Bradford College Ofsted Report

Full report

Information about the provider

• Bradford College is a large general further education college serving the city of Bradford in West Yorkshire. The college enrolled 15,202 learners in 2016/17. Currently, 4,476 adult learners are enrolled, mostly on part-time courses. There are around 3,750 learners aged 16 to 19 on full-time study programmes. The college also has a large apprenticeship programme, with around 1,700 apprentices currently on programme. At the time of the inspection, 118 learners were enrolled who have high-needs funding, and 25 learners were on traineeships.
• Bradford’s population of around 534,000 is ethnically diverse and includes the largest proportion of people of Pakistani ethnic origin in Britain. Unemployment is higher than the national average. A higher than average percentage of households are workless. Bradford has fewer people with qualifications at levels 1 to 4 than either the Yorkshire and Humber region or the country. Approximately one sixth of the district’s employed residents work in retail or wholesale.

What does the provider need to do to improve further?

• As a matter of urgency, governors, leaders and managers should ensure that they address all the areas for improvement identified at the previous inspection. In particular, they should:
  • ensure that all learners on 16 to 19 study programmes have access to good-quality and relevant work experience
  • improve the progress that learners make so that all learners, including those who have high-needs funding, fulfil their potential.
• Leaders and managers should quicken the pace of improvement so that achievement rates on 16 to 19 study programmes increase rapidly.
• Teachers should ensure that they pay close attention to the needs of individual learners in the planning and delivery of teaching and in the assessment of learning, so that all learners, including those who have high-needs funding, make the progress of which they are capable.
• Leaders and managers should assess the quality of teaching, learning and assessment more realistically and take action to address the key areas for improvement.
• Leaders and managers should ensure that attendance increases, especially in English and mathematics lessons.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management

Requires improvement

• Leaders and managers have not made sufficient progress in implementing the recommendations from the previous inspection. They have been slow in developing relevant work experience opportunities for learners on study programmes and in ensuring that all learners make the progress of which they are capable.
• Self-assessment is too positive, and quality improvement plans focus on processes and generalities at the expense of impact and precision. As a result, improvements to outcomes for learners, especially on study programmes, have been too slow. Leaders and managers have acted swiftly and effectively to address a decline in the proportion of apprentices who completed their frameworks within planned timescales.
• Leaders and managers do not use lesson observations and performance reviews well enough to improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment. Managers and teachers are too optimistic about the quality of teaching in the college. As a result, too many teachers do not know that they need to improve their professional practice.
• Leaders and managers do not plan programmes for English and mathematics well enough. Consequently, too few learners develop their skills or achieve high grades in these areas.
• Leaders and managers promote a culture of pride, respect and tolerance which embraces the diversity in the college and its local community. As a result, staff and learners demonstrate these values well, and most learners are extremely well prepared for life in modern Britain.
• Leaders and managers develop very valuable partnerships to ensure that the curriculum responds well to the needs of the local community; these include partnerships with local employers and community groups. For example, leaders and managers have worked very effectively with the National Health Service (NHS) to develop individualised career paths for trainees, many of whom secure employment with the NHS as a consequence of their traineeships.
• Leaders and managers have an exemplary commitment to developing and enhancing unity, labour force skills and economic regeneration in the community. Where there are local people who find it difficult to attend college, leaders and managers ensure that programmes are delivered in accessible venues such as mosques and local community centres. As a result, the college is greatly valued by the various sections of the local community.
• Leaders and managers manage subcontracted provision well, especially in apprenticeship provision. They work closely with subcontractors to improve quality and they are swift to identify problems and take action when quality declines.

