Other · Ofsted report
Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames Council
Summary
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- Inspection date verified
11 Oct 2013
- Inspectors verified
Richard Moore
- Name on report verified
Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames Adult Education
- URN verified
54196
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Strengths
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Concerns
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- Success rates are low on courses leading to a qualification and are particularly poor on English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) courses. p.1
- Tutors are not sufficiently confident in their use of information and learning technology (ILT) and frequently miss opportunities to enliven lessons through the use of imaginative learning resources. p.1
- Attendance rates are poor in many subjects. p.1
Next steps
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- Ensure that attendance and punctuality are consistently good across all areas of the service by re-emphasising to both tutors and learners the importance of setting clear expectations on these aspects of taking part in lessons. p.2
- Take firm, but realistic, actions to reinforce with learners the need to attend lessons regularly, on time, and as part of the commitment that the service has made towards funding their courses. p.2
- Improve the proportion of good and outstanding teaching and learning by ensuring tutors receive effective continuing professional development which is targeted to help them use a more varied and imaginative range of activities in lessons, to become more confident in the use of ILT and to plan more effectively for individual learning. p.2
- Provide further training to develop tutors’ understanding of working with learners to produce individual learning plans that identify their starting points in more detail and targets which are more specific to their own desired learning outcomes. p.2
- Ensure that observations of teaching and learning have a greater focus on assessment of learners and the way in which tutors monitor and adapt learners’ targets as the learners progress through their courses. p.2
- Identify ways in which the service can use the very good management information available to provide data in a more meaningful and easily understood format so that governors, the local authority, senior managers and coordinators can set appropriate targets, measure improvement more accurately and monitor outcomes and the quality of teaching and learning more closely. p.2
- Outcomes for learners Requires improvement p.2
- Success rates on courses that have non-accredited outcomes are high in most subject areas. p.2
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Parents & families4
“families living in poverty or in poor health.” p.7
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- Pages
- 13
- Words of findings
- 4,780
- longer than usual (typical 1049)
- Reading level
- Hard
- Flesch 35, typical 45
- Average sentence
- 19 words
- Next steps
- 8
- typical 5
- Hedged sentences
- 10%
- “some”, “not always”, “most”…
Where the words go
Full report text
Further Education and Skills inspection report Date published: 13 November 2013 Inspection Number: 423422 URN: 54196
p.1
Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames Adult Education Local authority
p.1
Summary of key findings for learners
Success rates are low on courses leading to a qualification and are particularly poor on English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) courses. Attendance rates are poor in many subjects. Too many lessons require improvement. Tutors are not sufficiently confident in their use of information and learning technology (ILT) and frequently miss opportunities to enliven lessons through the use of imaginative learning resources. Lesson planning does not take sufficient account of the wide range of learners’ abilities. On non-accredited courses, tutors do not always identify learners’ starting points in sufficient detail to plan their individual learning. These tutors miss opportunities to use learners’ experiences and acquired knowledge in lessons to review and refine learners’ targets. Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames Adult Education (the service) does not always use the comprehensive data it has available to analyse the provision realistically and to set targets
p.1
Summary of key findings for learners
which are sufficiently aspirational and achievable. Some staff and governors do not have a good enough understanding of the performance of their subject areas or of the provision overall.
p.1
Summary of key findings for learners
Learners on many courses gain good personal and employability skills, which improve their opportunity for further study and employment. Tutors in practical lessons use their experience and skills well to demonstrate to learners how to carry out particular tasks to a high standard and to give learners meaningful insights into industry standards in their subjects. Pastoral support is good for learners who have additional support requirements. They often have higher success rates than their counterparts who do not have such needs. Teaching, learning and assessment in mathematics and English are good, leading to significant numbers of learners achieving their qualification in these subject areas. The achievement rates for A* to C GCSEs in mathematics and English are outstanding. The service has a strong, and increasing, focus on working with partners to meet a wide range of very diverse needs in its local community and, in particular, the demand to develop learners’
p.1
Summary of key findings for learners
employability skills to enhance their well-being. Inspection dates 8-11 October 2013
p.1
This inspection: Requires improvement-3
Previous inspection: Good-2 Outcomes for learners Requires improvement-3 Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement-3 Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement-3
p.1
What does the provider need to do to improve further?
