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 The Rt Hon Theresa May MP.

The Rt Hon Theresa May MP's Foreword For The Parliamentary Review

By The Rt Hon Theresa May MP

This foreword from the then Prime Minister appeared in the 2018/19 Parliamentary Review.

British politics provides ample material for analysis in the pages of The Parliamentary Review. For Her Majesty’s Government, our task in the year ahead is clear: to achieve the best Brexit deal for Britain and to carry on our work to build a more prosperous and united country – one that truly works for everyone.

The right Brexit deal will not be sufficient on its own to secure a more prosperous future for Britain. We also need to ensure that our economy is ready for what tomorrow will bring. Our Modern Industrial Strategy is our plan to do that. It means Government stepping up to secure the foundations of our productivity: providing an education system that delivers the skills our economy needs, improving school standards and transforming technical education; delivering infrastructure for growth; ensuring people have the homes they need in the places they want to live. It is all about taking action for the long-term that will pay dividends in the future.

But it also goes beyond that. Government, the private sector and academia working together as strategic partners achieve far more than we could separately. That is why we have set an ambitious goal of lifting UK public and private research and development investment to 2.4 per cent of GDP by 2027. It is why we are developing four Grand Challenges, the big drivers of social and economic change in the world today: harnessing artificial intelligence and the data revolution; leading in changes to the future of mobility; meeting the challenges of our ageing society; and driving ahead the revolution in clean growth. By focusing our efforts on making the most of these areas of enormous potential, we can develop new exports, grow new industries and create more good jobs in every part of our country.

Years of hard work and sacrifice from the British people have got our deficit down by over three quarters. We are building on this success by taking a balanced approach to public spending. We are continuing to deal with our debts, so that our economy can remain strong and we can protect people’s jobs, and at the same time we are investing in vital public services, like our NHS. We have set out plans to increase NHS funding annually by an average by 3.4 percent in real terms: that is £394 million a week more. In return, the NHS will produce a ten-year plan, led by doctors and nurses, to eliminate waste and improve patient care.

I believe that Britain can look to the future with confidence. We are leaving the EU and setting a new course for prosperity as a global trading nation. We have a Modern Industrial Strategy that is strengthening the foundations of our economy and helping us to seize the opportunities of the future. We are investing in the public services we all rely on and helping them to grow and improve. Building on our country’s great strengths – our world-class universities and researchers, our excellent services sector, our cutting edge manufacturers, our vibrant creative industries, our dedicated public servants – we can look towards a new decade that is ripe with possibility. The government I lead is doing all it can to make that brighter future a reality for everyone in our country.

British politics provides ample material for analysis in the pages of The Parliamentary Review

The Rt Hon Theresa May MP
Prime Minister