Hawk Management (UK) Ltd, trading as Hawk Training

Inspection number 321468 Hawk Management (UK) Ltd, trading as Hawk Training

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Contents

Background information ......................................................................................................... 3 Inspection judgements........................................................................................................... 3 Scope of the inspection.......................................................................................................... 3 Description of the provider...................................................................................................... 4 Summary of grades awarded .................................................................................................. 5 Overall judgement.................................................................................................................... 6 Effectiveness of provision ..................................................................................................... 6

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Contents

Capacity to improve............................................................................................................ 6 Key strengths ............................................................................................................................ 7 Key areas for improvement..................................................................................................... 7 Main findings............................................................................................................................ 8 Achievement and standards................................................................................................... 8 Quality of provision............................................................................................................... 8 Leadership and management ................................................................................................. 9

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Contents

Equality of opportunity....................................................................................................... 9 What learners like.................................................................................................................. 11 What learners think could improve...................................................................................... 11 Sector subject areas................................................................................................................ 12 Health, public services and care .......................................................................................... 12 Retail and commercial enterprise ........................................................................................ 15 Business, administration and law ........................................................................................ 18 Learners’ achievements......................................................................................................... 21

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Inspection judgements

Inspectors use a four-point scale to summarise their judgements about achievement and standards, the quality of provision, and leadership and management, which includes a grade for equality of opportunity .

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Key for inspection grades

Grade 1 Outstanding Grade 2 Good Grade 3 Satisfactory Grade 4 Inadequate

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Key for inspection grades

Further information can be found on how inspection judgements are made on www.ofsted.gov.uk.

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Scope of the inspection

In deciding the scope of the inspection, inspectors take account of the provider’s most recent self-assessment report and development plans, and comments from the local Learning and Skills Council (LSC) or other funding body. Where appropriate, inspectors also consider the previous inspection report ( www.ofsted.gov.uk ), reports from the inspectorates’ monitoring visits, and data on learners and their achievements over the period since the previous inspection.

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Scope of the inspection

In addition to reporting on overall effectiveness of the organisation, its capacity to improve further, achievement and standards, quality of provision and leadership and management, this inspection focused on specialist provision in:

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Scope of the inspection

 Health, public services and care  Retail and commercial enterprise  Business, administration and law

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Description of the provider

1. Hawk Management (UK) Limited trades as Hawk Training (Hawk Training) and is a private limited company established in 1988. It contracts with London South LSC to provide apprenticeships, advanced apprenticeships and Train to Gain programmes in health, public services and care, retail and commercial enterprise and business, administration and law. It also has a very small amount of provision in information and communications technology. This area was not a part of this inspection.

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Description of the provider

2. The company was awarded centre of vocational excellence (retail) status in 2006. It has close links with the sector skills council in Retail and is directly involved in the development of the retail diploma for 14-19 learners. Five directors and a small management team manage the company, which employs 31 staff.

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Description of the provider

3. Hawk Training is based in Twickenham and operates throughout the greater London area. Accordingly, Hawk Training’s learners live in a wide range of London boroughs, principally in Hounslow, Richmond, Lewisham, Bromley, Croydon, Ealing and a number of other boroughs in south and west London.

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Summary of grades awarded

Effectiveness of provision Good: Grade 2 Apprenticeships Contributory grade: Good: Grade 2 Train to Gain Contributory grade: Good: Grade 2 Capacity to improve Outstanding: Grade 1

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Summary of grades awarded

Achievement and standards Good: Grade 2 Apprenticeships Contributory grade: Good: Grade 2 Train to Gain Contributory grade: Good: Grade 2

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Summary of grades awarded

Quality of provision Good: Grade 2 Apprenticeships Contributory grade: Good: Grade 2 Train to Gain Contributory grade: Good: Grade 2

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Summary of grades awarded

Leadership and management Good: Grade 2 Apprenticeships Contributory grade: Good: Grade 2 Train to Gain Contributory grade: Good: Grade 2

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Summary of grades awarded

Equality of opportunity Contributory grade: Satisfactory: Grade 3

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Sector subject areas

Health, public services and care Good: Grade 2

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Sector subject areas

Retail and commercial enterprise Outstanding: Grade 1

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Sector subject areas

Business administration and law Good: Grade 2

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Good: Grade 2

Apprenticeships Contributory grade: Good: Grade 2 Train to Gain Contributory grade: Good: Grade 2

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Good: Grade 2

4. The overall effectiveness of the provision is good. In many areas success rates, particularly timely success rates, are significantly above the national average. Apprentices and Train to Gain learners make very good progress and apply their skills well. Many learners noticeably gain in confidence and apply their learning effectively.

