03 December 2004
College leaders have called on Ofsted to review its 'biased' inspection criteria, after the inspectorate branded the number of failing colleges a 'national disgrace'.
Two Ofsted reports, published on November 29, found that 12% of colleges nationally were failing. College performance was found to be significantly stronger in the North: 80% of failing colleges are located south of Birmingham.
Chief schools inspector David Bell said: 'If this situation was replicated in schools, the media would be writing about a national disgrace. It is a national disgrace.'
But John Brennan, the chief executive of the Association of Colleges, accused the chief inspector of dramatising the situation.
'It is inappropriate for immoderate language of this kind to be used about a sector which achieves remarkable success in the face of continuing government underfunding, which is severe enough to affect the experiences offered to many learners despite the superb work of staff and managers,' he said.
Brennan added that Ofsted's inspection approach was skewed too much in favour of academic provision and needed to take into account the added value that colleges provide.
The two reports, Why colleges succeed and Why colleges fail, are based on the current three-year inspection cycle, which began in April 2001. A total of 37 general further education, tertiary and specialist colleges failed their inspection.
Bell said the different traditions and cultures of the North and South could account for the difference in performance.
'Almost all the colleges in the South are in local authority areas where there is very intensive competition among post-16 providers and where the general further education college is often the institution of last resort,' he said.
'It is possible that colleges in the North have a greater understanding of how to educate and train the artisans of the twenty-first century because they are rooted in the industrial heartland of the country.'
Ofsted noted many similarities between successful colleges. Bell said that all of the 29 outstanding colleges had a clear understanding of their mission and pursued it single-mindedly.
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