Furness College

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Information about this provider

Furness College is a general further education college in Barrow, Cumbria.

The college operates from two main campuses located in the town. These campuses are Channelside and The Sixth Form. The college also offers specialist alternative provision for young people and adults off-campus at College House in Barrow.

This includes CORE, an outreach programme available for learners aged 16 to 18 years old.

At the time of the inspection, there were 1,017 learners aged 16 to 18 years on education programmes for young people. Learners were enrolled on a range of academic and vocational courses from entry level to level 3, in most subject areas including T levels.

J...ust under half of young people study courses at level 3. Of these, just over half study A levels. There were 284 adult learners studying courses from entry level to level 4.

Most adult learners study courses at levels 1 and 2.

There were 535 apprentices following apprenticeships from levels 2 to 6. Most apprentices study at levels 2 and 3.

There were 57 learners for whom the college received high-needs funding.

What is it like to be a learner with this provider?

Too few learners and apprentices routinely attend their course or training. Learners studying A-level mathematics are punctual to lessons.

However, too few learners and apprentices arrive to their lessons on time.

Learners and apprentices who attend college benefit from welcoming and friendly learning environments. They appreciate the mutual support and respect fostered among both staff and learners.

Teachers play a key role in maintaining a positive learning atmosphere, demonstrating a strong commitment to ensuring that poor behaviour or disruptive attitudes are not tolerated.

Learners who attend college behave well. Learners studying A levels are positive and respectful.

Apprentices openly take part in conversation and are proud of the work they complete. Apprentices and adult learners display positive behaviours for learning. They are keen to learn and listen carefully and respectfully to the feedback they receive.

Learners on supported internships demonstrate excellent attitudes to their training and learning. They develop positive workplace skills and behaviours that are valued by their employers.

Most learners and apprentices develop their confidence and resilience.

Young learners studying beauty therapy talk confidently to their peers about how to carry out facials. They discuss the choice of product to use on different skin types. Adult learners studying gym instructing demonstrate the use of equipment to their peers with increasing confidence.

Level 2 bricklaying apprentices develop the confidence to use a range of complex bricklaying techniques such as Flemish bonds. Learners on supported internships travel with increasing independence and complete tasks without support in their work placements.

Most young learners know what they want to do when they complete their course.

They receive useful information from teachers, personal progress coaches and careers staff. Young learners attend employer and apprenticeship events and visits to universities in the region to help inform their career choices. While leaders offer a comprehensive careers service, they do not ensure that learners and apprentices' benefit from this.

Adult learners and apprentices do not receive effective information to help them to plan potential career pathways or their next steps.

Leaders and staff provide learners and apprentices with limited opportunities to take part in activities to develop their interests. Most learners and apprentices are not aware of, or choose not to take part in, the range of activities available at the college.

Learners and apprentices feel safe at college and at work. Learners and apprentices know how, and to whom, they can report any concerns that they may have. However, learners and apprentices do not receive information about risks local to where they live or work.

Too few have a secure understanding of the dangers of radicalisation and extremism.

Contribution to meeting skills needs

The college makes a limited contribution to meeting skills needs.

Leaders work with a wide range of strategic organisations, partnerships, and consortia to understand the skills needed in Barrow and across Cumbria.

They have an established partnership with BAE Systems, helping the town's key employer to develop the advanced manufacturing skills needed to meet the UK government's 'national endeavour.' Leaders are key collaborators in the newly formed 'Team Barrow,' a trilateral partnership between central government, the local authority, and BAE Systems. Leaders are working to establish a college skills hub as part of the Barrow town investment plan.

Through the skills hub, leaders aim to meet the need for advanced academic and technical skills and attract people to study, live and work in Barrow.

Leaders use labour market information to inform the curriculum offer for a few subjects. They collaborate as part of a county-wide project to develop the range of apprenticeships to better meet the needs of small and medium-sized manufacturers in Cumbria.

Leaders have established Skills Bootcamps to target identified skills needs in digital, project management and welding. They work with the local NHS trust to ensure that learners studying the T level in health have access to meaningful placements in areas such as pathology, microbiology, and speech and language. Trust staff teach masterclasses to learners in areas such as midwifery, physiotherapy, and occupational therapy.

However, leaders do not ensure that employers and stakeholders are involved in the design and implementation of all curriculums. In too many curriculums, stakeholder involvement is underdeveloped or absent. Leaders plan to introduce sector advisory boards, but these are not yet in place.

Leaders have not implemented the measures needed to respond to worklessness or meaningful education opportunities for young people. Leaders' strategies lack the specificity needed to tackle key skills priorities and challenges in the town with sufficient urgency.

What does the provider do well and what does it need to do better?

