Quality of Provision

The adult and community learning provided by the college is funded through the Learning and Skills Council, which is the Government body responsible for all post-16 education in England and Wales. This means that we must demonstrate that the service we are offering is of a high quality, meets the standards set down and offers value for money.

We do this in a variety of ways:

• As a learner, you will be asked to complete an enrolment form on which you can note any additional support requirements, such as deafness, poor vision etc. This form also details Learner Entitlement. If a learner enrols by telephone, our staff will complete the form and ensure the learner receives these details before the course starts.

• At the start of the course, tutors are asked to negotiate the course content with learners.

• Tutors will assess your needs at the beginning of the course – you may not notice you have been ‘assessed’ because this may be as simple as asking you a few questions. This is called "initial assessment" and enables the tutor to plan your learning to meet the course objectives.

• Tutors will negotiate your learning goals (what he or she and you think you might realistically achieve over the period of time you are attending) for both the group and individuals within it.

• Tutors will be monitoring and recording your progress towards these goals over the period of the course, and you can expect to discuss your progress with your tutor on at least one occasion. This may be called a "tutorial".

• At the end of the course, tutors are asked to provide evidence of how the learners have met their learning goals.

• In order for us to improve our provision we also ask you to complete a feedback form. This is a very important part of our quality framework and we ask that you take the time to fill it in.

• In addition to this, sometimes there will be another member of staff carrying out a visit or an observation in your class. By observing the teaching and learning taking place in a sample of our classes, we can assess the quality of provision.

All this information is used to help us prove to the Learning and Skills Council that we are offering a high quality service which meets your needs. However, it is also good practice in teaching and learning and should enhance your learning experience.