‘Made by staff, used by staff, lived by us.’
www.ucg.ac.uk
www.cwc.ac.uk
www.cnwl.ac.uk
The UCG Method
Our Students: Their Experience
Introduction
Welcome to our refreshed UCG Method. This method is the underpinning framework for the way we approach enhancing the student experience and outcomes. It describes how we approach the delivery of teaching, learning and assessment to maximise and sustain student engagement, while ultimately enhancing attainment. We believe this is how we secure further opportunities for our students.
We see the method as the delivery mechanism that will help make the college be the college that we want for our current and future students and supports ‘Our College Plan 2024-2030’.
The UCG Method was devised when the college was a relatively new merged organisation and now that the original planning cycle has ended, we enter a new phase of the college’s future with a renewed purpose, and a refreshed set of values and principles designed to help us deliver our new strategic aims. These aims we believe truly reflect the educational character of our College and by achieving them we will deliver our purpose and
‘ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all’.
Our 3 strategic aims are:
1. Our college will provide an outstanding student experience aligned with high quality outcomes delivered in best-in-class facilities for the digital age
2. We will be known for a people first culture that is inclusive, fair, and responsive
3. Ensure that the future of our college is secure through efficient and effective use of resources
The UCG Method was co-created with our teachers through a series of consultations or ‘think-ins’ which led the to the formation of this document. Many of the agreements found in the Method are now a reality and can be seen in the daily work and practice of our teachers.
The Method remains a dynamic and adaptable philosophy to ensure our students come first in all that we do and can adapt to changes in leadership and strategic priorities over time.
However, it still focusses on the fundamentals of ensuring our students can recall, explain, and apply what they learn whilst drawing connections through ideas to help inform their decision making with the ambition to produce work that is new and original. We are actively committed to the three agreements that are the framework within which the Method is defined, and these agreements align to our strategic aims that support this ambition. An ambition underpinned by our values of Inclusion and Belonging, Mutual Trust and Respect, Putting Our Students First, Always Improving, and Compassion and Empathy. These values represent United Colleges Group – a group made in London for Londoners.
Stephen Davis Group Principal and Chief Executive Officer
Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
Our Values
Inclusion and belonging Mutual trust and respect Putting our students first Always improving Compassion and empathy
Our Enabling Principles
We embrace diversity and take pro-active steps to be inclusive We communicate openly and transparently and assume positive intent We put students first in everything we do
We embrace a mindset of perpetual growth, seeking constant improvements in processes, education, and personal development of peers and our students We care about each other, our wellbeing, our development and actively seek to understand and validate the feelings of others
One Method: Three Agreements Agreement One
1 2 3
Teachers will continuously develop their art of teaching supported by the science of education. Providing an environment for innovation with minimal risk, devising a development infrastructure that allows staff to reflect on their own practice, look at their colleagues practice and take an active and action research approach to improvement.
All staff regardless of their role will work to create and support a compelling experience for our students. Exploring what can be done differently through our classroom delivery methods and infrastructures to provide a unique experience for our learners.
We will ensure that we make a difference to our students through evidence-based judgements and impactful measures.
Develop a systematic and holistic framework of indicators that keep oversight of the quality of the product (the teaching) while allowing for innovation.
Teachers will continuously develop their art of teaching supported by the science of education. Providing an environment for innovation with minimal risk, devising a development infrastructure that allows staff to reflect on their own practice, look at their colleagues practice and take an active and action research approach to improvement. 1
Creating an environment for innovation
• Provide time for teachers to have a meaningful reflection of their practice, to collaborate with colleagues and explore different ways of doing things through an Action Research Project, which is embedded in the annual academic cycle
• This may be trialling techniques an individual has not used before, but are being used by others, or it might be trialling a technique that is newly invented and devised by themselves
• It is an opportunity to collaborate, experiment and explore, trial with students, and feed back and reflect with peers as to how things went, or could be refined further
• Contribute to a portfolio of developing the Art of the Teacher annually with the outcomes of the Action Research and celebrate through the staff Teaching and Learning Conference.
