Four principles to ensure lesson observations make the grade

For 25 years we have allowed one-off, managerial observations to become ubiquitous, often ignoring the copious evidence that now exists about their unreliability and pernicious effect. Many providers have used this evidence to move on from one-off, graded observations. But not all. Many more still use observations, albeit ungraded, for which they are ill-suited.

To ensure observations make the grade, there are four key principles to consider.

Purpose and evidence

First, it is crucial to know why you observe a lesson and triangulate your hypotheses with a wide range of carefully chosen sources of evidence.

Observations mostly contribute to teacher development or quality assurance (QA). They can’t do both. Nor can an observer see or understand everything that happens in the room during an observation. So, if an observer is clear about why they are observing, they have a greater chance of focusing their attention and capturing valuable and relevant evidence.

The current spotlight on curriculum and cognition points observers to valuable sources of evidence: sources that go way beyond the proxies for quality that so many latch onto in one-off observations. These proxies include teachers’ differentiation of resources and learners’ participation in discussions or engagement with tasks. The skilled observer creatively chooses what evidence to consider, the questions to ask and how to interpret the answers given.

Avoid managerialism

Second, there is no place for managerialism in observations. An observation that aims to improve teaching needs to be low stakes and non-judgemental. The whole process must be carried out in a culture of mutual trust. This trust can be difficult in any superior/subordinate relationship since it requires the subordinate to expose weaknesses to someone with power over them. This is not something that sits comfortably with high-stakes, career-defining judgements.

But it’s not just developmental observations that are susceptible to managerialism. Teachers: don’t assume that becoming a manager bestows someone with some mystical power to draw conclusions about learners’ progress, curriculum and pedagogy after 30 minutes in a classroom.

And managers: remember that it is hard for many teachers to argue with a superior, even if they make an unsubstantiated judgement or one based on their personal preferences rather than valid evidence. So, if you make a judgement without sufficient triangulation, or hear yourself saying ‘I would like to have seen…’, just pause. Excellent qualities for any observer are humility and self-doubt.

New ways of observing

Growth in apprenticeships and online learning demand new ways of observing. Observation systems in apprenticeships sometimes evolve from an IQA model, a criteria-based approach that takes too little account of pedagogy and learners’ progress. Or they are adapted from a classroom-based model that doesn’t accommodate the unique characteristics of apprenticeships.

We see similar issues in evaluations of online learning. QA systems tend to be adapted from those applied to other types of courses. And yet there are many distinctive features of successful online courses (one-to-one interactions, learners’ critical thinking skills, teachers’ use of formative feedback through technology, etc.) that provide an observer with rich evidence.

If leaders have not considered how observations in a QA or improvement system capture the distinctive characteristics of apprenticeships and online learning, this may be one for the improvement plan.

Values and professionalism

The culture of an organisation is so often determined by the clarity of purpose that informs leaders’ decisions, and the extent to which teachers and stakeholders agree with these. Astute leaders know the value, but also the limitations of observations. In their organisations, observations lead to improvements or help maintain standards.

These leaders include teachers in decisions about how to raise standards and demonstrably value their professionalism. In these organisations, we wouldn’t hear leaders say that they use Ofsted criteria for observations (What criteria? They never existed!) or claim that a graph showing an annual rise in observation grades is evidence of improvement. Both were once common, neither were credible.

Observations can add value, but only when they are suited to their purpose and always alongside other evidence. With these principles in mind, we can continue to evolve them for the good of the profession.

The Staffroom: The road to employment for students with SEND

Who has the upper hand in our labour market: employee or employer? With ‘we’re hiring’ and ‘vacancy’ signs commonplace, you might be forgiven for thinking that job seekers have it all their way – but that’s not quite the case for young people with SEND.

Currently, fewer than one in four young people with high functioning autism access education after GCSE level and only 16 per cent are in full-time employment.
As educators, we have to support our young people to be ready. Today, flexibility is key – whether that is in working hours, location or role demands – as is resilience to be able to cope with change, good communication skills and problem-solving abilities. Confidence in practical matters and technical skills to succeed in a digital world are vital too, as are the basics of good timekeeping, being personable and looking presentable.

All these attributes to being employment ready can be hard for young people with SEND. That’s why our student-centred approach is so important, providing the best opportunities for young people who may be disenfranchised from traditional education or whose needs simply are not being met elsewhere. Our ethos is that a young person’s learning need or disability shouldn’t hold them back.

