Pearson has recovered two grades from its previous ‘inadequate’ Ofsted rating for its apprenticeship provision.
The global education business was in January ranked ‘inadequate’ across the board by the education watchdog.
But it was inspected again last month, and the report out today returned a unanimous ‘good’ verdict.
It said: “Leaders and managers have implemented successfully a broad range of actions that have improved provision significantly.”
The report also praised “Strong governance and leadership” who support a “well-organised staff team who provide good apprenticeship programmes”.
The previous inadequate report warned too many apprentices were dropping out of learning, or failing to make sufficient progress to complete their programmes within the agreed timescale.
But inspectors said in the document out today: “Leaders and managers responded rapidly to the last inspection report, and ensured that the apprenticeship provision fully meets the standards for the apprenticeship entitlement.”
It added: “All apprentices make good progress and most complete on or before their revised planned end dates. Training managers and staff now ensure that apprentices who previously lacked motivation and support are very positive and enthusiastic about their experience and progress.”
However, inspectors still noted: “Aspects of teaching and learning require improvement. Individual learning targets are not always set with precision or clarity.”
Pearson PLC, which is the wing of the company that was inspected, is part of the multinational Pearson Education group employing over 36,000 people in 70 countries. It provides educational materials, technologies, assessments and related services to teachers and students.
It had 10 employees participating in apprenticeships at four regional offices across England, at the time of last month’s inspection.
The Ofsted report added that the organisation had “changed subcontractor in September 2015 to a sister company, Pearson TQ, which provides teaching, learning and assessment for apprentices”.
I find it quite astonishing that you gave this story any space whatsoever. The total number of apprentices Pearson has is 10 19+ apprentices. It is disgraceful that Pearson got it so wrong the first time with only 10 apprentices.