Ensure that attendance and punctuality are consistently good across all areas of the service by re-emphasising to both tutors and learners the importance of setting clear expectations on these aspects of taking part in lessons. Take firm, but realistic, actions to reinforce with learners the need to attend lessons regularly, on time, and as part of the commitment that the service has made towards funding their courses. Improve the proportion of good and outstanding teaching and learning by ensuring tutors receive effective continuing professional development which is targeted to help them use a more varied and imaginative range of activities in lessons, to become more confident in the use of ILT and to plan more effectively for individual learning. Take urgent action to improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment on ESOL courses in particular, through further stringent quality improvement actions and rigorous and
p.2
What does the provider need to do to improve further?
regular monitoring of the performance of individual courses and tutors. Provide further training to develop tutors’ understanding of working with learners to produce individual learning plans that identify their starting points in more detail and targets which are more specific to their own desired learning outcomes. Ensure that observations of teaching and learning have a greater focus on assessment of learners and the way in which tutors monitor and adapt learners’ targets as the learners progress through their courses. Identify ways in which the service can use the very good management information available to provide data in a more meaningful and easily understood format so that governors, the local authority, senior managers and coordinators can set appropriate targets, measure improvement more accurately and monitor outcomes and the quality of teaching and learning more closely.
p.2
Inspection judgements
Outcomes for learners Requires improvement Success rates on courses that have non-accredited outcomes are high in most subject areas. However, the systems used by the service for recording and recognising achievement on courses that do not lead to a qualification are not sufficiently thorough or reliable in all subject areas. Learners on visual and performing arts courses share ideas well and collaborate effectively in demonstrating high levels of creativity in their work. Practical lessons in sport, health and recreation develop learners’ skills well. The learners make good progress, citing improvements in their mobility and more healthy lifestyles as two significant benefits of attending lessons. Learners’ attainment in other subjects is more variable with many learners making good progress, but others having too little understanding of what they need to achieve. Success rates overall are low on courses leading to a qualification, which account for just under
p.2
Inspection judgements
40% of the provision. On long courses, success rates have been below the national average, and have not improved for the last three years. Short course success rates overall show a slight improvement over the same period of time, but also remain below the national average. Learners on intermediate level courses succeed well. However, success rates on both foundation and advanced level programmes are low. The performance of ESOL courses is particularly poor. Success rates in other subject areas vary too much and few show a consistent trend of improving performance. For example, AS-level success rates were very high in 2011/12 but declined by 30% in 2012/13 to be well below the national average. By contrast, success rates for learners on the second year of their A-level studies improved 13% last year to be 8-11 October 2013 3 of 13
p.2
Inspection judgements
satisfactory. Attendance rates in lessons have been poor for the last two years and poor punctuality impedes learning in too many lessons. High grade achievement rates for the significant numbers of learners studying GCSE English and mathematics are outstanding and well above national averages. They are also very high for the smaller cohorts of learners studying GCSEs in modern foreign languages. Success rates for the increasing numbers of learners studying functional skills qualifications have improved significantly over the last two years, but are still just below the national average. Many learners progress successfully from these qualifications to study for GCSEs. Good links with Jobcentre Plus, local authorities and a number of other stakeholders to develop well-targeted projects have helped young people from particularly challenging backgrounds who are at risk of exclusion from education and/or employment to acquire good work-related skills.
