Nottinghamshire Training Network

Nottinghamshire Training Network Independent learning provider

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Outcomes for learners Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement

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This is a provider that requires improvement

 Not enough apprentices complete their apprenticeship frameworks within planned timescales.  Not enough assessment practice is good and assessment sometimes starts too late in apprentices’ programmes.  Teaching and learning are not consistently effective.  Individual learning plans are not used effectively enough to monitor and drive apprentices’ progress; targets in them are not sufficiently specific to apprentices’ individual needs.  Assessors and trainers do not provide enough help to apprentices for them to improve their English and mathematics skills beyond the minimum requirements of their apprenticeship framework.  The actions of leaders and managers have led to improvement in much of the provider’s work, but have not yet ensured that all aspects are of the high quality needed to secure good provision.

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This is a provider that requires improvement

 Most apprentices receive good training while at work and make at least the progress expected of them.  Apprentices develop good occupational and employability skills; the vast majority successfully retain their jobs after completing their apprenticeships.  Nottinghamshire Training Network provides good support to help subcontractors improve provision and takes rigorous and effective action if they do not perform well enough.

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Information about the provider

 Nottinghamshire Training Network (NTN) provides apprenticeships to over 600 apprentices across 14 vocational areas. The largest of these are in driving goods vehicles, business administration, customer service and highways maintenance. Together they account for more than half of the provision. Adult health and social care apprentices make up a further tenth, although NTN no longer recruits to these programmes. Classroom and workplace learning made up around half of its learners in 2014/15, but there are very few in the current year.  Apprentices are employed in workplaces in most English regions, with the largest numbers in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and Humberside. Subcontractors carry out most of the training.

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What does the provider need to do to improve further?

 Ensure assessors monitor, assess and record apprentices’ progress rigorously and accurately, and take action quickly if they fall behind so that the proportion who achieve their frameworks in planned timescales increases.  Use results from assessments at the start of programmes to set precise short- and long-term targets for apprentices that meet their individual needs.  Integrate the teaching of English and mathematics into all vocational programmes so that apprentices improve their skills in these subjects. Provide trainers and assessors with the training, skills and resources they need to accomplish this.  Provide training for assessors and trainers in planning effective assessments and making classroom learning relevant.  Ensure subcontractors play a full and active role in supporting assessors and trainers to improve their practice in teaching, learning and assessment.  Help apprentices to understand fundamental British values and how they can keep themselves safe from

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What does the provider need to do to improve further?

radicalisation by carefully integrating consideration of these matters into their training.  Make governors more accountable for improving achievement and standards through identifying a suitable member of the board to lead on this area and by increasing their focus on the quality of teaching, learning and assessment.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

 Leadership and management have improved since the previous inspection but are not yet good. Leaders and managers have introduced appropriately robust and detailed arrangements for managing and monitoring the performance of subcontractors. While these arrangements have not yet brought about consistently good provision, they benefit current apprentices.  Support for new subcontractors is good. They receive a comprehensive induction into the requirements of apprenticeships and good, practical help. Much more stringent monitoring arrangements have resulted in NTN ending other contracts where the quality of training failed to improve.  Following the unexpected and sudden closure of two subcontractors and serious legal problems concerning another in mid 2014, managers and the board of governors took prompt and effective action to protect apprentices who were at risk of losing their training.  Leaders and managers work productively with the local enterprise partnership (LEP). They have aligned

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

their provision very closely with local priorities such as the growth in the logistics sector in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. They check carefully that subcontractors’ provision meets priorities in the other regions where they work.  Observers of training, learning and assessment accurately identify key strengths and provide trainers with detailed help for improving weaknesses. This results in improved learning and training.  Managers provide plentiful, good-quality professional development to their subcontractors on how to improve teaching, learning and assessment. However, leaders and managers do not ensure that subcontractors rigorously monitor how well all their assessors apply these improved strategies and as a result not all apprentices benefit.  The process of self-assessment has improved. Managers have used it well to reflect on variability in the quality of training and identify remedies but it is too early to judge whether this will bring about greater

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

consistency of good practice.  NTN has prioritised implementing actions to tackle recommendations from the previous inspection. Close monitoring of subcontractors has contributed to increases in the pace at which apprentices make progress. Other actions, such as developing the capacity of subcontractors to teach functional skills, have begun but require further work to be fully effective.  Action to promote equality and appreciation of diversity is appropriate. Managers closely monitor the achievement of different groups of learners and have identified that none are currently underperforming.  The governance of the provider – Governors are now better informed about the provision since the previous inspection. This includes receiving helpful regular reports showing clearly how well subcontractors are performing and highlighting areas of concern. They now provide better oversight and challenge to managers, but do

