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.
A large college in Birmingham has been hit with a first ‘requires improvement’ Ofsted judgment, as it reveals plans to close a troubled academy for 14- to 16-year-olds.
The inspectorate downgraded South and City College Birmingham (SCCB) from a long-held ‘good’ rating in a report published today which revealed low qualification achievement rates, particularly in English and maths, and attendance concerns.
Ofsted also flagged poor teaching and bad behaviour in the college’s 14 to 16 provision, including homophobic name-calling which made a minority of students “feel vulnerable”.
The academy, which offers pathways in engineering and technical crafts, health sciences, physical education, animal care and art and design, opened in 2019 and currently teaches 123 young people.
Ofsted said teachers in the 14 to 16 academy “do not check learning and challenge misconceptions effectively”, and it lacks a “clearly designed curriculum for English or maths that supports the needs of learners”. The students also use “some poor language” which undermines a “considerate culture” found in the wider college.
SCCB told FE Week the viability of the academy has been under consideration for “some time” due to staffing resource challenges. It has now decided to shut the academy for new applicants as of September 2024.
SCCB has eight campuses across Birmingham, with the majority of its 10,000 students being adults.
The college was judged to be ‘good’ by Ofsted for its delivery of adult education and apprenticeships but was downgraded overall due to the quality of education for young people and leadership and management.
Ofsted reported that most learners and apprentices “greatly value the relationships they have with their teachers” and become “respectful and active citizens”.
But inspectors found that “many” learners do not routinely attend lessons and therefore miss “valuable learning opportunities”.
Leaders were criticised for being “too slow to resolve the significant underperformance in the quality of education”.
SCCB leaders told inspectors that in the previous few years, they have been “greatly affected” by Covid-19, the cost-of-living crisis, a cyber-attack and a failure in their data systems.
Ofsted reported that there are poor levels of retention and pass rates across all age groups and provision types. The watchdog’s report said: “Consequently, too few learners and apprentices achieved the qualifications they had trained for.”
Inspectors noted that leaders have recently taken action to improve the quality of education by restructuring management posts and invested in new management data systems.
They also refocused staff on attendance, assessments and improving teaching.
Principal Mike Hopkins said: “Whilst the outcome of the recent inspection wasn’t as we’d hoped it would be, we’re confident that the improvements we’d started to implement in advance of Ofsted’s recent visit, are already paying dividends.
“The past three years have been amongst the most challenging that the college has experienced and the impact that Covid had on our learners cannot be underestimated, but we must learn from this and look to the future.
“I have every confidence that we will deliver a tangible turnaround by the time we’re monitored and then fully re-inspected.”
Staff at a Lancashire college have won an pay rise of up to 12.8 per cent – the highest awarded to an FE college this year.
Myerscough College reached the deal following strike action and talks with the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS).
It marks the highest pay deal reached by any college in England this year, and higher than the University and College Union’s (UCU) pay demand of 10 per cent for FE staff in 2024/25.
Union members at the college took to the picket line for three days in November and called off four days of strikes in February to enter negotiations with college bosses.
The full pay deal is as follows:
A 6.5 per cent pay rise, backdated from January 1, 2024
An additional 1 per cent pay rise, from July 1, 2024
A commitment to award all eligible staff with an incremental pay rise worth £1,277 on average from August 1, 2024
An uplift of over £3,750 to the college lecturer starting salary
UCU regional support official Daniel Maguire said: “This incredible win is the best pay award at Myerscough in years. It is down to the incredible solidarity of our members and shows what can be achieved when workers unionise and stand together. College employers in the North West and across England now need to look to Myerscough and see what can be achieved when you engage meaningfully with your workforce.”
A Myerscough college spokesperson said: “This collaborative agreement brings an end to our on-going pay dispute and paves the way for the implementation of the proposed pay adjustments for all affected colleagues.
“We recognise that this resolution has taken longer than we all hoped but wish to reassure you that resolving the dispute with UCU has always remained a priority.