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Good: Grade 2

5. Teaching and learning are good overall. Apprentices and Train to Gain learners receive good coaching and good on-the-job training. Assessment is good overall and backed by good internal verification procedures. Learners’ progress and achievement is well recorded through the use of an effective monitoring system. The setting of short-term targets for learners is good, but some medium-term targets are not adequate.

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Good: Grade 2

6. The company’s response to learners’ and employers’ needs is good. A range of successful partnerships identifies and provides a wide choice of learning opportunities. Guidance and support are good overall. Learners generally have a good understanding of the provision and advice and guidance are good. Additional learning support is satisfactory but few assessors have formal qualifications.

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Good: Grade 2

7. Leadership and management are good overall. Hawk Training has strong strategic direction and very effective partnership work. Staff make excellent use of the extensive and accurate management information to monitor and improve performance. Managers have a strong leadership commitment to quality improvement through self-assessment. However, the skills for life strategy is considerably out of date, and arrangements for evaluating the quality of teaching and learning are insufficient. Equality of opportunity is satisfactory.

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Outstanding: Grade 1

8. Hawk Training has outstanding capacity to improve. The organisation has strong strategic leadership. Significant investment has been carried out in accommodation, staff training, and developing the management structure and infrastructure to meet the current and future needs of the business and learners. Managers make excellent use of extensive and accurate data to manage and monitor performance. Overall success rates have significantly improved and are high. Hawk Training has substantially increased timely success rates, which are 30% above national rates. The recent appointment of the equality and diversity manager is starting to have impact, and the gap in success rates achieved by learners from diverse groups is narrowing. Arrangements for quality improvement are good. Improvements are actioned very promptly.

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Outstanding: Grade 1

9. The effectiveness of steps to improve since the previous inspection is good. Apprenticeship achievement rates that were satisfactory or poor are now high. All weaknesses identified at the previous inspection have been fully or partially addressed, and many are now strengths. The good quality improvement arrangements have raised grades in all areas, except equality of opportunity.

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Outstanding: Grade 1

10. Self-assessment is good. The process is well established and very inclusive. Data is used well to make suitable judgements. The report and resulting action plan are regularly reviewed and result in improvement. The self-assessment report is very accurate and self- critical, particularly in curriculum areas and in identifying areas for improvement. However, Inspectors considered some strengths to be no more than normal practice. Present arrangements for observation of teaching and learning do not provide sufficient information to fully evaluate its quality.

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Key strengths

 High overall and timely success rates  Very good tutor/assessor support in the workplace  Good quality learning facilities in retail  Good programme management  Strong strategic direction  Excellent use of accurate and highly efficient management information  Very effective partnership working  Good quality improvement

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Key areas for improvement

 Insufficient evaluation and action to raise the quality of teaching and learning  Insufficient qualified literacy and numeracy support staff  Lower participation, overall and timely success rates by male learners and those from minority ethnic groups

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Good: Grade 2

Apprenticeships Contributory grade: Good: Grade 2 Train to Gain Contributory grade: Good: Grade 2

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Good: Grade 2

11. Achievements and standards in apprenticeships and Train to Gain are good. Overall success rates are generally high and timely success rates have been consistently close to overall rates and significantly above national averages. Hawk Training have recognised this trend in their self-assessment and have also recognised that males do less well than females and learners from minority ethnic groups do less well than other learners. In 2007/08 there were significant increases in both overall and timely success rates for business administration learners in apprenticeships and in Train to Gain. In retail and commercial enterprise, the number of learners increased substantially in 2007/08 from a year earlier. Advanced apprenticeship success rates in this area improved significantly in both overall and timely terms; but apprenticeship rates declined overall while improving slightly in timely terms. Retail Train to Gain learners’ overall success rates for the first

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Good: Grade 2

year were outstanding. There has been a decrease in both overall and timely success rates for Childcare learners from 2006/07 to 2007/08 but the reduced rates remain significantly higher than national framework averages. Train to Gain learners have started slowly in this area and timely success rates are uncharacteristically low following a staffing setback.

