Liverpool Hope University

Liverpool Hope University

Address: Liverpool University, Hope Park, Liverpool, Liverpool, L16 9JD Unique reference number (URN): 70130

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Inclusion Strong standard

Studying as a trainee primary teacher at Liverpool Hope University means being welcomed, valued, and supported as a professional. Difference and diversity are celebrated at this provider. Where trainees have needs, such as special educational needs and/or disabilities, leaders and tutors act quickly to make any adjustments or adaptations needed. Tutors are on the lookout for any changes in trainees’ well being that may suggest they need additional help to succeed. This commitment results in highly effective support for individual trainees. No need is considered unimportant. Leaders and tutors act with sensitivity and kindness in their work to help trainees to overcome barriers to the learning and/or wellbeing.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Trainees feel listened to and seen. They are comfortable to share any special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and trust that staff will provide high levels of support that is

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Expected standard

relevant to their personal needs, characteristics and circumstances. Trainees value highly the extent to which staff get to know and understand their distinct needs.

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Expected standard

Trainees’ confidence and skills are built well because, when needed, leaders provide them with helpful information, support or guidance about where to access specialist help for their SEND or other barriers to learning and/or wellbeing.

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Professional behaviours, personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Leaders ensure that throughout their training, primary trainees fully understand what is expected of them as a teacher. Leaders and tutors model professionalism, teamwork and respect. As a result, trainees quickly adopt highly professional behaviours in their teaching practice.

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Professional behaviours, personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Trainees are committed to and understand very well the importance of attending and completing their training. Leaders identify the reasons for any trainee absence and are prompt in their actions to support trainees to return.

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Professional behaviours, personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Through a well-organised link-tutor system, tutors know individual trainees very well. This assists tutors to celebrate and support trainees’ personal and academic development. The purposeful wider activities that the leaders provide further enhance trainees’ wellbeing. Trainees benefit from making positive connections with one another through these important groups.

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Professional behaviours, personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Leaders, tutors and mentors promote a positive culture of respect. Issues of bullying, harassment and discrimination are not tolerated. Trainees are confident that any such issues would be dealt with in a positive and appropriate way.

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Professional behaviours, personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Leaders think carefully about trainees’ workload and wellbeing. They are considerate in their decision-making about the timing of reading weeks and academic submission deadlines. Leaders, tutors and mentors support trainees well to develop effective strategies to manage a demanding workload.

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Achievement Expected standard

Trainees, including those who face barriers to their learning, achieve well. The training prepares trainees effectively for the realities of teaching, for example by equipping them to manage pupils’ behaviour and support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and to understand their responsibilities for safeguarding pupils. Trainees complete their training and most move on to employment as teachers.

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Achievement Expected standard

Trainees have a clear understanding of their own strengths and priorities. They are helped to do this by tutors’ and mentors’ effective use of a well-developed 'e-profile' system, which tracks the development of the trainee. Due to the well-thought-through focus of the initial teacher education curriculum, primary trainees on different qualifications and routes develop a secure understanding of the importance of early reading. For example, apprentices have a well-developed knowledge of teaching phonics and how to apply educational research to classroom practice. They develop deep subject knowledge across the national curriculum subjects.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Expected standard

Leaders have designed a clear and ambitious initial teacher education (ITE) curriculum for primary trainees, including apprentices. Over time, the training connects key knowledge well and revisits important concepts and ideas. Trainees' new learning builds logically on what has come before. The aspects that trainees need to know, such as being a professional and how to keep pupils safe, are linked effectively with training about national curriculum subjects.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Expected standard

Leaders plan and sequence the integration between the content and school placements well. Tutors deliver training on key topics at carefully chosen points so that trainees can build a deep knowledge over time. School placements build trainees’ teaching practice based on what trainees have learned about. Training content for those on the 3- to 7-year- old pathway is linked well to early years practice and research. Tutors and mentors typically ensure that trainees develop a well-informed understanding of how to support pupils with barriers to their learning.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Expected standard

Generally, the intensive training and practice (ITAP) elements of the training are successful. The ITAP activities focusing on phonics and science are particularly well developed. However, on occasion, the opportunities for trainees to practice what they learn in other focus areas of ITAP are not as impactful.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Expected standard

