https://www.researchgate.net/publication/362344336_A_structure_for_continuous_improvement_in_workforce_development_a_conference_paper

 

 

A structure for continuous improvement in workforce development: a conference paper

 

 

The Spiral of Robust Education

Ellis 2022

 

This paper is being shared altruistically as the concepts may be of value to others in the generation of their organisational learning and development. It is a simple but robust concept that has gained favour with external agencies such as the Care Quality Commission in the United Kingdom and draws upon a minor element of my Doctoral research (Ellis 2022). Many of the concepts are already well understood in the workforce development sector and therefore I cannot see this as a “staggeringly” original piece of work that on its own could be worthy of formal publication. However for the many people who have asked me for a copy, here it is openly available on ResearchGate.

Best wishes

Jon Ellis

 

 

The purpose of these standards is to set out processes that are replicable across our courses from single lectures to multifaceted workforce development programmes and gives us a defensible position against inspection or legal challenge, protection of intellectual property through uniform development and storage, as well as a commercially saleable product. The process is a spiral and not a circle. A circle returns to the beginning, a spiral builds on the previous experiences and progresses to a vortex that draws in positive development of education and thus services.

Through this process we will demonstrably respond to the 4 Primary Curriculae and their sub-groups.

Planned Curriculum	Explicit Curriculum	Goals and Standards that follow accepted syllabi and legislation
	Implicit (Hidden) Curriculum	Demonstration through the teacher as a role model of desirable and undesirable socialisation
Delivered Curriculum	Explicit Curriculum	Goals and Standards that follow accepted syllabi and legislation
	Implicit (Hidden) Curriculum	Demonstration through the teacher as a role model of desirable and undesirable socialisation
	Teacher’s experience of the lesson	What worked, what did not work and options to evolve the lesson. Documented on the feedback form or by direct email.
Experienced Curriculum	Explicit Curriculum	Goals and Standards that follow accepted syllabi and legislation
	Implicit (Hidden) Curriculum	Demonstration through the teacher as a role model of desirable and undesirable socialisation
	Student’s experience of the lesson	What worked, what did not work and options to evolve the lesson. Documented on the feedback form or by direct email.
Affirmed Curriculum	Stakeholder Feedback, Clinical Feedback, Class, and Teacher Feedback review, National and Local Standards review, V-C 1080 Appendix 3 requests for educational content leading to development of the lesson(s)	Archive the old presentation Approve the new presentation

 

The Key Elements are:

1.           Scheme of Work 2.           Presentation 3.           Lesson Plans 4.           Assessment 5.           Qualified Practice		The Planned Curriculum & The Delivered Curriculum
6.           Feedback		The Experienced Curriculum
7.           Review		The Affirmed Curriculum

 

 

1)      The Scheme of Work

 

A Scheme of Work is more than just a syllabus but less specific than a lesson plan. In essence a scheme of work is akin to a module or course handbook in its scope. It can also function as a proposal or request for an education intervention. A simple form to facilitate this and support the education team in producing a formalised education package has been provided:

 

A Request for Educational Content (Appendix 1) submission to the Head of Workforce Development or the Head of Safeguarding will define:

 

                     i.            Who requires the intervention?

                   ii.            The urgency of the intervention.

                 iii.            The target groups.

                 iv.            The divisional preferences for delivery style.

                   v.            The desired learning outcomes and academic level*.

NB. No one will be expected to complete this in isolation. It is fully expected that completion of a Request for Educational Content will be best achieve in a specific meeting between the Head of Workforce Development and/ or the Head of Safeguarding and the Requesting Manager to achieve a thorough answer to the questions and analysis on this form.

*Academic level – this is unless stated otherwise, accepted as Level 7 as this reflects the expected competency standards.

 

For Safeguarding this is unless stated otherwise, accepted as Level 3 as this reflects the Statutory and Mandatory Framework.

 

Upon receipt of the completed form the relevant staff members will be allocated the task of producing the education package.

 

2)      Approval of the presentation in the format(s) requested is a 3-step process.

