A new stage of more confidential “targeted support” has been added to the government’s college oversight regime.
Department for Education (DfE) guidance published today details “a more prioritised” college support system that will “increasingly and more systematically” target improvement by the next academic year.
Regional improvement teams (RITs) staffed by DfE officials and helped by a lead regional deputy further education commissioner (FEC) will manage ‘targeted support’, a new “tier” of oversight that it hopes will replace formal intervention in most cases.
The DfE says RITs will benefit “around 70,000 college students”, helping to “break the link” between background and success.
Revised oversight guidance sets out three tiers of support for colleges: universal support based on sharing best practice, targeted support for “colleges that would benefit most”, and intensive support for “challenges that cannot be resolved through improvement alone”.
Performance concerns the improvement teams are expected to address include not meeting local skills needs, poor financial management, leadership and governance failures or poor quality of provision.
‘Non-published letters’
If “serious risks” are flagged or a college refuses to accept targeted support “voluntarily”, RITs can issue a “non-published” ‘letter to improve’ that will mandate an FEC-led “improvement review”.
The new guidance says letters and reviews will not be published and the improvement team’s involvement will not be “seen as intervention”.
This behind-closed-doors approach appears to differ from the DfE’s quality improvement-focused Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence teams, which name “stuck” schools and academies they are working with in a regularly updated public list.
The DfE has been asked to clarify why this new tier of support for colleges whose performance raises concerns will remain private.
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “Every young person deserves a brilliant education, and these new teams will help to drive improvements and share best practice in colleges across the country.
“By providing targeted support where it’s needed most, we’re delivering on our commitment to break down barriers to opportunity and give young people the best possible start in their careers.”
Who are RITs?
RITs will be staffed by DfE officials who “currently oversee” colleges and ITPs – paired with a lead deputy FE commissioner who can provide “expert practitioner advice”, the guidance says.
It is unclear whether RITs will replace or work alongside teams of officials known as ‘place-based teams’, who manage day-to-day relations with college leaders, monitor performance, and ultimately decide on intervention actions.
Place-based teams are currently split into three large regions for the whole of England.
Avoid formal intervention
The department hopes targeted support will avoid formal intervention, which includes publishing formal intervention notices and reports summarising failures at colleges.
“While some issues will always trigger immediate intervention or use of the secretary of state’s statutory intervention powers, in the majority of other cases, the department will initially seek to work with colleges to resolve issues without placing the college into intervention,” the guidance said.
Persistent or “significant challenges” at a college will continue to trigger “intensive support”, decided by RITs and led by the FEC team, which can include formal intervention or a structure and prospects appraisal (SPA).
FE Week has also asked the DfE to clarify whether targeted support will replace the FE Commissioner’s ‘active support’ service for colleges, which includes informal conversations, “health checks”, leadership monitoring, curriculum efficiency and consultations on restructuring.
Strengthening post-16 delivery
The guidance said RITs will work with strategic and local authorities to set priorities for post-16 provider improvement based on their performance and skills improvement plans.
Priorities could include NEET, special needs student outcomes, local growth priorities, uptake and delivery of new qualifications such as T Levels or V Levels, and improving progression to higher levels of training.
They will also look at roles of both colleges and independent training providers at tackling skills shortages.
The guidance said: “Having clear priorities for regional improvement will enable us to consider how ITPs contribute to regional needs – where, for example, some ITPs have played a leading role in supporting young people at risk of being disengaged.”
Ministers also want to “promote collaboration and foster continuous improvement” through universal support that already exists, including national guidance, benchmarking data, FE Commissioner effective practice guides and webinars.
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