Welcome to this special souvenir supplement bringing you the full results and insights from the 2023 WorldSkills UK national finals in Greater Manchester.
The finals showcase the pinnacle of technical skills among UK students and apprentices, but there’s a lot more to skills competitions than winning medals.
Find out why Greater Manchester was the perfect host city region for this year’s finals, how learning from abroad is raising technical training standards at home, and get the very latest on how WorldSkills UK’s Centre of Excellence programme is transforming teacher CPD.
Half of colleges have seen a drop in enrolment figures, with the blame partly placed on the loss of the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA).
A survey by the Association of Colleges (AoC) of 182 colleges shows 49 per cent are reporting falling numbers of 16-19-year-olds, compared to last year.
It also shows a national drop of 0.1 per cent, the first time in 15 to 20 years the figure has fallen, with 46 colleges reporting a dip between five to 15 per cent.
Colleges believe unaffordable transport, combined with the abolition of the EMA and increased competition for student numbers among school and college sixth forms, have been the main causes for a decline.
The survey is further evidence supporting the findings from two surveys – conducted by Lsect – and published in FE Week. The first showed that 105 colleges forecast an initial total shortfall of 20,319 students for this academic year.
Key AoC survey findings:
Half of the 182 colleges that responded are seeing a drop in 16-19 students, with 46 colleges reporting a significant dip of between five per cent to 15 per cent
Of those reporting a decline, colleges say the end of EMAs for students in the first year of the course, competition from other providers, lack of affordable transport and cuts in funding per student were the main factors
A decline in Level 1 courses (pre-GSCE and basic skills) was reported by 41 per cent of respondents
51 per cent of colleges said that their student numbers have increased or remained stable
60 per cent of colleges reported a drop in transport spending by their local authority
Over half of all colleges are ‘topping up’ Government bursary funding with their own contributions and the same proportion are spending more on subsidising transport this year than last
79 per cent of colleges agreeing that free meals in colleges for 16-18 year olds (currently not available, unlike in schools) would encourage participation.
Fiona McMillan, president of the AoC and principal of Bridgwater College in Somerset, said that at her own college EMA provided students with about £1,000 per year. Now, there is only £152 per year available for students.
She said: “We are all aware that funding is tight. But these young people are our future and we must consider our investment in them.
“We would all regret a situation where young people miss out and then become the so-called lost generation.”
Ms McMillan said the new 16-19 bursary, which replaced the EMA, is “better than nothing” but in terms of what it provides, “there is a big gap”. To cope, her college – like many others – has subsidised the cost.
She is also concerned colleges will miss out on vital funding, adding: “We are paid by our student numbers. So it’s an important issue for us.”
Martin Doel, chief executive of the AoC, said some of the changes could be due to demographics – with a drop of 40,000 in the 16-18 age group. He added: “It is a complex picture. The decline in college enrolment by students on Level 1 courses may be partially explained by improvements in school teaching.
“What is clear is a significant number of member colleges are concerned that financial constraints are preventing students from pursuing preferred courses at their institution of choice and there is a risk of vulnerable groups becoming disengaged from education.”
Andy Forbes, principal at Hertford Regional College, said they are “about five per cent down” on 16-18 enrolment from last year.
He said: “We’re now projecting a figure of just under 2,600 against our target of 2,719.
“We have experienced a particular decline in Level 2 enrolments and at the furthest reaches of our catchment area, which stretches quite a long way.”
Mr Forbes believes there are two factors to blame, adding: “The withdrawal of EMA and the cost of transport from the two ends of our catchment.
“We were not helped by late arrival of concrete information on what funding we had to compensate for loss of EMA and how we could use that funding, which made it difficult to put financial support in place for students and publicise them effectively.”
He also said colleges need to work harder to get the message across about the “exceptional quality of provision” they offer, in the face of “growing competition from schools” expanding sixth forms by offering vocational courses.
He added: “The decline of independent careers advice isn’t helping young people make good choices at 16 and we in FE are going to have to be a lot more active in ensuring school pupils and parents are made positively aware of the alternatives to staying on at school.”
However, the Department for Education spokesman (DfE) said there are “record numbers of 16 and 17-year-olds” in education or training.
