Stockton on Tees Teacher Training Partnership

Stockton on Tees Teacher Training Partnership Initial Teacher Education inspection report

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Provider address The Education Centre Junction Road Norton Stockton-on-Tees TS20 1PR

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Inspection dates Lead inspector 5 – 8 May 2009 Katrina Gueli HMI This document may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that the information quoted is reproduced without adaptation and the source and date of publication are stated.

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registered childcare and children's social care, including adoption and fostering agencies, residential schools, family centres and homes for children. It also inspects all state maintained schools, non- association independent schools, pupil referral units, further education, initial teacher education, and publicly funded adult skills and employment-based training, the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), and the overall level of services for children in local authority areas (through annual performance assessments and joint area reviews). www.ofsted.gov.uk Reference no. 080190

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Introduction

1. This inspection was carried out by one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors supported by a team of specialist inspectors in accordance with the Framework for the Inspection of Initial Teacher Education (2008-11).

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Introduction

2. The inspection draws upon evidence from all aspects of the provision to make judgements against all parts of the inspection evaluation schedule in the framework. Inspectors focused on the overall effectiveness of the training in supporting high quality outcomes for trainees and the capacity of the partnership to bring about further improvements. A summary of the grades awarded is included at the end of this report.

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Key to inspection grades

Grade 1 Outstanding Grade 2 Good Grade 3 Satisfactory Grade 4 Inadequate

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The provider

3. Stockton on Tees Teacher Training Partnership is a partnership between Stockton local authority and 21 of its schools. The provider offers routes to qualified teacher status through employment-based initial teacher training. There are places for 12 secondary trainees (priority and non-priority subjects in the 11- 16 age range) and 7 primary trainees across the 3 – 5 and 5 – 11 age ranges. The provision was established as a strand of the local authority recruitment strategy in response to wider recruitment issues in the Teesside area. The provider has responded to the schools’ needs for a range of secondary subjects and most recently, early years practitioners.

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Key strengths

 the excellent way in which resources are allocated and deployed to meet the individual needs of trainees

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Key strengths

 the very good leadership and clear direction provided by the partnership manager

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Key strengths

 the high levels of commitment by all members of the partnership ensuring good outcomes for trainees

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Key strengths

 the strong communication throughout the partnership leading to a shared understanding of roles and responsibilities

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Key strengths

 the good use of clear criteria to accurately assess trainees’ attainment at each stage of their training

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Key strengths

 the cohesion of all elements of the training which secures good trainee outcomes.

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Recommendations

5. In order to improve trainees’ progress and attainment, the partnership should:

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Recommendations

 ensure subject knowledge audits identify accurately the specific areas for each trainee’s development and that trainers monitor trainees’ progress in addressing identified areas for development

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Recommendations

 ensure that all interim reports accurately reflect trainees’ progress and set clear targets for further development

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Recommendations

 ensure that trainees, according to phase, fully understand the implications of all recent national initiatives.

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Overall effectiveness Grade: 2

6. Attainment for both primary and secondary trainees is good. Trainees are very professional in their approach and respond positively to both formal and informal feedback in order to improve the quality of their teaching. They have high expectations of what pupils can achieve. Trainees structure lessons well and demonstrate the ability to motivate and engage pupils effectively, using a broad range of teaching strategies, including the use of information and communication technology to support pupils’ learning. Their planning incorporates clearly identified learning objectives and they successfully utilise a wide range of class management strategies. Primary trainees in particular show strengths in assessing pupils’ learning regularly leading to a good level of differentiation in their teaching.

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Overall effectiveness Grade: 2

7. The vast majority of primary and secondary trainees make good progress because their personal and professional needs are well met. This is due in part to the very good communication across the partnership resulting in well co-ordinated support and the swift deployment of additional resources when needed. Success rates are high and all trainees for the last two years have progressed into teaching. This confirms the effectiveness of recruitment procedures in selecting good quality trainees. There has been notable success in the recruitment of men onto the primary course and in recruiting trainees from minority ethnic heritages in both phases. Both are above average.

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Overall effectiveness Grade: 2

8. As there are few schools within the partnership where cultural diversity is widely evident the provider has been proactive in ensuring that all trainees visit at least one school with a high proportion of students with English as an additional language. In addition, trainees take part in good quality centre-based training and other visits to broaden their awareness and understanding of equality and diversity issues and to ensure they are equipped with the necessary skills to support the English language development of pupils in their teaching groups.

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Overall effectiveness Grade: 2

9. Support for trainees from school-based tutors is good. Individual training plans (ITP) are compiled following a broad range of induction week activities and identify clearly how centre-based sessions, school-based training and enrichment experiences will meet trainees’ development needs, ensuring that all elements of training combine well to support progression. For example, there is good coordination and communication between the main and second placement schools to maximise the benefits of training in the complementary setting. Subject knowledge auditing is also undertaken in each phase but lacks sufficient rigour to allow an accurate diagnosis of trainees’ individual strengths and areas for development. A range of strategies and initiatives including the introduction of subject knowledge peer coaches to enhance trainees’ subject knowledge have been introduced, but the provider accurately identifies that this aspect of trainees’ development still requires

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Overall effectiveness Grade: 2

10. The grade descriptors introduced in September 2008 have proved a very effective tool to support the accurate judging of trainees’ attainment for each stage of their training and to measure their progress between key assessment points. These descriptors are also helping trainees and tutors to identify the next steps needed to develop practice and are contributing to a greater sense of clarity about trainees’ attainment and progression. Formal lesson observations usually have a clear focus and are followed by good developmental verbal feedback which contributes to trainees’ progress well. These formal discussions are supplemented by frequent informal feedback from both school-based tutors and training coordinators which both primary and secondary trainees identify as being a key element in supporting their development.

