Are leaders focusing sufficiently on achievement?
This area for improvement identified in a recent report indicates a closer focus on achievement than recently seen. “Accelerate the pace of improvements in apprenticeships so that more apprentices achieve their qualifications on time.” Achievement is increasing in frequency in reports, and of course, we have the ‘achievement’ aspect in the accountability framework with the consequences of not meeting expectations hanging like a sword of Damocles where minimum criteria are not met.
A recent college inspection inspected as inadequate had the following comment in the report. “Leaders do not have sufficient oversight of the strengths and weaknesses of their provision. The targets and actions leaders set to remedy key weaknesses are not specific enough to bring about sustained and rapid improvement. There is a decline over time in attendance, retention and achievement across all provision types and all age groups. Leaders are too positive in evaluating the quality of their provision”. This last sentence suggests that leaders may focus too much on what they think the provision looks like at the expense of the bigger picture and reality – how do you know?
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