are statutory corporations, set up under the Further and Higher Education Act (FHEA) 1992, and are not-for-profit institutions serving their local communities. Responsibility for the quality of provision, as well as for an individual college’s financial health, lies with the board of governors.

Welsh Government

The Welsh Government monitors learning providers’ performance in a structured way to ensure that funding for adult and further education and training is used effectively, and to enable government intervention if concerns arise. See the subheading ‘Approaches and methods for quality assurance’ below for further information.

The Welsh Government has also developed the Lifelong Learning Pillar (LLP) as part of the Credit and Qualifications Framework for Wales (CQFW). This acknowledges learning outside the body of regulated qualifications. Learning opportunities that fall within the scope of LLP include:

• in-house company training
• adult and community learning
• introductory or additional learning that might help learners progress to further qualifications
• training as part of an individual’s job
• hobby-based learning.

The Welsh Government also plans to establish the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research to provide oversight, strategic direction and leadership for the whole of the post-compulsory (post-16) education and training sector. One of the Commission’s key responsibilities would be to oversee the funding, quality, financial monitoring and audit of further education, adult community learning and work-based learning. The Welsh Government consulted on its proposals in 2017 and again in 2018, following the publication of the White Paper Public Good and a Prosperous Wales (2017).

Estyn

Estyn (the Office of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate for Education and Training in Wales) inspects provision in further education, adult community learning, Welsh for adults, work-based learning funded by the Welsh Government, and learning in the justice sector, in addition to monitoring quality and standards in schools and early years settings. Estyn is independent of the National Assembly for Wales, but receives its funding from the Welsh Government under Section 104 of the Government of Wales Act 1998.

ColegauCymru (CollegesWales)

ColegauCymru (CollegesWales) is the national representative organisation for Wales’ further education colleges and institutions. It works to maintain the reputation of the further education sector as a high quality deliverer of learning, to be achieved through continuous quality improvement, benchmarking, peer-to-peer learning and the sharing of good practice. It promotes quality in teaching and learning and supports self-evaluation.

Approaches and methods for quality assurance

Self-assessment

The Welsh Government has a statutory duty under the Learning and Skills Act 2000 to secure the provision of proper facilities for education that is of an adequate quality to meet the reasonable needs of learners aged 16 to 19. It also has a responsibility to secure the provision of reasonable facilities for education (other than higher education) and training for those over the age of 19. It expects the institutions that it funds to develop their own quality management systems to ensure continuous improvement and to achieve and maintain high standards. Its Self-Assessment Guidance for Post-16 Providers (2018) sets out the requirements for providers to submit an annual self-assessment report (SAR) and quality development plan (QDP) to the Welsh Government. This guidance applies across the range of post-16 funded provision, including:

• further education institutions
• work-based learning providers
• adult community learning partnerships
• higher education institutions providing further education funded by the Welsh Government
• Welsh for adults language centres
• prisons delivering offender learning
• other providers if specified in their funding agreement.

The guidance indicates that self-assessments should be consistent with the 2017 Common Inspection Framework (see the subheading ‘External inspection’ below for further information). Providers also use post-16 performance measures (outlined below) to monitor their own performance and plan for improvement.

Publication of information

Learner Outcomes Reports

The Welsh Government publishes Learner Outcomes Reports for further education, work-based learning and adult community learning. These annual reports present learner outcome data by level of study, type of learning aim, sector / subject area, and learner characteristics for each provider in Wales. They show colour-coded information on success rates (the percentage of qualifications achieved by learners) and learner progression into further learning or employment.

Post-16 performance measures

The Welsh Government has developed  a new set of performance measures to be applied across further education and school sixth forms / sixth-form colleges. The consistent post-16 performance measures are intended to be used together to give a rounded picture of outcomes and so improve understanding of the quality of provision. There are three measures:

1. achievement – a measure of the completion and attainment of learners undertaking , vocational and Welsh Baccalaureate learning programmes;
2. value added – a measure of the progress made by learners, over and above what would normally be expected based on their prior attainment and gender;
3. destinations – a measure of the proportion of learners who progress into further learning (including ) and / or employment.

The first national (experimental) statistics on achievement and value added and learner destinations were published in September 2018. Since 2018/19, the new measures have been used by Estyn in its discussions with schools and colleges (see the subheading ‘External inspection’ for further information).

The measures are still in development and the Welsh Government intends to continue consultation with learning providers on the methodology used to produce them. Their development follows the publication of a review of qualifications for 14- to 19-year-olds in 2012, and a consultation on post-16 performance measures in 2017. Further information on the post-16 performance measures is available on the Welsh Government website.