 

                     i.            Review of Draft in consultation with the Requesting Manager, Author, and Head of Department (and other specialists as required).

                   ii.            Approval of Presentation, Lesson Plan and Assessment Tool by Requesting Manager, Author, and Head of Department (and other specialists as required).

                 iii.            Ratified at Workforce Development Group.

The presentation will be produced that reflects the:

 

Corporate Presentation Guidelines  

 

Supported by the PowerPoint template as appropriate

 

A similar template and key element structure can be created for the Access Learning Management System.

 

Each education package will have its own folder on a central secure Drive under the Workforce Development Group containing the following sub-folders or files:

 

                                                   i.      Archive of all previous version materials by year

                                                 ii.      Current Presentation – version and date

                                               iii.      Current Lesson Plan – version and date

                                               iv.      Current Assessment Toll – version and date

                                                 v.      Supporting Materials

 

3)      Lesson Plans

A lesson plan provides you with a general outline of your teaching goals, learning objectives, and means to accomplish them, and is by no means exhaustive. A productive lesson is not one in which everything goes exactly as planned, but one in which both students and teacher learn from each other. A lesson plan is an essential element of a robust teaching package as it seeks to ensure uniform delivery of the intended “message” by all teachers involved in its rollout. A common failing at all levels of education is a teacher that simply relies on their presentation to guide the lesson because they wrote it, and they are the only person who will teach it; unfortunately when someone else needs (due to staff sickness for example) to teach the lesson the results will vary because the key to the direction of the lesson is missing, and quality may be affected. The lesson plan is a key element to the defence of an educational intervention because it demonstrates planned, uniform delivery.

All educational presentations will have a lesson plan.

There are 2 standardised Lesson Plan Templates (Face to Face and eLearning Lesson Plans Appendix 2) both of which meet Ofsted and the Higher Education Academy (HEA) standards which in turn are underpinned by the QAAHE standards.

eLearning Lesson Plans – another common failing in education is the development of asynchronous distance education, usually presented in the modern world, in an electronic format where the developer fails to plan for sufficient support for the student. Asynchronous education must include sufficient materials and explanation to take the place of a direct narrative from the teacher. The eLearning Lesson Plan will again demonstrate thorough planning and guide the person writing the eLearning package to ensure this support is in place.

Objectives and Sub-objectives (also known as Learning Outcomes)

These will be written to the Performance, Condition and Criterion structure (Mager 1997) as taught on the Practice Educator (PEd) Course and described in detail in the Developmental Action Plan Guide. This way there is little chance for confusion in gauging attainment.

 

4)       Assessment Tools

 

An Assessment Tool will accompany most educational interventions, because simply attending a lecture is insufficient to prove attainment of knowledge and skills. If we examine one of the simplest definitions of teaching.

 

“Teaching is a planned experience that brings about a change in behaviour.”

 

One might stand in front of the assembled class and teach but teaching and learning are very different things. Just because a teacher has imparted knowledge there is no guarantee that the class has learnt this information, only by assessment do we establish that learning has taken place, and only through repeated assessment can we establish retention of knowledge.

 

The content of the assessment will very likely simply reflect the content of the presentation, to help ensure quality assurance of the teaching episode and in line with the Request for Educational Content discussed earlier and because as an organisation we are focused on performance management and achievement of the organisational goals. Our in-house education interventions have little or no time for the joy of Liberal Education as practiced in Higher Education in which assessment encompasses the results of many hours of self-directed study. Although reflective activities and projects are possible under certain circumstances.

 

The assessment tool chosen may be as simple as:

 

·       A question-and-answer session,

·       A discussion group, or

·       A Role-Play exercise.

But these often suffer from the lack of a clear, individualised record.

More robust assessment tools might include:

 

·       Question papers – these will require review of the presentation

·       Fill in the blanks – these will require simultaneous reading of the original text to find the answer

·    Multiple Choice – (any question to which the answer is “all of the above” will be rejected).

·       True or False

·       Short Answer

The advantage to these is that recording, archiving, and proving achievement are simple.

