University of Portsmouth

Initial Teacher Education inspection report

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Provider address University of Portsmouth School of Education and Continuing Studies St George's Building 141 High Street Portsmouth Hampshire PO1 2HY

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Unique reference number Inspection number Inspection dates Lead inspector 28 November – 2 December 2011 Alan Hinchliffe HMI achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work- based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It rates council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection. Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied.

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If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way. www.ofsted.gov.uk Reference no. 080190

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Introduction

1. This inspection was carried out by Her Majesty’s Inspectors supported by a team of specialist inspectors in accordance with the Framework for the Inspection of Initial Teacher Education (2008-11).

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Introduction

2. The inspection draws upon evidence from all aspects of the provision to make judgements against all parts of the inspection evaluation schedule in the framework. Inspectors focused on the overall effectiveness of the training in supporting high quality outcomes for trainees and the capacity of the partnership to bring about further improvements. A summary of the grades awarded is included at the end of this report.

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Key to inspection grades

Grade 1 Outstanding Grade 2 Good Grade 3 Satisfactory Grade 4 Inadequate

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Explanation of terms used in this report

Attainment is defined as the standard reached by a trainee at the end of their training. Progress is judged in terms of how well a trainee has developed professionally from their starting point to the standard reached at the time of the inspection or at a suitable review point. Achievement is judged in terms of the progress made and the standard reached by a trainee at the time of the inspection or at a recent assessment review point.

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The provider

3. The university offers initial teacher education (ITE) in both the secondary and further education sectors, through its School of Continuing and Education Studies. The secondary provision is offered in six subjects in partnership with around 100 schools spread across the region.

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The provider

4. The further education provision for in-service trainees is offered in collaboration with three partner colleges; trainees work either in these colleges or in a range of other settings across the region. Pre-service trainees carry out their placements in a range of further education and sixth form colleges.

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A commentary on the provision

5. The following are particular features of the provider and its initial teacher training programmes.

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A commentary on the provision

 The high quality training that enables trainees to make good or better progress in acquiring good or better teaching skills.

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A commentary on the provision

 Very effective recruitment and selection procedures that attract good trainees, identify accurately their development needs, and support them in meeting these.

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A commentary on the provision

 Improvements in mentoring that have led to the very large majority of trainees receiving high quality support in the development of their subject-specific teaching skills.

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A commentary on the provision

 The very good personal support that trainees receive in helping them to overcome potential barriers, including individual learning needs and personal circumstances, which may otherwise prevent them from achieving their potential.

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A commentary on the provision

6. There is a particularly strong feature in the secondary programme that could be applied to the further education programme.

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A commentary on the provision

 The rigorous procedures for ensuring that trainees have accurate assessment information on their progress from which they can be set challenging targets and measure their own progress in achieving them.

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A commentary on the provision

7. The following recommendations should be considered to improve the quality of the outcomes for trainees.

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A commentary on the provision

 In both phases, strengthen further the partnership’s capacity to improve by ensuring that the cycle of self-evaluation and action planning focuses even more sharply on increasing the proportion of trainees who become outstanding practitioners.

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A commentary on the provision

 In both phases, strengthen further trainees’ understanding of the implications of teaching in diverse, multicultural settings.

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Context

8. At the time of the inspection 118 trainees were on the secondary training course. Training leading to the award of either a professional graduate or postgraduate certificate in education with qualified teacher status (QTS) is provided in the following subjects: business studies, English, geography, mathematics, modern foreign languages and science. The science course offers specialist routes in science with biology, chemistry or physics. The university works with around 100 schools. Although most schools are in the Portsmouth/Hampshire area, the partnership also includes schools in Surrey, Dorset, Sussex and the Isle of Wight.

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Key strengths

 the highly effective way in which trainees are prepared to teach their specialist subjects  the way in which the provision clearly meets local needs, as shown by the high proportion of trainees who secure employment in partnership schools  how well the elements of the training combine to ensure trainees make at least good progress  very high quality mentoring, including the high quality of feedback and developmental target setting, that supports trainees’ good or better progress  the high rates of successful completion and progression to employment  the way in which the training is tailored to meet individual needs, including the careful management of trainees’ teaching commitments in the early stages of the course.

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Recommendations

10. In order to secure further improvements in the outcomes for trainees, the partnership should:

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Recommendations

 ensure that evaluation and improvement planning, including that undertaken by schools, focuses on the progress trainees make against individual expectations and includes a sharper analysis of these progress data  ensure that the training in all schools supports that in the university in order to prepare trainees well to teach a culturally diverse range of learners.

