Christ The Redeemer College

Christ the Redeemer College 23 Village Way East, Harrow HA2 7LX

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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 learn enough about how to teach in the further education and skills (FES) sector. Far too few trainees complete their teaching placement in a relevant teaching environment. Furthermore, there are no suitable plans for trainees to receive practical teaching guidance from a mentor or to observe and learn from others teaching in a FES setting. As a result, trainees are not prepared well enough to teach in the FES sector.

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

Trainees do not benefit from the mentoring support they need to develop their teaching skills. The information that leaders provide to trainees and mentors about the requirements of the placement and the role of the mentor is both inaccurate and inconsistent. As a result, trainees do not receive guidance and support between the observations of their teaching or targets to help them improve their teaching.

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

Trainees do not receive a curriculum that is designed around teaching specific subjects in the FES sector. Tutors teach about generic teaching principles, and they ask trainees to apply this to the teaching of a subject during presentations in class. However, trainees do not receive any guidance on the richness of their specialist subject, the foundation concepts of that subject or how to plan a suitable curriculum for learners studying the subject. Trainees do not gain the knowledge or skills they need to teach their subject well.

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

Staff provide appropriate support to trainees who experience difficulties while studying. They are flexible with deadlines and offer an ‘open-door’ support policy. Trainees speak highly of their tutors and feel well supported by them. Managers consider carefully assessment submission dates so as not to overload trainees. However, they still enrol trainees with significant work and family commitments on a full-time programme.

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Information about this ITE provider

◼ At the time of the inspection, there were 52 trainees enrolled on ITE programmes at Christ the Redeemer College. ◼ All of the trainees were studying for the Diploma in Education and Training (DET) awarded by City & Guilds. ◼ All trainees are pre-service and are studying the DET programme on a one-year full- time basis. ◼ Most trainees who have secured teaching placements to date are completing these in schools or business organisations.

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Information about this inspection

◼ The inspection team consisted of three His Majesty’s Inspectors and one Ofsted Inspector. ◼ Inspectors met with the principal/rector, the academic dean, the registrar, the programme leader and the deputy programme leader. They also spoke with a member of the governing body. Inspectors held online meetings with tutors and met with members of support staff at the college. ◼ Inspectors carried out focused reviews in the areas of science and mathematics, ‘training’, health and beauty and business-related subjects. ◼ Inspectors spoke to trainees who were attending online classes during the inspection. They also spoke to individual trainees from different cohorts. ◼ Inspectors were not able to visit placement settings as part of the inspection. They made additional calls to individual mentors and placement providers and visited an online class being delivered by a trainee.

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better?

The designed ITE curriculum is not ambitious, is not informed by sufficiently pertinent or up-to-date research and does not prepare trainees to teach in the FES sector. Managers and tutors introduce trainees to current topics such as artificial intelligence, but the ITE curriculum they deliver is too narrow. They teach outdated concepts without recognising that these are now contested and do not introduce evidence-based approaches to teaching. For example, trainees do not learn enough about the different types of assessment and how these might be used effectively.

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better?

Managers and tutors do not provide trainees with the knowledge and skills they need to teach learners with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Tutors rely on the inclusive practice module to teach about learners with additional needs. Trainees do not understand well enough how to adapt their teaching to meet individual learners’ needs. In a few cases, trainees have misconceptions about the need to do so. Leaders do not ensure that trainees know enough about safeguarding. Tutors provide trainees with links to online training packages, but these are not put into context for the trainees. Nobody checks whether trainees have completed this online training. Too many trainees do not access the safeguarding resources or leave doing so until the end of their programme. As a result, trainees do not know how they can help to keep learners safe.

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better?

Leaders and managers underestimate significantly the purpose and importance of teaching placements for trainees on a pre-service DET programme. They do not recognise the need for trainees to complete their placements in a teaching environment where trainees can plan lessons and teach groups of learners. Therefore, far too many trainees do not get suitable opportunities to practise their teaching in an appropriate placement. Only a very small proportion of trainees complete their programme.

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better?

Managers and tutors do not plan a curriculum that brings together centre- and placement- based training. Tutors deliver a series of online and face-to-face teaching sessions where they provide examples from the FES sector and support trainees to complete assignments. However, there are no links between this and any placements that trainees undertake. Consequently, trainees do not have suitable teaching scenarios to which they can apply what they learn about in class.

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better?