“We believe that these proposals demonstrate the college’s long-term commitment to enhancing our pay framework as much as possible within a sustainable model.”
A total of 62 colleges have now reached a pay agreement since September.
The remaining five colleges involved in disputes yet to reach a pay deal are Capital City College Group, Craven College, Croydon College, Farnborough College of Technology and Newcastle and Stafford Colleges Group.
Staff at Capital City College Group most recently undertook three days of striking in January. They called off four further days of picketing after a deal was reached on staff workload, but the pay dispute continues.
The Department for Education has quietly delayed the introduction of the lifelong learning entitlement.
Students won’t be able to apply for LLE funding until September 2025, seven months after the planned February launch of the first LLE applications.
Teaching of courses funded through the LEE will now not start until at least January 2026, rather than September 2025.
In a letter sent to providers today, seen by FE Week, new skills minister Luke Hall said the Student Loans Company (SLC) needed more time to develop its systems.
“Having worked closely with the SLC on the delivery of its new LLE application and payments system, the government understands the great challenge of changing finance systems whilst at all costs ensuring a seamless transition for learners and providers,” Hall said.
It follows a prolonged full roll-out of the flagship scheme, which won’t be fully in place until at least 2027.
On its current timetable, full years of study of level 4 to 6 HE courses and higher technical qualifications will be available through the LLE from January 2026.
But its main selling point is the ability to access loan funding for shorter courses and modules.
Funding for some smaller courses currently funded through advanced learner loans will be available from January 2026, but the government plans for the bulk of modular courses to be available to learners in the 2027/28 academic year.
The Department for Education’s chief civil servant, permanent secretary Susan Acland-Hood, warned of “significant delivery challenges” to the LLE’s planned 2025 launch back in August.
Acland-Hood specifically highlighted SLC systems among possible delivery challenges at the time, stating: “The programme depends on good partnership with the Student Loans Company and the OfS [Office for Students] and their delivery of new systems and processes.”
Hall plays it safe
Pushing back the initial LLE roll-out means the SLC can test its new application and funding systems with a smaller volume of students. Fewer people apply for courses starting in January than in September.
Hall said: “This phased approach allows SCL to test their systems with smaller volumes of applications in January 2026, so that we can more safely introduce the system and ensure its reliability ahead of the full academic year volumes in September 2026, and full modular roll out in September 2027.”
The delay also gives providers more to prepare, the new minister said.
Hall promised a “provider preparation guide” in the coming weeks.
The LLE is a new system of student finance, covering tuition and maintenance, for courses at levels 4 to 6 for students up to the age of 60.
The government has pinned its hopes on reversing the decade-plus-long decline in part-time learning and higher-level technical training on the policy.
Potential lifelong learners will now have to wait until September 2025 before accessing their online account which will show them how much loan funding they are entitled to, and which courses and modules they can spend it on.
The loan entitlement will be worth the equivalent of four years of undergraduate tuition fees – currently £37,000 – minus the amount of any past student loans.
Providers in the dark
Providers hoping to deliver LLE-funded courses are still in the dark about who can deliver precisely what, when, and how much they can charge.
For example, training providers currently delivering courses that are advanced learner loan funded, but will become LLE funded, are still waiting for details on how they can register with the Office for Students’ so-called “third category”. This isn’t expected until the summer of this year.
For independent training providers, the delay could mean more time for them to finally gain OfS approval and deliver LLE provision from day one.
Simon Ashworth, director of policy at the Association of Employment and Learning providers, told FE Week: “In a roundabout way, this delay should lead to a slightly more level playing field for all types of providers by reducing the period from the start of LLE to when ITPs will be able to join. AELP will continue to push for those providers who are ready to become [OfS] approved and join the LLE sooner rather than having to wait unnecessarily.”
Hall’s letter promises “further details on maintenance” despite the government announcing maintenance loans for LLE learners over a year ago.
Providers can expect details of an “additional entitlement for priority subjects and courses” in the coming months, Hall said today.
