New measure of quality
and performance will help learners and employers make better
training choices
DEPARTMENT FOR
EDUCATION AND SKILLS News Release (2007/0108) issued by The
Government News Network on 20 June 2007
Employers, adults
and young people in post-16, Government-funded training will soon
be able to judge more easily for themselves how colleges and other
learning providers are performing.
Details of a new system for assessing performance on the basis of
effectiveness, responsiveness and finance are published today. One
hundred providers will be testing 'Framework for
Excellence' from the new term this September.
Findings from the trial will help shape a full version of the
Framework from summer 2008. The independent and quantitative
nature of the Framework will enable the sector to move towards
self regulation.
The system forms a core part of the Government's drive to
raise standards rigorously and effectively. The DfES, Learning and
Skills Council, Quality Improvement Agency and Ofsted are working
together to develop the system in partnership with providers,
learners and employers.
Launching Framework for Excellence, Minister for Lifelong
Learning, Higher and Further Education, Bill Rammell said:
"Everyone involved in the Further Education (FE) system
wants the best for their customers. This means high quality
products and services that learners and employers need and want.
"Framework for Excellence means that for the first time
learners and employers will have full and clear information on
which to base their choices about courses and providers. People
who feel that they have made the right decisions are likely to be
highly motivated and to enjoy better results.
"Colleges and providers will build their plans for
improvement on the information in Framework for Excellence. They
will be able to benchmark themselves against standards of excellence.
"This important system will help us realise Sandy
Leitch's vision for skills and underpins the sweeping FE
reforms we announced last year. Framework for Excellence, the
National Improvement Strategy for FE and the LSC's
intervention measures add up to a powerful support package,
showing colleges and providers where they are and helping them get
to where they want to be.
"I ask all those working in the FE system to join with me to
help build the Framework to ensure that all provision becomes excellent."
Chief Executive of the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) Mark
Haysom said:
"The Framework for Excellence will improve the quality of
learning available in the sector and support a common culture of
self-improvement amongst colleges.
"The LSC's ambition is to deliver the learning and
skills to enable the long-term economic success of the nation. The
Framework will help the LSC judge where best to invest public
funds to achieve that goal, while and supporting moves towards
self-regulation by enabling all stakeholders to have access to
timely, relevant, robust and reliable information about the
performance of each provider".
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. Framework for Excellence will provide a transparent basis for
employer and learner choice that takes into account all the main
aspects of college and provider activity. It will also be a
management tool for providers' self-improvement.
2. Seven key performance areas, including responsiveness to
employers and financial health, will contribute to the
providers' overall rating. Key areas have been grouped into
three dimensions: effectiveness, responsiveness and finance.
3. Taken together, the overall rating will deliver a clearer and
sharper framework for accountability. The key performance areas
build on data already being collected, including the (Ofsted)
Common Inspection Framework, New Measures of Success and the new
financial audit arrangements.
4. An outline of Framework for Excellence was set out in March.
5.Framework for Excellence: Raising Standards and Informing
Choice is jointly published by the Learning and Skills Council
with the Department for Education and Skills, the Office for
Standards in Education and the Quality Improvement Agency.
6. Link to Framework for excellence: http://readingroom.lsc.gov.uk/lsc/National/nat-frameworkforexellenceraisingstandards-pu-mar07.pdf
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