Mont Rose College of Management & Sciences

Mont Rose College of Management & Sciences Mont Rose House, 412–416 Eastern Avenue, Gants Hill, Ilford IG2 6NQ

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

The quality of education and training Inadequate

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

Overall effectiveness at previous inspection N/A

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

Trainees do not benefit from a suitable, phase-specific curriculum. Leaders and managers promote a course that they say prepares trainees to teach in all phases of education. They incorrectly recruit trainees who want to teach in schools onto the Diploma in Education Training (DET) programme, which is designed for those wanting to teach in the further education and skills (FES) sector. Consequently, trainees do not get enough opportunity to deepen their knowledge and understanding of the requirements or practicalities of teaching in their chosen phase.

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

Leaders do not plan for trainees to receive an integrated programme of centre- and placement-based teaching. The large majority of trainees do not have practical teaching placements and therefore cannot apply what they learn in the classroom. Those trainees who manage to find placements often complete them after the programme teaching has finished. As a result, trainees do not get the chance to practise, develop or reflect on their teaching skills as they are required to do on a teacher training programme.

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

Trainees value the support they receive from their lecturers and other staff at the college. Lecturers provide trainees with helpful guidance on how to understand the language in their assignment briefs. Staff deliver workshops to help trainees to develop their writing skills, academic referencing and employability. As a result, trainees gain more confidence when applying for placements, and their enthusiasm for the programme increases.

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Information about this ITE provider

◼ At the time of the inspection, there were 122 trainees on publicly funded initial teacher education (ITE) programmes at Mont Rose College. ◼ All trainees study the level 5 Diploma in Education and Training (DET), which is designed to prepare trainees to teach in the FES sector. ◼ Most trainees are pre-service. All trainees enrol on a full-time, one-year programme.

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Information about this inspection

◼ The inspection was carried out by three of His Majesty’s Inspectors and one Ofsted Inspector. ◼ During the inspection, inspectors spoke to the chief executive officer, the principal, the vice-principal, the DET programme leader, the DET deputy programme leader, the head of employability, the head of recruitment and members of the programme teaching team. ◼ Inspectors visited trainees who were receiving training, met trainees in person and spoke to former trainees on the telephone. ◼ Inspectors carried out focused reviews in science, technology and engineering, English, mathematics, and health and social care. They also spoke to trainees preparing to teach other subjects, such as geography. ◼ It was not possible to visit any trainees on placement during the inspection. Some trainees were seen delivering ‘micro-teach’ sessions to their peers.

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better?

Leaders and managers deliver a curriculum that lacks ambition. What trainees are taught does not extend beyond the basic requirements of the awarding organisation’s specification. As a result, trainees do not learn about the realities of teaching in the contemporary FES sector.

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better?

Leaders and staff do not provide trainees with adequate information about how to teach their subject well or about the phase for which the qualification was designed. The centre- based curriculum that trainees study covers generic teaching theories. There is little, or in some cases no opportunity for trainees to receive any subject-specific guidance. Trainees are encouraged to find and undertake any teaching placement that they can, as opposed to one where they will gain the subject and phase guidance that they need. As a result, trainees do not understand well enough what they should teach about their chosen subject and why.

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better?

Leaders and managers do not have enough oversight of the placements that trainees complete. They do not know whether trainees have suitable mentors, how many observations have taken place or how well the trainees are doing. Therefore, leaders and managers do not know whether trainees need additional support or guidance to improve their teaching.

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better?

Leaders and staff do not deliver a curriculum that helps trainees to know more and remember more about pedagogical approaches or how to adapt their teaching in their chosen setting. Consequently, trainees rely on a narrow a range of teaching strategies when they deliver their simulated, in-class teaching sessions. For example, trainees are over-reliant on the use of slide presentations and simply asking questions of the other learners in the group.

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better?

Although lecturers provide trainees with constructive comments on their written assignments, most trainees do not benefit from feedback on their teaching. Even the small number of trainees who have a placement do not receive adequate or timely guidance on what they are doing well and what they need to do to improve. As a result, most trainees cannot accurately reflect on their teaching for the completion of mandatory assignments. Trainees are forced to rely on simulated or hypothetical teaching for their reflections.

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better?

Leaders and managers do not provide enough training to workplace mentors. They provide mentors with basic information about the placement process and the forms that need to be completed, but not the curriculum that trainees are following. As a result, leaders cannot be assured that mentors have a good enough understanding of their important role in supporting trainees.

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better?

Leaders and managers do not take suitable steps to evaluate the effectiveness of the curriculum that trainees study. Leaders do not routinely collect or monitor data about the progress that trainees make to ensure and assure themselves of the suitability or quality of the curriculum. For example, leaders do not know enough about the number of trainees without placements or what trainees go on to do after finishing the DET programme.

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What does the ITE provider need to do to improve the FES phase?

◼ Leaders do not ensure that the DET programme is delivered to trainees who want to teach in the FES sector. Leaders must change their approach to recruiting trainees onto the DET programme. They need to make sure that trainees better understand what they can do after studying the DET and receive a curriculum that is suitable for trainees who want to teach in the FES sector. ◼ Trainees do not receive a suitably ambitious curriculum. Leaders, managers, and staff should increase their engagement with providers of FES provision to identify better what trainees need to know about the realities of teaching in this sector. Leaders, managers and staff must use this information to plan a curriculum that extends beyond the programme specification and includes current educational thinking in the FES sector. ◼ Leaders do not plan the DET programme in a way that enables trainees to reflect on and develop their teaching skills. Leaders need to change how they structure the DET

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What does the ITE provider need to do to improve the FES phase?

programme to allow trainees to benefit from a purposefully integrated curriculum of centre- and placement-based training. This is to create regular and appropriate opportunities for trainees to practise and improve their teaching skills. ◼ Trainees do not benefit from a curriculum that is sufficiently focused on their chosen phase and/or subject. Leaders must work with placement providers and mentors to implement a curriculum that provides trainees with the knowledge and skills to teach their specific subject well. Leaders need to make sure that trainees develop the critical disciplinary knowledge needed to teach their chosen subject. ◼ Leaders do not know enough about the suitability or quality of work placements. Leaders should rapidly restart their programme of placement visits and use these to check that trainees have a suitable subject-specific mentor and that trainees are getting the feedback on their teaching that they need to complete the reflective components of

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What does the ITE provider need to do to improve the FES phase?

their assignments. ◼ Leaders and managers provide only basic procedural information for workplace mentors. Leaders and managers need to define more clearly the role of the mentor. They should then provide clear guidance to mentors and carry out checks to ensure that mentors understand fully the requirements of the role and that they carry out their role well. ◼ Leaders cannot evaluate the effectiveness of their ITE curriculum due to the lack of reliable data about the number of trainees who have gone past their planned end-date and what trainees do when they have finished the DET programme. Leaders need to monitor more closely the progress of trainees and the extent to which former trainees are prepared to teach in the FES sector. They should use this information to refine and improve what they include in the DET curriculum.

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ITE provider details

Unique reference number 2714616 Inspection number 10265457

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ITE provider details

This inspection was carried out in accordance with the ‘Initial teacher education inspection framework and handbook’.

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ITE provider details

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 Higher education institution Phases provided Further education and skills Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Inspection team

Andrea Shepherd, Lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Annex: Placement settings, schools and colleges

It was not possible to visit any trainees on placement during the inspection. 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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Annex: Placement settings, schools and colleges

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Annex: Placement settings, schools and colleges

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Annex: Placement settings, schools and colleges

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Annex: Placement settings, schools and colleges

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

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