He said: “There has been a massive increase in apprenticeships for anyone over 16 to learn a specific trade – 360,000 places in all available in more than 200 careers.
“And we are strengthening vocational education so young people will have high-quality courses open to them which are valued by employers.”
The spokesman also said: “We are targeting financial support at students who need it most to get through their studies – through the new £180m a year bursary fund, with further transitional support available for those students who were already drawing the EMA.”
Gordon Marsden, Shadow FE and Skills Minister, said the “alarming figures” show the impact of the government’s policy to scrap EMA. He said: “The government has left FE colleges facing a double whammy at a time of real economic uncertainty.
“Not only are college finances jeopardised by falling enrolment numbers, but they face the strain of having to try and address the post EMA funding gap, putting extra administrative burdens on them at a time where they claim to be setting them free.
“The government needs to get a grip urgently with a strategy that will help, rather than hinder, FE colleges in addressing young people’s employment and skills needs.”
AoC said they will repeat the enrolment survey in September 2012.
Click here to download the study and here to download the AoC press release.
Controversial industry placements of at least 315 hours are the most “important element” in preparing T Level students for their next steps.
That is the conclusion of new government-commissioned research that tracked the progress of 477 of the 1,300 students involved in wave one of the flagship qualification rollout.
The learners began their courses in 2020 and completed in 2022. The first T Levels available were in education and childcare, construction and digital.
Researchers interviewed the students 10 months after they finished their courses to find out where they progressed to.
Here are the highlights:
Destinations vary by route
Overall, nine in 10 of the first cohort of T Level students moved into paid work or higher education:
44 per cent were studying for a university degree
40 per cent were in paid work
13 per cent were on an apprenticeship
But researchers found destinations “varied substantially” by T Level route.
For example, almost all education and childcare students ended up in paid work (52 per cent) or studying for a degree (46 per cent) with only 1 per cent taking an apprenticeship.
Students who took construction T Levels were most likely to be in paid work (37 per cent) but an almost even split went on to an apprenticeship (32 per cent) or a degree (30 per cent).
Most students who took T Levels in digital progressed to a degree course (51 per cent). Nearly a quarter went on to paid work (23 per cent) and 19 per cent started an apprenticeship.
Former T Level students that made up the 7 per cent not in education, employment or training said they were looking for an apprenticeship or were taking a gap year.
Placements made the most difference
One of the most controversial elements of T Levels is the requirement of every student to complete a 315-hour industry placement. Sector leaders question how the government is going to find enough employers to host the placements each year when the courses are offered at scale.
However, students who completed the first T Levels valued the placements over any other part of the course, according to the research.
Learners who went on to further study were more likely to agree that the T Level helped them progress (89 per cent), compared to those who went on to work (73 per cent).
The industry placement was the highest-ranked element of the T Level programme that best prepared students for their next steps by those in work and still in education. Construction students found the industry placement the most beneficial, followed by education and childcare and then digital.
After the industry placement, the next most important element was reported be technical knowledge, followed by practical skills.
Education and childcare students were less likely to say the employer-set project element was “an important element” on their T Level. Just 23 per cent of those students said it prepared them for work or study, compared to 35 per cent of construction students and 43 per cent of digital students.
Only a third of former T Level students who are now in work said their employers were ‘very’ (10 per cent) or ‘quite’ (25 per cent) knowledgeable about T Levels. Nearly a quarter (23 per cent) said their employer ‘had not heard’ of T Levels.
Jobs from placements
Students with construction T Levels were the most likely to land a job or an apprenticeship with the organisation they took their industry placement with.
Researchers found that 14 per cent of digital T Level students who progressed to work or an apprenticeship went to their industry placement organisation. That figure was 34 per cent for education and childcare and 39 per cent for construction.
More broadly, 75 per cent of T Level completers reported they were working or studying within a field related to their course. But just under a fifth (18 per cent) said they went on to a different sector, with most of them saying they had no plans to return to their subject.
University bosses who shortened a degree apprenticeship to help the NHS tackle skills gaps have been criticised by Ofsted.
The education watchdog raised concerns following its inspection of University of Liverpool’s level-7 advanced clinical practitioner (ACP) apprenticeships, which resulted in an overall ‘requires improvement’ grade.
