student involvement strategy 2010-2011

STUDENT INVOLVEMENT STRATEGY

2010-2011

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/tt/file_convert/568c50c51a28ab4916afed14/document.doc 1DATE OF ISSUE SEPTEMBER 2009

SUFFOLK NEW COLLEGE

STUDENT INVOLVEMENT STRATEGY

INTRODUCTIONThe Further Education White paper Further Education: Raising skills, improving life chances sets out a requirement for all colleges to have in place a student involvement strategy.

Suffolk New College is committed to promoting, listening and responding to the student voice in order to raise standards and improve the learning experience.

The strategy has to be responsive to the changing profile and needs of college students and as such the strategy has been and will continue to be reviewed in the light of student feedback.

RESPONSIBILITIES

All members of Suffolk New College staff are individually responsible for ensuring that they actively listen to the voice of the learner.

All Curriculum Heads and Programme Leaders will consult with their student body on a regular basis particularly with regard to developing and using student representatives effectively.

The Senior Leadership Team will ensure that the student voice is reflected in Senior Postholder Reviews.

The Chair of Corporation, Clerk to Corporation and chairs of committees will ensure that the student voice is reflected at all meetings.

AIM OF THE STRATEGY

The aim of the strategy is to foster and develop a culture of student involvement at Suffolk New College. It will provide opportunities for students, both individually and collectively, to discuss and critically evaluate their learning and wider College experience.

The potential benefits to both the college and its students of effective student involvement are:

Increased participation, retention, achievement and progression More independent, motivated and self-confident students Better feedback on the student experience to inform quality

improvements and strategic decision making Services and facilities which are better targeted to the needs of

students Identification and sharing of best practice


KEY OBJECTIVES

The college has translated its Student Involvement Strategy into key objectives:

Involve students in managing their learning and respond to individual needs by:

Providing comprehensive pre-course advice and guidance to enable students to make informed decisions about their course of study and progression opportunities2010-11: Provide additional Advice and Guidance day on Saturday 20th November. Continue to use student ambassadors at guidance events – need to be briefed to encourage attendance from all Centres and offer appropriate rewards as necessary

2010-11: Provide Transition Evenings for students with SPLD

Developing a range of induction activities to enable learners to understand how they learn 2010-11: Introduce revised tutor and student induction guides

A programme of six weekly student progress reviews with target setting for all full time students with the appropriate use of Electronic Individual Learning Plans (EILP) and the VLE to assess progress towards agreed targets20010-11: Improve and standardise approach to target setting and monitoring through investment in Promonitor or similar software which has the ability to generate EILP’s and enable students and staff to record and recognise progress.

Provision of an individual and group tutorial programme for students to develop the skills to effectively manage their learning 2010-11: Implement revised group tutorial programme with embedded study skills development material.

Involve students in college decision making and quality improvement processes by:

Provide a range of processes for making students views heard. 2010-11: Review student survey questions to ensure that students have the opportunity to provide feedback on all aspects of their college experience. Ensure that format is tailored to need of individual students and that students understand the questions in order to make an informed response.

Develop and introduce a survey for apprentices to be carried out in February 2011


Introduce ‘Question of the week’ on VLE to enable students to give feedback to current and other specific topics throughout the year

Replace the complaints procedure with a compliments and complaints procedure

Ensure that the students views do not ‘disappear’ and that students see actions resulting from their comments. 2010-11: CCH’s to have meetings with all CC student reps to feedback on actions on issues identified at student forums.

Use a range of strategies to publicise the results of surveys and student forums including the use of notice boards, website, texting and the VLE

Support student led communication of the student voice through Talking Heads and SCAM radio

Resource the Student Union, including the post of two sabbatical officers who are members of the college corporation with representation of college committees

2010-11: Embed Student Union fully and support them through development activity

2010-11: Arrange support for officers

The Student Union and the college will work together to train new student representatives training programme so they can effectively gather and report the views of students and feedback from student forums and parliament2010-11: SU to provide input on parliament and the role of student representatives in the training programme

The Student Union and the college will work together to continue to increase the level of participation in union elections and Student Parliament

Regular meetings between Student Union sabbatical officers and the Principal and Vice Principals

2010-11: Minutes and actions to be presented at SLT, CC Student Forums and Student Parliament

2010-11: Evidence from CC Student Forums to be considered at CC Team meetings and clear actions agreed and minuted

Actively involve students in the college’s self assessment process and the judgements that underpin it2010-11: student representation at SAR moderation events2010-11: Student representation at Institutional SAR event2010-11: QIP to Student Parliament for comment


All course teams will maintain evidence of the use of student feedback to improve student experience

2010-11: Publish results of actions on notice boards and on homepage of VLE

Involve students in the appointment of academic staff and lesson observation feedback2010-11: SU President/ Vice President to be member of every academic appointment task panel

Measuring and reporting on the impact of the Student Involvement Strategy by:

Reviewing and amending the strategy annually as part of the college self-assessment processes. The responsive strand of Framework for Excellence and the CIF will provide key points of reference

2010-11: Strategy updated with actions identified Use recruitment, student satisfaction and success rates to

measure the impact of the strategy2010-11 Devise impact measures for monitoring effectiveness of strategy

Seeking evidence that:

o Student views have been taken seriously and have triggered improvements

o Student representatives are satisfied with their roles and the impact of their roles

o self assessment content and development plans link directly to student feedback

o Student involvement activities lead to clear and well publicised actions

o Students have been actively involved in the self-assessment of this strategy.


student involvement strategy 2010-2011

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