West Herts College

West Herts College

Address: West Herts College, Hempstead Road, Watford, Herts, WD17 3EZ Unique reference number (URN): 2827121

p.1

Achievement Strong standard

Trainees develop the skills that they need to become successful teachers. They apply academic theories expertly to their curriculum planning and their teaching so that their learners can participate fully and make good progress. Almost all trainees pass their qualifications.

p.1

Achievement Strong standard

Trainees substantially improve their subject-specialist pedagogy. Subject mentors help trainees to review their course and lesson plans and support them with their research. With their mentors’ support, trainees present posters to their subject peers from other colleges at a conference at Huddersfield University. University specialists support trainees to help them extend their knowledge, so that they remain up to date in their teaching. Mentors prepare trainees well for their next steps in teaching. They ensure that trainees recognise the realities of workloads, particularly in the early stages of their careers. Teachers and mentors actively guide trainees with workload planning, chunking tasks and seeking support when needed.

p.1

Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders have established a culture that places inclusion at the heart of teacher education courses.

p.2

Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders promote initial teacher education courses to a very wide range of potential applicants, especially those from groups who have historically been unlikely to aspire to a career in teaching. Staff host an inclusive jobs fair, make extensive use of social media to reach diverse communities and promote the stories of trainees who have backgrounds that are not typical or who have faced significant barriers to learning.

p.2

Inclusion Strong standard

Trainees are encouraged to declare any additional needs that they have when they apply for a place on the course, during selection interviews and throughout their studies. They feel safe to disclose any temporary or long-term barriers to learning they experience, in the knowledge that staff will take their concerns seriously and provide the help that they need.

p.2

Inclusion Strong standard

Staff consistently provide trainees with effective support. Several trainees have multiple needs related to health, disability, caring responsibilities, finances and language, and the help that they receive enables them to make good progress.

p.2

Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders and staff systematically review the support that they provide to trainees to ensure that it is always appropriate to their needs. Trainees consistently take advantage of the support that they are offered.

p.2

Professional behaviours, personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Leaders have created a culture of high expectations, and this is reflected in teachers’ consistently high expectations for trainees’ conduct and attendance. Trainees attend well and show commitment to their learning. Through well-planned lessons, trainees develop a secure understanding of professional behaviours, including building and sustaining positive relationships with a wide range of colleagues.

p.2

Professional behaviours, personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Staff support trainees to link their practice to the occupational standards. This helps trainees to focus their reflections, to recognise their strengths and to realise that they will need to continue to develop as they progress in their careers.

p.2

Professional behaviours, personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Teachers place a strong focus on ensuring that trainees understand the high professional standards expected of them and how to avoid behaviours that place them or their learners at risk, including through their use of social media and their daily interactions with learners.

p.2

Professional behaviours, personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Pastoral mentors respond swiftly to the changing circumstances of trainees, working closely with wider college teams and external bodies to provide support. Teachers adapt learning

p.2

Expected standard

environments, provide additional lessons and help trainees to access financial support. As a result, all trainees can fully participate in their learning.

p.3

Curriculum, teaching and training Expected standard

Leaders set clear goals for the teacher education curriculum and work closely with teachers to develop course content. They have recently revised the curriculum to ensure that it incorporates current educational theories and evidence-based teaching practices and provides trainees with opportunities to apply these in their planning and teaching.

p.3

Curriculum, teaching and training Expected standard

Teachers sequence the curriculum well, and this helps trainees to develop, practise and improve their teaching skills over time. Subject specialist mentors work closely with teacher- educators so that they understand what trainees learn and how well they are performing. This allows them to provide trainees with the right amount of support as they develop their expertise.

p.3

Curriculum, teaching and training Expected standard

Trainees develop a clear understanding of the strategies that they can use to help learners in their classes who have special educational needs and/or disabilities to participate and make progress in their learning. Teachers and mentors help trainees to develop shared working practices with teaching assistants in their classrooms and show them where to seek further guidance. However, while the curriculum has an appropriate focus on learners’ barriers to learning, trainees do not remember enough about the wide range of needs that they may encounter in their work.

p.3

Curriculum, teaching and training Expected standard

Teachers and mentors use a range of assessments, including essays, posters and observations, to provide trainees with clear, helpful feedback. They routinely help trainees to reflect on their work and their teaching and to recognise their strengths and areas for development. Where needed, staff create supportive and manageable action plans that help trainees who have fallen behind to catch up.

