University apprenticeship programme praised by Ofsted

Ofsted inspectors have praised the University of Essex for working with NHS Trusts to develop an apprenticeship programme which fully meets the needs of their employees.

Essex is one of the first universities in the UK to have one of its apprenticeship programmes Ofsted inspected and received a “good” rating.

The University has been a training provider delivering Higher Apprenticeships for three years and currently has about 100 apprentices on training courses delivered by the School of Health and Social Care.

In their report, the Ofsted inspectors commented that employers valued the skills the apprentices learnt during their course at the University, which led to them becoming skilled and caring practitioners, to the benefit of their patients.

Ofsted inspected the Healthcare Assistant Practitioner Higher Apprenticeship, which currently has 20 apprentices on the programme who work at either the East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust or the Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust.

Vikki-Jo Scott, Dean of the School of Health and Social Care at the University, said: “We are one of the very first universities to have our higher apprenticeship provision inspected by Ofsted and I am so proud we’ve received a ‘good’ rating from the inspection team.

“They have highlighted many strengths of our Healthcare Assistant Practitioner Level 5 Higher Apprenticeship and also given us valuable feedback to help us make our higher apprenticeships even stronger. We have exceptional partnerships with health Trusts so it is very pleasing the quality of the courses we are delivering has been recognised.”

The Ofsted report said almost all the apprentices, many of whom have been out of education for long periods of time, completed their apprenticeship and achieved their qualification. With effective support from university staff, the apprentices also developed the skills they needed for their next steps in their health service careers.

To find out about all the apprenticeship opportunities offered at the University of Essex please email apprenticeships@essex.ac.uk.