Issue - meetings

As detailed in the recommendations.

Councillor Roberts introduced the Self-Evaluation of Local Government Education Services report which had three key purposes.  The first was to review the process and purpose of self-evaluation and how it was at the core of improving services.

                        The second was to advise of a new framework issued by Estyn for the inspection of Local Government Education Services and the third was to present the current self-evaluation report, based on the new framework.

                        The inspection areas in the new framework focussed on outcomes, quality of education services; and leadership and management.  Judgement would be made on a four point scale: excellent; good; adequate and needs improvement; and unsatisfactory and needs urgent improvement.

                        The Chief Officer (Education and Youth) said Estyn defined self-evaluation as a process and not a one off event, based on the following three questions:

·         How well are we doing and what impact are our services having?

·         How do we know?

·         How can we improve things further?

Self-evaluation should be continuous and an embedded part of the work of the Council.  It would be a cycle that would include planning for improvement, undertaking improvement activity, monitoring the actions taken and evaluating the impact they had.

From September 2017 all local authorities in Wales would be inspected over the following five years with one local authority per region per annual cycle, receiving eight weeks’ notice of the inspection.  Two to three weeks prior to the inspection, the team would make a preliminary visit to the local authority to meet with a range of stakeholders to gather evidence to support the development of their lines of enquiry. 

Flintshire County Council benefitted from highly effective leadership at all levels of the organisation, with strong corporate support for the Education and Youth portfolio.  This was evidenced in the Council Improvement Plan and other strategic documents. 

                        The Chief Executive thanked the Chief Officer and her team for the work undertaken on this, which was an objective and fair assessment.

            RESOLVED:

(a)       That the new Estyn framework for the inspection of education services within the Local Authorities in Wales be noted; and

(b)       That the Self-Evaluation Report of Education Services in Flintshire be approved.