Use of data

It provides our view on the use of data by education providers, including our regulatory requirements, and what we commonly see in programme delivery.

This information should be considered by education providers when developing new and existing programmes linked to this area.

Our threshold requirements

We expect to see that data, such as feedback data and quality metrics, is used to inform decisions about quality assurance and enhancement, in the academic and practice settings. This links to SET 3.4 (The programme must have regular and effective monitoring and evaluation systems in place).

Summary reflections 

All education providers used data and intelligence in some way, usually to assess quality, inform actions and (less frequently) to measure the success of interventions. Sometimes data was continually monitored with escalation required when certain thresholds were reached. Some education providers used data as a starting point, with further interventions and feedback mechanisms used to explore results with stakeholders. This helped education providers fully understand problems and come to better solutions, and we consider this good practice in this area.
 
Many education providers run an annual planning exercise, where they consider data about applicants and learners (including retention), partner organisations (such as number of placement opportunities), and competitor institutions. This helps education providers understand workforce need and training capacity, to ensure staff and learner recruitment in line with staff to learner ratio expectations, and within other resource conventions.

Education provider approaches 

Through our assessments, it was clear that education providers consider data in developing their programmes. Normally, they were aware of disappointing results, and had plans in place to address these results. These areas are referenced through our analysis for specific portfolio areas. 
 
Data used by education providers to inform quality and developments includes: 

• feedback surveys from individuals at key points, such as learners and practice education providers;
• internal academic data sets (for example, to understand continuation rates by protected characteristics);
• National Student Survey (NSS) results (only applicable for undergraduate programmes at HEI education providers), broken down to the profession or programme where this was useful;
• National Education and Training Survey (NETS) results (only applicable for HEI education providers in England), focused on learner experience of practice-based learning - some education providers commented that it was difficult to interpret results with low response rates for the exercise; and
• diversity data in admissions, to consider where groups are under-represented in applications, and to consider differential outcomes - this data is then used to consider which groups should be focused on in future recruitment activities. 

Data is most useful when it is then used by education providers to inform actions and developments, and some education providers recognise the value of sharing data with others within the sector to inform broader conversations. 

Current sector focus and challenges

Not all education providers, with a relevant model of learning, routinely review external data linked to practice education providers, or where they were, they do not always do this in a structured way through their quality assessment procedures. When we picked this up with education providers, some did not consider they needed to consider external reports due to the robustness of their internal practice learning quality audit systems. We have developed our guidance to be clearer in our expectation that education providers should use all relevant information and data in considering the quality of practice-based learning.
 
The usefulness of some survey results data is hampered by poor response rates or feedback fatigue. Education providers aim to make internal improvements to drive up response rates, but they are not in direct control of external exercises, such as NETS.
 
Education providers who are not included in our external data supplies may wish to establish a supply of data with us, to develop our understanding of risk levels for the provider and their programmes.