Birmingham Newman University

Birmingham Newman University

Address: Genners Lane, Bartley Green, Birmingham, West Midlands, B32 3NT Unique reference number (URN): 70135

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Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders have created a highly inclusive culture where trainees thrive and feel valued as individuals. Leaders take deliberate, systematic steps to embed inclusion from the outset, with welcoming and well-designed induction activities. The student success team, chaplaincy and students' union, as well as well-trained staff, contribute to a supportive environment where trainees quickly feel like they belong. Trainees are confident to disclose their needs and ask for help.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders ensure that identification of trainees' needs is systematic and multi-layered. As a result, staff have an accurate understanding of the broader, coexisting factors that affect trainees' lives and learning. Trainees are highly positive about the effectiveness of the individual and timely support available. Well-considered systems, such as reasonable adjustment plans, risk assessments and pre-placement school visits, help to remove

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Expected standard

barriers. Leaders share appropriate information with mentors so that this effective support continues during placement. Highly supportive relationships with staff, effective student- voice mechanisms and informal 'chit-chat' sessions provide ongoing opportunities to support trainees' wellbeing. These actions reduce trainees' anxiety and make a demonstrable and positive difference to their experiences and wellbeing. Leaders continually review and refine these support systems. This ensures that trainees know how to access suitable support and information so they can flourish, regardless of their circumstances.

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Leadership Strong standard

Leaders provide robust, collaborative and inclusive leadership. Their vision and expectations are articulated clearly through programme information and handbooks so that stakeholders understand clearly and can enact this approach. Leaders model values of respect and equity, and they celebrate diversity.

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Leadership Strong standard

Leaders work very effectively with a range of diverse partners and stakeholders. Communication across the partnership is open and enables stakeholders to feel heard. Leaders demonstrate a secure understanding of the local and national teaching landscape, including issues relating to local schools. This means leaders can make strategic decisions that consistently prioritise trainees' best interests and the interests of local partners.

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Leadership Strong standard

Leaders are reflective, responsive and committed to continual improvement. They ensure that quality assurance processes are deliberate, rigorous and systematic. Leaders use an extensive array of feedback strategies to evaluate and refine the effectiveness of provision. Leaders know precisely what is working well and what needs to improve. They act in a prompt and considered way to internal and external recommendations. Leaders have brought about rapid improvements to improve the consistency of mentoring and other aspects of the initial teacher education curriculum. As a result, there is now only a very small and reducing minority of trainees who do not benefit from the same high-quality mentoring.

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Leadership Strong standard

Those responsible for overseeing the provision hold leaders to account very effectively. The provision complies with the guidance and requirements of the Department for Education. Safeguarding and recruitment processes are rigorous. Leaders demonstrate due regard to statutory guidance, ensuring that trainees' safety and wellbeing are monitored very carefully.

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Leadership Strong standard

Staff and mentors benefit from targeted professional development, including well-planned training for lead mentors. This has strengthened mentor support across the partnership. Staff feel valued and appreciate the fact that leaders make decisions that reduce pressure, such as through workload adjustments and careful placement decisions.

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Achievement Expected standard

Trainees demonstrate a secure understanding of many aspects of teaching in the primary classroom, including adaptive teaching and behaviour management. Over time, trainees deepen their knowledge so that they can apply theory to classroom practice. Useful feedback and carefully considered assessments help trainees reflect on their progress with their mentors and course leaders. As a result, trainees understand where they are achieving well and what they need to learn and develop next.

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Achievement Expected standard

Trainees know how to keep pupils safe and they are mindful of both local and national safeguarding priorities. Overall, trainees acquire the essential knowledge, skills and pedagogical understanding to meet pupils' needs and to manage behaviour effectively.

