Twelve of Scotland’s 26 FE colleges have been graded “very good” for student outcomes, according to a set of reports published today.
Ten received a “good” grade for how they ensured the best outcomes for their learners, while the remaining four were graded “satisfactory” in the reports, which cover 2017-18.
Evaluative Report and Enhancement Plans (EREPs) replaced the previous system of college inspections and, after a pilot phase in 2018, this year is the first in which EREPs for each of Scotland’s colleges, along with their associated grades, have been published.
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Colleges receive an overall grade for three key areas: outcomes and impact or how good they are at ensuring the best possible outcomes for learners; leadership and quality culture; and delivery.
While written by the colleges, EREPs, as well as their associated proposed grade outcomes, are subject to moderation arrangements involving HM inspectors and Scottish Funding Council outcome-agreement managers. There are six grades: excellent, very good, good, satisfactory, weak and unsatisfactory.
According to today’s reports, 14 of 26 colleges received a very good grade for their delivery of learning and services to support learning, with the remainder found to be good. On leadership, five colleges - City of Glasgow, Dundee and Angus, Forth Valley, Inverness and South Lanarkshire - were graded excellent, while 11 were very good and the remaining 10 good.
Sector reform
The Scottish government’s reform of the college sector, which began in 2012, set out to create larger, more efficient institutions more able to respond to regional need. It created 13 college regions, most of which now contain one large college created through merger.
Aside from significant reform, the sector has been through further disruption following the return of national bargaining, which has seen both lecturers and support staff take strike action over pay.
Karen Watt, chief executive of the Scottish Funding Council, said: “The results show a college sector that is delivering, supporting a high standard of learning, developing a quality culture and committed to improvement.”
Shona Struthers, chief executive of Colleges Scotland, said: “We have been collaborating with Education Scotland on the new quality arrangements for the sector. This has allowed colleges to build on their own internal processes and work with the Scottish Funding Council’s outcome agreements to evaluate their performance.
“This is the first year that this new approach to quality assessment has been introduced in colleges and we will continue to monitor its progress.”
