Chesterfield College: a new approach to curriculum planning

• 8000 learners• Wide catchment area• 35 million turnover• 8 Directorates• 34 curriculum areas

About us

• External consultants had conducted a curriculum review and found areas of concern

• Remission allocations were increasing• Some courses were being over-taught• Staff utilisation and room utilisation rates were low• Strong emphasis on quality and curriculum but less

priority being paid to costing, efficiency and staffing• Much of the curriculum was based on replicas of

previous years as opposed to the development of future needs

Context

• An internal financial analysis of profit and loss statements on each curriculum area showed some curriculum areas were in a deficit position in terms of their overall contributions to the college.

• The College needed to make some urgent changes or the situation would only become more acute.

Context

Triangulation of:• Curriculum• Finance• MIS• Staff who could act as ‘bridges’ between these

three areas with the support of senior management

Our Solution

• All curriculum linked to latest LMI• Match industry needs• Programmes introduced or retired• Culture change at curriculum management level• Brand new and sophisticated curriculum

architecture• 10% efficiency of GLH delivery• Reduced remission where impact was

questionable• Curriculum offer had to be ‘sold’ to SMT

Curriculum

• Line by line analysis of the contributions of every programme

• 40% minimum contributions per programme• Linked to budget setting • Linked to staffing analysis

Finance

• Maximise funding• Audit the offer• Creation of the data model for planning

MIS

The spreadsheet is based on:• A data extract of the current year’s provision from the

College’s MIS (EBS)• A link to a LARA (Learning Aim Reference Application)

spreadsheet regularly updated via an automated extract• The ability to identify fundability and availability of

proposed aims for 16-18 and 19+ learners• A calculation of efficiency of delivery (based on planned

delivery hours vs funded hours)• A calculation of assumed tuition fee for funded provision• A comparison to the previous year’s data at the same point

in the recruitment cycle.

The Planning Tool

• Business focused curriculum managers• Curriculum linked to LMI and industry• SMT fully aware of curriculum offer• Estimated £1.5 million of efficiency savings• Provision is linked to budgets and staffing• Cycle completed earlier allowing for more

effective contingency planning.

The Impact

• The following slides are screen dumps of the key sections of the planning tool – each screen dump sits to the right of the previous one on the XLS

The Planning Sheet – Delivery Info

Linked LARA Data and Efficiency of Delivery

Planned Learner Numbers and Funding

No. of Groups, Teaching Hours, Costs per learner, Contribution Statement

Additional Programme Planning Tool (1)• The following slides are screen dumps of the programme planning tool.

This shows the timeline for how a planned programme will be delivered

Additional Programme Planning Tool (2)• This gives an overview of the SLN size, overall efficiency and funding draw

down of the planned programme