Furness College

Furness College Reinspection monitoring visit report

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Name of lead inspector: Alastair Mollon, His Majesty’s Inspector

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Type of provider: General further education college

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Address: Channelside Bessemer Way Barrow-in-Furness Cumbria LA14 2PJ Monitoring visit: Furness College, 24 and 25 April 2025

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Context and focus of visit

This is the first reinspection monitoring visit to Furness College following publication of the inspection report on 28 November 2024 which found the provider to be inadequate overall.

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Context and focus of visit

Furness College is a general further education college in Barrow, Cumbria. The college operates from two main campuses, Channelside and The Sixth Form. It also offers specialist alternative provision for young people and adults off campus at College House.

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Context and focus of visit

At the time of the monitoring visit, there were just over 1,100 learners aged 16 to 18 years on education programmes for young people. Learners were enrolled on a range of academic and vocational courses from entry level to level 3, in most subject areas including T levels. Just under half of young people study courses at level 3. Of these, just over half study A levels. There were just over 400 adult learners studying courses from entry level to level 4. Most adult learners study courses at levels 1 and 2. There were 390 apprentices following apprenticeships from levels 2 to 6. Most apprentices study at levels 2 and 3. There were 57 learners for whom the college received high-needs funding.

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Reasonable progress

Since the previous inspection, leaders have developed an action plan that they use routinely to log, track and monitor the actions taken to improve the quality of education that learners and apprentices receive. Actions to date have resulted in some improvements, such as improved retention of learners and apprentices compared to this time last year.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders have redesigned the way that they evaluate the effectiveness of teaching and learning. They use a risk-based approach to gain a clearer insight into the quality of teaching and learning at the college. Leaders target underperforming courses and provide better levels of support and intervention to improve the quality of education. However, it is too early to see the impact of their actions.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders now have a process that links their evaluation of teaching and learning to staff development activity and performance management where improvement is not evident. Staff development to improve teaching skills was not in place at the previous inspection. Leaders have implemented a series of staff development activities to improve teaching practices. They use a process of providing training, Monitoring visit: Furness College, 24 and 25 April 2025 then applying the training to curriculum area context before following up to check on implementation. Training includes topics such as classroom culture and retrieval practice.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders and managers have developed a new teaching and learning framework to provide college-wide expectations and to set consistent standards for teaching and learning. This has yet to be implemented.

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Reasonable progress

Senior leaders have taken steps to strengthen the effectiveness of governance. They have recruited a new chair and completed skills audits with governors to identify their strengths and skills gaps. Governors have established renewed expectations on their levels of commitment to their roles. Those unable to meet those demands have left the board. However, there is still a need for governors with greater experience of the further education sector. Governors are actively seeking to appoint more governors with relevant expertise.

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Reasonable progress

Governors have benefited from external governance training to develop their skills. They have an improved understanding of the questions to ask and the information they need to inform their support and challenge. Governors now provide better scrutiny, challenge and support for senior leaders to help them make improvements to the quality of education at the college.

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Reasonable progress

Senior leaders produce more detailed reports to help governors gain a clear oversight of the provision and to facilitate appropriate support and challenge. Papers and reports contain executive summaries that give a concise snapshot of the content of the report. Leaders present visual information clearly and map this to benchmarks where appropriate to add context for governors. They risk-rate and progress-rate reports to provide governors with greater insight into the progress leaders are making to improve provision.

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Reasonable progress

Many systems and processes to improve governors’ oversight are recently established and in their infancy. Governors are increasingly aware of both the improvements made and the areas requiring more targeted intervention. They receive timely information to facilitate that intervention. Monitoring visit: Furness College, 24 and 25 April 2025

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Insufficient progress

Staff do not use information about what apprentices already know and can do to plan a sufficiently challenging curriculum. Coaches complete a check of apprentices’ existing knowledge, skills and behaviours at the start of the apprenticeship to ensure their eligibility for the course, but not to plan learning. For example, apprentices who require support with teamwork and communication skills are not set tasks in college or the workplace to develop these swiftly.

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Insufficient progress

Coaches do not consider sufficiently the knowledge, skills and behaviours that apprentices need to develop when carrying out reviews of progress. They do not revisit skills scans and work completed to inform progress or plan future learning. This means that coaches set targets that are too broad and do not identify precisely what apprentices need to develop in the workplace.