The governance of the provider

• Governors know the college’s context well and they provide strong strategic support.
• Governors receive reports on, and hold senior leaders to account for, aspects of learners’ attendance, retention and overall achievement of qualifications. However, governors are less well informed about learners’ progress and their work experience. As a result, they do not provide rigorous enough challenge to leaders to respond to the recommendations made at the previous inspection.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Leaders, managers and governors ensure that appropriate safeguarding policies and procedures are in place and that staff use them well to protect learners.
• The designated safeguarding manager and a team including youth workers, social workers, security officers and a permanent campus police officer, respond quickly and appropriately to any concerns. The team has strong and well-used links with local safeguarding professionals.
• Learners and staff have received appropriate training in relation to safeguarding, including in respect of the ‘Prevent’ duty.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• The quality of teaching, learning and assessment varies too much across the college. In too many lessons, especially in study programmes, teaching is uninspiring. As a result, learning is too slow in these lessons. In a small minority of lessons, for example in ESOL classes, teachers are enthusiastic, lessons are well planned and learners make good progress.
• Too few teachers challenge learners, including the most- and least able, to make the progress of which they are capable. Too many teachers do not have high enough expectations or provide work that is difficult enough or that proceeds at the right pace to encourage the most able learners to reach their potential. Consequently, too many learners neither aim for nor reach high enough grades.
• Too many teachers do not take sufficient notice of the needs of individual learners. Tasks provided in lessons are often too generic. As a result, too many learners do not make the progress of which they are capable.
• Too many teachers do not check that learners have understood information or concepts before moving on. Consequently, too many learners do not get sufficient opportunities to consolidate their learning. This limits the progress that they make.
• Feedback on written work is frequently not helpful enough to enable learners to develop a secure understanding of the progress they are making and what they need to do to improve. Although teachers of adult learning programmes provide effective, prompt and helpful feedback on learners’ work, elsewhere feedback is brief, sporadic or, in a small minority of cases, completely lacking.
• In too many cases, teachers do not correct errors of spelling and grammar in learners’ work. Although most teachers reinforce the correct use of technical language within their subjects, a small minority of teachers make mistakes in spelling and grammar in their own work.
• Teachers’ promotion of mathematics within vocational programmes is not consistently good. Consequently, most learners do not develop quickly enough the mathematical skills and knowledge that they need.
• Most teachers and assessors are appropriately qualified. They use their industry or sector experience well to plan and manage activities so that learners gain new skills that are appropriate to their career paths.
• Teachers and assessors promote equality and celebrate diversity well. For example, in one class, a teacher organised a debate about the impact of feminism within the family. This commitment to equality makes a valuable contribution to the college’s all-embracing culture and helps all learners to feel valued and respected.
• Teachers and assessors support the development of learners’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural skills well. For example, they encourage awareness of important festivals within different faiths. As a result, learners from all backgrounds feel welcome at college.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

• Learners’ attendance, although improving, is too low, especially for lessons leading to English and mathematics qualifications. Staff use a variety of methods to encourage current learners to improve their attendance, but it is too early to evaluate the full impact of these methods. Too many learners on study programmes arrive late for their lessons.
• The proportion of learners who benefit from external work experience is too low. New plans are in place for the current academic year that model the approach taken in health and social care and early years programmes, where mandatory work experience is well embedded, but it is too early to judge the full impact of these plans.
• Lessons do not always take place in suitable classrooms. Where this is the case, learners are distracted by surrounding noise and find it difficult to make progress.
• Learners, trainees and apprentices are respectful, polite and very well behaved. They work harmoniously with learners from different backgrounds.
• Learners have a well-developed understanding of the importance of British values. They can articulate clearly how the college values relate to British values.
• Learners feel safe in college and are safe. They know how to report any concerns in relation to safeguarding. Learners have an exceptionally mature understanding of dangers related to radicalisation and extremism and how to keep themselves safe in these respects.
• Learners, trainees and apprentices benefit from timely and appropriate advice and guidance that support them in making career decisions. Highly qualified careers advisers provide valuable help to learners prior to enrolment, during their studies and at the end of their course.
• Adult learners and apprentices improve their confidence and self-esteem greatly as they prepare for employment, further study or their next steps towards independence and community involvement.
• Learners, trainees and apprentices develop the necessary skills and positive attitudes that are valued by employers and that should help them to succeed at work.
• Learners benefit from a wide range of enrichment activities, including sporting, cultural and community activities. Many learners make valuable contributions to the local community and they regularly raise money for local charities. Alongside their main programme of study, learners on study programmes may gain additional qualifications that improve their employment prospects. For example, learners on childcare courses also complete a paediatric first aid certificate. Staff ensure that a significant proportion of the enrichment activities in the college link to employability projects that further develop learners’ employability skills.

