Looking at the bigger college picture

A new focus on teaching and learning may well have become the valued hallmark of Ofsted’s current common inspection framework, but, asks Lynne Sedgmore, is there scope for a wider examination of the college offer?

Over this past year, mention of Ofsted has generated mixed emotions in many colleges.

Some ill-informed remarks have been made, grades have fallen — and risen — and the overall narrative has been one of ‘system failure’ in skills, and lack of attention on teaching and learning.

It is important to acknowledge appropriate criticisms of the system — particularly perverse funding which has created bizarre incentives and an over focus on chasing funding and qualifications.

We would add to the systems failure, an inspection framework which did not always focus on the broader aspects of colleges in their diverse communities.

So it is good to feel the future is turning to one of collaboration and better mutual understanding.

Those who work in Ofsted are, on a human level, interested in the same things as the rest of us — student success and educational excellence. It is foolish to argue that the focus of the common inspection framework (CIF) is not right in these respects. A clearer, stronger focus on excellence in teaching, learning and assessment through understanding what actually happens in the classroom rather than looking primarily at results on paper has to be welcome.

And allying every judgment to the core business of teaching and learning is vital.

The 157 Group has long argued for colleges to work with Ofsted in a mature manner, not seeing them as the enemy, but as professional partners, with differing perspectives, to bring about needed change.

Ofsted plays a crucial and invaluable role in providing a nationally-recognised quality mark — and, for some constituencies (often parents, used to dealing with schools), it is their primary quality assessment tool.

However, there is a huge risk that the current view of college success is severely limited by the criteria used in the CIF and we would argue that the nature of a successful college is much broader in scope. There is a public perception that Ofsted judgments are made on the whole college. In reality, this is not the case.

Colleges are integral to their community and any judgement of their success should also include the extent to which they have contributed to the skills and growth of their locality — as demonstrated in their unique mission. 157 Group is keen to work with other college membership groups and Ofsted to set in motion a movement which requires additional processes and mechanisms for assessing the overall performance of colleges.

The outcome of such enhanced processes and mechanisms will provide judgements and information which will be useful, meaningful, reliable and relevant for everyone who has a stake in the skills and success of our society and economy.

We believe that colleges already hold an additional wealth of evaluation material that can usefully sit alongside current Ofsted criteria to give a more complete and rounded picture.

Suggested examples include student testimonies and industry or sector awards — awards, gained through competition and judged by peers and recognised experts in teaching and learning demonstrate innovation and excellence in the leadership of teaching and learning; and, student evaluations and employer satisfaction surveys, which demonstrate customer satisfaction and stakeholder feedback.

Further examples are winning contracts in competitive bidding processes — the recruitment of both fee-paying and employer-sponsored students and the number of associated entrepreneurs or spin-off companies demonstrates employer engagement; and genuine engagement with local enterprise partnerships and economic impact studies, which demonstrate a contribution to the local economy and community.

Finally, there’s global brand recognition — awards for international provision demonstrate the reputation of a college and the contribution they make to globalisation and UK plc; and, college support and sponsorship of university technical colleges, academies and other 14 to 19 models, which show how the college is an integral part of a whole phase approach to learning.

The future is bright – and the future may be Ofsted-plus?

 

Spot the inspection difference on work-based training

Different delivery environments for vocational learning are a hallmark of many independent training providers — and that’s something that needs proper recognition from inspectors, says Stewart Segal.

When the latest common inspection framework (CIF) was introduced, it was clear that inspections in the sector would be very challenging.

It was not just the reclassification of satisfactory to requires improvement, but the emphasis on teaching and learning was always going to be a challenge in a sector where employer engagement and on-the-job assessment play such important roles.

Despite attempts to ensure all learning is given equal credit, many providers feel the inspection process reflects traditional classroom approaches.

Work-based learning by definition takes place in the many different environments of the workplace, often involving very small groups or even individual trainees.

The training provider may also be operating across several sites, which requires management oversight of a consistent set of standards to maintain the Ofsted standards.

