Lifelong Opportunities Ltd

Further education and skills inspection report

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Lifelong Opportunities Ltd Independent learning provider

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement Adult learning programmes Requires improvement Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

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Outcomes for learners Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Summary of key findings

This is a provider that requires improvement

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Summary of key findings

 Since taking control of the company, directors have taken sensible actions to bring about improvement, but these actions have not yet had the desired impact.  Not enough learners make the progress expected of them, largely because staff recruited them onto programmes with unrealistically short planned end dates; current learners are making reasonably good progress towards revised completion dates.  Directors fail to make sufficient use of management information and stakeholder feedback to support self-assessment judgements; as a result, some aspects of provision are over-graded, and others simply not addressed.  Directors do not use the available management information, for example, on learners’ planned end dates, to monitor and improve the company’s performance.  Assessors do not always provide clear and constructive feedback to help learners improve their written work.  The company does not have governance

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Summary of key findings

arrangements to provide external scrutiny and oversight of its performance; directors have recently begun the process of establishing a board of governors, but it is too soon to assess the impact.

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Summary of key findings

The provider has the following strengths

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Summary of key findings

 Learners have a good awareness of the career pathways available to them and they are clear about their next steps.  Learners develop very good practical skills and significantly develop their personal, social and employability skills through their qualifications.  Assessors use their specialist knowledge and experience to enthuse and motivate learners during individual and group learning sessions.  Learners have a good understanding and awareness of British values and of the dangers posed to them and their colleagues by extremist ideologies.

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Information about the provider

 Lifelong Opportunities Limited is a small private training provider with a head office in South Normanton, Derbyshire. The company provides programmes for adult learners in receipt of advanced learner loans. Almost all learners are based in London and follow diploma programmes in health and social care, early years and business administration, from level 2 to level 5. Most learners originate from other countries, particularly the Indian subcontinent, and speak English as an additional language. A small team of assessors provide individual and group learning sessions once a month.  The two directors purchased the business in January 2018 as a going concern. They have day-to-day operational responsibility for managing all aspects of the company’s business. In addition to its contract for the delivery of adult learning programmes, the company is subcontracted to provide apprenticeship training in health and social care to Derby

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Information about the provider

College and an independent learning provider, Intraining. This provision was out of scope for this inspection.

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What does the provider need to do to improve further?

 The directors should continue to implement initiatives to improve the overall quality of provision, by: – ensuring that they recruit new learners carefully, taking suitable account of their prior attainment, individual circumstances and job role – strengthening the self-assessment process so that they can evaluate the quality of the provision more accurately – making better use of the available management information to identify and deal swiftly with any decline in performance, such as the proportion of learners who have exceeded their planned end date – establishing governance arrangements swiftly so that they can benefit from the external scrutiny and expertise of board members.  Assessors should improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment by: – continuing to support learners to achieve within their revised planned end date; – increasing the level of detail in feedback, so that learners are clear about what they

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What does the provider need to do to improve further?

need to do to improve their written work.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

 Directors have implemented several improvement actions that have already begun to have a positive impact, such as a decline in the number of learners withdrawing early from programmes. However, they rightly acknowledge that they need to make further improvements to many aspects of the company’s performance, particularly in relation to outcomes for learners.  Leaders’ use of performance and management information requires improvement. Although directors produce a limited range of reports each month, too many gaps exist in the information provided. For example, directors do not carry out any analysis of performance differences based on gender, age or ethnicity and they do not have accurate data on learners’ destinations. Directors only discovered the exact number of learners who had exceeded their planned end date, some by a significant margin, during the inspection.  The company’s self-assessment judgements are largely inaccurate. Judgements about the

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

effectiveness of leadership and management are missing and there are no judgements about learners’ behaviour or personal development. Directors make little use of management information, or of feedback from stakeholders, employers and learners to support judgements. Some aspects of the provision are over-graded.  Notwithstanding the weaknesses in the self-assessment report, the quality improvement plan identifies several suitable improvement actions and directors monitor and review it frequently. However, it is too soon to judge the impact of the actions that directors have taken.  Directors have a realistic strategic direction for the business. The company’s relatively narrow range of provision is entirely appropriate and meets well the needs of staff working in care homes and early years settings in London. Directors have ambitious plans to offer much-needed qualifications in spectator safety for professional football clubs and

