Quality Assurance
Evaluation and moderation outcomes are collated by the Partnership Director into the Professional Learning ‘Annual Module Evaluation and Review’ which feeds into the Self Evaluation Document (SED) and the improvement planning process. The Improvement Plan is reported to and approved by the Strategic Implementation and Planning Group comprising of Headteachers, ITECs, academic and partnership staff. Progress is reviewed regularly. Priorities from the SED are shared with all university and school based colleagues.
To ensure fairness and moderation of standards, school-based work is subject to moderation at meetings organised during the year. School-based work is also moderated by UVTs who work across a range of schools, across all programmes and geographical areas; issues of concern are reported to the Partnership Relations Managers (PRMs), who manage them accordingly.
To further strengthen our procedures:
· ITECs are encouraged to internally moderate assessments with mentor colleagues.
· New schools are supported on an individual basis.
· The role of the ITEC is to have an overview of all placements within the schools and Reflective Mentors often fulfil that role for more than one trainee.
· Lead Schools in School Direct have a moderation role across their placement schools.
· PRMs and the Partnership Director moderate assessments and UVT records after each placement. Outcomes are discussed at joint management meetings and fed back to schools and UVTs.
· External Examiners play a moderation role and annually visit a wide range of schools, observing lessons and feedback, scrutinising the IDPs, interrogating evidence and interviewing school based colleagues. Further details of the role of the External Examiner can be found in the below handbook.
Learning to Teach in Partnership
The university is committed to the concept of partnership because of its potential for the enhanced professional development of trainees. Each ITE programme has been developed in partnership with teachers as a coherent set of interrelated experiences for trainees during both university-based and school-based work.
The School of Education provides a distinct postgraduate programme in ITE, which links higher education with practical and intellectual preparation for teaching in schools. School-based work is an integral part of all programmes, supporting the professional development of intending teachers, enabling them to become proficient to the Teachers' Standards required for Qualified Teacher Status. Each programme reflects the view that teaching is complex and intellectually challenging and all are based on the same model of deliberate approach to learning to teach. The Exeter model provides a shared framework that is used by all trainees, teachers and university tutors.
The purpose of the Procedure for Exeter Model Induction and Ongoing Mentor Training is to ensure that all procedures relating to partner induction and ongoing development and consultation/Community of Practice for each programme are completed according to the requirements of the University of Exeter’s Teaching Quality Assurance Manual (TQA Manual) Student Placements: Code of Good Practice.
This document outlines the Procedure for quality assurance of mentoring and school based work.
The procedure relating to selection and deselection of partner schools according to the requirements of the University of Exeter’s Teaching Quality Assurance Manual (TQA Manual) Student placement: Code of Good Practice, can be found in the link below:
Procedure for selection and deselection of partner schools
The University of Exeter School of Education does not routinely place trainees in schools that are graded Ofsted Inadequate. However, there may be situations such as a school being inspected just prior to or during a trainee placement and graded inadequate or where a school has made significant progress since the inadequate grading. In all cases, the decision as to whether the trainee stays/is placed at the school will be made by the Partnership Director (PD) in consultation with the Partnership Relations Manager, school, trainee and academic as appropriate. This is the Procedure for dealing with trainee(s) in schools graded Ofsted Inadequate.