It is difficult to argue against teaching and learning being more influential in the overall grading, but in the case of work-based learning and the provider’s role, it is often assessment of the learner’s progress and the wider support in the workplace which is so important and this may not be given the same credit as good teaching in traditional settings.

It is also true that success rates play a significant part in determining the grade of the provider.

Delivering to some hard-to-help groups in difficult working environments can mean it is very challenging to deliver high success rates.

Many providers feel the inspection process reflects traditional classroom approaches”

We have to make sure that success rates are seen in the context of the different delivery environments. Classroom-based learning has traditionally had higher success rates.

This might partly explain that under the new CIF, work-based learning providers have seen pressure on their Ofsted grades. Not enough are outstanding and too many require improvement so the grade profile overall is likely to be worse than last year.

The focus for the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) must be on how we work with providers to support them to be good or outstanding.

The willingness to improve is not lacking, judging from the provider turnout that we see at our events on inspection, so AELP will continue to organise workshops that promote the sharing of best practice.

We have discussed with Ofsted the need to build capacity in the sector to ensure we have the skills and knowledge to deliver the standards required. The discussions have covered a number of options around provider programmes and we hope to take those plans forward shortly. The new Education and Training Foundation will also play a useful role in providing support to providers.

The new CIF is only a year old and providers need time to work with Ofsted to understand the standards and deliver the service to customers that meets the standards.

Providers score highly in terms of flexibility and meeting employers’ needs and we need to ensure these factors are seen as important elements of meeting the CIF standards.

Providers that have developed good working relationships with employers are now being excluded from delivering the traineeship programme because of their Ofsted grades.

Although we understand the importance of ensuring high quality delivery, we need to ensure Ofsted grades are not used to exclude effective provision especially where employers or learners are excluded as a result.

In the case of traineeships, the critical work experience element requires a large number of committed employers on board to ensure that the programme is a success.

There are many grade three work-based learning providers with access to these employers, but the grading threshold means employers will almost certainly not be participants in the programme.

We need a balanced approach to the quality threshold that puts the learner at the centre of the decision.

A fair, transparent and appropriate inspection regime should be the objective for everyone that believes in consistent improvement. We need to ensure that the inspection framework recognises excellent delivery and creates the platform for provider improvement.

 

 

Are providers fit for purpose — but is Ofsted fit to judge?

 

Being under the Ofsted spotlight can be an uncomfortable place, says Denise Brown-Sackey, who turns the inspection tables back on the education watchdog.

Are providers fit for purpose — but is Ofsted fit to judge?

Being under the Ofsted spotlight can be an uncomfortable place, says Denise Brown-Sackey, who turns the inspection tables back on the education watchdog.

More than a decade ago, the academic Leslie Rosenthal said: “The efforts required by teaching staff in responding to the demands of the… inspection system are great enough to divert resources from teaching so as to affect pupil achievement in the year of the visit.”

This probably doesn’t come as a surprise to those who’ve experienced the Ofsted inspection regime first-hand — whether we’re managers, lecturers, support staff or students.

Indeed, a separate study of Hertfordshire students reported a, “tenser relationship with their teachers” ahead of inspection.

Of course, as the Commons Education Select Committee pointed out in its 2010 report on Ofsted, and citing the evidence above, a degree of stress in any form of examination is arguably both inevitable and healthy.

For me, the real issue lies with the reasons for that stress, and — perhaps unsurprisingly for one whose college was inspected this year [going from outstanding to good] — there do seem to be areas for reform.

I was delighted that Ofsted’s visit to Newham validated the education we provide for our 21,000 learners, and that we were deemed to be a high-performing providers.

In light of that, it could seem churlish to slander the new framework under which that visit took place, but I do believe it has serious flaws.

Essentially, the new framework for providers is now the same as that for schools.

But, for me, they are fundamentally different entities and need to be treated in the appropriate manner.

Let me take the example of community cohesion. For this to exist as a judgment in its own right for a small primary school, or even an average-sized secondary school, was arguably excess to requirements.

While many such institutions have valuable regional, national and global partnerships, the essentially local nature of their operation means that community engagement is not a constant leadership focus.

For providers, the opposite is true — the breadth of both our curricula and the geographical areas we serve make that engagement critical to our mission.