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Good: Grade 2

12. Most current learners make good or better progress towards completing their frameworks. The development of learners’ vocational and employability skills is good. Advanced apprentice work in retail for example, demonstrates particularly effective development of the higher level skills of critical evaluation and analysis. Progression by learners is good and many learners move from apprentice to advanced apprentice status.

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Good: Grade 2

Apprenticeships Contributory grade: Good: Grade 2 Train to Gain Contributory grade: Good: Grade 2

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Good: Grade 2

13. The quality of provision is good overall and is identified in self-assessment. In all areas, learners receive good coaching and training to develop their vocational and personal skills. Assessors plan training well. Learners develop skills and knowledge at work that are closely linked to the NVQ and framework requirements. Assessors provide well planned inductions that give a good introduction to the learning programme. Individual training sessions take account of initial assessment and staff plan well to include relevant learning activities and to incorporate employer priorities. Hawk Training provide good learning resources to support assessors and a virtual learning environment is currently being introduced that will be available to all learners. Individual learning plans are detailed and these enable learners to have a full understanding of the key components of their programmes. 14. Arrangements for identifying and providing courses to meet the needs of learners and

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Good: Grade 2

employers are good. Managers collaborate well with members of local communities and other regional partners to plan appropriate provision. Particularly in retail, a highly successful academy and ‘mock’ store is used to deliver in-house programmes. Hawk Training has further collaborated with a wide range of partners to develop a diploma for 14-19 provision and to promote retail training throughout the industry.

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Good: Grade 2

15. Guidance and support are good. Arrangements for providing individual personal support, and reviewing learners’ progress, are good. All learners receive appropriate information about their programmes. Assessors provide satisfactory support to learners with additional literacy and numeracy needs on a one to one basis in the workplace.

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Good: Grade 2

Apprenticeships Contributory grade: Good: Grade 2 Train to Gain Contributory grade: Good: Grade 2 Equality of opportunity Contributory grade: Satisfactory: Grade 3

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Good: Grade 2

16. Leadership and management are good. Hawk Training has strong strategic direction. The three-year development plan and growth of the organisation is based on sound research and meeting local, regional and national priorities. Key employers are fully involved in setting the future direction including the introduction of new qualifications. A recent restructuring has developed management and support roles to meet the current and growing needs of the business and learners. Hawk Training’s staff development strategies are clearly focused on the requirements of job roles and increasing the capacity within Hawk Training’s workforce.

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Good: Grade 2

17. Hawk Training has very effective partnership work. Staff play a key role in influencing sector and local developments through working with a wide range of partners. The support available to learners is greatly enhanced through good local partnerships. The management information system and virtual learning environment have been very much tailored to Hawk Training’s requirements through close liaison with external organisations. Hawk Training has a strong social responsibility through its sponsorship of the local football club, charities and schoolchildren.

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Good: Grade 2

18. Staff make excellent use of the extensive and accurate management information to monitor and improve performance. Target-setting and monitoring is very thorough. Hawk Training’s policy to ensure all staff are in the office every Friday has been particularly successful in enabling managers to performance manage their team closely and regularly. Learners’ and tutor/assessors’ progress and support are monitored very effectively. Managers provide timely additional support and share good practice. Timely and overall success rates have improved significantly. Overall success rates have improved by 27% over the last three years and are now well above national rates. The improvement in timely success rates has been exceptional and these now being closely aligned to overall success rates.

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Good: Grade 2

19. Hawk training has strong leadership commitment to quality improvement. They have invested significantly in developing technology, including for e-learning and assessment. The retail CoVE has been used well to develop resources and share expertise with other providers. Learner and employer feedback is used to good effect to develop and refine procedures. The self-assessment process is good, regularly reviewed and drives improvement through a well monitored action plan. Internal verification is thorough and supportive, improving the quality and variety of assessment.

