Further Education
Early Insights 2024-2025
Teaching and learning
Well-structured learning sessions help engage and motivate learners to develop and apply their knowledge, understanding and skills.
What’s going well
- Most lecturers plan well-structured sessions and use a suitable range of approaches to engage learners.
- Most relationships between staff and learners are mutually positive, respectful and supportive.
- Many learners enjoy their learning and are engaged, productive and motivated.
- Most learners are motivated to learn, take pride in their work and interact well with their peers.
- Most learners develop secure knowledge, understanding and skills and apply these confidently in classroom and vocational contexts.
- Most lecturers provide effective verbal feedback on learner work.
- A few lecturers use digital tools, such as virtual reality and generative artificial intelligence (AI), well to enhance learning and develop learners’ confidence in applying new skills.
What needs to improve
- Lecturers do not always challenge learners enough to reach their full potential or set ambitious enough expectations for learners’ progress and achievement.
- The quality of lecturers’ written and recorded feedback on learner work is too variable.
- A few learners do not attend regularly enough and this impacts on their progress and outcomes.
- Learners are often reluctant to use Welsh within their learning.
Well-being, care, support and guidance
Colleges provide safe, welcoming, inclusive environments where many learners are well supported and feel a strong sense of belonging.
What’s going well
- Colleges provide a welcoming, caring and inclusive environment for learners.
- Most learners feel safe and well supported in college.
- Learners benefit from a wide range of well-being and pastoral support services, including convenient access to personalised emotional, study and financial-related support.
- Nearly all learners feel that staff listen to their views.
- Tutorial programmes and guest speaker sessions cover important areas such as mental health, personal and online safety, anti-racism and healthy relationships.
- Many learners participate in a variety of community-based initiatives, competitions and wider learning activities that help foster a strong sense of community and belonging.
What needs to improve
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Colleges do not always identify and review the progress of learners with additional learning needs (ALN) well enough.
Leading and improving
Leaders provide clear strategic direction and work well with internal and external stakeholders to meet local and regional needs and establish professional learning communities.
What’s going well
- College leaders and governors provide clear strategic direction and work well with external partners to meet local and regional needs.
- Colleges provide a broad and balanced curriculum that responds effectively to changing needs.
- Colleges have invested heavily to provide high quality facilities and learning resources to support delivery of their strategic priorities.
- Self-evaluation processes are generally well embedded, particularly at departmental level and leaders make appropriate use of a suitable range of evidence.
- Leaders provide strong support for collaborative working and the establishment of professional learning communities.
- Colleges actively promote Welsh language and bilingualism, including through the appointment of specialist staff to support staff and learners.
- Colleges provide useful opportunities for staff to feed into college policy and decision-making processes, including those affecting staff well-being and workload.
- Governors provide effective support, scrutiny and challenge to senior leaders.
What needs to improve
- Learner attendance and punctuality data is not captured and used well enough to drive improvement.
- Self-evaluation and improvement planning processes do not focus strongly enough on monitoring and improving higher grade attainment on both general and vocational programmes; this issue is made more challenging as a result of external delays in the publication of validated post-16 consistent measures data for individual colleges and the sector as a whole.
Overview of recommendations from inspections
There were two providers inspected in the FE sector, for which we left a total of six recommendations:
- Both had a recommendation related to teaching and learning.
- Both had a recommendation in relation to well-being care, support and guidance.
- Both had a recommendation related to leading and improving.
Effective practice identified during inspection
The College Merthyr Tydfil
Improving teaching and learning through empowering teaching and learning – Case study
The College Merthyr Tydfil
Inspection report: The College Merthyr Tydfil
The well-being support offer, including the college’s work with disadvantaged learners
The College Merthyr Tydfil
Inspection report: The College Merthyr Tydfil
Innovative and aspirational academy programmes for engineering and construction learners
The College Merthyr Tydfil
Inspection report: The College Merthyr Tydfil
Providing empowering professional learning development