It’s the nightmare situation that keeps principals up at night and after an Ofsted visit in February, it happened to Lynn Merilion as Ofsted said City of Bristol College was inadequate. She explains what’s been happening at the college
since then.

When we received our disappointing Ofsted grade back in February we knew we had a lot of work ahead of us.

I had joined the college a couple of months before Ofsted visited, and had spent time talking with a wide variety of stakeholders.

Everybody I spoke to mentioned student achievement and the student experience as areas for improvement. The Ofsted report confirmed this.

We are now ten months on from the original Ofsted inspection; so what have we been doing to improve the college? Most importantly, we knew we had to place students back at the heart of everything we do — and that’s what we’ve done.

We established a new mission — Creating Lifetime Opportunities through Outstanding Education and Training — and student-facing values which are embedded into everything we now do.

Students come to college to gain a qualification and part of refocusing on our students means that we need to improve student achievement. Because of this, some of our biggest changes have been in the areas of teaching, learning and assessment.

Our Ofsted monitoring visit in September showed we were making reasonable progress

For our teachers to become outstanding they need to see what outstanding looks like and we decided to use our best teachers to do this.

We created videos and other e-learning tools showing excellent teaching and made these available to all staff; implemented a programme of staff development days with learning from external consultants but also from high performing internal staff; and made some of our best teachers Teaching, Learning and Assessment Coaches (TLACs). They work across the college with individual teachers and groups to provide specific training focusing on the seven non-negotiable elements that must be present in all lessons, as identified by the college’s senior leadership team.

We’ve improved the student experience outside the classroom too, with a comprehensive induction programme for new students at the start of the academic year.

There is a full student calendar of events, including sporting activities provided by our sport maker, embedding equality and diversity and functional skills. Youth workers have been appointed to work with students on a range of issues and, as apprentices, they are in the unique position of being both college staff and students.

So, how do we know what we’re doing is working? Well, our Ofsted monitoring visit in September showed we were making reasonable progress.

The inspectors recognised that we have a robust post-inspection action plan in place with a clear strategy for improving teaching, learning and assessment.

The monitoring visit report described our management team as having a “clear focus on bringing about change and improving the quality of provision across the college.”

In addition, the report praised our “strong and sustained focus on improving the quality and consistency of teaching, learning and assessment” which was “beginning to have a positive impact”.

Feedback from students and staff also shows us how far we have come since February. The recent two-day monitoring visit took place at one of our campuses and I was delighted to receive an email from a member of staff at a different campus asking if Ofsted could visit them too. There is a really positive feeling about the college with staff keen to show Ofsted just how far we’ve come.

Of course, we still have a way to go on our journey to outstanding, and we never lose sight of that, but it’s also important for us to celebrate the achievements we have made to date and to remember that there are areas of the college which we did very well in the original inspection.

We don’t know when our full re-inspection will take place; it could be any time next year. What we do know is that our improvements to date are having a real impact; that our monitoring visit report was positive because of this; and that we are ready to show Ofsted what we can do.

Lynn Merilion, principal,
City of Bristol College

Getting into schools, where information, advice and guidance is known to be a problem, can be difficult for colleges. Catherine Hill explains how it can be done.

Ofsted recently judged us as outstanding but while this is understandably a source of great local pride, the inspectors’ comments about the strength of our partnerships with schools, and the impact these have on the progress of our students, may be of most interest to education policy makers.

We believe they provide a win-win model of best practice for collaboration between schools and colleges to the significant advantage of young people.

The considerable effort we put into helping schools meet their statutory information, advice and guidance (IAG) duties has a very positive impact on the ratio of students moving into jobs or further study after they leave us.

Those partnerships take various forms.

Throughout the year, we run ‘super learning days’ with local high schools, designed around thematic learning experiences. They have included CSI Week — covering subjects as diverse as chromatography in forensics, statistics in advertising and the velocity of blood splatter — and Balloon Car Challenge, in which students work as a Formula 1 race team to create a car using a box of supplies.

Although the focus is on science, technology, engineering and maths subjects, the day incorporates other careers, including HR, marketing and finance

Although the focus is on science, technology, engineering and maths subjects, the day incorporates other careers, including HR, marketing and finance.

