2008 Woodie Awards
Colleges stay abreast of employers' expectations
Overseas institutions are aiming high for student achievement and experience to gain advantage in workplace environments.
By Jason B. Hogan
Issue date: 6/30/08 Section: News
Originally published: 7/11/08 at 4:51 PM CSTLast update: 9/4/08 at 2:08 PM CST
Each specialized segment is graded from very good to unsatisfactory.
The colleges are reviewed internally and then externally by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education.
The inspectorate's primary objective is enforcing quality control and improvements in the Scottish educational system using inspections and reviews to identify strengths and weaknesses, ultimately, promoting tougher self-evaluation through the institutions.
The schools are evaluated once every four years, McCann said.
"The challenges are different and diverse throughout the 43 colleges," McCann said. "That's the need of HMIe to separately evaluate."
The quality of the learner experience is the initial observational tool, which falls under the direction of the institutions to measure student achievement and attainment, their experience and a process of self-evaluation, McCann said.
At the end of the four-year cycle, HMIe sends an external review team to audit each institution. The team consists of associate assessors from other institutions in Scotland's colleges, along with a student member to include a student perspective.
Through student and staff interviews and an observation of the learning environment, the final analysis that is presented to an HMIe quality board can affect the future funding of that college.
But the political processes and funding allocation are separated into the political level and a funding council. The council provides the funds and the means toward a quality learning environment for the students; that's as far as it goes, McCann said. "That's called autonomy; colleges fiercely depend on autonomy."
McCann said that Scotland's colleges consistently deal with public opinion and political demands.
Among these difficulties, the colleges have to shift emphasis on student learning and training to meld with the employers' market.
But if the qualifications change for employers' demands, Scotland's colleges can easily change a flexibly designed framework so the education still applies, McCann said.
"There is a student demand for choices and progress; employers' requirements for skills and enterprise; and society's needs for employability and inclusion," McCann said. "We develop ideas why these skills are needed and they become more acceptable."
He added, "To deal with poverty is to get people jobs."
The disabled in society receive continuous welfare support, McCann said. But when they have a desire to further their education and become accessable to the marketplace, McCann said the system tells them "we know what you can't do. What can you do?"
The colleges are reviewed internally and then externally by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education.
The inspectorate's primary objective is enforcing quality control and improvements in the Scottish educational system using inspections and reviews to identify strengths and weaknesses, ultimately, promoting tougher self-evaluation through the institutions.
The schools are evaluated once every four years, McCann said.
"The challenges are different and diverse throughout the 43 colleges," McCann said. "That's the need of HMIe to separately evaluate."
The quality of the learner experience is the initial observational tool, which falls under the direction of the institutions to measure student achievement and attainment, their experience and a process of self-evaluation, McCann said.
At the end of the four-year cycle, HMIe sends an external review team to audit each institution. The team consists of associate assessors from other institutions in Scotland's colleges, along with a student member to include a student perspective.
Through student and staff interviews and an observation of the learning environment, the final analysis that is presented to an HMIe quality board can affect the future funding of that college.
But the political processes and funding allocation are separated into the political level and a funding council. The council provides the funds and the means toward a quality learning environment for the students; that's as far as it goes, McCann said. "That's called autonomy; colleges fiercely depend on autonomy."
McCann said that Scotland's colleges consistently deal with public opinion and political demands.
Among these difficulties, the colleges have to shift emphasis on student learning and training to meld with the employers' market.
But if the qualifications change for employers' demands, Scotland's colleges can easily change a flexibly designed framework so the education still applies, McCann said.
"There is a student demand for choices and progress; employers' requirements for skills and enterprise; and society's needs for employability and inclusion," McCann said. "We develop ideas why these skills are needed and they become more acceptable."
He added, "To deal with poverty is to get people jobs."
The disabled in society receive continuous welfare support, McCann said. But when they have a desire to further their education and become accessable to the marketplace, McCann said the system tells them "we know what you can't do. What can you do?"
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