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Quality Auditing the Learning Journey

 
Quality Auditing the Learning Journey
14 Sep 2010 WS2592 £259 London Euston
15 Sep 2010 WS2593 £245 Birmingham City Centre
16 Sep 2010 WS2594 £245 Leeds City Centre
07 Mar 2011 WS3770 £259 London Euston
08 Mar 2011 WS3771 £249 Birmingham City Centre
09 Mar 2011 WS3772 £249 Leeds City Centre
10 Mar 2011 WS3773 £249 Manchester City Centre
18 Jul 2011 WS3774 £259 London Euston
19 Jul 2011 WS3775 £249 Birmingham City Centre
20 Jul 2011 WS3776 £249 Leeds City Centre
21 Jul 2011 WS3777 £249 Manchester City Centre
31 Oct 2011 WS3778 £259 London Euston
01 Nov 2011 WS3779 £249 Birmingham City Centre
02 Nov 2011 WS3780 £249 Leeds City Centre
03 Nov 2011 WS3781 £249 Manchester City Centre
 Click on dates above for details & booking
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Using quality audits to drive organisational improvement

The quality of the learning experience can make a significant contribution to success rates, contract performance and inspection grades.  Most providers recognise this and have procedures in place to help maintain quality, including quality audits, designed to help ensure the quality procedures are followed.

Unfortunately most quality audits focus on process compliance and are not as effective as they should be in supporting continuous improvement. The latter is of course an essential ingredient for achieving grade 1 inspection results.

Truly effective quality auditing of the learner journey needs to do far more than ensure process compliance. It needs to be the tool that ensures the quality assurance system is driving and delivering real improvements in the learners’ experience and organisational efficiency. 

Far too many learner journey audits focus on compliance. For example, audits may check that learner progress reviews have taken place at the correct time and that information is provided in all relevant sections but fail to evaluate the quality of the review itself, i.e. the quality of what is recorded and the action to be taken.

Because continuous improvement is pivotal to longer term organisational success and an essential ingredient for grade 1 inspection results, all providers need to be confident that their quality audit system is as effective as possible. This workshop explores and demonstrates how to achieve this.

For whom

This highly interactive workshop has been designed for:

The workshop may also be relevant to the needs of experienced Quality Managers and Co-ordinators who are looking to further develop this type of quality audit process in their organisation.

Please note, the content and focus of this workshop is on post 16 vocational learning however previous attendees from the other sectors including schools have found the approaches very transferable but we must emphasise that the workshop does not explore ways to transfer to other sectors

Aims and Objectives

The workshop has been designed to help organisations improve the effectiveness of learner journey quality auditing practices, which will help further enhance the quality of the learners’ learning experience, and organisational performance.

Participants, who complete the workshop, should be able to describe and clearly explain:


Content

The workshop will look at what learner journey process quality audits should be trying to achieve and what needs they address. The difference between audits that focus on checking things are done and audits which measure the quality of what is done will be explored.

Quality audits are a component of an effective Quality Management System. How they fit within the system linking to other QA activities and how they contribute to continuous improvement will be considered. How audits relate to process performance measurement will be evaluated.

If line managers do not buy into the value of quality audits and take forward the outcomes of such audits, then processes they manage will not improve. This section of the workshop will look at how to ensure that audit outcomes are owned by line managers, through the use of a ‘coaching’ rather than ‘policing’ approach.

In some quarters there is a perception that quality audits are only of documentation. In the workshop we will look at auditing methodology which encompasses both documentation audits and direct process delivery observation audits. Issues related to frequency and approaches to sampling will also be considered. The concept of two tier audits will be reviewed including the value of engaging line managers in such a process and how this approach applies in subcontractor audit contexts.

Like most things in life, if the way we approach tasks and activities lacks effective planning, the outcomes are less likely to be effective. This element of the workshop will look at how to plan audits, what different aspects of an audit process need to be considered and how to apply the Risk Assessment principle effectively.

An important component of an audit is usually meeting with managers to gather information and to discuss the outcomes of the audit. Gathering information effectively can be dependent upon the quality of the questions asked. To that end, this aspect of the workshop will look at how to use different questioning techniques to gather information during an audit interview. In this section we will also consider how to manage discussions about outcomes, particularly where the manager is likely to challenge the outcomes. In relation to which, we will look at how to anticipate and manage people’s reactions when dealing with under-performance issues.

This workshop component will look at the variety of documentation that is necessary to ensure quality audits are managed effectively. This includes the role of such documentation in reducing the subjectivity in the judgements made by auditors.

Staff who manage audits need to be well organised. We will explore how an audit schedule can assist. We will also look at how such a schedule links to an organisation’s Quality Cycle.

Learning will be facilitated through:

Related Quality Assurance Workshops

Certificates of Professional Development.

Formal Certificates of Development will be issued, by post, to participants who complete this workshop. These certificates will detail the key learning aims and the face-to-face learning hours undertaken, enabling participants to update their CPD records and logs accordingly. The workshop also allows time, during the day, for participants to reflect on and record their personal learning development and consider how best to apply the knowledge gained on return to work. This element of the programme is designed to maximise the benefits from attending and enable participants to make better review judgments when recording their CPD activities.