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Overall effectiveness Grade: 1

11. The overall effectiveness of the partnership in securing high quality outcomes for trainees is outstanding. Trainees’ overall attainment has improved over the last three years. It remains good, with a trend of improvement in all subjects. In most secondary subjects, including English, geography, modern foreign languages and science, the proportion of trainees whose attainment is outstanding by the end of the course is rising. The proportion of trainees whose attainment is no better than satisfactory has fallen significantly as a result of the intensive focus on improvements in mathematics and science. Trainees make at least good progress from their diverse starting points. Successful completion rates, and the proportion of trainees going on to secure employment, are high compared with national norms. Very high levels of employment within the partnership are a particular strength of the training. Headteachers see a strong

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Overall effectiveness Grade: 1

link between involvement with the university, the recruitment of Portsmouth trainees and school improvement.

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Overall effectiveness Grade: 1

12. Trainees really enjoy their training and make clear connections between the well-planned central training and their practice in schools; they are highly professional and reflective. There are particular strengths in trainees’ use of their good subject knowledge to plan clear steps in learning taking account of the learning needs of different groups of pupils in their classes. Trainees’ understanding of the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities is strong; this was evident in the work of trainees seen during the inspection, whose understanding was particularly impressive for this stage of the course. They use questioning well and target their questions effectively to differentiate their teaching. Trainees have high expectations of their pupils and understand clearly the links between teaching, learning and behaviour. They know how to develop pupils’ skills in literacy; this was observed in their subject

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Overall effectiveness Grade: 1

teaching. They encourage oracy through the use of a range of appropriate strategies. The development of pupils’ numeracy and skills in information and communication technology (ICT) are not as clearly evident in trainees’ teaching as those in literacy. Trainees willingly accept the high quality advice from mentors and course tutors and, as a result, the overwhelming majority make at least good progress on the course.

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Overall effectiveness Grade: 1

13. Very rigorous procedures result in the recruitment of trainees who have the potential to become at least good teachers. There is a clearly understood rationale for the course that is shared across the partnership. This rationale includes the responsibility to meet a local need for high quality teachers who will raise educational aspirations. Partnership schools are fully involved in the interview and selection process. Trainees in all subjects undertake a comprehensive subject knowledge audit. A range of tasks is used to accurately analyse trainees’ strengths and areas for development, leading to pre-course tasks tailored to individual needs. For example, 80% of science trainees are involved in some form of subject enhancement, matched well to their specific needs, to boost their subject knowledge prior to the course. Information from selection is used well in the early stages of the course to ensure trainees make

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Overall effectiveness Grade: 1

at least good progress from the outset. Information from the first university- based block of training and the three weeks where trainees spend part of their time in schools is used well, although informally, to establish expectations for each trainee. The recruitment of trainees from minority ethnic backgrounds, although below national norms, is supported well through a range of strategies that means recruitment of such groups is higher than local and regional benchmark data. The improved, and now high, retention rates, coupled with high employment rates, are testament to the provider selecting good quality trainees who are well suited to the course and the partnership.

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Overall effectiveness Grade: 1

14. The good or better progress made by trainees is due to a combination of close attention to individual needs, a clear relationship between centre-based and school-based learning, the excellent quality of the feedback they receive and the developmental targets they are set. Trainees grasp the links between subject studies, general professional studies and school placements clearly. Centre- based and school-based training reflect current best practice and make use of experts in their field; for example, a professional mentor enhances central training on communication with parents and carers. Centre-based training is followed up with focused tasks for trainees to complete in each of the three placement phases to apply their understanding of theoretical underpinnings to their teaching. The first assignment focuses well on developing a key aspect of trainees’ subject knowledge and application to teaching. Trainees are able to

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Overall effectiveness Grade: 1

hold high quality professional discussions around teaching students with special educational needs and/or disabilities following the phase one tasks which focus on this area. Partnership schools are used well during the centre-based training block. For example, all science trainees go into a partnership school and work with a class to support the trainees’ knowledge and practical understanding of assessment for learning. Mathematics trainees work in a partnership department to observe and practise the use of interactive whiteboards in their teaching.