Trainees do not receive enough feedback on how well they teach. The observations of trainees in the workplace are isolated events that lack coherence, and trainees receive only minimal comments about the quality of their teaching. Furthermore, leaders and managers do not check that trainees receive the teaching observations they need to complete the programme. Most trainees reach the end of their programme having not received the required eight teaching observations.

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better?

Leaders rightly acknowledge the need to introduce mechanisms to provide them with greater assurance that the programme is being delivered as it should be. Although leaders make changes when trainees raise concerns about the programme, the quality assurance systems they implement do not provide enough oversight of the programme or the progress trainees make. Leaders have recently changed their governance structures to improve accountability. However, it is too early to see the impact of these changes.

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better?

Leaders and managers do not do enough to check the suitability of trainees for an ITE programme. They do not question the prior qualifications that the trainee has or whether the trainee has achieved sufficient levels in English and mathematics. In addition, leaders do not arrange for trainees to complete Disclosure and Barring Service checks before joining the programme or starting their placement. Therefore, they can not be certain that trainees have the appropriate qualifications or are cleared to work with young people in the FES sector.

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better?

Leaders recruit staff who are well qualified and with have experience working in the FES sector. Leaders encourage staff to complete independent research and to pursue fellowship opportunities. However, there are no arrangements in place to identify or provide specific training for the needs of individual tutors.

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better?

Leaders are clear about their strategy for offering the DET programme. They want to provide opportunities for trainees from a wide range of backgrounds. However, they do not understand the purpose of the DET programme as an ITE qualification. Leaders and managers do not check that the DET programme is an appropriate course for the trainee and their career goals. Too many trainees join the programme to simply gain another qualification or to access additional workplace opportunities rather than because they wish to teach in the FES sector.

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(Information for the provider and appropriate authority)

◼ Leaders and managers plan an ITE curriculum that is too narrow. Trainees do not learn enough about important topics such as safeguarding, adaptive teaching and assessment or evidence-based approaches to teaching. The provider needs to evaluate and revise the curriculum to ensure it covers in enough depth what trainees need to know and do in order to be successful teachers in the FES sector. ◼ Trainees are not taught how to teach a specific subject. Trainees learn about generic teaching practices, but they do not receive any input on the subject they want to teach or how they might plan and sequence a curriculum in that subject. The provider needs to change the ITE curriculum to include teaching strategies, subject knowledge and guidance on how to teach a particular subject. ◼ Too many trainees do not have suitable teaching placements where they can practise and improve their teaching. The provider must improve the way in which placements

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(Information for the provider and appropriate authority)

are managed. There needs to be clear guidelines about what the placement should include and checks on the suitability of the organisation where trainees will be based. ◼ Trainees do not benefit from a purposefully integrated programme of centre- and placement-based training. The provider must review the way teaching placements are structured and sequenced. This will help trainees to practise what they learn about in the centre-based training and reflect on this to improve their teaching skills. ◼ Leaders and managers do not define well enough what they expect from mentors or check that the mentor is suitable for the role. Trainees and mentors do not understand well enough what the mentor should do. The provider should improve the requirements for mentors and the training given to them. This is so that mentors can provide trainees with the support and guidance they need to improve their teaching. ◼ Trainees do not receive a coherent series of teaching observations that are spread

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(Information for the provider and appropriate authority)

throughout the programme. Each observation is an isolated event with minimal feedback. The provider should improve their planning, management and oversight of teaching placements. This is to make sure that trainees get the feedback and targets they need to reflect on and improve their teaching practice. ◼ Leaders do not carry out checks to ensure that the trainees are able and suitable to work as teachers in the FES sector. The provider must urgently implement recruitment systems that include adequate and timely checks. Leaders must assure themselves that trainees are appropriate for the area they want to work in. ◼ Leaders and managers recruit trainees from a wide variety of backgrounds but many of the trainees do not aspire to be teachers in the FES sector. The provider must realign the purpose of their DET programme as initial teacher education. It is also important to check that the programme is the most appropriate route to help those

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(Information for the provider and appropriate authority)

who enrol on it to be successful with their intended next steps.

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ITE provider details

Unique reference number 2771047 Inspection number 10319475

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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 sets 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 ITE in FE Phases provided FES Date of previous inspection Not applicable

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Inspection team

Andrea Shepherd, Lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector Alison Attfield Ofsted Inspector Andrea McMahon His Majesty’s Inspector Paul James His Majesty’s Inspector

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Annex: Placement settings, schools and colleges

Inspectors did not visit any settings, schools and colleges as part of this 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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