An Isle of Wight training provider has made ‘insufficient progress’ since inspectors rated it as Requires Improvement earlier this year.

Ofsted inspectors visited The Care Learning Centre in Newport at the end of March and concluded that the training provider required improvement in four out of five areas.

Formed in 2001, The Care Learning Centre is a national training provider for apprentices working in health and social care, business administration and management, with 280 apprentices studying programmes at the time of the inspectorate's first visit.

Following the earlier inspection, it was noted that most apprentices demonstrated a positive attitude to their learning, but ‘too many’ do not get adequate teaching time to cover the whole curriculum and do not benefit from ‘effectively planned teaching’.

The Care Learning Centre in NewportThe Care Learning Centre in Newport (Image: IWCP)

The report suggested that trainers rely too heavily on apprentices’ ability to study independently.

Inspectors suggested that managers plan the curriculum to provide adequate time for trainers to teach all the knowledge, skills and behaviours required.

It was also said the provider needs to ensure employers understand the progress their apprentices are making to be able to effectively support their training.

Inspectors returned in June for a Monitoring Visit to evaluate the progress managers have made in resolving the main areas for improvement identified at the previous inspection.

Since the previous inspection, despite increasing the number of teaching sessions, leaders have ‘not taken sufficient action to reduce the number of apprentices who are past their completion dates’, the report reads.

Inspectors said that too many apprentices are 'very behind' in their studies, including some who have started more recently, and managers ‘do not have effective systems’ to identify their students’ progress.

The report said that trainers ‘do not help apprentices who are behind to clearly understand what they need to do to catch up’.

Inspectors concluded that The Island Learning Centre has made: ‘insufficient progress’ in:

  • Providing apprentices with age-appropriate personal development programmes
  • Ensuring that all apprentices are supported to improve their English and maths skills.
  • Ensuring that managers plan the curriculum so that employers and trainers understand the progress that apprentices make and have time to teach the required elements

The training provider has, however, made ‘reasonable progress’ in ensuring that apprentices with special educational needs and/or disabilities develop new knowledge, skills and behaviours quickly and securely.

The County Press has contacted The Care Learning Centre for a comment, but has received no response.