Leaders do not have sufficient oversight of the strengths and weaknesses of their provision.

The targets and actions leaders set to remedy key weaknesses are not specific enough to bring about sustained and rapid improvement. There is a decline over time in attendance, retention and achievement across all provision types and all age groups. Leaders are too positive in evaluating the quality of their provision.

Most teachers sequence courses and apprenticeships sensibly so that learners and apprentices develop their knowledge and skills for future learning and employment. Learners studying T-level design and development for engineering and manufacturing are taught key scientific and mathematic principles before progressing to more complex topics, such as the use of j notation to denote complex numbers. Adult learners studying gym instructing learn about the structure and function of the circulatory and respiratory systems.

They then use this knowledge to design cardiovascular exercise programmes. Learners on supported internships are taught social and communication skills early in their course to prepare them for their work in hospitals.

Leaders do not ensure that early year's educator apprentices receive sufficient time to complete their training in their contracted hours.

Apprentices complete much of their training in their own time. Apprentices feel overwhelmed with the amount of work that they need to complete. They make slow progress and do not complete in planned timeframes.

Most teachers are appropriately qualified, with experience of working in relevant sectors. They use their expertise to ensure that learners and apprentices receive up-to-date, industry-relevant knowledge and skills. Teachers of construction use their industry links to maintain their currency of building protocols.

They ensure that apprentices are aware of changes to cavity wall regulations and the implications of this in the construction industry. This helps with learners and apprentices' preparation for employment.

Teachers do not use the information they have about learners' starting points to plan suitable curriculums.

Teachers on the award in skills for employment, training and personal development plan and adapt the curriculum to meet individual learners' needs. Most teachers of apprenticeships take account of apprentices' prior knowledge to plan their learning and develop their skills. However, young people on T levels with secure mathematics skills find the work too easy, while others struggle to complete activities that their tutors set.

Tutors and coaches of learners on supported internships do not assess learners' English and mathematics knowledge and skills at the start of their course. This means that tutors and coaches do not ensure that learners improve the English and mathematics skills they need for employment.

The quality of teaching that learners receive is not of a consistently high quality.

Many teachers use effective strategies adeptly to help learners and apprentices remember key concepts. Teachers of the certificate in supporting teaching and learning in schools help adult learners to recall the meaning of the term 'inclusive practice' and share examples from their workplace to consolidate their understanding. However, teachers of design and development for T-level engineering and manufacturing, and teachers of adult courses, do not use strategies to check learning effectively.

This means that these teachers do not know if learners understand what they have been taught.

Teachers do not provide learners with effective feedback that helps them to improve their work. In too many instances, teachers' feedback on learners' written work is confirmatory and does not tell learners what they need to do to improve and achieve the good grades.

Too often, learners' work does not always improve over time.

Leaders and managers do not have sufficient oversight of the progress that learners and apprentices make. They are too reliant on teachers to track and monitor learners' and apprentices' progress.

This means that leaders and managers do not ensure that, where learners and apprentices fall behind, interventions to help them to catch up are effective. Too few learners and apprentices make swift progress in their studies.

Teachers help learners and apprentices who stay on their course or apprenticeship to prepare thoroughly for their next steps.

Learners of A-level mathematics move on to positive destinations including university or apprenticeships with large, local employers. Level 1 learners move on to further education and employment. Apprentices maintain sustainable employment and become valued employees.

Learners on supported internships move to sustained employment, fulfilling their aspirations to gain paid work. However, too few learners and apprentices complete their studies or achieve their qualifications. Leaders' actions to remedy this are ineffective.

Leaders do not ensure that learners and apprentices have a secure understanding of fundamental British values. While young learners are introduced to British values early in their studies, they do not revisit this topic and too few learners are able to recall this learning. Tutors do not promote British values to adult learners or apprentices.

They have very limited understanding of the subject or how it relates to their lives or work.

Governance is ineffective. Governors do not hold leaders well enough to account.

Governors are too reliant on what leaders tell them rather than scrutinising the information that they have available to make the improvements that are needed.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the provider need to do to improve?

• Ensure that early year's educator apprentices receive adequate time to complete their training while they are at work.

• Improve teachers' use of assessments completed at the start of the course or apprenticeship in planning challenging curriculums for learners and apprentices. ? Set clear and measurable actions to improve the quality of teaching for all learners and apprentices. ? Improve teachers' use of feedback to ensure that learners and apprentices know what they have done well and what areas they need to improve.

• Ensure that leaders and governors have an accurate oversight of the quality of education so that they can make the improvements that are needed. ? Ensure that learners and apprentices understand the principles of fundamental British values and why these are important. Ensure that learners and apprentices make effective use of careers information, advice, and guidance.