We know our students have a lot to offer, they can be confident and employable individuals and they can pursue their dreams and succeed as young adults. We want them to have as many opportunities available to them as their peers in a mainstream school or college. It’s our job to give them the skills to help them achieve it.

We tailor every student’s study programme. They follow an individual learning journey that develops them academically, socially and culturally. As part of that, we work on their employability preparation and personal finance. However a key part of their study programme is the chance to access a supported internship linked to their own long-term target and career aims. This has only become possible by creating a strong network of local employers across a host of sectors from 3D design to groundskeeping who are willing to give our students that opportunity.

Businesses have quickly come to see how much our students have to give

We have worked hard to build this network. A member of our team is dedicated to growing these relationships, ready to work with employers to respond to their needs and questions and, importantly, resilient when some say no. As a result of this work, our business partners have quickly come to recognise how much our students have to give.

This work is ongoing as we seek to offer an even broader range of opportunities for our students. In the meantime, we continue to be innovative in our study programme ensuring our students and staff thrive in a culture that allows them to take calculated risks and not be afraid to fail.

Our learning environment is a point of difference and centres on a calm, creative and purposeful atmosphere where staff and students can be innovative in their approach to teaching and learning. The outcome is young people who have the life skills to help them overcome obstacles and achieve, all done at a pace that is right for each individual and their capabilities.

We were delighted to win nasen’s Award for 16-25 Provision last year as well as two Doncaster Chamber Business Awards, but it’s the feedback from students and their parents that tells us we’re on the right path. Our students have reported improved confidence levels, developing core skills, the ability to make new friends and being able to complete an apprenticeship which in turn has led to post-college employment.

For many of our students, this is the first time they have been happy in a learning environment; it is the first time they have made friends and they feel happy, safe and want to come to college and learn in a way they never have before.

We place no limits on what can be achieved, no matter their background or starting point. And slowly but surely, employers are seeing the value of doing the same – leading to a secure and prosperous future.

Sustainability: One giant leap on FE’s journey to net zero

Last year, the Royal Anniversary Trust launched a programme called the Platinum Jubilee Challenge. It convened 21 higher and further education winners of the latest Queen’s Anniversary Prizes and tasked them with working together on a shared sustainability challenge: accelerating the tertiary education sector’s journey to net zero.

The result has been a journey of committed collaboration between FE and HE, and the benefits are clear to see. The product is an invaluable resource to help the sector accelerate its knowledge and actions. Indeed, it should attract interest in any public body as this is the most detailed work on net zero currently being promoted across the UK public sector. 

The Challenge group began by asking a basic but fundamental question: what exactly is the tertiary education sector’s carbon footprint? While there are numerous examples of innovative carbon reduction work in colleges and universities across the UK, to date there has been no standardised method of measuring or reporting emissions across all nations.

Perhaps even more surprisingly, there was no accessible data on the sector’s carbon footprint. So, with the help of expert sustainability and climate consultants SB+CO and EcoAct, the UK’s HE and FE sectors’ emissions were estimated for the first time, revealing a combined footprint of 18.1 Mt CO2e for 2020/21, of which the FE sector accounts for 12 per cent, or 2.6Mt CO2e. 

The next logical question was how to continue to measure and report going forward. And this is where the journey to net zero starts to accelerate. The report proposes a standardised emissions reporting framework designed exclusively for the sector which will enable all HE and FE institutions to measure, report and manage their carbon emissions on an ongoing basis.

This is a significant piece of work, developed by The Alliance for Sustainability Leadership in Education (EAUC) in consultation with the Challenge participants and the sector, and funded by the Department for Education. The significance of this is that while departments do not currently make reporting mandatory, the writing is on the wall: the government’s net zero strategy commits to legislating the reporting of emissions if insufficient progress is made voluntarily.

Departments are committed to enabling reporting by 2024 and as stated in its strategy: “From 2025 we will publish targets and institutional progress for the further and higher education sectors”. It really begins with institutions measuring and understanding their carbon emissions in a way that is reflective, transparent and consistent across the sector to enable peer-to-peer review.

Accelerating towards Net Zero also offers 14 recommendations to government which tackle the core blockers to change. The first of these is a call for the establishment of a National Decarbonisation Institute to provide the support and expertise needed to develop and implement decarbonation plans across the sector.

For further education, the opportunity is huge. The UK government wants the education sector to be world leading on sustainability. However, there is still a significant gap in how we teach it. 74 per cent of further education educators have not received training to embed or develop education on sustainability, even though 94 per cent agree that all learners should be taught.

