A TEACHER training college has said 'significant progress' has been made to take the centre from 'inadequate' to 'requires improvement' in their latest Ofsted report.

The education watchdog inspected Cumbria Teacher Training, Workington in June 13-16, following an inspection last May which found the overall effectiveness of the centre as 'inadequate'.

The inspectors found that the leaders at the centre had been determined to make 'many positive changes' at the centre following the report last year.

The inspector said: "Through a determined and united approach, the leaders of this small SCITT have brought about many positive changes to the training programme.

"The course structure and content have been completely overhauled.

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"Research, and the DfE’s core content framework, both considerable shortcomings in the previous inspection report, now underpin the initial teacher education (ITE) curriculum.

"As a result, trainees are getting a better deal than was the case in the past."

The inspectors also recognised the 'positive' feedback that the majority of trainee's at the centre have.

Ofsted said: "The overwhelming majority of trainees are positive about their training experience in this close-knit partnership.

"They enjoy the supportive relationships that they forge with course leaders and school-based mentors.

"They appreciate the effective lines of communication that exist in the partnership and they value the strong pastoral care that aids their successful completion of the programme."

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However, the report did recognise that improvements still needed to be made at the centre.

It said: "The substance of the ITE curriculum is not clearly defined. This means that leaders, tutors and mentors are not sure what trainees should be learning and when this should happen.

2This prevents mentors from carefully shaping the school-based experiences to target the trainees’ needs."

Wendy Kendall, CTT SCITT Lead said: "We were pleased that the inspection team recognised the significant progress that had been made in the 13 months between the two inspections and we are clearly on a trajectory towards 'Good' at our re-inspection during 2022-2023.

"We fully meet the statutory compliance criteria for initial teacher training.

"We have already put improvements in place to our 2022-23 programme in line with the Ofsted recommendations from the report.

"We are very proud of our strong partnerships and we remain committed to working with our partner schools, Sheffield Hallam University, Newcastle Research School and other partners to deliver high quality teacher training now and in the future."