Setting

Jonathan Dale IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society 20 Bedford Way London WC1B 5EA

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Lead provider monitoring visit (LPMV) of UCL Institute of Education

Following my visit with Aimee Floyd, Sheila Iwaskow, Jonathan Leonard and Ann Monaghan, Her Majesty’s Inspectors, on 13 to 15 June 2022, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to confirm the LPMV findings. Thank you for the help you gave during the inspection and for the time you made available to discuss the actions you have taken to date.

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Lead provider monitoring visit (LPMV) of UCL Institute of Education

This inspection was the first LPMV since the start of your delivery of the early career framework (ECF) and national professional qualification (NPQ) programmes. It was carried out under Part 8 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006.

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Lead provider monitoring visit (LPMV) of UCL Institute of Education

Having considered the evidence, I am of the opinion that, at this time:

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The lead provider should take further action to:

◼ enhance governance and quality assurance processes for NPQ programmes ◼ ensure that facilitators and mentors have confidence in using their expertise to contextualise what early career teachers (ECTs) and partcipants on NPQ programmes are learning.

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The lead provider should take further action to:

I am copying this letter to the Department for Education.

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The lead provider should take further action to:

This letter will be published on the Ofsted reports website.

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Her Majesty’s Inspector

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 1231 Textphone 0161 618 8524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Context

IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society works with delivery partners in all regions of England. There are 21 delivery partners in total. Leaders work with teaching school hubs as delivery partners in the main. Twenty-one deliver ECF, 15 deliver NPQ programmes and 12 partners deliver both.

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Context

IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society offers the full suite of NPQ programmes. Currently, on the ECF programme there are 5,839 ECTs and 5,458 mentors. There are 3,016 participants across the six NPQ programmes. Staff from UCL Institute of Education deliver the NPQ in executive leadership programme.

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Report

◼ Leaders’ vision is to ‘work with and for the profession’. They want members of the teaching profession to feel they have a voice, to see value in professional development and to develop and apply their knowledge to their practice. Delivery partners and inspectors see this vision being realised. Comments from delivery partners praising the ‘truly collaborative partnership’, ‘the clear moral purpose’ and ‘the ability to shape and improve programmes in real time’ were typical of many. ◼ Leaders have designed effective curriculums for the professional development and training of ECTs, mentors and NPQ participants. Of note is the status of research within the curriculum. The implementation project for NPQ programmes, the self-directed study sessions for ECTs and the planned inquiry-based projects for Year 2 of the ECF curriculum focus on engagement in research and putting this into practice. ◼ Training materials and associated resources are of a high quality. They are

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Report

faithful to the content of the ECF and requirements of the NPQ programmes. Leaders have ensured that the content is delivered exclusively and comprehensively. Exemplification material is available for different subjects and phases. Leaders have also encouraged facilitators and mentors to use their expertise to contextualise what ECTs and participants on NPQ programmes are learning. Leaders know that some mentors do not feel confident in doing so currently. ◼ Most delivery partners and facilitators believe that communication is strong. Clear lines of accountability are in place. Roles and responsibilities are understood across the partnership. The operations and delivery group is central to the efficient day-to-day management of programmes. Any issues are quickly identified and practical solutions found. This is a collaborative approach, with leaders and delivery partners working positively together. Improvement of the online delivery platform is an example of this.

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Report

◼ Leaders’ self-evaluation is strikingly accurate. There is a clear line of sight from any findings from quality assurance to improvement planning. The lead provider knows exactly what is going well and what needs further focus. Delivery partners praise the lead provider’s commitment to continual improvement. For ECF training, the quality assurance processes are sensible and thorough. Governance and quality assurance processes for NPQ programmes are less well established at this point. Plans are in place to embed these. ◼ Collaboration with the lead provider and between delivery partners is strong. Resource sharing and communication through online platforms and keeping in touch meetings support this collaboration. Responses from ECTs and NPQ participants to Ofsted’s inspection survey were largely very positive. ◼ ECTs and NPQ participants are able to raise any concerns around safeguarding and equalities. Leaders ensure that these aspects are taken

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Report

seriously. For example, appropriate adaptations have been made for ECTs joining training at times other than the start of the academic year. Part-time participants’ needs are well considered. Leaders focus on workload for mentors, ECTs and NPQ participants and make changes to limit workload when possible.

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Evidence

Inspectors observed the lead provider’s work, scrutinised documents and met with lead provider representatives. They also met with delivery partner leaders and facilitators, ECTs, mentors and NPQ participants to discuss the ECF training and NPQ programmes. The lead inspector met with members of the governance board and the delivery and operations group.

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Evidence

Inspectors viewed training materials and viewed recordings of training sessions. The lead inspector also met with the central staff team at IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society including those responsible for curriculum design, quality assurance, research and operational delivery of the programmes and training.

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Evidence

Inspectors took account of the response of delivery partner leaders, ECTs and NPQ participants, mentors and school leaders to Ofsted’s inspection survey about the ECF training and NPQ programmes.

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