And the sector must be at the heart of the skills agenda – so the government needs to support its policies by acting in education. For example, the UK government has set a target to install 600,000 heat pumps by 2028, yet there are currently only 3,000 trained heat pump engineers in the UK. At least 27,000 will be needed in the next six years, requiring increases of 4,000-6,000 per year. Who will be training and upskilling these engineers?

That is just one example, and there are many. The agenda has implications for retrofitting, hydrogen, electric vehicles, and the circular economy. Further education is at the heart of the solution.

There are 30 case studies profiled in the report which show that the UK further and higher education sectors are already world leaders in the carbon reduction space. From sewage-powered heating systems to the world’s first Passive House Premium education building in my own South West College, there is much to be proud of.

And if the sector continues to work together, as we have on this report, then there is much to be hopeful for as well.

Apprenticeships: Bounce-back stalls and disparities persist

Last week, the DfE published its latest statistics on the number of apprenticeships being started. These fell by 69 per cent between 2015/16 and 2021/22, primarily due to reforms to the apprenticeship system coupled with disruption created by the Covid pandemic. So what does the latest data tell us about the extent of the recovery?

A bumpy ride

The Government introduced a raft of reforms to the apprenticeship system in the past decade. These were aimed at addressing concerns about the quality, length and content of apprenticeships and were intended to improve their responsiveness to employer needs.

However, NFER research has shown that these reforms have had a substantial impact on the number of apprenticeships being started, particularly among young people.

We know from tracking the data that total new apprenticeships starts fell from 509,000 in 2015/16 to 393,000 in 2018/19. They then fell further to around 320,000 over the following two years, primarily due to the pandemic, before recovering in 2021/22 to 349,000.

We also know that this overall trend masks substantial differences between apprenticeship levels. The pattern for intermediate (Level 2) and advanced (Level 3) apprenticeships starts have the same downward trend as for total starts. Meanwhile, higher (Level 4+) apprenticeships have grown sharply. There are almost four times as many higher apprenticeship starts than in 2015/16, albeit from a low base, and they have now surpassed intermediate starts.     

A post-pandemic bounce-back?

In short, the initial evidence from DfE’s recent statistics is that the post-pandemic rebound has not been sustained. These statistics, which provide data about apprenticeship starts during the first quarter of the 2022/23 academic year (for August-October 2022, so not full-year figures), show total starts were down by 6.1 per cent compared to the same period in the previous year.

This may be a temporary blip as starts could pick up in the remaining quarters. However, one possible reason for the decline is the withdrawal of the £3,000 incentive payment scheme in March 2022 that the government had introduced during the pandemic to encourage employers to take on new apprentices.

The recent statistics also show starts vary significantly by type of apprenticeship. After strongly bouncing back post-Covid, intermediate apprenticeship starts have been worst affected, falling by nearly one-fifth (18.4 per cent) from Q1 of 2021/22 and Q1 of 2022/23. Advanced apprenticeships are also down by nearly one-tenth (9.2 per cent) over the same time period. However, higher level start numbers march on, increasing by 10 per cent across the time period.

This data therefore suggests that apprenticeship starts are returning to the long-term trends seen before the post-pandemic bounce-back, with intermediate and advanced apprenticeship starts continuing their decline while higher level apprenticeships flourish.

As highlighted in previous NFER research, the reasons for this are complex and multi-faceted. Potential solutions include looking at the current funding system, the qualification offering at intermediate level and improving access to apprenticeships.

Apprenticeship starts by age

With regard to longer-term trends in apprenticeship starts by age, we find that all age groups broadly follow the same decline trend described above for total apprenticeship starts. Among them, under 19s have been particularly affected, falling to half the level of 2015/16 starts in 2020/21, before recovering slightly.

Looking at DfE’s most recent statistics, these show that starts for the 19- to 24-year-old group has fallen sharply by 11.4 per cent between Q1 of 2021/22 and the same point this year. Conversely, starts for under 19s have dropped by 4.1 per cent while starts for the 25+ group fell by 3.5 per cent.     

As apprenticeships take centre stage in the government’s strategy to upskill and reskill the workforce to meet skills shortages, these new statistics serve as a reminder that improvements are urgently required. This is particularly the case for the recruitment of under 19s onto intermediate and advanced apprenticeships, to ensure that there is a clear and effective pathway for young people to progress into higher-level training or employment.

