Introduction

There aren't many FE & Skills inspection reports to review this week but perhaps that makes the messages within them even more interesting. Within this relatively small group we have some genuinely significant findings.

An employer provider receiving Exceptional for both Inclusion and Leadership and Governance, and a university receiving Exceptional for Leadership and Governance, Achievement, and Participation and Development.

Then at the other end of the scale, an independent training provider receiving Urgent Improvement for Achievement, alongside several areas judged Needs Attention.

All of them deliver apprenticeships and that gives us quite a spectrum. It prompted me to go back to the question I've been asking since the new framework was introduced: What does Ofsted actually mean by Exceptional?

We are now beginning to get enough published examples to start to understand the answer and last week's reports provide some of the clearest evidence yet.

Exceptional isn't the old Outstanding

Ofsted has been quite clear about this. Under the renewed framework, inspectors consider Exceptional where practice is of such quality that it can support improvement elsewhere, with transformational impact particularly important when considering learners facing disadvantage or barriers. 

That is a very high bar and when I looked at the Exceptional judgements this week, three things stood out: depth, impact and reach.

These providers aren't simply doing the expected things particularly well. Their practice appears to be changing people's experiences and, in some cases, influencing practice beyond the apprenticeship provision itself.

Exceptional inclusion: knowing the individual before the programme starts

The employer provider report is particularly interesting. BAE Systems received Exceptional for Inclusion and Exceptional for Leadership and Governance.

The inclusion narrative is worth studying carefully. Before apprentices even enrol, staff discuss their strengths, personal circumstances and potential barriers to learning. That information isn't collected and filed away. It is used by staff, workplace line managers and others supporting the apprentice to personalise the support they receive.

The practical response is extensive. It includes digital devices, AI tools supporting reading and transcription, British Sign Language expertise, financial assistance for care-experienced apprentices, housing support and mental health or crisis referrals where appropriate.

But here's the important part, none of those interventions by themselves appear to be what makes the practice Exceptional, it is the impact.

Inspectors describe apprentices overcoming significant barriers, progressing into prominent roles, managing major projects and developing aspirations they had not previously thought possible. That feels important.

Exceptional isn't about having an impressive list of support interventions. It's about being able to demonstrate what changed because of them.

Technology is being used to remove barriers

I think this deserves a small section because we've talked previously about AI, digital skills and inclusion. The BAE report specifically identifies the use of artificial intelligence tools to support reading and transcription as part of its approach to making learning accessible.

That's interesting because the conversation about AI in education can sometimes become dominated by assessment risk, authenticity and what learners shouldn't do.

Here we have inspectors recognising AI in a completely different context: as an accessibility tool.

Used purposefully, technology can remove barriers rather than create them. I suspect we'll see more of this language appearing in inspection reports.

Exceptional leadership: reflective improvement rather than inspection preparation

The University of Exeter report provides another fascinating example. Its Leadership and Governance was judged Exceptional, so were Achievement and Participation and Development.

What caught my attention most was the description of what inspectors called an exceptionally sophisticated culture of reflective improvement and institutional learning. This isn't leadership built around inspection. It is leadership built around continuous organisational learning.

Leaders and governors have a detailed understanding of strengths and priorities and use quality assurance, governance and performance information to identify themes and take focused action.

Apprenticeship practice doesn't sit in a separate corner of the university. Learning from apprenticeships is influencing wider institutional practice around neurodiversity, inclusive pedagogy, mathematics anxiety and professional mentoring.

That, for me, is where the word Exceptional starts to make sense. The impact travels.

Exceptional achievement isn't just an achievement rate

The Exeter report also gives us a useful indication of what Exceptional Achievement looks like. Its apprenticeship achievement rate was 84% in 2024/25 compared with a national figure of 65%. Clearly that's impressive but again, the narrative goes much further than the number.

Inspectors describe apprentices gaining professional qualifications and applying their learning to projects and research that generate cost savings, improve efficiency and, in some cases, transform their employers' operations.

So again we see the same pattern: Performance + impact + transformation.

Perhaps that's becoming the formula for Exceptional!