Inspectors found the two-year course failed to meet apprentices’ expectations and employers’ operational needs. The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education’s (IfATE) guidance on the ACP standard says courses typically last three years.
Ofsted reported a “few” employers and apprentices “feel that the curriculum has become too generic for their needs and interests”.
The university reduced the length of the apprenticeship to “enable NHS employers to recruit employees more quickly to meet skills shortages,” inspectors said.
Inspectors added: “A few apprentices who are nurses are disappointed with the narrow range of subject-specific optional modules, particularly in relation to specialisms in clinical assessments, such as the interpretation of blood results.”
However, Ofsted accepted that specific areas of interest could be focused on through a “negotiated” optional model.
Inspectors also noted that while two-thirds of apprentices achieved high grades, “too many” left early, despite the shortened length of the course.
This was the watchdog’s first full inspection of the university’s programme for 111 ACP apprentices since its launch in 2019.
Do other unis have shorter ACP apprenticeships?
An FE Week spot check of the 46 universities listed as offering ACP degree apprenticeships suggests only three others run shortened two-year programmes.
When approached for comment, a spokesperson for the University of Liverpool said the length of the apprenticeship was “comparable” with competitor programmes at the University of Salford, University of Central Lancashire and University of Bolton.
They did not respond when asked whether Liverpool shortened the length of the apprenticeship of its own accord or at the request of local NHS trusts or Health Education England (HEE).
HEE’s spokesperson declined to comment when asked whether it was aware of or involved in the shortening of ACP degree apprenticeships.
The University of Liverpool’s spokesperson told FE Week: “We accept the areas that Ofsted has listed as requiring improvement and these are being addressed by the dedicated team who already have robust, clear action plans in place to address the identified areas for development.
“We note that there are many positive aspects highlighted in the Ofsted report such as how, through teaching, apprentices are given the opportunity to engage with varied clinical practitioner roles and can apply these skills to their everyday jobs.
“We look forward to continuing to work alongside our local NHS Trusts to ensure that the course continues to be a valuable offering for healthcare practitioners looking to take their next steps on the career ladder.”
What is an ACP?
To become an ACP, apprentices must already be a nurse or a regulated healthcare professional such as a paramedic or occupational therapist. Apprentices gain a master’s degree in advanced clinical practice through the apprenticeship.
The role was created in its current form in 2017 and is central to the NHS’s long-term workforce plan.
This plan aims to address chronic workforce shortages of doctors and other medical staff by training up to 39,000 existing professionals to an advanced practice level by 2036/37.
They are expected to work outside traditional boundaries in both health and care settings with a “high level of autonomy and freedom” – including undertaking health assessments, formulating diagnoses and independent prescribing.
Newham Sixth Form College (NewVIc) yesterday became the only sixth form college in the country to hold the watchdog’s lowest possible judgment and was put into formal intervention by the government. It is now in talks to dissolve and transfer its staff, assets and liabilities to Newham College.
The proposal follows a tumultuous period which disrupted students’ experience and led to many leaving without a qualification last year.
Staff previously told FE Week they planned to strike for 30 days in 2023 during the busy exam period amid a toxic battle with leaders over staff cuts and high workloads.
Ofsted reported that NewVIc’s 2,400 learners were “keen to study, but for too many, their time at the college does not match their expectations”.
Students “experience disruption to their education due to staffing issues, ineffective teaching and administrative errors regarding their examinations”, inspectors said. In the previous academic year, this “led to a significant proportion of learners not achieving their qualifications and making poor progress relative to their prior knowledge and attainment”.
Learners’ attendance and punctuality are also “not good enough”, too few participate in good work experience or work-related learning activities, and “until recently, leaders and managers have not been considerate enough of staff workload and well-being”.
The college was also criticised for making a “limited” contribution to skills needs, with governors singled out for lacking a “good enough understanding of the skills agenda”.
NewVIc has been run by interim principal Susanne Davies since October after former boss Mandeep Gill went on sick leave. His employment officially ended earlier this month. The sixth form also has an interim chair after the leader of the governing body, Martin Rosner, stepped down in March.
Various other senior leaders also currently hold interim posts.
