Varsity Training Limited

Varsity Training Limited

Address: 340 The Crescent, Colchester, CO4 9AD Unique reference number (URN): 2888973

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Professional behaviours, personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

Leaders and staff have high expectations of apprentices' professional behaviours and commitment to their learning. Assessors communicate these expectations clearly during progress reviews and assess them during lesson observations. Teacher educators model appropriate professional behaviours in their lessons. Apprentices demonstrate appropriate professional behaviours and are motivated to learn.

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Professional behaviours, personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

Apprentices attend well and participate fully in their lessons. They proactively seek support from their colleagues, workplace mentors and assessors to help them improve their teaching skills.

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Professional behaviours, personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

Staff provide apprentices with suitable pastoral support. Assessors discuss apprentices' wellbeing with them and in most cases provide appropriate guidance and support during

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Urgent improvement

Apprentices feel safe and are confident to report any concerns. They feel staff would take swift and effective action in response to any issues they raised.

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Urgent improvement

Leaders provide useful online resources to help apprentices develop strategies that help them manage their workload. However, assessors and workplace mentors do not always work effectively enough to plan precise interventions to support apprentices to access these resources and manage their workloads, particularly for those apprentices working in busy health care settings.

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Inclusion Needs attention

Leaders have not implemented their inclusive strategy well enough. Apprentices are generally comfortable declaring their support needs, but staff do not provide consistent wraparound support to meet their individualised needs. Staff provide suitable support for apprentices with identified learning difficulties such as dyslexia. However, leaders and staff do not identify wider barriers to learning and wellbeing with enough precision, and action planning to support apprentices overcome these barriers is underdeveloped.

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Inclusion Needs attention

Apprentices with barriers to their learning do not receive consistent support across different employer settings. The information about trainees' needs is not routinely shared with mentors so that they can provide effective support to meet trainees needs. As a result, reasonable adjustments and adaptations are not consistently implemented for trainees with wider barriers to their learning and wellbeing.

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Inclusion Needs attention

Trainees receive helpful information through the learning hub online platform, including guidance to support their learning and wellbeing, but too few use these resources.

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Inclusion Needs attention

Leaders have a revised inclusive practice action plan but have not implemented it well enough to ensure that trainees receive the support they need to thrive.

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Achievement Urgent improvement

Apprentices do not develop the depth of understanding they need to be successful teachers. Apprentices' theoretical work, although clearly written, does not demonstrate the expected level of understanding of current research and how it applies in practice. Many apprentices do not have enough opportunities to practise using their new skills and knowledge.

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Achievement Urgent improvement

Apprentices are employed in organisations where they are required to develop a thorough knowledge of safeguarding themes. They have a clear understanding of their safeguarding responsibilities. Apprentices do not benefit from enough developmental lesson observations to understand their progress and improve their teaching practice. Most mentors do not observe apprentices and the observation feedback assessors provide is not precise enough. However, apprentices proactively reflect on their own performance and think about how they could improve their practice.

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Achievement Urgent improvement

Most apprentices make the progress needed to complete their qualification within expected timescales.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Urgent improvement

Leaders have not designed an ambitious, coherent curriculum informed by relevant, high- quality research. The curriculum focuses too heavily on the duties described in the apprenticeship standard rather than being purposefully integrated and well-sequenced to build apprentices' expertise. The curriculum content does not include sufficient depth for several key topics. Leaders are taking appropriate steps to make suitable adjustments to curriculum plans. However, it is too early to see the impact of their actions.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Urgent improvement

Apprentices do not receive enough instruction or purposefully planned, structured activities to practise their skills. Too many apprentices are in job roles that provide too few opportunities to regularly practise applying their new knowledge and skills in the workplace. Managers have appropriate plans to increase the amount of instruction provided and to select apprentices more carefully, but it is too early to judge the impact of their actions.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Urgent improvement

Apprentices do not learn enough about meeting the diverse needs of learners. They are given very little information on the barriers to learning that learners may face and the measures that they can take to mitigate them.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Urgent improvement

Apprentices receive appropriate information on how to keep their learners safe. Most apprentices work in organisations with very strong safeguarding cultures, such as hospitals or schools for vulnerable young people. Apprentices have a secure understanding of their safeguarding statutory duties and responsibilities.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Urgent improvement

Teacher educators do not teach topics in lessons to the depth required. They do not get apprentices to evaluate the suitability of different theories to help them develop their reflective practice. Teacher educators do not do enough to support apprentices to link research themes to their teaching practice.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Urgent improvement

Too many mentors do not have the appropriate training and expertise to support apprentices. They do not have sufficient awareness of the topics being taught to help apprentices swiftly learn the intended curriculum and reinforce their learning in the workplace.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Urgent improvement

Teacher educators and assessors have appropriate subject knowledge and experience. However, they do not consistently model effective, evidence-based teaching methods in lessons to help apprentices rapidly develop their pedagogical skills.