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Insufficient progress

Since the previous inspection, leaders have focused on improving the oversight of assessment and progress that learners make. They have put in place a series of formal assessment points and redesigned assessment content to mirror the types of assessments and examinations that learners take to achieve their qualifications. Leaders now have a better oversight of the progress that learners make. They use this information to identify learners at risk of underperforming and instigate interventions to help them improve, and catch up, when they fall behind.

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Insufficient progress

Leaders have planned an extended induction period for learners who start in September 2025. They are working with departments to create subject-related assessments to better identify what learners already know and the skills they already have at the start of their courses.

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Reasonable progress

Following the previous inspection, leaders provided staff with training to improve the quality of feedback that they give. Leaders visited lessons and reviewed learners’ work to identify the impact of training and used this information to plan further development for staff.

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Reasonable progress

Most teachers have improved their feedback so that it helps learners to improve the quality of their work. In many instances they provide feedback using a ‘what went Monitoring visit: Furness College, 24 and 25 April 2025 well, would be better if’ format to encourage learners to improve. Teachers provide developmental feedback that means learners know what they need to do to access high grades. In A-level sociology, learners provide detailed answers on sociological perspectives and structure their answers well.

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Reasonable progress

Learners benefit from individual discussions with tutors on what they need to do to improve. They attend additional workshops and benefit from support on using the point, evidence, explanation and link (PEEL) structure to plan their answers and improve their essay structure. However, in a few instances feedback is not yet specific enough and learners continue to make the same mistakes.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders recognise that there is still work to do to improve the consistency of feedback. They have plans in place to provide additional training and have created a feedback toolkit for staff. Leaders are updating assessment and feedback guidelines on how feedback should be provided to learners. At the time of the visit, leaders had not yet implemented these actions.

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Reasonable progress

Since the previous inspection, leaders have worked closely with apprentices, employers and recruitment and development coaches to ensure that level 3 early years educator apprentices receive off-the-job training during their contracted hours. Apprentices attend off-the-job training at the college one evening per week. Employers now provide apprentices with compensatory time off for attendance at off-the-job training sessions during the working day. Level 3 early years educator apprentices now make the progress expected of them, and almost all who were due to complete have completed their apprenticeship in the planned time frame.

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Reasonable progress

Managers identified that apprentices and employers had a poor understanding of what activities could be recorded as off-the-job training. Employers, apprentices and recruitment and development coaches have benefited from training on what activities can be included. Most apprentices now accurately record this training, which is frequently checked and verified by employers. Recruitment and development coaches monitor closely the recording of apprentices’ off-the-job training and discuss this with apprentices and their employers during apprentices’ reviews of progress. Monitoring visit: Furness College, 24 and 25 April 2025

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Reasonable progress

Young learners benefit from an effective personal development curriculum. They have a good understanding of topics such as fundamental British values, radicalisation and extremism and healthy relationships. Learners appreciate the interactive and innovative activities that help them to understand the experiences of others, such as refugees’ and asylum seekers’ incidences of racial and physical abuse, organised crime groups and the effects of gambling. They enjoy listening to guest speakers, who talk to them about subjects such as knife crime. Learners discuss local and national issues and events such as the Southport stabbings and a school stabbing at nearby Walney Island. Learners explain that tutorial sessions help them to better understand what is happening in the world.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders now monitor young learners’ participation in careers-related activities, such as attendance at careers fairs, university visits, one-to-one sessions with careers advisers and group tutorial sessions, to ensure that young learners benefit from the careers advice and guidance on offer. Young learners continue to receive high- quality careers guidance.

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Reasonable progress

Adult learners learn about British values, health and well-being, managing finances and careers guidance such as entering the workforce, self-employment and entrepreneurial skills during their induction. They receive support from careers advisers to complete CVs and job applications and prepare for interviews.

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Reasonable progress

Following the previous inspection, leaders and managers swiftly implemented a personal development curriculum for apprentices. However, they recognise that this curriculum requires further improvement to make sure that it is of a consistently high quality across all subject areas and relates to apprentices’ personal needs and workplace practices. For example, early years educator apprentices benefit from a comprehensive and relevant personal development curriculum. They learn about safeguarding, British values and equality, diversity and inclusion when working with children. Apprentices also learn about personal development and reflective practices. Conversely, in level 2 bricklaying, the curriculum overly focuses on legislation such as the ‘Prevent’ duty. Apprentices complete tasks and activities that have little relevance to their personal or professional lives. Monitoring visit: Furness College, 24 and 25 April 2025

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Reasonable progress

regulates and inspects to 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.

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Reasonable progress

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Reasonable progress

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Reasonable progress

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Reasonable progress

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