Outcomes for learners Requires improvement

• Too many learners do not make the progress or achieve at the level at which they are capable, particularly on study programmes and in English and mathematics. Too many of the small number of learners who take AS- and A-levels make particularly poor progress. The proportion of learners on study programmes who achieve grades A*–C in their GCSEs in English and mathematics is low and declining.
• Female learners have, for some years, achieved better than male learners. Leaders and managers have taken actions to remedy this disparity but the gap remains large.
• Too many learners who study business-related subjects do not make good progress. This subject area has had weak outcomes for learners for several years. Managers have taken actions to improve the situation, but the impact has been too slow and too small.
• Managers acted swiftly and effectively to halt and reverse the steep decline in the last academic year in the proportion of apprentices who complete their framework within the planned timescale. Consequently, current apprentices in most subject areas are now making good progress. The standard of apprentices’ work is high and meets the needs of the industries in which they work.
• A high proportion of adult learners make at least expected progress. Learners on non-accredited provision, for example, often become much more confident and take a much more active part in the community because of the courses they take.
• Learners on ESOL courses do well and their work is of a high standard. This enables them to make good progress towards further and higher education, employment and community integration. For example, refugees from the Rohingya ethnic group make good progress in learning English in order to keep pace with their children, who learn English at school, and to settle successfully in the local community.
• The large majority of learners and apprentices who complete their programmes progress to employment, further or higher education, greater integration in the community, increased independence and other beneficial outcomes.

Types of provision

16 to 19 study programmes Requires improvement

• The college has 3,751 learners on 16 to 19 study programmes. The largest subject areas are health and social care, business, engineering, construction, information and communication technology (ICT), and art. Approximately a tenth of study programme learners take AS- and A-level subjects.
• Too much teaching does not challenge learners to fulfil their potential. Too many teachers do not make effective use of information they have about learners’ starting points or their potential for achievement when planning learning. Teachers rarely plan lessons with individual learners’ needs in mind. As a result, too many learners on study programmes do not make the progress or achieve the high grades of which they are capable. Leaders and managers have begun to put in place actions to improve the quality of the provision, but these improvements are too slow.
• The majority of teachers do not set sufficiently high expectations of behaviour for learning. Consequently, too many learners arrive late to lessons, and do not contribute fully to learning activities.
• Too many teachers do not use assessment techniques well enough to consolidate and assess the depth of learners’ understanding. Assessment is often generic and superficial and too often does not identify what it is that learners have failed to understand. Teachers often fail to adjust their lesson planning to consider what learners have yet to learn. Learners respond well to verbal feedback, which frequently helps them to improve their work.
• Teaching of English and mathematics lacks rigour, and the quality of teaching varies too much from class to class. As a result, too many learners fail to achieve GCSE English and mathematics at grades A*–C or functional skills qualifications. In a minority of vocational lessons, learners develop mathematical skills related to their subject. However, teachers do not develop learners’ English and mathematical skills routinely in all vocational areas.
• Teachers do not correct errors of grammar and spelling in written work, and so learners do not know that they are making mistakes. As a result, learners’ progress in written English is insufficient.
• Learners develop practical, vocational and employability skills in work-related environments that prepare them well for the world of work. Learners on vocational programmes benefit from well-resourced work-related environments where they provide professional services to the public. For example, level 1 catering learners operate the front-of-house service in the college restaurant and display good customer service skills when greeting and serving paying customers. However, too few learners benefit from meaningful external work experience placements.
• Learners take part in a wide range of enrichment activities that support their personal, social and emotional development. Many of these activities are related to work and, as a result, learners develop valuable skills for employment.
• Teachers use their subject knowledge and sector experience well to support the development of learners’ skills in practical lessons. In hairdressing, beauty therapy and catering, learners see their teachers as role models and gain valuable insight into the industry from experienced professionals. This prepares learners well for the world of work.
• Learners benefit from information, advice and guidance that ensure that they are on the right course and are aware of how to progress into their chosen careers. Most learners progress to further learning, apprenticeships or employment.
• Learners feel safe in and around college. They enjoy being at college and talk enthusiastically about the security measures taken to ensure their safety. They talk confidently about the ‘Prevent’ duty and the dangers of radicalisation, and they know how to keep themselves and their peers safe.