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Overall effectiveness Grade: 1

15. The school-based support for trainees is outstanding. Inspection evidence confirmed that mentors observe lessons regularly and offer excellent feedback following high quality professional discussions with a clear focus on learning. Sharp developmental targets are set. Weekly mentor meetings are used well to review previous targets and set further targets that are progressive both in breadth and depth. There is very good coherence between short- and medium- term targets that support trainees’ progress against the standards for QTS and the provider’s assessment criteria. Trainees understand their targets for further development and are clear about their next steps. Subject tutors take part in joint observations with mentors each term; this offers a further level of trainee monitoring as well as quality assurance of mentoring. The proportion of mentoring that is consistently of high quality has improved since the previous

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Overall effectiveness Grade: 1

16. Weekly, interim and end-of-phase meetings and targets are used very effectively to monitor trainees’ progress. A ‘value-added grid’ is used to track progress throughout the course. Three sets of good end-of-phase pen portraits that summarise trainees’ progress are used consistently well to monitor trainees’ development against progressively more challenging criteria and to support developmental target setting. Opportunities are, however, missed to additionally analyse these data against the expectations established for individual trainees. 17. There is a very high level of loyalty and commitment from all those involved in the partnership. The provider knows its partnership schools well and placements are carefully planned to ensure that trainees’ individual needs are met and that trainees make at least good progress. Schools want to work with the university because of the high, and improving, calibre of trainees. Mentors are highly

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Overall effectiveness Grade: 1

committed; many of them are former university trainees. Inspectors found evidence of consistency across the partnership in providing high quality training, particularly in the feedback to trainees following lesson observations. There is also flexibility to ensure training needs are personalised; for example, the increase in timetable load in phase one to include experience of teaching in a different key stage is graduated according to the individual trainee’s progress. This ensures the best possible outcomes for individuals.

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Overall effectiveness Grade: 1

18. Resources are targeted effectively and efficiently to improve the outcomes for trainees. Examples from mathematics, science and English point to improved attainment as a result of balanced decisions on resource allocations. Additional training sessions and visits to schools for identified trainees have had a direct impact on reducing the proportion of trainees whose attainment is satisfactory at the end of the course. Course materials, including handbooks, are well organised and convey clear information and expectations. These are supported by a comprehensive and easily accessible website with a dedicated mentor area. A partnership manager has a key role in quality assuring the training experience for all trainees, through bi-annual visits to all partnership schools. Trainees from minority ethnic backgrounds are well supported by a partnership tutor; additional support is given to prepare these trainees for the specific profile of the

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Overall effectiveness Grade: 1

partnership schools. The partnership tutor also makes additional visits to placement schools. This has led to improved attainment for this group of trainees.

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Overall effectiveness Grade: 1

19. The promotion of equality and diversity is good. Support for individual trainees’ well-being is of very high quality and contributes to high retention and successful completion. Course tutors give of their time generously and work hard to ensure the trainees’ experience is as good as it can be. There are no identifiable differences in the comparative achievement of different groups of trainees. However, the inspection team had little evidence that the training in all schools is preparing trainees to teach students from a culturally diverse range of backgrounds well. Central training does this very well, but this is not then reinforced sufficiently in all schools. While some elements of diversity are not pronounced in this geographical area, school training needs to reflect the diverse range of backgrounds beyond the immediate locality.

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Grade: 2

20. The provider’s overall capacity for further improvement is good. There have been clear trends of improvement in the outcomes for trainees since the previous inspection. Trainees make at least good progress from their starting points and retention and completion rates are now high. There has been an improvement in the proportion of trainees whose attainment is at least good, with an increase in the percentage of trainees graded outstanding. There is some variability in trainees’ attainment across subjects, largely reflecting different starting points. However, trainees’ attainment in all subjects is now at least securely good; it is outstanding in English, geography and business studies. The provider has been effective in targeting those groups of trainees where improvement is required; for example, in reducing the proportion whose attainment is no better than satisfactory at the end of the course. Good use of

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Grade: 2

internal and external moderation procedures ensures the accuracy of the final assessment of trainees.

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Grade: 2

21. Communication across the partnership is excellent and ensures improvements in the provision are embedded. Schools are kept well informed of current developments and receive regular email updates from leaders. Schools value this close communication highly and it is important in maintaining and improving consistently high quality across the partnership. For example, it has resulted in more targeted feedback on the quality of the trainees’ experience to schools. The provider knows its partnership schools well and placements are carefully planned to ensure trainees’ individual needs are met.

