Glossary
Curriculum planning
Deciding what will be taught, to whom, for how long, and with what staffing.
In full
Curriculum planning decides the aims a learner will take and the hours behind them, which is where funding is really determined. By the time the data reaches MIS the decisions have already been made.
This is why curriculum teams need to understand planned hours, aim selection and notification deadlines: those are funding decisions, made in curriculum.
Where this comes up
module
What curriculum decisions do to funding
Curriculum teams make funding decisions every week without calling them that. This module connects each decision to the data it creates and the money it moves.
diagnostic
An aim is on the ILR but generates no funding
The aim validates and appears on the ILR, but generates no earnings. Validation and funding are different tests: a record can be perfectly valid and still not qualify for funding.
module
Devolved adult funding: whose rules apply
The learner's home postcode decides which authority funds their adult skills learning, and therefore which rules, rates and reporting apply.
scenario
Hours are planned to reach a band rather than to deliver a programme
A programme is designed with just enough hours to reach a higher funding band. Is that legitimate?
module
How further education funding actually works
Colleges are not paid a block grant for teaching. They are funded through several separate streams, each with its own rules, and each earned by recording delivery in the ILR.
module
The collection year: what each return is for
Fourteen returns, each restating the whole year. Three of them matter more than the others, and knowing which is most of the job.