Scottish Government

5 RAISING QUALITY THROUGH LEARNING AND TEACHING

Guiding principles

• Provision which supports migrant and refugee settlement, and aids inclusion and full participation in Scottish society and the economy by these groups and by settled ethnic communities
• Provision which recognises and values the cultures of learners and the contribution that New Scots make to society and the economy
• Provision which supports and encourages routes into further learning and/or employment
• Provision which is high quality, easily accessible, cost-effective and uses best practice in the teaching and learning of languages
• Provision which reflects wider national literacies targets and promotes attainment and personal and social achievement

Background

The ESOL report noted that the majority of ESOL learners, in all sectors, were attending general English courses for between 2 and 15 hours per week, often as a stepping stone to other ESOL courses at colleges. FE colleges deliver the bulk of ESOL provision in Scotland, at all levels from beginner to advanced, and have also developed the majority of ESOL combined with vocational subject courses. Most colleges continue to offer ESOL qualifications, with increasing numbers using the SQA's ESOL National Qualifications ( NQ) units. Around 15 per cent of ESOL provision was in the form of ESOL literacies, mostly delivered in a community learning setting.

Most of the teaching staff surveyed in the ESOL report had a teaching qualification, although not always an ESOL specialist qualification. ESOL practitioners, in general, need to be better acquainted with the Scottish qualifications landscape and with wider educational priorities. Other areas of staff development in need of attention include: better staff induction programmes for ESOL staff; the development of a qualification for volunteers working with ESOL learners; and a Continuing Professional Development ( CPD) award for experienced and qualified ESOL teachers.

Some professional development programmes (both accredited and informal) are available at a local level. In addition, a Professional Development Award in ESOL Literacies - for experienced ESOL teachers wishing to teach ESOL literacies - was accredited by the SQA in April 2005.

The SQA is also reviewing and augmenting its NQESOL portfolio. In light of recent Home Office citizenship and English language requirements for naturalisation and residency the National Institute for Adult Continuing Education ( NIACE), the SQA, and a number of Scottish ESOL providers have developed new ESOL with citizenship materials and training for ESOL staff to deliver them.

Most ESOL provision is subject to rigorous quality assurance. All FE, CLD and ALN provision is subject to review by HM Inspectorate of Education ( HMIE) and uses HMIE frameworks for the purposes of self-evaluation. ALN providers across all sectors are encouraged, through ALN partnerships, to use HMIE's How Good is our CLD as an evaluation tool for quality assuring provision for ESOL learners who also have literacies needs. Some FE colleges are also subject to additional review as part of their certification under various accreditation schemes. All SQA approved centres also have in place internal verification systems, which are subject to centralised SQA moderation procedures, for ensuring quality and consistency in assessment.

5.1 Teaching, learning and assessment

Supporting and delivering a curriculum framework for ESOL in Scotland

This strategy recognises the need for an adult ESOL curriculum framework for Scotland, to be developed along similar lines to the existing adult literacies curriculum framework. A national ESOL curriculum group, overseen by the National Panel, will do this. Taking into account developments in schools EAL, the group should seek to develop a coherent framework for ESOL teaching, learning and assessment which will equip learners with the relevant language skills to enter the labour market, to access further study and participate more fully in their local communities and Scottish society. This curriculum framework should:

• be fully linked to SCQF and to SQA qualifications;
• take account of policy developments in citizenship and employability;
• reflect best practice in wider language and literacy teaching, learning and assessment;
• consider the differing needs, including literacy learning needs, of learners and reflect these in measurement of achievement;
• acknowledge the benefits of, and be sensitive to, cultural differences;
• take account of the various quality assurance systems, particularly the HMIE quality frameworks; and
• take account of the staff development and other resource needs of the roll out of a Scottish ESOL curriculum framework.

The curriculum group will also look at the issues of assessment and attainment in the context of recent SQA developments and other methodologies for measuring student progress. As well as formal assessment, there is a need to recognise the value of less measurable learner achievements (e.g. greater confidence to participate in classes and the community) particularly amongst vulnerable learners. The SQA is exploring strategies for measuring, accrediting and recording learner achievement through learning plans. The ESOL curriculum group will consider ways in which an adult ESOL curriculum framework could provide learners with the relevant language skills to enter the labour market, to access further study and participate more fully in their local communities and Scottish society. Developments in ESOL must also consider and apply best practice from language teaching, learning and assessment.

As the work of the ESOL curriculum group develops there will be a need for training and dissemination. The curriculum framework, and associated training, should focus on meeting the specific needs of learners, newly arrived or settled in the UK, while also taking account of the needs of settled ethnic communities.

Learning and teaching

Effective learning and teaching lies at the heart of a national ESOL strategy. ESOL learning and teaching should:

• Be based on current thinking and best practice for teaching adult learners, and should incorporate the principles of reflective practice;
• Incorporate best practice in language learning methodology;
• Incorporate broader best practice in provision that addresses the needs of ESOL and ESOL literacies learners;
• Use different delivery methods appropriate to learners' needs; and
• Promote the integration and mainstreaming of ESOL into wider FE and CLD provision.

The Scottish Executive is funding the development of a 'Best Practice in ESOL' framework. This should be used as a self-evaluation tool for all providers, and will provide a platform for disseminating existing good practice to all ESOL providers.

The Best Practice framework will be linked to the HMIE quality framework for further education, to the framework for Quality Assurance in CLD, How Good is Our CLD, and to Literacies in the Community. It will also take into account the FE National Training Organisation's guidance for ESOL teaching (issued in 2003).

Coherent learning and teaching, and progression, are based on a sound curricular framework; and courses must take full account of community and employer needs. Thus employers need to be engaged so that work-based ESOL can be developed and delivered in line with the Scottish Executive's Employability Framework.