Trainees benefit from high-quality centre-based training. Tutors model effective practice and they are skilful in the way they deliver training that is linked well to the specialism and stage of the trainees. Tutors introduce trainees to up-to-date, relevant guidance and research. They inspire trainees with helpful, practical ideas and insights into teaching the subject and age-specific content.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Expected standard

In the main, mentors have a well-informed understanding of the ITE curriculum, which helps them to provide trainees with effective support and guidance. For example, mentors help trainees to quickly develop their understanding of keeping pupils safe. Trainees value the feedback they receive on their teaching and how this helps them to improve their practice.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Expected standard

Leaders develop sensible assessment plans with well-thought-out milestones for trainees. Furthermore, leaders have implemented an 'e-profile' system for trainees which is used well to celebrate trainees' development and progress. However, some mentors and trainees are less clear than others about how milestone assessments link to previous achievements.

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Leadership Expected standard

Over recent years, leaders have built on their successes and their learning about what could be even better. They are focused on respect for their staff, teamwork and learning with and from different professionals. Leaders have set clear priorities for their work in the primary

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Next steps

Leaders should ensure that trainees’ experience of the deliberate practice element of the ITAP is consistent so that they have suitable opportunities to hone specific areas of their teaching.

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Next steps

Leaders should strengthen how well tutors, mentors and trainees identify and act on trainees’ development against the milestones of the primary programmes.

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Next steps

Leaders should strengthen the use of existing quality assurance information to achieve increased long-lasting improvement of the primary phase programmes. initial teacher education (ITE) programmes. New partnerships and multiple quality checks give leaders an increasingly broad and multi-layered insight into their work. Leaders recognise the need to continue this work to ensure they make consistent use of information from quality assurance activities to further enhance the quality of their ITE provision.

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Next steps

Leaders value trainees’ views and act on what this tells them about the effectiveness of the support and training provided. Leaders ensure that inclusion and trainees’ broader wellbeing and development sit at the heart of their decision-making. This helps leaders to make decisions in the trainees’ best interests.

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Next steps

Leaders ensure that all those who develop and implement the primary ITE training are suitably experienced, qualified and trained. For instance, leaders provide mentors with a well-considered training programme. Leaders use their own staff’s expertise well. For example, university staff have recently developed a successful 'e-profile' that effectively outlines trainees' experiences. Staff feel valued and able to manage their workload effectively.

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Next steps

Leaders use staff expertise from schools in the co-development and delivery of the ITE curriculum. The training of apprentices, with training partners, is very well thought out. The long-term development of the training benefits from the primary board’s valuable expertise in ITE, primary education and university operations. The board challenges and supports leaders highly effectively, such as ensuring the safe recruitment of trainees and that the programme complies with statutory and non-statutory guidance.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders have cultivated a warm, caring and compassionate environment where trainees feel able to share any needs or barriers to learning that they have. This begins at recruitment. For example, leaders have given careful thought to the timing of interviews to remove potential barriers to attending for those with caring responsibilities.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders employ a range of strategies to recruit a diverse range of trainees. For example, a recent partnership has been forged with another university to encourage more graduates from different backgrounds into teaching. Leaders are successful in increasing diversity.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders have robust processes in place to identify any barriers to learning or wellbeing that trainees might have. Staff are adept at supporting trainees directly and signposting them to an array of external support when appropriate. For instance, trainees who speak English as an additional language have access to academic support, which helps to ensure that they complete their assignments to a high standard.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Trainees benefit from personalised support which is expertly tailored to meet their needs. Appropriate and thoughtful adaptations are put in place and regularly reviewed. For instance, some trainees follow modified timetables or have enhanced mentor oversight. Leaders track this support, which helps them to fully understand and evaluate its impact. As a result, trainees flourish.

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Professional behaviours, personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Trainees bask in the identity of being a ‘Hope trainee’. They typify the high expectations that staff have of their professional behaviour. Staff model professionalism and trainees relish carrying this professionalism forth into school settings. Staff have robust systems in place to

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Expected standard

monitor trainees. These allow them to act swiftly if any trainees should fall below what is expected.