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Achievement Expected standard

If trainees have to suspend their training temporarily, due to personal circumstances, leaders ensure that they get the help they need to return and complete the course. As a result, the large majority of primary trainees complete the programme, are prepared well for their teaching career and have realistic expectations of the demands of the profession.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Expected standard

Leaders have constructed an ambitious curriculum that reflects the statutory guidance. Teacher educators support trainees to use relevant and appropriate research to underpin their own practice. Leaders ensure that centre-based training is integrated well with opportunities to practise in the classroom. Leaders have given careful thought, including responding to trainee feedback, to ensure that the intensive training and practice programme is delivered when the trainees have appropriate experience and knowledge. Trainees value the chance to think deeply about a particular aspect of the curriculum and then put it into practice, typically explaining that this is 'when it all comes together and makes sense'.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Expected standard

Trainees are prepared well to teach the foundational skills that primary pupils need. They understand how children develop skills in early reading and mathematics because the curriculum is sequenced logically to mirror children's developmental progression. Trainees become skilled in adapting schemes of work, lessons and resources to support pupils with specific needs or barriers to their learning, including during a placement in a special school. As a result, trainees apply their understanding of principles of adaptive practice with confidence.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Expected standard

Teacher educators, mentors and visiting lecturers are experienced and expert in their field. They understand what trainees need to learn. This means that the curriculum is taught to a consistently high standard. Mentors make effective use of the online portal, the handbook and the 'big questions' to understand the curriculum and guide weekly discussions. Trainees describe how mentors support them to develop pedagogical confidence and deep subject knowledge.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Expected standard

Leaders provide appropriate training, structured information and effective communication to support mentors' professional learning needs. Leaders have acted to reduce variability in mentoring support since the previous inspection. The creation of the lead mentor group of specially trained professionals has added an additional layer of scrutiny, support and quality assurance. This work is being further refined to ensure that the quality of mentoring is consistent.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Expected standard

Trainees typically receive helpful feedback, although in a minority of cases, improvement targets are still not as clear or well considered as they could be. Accurate and regular assessment typically provides opportunities to identify trainees' misconceptions at an early

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Next steps

Leaders should enhance their work on supporting trainees to develop and reflect on professional behaviours to ensure that all trainees understand and consistently demonstrate high standards of professional conduct.

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Next steps

Leaders should continue their work to improve the consistency of mentoring so that all trainees benefit from the high-quality mentoring programme. stage. When trainees struggle to achieve the required standards, the student success team provides bespoke support.

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Professional behaviours, personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

Trainees typically demonstrate positive attitudes to learning. They are enthusiastic about their training and their chosen career path. They benefit from highly effective pastoral support and guidance that enables them to overcome any barriers to success. Trainees feel listened to and cared for. They agree that mentors and tutors are considerate of their wellbeing. The programme ensures that trainees understand fully the demands of the profession they are entering. They recognise the importance of managing their workload and develop strategies to look after their mental and physical health. Leaders ensure that incidents of bullying, harassment and discrimination are not tolerated and act swiftly when any incidents arise.

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Professional behaviours, personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

Leaders have high expectations of trainees' professional behaviours. From the start, trainees are treated as teachers, with clear guidance on conduct, appearance and communication. This prepares trainees effectively for school placements and helps them to appreciate the broader responsibilities associated with the role. On the whole, trainees demonstrate independence, are committed to their learning and attend regularly and punctually. However, on occasion, a minority of trainees struggle with some of the professional behaviours necessary to become a teacher. While this is challenged and tracked by leaders, some behaviours fall short of what is expected.

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Inclusion Strong standard

At Birmingham Newman University, the thread of inclusion begins at recruitment and runs through the secondary programme. From the start, leaders create a positive, professional and welcoming culture where trainees feel able to share barriers to seek the right help and support. Leaders know their trainees extremely well and ensure that additional opportunities and experiences are designed to remove any obstacles. Examples include effective support with financial or health needs so that trainees can travel, study and develop as high-quality future teachers. When necessary, leaders support trainees to pause or adjust their programme.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Diversity is a notable part of the provider's ethos and is promoted actively by all staff. Representative groups, including mature, international or culturally diverse trainees, ensure that a range of voices are heard and have an impact on curriculum development.

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Inclusion Strong standard

All staff, including academic tutors and mentors, understand their roles in modelling supportive and transformative behaviours through their interactions with trainees. As a result, trainees benefit from highly inclusive approaches in the training they receive. Staff consistently review and personalise support to ensure that trainees' evolving needs are met. As a result, most trainees are successful in their studies, are well-prepared for teaching and sustain a successful career.

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Achievement Expected standard

Trainees are well prepared for their future teaching careers. Through formal meetings and regular weekly 'drop-ins', trainees have many opportunities to discuss their progress and raise questions about aspects they are less clear about. As a result, trainees know how well they are progressing and precisely what they need to do to develop. Trainees reflect closely on their learning and demonstrate a cycle of ongoing development.