 

·       Online testing and marking are in development.

CPD Certificates will be awarded upon successful completion as confirmed by the PEd teaching the course by signing the confirmation of completion on the course Register and returning the register and any assessment sheets to the Learning and Organisational Development Manager and copied to the Head of Workforce Development

 

5)      Practice Educators

A Practice Educator (PEd) will need expertise in the subject area in order to teach students, or the support of a subject expert during delivery of the education package. Teaching methods include lectures, seminars, tutorials, practical demonstrations, field work and e-learning.

The Practice Educator course has been designed to an appropriate academic standard, which will prepare PEds to support both qualified clinicians and university students – appropriate to their own skill level. The course covers the 3 elements of Practice Education – Workplace training, Mentorship and Preceptorship and Clinical Supervision. PEds will only teach short courses such as Basic Life Support (for which they will receive specific additional training and practical support) or facilitate secondary learning for students that have already passed the theory/ pre-placement element of their university education i.e. they are not expected or required to teach clinical knowledge and skills to some who has not already had formal education on the subject.

Practice Educator Assessments

·       Complete PEd Development Part 1 (Monday to Wednesday)

·       Complete PEd Development Part 2 Train the Trainer – BLS (Thursday and Friday)

Then -

·       3 Completed (different people) assessment activities.

The course ensures that we can demonstrate that we have PEds that are trained to deliver education and to make fair educational decisions when students are under assessment.

Quality Assurance of PEds

Each PEd will have

                     i.            An annual peer-review

                   ii.            The Head of Workforce Development will monitor feedback forms

 

6)      Feedback

 

Feedback forms have the space for both students and PEds to comment on the lessons.

 

Electronic delivery formats – it is hoped that we will eventually have an online education development tool which will in turn have an online feedback form. Outside of this for example Zoom delivery, emails to the PEd who delivered the lesson or to the Head of Workforce Development will also be reviewed as part of the feedback system. Feedback forms can be sent out on request.

 

7)      Review

 

Feedback forms will be monitored and thematically analysed for trends from which modifications to packages can be facilitated in agreement through the Approval Process described in Section 2.

 

The original author will annually review education packages where available or a delegated reviewer with appropriate subject knowledge. Updates against current standards will be made to:

 

·       A New Copy of the Presentation with New Version Number and Date.

·       The old version will be archived

This way we will be able to demonstrate what we currently teach against what was previously taught to previous standards and thereby enabling defence of historic claims.

 

References

Ellis J (2022) What are the lived experiences of Advanced Paramedic Practitioners working in the emerging specialty of Integrated Urgent Care? Available at ResearchGate.net  DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.14458.57282

Mager, R.F. (1997). Preparing instructional objectives. 3rd Ed. Atlanta. CEP Press

Slavin R (2003) 7th Ed Educational Psychology Theory & Practice, Allyn, and Bacon

Wolf, A (1995) Competence-based assessment. Buckingham: Open University Press.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Appendix 1

Request for Education Content

(please complete one form for each education topic request)

Date of Request
Name of Directorate
Name of Subject Lead (and contact details)
Title of Education Required

 

Priority	Descriptor	Please Tick	Specific Deadline	Update Frequency e.g. every 3 years
RED	Immediate (Education to produce education flyer within 5 working days of request. All staff to have confirmed receipt of education through regions/ departments with 15 days) of distribution of request.
AMBER	Within Year (within financial year) roll out of content within education currently being delivered.
GREEN	Non urgent (future financial year) roll out of content.

