Main findings: Further education and skills inspections and outcomes as at 31 August 2022
Published 24 November 2022
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2022
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This is the main findings report for the further education and skills inspections and outcomes as at 31 August 2022 release. The following are also available:
- underlying data, tables and charts
- methodology
- pre-release access list
Summary
This release contains:
- provisional data for the most recent inspections and outcomes as at 31 August 2022
- provisional data for inspections and monitoring visits carried out between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2022
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on this release
During the 2020/21 reporting year (1 September 2020 to 31 August 2021), full inspections could only take place between June and August, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since 1 September 2021, we have been able to return to our full programme of inspections. Between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2022, we prioritised the inspection of providers that had not yet had their first full inspection and providers that had previously been judged requires improvement or inadequate.
We have also resumed our usual inspection and monitoring of prisons and young offender institutions.
Considering the above, comparisons between full inspections carried out during the 2020/21 reporting year and the 2021/22 reporting year should be treated with caution.
Between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2022, 329 providers received their first full inspection. Of these, 65% were judged good or outstanding, an increase of 14 percentage points compared with 2018/19.
Between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2022, 79% of new provider monitoring visits (NPMVs) resulted in judgements of reasonable or significant progress across all themes.
On 31 August 2022, of the 146 general further education (FE) colleges that had received full inspections, 88% were judged good or outstanding at their most recent inspection.
The proportion of prisons and young offender institutions judged good or outstanding at their most recent inspection as at 31 August 2022 was 37%, continuing the previously reported decline.
Provider numbers
The overall number of FE and skills providers appears to have plateaued after large increases since the introduction of the apprenticeship levy in 2017.
On 31 August 2022, 2,048 publicly funded further education and skills providers delivering education, training and/or apprenticeships were recorded on Ofsted’s systems.
There continues to be changes to the provider base, although at a slower rate than the years immediately following the apprenticeship reforms introduced in 2017. Between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2022, we started reporting on an additional 126 providers that had become publicly funded and started delivering education, training and/or apprenticeships. There are further providers being processed and added to our systems having begun delivery. Over the same period, we stopped reporting on 131 providers because they had merged, ceased to be funded or stopped delivering education, training and/or apprenticeships. Of these, just under a fifth (18%) stopped delivering before they were due for any form of Ofsted inspection.
The number of general FE colleges and sixth-form colleges we report on continues to decline. This is because of college mergers and sixth-form colleges converting to become academies. Since 1 February 2016, there have been 74 mergers. On 31 August 2022, 161 general FE colleges were recorded on Ofsted’s systems. This is 28 fewer than the number at 31 August 2017. Since 1 September 2016, 28 sixth-form colleges have become academies. On 31 August 2022, 44 sixth-form colleges were recorded on Ofsted’s systems.
Of the 126 additional providers that are now eligible for inspection, 90% were independent learning providers (including employer providers). A further 5 independent specialist colleges, 3 16 to 19 academies, 4 higher education institutions (for apprenticeship provision) and 1 college came into scope for inspection between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2022.
On 31 August 2022, 66% of further education and skills providers had received a full inspection. This is an increase of 14 percentage points compared with 31 August 2021. A further 22% had received an NPMV, and the remaining 11% will receive their NPMV within the time frames set out in our inspection handbook (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Number of FE and skills providers and proportion inspected, over time
Number of providers in brackets.
Percentages are rounded and may not add to 100.
View data in an accessible table format.
In-year inspection volumes and outcomes
Since resuming our full programme of inspections, we have prioritised inspections of providers that had not yet been inspected and providers that were previously judged requires improvement or inadequate.
In-year inspection volumes
Between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2022, we carried out 498 full inspections. Of these, 329 were of providers receiving their first full inspection. Eighty-five were of providers previously judged requires improvement or inadequate, 83 were of providers previously judged outstanding or good, and 1 was a short inspection that was extended to a full inspection. During the same period, we carried out 12 short inspections of providers that were previously judged good.
We also carried out 163 NPMVs between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2022. In addition, we carried out 12 follow-up safeguarding NPMVs to providers that were judged to be making insufficient progress in their safeguarding judgement at their initial NPMV.