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Expected standard

Leaders have placed high importance on ensuring that trainees’ wellbeing takes priority. Mentors check this regularly, alongside provider staff. Trainees learn important messages around managing workload. For instance, trainees learn to balance professional duties, such as break duty, with their teaching load.

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Expected standard

Trainees are very well cared for by staff and they particularly value the warm relationships with staff. As a result, trainees liken training to feeling part of a family. This too is replicated for trainees with the training partners. Training partners are assured and confident that leaders will take proactive steps to prevent any harassment or bullying.

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Expected standard

Employability days help to prepare trainees incredibly well for the teaching profession. Alongside these, staff support trainees unwaveringly in their quest for employment.

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Achievement Expected standard

Trainees, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities or other barriers to learning, are well supported to complete the programme. Most trainees are successfully awarded qualified teacher status. A proportion of trainees return to their home country for employment, while many trainees gain jobs within the partnership schools.

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Achievement Expected standard

Staff have prepared trainees well for the realities and the demands of working in education. For example, trainees learn how to use assessment and feedback strategies effectively without a detrimental impact on their workload. Generally, trainees develop a secure knowledge of both subject and generic pedagogy. For example, they have an appropriate understanding of behaviour management and inclusion strategies. Trainees are well versed in their responsibility to safeguard pupils.

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Achievement Expected standard

In the main, trainees reflect appropriately on their progress, which means that they know what they need to do to achieve well. Leaders have recently supported some mentors to set more effective targets in order to help trainees with their reflections and the development of their teaching skills.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Expected standard

Leaders have designed an ambitious, research-informed curriculum that clearly sets out what trainees need to know and learn. Leaders have built in opportunities for trainees to revisit learning to help them cement their understanding. For example, adaptive teaching is threaded through both the core and subject curriculums. This helps trainees to build their understanding of how best to support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Trainees benefit from a key stage 2 placement, which ensures that they gain meaningful experience of the key stage that precedes the secondary phase. This deepens their understanding of the wider education system. Trainees’ learning through a SEND conference is complemented by a school placement in a specialist setting. This helps trainees to put their learning about adaptive teaching into practice.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Expected standard

In the main, the intensive training and practice (ITAP) focuses have been carefully chosen by leaders and are embedded into the curriculum. However, there is some variability in trainees’ experience of the deliberate practice element of the ITAP. This is because leaders have not provided clarity for mentors about how deliberate practice should be enacted. In addition, at times, expert feedback to trainees on the deliberate practice part of the ITAP is not as helpful as it could be. As a result, some trainees do not hone some elements of their teaching practice as well as leaders intend.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Expected standard

Leaders have carefully designed the ‘milestones’ which set out precisely what trainees should know and be able to do at each stage of the initial teacher education programme. These are aligned to the curriculum and build progressively over time. The ‘milestones’ are used effectively to assess trainees’ development and assist staff in identifying any gaps in trainees’ understanding that need to be addressed. Leaders’ work to ensure that targets are consistently helpful in moving trainees’ practice forward has been particularly effective.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Expected standard

Leaders have improved their systems for sharing information with mentors. Typically, mentors have sufficient knowledge of the curriculum, including the ITAP, to guide trainees effectively. They understand trainees’ progression through the curriculum and assess accurately against the ‘milestones’. That said, trainees’ experience of mentoring is variable. Some trainees do not receive sufficiently focused feedback on their practice. Others are not supported as well as they could be to evaluate and apply some of the evidence-based approaches that they have learned. Even so, on the whole, mentoring supports trainees in their journey to gain qualified teacher status.

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Leadership Expected standard

A drive for social justice is threaded through the work of leaders. This vision is clearly shared with stakeholders, including with the training partners, and upheld through close collaboration. For many trainees, this vision is one of the reasons they chose to train in this institution.

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Leadership Expected standard

Those responsible for oversight have an accurate understanding of the strengths and areas for development of the initial teacher education provision. They have been instrumental in challenging leaders to bring about improvement. Through a time of much change at pace, leaders have mostly ensured that staff feel valued and can manage their workload effectively. For example, positive action helped staff to manage a larger-than-normal-sized group of trainees. Staff appreciate the opportunities available for their own professional development, including undertaking their own research projects.

