A south-east London college has been told it “requires improvement” in its latest Ofsted report with inspectors saying it is not critical enough of its own teaching.

Tower College London, which has two sites in Lewisham, one in Greenwich and one in Southwark, received the damning report yesterday (March 19).

In it the inspector noted the poor level of self-critique in the college, saying that “their self-assessment report does not identify many of the weaknesses found by inspectors”.

It also said that "they have not established a self-critical culture" and “their plan to improve quality does not focus sufficiently on the major aspects that need attention”.

The college is focused on training in health and social care and has almost 300 students, all of whom are employed adults who attend two classes a week.

Among the problems the Ofsted inspector reported were that leaders had not paid attention to the quality of teaching provided and do not provide the teachers with the training they need to improve their classes.

Other critiques include that the tutors are not planning well around those who learn at a slower or faster pace and that teachers did not support those who needed extra help due to their poorer English-speaking levels.

The inspector also noted that teachers “move on shortly after introducing a new concept, when a few learners have not grasped it.”

However in praise the report did note that college leaders did have a "strong understanding of the care industry" and that almost all students achieved their qualifications last year."

Theresa Mgbeobuna, managing director for Tower College London, said: “We accept the report and we identified the problems and are working on fixing them.

“We have put in systems and processes in place to fix the issues and have consultants to come in to work with us and give us feedback before the next inspection.”