University of Chester

University of Chester School of Education, Wheeler Building, Castle Drive, Chester CH1 1SL Inspection dates 29 April to 02 May 2024

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Inspection judgements

The quality of education and training Good Good

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Inspection judgements

Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Outstanding Outstanding

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

Trainees are proud to be part of the ITE partnership at the University of Chester. They value the high-quality pastoral care and academic support available to ensure that they can embark successfully on their teaching careers. Trainees appreciate the thought that has been given to the design of the ITE curriculum to ensure that their workload is manageable. Trainees recognise how the provider is preparing them to contribute to a ‘just and decent society’. For example, trainees immerse themselves in an array of extra- curricular activities, such as charity events and community projects. Such experiences help trainees to understand teachers’ wider roles and responsibilities, while enhancing their employability.

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

Trainees are well supported by knowledgeable and skilled experts who are up to date in their fields. This enables trainees to begin their placements confident in the knowledge and pedagogies required for their chosen subjects and age phases. This includes how to successfully support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

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

Trainees quickly learn the importance of reading in both the primary and secondary age- phases. Primary trainees develop a secure grounding in the delivery of systematic synthetic phonics. Additionally, trainees in the three to seven age-phase benefit from specialist training about the early years curriculum. Across all age-phases, trainees acquire in-depth knowledge of how to safeguard pupils. Equally, trainees learn appropriate strategies to manage pupils’ behaviour and promote their well-being.

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Information about this ITE provider

◼ In the 2023/24 academic year, the partnership trained a total of 616 trainees across the primary and secondary age-phases. There were 457 trainees in the primary age- phase and 159 trainees in the secondary age-phase. ◼ In the primary phase, the majority of trainees study towards a three-year Bachelor of Arts (BA) undergraduate degree with qualified teacher status (QTS). In 2023/24, there were 355 trainees on the BA (Honours) in primary education with QTS route. Of these, 69 trainees are following a three to seven age-phase, while 286 follow the five to 11 age-phase. There were 102 full-time trainees on the one-year Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) in primary education. Of these, 15 trainees were following the three to seven age-phase and 87 were following the five to 11 age- phase. Fifty-six trainees on PGCE courses were following the School Direct fee-paying route. ◼ In the secondary phase, there were 159 trainees on PGCE courses in secondary

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Information about this ITE provider

subjects, including 72 trainees on School Direct fee-paying routes. The PGCE subjects that trainees were training to teach in during 2023/24 were: art and design, biology, chemistry, computing, design and technology, drama, English, geography, history, mathematics, music, modern foreign languages, physical education, physics, religious education and social science. ◼ The partnership offers an assessment only route at primary and secondary. ◼ In total, the partnership works with approximately 362 placement settings across 25 local authorities. The current Ofsted inspection grades for those settings, where Ofsted is the inspectorate, range from outstanding to inadequate. ◼ In the primary age-phase, the partnership works with 260 schools in 25 local authorities. ◼ In the secondary age-phase, the partnership works with 102 schools in 21 local authorities.

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Information about this inspection

◼ This inspection was carried out by five of His Majesty’s Inspectors and four Ofsted Inspectors. ◼ During this inspection, inspectors held meetings with the vice-chancellor of the university, dean of the school of education, head of ITE and other leaders with oversight of ITE programmes. These leaders included: partnership leads, and programme and subject leads for primary and secondary courses. ◼ Inspectors held meetings with a wide range of other university staff, including course leaders, lecturers, senior lecturers, academic tutors and admissions tutors. ◼ Inspectors also held conversations with members of the strategic partnership board, including the co-chair. Inspectors met with representatives of the School Direct partnerships. ◼ Inspectors met with staff in partner schools and colleges. These included headteachers, senior leaders, professional mentors and subject mentors. ◼ Inspectors reviewed a wide range of documentation relating to the ITE programmes.