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Good: Grade 2

20. Staff appraisal is effective. Professional development for staff is appropriate, and tutor assessors are working towards qualifications for teaching in the lifelong learning sector. Few tutor assessors, however, have formal qualifications to support literacy and numeracy, especially as a high proportion of learners have additional learning support needs. Overall success rates by apprentices with additional learning needs are similar to all apprentices, but are much lower for advanced apprentices with additional learning needs. Hawk Training’s skills for life strategy is out of date.

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Good: Grade 2

21. Arrangements for evaluating the quality of teaching and learning are insufficient. Hawk Training has a policy for observation of teaching and learning, but this is not yet being fully implemented. Only two tutor assessors have been observed in the last year. No formal observations have been held of teaching and learning by tutor assessors in the workplace, where most off-the-job training takes place. The observation process is supportive, but results in too few actions for improvement. Managers have insufficient reliable information about the quality of teaching and learning to use in self-assessment and to plan action for improvement.

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Good: Grade 2

22. Hawk Training’s arrangements for safeguarding are adequate. A director has responsibility for safeguarding, and maintains a record of Criminal Records Bureau, which are up to date. Staff have been trained in safeguarding, and all procedures now have a safeguarding element.

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Good: Grade 2

23. Equality of opportunity is satisfactory. Company policy has a strong focus on promoting diversity and equality of opportunity, and Hawk Training has recently appointed a manager with dedicated responsibility. Some actions have started, but it is too early to assess the impact. Staff have regular diversity training. Learners’ understanding of equality of opportunity is satisfactory and reinforced effectively during progress reviews. Hawk Training have recently introduced an appropriate single equality scheme and employers’ policies are adequately checked. They have thorough systems for dealing with incidents of discrimination and harassment. Managers use data effectively to analyse participation and success rates by gender, ethnicity and disability. Hawk Training’s close monitoring of all learners has led to action which has raised the success rates for black and minority ethnic learners and narrowed the gap with other learners. The participation and

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Good: Grade 2

success rates for male learners have also been raised. Currently success rates for different groups, however, are well below Hawk Training’s targets and there are insufficient specific actions by managers to improve them.

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What learners like :

 Friendly and approachable tutor assessors  Learning about and using computers  Learning new things  Being made to feel at ease about the programme at induction  Tutor assessors visiting the workplace and making regular contact  Tutor assessors who give advice and help  ‘Improving myself-and extending learning’  Good explanations  ‘Hawk Training has changed my life’  Helping to learn and gain qualifications while working  ‘Tutor assessors who support my English and mathematics’  Developing understanding of own role within the company  ‘Great help to find full time job’  ‘Good to choose NVQ options that I like and am interested in’  Developing retail management skills  Being given the confidence to progress onto the next level

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What learners think could improve :

 Many learners had no areas for improvement  ‘The length of the induction, could have been done over just two sessions’  ‘Allowing more time between visits to complete work’  ‘More visual aids at one-to-one training’

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Context

24. Hawk Training provides vocational training programmes in children’s care, learning and development at levels 2 and 3. Some 174 learners are enrolled on the programmes, 56 on apprenticeships, 91 advanced apprenticeships and 27 on Train to Gain. Currently 12 learners are male and 68 are from minority ethnic groups. A team of vocationally experienced assessors and internal verifiers provides good support to all programmes. Learning, training and assessment takes place in the workplace and all learners are employed in childcare settings across a wide geographical area.

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Strengths

 Good success rates on children’s care learning and development programmes  Very good personalised learning programmes  Good curriculum management

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Areas for improvement

 Slow progress of learners on Train to Gain programmes

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Achievement and standards

25. Success rates on childcare learning and development programmes are good. They were above national averages in 2006/07 with overall success for advanced apprentices at 91%, apprenticeships at 88%, and Train to Gain at 100%. Provider data for 2007/08 show a slight dip in success rates. NVQ and framework success rates are closely aligned. Timely success has shown an improvement on apprenticeship and advanced apprenticeship programmes, with both rates remaining well above national averages.

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Achievement and standards

26. Learners develop satisfactory workplace skills, demonstrating increasing confidence and the ability to support planning for children at the various stages of their development. Portfolio work is of a satisfactory standard and learners present a wide range of evidence. Framework completions are good and tutors integrate key skills appropriately into the NVQ through well focused work related projects

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Achievement and standards

27. Train to Gain learners have made slow progress towards achievement of the NVQ, with provider data demonstrating a poor timely success rate. Most learners remain on programme and are now making satisfactory progress towards completion. A new internal verifier team is restoring progress after a recent staffing setback.

