E-Careers Education Limited

Further education and skills inspection report

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Inspection of E-Careers Education Limited

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Apprenticeships Good Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this provider

E-Careers Education Limited (E-Careers) is a new apprenticeship training provider established as part of a group of companies that provide commercial training courses. E-Careers acquired an existing apprenticeship training provider, Consortia Training Limited, in December 2022 and began providing training in January 2023. As well as recruiting apprentices directly, E-Careers took on 37 apprentices who transferred from another training provider part way through their courses. At the time of the inspection, there were 111 apprentices, of whom all but two were over 18 years of age. Apprenticeships include level 2 accounts and finance assistants; level 3 assistant accountants, business administrators, information communications technicians, team leaders, customer service specialists and data technicians; level 4 data analysts, business analysts, network engineers, and professional accounting or taxation technicians; and level 5 operations managers.

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

Most apprentices are very satisfied with the training that they receive. They are well motivated, participate well in lessons and complete work on time. They develop their skills and knowledge well and become more effective at work.

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

Coaches ensure that employers understand apprenticeship requirements. They work with them to identify the specific skills and knowledge that are likely to be most useful to apprentices and plan courses accordingly. Employers participate well in apprentices’ progress reviews, and this ensures that they can contribute to apprentices’ learning.

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

E-careers has a positive culture in which friendly and caring coaches support apprentices well. Apprentices behave respectfully towards each other. They value the experience that their peers bring to lessons and feel comfortable in sharing their own.

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

Coaches provide effective training, and apprentices consistently report how they have developed their confidence at work as a result. Many apprentices feel more able to tackle difficult tasks, such as having challenging conversations with colleagues, and to apply new and complex skills within their roles.

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

Coaches take the safety and well-being of their apprentices seriously and discuss relevant matters during progress reviews. They provide support and guidance to help apprentices to navigate difficulties in their personal lives. They help apprentices to stay safe and to understand the support available to them.

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better?

Leaders and managers have harnessed their considerable experience of providing commercial training courses to develop a small number of apprenticeships. Managers and coaches work well with apprentices to identify the specific skills and knowledge that they need. They share general course outlines with employers, who offer their views on which elements are most useful and whether any additional topics should be included.

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better?

Staff organise topics in sequences that allow apprentices to master fundamental concepts before studying more complex themes. For example, courses for information communications technicians start with basic computer hardware topics before moving on to networking. This ensures that apprentices have the knowledge that they need to tackle the later topics.

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better?

Coaches prepare training plans that include lessons, worksheets, online learning, research and reading. However, in a few cases, these plans do not describe in sufficient detail what apprentices should do. For example, they include generic activities, such as ‘work shadowing’, without specifying the purpose of the activity or the skills and knowledge the activity is intended to focus on. 18 to 20 October 2023

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Coaches support apprentices who speak English as an additional language well. They are alert to signs and endeavour to help apprentices with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) by adjusting their teaching and by using different resources. However, managers have not provided training to help all coaches to recognise signs that an apprentice may have SEND or to help them provide the most suitable support.

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Most coaches have highly relevant and extensive subject expertise and relevant teaching qualifications. They use their skills and knowledge well to illuminate topics and to answer apprentices’ questions. However, a small number of coaches have limited subject expertise and have not completed any teacher training. This limits the effectiveness of their teaching.

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Coaches provide clear explanations of topics in lessons and use helpful models and examples to illustrate them. Where apprentices do not fully understand a theme, coaches provide additional helpful guidance and support in one-to-one coaching sessions. Coaches provide apprentices with high-quality self-study resources that complement their teaching.

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Coaches ensure that the pace and content of lessons is suitably challenging and that activities are sufficiently difficult. They set appropriately demanding workplace activities that require apprentices to apply the knowledge and skills they have developed in lessons.

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Most coaches make effective checks to ensure that apprentices understand topics. They use clear and challenging questions and draw out detailed responses from apprentices. However, in a few cases, coaches ask questions in ways that apprentices do not fully understand and therefore struggle to answer. Coaches often supplement questioning with worksheets. However, on occasion, worksheet questions are too broad and vague to provide insight into apprentices’ understanding.

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Most apprentices develop their knowledge and skills well and, consequently, they become valued employees. However, too many of the apprentices taken on from another provider have not made enough progress. Managers are aware of this and are taking appropriate steps to support them.

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Coaches use suitable activities to prepare apprentices for their final assessments. However, it is too early to judge the success of this work because none of the apprentices have reached the end of their studies yet. Most apprentices who take functional skills examinations are successful.

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Coaches monitor the attendance of apprentices well and take appropriate steps to support those who miss lessons. However, managers do not have enough oversight of attendance across all programmes and therefore rely on individual coaches to alert them to concerns. They cannot, therefore, be sure that there are no hidden problems with attendance. 18 to 20 October 2023

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The effectiveness with which coaches introduce apprentices to broader topics, such as equality, healthy relationships, and fundamental British values, varies. Many apprentices benefit from discussions that help them to relate these values to their life and work and to understand current news events. However, a few coaches lack the confidence to discuss challenging topics and miss opportunities to explore themes with apprentices.

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Coaches draw on information from employers to provide apprentices with suitable careers guidance. This helps apprentices to think about their long-term objectives. However, there is no formal programme of impartial careers education and guidance for the very few young apprentices.

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Managers have established appropriate quality improvement processes. They check the standards of training plans, progress reviews and learning resources, and they undertake observations of teaching. However, they focus on coaches’ compliance with key indicators rather than on the quality of education. Consequently, quality assurance activity does not yet inform improvement plans well enough.

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Leaders make sure that coaches have time to develop their skills. Coaches value the opportunity to share practice with their peers but would welcome more formal training on teaching and assessment. Leaders acknowledge this and plan to provide courses on topics such as lesson design and the use of questioning.

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Board members have suitable backgrounds. They are ambitious and passionate about apprenticeships. They provide a good level of challenge to managers. They provide suitable guidance on a range of relevant matters, such as the quality of training, business risk, safeguarding, staffing and succession planning.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

For the very small number of young apprentices, managers have not established formal mechanisms to ensure that coaches meet with them frequently on a face-to- face basis.

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What does the provider need to do to improve?

 Ensure that elements of off-the-job training that apprentices complete outside of lessons are consistently well planned so that it is clear what apprentices should do and what they are expected to learn as a result.  Provide all coaches with access to suitable training to enhance their teaching skills, particularly in relation to checking apprentices’ understanding of topics and in identifying and supporting apprentices with SEND.  Develop mechanisms for providing managers with a clear overview of apprentices’ attendance and ensure that the very few young apprentices meet frequently with their coaches in person. 18 to 20 October 2023

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 Help coaches to become more confident when exploring personal development themes with apprentices.  Improve quality improvement processes so that they focus more on quality and not just compliance. 18 to 20 October 2023

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Provider details

Address Unit 6, Waterside Drive Langley Slough SL3 6EZ

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Provider details

Principal, CEO or equivalent Jaswinder Gandhum

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Provider details

Provider type Independent learning provider

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Provider details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Provider details

Main subcontractors None 18 to 20 October 2023

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Information about this inspection

The inspection team was assisted by the director of quality and compliance, as nominee. Inspectors took account of the provider’s most recent self-assessment report and development plans. 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 apprentices’ work, seeking the views of apprentices, staff and other stakeholders, and examining the provider’s documentation and records.

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Inspection team

Russ Henry, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector Vicki Locke His Majesty’s Inspector Sarah Houghton His Majesty’s Inspector 18 to 20 October 2023

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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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