The system of regulated qualifications is also an essential pillar of quality assurance and the regulator, Qualifications Wales, reports publicly on these qualifications and on the organisations that offer them (see the article on the National Qualifications Framework for information on how this operates). In addition, the Lifelong Learning Pillar in the Credit and Qualifications Framework for Wales (CQFW) acknowledges learning outside of the system of regulated qualifications – see the subheading ‘Welsh Government’ above for further information. 

External inspection

The external inspection of further education colleges and other providers for adult learners is the responsibility of Estyn, whose overall purpose is to raise standards and quality in education and training across Wales. Further education and work-based learning settings are inspected under the 2017 Common Inspection Framework. See  ‘Framework for inspection’ below for further information.

Estyn inspection teams

Inspections are led by permanent members of Estyn staff known as Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Education and Training (HMIs). Other team members may be HMIs; additional inspectors (either independent, self-employed inspectors or individuals seconded to Estyn by an employer); or peer inspectors, people who are currently in a managerial role with a provider and have teaching or training experience in the relevant sector.

In addition, the provider being inspected nominates a senior member of staff to work with the inspection team. This person need not be the provider’s principal or leader, but will be senior enough act to as a link between the setting and the inspection team. 

Further information on inspection roles is available from Estyn.

Framework for inspection

In September 2017, a new Common Inspection Framework was introduced in schools, work-based learning and independent specialist colleges. This framework has also applied to external inspection of further education colleges and Welsh for adults services since September 2018.

The framework includes five inspection areas and a related number of aspects, as follows.

1. Standards

• Standards and progress overall
• Standards and progress of specific groups
• Standards and progress in skills.

2. Wellbeing and attitudes to learning

• Wellbeing
• Attitudes to learning.

3. Teaching and learning experiences

• Quality of teaching
• Breadth, balance and appropriateness of the curriculum
• Provision for skills.

4. Care, support and guidance

• Tracking, monitoring and provision of learning support
• Personal development
• Safeguarding.

5. Leadership and management

• Quality and effectiveness of leaders and managers
• Self-evaluation processes and improvement planning
• Professional learning
• Use of resources.

As outlined in Estyn’s (2019) Guidance handbook for the inspection of further education colleges and Guidance handbook for the inspection of work-based learning providers,  as part of the ‘standards’ inspection area, inspectors are expected to look at performance data covering a period of time, usually over at least three years. This is with a view to identifying trends. Inspectors are also expected to report only on data where the outcomes are externally verified and collected nationally. When reviewing ‘leadership and management’, they are expected to consider, among other points, the provider’s analysis of information on learner performance. In this way, Estyn inspections feed into the consistent post-16 performance measures relating to achievement, value added and destinations (see the subheading ‘Publication of information’ above).   

For each inspection area, one of four judgements may be made:

1. excellent - very strong, sustained performance and practice;
2. good - strong features, although minor aspects may require improvement;
3. adequate and needs improvement - strengths outweigh weaknesses, but important aspects require improvement;
4. unsatisfactory and needs urgent improvement – important weaknesses outweigh strengths

Providers receive 15 working days’ written notice of the inspection, and all providers will be inspected at least once within a seven-year period that began on 1 September 2016.

Note: guidance for the inspection of community based adult learning is also available.

Inspection outcomes

Estyn publishes all reports on the education and training providers it inspects on its website.

Depending on the outcome of the inspection, Estyn considers whether the provider requires any follow-up activity. This can range from inviting the provider to share excellent practice that has been identified; to review by Estyn if one or more key areas of provision are judged less than ‘good’; to a full re-inspection.

Estyn review is normally required when Estyn’s judgement of a provider for the inspection area ‘leadership and management’ is 'adequate and needs improvement'. Inspectors write a letter of confirmation to the provider, copied to the Welsh Government, explaining that they will review the progress made by the provider in addressing the recommendations highlighted in the inspection report about 12 to 18 months after the report’s publication.

Initially, the monitoring activity will involve documentary evidence, which may be sufficient to show the progress made and allow Estyn to remove the provider from the list of those requiring review. If this is not the case, inspectors will normally undertake a two-and-a-half day visit to the provider. If, after this visit, inspectors judge that insufficient progress has been made, the provider will require further monitoring, either in the form of a further review visit or a re-inspection.

Re-inspection is identified as necessary in cases where providers are likely to have many important areas for improvement, or have not made sufficient progress with regard to recommendations, either after a core inspection, or following an Estyn review. Re-inspection begins with Estyn writing to the provider, identifying the areas that require improvement, and copying this to the Welsh Government. A full re-inspection of the provider is carried out within 12 to 18 months of the initial inspection. After re-inspection, Estyn publishes a full report evaluating the progress made by the provider. If the inspection team judges that insufficient progress has been made at the end of a re-inspection, the provider is referred to the Welsh Government. 

Further information on Estyn review and re-inspection is available in the Estyn publication entitled Follow-up – Guidance for post-16 providers and inspectors.

Article last reviewed April 2021.