The college told FE Week it is now exploring a merger with neighbouring Newham College, rated ‘good’ by Ofsted, as it has “demonstrable strengths in the areas Ofsted identified as areas for development at NewVIc”.
If it gets the go ahead, the merger would be a “type B”, meaning NewVIc would be dissolved and its staff, assets and liabilities transferred to Newham College. Leaders are aiming for a merger by the end of the calendar year.
Jayne Dickinson, interim chair of NewVIc, said: “Over the past two months I’ve witnessed the enormous potential of NewVIc and the real progress the college is already making in the areas for improvement highlighted in the Ofsted report.
“A merger between the two organisations [Newham College] will accelerate this progress and expand opportunities for local young people, ensuring a skills pipeline for our employers. This is an exciting prospect that plays to the strengths of both colleges.”
Ofsted said until recently, governors and senior leaders at NewVIc have “not done enough to tackle the poor quality of education that learners experience”.
They presided over a “decline in standards resulting in the proportion of learners who achieve their qualifications being low on too many courses”.
Inspectors said leaders had “poor oversight” of key functions, such as the administration of examinations, for which they “failed to put in place effective or rapid enough improvements”.
Leaders have also “not made sure that there are adequate learning resources, such as computers, to meet the needs of learners”.
Inspectors found that a “characteristic” of the quality of learners’ experiences is the “wide variability across different subjects, depending on the skill and expertise of teachers and the level of disruption due to staff shortages or changes”.
However, Ofsted said the current senior leaders have “accurately identified the urgent areas for improvement” and have an “extensive range of suitable plans to improve the quality of education for learners”.
The watchdog also recognised that learners at NewVIc are respectful of each other and the wider college community. The “strong visibility” of staff around the campus, particularly the security and youth workers, creates a “calm and positive environment where learners feel safe and supported”.
Learners are also “very aware about how to manage their mental health and where to get support”.
Furthermore, inspectors found good delivery of provision for NewVIc’s 90 learners with special educational needs and disabilities.
Interim principal Davies said: “I am pleased that Ofsted acknowledge the progress made in the current academic year to get the college back on track. We fully recognise the challenges we face and have a clear plan for the road ahead.”
Paul Jackson, chair of Newham College, added that he was “pleased to be working with” NewVIc towards creating an “exciting option for post-16 education in Newham”.
Kaplan has become the highest-earning training provider in the apprenticeship levy market despite recording less than half the number of starts of its closest competitor.
The finance giant knocked Lifetime Training off the top spot after raking in over £45 million from big levy-paying businesses in 2021/22, according to FE Week analysis of government data published this week.
Kaplan Financial Ltd, which delivers high numbers of expensive apprenticeships, such as the £21,000 level-7 accountancy or taxation professional course to employers including Microsoft, Cisco and HSBC, saw its overall starts numbers soar by more than third from 4,620 in 2020/21 to 6,240.
This fuelled a growth in income from levy-payers by almost a quarter from £36.5 million to £45 million.
Lifetime Training, which had earned the most levy income each year since the policy launched in 2017, increased its starts by 30 per cent from 12,910 in 2020/21 to 16,720 in 2021/22 but levy-payer income remained at just over £43 million over the period.
Unlike Kaplan, Lifetime’s delivery is mostly in sectors that attract lower apprenticeship funding bands, including hospitality, retail and adult care. Its customer base includes the NHS, McDonald’s and B&Q.
Both providers are judged ‘requires improvement’ by Ofsted. Kaplan’s current overall apprenticeship achievement rate is 55.9 per cent while Lifetime’s is 35 per cent.
Apprenticeships are just one arm of Kaplan Financial Ltd’s business, but its accounts state that “revenue has remained strong since the introduction of the apprenticeship levy”. The firm recorded profit after tax of £9.4 million in the year ending December 2022, up from £8.7 million the year before.
Lifetime Training’s accounts for the year ending January 2022 show a loss of £9.2 million, compared to a profit of £6.8 million in 2020.
Stacey Fitzsimmons, chief operating officer of Kaplan Financial, said: “Our apprenticeships are in high-growth sectors – professional and financial services and data and tech – and our clients recruit apprentices, often in their very first job, in high numbers.
