How Bud helped MTD Training to impress Ofsted

MTD Training adopted Bud in 2021 to support compliance for their apprenticeship training programmes.

We spoke to Louise Denny, Head of Learning and Development, about MTD Training’s experience of using Bud since then and how it helped them to achieve a ‘Good’ rating in their last Ofsted inspection.

Preparing for inspection

The MTD Training team are no strangers to inspections, having gone through audits and meetings with organisations like The Institute of Leadership. Louise explains that these experiences always felt “quite hectic”, but they went into the Ofsted inspection feeling calm.

“There was a great sense of calm. We had a very clear plan and knew what we needed to achieve. We were confident that our learners and employers were receiving a quality service from us and were going to be very happy to speak about their experiences. There was certainly nothing where we thought, ‘we're missing this’ or ‘we haven't got evidence of that’,” she said.

The Ofsted visit

MTD Training was visited by a team of three Ofsted inspectors. After the early introductory meetings to establish roles and responsibilities from both sides, they got to business.

“On day one, we were having conversations about things like our safeguarding provision, curriculum development, and how we were working with different learners and employers to deliver training,” she explains.

Louise adds that Bud slotted seamlessly into the process and the lead inspector had experience of using the platform before.

“The lead inspector was very familiar with the platform and knew how to find and access everything. One of the other inspectors seemed more focused on school settings, so took more guidance. But we walked them through it and they were able to find what they were looking for.”

A focus on outcomes

One of the biggest takeaways from the inspection was Ofsted’s focus on the impact of delivery on learners and the tangible benefits and outputs.

“That was certainly a conversation I was very excited to be involved in, because we’ve got some fantastic case studies, testimonials and impact data that we were able to share,” Louise said.

“We had a lot of evidence of learners that had been promoted and learners that have been able to produce, through their workplace projects, significant cost savings, revenue generated and increases in team morale. It was interesting to see the focus that Ofsted put on that – I didn’t realise that would be something they would be keen to see.”

Peace of mind in evidence

Having Bud in place took away some of the stress of the Ofsted inspection, because the team knew the evidence would be exactly where it was supposed to be.

“We didn’t need to go around searching on shared drives, or looking at multiple spreadsheets and data sets in order to find what we needed quickly and easily. You can give that level of access to the inspector, too, so they can see what you see and have total transparency,” she said.

She goes on to explain that MTD Training’s processes are mapped to evidence that need to be uploaded to Bud, and the system makes it clear how that evidence links with the ILR. Louise is also undertaking a Team Leader Supervisor Level 3 Apprenticeship, and adds: “Bud is very easy to use both as a provider and a learner!”.

Find out more about how MTD Training are ensuring ESFA compliance with Bud

The importance of an intuitive system

It can be daunting to adopt a brand new platform, but Louise’s advice for other providers is not to let outdated or legacy systems hold you back.

“Everything you do should focus on delivering your provision to a high standard. Learners can experience the best possible experience, but niggly things can knock that overall satisfaction down. Everything needs to be harmonious, and not let down by a system where nobody knows where anything is or it takes ages to load.”

Following inspection, MTD Training has big plans to develop its quality provision even further.

“We’ll be looking at how we continue to expand beyond the curriculum. I think that's ultimately where we see our added value. It was noted in the inspection that we have a very ambitious curriculum that already goes beyond just the requirements of the standard and the endpoint assessment piece,” Louise said.

“I think, for us, we're now looking into all the elements. So things around the personal development criteria and how we can continue to expand on that and deliver something that is absolutely the best fit for that learner, and meets those business needs.”

MTD Training is a management and leadership training provider which also specialises in project management and sales training. They offer online management skills courses and inhouse management training programmes.