Working collaboratively to explore better ways of doing things
• Adopt the lesson observation policy to create developmental observations, where the observation process is re-titled, and re-purposed to tie in with a suite of activity over the academic year, to focus on refining the Art of the Teacher
• Teachers work in tandem with their observer. Within this framework teachers are encouraged to experiment with new ideas, approaches, techniques, technologies/ resources in a supportive environment. The observee is encouraged to step out of their comfort zone and try something new
• Cultivate a culture of constant improvement, where our educators are actively seeking out innovative methods to benefit our learners, which will in turn motivate our staff, while raising the profile of the College as a centre of educational excellence
Agreement One
Working together to learn from each other
• Develop a meaningful peer observation process
• Educators reflect on what works well for them and which areas they want to refine. These characteristics can be linked to a directory of expertise which identifies teachers who might bewell placed to link up with in order to develop specific skills/techniques
• Teachers then arrange to observe each other, to learn from each other in a safe environment
• The themes of the peer observation can be linked to the Action Research projects
• Educators develop confidence in being observed by others. The label of ‘observation’ is seen as something to be welcomed rather than feared; an opportunity rather than an encumbrance
Developing the Art of the Teacher
• Refresh terminology and re-configure approaches to continual professional development
• Link the development of the Art of the Teacher with the Action Research, development observation and pee observation, to create development programmes that focus on individual and subject-specific improvement, alongside the statutory training that is required every year
• Establish teacher-led workshops to share best practices and ideas, including opportunities to target certain levels or specific skills
• Have at least one CPD day that is entirely selected by staff, and demonstrates best practice in the organisation
Listening to students to support improvement
• Utilise learner feedback to contribute to a culture of continual improvement
• Explore wider opportunities for students to support the reflection of their experience in the learning spaces. For example, develop a QR code system where students can leave feedback after each lesson, based on a small number of questions, with space to comment. Or teachers could expand the use of post-lesson postcards for confidential student reflection on the learning they have just experienced
• Include students in teacher development activities and Action Research Projects. Let them know what the focus is and what the expected difference should/could be. Students feed back to the teachers as to how it has impacted on their learning
Agreement Two
All staff regardless of their role will work to create and support a compelling experience for our students. Exploring what can be done differently through our classroom delivery methods and infrastructures to provide a unique experience for our learners.
Recognising the student journey and work flows
• Explore a timetabling infrastructure that better supports flexibility in delivery
• Look at shorter session times for classes with less long breaks for students in the day
• Consider the transition for school leavers coming from secondary school into Further Education, as well as adults returning to education, and the capacity for learning
• Avoid long days for students so they can absorb curriculum content, with a limited amount of learning time per day so they are not overloaded with information. Bring fulltime students into class daily, to consciously pace delivery content in manageable quantities
• Flexibility with timetabling to move away
from set piece events in unmovable time frames, to enable activity to take place that is relevant to the course content, and the chronology of delivery
• Aim for working days to allow for short and long sessions, contingent on the subject and content. For example, theory sessions for Level 1 and 2 learners might be 1¼ hours in length, whereas a practical session might require more time to cover a process. The model to accommodate single, double and triple sessions to allow flexibility
• English and maths classes are spread evenly throughout the week to ensure accessibility for students who need it
Learning to
learn
• Agree an open door policy to anyone who wants to access an education programme that we offer. Where we do not offer what is
required, we seek to broaden our range of courses to provide opportunities for all and be truly inclusive
• Induction designed to aid the transition from school to college for school leavers, and for adults returning to education, to support them with the skills they need for learning, and to expedite relationship building with peers and teachers
• Refresh the induction programme for students, where the design of the activities is more geared towards ice breaking, relationship building and developing skills for the learning they will be doing, avoiding an unbalanced focus of statutory induction tasks, but ensuring these are weaved in the first three weeks of the academic year Wrap around the student – the student at the centre
• Put a greater emphasis on student engagement, getting to know individual learners, and making students very aware that all of us are interested and invested in each of them
