Quality Practice Tool

The four aspects of socio-emotional practices measured by the QPT are warmth, responsiveness, scaffolding and awareness.  Self, peer, or external quality assessments can be used in supervisions to support practitioners to develop their practice, as an organisational indicator of quality, and as way to understand what training and support is needed for staff. Used over time, the QPT will help you demonstrate your continuous quality improvement. If observations are conducted by line managers it is important that this is in a low-stakes environment rather than a performance management climate, as low stakes accountability best encourages learning and development.​

When to Use it ​

The QPT can be done at any time during the course of provision, depending on the goals of the organisation (e.g. continuous quality improvement, programme evaluation, or both). For example, it can be completed mid-programme to get a general idea about how well staff are implementing best practices. It can be completed at the beginning of a programme to inform improvement goals and training priorities, and then at the end of a programme to assess improvements in the quality of delivery practices. It can also be used several times over the course of a programme period to get a more reliable estimate of the quality of practice across the entire programme.   ​

The QPT can be used on provision with young people ages five and up but is most applicable to those aged ten and older who are developing their full range of socio-emotional skills.  ​

Formats ​

The QPT can be completed digitally or on paper. ​

How long does it take?​

An observation would last a 'session' and recording observations takes an average of 20 to 30 minutes. 

Strengths and Limitations​

Strengths​

• The measure is easy to understand and available to use in a self-assessment, peer assessment or external assessor format​

• The QPT can be used in one-to-one provision as a self-assessment or within the context of group-based provision in any format. ​

• The QPT is completed by practitioners, so reduces the requirement for young people to complete surveys, if that is a concern. Equally, for organisations that have well-established youth voice and participation practice, young people may be involved in the observations too. ​

Limitations​

• The measurement is still undergoing a validation process although previous experience strongly suggests it will provide reliable valid information.  ​

• Like all our tools, the QPT should be used "as is", without any amendments.

Interpreting the Data​

Data collected with the QPT can be entered into the College's Data Portal. This will enable you to view change in programme scores over time and the results for your whole organisation.   ​

The average item scores and average scores across the four areas of quality can be used to support decision making on training and development needs (e.g. planning support in the areas where scores are the lowest).​

Comparison of average total quality scores over time would hopefully show your organisation is improving its practice, being even better at what it does.​

Comparison of YES and QPT scores would hopefully allow you to show that young people were supported to engage because it was high quality provision.​

Comparison of YPS and POT and QPT scores would hopefully allow you to show that high quality practice led to the attainment of high levels of outcomes.​