Effective practice |

Professional Learning and Sharing Good Practice in Work Based Learning

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Provider
Grŵp Llandrillo Menai
Number of pupils
2800
Information about the school or provider
Context and background to the effective or innovative practice
Description of nature of strategy or activity
What impact has this work had on provision and learners’ standards?
How have you shared your good practice?

Information about the school or provider

The Grŵp Llandrillo Menai Consortium was created following the merger of Coleg Llandrillo and Coleg Menai in 2012. Since the previous Estyn inspection in November 2013, North Wales Training has been acquired by Grŵp Llandrillo Menai in 2019. Grŵp Llandrillo Menai became a Welsh Government (WG) lead provider for the delivery of apprenticeship programmes at the start of the new contract in 2021. It works with a small network of delivery partners and subcontractors.

Current members of the Grŵp Llandrillo Menai Consortium include Grŵp Llandrillo Menai, Arfon Dwyfor Training, North Wales Training, Achieve More Training, North Wales Fire Service, Tempdent and Sgil Cymru.

Grŵp Llandrillo Menai Consortium’s current contract for the delivery of work-based learning (WBL) apprenticeship programmes has a value of £13.15m in 2022 to 2023.

The consortium mainly delivers programmes across north Wales with a small amount of provision in Ceredigion.

The Grŵp Llandrillo Menai Consortium delivers apprenticeships across the following sectors:

  • Agriculture and Environment Business and Management  
  • Catering and Hospitality
  • Childcare Services
  • Construction Building Services
  • Culture, Media and Design  Digital Technology
  • Energy  
  • Engineering  
  • Education and Information Services  
  • Food and Drink
  • Hair and Beauty
  • Health Care
  • Health and Social Care Services
  • Legal and Financial Services  
  • Life Sciences
  • Property Services
  • Public Services  
  • Retail  
  • Travel, Tourism and Leisure

At the time of the inspection, the consortium had approximately 2800 work-based learners undertaking training on Welsh Government-funded apprenticeship programmes.

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

Grŵp Llandrillo Menai consortium is very broad both in terms of its provision and geographical spread. A key benefit of the consortium is the wealth and breadth of expertise of its staff and from an early stage of the partnership, sharing of good practice and addressing common areas for development has been a key theme for professional learning activities. 

In order to facilitate the sharing of expertise and further develop skills, the consortium began to deliver cross consortium staff development days in May 2012. This provides an opportunity for all delivery staff from across the consortium to meet and undertake a range of professional learning activities.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

The consortium effectively works together to decide on professional learning priorities and themes for training days. These are based on feedback from staff, learners and employers.

Topics covered in the most recent professional learning include:

  • Work skills: how to innovate and digital work skills
  • Assistive technologies: Introduction to read & write
  • Autism Awareness
  • Resilience and mental health awareness and support
  • Bilingualism and Sgiliaith including embedding bilingualism into WBL reviews 
  • Use of Sgilliaith resources to develop assessor and learner Welsh language skills
  • Wellbeing
  • Dyslexia support: practical ways to effectively support learners with dyslexia
  • Giving effective feedback to learners using good practice to help assessors provide feedback at reviews that uses smart targets and embeds cross-cutting themes.

As the consortium has evolved, so too has its approach to professional learning.  Staff and learner feedback are a key driver in determining priorities for training and these are discussed within consortium management meetings.   

The consortium works collectively to share delivery and resources on a range of professional learning activities. This allows the consortium to take advantage of expertise from across the partnership. Key examples include cross consortium training on ALN reform, autism awareness, effective questioning and differentiation and effective embedding of cross cutting themes. This close working relationship across the consortium has also enabled partners to support each other in national developments such as Born Digital. 

What impact has this work had on provision and learners’ standards?

Feedback from staff from conferences and professional learning days show staff valued the opportunity to network with colleagues from across the consortium, to share good practice and build professional relationships. Many attendees highlighted the sessions that focused on resilience, growth mindset and employer engagement as particularly relevant and valuable. There was a clear appetite for more in person training, with several noting how much they enjoyed this.

The positive feedback from staff on their professional learning is also supported in learner and employer surveys. In 2022/2023, the impact of staff development on cross-cutting themes for instance can be seen in 98% of learners agreeing that providers are successful in supporting learners to understand and respect people from different backgrounds and cultures.  The development in skills to support learner resilience and mental health has also had a positive impact on learners with 95% agreeing that the support for personal issues helped them to stay in training.  In addition, overall consortium outcomes for 2021/2022 were above the final national comparator, with particular strengths noted at foundation and higher apprenticeships.

How have you shared your good practice?

Feedback from events is shared across the consortium which helps to inform future developments and the Grŵp has recently established a professional learning local social partnership to share ideas and direct future learning opportunities.

Feedback from the inspection has also been shared at WBL Quality Managers’ Network. 

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Leadership and managementProfessional learning

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