REPORT FROM THE INSPECTORATE The Sheffield College July 1996 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 every four years. The inspectorate also assesses and reports nationally on the curriculum and gives advice to the FEFC’s quality assessment committee. College inspections are carried out in accordance with the framework and guidelines described in Council Circular 93/28. They involve full-time inspectors and registered part-time inspectors who have knowledge and experience in the work they inspect. Inspection teams normally include at least one member who does not work in education and a member of staff from the college being inspected. Cheylesmore House Quinton Road Coventry CV1 2WT Telephone 01203 863000 Fax 01203 863100 © FEFC 1996 You may photocopy this report. CONTENTS Paragraph Summary Introduction 1 The college and its aims 2 Responsiveness and range of provision 8 Governance and management 21 Students’ recruitment, guidance and support 31 Teaching and the promotion of learning 44 Students’ achievements 60 Quality assurance 75 Resources 86 Conclusions and issues 101 Figures GRADE DESCRIPTORS The procedures for assessing quality are set out in the Council Circular 93/28. During their inspection, inspectors assess the strengths and weaknesses of each aspect of provision they inspect. Their assessments are set out in the reports. They also use a five-point grading scale to summarise the balance between strengths and weaknesses. The descriptors for the grades are: • grade 1 – provision which has many strengths and very few weaknesses • grade 2 – provision in which the strengths clearly outweigh the weaknesses • grade 3 – provision with a balance of strengths and weaknesses • grade 4 – provision in which the weaknesses clearly outweigh the strengths • grade 5 – provision which has many weaknesses and very few strengths. By June 1995, some 208 college inspections had been completed. The grade profiles for aspects of cross-college provision and programme areas for the 208 colleges are shown in the following table. College grade profiles 1993-95 Inspection grades Activity 123 45 Programme area 9% 60% 28% 3% <1% Cross-college provision 13% 51% 31% 5% <1% Overall 11% 56% 29% 4% <1% FEFC INSPECTION REPORT 89/96 THE SHEFFIELD COLLEGE YORKSHIRE AND HUMBERSIDE REGION Inspected May 1995-March 1996 Summary The Sheffield College is the largest further education college in England. The amalgamation of six separate colleges and the development of a unified structure has been well managed. The college offers an extensive range of general, vocational and adult education courses which provide for the diverse community. Links with a large number of organisations are strong. Senior managers and the governing body have a productive working relationship. Students receive high-quality support and guidance through all stages of their courses. In most curriculum areas the standard of teaching and learning is good. Students’ performance in examinations is generally satisfactory and, in some areas of work, results are good. There is a framework for quality assurance and a wide-ranging programme of staff development. Teaching staff are well qualified and experienced. The accommodation in many curriculum areas and all of the learning centres is of a high standard. To build on its strengths the college should specify more clearly how the college’s annual targets are to be achieved, take further measures to assure the college’s financial health, strengthen management information and communications systems, make the course review process more consistent and rigorous, extend the appraisal and development processes to all staff, and improve the quality of the equipment and accommodation in some curriculum areas. The grades awarded as a result of the inspection are given below. Aspects of cross-college provision Grade Responsiveness and range of provision 1 Governance and management 2 Students’ recruitment, guidance and support 1 Quality assurance 3 Resources: staffing 2 equipment/learning resources 2 accommodation 3 Curriculum area Grade Curriculum area Grade Science and computing 2 Health and social care, Mathematics 2 hair and beauty 1 Construction 2 Art and design 2 Engineering 3 Humanities 2 Languages including English 2 Business management 3 Business administration 2 Adult basic education 3 Provision for students with Hospitality, catering, learning difficulties and/or leisure and tourism 1 disabilities 2 1 INTRODUCTION 1 The inspection of The Sheffield College took place between May 1995 and March 1996. Business management was separately inspected in May and September 1995. In September 1995, enrolment and induction procedures were inspected. Forty-three inspectors spent 177 days inspecting programme areas. They visited 645 classes, examined students’ work, held meetings with staff and looked at a variety of documentation relating to the college and its courses. All six main centres and 56 outreach centres were visited. In the two weeks beginning 11 March 1996, 12 inspectors spent a further 65 days examining aspects of cross-college provision. During this period they held meetings with governors, representatives from the Sheffield Training and Enterprise Council (TEC), the Sheffield careers guidance service, headteachers, local employers, parents, other members of the wider community, students, college managers, teachers and support staff. THE COLLEGE AND ITS AIMS 2 The Sheffield College is the largest college within the further education sector in England. It was formed on 1 September 1992 by the amalgamation of six tertiary colleges, controlled by the Sheffield Local Education Authority (LEA): Castle, Loxley, Norton, Parkwood, Parson Cross and Stradbroke. These now serve as the main centres of The Sheffield College. Each centre offers similar core provision. There is also specialist provision, for example in engineering at Loxley, vocational science at Stradbroke and construction at Parkwood. The college makes use of over 100 neighbourhood centres, located around the city, as delivery points for its adult and community courses. 3 The college works closely with twenty 11 to 16 secondary schools and a number of special schools and support units in Sheffield, grouping them in clusters associated with the six centres. Five LEA schools and two grant-maintained schools in Sheffield have sixth forms, and there are further education colleges at Barnsley, Chesterfield, Doncaster, and Rotherham, all within a 15-mile radius of Sheffield. 4 Sheffield and its travel-to-work area has a population of approximately 600,000. The local economy is dominated by small to medium-size businesses. The major employers are the local authority, hospitals, the two universities, the Meadowhall Shopping Centre and specialist manufacturers. In recent years, there has been a significant decline in the numbers employed in the manufacture of steel. In 1994-95, the unemployment rate in the Sheffield travel-to-work area was 10.8 per cent. In some areas of Sheffield, however, unemployment rises to 13.5 per cent. Minority ethnic groups form 5 per cent of the general population and 14 per cent of the college’s enrolments. 5 The directorate comprises the principal, the director of curriculum, the director of finance and the director of human resources. Each of the main centres is managed by a centre head who reports to the principal. 2 The curriculum is managed through four schools: construction, engineering and science; business, leisure and hospitality; design, media and social services; and humanities and core skills. At the time of the inspection, 33,693 students were enrolled at the college. Of these, 6,726 were undertaking full-time courses and 26,967 were part-time students attending in a variety of modes, including day release, block release and evening only. 6 The changes in the local economy have led to a decline in enrolment in engineering and construction, while enrolments in the service sector have increased. The college has maintained its number of enrolments from students in the 16 to 19 age group and the number of adult students has grown considerably. The college is developing an extensive franchise provision within the city and a substantial part of the planned growth in student numbers for 1996-97 rests on this provision. Student numbers by age, by level of study and by mode of attendance and curriculum area are shown in figures 1, 2 and 3, respectively. The college employs 858 full-time equivalent teaching staff and 746 full-time equivalent support staff. A staff profile, with staff expressed as full-time equivalents, is shown in figure 4. 7 The college’s mission is to ‘stimulate, encourage and respond to any demand for post-16 education and training identified locally, nationally or internationally’. The college aims to be the first-choice provider of further education and training in Sheffield and its surrounding area and to make a significant contribution to the economic and social regeneration of the city. RESPONSIVENESS AND RANGE OF PROVISION 8 The college provides a comprehensive range of general and vocational courses for full-time and part-time students and is making a significant contribution to the achievement of the national targets for education and training. It estimates that it offers more than 5,000 different courses