Associated Merseyside Partnership SCITT

Associated Merseyside Partnership SCITT

Address: Vortex Court Building 1000, Wavertree Technology Park, Liverpool, MERSEYSIDE, L13 1FB Unique reference number (URN): 70330

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Inclusion Strong standard

Approaches to inclusion are a standout feature of the provider. From recruitment to induction and throughout the programme, leaders have diligently established systems that allow them to identify the needs of trainees. They ensure that time is invested to understand the needs of each individual trainee. These systems and deliberate approaches to inclusion are embedded, understood and applied across the provision, including in the hubs.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders make astute decisions regarding the support that they put in place for trainees. Actions are checked, monitored and reviewed systematically. Leaders make timely and appropriate adjustments to support trainees. They have provided some additional training for a small number of mentors so that they are better placed to support the needs of specific trainees. Leaders carefully consider school placements alongside the needs of trainees. For

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Expected standard

example, this may include placements closer to home for some trainees. Leaders ensure that, where required, trainees’ timetables are adjusted to support their needs. The measures taken by leaders and staff have a highly positive impact on the experiences of trainees. They skilfully remove barriers to learning and help many trainees to be successful in building knowledge and expertise that prepares them very well for teaching.

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Professional behaviours, personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Leaders have established systematic approaches that provide them with a sharp overview of trainees’ personal development, wellbeing and attendance. Leaders’ response to trainees’ changing circumstances is swift and highly effective. If trainees encounter barriers to their wellbeing, effective support is put in place without hesitation. Support from leaders is proactive and often foresees potential issues that may occur in the future. Precise measures are put in place that mitigate these problems. The impact of the wellbeing measures taken by leaders is supported by the detailed knowledge and understanding that they have of each individual trainee. In addition to the support provided by leaders, trainees are also signposted to external organisations that offer help across a range of areas. These include academic, wellbeing and mental health support, which is greatly valued by those who choose to access it.

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Professional behaviours, personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Leaders have high expectations of trainees’ professional behaviours and attendance. The importance of these features prominently from the point of recruitment and in the induction training. Leaders have particularly high expectations of trainees’ conduct, which trainees rise to. From the outset, trainees are made to feel like teachers and respond very well to this.

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Achievement Expected standard

Trainees, including those with identified special educational needs and/or disabilities, achieve well. When needed, leaders put in place highly effective personalised support for trainees that enables trainees to sustain their progress and remain on track. Most trainees gain qualified teacher status.

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Achievement Expected standard

Trainees successfully build their knowledge and expertise to deliver the different national curriculum subjects. They benefit from a carefully sequenced approach to understand how best to help pupils learn important knowledge in reading, writing and mathematics. Trainees on the 3 to 7 programme build up a secure knowledge and understanding of effective approaches within the early years.

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Achievement Expected standard

Trainees understand their professional strengths. Typically, they act on their priorities for improvement. However, at times, the precision of some targets set for trainees is too broad. Targets do not focus closely enough on the specific actions that a trainee needs take to improve their practice. That said, overall, trainees demonstrate readiness for the demands of the teaching profession.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Expected standard

Leaders have established systems that enable them to maintain a strategic oversight of the curriculum and training. They actively seek ongoing feedback from trainees, mentors, partner schools and wider stakeholders. This is used to make well-informed decisions and refinements to the curriculum. For example, leaders have adjusted when some of the centre-based curriculum content linked to subjects such as history, geography and music is taught. This is so that it aligns more closely with when trainees will be teaching these subjects on their placements. That said, there remain elements of the curriculum, including some aspects of intensive training and practice, that could be integrated more seamlessly with trainees’ school-based learning.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Expected standard

Leaders ensure that different curriculum subjects are delivered by teacher educators who have appropriate experience and expertise within the early years, key stage 1 and key stage 2. Leaders have effectively developed a curriculum with a consistent focus on how to support pupils who have different barriers to learning. This helps to equip trainees with the knowledge and skills that they need to adjust their teaching with increased accuracy. For example, trainees use a range of well-considered resources that help pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities to access the same learning as their peers. The curriculum also prepares trainees well to understand the important role that they play in keeping pupils safe. Trainees understand key safeguarding duties and how to deal with any safeguarding concerns about a pupil.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Expected standard

Typically, mentors are well equipped by leaders to support trainees effectively during their placements. They use assessment well to inform the next steps in trainees’ development. However, there remains variability in the precision of some of the targets that trainees are set by their mentors. At times, these are too broad and do not focus on the small steps that a trainee needs to take in order to further develop their practice.

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Leadership Expected standard

Leaders have established close working relationships with trainees and partner schools. They use feedback from these and a range of stakeholders to inform ongoing strategic improvements to the provision. Leaders use this to ensure the initial teacher education provision is responsive to the needs of local schools and the specialisms that they need.

