Loughborough University

Loughborough University Loughborough University, Epinal Way, Loughborough LE11 3TU

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Overall effectiveness Outstanding

The quality of education and training Outstanding

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Overall effectiveness Outstanding

Leadership and management Outstanding Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Outstanding

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

Trainees describe how ‘brilliant it is to sit in the university and learn’. They form strong, mutually respectful relationships with their tutors. Trainees feel tutors’ passion for education is infectious. The personal and academic support that trainees value so highly often forms the basis of long-term relationships with the university. Former trainees are effusive in their praise and say that once you have completed your training, you will ‘always be part of the Loughborough University family’.

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

The quality of training at the university and in placement schools is exceptional. Trainees and mentors consistently comment on the clarity and quality of communication across the partnership. Trainees become critically reflective teachers who understand how they can improve throughout their careers. They develop excellent theoretical and practical understanding related to their subjects. Trainees are well prepared to become, as one stakeholder commented, ‘The curriculum movers and shakers of the future.’

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

Course leaders are committed to nurturing inclusive and caring practitioners. Trainees’ secure knowledge in relation to teaching pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and pupils who speak English as an additional language is an impressive testament to one way in which these ambitious aims are achieved.

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

Mentors provide expert support and guidance to trainees. One of the distinctive elements of the partnership is the way in which mentors and ITE coordinators in placement schools develop their own practice, using the expertise of colleagues at the university.

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Information about this ITE provider

◼ Loughborough University currently has 61 secondary trainees. ◼ All trainees study for a Postgraduate Certificate in Education. A small number of trainees follow a School Direct (non-salaried) route. Trainees follow the same centre-based curriculum, regardless of route. ◼ The provider has 55 partnership schools in the secondary phase. The Ofsted inspection judgements of partners schools that have placed trainees this year range from outstanding to requires improvement. ◼ Trainees specialise in either mathematics or physical education (PE).

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Information about this inspection

◼ The inspection was carried out by three of His Majesty’s Inspectors. ◼ Inspectors met with the director of teacher education, the partnership manager, programme leaders and module leaders in mathematics and PE. Inspectors also met with the pro-vice chancellor for education and student experience, the associate dean for education and student experience and the head of programme quality and teaching partnerships. ◼ In addition, inspectors spoke with school-based staff, including headteachers, training coordinators and mentors. Inspectors held discussions with members of the partnership committee, which includes staff from across the partnership, and met with one of the programme’s external examiners. ◼ Focused reviews were carried out in mathematics and PE. ◼ Inspectors visited nine partnership schools. They met with 23 trainees and 10 early career teachers. ◼ Inspectors considered the responses to Ofsted’s surveys for initial teacher education

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Information about this inspection

for trainees and staff. ◼ Inspectors reviewed a range of the provider’s documents, including improvement plans, curriculum plans and resources, trainees’ assignments and portfolios and self- evaluation documentation.

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better?

The training course at Loughborough University is outstanding. The curriculum is ambitious and precisely designed so that trainees develop a sophisticated understanding of teaching and education theory. Trainees understand exactly how to apply this understanding to their practice in school. The course goes beyond the core content framework, providing trainees with an excellent grounding in the requirements of teaching, including in upholding the highest standards of professionalism.

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better?

The curriculum has been constructed by those at the forefront of educational research who have worked with experts nationally and internationally and who have sought the views of colleagues working in schools and classrooms every day. Trainees benefit from a course which is taught seamlessly across the university- and school-based elements. School leaders provide personalised opportunities which enable trainees to experience, in schools, the broader theoretical concepts they have learned as part of the university’s general professional studies module. Trainees develop as subject-specialist teachers with a clear sense of their own professional identity as thoughtful and caring practitioners. For example, PE trainees learn from expert bodies, such as the Lawn Tennis Association, and apply the knowledge they acquire to their teaching.

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better?

Trainees receive high-quality guidance and developmental targets about how to improve from the moment they gain a place on the course. Their understanding of the curriculum is checked regularly, including during university sessions, mentor meetings and through the completion of assignments. Trainees receive the advice they need to improve. For example, personal academic tutors provide a range of bespoke advice, including in relation to subject knowledge development.

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better?

Leaders take a forensic approach to reviewing the quality of the course. They are relentless in their pursuit of refinements, which will make a meaningful difference to trainees who already benefit from an exceptional offer. Leaders know that excellent teaching can have far reaching consequences for the pupils in a school and society as a whole. It is with this in mind that leaders identify priorities and take effective action to improve the course. For example, leaders made improvements to the lesson planning process, which supported trainees to be reflective about their practice, at the same time as reducing trainees’ and mentors’ workloads.

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better?

Highly effective mentors play an integral role in helping trainees to be very well prepared for their careers in teaching. Trainees consistently report high levels of satisfaction with the quality of mentoring. Mentors understand precisely how their work aligns with the university curriculum. They use weekly meetings to successfully encourage trainees to reflect and develop the skills to improve their practice throughout their careers.

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better?

Trainees develop a deep understanding of how pupils learn, including pupils with SEND. They plan and teach sequences of lessons which are skilfully tailored to meet the needs of the pupils in their classes. Nothing is left to chance. Mentors receive vital information about trainees’ knowledge and experiences. This enables them to design bespoke timetables for trainees that address any areas where they have less experience, for example teaching pupils who speak English as an additional language.

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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 Secondary Dates of previous inspection 23 April and 1 October 2018

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Inspection team

Matthew Fearns-Davies, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector Rakesh Patel His Majesty’s Inspector Rachel Tordoff 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 phase

Beauchamp College 139624 Secondary East Leake Academy 138964 Secondary Heath Lane Academy 138327 Secondary Rushcliffe Spencer Academy 138482 Secondary The Fernwood School 136724 Secondary The Kimberley School 138641 Secondary The Queen Elizabeth Academy 139937 Secondary Wigston Academy 137984 Secondary Woodbrook Vale School 137401 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 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 looked after children, 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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