‘Our role also includes inspecting and supporting improvement in the post-16 sectors’
Estyn does more than inspect schools in Wales. Meilyr Rowlands, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education and Training in Wales, explains what the inspectorate is and what it does.
AS Chief Inspector at Estyn, one of the most common myths I come across is that we only inspect schools.
Although looking at schools’ performance is a large part of what we do, our role also includes inspecting and supporting improvement in the post-16 sectors.
From further education colleges, to work-based learning, prison education, Welsh for Adults and adult learning, our expertise and advice helps improve the education and training provided for learners once they leave compulsory schooling.
Our position as an impartial inspectorate combined with the breadth of our work allows us to see the bigger picture of the education and training landscape across Wales.
We use this to inform the advice we give on education policy. One recent example is our work to support the Welsh Government to make the links between the development of the digital competence framework in schools and the recent development of the national digital strategy for post-16.
We inspect across many sectors of education and training, drawing on our professional knowledge and judgement to make connections and inform policy.
A unique and valuable part of our work is the training and deployment of peer inspectors.
We train senior and middle leaders in colleges, work-based learning, adult learning and Welsh for Adults sectors to join us on inspections to provide a current practitioner’s viewpoint.
Peer inspectors have told us that they find this review work invaluable in helping them to self-evaluate how well they provide education and training in their own organisations.
I’m pleased to say that Estyn’s work has also contributed to an improvement in standards in the post-16 sectors.
We look closely at learning areas on our inspections and are able to evaluate the current standards and progress of learners in their skills development as well as comparing this against the trends in data.
We’ve seen successful completion rates in work-based learning and further education improve significantly over the past 15 years, from very low starting points in some learning areas.
Over the past few years, the reports we have published on topics such as the quality of training for construction, planning and the built environment or the provision of health and social care have led to positive changes.
Our findings and recommendations have facilitated sharing of best practice across the construction network, influenced the review of vocational qualifications and supported colleges to work together to find creative solutions to improve provision in colleges developing learners’ independent living skills.
Looking to the future of our inspection and advice work in the post-16 sector, we are now focusing on different themes in our inspections.
In work-based learning, we recently focused on higher apprenticeships which supported the wider evidence collected for a thematic report.
In July, we published a report looking at youth support services in Wales as part of thematic work undertaken jointly with other Inspection Wales partners.
Last month, we rolled out a new inspection framework for
further education which has been welcomed by the sector. With a review of the way we inspect adult learning under way, we’ll also soon be piloting new inspection arrangements for this sector too.
We’re also continuing to work closely with a range of organisations representing different groups we inspect, such as ColegauCymru/ CollegesWales, the National Training Federation Wales, the Federation of Small Businesses, the Quality Assurance Authority and the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales.
We meet annually with senior leaders in post-16 sectors, as well as representatives from some of the organisations mentioned earlier, at our stakeholder forum and listen to their views about our work and discuss key issues.
We are always looking to further improve our work, for example we are working closely with NUS to explore and pilot how learner inspectors can contribute to our inspections.
And we’ll continue to play a key role advising the Welsh Government as the post-16 se ctor evolves in Wales.
The work of Estyn is broad and varied and we aim for excellence for all learners, from our very youngest at nursery, to those with a lifelong ambition to expand their knowledge and skills.
We are in a unique position to make connections across all aspects of education to ensure that the focus remains on creating high quality education and training pathways for all learners to be ambitious, capable, informed citizens, skilled for work and keen to be involved in lifelong learning.