“We work with forward-thinking clients who understand the power of apprenticeships and the benefits they can bring to addressing skills and recruitment gaps. Many of our large employers increased the number of new roles in accounting and finance for learners coming out of education and into apprenticeships during this period.”
Multiverse joins the top 10
FE Week identified the shift by analysing the final funding allocations for training providers in 2021/22, published this week by the Education and Skills Funding Agency, which included values for how much each provider was paid by apprenticeship levy-paying employers.
The agency first published levy allocations four years ago for the 2018/19 education year. At the time, Lifetime Training topped the list after it was paid £51.5 million – almost double the next closest provider, QA Limited, on £26 million.
Other notable changes in the latest figures include Multiverse Group’s rise into the top 10 highest earners from the levy market (full table below). It placed sixth overall, up from 13th the year before, after more than doubling its income from £12.3 million to £27.5 million over the period.
Multiverse, owned by former prime minister Tony Blair’s son Euan Blair, recorded a 62 per cent rise in starts between those years, growing from 3,045 to 4,940. It mostly delivers high-priced standards such as the £15,000 level-4 data analyst and the £12,000 level-3 data technician.
BPP Professional Ltd, which, like Kaplan, also mostly delivers the £21,000 level-7 accountancy or taxation professional standard, remained the fourth-biggest levy provider, while IT provider QA Ltd stayed at fifth.
Corndel Ltd, which mostly delivers leadership and management apprenticeships, remained the seventh biggest levy earner, while Babcock Training, which has since offloaded most of its apprenticeships arm, dropped to eighth.
The British Army dropped to the third biggest apprenticeship levy training provider, while the Royal Navy remained in ninth place and the Royal Air Force fell to 10th.
Staffordshire University in 13th place replaced Manchester Metropolitan University (14th) as the highest-ranking university in terms of levy-payer income, earning £14.2 million in 2021/22 compared to £9.9 million the year before.
Bridgwater & Taunton College remained the highest earning college with £6.3 million in 2021/22, up from £5.5 million the previous year, but dropped down to 46th place overall.
The total amount of levy funding handed out in 2020/21 was £1.3 billion, shared between 1,355 apprenticeship providers.
This increased to £1.5 billion in 2021/22, but the overall provider base shrunk slightly to 1,315.
Weston College has appointed a new principal who will assume office 21 months after the post was first advertised.
Pat Jones, currently deputy chief executive for finance at Bedford College Group, will lead the college from July following multiple failed attempts by Weston’s governors to appoint a permanent successor to Paul Phillips.
“I am delighted to be joining Weston College as their new principal and CEO at this exciting time,” Jones said.
“Weston has achieved so much, and I look forward to leading the dedicated and talented team, building upon the many successes.”
Weston College, in Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset, has been led by acting principal Jacqui Ford since the retirement of England’s then-highest-paid college chief executive Paul Phillips in the summer of 2023.
Ford’s instalment as interim followed multiple failed attempts by the college’s governors to appoint a permanent successor. Weston had offered the role to Cornwall College Group deputy principal Kate Wills but then mysteriously withdrew the offer.
Phillips’ retirement wasn’t clear-cut to begin with.
Weston’s board had told college staff that Phillips would be kept on in an “absolutely key” role as “president” last year, but this was later scrapped after sector criticism. Phillips’ son, Joe Phillips, was Ford’s de-facto deputy as the college’s chief operating officer, but was one of two other college senior managers to have left their roles since September.
New boss Jones is credited with “playing a critical role” in the merger of Tresham College and Bedford College in 2017, and securing over £43 million in successful bids for funding according to Bedford College Group’s website.
She is working towards a doctorate in further education financial leadership from the University of Oxford with a thesis titled, ‘Sustainable financial health: Is it possible for colleges to maintain good financial health, free of intervention?’ The work was one of the first 11 funded research projects run by the joint Association of Colleges and NCFE ‘research further’ programme.
FE Commissioner Shelagh Legrave appointed Jones as one of two national leaders of further education financial specialists in 2022.
Andrew Leighton-Price, Weston College chair of governors, said: “Pat has held a distinguished career in education of over 20 years and is an innovative national leader of further education.
“More importantly she has the inclusive learning ethos that we champion so strongly here at Weston, with experience of working across all our learner groups.
