Ofsted inspections might sound daunting, but they are essential to ensuring the delivery of high-quality apprenticeships. Training providers are funded from the public purse, so they need to be held accountable.
If you offer good programmes where apprentices continue to make progress, then you have nothing to worry about. There are, however, steps all training providers can take to improve their chances of getting a 'good' or 'outstanding' grade.
Let's take a look at what you can do to improve outcomes for trainers, assessors, employers and apprentices - and be audit ready when Ofsted arrives.
Training providers are subject to Ofsted inspections right from the point funded apprenticeship training begins.
Ofsted inspects all apprenticeships under their further education and skills framework, except level 5 learning and skills teacher and level 6 teacher, both of which are inspected under their initial teacher education framework. Degree apprenticeships, which were previously the remit of the Office for Students, are also now subject to Ofsted inspections.
As of November 2023, there were 1,840 providers on APAR, the Apprenticeship Providers and Assessment Register. Of these, 271 are assessors registered with the End Point Assessment Organisation (EPAO), with the remaining 1,569 training providers and colleges.
EPAO merged with RoATP, the Register of Approved Training Providers, to form APAR, in August 2023.
Ofsted monitoring visits
All new apprenticeship training providers receive a monitoring visit from Ofsted within 18 months of being funded.
This is to find out what progress is being made, with the visit's outcome informing when the first full Ofsted inspection will take place. Providers are usually given two days' notice unless the Ofsted monitoring visit is unannounced.
These visits are only intended to determine progress and are not, says the DfE, a judgement on overall adequacy or quality of the training being delivered.
Receiving a 'reasonable' or 'significant' progress outcome during monitoring won't necessarily result in a 'good' or 'outstanding' grade on first full inspection. To be marked as 'good' or 'outstanding' you must continue to make progress and address any weaknesses identified during the monitoring visit.
Preparing for full inspections
As a new provider, you are likely to have a full Ofsted inspection within 18 months of your monitoring visit report being published.
Ofsted inspections assess the quality of education and training, leadership and management, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and types of provision offered.
Their outcomes determine the timing of any further inspections, interventions, and whether the provider will remain on the register of apprenticeship training providers.
To address accountability, inspectors draw on quality indicators such as retention rates, achievement rates and employer and apprentice ratings of providers in the apprenticeship service.
Leadership
As a provider you will need to show you have a comprehensive recruitment process in place so that candidates are matched with the right apprenticeship for their long-term career goals.
Leaders and managers need to work extremely closely with the employer to make sure apprentices receive high-quality on- and off-the-job training.
Quality and outcomes of training
Providers must offer highly effective careers information and advice to help apprentices plan for their future career.
To produce positive outcomes:
These requirements may sound a little intimidating, but there are things you can do to make a difference.
At Onefile, we've designed our software with Ofsted in mind, so it has loads of built-in features to help you show inspectors how you make a positive impact to apprentices.
To see exactly how Onefile can help you improve your Ofsted grade, download our free guide.