New College Durham

New College Durham New College Durham, Framwellgate Moor Campus, Durham DH1 5ES

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education and training Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Leadership and management Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement

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

Trainees receive high levels of personal, pastoral and academic guidance. They value the effective assistance that they receive from tutors, mentors and cross-college services. For example, trainees benefit from support with their mental health and from specialist advice on Harvard referencing.

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

Too few trainees benefit from a curriculum that engages them sufficiently with up-to-date educational research, including in relation to teaching strategies. While the taught programme now covers the professional standards for teachers and trainers in further education, too often tutors do not include or model evidence-based techniques in their teaching.

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

Most mentors provide trainees with useful resources and activities that help them to improve their teaching. However, for too many trainees, there is a lack of precise planning to address areas of weakness. These trainees are given targets that are vague and undirected. For example, trainees are advised to build confidence with no guidance about how they might do this.

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

Many trainees can apply skilfully what they learn to their teaching. New trainees use recall activities well to check that their learners have remembered what they have covered in previous lessons before moving on to more complex tasks. For example, trainees check what learners can remember about social policy before considering the application of this to health and social care. However, a few trainees are not prepared as well as they need to be to teach their subject.

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Information about this ITE provider

◼ At the time of the inspection, there were 39 trainees on the initial teacher education (ITE) programme, all of whom were being trained to teach in the further education and skills (FES) sector. ◼ There were 35 trainees following a two-year, part-time programme that leads to either the level 5 Certification in Education (Cert Ed) or the level 6 Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE), both validated by The Open University. There are 16 trainees on pre-service programmes and 19 trainees on in-service programmes. ◼ An additional four trainees started a full-time ITE programme in September 2021. All but one of these trainees are studying the PGCE, either pre-service or in service. There is one trainee on a pre-service Cert Ed. ◼ Most trainees are employed or have placements at New College Durham, which is an outstanding provider. The remaining trainees have placements or are employed at five local colleges, a private coaching company, an NHS trust, a fire and rescue service,

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Information about this inspection

◼ Two of Her Majesty’s Inspectors (HMI) carried out the inspection. ◼ Inspectors spoke with the chief executive, the deputy principal, two vice-principals, the head of school, a curriculum manager, a programme leader, two tutors and three cross-college managers. ◼ Inspectors spoke with 17 trainees and three former trainees. ◼ The following subject areas were considered through three focused reviews: music and drama, foundation and supported learning, and podiatry. There was an additional focused review covering the year 1 programme. ◼ Inspectors visited or communicated with staff, mentors and trainees at four placement providers.

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better?

Leaders have not taken sufficient action to improve the quality of education and training that trainees receive. After the previous inspection in May 2021, they implemented many changes, which have resulted in some improvements to the programme. For example, trainees now benefit from a curriculum that is broader in scope. However, many of the actions did not adequately address the underlying problems and, therefore, the impact on trainees has been limited.

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better?

Managers and tutors do not plan a curriculum that includes enough purposeful opportunities for trainees to practise what they learn in class. While most trainees benefit from meaningful placements and workplace tasks, too many pre-service trainees experience significant delays with their placement or only complete teaching practice on an ad-hoc basis. As a result, these trainees do not gain a good enough understanding of how learners acquire new knowledge and skills. Too few trainees benefit from a curriculum that is designed well enough around teaching their specific subject. Tutors guide trainees well to reflect on how education theory applies to the teaching of their subject, and many trainees benefit from useful advice from their mentor and from additional subject-specific training. However, managers and tutors do not ensure that mentors are informed well enough to understand the role that they play in

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better?

proactively supporting trainees to learn how to teach their subject well.

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better?

Tutors help trainees to develop a range of useful strategies for managing the behaviour of their learners. Trainees value supported classroom discussions about strategies that work and the opportunity to discuss with their tutor specific challenging situations. As a result, they improve their confidence and skills in managing difficult behaviour when they are teaching.

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better?

Tutors and most mentors provide trainees with frequent and useful feedback on how well they are teaching. Podiatry trainees quickly improve their teaching practice in areas such as questioning as a result of the feedback that they receive. However, a few pre-service trainees are not assessed in the classroom in a timely way and do not benefit from the same guidance as other trainees on how to improve their teaching practice.

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better?

Leaders employ appropriately qualified and highly experienced tutors. They support tutors to engage in research and have created a community of ITE practice with other local colleges, so that tutors can share their ideas with peers who also teaching in ITE. However, too many tutors do not receive enough training on using or modelling evidence- based concepts such as metacognition.

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better?

Managers and tutors are conscious and considerate of the workload of trainees. They plan carefully the timing and spread of requests for tasks to be completed alongside the assessment requirements of the ITE programme. During the recent revalidation, tutors introduced more streamlined assignments that are less burdensome for trainees.

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education phase?

◼ Managers and tutors need to ensure that all trainees have access to suitable placements and a purposeful plan to enable them to practise what they are taught in a meaningful and well-integrated way. ◼ Leaders and managers need to define carefully the role of the mentor in delivering a curriculum that meets the needs of individual trainees and is designed around the teaching of a subject. ◼ Managers and tutors should update the mentor training in the light of the redefined role. This training should include the knowledge and skills needed for the successful mentoring of FES-phase trainees, including setting targets for learners and providing effective feedback. ◼ Managers should implement systems to ensure that all mentors understand their role well and are sufficiently skilled to complete the tasks required of them in supporting trainees to teach their subject well. ◼ Leaders and managers need to develop and implement systems for monitoring and

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education phase?

improving the quality of education and training that trainees receive. ◼ Leaders and managers should extend training and support to all those teaching on ITE programmes so that these staff can explore and apply evidence-based approaches to teaching. ◼ Tutors should ensure that all trainees benefit from exposure to contemporary theories of education.

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ITE provider details

Unique reference number 2580204 Inspection number 10220623

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ITE provider details

This inspection was carried out by Her Majesty’s Inspectors (HMI) in accordance with the ‘Initial teacher education inspection framework and handbook’. This framework and handbook set out the statutory basis and framework for initial teacher education (ITE) inspections in England from September 2020.

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ITE provider details

Type of ITE provider Initial teacher education in further education Phases provided Further education Date of previous inspection 10 May 2021

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Inspection team

Andrea Shepherd, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Tim Jenner Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Annex: Provider settings

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

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Ofsted grade

New College Durham 130659 FES N/A Outstanding Education Partnership North East 131347 FES N/A Not inspected

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Ofsted grade

Derwentside College 130658 FES N/A Good Delta Independent School 142474 FES N/A Inadequate 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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Ofsted grade

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 and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection. 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 reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-

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Ofsted grade

government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Ofsted grade

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Ofsted grade

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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