King's College London

Name of lead inspector: Andrea McMahon, His Majesty’s Inspector

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Type of provider: Higher education institution

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Address:

James Clark Maxwell Building 57 Waterloo Road London SE1 8WA King’s College London, 2 and 3 July 2025

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Context and focus of visit

Ofsted undertakes to carry out monitoring visits to all newly directly funded providers of apprenticeship training provision funded by the Department for Education 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 ‘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

King’s College London is a higher education provider located in south London. Leaders started offering apprenticeships in November 2022.

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Context and focus of visit

At time of the visit, there were 15 apprentices studying the level 7 clinical pharmacology scientist (integrated degree) standard. On completion of their apprenticeship, apprentices gain a post-graduate clinical pharmacology degree in addition to their apprenticeship certificate.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders and managers make sure that they meet the requirements of an apprenticeship. They recruit apprentices who are in the right job roles and ensure that they receive their entitlement to training. Staff meet frequently with employers to carry out useful reviews of apprentices’ progress.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders and managers have clearly recognised the shortages that exist for trained clinical pharmacology scientists in the field of pharmaceutical medicine research. They have developed their apprenticeship to provide individuals with the skills they need to understand the effect of drugs on the human body through clinical trialling and testing, and how they work when treating diseases. Their apprenticeship effectively meets local, regional and national skills shortages.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders have recruited qualified staff who have extensive industry experience. Lecturers are experts in pharmacology and toxicology, innovative pharmaceutics and drug development science. Most have post-graduate qualifications, write academic articles and present their research at academic conferences. Lecturers use their knowledge and skills to teach apprentices well. King’s College London, 2 and 3 July 2025 Leaders and managers have suitable arrangements in place to monitor the quality of their apprenticeship. They effectively use feedback from external examiners and apprentices, and module review and evaluation to put actions in place to improve the quality of their apprenticeship. For example, they adjusted their curriculum in response to their scientific advisory board and included new topics on data science and artificial intelligence. Apprentices learn valuable up-to-date knowledge that supports them at work.

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Reasonable progress

Staff teach the curriculum effectively so that apprentices increase their knowledge and skills incrementally. For example, apprentices learn about non-clinical and pharmaceutical drug development before they learn about pharmacokinetics and toxicology. Then they use this knowledge to analyse data sets to decide on the most effective drugs to develop for clinical trials.

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Reasonable progress

Lecturers and guest speakers use a range of techniques to teach apprentices well. They give clear presentations, for example about legislation relating to the design and layout of medical leaflets and medicine packaging. They invite discussion and debate on topics such as whether pregnant women should take part in clinical trials, and they offer additional tutorials on topics apprentices feel less confident in. Apprentices enjoy what they learn and benefit from good teaching.

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Reasonable progress

Most apprentices gain new knowledge, skills and behaviours which they apply in their workplace. For example, they gain a clear understanding of clinical study protocols and the justifications for and implications of making decisions in drug development. They learn how to conduct thorough risk assessments of clinical trials in the workplace and about what to consider when trialling drugs and medicines. As a result, apprentices add value to the settings in which they work.

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Reasonable progress

In most reviews of apprentices’ progress, lecturers support apprentices to reflect effectively on the knowledge apprentices gain through their studies and in the workplace. In a few instances, employers’ contributions at reviews do not include how apprentices can gain opportunities at work to improve their skills or follow up on improvement actions identified at previous reviews. As a result, in a few instances, apprentices do not benefit from support that would help them to further enhance their skills in the workplace.

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Reasonable progress

King’s College London, 2 and 3 July 2025 Leaders and managers have thorough safeguarding arrangements. They have established clearly defined lead and deputy lead safeguarding roles across the university and within faculties. Senior leaders monitor concerns effectively through their safeguarding oversight and steering committee groups. Staff complete safeguarding training and update their knowledge regularly. Apprentices know to whom they should report any concerns. They are confident that they would be listened to.

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Reasonable progress

Leaders effectively assess the risks to apprentices under the ‘Prevent’ duty. They update their risk assessment in line with national updates and local intelligence. Safeguarding leads have useful external links with, for example, the local authority. King’s College London, 2 and 3 July 2025 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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Reasonable progress

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Reasonable progress

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Reasonable progress

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Reasonable progress

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

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