There is, in that case, a strong argument for retaining a judgment for community cohesion for FE inspections. At the moment, all that valuable work feels effectively lost in inspection week.

A further problem, as also referenced in MPs’ 2010 investigation, lies with the expertise of inspectors themselves.

Far too few have real and relevant experience of the FE sector — a problem also reflected at the higher echelons of the organisation — and it can happen that those from within the field have preconceptions about institutions which bias their judgment one way or another.

These are difficult problems to solve, although I am glad Ofsted has been recruiting more FE experts recently.

In writing this, I am well aware that the sector should not, and must not, seem over-defensive, particularly in light of some of Ofsted’s own views on us and our standards.

While it may not curry me favour with some colleagues, I recognise some of Ofsted’s concerns — the need for even more robust governance, for example, and to raise standards across our capital city.

But in achieving those goals, I want to work with an inspectorate — the need for which I continue to stand by, on balance — which is on my side, which is properly equipped to monitor FE providers, and which does so by looking at appropriate evidence.

At the moment, just as Ofsted may reasonably feel that our sector is some way from perfect,

I have to throw the same right back at them.

 

Building on the vocational professionalism & expertise

One of the privileges of being vice-chair of the Commission on Adult Vocational Teaching and Learning (CAVTL) was the opportunity to see genuinely world class vocational teaching and learning in action in a whole range of settings — with employers, colleges and training providers, across different sectors of the economy — much of which challenged our initial assumptions.

From the practice that commissioners saw, from the evidence that was submitted by employers, learners, and teachers and trainers, and the research we commissioned, we identified four key characteristics on which excellent vocational teaching and learning depend.

They were firstly, a clear line of sight to work on all vocational programmes; and secondly, ‘dual professional’ teachers and trainers who combine occupational and pedagogical expertise, who are trusted and given the time to develop partnerships and curricula with employers. Thirdly, access to industry-standard facilities and resources reflecting the ways in which technology is transforming work; and, finally, clear escalators to higher level vocational learning, developing and combining deep knowledge and skills.

What we also noted though, was how much vocational education and training practice was inconsistent, “because of the requirement to work within a system which continues to seek to specify so much from the centre”.

The commission argued that a key route to more widespread high quality practice will involve empowering and trusting vocational teachers and trainers to be “dual professionals” — to combine their occupational and pedagogical expertise, build strong partnerships with employers to deliver relevant vocational programmes, and to work together to spread and improve the practice and impact of quality vocational teaching and learning.

We called on partners to “play their respective roles in enabling adult vocational teaching and learning to flourish by addressing our recommendations to them”.

One of the recommendations was to Ofsted. We asked it “to consider the distinctive features of vocational teaching and learning identified [by the commission] as an additional lens through which to review vocational provision”.

We were delighted when Ofsted suggested a joint project, which we hope will do just that. We are now working with Ofsted and the CAVTL commissioners to further explore excellent vocational teaching and learning. By visiting providers and employers, who recently applied to be part of a case study project, Ofsted inspectors and the commission are seeking to further illuminate the characteristics of excellent provision, and the distinctive features of effective vocational teaching, learning and leadership.

Over the summer, I was delighted to be asked to lead the new Education and Training Foundation’s work to take forward the commission’s recommendations, working with Jenny Williams, author of the CAVTL report.

Building on our approach to the commission — of working from practice to theory — we are keen to learn from the case study examples from the joint Ofsted/CAVTL project, to be published later this year, as we develop arrangements to support vocational teaching and learning professionals.

Our contribution to the foundation’s goal — to enhance the professionalism of further education and training — will be to focus on building on the vocational expertise that already exists, making it more visible to teachers, trainers and leaders, to enable it to be adopted and adapted more widely.

Nothing less will do if we are to realise our collective ambitions to further improve the quality and impact of vocational education and training so that it genuinely supports individuals, businesses and communities to grow and succeed.

We want to consult widely as the Foundation’s programme develops over the autumn and will be putting in place a range of ways to engage with vocational education and training partners. We look forward to hearing from the sector and working with it as we do.