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Grade: 2

22. Each subject undertakes thorough self-evaluation of the effectiveness of the provision; this feeds into the overall secondary self-evaluation. Evidence comes from feedback across the partnership, external examiners’ reports, and the survey of newly-qualified teachers. Subject and overall course leaders have a clear and accurate analysis of the strengths and areas requiring improvement. Widespread self-evaluation has a positive impact on course review and changes to the course structure and delivery, as well as sharing best practice. Data on the outcomes for trainees are included in all self-evaluation, but not interrogated with sufficient rigour to be used strategically in action planning.

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Grade: 2

23. Partner schools monitor their provision through an evaluation of attainment, retention and employment data. They also respond positively to suggestions from course leaders. This is evident in the much greater consistency in mentoring across the partnership since the previous inspection. Rigorous monitoring ensures all trainees have teaching timetables that allow them to make good progress across both key stages for which they are being trained. There is a shared understanding of the partnership’s purpose and a high level of trust in partners to deliver good quality training. This is supported by the work of the partnership manager in quality assuring all aspects of training and communicating with schools on trainee feedback from evaluations. There is, however, no systematic way for partner schools to evaluate the impact of their own provision on trainee outcomes. This is done informally in some schools; for

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Grade: 2

example, one school encourages trainees to focus their observations around the theme of the weekly professional studies sessions. Trainees are then required to feed back their learning in a later session. This supports trainee progress but does not lead to any analysis of outcomes against expectations for individual trainees. Partner schools are therefore not systematically involved at a strategic level in identifying priorities for improvement through the self-evaluation and improvement planning cycle. 24. The partnership demonstrates good capacity to anticipate change at a local and national level and to respond to the national priorities for initial teacher training. Central subject and professional training is up to date and reviewed regularly to respond to changes and to meet trainees’ needs. Trainees are, as a result, well informed and can already engage in good professional discussions around their

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Grade: 2

subjects and subject-related pedagogy. The course has ensured trainees are focused on managing behaviour through effective teaching and engaging pupils in learning. During the first phase of the course, this is followed up well with focused observations of different behaviour management strategies in lessons; trainees report this has had a positive impact on their practice and this was endorsed by inspectors’ observations of their teaching. Trainees on the English course understand current national concerns to improve boys’ writing and reinforce early teaching of reading. Aspects of literacy, including the importance of synthetic phonics, are introduced early in the course and followed up later in the year. All trainees were very aware of the importance of developing pupils’ literacy skills in their subject teaching and inspectors observed this in practice during lesson observations. The university’s response to increased emphasis on

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Grade: 2

the need to prepare all trainees well to teach students from a culturally diverse range of backgrounds has been partially successful. However, improvements in this respect in the university-based training are not reinforced fully by all schools in the partnership.

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Grade: 2

25. Leaders have established a cycle of evaluation and action planning and areas requiring improvement or further development are generally identified accurately. Action planning anticipates the potential impact on the course of changes to the standards for QTS and government proposals for changes to initial teacher education. However, responses to change at a local and national level are not routinely evaluated for their effectiveness on trainee outcomes; for example, the implications of the new science subject designations or schools’ input into preparing trainees to teach pupils from a diverse range of backgrounds. Points for action are not derived from a clear analysis of all available data from across the partnership. The action points themselves are not always sharply focused and developmental with clear tracking points and success criteria. Current success criteria are often based on trainee evaluations and

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Grade: 2

confidence rather than on the outcomes for trainees.

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Context

26. The university offers a one-year full-time pre-service course, with 34 trainees in the current year. Part-time two-year in-service courses are delivered in partnership with three further education colleges in Hampshire and West Sussex; currently, there are around 150 trainees on this route. Trainees from the pre- service course are placed with either one of the partnership colleges or one of seven other colleges. In-service trainees work at either one of the partner colleges, or in a range of other colleges and training providers throughout the region.

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Context

27. Courses lead to a Certificate in Education (Cert Ed) at levels 4 and 5, a Professional Graduate Certificate in Education at level 6 or a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) at level 7. Two of the partnership colleges offer all three levels, while the other offers courses up to, and including, level 6. All qualifications are within the university’s academic framework and satisfy the Secretary of State’s requirements for FE Teacher Education. All awards meet the current requirements for qualifying teachers in the lifelong learning sector, as endorsed by Standards Verification UK (SVUK).

