Seleta Training and Personnel Services Limited

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk

p.1

Mr Colin Sandle Managing Director Seleta Training and Personnel Services Limited Unit 1, Meadowcourt House Meadowcourt Road London SE3 9DU

p.1

Short inspection of Seleta Training and Personnel Services Limited

Following the short inspection on 10 and 11 February 2016, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The inspection was the first short inspection carried out since the provider was judged to be good in August 2012.

p.1

Short inspection of Seleta Training and Personnel Services Limited

You and your team have maintained good-quality workplace training and assessments for adult learners on engineering, cleaning service and business administration programmes. Your strong management systems and close working relationships with employers ensure learners’ excellent achievement rates have improved with almost all learners completing within the timescales planned. Learners continue to develop particularly good workplace skills and knowledge, allowing them to perform their jobs safely and confidently.

p.1

Short inspection of Seleta Training and Personnel Services Limited

A culture of continuous improvement and ambitious targets ensure that staff work productively to maintain exceptionally high levels of employer and learner satisfaction for the programmes. Staff constantly update and improve the well- designed workbooks. Managers have a good understanding of the strengths and areas for improvement of the provision. The monthly meetings ensure that you quickly and effectively address issues and staff are held to account should learners’ progress fall below the organisation’s high expectations.

p.1

Short inspection of Seleta Training and Personnel Services Limited

A carefully constructed business strategy identifies the key internal and external factors facing the organisation. Seleta no longer offers certificates in plant operations for forklift trucks as employers are not willing to contribute enough to make the qualification cost effective. You carefully managed the resulting changes to staffing levels. At the previous inspection, inspectors identified the need to improve and strengthen the quality improvement processes, develop better strategies to support learners’ literacy, numeracy and language needs and make better use of initial assessment and target setting. Although some progress has been made to tackle these areas, further work is still required. In particular, further improvement needs to be made to the initial assessment and development of learners’ literacy, numeracy and language skills, the recording of teaching, learning and assessment observations

p.1

Short inspection of Seleta Training and Personnel Services Limited

and the structure of the self-assessment report.

p.2

Short inspection of Seleta Training and Personnel Services Limited

Safeguarding arrangements are appropriate for employed adults undertaking workplace learning. Managers place a suitable emphasis on employers’ health, safety and welfare arrangements with checks completed prior to the start of learners’ programmes. Training officers pay particular attention to safe working practices and learners’ workbooks provide useful information on a range of issues including managing stress, resolving difficulties and lone working. However, learners receive insufficient information on how to stay safe when using the internet and social media.

p.2

Short inspection of Seleta Training and Personnel Services Limited

You are aware of the need to comply with the ‘Prevent’ duty guidance and have prepared a new policy and a basic risk assessment. However, planned training for staff has not yet taken place and currently staff and learners are unsure how to protect themselves from risks associated with radicalisation and dangers of extremism.

p.2

Inspection findings

 Performance management of staff is effective and managers make particularly good use of management information and data to set targets and monitor performance. Leaders use regular monthly meetings particularly well to discuss any concerns or issues that may affect staff’s ability to meet the ambitious targets set. Achievement rates for learners are outstanding. Satisfaction levels among employers and learners, as measured using the annual FE Choices survey, are exceptionally high and based on a high number of respondents.  Management and peer observations of teaching, learning and assessment are conducted on a regular basis. However, the records produced do not contain sufficient information on what impact training officers have on learning or what evidence contributed to the overall judgements made. It is not always possible to identify areas of good practice that could be shared among staff, or areas for development that would improve the quality of

p.2

Inspection findings

learners’ experience.  During the last three years, managers and training officers have continually revised the workbooks for each programme to ensure they meet the changing needs of employers and working practices relating to the qualifications offered. In addition to the partially government-funded qualifications, Seleta deliver their programmes to employers on a commercial basis. Employers benefit as learners develop good skills and attitudes needed for their job roles as a result of completing a qualification. Leaders carefully managed the closure of the qualification in plant operations for forklift trucks when employers decided it was more cost effective for their employees to do short licensing courses rather than a full certificate.  Learners routinely complete initial assessments of their literacy and numeracy skills, current level of subject knowledge and skills, preferred learning style and a self-disclosure form on disabilities at the start of their

p.2

Inspection findings

training. This helpfully identifies their starting points. However, the current initial assessments do not provide sufficient detail to identify English skill deficits in speaking, reading and writing. A small minority of learners make slow progress due to poor writing skills.  Training officers use the information gathered from initial assessments well to provide suitable support and one-to-one coaching for learners. They often plan extra time to ensure that learners who need additional support make good progress and complete within the timescales planned. However, the individual learning plans do not record any specific support planned for learners to meet their needs and help them complete their qualifications. Learners are unaware of any additional help that may be provided should their initial assessment highlight areas of lower level skills. For example, it is unclear what support would be available for dyslexic learners.

p.3

Inspection findings

 Customer service learners seen as part of the inspection already have a range of qualifications and prior knowledge and experience in their job roles. All have either been in their jobs for a number of years or had similar roles with previous employers. These learners demonstrated high levels of spoken and written English language skills and had a good understanding of the technical and subject specific vocabulary relating to their qualification.  Learners taking cleaning services qualifications often have low levels of literacy and numeracy skills. Several learners for whom English was not their first language are given extra time by the training officers to ensure that they understand their training and assessments. The updated workbooks use good pictorial prompts to help learners with lower-level reading skills. However, these learners do not receive formal specialist help to develop and improve weaker aspects of their English skills and ensure they fully

p.3

Inspection findings

comprehend the technical language relating to their qualification and the work tasks they need to complete.  Training officers complete effective progress reviews at every visit to learners in their workplaces, which are usually monthly. They focus on qualification completion particularly well and learners are required to meet timescales set at the previous review. Learners make good progress and achievement rates are outstanding. Employers receive relevant informal feedback about their employees’ progress, usually via a short conversation after a visit, which often suits their busy schedules. Progress review records prompt a tick box response rather than provide a record of wider issues discussed and explored with learners such as equality and diversity, bullying, harassment or safeguarding.

p.3

Next steps for the provider

As managing director you should ensure that:

p.4

Next steps for the provider

 you actively engage with other organisations to further develop your knowledge and awareness of the ‘Prevent’ duty and develop and implement a more detailed action plan so that staff and learners increase their confidence in keeping themselves and others safe  the records made during observations of teaching, learning and assessments more clearly identify the impact training officers are having on learners, and include any areas for improvement or aspects of good practice that can be shared  the structure of the self-assessment report is revised to better reflect the strengths and areas for improvement currently identified through the monthly meetings and business planning process  initial assessments include arrangements to check learners’ listening, speaking, reading and writing skills so you can more accurately identify aspects that learners need to develop and improve in order to be more effective in their jobs and make good progress

p.4

Next steps for the provider

 reviews of learners’ progress include better records of the discussions that take place between training officers and learners on topics such as equality and diversity at work, and issues relating to health, safety and welfare, so that any potential or actual barriers to learning and employment are quickly identified and addressed.

p.4

Next steps for the provider

I am copying this letter to the Skills Funding Agency and the Education Funding Agency. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

p.4

Information about the inspection

During this short inspection, we were assisted by the managing director as nominee. We met and spoke with staff, employers and learners in their workplaces. We scrutinised learners’ files and reviewed a wide range of documentary evidence relating to performance, safeguarding and continuous improvements.

p.4