And a long-awaited technical consultation on funding for modular courses isn’t likely to take place until this summer.
A DfE spokesperson said: “We remain committed to rolling out the Lifelong Learning Entitlement in academic year 2025/26 and we believe that this phased approach is the best way to deliver for learners, providers and the existing student-finance system.
“The journey towards the LLE’s introduction is ambitious and we want the Student Loans Company and providers to have the preparation time they need to adapt their systems to be ready for launch.”
East Coast College has announced a familiar face as its new permanent principal.
Paul Padda (pictured), who has worked at the college for over a decade, has taken up the post after doing the role on an interim basis since January.
He replaces Stuart Rimmer, who suddenly quit as principal on December 31 after 10 years in post.
There have also been recent changes to East Coast College’s board, with several members leaving earlier than planned and four new governors being appointed this month.
David Blake, chair of East Coast College, said: “Paul has many years of experience working in the further education sector and we are extremely pleased to have him leading our college. Paul was appointed following a robust appointment process that included panels of staff, students and stakeholders, followed by a final governor interview in which Paul’s passion for the college and education shone through.
“The board and I are looking forward to working with Paul to develop and improve our amazing college for the good of our staff, students, employers and community.”
Before joining what was then Great Yarmouth College in 2013, Padda worked at South and City College Birmingham as assistant director for business and IT.
At East Coast College, Padda has been a programme manager, director for integrated learning and deputy principal for curriculum, quality and learner experience.
The college said he “consistently helped to improve standards of teaching, learning and outcomes for students” across the college’s Lowestoft, Great Yarmouth and sixth-form campuses.
His leadership was also “fundamental” in the college receiving a ‘good’ rating from Ofsted.
Padda said: “I am honoured and thrilled to have been appointed as principal and CEO for East Coast College. I’ve had the privilege of working at the college since 2013 having held a number of different posts, and every day I am amazed by the work our college does for our students and our communities, delivering better opportunities as an inclusive organisation. I am excited to continue working and developing our college.”
FE’s new student leader has pledged to reconnect the National Union of Students (NUS) with further education students whose needs have been “marginalised” and “overlooked” by the union and sector.
Qasim Hussain, currently the full-time students’ union president at Leeds City College, part of Luminate Education Group, was elected by NUS members to be its next vice president for further education (VPFE) on Friday.
The former history, geography and politics A-levels student pledged to work with sector bodies to campaign to “protect the resources and support services that students rely on” alongside making FE issues more of a priority in the national union.
Hussain said NUS has become “disconnected” and “inaccessible” to its further education members with financial constraints in the sector blocking students from taking part in NUS’ campaigns and democratic decision-making bodies, like its national conference.
“As a result of this, the FE voice is marginalised and our concerns are overlooked in national educational discussions and decision-making. This is why I would argue confidence and trust has been lost, particularly for our FE membership,” Hussain told FE Week.
The Leeds SU president, one of only a handful in colleges in a full-time, paid role, saw off competition from one other candidate in the VPFE election, defeating Dudley College Students’ Union president Jack Stokes.
“Sadly, many FE members feel left out by NUS, but I want to change that,” Hussain’s manifesto said.
Trust and funding
In 2022, the government instructed ministers and civil service officials to cut ties with NUS amid internal antisemitism allegations which later saw its then-president sacked. But FE Week could find no government agency at the time that had any routine engagement with NUS on FE issues.
“We can’t lock anyone out. It is very important that as a national union, we rebuild trust with our members including addressing islamophobia and antisemitism on our campuses,” Hussain told FE Week.
Despite FE making up the majority of NUS’ membership, an FE Week investigation uncovered how poor financial resources and under-developed structures gave higher education students more of the limelight in the union. Hussain’s own experience at NUS events reflects this.
“At last year’s national conference, I felt like FE was an afterthought with more or less all policies being heavily focussed on higher education. We are a diverse sector with sixth-form colleges, FE colleges and apprentices. Without a strong national voice, we will continue to be at a disadvantage,” he said.