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Inspection judgements
Many have made better progress at school or have stayed on to continue their studies in Year 12, whilst other older learners aged 16 to 18 have progressed to further education or employment. Learners on family learning courses benefit significantly from the responsive and very targeted way in which the service devises new courses to meet their needs. Apprenticeships are a rapidly expanding area of the service’s provision and success rates have shown a dramatic improvement in 2012/13. Apprentices make satisfactory progress to achieve their qualification within the time planned for them to complete their studies, although the overall success rate is still below the national average. Good links with employers ensure that learners on the new traineeship all have work placements. The service’s efforts to ensure that there are no significant achievement gaps between particular groups of learners have met with mixed success. It has been particularly effective in
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Inspection judgements
narrowing gaps in performance between male learners and their female counterparts over the last four years. Learners with declared learning difficulties and/or disabilities achieve more successfully than their counterparts without these needs, but not as well as those on long courses. While some learners from Black and minority ethnic backgrounds perform very well, others have success rates well below the average for the service overall, most notably some Asian learners. Most learners have a satisfactory understanding of progression routes. Progression within the service from non-accredited provision to courses leading to a qualification is poor, as is internal progression between different levels of programmes. The service does not yet systematically gather data on learners’ destinations once the learners leave its provision. Learners feel safe when attending lessons at the service’s community centres. They respect the
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Inspection judgements
diversity created by the very wide-ranging backgrounds of their peers. Learners enjoy their lessons, are well motivated and proud of their achievements. The service has dealt appropriately with some low level disruption caused by learners from other education and training providers who share its main centre.
p.3
Inspection judgements
The quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement Teaching, learning and assessment require improvement. In the better lessons, learners work enthusiastically and purposefully. Tutors support learners well to achieve their learning goals. However, too little of the teaching, learning and assessment is sufficiently effective in securing improvements on a consistent basis in learners’ success rates on courses leading to a qualification; or in ensuring learners on non-accredited programmes make good progress to achieve their individual objectives. Learners benefit particularly from tutors’ teaching and learning methods in practical lessons that enable them to extend their knowledge, skills and understanding. Many tutors are adept at inspiring and motivating learners, building their confidence well and developing their independent learning. In one lesson, learners studying English as a foreign language enjoyed
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Inspection judgements
their learning so much, they were reluctant to take a planned break from their stimulating and challenging activities. Tutors provide learners with very good pastoral support in most subject areas to encourage their on-going participation in lessons. Learners also value the assistance they receive from tutors outside the classroom, particularly those who struggle with doing their homework or finding time with busy home lives to keep up with their studies. Where appropriate, tutors arrange for learners to receive good targeted additional learning support from the service’s inclusive learning team. Tutors are well qualified and experienced, and many have high levels of expertise in their subject areas. However, too often their planning of lessons does not include sufficient consideration of the wide range of learners’ individual needs or how they will monitor their learning. Too many lessons incorporate a very narrow range of activities, with not enough
p.4
Inspection judgements
opportunities for differentiation to stretch and challenge the more able learners. Learners do not always understand what they have to do when tutors set them tasks in lessons. Classroom accommodation is generally suitable and provides appropriate learning environments. Tutors in too many lessons do not make sufficient use of a range of learning technologies and resources to bring lessons to life and to enhance learning. Tutors and learners pay close attention to health and safety, resulting in the good development of learners’ understanding of safe working practices. Arrangements for initial assessment of learners’ starting points vary according to the type and duration of the course and are mostly thorough, ensuring learners enrol on courses at the appropriate level commensurate with their prior attainment. However, tutors do not always make effective use of the information gathered during initial assessment to plan learners’
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Inspection judgements
individual objectives and to identify their specific areas for development. Where initial assessment does not identify learners’ precise support needs, tutors act promptly in seeking relevant support arrangements from specialist staff to carry out further diagnostic assessments. The quality of learners’ individual learning plans varies considerably across different subject areas and within individual courses. Too often, learners’ personal targets are not specific enough or are merely a list of the course objectives. Learners on some courses have identical learning plans or only have the opportunity to add a single personal goal to those already provided for all learners. Where learning plans are not sufficiently specific and individual for learners, the monitoring and review of their progress lack rigour and accuracy. Assessment activities are not sufficiently well planned and recorded on all courses. Feedback to
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Inspection judgements
learners is not always detailed enough and learners are consequently unclear about their learning goals, progress and what they need to do to improve their work. Most learners on non- accredited courses receive frequent, but informal, assessment of their learning. Many tutors rely too much on the use of question and answer techniques solely to assess learners’ understanding of topics. Teaching and learning to support learners’ development of their English, mathematics and other functional skills are good; particularly on employability programmes, family learning courses and in the service’s open learning centre. Tutors monitor and review learners’ progress closely, combining this with careful and prompt marking of their work and detailed feedback on their progress. Learners quickly acquire an appreciation of the value and importance of developing their English and mathematics skills to help them achieve their personal targets.
