Provider to challenge ‘inadequate’ grade after Ofsted found copy and paste assignments

A private provider rated ‘inadequate’ across the board by Ofsted has launched an appeal against the grade and accused inspectors of “failing to understand” their provision.

Beyond 2030, a talent development training firm, received the worst possible grade from Ofsted in its first inspection, with inspectors warning that learners “often copy information from the internet and submit it as their own work” and raising concerns about ineffective safeguarding.

However, Beyond 2030, which had 214 learners when it was inspected at the end of October and mainly offers adult courses in health and social care and business, has disputed Ofsted’s findings and said it is launching an appeal against the report’s findings.

Toni Eastwood, founder and chief executive of Beyond 2030 who was awarded an OBE in 2007 for her work towards equal opportunities, has said Ofsted undertook a “flawed investigation process” and she is confident the provider’s grade will be raised after the appeal.

The report, published today, said too many learners “do not know what to do if they feel unsafe” and warned of “poor” assessment, slow progress and “weak” careers information.

Inspectors found that leaders’ evaluation of the quality of the provision “does not identify major weaknesses”, and tutors do not realise or challenge learners who submit copied and pasted work.

“Too often, particularly on access to higher education courses in nursing and midwifery, they fail to identify when learners submit work that is not their own but has been copied from internet sites, and do not challenge learners to produce work that is their own,” it said.

Ms Eastwood, said: “We have launched an appeal against the grading given to Beyond 2030 and provided Ofsted with clear, robust evidence to support our position. We are confident this will give Ofsted the necessary information to review and upgrade our performance.

“The inspectors failed to understand the nature of our learning and training provision, which adopts modern methods and theories about how people learn and therefore cannot be correctly judged simply against parameters used to assess a traditional education setting.”

She added Beyond 2030 is “confident” that Ofsted will “upgrade” its performance after receiving evidence to support their position.

Inspectors warned that “too many tutors underperform for too long and the quality of teaching is not good enough”, and said leaders had “taken insufficient action to ensure learners are safe”.

The report also said the proportion of learners who remain on their programme is “too low”, and said over half the learners studying functional skills English have withdrawn from their courses without receiving qualifications.

However, inspectors praised the “strategic vision” of leaders to work with learners who face challenges in their business lives, and say they succeed in making learners “more resilient and enable them to grow their businesses”.

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