PROGRESS MADE, BUT CITY’S ADULT EDUCATION STILL MUST IMPROVE
Courses doing little to tackle skills shortage
AN adult education service - turned around after a damning inspection still needs to do more to address the city’s skills needs.
The latest Ofsted report into adult and community learning paints an increasingly positive picture, where teaching is generally good and students are ‘eager to learn’.
Yet despite Stoke-on-trent City Council working with employers to analyse skills shortages, the ‘curriculum offer is not comprehensive enough’. Inspectors found there is also a ‘fragmented’ approach to measuring the quality of the activities.
Now Ofsted has rated the council-run service as ‘requiring improvement’ overall, although five out of seven individual areas are classed as good.
It reflects the progress made since the provision was judged as inadequate back in 2019.
Council leader Abi Brown said: “There has clearly been considerable improvement across the board since the service was last inspected.
“We’ve got a clear vision and action plan in place, with a strong frontline team that is already delivering for people across the city.”
Hundreds of adults take the community courses, which include daytime and evening classes at venues across the city. They range from English, maths and IT through to vocational programmes offering a direct route into employment.
There are a number of learners on traineeships and apprenticeships too, and this is one of the areas needing improvement.
The report says: “Too few apprentices receive the time they need away from work to study.
“Due to teacher absences, some apprentices have missed lessons. As a result, apprentices often have to complete work independently and study in their own time.”
Inspectors said teachers are ‘experienced and well qualified’ and they ‘make sure that the right learner is on the right level of course’.
The service’s safeguarding work is a particular strength.
The report adds: “Leaders noticed that young people in the area were starting to inhale laughing gas as a recreational drug.
“They implemented training to ensure staff could recognise the signs of the use of this drug.”
Figures show 12.4 per cent of 16 to 64-year-olds in the Potteries have no formal qualifications.
Around seven per cent of employers say they have a vacancy due to a skills shortage.