Bradford College has been told it needs to improve its teacher education partnership, with inspectors saying it performs “less well than might reasonably be expected.”

The college’s initial teacher education (ITE) provision, a collaboration between the college and local schools, was recently inspected by Ofsted, and the body has just released its findings.

The provision was given the ‘requires improvement’ rating in all three areas that were being inspected — outcomes for trainees, quality of training across the partnership and quality of leadership and management across the partnership.

The college works with a number of local schools to help “train students in the art of teaching.”

Inspectors said that while there were several strong points in the college’s provision, including its leaders’ “clear vision” for delivering ITE and “a strong moral purpose to increase the opportunities available to all those in the Bradford area”, it was given an overall ‘requires improvement’ rating.

It follows on from the college being given an overall ‘requires improvement’ rating by Ofsted last month.

The report into the teacher education provision says: “While there are areas of significant good practice, the ITE partnership is performing less well than might reasonably be expected across all judgement areas.

“Importantly, leaders have begun to address the areas for improvement identified at stage 1 of the inspection. However, they have not been thorough enough in their planning or urgent enough in their response to ensure that the quality of training improves quickly.

“Trainees’ outcomes, across the different routes offered, are inconsistent.

“Completion rates fluctuate from year to year. There are no clear trends of improvement.

“Employment rates are equally variable.

“Inspectors found trainees to be meeting rather than exceeding the minimum level of practice expected of teachers, as defined in the teachers’ standards, by the end of their training.”

The college was praised in some areas, with inspectors saying: “Everyone in the partnership is committed to delivering on this vision by training ‘local people for local teaching posts’.

“The recruitment of male trainees and those from a minority ethnic background has been above sector averages over time.”

A Bradford College spokesperson said: “Although the overall Ofsted judgement for our primary provision is disappointing, the college is pleased that the strengths of its primary teacher education have been recognized.

“Ofsted rightly acknowledges that ‘staff are passionate about supporting the aspirations of trainees from under-represented groups,’ and praises the team’s vision in training ‘local people for local teaching posts’. The report also highlights the ‘warm relationships [that] exist between tutors, headteachers, mentors and trainees’.

“The college is working hard to address the issues raised.”