• Re-define our professional working relationships with our students that go beyond the their learning in the learning spaces; which develops a successful professional relationship that relies on a certain amount of appropriate knowledge building about individuals’ backgrounds, what their previous experiences have been, not only in academic attainment, but also their social experience in their previous place of learning. Finding out quickly whether individuals have any non-academic barriers to learning, including well-being or financial circumstances which may impede their learning
• Gaining deeper knowledge about individual aspirations and short, mid and long term goals, building a genuine interest in the individual to motivate a mutual engagement from the student • Ensuring no learner is ignored, either inclass, or in the circumstance of absence, or falling behind with work, with a keen eye on each of them from all of us on their welfare at all times
Agreement Two Agreement Three
Broaden the scope of learning and experience through collaboration
• Instigate projects between curriculum areas that are vehicles for students to practice their subject specialist skills. For example, Art and Design students working with Engineering students to realise a concept for a 3D design. Include Business students to make a financial profile and business case for the products, including marketing. This could be piloted through Professional Practice lessons Synergising with the world of work
• Ensure all vocational course materials have relevance to the associated workplace, to bring to life the curriculum content and make connections with industry
• Actively promote opportunities for links with individuals, organisations, and companies that can provide insight into the world-of-work
• Promote the ideology of the ‘clear line of sight to work’ in every day interactions with students
• Directive on the use of terminology when titling assignments, with assignment tasks to use the language of the related industry. Eliminate any reference to assessment numerically (for example, P1, M3, D4 etc.), but rather the title of the project, subject or content of the topic
3
We will ensure that we make a difference to our students through evidence-based judgements and impactful measures.
Develop a systematic and holistic framework of indicators that keep oversight of the quality of the product (the teaching) while allowing for innovation.
What defines the impact we are making?
Recognising the student journey and workflows
We know when we’re doing a great job with students because:
• They turn up to class
• They turn up on time
• They interact with each other and the teacher in the session
• They are enthusiastic about the work they are doing
• They do the work and hand it in on time
• The work handed in is at the appropriate level
• You can see student work improving over time
• When asked, the student tells you, and anyone else that the course is good
• They achieve their qualification and go on to do a higher level course, or get a job
• They exceed their target grades and we have added value to their educational journey
• They participate in other aspects of college life and get involved
• They develop the wider skills that will benefit them in life
Agreement Three The UCG Method
• Create a culture of inclusion that is selfevaluative, through fairness, respect, equality, diversity, inclusion and engagement
• Teachers self-assess against an agreed set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) through dashboard data for live progress of individual students, cohorts and courses, with managers aggregating reporting at Curriculum and Career Cluster level
• Efficiencies in the demand for performance analysis through dashboard data
• Initiate the team around the student, taking a collaborative approach as course teams to monitor the engagement and progress of each learner, utilising the centralised communication and student record system (Pro Monitor) to actively pick up both positive and negative issues
• Providing opportunities in every taught session for learners to contribute in some way, to show their understanding and progress, in order to generate evidence of the progress of each student, to link back to the effectiveness of the delivery
• Use measures of attendance, progress in class, completion of work, completion and submission
of assignments as indicators that curriculum delivery is on track
Recognising the student journey and work flows
Utilise the Power B.I. Dashboard for a one stop daily look at:
• Attendance in class
• Progress of individuals through regular capture of progress points
• Completion rate of assignments
• Accruement of learning outcomes throughout each section of a course
• Finding out directly from the students as to how they are finding their experience through a series of student feedback activities:
• Session by session bite size feedback – short poll survey at the end of every lesson as to what worked well, and even better if…
• Course teams to roll out regular bespoke surveys to students, every 2 to 4 weeks, to find out what they think would add value to their learning
• Student class representative to attend course team meetings to provide feedback from the class
• Student representation at Curriculum Area and Career Cluster Key Performance Indicator Reviews (KPI Reviews)
• Student survey twice yearly
Making a Measurable Difference
The Art and Science of Teaching
A compelling and Life-Changing Experience
Students
“In London everyone is different, and that means anyone can fit in”
Paddington Bear
MADE FOR
