Today’s post comes courtesy of Lorna Tyrtania, ThirdForce Senior Product Manager

“Quality and standards in early years and childcare, schools, learning and skills, children’s social care and children’s services”

Ofsted have recently published their 2009/10 Annual report which examines the whole spectrum of learner provision. This blog focuses on the key findings of the Work Based Learning Section.

Work-based learning includes apprenticeships, Train to Gain and Entry to Employment programmes. These schemes have a common focus on teaching and training that equips learners for employment. The focus may be on giving people the skills to enter employment, to change their career, or to raise their levels of skill in order for them to do better in their existing roles. Latest available figures suggest that work-based learning reaches over one million learners, around 77% of whom were engaged on Train to Gain programmes.

The report states that:

• In 2009/10, 209 inspections of work-based learning provided by independent learning providers and employers were undertaken. A further 63 inspections of work-based learning were carried out in the course of inspecting colleges of further education. Apprenticeships were the most frequently inspected programme.
• It is noteworthy that while colleges and adult and community learning have the highest proportion of good and outstanding provision overall, it is work-based learning where the trajectory of improvement appears to be strongest.
• The work-based learning sector has long been characterised by considerable churn, with many new providers entering the sector and other providers leaving the sector within a single year. This is often a result of changes to funding, contracts or government policy. Ofsted’s inspections show that, on average, work-based learning providers that are more established are more likely to be judged good or outstanding than newer providers.
• Just under half of all work-based learning providers inspected this year are good or better compared with 42% in 2008/09. Over 82% of providers inspected this year had improved or maintained their performance since their previous inspection.
• All work-based learning providers that were judged to be outstanding for their learners’ outcomes were also judged to be at least good in terms of teaching, training and assessment.
• Overall success rates on apprenticeships increased from 64% in 2007/08 to 71% of starters in 2008/09.
• Employers are very positive, on the whole, about the quality of work-based learning. In around a fifth of providers inspected, employers feel there is nothing further for the provider to improve. Employers working with good or outstanding providers frequently comment on the wide choice of well-structured programmes and how training is carefully organised to minimise disruptions in the workplace.
• Learners in the best work-based learning providers told inspectors that courses are well-planned and designed around hours that suit them.
• A wide range of teaching and training methods sustains learners’ interest, including the effective use of e-learning. Where learners achieve outstanding outcomes, providers take a rounded view of their skills. Some providers do this through a focus on assessing and improving literacy and numeracy, regardless of the employment context.

Was that last comment written about our provision? It certainly sounds like it!