York College
‘ofsted’
Sixth-form colleges must not rest on the laurels of past successes, says Mark Bramwell. First up, let’s tackle the relationship with academies… Sixth-form colleges are proving to be robust with most achieving high success rates and good or outstanding Ofsted grades. And most are oversubcribed – despite the demographic drop in the number of eligible […]
Opinion
“I hated school with a passion, hated going every single day and even now don’t look back on it and say those days were the happiest of my life like a lot of people do,” says Graham Morley, Chief Executive Principal of South Staffordshire College. Being the youngest in the year, disliking football and in the […]
Profiles
The first general FE college inspection carried out under a new common inspection framework (CIF) has returned a good grading, while positives also emerged from the first re-inspection. Ofsted inspectors armed with the new CIF gave City College Plymouth two days’ notice for an inspection between October 1 and 5. They judged the 17,000-learner college […]
News
Download your copy of this free 16 page special supplement, produced in partnership with LSIS, via the link below: Supporting Improvement supplement Introduction to supplement A host of knowledgeable contributors have made this Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) supplement, put together by the team at FE Week, an invaluable source of advice and guidance on provider […]
News, Supplements
Ofsted’s new common inspection framework came under the spotlight when providers met for an expert guidance session led by inspector of more than 10 years’ experience Megan Whittaker. Around 35 representatives from a range of providers, including colleges and subcontractors, were at the conference entitled Preparing for Inspection with the new Common Inspection Framework. The […]
Uncategorized
If colleges want to improve, the leadership team must be honest and open about its weaknesses says Matthew Coffey. Ofsted’s How Colleges Improve report, published in September, was commissioned by the Learning and Skills Improvement Service to highlight how colleges can build on best practice and ensure the education they are providing is at least […]
Principals, teachers and experts gathered to discuss improving the status of staff in colleges and training providers at a roundtable event in Westminster. The impact of Lord Lingfield’s independent review on professionalism in further education was at the core of the panel’s debate, which included chief executives from the Association of Colleges (AoC), the Learning […]
You need to change the culture of your college if you want to move from ‘good’ to ‘outstanding’ says Tony Lau-Walker. And you don’t do this by first looking at the common inspection framework. When we were asked how Eastleigh College achieved its outstanding status this year the reply reflected Mo Farah’s comment after winning […]
The new common inspection framework (CIF) represents a substantial shift, not only in its structure and application, but in its core reasoning and message. The new chief inspector has made a clear statement of purpose — too many learners are receiving provision that is satisfactory and inadequate, and the new framework is specifically designed to […]
