Adult learning and skills: For employers

Understanding an adult learning and skills inspection report

An adult learning and skills inspection report has information that inspectors have gathered during an inspection. The report includes information about the provider and presents inspectors’ findings from an inspection normally carried out over three to five days. Many different types of providers are inspected across adult learning and skills

The inspection report evaluates how well a provider is doing, highlighting strengths and weaknesses. Depending on the type of provider the report may look at different areas such as apprenticeships, foundation learning and functional skills. What’s in it depends on the areas and subjects being inspected. It will:

  • give a summary of key findings for learners on the front page of the report
  • have information about the effectiveness of a provider’s work and what they do well
  • give recommendations on how they might improve
  • detail how good a provider is in particular aspects. Those overall judgements use a four-point grade scale:
    • grade 1 (outstanding)
    • grade 2 (good)
    • grade 3 (requires improvement)
    • grade 4 (inadequate).

The inspection report looks at how well the provider supports learners to progress into further education and employment in relation to their starting point. It includes judgements about:  

  • outcomes for learners
  • the quality of teaching and learning
  • the effectiveness of leadership and management

Initial teacher education

On a multi-phase inspection the report will have a section for each phase inspected (primary, secondary and further education; some inspections only look at one phase). Each section will have:

  • inspection judgements – using the four-point grade scale described above
  • information about the provider’s overall effectiveness and capacity for further improvement
  • key strengths, required actions and recommendations.

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Annual Report 2011/12

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