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Inspection judgements
The service’s approach to providing learners with suitable information, advice and guidance has improved over the last two years and is now satisfactory. Learners can access useful pre-course information and advice about the structure and requirements of programmes. Timely information and guidance are available to learners on progression routes to further training, education or employment. Most tutors are skilled in using teaching methods and learning resources that promote equality of opportunity and develop learners’ appreciation of inclusive learning environments. Tutors 8-11 October 2013 5 of 13
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Inspection judgements
have a good awareness of learners’ individual needs, but do not always plan lessons well enough to meet them. While some tutors use effective examples to promote learners’ understanding of diversity, too many do not plan their lessons to identify relevant opportunities to support topics focusing on diversity through their teaching, learning and assessment.
p.5
19+ Learning programmes
Teaching, learning and assessment on visual and performing arts courses require improvement. Success rates on non-accredited programmes are high, but the systems used by the service for recording and recognising achievement on those courses are not sufficiently thorough and reliable. In the best lessons, a good mix of learning activities promotes effective learning through tutors’ well-honed demonstrations, improvisation and experimentation. Learners make good use of their time in classes to practise and refine their skills. However, too many tutors do not plan sufficiently for whole-group learning or peer-led activities to enable learners to acquire skills and knowledge from each other. Teaching and learning in theory lessons are not of the same high standard as in practical classes. Tutors motivate learners well to develop valuable skills through enjoyable and creative projects. Many of the supportive and caring tutors inspire learners to explore specialist technical methods
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19+ Learning programmes
in carrying out their work. However, a significant minority of tutors do not consider a full range of teaching and learning methods that encompass sufficiently challenging tasks. Learners collaborate well in lessons, reacting well to each other’s ideas and working in an industrious and purposeful manner. Learners in music classes have a good range of external performance opportunities and establish new musical groups. Learners on craft courses have set up successful business initiatives. Learners exhibit safe learning practices. Much of the classroom accommodation is appropriate. It is good for ceramics lessons. However, some classes are overcrowded and lack sufficient access to installed ILT. Tutors provide good quality learning resources for ceramics, soft furnishings, acrylics and music courses. Tutors’ professional industry experience and knowledge help them to support a wide range of learners’ aspirations and to inspire learners to develop new artistic directions through the
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19+ Learning programmes
sharing of professional insights into creative practices. However, tutors’ skills in redefining learning points or providing alternative explanations based on learners’ current and previous experiences in classes are ineffective in a minority of lessons. Learning plans do not reflect fully the mixed abilities of many groups of visual and performing arts learners. Too many tutors do not negotiate targets with learners that meet their individual needs and aspirations. Planning for tasks to create new challenges for learners, especially for those returning to the same, or a similar, course, is insufficiently thorough. Too many lessons are characterised by a lack of planned use of ILT, resulting in missed opportunities to harness the potential to create, record and document learners’ work and ideas digitally. Not enough learners are able to enhance their learning through the use of ILT in lessons and tutors do not consider fully the use of virtual and interactive learning technologies
p.5
19+ Learning programmes
in their plans for teaching, learning and assessment activities. Assessment practices overall lack sufficient rigour. Tutors’ planning for assessment is too variable, both in lessons and over the full duration of courses. This is characterised by insufficient targeted feedback to learners on their progress or what they have to do to improve. Too many tutors rely on general checklists to categorise learning and to set targets that are not 8-11 October 2013 6 of 13
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19+ Learning programmes
incisive enough. Project-based assessment is fair, supportive and carried out carefully, thus enabling learners to understand what they need to do to complete their work to a high standard. On ceramics, soft furnishings and weaving courses, tutors detailed monitoring of learners’ progress helps learners to improve their work. Highly differentiated learning tasks benefit learners considerably, as the tutors refine their learning approaches and materials based on careful observation of how learners develop their knowledge most effectively. Planning by tutors for learners to practise and develop their spoken English and relevant mathematics skills is underdeveloped. Learners do not consistently practise, or apply, these skills to enhance their main vocational learning goals. Tutors provide consistent encouragement to help learners to progress. Learners receive clear advice and guidance about the programmes within course information and through promotional
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19+ Learning programmes
days in central locations. A small number of courses include thorough pre-enrolment discussions about learners’ and tutors’ expectations. Advice on progression to other courses is informal. Further learning options are not always clear, with few formal links to relevant institutions. Learners receive good advice to purchase resources from arts and crafts suppliers. Tutors and learners create a positive and welcoming learning environment in all lessons. In too many classes, however, they do not consider the wider contexts through which different societies approach the arts or explore social and economic issues in the creative industries. Learners do not discuss ethical and other considerations in relation to producing, selling and consuming art.
