York College
‘ofsted’
Educators are unlikely militants. Most FE teachers I have met would do anything rather than let down their learners. So what has brought us to the position where Lambeth College teachers are into their third week of indefinite strike action? Our members are committed professionals, but they are not pushovers. The college has imposed an […]
Opinion
A second major English college in less than a fortnight has recorded an improved Ofsted grade after previously slumping to inadequate (grade four). City of Bristol College was deemed to require improvement (a grade three rating), having been issued with a grade four rating in April last year — three years after it was rated […]
News
The Ofsted pilot in which graded lesson observations will be dropped from FE and skills inspections, as revealed by FE Week, is evaluated by Phil Hatton. At first I thought FE Week was doing a late — or an early — April Fool’s Day skit on seeing the headline about Ofsted dropping graded lesson observations, […]
A thorough improvement plan at City of Bristol College was put in place last year when Ofsted inspectors said it was no longer good, but inadequate. It started paying off inspection-wise this month with the grade shift up to ‘requires improvement’. Cliff Shaw explains what’s been going on to achieve the feat in 17 months. […]
FE commissioner Dr David Collins criticised leadership styles at two colleges and said staff morale was being hit, his newly-released findings have shown. Dr Collins was appointed last year to investigate colleges issued with notices of financial concern, inadequate Ofsted ratings or which failed to meet standards set by the government. But summaries of Dr […]
Two colleges branded inadequate by Ofsted last year have both emerged badly in the latest of three monitoring visits each from the education watchdog. Lesoco, in South London, and Stockport College have shown weaknesses during previous monitoring inspections and both were again making “insufficient progress” in key areas, said inspectors who visited last month. A […]
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has today published summary reports of FE Commissioner Dr David Collins’s visits to colleges. Dr Collins’s interventions are triggered either by a grade four Ofsted rating, a notice of financial concern from the Skills Funding Agency or Education Funding Agency, or failure to meet national minimum standards of […]
Lesoco has brought in the former chair of the 157 Group to take over as interim consultant principal following the departure of Maxine Room. Ioan Morgan, who will officially be employed by the Association of Colleges’ (AoC) recruitment arm AoC Create, will take up the role at the college on Monday (June 9). Mr Morgan […]
Movers and Shakers
FE Commissioner Dr David Collins has criticised small classes, big staffing spends and a skills shortage on governing boards in a letter to the sector. Dr Collins, who has so far visited at least 10 colleges since his appointment last year, has written to governors, chief executives and colleges to update them on his progress. […]