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Quality of provision

28. Quality of provision is good. Hawk Training provides very good individual learning programmes that build on comprehensive initial assessment to meet individual needs. Induction effectively introduces the programme of learning. Assessors work well to explain the training and assessment process and leave good quality resources with the learner for further reference. Hawk Training staff enhance initial assessment through a vocational skills scan to assist assessors in planning an individualised programme of learning. Customised individual training sessions take account of initial assessment and staff plan well to include relevant practical learning activities and to incorporate employer priorities, such as the early years foundation stage curriculum. Participating employers join together with the company to provide a range of well produced resources to support learning. Hawk Training is currently introducing a virtual learning environment to further

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Quality of provision

enhance the range and quality of these resources. Good use is made of workplace training. Learners use detailed and helpful written logs to record the learning outcomes at each training visit.

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Quality of provision

29. Assessment is satisfactory and meets awarding body requirements. A wide range of evidence is included in NVQ portfolios. Assessors make good use of questioning to explore learner knowledge and understanding during training and assessment. Assessors use programme and assessment records satisfactorily to review learner progress and to reinforce equality and health and safety issues. Assessment plans for work-based observation do not include the unit performance criteria to be assessed and they fail to give a clear focus to enable the learner to plan for assessment. Assessors use verbal checks however, to ensure that learners are ready for assessment and understand the process. Most learners are aware of their progress and their short-term targets but assessors do not always set medium term targets for completion of essential framework components. Assessment of key skills is satisfactory. Assessors give individual support and, depending

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Quality of provision

on the diagnostic assessment of literacy and numeracy, provide relevant work books to support skills development. In a minority of cases key skills are not introduced early in the programme. Some learners are on programme for six to nine months before key skills are introduced.

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Quality of provision

30. Working relationships between assessors and workplace supervisors are good. Assessors give comprehensive and regular feedback on learners’ progress and employers offer good support for on-the-job learning. Pre-planned assessment dates are agreed and employers ensure sufficient staff cover is in place to allow the learner time with the assessor. In response to initial advice and guidance, learners undertake qualifications at an appropriate level, matched to job role. Learner progress and development are satisfactory. Some learners have been promoted and eight apprentices progressed to advanced apprenticeships in 2007/08. Assessors provide satisfactory support to learners with additional literacy and numeracy needs on a one to one basis in the workplace.

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Leadership and management

31. Curriculum management is good. Managers effectively support their team through weekly individual meetings to discuss all aspects of their work and learners’ progress. Managers make good use of the information system and internal verification outcomes to identify a focus for the discussion and plan development and support activities at each session. The management information system allows assessors to monitor learner progress effectively and have a clear picture of the progress their learners are making. A traffic light system accurately identifies learners who have fallen behind or have personal issues affecting their progress. Comprehensive documentation charts each learner’s journey and a newly introduced matrix system provides a well planned sample timeframe.

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Leadership and management

32. Staff have appropriate vocational qualifications and good childcare experience. Continuous professional development is well planned and supports individual staff needs. The team have, or are working towards, statutory teaching and learning qualifications. Timely and effective internal verification supports ongoing improvements in assessment practice. Although some staff have key skills delivery qualifications there are no childcare staff with recommended skills for life qualifications to support learners with additional literacy and numeracy needs.

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Leadership and management

33. Learners have a clear understanding of equality and diversity issues and how these apply to the childcare environment. The self-assessment process is inclusive and staff take ownership of the process and are clear about their responsibilities for quality improvement. The self-assessment report is broadly accurate and identifies many of the key strengths.

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Context

34. Hawk Training currently delivers work-based learning programmes to 100 retail and warehousing learners, of whom 52 apprentices and 24 advanced apprentices are on retailing programmes, five apprentices are on warehousing programmes. Nineteen learners on the Train to Gain programme of whom 17 are retail and two are warehousing. All learners are employed. They are typically located in national and regional retail outlets. Most assessment takes place in the workplace, although assessors deliver individual training and mentoring, as required.