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Curriculum, teaching and training Urgent improvement

Teacher educators and assessors do not use effective assessment strategies to help apprentices improve their teaching skills. They focus on gathering apprenticeship portfolio evidence rather than supporting apprentices to develop their knowledge and skills. In their lesson observation feedback, teacher educators identify where apprentices have met the skills criteria of the apprenticeship, but do not highlight the skills they need to improve.

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Leadership Urgent improvement

Leaders do not ensure that the provision meets the principles and requirements of apprenticeships. Leaders' recruitment and selection strategy is not robust enough to ensure apprentices are suitable for the course. Too many apprentices are in job roles that do not provide enough regular teaching opportunities to allow them to apply and practise their skills.

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Leadership Urgent improvement

Leaders have a clear strategic vision to develop teachers, primarily in health care settings. However, the planned curriculum is not ambitious or informed by high-quality research in line with this vision.

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Leadership Urgent improvement

Leaders work effectively with employers to design flexible online and face-to-face training that enables apprentices to participate in learning in ways that suit their roles and shift patterns. They ensure that employers assign a workplace mentor to each apprentice, so that day-to-day support is available to them. However, leaders do not have an accurate understanding of mentors' professional backgrounds or expertise, so they cannot assure themselves that mentors have the skills needed to provide high-quality developmental support. Apprentices do not receive consistent mentoring support and the informed guidance they need to thrive.

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Leadership Urgent improvement

Leaders have begun to address key improvement priorities, but actions are at too early a stage to demonstrate sustained impact.

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Leadership Urgent improvement

Governors do not have effective oversight of the quality of the curriculum, preventing them from supporting leaders to make improvements. They do not provide the level of support required to hold leaders fully to account.

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Leadership Urgent improvement

Leaders have introduced a professional learning programme for assessors, workplace mentors and teacher educators. However, it lacks precision and consistent implementation. Too many mentors do not receive tailored training, so that they do not fully understand the expectations of their role.

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Leadership Urgent improvement

Leaders have implemented effective policies and procedures to ensure that staff and apprentices work in an environment where they feel valued and respected. Leaders promote a strong culture of shared safeguarding responsibility in which staff and apprentices feel safe.

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Leadership Urgent improvement

Leaders do not have well-developed partnership arrangements with other organisations to ensure that trainees benefit from suitable opportunities to broaden and apply their teaching knowledge and skills in various contexts or settings.

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Next steps

Leaders should implement a robust recruitment strategy so that apprentices are in job roles with substantial opportunities for them to practise and apply their teaching skills.

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Next steps

Leaders should develop an ambitious curriculum that is informed by relevant and up-to-date research.

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Next steps

Leaders should implement high-quality training and support for mentors so that they understand their roles and can provide the tailored support apprentices need to thrive.

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Next steps

Leaders should further strengthen the support for apprentices with wider barriers to their learning and/or wellbeing.

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Next steps

Governors should provide more frequent and effective oversight of the quality of training so that they can intervene quickly to support leaders to make improvements.

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What it's like to be a trainee at this provider

Apprentices are not prepared well enough for the realities of teaching in the further education phase. They are not taught well enough how to support the needs of learners with special educational needs and or disabilities, or those with other barriers to their learning.

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What it's like to be a trainee at this provider

Apprentices are taught a curriculum that is relevant to their phase. However, the curriculum is not ambitious enough and apprentices do not learn about or experience a wide range of contexts in the further education sector.

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What it's like to be a trainee at this provider

Too many apprentices do not regularly practise and apply the skills they learn. Those in appropriate job roles, such as education leads or clinical trainers, gain opportunities to teach, reflect and refine their practice. They develop confidence in planning, presenting information and supporting colleagues.

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What it's like to be a trainee at this provider

Apprentices value the responsive and personalised support they receive from their assessors. They build trusting relationships with their assessors, which strengthens their sense of belonging and motivates them to stay engaged in learning.

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What it's like to be a trainee at this provider

Apprentices do not benefit from sufficient opportunities to network and share their experience as part of a professional teaching community. This restricts their ability to develop the collaborative habits, reflective skills and sector awareness needed to thrive as confident, well rounded educators.

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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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Team inspectors:

Russ Henry, His Majesty's Inspector Andrea Shepherd, His Majesty's Inspector

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Facts and figures used on inspection

This 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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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 training. This means they are following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional standards expected of them. Inspection activities: Inspectors spoke with senior leaders, managers, apprentices, assessors, teacher educators, mentors, employers and key stakeholders during the inspection.

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Expected standard

Apprentices in the further education phase study the level 5 learning and skills teacher standard. There are 62 apprentices completing their training face to face and online.

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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 training.

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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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