Strengths
Aspects for improvement
In almost all authorities, there is headroom for improvement in one or more aspects of CLD management or provision. In particular, the strategic leadership of CLD needs to improve in many authorities.
How well do participants learn and achieve?
Learning and meeting the needs of all
CLD experiences typically engender great enthusiasm and motivation for learning amongst adult learners. Staff are particularly effective in developing confidence and self-esteem in the majority of learners who are returning to learning, often following negative experiences of formal education.
Overall, youth workers and adult tutors develop very positive relationships with the people with whom they are in contact. They generally show a high degree of responsiveness to the needs and preferences of young people and adults and create environments which are sympathetic and supportive. Examples of best practice in the sector demonstrate the effectiveness of the work with particularly disadvantaged and marginalised individuals and groups.
Questionnaire and inspection evidence, drawn from CLD participants in 16 local authority areas, also suggests positive outcomes in relation to the Vision for Scotland’s Children. Almost all young people who responded feel that they are better supported, are achieving more, are more active, more respected and responsible, and more included in their community. A majority of young people also feel safer in their communities and healthier as a result of being involved in youth work. The pattern for adults is very similar but slightly less pronounced in relation to feeling more respected, responsible and included.
In 2007, HMIE published the report Making a Difference in Scotland’s Communities: a five year review of community learning and development in Scotland. That report provides examples of good practice that demonstrates how CLD contributes to learning for confidence, skills and work; learning for health and wellbeing; and learning for active, inclusive and safer communities.
Achievement
In communities throughout Scotland, local authorities and partner agencies in the public and voluntary sectors provide a diverse range of mainly informal learning opportunities for young people and adults. A key strength of learning programmes in CLD is that they are flexible and tailored to meet the needs of learners. The impact of youth work is good in most authorities. The impact of adult learning is very good in the majority of authorities. The impact of community capacity building is good or better in almost all authorities. This is a significant improvement since the publication of the first Improving Scottish Education report.
Effective practice in adult learning and youth work develops individual self-confidence and core skills such as working with others, communication and problem solving. Particularly in youth work, and to a lesser extent in adult learning, there is a need for better use of assessment to ensure that participants can identify and build on their learning experiences. Family learning programmes are increasing and are effective in developing interest and aptitude among parents, carers and children in early literacy activities and in supporting the work of nurseries and primary schools. An emerging feature within the sector is the positive impact of a range of provision for adults on their mental health and wellbeing. Citizenship activities, such as youth forums or youth conferences, often result in young people taking more active roles in their communities and advocating on behalf of other young people. CLD providers have become increasingly involved in supporting communities to engage with community planning. The most significant outcome from this work is a sense of community ownership of new developments and considerable pride in achievements.
Evidence from questionnaires to participants in CLD activities demonstrates that almost all think that their experiences have contributed to their developing the capacities of Curriculum for Excellence. This is strongest in relation to becoming more successful learners and more confident individuals. Responses also indicate that almost all participants respected and valued themselves and others more. Almost all young people who responded also indicate that they have become more involved in their community. This feature is slightly less marked for adult learners. A significant minority of adults who responded do not feel that their experience has helped them to get a job or do their jobs better. This is likely to reflect the fact that much of the community-based adult learning is delivered with literacy and numeracy learners and those who, for whatever reason, are furthest from the job market.
CLD participants have improved their communication skills and skills in working with others. A majority have improved their skills in number, ICT and problem solving.
CLD providers make substantial contributions to a number of the key outcomes of the National Performance Framework14. However, the sector overall needs to improve its capacity to demonstrate how it contributes to these outcomes and to track improvements over time.
IMPROVEMENTS IN PERFORMANCE
DISTRIBUTION OF QUALITY INDICATOR EVALUATIONS IN THE CLD SECTOR 2006-2008
IMPACT ON PARTICIPANTS
DISTRIBUTION OF QUALITY INDICATOR EVALUATIONS IN THE CLD SECTOR 2006-2008
Does community learning and development have a clear sense of direction?
Leadership of people and partnerships at local level is satisfactory or better in most authorities. However, this aspect of provision shows quite wide variations across Scotland.
Strategic leadership within local authorities and community planning partnerships also shows variations across the country. In some places, CLD services have a central role in local community planning and community engagement. In others, CLD is an approach to working with communities that runs across services such as libraries, museums, culture and sport. In one very good example of community capacity building, the key structural change that took place a few years earlier had combined CLD and community regeneration services into one service. All CLD strategic partnerships are now aligned with key community planning theme groups across Scotland.
The broad direction set nationally for CLD remains the guidance for community planning partnerships published in 2004, Working and Learning Together: to build stronger communities. The general direction of this policy was reinforced in November 2008 in a joint statement by the Scottish Government and COSLA. National organisations have worked closely together to ensure that supporting materials, for example, in relation to promoting a better understanding of the outcomes of CLD, have articulated well with one another.
However, the CLD sector has lagged behind other sectors in CPD. Two recent developments promise to improve this situation over the next few years. The first is the recent establishment of a Standards Council for Community Learning and Development. The second is that Scottish Government funding has been allocated to improve CPD in CLD.
How well do staff work with others to support learning and development?
All community planning partnerships, led by local authorities, support multi-agency partnerships that work towards achieving the outcomes of CLD strategies. Partnership working remains a notable strength within the sector.
Most aspects of CLD partnership work are effective. Sizeable majorities of partners work well together to identify local needs; contribute to and implement CLD strategies, plans and priorities; and improve the quality of provision. However, the quality and range of resources and facilities for CLD are very variable and many are poor.
In the best practice in community capacity building, providers in local authority services and voluntary organisations work well together to support community organisations to influence local decision making and often to deliver effective services for disadvantaged people.
Are staff and participants actively involved in improving learning in their communities?
Learning programmes are developed through negotiation and dialogue between staff and participants. As a result, programmes usually take place at a time and place to suit learners and learners’ own goals provide the basis for the style and content of the provision.
The period covered by this report began with the publication of the second self-evaluation framework for CLD in Scotland, How good is our community learning and development?2 (HGIOCLD?2). As with other sectors of education, it has taken time for the process of self-evaluation for improvement to become embedded in the sector. HGIOCLD?2 has become well established in the local authority sector as the main basis for self-evaluating provision. Some voluntary organisations too have used this tool in their work. However, there remains work to do to embed self-evaluation, leading to improvement, within the work of partners and in partnership working.
HMIE also reviews the work of national voluntary organisations that contribute to CLD in its broadest sense. These reviews begin with the organisations being asked to self-evaluate against a range of relevant indicators from HGIOCLD?2. The process of self-evaluation almost always benefits these organisations and the review process has a positive impact on their effectiveness.
Does community learning and development have high expectations of all participants?
The sector is demand-led and therefore focused on the participants’ own expectations. Progress is evaluated against what the learner wants to do as a consequence of experience.
Overall, youth workers and adult tutors develop very positive relationships with the people with whom they are in contact.
There is a strong commitment to inclusion, with examples of innovative and effective work with disadvantaged individuals and groups. Inclusion, equality and fairness was evaluated as satisfactory or better in all authorities. In some authorities, the sector is very effective at targeting excluded groups such as lone parents, the unemployed and former drug and alcohol misusers. Programmes of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) include learners from a wide diversity of backgrounds, including economic migrants and asylum seekers.