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Birmingham City University receives Ofsted success

5088/SA 17 th June 2008

The Training and Development Agency (TDA) has graded Birmingham City University’s Faculty of Education a Category ‘A’ provider of secondary teacher training following its successful Ofsted inspection earlier this year.

The achievement of Category ‘A’ status, the TDA’s highest grade for quality, reaffirms the University’s reputation as a leading provider of secondary teacher training in the UK.

The University was awarded ‘Grade 1: Outstanding’ for the management and quality of its provision by Ofsted following a short inspection in January which looked at all of the University’s secondary training courses. Ofsted found the quality of training to be excellent and praised the University’s major strength in the arts, its local connections, excellent partnership relations, very effective management and tight and secure quality assurance systems. It also recognised the Faculty’s ‘very good capacity to develop its already excellent training programme into national ‘cutting edge’ provision in some areas’.

Key strengths praised by the inspectors included:

• the excellent integration of professional studies and subject training
• the very strong focus on identifying and meeting the individual needs of all trainees
• the excellent selection process that results in committed trainees whose expectations about teaching are well informed
• the very strong and committed leadership in all subject areas and in the provision overall
• the very strong partnership between the university and its placement schools

TDA quality categories are based on Ofsted inspection grades and, following a successful bid to re-grade its provision, the University moves from a Category B (Good) to Category A (Very Good).

Professor Roger Woods, Dean of the Faculty of Education at Birmingham City University said: Professor Roger Woods, Dean of the Faculty of Education at Birmingham City University said:  “We are delighted to be awarded Category A status.  Each year our students all get jobs quickly, usually in the region, and they tell us once they are working how well their course has prepared them for teaching and life in school.  We’re thrilled that Ofsted consider our work to be potentially of national significance and equally thrilled that this course has been duly acclaimed for the outstanding contribution it makes to the development of the quality of the teaching force.”    

Janet Hoskyns, Head of the Faculty’s School of Secondary Education and Post-Compulsory Education and Training, added: “This is a clear endorsement of the well managed and conceived secondary PGCE course. In particular, Ofsted has noted the excellent liaison with West Midlands secondary schools and the focus on pedagogy in the course design. It also provides positive recognition for the superb work being carried out in the arts”.

The re-grading to Category ‘A’ mirrors the Faculty’s ongoing success in performance league tables for teacher training, in National Student Satisfaction surveys, and in Unistats reports where it has achieved joint first place in UK for graduate employability at 100% (teacher training) in 2007.

For further information please contact Birmingham City University Media Relations Office on 0121 331 6738, email press@bcu.ac.uk or out of hours on 07967 271 532.

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