Care leaver apprentice bursary to triple to £3,000

Young care leavers starting an apprenticeship from August 2023 will receive a £3,000 bursary – triple the amount that is currently on offer.

The government has also pledged to support local authorities to recruit up to 500 new child and family social worker apprentices.

The commitments are part of a new £200 million package announced today and to be spent over the next two years to improve a “fragmented, siloed and struggling” care system.  

It is part of an overhaul of children’s social care after last year’s landmark MacAlister review into the tragic murders of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes and Star Hobson.

The bursary available to care leavers undertaking apprenticeships will increase from the current allowance of £1,000 to £3,000.  

Almost 1,250 bursaries have been paid to young care leaver apprentices since the scheme’s introduction in 2018.

It is a one-off £1,000 payment for care leavers aged 16 to 24 intended to help them with the extra barriers they face in the transition to the world of work.

Under current rules the cash, which comes from the DfE’s existing apprenticeships budget, is paid “once to each care leaver in the eligible age range” via their training provider.

Employers are also given a £1,000 bursary to take on a care leaver apprentice.

The DfE said today that it will aid local authorities to recruit up to 500 new “child and family social worker” apprentices and there will be consultation on proposals to reduce over-reliance on agency social workers.  

Skills, apprenticeships and higher education minister Robert Halfon said: “As a long-term champion for social mobility, I am thrilled we can offer this extra support for those leaving care, extending the ladder of opportunity to help more young people gain greater access to sustainable work and higher wages.”

“Employers and training providers will continue to get £1,000 in funding for every care leaver they take on and, on top of this, we are tripling the bursary which care leavers get from £1,000 to £3,000 from August to support more care leavers start paid work and get world class skills as apprentices.”  

The DfE has also said it will extend pupil premium plus funding.

The pupil premium is grant funding provided to schools to support the attainment of disadvantaged pupils from reception to year 11. Pupil premium plus is for the same age range specifically for pupils who are looked after or leaving local authority care.

Officials said today they will extend the “post-16 pupil premium plus style of funding” with a further £24 million between 2023 and 2025 to “address the cliff edge in educational support that children in care and care leavers face in 16- to 19-year-old education”.

Green light for religious sixth form colleges to academise

Sixth form colleges with a religious character can finally apply to become an academy.

Nearly all sixth form colleges (SFCs) have been able to convert to academy status, and in doing so enjoy the luxury of not paying VAT, since former chancellor George Osborne changed the rules in November 2015.

But a group of 13 SFCs which are Catholic-run have been prevented from doing so due to their religious character, which would not be maintained under government rules. If they converted, they would lose protections in areas of curriculum, acts of worship and governance.

The DfE finally found a solution to safeguard religious character through the Skills and Post-16 Education Act 2022, which became law in April.

Regulations that enable SFCs with a religious character to convert to academy status came into force on December 28, 2022.

The DfE updated guidance today that outlines the process they have to follow.

It states that SFC’s with a religious character will need to liaise with their DfE academy delivery officer to “apply for an order to designate the new 16 to 19 academy with a religious character”.

The SFCs will also need to “arrange for a separate order to be made, to enable them to lawfully give preference in admissions to those of a particular religion or belief”.

When submitting an application the colleges will need to provide the religious denomination of the 16 to 19 academy as well as details of any representations made by any religious body regarding the designation application.

The DfE said SFCs should be aware that the education secretary can “consult the relevant religious body if necessary, so it is important that sixth form colleges that are considering conversion ensure they engage with the relevant religious body at the earliest opportunity”.

James Kewin, deputy chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association, said: “We are very pleased to see the publication of this guidance as it means our 13 Catholic sixth form colleges are now able to academise. We believe that all sixth form colleges should have the option to academise, even if they ultimately choose not to do so.”

He added that there are at least three Catholic SFCs already weighing up whether to follow the 29 sixth form colleges that have converted since 2017 and “are now flourishing as 16 to 19 academies”.

‘Morale is at an all-time low’: Keegan’s DfE staff go on strike

Department for Education staff criticised real-terms pay cuts, with one claiming “morale is at an all-time low”, as they joined teachers in the biggest strike for a decade today.

Around a dozen staff and union representatives gathered at a Public and Commercial Services union picket outside the DfE’s London office. Staff held banners and were handing out leaflets to colleagues heading to work.

The civil servants walked out as part of a co-ordinated day of action across the civil service and other departments.

