Staffordshire college told it must improve teaching in latest Ofsted inspection

South Staffordshire College, which has five campuses including its main base in Penkridge, has also been told it is not using work placements effectively.

The findings come after Ofsted inspectors visited and rated it 'requires improvement'.

The college's leadership, quality of teaching, personal development, 16 to 19 study programmes, apprenticeships and outcomes were all criticised by the education watchdog.

A report, prepared after Ofsted's visit in November last year, said: "There is too much variation between curriculum areas in how well learners aged 16 to 18 achieve their qualifications.

"Too few learners develop their skills in mathematics or English to achieve high grades when they retake a GCSE, pass their functional skills or make further progress at work.

• Read the Ofsted report here

"Too few learners aged 16 to 18 have the opportunity to develop their skills through relevant, well-planned work experience linked to their study programme.

"Teachers and managers do not use targets well enough with learners to ensure that they make rapid progress, understand what they have achieved and know how to improve their performance.

"Quality improvement actions have not ensured that teaching, learning and assessment are good across all subjects, curriculum areas and campuses.

"Assessors do not take sufficient account of apprentices' existing skills or prior learning in planning their training and assessment to ensure rapid progress."

When asking the question of what the college needs to do to improve, the report added: "Rapidly improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment in those areas where learners do not achieve well enough or make the progress of which they are capable.

"Ensure that study programme managers and teachers in all curriculum areas work with employers and learners to plan and implement work-experience arrangements that link to the learners' study programmes and support their career ambitions."

However, inspectors did praise the college for its 'carefully planned support' for pupils with 'high needs benefit' and noted that 'most learners develop new skills well and produce practical work of a high standard'.

The report added: "Adult learners benefit from good teaching and a flexible, accessible range of provision that successfully meets their diverse needs and improves their life chances."

The college was rated good for its adult learning programmes and provision for learners with high needs.

Alleah Facey, a spokeswoman for the college, said: "Following our recent Ofsted inspection we are pleased to see that Ofsted recognised the success of South Staffordshire College in ensuring that all adult learners benefit from good teaching and learning to meet their needs.

"It was also recognised that the college has a distinctive strength in supporting learners with high needs.

"The inspection also recognised the new strategies that have been introduced to bring about rapid improvements in curriculum areas and English and mathematics and commented that improvements were beginning to have a positive impact in the current academic year."

Rob Boucherat, deputy principal at South Staffordshire College, added: "We welcome the feedback in the Ofsted inspection report and we are pleased that many of our key strengths have been recognised.

"Whilst there is clearly more work for us to do, we are pleased that the team felt that they could see signs of improvement this year.

"Our focus now is to build on these new strategies that we have put in place to show more impact and improve."