AoC responds to Ofsted’s annual report

In response to today’s report, David Hughes, Chief Executive of the Association of Colleges, said: “Ofsted’s culture and the taken approach to colleges have both changed markedly in the last year under the new Chief Inspector. We have experienced much more constructive and understanding dialogue and now have a stronger relationship with Ofsted. We are seeing a much more nuanced and thoughtful set of issues emerging in this year’s annual report. “It is therefore a shame that the Chief Inspector’s report was not able to consider the many inspections this term, in which more and more colleges have improved their grades. The year the report refers to was one of great turbulence for colleges, with Area Reviews, many mergers and enormous re-structuring to cope with the impacts of funding cuts. The college sector is now emerging confidently and successfully from that period and recent inspection results show that.” “We agree with the Chief Inspector that action must be taken on post-16 funding. My concern going forward is that the funding cuts have made it enormously challenging to manage and lead colleges successfully. The 22% lower funding per student for 16-19 year olds than for 11-16 year olds has no logic and results in tough decisions being made about the curriculum offer, breadth of learning and support which students receive. It is of great concern that this might begin to impact on the quality of the experience for college students.”