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Strengths

 High apprenticeship success rates  Good acquisition of personal and retail skills  Very good off-the-job training  Good quality learning facilities  Excellent partnership working  Good programme management

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Areas for improvement

 Underdeveloped target-setting for NVQ units

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Achievement and standards

35. Achievement and standards are outstanding. Success rates are high for retail and warehousing learners, and significantly higher in both overall and timely rates than national averages. Overall success rates for apprentices increased to 82% in 2006/07. These and the timely success rates of 73% for apprentices in 2006/07 were significantly above the national averages. In that year there were five warehousing advanced apprentices, but no advanced retail leavers. Despite small numbers, the success rate was still well above the national average. Apprentice numbers in 2007/08 have increased significantly from the previous year. Their success rates fell slightly but remain high with both overall and timely rates at 74%. Advanced apprentice success rates are high at 78%. Train to Gain success and timely success rates for the first full contract year in 2007/08 are high at 95% and 86% respectively. Most apprentices and advanced apprentices are

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Achievement and standards

making very good progress towards achieving the goals in their individual learning plans. A majority of learners are completing framework qualifications before their expected end dates. An increasing number of apprentice learners progress onto the advanced apprenticeship.

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Achievement and standards

36. All learners develop good personal and retail skills. Many learners develop very effective time management skills and are able to organise their work well, including meeting assessment deadlines. Many Train to Gain learners develop improved self-confidence. This enables them to interact well and to be more effective when working with others in the workplace and with customers. Both apprentices and advanced apprentices achieve excellent standards of work. Most advanced apprentice work demonstrates particularly effective development of the higher level skills of critical evaluation and analysis, to maximise floor and shelf space productivity. Apprentices are able to plan and implement improvements in retail operations based on customer feedback.

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Quality of provision

37. Teaching and learning are very good. Off-the-job training sessions are structured and well planned. Objectives are clear and understood by all learners. Learners show high levels of interest and motivation throughout training sessions. Assessors have very good working relationships with learners. They encourage learners to use their time purposefully during training sessions to achieve objectives. The quality of learning materials is high. Technical certificates, key skills qualifications, and NVQ training and assessment are co-ordinated well. The approach to assessments is flexible with the number and timing of visits varying according to individual needs. Assessors use a wide range of assessment methods. Particularly effective use is made of digital recording of professional discussions in busy retail environments. Assessments are fair and accurate and learners understand their purpose. Feedback is constructive and encouraging and learners are given good advice on

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Quality of provision

how to close units. Progress reviews are well planned and structured and include good learner and employer involvement in decision making. Target-setting for NVQ units is underdeveloped with the same end dates for all units.

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Quality of provision

38. Hawk Training has good quality learning facilities. It provides an excellent information and learning facility using the latest technology to attract learners into the retail industry. A highly successful retail academy and ‘mock’ store is used to deliver in-house programmes. Hawk Training has developed a particularly effective interactive learning programme that simulates different retail environments. Training materials are of good quality and shared amongst assessors.

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Quality of provision

39. Programmes meet learners’ and employers’ needs well. The broad range of programmes gives excellent choice for learners to specialise in retail pathways such as merchandising and retail management. Workplace supervisors understand what is required of them to help learners complete their programmes successfully. Employers provide very good opportunities for learners to develop their retail and wholesale skills. Most employers make flexible arrangements to provide time to allow learners to work on their portfolios during the day.

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Quality of provision

40. Learners receive comprehensive advice and guidance before they enrol on programmes. Hawk Training has thorough initial assessment procedures to identify additional learning support, including literacy, language and numeracy. Learners are assessed accurately for their literacy and numeracy needs. Staff are particularly helpful and supportive and assessors provide effective individual advice and guidance during workplace visits and training sessions. Learners have good personal support to help them complete their programme.

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Leadership and management

41. Retail programme management is good. Formal and informal communications are very effective. Assessors make very effective use of a management information system to monitor learners’ progress and to plan training. Regular and informative standardisation meetings are used very well to share best practice. The internal verification process is thorough. Training staff are particularly well qualified and have good technical and practical retail experience. Regular continuous retail professional development ensures staff are aware of new developments in training.

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Leadership and management

42. Hawk Training has excellent partnership arrangements. It is a key partner in the development of the retail diploma and the formation of the National Skills Academy. It works closely with 14-19 retail consortia to promote retail programmes through the use of its in-house retail store facility. Managers at Hawk Training, as a centre for vocational excellence, work closely with the sector skills council to promote retail qualifications.

