SWiS impact assessment - give your views

In order to continue to improve the quality of training and development available to support staff, we have commissioned an impact assessment of the support work in schools (SWiS) qualification.

The objective of the research is to see how well the qualification meets the needs of learners and schools, and to identify areas for improvement. It will also provide us with key feedback on our funding, communications and training strategies.

Pye Tait Limited, an independent research company, are carrying out this study and would like to hear from current and former learners on the SWiS qualifications, their school leaders and line managers, as well as training providers who are delivering the training and assessment.

If you are one of these people and would like to feedback your opinion online, please e-mail swis@pyetait.com to be given access to the survey. Please include your job title and a brief description of your relation to or experience of the SWiS qualification in your e-mail. The survey is open until the end of June 2008.

SWiS pilot phase evaluation

We commissioned HOST Policy Research (HOST) to evaluate a phase of the pilot of the SWiS. This evaluation research commenced in November 2005 and was completed by the end of March 2007. The overall aim was to assess whether the SWiS was meeting the needs of schools as employers and their support staff in their work, in order to inform decisions about the future developments of the qualification.

You can download a summary of the evaluation report on the right hand side of this page.

The summary covers the following:

• Training provider practice in terms of marketing, choice of units, use of Skills for Life assessment, delivery methods of SWiS training and assessment
• Learner opinions of SWiS and its impact
• Key learning points for the development of SWiS training delivery
• Areas for consideration for the TDA
• The way forward for the TDA
• "SWiS in-practice" summaries