Adult learning programmes Good

• Approximately 4,350 adult learners are enrolled on a wide range of vocational and academic courses, including ESOL, GCSE English and mathematics, functional skills in English and mathematics, access to higher education, AS- and A-levels, vocational awards, certificates and diplomas, non-accredited community learning, and distance learning courses in health and social care. The college offers courses in many community venues across the city.
• Leaders and managers design programmes very well to meet the needs of local employers and the local labour market, and to reach many of the most vulnerable and isolated people in the local community.
• Leaders and managers have very strong partnerships with the local community. This enables staff to reach out to learners who would otherwise be difficult to engage in education. For example, successful partnerships with the local mosques provide learners with the skills needed to secure employment and to function more effectively within the community. Innovative provision for lone parents re-engages vulnerable learners and helps them to achieve greater independence, confidence and economic stability.
• Knowledgeable teachers use their subject expertise well to engage and motivate learners, who respond with enthusiasm and participate confidently in classroom activities. This is particularly the case in ESOL and community learning classes. Learners enjoy these classes and describe with pride the good progress they have made since the start of their course in terms of the skills they have acquired, their personal development and their academic achievements.
• Learners respect each other and collaborate well with their peers. They develop social and interpersonal skills very well, especially in ESOL and community learning classes. Teachers in community learning classes provide good opportunities for learners to build their confidence within protected environments. For example, parents who are unable to attend the main college campus attend a sewing class in a primary school. As they improve their confidence, learners in these classes often take up new roles within their communities as, for example, community volunteers and interpreters.
• Teachers regularly check that learning is taking place. Most use questioning techniques very effectively to establish learners’ understanding and to extend their knowledge.
• Teachers provide learners with constructive and practical support and encouragement in class. Learners value their approachability and kindliness and feel very safe at college. As a result, learners show commitment to their studies and most complete their courses.
• Teachers provide informative feedback on written work which gives learners clear guidance about how they can improve. This is particularly useful for learners working on distance learning programmes.
• Teachers use homework well to encourage learners to continue learning outside the classroom. Learners, including those on distance learning programmes, use the virtual learning environment extensively in their independent learning.
• Learners understand the relevance of their courses to their future career plans and aspirations. For example, learners who plan to become nurses and midwives appreciate the importance of studying English and mathematics. Learners value the high quality of the careers guidance they receive before and during their programmes.
• Teachers plan lessons and resources well to develop learners’ employability skills. For example, in an ESOL class at pre-entry level delivered in conjunction with Jobcentre Plus, learners practised simple vocabulary and skills for job interviews. As a result, learners develop the skills they need to enter the labour market with confidence.
• Learners have a good awareness of the importance of British values and they can articulate well the relationship between these values and the ‘Prevent’ duty. For example, they understand how democracy and the rule of law can be antidotes to radicalisation. They know that individual liberty and respect for the views and faiths of others run counter to extremism. Learners also know that the roles they play in the community and at work can have a beneficial influence on the values of others. For example, early years learners discuss how they can help young children to develop tolerance and respect for others through encouraging them to play and learn together.
• Most learners on accredited courses achieve their qualifications and progress into further study, including higher education, and employment. Learners on non-accredited courses have a wide range of positive outcomes, including enhanced community involvement, increased confidence and independence, and progression to employment and further study. Many learners who have been on non-accredited provision progress to accredited provision which enables them to gain the qualifications they need to compete in the labour market.
• Although teachers collect a wide range of information about learners at the start of their programmes, the extent to which they use this information to plan learning and support for individual needs and to set relevant individual targets is too varied. On ESOL and community learning courses, teachers use the information to plan short-, medium- and longer term targets and to structure lessons, monitor progress and plan appropriate support. Targets on these programmes encompass the development of employability skills. However, on other courses, especially on access to higher education programmes, too few lessons focus on individual needs and skills, and targets lack personal relevance. This restricts the progress made by individual learners.
• In most lessons, learners work well and take responsibility for their own learning and progress. However, in a small minority of lessons, learning is not well managed, the pace is too slow and tasks fail to ensure that learners reach their potential.

