DEXTERS' academy gains OFSTED approval

Leading London brand DEXTERS has become the first estate agent in the UK to gain a highly acclaimed OFSTED accreditation for its DEXTERS Academy, which invests in coaching and developing all colleagues, including school-leavers and graduates, to become qualified professional estate agents.

Following the review, OFSTED reported extremely positive findings among the DEXTERS coaching team and apprentices, who work closely on the specialised Estate Agency and Lettings development programme, combining industry-specific qualifications alongside on-the-job coaching.

The report by OFSTED praised DEXTERS Academy, recognising that “Leaders create a supportive culture and are ambitious to recruit, retain and develop future leaders of the business”; “Colleagues are happy and proud to work for DEXTERS”; “Apprentices can confidently provide help and advice to clients through their thorough understanding of the estate agency profession”; and that “Apprentices feel valued and motivated”.

DEXTERS employs over 2000 colleagues, almost half having achieved professional qualifications, including RICS memberships. In addition, DEXTERS currently have over 250 colleagues working towards their professional apprenticeship qualification.

OFSTED reported trainees’ positive attitude towards their studies, the supportive culture in which they thrived, and the speed with which they gained knowledge of their profession.

The fastest growing estate agent in London, DEXTERS group operates over 150 offices across London, with over 2,000 colleagues serving over 37,000 landlords and advising on the sale of over £5 billion worth of property annually.

DEXTERS most recent Report & Accounts, for the financial year ended 30th September 2022, announced a three per cent rise in revenue to £147.1 million, with the average number of colleagues employed by DEXTERS increasing by 195, including 86 new colleagues who were enrolled in the DEXTERS Academy apprenticeship programme.

Andy Shepherd, DEXTERS CEO, says: “DEXTERS was the UK’s first estate agency employment training provider, and now we have achieved another industry milestone, this time as the UK’s first estate agent to gain accreditation by OFSTED for our dedicated DEXTERS Training Academy. Our strategy is to invest in our people and recruit, train, retain and develop future leaders of the business, and our training programme has now been officially and independently recognised by OFSTED. We have always agreed with the Government that estate agents should be suitably professionally trained and qualified to ensure they can give the very best expert advice to customers. At DEXTERS, our vision is to deliver this through investing in and nurturing the finest talents as part of our ‘spend your career with us’ culture, about 90 per cent of our management have risen from our own in-house training programme, I am hugely excited about working with the next generation of DEXTERS Academy graduates.”

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