In-year inspection outcomes
The inspections carried out between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2022 can be broken down into the following categories:
- 329 full inspections of providers that had not previously had a full inspection, of which 65% were judged good or outstanding
- 34 full inspections of providers that were previously judged outstanding, of which 14 remained outstanding, 17 were judged good and 3 were judged requires improvement
- 49 full inspections of providers that were previously judged good, of which 38 remained good, 8 declined to requires improvement and 3 declined to inadequate
- 79 full inspections of providers that were previously judged requires improvement, of which 62% improved to good or outstanding
- 6 full inspections of providers that were previously judged inadequate, of which 4 improved to good, 1 improved to requires improvement and 1 remained inadequate
- 12 short inspections of providers that were previously judged good and remained good
- 1 short inspection that was extended to a full inspection and the provider declined to inadequate
Overall, of the 498 full inspections carried out between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2022, 67% resulted in a judgement of good or outstanding for overall effectiveness.
First full inspections
Between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2022, 329 providers received their first full inspection. Of these, 65% were judged good or outstanding, an increase of 14 percentage points compared with the 2018/19 reporting year.
Figure 2: Overall effectiveness of FE and skills providers at their first full inspection, by reporting year
Number of inspections in brackets.
Percentages are rounded and may not add to 100.
View data in an accessible table format.
Of those who received at least 1 insufficient progress judgement at their NPMV, 30% were judged good at their first subsequent full inspection, 52% requires improvement and 19% inadequate. One provider who had made insufficient progress in all themes at their NPMV was judged requires improvement at their first full inspection.
In-year NPMV outcomes
Between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2022, 79% of NPMVs resulted in judgements of reasonable or significant progress across all themes.
Of the 163 NPMVs carried out between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2022, 79% of providers were judged to be making reasonable or significant progress across all themes. This is a 4 percentage point increase compared with 2020/21. However, 9% of NPMVs carried out in 2021/22 resulted in insufficient progress judgements across all themes, an increase of 3 percentage points compared with 2020/21 (see Figure 3).
Figure 3: NPMV outcomes, by reporting year
Number of NPMVs in brackets.
Excludes follow-up safeguarding visits.
Percentages are rounded and may not add to 100.
View data in an accessible table format.
Since 1 September 2022, we have stopped reporting on 68 providers that had received an NPMV but stopped providing education, training and/or apprenticeships before their first full inspection was due. Of these, 49% had at least one insufficient progress judgement at their NPMV, and 8 had insufficient progress judgements across all themes.
Most recent inspection outcomes
On 31 August 2022, 82% of further education and skills providers were judged good or outstanding at their most recent inspection.
On 31 August 2022, the proportion of further education and skills providers that were judged good or outstanding at their most recent full inspection was 82%.
Between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2022, more providers improved to good or outstanding from requires improvement or inadequate (53) than declined to requires improvement or inadequate from good or outstanding (15). In the same period, we stopped reporting on 39 providers that had previously had a full inspection, because they had merged, ceased to be funded or stopped delivering education, training and/or apprenticeships. Of those, 16 were judged requires improvement or inadequate.
Figure 4: Overall effectiveness of further education and skills providers at their most recent inspection, as at 31 August 2022
Number of providers in brackets.
View data in an accessible table format.
On 31 August 2022, 10% of further education and skills providers were judged outstanding at their most recent inspection. This was 3 percentage points lower than at 31 August 2021. During 2021/22, we carried out 31 inspections of providers that were formerly exempt from inspection due to being judged outstanding. Most of those had not been inspected for 10 years and none had been inspected under the current inspection framework. Of those 31 providers, 14 remained outstanding, 14 were judged good and 3 declined to requires improvement.
Outcomes by provider group
Independent learning providers (including employer providers)
Between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2022, we inspected 372 independent learning providers (including employer providers).
The inspections were made up of:
- 287 full inspections of providers that had not previously received a full inspection
- 45 full inspections of providers that had previously been judged good or outstanding
- 34 full inspections of providers that had previously been judged requires improvement
- 6 short inspections of providers that had previously been judged good
Of the 287 providers that received their first full inspection between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2022, 63% were judged good or outstanding, which is the same as during 2020/21.