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Overall effectiveness Grade: 2

11. High quality dialogue through regular meetings between school-based tutors, partnership representatives and training coordinators ensure that trainees’ progress is closely monitored and moderated to promote consistency both within subjects, phases and across phases. However, a small minority of targets on end-of-term review documents are insufficiently developmental and in a small number of cases the commentary does not match the grades.

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Overall effectiveness Grade: 2

12. The allocation of resources is highly responsive to individual needs, making a very significant contribution to trainees’ progress. Individuals and groups of trainees have benefited from funding for additional training, the availability of training facilities during the holidays for independent or collaborative work and additional partnership representative visits when a need is identified. The executive committee provides a very effective mechanism to ensure that resources are deployed to ensure good outcomes for trainees and the excellent communication across the partnership ensures the clarity of funding decisions. Effective systems and detailed documentation ensure that roles and responsibilities are well understood across the partnership. School-based tutors and partnership representatives are well trained and this contributes to the good quality and consistency of training for trainees. There is a very high level of commitment by all school and centre-based colleagues

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Overall effectiveness Grade: 2

to ensuring good quality training and support for trainees.

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Grade: 2

13. The partnership manager provides very good leadership and sets a clear direction for further improvement. Internal monitoring and evaluation systems are robust and involve all stakeholders within the partnership. Questions to evaluate provision are increasingly focusing on the impact of action on trainees’ outcomes. The provider’s self evaluation is accurate and consequently the partnership has a secure knowledge of what is done well and the priorities for further improvement. Information collected from the wide ranging evaluations is used effectively to inform developments and secure better outcomes for trainees. For example, an analysis of progress reports from the end of the autumn and spring terms has been used to identify areas where training can be improved in 2009/10.

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Grade: 2

14. Good systems exist to assess the suitability of schools to host a trainee and where there is a sudden or significant change in school circumstances the partnership is swift to respond appropriately. Partnership representatives play a key role in quality assuring school placements and school-based training. In addition, their regular visits quickly identify where additional support for either a school-based tutor or a trainee may be required. Internal and external moderation procedures are well embedded and are effective in promoting consistency. The rigorous moderation of trainee attainment for each subject, within each phase and cross phase contributes to the good level of accuracy of provider judgements.

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Grade: 2

15. The partnership manager is well placed to ensure that the provider anticipates and responds to change through his involvement in a wide range of local and national groups and committees. Regular reviews of the training programme and the good use made of local authority advisers and consultants to deliver many elements of the centre-based training ensures that trainees’ awareness of most recent national initiatives is successfully developed. However some trainees, according to phase, do not yet fully understand the implications of all recent national initiatives. Potential barriers to trainees’ development such as the limited opportunities to gain knowledge and experience of working directly with students who have English as an additional language have been successfully overcome with creative solutions involving selected schools in the locality and visits to other regions.

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Grade: 2

16. Improvement planning focuses on key priorities to improve trainee outcomes and the actions identified are appropriate. Resources are allocated accordingly and the effective communication of action plans across the partnership results in a good level of involvement by all partners in taking appropriate action. Progress made in implementing the action plan is monitored well by the executive committee. The provider’s systems of continuous quality improvement, involving external evaluation, provide secure evidence of improvement over time. Consequently the partnership has a good track record of taking action to improve aspects of training in response to feedback resulting in improved outcomes for trainees.

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Summary of inspection grades 1

Key to judgements: grade 1 is outstanding; grade 2 is good; grade 3 is satisfactory; grade 4 is inadequate.

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Overall effectiveness

Employment- based routes How effective is the provision in securing high quality outcomes for trainees? 2 Trainees’ attainment How well do trainees attain?

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Overall effectiveness

To what extent do recruitment / selection arrangements support high quality outcomes? To what extent does the training and assessment ensure that all trainees progress to fulfil their potential given their ability and starting points? Factors contributing to trainees’ attainment

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Overall effectiveness

To what extent are available resources used effectively and efficiently? The quality of the provision To what extent is the provision across the partnership of consistently high quality? Promoting equalities and diversity To what extent does the provision promote equality of opportunity, value diversity and eliminate harassment and unlawful discrimination? 2

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Capacity to improve further and/or sustain high quality

Employment- based routes To what extent do the leadership and management at all levels have the capacity to secure further improvements and/or to sustain high quality outcomes? How effectively does the management at all levels assess performance in order to improve or sustain high quality? How well does the leadership at all levels anticipate change, and prepare for and respond to national and local initiatives? How effectively does the provider plan and take action for improvement? 2

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Capacity to improve further and/or sustain high quality

1 The criteria for making these graded judgements are in the Grade criteria for the inspection of ITE 2008-11; Ofsted July 2008; Reference no: 080128. procedure set out in the guidance ‘Complaints about school inspection’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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