 

Is the Education...
Part amendment to existing content
Complete re-write of existing content
New Subject
Part removal of existing content
Complete removal of subject

 

Origin of Education Request
National Compliance Standards e.g. CQC
Identified through PDR or Clinical Supervision
Subjects identified through Clinical Workforce Development Group (including SIs)
Subjects identified through National or Local changes in practice
Organisational Business Plan

 

Indicate the staff groups who this education relates to by placing a tick in the relevant boxes
All Staff
If the education does not apply to all staff, please indicate the specific staff group
111 Staff		Supervisors
UTC/ UCC Staff		Managers
Home Visiting Staff		Senior Managers
Clinical Admin Staff		Other – please specify
Non-Clinical Admin Staff
Indicate the delivery method(s) of this education
Face to Face		Regional/ Departmental Poster
E-Learning		Organisational Bulletin
Workbook		Departmental Bulletin
Cascade System via PEds		Other – please specify
SOP Insert
NB- if the education request is RED please state how you are going to update all relevant staff within the set time scale: (e.g. have you budgeted to cover staff attending education).
NB- If the education request is AMBER please state how you are going to update the staff who have already completed their education programme for the current year:

 

Details of Education
Indicate who will be responsible for setting and writing the content	Subject lead (as identified above)
	Line / Department managers
	External agencies
	Education and Training Team
Indicate who will be responsible for delivering this education	Subject lead (as identified above)
	Line / Department managers
	External agencies
	Education and Training Team
If the Education is to be delivered face to face, please indicate the approximate length of session (in hours)
If the Education is to be delivered face to face, or cascade please indicate if there is a train the trainer requirement
If the Education is to be delivered face to face, or cascade, or via e-learning please indicate if there is a requirement for specific facilities and/or equipment
The identified subject lead is responsible for evaluating this education. Please indicate how the evaluation is to be conducted
Learning outcomes (identify the main points that the education needs to cover and also attach the evidence to support your request)
Please indicate here any other specific details regarding this education (e.g. different levels of this) education required, relevant to different staff groups)

Appendix 2

Lesson Plan
Date	Time TBC	Duration Incl. Breaks	Building TBC	Room TBC
Programme
Module
Subject
Topic
No. Students
Tutor: Student Ratio
Lesson Aims
Specific Learning Outcomes
Previous Knowledge Assumed
Materials and Equipment Required Register
Assessment Method
Differentiation The approach to this lesson should be one of support for all levels of student. Students should be invited to discuss in private tutorials any concerns they have over diversity and differentiation. Common concerns will likely be Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, and Dyscalculia for which further Hidden Disability support is available. Hidden Curriculum issues (that is previous discrimination on the grounds of impairment, age, sex, race, social class etc.) for mature students might also affect confidence in the classroom setting.   Safeguarding

Timing	Sub objective	Teacher Activity	Student Activity	Resources/ Notes/ Differentiation
				The PPT is produced in a font and background identified as supportive of Hidden Disabilities including Dyslexia and Irlen’s syndrome.
min	TSSBAT:		In Plenary
Coffee Break 30min

eLearning Lesson Plan
Date	Time TBC	Duration Incl. Breaks	Building TBC	Room TBC
Programme
Module
Subject
Topic
No. Students	Variable
Offline Tutor Support	Yes or No
	Contact Email if Yes:
Lesson Aims
Specific Learning Outcomes As per sub objectives
Previous Knowledge Assumed
Materials and Equipment Required Register via automatic Moodle record
Assessment Method
Differentiation The approach to this lesson should be one of support for all levels of student. Students should be invited to discuss in private tutorials any concerns they have over diversity and differentiation. Common concerns will likely be Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, and Dyscalculia for which further Hidden Disability support is available. Hidden Curriculum issues (that is previous discrimination on the grounds of impairment, age, sex, race, social class etc.) for mature students might also affect confidence in the classroom setting.   Safeguarding

Estimated Comprehension Timing	Sub objective	Teacher Activity	Student Activity	Resources/ Notes/ Differentiation
The time of each section is down to the student, but this section is an estimation of the time for comprehension of the content by a student with the minimum level of previous knowledge.		Although a teacher is not present during teaching sufficient content must be included in the materials to replace the presence of a teacher.   This section should include Links to resources that support the narrative and notes on key themes for inclusion in the topic:		The PPT is produced in a font and background identified as supportive of Hidden Disabilities including Dyslexia and Irlen’s syndrome.
min	TSSBAT:	Links to resources:       Key Themes:	Electronically supported self-study
min	Assessment		Completing Online Assessment
			Completing Feedback
			Print Certificate