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Key strengths

 the high quality of teaching and training that helps trainees to develop into confident, thoughtful teachers who are not afraid to try out new ideas in the classroom  the improvements in mentoring, which have made a significant contribution to helping trainees develop both their generic teaching skills and their subject-specific pedagogy  the recruitment of high calibre pre-service trainees, and good arrangements for attracting and inducting suitable in-service trainees both within the partner colleges and from external organisations  the very good personal support for trainees, that takes full account of trainees’ prior experiences and current circumstances in planning their training.

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Recommendations

29. In order to improve trainees’ progress and attainment further, the partnership should:  ensure that feedback on written work focuses more rigorously on what trainees need to do to improve their work to achieve a higher level of academic attainment  provide earlier and fuller support in developing academic study skills for those trainees who need it  ensure that all mentors are trained to observe lessons and give graded judgements on trainees’ teaching that are consistent across the partnership  consider ways in which the expertise held at the university may be used more to benefit in-service trainees’ academic development, and at the same time to encourage these trainees to see themselves as university students  through rigorous self-evaluation and action planning, identify precisely what needs to be done throughout the partnership to raise the proportion of trainees who reach an outstanding level.

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Overall effectiveness Grade: 2

30. The overall effectiveness of the partnership in securing high quality outcomes for trainees is good. In the relatively short time since the previous inspection, good progress has been made in ensuring that the quality of provision is more consistent across the partnership. There is a greater sense of collaborative working, brought about by clear leadership that has focused on establishing agreed procedures for raising standards in most aspects of the provision. The partnership is training accomplished teachers, many of whom already work, or gain work, at the partner colleges. However, there is scope for raising standards further; it remains the case that not all trainees are reaching their full potential.

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Overall effectiveness Grade: 2

31. Trainees’ attainment is good. Most trainees complete the course successfully, and reasons for withdrawals are well documented. There are no significant variations in successful completions between the partner colleges. The partnership recognises the challenge in sustaining high levels of recruitment, retention and successful outcomes in finding work in the context of a challenging policy environment for teacher training in the further education sector.

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Overall effectiveness Grade: 2

32. The partnership makes accurate judgements on trainees’ attainment and progress. The proportion of trainees judged to be good or outstanding has risen, and the vast majority of trainees’ attainment is now better than satisfactory. Judgements made on the quality of trainees’ lessons are generally secure. Trainees’ planning for lessons is usually good and sometimes exemplary. Most in-service trainees exhibit a confident and assertive classroom presence, and this is also true of many pre-service trainees at an early stage of their training. Trainees interact sensitively and empathetically with their students. Often, they use modern technologies creatively to benefit learning. Many trainees are not afraid to experiment by taking risks and trying innovative methods, and most can adapt their teaching strategies to meet changing circumstances. Trainees show good awareness of the need to help their students to develop their literacy

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Overall effectiveness Grade: 2

and numeracy skills, and use a range of techniques to achieve this. Most trainees are developing sound assessment practice, and show a good awareness of the link between ongoing, informal assessment in lessons and promoting learning for all students.

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Overall effectiveness Grade: 2

33. A large majority of trainees experience a wide range of teaching practice opportunities covering different levels and courses. Most pre-service trainees benefit significantly from seeing a wide range of teaching across their colleges at the start of the course, although a minority are given little opportunity to see practice beyond their host department. Trainees based in colleges have particularly good access to a range of staff development activities.

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Overall effectiveness Grade: 2

34. Standards of written work are generally good. Most trainees make sound progress in developing their academic skills, and in linking the theoretical content of the programme to their classroom practice. A small minority, however, struggle to articulate the links between theory and practice. Trainees produce some excellent investigative, research-based assignments, both as individuals and through group assignments, including practice-based enquiries. However, inspection evidence shows that a number of very able trainees did not excel as much as they could in their assignments. In some instances, trainees’ reflective skills are underdeveloped, and self-evaluation is perfunctory.

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Overall effectiveness Grade: 2

35. Recruitment and selection arrangements are good, as evidenced by the good outcomes for trainees. Trainees recruited on to the pre-service course are of high calibre. Early diagnostic assessment in literacy, numeracy and ICT is thorough and where trainees need extra support this is provided. However, trainees without strong academic backgrounds do not receive sufficient targeted support to develop their academic study skills at the start of the course. It remains the case, as at the previous inspection, that recruitment from minority ethnic groups is low. Many in-service trainees reported a degree of dissatisfaction at the university’s administrative procedures during registration to the course.

