Ofsted highlights litany of concerns with North Yorkshire's further education service

An Ofsted inspection of courses in North Yorkshire has highlighted concerns, that those leading the service for 1,550 adult learners, such as apprentices and care workers, did not have effective oversight of the curriculum.

Inspectors rated the provision which the council subcontracts to Veloheads CIC, Supporting Choice Ltd, The Blueberry Academy Limited, Strive for Education Ltd, Disability Action Yorkshire, Harrogate Skills 4 Living Centreand Living Potential Care Farm CIC as “good” in many areas, including the quality of education.

However, they rated the service overall as in need of improvements. The rating is a slip from the council’s previous “good” Ofsted inspection in 2019, but inspections in 2017 and 2013 both concluded that the local authority needed to make wide-ranging improvements.

Malton councillor Lindsay Burr, who has provided training for the hair, barbering, and beauty industry for more than 20 years, described Osted’s rating as “very disappointing” and urged the authority to step up action to upgrade the service.

She added: “Ofsted inspectors are employed to ensure learning is carried out to a high standard and although the department requires improvement, inspectors did find some good areas of practise. I look forward to the council’s education and training department improving in the immediate future.”

Inspectors found the council had implemented some changes to improve the services, but said it was too early to be confident about whether they were effective.

In 2017, the inspection concluded that attendance of adult learners on courses that lead to qualifications was poor with the result that they do not make good progress and that too few apprentices achieve their qualifications within planned timescales.

Other criticisms in 2017 included that leaders and managers do not have access to timely data to identify areas for improvement and take swift action to tackle them. Alongside concerns over the quality of part-time teachers, six years ago the inspectors found “elected members” had “too optimistic a view of the quality of the provision”.

The latest report saw Ofsted grade areas ranging from quality of education, behaviour and attitudes and personal development as “good”. Adult learning programmes, provision for high needs learners, apprenticeships were also rated “good”.

Ofsted highlighted that leaders have created a curriculum to enable most adult learners, apprentices and learners with high needs to achieve their ambitions. The report added teachers are well qualified and continue to improve their knowledge and skills in their subject areas through relevant professional development.

Ofsted also found teachers plan learning carefully to enable each learner to develop incrementally the knowledge, skills and personal attributes that they need to live richer lives and achieve their goals.

The criticisms in the 2023 report included that leaders and managers “do not have sufficiently effective quality processes to enable them to understand the quality of teaching or what is happening in the classroom”.

The report added: “They rightly recognise that previous quality assurance procedures have not been effective and they are in the process of making improvements, but it is too early to see the impact.

“Leaders and managers do not have effective oversight of the curriculum. For example, they are unaware of the lack of progression from some traditional community learning courses. This means they cannot assure themselves that all the courses they offer align to the strategic aims of the service.”

The authority’s opposition leader Liberal Democrat councillor Bryn Griffiths said: “I am extremely disappointed that the county are letting down our young adults due to poor leadership and management of their education.”

The Tory-run council’s executive member for education, learning and skills, Councillor Annabel Wilkinson said the report described “a service that produces a high quality of education, motivated learners and apprentices and positive outcomes for learners with additional needs”.

Coun Wilkinson added: “We have recently implemented a new strategy for the whole service. This strategy was the subject of a consultation last year, in which all stakeholders were invited to give their views on the future of the service. Ofsted recognises that this strategy aims to improve the consistency of approach to providing high-quality, relevant education and training across North Yorkshire.

“It acknowledges that the intention is clear, but the strategy is not yet fully implemented, so it is too early to see the impact these changes are likely to bring. We are committed to fully implementing the new strategy and are confident this will be reflected in future service inspections.”