Fairway Training (Healthcare) Limited

Fairway Training (Healthcare) Limited Monitoring visit report

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Name of lead inspector: Stuart Collett, His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection dates: 14 and 15 September 2022

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Type of provider: Independent learning provider

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Address:

1st Floor 2 Duke Street Sutton Coldfield West Midlands B72 1RJ Monitoring visit: Fairway Training (Healthcare) Limited, 14 and 15 September 2022

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Context and focus of visit

From March 2019, Ofsted undertook to carry out monitoring visits to all newly directly funded providers of adult learning provision which began to be funded from August 2017 or after by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA). 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 ‘Monitoring visits’ and ‘Monitoring visits to providers that are newly directly publicly funded’. The focus of these visits is on the themes set out below.

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Context and focus of visit

Fairway Training (Healthcare) Limited, trading as Embark Learning Care Academy, is an independent learning provider based in Sutton Coldfield in the West Midlands, with a satellite centre in Telford, Shropshire. The provider holds a contract with the ESFA to provide training to adult learners. It offers a three-week, level 1 pre- employment course in health and social care. At the time of the visit, there were fewer than five learners enrolled on the course.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders demonstrate a clear rationale for the curriculum they offer. They have focused the curriculum on health and social care, their sector of expertise. They are clear in their intent for the curriculum to have a positive impact for both learners and employers.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders demonstrate a clear understanding of the recruitment challenges facing the care sector. They have developed a pre-employment course that is designed to attract new entrants to the sector. Leaders have devised a three-week course that provides learners with the introductory knowledge and skills to support them to access employment in the care sector while gaining a level 1 qualification.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders and managers have developed effective links with several external agencies that refer potential learners to the programme. These links help to ensure that the programme is accessible to learners who are interested in a career in health and social care but need training or further support to enable them to secure employment.

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Reasonable progress

Managers regularly review the curriculum through robust quality assurance processes that monitor progress and pay close attention to feedback from learners when setting targets to improve the curriculum. For example, following feedback on the Monitoring visit: Fairway Training (Healthcare) Limited, 14 and 15 September 2022 amount of written work learners need to complete, managers have developed new resources that allow learners to complete this work in other ways, such as through group work or presentations, while still ensuring that learners’ curricular goals are met.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders ensure that they have appropriately qualified and experienced staff in place to teach the curriculum. All teaching staff have significant vocational experience in the sector, which they keep up to date through activities such as ‘industry days’ in which they participate regularly, as well as completing regular development of their teaching skills.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders have put in place an appropriate structure for governance that includes external scrutiny to hold leaders to account. To strengthen these arrangements, they have recently appointed a new governor with a background in education to provide further challenge on the quality of education that learners receive. However, as this appointment is new, the impact cannot yet be seen.

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Reasonable progress

Managers and teachers have developed a broad and ambitious curriculum that provides learners with a rounded introduction to working in health and social care. As a result, learners have increased their confidence to enter the workplace as they have learned a significant number of new working practices that they will encounter at work.

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Reasonable progress

Managers have structured the curriculum well. Teaching begins by introducing topics such as communication and person-centred care, before focusing on more specific and detailed skills development later in the course. Topics such as working with those with autistic spectrum disorder are carefully woven in alongside other topics, to add meaningful context.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders ensure that learning environments are well equipped with high-quality, realistic resources such as manikins, hospital bed hoists, and standing and turning frames to ensure that learners have access to effective practical skills training that reflects well the equipment learners will use in the workplace. Consequently, learners develop these skills well and are confident to use this equipment.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders have responded to research that identifies traditionally low digital skills among care workers, and develop these through the curriculum as a core part of learners’ programmes. Learners have access to laptops throughout their learning and they conduct useful activities to develop their wider digital skills such as researching topics via search engines and creating safeguarding resources. As a result, learners Monitoring visit: Fairway Training (Healthcare) Limited, 14 and 15 September 2022 are well prepared for the changes taking place in the sector, and the increasing use of technology in care settings.

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Reasonable progress

Trainers provide helpful and frequent written and spoken feedback to learners. Trainers annotate their work, including spellings, and highlight areas learners need to improve. However, trainers do not always probe beyond initial questions to check learners’ deeper understanding and knowledge of the technical information they receive.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders and managers have appointed a suitably qualified and experienced designated safeguarding lead (DSL) and deputy, who undergo regular training to keep their knowledge current.

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Reasonable progress

The DSL has put in place suitable policies and procedures to record and respond to safeguarding issues and produces regular reports to senior leaders and managers on safeguarding developments. The DSL has also put in place an appropriate recruitment policy, which ensures that new staff are subject to appropriate checks before working with learners.

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Reasonable progress

All staff receive regular training to keep their knowledge of safeguarding and associated topics up to date and receive a monthly newsletter from the DSL outlining any emerging issues, such as local risks or themes that learners need to be made aware of.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders and managers have established links with local agencies for the referral of safeguarding concerns. However, they recognise that they have not yet ensured that they receive sufficient localised information to inform learners of the risks in the areas in which learners live and work, although they have recently started to take steps to respond to this. Monitoring visit: Fairway Training (Healthcare) Limited, 14 and 15 September 2022 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

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Reasonable progress

children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Reasonable progress

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Reasonable 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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