Government e-learning provider Ufi has achieved a grade two – equivalent to “good” - in its first Ofsted inspection.
The organisation behind learndirect achieved the rating across the board, with specific praise for its “strong strategic leadership”, “high success rates on Skills for Life programmes” and the “strong management of performance and quality”.
It was applauded for making efficiency savings without this negatively impacting on provision and its strength in attracting those traditionally labelled the hard to reach, such as offenders and the unemployed.
Ufi fell down, however, on its patchy and insufficient use of individual learning plans, an “under-developed” process of evaluating teaching and learning and time delays in decisions having a positive impact on learners.
The report also noted that not all tutors were qualified to an adequate level – 80% were either qualified or working towards the necessary qualification for their role.
While pleased with the over-all positive tone of the report, Sarah Jones, chief executive of Ufi, said that her organisation was working on the shortcomings identified in the Ofsted report.
“As a business striving to improve we welcome the inspectors' feedback on those areas where we need to focus our efforts to achieve even higher standards in the future," she said.
The inspection took place in June 2008 at Ufi's head office in Sheffield.
