City of London College Centre for Advanced Studies

Further education and skills inspection report

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City of London College Centre for Advanced Studies Independent learning provider

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Inspection dates 29 November–1 December 2017

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate Adult learning programmes Inadequate

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Inadequate

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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Summary of key findings

 Leadership and management of the provision are weak. Governors are not effective in holding leaders and managers to account and do not ensure that learners receive a good learning experience.  Managers have not set up, and do not use, their quality improvement processes effectively, and have failed to offer high-quality programmes. They do not have an accurate view of the quality of teaching and consequently do not have effective plans to make improvements.  Learners’ attendance and punctuality are poor. Leaders and managers have not set high enough expectations and they do not monitor attendance to ensure that learners participate well.  Safeguarding arrangements are ineffective. Leaders and managers have failed to implement a safeguarding policy and practices that lead to the protection and safety of all learners.  Teaching, learning and assessment on access to higher education and gas installation courses

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Summary of key findings

require significant improvement to ensure that all learners make good progress relative to their prior attainment.  Learners do not receive sufficient support to develop further their English and mathematics skills, in order to support their progression into higher education or employment.

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Summary of key findings

The provider has the following strengths

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Summary of key findings

 The provider has focused on widening access to learning and employment for all learners and promotes inclusivity well, in particular for women to train as gas engineers.  Learners develop a good range of technical skills in order to fulfil their career and employment aspirations. A high proportion of learners achieve their qualifications. 29 November–1 December 2017

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Information about the provider

 City of London College is an independent training provider that operates from two sites, one in Whitechapel, which predominantly offers courses in business studies and access to higher education courses and, until recently, courses in hairdressing and beauty therapy, and the other in Highams Park, which offers vocational courses in gas installation. Approximately 205 learners fund their course through the government’s adult learning loans.  The majority of learners attending the provider do so in order to develop their skills either to progress into higher education or to gain the necessary skills to enter careers installing and maintaining gas appliances in people’s homes. A small number of learners attend from female prisons to gain the skills needed to secure employment once released.

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What does the provider need to do to improve further?

 Ensure that managers make better use of data to monitor and improve issues such as learners’ attendance, punctuality, progress and achievement.  Develop a strategy that supports the further development of learners’ English, mathematics, and information and communications technology (ICT) skills in order to enhance their learning experience and contribute to an increase in their employment chances.  Ensure that leaders and managers develop a very clear strategy on measuring and improving the quality of teaching, learning and assessment. This should link closely to staff performance management.  Ensure that leaders and managers make better use of their findings from lesson observations, and learners’ and employers’ views, in evaluating the quality of provision. They should use these to create an action plan to bring about rapid improvement.  Strengthen the role of governors by providing them with the necessary information to

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What does the provider need to do to improve further?

ensure that they can scrutinise all aspects of the provision, including safeguarding, quality of teaching, learning and assessment, and the wider outcomes attained by learners.  Urgently conduct a review of the safeguarding mechanisms and identify areas where they are ineffective. Establish a comprehensive, well-informed policy that clearly highlights the protection measures for all groups of learners. Leaders, managers and staff should complete the necessary training to increase their knowledge of safeguarding and apply it to their learning processes. 29 November–1 December 2017

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

 Leadership and management of the provision is weak. Leaders and managers demonstrate insufficient knowledge and understanding of the subjects to ensure that they meet the needs of learners.  Leaders and managers fail to gather and analyse sufficient data to scrutinise the quality of outcomes achieved by learners and to evaluate the provision. They do not identify trends in learners’ attendance and punctuality in order to improve the levels of learners’ engagement.  Leaders and managers have not placed enough emphasis on developing learners’ English, mathematics and ICT skills, considering learners’ prior achievements in these subjects. As a result, learners who speak English as an additional language do not receive sufficient support in developing their English language skills in order to support their progression to employment or further study. Female offenders on the gas installation course do not have

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

opportunities to develop their ICT skills while doing their course. This is particularly important for this group of learners because, due to the prisons’ security conditions, they have little access to technology and therefore a need to develop these essential skills in college.  Leaders and managers make ineffective use of their performance management scheme and do not use their observations of tutors’ teaching practice during annual appraisals. Leaders and managers do not place enough significance on the teacher’s effectiveness when reviewing their performance, and this limits their ability to manage and develop staff effectively. They acknowledge the need to address this and are currently reviewing the staff performance system.  Leaders and managers do not focus well enough on monitoring and improving the quality of the learning experience. Through their observations of lessons, managers have failed