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19+ Learning programmes
Teaching and learning are good on sport, leisure and recreation courses, which reflect the good outcomes for learners. However, assessment practices require improvement on a significant minority of programmes. Learners benefit from high expectations, support and motivation provided by tutors. The curriculum coordinator and staff provide good support to learners to help them achieve their targets. Learners value highly the levels of care and attention they receive from their tutors and coaches. Staff are enthusiastic and well motivated, offering their support to learners whenever they need it, both inside and outside the classroom. Many of the tutors and coaches are very experienced in their professions and hold relevant coaching awards. Learners enjoy their lessons, attend well and appreciate the health benefits they gain from participation in exercise sessions. As a result, they feel more confident in themselves mentally
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19+ Learning programmes
and physically and report that they are able to cope more easily with problems at work and at home. They know more about healthy lifestyles and the benefits of regular exercise, such as improved relaxation, better balance and greater self-esteem. Learners feel safe in lessons. Tutors remind them constantly during practical sessions to pace themselves, take frequent rest breaks and to rehydrate themselves regularly. Tutors take great care not to overstretch learners and to ensure that they take all possible precautions to maximise learners’ health and safety. Learners’ induction is thorough and incorporates the completion of detailed health questionnaires which tutors use to judge whether learners are physically capable of completing practical courses. Most, but not all, tutors produce a class profile detailing the ailments that learners suffer from and which might restrict their participation in some activities.
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19+ Learning programmes
Teaching is good in most lessons. Learners receive clear explanations of what they have to do from tutors, supported by accurate demonstrations to enhance their learning. In a particularly good Pilates lesson, the tutor, a professional dancer, was able to keep a mixed ability class physically challenged on an individual basis while not impacting adversely on the intensity of the class for all learners. Tutors lead well-planned sessions, which are mostly interesting, interactive, participative and frequently dynamic. Practical sessions are particularly effective in developing learners’ skills at translating theory into practice and providing opportunities for them to learn new techniques. Tutors’ explanations and demonstrations are detailed and clear, rapidly enhancing learners’ understanding of important techniques and moves. Tutors provide frequent verbal feedback on the quality of learners’ performances to the whole class, but less so to individual learners. Learners find the feedback,
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19+ Learning programmes
which is usually in the form of corrections or further coaching on balance and exercise technique, very useful. This often motivates learners to try harder to succeed at their given sport or keep fit activity. Tutors provide learners with useful information and recommendations on safe exercises and activities they can pursue outside the classroom. Assessment activities require improvement. Although tutors discuss with learners what they each want to achieve individually on their courses, individual learning plans are too general and result in learning aims that resemble the course objectives too much, rather than what each individual learner hopes to achieve. Tutors set challenging tasks for learners in practical sessions, but make little reference to the formal targets in their individual learning plans. The service has recognised the need to set more precise individual targets for learners and the
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19+ Learning programmes
coordinator for this area has devised a new updated form to pilot on Tai Chi courses. The service acknowledges that it is difficult to develop learners’ English and mathematics skills in practical keep fit classes. Tutors work hard to explain the different terms used in, for example, yoga and Tai Chi lessons and to encourage learners to use the correct anatomical and physiological names in activities. Tutors provide good verbal information, advice and guidance to ensure learners enrol on courses that meet their individual needs and are appropriate to their pre-existing levels of fitness and expertise. Tutors promote key aspects of equality and diversity well in most lessons, explaining cultural differences found in the teaching of subjects such as yoga and Tai Chi in other countries, as well as in their country of origin. Tutors are very aware of the needs of older learners and adapt their lessons accordingly to take account of those who suffer with mobility problems.