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Achievement Expected standard

Trainees who face obstacles to their learning, such as with their own wellbeing, get the help they need to achieve well. Leaders make appropriate use of the teachers' standards at the end of the programme to support recommendations for the award of qualified teacher status. As a result, nearly all trainees complete the programme successfully and are well prepared to join the profession. The few who do not are well supported to complete their studies, if appropriate, at a later date.

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Achievement Expected standard

Trainees understand well how to manage pupil behaviour, and their role in keeping pupils safe.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Expected standard

The provider's ambitious curriculum ensures that core training, subject-specific learning and school-based practice are integrated well. Therefore, trainees learn quickly, and with success, to apply theory to their subject teaching. Leaders have thought very carefully about the sequence of trainees' learning. Partner schools contribute effectively to the key skills and knowledge that trainees need to know, and at which points they need to know it.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Expected standard

Opportunities to revisit and build on learning are integral to the design of the curriculum and are valued by trainees. For instance, trainees learn how to support pupils' wellbeing and their role in keeping pupils safe. Links between safeguarding and other vulnerabilities, such as special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), are often highlighted and promoted well as part of a trainee's daily practice.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Expected standard

Intensive training and practice (ITAP) themes are selected very carefully to focus on pivotal areas of educational thinking. Leaders ensure ITAP training is well placed to build valuable knowledge and meet trainees' needs. For instance, the initial focus on understanding and managing pupils' behaviours helps trainees appreciate, right from the start, how the classroom environment they create affects pupils' behaviour and learning.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Expected standard

The mentoring process is a central element of the secondary programme. Mentors are experts in their subject areas. The effective relationship between mentor, academic tutor and trainee is integral to the culture of continuous reflection, and underpins the assessment and review process. Although most trainees benefit from high-quality assessment and feedback, some inconsistencies remain. This means that the assessment of some trainees lacks precision.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Expected standard

The initial teacher education curriculum draws on carefully selected, high-quality research. However, while typically trainees make some use of research in their learning, not all trainees apply what they have learned effectively. Leaders do not always ensure that trainees evaluate the impact of the research on their practice as precisely as they might.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Expected standard

Trainees benefit highly from training that takes place in subject-specific classrooms and spaces, including for science and physical education. This has a very positive impact through deepening trainees' understanding of how to create and manage successful subject learning environments for all pupils, including those with SEND, and enhancing their preparedness to teach their subjects.

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Leadership Expected standard

The provider's vision, values and priorities are understood, shared and promoted effectively. Leaders have a clear and well-informed understanding of the local teaching landscape in secondary education. This helps them shape the courses that they offer. For example, leaders have recently introduced modern foreign languages to the secondary programme.

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Leadership Expected standard

Those overseeing the quality of the provision understand their roles well. Monitoring and oversight are deliberate and systematic, ensuring that the provider meets its statutory duties. Compliance with the Department for Education's requirements and guidance is reviewed regularly. Leaders know the strengths and weaknesses of the programme well. The secondary team works together harmoniously to ensure quality and consistency across the programme and to keep the curriculum under constant review.

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Leadership Expected standard

Most mentors engage well with the required mentor training and are well informed about the curriculum and expectations for secondary-phase trainees. However, the oversight of some aspects of mentoring is not as precise as it could be. For example, leaders do not ensure that the quality of mentoring is consistently in line with the programme's expectations. Mentors do not consistently receive feedback on their work. This means that there is some variability in the assessment and feedback that trainees receive.

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Leadership Expected standard

Staff workload and wellbeing are considered carefully. Staff feel supported, valued and safe from bullying and discrimination. Opportunities for staff to develop themselves as learners are commonplace. Staff work with a network of experts that extends well beyond the partnership. For example, staff have worked with experts in supporting neurodiverse students and have sought guidance in promoting diversity across the provision.

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Professional behaviours, personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

High expectations for professional behaviours are made clear at interview and remain an integral part of the programme. In general, trainees demonstrate professionalism and integrity. They show high levels of commitment to their own development and to the schools and pupils they work with. Occasionally, when trainees or mentors do not demonstrate appropriate professional behaviours, leaders take appropriate and effective action to address the reasons for this.

