Advance Care Training Limited

Advance Care Training Limited Monitoring visit report

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Name of lead inspector: Russ Henry, Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Type of provider: Independent learning provider

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Address:

Mercury House Shipstones Business Centre North Gate Nottingham NG7 7FN Monitoring visit: Advance Care Training Limited, 20–21 August 2019

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Context and focus of visit

From October 2018, Ofsted undertook to carry out monitoring visits to all newly directly funded providers of apprenticeship training provision which began to be funded from April 2017 or after by ESFA and/or the apprenticeship levy. This monitoring visit was undertaken as part of those arrangements and as outlined in the ‘Further education and skills inspection handbook’, especially the sections entitled ‘Providers newly directly funded to deliver apprenticeship training provision’ and ‘Monitoring visits’. The focus of these visits is on the themes set out below.

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Context and focus of visit

Advance Care Training Limited is a small independent learning provider. Prior to gaining approval to deliver levy-funded apprenticeships, it worked as an apprenticeship subcontractor to a large further education college. It provides a small range of apprenticeships to employers in the care sector. At the time of the visit, it had six apprentices, five of whom were undertaking level 3 business administration frameworks and one who was taking the level 3 business administrator standard. Two apprentices had recently completed the level 3 framework in the children and young people’s workforce.

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Reasonable progress

Directors have a clear rationale for the apprenticeship offer. Both come from nursing backgrounds and are passionate about increasing the expertise of those working in the care sector. They offer programmes in health and social care, children and young people’s workforce, business administration and customer service. They currently work with two care providers but hope to increase this in the medium term, at a pace that allows them to maintain quality.

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Reasonable progress

Programmes comply fully with apprenticeship requirements. Apprentices are employed in appropriate roles, and receive their entitlement to study time during normal working hours. Off-the-job training is provided through monthly workshops, one-to-one coaching and independent study. The monthly workshops are well planned so that the requirements of qualifications are met. However, training to meet wider learning objectives, and learning activities other than the monthly workshops, are not planned in enough detail.

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Reasonable progress

All staff involved in training and assessing are highly skilled and experienced in the subjects they teach. They hold suitable vocational qualifications and have appropriate teaching and assessing qualifications. All participate in relevant Monitoring visit: Advance Care Training Limited, 20–21 August 2019 professional development activity, which includes frequent standardisation meetings and discussions about programme quality.

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Reasonable progress

Managers maintain excellent relationships with employers. Because they only work with two employers, they know them well and enjoy highly effective communications with them. They have made their expectations clear and employers meet them. However, tutors do not do enough to ensure that on- and off-the job training is well coordinated and consequently apprentices struggle to connect the two.

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Reasonable progress

Staff recruit apprentices with integrity. Apprentices are new to their roles. Staff do basic checks to ensure that apprentices’ jobs meet the requirements of the apprenticeship. They assess apprentices’ existing English and mathematical skills, but they do too little to assess apprentices’ existing vocational and transferable skills. As a result, they are unable to modify learning programmes to take account of these.

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Reasonable progress

Apprentices develop a good range of new skills, knowledge and behaviours that fulfil the requirements of their apprenticeships. Because of their enhanced value to their employers, a number have gained increases in pay during their programmes. Learners enjoy their learning and grow in confidence as a result of their studies.

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Reasonable progress

Tutors use their excellent subject knowledge and vocational experience to teach good quality monthly training sessions. They set tasks for apprentices to complete between training sessions and visit them to provide effective one-to-one coaching. They also provide support via telephone and email that apprentices find helpful. Tutors mark work frequently but they do not provide sufficiently specific feedback to help apprentices improve their performance.

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Reasonable progress

Tutors help apprentices to develop their English and mathematical skills through their vocational studies. For example, they provide feedback on the quality of apprentices’ writing and support them with finance tasks. All of the current apprentices have good GCSEs in these subjects and do not take functional skills qualifications.

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Reasonable progress

Managers and staff have a reasonable understanding of the end-point assessment requirements for the business administrator standard. Plans to prepare for final assessments are timely.

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Reasonable progress

Managers have yet to develop a clear set of formal quality assurance processes. Although they have documented a range of actions, there is little structure to this and no formal calendar of activities. Managers conduct lesson observations, but these are not mentioned in the quality assurance policy and those that have been completed provide little useful information to help tutors to improve. While the Monitoring visit: Advance Care Training Limited, 20–21 August 2019 current arrangements are adequate for the size of the operation, they are unlikely to prove sufficient should the number of apprentices grow as managers intend.

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Reasonable progress

Managers place a high priority on safeguarding and consequently apprentices are safe both in learning sessions and in their workplaces. Safeguarding policies are mostly fit for purpose. However, guidance on staff use of social media to communicate with apprentices is not sufficiently clear.

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Reasonable progress

Managers carry out appropriate pre-employment checks on staff. All those who work with apprentices are subject to enhanced disclosure and barring service checks, identity checks, and professional qualification checks.

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Reasonable progress

Staff receive frequent updates on safeguarding topics through regular meetings and an annual programme of training. However, staff, including the designated safeguarding lead, have not completed safeguarding qualifications.

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Reasonable progress

Apprentices receive guidance on safeguarding themes when they join their programmes and as part of their training. Their knowledge of safeguarding is mostly sound. However, their understanding of radicalisation and extremism, and of British values, is less well developed. Monitoring visit: Advance Care Training Limited, 20–21 August 2019 the 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 . 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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Reasonable progress

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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Reasonable progress

regulates and inspects to 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 children looked after, 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

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Reasonable progress

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

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T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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