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Leadership Expected standard

Leaders are rigorous in their safer recruitment processes to ensure that trainees are suitable to work with children. Furthermore, leaders pay careful consideration to the suitability of applicants to meet the demands of the course.

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Leadership Expected standard

Leaders ensure that teacher educators have the required specialist knowledge, both in research and teaching practice, to effectively support the learning journeys of trainees. Overall, they have put in place learning and support for mentors that enable them to carry out their roles well. However, there are aspects where leaders could provide further support for mentors so that the expectations of them are fully understood. This includes providing more consistent feedback that enables trainees to put their centre-based learning, including the intensive training and practice, into action.

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Next steps

Leaders should strengthen the integration of the intensive training and practice (ITAP) aspect of the curriculum with school-based mentoring, so that trainees consistently have purposeful opportunities to hone the skills and knowledge taught through the ITAP in the classroom.

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Next steps

Leaders should make explicit the expectations of mentors, and ensure that training equips mentors with the knowledge and expertise to provide high-quality support and feedback.

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Next steps

Leaders should ensure that mentors consistently set ambitious targets that are broken down into clear, incremental steps to help all trainees progress smoothly through the curriculum. Leaders are highly mindful of staff wellbeing and workload. When needed, leaders put in place support for staff during personal times of need. Staff are trusted and valued. There is a positive sense of teamwork, coupled with a collective ambition to help trainees to get off to the best possible start in their teaching career.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Inclusion is a defining feature of this provider. Trainees feel at ease to share any special educational needs and/or disabilities that they have. Leaders make a tremendous effort to get to know trainees well from the point of recruitment. This continues through induction, where leaders gather a secure understanding of trainees’ circumstances and any stresses

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Expected standard

or challenges that they may face. As a result, support is personalised and responsive. For example, timetables are occasionally adjusted for a short period, and this helps trainees to sustain their progress through the programme. Furthermore, leaders’ expertise enables them to anticipate potential difficulties before they arise. They regularly review support to evaluate its impact. Leaders employ support strategies highly effectively and often only for a short time because they furnish trainees with the tools to complete the programme and prepare them well for teaching.

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Expected standard

Leaders have thoughtfully considered how to increase the diversity of the trainee cohort. They have adapted marketing materials and widened recruitment to different areas. Leaders understand the barriers that may prevent people from applying and work to remove them, such as by considering the location of placement schools or increasing the diversity of staff on interview panels. These actions contribute to a more inclusive and representative trainee population.

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Professional behaviours, personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

From the outset, leaders are explicit about the professional behaviours that are expected of trainees. Leaders model and focus on these behaviours consistently so that these foundations are firmly established. Trainees demonstrate the utmost professionalism. When standards are not met, leaders take swift and decisive action, always with trainees’ best interests at the centre.

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Professional behaviours, personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Leaders keep a close eye on trainees’ attendance. This helps leaders to quickly identify any patterns in absence and to praise and reward trainees for full attendance.

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Professional behaviours, personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Leaders care about trainees’ wellbeing. Leaders have created an environment where trainees feel able to speak up and where they are listened to. Trainees benefit from a raft of support ranging from access to a wellbeing mentor to a cup of tea and biscuits on the red sofa. Leaders pay careful attention to trainees’ workload. For example, they have planned assignment submission dates to follow a break from placement and teaching commitments. Underpinning the support that leaders provide is a deep, personal knowledge of each trainee. This enables leaders to offer thoughtful, well-timed support and to ensure that trainees’ wellbeing and mental health are genuine priorities.

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Achievement Expected standard

Trainees are well prepared for the realities of teaching. Most, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, are supported effectively to complete the programme. Most trainees gain qualified teacher status and a high proportion successfully secure employment in partner schools.

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Achievement Expected standard

Trainees steadily build their subject and teaching knowledge. Subject experts guide them through the intricacies and demands of teaching an individual subject, including common misconceptions and effective assessment strategies. Overall, trainees reflect well on their practice and understand their broad areas for improvement. However, some trainees’ knowledge is not as deep as it could be because their targets do not focus sharply enough on the small, incremental steps needed to deepen their practice. Even so, trainees typically develop the requisite skills and knowledge that they need to succeed in the classroom.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Expected standard

Leaders have designed an ambitious curriculum underpinned by high quality, relevant research. Development goals are clearly mapped out so that trainees build knowledge and skills incrementally and are well prepared for the realities of the classroom.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Expected standard

Leaders have purposefully threaded inclusion right through the curriculum and it is revisited often, including in subject curriculums. Leaders model inclusive strategies well. This enables trainees to have a secure understanding of how to adapt learning for pupils with barriers to learning or wellbeing. In turn, trainees typically scaffold learning effectively for pupils with additional needs.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Expected standard

Trainees’ knowledge of safeguarding grows steadily through the programme. They are confident and capable of recognising potential signs of abuse and harm in pupils.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Expected standard

Mentors have a broad understanding of the curriculum that trainees learn. That said, their knowledge of the intensive training and practice elements is less secure. This means that, at times, some trainees do not have consistent opportunities to put their centre-based learning into practice as well as they could. As a result, there are missed opportunities for a small number of trainees to build their skill and expertise.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Expected standard

Leaders and staff typically make effective use of the development goals to check trainees’ progress through the programme. Leaders use this information to accurately identify any areas that trainees need to revisit or where additional support is needed.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Expected standard

Most trainees benefit from high-quality mentoring. They feel well supported by mentors. Nevertheless, leaders do not make explicit some of the expectations of mentors. This leads to variability in the quality of the feedback that trainees receive. Some targets are not broken down sufficiently into granular steps and the conflation of tasks and targets means that a small number of trainees are unclear about the specific steps needed to improve.

