Train'd Up Railway Resourcing Limited

Learning and Skills inspection report Date published: 09 January 2013 Inspection Number: 399115 URN: 58166

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Summary of key findings for learners

 Outcomes for learners have improved significantly and these are now good. Learners develop good workplace skills and knowledge.  Teaching, learning and assessment are also good. Learners benefit from high quality resources at employers’ sites and access to a wide range of workplaces to develop their skills and knowledge.  Trainers provide detailed verbal feedback on work to learners at reviews. Train’d Up and sub- contractor staff provide learners with good support at individual reviews and specialist help for the few learners with support needs.  Some aspects of leadership are strong. Managers and employers have high expectations of their staff and learners. They work very well with their partner employers to ensure learners have good training.

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Summary of key findings for learners

 Success rates for learners, although high last year, are not consistently high and outstanding.  Quality assurance systems are not complete to ensure that Train’d Up managers and staff monitor and review all aspects of the provision rigorously. Staff do not systematically record feedback at reviews to enable tracking at subsequent meetings.  Management of staff performance is underdeveloped and arrangements to observe staff providing teaching and support do not ensure sufficiently that managers know who performs well and who needs further support or development. Self-assessment is not fully inclusive of all participants and the final report lacks evaluation.  Train’d Up managers and staff have not embedded the promotion of equality and diversity in all aspects of the training for learners.

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This inspection: Good-2

Previous inspection: Satisfactory-3 Outcomes for learners Good-2 Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good-2 Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement-3

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What does Train’d Up need to do to improve further?

 Implement a reliable system of observation so that a valid and consistent assessment of the quality of teaching and reviewing of learners identifies best practice and managers share this with staff.  Ensure that management of staff performance focuses on improvement targets for all staff and that they are clear what their targets are and how they contribute to raising standards overall.  Maintain strong attention on recruitment to ensure even more learners remain on programme and achieve so that success rates continue to increase to outstanding levels.  Ensure all staff provide detailed written feedback on all work so that learners are clear on how to improve further and staff recognise and correct mistakes in spelling, punctuation and grammar.  Provide all staff with appropriate further training in equality and diversity so they can better incorporate equality and diversity into more aspects of teaching and learning.

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Inspection judgements

 Outcomes for learners are now good. Due to the length of engineering programmes, success rate data are only available for the last two years. Rates have increased substantially from a low start for a smaller number of learners, to a high level in 2011/12 for a significantly larger number of learners. Success rates for advanced apprentices in engineering are excellent. All 11 intermediate level apprentices in transportation operations and maintenance in 2010/11 completed successfully. The success rate declined in 2011/12, but it remained high for the 138 leavers.  Intermediate-level workplace learning engineering success rates are high, but only few achieve in their planned time. Only two of five leavers on advanced programmes achieved. Small numbers of intermediate business administration learners achieve well at 86% but the success rate for advanced learners is low at one out of four.  Current learners are making good progress and are at an appropriate point relative to the length

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Inspection judgements

of time in training for both the engineering and land based learners. The quality of their work is good and supports the collection of good quality evidence for their qualification.  Achievements of different groups are not statistically significant. The small number of female learners achieve at a comparable rate as their male counterparts. Although a wide range of ethnic groups participate in the programmes, the numbers of each are very small and success rates are at least as good as other groups and in a few cases are better at 100%. The minority of learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities all successfully achieved their learning aim.  All learners undergo initial assessment for functional skills and the small number with an identified support need receive adequate support. Most learners start their apprenticeship with high levels of prior attainment having achieved high grades at GCSE.

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Inspection judgements

 Train’d Up staff pay good attention to developing learners’ employability skills including the land based and social care learners and cover issues such as attendance, time keeping and behaviour at work. The health and social care learners, although new, already have increased awareness of safeguarding codes of practice.  Overall, known job outcome rates for apprentices are low. Train’d Up managers track progression post-apprenticeship and this indicates 47% progress to a known job, 29% do not progress to a job outcome, 17% are unknown and 6% recorded as not applicable.