Of the 45 full inspections of providers that had previously been judged good or outstanding, 27 (60%) retained the same judgement and 9 (20%) declined to requires improvement. Nine (20%) providers previously judged outstanding were judged good.
Of the 34 full inspections of providers that had previously been judged requires improvement, 16 improved to good, 16 remained requires improvement and 2 declined to inadequate.
On 31 August 2022, 1,385 publicly funded independent learning providers (including employer providers) delivering education, training and/or apprenticeships were on Ofsted’s systems. Overall, of the 804 independent learning providers (including employer providers) that had received a full inspection, 75% were judged good or outstanding at their most recent inspection, a 4 percentage point decrease compared with 31 August 2021.
General further education colleges
On 31 August 2022, 161 general FE colleges were publicly funded and delivering education, training and/or apprenticeships.
Between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2022, we inspected 39 general FE colleges. The inspections were made up of:
- 17 full inspections of providers that were previously judged requires improvement, of which 12 improved to good and 5 remained requires improvement
- 5 full inspections of colleges that were previously judged outstanding, of which 2 were judged outstanding and 3 were judged good
- 14 first full inspections of colleges that had previously merged, of which 13 were judged good and 1 was judged outstanding
There has been an increase of 11 percentage points in the proportion of general FE colleges judged good or outstanding at their most recent inspection since 31 August 2021. This is because 12 general FE colleges improved from requires improvement to good and the 14 merged colleges we inspected for the first time since merging were all judged good or outstanding. Of the 14 merged colleges that were inspected this reporting year, 10 had at least one college that had been graded requires improvement or inadequate before the merger.
On 31 August 2022, of the 146 general FE colleges that had received full inspections, 88% were judged good or outstanding at their most recent inspection. (see Figure 5).
Figure 5: Overall effectiveness of general further education colleges at their most recent inspection, over time
Number of providers in brackets.
Percentages are rounded and may not add to 100.
View data in an accessible table format.
Independent specialist colleges
Between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2022, we carried out 33 inspections of independent specialist colleges (ISCs):
- 8 full inspections of ISCs that had not previously been inspected, of which 4 were judged good, 2 were judged requires improvement and 2 were judged inadequate
- 7 full inspections of ISCs that were previously judged good or outstanding, of which 4 declined to requires improvement or inadequate
- 16 full inspections of ISCs that were previously judged requires improvement or inadequate, of which 8 improved to good or outstanding
- 1 short inspection of an ISC previously judged good, which remained good
- 1 short inspection of an ISC previously judged good, which extended to a full inspection and the provider declined to inadequate
Although less than half of the independent specialist colleges were graded as good or outstanding between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2022, the proportion judged good or outstanding overall has increased. This is because the number of providers that were judged good or outstanding at their first inspection or improved to good or outstanding was higher than the number that declined to requires improvement or inadequate.
On 31 August 2022, 79% of ISCs were judged good or outstanding at their most recent inspection. This is an increase of 4 percentage points compared with 31 August 2021.
Table 1: Summary of main findings for provider groups with between 5 and 15 full inspections from 1 September 2021 to 31 August 2022
| Provider group | No. of providers | No. of inspections | Main findings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adult community education providers | 146 | 14 full inspections and 5 short inspections | 13 providers were judged good, of which 7 were previously judged good, 1 declined from outstanding and 5 improved from requires improvement or inadequate; 1 provider improved from inadequate to requires improvement. This overall improvement increased the proportion of adult community education providers judged good or outstanding at their most recent inspection from 93% at 31 August 2021 to 97% at 31 August 2022. |
| Higher education institutions (HEIs) | 100 | 15 full inspections | 11 of the HEIs were inspected for the first time, of which 5 were judged good and 6 were judged requires improvement. A further 3 providers improved from requires improvement to good and 1 provider that was previously judged outstanding was judged good. Overall, at 31 August 2022, 88% of HEIs were judged good or outstanding at their most recent inspection. |
| Sixth-form colleges | 44 | 12 full inspections | All 12 colleges were judged either good or outstanding. Five remained outstanding, 4 improved from requires improvement to good and 1 improved from inadequate to good. One sixth-form college previously judged outstanding was judged good and a sixth-form college inspected for the first time was judged good. On 31 August 2022, 100% of sixth-form colleges were judged good or outstanding, a 13 percentage point increase since 31 August 2021. |
| 16 to 19 academies | 64 | 13 full inspections | Two 16 to 19 academies improved from requires improvement to good and 1 improved from requires improvement to outstanding. Three previously outstanding 16 to 19 academy remained outstanding and a further 1 that was previously judged outstanding was judged good. Six of the 16 to 19 academies were inspected for the first time, and all were judged good or outstanding. On 31 August 2022, 98% of 16 to 19 academies were judged good or outstanding at their most recent inspection, a 6 percentage point increase since 31 August 2021. |
Quality of apprenticeship provision
On 31 August 2022, 1,564 funded FE and skills providers delivering apprenticeships were on Ofsted’s systems. Of these, 82% had a judgement made on the quality of their apprenticeship provision at the time of their full inspection or NPMV. The remaining 18% of providers have yet to have their apprenticeship provision inspected.