Apprenticeships Good

• Approximately 1,700 apprentices are currently enrolled. About one third of these are aged 16 to 18. Just over half are on intermediate-level apprenticeships, approximately a tenth on higher level apprenticeships and the rest on advanced-level apprenticeships. Subcontractors deliver about half the apprenticeships. A wide range of apprenticeships is available, including in business, construction, engineering, health and care, motor vehicle and service industries. City Training Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of the college, manages the apprenticeship provision.
• Leaders and managers ensure that they meet the principles and requirements of apprenticeship frameworks and standards. They have successfully introduced new standards apprenticeships, including for dental nurses and laboratory technicians. Employers value the strong relationships they have with the college and appreciate the support they receive in helping them to prepare for the implementation of the apprenticeship levy and the new standards.
• Leaders and managers have placed significant and prompt emphasis on tackling the underperformance of subject areas where achievement rates decreased in 2016/17. They swiftly put in place measures to address this decline thoroughly. For example, they invested in additional staffing resources to improve quality assurance, including for subcontracted provision, and to provide additional classes in functional skills. They restructured functional skills classes with the aim of increasing the proportion of apprentices who complete their frameworks within planned timescales. The impact of these actions is already discernible, and the large majority of current apprentices are making good progress.
• Assessors use their skills, experience and knowledge effectively to plan and deliver challenging learning opportunities for apprentices. They have a good understanding of the new standards and are effective in adjusting learning plans to accommodate these. As a result, apprentices develop skills to current industry standards and are well prepared to progress in their careers.
• Employers work collaboratively with assessors and apprentices to plan learning and set targets. They work together to identify long-term aspirational goals to challenge apprentices to develop new skills and progress to higher level learning. As a result, apprentices are motivated to make good progress and exceed targets.
• Assessors, employers and apprentices work well together to review apprentices’ progress. Reviews are detailed and regular, and enable all parties to measure progress against planned timescales. Assessors and employers give clear and concise feedback that enables apprentices to understand what they need to do to improve and to make progress.
• Employers work closely and promptly with assessors to identify and meet apprentices’ additional support needs. As a result, apprentices who have support needs make progress at the same rate as their peers.
• Apprentices develop their skills in both on-the-job and off-the-job training. Teachers plan classroom learning well to enable apprentices to develop a broad range of skills that prepare them for work. For example, childcare apprentices learn about safeguarding in the classroom and then apply their new knowledge at work to ensure that confidential information is secure. Apprentices value their training and the positive impact their new skills have in the workplace.
• Teachers plan functional skills sessions well. Apprentices value the skills they develop and can see their relevance to the workplace. For example, apprentices apply knowledge about spreadsheets gained in an ICT class to travel-booking systems, which increases their efficiency at work. Because of the clear relevance of their functional skills classes, apprentices are motivated to learn and make good progress.
• Apprentices have a good understanding of British values and are confident in explaining how these apply in the workplace.
• Apprentices feel safe and are safe. They are well able to apply what they know about safeguarding in the workplace. They can describe dangers associated with radicalisation and they know signs that might indicate radicalisation and extremism. They know how to keep themselves, their colleagues and their customers safe. For example, apprentice dental nurses learn how to identify potential safeguarding issues in relation to children and adults who attend clinics.
• The great majority of apprentices gain or retain secure employment as a result of their apprenticeships. Many gain increased responsibilities at work or promotion to more senior positions. Employers greatly value the skills that apprentices bring to their businesses.
• Although most current apprentices make good progress, a small minority have been affected adversely by the decline in timely completion rates in the last academic year. Leaders and managers are taking swift action to mitigate the effects of the decline. Apprentices in business-related areas are making slower progress than others.

