Following the recent Ofsted Lead Provider Monitoring Visit on Education Development Trust’s (EDT’s) delivery of the Department for Education’s National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) and Early Career Framework (ECF) programmes, the report has now been published.
The opinion of the Ofsted Lead Inspector following the monitoring visit was that: 'the leadership and those responsible for governance are not taking effective action towards ensuring that the ECF training and NPQ professional development are of a high standard.'
We recognise that improvements are required to ensure that Delivery Partners and schools are fully enabled to do what they do best in providing outstanding support and development for teachers. While some of our partners are satisfied with the programmes, this is below the 100% threshold that we set ourselves as the bar for high-quality implementation of all our programmes.
The findings of the report will contribute to EDT’s own learnings on how Delivery Partners and schools are accessing and experiencing the programmes. This will ensure we deliver the high quality of provision we commit to across all aspects of our work. A range of improvements were already underway before the visit, as agreed with EDT’s Executive Team and Trustees. These are targeted at bringing the implementation of these programmes to the standard that we commit to for all of our programmes, to deliver sustainable impact on the lives of young people through supporting excellent teaching and leadership development. These improvements continue to be the organisation’s highest priority.
The report findings reflect on the Lead Provider’s role in taking effective action and are in no way a judgement on the performance of Delivery Partners, facilitators or mentors. The report notes that: 'participants on the NPQ programme and ECF training are generally happy with their experience of training and believe that it helps them to improve in their roles. This reflects the positive feedback given on the impact of local facilitators and trainers, who were recruited by Delivery Partners.'
Patrick Brazier, Chief Executive of EDT said ‘Many aspects of the programmes, such as their capacity for contextualisation and flexibility, are already well-recognised as distinctive and valuable to participants. Participants are reporting positive experiences of the programmes[1]. With further investment in more resources and the technology and interfaces to access them, the experiences that participants have will be improved. EDT’s focus and investment will allow us to keep ahead of changing requirements and quality expectations. New leadership on the programmes will ensure this happens effectively, quickly and seamlessly for partners and participants'.
[1] NPQs cohort 1 survey feedback
The national roll out of the ECF and the new NPQs were introduced to the market in 2021, and as such everyone in the sector has been working at pace to respond to the demands of scale-up. This initial Ofsted visit was intended to be developmental, to support Lead Providers as we all address the challenges of the new programmes, and not a full Ofsted inspection. Full inspections are expected to start from Spring Term 2022/23. We are using the criteria of the new Ofsted framework to continue to inform and improve our work and ensure that we are responding in full to the report’s improvement actions. We are confident we can deliver the improvements required and be ready for the full Ofsted inspection.
We are pleased that Ofsted inspectors have expressed confidence that we do now have the right resources, plans and leadership in place to address the issues that they, and we, have identified. In addition, the Department for Education has reaffirmed that it will continue to work collaboratively with all Lead Providers to ensure that the provider-led programmes are delivering the highest quality of training and that teachers and school leaders are getting the best possible support.
The DfE’s two national framework initiatives represent huge advances for schools and teachers in England and we look forward to our ongoing partnerships with Delivery Partners and the DfE to create the impact we know the sector needs and deserves.