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Overall effectiveness Grade: 2

36. Trainees with suitable qualifications gained elsewhere are able to join the second year of the course by means of accreditation of prior and experiential learning. For pre-service trainees, the partnership is very good at taking account of trainees’ personal circumstances, for example childcare responsibilities, in arranging placements.

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Overall effectiveness Grade: 2

37. Training and assessment are good. Trainees are very positive about the quality of most of the training, and on the whole trainers model good practice. Trainees enjoy and look forward to their weekly training sessions; this is true of all routes and all partners. Trainees who are placed in settings other than colleges report that reasonable efforts are made to ensure that the training is relevant to them. Pastoral support for trainees is very good. The quality of academic target setting is more mixed; in a minority of cases, targets are too vague and not informed by sufficiently detailed assessment information.

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Overall effectiveness Grade: 2

38. Most trainees benefit from high quality subject-specialist mentoring, and this has continued to improve since the previous inspection. Concerted efforts to ensure all mentors are trained appropriately for their role have met with significant success. In a minority of cases, mentors focus too much of their attention on generic support for trainees rather than assisting them to develop knowledge and skills in their subject specialism. A significant proportion of mentors have not received discrete training on observing lessons, giving feedback, and making graded judgements. Although mentors do benefit from conducting joint observations with university tutors, it remains the case that the partnership cannot be confident that judgements are consistent across all the providers.

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Overall effectiveness Grade: 2

39. Although assessment on trainees’ written work is generally good, inspection evidence reveals that the quality and depth of feedback ranges from the exemplary to the perfunctory. For a small minority of more able trainees, feedback is insufficiently helpful to trainees striving to achieve a higher level of academic attainment.

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Overall effectiveness Grade: 2

40. As a result of the good training, most trainees achieve well and make good progress. As the partnership recognises, however, not all trainees who have the potential to become outstanding practitioners do so by the end of their training. Currently, there is a lack of clarity amongst all those involved in the training about exactly what needs to be done to raise standards and academic attainment further, particularly for the most able trainees.

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Overall effectiveness Grade: 2

41. The partnership’s use of available resources is good. University trainers benefit from good opportunities for continuous professional development. Since the previous inspection, good progress has been made in improving the sharing of resources between partner colleges and the university. Many valuable resources are available on the partner colleges’ virtual learning environments. The university’s own virtual learning environment is developing well, although in- service trainees do not yet make sufficient use of this resource. Support for trainees to develop their understanding and use of electronic learning resources is strong in the partner colleges.

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Overall effectiveness Grade: 2

42. The collaborative agreement between the university and the partner colleges for the in-service programme gives full responsibility to the colleges for delivering the programme. In-service trainees mostly report that they see themselves as college, rather than university, students. Currently, they derive little direct benefit from the academic expertise available at the university.

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Overall effectiveness Grade: 2

43. The quality of provision across the partnership is good. Since the previous inspection, inconsistencies in practice have been reduced significantly. Good progress has been made in sharing resources and good practice, and this is having a discernible impact on improving trainees’ outcomes. Standards are rising, although, as the partnership recognises, they are not yet high enough for all trainees.

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Overall effectiveness Grade: 2

44. The promotion of equality and diversity is good. Issues of inclusion, equality and diversity are firmly embedded in the training programme, and many trainees demonstrate a sound understanding of the relevant concepts. Pre-service trainees benefit from the higher profile given in their training to preparing them to teach a diverse range of students. Trainees on both routes exemplify good practice in their awareness of students’ different learning needs, although they are less secure on the implications of teaching a diverse range of cultures. The partnership has begun to analyse data on trainees’ outcomes by different groups, although this is at the early stage and is not fully embedded in the partner colleges.

