I & F Limited (trading as Skills4 Group)

I & F Limited Progress monitoring report

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Name of lead inspector: Alastair Mollon, Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Type of provider: Independent learning provider

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Address: 272 Sharoe Green Lane Fulwood Preston PR2 9HD Monitoring visit: I & F Limited, 24–25 February 2021

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Context and focus of visit

I & F Limited (trading as Skills4Pharmacy) received a new provider monitoring visit in December 2018. They provide apprenticeships for pharmacy assistants and pharmacy technicians in community and hospital pharmacies. At that time, inspectors made progress judgements under three themes.

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Context and focus of visit

This monitoring visit focused on the extent to which leaders and those responsible for governance are taking effective action to provide education and training in the current circumstances. It was undertaken as outlined in the operational note on visits carried out from January 2021 and with reference to the further education and skills handbook.

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Context and focus of visit

These visits are to help learners, parents, employers and government understand how providers are meeting the needs of learners in this period, including those with high needs and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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Context and focus of visit

Following changes to government guidance and the imposition of COVID-19 (coronavirus) lockdown restrictions, inspectors carried out this monitoring activity remotely. As a result, the range of evidence available to inspectors was narrower than would be the case during an on-site inspection. Therefore, this report provides a more limited level of assurance.

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Context and focus of visit

The impact of COVID-19 has been taken into account in the findings and progress judgement below. Inspectors did not evaluate leaders’ response to COVID-19 during the spring and summer of 2020, when the provider was not open to all learners and there were no national expectations regarding remote education.

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Insufficient progress

Leaders have been too slow to rectify the areas identified as requiring improvement at the new provider monitoring visit. Governance arrangements continue to lack rigour. This means that leaders do not receive enough challenge or scrutiny. They do not have an accurate oversight of the quality of the curriculum. Leaders have an overly positive view of the quality of apprentices’ training. They do not evaluate the quality of provision accurately enough. Monitoring visit: I & F Limited, 24–25 February 2021 Managers and tutors do not plan the curriculum effectively. They have broken the level 2 standard into modules for training and assessment. However, managers do not take into account apprentices’ individual knowledge and experience and the training they require to be competent. As a result, apprentices are not clear about what they need to learn and often have to redo work. Modules of learning are not

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Insufficient progress

ordered well enough to ensure that apprentices develop the knowledge, skills and behaviours at the right point in their apprenticeship. For example, the module on professional behaviours is the last module to be taught, when the apprentices need to demonstrate these behaviours throughout their apprenticeship to be successful pharmacy assistants.

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Insufficient progress

Managers have developed additional learning for apprentices to complete while at work. However, on-the-job training is not planned well and often study time is only taken when the pharmacy is quiet. As a result, not all apprentices receive the time they need for learning activities and often complete this work in their own time rather than in their normal working hours.

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Insufficient progress

Tutors do not use the results of assessments completed at the start of the programme to plan apprentices’ learning. They do not assess aspects such as apprentices’ prior knowledge, work experience or confidence with enough rigor. As a result, apprentices do not benefit from an individualised curriculum that allows them to develop substantial new knowledge, skills and behaviours throughout their apprenticeship.

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Insufficient progress

Tutors do not routinely give useful feedback on apprentices’ written work to help them improve the quality of their work. Tutors focus on the criteria needed for the module. They fail to identify with enough detail what improvements apprentices need to make to their written work. As a result, apprentices do not develop their English skills swiftly enough and often repeat mistakes.

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Insufficient progress

Leaders have restructured the teaching team since the new provider monitoring visit. They have designed a staff development programme to improve the quality of teaching for apprentices. However, at the time of the visit, the actions taken by leaders had not yet had the desired impact.

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Insufficient progress

Apprentices have a clear understanding of the benefits the apprenticeship brings to them in their current and potential future roles. They are learning new knowledge, skills and behaviours that they apply in pharmacies and hospitals. As a result, apprentices are better at their jobs because of how they apply their new learning to work situations. For example, level 3 pharmacy technician apprentices clearly articulate why cytotoxic medicines are potentially hazardous and cannot be touched or stored in a dispensing robot. They explain that cytotoxic means ‘harmful to living cells’ and that the drugs are vital in cancer treatment. Apprentices understand the high risks and that these drugs need careful dispensing in isolation, so they do not contaminate other drugs and cause harm to patients. Monitoring visit: I & F Limited, 24–25 February 2021 Tutors ensure apprentices develop their mathematical skills through their training.

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Insufficient progress

Apprentices understand that careful and accurate calculations are critical in dispensing medicines.

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Insufficient progress

Tutors continue to provide advice and guidance sessions throughout the programme. They provide information on new potential career pathways, such as vaccination programme opportunities.

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Insufficient progress

Tutors have provided a greater level of pastoral and welfare support for apprentices since the start of the pandemic. The welfare lead contacts apprentices early in their programme for welfare and well-being checks. They act as an additional point of contact to ensure apprentices have support should they need it. Apprentices feel safe and understand how to keep themselves safe and how to identify potential concerns around vulnerable patients.

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Insufficient progress

Employers and apprentices value the support given by tutors. Tutors record sessions and make them available for apprentices who struggle to attend because of the demands of their job or if they have a problem with technology. Apprentices who fall behind due to added work or personal pressures because of the COVID-19 pandemic receive extra individual support. As a result, apprentices can recall recent learning and what they need to do to prepare for their assessments. For example, apprentices explain clearly the impact over-prescribed antibiotics can have on the body.

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Insufficient progress

Leaders and those responsible for governance should take further action to:

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Insufficient progress

 implement a robust quality assurance process which accurately evaluates the quality of training  ensure that managers and trainers plan the curriculum effectively, including the coordination of, and access to, on- and off-the-job training  involve employers fully in planning and reviewing their apprentices’ learning and progress  ensure tutors collect and use information about apprentices’ prior knowledge, skills and experience to plan individualised programmes that enables apprentices to reach their potential. Monitoring visit: I & F Limited, 24–25 February 2021 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

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Insufficient progress

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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Insufficient progress

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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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