Training 4 U Services (UK) Ltd

Further education and skills inspection report

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Training 4 U Services (UK) Ltd Independent Learning Provider

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate Adult learning programmes Inadequate

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Inadequate

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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Summary of key findings

 Safeguarding arrangements are ineffective. Too many learners do not know how to keep themselves safe or who to contact should they need to raise a concern.  Most adults make slow progress from their starting points. Too many learners do not achieve their qualifications.  Leaders have a poor understanding of the strengths and weaknesses in the quality of teaching, learning and assessment and outcomes for learners.  Leaders fail to ensure that learners develop their skills in English and mathematics.  Teachers do not enable learners to extend their knowledge and apply their learning. As a result, the standard of learners’ work is poor.  Leaders’ quality assurance arrangements are ineffective. Standards of learners’ work do not meet the requirements of the qualifications, and assessment practices are weak.  Leaders do not have robust governance arrangements in place for effective oversight and scrutiny of the provision. As a result,

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Summary of key findings

leaders are not held to account for the quality of the provision.  Leaders do not have effective plans in place to improve the quality of their provision.

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Information about the provider

 Training 4 U Services Ltd is a medium-sized provider based in Luton that provides courses at levels 3 and 4 for adults who study health and social care, beauty therapy, childcare, supporting teaching and learning in schools, and business administration. The provider offers courses mostly in Luton and in Bradford. Luton is in the top 20% nationally of the most deprived local authorities. The proportion of people who are unemployed and claiming benefits is higher than the national level. Training 4 U Services Ltd attracts most of its learners from Black and Asian minority ethnic groups.  Training 4 U Services Ltd works in partnership with other learning providers, Education Partnership UK and The Beauty Academy, in delivering level 3 and level 4 courses. The provider is also a subcontractor for Cambridge Regional College and Develop EBP Ltd providing study programmes.

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What does the provider need to do to improve further?

 Urgently ensure that all safeguarding arrangements are robust and secure by putting in place actions to ensure that: – the designated safeguarding lead undertakes appropriate safeguarding training – the safeguarding policy is fit for purpose and provides clear guidance to all staff and learners – all learners and staff receive high-quality training to make sure they know who the designated safeguarding lead is, how to report concerns and follow correct safeguarding processes and procedures – all learners and staff undertake appropriate training to develop their understanding of how to protect themselves and others from threats posed by radicalisation and extremism.  Swiftly put in place effective internal quality assurance arrangements to ensure that: – assessments of learners’ evidence in their portfolios are accurate and robust – staff are held to account effectively – the standard of learners’ work meets the requirements of the qualifications.

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What does the provider need to do to improve further?

 Swiftly put in place arrangements for governance and external scrutiny so that leaders are challenged effectively and held to account.  Urgently improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment and outcomes for learners by putting in place accurate and robust self-assessment, so that leaders identify strengths and weaknesses in the provision and swiftly intervene to improve standards.  Ensure that teachers improve their craft of teaching to help learners reach their full potential.  Urgently establish an effective way to help learners develop their skills in English and mathematics.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

 Leaders do not have high expectations of their staff and learners. They do not ensure that learners achieve their qualifications, make good progress and progress to higher learning or employment.  Leaders’ arrangements to assure quality in the assessment of learners’ work are neither accurate nor robust. Assessment practice is weak. Too much work in learners’ portfolios does not meet the standard required to achieve their qualifications.  Leaders’ self-assessment is inaccurate. Leaders do not use information they have available to effectively evaluate the quality of their provision. As a result, they do not have a good understanding of the quality of their provision.  Leaders do not have a good understanding of the quality of teaching, learning and assessment. They do not hold their staff and partners to account effectively. Leaders make insufficient use of reports from awarding bodies and from observations. Leaders do

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

not put effective actions in place to steer improvement.  Leaders do not ensure that teachers and assessors perform well enough to enable learners to make good progress. Processes to observe staff performance are weak, observations on teaching and assessment are irregular and leaders do not challenge staff to improve their craft of teaching. Observation reports do not evaluate the learning that takes place and focus too heavily on processes and procedures. Leaders do not sufficiently appraise their staff or monitor actions from observation reports to ensure that staff improve their practice.  Leaders do not adequately track and monitor learners’ progress, or the progress of different groups. Leaders’ own data information systems are inaccurate, and they do not intervene quickly enough when learners fall behind with their studies.  Leaders do not check that provision provided at partners’ sites is good. As a result, too

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

many learners who study at the Bradford centre have failed their health and social care level 3 diploma due to weak assessment practice.  Leaders do not ensure that their teachers and assessors promote the value of English and mathematics with their learners. Consequently, learners do not improve their skills in these essential subjects.  Leaders have made no arrangements to ensure that learners receive impartial careers advice and guidance. Staff do not provide learners with relevant information to help them make informed choices about their next steps.  Leaders do not monitor learners’ attendance and punctuality and, as a result, attendance is low.

