East Surrey College
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East Surrey College REPORT FROM THE INSPECTORATE 1997-98 THE FURTHER EDUCATION FUNDING COUNCIL THE FURTHER EDUCATION FUNDING COUNCIL The Further Education Funding Council has a legal duty to make sure further education in England is properly assessed. The FEFC’s inspectorate inspects and reports on each college of further education according to a four-year cycle. It also assesses and reports nationally on the curriculum, disseminates good practice and advises the FEFC’s quality assessment committee. College inspections are carried out in accordance with the framework and guidelines described in Council Circulars 97/12, 97/13 and 97/22. Inspections seek to validate the data and judgements provided by colleges in self-assessment reports. They involve full-time inspectors and registered part-time inspectors who have knowledge of, and experience in the work they inspect. A member of the Council’s audit service works with inspectors in assessing aspects of governance and management. All colleges are invited to nominate a senior member of their staff to participate in the inspection as a team member. Cheylesmore House Quinton Road Coventry CV1 2WT Telephone 01203 863000 Fax 01203 863100 © FEFC 1998 You may photocopy this report. A college may use its report in promotional material provided quotes are accurate, and the findings of the inspection are not misrepresented. Contents Paragraph Summary Context The college and its mission 1 The inspection 4 Curriculum areas Science and mathematics 6 Engineering 11 Business 17 Beauty and hairdressing 22 Art and design 27 English and modern languages 32 Provision for students with learning difficulties and/or disabilities 37 Cross-college provision Support for students 42 General resources 49 Quality assurance 55 Governance 61 Management 67 Conclusions 75 College statistics East Surrey College Grade Descriptors Retention and Pass Rates Inspectors assess the strengths and weaknesses Where data on students’ achievements appear of each aspect of provision they inspect. Their in tables, levels of achievement are shown in assessments are set out in the report. They use two ways: a five-point scale to summarise the balance • as a retention rate, which is the proportion between strengths and weaknesses. of students who completed a course in The descriptors for the grades are: relation to the number enrolled on 1 November in the first year of the course • grade 1 – outstanding provision which has • as a pass rate, which is the proportion of many strengths and few weaknesses students which passed examinations in • grade 2 – good provision in which the relation to the number entered. Pass rates strengths clearly outweigh the weaknesses for GCE A level are quoted for grades A to • grade 3 – satisfactory provision with E unless otherwise specified. Pass rates strengths but also some weaknesses for GCSE courses are quoted for grade C or • grade 4 – less than satisfactory provision above unless otherwise specified. Pass in which the weaknesses clearly outweigh rates for vocational and professional the strengths awards are for successful completion of the full award. • grade 5 – poor provision which has few strengths and many weaknesses. Aggregated grades for aspects of cross-college provision, curriculum areas and lesson observations, for colleges inspected during 1996-97, are shown in the following table. Grade 12345 %%%%% Curriculum areas 9 59 30 2 – Cross-college provision 18 51 27 4 – Lesson observations 19 42 31 7 1 Source: Quality and Standards in Further Education in England 1996-97: Chief inspector’s annual report. Grades were awarded using the guidelines in Council Circular 93/28, Assessing Achievement. Sample size: 122 college inspections Summary East Surrey College very good examination pass rates in some areas. In engineering, the quality of some teaching and South East Region of some of the work produced by students is outstanding. The level of personal support for Inspected May 1998 students is high. Governors have a distinctive approach to their duties and a good East Surrey College is a general further understanding of the differences between education college with its main centre at Redhill. governance and management. A management The college offers courses in all the FEFC reorganisation has led to a clarification of roles programme areas and a large adult education and responsibilities and a shared sense of programme. The college produced a detailed direction for the college. Since the last self-assessment report involving staff and inspection, the college has improved the IT governors. In most respects, inspectors agreed facilities for students. The college should with the strengths and weaknesses identified in address: the variability in implementing the new the self-assessment report, but judged that quality assurance procedures; poor retention insufficient weighting had been given to some rates in many areas; the average and below significant weaknesses and that some strengths average examination pass rates on some were overstated. Action plans arising from both courses; the need for better teaching in some the college’s curriculum area self-assessment areas; inadequacies in establishing clear reports and the college’s overall report objectives and targets for improvement; contained few measurable targets for confusion and variability in implementing the improvement. The college recognises these group tutorial programme; the need for weaknesses and, since the self-assessment governors to monitor the college’s educational report was written, it has made progress in performance; and the poor use of addressing some of them. The inspection accommodation. covered provision in seven curriculum areas and The grades awarded as a result of the inspection the five aspects of cross-college provision. are given below. The college has close and productive links with its partner schools and with the local community. The standard of teaching and learning is generally good and there are some Curriculum area Grade Cross-college provision Grade Science and mathematics 3 Support for students 2 Engineering 1 General resources 2 Business 3 Quality assurance 3 Beauty and hairdressing 3 Governance 2 Art and design 2 Management 2 English and modern languages 3 Provision for students with learning difficulties and/or disabilities 3 East Surrey College 1 Context The College and its Mission Representatives of the community and the college work together to identify, and lay plans 1 East Surrey College operates on four sites to resolve, issues of concern to the community at in Redhill and Reigate, and serves a large area large and to help establish a local ‘learning of Surrey. It also attracts students from parts of community’ in which people see learning as a Croydon and Crawley. Its two main sites are in lifelong activity. Redhill, and the school of art and design is 3 The college has steadily increased its approximately two miles away in Reigate. The enrolments in recent years. In 1996-97 the college also provides a substantial adult college had 6,729 students, of whom 1,912 were education programme, in partnership with full time. A further 3,578 part-time adult Surrey County Council Community Services. students were enrolled at various Surrey County There is a wide range of vocational and Council adult centres. Each of the four academic courses extending from pre-entry to curriculum faculties contains either three or four postgraduate level. It includes provision for programme areas, and there is a cross-college national vocational qualification (NVQ) learning support and development team. The programmes, general certificate of education college’s mission is to ‘empower people to advanced level (GCE A level) courses, general change their lives through the provision of national vocational qualification (GNVQ) courses, high-quality education and training’. Its vision higher national diploma and certificate courses, statement is: ‘East Surrey College ... adding and professional courses. value to the community by improving the life 2 Levels of employment in the area are high. chances of people and the effectiveness of Only 1.5 per cent of the workforce is organisations’. unemployed, and some local organisations experience difficulty in recruiting staff. The local economy is influenced by its close proximity to London and by the industrial and commercial activities around Gatwick airport. There are few large enterprises in the area, though numerous multinational organisations have established their European head offices locally. The staying-on rate for post-16 education is over 80 per cent and there is considerable competition between schools and colleges to attract 16 to 19 year olds. The college has forged strong links with four partner schools to help pupils progress to further education. It has other effective partnerships with local companies, the local training and enterprise council (TEC), the county council and voluntary organisations which provide specialised education and training. The college has entered recently into an innovative arrangement, known as ‘community-based programming’, with representatives from a broad range of community and agency interests. East Surrey College 2 Context The Inspection inspected in 1996-97 quoted in Quality and Standards in Further Education in England 4 The college was inspected during the week 1996-97: Chief inspector’s annual report. Eight beginning 11 May 1998. The inspection team per cent of lessons were less than satisfactory. had previously evaluated the college’s