Minutes of a Meeting of the Board of Leicester College Corporation:

Meeting of the Curriculum Strategy and Quality Improvement Committee Held on 9 March 2022 Via Teams

Present: John Allen (Chair), Verity Hancock, Zoe Allman, Harmeet Kaur, Lisa Armitage, Akith Maluge, Shaun Curtis, Jai Sharda

In Attendance: Louise Hazel- Director of Governance and Policy, Debi Donnarumma- Vice Principal Study Programmes and Apprenticeships, Kully Sandhu- Vice Principal Adult and HE, Claire Willis- Director of Quality Improvement

1. Declarations of Interest

   • 1.1 There were no declarations of interest.

2. Apologies for absence

   • 2.1 Apologies for absence were received from Anne Frost and Danielle Gillett.

3. 16-18 Vocational Achievement

   • 3.1 The Vice Principal Study Programmes and Apprenticeships presented a report on the achievement rate trends at Levels 1 and 2 for 16–18 year-olds. The following points were highlighted.

     • 3.1.1 The significant changes to the grading approaches in 2020 and 2021 caused by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic meant that the most recent nationally published comparative data were from 2018/19.

     • 3.1.2 Overall, the 16–18-year-old achievement rate excluding Functional Skills and GCSE English and maths for 2020/21 was 85.7%, a 9.2% positive variation on the previous year. Achievement including GCSE English and maths but excluding Functional Skills was 86.7%, a 10.2% positive variation. This showed that that vocational achievement was good overall but Functional Skills English and maths achievement required improvement for 16–18-year-olds

     • 3.1.3 For 2020/21, level 1 achievement, excluding Functional Skills qualifications, was 88.9%, 6.1% above the NAR. Three-year trend was upwards. Level 2 achievement, excluding Functional Skills and including GCSE was 85.3%, a decline of 2.4% on 2019/20 but 2.5% points above the NAR. Excluding GCSE and Functional Skills, level 2 3 achievement for 2020/21 was 81.4%, 1.4% points below the NAR. The three-year trend was upwards.

     • 3.1.4 Level 2 was still a focus for improvement and a range of work had taken place to address underperformance. Many courses which had technical and practical elements had been severely affected by Covid-19. A lot of work to track and monitor Level 2 students had been undertaken but there was ongoing disruption.

     • 3.1.5 Many students had joined the College without the skills, knowledge and behaviours needed to prepare for learning. There was a similar picture across the sector. A lot of students had significant mental health issues and work to support them and help them catch up continued. The 16- 19 tuition fund was being used in a number of ways including to help them build skills and underpinning knowledge, help with deferred assessments, general mental health support and preparation for exams. Meetings took place with students in the first six weeks to set targets and expectations and assess their English and maths needs.

     • 3.1.6 The College’s future strategy would focus on a holistic framework for judging success for young people including achievement of their qualification, personal development, work experience and employability, English and maths, and progress across the whole study programme.

     • 3.1.7 The recently published consultation on level 2 reform was about streamlining the level 2 offer to focus on those courses that prepared people for progression. The College would need to make sure that its offer was appropriate and enabled students to progress.

   • 3.2 Governors asked the following questions.

     • 3.2.1 If the Functional Skills were excluded, achievement looked good for Level 1 and the same was true for Level 2 and GCSEs. Would GCSEs be externally assessed this year?

       They would although grade boundaries were likely to be pitched somewhere between prepandemic levels and last year’s levels. Students would also know the topics on the exams.

     • 3.2.2 If GCSE results fell, would that impact on achievement much?

       There was generally good attendance at exams but last year’s CAGs had meant that there was higher 9-1 achievement than previously. Moving back to external exams might impact on achievement.

     • 3.2.3 Why had the decision been taken not to offer the law and fashion courses?

       Law (CILEx) had poor retention; Fashion had declining numbers and was no longer viable.

     • 3.2.4 The other examples given showed some excellent results suggesting that vocational provision was generally good.

       Agreed. Predictions looked good although it was still a tough year and staff were doing everything they could in terms of tracking and monitoring students to help them succeed.

     • 3.2.5 The College would need to be mindful of the mental health issues experienced by students. Ofsted would be interested in the wider programme and student experience including high expectations and work experience.

       Achievement and other data were still important for management purposes but a lot of work had been undertaken to focus on the wider student experience.

     • 3.2.6 The College inherited a lot of students who needed English and 4 maths. Vocational performance was good but so was English and maths and it was frustrating that this did not add up to higher achievement overall. Was this due to the number of students taking English and maths?

       Yes, there were high numbers of students taking English and maths but it was also due to the fact that many students might take two or three years to achieve their qualifications which might not be the case in other institutions.

     • 3.2.7 Ofsted’s inspection measures now included the volume and quality of work placements, English and maths skills including high grades, and progression.

       Noted. The real challenge for staff was that although there had been no lockdowns this year, there were still a lot of students who were isolating and were in and out of learning. The tuition fund would help but staffing this was a challenge.

   • 3.3 Governors noted the report

4. Date of Next Meeting

   • 27 April 2022

   • 15 June 2022

5. Any Other Business

   • 5.1 There was no other business.