E Training

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 4234 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Mr Tim Rowe Chief Executive Officer E Training Unit K The Enterprise Centre 27 Hastings Road Bromley Kent BR2 8NA

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Short inspection of E Training

Following the short inspection on 5 and 6 December 2017, 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 July 2014.

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Short inspection of E Training

Since the previous inspection you have continued to provide good-quality apprenticeships and adult learning programmes, predominantly in the health and social care sector. You have continued to build on the strong, established culture which ensures that learners and apprentices develop skills and training to meet the needs of employers across south London and the south-east of England. You and your staff have planned carefully to ensure that the organisation has grown in a way that provides good-quality education and training for learners and apprentices, while securing its financial future. You have continued to monitor and manage the performance of subcontractors well through regular reviews and monitoring visits.

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Short inspection of E Training

Leaders communicate the vision of the organisation effectively to staff and, as a result, they maintain a strong focus on learning to ensure that apprentices pass their qualifications and develop skills and knowledge relevant to their job role.

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Short inspection of E Training

Managers have high expectations of staff and learners. As a result, the very large majority of learners and apprentices achieve their qualifications and progress on to the next level of learning or into employment. Safeguarding is effective.

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Short inspection of E Training

Leaders and managers have put robust arrangements in place to make sure that learners and apprentices are safe in workshops and in their places of employment. They check appropriately that staff are safe to work with learners and apprentices. Staff receive effective mandatory training in safeguarding and the ‘Prevent’ duty and managers provide regular updates through team meetings. Staff and learners understand how to stay safe from the risks of radicalisation.

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Short inspection of E Training

Learners feel safe and are safe. They know how to keep themselves and their clients safe in the workplace. Apprentices in care settings apply their knowledge well to their job roles; for example, they recognise the need to adhere to care plans.

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Short inspection of E Training

Learners have a good understanding of how to stay safe online. Tutors provide learners and apprentices with a broad range of resources that enable them to develop a good understanding of, and staying safe in, the areas in which they live and work. For example, tutors provide learners with an understanding of gang cultures in London and of different cultures in coastal areas which have large immigrant populations. Managers do not, however, routinely assure themselves that all learners and apprentices use the resources most appropriate to them.

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Inspection findings

 Leaders and managers use data effectively to identify areas for development and intervene quickly to secure improvements. For example, they have very successfully reversed declining achievement rates in apprenticeships and functional skills by putting rigorous entry requirements into place and by supporting apprentices to improve their skills prior to entry. As a result, most apprentices achieve their qualifications, and a large majority pass their functional skills tests at the first attempt.  Although leaders and managers develop a range of accurate action plans, they do not routinely review their progress against action points. As a result, they do not have a shared understanding of the progress that they are making or if the actions they are taking are effective.  Leaders and managers use performance management well to secure improvements. A recent change in structure has led to a reinvigorated approach

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Inspection findings

to quality improvement and a greater emphasis on apprentices achieving their qualifications within the planned timescales.  Managers have taken appropriate action to remedy areas for improvement identified at the previous inspection. For example, a recently created resource group has developed ‘milestones’ to provide more creative approaches to teaching, learning and assessment. This has been effective in enabling learners to understand the progress that they are making on their course and to plan for their next activity.  Managers monitor the quality of teaching, learning and assessment well. They use a broad range of quality assurance measures to ensure good standards of teaching, learning and assessment. In a minority of instances, observers focus overly on what teachers do and not on the progress learners are making. Consequently, actions to improve teaching, learning and assessment are not sufficiently detailed.

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Inspection findings

 Managers have established excellent working relationships with employers, who value highly the training that E Training offers. Assessors are responsive to the needs of the organisations with which they work. For example, they arrange assessments at times to suit employers and ensure that there is no disruption to their service. Employers and assessors communicate effectively to support learners and apprentices to achieve their qualifications within the planned timescales. Apprentices can identify how the training that they receive from E Training helps them to understand the tasks that they carry out in their working day, such as the benefit of social activities for clients in care settings. As a result, learners develop good workplace skills.  Managers have implemented an effective functional skills strategy. Consequently, the large majority of learners and apprentices make good progress in developing

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Inspection findings

their skills in mathematics. For example, a learner who had progressed from level 2 to level 4 used statistics and charts, in a presentation to an external agency, to demonstrate increases in the number of clients with dementia. Apprentices accurately calculate times and mileages for domiciliary workers and manage petty cash. Assessors prepare apprentices well for their functional skills tests with frequent assessments and, as a result, first-time pass rates have improved and are now high.  While teachers and assessors develop learners’ and apprentices’ mathematics skills well, employers do not consistently identify where there are opportunities to develop their skills in the workplace. As a result, apprentices are not aware of the good progress that they have made or how the development of their mathematical skills can prepare them for higher-level roles.  Managers develop learners’ English skills well within the workplace. Apprentices

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Inspection findings

in care settings are required to answer emails, create posters and organise business documents. Assessors develop learners’ and apprentices’ reading skills and improve their knowledge through skimming and scanning of documents to identify key learning points.  Assessors identify spelling and grammatical errors in written work, but do not routinely identify what specific aspects learners need to improve or how they should improve. Consequently, learners do not make the rapid improvements of which they are capable.  Assessors provide apprentices and learners with high-quality feedback on their vocational work so that they know what they need to do to improve and make good progress. Apprentices and learners use their online e-portfolio effectively to track their own progress. One apprentice was able to recognise that a dip in progress was as a result of being busy at work and she was able to identify how

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Inspection findings

to catch up.  Managers guide learners and apprentices well to ensure that they are on the correct level of course and that they are aware of career paths open to them. Learners studying with subcontractors receive a thorough induction to their course which includes discussion around possible progression on to higher-level courses.  A high proportion of learners and apprentices remain in employment on completion of their programme and many gain promotion or take on extra responsibilities as a result of their studies. For example, higher apprentices supervise the administration of medication and carry out client meetings. A very high proportion of those on traineeships gain an apprenticeship on completion of their programme.

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Next steps for the provider

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:

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Next steps for the provider

 observations of teaching, learning and assessment focus on learning and the progress that learners and apprentices make in individual sessions  the procedures and processes they put in place to improve quality are reviewed routinely to ensure that they are effective, and rapidly secure the intended improvements  assessors provide learners with specific information about how to improve their spelling and/or grammar so that individual learners and apprentices know what they need to do to improve.

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Next steps for the provider

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

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Information about the inspection

Two of Her Majesty’s Inspectors and one Ofsted Inspector, assisted by the Chief Executive Officer, as nominee, carried out the inspection. Inspectors met with staff, apprentices and employers. They carried out observations of one-to-one reviews, functional skills lessons and workshop sessions. Inspectors scrutinised learners’ marked work and assessors’ feedback and reviewed key documents, such as minutes of meetings, lesson observation documentation, and relevant policies and procedures.

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