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Leadership and management

43. The self-assessment process and report are accurate and critically evaluative. All learners have a satisfactory awareness of equality of opportunity. Learner progress reviews enable equality and diversity in the workplace to be satisfactorily monitored.

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Context

44. Hawk Training currently provides business, administration and law programmes to 311 learners. Of these, 116 learners are completing administration programmes, of whom 58 are apprentices, 30 advanced apprentices and 28 completing programmes under Train to Gain. Of the 84 learners completing customer service programmes, 39 are apprentices, 23 are advanced apprentices and 22 funded through Train to Gain. Of the 111 management learners, 19 are apprentices, 21 advanced apprentices and 71 Train to Gain learners. Assessors and internal verifiers provide support to all programmes. Training and assessment takes place in the workplace and all learners are employed.

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Strengths

 Very good success rates  Good progress on Train to Gain programmes and Apprenticeships  Good assessor support for learners in the workplace  Good programme management

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Areas for improvement

 Insufficient matching of employer training with NVQ

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Achievement and standards

45. Achievement and standards are very good. Overall sector success rates for advanced apprentices at 71% in 2006/07, and the timely success rates at 65% were above national averages. Overall apprenticeship framework success rates were slightly below national averages in 2006/07, but timely rates were above. Data for 2007/08 shows significant improvements in both overall and timely rates for both apprentices and advanced apprentices. Train to Gain data is available only for 2007/08 and shows a good overall success rate of 83% with a timely success rate of 63%.

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Achievement and standards

46. Advanced apprenticeship success rates in administration were good in 2006/07 at 80% for both overall and timely rates. These rates have further improved to 94% in 2007/08. Overall apprentice success rates in administration have improved from 76% in 2006/07 to 87% in 2007/08 with timely rates in both years close behind. Train to Gain success rates for 2007/08 show excellent overall rates, albeit for small numbers. Advanced apprentices in management have reduced in numbers since 2006/07, but overall success rates have increased from 53% to 88%, and timely success rates from 47 to 88%. Train to Gain successes are good in the first year at 78% overall. Customer service advanced apprentices improved their overall framework success rate from 74% in 2006/07 to 79% in 2007/08. Apprentice framework success rates at 60% in 2006/07 were below national averages, but have increased substantially in 2007/08 to 77%. The improvement in related timely

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Achievement and standards

success rates for apprentices and advanced apprentices was significant, leaving timely rates close to overall rates. Train to Gain learners in customer service were small in number but started to achieve well.

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Achievement and standards

47. Learners develop good work-based and personal skills through regular contact with trainer/assessors. Learners and employers can clearly demonstrate how learners have developed their skills during their time on the programme. Learners have noticeably improved levels of confidence and are motivated well by the training and support offered.

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Quality of provision

48. Learners make good progress through their training programmes and many achieve well before their projected end dates. Learners have a good understanding of their progress, and assessors use the management information system well to provide useful and clear reports that highlight progress milestones. Good initial assessment procedures allow accurate completion estimates to inform individual learning plans. Assessors set good short- and medium-term targets to support learners’ progress and take care to ensure that learners are sufficiently involved in setting their own targets. Many learners take good advantage of this challenge to get ahead of their interim goals. Individual learning plans have sufficient detail to enable learners to have a full understanding of the key components of their programme and how they can personally influence their progress. Some learners learning logs are insufficiently detailed. Many learners have progressed

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Quality of provision

49. Assessors provide good support to learners through regular visits to the workplace, where most learning and assessment takes place. Assessor/trainers make good use of a wide range of assessment methods to explore learners’ knowledge and understanding. As learners become more proficient in gathering evidence towards their qualifications, assessors ensure learners become more independent in their learning capabilities. Learners respond well to take personal responsibility for recording the evidence of their own competence. Hawk Training supports assessors with a comprehensive range of learning materials in a variety of formats. The company is currently introducing a new virtual learning environment to add to the structure and quality of these resources. Many employers have relevant management and administration training programmes that learners are attending. Hawk Training, however, makes insufficient use of mapping these

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Quality of provision

employer programmes into the qualifications they are delivering.