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Information about this inspection

This information included: subject and phase curriculum documentation; trainees’ files, assignments and their records of target setting; assessment documentation and mentoring records; and information relating to the Department for Education’s (DfE) ITT criteria and supporting advice. ◼ Inspectors scrutinised a range of documentation in relation to the leadership and management of the partnership. This included leaders’ self-evaluation documents, improvement plans, quality assurance documents, and minutes from meetings of the strategic partnership board and from the strategic development and quality committee. ◼ The inspection was carried out through in-person meetings, online meetings and on- site visits to partner schools and colleges. ◼ In the primary phase, inspectors carried out focused reviews in early reading, art and design, history, mathematics, physical education and science. ◼ In the secondary phase, inspectors carried out focused reviews in computing, English,

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Information about this inspection

history, modern foreign languages, physical education and religious studies. ◼ Across both phases, inspectors spoke with 62 trainees, 47 mentors and 11 early career teachers. ◼ During the inspection, inspectors visited 12 schools. ◼ Inspectors considered the responses to Ofsted’s surveys for staff and trainees. Primary phase report

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better?

Leaders at the University of Chester have an unwavering determination to prepare trainees well for their next steps as confident and competent teachers. The provider has cultivated an ambitious vision for excellence, and communicates this with clarity to all stakeholders. Partner schools value the strong sense of collaboration and effective communication across the partnership.

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better?

Trainees learn from an ambitious and far-reaching curriculum that is fully underpinned by the DfE’s core content framework. The ITE curriculum provides trainees with the knowledge that they need to teach a wide range of subjects, while developing a secure understanding of effective pedagogy. This is particularly impressive in terms of what trainees learn about the early years.

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better?

Leaders give careful consideration to the purpose of every taught session. This is both within the university and for those trainees who learn through one of the partnership alliances. Across all routes, sessions are taught by carefully selected subject experts. Primary programmes are steeped in pertinent educational research. Trainees read a wide range of up-to-date research, which forms the foundations of their learning. Partner schools commented that trainees from the University of Chester develop into highly reflective practitioners who are well informed about the expectations, and realities, of being a teacher.

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better?

The ITE curriculum ensures that trainees acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to teach pupils to read confidently and fluently. Alongside this, the provider ensures that trainees are equipped to foster a wider love of reading across all ages. Trainees demonstrate their growing expertise, for instance through supporting individual pupils or by using appropriate texts to enhance pupils’ learning across a range of subject areas.

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better?

The provider’s approaches to assessing trainees’ progression through the ITE curriculum are well considered. This includes accurately checking trainees’ subject-specific knowledge. Leaders are responsive to any emerging needs in trainees’ development. Academic and pastoral support for trainees is highly effective in helping trainees to identify and remedy any misconceptions that may hinder their learning.

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better?

Trainees benefit from a wide range of opportunities to apply their centre-based learning in their school experiences. School-based tasks are integrated well into ITE programmes. For example, trainees increase their knowledge of early reading before they are expected to plan and teach a sequence of phonics lessons. Nevertheless, the ITE curriculum does not facilitate trainees’ learning across the foundation subjects equally well. For example, some trainees do not have the opportunity to plan and teach a sequence of lessons in all foundation subjects. These trainees are not prepared as well as they could be for their future careers. Leaders provide high-quality training and support for mentors. Mentors value the regular communication from the partnership. They regularly check trainees’ progress and set frequent targets. However, some quality assurance procedures do not provide leaders with enough detail about the effectiveness of some aspects of mentoring. For example, some

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better?

trainees do not get targets that fully support their development.

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(Information for the provider and appropriate authority)

◼ Some quality assurance procedures do not provide leaders with sufficient detail about the effectiveness of mentoring. Consequently, some trainees do not get targets that support their development well enough. Leaders should ensure that they increase the rigour of the quality assurance of mentoring, including the effectiveness of target setting. ◼ Some trainees do not have the opportunity to plan and teach a sequence of lessons across a broad enough range of foundation subjects. When this happens, trainees are not as well equipped as they could be to embrace the primary classroom. Leaders should ensure that all trainees have opportunities to design and deliver lessons across a wider range of subjects.

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compliance criteria?

The provider meets the DfE statutory compliance criteria. Secondary phase report

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better?

The university has created strong partnerships across the secondary age-phase. This ensures that trainees enjoy positive experiences and that, typically, they receive highly effective education and training. The provider’s successful engagement with partner schools enables clarity of roles for all stakeholders, which in turn ensures that its high expectations of trainees are realised.