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

events management companies in Derbyshire and South Yorkshire, once the quality of provision has improved.  Assessors have developed productive links with care homes and small businesses in London that have resulted in a steady stream of enquiries and applications from prospective learners. The directors have established good links with employers and with the local enterprise partnership in Derbyshire, though these links have not yet resulted in any new provision.  Directors hold assessors to account through effective performance management arrangements. They take decisive action where performance persistently falls below the company’s expectations.  Assessors receive a supportive observation visit once a year and more frequently where the observer identifies performance concerns. Although assessors receive useful oral feedback from these visits, they do not receive clear plans or improvement actions to help

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

them further improve their practice.  Assessors and directors are appropriately qualified and benefit from regular professional development and mandatory training, including in equality and diversity, the ‘Prevent’ duty, British values and health and safety. This ensures that they are suitably trained and prepared to teach adult learners.

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The governance of the provider

 The company does not have formal governance arrangements.  Directors have previously engaged external consultants and freelance professionals to provide them with guidance on funding, quality and curriculum matters. However, they rightly acknowledge the benefits of formalising arrangements for external scrutiny and oversight of the company’s performance. They have already appointed one suitably qualified and experienced education professional to act as a board member, but they have yet to make further appointments.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.  Staff receive appropriate recruitment and background checks. Up-to-date detailed records of all employees and staff are in place. Learners feel safe and have a sound awareness of what to do if they wish to report any concerns. Learners are aware of how to protect themselves from the dangers of cyber bullying and online grooming when using social media.  Vocational assessors promote safe working practices, and learners’ understanding of health and safety is good.  Suitable safeguarding policies and procedures are in place and updated to include reference to radicalisation and extremism. The designated safeguarding and ‘Prevent’ duty officer has received suitable training. Learners’ appreciation and understanding of British values and the relevance of these to their current and future job role are good.  Assessors are aware of the need to protect learners against radicalisation and extremism

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Safeguarding

and have received ‘Prevent’ duty training and updated professional development regarding safeguarding. Learners’ understanding of the ‘Prevent’ duty is good.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

 The company’s previous owners recruited the first two cohorts of learners, in 2016 and 2017. These learners received poor-quality advice and guidance, and most enrolled onto inappropriate programmes with unrealistically short completion dates. Though a few of these learners have now achieved their qualification, the impact of the poor initial advice and guidance is that most of the company’s current 45 learners have exceeded their planned end date.  Following the change in ownership of the company, the two new directors have strengthened the arrangements for initial advice and guidance and assessors now recruit with appropriate attention to learners’ starting points and their personal and career goals.  Assessors have revised learners’ planned end dates based on their personal circumstances and work commitments and, consequently, most learners are making reasonably good progress towards completion of these revised end dates.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

 A few learners make slow progress relative to their peers because they take extended breaks from their work and studies to visit their home country.  Too many assessors fail to identify in sufficient detail strengths and areas for improvement and, consequently, learners are not always clear about how they can improve their work.  Assessors make suitable use of information about learners to provide appropriate support for the development of their skills in English, as most learners speak English as an additional language.  Assessors promote effectively the development of mathematics skills for learners in business administration but in health and care and in early years, very little development of everyday mathematical skills is evident.  Employers are supportive of learners and host at least two observations within the workplace during the period of the course. Frequent discussions take place between

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

employers, assessors and learners, to help learners apply successfully their new knowledge and skills in the workplace.  Assessors are well qualified and experienced. They have suitably high expectations for their learners. Most learners received their schooling in their home country and consequently, they are often unfamiliar with the language, culture and teaching methods in this country. They nevertheless demonstrate high levels of engagement and take responsibility for making progress from their different starting points.  Assessors promote equality of opportunity and diversity well in classroom sessions; they treat learners fairly and encourage learners to treat peers, work colleagues and customers in the workplace with dignity and respect.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

