Raising Standards in Post-16 Education

This vast integrated resource pack aims to offer 'a comprehensive guide to best practice at four leading Beacon Sixth Form Colleges'. It comes in the form of six DVDs and a users' guide. (It may also be purchased in video form, though some of the advantages of DVD are lost as a result). Users are also given a password allowing access to a dedicated website. It costs £350 but I was told a 10% discount is available to purchasers mentioning ESCalate. Anyone considering buying the package may visit the website www.met.mmu.ac.uk/raising-standards for further information.

Nine hours of video and documents offer linked examples of good practice in four college areas: improving performance, adding value, making links and widening participation. A too simple guide suggests uses and steers the user through the broad content of the DVDs. These record a number of key events and reflections by participants at the colleges in the form of 'college overviews' and case studies. The accessible website includes a range of related in-house working documentation. Participants' commentaries are interspersed.

The DVDs were a pleasure to view in part because DVD looks cleaner and clearer than VHS, but also because of the high quality of photography, which may even redeem and render more watchable some of the worthier but rather tedious episodes. It is relatively easy to operate. After a short time, I found I was able to move around the package and between the package and the website.

The package is clearly designed in part to assist colleges in responding to Ofsted's common inspection framework. Individual colleges will find it very helpful in staff development. For example, a college faced by inspection might see advantage in showing and discussing with staff material relating to Self Assessment (DVD 1). Anyone working towards the FENTO management standards and wishing to focus upon Leadership and Management will find in DVD 6 a friendly series of descriptions by college principals of their college management structures, accompanied by some homely wisdom on leadership.

However, as programme leader of a PGCE in post-compulsory education, I can see several uses for it as a classroom or student enquiry resource in pre-service teacher education and in in-service staff development. Many teacher educators will be able to see immediate applications for material under the ten 'topic routes'. For example, tutors on pre-service programmes know that student teachers on a mentored placement in a college of further education may valuably explore aspects of college life within their individual placement, but cannot easily share and systematically reflect upon the resulting information with others. Sometimes one invites visiting speakers to provide a shared stimulus. However, visiting speakers can be a let down and these packages provide a more controllable supplement to the placement. Tutors can guide students into evaluating life in the model colleges and help them compare them one with another and with their own placement. I quickly identified for my own programme potentially useful sections and paperwork dealing with personal tutorial systems, educational support, lesson observation, and leadership and management.

Excellent practice is unfolded, and the quality of discussion among participants is often especially high. There is life, personality, reality and wisdom in the words of students, junior staff and of principals. There are also strong values. For example, in each of the colleges a common theme is empowerment. Typically, one principal says that his initial aim was and remains to put himself out of work.

Although no one would describe the material as terribly feisty, people in action sometimes betray underlying strain even in a best practice institution. This is also of value in helping students arrive at an understanding of real college life. The four fatherly principals are interesting and wise but go on just a little too long - as principals will. The stress of the compliance culture that increasingly dominates colleges is indicated in the body language of the co-operative curriculum manager shown surviving a 'self assessment' exercise together with his principal and governors. In places, a healthy rebelliousness is even demonstrated. One college document offering staff 'Guidelines for Lesson Observation' includes a criticism of Ofsted booklets which conflate judgements on teaching and learning.

However, no one should buy this expecting the package itself to supply a systematic critique of inspection regimes, the 'new managerialism' or any other issue. It is not that kind of a resource and it is indeed a strength that users may approach this compilation in their own way. As well as a classroom resource for use by staff developers and tutors, it is potentially useful as an independent learning resource, perhaps as a source of data for student researchers.

I wished the index was more comprehensive. There are nine daunting hours of video material here and anyone wishing to stray outside the ten topic routes may have to wade through a lot of irrelevant material.

'Raising Standards in Post-16 Education fills a bit of a hole in the post-16 professional development resource market and is definitely worth careful consideration. Though in one sense raw material, its careful, professional editing and organised content plainly reflect understanding of the needs of potential users on the part of MMU's MET team. There is potential here for university programmes at all levels, including Masters and other CPD Programmes in post compulsory education and education management, and initial teacher education with pre-service and in-service students. The four institutions are of course sixth form colleges, but the material is of wider relevance to further education and other post-16 institutional contexts. Check whether your institution can supply you with DVD equipment, but if you are interested, act fast because, with the current rate of change in post-16 education, this material is bound to date very quickly.