Frank Harris, reformed criminal and FE advocate

Further education was the “key to freedom” that was handed to lifelong criminal Frank Harris while he was behind bars for attempting to smuggle cannabis into the UK from Amsterdam.

The chance to study just a couple of GCSEs helped him turn his back on a life of crime that stretched back more than a quarter of a century.

With the support of prison charity the Foundation Training Company (FTC), he made the pivotal choice to go straight when he came out of prison almost a decade ago.

And now 53-year-old Harris returns — minus a criminal conviction — to pass on the FE message of hope to others.

“Further education in prison stopped that cycle of being in and out of prison for 30 years,” says the grandfather-of-two, who is now in the second year of a University of East London criminology and criminal justice degree.

“It is the one thing that gave me the key to freedom, and I am continuing that journey through education.”

Harris was in Hertfordshire’s Mount Prison when he took two GCSEs, achieving an A in English and a B in maths.

They set him on a path away from crime and along which he has worked with a range of substance misuse charities including Turning Point, St Mungo’s and Crime Reduction Initiatives (CRI).

He now mentors offenders at Brixton Prison where he sees his mistakes being relived by others — but he also hopes his FE redemption can be relived, too.

“It’s not hard work, but it is sad as far as I see it — you just see a lot of wasted energy and talent,” says the Londoner.

“Obviously people need to be in prison — it’s there for a reason, but you meet many who make you think, ‘You don’t need to be in here, you’re just not listening, and you therefore might be back in here again’. It can be disappointing.”

The son of Jamaican immigrants, Harris grew up as one of five siblings. His first conviction came before he’d even hit his teens, in 1969, for shoplifting.

“I didn’t do crime to support anything,” he explains.

“I did it because where I was born that’s just what everyone did and that’s how I grew up.”

At the age of 14 he was expelled from school in Bethnal Green for arguing with teachers and fighting and, unable to get into another local authority school, he was sent to Oak Hall boarding school in Sussex, where he counts former world champion heavyweight boxer Frank Bruno among his classmates.

“I don’t think my mum could manage me with four other children,” concedes Harris.

Oak Hall, now closed, was situated within a rural setting and pupils could do outdoors activities such as horse-riding, as well as taking weekly trips to the seaside, but, says Harris, says there was no “formal” education.

“When I was 16 I ran away from there — there was no education stimulus. That was when I really got into offending behaviour,” he says.

At the age of 21, Harris was inside Wandsworth Prison having for the first time started a sentence alongside adults rather than just young offenders. He also found himself taking drugs.

Continuing in a downward spiral over the next three decades, he racked up around 40 convictions, including theft, drug smuggling and fraud. He also spent time when not in prison homeless.

But Harris’s yearning for a new life first emerged in his mid-twenties, part-way through another sentence. He remembers the heartache of hearing about the birth of his first son from behind bars.

“The prison warder said to me, ‘Mother and baby are doing fine.’ But I was in prison,” says Harris, who has three sons — Cane, Ellis and Jason — and a daughter, Frankie.

“After that I didn’t go back for 11 years.”

But he did get back into trouble and was in prison throughout his late thirties and early forties before in 2004, aged 43, FE came knocking while. He was serving a four-year jail term at the time for attempting to smuggle cannabis from Amsterdam.

“My children were getting a lot older. I should have sorted it out at an earlier stage, but when you haven’t had experience in the classroom for many years you lose confidence,” says Harris, whose grandchildren are called Nera and Esra.

“I started off by just going into the library to read. It was attached to the education place so I finally decided to take a course.

“I’m scared of structure — I liked to go and read by myself — but the decision I had made was that I wasn’t going back to prison and I had to put meaning to that.”

And that determination was put to the test on the day of his release. It was to be another test he would pass.

“One of my friends picked me up and by-the-time we got back to London, I would probably have smoked a spliff and been diverted from where I was going and that would have been an easy option,” explains Harris.

“Fortunately what really had an effect was the FTC and so I didn’t do that.”

He adds that FTC spent time with those about to be released and he also had the option of going back to them for help after he was freed.

“It was a continuation from prison which solidified a way of life for me,” says Harris.