Then there is the other end of the spectrum

This is where this week's reports become particularly useful. Electric Mayonnaise received Urgent Improvement for Achievement. It also received Needs Attention for Leadership and Governance, Inclusion, Curriculum and Teaching, and Participation and Development. Safeguarding was Met.

There are positives in the report; inspectors recognise knowledgeable hospitality trainers, relevant teaching, positive workshop experiences and apprentices who develop useful workplace skills.

But the weaknesses are interconnected; achievement rates are described as very low because too many apprentices left early, some apprentices struggled to secure sufficient time away from demanding hospitality roles to complete their apprenticeship, progress reviews weren't frequent enough, assessment wasn't frequent enough, some work remained unmarked, quality assurance wasn't identifying weaknesses effectively enough, and leaders and governors didn't have sufficiently detailed oversight of apprentices' progress.

Urgent Improvement rarely starts with one problem

This links strongly to something I've been talking about recently. Quality problems rarely exist independently, poor oversight can mean delayed progress isn't identified. Delayed progress can become disengagement and disengagement can become withdrawal. Withdrawal becomes poor achievement, and by the time the achievement data tells you there's a problem, the learner has already gone.

The Electric Mayonnaise report actually says leaders had recently taken positive action and withdrawals had reduced, but Ofsted considered it too early to see the full impact.

That is an important reminder: Improvement activity and improvement impact are not the same thing.

So what can providers learn from Exceptional?

This is perhaps the question I'd encourage leadership teams to discuss.

Don't look at Exceptional providers and ask: “What do they do that we could copy?”

Ask: “What is it about the way they work that creates that impact?”

Copying an initiative won't necessarily reproduce the outcome. What I see in this week's Exceptional practice is something deeper:

• leaders understand their learners exceptionally well;
• barriers are anticipated rather than simply responded to;
• evidence is used continuously;
• governance is connected to improvement;
• employers are genuine partners in learning;
• professional development supports strategic priorities;
• and impact can be demonstrated beyond the immediate programme.

Perhaps most importantly, improvement is thoroughly embedded.

A question for leadership teams

Perhaps this week's leadership conversation is a slightly different one.

Rather than: “What grade would we get?”

Ask: “What do we do that genuinely transforms learners' experiences?”

And then: “How do we know?”

Under this framework, doing everything expected is Expected. Strong practice goes further, and Exceptional appears to require something genuinely transformational that others can learn from.

Ofsted itself says Exceptional practice should be capable of supporting improvement internally, regionally or nationally and that's a very different benchmark.

Final thoughts

There may only be a handful of reports to analyse this week but I think they're some of the most useful we've had for understanding the new framework.

At one end we have organisations where inspectors can trace a clear line from leadership decisions, through practice, to transformational outcomes for apprentices. At the other, we can see how weaknesses in oversight, assessment, progress monitoring and quality assurance can connect and ultimately affect achievement.

Perhaps that's the real contrast, Exceptional isn't about doing more, it's about creating impact that is deep, sustained and demonstrable.

While Urgent Improvement reminds us what can happen when leaders don't see the connections quickly enough.

For providers trying to understand the new inspection framework, both ends of that spectrum are worth studying.

How AiVII can support

One of the things these reports reinforce is that quality can't be understood through individual metrics in isolation.

Through AiVII Consulting, we work with FE & Skills providers to examine what sits behind the data: leadership oversight, quality assurance, inclusion, curriculum practice, governance and the learner experience. We can provide independent challenge, support self-assessment and help leadership teams identify not simply where provision sits against the inspection toolkit, but what needs to change to improve outcomes.

The AiVII Platform provides the technology layer, bringing together the information leaders need to see patterns, identify emerging risks and understand the learner journey.

The objective isn't to chase an Exceptional judgement. It is to build an organisation that understands its learners, recognises weaknesses early and can demonstrate the impact of what it does. If Exceptional follows from that, even better.

Strong organisational assurance depends on bringing together evidence from across the organisation and using it to inform leadership decisions.

AiVII can help organisations move beyond demonstrating compliance to providing genuine organisational assurance.

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