Setting

Ofsted and the ALI have particular duties in relation to colleges where their inspection report indicates that individual curriculum and/or work-based learning (WBL) areas are unsatisfactory or very weak or that leadership and management are unsatisfactory or very weak. Where a college has been judged to have less than satisfactory provision in any curriculum or WBL area, or less than satisfactory leadership and management, Ofsted or the ALI will visit the college to carry out monitoring inspections of the unsatisfactory areas. As a result of the re-inspection monitoring visits, inspectors may judge that the curriculum or WBL areas, or leadership and management are satisfactory and that no further visits are required. Where leadership and management are satisfactory, all unsatisfactory provision will be re-inspected normally during one week.

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Outcome of Re-Inspection

The overall provision in health, social care and childcare remains unsatisfactory.

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Background

Brooksby Melton College was inspected in April 2002. Inspectors from the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) and the Adult Learning Inspectorate (ALI) carried out the inspection under Section 62 of the Learning and Skills Act. The quality of provision was found to be satisfactory or better in all areas inspected, except in health, social care and childcare which was found to be unsatisfactory.

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Background

If, after approximately 24 months, the college has not made sufficient progress to justify a judgement that the curriculum or WBL area or leadership and management are satisfactory, the original grade for the area that continues to be unsatisfactory will remain on the college's record until the next full inspection within the cycle. Ofsted will inform the local LSC that provision remains unsatisfactory and the reasons why.

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Date of the Re-Inspection

In accordance with the above procedures, re-inspection of health, social care and childcare took place in the week of 3 May 2004.

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Health, social care and childcare

In the April 2002 inspection, the quality of overall provision in this area was judged to be unsatisfactory. The following strengths and weaknesses were identified in the inspection report::

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Weaknesses

• Insufficient demand on students in many lessons

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Weaknesses

• Ineffective course planning and co-ordination

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Weaknesses

• Slow return of students' assessed work.

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Weaknesses

Following the re-inspection, inspectors judged that insufficient progress has been made in addressing the above weaknesses. Leadership and management of the curriculum area are unsatisfactory. The overall provision in this area remains unsatisfactory .

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Weaknesses

Retention and pass rates on NVQ programmes in care and counselling courses are consistently high. Pass rates have been 100% on NVQ level 2 in care for the past two years with retention rates well above the national average of 100% and 94% in the same years. Students on the access to nursing course make good progress to professional training. However, there are low and declining pass rates on the full-time early years courses. In the years 2001-2003 inclusive pass rates on the first diploma in early years reduced from 100% to 67% to 50% respectively. Retention on full-time courses is generally at or just below the national averages. For most courses the number of students recruited is low. This leads to small class sizes and narrows the range of teaching and learning methods used. The average group size was 6.3 during the re-inspection week. Attendance at 77% is just below the national average. Both average group size and attendance are lower than on the

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Weaknesses

The proportion of teaching judged to be good or better has improved since the original inspection but remains well below the national average. The proportion of unsatisfactory teaching has increased to well above the national average. Leadership and management are unsatisfactory. Course provision changes too frequently with no clear vision for the future. The ratio of part-time to full-time teachers is high. The curriculum team is fragmented. Overall students' achievements have not improved. Internal lesson observations have made little impact. There are too few assessors and internal verifiers for NVQ provision in early years. Self-assessment lacks rigour. Staff are unaware of the contents of the self-assessment report, and the action plan has few measurable outcomes. commercial educational purposes, provided that all extracts quoted are reproduced verbatim without adaptation and on condition that the source and date thereof are stated.

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Weaknesses

Inspection reports are available on the Ofsted web site (www.ofsted.gov.uk).

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