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19+ Learning programmes
The effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement Leadership and management require improvement. Governors, senior managers and coordinators have high expectations for the service and balance the very broad range of courses on offer carefully, while responding well to local employability demands and changes in funding. Senior managers make good use of the service’s partners and governing body’s expertise to determine important strategic decisions and to establish key priorities. The recently formulated community learning plan for the service has clear links to the local authority’s strategies and initiatives, particularly in relation to improving residents’ health, promoting learning and ensuring community cohesion. The service has been successful in developing the provision it offers to attract disadvantaged groups in the local community, such as unemployed people, disaffected young adults and
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19+ Learning programmes
families living in poverty or in poor health. The highly relevant curriculum meets partners’ and employers’ needs particularly well. Coordinators design courses flexibly, based on partners’ requirements, for example early years programmes for lone parents, and facilitate others that the service delivers jointly to help build the capacity of partners’ staff to run future courses alone. 8-11 October 2013 8 of 13
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19+ Learning programmes
The service is currently reviewing the role and membership of its governing body in order to strengthen its management capacity. Governors and the local authority’s managers provide significant support for senior managers in the service to develop the provision. However, their knowledge of the service’s performance and standards of teaching and learning is insufficient due to the lack of clarity of the management information they receive. They are unclear about whether standards are improving and have an inaccurate view of trends in performance. The service produces exceptionally comprehensive and relevant management information about learners, their success rates and their feedback about the quality of the provision. However, senior managers and coordinators do not analyse these data sufficiently well to identify trends in learners’ outcomes early enough, or to investigate the underlying reasons and necessary
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19+ Learning programmes
actions swiftly. Target setting is weak, so that targets are insufficiently ambitious for short course success rates and rarely achieved on long courses. Coordinators carry out comprehensive observations of teaching and learning during which they assess the quality of most lessons accurately. Most managers use this information well, together with tutors’ self-evaluations and training plans, to manage tutors’ performance. Where observations take place of tutors delivering inadequate lessons, they receive appropriate training and mentoring. The service has recently strengthened its policy for placing such tutors in capability measures. Tutors benefit from well-planned professional development and useful opportunities for peer observation, both of which are highly relevant to helping them to improve their teaching. Coordinators evaluate tutors’ feedback on staff training, but do not assess its impact on
p.8
19+ Learning programmes
classroom practice during observations of teaching and learning. Not all tutors have completed recent training in equality and diversity or safeguarding. Senior managers have improved the self-assessment process during 2012/13 and draft reports for last year’s self-assessment are more critical and thorough in identifying areas for improvement. Coordinators do not use the full range of information available to them, such as quality audits, course reviews and peer observations, to carry out accurate self-assessment. The service has acknowledged this process has been particularly poor for the ESOL provision and is taking steps to rectify its monitoring of this curriculum area. Although senior managers monitor improvement plans carefully, their subsequent actions have not been fully effective in resolving all the areas for improvement from the previous inspection. Individual tutors use learners’ feedback very effectively to improve and modify lessons and
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19+ Learning programmes
courses. The service’s externally-analysed learner questionnaires provide senior managers with a powerful and detailed report about learner satisfaction by centre, subject, ethnicity and level of course. However, senior managers and coordinators do not make best use of this wealth of data to focus sufficiently on quality improvement initiatives. The service offers a highly inclusive learning environment in which managers and tutors strive hard to reduce potential barriers to participation. Their initiatives are successful in recruiting under-represented groups of people to the service, most notably men, unemployed residents and learners from a wide range of ethnic backgrounds. The equality and diversity task and disability inclusion groups have maintained a high priority across the service for inclusion and equality of opportunity. However, they do not yet measure the impact of their work sufficiently, particularly in relation to how well tutors promote subject-
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19+ Learning programmes
