Ascentis

A Message from Lord Pickles and Lord Blunkett, followed by Ascentis's best practice article

The ability to listen and learn from one another has always been vital in parliament, in business and in most aspects of daily life. But at this particular moment in time, as national and global events continue to reiterate, it is uncommonly crucial that we forge new channels of communication and reinforce existing ones. The following article from Ascentis is an attempt to do just that. We would welcome your thoughts on this or any other Parliamentary Review article.

Rt Hon The Lord David Blunkett

Rt Hon The Lord Eric Pickles

www.ascentis.co.uk

THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW

Highlighting best practice

20 | ASCENTIS

Phil Wilkinson, CEO

IDL Literacy – helping

children with dyslexia

Founded in 1975, Ascentis is one of the UK’s leading

educational charities, transforming the lives of around

170,000 people every year through its range of

qualifications and specialist software. Ascentis works closely

with colleges, schools, independent training organisations and

universities to design cutting-edge qualifications to enable

people to progress to further study, higher education and

employment. Their specialist software programs, called Indirect

Dyslexia Learning, support school pupils with specific learning

difficulties such as dyslexia and dyscalculia. CEO Phil Wilkinson

explains that the key to their success is a clear vision and a

caring and ambitious culture that is shared by committed,

passionate and talented staff.

Our organisation started life as The Open College of the North West (OCNW)

in 1971 – a small unincorporated association of colleges and universities with

a handful of staff. I joined as CEO in 2001 and I set about transforming the

business from an unregulated regional accreditation body into one of the UK’s

leading regulated awarding organisations, also known as exam boards. Within

a year OCNW was operating across the UK, providing a range of educational

qualifications regulated by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (now

Ofqual) and the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education.

Following a period of steady growth, I took the decision in 2009 to break OCNW

away from the university that was hosting it, in order to set it free as a fully

FACTS ABOUT

ASCENTIS

»CEO: Phil Wilkinson

»Established in 1975

»Based in Lancaster

»Services: Leading UK exam

board

»Winner of the Federation

of Awarding Bodies (FAB)

Awarding Organisation of the

Year

»Largest access validating

agency for access to HE

qualifications

»www.ascentis.co.uk

Ascentis

21ASCENTIS |

BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE 2019

independent legal entity. This involved

incorporating the organisation into

a company limited by guarantee

and achieving formal charity status

from the Charity Commission. In

order to underline these structural

changes, I rebranded the organisation

as Ascentis. This rebooting of our

company resulted in significant growth

in our level of charitable activity

and associated income and staffing,

leading to our relocation to much

larger offices.

With the qualification side of the

company now doing so well I

wanted Ascentis to expand its range

of charitable services. I was very

impressed with a particular software

intervention program – Indirect

Dyslexia Learning (IDL Literacy) – which

was used in schools to help children

with dyslexia, so I arranged for that

activity to be absorbed into Ascentis.

I invested heavily in the development

and promotion of IDL Literacy and

quickly established a customer base of

2,000 primary and secondary schools.

In 2016, I became aware that an

educational charity operating in the

southwestern region, AptEd, was

unfortunately struggling, with very

weak finances. Concerned that the

services provided by this charity

would be lost if it was forced to close,

Iabsorbed the services through an

acquisition of the company. This was a

very challenging process but ultimately

extremely worthwhile as it preserved

the services, now an integral part of

Ascentis’ charitable activity, for the

beneficiaries – schools and colleges

and their learners – in the southwest.

Ascentis is now worth nearly £5 million

and we are a significant employer

in the Lancaster area. It has been an

exciting journey and in recognition of

our work we have been awarded the

accolade of “Awarding Organisation

of the Year” by the Federation of

AwardingBodies.

A simple but effective

approach

The past ten-year period has been

very challenging for educational

charities like ourselves and the

customers that we serve – particularly

the further education sector – as a

result of severe funding reductions

and constant policy changes.

However, while many of our

competitors have shrunk or closed,

Ascentis has continued to thrive. The

key to our success is simple.

The correct strategy: we don’t try to

do everything. Instead we focus on

the areas in which we can truly be

the best. For our qualifications, that

means Access to Higher Education,

English for Speakers of Other

Languages (ESOL), Teacher Training

and Short Online Qualifications in

areas such as understanding British

values and mental health. For our

specialist software this means

solutions to help children with dyslexia

and dyscalculia.

Ascentis centres across

the UK

We don’t try

to do

everything.