It follows an 88 per cent vote in favour of industrial action, with PCS calling for a 10 per cent pay rise, “pensions justice”, job security and no cuts to redundancy terms across government.

The DfE and other departments were told to only offer average pay rises of 2 per cent.

PCS has 1,816 members at the DfE, marking around a quarter of the workforce. Ofsted officials also walked out today, but not Ofqual, after a ballot failed to meet government turnout thresholds.

Some staff ‘can’t afford’ to strike

Owen Mooney

Owen Mooney, who works in the DfE’s strategy group on disadvantage, said he had only worked there for just over a year but had “already had a real-terms pay cut”.

“The cost of everything is going up. Everyone is feeling it at the moment.”

For lower-paid staff it will be “impossible”, he said – with some colleagues saying they can’t afford to strike.

“It’s important those who can afford to lose a day’s pay do strike. You can’t run public services unless you fund them properly. Morale is at an all-time low.”

Civil servants are “just as important” as staff working in schools and colleges , he added. 

Another DfE civil servant, Jack Hampton, said issues had been “building up” for years, including not only pay but pensions and increased outsourcing of lower-paid staff.

Jack Hampton on strike
Jack Hampton

“You hear arguments about a wage-price spiral – but they don’t work as people don’t pay for public services.”

He said he used to save £350 a month, but with his rent rising and a below-inflation pay rise he now only saves £150 a month. If he couldn’t split the £1,100-a-month rent bill for a room in a house share with his girlfriend it would be “abysmal”.

Hampton said he was not among the lowest-paid at the department, but an inflation-matching pay rise would have helped him save for his own property. 

Rachel, a member of the DfE’s skills team on the picket line, said: “It’s really good the unions are all aligned. I’ve been a member of PCS since I started.

“It’s about the right pay for the work that we do, which keeps government and FE rolling. It’s about a real-terms pay cut. For lots of my colleagues, it’s about being able to put food on the table, and have a life.

“It’s about retention of staff too – everyone’s leaving. The best retention method is pay.”

ESFA chief declined to comment

Education and Skills Funding Agency chief executive David Withey was among the civil servants passing the picket line on their way to work. He declined to comment.

Trades Union Congress general secretary Paul Nowak visited the picket line to offer striking staff his support.

He said civil servants get treated as “back room staff who don’t make any difference”, but this “couldn’t be further from the truth.”

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka also told a union rally later in the day civil servants were seen as “bowler-hatted Sir Humphreys”, but thousands were claiming benefits and using foodbanks.

Education secretary Gillian Keegan faced criticism on social media for criticising striking teachers this morning, when her own departmental staff were also taking action. The minister has said little publicly about the civil service dispute.

Lifelong loan laws laid in Parliament

New laws which will stop providers over-charging for higher education courses funded through the new lifelong loan entitlement (LLE) have been laid in Parliament. 

The lifelong learning (higher education fee limits) bill legislates for a new method of calculating the maximum fees providers can charge students for eligible flexible courses when the lifelong loan entitlement comes online in 2025. 

It aims to make the cost of studying modules and short courses at levels 4 to 6 proportionate to the fee cap for full undergraduate study, currently £9,250 per year. 

The bill follows the skills and post-16 education act, passed last year, which amended the definition of a ‘higher education course’ to include shorter, modular courses. 

New laws are now needed to give ministers powers to set tuition fee limits for those courses.

Ministers are pinning their hopes on arresting the decline of flexible and part time students studying higher level courses and boosting higher technical training with the lifelong loan entitlement. From 2025, it’ll give individuals an entitlement to a loan worth “four years of post-18 study”, currently valued at £37,000.

However the Department for Education admits that there are still too many unknowns to properly assess the impact of the policy on equalities and on public spending. 

The government is yet to respond to a public consultation on the loan entitlement, which closed in May 2022, and so is still unable to answer questions on the fundamentals of the policy – primarily, who and what will be eligible.

Another missing piece of the puzzle is access to maintenance support as the LLE only covers tuition costs.

Yet the government claims the LLE entitlement will make higher level courses more accessible to people who are too “debt averse” to take out a full student loan.

They hope the lower fees charged for smaller and more flexible courses will open the doors to older learners, learners with jobs, ethnic minority learners, women and people from lower socio-economic groups.

Researchers at Public First found last year that, while the idea of lifelong learning was popular, the idea of a lifelong loan was not, casting doubt on the premise of the policy. 