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Inspection judgements

The quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

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Inspection judgements

 Teaching, learning and assessment are good and contribute to last year’s high success rates. Apprentices benefit from employment in a variety of very high standard railway companies and lift and escalator manufacturers enabling them to develop a wide range of knowledge and skills supporting them in their employment in their chosen sector.  Planning and delivery of training is good, with very effective communication and coordination between Train’d Up staff and employers. Employers are very knowledgeable about the apprenticeship scheme and are fully committed to the training of their apprentices. They make significant efforts to provide suitable workplace tasks and opportunities for apprentices to collect relevant evidence towards their qualification.  Teaching and training in training centres, colleges and in the workplace are of a high standard. Apprentices find that tutors use very effective methods to engage and motivate them in their

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Inspection judgements

learning. Highly skilled workshop mentors provide expert guidance to apprentices to enable them to develop very high levels of practical skills and technical knowledge. At all stages of the apprenticeship programme, safe working has a very high priority, as is learners’ awareness of environmental issues.  Train’Up staff and employers have high expectations of apprentices. They successfully complete a wide range of tasks between each attendance period at the training centre or college. Apprentices develop good personal, communication and customer care skills. All apprentices communicate confidently with their managers, customers, peers and training staff and all present a very professional attitude.  Assessment and tracking of the apprentice programmes is good. Staff plan and carry out assessment carefully and thoroughly. Assessment of skills begins at a very early stage in the programme and apprentices gain confidence and become productive very quickly. Verbal

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Inspection judgements

feedback following assessment is detailed, constructive and clearly identifies apprentices’ progress. However, staff at reviews rarely record this and they do not systematically identify or correct spelling, grammar and punctuation mistakes in learners’ work.  Apprentice reviews are thorough and detailed. Staff at reviews are very well informed about apprentices’ progress including that in the workplace. They revisit targets set at previous reviews at subsequent reviews. Reviews result in a number of challenging targets, Train’d Up staff clearly communicate these to apprentices and their employer. However, promotion of equality and diversity during reviews is often unimaginative and when they do cover it, little is recorded on review documentation.  Support for apprentices is very good. Those needing support in literacy, numeracy or language receive appropriate help from Train’d Up or sub-contractor staff. Workplace mentors make

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Inspection judgements

considerable efforts to support engineering apprentices and assessors are flexible and responsive to apprentice needs and work around complex shift patterns.

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Inspection judgements

The effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

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Inspection judgements

 Leadership and management requires improvement overall. Leadership of Train’d Up is good and senior managers have an aspirational and ambitious vision. They work very well and collaboratively with a wide range of good quality employers. Train’d Up managers are successful at helping and supporting the development of the workforce of large companies and smaller enterprises who operate in industries where opportunities for sustainable employment and progression for learners are good.  Effective partnerships with employers ensure a shared vision on training and high expectations of learners. The strong focus on meeting contracts and compliance and rigorous monitoring of learners’ progress ensures that they now progress in a timely manner and achieve their qualifications. Success rates are high and learners gain a wide range of valuable appropriate industry qualifications.  Management of staff performance has a strong focus on ensuring that learners make progress

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Inspection judgements

and are successful. However, managers do not effectively monitor the quality of teaching and learning and set expectations for improvement. Performance reviews of staff take place randomly throughout the year and make insufficient reference to the individual’s roles and responsibilities within the organisation. Reviews do not sufficiently record how staff might improve or maintain a high level of performance.  Self-assessment is insufficiently robust and evaluative and not informed by a fully implemented, comprehensive quality assurance process. Improvement targets contained within quality improvement plans are insufficiently ambitious and expressed to ensure effective measurement of planned improvements. The agreement on levels of service with the twelve sub-contractors does not focus sufficiently on providing high standard teaching and learning.  Although managers have taken very effective actions to improve the success rates for learners,

