Supplementary memorandum submitted by
Ofsted
INTRODUCTION
1. Following Ofsted's appearance at the
House of Commons Education and Skills Select Committee on Further
Education on Monday 16 January 2006, I undertook to provide you
with a briefing note on Independent Specialist Colleges (ISCs)
for your inquiry into Special Educational Needs.
2. This briefing note provides the general
facts and figures in relation to ISCs and Ofsted's recent inspection
findings.
BACKGROUND
3. Independent specialist colleges are colleges
that make provision for students with learning difficulties and
disabilities, ranging from hearing and visual impairment to autism
and cerebral palsy and from moderate to severe/profound learning
difficulties, many covering more than one area of disability/difficulty.
4. They offer a range of individual learning
programmes from day release to full-time residential programmes,
and of differing lengths, to young people aged from 16-25.
5. Suitable therapies, personal development,
training and further education programmes are also provided.
6. Some are run by established charities
such as the RNIB, SENSE and SCOPE.
INSPECTION FINDINGS
7. Those in receipt of Learning and Skills
Council (LSC) funding are subject to joint inspection by Ofsted/ALI
in accordance with Part III of the Learning and Skills Act 2000
(a few are schools and therefore subject to school inspection
but that provision funded by LSC is subject to the college inspection).
8. There is considerable polarisation in
the quality of these colleges: overall, they do not form one homogeneous
group.
9. The inspection cycle of ISCs from January
2002 to June 2005 covered 68 inspections of all LSC funded ISCs
(three of which were full re-inspections). There are around 65
such colleges (subject to some fluctuation).
10. Within these inspections 26 colleges
(38%) were found to have inadequate leadership and management.
11. A total of 24% were judged to be inadequate
overall. Following re-inspection this has reduced to 19%.
12. ISCs have not responded as well to re-inspection
as Further Education/sixth-form colleges.
13. The early signs are that the weaker
colleges lack the management capacity, and cannot find the support,
to meet the challenge of re-inspection.
14. Two colleges were re-inspected in 2004-05:
both remained inadequate and none of the curriculum areas originally
found unsatisfactory in those colleges had improved significantly.
15. Under the new inspection cycle commencing
in September 2005, six ISC inspections took place in autumn 2006
and of these, two were judged to have inadequate leadership and
management but none were inadequate overall. The one inadequate
provider inspected in the autumn term 2005 was found to be satisfactory.
SUMMARY
16. I hope that you will find this information
useful. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you require any
further clarification.
January 2006
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