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Effectiveness of leadership and management requires improvement

not focus closely enough on driving improvement in teaching, learning and assessment. – Governors have a wide range of appropriate skills and experience. They use them well to provide managers with good strategic and commercial advice.  The arrangements for safeguarding are effective – All staff have received appropriate training in safeguarding. NTN and all its subcontractors have designated officers for safeguarding. Managers closely follow safe recruitment guidelines and are careful to risk assess new subcontractors. All subcontractors have attended suitable meetings to help them to identify and take appropriate action if learners show signs of being drawn into radicalisation or extremist behaviour. – Arrangements to protect vulnerable younger learners are appropriate. For example an apprentice aged 16 to 18 was carefully supervised during residential training with older apprentices.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

 The quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement. This is reflected in the achievement of apprentices, which is improving, but not yet good. Most apprentices make at least the progress expected of them, and often make good progress in learning in the workplace.  The training that apprentices receive in their workplaces is good. Most employers ensure that apprentices’ job roles provide them with good scope to develop the skills they need for their apprenticeships.  A high proportion of apprentices receive good coaching and support from more experienced colleagues who act as mentors. The close supervision a mentor provides to apprentice goods vehicle drivers ensures they recognise the significant hazards that different types of road conditions present and the importance of following delivery instructions precisely.  The majority of apprentices benefit from a well-balanced programme of practical and classroom-based

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

training. As a result, the training closely meets the needs of both the apprentices and the employer and most make at least expected progress.  In a minority of NTN’s apprenticeships, training and assessment do not focus closely enough on linking theory to vocational practice or with the training employers provide. This slows the apprentices’ progress.  The majority of apprentices receive effective teaching in classrooms and training workshops. Trainers use their extensive occupational expertise well to provide good demonstrations of practical skills in areas such as security systems installation. Trainers coach apprentices effectively, leading to worthwhile gains in their abilities to reflect, solve problems and think independently.  For a small minority of apprentices, teaching is not sufficiently effective. Classroom activities are not well- enough prepared and trainers do not relate content closely enough to what apprentices are learning and

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

need at work. As a result, the sessions fail to maintain the interest of apprentices and they do not make enough progress.  Arrangements to develop apprentices’ functional skills in English and mathematics have improved since the previous inspection, but are not yet good enough. Assessors generally provide good support for those who need to achieve qualifications in these subjects, particularly at level 2. However, for a small minority, support to help them improve starts too late in their programmes, impeding their progress.  Apprentices who are exempt from the requirement to study functional skills receive too little support within their training programmes to improve their English and mathematics further. The scope rarely extends beyond a focus on the correct use of job-related vocabulary or help with basic mathematical calculations. A minority of assessors and trainers do not routinely correct spelling and mathematical errors

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

in apprentices’ work.  Not enough assessment practice is good. For a small minority of apprentices, such as those following fabrication and welding programmes, assessments are poorly planned and start too late in their programmes.  Across the programmes, assessors provide apprentices with good oral feedback that effectively motivates them to do better. However, not enough apprentices receive written feedback that identifies clearly what they need to do to improve their skills or standards of work.  Targets on apprentices’ individual learning plans are not always closely enough matched to apprentices’ individual needs This is because assessors do not use the results of assessment at the start of apprentices’ programmes well enough to identify precisely enough gaps in apprentices’ knowledge.  Practice in reviewing and tracking apprentices’ progress against their targets is too variable. It is thorough

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

and regular for apprentices in areas such as business administration and call centre operations, but not effective enough in some others such as fabrication and welding. Where apprentices are identified as falling behind, not all receive sufficiently prompt support to catch up.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare require improvement

 Apprentices develop the good skills they need to sustain employment successfully. Customer service apprentices, for example, point to how their increasing confidence in dealing with challenging clients has made them more effective employees.  Most apprentices are enthusiastic and committed to their work. Employers and supervisors praise their apprentices’ good attendance and timekeeping, and point to their responsible, mature attitudes and their reliability.  Apprentices develop a good understanding of how to stay safe at work. Those in areas such as fabrication and welding and security system installation are highly aware of essential elements of health and safety, such as wearing suitable protective equipment.  Apprentices generally have an appropriate understanding of how to respond to any incidents of bullying and harassment in the workplace. However, too few apprentices have received training on keeping