By allowing students to live and act out these careers as opposed to simply outlining their options, we are able to offer engaging and useful IAG which is likely to inspire them.

The super learning strategy started three years ago and grew out of experience and chat among our partner schools. Our senior team had become increasingly involved in helping local schools as governors or in support across a range of issues including staff development, marketing and curriculum development. We began to see more clearly how we could help in terms of careers guidance.

In addition, we run an English festival for school pupils, promoting the number of careers around English (where speakers have included stand-up comedians, journalists, songwriters and poets) and a written English campaign, in which Year 7 to 10 pupils are challenged to write a 1,000-word story after completing a critical thinking workshop delivered by college staff and supported by English undergraduates.

Other events include a maths ‘pyramid’ day for primary and secondary schools — where Year 5 pupils are grouped with Year 8 mentors in the college’s university centre, to take part in maths workshops delivered by tutors, assisted by college student ambassadors.

Partnerships are not limited to the secondary sector, not least because there are clear advantages for FE providers in helping develop literacy and numeracy among younger cohorts.

After research from the Literacy Trust found that 1-in-3 children didn’t own a book and 7 per cent had never been to a library, we launched our Illuminators storytelling sessions with Year 3 children. Students from the college’s School of Society, Health and Childhood read to the children to inspire and engage them through stories and literature. So far 620 children have taken part.

Our strategy has been one of reacting to the issues of the day faced by schools. In the case of IAG, high school staff were struggling to know how to meet the demand and how to deliver effectively — many high school teachers are subject teachers and may not have experience of their subject as a career.

We recognised that our teaching workforce were essentially career professionals first and lecturers second, so we could talk confidently and give career experiences in whatever young people wanted. We’ve done those jobs.

We team teach with our partner high school staff and this is where things really take off and become a community of developing practice. As a result, high school teachers can build up their resources and knowledge to contextualise their subjects.

We are all aware of the potential for collaboration and the value of partnerships in getting the right students onto the right courses. Get this bit right and we’ll really start to change lives.

Catherine Hill, deputy principal, Blackpool and The Fylde College

Any preconceived idea that adult literacy and numeracy in the UK was a source of pride will have been seriously questioned over the past year. Harvey Young examines how a nation might improve its English and maths.

This has been a year of turmoil for
education. You might argue that the upheaval has been no more marked than in previous years.

But there’s no doubt that the results of previous years’ policies — or lack of them — have come back to haunt us in the last 12 months, whether it’s the Richard Review, Perkins or the PISA international rankings.

For me, one of the most disappointing figures to come out of the plethora of research and reports that rained down on the sector was revealed in last month’s FE & Skills: Learner Participation, Outcomes and Level of Highest Qualification Held, published by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Skills Funding Agency.

The report tells us that there is a disturbing 3 per cent drop in the number of adults studying English and maths, even though these courses are fully government-funded.

David Hughes, chief executive of the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education, said: “This should set alarm bells ringing, given England’s relatively poor literacy and numeracy levels in comparison with our economic competitors.”

So why is there a drop in the numbers? Well, I fear it’s largely down to lack of political will. There are no targets for colleges or training providers in England to raise literacy and numeracy levels among adults.

There are no targets for colleges or training providers in England to raise literacy and numeracy levels among adults

We may deny it, but when the government sets targets, our sector — like so many others — jumps. The prime example of this is in apprenticeships. Look at how they have blossomed and grown. Few would dispute that this is in no small part because colleges and training providers have government-set targets to achieve.

I don’t know why the government has not decided to encourage the FE sector to grasp this particular nettle. Or has the issue simply been overlooked? Perhaps, but it’s a big thing to overlook.

I’ve heard schools blamed for the national ‘embarrassment’ over basic skills. “If schools did their jobs properly, we wouldn’t have to play catch-up with the adults,” say some in FE.

But this is a national issue that should not be laid at schools’ doors. It is a crisis that calls for a cross-sector response.

Mr Hughes rightly points out the economic risks in having an illiterate and innumerate workforce, but what about the equally serious social repercussions of a skills deficit among our young people?

Poor educational attainment is cyclical. Many adults are not fully functioning members of society simply because of their low levels of literacy and numeracy. They’re locked out of employment, and those in work miss out on promotion. They’re forced to live on the breadline or below it. And, crucially, if school was a ‘waste of time’ for them, it’s highly unlikely that they’re going to support their children’s learning, a key factor in educational attainment.

