News support feature: Annual Report focus on adult learning and skills

Overall, success rates for all learners in the learning and skills sector have been steadily rising, however a significant number of colleges are not improving, according to Ofsted’s latest Annual Report published on 22 November.

The Annual Report of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills 2010/11 is a summary of Ofsted’s work from September 2010 to August 2011. It draws on evidence throughout the year of inspection and regulation by Ofsted, including findings and trends in childcare, children’s social care, schools and education and skills provision for learners of all ages.

Teaching and learning needs to improve
This article focuses on the findings from 372 learning and skills inspections. Provision was inspected in a range of settings including colleges, independent learning providers, employer-based training, adult and community learning providers, prisons, other secure estate settings and probation services. The Report revealed that there was too little outstanding teaching and learning in the providers inspected this year. Only 15 providers were judged outstanding for this key aspect of their work and 13 of these were independent learning providers while the remaining two were employer providers.

Of the 84 colleges we inspected during 2010/11, just over a quarter had improved from their previous inspection, while just under a quarter had declined. Sixteen colleges were found to be satisfactory this year at their third inspection in a row. These findings are of major concern given the economic challenges young people face and that colleges are the largest providers of 16-19 education.

Independent learning providers and employers doing well
On a more positive note, the large majority of inspections across the sector found that learners were gaining a broad range of both practical and theoretical skills well matched to their individual needs and the needs of their employers. This year a higher percentage of independent learning providers, which currently deliver the majority of work-based learning and apprenticeship programmes, were judged good or outstanding. Employers that provide their own training and work-based learning are also doing well with 10 of the 16 inspected this year found to be good or outstanding. Their learning programmes are of a high standard and well planned.

Adult and community learning
The adult and community learning providers inspected this year performed strongly in terms of including and engaging hard to reach and vulnerable learners. However, across the learning and skills sector as a whole, the availability of provision at post-16 for learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities was found to vary significantly, with very little provision available for learners with the highest levels of need. Many of the independent specialist colleges we inspected this year received a poor set of inspection results and none were judged outstanding.

Prisons and young offender institutions
Our evidence found that the quality of learning and skills provision in prisons and young offender institutions is improving, but a high proportion is still no better than satisfactory. One of the key factors limiting improvement in these is the extent to which provision meets the needs and interests of learners.

New inspection arrangements
In the coming year, providers will need to work more closely with employers to meet local demands for skills. Employers will need to support government plans to expand the numbers of apprentices over the next few years. And providers will need to build on best practice to raise standards of teaching and learning across the board.

Following consultation, Ofsted will be introducing new inspection arrangements in September 2012, which will focus on the most important aspects of learning and skills provision: teaching, learning and assessment, outcomes for all learners and the effectiveness of leadership and management.

Links to the Annual Report 2010/11 and accompanying videos are listed as associated resources below.