Yorkshire College of Beauty Limited

Further education and skills inspection report

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Inspection of Yorkshire College of Beauty Limited

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Requires improvement Education programmes for young people Requires improvement Adult learning programmes Requires improvement Apprenticeships Requires improvement Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Good

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Information about this provider

Yorkshire College of Beauty is an independent learning provider, established in 1983. It is one of the largest specialist providers of beauty therapy programmes in the north of England. It currently has 46 apprentices on level 2 and level 3 beauty therapy apprenticeship standards, delivered at its main site in Yeadon, Leeds. Its sole subcontractor, E.L.M. Academy, based in Lancashire, has 19 apprentices on level 2 and level 3 hairdressing apprenticeship standards. Yorkshire College of Beauty also runs a traineeship programme for 28 young people, with the aim of progressing them onto beauty therapy apprenticeships. There are 56 adults doing a range of adult loans-funded programmes at levels 3 and 4, with the largest number on sports and fitness courses, and the rest working towards beauty therapy qualifications. 18 to 21 October 2022

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What is it like to be a learner with this provider?

Apprentices and trainees develop new knowledge and skills in a wide range of different beauty treatments that are in demand with employers. These require an understanding of how to apply treatments, such as massage, facials and pedicures, safely and to the satisfaction of paying customers.

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What is it like to be a learner with this provider?

Unemployed adults and those who want a change of career benefit from the way that the sports and fitness programme is organised. Adults can take part-time and full-time courses. They can access them on weekdays and at the weekend.

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What is it like to be a learner with this provider?

Apprentices discover how they can strengthen their resilience in a vocational area where ideal types about body image are powerful. They attend presentations by social media influencers who have overcome eating disorders and promote the idea of being content with their own body shape and size. Both apprentices and trainees develop an understanding of their own health and well-being and how they can promote these by adopting good routines around nutrition, exercise and moderating the alcohol that they drink.

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What is it like to be a learner with this provider?

Trainees develop useful employability skills. They are supported to prepare CVs and learn how to prepare for an interview. They use these skills when they apply to salons for work placements and apprenticeship opportunities.

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What is it like to be a learner with this provider?

At the subcontractor, hairdressing apprentices have very positive attitudes towards their programme. Tutors support them to develop as employees at their existing employers, to rent a chair in a salon or set up their own business.

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What is it like to be a learner with this provider?

Tutors create calm learning environments for apprentices and trainees who like the small class sizes and the individual attention that they receive from tutors.

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What is it like to be a learner with this provider?

Although most trainees eventually progress onto an apprenticeship, the pace at which they do this is slow. This leads to frustration for those trainees who get multiple refusals from employers when they try to secure a placement.

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better?

Leaders and managers have taken effective action to revive educational provision in vocational areas that were badly affected by restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. They have engaged well with employers in the beauty therapy, hair and fitness industries to return the number of apprenticeships and adult learning opportunities to pre-pandemic levels.

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better?

Leaders and managers have improved the curriculum offer in response to the demands of employers and partner organisations. They have added a traineeship programme to enable young people from disadvantaged backgrounds who are not yet ready for an apprenticeship to prepare for this progression opportunity. They 18 to 21 October 2022

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have maintained their relationship with a high-quality subcontractor to deliver hairdressing apprenticeships.

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Leaders and managers recruit tutors with current experience in the fields in which they teach. Most of the beauty therapy tutors also run their own business or work in salons alongside their teaching roles. Tutors benefit from good opportunities to increase their vocational knowledge through attending product demonstrations run by cosmetic companies and through attending trade fairs.

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Leaders and managers ensure that apprentices are recruited onto programmes that provide them with new knowledge, skills and behaviours. Most apprentices have no prior knowledge of the subject before they come to the college. The progress that they make means that many apprentices progress from level 2 to higher level programmes.

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Managers and tutors ensure that employers are well informed about the curriculum by sharing a monthly schedule of training activities with them. Employers adapt treatments in salons in line with the training plan. They ensure that most apprentices receive time at work to carry out their studies. As a result, apprentices can apply at work what they have learned in the classroom.

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Tutors plan and deliver the beauty therapy curriculum by combining theory and practical sessions in a logical order so that learners can understand the underlying physiological reasons why they carry out specific treatments. For example, massage treatments of different parts of the body are underpinned by a theoretical knowledge of anatomy and the impact of different health conditions.

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Tutors get apprentices and trainees to constantly repeat practical tasks, building up from the basic to the more complex. Constant practice and assessment results in learners consolidating and being able to replicate these technical skills when they carry them out on clients in salons.

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Tutors use their own industry experience well to help provide careers advice to apprentices. For example, those who run their own businesses inform apprentices about what is required if they want to become self-employed and the advantages and disadvantages of this career choice. Apprentices receive good careers advice on how to make progress within their industry, with external speakers providing them with information of the different options within the industry, such as working in salons, spas and on cruise liners. Advice on careers outside the beauty industry is not provided routinely.

