V-cs protest over teacher training inspections

THE COMMITTEE of Vice Chancellors and Principals has met the Office for Standards in Education to express universities' concerns about the inspection of higher education teacher training.

The meeting came as it emerged that four higher education teacher training institutions were facing the withdrawal of funding after Ofsted re-inspections. Durham, Warwick and Derby universities and Bath College of Higher Education were all deemed poor in just one "cell" of one category of the Ofsted inspection framework. The CVCP believes that institutions are inspected too often and not thoroughly enough, with a lack of clarity about how the inspection methodology is applied. It wants a four-year cycle of inspections.