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

to gain a complete or accurate view of the quality of teaching, learning and assessment. Furthermore, they have only recently begun to analyse the profile of the few observations carried out to identify trends for improvement and it is too early to assess the effectiveness of this. Actions to tackle tutor’s’ development of teaching practice are slow and lack urgency.  Leaders’ and managers’ evaluation of the provision is too narrow. They place too much emphasis on the high pass rates when judging the quality of the provision, thus failing to consider the wider outcomes that learners attain. Consequently, the provider’s self- assessment report is not evaluative enough. Leaders and managers are not able to highlight the impact of the perceived strengths and weaknesses in their own assessment of the provision. Consideration of learners’ and employers’ views do not figure sufficiently in the report. The areas identified for improvement do not feature appropriately in the

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

provider’s quality improvement plan. Leaders and managers do not use data to set challenging targets and bring about rapid improvement. 29 November–1 December 2017  Leaders and managers do not have a strategy for improving learners’ understanding of living and working in modern Britain, the risks posed by extremism and radicalisation, and how learners can keep themselves safe, including when online.  The provider delivers a wide range of vocational training programmes that meet the local and national economic needs, covering trade areas where there are skill shortages and high customer demand. Managers have established successful partnerships with local colleges, universities and employers. For example, local employers can use the training facilities in exchange for supporting the learners.  Leaders and managers have successfully focused on widening access to learning and employment for those who prefer a less academic route, promoting inclusivity well. For

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

example, they teach the gas installation programme to a group of female offenders and, in the last three years, have supported seven learners to set up their own businesses successfully.

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The governance of the provider

 Governors have not been effective in overseeing the provision. They do not access the necessary information that enables them to scrutinise the quality of the provision. Aspects of the provision, such as safeguarding and quality of learning, are not discussed sufficiently at the governors’ board meetings. Consequently, governors are not able to pose the necessary challenge and hold leaders to account for delivering a high-quality learning experience to all learners.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective.  Leaders and managers have not ensured that their safeguarding arrangements are robust. Managers have not completed adequate checks to ensure that people they recruit are safe to work with their learners. They maintain poor records of staff’s suitability and do not adhere to their own stated policies regarding checking staff.  Leaders and managers have not done enough to ensure that effective controls and measures are in place to protect vulnerable groups such as the female learners who are serving a custodial sentence. Leaders and managers do not monitor attendance robustly enough and enforce attendance policies. Protocols to deal with communications with the prisons are not well established and are therefore ineffective. Managers have not identified with any degree of precision the risks that individual learners present, and therefore do not have adequate control measures in place to manage potential risks.

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Safeguarding

 Staff have not had adequate training in safeguarding and the designated safeguarding lead for the organisation is not suitably qualified for this role. Staff have received insufficient training on the ‘Prevent’ duty. Learners receive little information about whom to contact if they have any safeguarding concerns. Not enough learners know how to raise a concern appropriately. 29 November–1 December 2017

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

 Teachers do not plan learning well enough and use a limited range of methods, activities and resources to ensure that all learners make good progress. For example, a task overly focused on the presentation of complex technical information failed to maintain all learners’ interest, and they quickly lost concentration and asked for clarification. At the start of an access to higher education lesson, learners were not clear about the purpose of the lesson. As a result, learners became disengaged and chose not to get involved in a group activity.  Teachers do not make sufficient links between the learning of theory on the gas installation courses and how this applies to real work situations. This hinders learners’ ability to apply this confidently in practical activities and complete tasks successfully, such as installing flues in a variety of settings.  Teachers do not collect information on learners’ prior skills and experience, nor do they

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

use the results of diagnostic assessments for English and mathematics to set up learning programmes that are challenging enough for all learners and meet their individual needs. For example, staff plan for all learners to complete their qualifications in the same time frame, despite their differing levels of ability and previous experience.  In too many lessons, teachers do not take sufficient account of individual learners’ starting points, including their prior skills, to teach lessons that meet learners’ differing needs and abilities. Consequently, the most-able learners lack challenge in their learning and do not achieve their potential, and the least-able learners find the work too hard.  Similarly, teachers do not identify learners’ support and additional needs accurately enough to ensure that they make the progress of which they are capable. For example, learners who require additional help with mathematical concepts make slow progress.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

Learners with low concentration levels find it difficult to understand complex text in a long presentation.  Too few learners benefit from the setting of learning targets to develop their personal, academic and vocational skills at an appropriate pace. As a result, learners do not demonstrate a good understanding of how to achieve their learning outcomes, make good progress and achieve their qualification.  Teachers provide feedback to learners on gas installation courses, which does not identify clearly enough what they need to do to improve. Consequently, learners do not know precisely what they have done well, and how to improve their work and develop their skills further.  Teachers establish productive relationships with learners. They use their subject and vocational expertise well to ensure that they develop a range of vocational and academic skills, for example in gas installation and access to engineering, science and mathematics.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

 The few learners on access to higher education courses receive regular and thorough feedback on how to improve their skills and, as a result, make good progress. A significant number have achieved distinctions to date in engineering. 29 November–1 December 2017  Learners on access to higher education and gas installation courses benefit from an extensive induction to ensure that they are clear about their course, the demands of level 3 study and how it will support their progression into higher education or employment.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Inadequate

