The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) has achieved an “Expected Standard” for its apprenticeship courses following an Ofsted inspection in September.

CIOB became a provider of apprenticeships in 2024, and the September inspection by the education regulator was the first the professional body has been subject to.

Ofsted describes achieving the expected standard as a positive outcome, which means the education provider is doing everything that it should be doing, and the grade is categorised as green on the report card CIOB has received. The report cards and the colour coding help learners and parents understand which education providers are performing well.  

Dr Victoria Hills, CEO at CIOB, said: “We are extremely proud our apprenticeships training has been recognised by Ofsted to be of the expected standard, especially when we’re still in the relatively early days of being an apprenticeships provider.

“Our Ofsted grading is testament to the hard work of our apprenticeships team, who have developed courses that we know offer a fulfilling learning experience, not only for apprentices themselves but also their employers, by being flexible and closely aligned to real jobs and the skills employers want.”

“At a time when news headlines are regularly talking about a million young people being out of work, there’s never been a better time to showcase how rewarding construction careers can be. The Prime Minister’s plans for devolution and better access to vocational careers will hopefully provide a huge opportunity and mean more people consider a construction apprenticeship, and hopefully that can be with us at CIOB.”

CIOB offers the following apprenticeships:

• Level 3 Construction Support Technician
• Level 4 Construction Quantity Surveying Technician
• Level 4 Construction Design and Build Technician
• Level 6 Construction Quantity Surveyor (with CIOB Diploma)
• Level 6 Construction Site Management (with CIOB Diploma)
• Level 6 BSc Design and Construction Management Degree Apprenticeship (validated by De Montfort University)

All CIOB’s apprenticeships are designed to give learners and employers greater control with all learning undertaken online, and flexibility around when it happens and how it is assessed. Like all apprenticeships, all learning must be done within work hours (as per the funding rules) and a minimum of six hours a week must be given to the apprentice as off the job time (OTJ), but unlike colleges that require learners to attend on a set day each week, CIOB allows the employer and learner to decide between themselves which day of the week works for them to do their online learning. They can even choose to spread this out over two half days, for example. Employers and learners can also jointly agree a higher number of off the job hours to reduce the duration of the apprenticeship if they want to. This differs for the L6 degree apprenticeship.

For more information about CIOB’s apprenticeship visit www.ciob.org/learning-apprenticeships. Intakes are in March, June and September, but start dates can flexible.