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Leadership Expected standard

Leaders have introduced high-quality systems for tracking trainees’ progress and mentor development. For instance, they have considered a range of ways to ensure that mentors’ understanding of the curriculum, including the intensive training and practice element, is deepened. However, some of the systems are not fully embedded or consistently applied.

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Next steps

Leaders should ensure that trainees’ experience of the deliberate practice element of the intensive training and practice is consistent so that they have suitable opportunities to hone specific areas of their teaching.

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Next steps

Leaders should continue their work to further strengthen mentoring, ensuring that mentors make consistently effective use of the information that leaders provide to support trainees to gain a deep and thorough understanding across the curriculum.

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Next steps

Leaders should strengthen the use of existing quality assurance systems to achieve increased long-lasting improvement of the secondary phase programme Leaders give appropriate consideration to the Department for Education’s guidance to ensure that all aspects of the provision are compliant. Leaders are suitably trained in safer recruitment practices to ensure that all relevant checks are completed.

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

Trainees experience a community where they are welcomed, understood and treated with care. From the outset, staff take time to understand their individual circumstances, creating an environment where trainees feel able to speak openly and access support when needed. They experience being noticed, included and encouraged to develop both personally and professionally.

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

The programme provides trainees with the knowledge and experiences they need for the practical realities of teaching. They receive clear input on behaviour, inclusive practice and phonics and benefit from a curriculum that revisits key ideas so that understanding becomes secure. Trainees who face additional challenges, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), health issues or caring responsibilities, experience timely and well-planned support. Structured plans, reasonable adjustments and sensitive mentoring help them settle into placements and sustain progress. The design and repetition within the curriculum enable trainees with SEND to build confidence and readiness for the classroom.

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

Across routes, trainees experience a coherent curriculum in which research is integrated into their learning. Trainees are able to track their progress and reflect on where they need to continue to develop. Subject leads and mentors are accessible and responsive, offering guidance when difficulties arise. Trainees benefit from a clear sense of belonging. Clear communication, consistent expectations and a supportive culture help them feel secure and part of a wider professional community. As they progress, they develop a growing sense of purpose and commitment to the pupils they will teach. By the end of the programme, trainees are prepared to support pupils’ safety, meet diverse needs and help learners flourish.

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About this inspection

In the primary phase, the provider offers undergraduate, postgraduate and apprenticeship routes into teaching. For undergraduate and postgraduate routes, trainees specialise in primary 3 to 7 or primary 5 to 11 age ranges. All routes lead to qualified teacher status (QTS) and the postgraduate route leads to a postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE). Trainees following the apprenticeship pathway complete a level 6 teacher degree apprenticeship standard focused on the 3 to 11 age range.

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About this inspection

In the secondary phase, trainees study a postgraduate qualification which leads to QTS and PCGE in their specialist subject. Trainees can study from a choice of 14 subject areas. Most trainees specialise in the 11 to 16 age range, while a small number of subjects cover the 14 to 19 age range.

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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

Inspectors spoke with the vice chancellor, deputy vice chancellor, the executive dean of the faculty of education and social sciences, the head of school of teacher development and education, and the academic leads for primary and secondary. They also met with those responsible for compliance, partnerships and members of the ITE strategic quality board.

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About this inspection

Throughout the inspection, inspectors also spoke with a range of staff, trainees, lead mentors and school mentors.

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About this inspection

Inspectors spoke to early career teachers who had completed a course at this provider in the last 2 years.

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Team inspectors:

Adrian Fearn, Ofsted Inspector Jackie Stillings, His Majesty's Inspector Michael Pennington, His Majesty's Inspector Jane Dennis, His Majesty's Inspector Andy Cunningham, His Majesty's Inspector Sally Rix, His Majesty's Inspector Valerie Elson, Ofsted Inspector Dawn Davies, Ofsted Inspector Jen Sloan, His Majesty's Inspector

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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.

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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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Urgent improvement

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