 Learners’ attendance is poor. Too few learners attend their course regularly and staff do not set high enough expectations around attendance. As a result, learners do not progress as well as they could.  Too many learners do not turn up to lessons on time. As a result, learners are not developing the necessary skills that will be useful in future employment.  Learners do not receive sufficiently comprehensive careers’ information, advice and guidance. Learners on access to higher education courses receive information on how their course will help them progress onto higher education but too few learners can apply what they have learned in order to complete their university applications in a timely manner. Learners on gas installation courses do not receive sufficient guidance on how to secure work experience or employment.  Where individual targets for learners exist, these focus solely on the completion of units

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Inadequate

rather than on the skills that they need to develop. As a result, learners are not clear about the skills they need to develop to achieve their qualification.  Teachers do not routinely develop learners’ English skills, or develop further their English and mathematics skills beyond the level at which they start the course. The college offers no additional qualifications in English and mathematics. As a result, learners are not extending their skills in order to better equip them for employment or further study.  Learners do not have a good understanding of equality, diversity, living and working in modern Britain, the risks posed by extremism and radicalisation, or their own personal and online safety. As a result, learners are not aware of how these are relevant to their own personal circumstances and how to keep themselves safe from such dangers.  Learners are well behaved and they are respectful to their tutors and peers. Learners take

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Inadequate

pride in their work and have well-presented portfolios that are of a good standard. Female learners with complex needs are clear about their future goals and welcome the opportunity to acquire specialist skills in installing gas appliances. As a result, they are developing the personal skills needed to gain employment or continue with their studies.

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Outcomes for learners Inadequate

 Learners take too long to complete their gas installation qualification based on their starting point. As a result, learners do not make rapid enough progress in achieving their qualification.  Teachers identify learners’ level of mathematics prior to the start of the course. However, leaders and managers do not have a clear strategy for the development of these skills and teachers do not routinely develop learners’ ability in mathematics. As a result, learners are not developing the skills they need to progress into their chosen career. 29 November–1 December 2017  Although staff assess the standard of learners’ English at the start of the course, they do not share the outcome of these assessments with learners. Neither tutors nor learners are aware of what English skills learners need to develop and, as a result, they do not improve during their time at the college.  Managers do not routinely check where learners go when they leave the college. As a

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Outcomes for learners Inadequate

result, they do not know what learners progress onto once they have completed their qualification, and whether the courses offered meet the needs of learners.  Leaders and managers do not evaluate the performance of different groups of individuals. As a result, leaders and managers do not know whether there are any achievement gaps between groups of learners, and what actions they need to take to address these.  The proportion of learners who stay to the end of their course is very high. Managers’ own data indicates that the proportion of learners achieving their access to higher education or gas installation qualification improved last year and is now high. However, the proportion of learners who achieve hairdressing qualifications is low and managers have now ceased offering this subject. 29 November–1 December 2017

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Provider details

Type of provider Adult learning provider

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Provider details

Approximate number of all learners over the previous full contract year Principal/CEO Shahzad Yousuf

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Provider information at the time of the inspection

Main course or learning programme level Level 1 or below Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 or above Total number of learners (excluding apprenticeships) 16–18 19+ 16–18 19+ 16–18 19+ 16–18 19+

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Provider information at the time of the inspection

- - - - - 250 - - Number of apprentices by apprenticeship level and age Intermediate Advanced Higher

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Provider information at the time of the inspection

16–18 19+ 16–18 19+ 16–18 19+ - - - - - - Number of traineeships 16–19 19+ Total - - - Number of learners aged 14 to -

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Provider information at the time of the inspection

Number of learners for which the provider receives high- needs funding -

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Provider information at the time of the inspection

At the time of inspection, the provider contracts with the following main subcontractors: None 29 November–1 December 2017

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Information about this inspection

The inspection team was assisted by the director of operations as nominee. Inspectors took account of the provider’s most recent self-assessment report and development plans. Inspectors used group and individual interviews, telephone calls and online questionnaires to gather the views of learners and employers; these views are reflected within the report. They observed learning sessions, assessments and progress reviews. The inspection took into account all relevant provision at the provider.

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Inspection team

Steve Lambert, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Kanwaljit Dhillon Ofsted Inspector 29 November–1 December 2017 guidance ‘Raising concerns and making a complaint about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.gov.uk/government/publications/complaints-about-ofsted . 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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Inspection team

Learner View Learner View is a 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. To find out more go to www.learnerview.ofsted.gov.uk .

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Inspection team

Employer View Employer View is a website where employers can tell Ofsted what they think about their employees’ college or provider. They can also see what other employers think about them too. To find out more go to www.employerview.ofsted.gov.uk .

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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