Figure 6: Number of providers delivering apprenticeships on 31 August 2022, by type of inspection
View data in an accessible table format.
Of the 1,278 providers that had a judgement made on their apprenticeship provision, 77% were judged good or outstanding at their full inspection or were judged to be making at least reasonable progress at their NPMV. This is a decrease of 4 percentage points since 31 August 2021.
Figure 7: Quality of apprenticeship provision over time
Number of providers in brackets.
Percentages are rounded and may not add to 100.
View data in an accessible table format.
Prisons and young offender institutions
On 31 August 2022, 37% of prisons were judged good or outstanding at their most recent inspection.
Ofsted contributed to 22 inspections of prisons and young offender institutions (YOIs) with a report published between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2022. Of these, 21 prisons or YOIs were graded requires improvement or inadequate.
These inspections were made up of:
- 11 prisons and YOIs previously judged good, of which only 1 remained good, 5 declined to requires improvement and 5 declined to inadequate
- 6 prisons and YOIs previously judged requires improvement, of which 3 remained requires improvement and 3 declined to inadequate
- 5 prisons and YOIs previously judged inadequate, of which 3 remained inadequate and 2 were judged requires improvement
On 31 August 2022, there were 116 prisons and YOIs, all but one of which had had been inspected. Overall, 37% were judged good or outstanding at their most recent inspection. This is a decline of 9 percentage points compared with 31 August 2021 and 13 percentage points since 2019. (see Figure 8).
Figure 8: Overall effectiveness of education, skills and work in prisons and YOIs at their most recent inspection, over time
Number of prisons and YOIs in brackets.
View data in an accessible table format.
Revisions to previous release
Twenty full inspections were carried out before 28 February 2022 but not published at the time we compiled our previous statistical release. Of these, 14 were of independent learning providers, 3 were of colleges, 2 were of higher education institutions and 1 was of an independent specialist college. Ten NPMVs were not published at the time of our previous statistical release: 9 to independent learning providers (including employer providers) and 1 to a 16 to 19 academy.
This means that some percentages we previously reported on for 2021/22 may have changed by more than 1 percentage point, due to the small numbers of inspections carried out during the 2021/22 reporting year.
All updated information for 2021/22 can be found in the data, tables and charts file that is published as part of this statistical first release. These changes do not affect the overall messages previously reported.
Notes
The quality report for these official statistics explains our methodology and the relevant inspection frameworks, along with other useful information.
Glossary
Definitions of terms are in the statistical glossary.
Further information
Contact for comments or feedback
If you have any comments or feedback on this publication, contact Stuart Lloyd on 03000 131 169 or [email protected].
Acknowledgements
Thanks to the following for their contribution to this statistical release: Emily Green, John Hadler, Kyle Drury, Joanna Attwell and Sophia Spring.