“Combining this with her impressive financial acumen as a global management accountant, and strong background in community and employer partnerships, made Pat a very obvious choice, in what was already a strong field of candidates, from a diverse range of backgrounds.”
Applications to become Weston College’s £120,000-a-year deputy principal closed on Monday.
Two training provider chief executives have been elected to join the board of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP).
The trade body announced Debbie Gardener, managing director of Learn Plus Us and Nick Smith, chief executive of TTE Training Limited, topped the ballot to fill two board places reserved for small independent training providers.
The pair saw off competition from five other candidates.
Gardiner returns to the AELP board after a nine-year stint that ended in 2022.
She has led Learn Plus Us as managing director since May last year, having previously worked as the provider’s chief commercial officer and, before that, its non-executive chair.
In her nomination statement, she pledged to “champion transparency, collaboration and innovation, striving to address the evolving needs of members”.
“I’m passionate about addressing the inequalities within FE and skills and feel sure that many of you will feel the same,” Gardiner wrote.
Smith has led TTE Training, a small training provider based in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, for 16 years. It offers level 3 apprenticeships in construction, engineering and retail and has been judged ‘outstanding’ twice on his watch.
Outside of TTE Training, Smith chairs the Chartered Management Institute’s west midlands and north west regional board, co-chairs the Cheshire and Warrington Provider Network and is a director of the Northern Skills Network.
Asking for AELP members’ votes, Smith wrote: “I am passionate about educational outcomes for learners, apprentices, employers and obviously providers, particularly for small specialist training providers such as TTE.
“In a time of great change and uncertainty, I believe that the depth and breadth of my education and training experience can add value to the great work that the AELP is doing already on behalf of its members.”
Both new board members begin a four-year term of office immediately.
Ben Rowland, AELP chief executive, said he was “delighted to welcome” the new board members.
“Adding Debbie and Nick to an already experienced board providing oversight of our day-to-day work means AELP will be in an even stronger position to deliver even more for its members across the skills sector.”
Gardiner and Smith are the latest additions to the AELP board following the election of Remit Training’s Sue Pittock and and JTL’s Chris Claydon earlier this year.
Just 16,000 young people started a T Level in the fourth year of their rollout, according to new government data that also confirms a “worrying” dropout rate for the flagship qualification.
Officials are now undertaking a “route-by-route” review of T Level content and assessment in a bid to boost recruitment and retention and to ensure the courses are “manageable at scale”.
But campaigners lobbying to stop cuts to competitor courses such as BTECs have said “very low” student interest in T Level leaves the government’s level-3 qualification reforms “dead in the water”.
A new T Level action plan was published on Thursday and revealed starts figures for the 2023/24 academic year.
Student numbers for the qualifications, designed as the new technical equivalent to A Levels, grew by 58 per cent from 10,200 in September 2022 to 16,085 in September 2023.
Two extra T Levels were on offer in 2023, bringing the total to 18, offered across 254 providers, up from 164. Since their introduction in 2020 more than 30,000 students have started a T Level.
Close to £1.8 billion has been spent on the T Level programme to date, yet they have reached less than 3 per cent of the 16-to-19 population.
T Level under-recruitment has been widely reported. Earlier this year, FE Weekrevealed how lower-than-expected enrolments had cost NCFE, a major T Level awarding organisation, £2.5 million so far. Several colleges told FE Week they had canned some T Level courses last year due to low take-up.
Government officials are now taking steps to make T Levels “more commercially attractive” to awarding organisations by introducing higher entry fees for providers if numbers are low.
T Level courses in agriculture, land management and production were introduced in September 2023, alongside legal services. A total of 270 students enrolled for agriculture, land management and production, which is the first T Level to be available under the agriculture and animal care route.
The DfE publishes T Level entry data by route, rather than specific T Levels, so it’s not possible to determine how many started on the new legal services course. Just less than 550 students started a T Level in the legal and finance route, which includes legal services and the finance and accounting T Levels launched in 2022.
Despite the low recruitment, the government is ploughing ahead with controversial plans to remove funding for competing level-3 applied general qualifications from August.
James Kewin, deputy chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association, said “very low” take-up of T Levels leaves “plans to scrap applied general qualifications like BTECs dead in the water”.