Today’s bill creates a new system of credits to measure “learning time” and gives the secretary of state powers to set fee limits for those credits. It also legislates for a “course year” so learners’ access to funding isn’t restricted to the academic calendar.

‘Ambiguous’ lifelong loan impact on providers

An impact assessment published today suggests that providers that most successfully “target and expand into this market” could see increased revenue. 

But it also explains that it is still unknown how learners and potential learners will respond. For example, universities that don’t adapt could lose out if learners start to reject longer HE courses in favour of more flexible provision under the LLE at other providers. 

A HE short course trial is under way, but early signs showed uptake was low. 

Skills and higher apprenticeships minister Robert Halfon said the bill will be “transformational in helping students to climb the education and skills ladder”. 

“Rather than having to be confined to just traditional full degree courses, it will also be offered for new modular funding, and allow them to build up credits to get both the qualification and training they need for jobs,” he said.

Tom Bewick, chief executive of the Federation of Awarding Bodies said: “This Bill can help make the learning system genuinely cradle to grave, with individuals able to access the financial support they need, when it is most relevant to them.

“It will take a cross-party consensus to realise the full potential of the legislation, including acceptance that learning loans are not right for everyone. Grants and maintenance support will also be required. As will reform of the Universal Credit system.”

MPs will get their first opportunity to debate the bill at its second reading. A date has not yet been announced.

‘Insufficient’ prison officer apprenticeships found at Sodexo

A global food and facilities company that also delivers apprenticeships to UK prison officers is facing a suspension on new starts after Ofsted found poor quality training.

Sodexo Ltd, which operates five prisons in the UK, received two ‘insufficient’ and one ‘reasonable’ progress judgements from the education watchdog in a new provider monitoring report published today following a visit in November.

According to the report, the firm had 80 apprentices on the level 3 custody and detention officer programme at the time of inspection – 42 based at HMP Bronzefield and 38 at HMP Northumberland.

The report said that the governing board didn’t challenge the leadership team enough, or have enough oversight of safeguarding.

Inspectors found that “too many learners do not pass vital examinations quickly enough to achieve their qualifications and to enable them to progress to end point assessment” because leaders didn’t intervene quickly enough to help learners when the fell behind.

In addition, feedback from learning coaches did not help apprentices improve the quality of their work quickly enough.

While inspectors noted that the curriculum was in logical order, and initial training prepared them to work supervised in a prison within nine weeks, they found that leaders and managers “do not ensure that apprentices benefit from an assessment of their work or useful feedback on how to develop their skills over time”.

It reported that coaches did not correct spelling and punctuation mistakes in learners’ work and made spelling and punctuation errors in their own feedback on apprentices’ work.

The report continued that line managers were not aware of their apprentice’s progress because they did not always attend progress reviews, and apprentices didn’t receive training to improve their maths or English because the firm had been “too slow” to recruit staff for functional skills.

Apprentices were not prepared well enough for EPA, the report added.

Safeguarding arrangements were given a ‘reasonable progress’ judgement.

The government’s Education and Skills Funding Agency typically places a temporary ban on apprentice recruitment at new providers that receive at least one ‘insufficient progress’ judgement in a new provider monitoring visit. The suspension is lifted if the provider achieves at least a ‘requires improvement’ rating when Ofsted conducts a full inspection.

A Sodexo spokesperson said the firm took on board the feedback from inspectors and was pleased with its safeguarding feedback.

“However, we also acknowledge that we have areas of improvement and have been working prior to and since the inspection to develop and implement an action plan which builds on progress to date and addresses any areas of opportunity to be strengthened,” the spokesperson said.

They stressed that governance has “already been strengthened at all levels,” and had included a new delivery lead. In addition it has partnered with a specialist provider for maths and English functional skills to improve that provision, the firm said.

Sodexo operates in 50 countries with 400,000 employees, and joined the register of apprenticeship training providers (RoATP) in January 2018. However, it spent a few years as a subcontractor before starting its own apprenticeship training in September 2021 despite being on RoATP.

It had been the subcontractor to PTS Training Academy’s level 3 custody and detention officer apprenticeship prior to September 2021.

In July 2021, Sodexo said that the subcontracting arrangement provided a “low risk stepping stone” to gather knowledge and experience of the standard, as well as get to know quality assurance requirements and the processes for the ESFA, before it embarked on its own apprenticeship provision.

Sodexo’s contract with PTS was terminated for new starters in September 2019. FE Week later revealed that PTS had its own ESFA contract terminated after the agency found hundreds of apprentices were unemployed.