Subject to the outcomes of the work yet to be done by the ESOL curriculum group some of what follows are provisional rather than final guidelines.

Assessment:

Diagnostic and formative assessment

Assessment is a valuable tool in placing learners appropriately, in planning learning and monitoring progress. Effective initial diagnostic assessment tools should be used with all ESOL learners. This diagnosis should include an assessment of whether ESOL learners have literacy needs. Specific assessment tools should be developed and used for this purpose. On-going review and feedback on formative assessment should be viewed as a learning tool, and should be linked, where appropriate, to individual learning plans. Assessment should reflect equal opportunities practice and should make provision, when needed, for additional support needs (e.g. dyslexia, study skills). In the case of the latter, the Scottish Executive's guide to public bodies on supporting students with additional needs in further education, Partnership Matters, should be used.

Summative assessment

Summative assessment provides evidence of attainment, promotes articulation to mainstream programmes, and improves access to employment opportunities. Wherever possible, ESOL learners should be encouraged to work towards the most appropriate high-quality accredited ESOL qualifications. Key stakeholders - in particular, employers, colleges, universities, CLD and ALN partnerships - should be made aware of ESOL accreditation which is linked to the SCQF. This will help promote progression and inclusion.

Measuring 'distance travelled'

Not all learners wish to work towards formal accreditation. Providers should therefore capture qualitative achievement for ESOL learners.

Individual learning plans are one method of capturing this, but may not be appropriate for all ESOL learners. Good practice in Recognition of Prior Learning ( RPL), where appropriate, will be considered by the ESOL curriculum group.

5.2 Professional development

As a National Curriculum Framework for ESOL emerges, SQA and the Scottish Executive should develop related professional awards for ESOL practitioners. The development of an ESOLCPD structure should also take account of developments at a UK level. Lifelong Learning UK (the Sector Skills Council for lifelong learning) can assist in ensuring that CPD is cross-sectoral and focused on meeting learners' needs.

This strategy proposes that a structured professional development pathway needs to be mapped for ESOL staff within broader developments in CPD for lecturers and tutors within FE, for CLD and ALN staff. Briefly, these broader CPD frameworks are as follows.

Further Education

The occupational standards for FE lecturers are overseen by the Further Education Professional Development Forum ( FEPDF). A range of initial teacher training units and professional development awards ( PDAs), which can be delivered in the 37 FE colleges approved to do so, now exist. In addition, the FEPDF is responsible for overseeing the delivery of the Teaching Qualification in Further Education ( TQFE), delivered in the 3 PDF-approved teacher education institutions at the Universities of Aberdeen, Dundee and Stirling.

Community Learning and Development

In February 2003, the Scottish Executive outlined plans for restructuring and improving training for CLD practitioners. All CLD practitioners' training and qualifications are overseen by Community Education Validation and Endorsement (CeVe). A consortium of HE, FE and community-based providers has been established to further develop work-based and part-time routes to CLD training and qualification.

Adult Literacies

The Adult Literacies team within Learning Connections is in the process of constructing a training strategy for Scotland. The strategic direction of this will be informed by the refresh of the Adult Literacy and Numeracy Strategy, this adult ESOL strategy and key pieces of research currently being undertaken.

Achieving a professional development structure for ESOL practitioners

A short-life working group will:

• Map existing ESOL and ESOL with literacies qualifications onto a CPD pathway for ESOL practitioners;
• Place these qualifications within wider FE, CLD and ALN staff development frameworks and consider where they might be placed within the SCQF (taking cognisance of the sector skills council for lifelong learning, Lifelong Learning UK);
• Identify gaps in existing ESOL and ESOL with literacies CPD qualifications and any need for additional professional development units or PDAs; and
• Identify CPD needs of teaching, learning support, guidance and administrative support staff (see section 6.2).

This group should work closely with both CeVe and the FEPDF. In addition to ESOL and ESOL with literacies experts, the following bodies should be represented: Learning Connections ( ALN and CLD interests); HMIE; Learning Link Scotland; and SQA.

A document outlining professional development routes and levels of qualifications should then be passed to the National ESOL Panel for dissemination and publication on the national ESOL website.

This strategy aspires to a fully professional workforce with recognised career structures. ESOL practitioners need to show knowledge, technical competence, and expertise at a level consistent with effective programme delivery. Each teacher should have a relevant specialist qualification in the teaching of ESOL. Centres, for their part, should also ensure that ESOL staff are included in mainstream activities and staff development programmes (including inductions).

Supporting volunteers

Volunteer tutors make a significant contribution to ESOL provision in Scotland. Some volunteers are highly trained and experienced. For those who lack formal training or are new to this field of teaching, a PDA in initial ESOL teaching should be developed. The award should support the skills of volunteers in working one to one or with small groups of ESOL learners. The award should draw on best practice in language learning and ESOL and literacies learning. It should enable progression to the CELTA or equivalent.

Engaging practitioners in research

Small scale action research will help to promote a 'reflective practitioner' approach amongst ESOL professionals. The Scottish Executive, in partnership with key stakeholders, will seek to fund small-scale action research projects in ESOL.

5.3 Quality assurance

Relevant HMIE quality frameworks should be used by all ESOL providers in FE, CLD and ALN. The FE sector should link all aspects of ESOL practice to the HMIE quality framework. Community based providers should use How good is our CLD and Literacies in the Community as further quality assurance tools. The 'Best Practice in ESOL' framework, although ESOL specific, will be tied to the relevant quality frameworks in FE, CLD and ALN. Qualitative and quantitative data will be gathered to assess the effectiveness of the strategy, i.e. how well ESOL providers are performing in relation to these national quality assurance frameworks.