St. Helens and Associated Boroughs

Objectives

To work across four Boroughs in the North West in identifying measurable standards of performance that might contribute to medium term strategic goals for a learning town. The part of the Guide on which the project was based was the Performance Strand, particularly those parts that deal with benchmarking and target setting.

The project had four elements:

• unstructured interviews with lifelong learning managers
• structured questionnaires to named individuals
• searching of the internet for relevant data
• the joint dissemination of findings and workshop discussion.

It involved examination of the current raft of measures being used to establish baselines and to set local targets. The hope was that there would be indications as to how performance indicators, and qualitative measures might be developed that would complement the national targets and looked towards benchmarking the quality of education and training provision.

The survey covered two main areas:

• satisfaction with the current National Targets; and
• the identification of other measures and benchmarks, which might provide data likely to be of use in the particular towns.

Outcomes

The survey showed general satisfaction with the national target but targets for adults were felt to be much less useful and appropriate than targets for young people. There were particular problems with the participation target which was felt to be about right by only a third of respondents although there was a fairly equal division between those who felt it to be too high and those who felt it was too low.

What the survey showed was a belief that measures outside the National Targets were needed and that those responsible for the development of lifelong learning needed to be able to measure their activities and their successes against those of other communities. Specific areas were suggested in respect of young people but the recommendations for adults were much less settled. Basic and key skills were mentioned but other specifics were not clearly identified in the project report. There was a view that local targets might better be expressed in numbers than percentages.

The Internet search reflected the difficulties that the authors of the Guide had experienced in searching for targets and baselines for learning. Examples of some interest were found from the USA and Australia but there is a paucity of data relating to England.

The final part of this project involved a day seminar, which included representation from Blackburn and Darwen Borough Council who were the partner authority in this grouping. Findings from both the consultants used were presented and there were workshops on the usefulness of the toolkit and on how learning community approaches can give national and local learning targets a higher profile.

These two projects found the Guide limited in its usefulness and felt that in its current form it did not provide sufficient guidance for a community to construct its own set of valid measuring mechanisms. There were a series of recommendations about how the Learning City Network might create a more useful document but in summary the project states in its final report: -

"There need to be examples of the types of data that provide a foundation for identifying and selecting targets. There is a need for guidance on data-gathering and re- measuring performance against the indicators. The application of benchmarking is not to be taken on without a clear set of objectives and the kit needs to provide practical assistance with identifying and selecting appropriate benchmarks."