According to Kewin, who leads the Protect Student Choice campaign, around 280,000 students are studying applied general qualifications compared to around 26,000 studying a T Level.
“Even if the plan to replace the former with the latter was the right one, the numbers simply do not stack up (particularly as BTECs will start to be scrapped from next year) and will leave an enormous qualifications gap that tens of thousands of students will fall through,” he added.
Both the Labour party and Liberal Democrats have made a commitment to pause and review the plan to scrap most BTECs if either win the next general election.
‘Worrying’ drop-out rate confirmed
Figures released alongside the action plan confirm that one in three T Level students in wave two dropped out, as previously reported by FE Week. These students enrolled on a T Level in 2021 and were due to complete in 2023.
Of the 5,321 students in the cohort, 3,510 – 66 per cent – completed the course and assessment. But 1,086 dropped T Levels for another course and a further 682 withdrew from education altogether.
Most students who dropped T Levels for another course chose a different level-3 qualification. The next most popular choice was a level-3 apprenticeship.
DfE data shows students taking T Levels are more likely to drop out than for other level-3 qualifications.
One in five students taking large vocational or technical qualifications other than T Levels in 2021 withdrew, compared to one in three T Level students. Just one in 10 students dropped out of A-levels in that year.
Anne Murdoch, senior adviser in college leadership at the Association of School and College Leaders, said T Level retention was “worrying low”.
She added: “Implementing a brand-new qualifications system is not simple, and the difficulties the Department for Education are having are understandable to some extent. What is unforgivable is the rush to dispense with tried-and-tested BTECs and other qualifications before T Levels have been properly embedded. There is a risk that many students will be left without a viable post-16 pathway.”
Route-and-branch reviews
Every T Level will be reviewed by DfE agencies over the next 12 months following complaints from providers over “volume of content” and “unduly burdensome” assessment.
The updated T Level action plan commits the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education and Ofqual to review the content and specifications of each of the eight T Level routes.
The DfE said “breadth of content” and “burden of assessment” could be changed as a result of the reviews, but “without compromising the rigour” of T Levels. The government will also explore allowing awarding organisations to plan for core exams to be taken at different times over the two years.
“We are aware that, in some T Levels, providers have indicated that the volume of content and assessment may lead to challenges in delivering T Levels at scale.
“Providers have told us that the administration associated with some assessment can be unduly burdensome and presents a barrier to delivery at scale.”
The quangos, who are themselves responsible for content and assessment regulations of T Levels, have been told to “explore opportunities” to reduce assessment admin burdens on providers.
As well as input from IfATE and Ofqual, new “curriculum reference groups” made up of T Level teachers and industry experts will “suggest improvements” to the qualifications and provide feedback on proposed changes.
Cath Sezen, director of education policy at the Association of Colleges, said: “For some students, T Levels are absolutely the right qualification to take, and colleges have reported great success on student pathways into industry and higher education.
“However, we have been clear that T Levels are not for every student wanting to study a level-3 vocational or technical qualification, and that the speed at which they are being rolled out alongside the scrapping of BTECs and other applied general qualifications is misguided.”
Reviews will take place in the order the routes were introduced, beginning with T Levels in education, digital, construction and health and science. They will conclude by the summer with a view to introducing changes from next year.
Transition year woes
Entry rates on the T Level foundation year, previously known as the T Level transition programme, increased to 7,000 in 2023, up from 5,200 the year before.
The programme is a one-year post-GCSE study course aimed at students who would like to do a T Level but are not ready for its academic and technical demands. The programme’s primary purpose is to move students on to a full T Level.
While starts are increasing, new data reveals completions and progression are decreasing.
DfE figures show 85 per cent of participants completed the foundation year in 2021/22, down from 90 per cent the year before.
But while half of completers progressed to a level-3 course or apprenticeship, just 8 per cent of T Level foundation-year students progressed to a T Level.
DfE said the transition year’s 51 per cent progression rate to level 3 was higher than other classroom-based level-2 courses (44 per cent).
“A key priority for us is to understand how we and providers can support more students to progress to T Levels as their level-3 choice,” the action plan stated.
The DfE is introducing a new “certificate of participation” this year for anyone who completes the course.