“It gave me appointments to go to and college and that link was vital.”

Nevertheless, with his GCSEs secured and enjoying life as a free man, he completed courses in preparation for higher education and counselling certificates level one and two, funded by the Prisoners Education Trust. He even won an Adult Week Learner award for outstanding learner of the year in 2009.

“The courses I’ve done are a rebuttal to my past and to those who didn’t give me a chance earlier,” explains Harris.

“It’s also a rebuttal to myself — ‘Why didn’t you fix up earlier, Frank? Look what you can do’.”

And he says because of what education did for him, he decided to work with offenders.

“Within the context of where I’m from, seeing lots of young black men being locked up and going through that revolving door, I wanted to send a message that you can have aspirations — not just through the criminal justice system,” says Harris, who grew up in a deprived London borough of Hackney.

“I try to say to young men that they shouldn’t just do education because I did. One cap doesn’t fit all.”

“Education inside isn’t just about trying to get a qualification to get a job, it’s about more than that — it’s about feeling self-worth and broadening your scope.”

And, by putting offending labels to one side, he says he focusses prisoners’ attention on finding their strengths.

“I try to let people see things within themselves, for themselves,” says Harris.

“I can also answer questions from my experience inside, if that might deter them, and I can advise them on help with drugs.”

But Harris’s own focus has gone beyond the prison walls. He wants to stop young men from even beginning down that road.

In 2009 he set up The School of High Achievers for West Indian boys in Islington, but the Saturday school, which included workshops such as drumming, closed with the loss of the venue. However, Harris says he is determined to start it again.

“I just want to continue to help stop young boys going to prison,” he says.

“If anyone’s listening, I just want to bring attention to the importance of educational facilities.”

“You can cut crime, but you also give children, fathers and mothers, and the community, an artist, a singer, a painter, a volunteer.”

 

Back in time for blooming success

West Country students’ blooming talent won them a bouquet of prestigious floristry awards at some of the UK’s top flower shows.

City of Bath College students claimed a gold medal and best floristry exhibit at the Royal Horticultural Society’s (RHS) Hampton Court Flower Show for their 1950s living room made of flowers.

They followed that up just two weeks later with a bronze award at the Tatton Park Flower Show for a black and white solar system-themed display called Orbit of the Galaxy.

Floristry tutor Louise Rawlings said: “To get medals from both RHS flower shows in the space of a couple of weeks is just massive.

“We tried to create something a little different… we are so proud of all the students’ hard work.”

From left: Floristry lecturer Joanne Matthews, level three floristry diploma student Stephanie Eastwood, 24, and floristry tutor Louise Rawlings at the Hampton Court flower show.

Older and wiser on inspection

Ofsted’s criticism of the college sector last year was a bitter pill to swallow and the toughened up common inspection framework offered little hope for sector praise. However, it hasn’t quite worked out like that says Joy Mercer.

At this time last year, colleges felt they had not weathered an Ofsted storm but were beached, and stranded on unfamiliar territory.

The inspection results for general FE and sixth form colleges were forbidding. Of the 60 inspected, 22 per cent were judged inadequate and only 40 per cent graded good or better.

There were no colleges graded outstanding for teaching, learning and assessment. A new common inspection framework was due, with only two working days’ notice of inspection and a central focus on teaching, learning and assessment.

The quality in the classroom would influence all other grades. Satisfactory became Requires Improvement, with a senior inspector allocated to a college with this grade and re-inspection within 12 to 15 months.

Governors who felt confident in their role in ensuring financial health and probity now had a clearer strategic responsibility for what happened in the classroom.

This came against a political drive to encourage choice and competition for 16-year-olds created through new school sixth forms, the growth of university technical colleges and free schools, and employers being paid directly to deliver apprenticeships.

One year on, the story is different.

Ofsted trebled its number of inspectors and our figures show that 61 per cent of colleges were judged good or better and only five were graded as inadequate.

Given that Ofsted inspects colleges on risk, it is important not to forget the ‘state of the nation’.

Last year’s Ofsted annual report said that 64 per cent of colleges were good or better. This year we believe it is 74 per cent.