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare require improvement

themselves safe when using social media.  Most apprentices benefit from clear and impartial advice when they are recruited to apprenticeships. As a result, apprentices make suitable decisions about training options and understand well how these relate to their career ambitions.  A small minority of apprentices gain useful and highly relevant additional qualifications. These include licences to drive heavy goods vehicles and certificates that confirm their competency to weld to particular industrial standards. Some others receive training on using specialised computer systems or software.  Too few apprentices take responsibility for identifying opportunities at work and elsewhere to help maintain good progress in their apprenticeship. Not enough routinely study outside the time set aside for their training.  Most apprentices understand clearly their responsibilities towards equality legislation and how it applies to

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare require improvement

their workplace, but do not sufficiently appreciate how work colleagues or customers from diverse backgrounds might have different cultural norms, values and beliefs. Their ability to articulate fundamental British values is not well developed.  Apprentices following goods vehicles drivers’ programmes receive training to appreciate the importance of fitness and the negative impact that poor dietary choices can have on their driving skills and well-being. However, not enough other apprentices receive such helpful guidance.

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Outcomes for learners require improvement

 Most apprentices make at least the progress expected of them. This includes those following apprenticeships with significant numbers. For a small minority of apprentices, progress is slow.  Progress is particularly good for a small number of learners following workplace-learning programmes.  Many apprentices demonstrate good skills in the areas which are at the core of their apprenticeship. Call centre apprentices become adept at managing relationships with customers when providing contact centre services for large national organisations. Business administration apprentices routinely demonstrate high levels of efficiency and skill when dealing with documents and using computers in the workplace.  The standard of apprentices’ work in their portfolios of evidence across NTN is generally appropriate and sometimes high.  Not enough apprentices complete their apprenticeship frameworks. The proportion is approaching those

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Outcomes for learners require improvement

of providers nationally but requires improvement. The proportion who complete within planned timescales has risen since the last inspection but remains too low.  The achievement of qualifications by classroom-based learners is good. Achievement has risen consistently over the past three years and for the most recent cohort was very high. However, achievement by the small number of workplace learners was too low.  Most apprentices achieve a functional skills qualification in English and/or mathematics when they need it to fulfil the requirements of their apprenticeship framework. However, too few intermediate apprentices achieve a qualification at a higher level than the minimum required.  Few gaps exist in achievement by different groups of apprentices. A higher proportion aged 16 to18 complete apprenticeships successfully than those over 19, but the number of younger apprentices is very small.  The majority of adult learners on programmes for those seeking work successfully complete their

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Outcomes for learners require improvement

programme. The proportion that subsequently progress on to sustained employed with further training is high.

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Provider details

Type of provider Independent learning provider

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full contract year

Principal/CEO Karen Hodgson Website address www.ntn-wbl.org.uk

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Intermediate Advanced Higher

16–18 19+ 16–18 19+ 16–18 19+ 39 451 2 124 0 4 Number of traineeships 16–19 19+ Total 0 0 0 Number of learners aged 14–16 0

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Intermediate Advanced Higher

Funding received from Skills Funding Agency (SFA)

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following main subcontractors:

 Astral Training Limited  Canal Engineering Limited  Ensis Solutions  N-Gaged Training and Recruitment Limited  Qualitrain  Shaping Skills  Ultimate Performance Training Centre Limited  Winning Pitch

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Inspection team

Alastair Pearson, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Victor Reid Her Majesty’s Inspector Christine Blowman Ofsted Inspector Maureen Deary Ofsted Inspector Susan Gay Ofsted Inspector Pauline Hawkesford Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

The above team was assisted by the Chief Executive Officer as nominee, and carried out the inspection at short notice. Inspectors took account of the provider’s most recent self-assessment report and development plans, and the previous inspection report. Inspectors used group and individual interviews, telephone calls and online questionnaires to gather the views of students and employers; these views are reflected within the report. They observed learning sessions, assessments and progress reviews. The inspection took into account all relevant provision at the provider. guidance ‘Raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted’, 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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Inspection team

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 and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and 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. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team,

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Inspection team

The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk Learner View is a 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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Inspection team

To find out more go to www.learnerview.ofsted.gov.uk .

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Inspection team

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

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Inspection team

To find out more go to www.employerview.ofsted.gov.uk .

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