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Grade: 2

45. The partnership has good capacity to sustain high quality outcomes for trainees and to take the actions required to secure improvements where needed. All those involved in the training have a strong commitment to work together to improve outcomes for trainees. Procedures for achieving this are much improved since the previous inspection. Communications across the partnership have improved significantly and are good. Electronic methods to share information and promote improvement are used well. The partnership leader is highly visible throughout the partnership and has been effective in bringing more coherence and unanimity of purpose to all those responsible for bringing about improvement. A new strategic partnership forum both complements and supplements the cycle of meetings designed to review the provision, and has given added impetus to sharing and consolidating good practice to improve the provision. Significant progress has been made in improving self-evaluation and

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Grade: 2

action planning. The myriad of self-assessment documentation from the partner colleges and the university is being brought together to develop a single overarching evaluation of the provision that gives a clear overview of strengths and areas for improvements. Although this work was not finished at the time of the inspection, evidence showed that partnership leaders are making progress in producing a clear, evidence-based evaluation of the provision that identifies the key priorities for improvement. Data are being collected and analysed more rigorously to evaluate both trainees’ outcomes and the progress trainees make. The three partner colleges make good use of their own rigorous self-assessment procedures to evaluate the provision, although currently they are less involved in taking an overview of provision across the partnership. The evaluation of the progress being made by in-service trainees external to the partner colleges is

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Grade: 2

less secure. External examiner reports are used well to supplement self- evaluation. Feedback from trainees is being collected and analysed to contribute to self-evaluation, and is being used to improve the provision. For example, in response to trainee feedback an optional unit on behaviour management has been introduced.

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Grade: 2

46. The partnership’s response to local and national initiatives is good. University leaders are very well informed about developments in the lifelong learning sector, and provision is adapted swiftly to meet changing demands. For example, the partnership has responded well to increasing demand for training from external candidates based in settings other than further education colleges. All partners were well informed about the uncertainties surrounding the future direction of ITE in the lifelong learning sector at the time of the inspection, and were planning appropriately for any eventuality. Progress has also been made in ensuring trainees have a broader and deeper understanding of the sector. In- service trainees benefit from extensive staff development opportunities, particularly in the three partner colleges. Pre-service trainees have several opportunities to explore national development both in the sector as a whole and

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Grade: 2

in their own subjects. For example, practice-based enquiries often focus on national issues, and trainees benefit from being members of ‘action learning sets’ focused on discussing a range of issues concerning both their own subjects and broader policy matters. Trainers at both the university and the partner colleges are appropriately involved in local and national bodies that contribute to debates in the sector.

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Grade: 2

47. Since the previous inspection, a more coherent framework for self-evaluation and action planning has had a discernible impact in ensuring that priorities for future development are more sharply focused on improving trainees’ outcomes. A wide range of data is being collected and used to provide more comprehensive information on trainees’ progress and attainment, although these data are not yet fully used across the partnership to identify precise actions for improvement or set measurable targets to achieve. The introduction of procedures for grading trainees’ lessons has enabled the partnership to make clearer judgements on trainees’ progress as well as their final attainment. Despite these significant improvements, the ability of all those involved in the partnership to identify precisely how to raise standards so that all trainees achieve their full potential needs further development.

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Annex: Partnership colleges

The partnership includes the following colleges:

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Annex: Partnership colleges

Chichester College Eastleigh College South Downs College.

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Summary of inspection grades 1

Key to judgements: grade 1 is outstanding; grade 2 is good; grade 3 is satisfactory; grade 4 is inadequate.

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Overall effectiveness

How effective is the provision in securing high quality outcomes for trainees? 1 2

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Overall effectiveness

Trainees’ attainment How well do trainees attain? 2 2 Factors contributing to trainees’ attainment To what extent do recruitment / selection arrangements support high quality outcomes? 1 2 To what extent does the training and assessment ensure that all trainees progress to fulfil their potential given their ability and starting points? 1 2

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Overall effectiveness

To what extent are available resources used effectively and efficiently? 1 2 The quality of the provision To what extent is the provision across the partnership of consistently high quality? 1 2

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Overall effectiveness

Promoting equalities and diversity To what extent does the provision promote equality of opportunity, value diversity and eliminate harassment and unlawful discrimination? 2 2

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Capacity to improve further and/or sustain high quality

To what extent do the leadership and management at all levels have the capacity to secure further improvements and/or to sustain high quality outcomes? 2 2

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Capacity to improve further and/or sustain high quality

How effectively does the management at all levels assess performance in order to improve or sustain high quality? 2 2 How well does the leadership at all levels anticipate change, and prepare for and respond to national and local initiatives? 2 2

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Capacity to improve further and/or sustain high quality

How effectively does the provider plan and take action for improvement? 2 2

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Capacity to improve further and/or sustain high quality

1 The criteria for making these graded judgements are in the Grade criteria for the inspection of ITE 2008-11; Ofsted November 2009; Reference no: 080128. set out in the guidance ‘Complaints about school inspection’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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