However, there is no room for complacency — just over a third were judged to Require Improvement.

Ofsted has indicated that the long love affair with success rates is over.

Last year’s Ofsted annual report said that 64 per cent of colleges were good or better. This year we believe it is 74 per cent.”

This year, they have focused on student progression to employment or further study.

Themes that run through inspection judgements of good or better colleges include strong student tracking; high levels of attendance; teaching that focuses on employment opportunities and enterprise; using every opportunity to develop students English and maths skills; teaching that challenges students; good quality work experience; and, governors who understand the quality of teaching and learning, with strategies to ensure teachers improve.

Ofsted introduced Learner View last September. Whether colleges have used this student satisfaction method or their own, students’ opinions of the quality of their experience at the college is paramount.

So what of next year? Students without the gold standard of A* to C at GCSE in English and maths will be expected to gain the qualification by the age of 18.

This is likely to be measured in the new 16 to 18 performance tables as well as Ofsted inspections.

We are hopeful that after Ofsted’s own report on careers guidance in schools, due soon, there will be a much stronger focus on guidance in school inspections.

This may be the year when success rates take a back seat to outcomes into jobs and HE.

Ofsted will be reporting on study programmes and 14-year-olds studying full time in colleges. With intense competition, these have to tell a good story.

 

A year of Ofsted highs and lows

It has been a year in which Ofsted stories have hit the front pages time and time again — starting back in September last year with Sir Michael Wilshaw’s “Deptford not Delhi” criticism.

He warned that colleges could be at risk of focusing on international opportunities to the detriment of home-grown learners.

The former head teacher and executive principal spoke on the dangers of foreign recruitment in FE at a conference organised by the Association of Colleges (AoC).

His remarks came in an introductory speech to around 160 delegates at event held in London Bridge.

And in December, AoC chief executive Martin Doel accused Ofsted of “moving the goalposts” for colleges following a damning annual report that pointed to a threefold increase in the number of colleges judged inadequate.

Mr Doel hit out after the education watchdog’s report highlighted how 13 colleges received the lowest possible grading in 2011/12, compared with four the previous year and how, for the second year running, no college achieved an outstanding grade for teaching and learning.

“Colleges are delivering what government has asked of them and we are interested to discuss how college performance might be better reflected in a wider basket of measures,” said Mr Doel.

“But if the goalposts are being shifted by Ofsted, we at least need to know the rules of the new game. A fair and transparent inspection regime makes an important contribution to this process.”

Three months later one of England’s biggest colleges fell from outstanding to the lowest Ofsted grade of inadequate.

City of Liverpool College, which achieved the highest grade almost across the board at previous inspection in early 2009, was graded inadequate in every one of the headline Ofsted fields.

The report said the college, formerly Liverpool Community College, had too many students turning up late for lessons — if at all — and leave without achieving their qualifications.

Principal Elaine Bowker said: “We accept the report and are working hard to ensure that the areas highlighted as inadequate are improved.”

But things were looking up for the sector at the end of the month when Walsall College became the first general FE college to achieve an outstanding grade under Ofsted’s tough new inspection regime.

The West Midlands provider won glowing praise and its success meant the college was also the first to get a published Ofsted report with outstanding for teaching and learning — a field that, under the common inspection framework, limited the overall grade.

However, in April FE Week reported another shocking Ofsted inspection. City College Coventry was hit with an inadequate grade four result across each inspection headline field.

The 8,000-learner college was also given grade fours throughout the main findings board, including apprenticeships and 19+

learning programmes.

Despite initially vowing to “stay on and put things right”, college principal Paul Taylor announced within weeks that he would be leaving.

Catherine’s hot job at the Ritz

A Gateshead College student is all fired up to start her new job at one of London’s most prestigious hotels, the Ritz.

Catherine Smith (pictured) landed the job after scooping two gold medals in the North East Culinary Trade Awards, creating a dish for the Ramada Encore Newcastle-Gateshead Hotel and passing level two professional cookery with distinction.

Catherine, 28, who was recently named Gateshead College Student of the Year, said: “I enjoyed the course immensely and it has given me the knowledge and experience to start a career in something I love to do.”