Ofsted ITE Inspection Briefing PCET trainees, ex-MMU PCET trainees, Course Team Leaders, Mentors and Quality Managers.

NB: please also familiarise yourself with the PP presentation on the MMU Faculty of Education website (in the Partnership section) entitled “Overview of changes to the Ofsted inspection of ITT”

Key points to note:

• The quality of ITT Provision at MMU within the university and partnership schools is being inspected

NOT individual people or colleges.

• The inspectors will be interested to see how what we say we are good at/less good at is reflected in the attainment of trainees, and how school colleagues and MMU tutors have contributed to this.

• Therefore, it is helpful to think of our trainees and their achievements as representative of the quality and effectiveness of our programmes.

NB: Slides 5-8 of this presentation are aimed at current MMU trainees and ex-PCET who trainees who trained at MMU in 2011-12 (however it will be helpful for Mentors and CTLs to read these too);

Slides 9-11 relate specifically to Mentors and CTLs.

Trainees/ ex MMU trainees:

Q: What might I be asked to do? What can I expect?

A1: You may be part of a group of students invited to discuss your experiences during the course, or interviewed individually:

• How well have you been/were you supported in college by your mentors, the CTL and MMU Tutors?

• In which areas have you/did you made/make most progress? How do you know?

• Do/Did you know what to do to improve in your areas for development?• Do/Did you know who to go to with a problem? How have/were any

concerns or difficulties you encountered been addressed?• How well has/did the course prepare/d you to manage students’

behaviour effectively?• How knowledgeable do you feel about teaching students with special

educational needs?• How knowledgeable do you feel in teaching equality and diversity in

your lessons?

Trainees/ex MMU trainees cont’d• How well prepared do you feel to teach students with EAL?

• Are/were targets set for you useful?

• In which ways has/did your subject knowledge developed?

• Tell me about the impact of your teaching on students’ learning.

• How effective was your induction to your placements?

• Which elements of the course have you found most useful?

• How did you find the interview process?

• How well informed did you feel about the nature of the course prior to the start?

• Did you undertake college experience prior to the course?

• Which are the areas where you feel least prepared at the moment?/ least prepared at the end of your course?

• What are/were the best features of the course for you?

• Did you have/have you had support in writing job applications and preparing for interviews?

Trainees and ex-MMU trainees:

You may be observed teaching part or whole of a lesson/session and discuss it with an inspector afterwards. It is important to note that the inspector-

• will not assess your lesson in the way a tutor or mentor would-he/she will be thinking about your lesson in terms of the overall “picture” they are trying to create about the quality of ITE provision at MMU and gathering evidence to support or contradict the claims we have made about our courses;

• will not give you a grade for the lesson but should give you some general feedback;

• may ask probing questions about the lesson and what you thought about it, but they must be courteous and respectful towards you, the students and college staff present.

NB: Please ensure the inspector has a copy of your lesson plan and any resources for the lesson; and that your teaching file is to hand for them to read if they wish.

You may be asked to provide your teaching files, to show evidence of the quality of your planning and evaluation, your developing subject knowledge, your schemes of work, your monitoring and assessment of the pupils you work with-any documentation that demonstrates your progress. Please ensure your files “speak for themselves”, for example, 1. Labelling sections for different year groups/classes2. Ensuring things are in a logical order (eg: lesson plans in order of date, evaluations are with related lesson plan, scheme of work/project with related lesson plans)3. Signpost key points-eg: response to targets, evidence of progress for the inspector3. Include examples of teaching resources, lesson observations by mentors, or MMU tutors, records of extra-curricular involvement-in short, everything you would normally be expected to do as part of the course. Ask yourself: does this file accurately reflect how I see myself as a committed, organised, professional, knowledgeable beginning teacher?

Mentor/Course Team Leader:

1. You may be observed giving feedback to the trainee following a lesson:

• Consider how you involve the trainee in the feedback• Target setting • What you are focusing on in the lesson observation and how this relates

to the progress of the trainee and their particular stage in their training.

ie: The inspector will be interested to see how personalised the feedback is, how effective they think it will be for the trainee, how well you know the trainee, in terms of their strengths and areas for development, and that your judgements are appropriate.

2. Mentor/Course Team Leader:You may be asked (individually or as part of a group of colleagues)• About your mentor training and how well you feel prepared for your role in

supporting MMU trainees• How effective is communication between MMU and you/your college?• How helpful are visiting MMU tutors in confirming your judgements (or

otherwise) about your trainee’s progress?• Are you confident in the judgements you make about trainees’ progress?• What are your trainee’s strengths and areas for development at this point (and

how do you know this)?• What are the areas they have made progress in in their most recent placement

(and how do you know this)? • What have you or other colleagues in your college done to help trainees , EAL,

and literacy? • Do you know who to contact if there is a problem (eg: with the trainee’s

progress or professionalism, or with a visiting MMU tutor?)• Do you understand the procedures for dealing with a failing trainee? • How do you challenge a high performing trainee?

3. Mentors/Course Team Leaders:

Please have any records of your work with the trainee to hand, for example:

• Lesson observations• Records of mentor meetings• How you have used the progress indicators• Review forms (and grades)• Reference (if you have written one)• Any other relevant documentation-eg: displays of pupils’

work, evidence of assessment or marking of pupils’ work etc.

Some points to consider: • Please do not use your involvement in the inspection

to “get things off your chest” or raise issues for the first time.

• Please be professional, balanced and proportionate in your responses-remember (and refer to!) your university sessions as well as placement experiences (the inspectors will not separate these out!)

• Be honest• Help each other out if you can if you can see someone

is struggling with a question asked by the inspectors.

Finally, thank you for your attention. If you have any questions, please contact:

Val Butcher: Head of Secondary Programmes

(v.butcher@mmu.ac.uk) tel:07786 673495

Helen Scott: Head of Department for CPD & ITT Partnerships (h.scott@mmu.ac.uk) tel: 07825 696 883