 Learners are very well motivated to make progress and achieve in their chosen career. They are proud of the job they do and value the opportunity provided by the advanced learner loan to enrol on a course to support their career aims and ambitions. Learners are enthusiastic about their studies and demonstrate a positive attitude to learning, producing work of a standard that meets and occasionally exceeds the expectations of the awarding bodies.  Most learners attend scheduled individual and group learning sessions punctually. They develop good employability skills and can explain in detail how to apply theoretical ideas to deal with problems and challenges in the workplace.  Assessors provide impartial advice and guidance, which ensures that learners have a good understanding of their career goals and what they need to do to achieve them. As a result, most learners have a very clear focus on their next steps and how they will go

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

about moving on to their chosen job role.  Learners’ behaviour and conduct are good. They make a valuable contribution to their employer and develop good communication skills that help them to work effectively with a wide range of customers, patients and stakeholders in the healthcare, early years and administration sectors.  The company’s assessors, supported by managers, make good use of a range of well- chosen topical learning resources to help learners prepare for life in Britain. Learners can articulate well their understanding of British values and speak confidently about tolerance, diversity, religion and extremism. They know how to keep themselves and others safe from the risks of radicalisation and extremism and are aware of how to report a concern if they feel vulnerable.  A minority of older learners on health and social care programmes choose to submit assignment work only in handwritten form. These learners display a reluctance to use

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

computers to write and submit assignments or to use internet resources. Some of these learners make slow progress relative to their peers because they can often spend valuable time laboriously re-writing assignments that have failed to meet the required standard or that require further work. Efforts by assessors to help these learners develop basic computing skills have met with only limited success.

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Outcomes for learners Requires improvement

 The proportion of learners recruited to the first two cohorts on adult learning programmes in 2016 and 2017 and who achieved their qualification was low and the few who achieved did so after the planned end date.  Almost all current learners have exceeded their planned period of study. Few learners were able to meet the planned end dates assessors originally set for them. Managers’ data on the progress of current learners indicates that all are on course to achieve within revised timescales that reflect their individual circumstances and starting points.  The proportion of learners recruited in 2016 who withdrew from their course early was high. All learners recruited in the last 12 months are still on programme, reflecting improvements in the recruitment and selection processes.  Learners are well prepared for the next stage of their career. Anecdotal and individual case study evidence suggest that almost all learners remain with their employer after they

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Outcomes for learners Requires improvement

complete their studies, with many gaining promotion or enhanced roles. The few learners who are unemployed when they begin their studies acquire qualifications and appropriate skills and knowledge to enable them to progress to their chosen career. However, directors do not have accurate data on the destination of learners after they complete their studies.

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Provider details

Type of provider Independent learning provider

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Provider details

Approximate number of all learners over the previous full contract year Principal/CEO Arvid Kozlovskis

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Provider information at the time of the inspection

Main course or learning programme level Level 1 or below Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 or above Total number of learners (excluding apprenticeships) 16–18 19+ 16–18 19+ 16–18 19+ 16–18 19+

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Provider information at the time of the inspection

0 0 0 0 0 30 0 15 Number of apprentices by apprenticeship level and age Intermediate Advanced Higher

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Provider information at the time of the inspection

16–18 19+ 16–18 19+ 16–18 19+ - - - - - - Number of traineeships 16–19 19+ Total - - - Number of learners aged 14 to

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Provider information at the time of the inspection

Number of learners for which the provider receives high- needs funding At the time of inspection, the provider contracts with the following main subcontractors: N/A

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Information about this inspection

The inspection team was assisted by one of the company’s directors, as nominee. Inspectors took account of the provider’s most recent self-assessment report and development plans. Inspectors used individual and group interviews and telephone calls to gather the views of learners and staff; these views are reflected within the report. The inspection took into account all relevant provision at the provider.

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Inspection team

Jai Sharda, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Bob Hamp Her Majesty’s Inspector guidance ‘Raising concerns and making a complaint about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.gov.uk/government/publications/complaints-about-ofsted . 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

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

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Inspection team

Employer View Employer View is a 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. To find out more go to www.employerview.ofsted.gov.uk . W

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Inspection team

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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspection team

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 .

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Inspection team

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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.gov.uk/ofsted

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