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better?

The partnership provides a consistently ambitious and rigorous ITE curriculum for trainees across both routes. The content of programmes matches, and in places exceeds, the ambition of the DfE’s core content framework. The professional studies strand of the centre-based training has been thoughtfully designed to develop trainees’ understanding of the generic aspects of the secondary age-phase. Subject studies are carefully focused on the theory and pedagogical practice that trainees need to develop into competent subject specialists.

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better?

The university has ensured that all centre-based training is delivered by experienced, well- informed experts. Professional and subject-specific studies are carefully sequenced and purposely designed to help trainees to connect their generic and subject-specific knowledge and practice. These components of the programme are robustly underpinned by pertinent reading, educational research and debate. This supports trainees to develop secure habits of critical reflection.

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better?

Trainees benefit from appropriately contrasting school-based experiences. In the main, university-based mentors support school-based mentors well. This ensures that trainees get the opportunities that they need to build successfully on previous experiences. For example, trainees are supported to make links with centre-based learning or critically reflect on the knowledge and practice that they have previously demonstrated. Consequently, many trainees progress confidently through the ITE curriculum.

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better?

Despite the strengths in the partnership, some university-based tutors do not support school-based mentors as well as they should. On occasion, this hampers the rigour of mentoring in some places.

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better?

During school-based experiences, many trainees benefit from appropriate opportunities to use suitable milestones to reflect on their progress through the curriculum. Often, high- quality mentoring provides focused and insightful feedback about trainees’ knowledge and practice. However, in some places this feedback is less helpful because trainees are not guided well enough about gaps in their knowledge that are hindering their practice.

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better?

For the most part, the partnership uses effective approaches to check the quality of education and training. For example, the university draws on external quality assurance to complement its checks on provision. This helps the partnership to assure that programmes are suitably rigorous and delivered by knowledgeable staff. Furthermore, these checks are well designed to identify strengths and weaknesses in centre- and school-based training across both routes.

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better?

The partnership has established appropriate forums to ensure effective oversight of provision across both routes. A coherent range of strategic management committees work closely with leaders of the partnership to jointly explore the provision and support for trainees, and the impact that these are having.

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phase?

(Information for the provider and appropriate authority )

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phase?

◼ In some places, university-based tutors do not support school-based mentors as well as they should. As a result, a minority of trainees do not benefit from as high-quality school-based experiences as they should. The partnership should ensure that university-based tutors are suitably equipped to check that trainees’ placement experiences are of a consistently high quality. ◼ On occasion, mentoring does not help some trainees to identify gaps in their knowledge sufficiently well. This sometimes hinders how quickly these trainees improve their understanding and practice. The partnership should ensure that mentoring supports trainees equally well to address gaps in their knowledge swiftly.

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compliance criteria?

The provider meets the DfE statutory compliance criteria.

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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 Higher education institution Phases provided Primary Secondary Date of previous inspection 9 May and 17 October 2016

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Inspection team

Elaine Mawson, Overall lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector Jane Dennis, Phase lead inspector (primary) His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Michael Pennington, Phase lead inspector (secondary) His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Fiona Burke-Jackson Ofsted Inspector Dawn Davies Ofsted Inspector Valerie Elson Ofsted Inspector Susan Farrimond Ofsted Inspector Eleanor Overland His Majesty’s Inspector Jackie Stillings His Majesty’s Inspector

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Annex: Placement schools

Inspectors visited the following schools as part of this inspection:

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Name URN ITE phases

Oldfield Primary School 111230 Primary Hillview Primary School 111169 Primary Cherry Grove Primary School 111209 Primary Helsby Hillside Primary School 111004 Primary St Martin’s Academy 139377 Primary Dodleston CofE Primary School 150464 Primary The Bishops’ Blue Coat Church of England High School 136543 Secondary Upton-By-Chester High School 111422 Secondary St John Plessington Catholic College 139031 Secondary The Catholic High School Chester 139343 Secondary Queen’s Park High School 143817 Secondary Neston High School 138318 Secondary 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 phases

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Name URN ITE phases

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Name URN ITE phases

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Name URN ITE phases

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