Ofsted is “particularly pleased” about the improvement in the overall performance of colleges, according to its deputy director for further education and skills.
Speaking to Tes at the launch of the inspectorate’s annual report, Paul Joyce welcomed the increase in the proportion of general FE colleges rated “good” or “outstanding” in their most recent inspection, up from 76 per cent last year to 78 per cent this year.
Mr Joyce said: “This is an achievement, particularly given the funding pressures and the curriculum changes that colleges are dealing with, and of course the mergers and changes in the landscape that have occurred.”
The proportion of independent learning providers which were rated “good” or better dropped by 2 percentage points, from 78 per cent to 76 per cent.
Chief inspector Amanda Spielman said: “The quality of courses is still sometimes too low and the proportion of [independent learning providers] judged ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ declined this year, for the third year in succession. This needs to change.”
However, the college sector also came in for some criticism. Ms Spielman said that too many colleges steered students on to ”superficially attractive courses that fill rolls and attract funding”.
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