Blackpool and The Fylde College

Blackpool and The Fylde College Ashfield Road, Bispham, Blackpool FY2 0HB

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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 Requires improvement

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

Trainees develop the knowledge and skills that they need to become successful teachers. They value the wraparound support that they receive from an experienced ITE team and specialist mentors. Trainees are proud to enter the teaching profession, and they make a positive difference in the lives of their learners.

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

The provider has updated the ITE curriculum so that trainees develop a secure understanding of pertinent educational research. Aware of the limitations of working memory, trainees consider how to interleave topics and concepts to support long-term knowledge retrieval. With the effective support of their mentors, trainees readily apply these principles to their own subjects.

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

Trainees are mindful of the high levels of social disadvantage in the local area and the barriers that many learners face. As such, trainees develop an effective range of behaviour management strategies to help learners participate productively in lessons.

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

Through visits to specialist provision, trainees learn how to adapt their teaching to meet the needs of learners with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). For example, trainees learn how to break down complex information, provide additional scaffolds and adjust their resources to support learners with SEND well. Trainees also gain experience working with learners who speak English as an additional language (EAL).

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

The provider places a strong emphasis on safeguarding. This helps trainees gain an awareness of local risks and enables them to safeguard learners with confidence.

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Information about this ITE provider

◼ At the time of this inspection, Blackpool and The Fylde College had 20 trainees on ITE programmes in the further education and skills (FES) age-phase. ◼ Most trainees study towards the full-time Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE). There are currently five trainees on in-service programmes and 11 trainees in the pre-service FES phase. The remaining four trainees study for the Diploma in Education (DET) and are in-service. ◼ The University of Lancaster validates the PGCE programme based at Blackpool and The Fylde College. The DET programme is validated by an awarding organisation. ◼ Almost all trainees complete their placement at Blackpool and The Fylde College.

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Information about this inspection

◼ Blackpool and The Fylde College’s ITE provision was last inspected by Ofsted in April 2023. It was judged to require improvement. ◼ This inspection started on 15 April 2024. It was a reinspection. ◼ The inspection was carried out by one of His Majesty’s Inspectors and one Ofsted Inspector. ◼ Inspectors met with governors, senior leaders, leaders of ITE programmes, course teachers, subject mentors and university managers. Inspectors also spoke with managers from those providers where trainees observe professionals teaching in EAL, SEND and offender learning placement settings. ◼ Inspectors sampled a wide range of documentation relating to the ITE training programmes. This included curriculum documents, online resources, trainees’ assignments and evidence of target setting and mentoring. ◼ Inspectors reviewed a wide range of information relating to the leadership and management of programmes. These documents included leaders’ self-assessment

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Information about this inspection

and improvement planning documents. ◼ Inspectors spoke with 19 trainees and four early career teachers. ◼ Inspectors completed focused reviews in business, English, health and hospitality.

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better?

The provider has developed an ambitious, logically sequenced ITE curriculum delivered by subject experts. For example, trainees begin by learning about some fundamental teaching pedagogies and how to create positive learning environments. This gives them a secure grounding which underpins their learning during their first placements. Later, trainees are given opportunities to hone specific aspects of their practice through carrying out action research. The provider is also keen to prepare trainees to be leaders in the future. To this end, trainees study educational leadership, which focuses on the wider FES context and their ongoing professional development. The provider ensures that the ITE curriculum is purposefully designed to develop trainees’ ability to successfully teach their chosen subjects. Trainees value opportunities to work in subject clusters with trainees from similar subject backgrounds. These experiences enable

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better?

trainees to share their experiences of teaching and to reflect critically on their own practice.

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better?

Most trainees benefit from the highly effective support of their subject mentors. Communication across the partnership is strong. Mentors value the training and the weekly updates that they receive from the ITE team, as well as opportunities to attend regular meetings. The provider has put clear processes in place so that mentors are fully cognisant of what trainees are taught in their centre-based learning. They successfully integrate this in trainees’ placement settings and help them to apply their learning in their teaching.

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better?

The provider has appropriate systems in place to check on the quality of the ITE curriculum and mentoring. Most trainees are set clear targets, which are regularly reviewed and updated by the ITE team or mentors. However, on occasion, the provider does not intervene swiftly enough when observations, target setting and meetings with trainees are not of a consistently high standard. From time to time, this hinders a few trainees from progressing as quickly as they could.

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better?

The provider has improved its systems for assessing trainees’ progress through the ITE curriculum. The effective use of online trackers enables teachers, mentors and support staff to have an accurate and up-to-date understanding of trainees’ progress. Trainees receive constructive feedback on their academic work which accurately highlights their key strengths and areas for development. For example, teachers provide specific, colour-coded annotations which help trainees to understand the standard of their work. Trainees are reflective and self-aware. The professional standards are reinforced through academic modules, the observation process and in trainees’ professional development plan. The provider ensures that trainees understand the professional formation process.

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better?

The provider has systematically tackled the areas for improvement identified at the previous inspection. It has redesigned the ITE curriculum to incorporate relevant and up- to-date teaching theories so that trainees can apply these in their teaching practices. Added to this, the ITE team ensures that trainees understand how to adapt the teaching of the curriculum for students who speak EAL. Equally, the provider has improved trainees’ experiences on their chosen programmes. For example, it arranges for trainees to visit a diverse range of provisions, including apprenticeships, adult learning and offender learning.

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(Information for the provider and appropriate authority)

◼ The provider does not intervene swiftly enough when observations, target setting and meetings with trainees are not of a consistently high standard. Occasionally, a few trainees do not progress as quickly as they could. The provider should ensure that mentoring is consistently high quality so that trainees are able to make rapid progress through the ITE curriculum.

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ITE provider details

Unique reference number 70168 Inspection number 10310020

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ITE provider details

This inspection was carried out in accordance with the initial teacher education inspection framework and handbook , which 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 Further education Date of previous inspection 25 to 28 April 2023

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Inspection team

Helen Whelan, Lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Annex: Provider placements

Inspectors visited the following placement as part of this inspection:

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Name URN ITE phase

Blackpool and the Fylde College 130739 FES 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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Name URN ITE phase

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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Name URN ITE phase

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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Name URN ITE phase

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

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Name URN ITE phase

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

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