Sector summary
Welsh for adults
2022-2023
Teaching and learning
What's going well
- Nearly all learners participate enthusiastically and contribute well to their learning.
- In one of the two providers inspected, teaching is highly effective and as a result most learners speak Welsh spontaneously with tutors and each other, without turning to English.
- Both providers offer a full range of mainstream courses from entry to proficiency level in-person and online. One provider also offers valuable bespoke provision in the workplace for a wide range of public and private sector bodies.
- In one provider, many learners benefit from additional provision outside of their usual sessions that supports them to become increasingly independent and active Welsh speakers.
What needs to improve
- In a few cases tutors do not support learners’ pronunciation well enough.
- In one provider, tutors do not have high enough expectations of learners and turn to English when presenting activities and providing instructions. This slows learners’ progress in acquiring and using new language skills, especially in lower-level courses.
- In one provider, tutors do not succeed in encouraging learners to take part in opportunities to use their Welsh language skills outside formal sessions and this impacts on their progress.
Care, support and well-being
What's going well
- Nearly all learners enjoy their learning experiences and are positive about learning and using Welsh.
- Providers succeed in creating close-knit and inclusive learning communities that offer effective and caring support and guidance to learners, including learners with additional learning needs. This has a positive effect on learners’ attitudes to learning and their outcomes.
- Providers communicate effectively with learners and most learners feel that their views are considered and acted upon.
- Tutors provide effective support for learners to catch up with their work so that they can successfully continue with their learning.
What needs to improve
- One provider’s formal arrangements to track and monitor learners’ attendance.
Leadership
What's going well
- Providers are successful in promoting and increasing use of the Welsh within their host organisations.
- In one provider, leadership is highly effective. Leaders at all levels understand their roles and work well together to provide high quality experiences for learners.
- One provider has embedded continuous self-evaluation in all aspects of its work to bring about improvements and purposeful, targeted continuous professional development for staff.
- One provider analyses data effectively to improve learner outcomes.
What needs to improve
- One provider does not use available data to plan provision and prioritise areas for improvement.
- One provider’s professional learning offer does not support tutors purposefully enough to improve specific teaching and learning practices and the sharing of good practice.
- One provider’s processes to assure the quality of teaching and learning are not sufficiently evaluative and robust to identify strengths and areas for improvement.
Overview of recommendations from inspections
2
Two providers were inspected in 2022-2023.
The nature of the recommendations reflects the different inspection outcomes for the two providers.
In the stronger provider, the recommendations focused on continuing to share and embed the good practice observed. We also recommended that the provider further develop learners’ reading and writing skills.
In the weaker of the two providers, four recommendations reflected the key areas for improvement.
- Strengthening leadership and self-evaluation
- Working with the National Centre to develop knowledge, and understanding of data to improve strategic decision-making and forward planning
- Developing continuous professional development that addresses the areas for improvement in teaching
- Developing opportunities for learners to practise their Welsh outside formal lessons
Reflective questions
How well do you as a provider use data as a basis for forward planning and planning for strategic improvement?
- How well do you know your provision? For example, what do data trends tell you about your provision?
- How well do you actively use data to improve the learner experience and outcomes?
- How well do you collect and analyse data outside of the National Centre’s data collection processes?
- How well do you use data, both local and national, to forward plan provision and strategically prioritise areas for improvement?
- How well does data influence your future provision offer? How well does it lead to effective self-evaluation and meaningful reflection and challenge of historical delivery patterns?
- How well does data-analysis lead to continuous professional development and how is the impact analysed?
- How effectively and how often do you discuss data with the National Centre outside of the monitoring processes? Does this offer sufficient opportunities for you to ask for support or challenge the ways in which data is collated and used?
- How does you contribute to strategic discussions on data at a national level that influence future provision and methodology across the sector?
Effective practice
To read about individual providers that are working effectively in specific aspects of their work, visit our effective practice summary page for 2022-2023
