What outcomes have we achieved?

What outcomes have we achieved? (Key area 1)

This key area focuses on the overall performance of residential and secure care and education provision. It will help services to consider their success as organisations in meeting the social, emotional, health and educational needs of each of their vulnerable children and young people within statutory and legislative requirements. It also focuses on strategic priorities and evaluates how well the priorities relate to the distinctive vision, values and aims of each service. This key area takes a broad, long-term perspective which focuses on a service’s success in improving its quality, both overall and in comparison with other providers. It also focuses on the service’s compliance with legislation and the extent to which it provides best value and manages its finances effectively.

How well do we meet the needs of our school community? (Key areas 2,3 and 4)

This key area looks at the benefits which children and young people, their parents, their placing authorities, their own communities and the service’s local community derive from the services delivered by residential special schools and secure care accommodation services. Stakeholders include children and young people who are in direct receipt of services together with those who support them and who have a significant interest in the delivery of high-quality services, for example, parents and families and carers, and placing authorities. Stakeholders also include the staff in the services since their degree of motivation and job satisfaction is of considerable importance if the service is to operate effectively. Evaluation in these key areas will take into account stakeholders’ views, together with evidence from direct observation and quantitative data. Where evidence from these sources is conflicting or indicates significant weaknesses, service providers should try to identify and address the possible causes. In doing so, they will take account of particular key processes or aspects of operational management (in key areas 5-8) which may have affected the quality of provision.

How good is the (care and) education we provide? (Key area 5)

This key area focuses on the underlying processes of the service in relation to its care and education functions. It relates to the quality of the curriculum or the totality of learning experiences delivered across 24 hours, provided by all staff. It focuses on the quality of the climate and relationships and the degree to which all staff collaborate effectively to meet the needs of young people. This key area also provides indicators for evaluating the extent to which the service takes account of the need to ensure equality of opportunity and treatment of all young people. It takes account of the need for inclusion within the service and the promotion of inclusion in the wider community, including successful return to the local community of the young person. In other words, it examines processes underpinning both care and education that effective practitioners employ to achieve maximum impact on children and young people.

How good is our management? (Key areas 6,7 and 8)

This key area examines the operational activities and inputs necessary to ensure the best possible outcomes for young people within the context of providing best value for placing authorities, parents and carers and families. These activities include the service provider’s processes for developing and updating policies, for involving its stakeholders, for day-to-day planning, for managing staff, information, finance and resources, and for developing productive partnerships. Strengths and weaknesses in these areas will affect the quality of the service’s processes, their impact on stakeholders and the performance of the service providers as a whole in relation to the provision of care and education.

How good is our leadership? (Key area 9)

The key area on leadership focuses on the strategic direction of the service and its partners, including external managers, in relation to delivering high quality residential care and education. It looks at the corporate purpose of the service and the expression and delivery of service aspirations by means of strategic planning with external managers, partner agencies and the community. It considers the quality of leadership at a strategic level and within teams and organisational units. It focuses closely on the importance of distributed leadership: that is leadership at all levels. It will therefore be applied to the work of service managers for care, health and education and include project teams, working groups and administrators. Strengths and weaknesses in leadership will reflect the extent to which leaders at all levels make a difference to the quality of outcomes achieved by the service as a whole and to the benefits derived by stakeholders.

What is our capacity for improvement?

Judgement of an organisation’s capacity for improvement takes into account the evaluations arrived at in all the key areas. It focuses particularly on the quality of the leadership and management of the service and overall impact and outcomes. The service’s focus on improvement and its track record in bringing about improvement are particularly important, as is the accuracy of its self-evaluation which is used as the basis for planned improvements. The process of broad evaluation is the essential element in auditing priorities for future development. The audit for future development may also include the service having to take ‘a closer look’ at specific aspects of the service. The judgement also takes into account any significant aspects of the service’s internal or external context, for example, impending retirements of senior staff, plans to refurbish accommodation and significant changes in funding. The judgement reviews the past and also considers the future. Judgements of a service provider’s capacity for improvement could be expressed in terms of a degree of confidence that it has the capacity to continue to improve. Evidence at the time would indicate that these improvements were sustainable and that improvement would continue. Services should always take into account recent evaluations carried out by the Care Commission and HMIE following inspections. The service should clarify what it is they need to improve, identify any barriers to improvement, and outline how they intend to improve.