An independent training provider has slumped two grades to inadequate, in an otherwise mostly positive week for FE and skills providers.
Matrix Training and Development Limited was awarded grade four across the board in a report, published July 5 and based on an inspection carried out in May.
Leaders were slammed for failing to provide “effective strategic direction to develop the quality of the provision” and for the lack of a “strategy for the development of English and mathematical skills”.
Governance at the Telford-based apprenticeship provider, the performance management of staff and “assessors’ tracking and monitoring of apprentices’ progress” were all deemed to be “weak”.
In addition: “The planning of learning is insufficient to ensure that the most able apprentices are challenged to extend their learning and all apprentices develop skills over and above the technical element of their qualification.”
Meanwhile, another independent learning provider, Partnership Development Solutions Ltd, was awarded ‘good’ across the board in its first ever report, published July 3 and based on an inspection in June.
Apprentices at the Wiltshire-based provider “benefit from good teaching, learning and assessment from well-qualified and experienced assessor-coaches” and “achieve high-level technical and business skills from very well designed and implemented programmes”.
“Almost all” apprentices stayed employed after completing their apprenticeship, with many developing “positive working relationships with managers and colleagues at work” as a result of the “exemplary” behaviour.
Two more independent learning providers were awarded grade two this week, both up from grade three.
Cardiff-based T2 Business Solutions, which delivers training in south west England, was praised for its “outstanding employability provision on study programmes” in a report published July 5 and based on an inspection in June.
“Most learners and apprentices acquire excellent personal and employment skills and make good progress in English and mathematics,” inspectors noted, while “trainers and assessors are particularly good at giving learners and apprentices personalised support to overcome most barriers to learning”.
Employers were said to be “impressed” at how quickly learners at Nottingham-based Academy Transformation Trust Further Education “acquire new skills”, in a report published July 3 and based on an inspection in June.
“The standard of learners’ and apprentices’ work is good and they develop good vocational skills,” the report noted, while “tutors have high expectations for learners and apprentices, plan lessons well and make learning interesting and enjoyable”.
Also going up one grade from three to two this week was adult and community learning provider Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council, in a report published July 3 and based on an inspection in June.
Senior officers and governors at the council were lauded for having “thoroughly reviewed the service” and “successfully realigned it in order to meet the needs of the local community”.
“Managers and tutors are highly committed to providing high-quality adult learning, particularly for those who are socially disadvantaged, long-term unemployed or have limited educational attainment,” inspectors found.
Peterborough Regional College slipped one grade from ‘good’ to ‘requires improvement’ in a report published July 4 and based on an inspection in May.
Governors were criticised for being “slow to challenge leaders to reverse the sharp decline in achievement for learners and apprentices”.
While inspectors found that the college’s new leadership team was “beginning to improve performance” they were “not yet ensuring good standards in teaching, learning and assessment across all subjects”.
Provision for learners with high needs was rated good, with these learners benefiting “from tailored learning programmes with carefully planned, high-quality support which prepares them well for adult life and work”.
Elstree UTC failed to improve on its previous grade three rating, in a report published June 30 and based on an inspection in May.
Provision in the 14 to 19 institution’s sixth form “requires improvement”, the report said.
“The good progress students make in their vocational learning is not yet matched in a range of other academic subjects,” inspectors noted.
Adult and community learning provider The Wiltshire Council was found to be making reasonable progress in three areas and insufficient progress in one area, in its second monitoring visit report following last December’s inadequate rating.
Two providers – Barking and Dagenham College, and adult and community learner provider Royal Borough of Greenwich – both kept their ‘good’ ratings following short inspections this week.
And Grimsby Institute’s report, which rated the college ‘outstanding’, as previously reported by FE Week, has now been published.
GFE Colleges | Inspected | Published | Grade | Previous grade |
Peterborough Regional College | 23/05/2017 | 04/07/2017 | 3 | 2 |
Grimsby Institute for FE and HE | 04/05/2017 | 03/07/2017 | 1 | 2 |
Independent Learning Providers | Inspected | Published | Grade | Previous grade |
t2 Business Solutions | 06/06/2017 | 05/07/2017 | 2 | 3 |
Matrix Training and Development Limited | 17/05/2017 | 05/07/2017 | 4 | 2 |
Partnership Development Solutions Ltd | 06/06/2017 | 03/07/2017 | 2 | – |
Academy Transformation Trust FE | 06/06/2017 | 03/07/2017 | 2 | 3 |
Adult and Community Learning | Inspected | Published | Grade | Previous grade |
The Wiltshire Council | 19/06/2017 | 06/07/2017 | M | M |
Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council | 06/06/2017 | 03/07/2017 | 2 | 3 |
Other (including UTCs) | Inspected | Published | Grade | Previous grade |
The Elstree UTC | 24/05/2017 | 30/06/2017 | 3 |
3 |
Short inspections (remains grade 2) | Inspected | Published |
Barking and Dagenham College | 23/05/2017 | 30/06/2017 |
Royal Borough of Greenwich | 17/05/2017 | 05/07/2017 |
Your thoughts