Dexters gains OFSTE accreditation

London-based Dexters has become the first estate agent in the UK to gain a highly acclaimed OFSTED accreditation for its training 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 both the firm’s coaching team and apprentices, who work closely together on the specialised Estate Agency and Lettings development programme, combining industry specific qualifications alongside on-the-job coaching.

The report praised the academy, recognising that “leaders create a supportive culture and are ambitious to recruit, retain and develop future leaders of the business” and that “apprentices feel valued and motivated”.

Dexters employ over 2,000 colleagues, with almost half having achieved professional qualifications including RICS memberships. In addition, DEXTERS currently have over 250 colleagues working towards their professional apprenticeship qualification.

Andy Shepherd, CEO, says: “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. 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% 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.”