I am surprised that your coverage of the goings-on in Nottinghamshire (FE Focus, July 2) does not mention the Learning and Skills Council’s responsibility for monitoring college performance and quality.
The LSC’s competence to assess the quality and performance of colleges has long been questioned.
Whenever the Office for Standards in Education reports on unsatisfactory management and delivery, I wonder what the local LSC’s own assessment is.
The much-maligned performance review process was designed to support improvement in colleges and LSC-funded providers during the periods between inspections.
In this case, I wonder whether the People’s College was “working in partnership” with the local LSC prior to inspection.
And did the local LSC identify and alert the college to its shortcomings?
Only if the LSC had tried to improve the college’s performance prior to inspection could it be justified, post-inspection, in washing its hands of the provision so publicly.
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