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Leaders and managers do not develop the pedagogical knowledge and skills of tutors well enough. Tutors do not use the most effective and up-to-date teaching techniques to provide an ambitious and powerful curriculum. As a result, the quality of education is not high enough across the different types of provision.

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Leaders and managers have not invested sufficiently in updating the resources available to tutors and learners. Some of the training areas do not have the standard 18 to 21 October 2022

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of décor and basic equipment, such as sinks and curtained areas, that apprentices will find at most of the employers they work with.

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Learners across all provision types do not develop the digital skills that they need to be successful in the modern workplace. Tutors do not use information and communication technologies to enhance their teaching and develop the skills of learners. The new owner director has plans to upgrade the facilities at the provider, but these have not yet been implemented.

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Leaders’ current delivery plan for the traineeship programme does not enable trainees with low starting points to develop their knowledge, skills and behaviours sufficiently for them to be able to secure a placement with an employer in a timely way. There are not enough placements available for the number of trainees recruited onto the programme when it starts.

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Leaders and managers do not track the progress of apprentices and learners effectively enough. For example, information contained in the reviews of apprentices does not accurately reflect the fact that some of them miss sessions and do not arrive on time. As a result, managers do not take rapid action to address these areas of concern, and these apprentices make slower than expected progress.

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Leaders and managers do not have a good enough understanding of the quality of education that tutors provide. They use quality assurance arrangements that do not identify areas of weakness in teaching practice or pick up information that is out of date and incorrect. For example, key policies on the website had not been updated for two years, including the safeguarding policy and procedures. These were only changed during the week of inspection after this was drawn to the attention of managers.

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Too much of the sports and fitness teaching contains fundamental factual errors. For example, a deltoid was incorrectly identified as a synergist in a tricep kickback, and the protraction of the shoulder girdle was wrongly described as pronation. As a result, adult learners do not have a secure knowledge of key aspects of the subject.

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Tutors do not routinely inform apprentices early enough in the programme of how they can achieve a range of grades at end-point assessment. Apprentices are not aware of how to reach high grades, and they are not given aspirational enough targets.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders and managers recruit new staff safely. They carry out the necessary checks to verify their identities, qualifications and previous employment. 18 to 21 October 2022

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All staff undertake training in safeguarding and the risks of radicalisation and extremism. There is a programme of updates on safeguarding concerns, such as county lines, sexting and how to stay safe online.

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Leaders and managers have carried out due diligence checks on the one subcontractor they work with to ensure that its safeguarding policies and procedures comply with their own.

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The designated safeguarding lead works tirelessly to follow up information from learners’ and apprentices’ previous education providers and social care agencies. This enables them to provide appropriate support to those who are identified as causing a concern.

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Despite leaders and managers providing learners and apprentices with a thorough induction into the full range of safeguarding risks, too few learners and apprentices can recall what these risks are.

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What does the provider need to do to improve?

 Ensure that all teachers receive continuous professional development to enable them to improve their pedagogical knowledge and skills, including how to use information communication technologies to enhance their teaching practice and develop the digital skills that learners across all provision types will need at work.  Invest in updating the facilities and resources at the main college site so that apprentices and trainees can benefit from being trained in state-of-the-art facilities, using the latest industry-standard equipment.  Redesign the way the traineeship programme is organised and delivered so that trainees can find a placement with an employer as soon as they are ready to do so.  Establish quality assurance arrangements that enable leaders and managers to evaluate the quality of education and identify areas in need of improvement.  Improve the way that managers and tutors track apprentices’ progress so that

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What does the provider need to do to improve?

they can identify accurately those apprentices who are falling behind and intervene swiftly to get them back on track.  Ensure that all tutors on the sports and fitness programme deliver factually accurate curriculum content to adult learners.  Set clear target grades for apprentices earlier in their programmes so that they can aspire and be encouraged to achieve the highest possible outcomes at their end-point assessment.  Provide more opportunities for apprentices and trainees to understand and recall safeguarding risks that are relevant to them in their workplaces and the wider community. 18 to 21 October 2022

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Provider details

Address Regency House Kirk Lane Yeadon Leeds LS19 7EP

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Provider details

Principal, CEO or equivalent Lewis Hatcher

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Provider details

Provider type Independent learning provider

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Provider details

Date of previous inspection 15 and 16 June 2016

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Provider details

Main subcontractors E.L.M. Academy Limited 18 to 21 October 2022

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Information about this inspection

The inspection team was assisted by the training director, as nominee. Inspectors took account of the provider’s most recent self-assessment report and development plans, and the previous inspection report. The inspection was carried out using the further education and skills inspection handbook and took into account all relevant provision at the provider. Inspectors collected a wide range of evidence to inform judgements, including visiting learning sessions, scrutinising learners’ work, seeking the views of learners, staff and other stakeholders, and examining the provider’s documentation and records.

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Inspection team

Charles Searle, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector Joanne Stork His Majesty’s Inspector Alison Gray Ofsted Inspector Gareth Luke Ofsted Inspector 18 to 21 October 2022

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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.

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