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The governance of the provider

 Governance arrangements are ineffective. There are no arrangements in place for external scrutiny and challenge to leaders. As a result, leaders are not held rigorously to account for the quality of the provision. Leaders do not effectively hold their managers and partners to account and they do not make use of the information they have available to them to intervene when standards fall below the level expected.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective.  Leaders do not ensure that their staff and learners have a good understanding of the organisation’s policies and procedures. Safeguarding and ‘Prevent’ duty policies are not fit for purpose. They do not provide concise and succinct information to learners and staff, such as how to make referrals or who to contact should a concern arise. As a result, too many learners do not know who to contact and staff do not follow correct protocols when issues are identified. Leaders fail to assure themselves that workplaces are safe.  The designated safeguarding lead is not appropriately trained and has a limited understanding of the organisation’s statutory duty to safeguard learners and staff. Leaders have failed to ensure that they safeguard learners under the ‘Prevent’ duty guidance. Staff and learners do not have a good understanding of how to protect

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Safeguarding

themselves from threats posed by radicalisation and extremism. Too many learners do not know how to keep themselves and others safe online. They are not made sufficiently aware of safeguarding topics such as female genital mutilation, child sexual exploitation, forced marriage and gang-related violence.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

 Staff do not have high expectations of their learners. Too much teaching focuses narrowly on the outcomes for the qualifications and does not enable learners to deepen their learning and make significant progress.  Teaching does not challenge learners to develop their higher-order thinking skills. As a result, learners cannot analyse and evaluate sufficiently well and meet the requirements of their level 3 and level 4 qualifications.  Assessment practice is weak and does not support learners to improve their work and develop their knowledge and skills. As a result, learners do not correct basic errors and make limited progress. Too many teachers assess learners’ portfolios as fully completed successfully when learners have not produced work on mandatory qualification units. In too many instances, learners’ work in portfolios closely matches that in textbooks and other learners’ work.  Teachers are not aware of their learners’ progress because reviews are infrequent and

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

superficial. Learners studying health and social care, supporting teaching and learning and assessing vocational subjects do not receive sufficient feedback at reviews to help them to make swift progress.  Target-setting is weak. Teachers and assessors do not set challenging targets with their learners that encourage them to extend their knowledge and skills. Targets are too narrow and solely focused on any outstanding units or work that learners must complete.  Teachers and assessors do not effectively involve employers in reviews. Assessors rarely comment on learners’ practical skills that they observe in the workplace to enable learners to understand how well they are progressing.  Teachers do not help learners improve their English and mathematical skills. They do not correct learners’ spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. In a few instances, teachers’ amendments of learners’ work are incorrect. Teachers do not support learners to extend

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

their vocabulary and their use and spelling of technical words. Teachers do not correct learners’ inaccurate calculations.  Teachers and assessors do not improve learners’ understanding of equality. They pay scant attention to ensuring that their learners understand the needs of diverse customers in the industries they aspire to work in. For example, in a beauty therapy lesson, the teacher did not ensure that learners understood the difference in skin types and the importance of selecting the correct massage cream to meet clients’ needs.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Inadequate

 Attendance and punctuality are poor. Too many learners do not attend their lessons.  Learners do not develop their skills in English and mathematics.  Initial advice and guidance given to learners at the beginning of their courses is weak. Staff do not provide learners with pertinent information, such as the importance of repaying their adult learning loans or how to make informed choices for their next steps.  Too many learners are placed onto the wrong course at the wrong level. For example, a few learners with no previous qualifications are studying beauty therapy or care courses at level 3. This delays their progress because they lack the basic skills required for the qualifications.  Learners do not have sufficient awareness of British values, including the importance of tolerance, rule of law and value of democracy.  Learners do not know how to protect themselves from the risks associated with

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Inadequate

radicalisation and extremism. Most learners cannot articulate any knowledge about topics such as online safety, forms of abuse, grooming or bullying.

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Outcomes for learners Inadequate

 Too many learners make significantly slow progress because of poor teaching and assessment. Too many learners have passed their planned end date and do not achieve their qualifications due to poor assessment planning and a lack of evidence in their portfolios.  The standard of learners’ work is poor. Teachers do not enable their learners to produce practical and theory work of the required standard to ensure that they can progress to achieve their career aspirations. Marked work demonstrates that learners frequently copy from workbooks and teachers’ own presentations to complete assignments, without challenge.  Too many learners do not improve their knowledge, understanding and skills to prepare them well for their next steps. For example, several learners who have progressed from level 2 to level 3 courses do not demonstrate that they have the necessary competencies and skills required to study at level 3.

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Outcomes for learners Inadequate

 The standard of learners’ written work does not meet the expected level required for the qualifications. For example, learners studying the supporting teaching and learning in schools qualification at level 4 do not produce written work that meets the criteria set for the qualification.  Too many learners who complete or leave their qualifications remain unemployed. Only a few progress to a higher level of learning or secured employment.

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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 Mohammed Islam

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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

- - - - - 6 - 1 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 -

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Provider information at the time of the inspection

At the time of inspection, the provider contracts with the following main subcontractors: -

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Information about this inspection

The inspection team was assisted by the chief executive officer, as nominee. Inspectors took account of the provider’s most recent self-assessment report and development plans. Inspectors used group and individual interviews, telephone calls and online questionnaires to gather the views of learners 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.

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Inspection team

Harpreet Nagra, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Susan Gay Ofsted 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 .

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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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