Annex: data tables for figures
Data for figure 1: Number of FE and skills providers and proportion inspected, over time
| Total number of providers | % Received full inspection | % Received new provider monitoring visit | % Not yet inspected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 August 2022 | 2,048 | 66 | 22 | 11 |
| 31 August 2021 | 2,053 | 52 | 33 | 15 |
See figure 1
Data for figure 2: Overall effectiveness of FE and skills providers at their first full inspection outcomes, by reporting year
| Total number of providers with an inspection judgement | % Outstanding | % Good | % Requires improvement | % Inadequate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021/22 | 329 | 6 | 59 | 26 | 9 |
| 2020/21 | 51 | 8 | 55 | 29 | 8 |
| 2019/20 | 77 | 4 | 53 | 32 | 10 |
| 2018/19 | 95 | 5 | 45 | 37 | 13 |
| 2017/18 | 40 | 3 | 35 | 48 | 15 |
See figure 2
Data for figure 3: NPMV outcomes, by reporting year
| Total number of new provider monitoring visits | % Reasonable or significant in all themes | % Insufficient in at least one theme | % Insufficient in all themes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021/22 | 163 | 79 | 12 | 9 |
| 2020/21 | 234 | 76 | 18 | 6 |
| 2019/20 | 167 | 76 | 16 | 8 |
| 2018/19 | 387 | 80 | 16 | 5 |
| 2017/18 | 66 | 80 | 17 | 3 |
See figure 3
Data for figure 4: Overall effectiveness of further education and skills providers at their most recent inspection, as at 31 August 2022
| Provider group: | Total number of providers with an inspection judgement | % Outstanding | % Good | % Requires improvement | % Inadequate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All further education and skills providers | 1,361 | 10 | 71 | 15 | 4 |
| Colleges | 202 | 14 | 77 | 9 | 0 |
| Independent learning providers | 804 | 7 | 68 | 20 | 5 |
| Adult community education providers | 143 | 1 | 95 | 3 | 1 |
| 16-19 academies | 55 | 49 | 49 | 2 | 0 |
| Higher education Insitutions | 48 | 8 | 79 | 13 | 0 |
| Independent specialist colleges | 89 | 7 | 72 | 13 | 8 |
| Dance and drama colleges | 20 | 80 | 15 | 0 | 5 |
See figure 4
Data for figure 5: Overall effectiveness of general further education colleges at their most recent inspection, over time
| Total number of providers with an inspection judgement | % Outstanding | % Good | % Requires improvement | % Inadequate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 August 2022 | 146 | 9 | 79 | 12 | 0 |
| 31 August 2021 | 139 | 12 | 65 | 24 | 0 |
| 31 August 2020 | 147 | 12 | 63 | 24 | 1 |
| 31 August 2019 | 129 | 12 | 65 | 22 | 0 |
| 31 August 2018 | 140 | 14 | 62 | 24 | 0 |
See figure 5
Data for figure 6: Number of providers delivering apprenticeships on 31 August 2022, by type of inspection
| Total number of providers delivering apprenticeships as at 31 August 2022: | % Full inspection | % New provider monitoring visit | % Awaiting inspection grade for apprenticeship provision or first new provider monitoring visit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1564 | 56 | 26 | 18 |
See figure 6
Data for figure 7: Quality of apprenticeship provision over time
| Total number of providers with an apprenticeship judgement | Full inspection % outstanding | Full inspection % good | Full inspection% requires improvement | Full inspection % inadequate | New provider monitoring visit % at least reasonable across all apprenticeship themes | New provider monitoring visit % insufficient in one or more apprenticeship themes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 August 2022 | 1,278 | 5 | 46 | 15 | 3 | 26 | 5 |
| 31 August 2021 | 1,175 | 4 | 33 | 10 | 1 | 44 | 7 |
See figure 7
Data for figure 8: Overall effectiveness of education, skills and work in prisons and YOIs at their most recent inspection, over time
| Total number of providers with an inspection judgement | % Outstanding | % Good | % Requires improvement | % Inadequate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 August 2022 | 115 | 2 | 35 | 44 | 19 |
| 31 August 2021 | 115 | 2 | 43 | 41 | 14 |
| 31 August 2020 | 115 | 2 | 43 | 41 | 14 |
| 31 August 2019 | 114 | 3 | 47 | 37 | 13 |
| 31 August 2018 | 112 | 4 | 44 | 41 | 11 |
See figure 8