So as well as campaigning for increased education and student support funding, Hussain wants a new national student voice system for FE with a regional structure to mobilise FE student representatives and provide training.
Every FE provider should have an independent and funded students’ union with dedicated support staff and paid student leaders to “create more engagement and enhance student representation”.
Cost-of-living pressures and the rising “crisis” in student mental health concerns are also on Hussain’s radar.
And politicians are “not going far enough to meet the needs of apprentices,” Hussain said, in his pledge to campaign for a “real living wage” for apprentices.
Influential and inspirational
Further education representation will be debated at the NUS national conference, taking place in Blackpool later this week.
Hussain has co-authored policy proposals alongside students’ unions at Dudley College, The Sheffield College and the National Society of Apprentices which, if passed, mandates NUS to “encourage and support a vibrant national voice for college and vocational learners”.
The college unions also demand NUS fights cuts to BTEC qualifications, returns to paying for conference accommodation for FE delegates and reserve conference space for FE issues.
Bill Jones, executive principal of Leeds City College and deputy CEO of Luminate Education Group, said: “We are proud to see one of our students be elected to this key national position with an organisation that represents hundreds of students’ unions all across the country.
“Qasim was an influential and popular president of our students’ union and I have no doubt that he will carry those traits into his new role.
“His success is an inspiration and shows other students just how far they can go with the right focus and determination.”
Hussain will be working alongside new NUS president Amira Campbell, elected from the University of Birmingham Guild of Students.
Campbell’s manifesto calls for a “new model” of post-18 education funding, investment in FE students’ unions to “attain similar democratic and representative rights to that of the HE sector”, free bus services for students and “rebuilding and repairing” NUS’ relationships with Muslim and Jewish students.
Hussain will begin his two-year term in office on July 1, succeeding Bernie Savage.
Extract from VPFE manifestoExtract from VPFE manifesto
Controversial accountability thresholds that “unfairly penalised” larger training providers have been replaced in an update to the apprenticeship accountability framework.
But thresholds on how many apprentices can withdraw or be on a break in learning at a training provider before triggering possible intervention action have been reduced.
The Department for Education published changes to four of the ten intervention thresholds that it monitors to “drive-up quality” of apprenticeships this afternoon.
Previously, training providers would be identified as ‘needs improvement’ if more than 250 apprentices withdrew, past their planned end dates or were on a break in learning.
Today’s update replaces each 250 threshold with a percentage of the total number of apprentices at a training provider. For example, under the latest framework, a training provider would be ‘at risk’ if more than 20 per cent of their total number of apprentices withdraw, down from 35 per cent. If 15-20 per cent of a provider’s apprentices withdraw, they will be considered as ‘needs improvement,’ down from 15-35 per cent.
A provider will now be ‘at risk’ if 10 per cent of their apprentices are on a break in learning for over a year. The previous threshold was 15 per cent.
The DfE said its “stronger approach” will come into effect in performance monitoring of apprenticeship training providers from June 2024. See table below for full list of changes.
Today’s update said: “Now that the framework is established, we’ll be taking a more robust approach in its application. We’re retaining the same indicators, but we’re introducing higher thresholds for three of the ten indicators and removing the 250-apprentice threshold that applied to three of the measures.”
A threshold for apprentice feedback has been introduced for the first time. From June, training providers will be considered ‘needs improvement’ if their apprentice feedback score on the find an apprenticeship service is less than 2.5 stars out of 4. Apprentice feedback is only published when at least ten apprentices have submitted their scores.
Accountability thresholds on achievement rates, Ofsted inspection outcomes and off-the-job training remain the same.
The 250 apprentice thresholds hit the headlines last year after being increased from 100 following an outcry from training providers. The Association of Employment and Learning Providers said the threshold would penalise the largest training providers operating in sectors such as care, retail and hospitality where withdrawals are persistently high.
Training providers falling foul of the quality thresholds could face severe consequences.
Following a “management conversation” with a DfE case manager, officials can suspend funding, order an improvement plan or terminate a provider’s contract if they believe there is “provider failure.”
Last month, the then skills minister, Robert Halfon, warned the training sector the government will use “contractual” measures to crack down in cases of “insufficient improvement.”
There are some very welcome proposed changes to the apprenticeship funding rules for 2024/25, including some significant moves to remove barriers that those with learning difficulties can experience in accessing the support that they need.
The ability to conduct learning support assessments at any time during the apprenticeship makes perfect sense and is long overdue.
Similarly, the rollout of the SEND flexibilities pilot allowing those without education and health care plans (EHCPs) to access learning support funding is very welcome.
But there remains an arbitrary and unjustifiable eight-week time limit to file an English and maths flexibility for apprentices with disabilities, special educational needs or learning difficulties.
The EHCP system, whilst well-intentioned, is cumbersome, and lengthy, and the criteria that local authorities use to formulate them vary so widely that their use as a common framework for access to national funding has not been fit for purpose for some time.
In 2016 I was privileged to have been part of the Maynard taskforce that recommended flexing minimum English and maths requirements to entry level 3 for apprentices with learning difficulties, a recommendation the government accepted in full and implemented.
But between 2017 and 2023, only around 1400 learners have been able to use this flexibility, which (given there were about 2.1m total starts over this period) is appalling – that’s 0.06 per cent of starts when other data indicates that over 7 per cent of apprentices have cognitive learning needs that should qualify.
The requirement for an EHCP to identify such learning difficulties has been a major reason, so dropping this requirement is a big plus.
But it’s frustrating that there is one further logical move that could and should have been made to complete this picture that inexplicably has been missed.
Under these draft proposals, to flex minimum English and maths requirements to entry level 3, the assessment has to be completed within the first eight weeks of the apprenticeship.
This makes no sense when only a few paragraphs prior, the rules accept that to qualify for support funding, a learning difficulty may be assessed at any time within the apprenticeship.
If such an assessment found, several months into an apprenticeship, that the reason the learner has been struggling with maths and English was because of a previously unrecognised learning difficulty, why is it on one hand too late to be properly addressed, even though the provider can claim extra funding to address it?
It would be more cost-effective for the training provider to acknowledge and work with the apprentice at an appropriate level than throw taxpayer’s money at trying to get them to pass at a level that they will at best have extreme difficulty in succeeding at.
This just risks their completion altogether, whatever the level of vocational and technical skill they can otherwise display in their profession.
I don’t want to be overly negative because the moves that are proposed are the right ones to make.
However, while we have the chance, let’s complete the picture by ensuring that a properly evidenced identification of a learning difficulty at any time in an apprenticeship can also mean the flexibility to change the minimum English and maths requirement – not just an assessment in the first eight weeks.
Surely we all want to make sure that those with learning difficulties in maths and English can still have the chance to demonstrate their technical and vocational skills on a par with everyone else.
The new chief executive of the Federation of Awarding Bodies has suddenly resigned with immediate effect, FE Week has learned, after just two months in post.
Kion Ahadi was appointed in November and officially led the awarding membership body from February.
Staff and members of the federation were told this afternoon that Ahadi had stood down for personal reasons.
A statement from the FAB board said: “Due to personal reasons, Kion Ahadi has made the decision to stand down from his position as chief executive at the Federation of Awarding Bodies. Kion has enjoyed his short time at FAB and recognised the fantastic contribution of its members.”
FAB is the membership body for more than 120 awarding organisations.
John McNamara, who has previously led FAB on an interim basis twice, will step back in once more as interim chief executive until a permanent replacement is found.
McNamara is the non-executive chair of Innovate Awarding. FAB’s new chair Charlotte Bosworth is managing director of Innovate Awarding.
The FAB and Innovate boards have agreed extra governance arrangements to mitigate any conflicts of interest. A full board meeting was held this afternoon to approve McNamara’s appointment as interim CEO.
At the time of his appointment, Ahadi said he accepted the CEO gig at FAB due to its “vision to improve the quality of technical, professional, and vocational education to support social mobility, and change lives”.
Ahadi was appointed following the resignation of Tom Bewick in May 2023.
A new national body should be set up to help deliver a more “coherent” post-16 education system, the Association of Colleges (AoC) has said.
The call for a “social partnership body” comes in a new report that builds on the AoC’s call for a single tertiary education system for post-16 students, which would also see colleges accrediting their own apprenticeship assessments and higher-level qualifications.
Although it has not detailed the exact make-up of the national body, the association says the body’s role should be to set national priorities for skills through a “partnership approach”.
This would fill a space left by a lack of ownership over England’s national strategy on skills, the AoC’s chief executive David Hughes told FE Week.
He added: “The starting point is we have no post-16 education and skills strategy. It doesn’t sit anywhere and there’s nobody tasked with owning that – that is a problem.”
In its report “100% opportunity: the case for a tertiary education system” the AoC says the body could support strategies such as the NHS workforce plan, analyse workforce needs, work with mayoral combined authorities and intervene where there is market failure.
The AoC calls the current system “siloed and fragmented”, with disproportionate funding going “a small number” of people in the higher education sector while the number of apprenticeship starts has fallen by a third in the last decade and the number of people not in education, employment or training (NEET) is on the rise.
A new national body could also help to coordinate England’s 38 local skills improvement plans and its increasingly devolved control over regional skills spending.
The AoC’s proposal appears to echo Labour’s pledge to set up Skills England, a “taskforce” which would work with the government and devolved authorities to “develop outcome agreements” to ensure accountability for skills spending.
Like Labour, the association wouldn’t say whether its proposed new body would replace any of the existing organisations funding and regulating tertiary education, like IfATE, the OfS and the ESFA.
Hughes told FE Week: “The new body should make it clear who’s responsible for what and who’s accountable for what, so it’s a more coherent system.
“It’s ensuring that the key partners have a say in where we want the system to go, and what the long-term challenges are.
“Currently, that just doesn’t happen in a systematic or consistent way – the messages are not being joined up.”
The body should not add “new layers” of complexity, he added.
However, although it describes the body as a “social partnership” that could include education providers, unions and others, it stops short of political choices such as how much power it would have.
It could be advisory or have more formal powers like the Office for Budgetary Responsibility, which analyses and scrutinises the UK’s public finances.
Other countries such as Norway, Australia and Ireland have already set up skills bodies which bring together groups such as education providers and businesses to advise on priority needs.
Ben Rowland, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP), said his membership body agrees with the need for an “effective, efficient and fair further education system”.
However, he added: “It is also worth pointing out that conspicuous by its absence in the report is any talk of the role of independent training providers (ITPs).
“ITPs deliver the majority of apprenticeships and 89 per cent of Skills Bootcamps. As a result, they are a core part of any FE system and are as much anchor institutions as colleges.”
Colleges should be trusted
AoC wants a future government to “place more trust in colleges” to deliver priority skills needs, to fund every 16 to 18-year-old, including apprentices, through the same budget and “demand-led” funding for more adult learners.
Several proposals are made to build on colleges as “anchor institutions” including giving them powers to award their own higher-level qualifications and apprenticeship end point assessments.
Colleges should be able to set 30 per cent of the content of qualifications to meet local employers’ skills needs, the report states.
The AoC calls for “mission clarity” that schools, colleges and universities are signed up to, ensuring every 16-year-old has a complete education offer.
16 to 18-year-olds should be offered “more hours” of teaching from a broader curriculum and the government’s current English and maths GCSE resit policy should also be “urgently” reconsidered.
Funding should be set out for three years rather than one and should be based on outcomes instead of individual learner numbers.
The pay gap with schoolteachers should also be addressed, while lecturers in key sectors should see their pay lifted to “reflect the market rate”. However, the report does not set out how these proposals would be funded.