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Quality of provision

50. Assessors provide satisfactory one to one support sessions in the workplace to learners with additional literacy and numeracy needs. Assessors, however, do not always adequately record the outcomes of these sessions.

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Leadership and management

51. Programme management is good. Staff are supported well through regular weekly meetings and work effectively as a team. Staff are all appropriately qualified or are working towards appropriate qualifications and resources are well managed. Apprenticeship and Train to Gain programmes are planned well and very effectively monitored using an impressive management information system. Partnerships with employers are well established and continuously expanding.

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Leadership and management

52. Overall, equality of opportunity is satisfactory. Most learners have a satisfactory understanding of equal opportunities and progress reviews enable assessors to monitor learners’ understanding of equality and diversity adequately.

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Leadership and management

53. Quality improvement procedures are good and best practice shared amongst staff through regular contact meetings. Internal verification procedures are thorough and support continuous improvement. The self-assessment process is inclusive and many of the key findings of the inspection were a close match with those in the self-assessment report. Annex

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Learners’ achievements

Success rates on health, public services and care apprenticeship programmes managed by the provider/college 2005 to 2007

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Learners’ achievements

Programme End Year Success rate No. of learners* Provider/c ollege NVQ rate ** National NVQ rate** Provider/college framework rate** National framework rate**

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Learners’ achievements

overall 22 91 61 91 50 Advanced Apprenticeships 06-07 timely 23 87 36 87 29 overall 4 100 63 100 55 05-06 timely 4 0 34 0 30 overall 25 88 65 88 62 timely 28 64 45 64 42 Apprenticeships

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Learners’ achievements

Note: Apprenticeship learners first started in 2005/06 and advanced apprentice learners in 2006/07

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Learners’ achievements

* Learners who leave later than originally planned are counted in the year they actually leave. This group of learners are then added to the learners who planned to complete in a given year and did so or left earlier than planned ** College/provider and national qualification success rates are calculated using LSC published data derived from the ‘Individual Learning Record’

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Learners’ achievements

Success rates on retail and commercial enterprise apprenticeship programmes managed by the provider/college 2004 to 2007

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Learners’ achievements

Programme End Year Success rate No. of learners* Provider/c ollege NVQ rate ** National NVQ rate** Provider/college framework rate** National framework rate**

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Learners’ achievements

overall 10 30 31 20 22 04-05 timely 11 27 22 18 15 overall 3 67 36 67 29 05-06 timely 2 50 24 50 19 overall 5 60 24 60 44 Advanced Apprenticeships

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Learners’ achievements

06-07 timely 5 60 34 60 30 overall 22 50 46 23 36 04-05 timely 22 36 30 18 23 overall 27 52 54 44 49 05-06 timely 27 37 38 30 34 overall 11 82 59 82 56 Apprenticeships

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Learners’ achievements

* Learners who leave later than originally planned are counted in the year they actually leave. This group of learners are then added to the learners who planned to complete in a given year and did so or left earlier than planned ** College/provider and national qualification success rates are calculated using LSC published data derived from the ‘Individual Learning Record’ Annex

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Learners’ achievements

This document may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that the information quoted is reproduced without adaptation and the source and date of publication are stated. Success rates on business, administration and law apprenticeship programmes managed by the provider/college 2004 to 2007

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Learners’ achievements

Programme End Year Success rate No. of learners* Provider/c ollege NVQ rate ** National NVQ rate** Provider/college framework rate** National framework rate**

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Learners’ achievements

overall 103 45 47 22 32 04-05 timely 106 40 34 19 23 overall 79 46 59 38 50 05-06 timely 78 40 44 32 37 overall 93 71 70 71 66 Advanced Apprenticeships

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Learners’ achievements

06-07 timely 95 65 56 65 53 overall 221 49 56 33 46 04-05 timely 223 43 35 31 29 overall 189 62 62 59 57 05-06 timely 183 58 44 56 41 overall 145 61 69 60 66 Apprenticeships

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Learners’ achievements

* Learners who leave later than originally planned are counted in the year they actually leave. This group of learners are then added to the learners who planned to complete in a given year and did so or left earlier than planned ** College/provider and national qualification success rates are calculated using LSC published data derived from the ‘Individual Learning Record’

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