Report paints a positive picture of further education

Citation

(1999), "Report paints a positive picture of further education", Education + Training, Vol. 41 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/et.1999.00441bab.001

Report paints a positive picture of further education

Report paints a positive picture of further education

Keywords Colleges, Performance monitoring, Standards

Inspections over the last year have highlighted successes in further education and challenges for the future, according to a report from Jim Donaldson, chief inspector of the Further Education Funding Council (FEFC).

Quality and Standards in Further Education in England 1997-98 is mainly based on inspection of 108 colleges, including the observation of more than 8,000 lessons and scrutiny of more than 20,000 pieces of students' work.

Mr Donaldson says: "My report includes many positive findings and confirms that colleges continue to serve the majority of their students well. The sector has responded energetically to the introduction of self-assessment and there has been a corresponding improvement in quality assurance. Inspectors agreed with many of the judgements made by colleges, but often concluded that colleges had overestimated the quality of their work.

"More frequently, colleges took a generous view of governance and management when judging their own provision. They also did not pay enough attention to low levels of student performance."

On the agenda for the future, Mr Donaldson says: "Despite the successes of last year, there is no room for complacency. Quality improvement must be a main priority and particular emphasis should be given to raising levels of student retention and achievement. More emphasis on spreading good practice would help, since most colleges have pockets of real excellence on which to draw."

The FEFC has already published benchmarking data to help colleges to set challenging targets for retention and achievement. Inspectors will also work more closely with colleges which do not perform well.

Meanwhile, the FEFC has published the third set of performance indicators for the 435 further-education and sixth-form colleges in England.

As well as summarizing each college's performance, they also provide analysis and interpretation of the data for the college sector as a whole.

Six main performance indicators have been adopted by the FEFC to focus on key areas of college activity. The indicators highlight rising achievement rates. Since 1994-95, these have typically increased by three percentage points, to 73 per cent in 1996-97 ­ the latest year for which figures are available.

This also coincides with an improvement in the number of colleges with the lowest recorded achievement rates. Around 17 per cent had an achievement rate of 50 per cent or lower in 1994-95, but this had fallen to 10 per cent in 1996-97.

Professor David Melville, FEFC chief executive, comments: "This is the third time we have published performance indicators. Even though they show a slight improvement in some areas, we are encouraging and supporting colleges to continue raising standards."