Scrapping single-phrase Ofsted judgments would lead to civil servants, politicians and the media “drawing their own conclusions” about education providers from the narrative in reports, the government has warned.
A coroner ruled in December that an Ofsted inspection at Caversham Primary School contributed to her suicide.
In its formal response to the committee, the DfE said that “the government will continue to listen to views and look at alternative systems, including the various approaches taken internationally”.
But they added “the government’s view is that there are significant benefits from having an Ofsted overall effectiveness grade”.
“In our view the priority is to look for ways to improve the current system rather than developing an alternative to it. This includes considering with Ofsted the presentation of its findings and grades, and opportunities to highlight some of the detail sitting under the summary.”
‘Consider the risks’ of scrapping grades
The DfE added that it was “important to consider the risks of a system without an overall effectiveness grade”.
Views and decisions about education providers and their performance “would continue to be made, and there would continue to be consequences to inspection”.
“The government’s view is that it is preferable to have those views, decisions and consequences linked directly to the independent inspectorate’s overall findings rather than the interpretations by civil servants, politicians and the media looking through the narrative of reports and drawing their own conclusions.”
Robin Walker MP
The department said the overall effectiveness judgment was an “important feature” of reports, with “strong parental awareness”.
It also “enables us to look across inspection outcomes around the country and observe overall changes in the national position”.
“For example, we are able to say that 9 in 10 schools in England have been assessed by Ofsted to be providing a good or outstanding education for their pupils. We are able to recognise the hard work and professionalism of leaders, teachers and staff, and to celebrate that achievement.”
Committee chair Robin Walker said it was “welcome to hear from DfE that it is open to ideas about how the single-word judgements system could be improved upon”.
Association of School and College Leaders general secretary Pepe Di’Iasio called the response “deeply disappointing”.
“Its [DfE’s] solution is to ‘consider’ the presentation of Ofsted reports rather than the system itself. This is despite all the evidence that these single-phrase judgements are the source of sky-high stress and anxiety, damaging the wellbeing of leaders and teachers, sapping morale and causing many people to leave the profession.”
Ofsted will train inspectors on artificial intelligence use and explore how the technology can help the watchdog to make “better decisions”.
The government requested regulators and agencies set out their strategic approach to AI by the end of April.
In its response, published today, Ofsted said it already used AI, including in its risk assessment of ‘good’ education providers, to help decide whether to carry out full graded inspections or short ungraded visits.
But Ofsted is also “also exploring how AI can help us to make better decisions based on the information we hold”, to work “more efficiently” and “further improve” how it inspects and regulates.
The biggest benefits from AI could include assessing risk, working more efficiently through automation and making best use of the data – particularly text.
It will also “develop inspectors’ knowledge” about the technology so they “have the knowledge and skills to consider AI and its different uses”.
Ofsted won’t inspect AI tool quality
Ofsted said it supported the use of AI by education providers where it improves the care and education of learners.
When inspecting, it will “consider a provider’s use” of AI “by the effect it has on the criteria set out” in its existing inspection frameworks.
But “importantly” it will not directly inspect the quality of AI tools.
“It is through their application that they affect areas of provision and outcomes such as safeguarding and the quality of education,” Ofsted said.
“Leaders, therefore, are responsible for ensuring that the use of AI does not have a detrimental effect on those outcomes, the quality of their provision or decisions they take.”
Ofsted warned the effect of the new technology on children is still “poorly understood” so it will try to better understand the use of AI by providers and research on the impact.
“By better understanding the effect of AI in these settings, we can consider providers’ decisions more effectively as part of our inspection and regulatory activity.”
‘Modest number’ of AI malpractice cases
Exams regulator Ofqual said there had been “modest numbers” of AI malpractice cases in coursework, with some leading to sanctions against students.
In its evidence, also published today, the regulator said it would add AI-specific categories for exam boards to report malpractice.
It has also requested “detailed information” from boards on how they are managing AI-related malpractice risks.
The regulator has adopted a “precautionary principle” to AI use, but remains open to new, compliant innovations.
But Ofqual told exam boards last year that AI as a sole marker of work does not comply with regulations, and using the technology as a sole form of remote invigilation is also “unlikely” to be compliant.
It has launched an “innovation service” to help exam boards understand how their innovations meet regulatory requirements.
