As the TES FE Awards, the Association of Colleges Beacons and our own LSIS Beacon accolades acknowledge, there’s plenty of excellence and quality in our teaching and learning.
 
But, Ofsted’s recent annual report serves to demonstrate why we are never complacent about the issue of achieving consistent delivery across all we do as a sector.
 
The report comes at a time when our whole approach and remit is undergoing yet a further shift,  this time in response to New Challenges, New Chances.

Providing high quality teaching and learning is acknowledged in New Challenges, New Chances as the major concern for us as providers, especially in responding successfully to the social and economic challenges of the day.
 
So what is LSIS together with its partners doing to help advance quality teaching and learning across all providers and all strands of activity?
 
Our strategy, which is set out in our Strategic Intentions documents and embedded in our Improvement Services’ Offer for the academic year, concentrates firmly on activity that will deliver change and drive up standards.
 
Through the offer we have targeted our funding and resources on specific areas such as developing leadership and management capability, and improvement in science, mathematics and engineering. We have placed emphasis on creating new opportunities for sharing effective practice and on building sector expertise that can then be communicated effectively through these new channels. 
 
We have set out to make greater use of the sectors’ own research and disseminate the outcomes of that research more widely and effectively to build expertise. And we have concentrated our activities on promoting the effective and creative use of technology to transform teaching and learning practice and the whole student experience.
 
As the year draws to a close and we move into the festive season, we can all take further time to reflect on our achievements to date and on what still needs to be done in driving consistency across the broad range of what we do in this important area of our work.
 
On behalf of all my colleagues at LSIS I send you seasons’ greetings and wish you a prosperous New Year in the continued drive for excellence in all that you do for learners and the communities we serve.