Quality benchmarks
Apprenticeships need to meet the skills needs of employers and apprentices by reflecting the range of occupations and skill levels in our diverse economy.
As a potential apprentice or employer you need to be sure that your training provider is providing good quality training and skills and is independently assessed regularly to ensure the expected standards are maintained.
This Ofsted handbook describes the main activities that inspectors carry out when they inspect further education and skills providers like ourselves in England under part 8 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006.
It also explains the criteria that will be used to evaluate our performance.
Throughout your training programme you will continue to receive Information Advice and Guidance to assist you in the following areas:
What your programme involves
- Exactly what you are going to cover
- What qualifications you will be able to achieve
- How this will help you obtain employment
- Your timetable of attendance to complete your programme
Development of your personal / interpersonal skills
- Exactly what you are going to cover
- What qualifications you will be able to achieve
- How this will help you obtain employment
- Your timetable of attendance to complete your programme
Duties involved within your chosen career
- How to improve your attendance, timekeeping, motivation and confidence
- How to work with other
- How to communicate effectively
- Acceptable behaviour for college / workplace
What you have to do to reach your potential
How to set challenging targets
How to stretch yourself
Your long term career plans
Sign posting for specific support you might need
- Where to go for issues which effect you. Housing; Drugs; Alcohol; Abuse; Relationship; Birth Control; Illness; Benefits; Financial
- Your progress throughout the programme
- Where you are within your programme through regular reviews
- What you need to do to improve / progress
- Distance you have travelled from your starting point
What next steps are available when you have completed your programme
Courses available, entrance requirements, course content, qualifications to be obtained
Career progression paths
Your expectations
Every apprentice should expect to receive a high-quality experience that prepares them for a successful career and supports their progression to higher level skills. We work hard to ensure that our apprenticeships meet the needs of apprentices to give them the skills employers are looking for.
Further information and guidance can be found on the gov.uk website here:
How to define an apprenticeship
From the Institute for Apprenticeships website:
An apprenticeship is a job with training to industry standards. It should be about entry to a recognised occupation, involve a substantial programme of on and off-the-job training and the apprentice’s occupational competence should be tested by an independent, end point assessment. Apprenticeships are employer-led: employers set the standards, create the demand for apprentices to meet their skills needs, fund the apprenticeship and are responsible for employing and training the apprentice. But the needs of the apprentice are equally important: to achieve competence in a skilled occupation, which is transferable and secures long term earnings potential, greater security and the capability to progress in the workplace.
Further information an guidance can be found on the Institute for Apprenticeships website here:
Apprenticeship Accountability Framework Technical Specification 2021 to 2022
Version 2.0: May 2022
This document sets out the detailed approach on applying the apprenticeship accountability framework, as first published in August 2021. It outlines the revised thresholds for 2021 to 2022 academic year for various quality indicators that form part of the apprenticeship accountability framework and how we will apply them for this first year. The specification has been updated to reflect clarifications from version 1 and to include information about the thresholds for Off the Job Training (OTJT), achievement and retention rates.
