Gower College Swansea

Gower College Swansea

Address: Unit 1-2, SA5 4HB Unique reference number (URN): 2495062

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Safeguarding standards met

The safeguarding standards are met. This means that leaders and/or those responsible for governance and oversight fulfil their specific responsibilities and have established an open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively identified, acted upon and managed. As a result, learners are made safer and feel safe.

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How we evaluate safeguarding

When we inspect providers for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes:

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How we evaluate safeguarding

Met: The provider has an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not met: The provider has not created an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not all legal requirements are met.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Leaders foster a culture of inclusion and support that creates a welcoming learning environment in which their apprentices in England feel safe. Most of the apprentices, all of whom study online, feel they belong with the college and enjoy their learning.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Leaders have developed effective arrangements to identify all apprentices’ progress and the impact of their support strategies. They assess the starting points and learning needs of apprentices thoroughly and make prompt referrals to college support staff. Staff implement reasonable adaptations or provide additional learning resources which apprentices value.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Support staff are appropriately qualified and experienced. The college’s neurodiversity team and extensive network of appropriately qualified student-support officers work well together. They have been trained appropriately to provide effective and proportionate interventions, gradually tapering off support as apprentices’ needs reduce. Neurodiversity team members support apprentices in person in their workplaces or accompany them to in-depth diagnostic sessions with specialist agencies when required.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Apprentices know how they can access support to deal with personal concerns. They are secure in their belief that their assessor will listen and respond to these concerns and escalate the matter to senior specialist staff if needed.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

Since the previous inspection, too many apprentices had withdrawn from their courses, were making slow progress or had not achieved their qualifications. Following a quality review, the college’s recently appointed senior leadership team quickly and correctly identified most of the long-standing failings in the English apprenticeship provision. They implemented comprehensive quality-improvement actions to rectify these. However, sustained impact of the team's actions was not evident at the time of the inspection. Furthermore, the team had not identified shortcomings in the quality of training and support for apprentices with low English and mathematics skills. Leaders and governors had recently decided to stop recruiting apprentices in England and to support existing apprentices to complete and achieve their apprenticeships.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

Leaders have maintained strong, productive relationships with employers. However, a minority of these employers do not engage effectively enough with the college, reducing apprentices’ opportunities to learn. Employers have few opportunities to contribute to the design or teaching of the level 2 and 3 curriculums.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

Leaders provide staff with meaningful professional development including training in artificial intelligence, and guidance on supporting learners with additional needs. Leaders maintain staff's positive work/life balance and wellbeing, which staff appreciate.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

Governors have relevant senior-level expertise, including in further education, and use it well to challenge and support senior leaders. They are active advocates for the college and realistic about its strengths and areas for improvement. Governors played an active role in shaping the college’s new strategic plan alongside the new chief executive and new principal.

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Participation and development Expected standard

Most apprentices in England are keen to do well. They learn positive professional behaviours, develop appropriate communication skills and begin working collaboratively. They gain the confidence to overcome challenges, such as managing situations with which they are unfamiliar. Electrical installation apprentices participated in the WorldSkills UK National Final 2025.

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Participation and development Expected standard

Staff set clear expectations for apprentices’ high rates of attendance and most attend diligently. If apprentices cannot attend an online session, assessors provide useful catch-up sessions so apprentices do not miss learning.

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Participation and development Expected standard

Apprentices study an interesting and purposeful personal development curriculum. They complete courses on a range of topics such as bullying in the workplace, keeping safe from radicalisation, money management, modern day slavery and county lines. Assessors regularly revisit these topics during lessons and reviews.

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Needs attention

Assessors place a high priority on supporting apprentices’ mental health and wellbeing. They share useful coping resources on themes such as eating disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder and anxiety. Apprentices appreciate the support they get that helps them to stay mentally healthy.

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Needs attention

Apprentices receive suitable careers advice and know the next steps available to them. Through discussions with their assessors, they gain useful insights into higher level learning and job roles they can aim for.

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Achievement Needs attention

Too many apprentices in England either withdraw from their apprenticeship early or stay but make slow progress from their starting points. Too many are well past their original planned completion dates. Leaders’ improvement actions have not led to a sustained and consistent improvement in outcomes. For example, in 2024/25, apprentices’ achievement rates for facilities-related apprenticeships and level 2 English functional skills had improved and were high. However, achievement rates on the other apprenticeships and functional skills qualifications in English and mathematics remained too low.

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Achievement Needs attention

Leaders do not monitor well enough how disadvantaged apprentices or those with additional learning needs achieve compared with their peers.