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Leadership Expected standard

Leaders have an ambitious vision to produce high-quality teachers. They are committed to meeting the needs of local schools and improving outcomes for pupils, particularly those who are disadvantaged. Leaders respond to local need such as the introduction of subjects where there are recruitment shortages.

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Leadership Expected standard

Those with oversight of the provision ensure that all statutory requirements are met securely. For example, rigorous safer recruitment practices are in place. Those with oversight have a keen awareness of what happens in the provision and generally hold leaders to account effectively.

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Next steps

Leaders should strengthen the integration of the intensive training and practice (ITAP) aspect of the curriculum with school-based mentoring, so that trainees consistently have purposeful opportunities to hone the skills and knowledge taught through the ITAP in the classroom.

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Next steps

Leaders should make explicit the expectations of mentors and ensure that training equips mentors with the knowledge and expertise to provide high-quality support and feedback.

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Next steps

Leaders should ensure that mentors consistently set ambitious targets that are broken down into clear, incremental steps to help all trainees progress smoothly through the curriculum. The provider’s work extends across 2 hubs. The trainees in these hubs receive the same experience and quality of curriculum as those training with the provider. Leaders use suitable quality assurance processes to help them to evaluate the quality of their work. That said, at times, they have not addressed some of the inconsistency in mentoring and target setting as quickly as they could.

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Next steps

Staff, like trainees, are well cared for by leaders. Staff feel valued and are proud to be part of the provision. Staff at partner schools benefit from professional development such as attending workshops with highly esteemed education professionals.

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Next steps

Leaders have designed an effective mentor curriculum, which mentors engage with well. However, some mentors are not sure how to fully align what trainees have learned at the centre with what they learn at their school placements. This also leads to some variability in the quality of targets that are set.

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

From the moment that trainees are recruited, they receive a warm welcome from staff. Leaders know them very well. Trainees benefit from a deliberately and carefully structured induction that helps them to settle quickly and understand leaders’ high expectations.

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

Trainees feel confident to disclose any needs that they have because leaders have cultivated an open and caring environment. Leaders’ knowledge of each trainee means that they often anticipate potential issues before they arise. For instance, leaders know trainees’ personal circumstances and any pressures that they are facing. Consequently, leaders put appropriate support or adaptations in place, when needed. As such, trainees are well supported and benefit from a raft of support, both in centre and in school, that helps them to make progress from their individual starting points.

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

Trainees make steady progress through the programme from their starting points. They learn side-by-side with trainees from other phases. This gives them an insight into the next stage of pupils’ learning or a secure understanding of the phase that precedes theirs. This broadens their understanding of curriculum and develops their teaching knowledge.

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Team inspectors:

Adrian Fearn, Ofsted Inspector Felicity Ackroyd, Ofsted Inspector Valerie Elson, Ofsted Inspector Sue Timmins, Ofsted Inspector Trainees’ understanding of how to support the disadvantaged and vulnerable groups of pupils builds steadily through the programme. For example, they are well versed in adapting learning appropriately for pupils who need additional support.

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Team inspectors:

Trainees are readily prepared for the realities of teaching. They understand the demands of the profession and build resilience to cope. In particular, trainees display high levels of professionalism. They understand the importance of setting professional boundaries with pupils. Trainees know how to keep themselves and pupils safe.

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About this inspection

Trainees in the primary and secondary phases are following a postgraduate or assessment- only route. The postgraduate route leads to a postgraduate certificate in education through Liverpool Hope University. The postgraduate route is offered in partnership with two primary and one secondary training partners.

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About this inspection

There are 4 pathways on the primary route: primary 3 to 7, primary 5 to 11, primary 7 to 11, and primary with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

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About this inspection

Trainees in the secondary phase can study from a choice of 20 subjects. Trainees specialise in the 11 to 16 age range. There is also a secondary 11 to 16 SEND programme and a 14 to 19 business studies course.

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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 chief executive officer of the trust, head of SCITT and other leaders, including hub leaders. They also met with those responsible for compliance, partnerships, and some members of the governance committee. Throughout the inspection, inspectors also spoke with a range of staff, trainees and mentors. Inspectors spoke to early career teachers who had completed the programme.

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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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