Fall guys of the new inspections

Principals have been major casualties of a new approach in further education. Emma Haughton asks if they are being made into scapegoats

It's been an annus horribilis for further education. The advent of Ofsted inspections from April last year – and the failure of two of the first five colleges – prompted Margaret Hodge to assert a year later that half of students failed to achieve what they set out to do, and that four out of 10 colleges needed reinspection. (An accusation that was later refuted, but the sector is still smarting.) And its troubles are far from over. Recently Ian Bentley, head of South Devon College, resigned after a critical inspection – the fifth college principal to go since Ofsted took over from the Further Education Funding Council.

So far Ofsted has published 54 inspections, with seven colleges deemed inadequate and a further 37 needing reinspection. But analysis of the 105 total inspections to date by the Association of Colleges (AoC) puts a more positive spin on the figures, pointing out that 95 per cent of curriculum grades and 92 per cent of teaching were found to be satisfactory or better. According to the AoC, the proportion of students achieving all the A-levels they enter is broadly equivalent between schools and colleges. "The first five inspected colleges weren't typical of the sector," says David Gibson, AoC's head. "This was a new regime with subtle differences from the old system, and I don't think they fully knew how it would work. It's very suspect to try and generalise from that."

He also has concerns about the impact the Ofsted system is having on college management. "Our analysis shows that if a college gets an unsatisfactory grade in two or more curriculum areas out of a total of 14, it also gets an unsatisfactory grade for leadership and management. So a college that is generally doing very well, but which has a couple of areas which could be underperforming, is now subject to reinspection over the entire curriculum."

Nick Brown, chair of the Principals' Professional Council, principal of South East Derbyshire Colleges, and acting principal of North Derbyshire, which had a very poor inspection, is equally concerned. "There is no reason why a principal should lose their job simply because in one inspection there were grades that were unsatisfactory, especially as it's often due to factors completely beyond their control."

Brown believes the Ofsted process is not appropriate to an FE college with wider participation. "A lot of our learners switch programmes, often to a more vocational one, yet this is classified as a failure. And it doesn't take into account that we actively seek to reach learners who are not very successful elsewhere, so success rate and retention rates are naturally lower." Ministers appear to take every opportunity to beat FE colleges with outcomes of an inspection regime. That is shortsighted, says Brown. "Doing this at a time when everyone knows it's difficult to recruit principals is simply shooting themselves in the foot."

Peter Pendle, general secretary of the Association for College Management, agrees that there is a problem with accountability. "When a college gets a bad inspection, the answer seems to be you scapegoat the principal and kick them out, but the board of governors should be equally responsible." The last three years has seen a 50 per cent turnover among principals, according to the AoC. One problem is the complex funding arrangements for FE colleges, says Gibson. "It's highly bureaucratic – some colleges have 73 different funding streams, leaving principals chasing money instead of getting on with managing the college. We've got to make sure principals are properly supported."

Many principals do need help, Gibson acknowledges. The creation of the management college is a step forward. "Managers do need appropriate training. There has been a tendency in the past for them to be appointed because they are good teachers – they're thrust into management roles and left to get on with it without the skills they need. It's setting people up to fail."

But training managers is just half the solution, he believes. Tackling the issue of the harsh funding regime that colleges are subjected to is paramount. "We've got the ridiculous situation where sixth form colleges get £1,000 extra per pupil, and FE staff get paid 10-15 per cent less for doing the same job. Yet more kids do their post-16 education in FE colleges than in sixth forms."

There is no point playing about with structure or monitoring, if people haven't got the resources to deliver, he insists. "You won't get a real step change in terms of quality until the sector is properly funded – that is the issue that the Government has so far failed to grasp."

education@independent.co.uk