p.3

Curriculum, teaching and training Expected standard

Trainees participate in supportive and challenging placements, both at the college and with other providers. They participate in alternative placements, which, although often in college, enable them to experience different contexts and deepen their understanding of teaching strategies.

p.3

Leadership Expected standard

Leaders have a clear vision for their provision, the principal purpose of which is to develop teachers to work at the college. They implement a suitable range of processes to assure the quality of the curriculum and take appropriate improvement actions. However, leaders occasionally rely too much on evidence from external sources, such as the external examiner, to identify areas for improvement. This means that they do not consistently focus enough on specific local concerns. Governors receive suitable information about the quality of courses, which they understand well.

p.3

Next steps

Leaders should strengthen quality assurance processes, so that they are able to identify more precisely the specific local factors affecting the quality of the curriculum.

p.4

Next steps

Leaders should review the teaching of topics about barriers to learning to ensure that trainees develop a broad understanding and better recall of these themes, rather than just learning how to support the learners who they encounter in their placements. Leaders work extremely well with the validating university and its consortium of providers. This helps to ensure that the curriculum remains up to date and in line with national priorities. It also provides additional opportunities for trainees to develop their subject pedagogy through university events.

p.4

Next steps

Teachers and mentors undertake useful training to support them in their roles. Mentors participate in training provided by both the college and the university and receive information about the curriculum that enables them to provide appropriate subject-specific support for trainees. Teachers attend a wide range of relevant training activities that ensure their subject expertise remains at a high level.

p.4

Next steps

Leaders make sure that staff feel valued and have a healthy work-life balance. They provide opportunities for them to work from home to complete marking and administrative tasks and provide an additional holiday at Christmas. They offer staff a range of services and activities to support staff wellbeing. As a result, staff feel appreciated.

p.4

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

Trainees develop their knowledge and skills well. They acquire a sound understanding of contemporary learning theories and teaching methods through the effective teaching of a well-planned curriculum. They gain expertise in teaching their own subject through supportive mentoring and university-led activities. Almost all trainees complete their qualifications.

p.4

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

Trainees learn how to help the learners who they teach to overcome barriers to their learning with help and guidance from their mentors and through collaborating with support staff. However, although they develop the expertise that they need to support the learners in their own classes, trainees’ recall of topics related to wider barriers to learning is not consistently strong enough, despite this being a focus of the curriculum.

p.4

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

College staff encourage trainees from a wide range of backgrounds to apply to join their courses. Consequently, trainees who enrol often face significant barriers to their success, such as those posed by them speaking English as an additional language, physical and mental health challenges, financial constraints and caring responsibilities. Staff encourage trainees to disclose any additional needs that they have, and trainees feel safe to do so, in the knowledge that staff will treat them sympathetically. Teacher-educators provide trainees

p.4

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.

p.5

Number of partners and trainees

who face challenges with highly effective support that enables them to participate and achieve as well as their peers.

p.5

Number of partners and trainees

Trainees develop a solid understanding of the realities of teaching and the professional behaviours that they need to be successful. They learn how to keep themselves and their learners safe through, for example, maintaining suitable professional boundaries. They develop their skills of reflection and understand their own strengths and areas for development well. They recognise the workload challenges that they will face in their careers and work with mentors to develop strategies to mitigate them.

p.5

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.

p.5

About this inspection

Trainees are all in the further education and skills phase and study the certificate in education, the postgraduate certificate in education or the professional graduate certificate in education. They study full time over one year or part time over 2 years. In the most recent cohort, 3 trainees were in-service and 14 were pre-service.

p.5

About this inspection

Courses are validated by the University of Huddersfield. The university works with a large number of initial teacher education providers. It provides training for mentors, which is additional to the training provided by the college, and additional opportunities for trainees to participate in subject-specific conferences with trainees from different partners.

p.5

About this inspection

Inspectors spoke with senior leaders, governors, university staff, teacher-educators, mentors, placement staff, trainees and former trainees during the inspection.

p.5

Exceptional

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

p.6

Strong standard

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

p.6

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.

p.6

Needs attention

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

p.6

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.

p.6

Urgent improvement

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

p.7

Urgent improvement

You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.7

Urgent improvement

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.7

Urgent improvement

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.7