Quality assurance planning, implementation and assessment activities


About This Service

A major part of our work has involved working with Colleges across the South East preparing them for Action for Business assessment. As an independent consultancy we not only advise and guide but we were also been employed as an Action for Business Internal Lead for a period of 18 months by a large Further Education College and successfully steered them to accreditation. As a result, we have vast experience of all facets of the Action for Business accreditation process from both a College and external provider perspective.

We are also involved in providing underpinning support and guidance as well as carrying out 'mystery shopping' activities for Colleges and Work Based Learning Providers in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight as part of an European Social Fund (ESF) £650k project lead by Aspire Learning Ltd and in partnership with Bill Grady OBE.

All the Colleges that we have worked with have all successfully achieved Action for Business status. We are very proud of our 100% success rate and are now looking to expand our services nationally for those organisations wishing to strive for the new Quality Standard. To this end we are now working with LSN on whole organisation consultancy to help Colleges and Private training Providers become more responsive to employer needs (as part of the LSN development programme for Train to Gain).

Andy Golding, who carries out this work personally, has over 20 years of working as a practitioner in Further Education, including considerable experience of employer engagement activities and the management of Workforce Development. He is also fully trained Action for Business Advisor and Assessor and has been involved in assisting Colleges since the initiative began in November 2003.

The types of underpinning services that we offer include:

  • A tool box of systems, procedures and templates for immediate use
  • Policy formulation and strategic planning including Marketing and Work Force Development Plans.
  • Bespoke Customer Relationship Management Systems called CRM4FE specifically designed to underpin all elements of the 'employer journey'
  • Pre-assessment planning and preparation
  • Internal audits and action planning
  • Specific advice and guidance relating to the interpretation and meeting of the standards
  • Strategies for managing and implementing cultural change
  • First hand evidence from a college perspective on what to expect from the assessment
  • Independent mystery shopping activities