Provision for learners with high needs Requires improvement

• The college has 118 learners in receipt of high-needs funding in 2017/18. Of these, 68 are following discrete programmes and 50 are on mainstream courses.
• Too often, teachers do not tailor teaching, learning and assessment to meet the needs of individual learners. In a few lessons, learners are encouraged to choose their own targets to help them improve communication skills and skills for independence. However, in the large majority of lessons, teachers do not use individual targets well in key areas such as independence, communication and social interaction. As a result, too many learners do not have sufficient opportunities to make choices and fulfil their potential.
• Staff do not plan work experience well enough to develop learners’ independence and potential. The majority of learners who undertake internal work experience do so in the college shop. The lack of variety and choice of work experience means that these learners have limited opportunities to develop their own interests and fulfil their goals and ambitions. This problem is compounded by the lack of opportunities for learners who have high-needs funding to undertake suitable external work experience.
• Although teachers have access to detailed information about learners’ support needs, too many teachers do not use this information well in lessons. As a result, too many learners experience ineffective learning support. This limits their development of independent skills and the progress that they make.
• When measuring and evaluating learners’ progress and achievement, staff do not focus sufficiently on preparing learners for life after college. Staff focus on the progress that learners make towards achieving their qualifications, but pay less attention to learners’ personal and social development and communication skills. Consequently, too many learners do not make the progress towards independence of which they are capable.
• Leaders and managers use funding for high-needs provision well to provide good-quality resources, levels of staffing and specialist training and expertise.
• Teachers create many opportunities for learners to practise and consolidate skills in English and mathematics. As a result, learners use these skills with confidence.
• Staff support learners well in their transition from previous schools and settings. Consequently, most learners settle well and quickly at college. They are confident in lessons and have very good working relationships with staff and peers. They treat each other with respect and behave well. They take turns, listen to each other and help each other with learning. They clearly enjoy their learning.
• Learners feel safe and are safe. They know to whom they should report any safeguarding concerns if these arise.
• Leaders and managers provide comprehensive staff training, which is well attended. Staff are well qualified to teach learners who have high needs and many hold additional specialist qualifications.
• Learners who are enrolled on a wide range of courses perform at least as well as their peers who do not have high-needs funding. Learners who have complex, severe and/or multiple disabilities and who take examinations achieve well. Learners on discrete provision have access to accredited courses that are well matched to their needs and that support their next steps.
• A high proportion of learners progress to further learning, greater independence and employment.

Provider details

Unique reference number 130532 Type of provider General further education college Age range of learners 16+ Approximate number of all learners over the previous full contract year 15,202 Principal/CEO David Harwood – Further Education Principal Andy Welsh – Group CEO Telephone number 01274 433333 Website www.bradfordcollege.ac.uk

Provider information at the time of the inspection

Main course or learning programme level Level 1 or below Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 or above Total number of learners (excluding apprenticeships) Number of apprentices by apprenticeship level and age 16–18 19+ 16–18 19+ 16–18 19+ 16–18 19+ 1,197 1,792 1,105 2,099 1,447 404 2 55 Intermediate Advanced Higher 16–18 19+ 16–18 19+ 16–18 297 572 247 435

• 19+ 140 16–19 21 19+ 4 Total 25 Number of traineeships Number of learners aged 14 to 16 0 Number of learners for which the provider receives high-needs funding 118 At the time of inspection, the provider contracts with the following main subcontractors

The Skills Network Ltd Back to Work Complete Training Ltd Salma Beauty Academy Exceed Training Company Ltd JT Development Solutions Ltd Manufacturing Excellence Ltd Winnovation Training Ltd Vortex Training Solutions Ltd

Information about this inspection

The inspection team was assisted by the assistant principal for quality and standards, as nominee. Inspectors took account of the provider’s most recent self-assessment report and development plans, and the previous inspection report. Inspectors used group and individual interviews, telephone calls and online questionnaires to gather the views of learners and employers; these views are reflected within the report. They observed learning sessions, assessments and progress reviews. The inspection took into account all relevant provision at the provider.

Inspection team

Rebecca Clare, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Tracey Mace-Akroyd Her Majesty’s Inspector Ken Merry Alastair Mollon Tracey Baron Judith Hamer Howard Browes Tracy Gillett Ruth Szolkowska

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector