UCEM passes first ever Ofsted inspection with flying colours
Posted on: 14 January, 2022
UCEM passed its first ever inspection by the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted) with flying colours after earning an overall rating of ‘Good’.
Ofsted inspected UCEM’s apprenticeship programmes at levels 3, 6 and 7 last November with the final report published today.
UCEM was judged across five different areas of its provision, gaining a ‘Good’ rating in the ‘quality of education’, ‘personal development’, ‘leadership and management’ and ‘apprenticeships’ categories and an ‘Outstanding’ rating in the ‘behaviour and attitudes’ category.
Feedback from Ofsted included the following: ‘apprentices consistently demonstrate highly positive attitudes to their learning’; ‘apprentices value the positive and nurturing environment created at work and during their learning’; ‘tutors have developed a range of resources to develop knowledge and skills beyond the requirements of the apprenticeship’; and ‘leaders have put in place an experienced team, who ensure that apprentices have a clear understanding of how to stay safe online’.
Stakeholder feedback saw 98% of employers who work with UCEM stating they would recommend the university to others, more than 98% of UCEM staff agree or strongly agree with the positive statements about its apprenticeship provision in the staff survey and over 80% of UCEM apprentices agree or strongly agree with all positive statements in the learner survey.
UCEM Principal, Ashley Wheaton, commented: “This rating from Ofsted endorses the strength of our apprenticeships provision which has come a long way from dipping our toes into the water initially in 2015.
“I had no doubt that we would achieve such an excellent rating, knowing what a fantastic team we have here and due to the meticulous preparation devised by our senior staff to ensure the inspection would go well.
“The importance of the inspection cannot be understated, with anything below a rating of ‘Good’ threatening our role as an apprenticeships provider so I would like to thank each member of staff involved for their hard work in achieving this outcome.”
To read the report in full, take a look at the Ofsted publication.