Hope was high on the agenda last year. The London Olympics was badged as ‘inspiration for a generation’, but adults who are given a second chance at English and maths can inspire generations to come — their children, and their children’s children.

If colleges and training providers aren’t given targets for adults learning in English and maths, it seems inevitable that participation levels will continue to drop. As funding gets harder to come by (and it will, if demand is seen to diminish) the outlook will be bleak for thousands.

So, when you’re writing your greeting cards, calculating how long the turkey needs in the oven, or deciding whether or to laugh or groan as you read out the Christmas cracker jokes, spare a thought for the thousands of adults who will struggle with any of these seasonal rituals.

They deserve better.

Harvey Young, director, NCCSkills

Many employers will struggle to identify and purchase the best possible training packages for their apprentices and providers are best-placed to advise them, says Michael Woodgate.

The chancellor’s announcement that apprenticeship funding will be routed directly to employers is the latest in a long line of policies, proposals and initiatives based on the prevailing consensus that employers must “own the skills agenda”.

Whether it’s Labour’s latest policy proposals or the coalition’s response to the Richards report, “what employers want” is taken as the mandatory starting point for policy making.

Writing in FE Week recently, Michael Davis, chief executive of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES), claimed that the “only plausible reason” for reported hard-to-fill vacancies in the hairdressing sector was the disconnect between the training provided and the needs of employers.

In my experience, there is rarely only one plausible reason for anything and this is almost never the case in the complex area of learning and development.

This simplistic world-view assumes employer demand is articulated perfectly — all that is required is for training providers, learners and the government to respond.

But look at what it is that employers actually want and the situation is not so straightforward.

Employers want their organisations to thrive and to prosper.

This will require, among other things, people doing their jobs well.

The question is how best to ensure this happens.

An intelligent approach would see training and development as a part of good management rather than a substitute for it.

An intelligent approach would see training and development as a part of good management rather than a substitute for it

So the effectiveness of training procurement and the articulation of “employer demand” will depend on the workplace culture from which they originate.

There are some excellent employers who know how to get the best out of their people and buy training that adds value. They rarely suffer skills gaps or shortages.

At the same time, there are some pretty dreadful employers who blame everyone else for their shortcomings.

The vast majority are somewhere in the middle, wanting to do well but not always managing it.

I believe it would be a lot more constructive to acknowledge that this group needs support to improve their management of people, rather than simply pretend they are the fount of all knowledge.

What is the good of buying a “skills solution” without a clear idea of why it’s being bought, what represents value for money and how its success will be measured?

And how effective will this skills solution be without robust management to sustain whatever improvements have been derived from it?

It is an unwillingness to ask and answer these questions that leads to money being squandered on ineffective training.

When the money involved does not even belong to the employer but is the taxpayer’s, the risks of getting poor value are even greater. Who is best placed to provide this support?

Business Link has gone virtual and disappeared off the radar. Trade associations are very good at meeting immediate needs around compliance and legislation, but not so good at more thorny issues.

Most sector skills councils are too busy justifying their own existence to be of much use.

The most obvious answer is the learning provider, but through a different sort of relationship with their employer customers.

Too often, both parties are trapped in a retail, solution-based mind-set, when more in-depth analysis would expose the real issues behind the skills need.

The great risk of such an approach is that the actual “solution” does not lie with the products the provider is offering, hence the reason these conversations rarely take place.

A move to genuine partnership working between providers and employers, where employers see themselves as part of the skills system rather than just articulate customers, is essential if progress is to be made.

Michael Woodgate, Independent Skills Consultant

Turning up on time and being presentable are just two of the life lessons a good spell of work experience can reinforce (or indeed, enforce). Marina Gaze explains how they fit into the new 16 to 19 study programmes.

A couple of weeks back, I enjoyed a stimulating debate with college leaders on issues relating to work experience at the Association of Colleges conference.

Work experience is not compulsory for all learners, but it should be an important part of vocational programmes and we would consider it good practice if all on the academic route have opportunities to develop employability skills in the workplace.

This is why we believe it is important to offer some form of tailored work experience to all learners outside of college.