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Achievement Needs attention

Apprentices who remain on their apprenticeship gain valuable technical and workplace skills and make a positive impact for their employers. Most produce work which meets at least the standard expected of them. Many gain a promotion, are given additional responsibilities or progress to higher learning.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

Leaders have an accurate understanding of the quality of their curriculums for apprentices in England, but their improvement actions have yet to ensure that apprentices make at least expected progress.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

Apprentices with low levels of English and/or mathematics or English as an additional language are not taught these subjects well enough. Consequently, they do not develop these skills well enough for learning, work or wider society.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

Apprentices, line managers and assessors do not routinely meet together to review apprentices’ progress. As a result, they do not coordinate and plan apprentices’ on- and off- the-job training sufficiently. While most apprentices understand the components of their final assessment, they are not always certain about what grades are attainable and how to achieve them. Curriculums meet most employers’ and sector needs. For example, leaders work with NHS trusts and health boards to understand and fill health sector skills shortages. Assessors sequence the curriculums logically so that apprentices learn core, foundation knowledge thoroughly, building on it progressively to manage more complex topics and activities.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

Assessors are suitably qualified. They have appropriate experience of and expertise in the subjects they teach. They mostly use this knowledge expertly to plan learning and enrich apprentices’ knowledge. Most assessors use a range of teaching techniques effectively. They use videos, explanations, clear examples and interactive online tools. Most apprentices receive feedback on their written work that is constructive, helpful and encouraging. Most apprentices enjoy what they are taught and the opportunities for learning available to them.

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What it's like to be a learner and/or an apprentice at this provider

Too many apprentices in England do not make expected progress or complete their qualifications. Although achievement rates improved on a few apprenticeships in 2024/25 and were high, the proportion of apprentices who achieved across other apprenticeships remained very low. Tutors and assessors do not support the many apprentices with low levels of English and mathematics well enough to substantially improve these skills. However, apprentices who complete their apprenticeship generally gain and apply new knowledge and improve in self-confidence.

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What it's like to be a learner and/or an apprentice at this provider

Apprentices with additional learning needs and/or disabilities value the thorough initial assessment and subsequent effective support provided by the college’s specialist staff. For example, apprentices diagnosed with dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder receive a laptop with assistive software, have regular breaks to manage their concentration and extra time for tests. Apprentices with barriers to learning are supported well and do not feel at a disadvantage.

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What it's like to be a learner and/or an apprentice at this provider

Assessors focus on apprentices’ well-being and mental health. During reviews, they discuss useful topics with them, such as coping with obsessive compulsive disorder, bereavement, anxiety, eating disorders and self-harm.

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What it's like to be a learner and/or an apprentice at this provider

Apprentices do not routinely meet with their assessor and line manager to review progress and plan learning together. Although they can access online college services and resources, most choose not to, citing time pressures. A few struggle to use the online system that enables them to track their progress. A few apprentices do not receive the required protected off-the-job training time needed to complete their learning activities.

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Next steps

• Leaders should identify accurately the causes of apprentices' low achievement and put in place suitable improvement actions so that apprentices make positive progress in their training and achieve their qualifications. • Leaders should ensure that they teach apprentices with low levels of English and mathematics effectively so that apprentices improve their knowledge and skills and can apply them in their studies and at work. • Leaders should ensure apprentices, assessors and line managers review apprentices’ progress together and plan how apprentices can best apply at work what they learn in their training. • Leaders should ensure all employers give apprentices the time they are entitled to complete their training during work time, including accessing the college's online services and resources.

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About this inspection

Following our renewed inspection framework, all inspections are now led by His Majesty’s Inspectors (HMIs) or by Ofsted Inspectors (OIs) who have previously served as HMIs.

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About this inspection

Inspection activities: Inspectors spoke with senior leaders and managers, governors, assessors, apprentices and support staff during the inspection.

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About this inspection

The inspectors confirmed the following information about the provider: Gower College is a general further education college operating from sites in and around Swansea. It offers a variety of learning programmes for Welsh learners and apprenticeships for learners living and working in England. This inspection focused solely on the 45 apprentices living and working in England. All apprentices are adults over 25 years of age.

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About this inspection

Apprentices work for large- and small-scale employers located along the M4 and M5 motorway corridors. All apprentices are taught and assessed online.

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About this inspection

There are 29 apprentices studying facilities management-related apprenticeships at either levels 2, 3 or 4. There are 8 studying the level 3 team leader apprenticeship, 4 are on the level 5 operations manager apprenticeship and fewer than 5 are on the level 3 electrical, electronic product service and installation engineer apprenticeship.

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About this inspection

Chief Executive Officer: Ms Kelly Fountain

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Team inspectors:

Suzanne Wainwright, His Majesty's Inspector Andrea McMahon, His Majesty's Inspector

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Facts and figures used on inspection

The data was used by the inspector(s) during the inspection. More recent data may have been published since the inspection took place.

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national average

'This provider' and 'national average' figures are taken from the publicly available DfE achievement rates. Where the DfE have supressed the figures, usually due to small cohorts, this has been mirrored in the Report Card and will be shown by an 'S'.

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Year This provider National average

'This provider' and 'national average' figures are taken from the publicly available DfE achievement rates. Where the DfE have supressed the figures, usually due to small cohorts, this has been mirrored in the Report Card and will be shown by an 'S'.

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Exceptional

Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other providers can learn from it.

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Strong standard

The provider reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of them.

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Expected standard

The provider is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care. This means they are following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional standards expected of them.

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Needs attention

The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary improvements.

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Urgent improvement

The provider needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of education and/or care.

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Urgent improvement

services providing education and skills for children and learners of all ages, and inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people.

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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

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