Independent specialist colleges
This page provides a summary of the key messages from our work in the sector during the academic year 2021-22. Click on the arrows for details of what’s going well and what needs to improve, along with links to resources for providers.
What’s going well
- Overall, colleges provide calm, supportive and nurturing environments.
- Throughout the pandemic, colleges have continued to adapt their approaches flexibly to meet the needs of learners. As a result, learners have high levels of well-being and have continued to make suitable progress in their learning.
What needs to improve
- The co-ordination of specialist support to meet learners’ complex needs is too variable. Staff don’t consistently understand and apply communication strategies to support learners’ communication needs.
What’s going well
- Tutors and support staff provide attentive and caring support. They know the needs of their learners well and build strong working relationships with them.
- Generally, tutors plan carefully to provide a relevant and meaningful range of learning experiences. This helps to support the development of learners’ resilience, independence and life skills.
- Tutors manage risks associated with the workplace carefully and learners develop a strong understanding of relevant health and safety considerations.
What needs to improve
- Teaching does not always meet the complex needs of learners well enough.
- There is too much variability in the quality of support provided by support staff.
What’s going well
- College leaders have provided strong day-to-day leadership throughout the pandemic.
- They have adjusted their provision flexibly to continue to provide education and meet the changing needs of learners.
- Where leadership is particularly strong, leaders have driven long-term strategic improvements to their provision, including the development of new facilities for learning.
What needs to improve
- Professional learning does not focus well enough on supporting learning in a specialist setting. View resource.
- Self-evaluation and quality assurance processes do not consistently focus on the impact of teaching on learners’ standards and progress.
- The recruitment and retention of suitably experienced and qualified teaching support staff continue to be a challenge.