We understand that many learners have busy lives, some juggle employment as well as study.

However, learners joining the 16 to 19 study programmes, introduced from August this year, are expected to follow a learning programme that is tailored to their individual needs, education and employment goals.

These new arrangements allow for more time to be spent on work experience or non-qualification activities.

Tailored work experience, like this, will mean that learners are able to find work in the future that directly links to their study.

We have not developed specific guidance for the inspection of 16 to 19 study programmes as the Common Inspection Framework for FE and skills adequately covers all aspects of the programme.

However, inspectors do look at outcomes for learners in relation to the extent to which learners develop personal, social and employability skills.

Examples of these would be personal awareness, such as appearance, attitudes, behaviour and punctuality, problem solving skills, and the ability to work in teams.

Learners are expected to make a real contribution in the workplace and develop their skills

We also explore the extent to which learners develop awareness of customer and business needs, as well as the ability to communicate effectively, apply numeracy skills and use computers — all in the context of work.

Ofsted is very clear that where work experience is a planned aspect of a student’s 16 to 19 study programme, at least some of the placement should be external to the provider.

We are fully aware that provider-based working environments, and provider-based employers, such as college companies, can provide a good step-up for learners who need more intensive support and training to build their confidence and skills.

However, these opportunities should not be seen as a complete substitute for an external placement where the students work in an unfamiliar environment and where they are more likely to have to react to situations and circumstances that are new to them.

Learners should progress to external work experience placements at the earliest possibility, especially if work experience is a substantial part of their programme.

We are also fully aware that some learners develop good employability skills while on paid employment they have arranged privately.

Having discussed this with the Department for Education (DfE), we can confirm that this activity can be included as part of the 16 to 19 study programmes, but only if the provider is involved in the learner’s development.

For this to happen, the provider should, firstly, assess the workplace to check that the learner is working in a safe environment and, secondly, agree with the employer and learner realistic and relevant learning objectives linked to developing the learners’ employability skills.

The provider should also arrange for the learner’s progress to be assessed and for constructive feedback to be given.

Inspectors also explore the extent to which work experience provides purposeful work that offers challenge, and is relevant to the each learner’s study programme.

Learners are expected to make a real contribution in the workplace and develop their skills.

They should also have opportunities to apply practical work-related skills in English and maths in the context of work experience.

Above all, we expect leaders and managers to ensure that work experience is well-supervised and that learners obtain a genuine learning experience suited to their needs and, where applicable, their future career plans.

Marina Gaze, Her Majesty’s Inspector, deputy director for FE and skills, Ofsted

Helen Pettifor explains how the Education and Training Foundation hopes to serve the FE and skills sector with an online presence it hopes to develop further.

Like many other personal and professional activities, as the internet becomes more and more a part of our daily lives, the demand for online training and development as part of a blended approach to learning continues to grow.

People like e-learning because it gives them instant access to a wide range of current information, enabling them to supplement and build upon their face to face learning, personalise their approach to continuous professional development (CPD), and research specific areas of interest at their own pace.

This is particularly important to an organisation like the Education and Training Foundation which exists to enhance professionalism and drive up professional standards.

We need to know what works, what does not work and what could be improved as well as what people think we absolutely must keep and continue to develop

Professional learning lies at the heart of everything that the foundation sets out to deliver and achieve, and it naturally follows that the foundation should offer a range of online resources and web services that maintain teaching and learning excellence, enhance leadership and that contribute to the continuing professional development of people working in the sector.

Some of these services, such as the Excellence Gateway, Learning Environment and FE Advice service transferred to the foundation from the Learning and Skills Improvement Service and this transfer of services provides an opportunity for a review to make sure that what we offer continues to best meet sector needs and is as easily accessible to as wide a cross section of users and practitioners as possible.

We already know that each online service has a loyal community of users, and like the sector itself, the content on each different site is diverse with many specialist areas, collections and web domains, which are used differently by different people. But feedback has also shown that the range of resources available is not clearly understood by everyone, and that key useful content such as the English and Maths hub, up to date information about teaching qualifications, Commission on Adult Vocational Teaching and Learning case studies, management toolkits and free courses are not promoted as well as they could be.

