Outcomes and Impact

Teaching, Learning and Assessment

As tutors, we have increased in confidence to try out teaching and assessment tools online and in the classroom. We have tried new methods of recording assessment and encouraging learners to feed back to each other e.g. using photographs, Screencastify, Flipgrid and voice recording apps.

We have also grown in confidence at adapting in-house tools specifically for our needs. Our tailored recording and reflection tools (Appendix 5, 6) have empowered learners to have choice and control over their learning, tracking their progress and understanding when more work needs to be done. As one tutor found, this was particularly helpful for her apprentice learners, who often panic when they realise they are running out of time to complete their English qualification as they reach the ‘end date’ for their apprenticeship. Another learner who has had experience of both versions of the ILP commented that the new version is much more “chattable.”

For learners on the Employability course their self-esteem has improved from seeing photo evidence documenting the soft skills they are using, and they are more confident when giving and receiving feedback (Appendix 7).

As the tutor has reflected about one learner:

This has really boosted confidence levels for her to actually have visual evidence of herself taking such an active part in the session.

Learners on English Functional Skills courses have had the opportunity to give honest feedback about how they feel about writing complex sentences, and this has shaped the tutor’s teaching approaches. It is empowering for learners to see a direct link between their views and the context of lessons (Appendix 4).

Overall, we have come to appreciate that our biggest strength as a learning provider is that we have small classes. Although our learners often have complex needs and backgrounds, we can tailor our approach to suit individual learners in many cases.

Organisational Development

Through this project we have strengthened the teaching triangle approach across the service. This has supported an overhaul of OTL processes, begun after York Learning participated in the Advanced Practitioners Project, whereby we combine traditional formal observations with unseen observations, teaching triangles, peer observation and learning walks.

Part of our action research involved working with the ICT department to improve their understanding of the ICT needs of non-school teaching. It took time, but together we found a solution for voice-recording capability. In turn, as tutors we have understood that some requirements are going to be challenging in a local authority setting, e.g. lengthy procedures around privacy and data protection when installing apps, that wider organisations don’t always experience.

As result of this project, our Routes team has looked at its Individual Learning Plan (ILP) paperwork as a whole, to streamline it and make it more meaningful for learners and staff. The Routes tutor reflected: “I feel [the learners] see the review process as more meaningful and understand why it is so important to have feedback but also that they themselves are capable of facilitating this.” The English team is planning to roll out an improved version of its learner record (ILP) in September 2022 to allow for better two-way communication between tutors and learners. The tutor who worked on the new ILP reflected: “Having the time and opportunity to develop and discuss different approaches to giving learner feedback and how feedback is recorded, in an encouraging and ‘safe’ environment has been both enjoyable and rewarding.”

Initially, this project was about providing better quality feedback for learners that would be effective in both online and face-to-face settings. We were in part inspired by Leeds City College’s project on feedback in remote delivery (OTLA 7). However, a theme soon emerged that face-to-face feedback was often better for some learners. Now that our teaching had partially returned to the classroom, we concluded that there was no reason to ‘hang on’ to digital tools where there were better options for our learners. As a result, we have combined digital and face-to-face approaches in a tailored way to suit different groups of learners and reflect their individual needs.

We have found it empowering to involve learners in our research, both for them and for us. Learners have provided us with really honest feedback, for example, detailing when they prefer face-to-face methods and where some tools haven’t worked for them (Appendix 7). For other learners, being able to communicate digitally with a tutor away from a session has boosted mental well-being.

Here are some of the ways that learners have influenced our thinking on this project:

One learner commented that they preferred sitting next to the tutor to look at the RAG rated skills feedback instead of just reading it on the screen; that way they could challenge ‘red’ ratings and take better note of the ‘green’ ratings (Appendix 6).

One tutor used a visual weather map to help learners reflect on their confidence in writing complex sentences. A learner with ADHD could not access the exercise as they found it difficult to work with weather as a metaphor for their learning (Appendix 3).

Another learner improved a reflection wheel by marking it in a different way; this has now been built into the task and the tool is a reflection clock instead! (Appendix 4)

On reflection we would have liked to be able to try our new approaches with a larger group of learners in some cases, as some course numbers have been low. We would also have liked to have recruited a second teaching triangle to develop these ideas, but time constraints are perceived as a significant barrier by many tutors. This perception is reflected in other research on teacher peer-learning (albeit formal peer observation) by EEF which found that “teachers involved in the trial reported that they felt uncomfortable taking time out of teaching to complete observations” (EEF 2017).

Listening to learners’ direct feedback resulted in one tutor significantly changing her research topic halfway through the project and looking at teaching complex sentences (Appendix 8). The tutor commented: “I love the fact that in a teaching triangle you choose what you want to investigate, knowing your learners and their challenges.” As a result, findings are still emerging in this area and the approaches will continue to be tested in the 22-23 academic year.