related diversity topics in lessons. Senior managers are unclear as to why some groups of learners achieve less well than others and have, consequently, identified very few actions or targets to reduce gaps in performance. The service meets its statutory requirements for the safeguarding of learners. The designated managers in the service manage safeguarding effectively, ensuring the required checks take place for relevant staff and learners. Tutors risk assess activities, classrooms and external partners appropriately and pay good attention to health and safety in lessons. 8-11 October 2013 9 of 13
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Thames Adult Education
Inspection grades are based on a provider’s performance:
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Thames Adult Education
1: Outstanding 2: Good 3: Requires improvement 4: Inadequate Overall 19+ Learning programmes Community learning
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Thames Adult Education
The quality of teaching, learning and assessment 3 3 3
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Thames Adult Education
The effectiveness of leadership and management 3 3 3
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Subject areas graded for the quality of teaching, learning and assessment Grade
Sport, leisure and recreation 2 8-11 October 2013 10 of 13
p.9
full contract year
Principal/CEO Barrie Selwyn Date of previous inspection November 2008 Website address http://adultedcourses.kingston.gov.uk
p.10
programme level
Level 1 or below Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 and above
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(excluding apprenticeships)
Full-time - - - - - - - - Part-time 15 1,666 - 274 4 133 - 3 Number of traineeships 16-19 19+ Total 5 3 8
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Apprenticeship level and age
Intermediate Advanced Higher 16-18 19+ 16-18 19+ 16-18 19+ 25 40 - 4 - - Number of community learners 68 Number of employability learners 270 Funding received from Education Funding Agency and Skills Funding Agency
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Contextual information
The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames is located in Surrey and provides adult and community learning through Kingston Adult Education. In 2012/13, the service provided part-time and full-time courses across the borough to support the educational, cultural, recreational, vocational and employment-related interests of more than 3,700 learners. The borough has one of the smallest populations in London, of which approximately a quarter are from a Black, Asian or minority ethnic groups. Of all persons in employment in the area, 25% are engaged in professional and technical occupations. Half of all residents aged over 16 years in the area have a level 4 qualification or above. The unemployment rate in Kingston is low and significantly below the averages for both London and England as a whole. The number of pupils in schools in Kingston attaining five GCSEs at grades A* to C including English and mathematics is well above the
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Information about this inspection
Lead inspector Richard Moore HMI Two of Her Majesty’s Inspectors (HMI) and three additional inspectors, assisted by the deputy principal as nominee, carried out the inspection with short notice. Inspectors took account of the provider’s most recent self-assessment report and development plans, and the previous inspection report. Inspectors also used data on learners’ achievements over the last three years to help them make judgements. Inspectors used group and individual interviews, telephone calls and online questionnaires to gather the views of learners and employers; these views are reflected throughout the report. They observed learning sessions, assessments and progress reviews. The inspection took into account all of the provision at the provider. Inspectors looked at the quality of teaching, learning and assessment across all of the provision and graded the sector subject areas listed in the report above.
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Grade Judgement
Detailed grade characteristics can be viewed in the Handbook for the inspection of further education and skills 2012, Part 2:
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Grade Judgement
http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/handbook-for-inspection-of-further-education-and-skills- september-2012
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Grade Judgement
guidance ‘Raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234 , or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .
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Grade Judgement
Learner View is a new website where learners can tell Ofsted what they think about their college or provider. They can also see what other learners think about them too.
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Grade Judgement
To find out more go to www.learnerview.ofsted.gov.uk 8-11 October 2013 13 of 13
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Grade Judgement
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, community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.
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Grade Judgement
If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, 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. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and provider inspection reports, please visit our website and go to ‘Subscribe’.
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Grade Judgement
T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk
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