1.
SKEIN for FE:
for securing depth in
professional learning
What can your college expect?
“The further education and skills system requires a cultural
shift to enable it to improve further the quality of teaching
and learning”
157 Group Report “Leading learning and letting go” (2012)

2.
Skein evaluations involve
Evidence collected from a range of sources:
A review of a range of existing college documents
A short on-line staff survey
A one day visit consisting of:
• sampling staff views via short (20 minutes) interviews
• lunch time or twilight focus groups
• a group SLT interview
Resulting in a diagnostic report reporting strengths and
weaknesses for each benchmark

3.
The rationale for Skein
• Skein can help colleges rise to the challenge of making the
quality of teaching and learning good or outstanding
• It provides a robust external evaluation of your current CPDL
provision against international benchmarks
• Your Ofsted evidence can be enhanced by linking staff
learning explicitly with student learning
• Practical resources are signposted to help tackle areas of
weakness in CPDL provision

4.
The Benchmarks
• Focus on what makes a difference for pupils and staff
Collaboration as a professional learning strategy
Use of expertise to ensure depth and accuracy
Use of evidence to link staff and pupil learning
Needs analysis for cumulative, personalised learning
Leadership of professional learning
• Identify efficient, effective next steps/strengths to build on
• Build capacity and reduce dependency on external providers

5.
Examples of strengths and
development areas from
previous reports

6.
Collaboration as a professional learning
strategy
Example of strength:
• The staff induction programme and ITE facilitate
professional learning in a well supported
environment of open collaboration, sharing and
experimentation
Example of development area:
• Identify and use a range of tools and protocols to
support professional dialogue about what is learnt
from trying new approaches through, for example,
action research or research lesson study.

7.
Use of expertise to ensure depth and
accuracy
Example of strength:
• Well established interest in and support for
developing specialist expertise
Example of development area:
• Expand recognition of subject expertise and ways in
which different subjects interact with different
approaches to teaching and learning.

8.
Use of evidence to link staff and pupil
learning
Example of strength:
• The systematic use of specific and detailed evidence
to underpin performance review and evaluating the
impact of CPD for individual staff members
Example of development area:
• Use further action research to build on the existing
wider evidence base, e.g. publish and share
summaries of colleagues’ research.

9.
Needs analysis for cumulative,
personalised learning
Example of strength:
• Staff ownership of their professional development –
identify own professional development needs and
make informed choices from the many opportunities
available
Example of development area:
• Use aspirations for specific groups of students to
help colleagues make links between their own and
their students’ learning processes.

10.
Leadership of professional learning
Example of strength:
• The college’s strategic commitment to improving
teaching and learning and the recognition of the
major contribution professional development and
learning makes to this
Example of development area:
• Greater and more visible participation in professional
learning about teaching and learning by the college
corporate leaders

11.
Skein for CPDL
• The review process
also provides a
valuable CPDL
opportunity for the
college