The end-of-year conference season is upon us and it’s a delight to be spending these two weeks supporting colleges around the country. Yesterday, at the wonderful Doncaster and North Lindsey Colleges, we were looking at Learning Motivation. The session revolves around a series of really important conversations that prompt delegates to consider their starting point for creating a curriculum plan. The norm is to look at the number of units in the qualification, look at the number of hours and […]

Just had my year made by Catherine Gray, of East Coast College. When I was a full-time HMI, and after many years on the front-line, one of my main roles was to manage the Good Practice Database. A huge privilege; finding the best and most innovative ways to broadcast the great work that providers were doing, such that others could explore opportunities for improving their own work. But wonderful as this work was, I knew that Ofsted’s approach to accountability […]

I’ve noticed recently that some quality managers want to shy away from the word ‘observation’. It seems that some have been brow-beaten by union reps claiming that teachers feel like they’re living in a Surveillance State and that there’s no trust anymore between management and front line. What a terrible situation for all, but particularly for our teachers. There is a reason for this, and I feel it’s quite straightforward to understand; though I’m not saying it’s an easy fix. […]

I know, sounds a bit like clickbait, but hopefully you’ll feel this short read is worth it. Can cleaning your car boot really help you make judgements in your self-assessment report? Over the last few weeks, I’ve really enjoyed working with a college on their self-assessment report. The main job was helping the lead author understand any issues with the text, where they were masking problems, rather than celebrating the discovery of issues, and helping them understand the difference between […]

This article is a wonderful illustration of why Ofsted gets their recommendations wrong so often. For many education providers, it’s ‘that’ time of year again when they’re trying to juggle giving new students/learners/apprentices an unmissable induction experience and completing their self-assessment report. Even though I had a great time speaking about this at this morning’s Skills & Education Group network meeting, I know it’s the wrong time of year for this training. What we did was look at the five […]