Instead we

focus on the

areas in which

we can truly

be the best

“

THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW

Highlighting best practice

22 | ASCENTIS

The best people to implement the

strategy: this starts with the culture,

which, at Ascentis, is defined as a

strong desire to help people coupled

with an equally strong desire to be

ambitious and competitive. This culture

is constantly reinforced. As CEO I am

supported by a talented leadership

team, a wider management team and

a growing base of staff, moderators

and external verifiers.

The impact of Ascentis

Every year we help more than 130,000

people to work towards educational

qualifications, to enable them to

progress to employment or further

study, including higher education.

For example, our ESOL qualifications

enable learners to demonstrate that

they have good speaking, writing,

listening and reading skills in English.

Not only does this help improve their

everyday life but it’s also an effective

way to show employers the student’s

language skills and is a boost to

their CV. Around 50,000 people

every year study towards an Ascentis

ESOLqualification.

Our Access to Higher Education

qualifications prepare learners for

study at degree level. They are

designed for people who would like

to go to university but who left school

without the qualifications they need.

Many of the learners come from

very disadvantaged backgrounds.

Around 6,000 people every year study

towards an Ascentis Access to Higher

Education Diploma and go on to

secure employment in a wide range

ofprofessions.

Every year we help in excess of

40,000 school pupils in around 2,000

schools with our IDL Literacy dyslexia

intervention programme, which typically

results in pupils’ reading and spelling

ages increasing on average by around

ten months after just 26 hours of use.

Looking to the future

Ascentis is currently experiencing

the most successful period in its

entire history with an annual growth

in our level of charitable activity of

approximately 20 per cent. In the future

we plan to provide our qualification

services to an increasing number of

schools, colleges and independent

training organisations across the UK,

helping more learners than ever before

to improve their life chances. We will

support regional post-16 skills and adult

education strategies such as “Skills for

Londoners” so that we can target our

resources to maximum effect.

We will provide a new software solution –

IDL Numeracy – to schools to help pupils

with dyscalculia. We will then expand our

provision of all IDL products to schools

overseas, focusing on opportunities

in the Middle East, Australia and New

Zealand so that we can help to improve

the lives of people with dyslexia and

dyscalculia on a global scale.

We will continue to develop our

strategy in line with the business

environment in which we operate and

strive for continuous improvement,

being prepared to adapt quickly to

new challenges and opportunities.

In this way we can continue to help

as many people as possible with our

wonderful charitable work.

We are

currently

experiencing

the most

successful

period in our

entire history,

helping more

learners than

ever before to

improve their

life chances

“

The senior leadership

team

www.ascentis.co.uk

This article was sponsored by Ascentis. The Parliamentary Review is wholly funded by the representatives who write for it. The publication in which this article originally appeared contained the following foreword from Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng.

Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng's Foreword For The Parliamentary Review

By Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng

This year’s Parliamentary Review reflects on a tumultuous and extraordinary year, globally and nationally. As well as being an MP, I am a keen student of history, and I am conscious that 2020 would mark the end of an era. It will be remembered as the year in which we concluded Brexit negotiations and finally left the European Union. Above all, it will be remembered as the year of Covid-19.

In our fight against the pandemic, I am delighted that our vaccination programme is beginning to turn the tide – and I pay tribute to the British businesses, scientists and all those who have helped us to achieve this. But the virus has dealt enormous damage, and we now have a duty to rebuild our economy.

We must ensure that businesses are protected. We have made more than £350 billion available to that end, with grants, business rates relief and our furlough scheme supporting more than 11 million people and jobs in every corner of the country, maintaining livelihoods while easing the pressure on employers. The next step is to work with business to build back better and greener, putting the net zero carbon challenge at the heart of our recovery. This is a complex undertaking, but one which I hope will be recognised as a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Through the prime minister’s ten point plan for a green industrial revolution, we can level up every region of the UK, supporting 250,000 green jobs while we accelerate our progress towards net zero carbon emissions.

With our commitment to raise R&D spending to 2.4% of GDP and the creation of the Advanced Research & Invention Agency, we are empowering our fantastic researchers to take on groundbreaking research, delivering funding with flexibility and speed. With this approach, innovators will be able to work with our traditional industrial heartlands to explore new technologies, and design and manufacture the products on which the future will be built – ready for export around the globe.

And I believe trade will flourish. We are a leading nation in the fight against climate change. As the host of COP26 this year, we have an incredible opportunity to market our low-carbon products and expertise. Our departure from the EU gives us the chance to be a champion of truly global free trade; we have already signed trade deals with more than 60 countries around the world.

As we turn the page and leave 2020 behind, I am excited about the new chapter which Britain is now writing for itself, and for the opportunities which lie ahead of us.

Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng
Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy