Colchester Institute located in Sheepen Road in Colchester town, Church Lane in Braintree and Church Road in Clacton was rated as 'requiring improvement' and was given a rating of 6 out 8 across the board.
Following its last inspection in 2016, the college which has around 8,000 students was rated as 'Good'. What went wrong?
Ofsted inspectors suggested that the student's progress was being tampered with by the lack of improvements in teaching. In addition to this, they commented on the fact that the assessment criteria and student expectations were too low. Ultimately, criticisms were made implying the effectiveness of leadership and management and the quality of teaching, learning and assessment were not up to scratch.
The report from inspectors added that the “Learners’ attendance at English and mathematics lessons remains poor. It was low at the time of inspection, with only half the learners in attendance at many lessons observed.” With Colchester Institute offering the opportunity to gain qualifications such as Mathematics and English alongside other vocational qualifications, if standards are slipping could this become a problem for students when entering the workplace environment?
Inspectors have suggested that the majority of learners and apprentices who study English and Maths resit qualifications will make less than expected progress.
It wasn't all bad
On the flip side, it wasn't all negative. The areas in which the college received a 'Good' rating were personal development, behaviour and welfare, and for its variation in apprenticeships. It was also praised for how students can benefit from their work-related learning and enrichment activities available to all. In addition to this, it was suggested that they were preparing their students well for employment.
As a result of this, the college Principle Alison Andreas stated that she was "very disappointed with the result."
She went on to add: “We must accept the judgements made and we will work to address these swiftly. "We remain very proud of Colchester Institute, its courses, its staff and its students. This is a college where great things happen, every day, and where, each year thousands of students leave us, inspired and prepared for successful future careers.”
Mrs Andreas stated it was essential that the college addresses inspectors’ concerns over the issue of low pass rates on Mathematics and English results and resit programmes. She also pledged that they will be working hard to introduce new processes to achieve better rates of success.
Andreas went onto to say “We will be placing a renewed focus on teaching and learning which pushes every student to achieve of their best. I fully expect that this will be rewarded with strong results at the end of the year, and an outcome which more accurately reflects the good college that we know we are, when the inspection team return in the next 18 to 24 months."