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Professional behaviours, personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

Course leaders work closely with partner schools to ensure that trainees understand how to safeguard themselves, how to manage their workload and how to develop the professional resilience necessary. Furthermore, supporting trainees' mental and physical health, during both their training and placements, are central to leaders' work, alongside stakeholders.

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Next steps

Leaders should further refine their training, support and quality assurance processes for school-based mentors, to ensure that all trainees benefit from high-quality mentor support and target setting.

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Next steps

Leaders should continue to embed quality assurance processes so that they can systematically evaluate the impact of all aspects of the trainee experience.

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Next steps

Leaders should explore how they can further enhance trainees' ability to engage critically with research and use evidence to critique and inform their practice, across their subject and phase. The strength of pastoral support is a key feature of the programme. It exemplifies the 'community' ethos that trainees speak about enthusiastically. Trainees report that they know who can support them in any situation. They share their individual needs openly, such is the confidence they have in the professional relationship between leaders and themselves. Trainees advocate that, typically, they receive a swift response to any concerns they may have and they appreciate the many channels of support available to them.

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What it's like to be a trainee at this provider

Trainees thrive under the guidance and watchful eyes of leaders at Birmingham Newman University. Due to the high levels of support and advice available, trainees get the help they need to overcome barriers, such as deprivation, so that some of them become the first in their family to attend university. This approach to inclusivity shines through the provision. Leaders make sure that trainees' wider responsibilities, such as caring for their own children or family members, or their roles in part-time work, are respected. Trainees with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) succeed because staff remove any obstacles to their participation or success. Leaders' close work with partner schools ensures that trainees' needs are understood and that support is appropriate. The provider's inclusive ethos supports anyone who dreams of being a teacher, to become one. Typically, trainees comment that the university is like a 'family', and they appreciate how staff 'really support

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What it's like to be a trainee at this provider

Trainees benefit from a well-considered curriculum that prepares them effectively for the life of a teacher. Trainees experience a diverse range of school placements, which develops their knowledge of educating children across a variety of contexts. This includes placements in specialist settings, such as special schools and alternative provisions. As a result, trainees are confident and feel well prepared to teach pupils with SEND or those with other vulnerabilities.

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What it's like to be a trainee at this provider

The majority of trainees are positive about the programme and the guidance provided by their professional tutors and school-based mentors. The programme's comprehensive mentor package means that most trainees benefit from timely and effective support. However, at times, the quality of this support is not consistent across all trainees and

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Primary phase lead inspector:

Corinne Biddell, His Majesty's Inspector

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Secondary phase lead inspector:

Stuart Clarkson, His Majesty's Inspector

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Team inspectors:

Ann Pritchard, His Majesty's Inspector Emma Gater, His Majesty's Inspector Nicola Harwood, Ofsted Inspector Julie Pearson, Ofsted Inspector Antony Bradshaw, His Majesty's Inspector Su Plant, His Majesty's Inspector Mel Ford, His Majesty's Inspector Ed Leighton, Ofsted Inspector Ian Tustian, Ofsted Inspector phases. A small minority of trainees have a more varied experience of some aspects of their programme.

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About this inspection

Following our renewed inspection framework, all inspections are now led by His Majesty's Inspectors (HMIs) or by Ofsted Inspectors (OIs) who have previously served as HMIs.

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About this inspection

There are two pathways: primary 3 to 11, secondary 11 to 16.

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About this inspection

Trainees in the primary and secondary phases either undertake an undergraduate or postgraduate route. Trainees on the postgraduate route have the opportunity to study on a part-time basis.

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About this inspection

During the inspection, inspectors spoke with the head of school (associate dean), the interim head of secondary initial teacher education (ITE) and the head of primary ITE. Inspectors also spoke with academic and personal tutors and mentors to gather evidence about the arrangements for mentoring. Inspectors visited trainees in their school placements and spoke with trainees during centre-based learning. Inspectors also spoke with a selection of former trainees to gather evidence about the impact of the training they received from the provider.

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Facts and figures used on inspection

This data was used by the inspector(s) during the inspection. More recent data may have been published since the inspection took place.

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Exceptional

Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other providers can learn from it.

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Strong standard

The provider reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of them.

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Expected standard

The provider is fulfilling the expected standard of training. This means they are following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional standards expected of them.

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Needs attention

The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary improvements.

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Urgent improvement

The provider needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of training. services providing education and skills for children and learners of all ages, and inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people.

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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