Of course, to develop and promote the services in a way that meets sector needs, it is important that we continue to hear and understand the range of diverse and representative views.

We need to know what works, what does not work and what could be improved as well as what people think we absolutely must keep and continue to develop, and what is becoming less useful as our learning styles and opportunities evolve.

With this in mind, a sector-nominated project board and advisory group has been set up to develop options for consultation, and we have put a range of initiatives in place to ensure that we consult widely across the sector and gain views at every level.

We will ask users what improvements they would like to see, and our aim is to create a new service of demonstrable value to the sector and which enhances its reputation.

Lots of changes will be made as we move through the review process over the coming months, and we have committed to building on what works and what is valued by existing and potential service users.

Your voice matters and sharing your views need not be time-consuming — there are a variety of opportunities to get involved, either directly through short onsite surveys or indirectly through more detailed focus groups which will be led by the sector membership bodies. If you use any of the sites regularly, please do take the time to tell us what you think.

We hope that people will see quick wins as well as long term improvements following the review process, which will continue until March, when the transition to new services will begin.

Service will be maintained as normal while the review, consultation and transition to new services takes place. Please keep an eye on the foundation website for further information.

Helen Pettifor, interim lead for the digital estate, Education and Training Foundation

Colleges rated inadequate by Ofsted are given a chance to improve before their funding is withdrawn and it is unfair that independent training providers are not given the same opportunity, says Paul Warner.

The Skills Funding Agency’s (SFA) Approach to Intervention recently set out the process by which contracts held by providers rated inadequate by Ofsted will be handled.

In the case of FE colleges, the SFA will issue a notice of concern specifying remedies to be made to allow the contract to be retained. The FE commissioner will consider how such an improvement plan should be undertaken.

Only after a further review would the SFA even consider issuing a notice of withdrawal of funding.

But when it comes to independent training providers (ITPs), the assumption is that the contracts will be terminated in all but the most exceptional circumstances.

A satisfactory rating may have been missed by a narrow margin and the issues of concern could be resolved

The Education Funding Agency (EFA) has much the same policy and this is clearly iniquitous.

This “all or nothing” criteria for ITPs raises the quality stakes to a frighteningly high level, given that the imposition of an inadequate rating means summary contract termination.

The Association of Education and Learning Providers’ (AELP) position is that in any review of poor quality provision, the reasons for the poor inspection and the future of the learners and employers must be taken into account.

A satisfactory rating may have been missed by a narrow margin and the issues of concern could be resolved.

Consideration should also be given to the possible adverse impact of summary closure on the availability of provision in a given geographical or occupational area.

One reason given to AELP for this unequal treatment is that the legal relationship between the state and FE colleges allows for the leadership and governance of a college to be replaced if necessary, but replacing the owner of an ITP would not be practical.

This ignores the point that it may not be the leadership and governance that needs addressing. It could be the executive management team, the replacement or modification of which is equally possible in a college or an ITP.

The effect of summary closures can also be seen down supply chains, where a sub-contractor may well be forced to close despite the fact it is delivering quality provision.

While the SFA is reasonably aware of its supply chain coverage, the EFA does not have the details of its subcontracting arrangements.

In any case, neither gives it consideration when issuing summary contract terminations.

The AELP is aware of several examples of where good quality provision in a local authority area is adversely affected. In fact vital provision in their area has been closed down on this basis without reference to their views and an indication of the timescale when any replacement may be made available.

We should also remember that there are other reasons when this intervention is implemented such as audit issues.

Again the SFA and EFA should ensure they understand the full implications of implementing an immediate response which results in closure of provision.

We have seen an example recently where it has been accepted that the provider did not make any false claims. Unfortunately, the provision was closed long before the facts were established.

It has been a core policy of AELP since its formation to support the drive for high quality provision and our policy remains as strong as ever, but we need a balanced approach to the position where an established provider receives an inadequate rating.

This response must reflect the opportunity to turn that provision around as it does for FE colleges.

In some cases, a period of review and remedy would be a better response than immediate closure, so the solution provides the best result for learners and employers.

Intervention policies at both the SFA and EFA should reflect this and give all institutions rated inadequate an equal chance to submit realistic improvement plans, before contract termination is considered.

Paul Warner, director of employment and skill, Association of Employment and Learning Providers