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Inspection judgements

they have not paid sufficient attention to the areas of improvement regarding performance reviews and some under-developed quality systems from the previous inspection and inspectors found these are still issues.  Leaders use national and local priorities as a key part of planning the curriculum and training. In close collaboration with employers, they identify skills and employment needs and use these to plan and design the curriculum. Managers and assessors work effectively with employers to provide support for their recruitment, selection and training of the workforce including provision for the long-term unemployed and those not in education, employment or training.  Managers and staff plan and manage learning programmes well to allow learners flexibility when working un-social hours and shifts. They use partnerships particularly effectively to enable land- based learners to experience work on environmental projects and contribute to improving

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Inspection judgements

community facilities. For example, learners have built fences and boardwalk through reed beds and for country parks.  Managers recognise the under-representation of females in engineering and they have made progress in challenging stereotypical attitudes towards females entering male dominated programmes. Not all staff have received equality and diversity training and none have had recent update training. Staff records of coverage of equality and diversity at learners’ reviews lack sufficient detail and do not indicate sufficient levels of promotion or exploration with the learner.  Train’d Up meet its statutory requirements for safeguarding learners. Managers carry out checks on all those providing tuition to learners. Staff undertake training to raise their awareness on how to spot signs of abuse.

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on a provider’s performance:

1: Outstanding 2: Good 3: Requires improvement 4: Inadequate

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Overall

14-16 Learning programmes 16-18 Learning programmes 19+ Learning programmes Apprenticeships Other work- based learning Employability Foundation Learning Community learning

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Overall

The quality of teaching, learning and assessment 2 2 2

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Overall

The effectiveness of leadership and management 3 3 3

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Train’d Up Railway Resourcing Ltd

Type of provider Independent learning provider

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full contract year

Principal/CEO David Gillespie Date of previous inspection October 2008 Website address www.traindup.org

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programme level

Level 1 or below Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 and above

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(excluding apprenticeships)

Full-time N/A 0 N/A N/A N/A 0 N/A N/A Part-time N/A 19 N/A 46 N/A 4 N/A N/A

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Apprenticeship level and age

Intermediate Advanced Higher 16-18 19+ 16-18 19+ 16-18 19+ 4 12 31 68 0 0

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Apprenticeship level and age

Number of learners aged 14-16 N/A Number of community learners N/A Number of employability learners N/A Funding received from Skills Funding Agency (SFA)

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following main subcontractors:

 North West Kent College  Central Sussex College  College of North West London  Wakefield College  Nelson and Colne College  St Helen’s College  Bradford College  Wigan and Leigh College  Solihull College  City of Bristol College  Basingstoke College of Technology  Oaklands College.

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Additional socio-economic information

Train’d Up offer a small range of land based programmes including level 1 courses and national vocational qualifications aimed predominantly at young people not in education, employment or training in the North West region around Manchester. The new health and social care programmes run in the West Yorkshire region. Engineering programmes run across the whole of England but currently the majority of learners are in the London and South East regions.

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Information about this inspection

Two of Her Majesty’s Inspectors (HMI) and three additional inspectors, assisted by the Operations Director as nominee, carried out the inspection with short notice. Inspectors took account of the provider’s most recent self-assessment report and development plans, and the previous inspection report. Inspectors also used data on learners’ achievements over the last two years to help them make judgements. Inspectors used group and individual interviews, telephone calls and online questionnaires to gather the views of learners and employers; these views are reflected throughout the report. They observed assessments and progress reviews. The inspection took into account all of the provision at the provider. Inspectors looked at the quality of teaching, learning and assessment across all of the provision and graded the sector subject areas listed in the report above.

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Grade Judgement

Detailed grade characteristics can be viewed in the Handbook for the inspection of further education and skills 2012, Part 2:

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Grade Judgement

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/handbook-for-inspection-of-further-education-and-skills- september-2012

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Grade Judgement

guidance 'Complaining about inspections', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234 , or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Grade Judgement

Learner View is a new website where learners can tell Ofsted what they think about their college or provider. They can also see what other learners think about them too.

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Grade Judgement

To find out more go to www.learnerview.ofsted.gov.uk or if you have any questions about Learner View please email Ofsted at: achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Grade Judgement

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Grade Judgement

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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