Leicester College

Leicester College Teacher Education & Staff Development St Margaret’s Campus - Leicester College, St John Street, Leicester LE1 3WL

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education and training Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Not applicable

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What is it like to be a trainee at this ITE partnership?

Post-graduate certificate in education (PGCE) and level 5 university diploma in education trainees benefit from a rigorous curriculum that is focused on teaching in the further education and skills sector. Trainees develop their theoretical knowledge and a range of practical skills, such as how to manage the behaviour of learners. The level 5 apprenticeship programme is less well considered but, nevertheless, provides much useful training for apprentices.

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What is it like to be a trainee at this ITE partnership?

Trainees enjoy well-planned lessons that are taught in a lively and engaging way, incorporate recent relevant research and involve professional debate and reflection. They benefit from high-quality teaching materials, including digital resources.

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What is it like to be a trainee at this ITE partnership?

The vast majority of trainees benefit from the support of knowledgeable subject-specialist mentors, which they value highly. Mentors help trainees to develop their general teaching skills. They provide insightful guidance on subject-specific pedagogy and how trainees can work successfully in their own setting.

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What is it like to be a trainee at this ITE partnership?

Trainees benefit from close relationships and good communications with their tutors and mentors. This contributes to their progress. However, mentors are not always sufficiently integrated into the course team and do not always have a clear idea about what tutors think they need to work on with their trainees. Trainees participate in a range of peer-learning activities. They complete work in groups in which members have different subject specialisms and work environments. They observe each other teach and this helps them to learn from one another.

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Information about this ITE partnership

◼ 33 trainees ◼ Further education age-phase ◼ Trainees are placed at Countesthorpe Academy, Highbury College, Leicester City Council, Leicester College, Leicestershire County Care Limited, Maplewell Hall School, Loughborough College, North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College, Shama Women’s Centre, The SMB Group and Wolfdale School. ◼ Twenty one post-graduate certificate in education (PGCE) trainees, seven level 5 university diploma trainees, five level 5 apprentice learning and skills teachers ◼ Current inspection grades: Countesthorpe Academy (N/A), Highbury College (Requires improvement), Leicester City Council (Good), Leicester College (Good), Leicestershire County Care Limited (N/A), Maplewell Hall School (Good), Loughborough College (Good), North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College (Good), Shama Women’s Centre (N/A), The SMB Group (Good), Wolfdale School (Good).

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Information about this inspection

◼ Four HMI conducted the inspection. ◼ Inspectors spoke with the following staff from Leicester College: the vice principal for HE, adult and community; the vice principal for study programmes and apprenticeships; the teacher education manager and manager of higher education; the teacher education programme area manager; and the HE academic development and enhancement manager; the programme lead (PGCE/University Diploma); the programme lead (City and Guilds level 5 HLA); the director of quality improvement; the director of student services; and the director of apprenticeships and commercial operations. They spoke with the head of educational partnerships and the head of academic quality at De Montfort University. They also spoke with managers in all of the placement settings visited. ◼ Inspectors spoke with 17 trainees. ◼ The inspection considered the following subjects: English for speakers of other

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Information about this inspection

languages, service industries, sport, leisure and recreation, and crafts, creative arts and design. ◼ Inspectors visited six placements.

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better?

PGCE trainers plan a rigorous and ambitious curriculum that is clearly focused on teaching in post-compulsory settings. There is a firm focus on teaching trainees key teaching skills in the first part of the course and developing these incrementally while introducing a range of challenging theoretical concepts. The apprenticeship programme is less coherently planned, although it still provides trainees with an appropriate grounding in a range of pedagogical themes. Specialist mentors provide effective subject-specific training and support for all types of programme.

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better?

Managers have carefully selected teachers for ITE courses who have an appropriate background in further education. Teachers demonstrate high expectations and model good teaching practices. They use research well and encourage professional reflection. They plan lessons carefully, make effective use of teaching resources, including digital material, and involve trainees in lively and well-informed discussions.

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better?

Training does not sufficiently address how teachers can meet the needs of learners who have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Trainers do not make effective use of the prior and current SEND teaching experience of trainees to support their peers to develop their skills in supporting learners with SEND.

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better?

Almost all mentors are knowledgeable and highly skilled subject specialists. They provide good advice to trainees. However, successful mentoring is not the result of rigorous selection, training and support by Leicester College managers. Mentors are generally selected by the trainees themselves or their managers. While mentors receive initial training and ongoing information about both their role and their trainee, it is limited in scope. To date, this has not had a detrimental impact on trainees.

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better?

Managers have established, and follow, a comprehensive range of quality assurance and improvement processes. They consider a range of themes, including academic standards, at termly meetings with staff from De Montfort University (DMU). Leicester College governors and the Validation Service Board at DMU both provide effective oversight. However, a few actions within quality improvement plans lack precision.

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better?

Trainers make effective use of formative assessment throughout programmes to check trainees’ progress and to make adjustments to teaching. Activities include questioning, homework tasks and assignment practice activities. They provide precise and clear feedback that trainees use well. Trainers and mentors use lesson observations to assess trainees’ progress and to provide them with useful guidance on how they can improve further. However, observations focus too early on the professional standards and not the specific topics that trainees have studied.

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(Information for the partnership and appropriate authority)

◼ Review the curriculum planning for the level 5 learning and skills teacher apprenticeship to ensure that it is coherent, ambitious and up to date. ◼ Incorporate within all courses more training about how to support learners with SEND. This might include making better use of the knowledge and expertise of those trainees who teach learners with SEND. ◼ Strengthen processes to select, train and support mentors so that managers can guarantee that the quality of the subject-specialist training and support is of a consistently high standard for all trainees. ◼ Ensure that all quality improvement actions are precise and that outcomes are measurable so that actions lead to real improvements to the experiences of trainees. ◼ Review the approach taken to evaluating the lessons observed by trainers and mentors to ensure that the professional standards are not used prematurely to assess the performance of trainees and that the focus is on the skills and knowledge that

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ITE Partnership details

Unique reference number 1264441 Inspection number 10166909

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ITE Partnership details

This inspection was carried out by Her Majesty’s Inspectors (HMIs) in accordance with the ‘Initial teacher education inspection framework and handbook’.

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ITE Partnership details

This framework and handbook sets out the statutory basis and framework for initial teacher education (ITE) inspections in England from September 2020.

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ITE Partnership details

Type of ITE Partnership HEI Phases provided Further Education and Skills Date of previous inspection Not applicable

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Inspection team

Russ Henry, Lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Julie Ashton Her Majesty’s Inspector Helen Whelan Her Majesty’s Inspector Michael Worgs Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Annex: Partnership schools

Inspectors contacted trainees and staff at the following settings, schools and colleges, as part of this inspection:

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grade

Leicester College 131863 FES September Good

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Leicester City Council 52994 FES September Good

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North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College 130836 FES September Good

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Wolfdale School 142659 FES September Good 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 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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