Ofqual should not have double standards

One thing an assessment regulator should definitely not have is double standards; it undermines the core of their existence.

We’ve just emerged from a lively FE week Annual Apprenticeship Conference with much debate and concern about the disruption that the current process will cause without providing any significant benefit to the employer, learner, quality or apprenticeship numbers.

The thing that rocked me the most at AAC was the attitude of Ofqual. If the statements made by the Chief Regulator are the genuine views of the Ofqual, then I am very disappointed.

The thing that rocked me the most at AAC was the attitude of Ofqual

I am hoping it was just a misunderstanding of the issues. However I started to doubt it when reading an interview with the Chief Regulator on Friday in which there was no mention of anything other than academic qualifications. She talks about not really knowing about the 2012 English GCSE crisis until being in the role. Having lived through it and sat in front of four select committees, I have the scars of the assessment sector being challenged. 

There are two areas of concern I have and when I reflect on my experience at OCR during the development of GCSE and A-Levels, I start to wonder whether we are witnessing yet another shocking example, and possibly the worst, of “it won’t matter about those kids – they are just doing vocational qualifications”.

Most shockingly, was the Chief Regulator’s statement at the FE Week conference that the lack of an assessor in place to carry out the final apprenticeship exams wasn’t an issue. She said, “No, I don’t think the DfE is irresponsible”. I am stunned. At what point has the qualifications regulator decided that it is fine to start teaching and training against a curriculum without any idea what the assessment is going to be? While I can list one hundred reasons why this is wrong for an assessment viewpoint, let’s just think about the trainers, teachers and students.

I cannot begin to describe the hoops the exam boards were made to jump through when developing the new A-Level assessments. As well as input into the curriculum and the related assessment – assessment is needed that actually does validly and reliably assess the curriculum – there was a requirement to submit Sample Assessment Material.

These were the most scrutinised of all the documentation before regulatory approval was granted. The SAMs demonstrated how the assessment would appropriately test skills, knowledge and behaviour as defined in all apprenticeship standards. The regulator wanted to ensure that the assessment didn’t narrow the curriculum, be in anyway predictable and avoid teaching to the test. But most importantly the SAMs helped the teacher and the pupil understand the expectations of the assessment and what the learning needed to enable the student to do.

In addition there was an absolute requirement, not always met, that approved curriculum, assessment and SAMs were available ideally a year in advance of first teaching so that the teacher could properly prepare before delivering the new curriculum. Look at the current outcry that the Maths A-Level assessment is not ready six months before first teaching!

But where are we with the new apprenticeship standards? They are actually being taught, many without an end-point assessment organisation and the majority without a completed end-point assessment, let alone sample materials. No wonder 50% of the population feels forgotten, neglected, and second-class when it comes to education and training.

Where’s the government’s parity of treatment?

Secondly, take technical and professional education and the idea of a single exam board for each of the 15 routes. While I accept this issue does divide opinion across all exams, let’s at least reflect on the Regulator’s advice to the Secretary of State when this was proposed for academic qualifications. The very clear advice was that the redevelopment of the curriculum and the assessment – as well as changing the market to a single board per subject – posed too much risk to the system and could seriously damage the education and assessment of our young people. This is without changing the funding and the provider base. Even Michael Gove accepted this advice.

Indeed what it also led to was the government’s ability to draw on the expertise of all the exam boards and to benefit from robust and valuable discussions about the curriculum and content with all parties agreeing on a final single curriculum and assessment. This led to tight common standards for all the exams no matter which exam board chose to deliver them.

A few years down the line, and the exact same thing is being proposed, but this time for technical and vocational education. The government is in danger of losing access to a depth of expertise as it drags the exam boards into a competitive tendering situation – expertise which is sorely needed across the board.  The only conclusion I can draw is that either Ofqual forgot to look at their previous advice or they think it is okay to experiment on the vocational kids. It won’t matter if it is messed up, but where’s the government’s parity of treatment when it comes to these decisions?

At the AELP conference last year Susan Pember described the situation as diabolical – she repeated it again last week. I will add: disgraceful double standards.

 

Mark Dawe is CEO of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers

Whole FE sector backs #SaveOurAdultEducation campaign

A who’s who of major FE organisations have thrown their support behind FE Week’s #SaveOurAdultEducation campaign.

Big names on the list include the Association of Colleges, the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, Learning and Work Institute, and HOLEX.

The Labour party also added its backing, while the leader of the Liberal Democrats Tim Farron confirmed his support with a personal comment.

The campaign also has the official support of the National Union of Students, the University and College Union, the public service union UNISON, the Public and Commercial Services Union, and the Association of School and College Leaders.

#SaveOurAdultEducation was launched in February at parliament and has three simple demands.

First, we want the government to consult on a proper adult education strategy, one which won’t disappear under the political weight of apprenticeships and devolution.

It’s vitally important the DfE takes the lead and works with other government departments to secure a joint position on lifelong learning

Sue Pember, the country’s former top skills civil servant who now leads HOLEX, said: “We are fully behind this campaign.

“It’s vitally important the Department for Education takes the lead and works with other government departments to secure a joint position on lifelong learning.”

Shakira Martin, the NUS vice-president for FE, said: “Adult education is such an important part of FE.

“It desperately requires a comprehensive strategy that puts the needs of learners at its core.”

Stephen Evans, chief executive of Learning and Work Institute added: “Adult learning is a crucial driver of both economic growth and social mobility. We need a step change so that everyone can access the learning and skills they need. That must start with a clear cross-government approach to lifelong learning. And it must be backed by increased investment and new ways of engaging employers and individuals in learning.”

The second demand is for the widespread introduction of FE maintenance grant loans for adult learners, to make retraining easier for older people by covering living costs while studying.

AELP boss Mark Dawe said: “Brexit means adult learning is now an economic imperative.

“There should be a coherent adult education strategy and it is why the latest proposals for FE maintenance loans should just be a first step to making them more widely available.”

The March budget finally confirmed that maintenance loans would be available to certain learners, a year after the government first consulted on the issue.

The chancellor Philip Hammond said maintenance loans would be available “for those undertaking higher-level technical qualifications at the new institutes of technology and national colleges”, set to be introduced in 2019/20.

The AoC chief executive David Hughes backed the campaign, adding: “Access to adult learning now needs a renewed focus.

“When the UK leaves the EU, it will be vital to the economy that adults are able to train and retrain to tackle the skills gaps. However, many are deterred from studying due to the cost of undertaking a course.”

Shadow skills minister Gordon Marsden said: “#SaveOurAdultEducation is crucial to highlight years of neglect in adult education. Simply focusing on 16- to 19-year-olds won’t deliver what we need.”

According to government figures, there are around 1.5 million fewer adults aged 19 or over participating in FE than there were a decade ago, when the figure stood at 3.75 million.

Mr Farron said: “This is a hugely important campaign. We want to see the best education and employment opportunities for all. This must include being able to access high quality education at any age.”

We want to see the best education and employment opportunities for all. This must include accessing high quality education at any age

“The government must come up with a proper well resourced plan for the future of adult education before it disappears entirely,” said UNISON’s head of education Jon Richards.

University and College Union general secretary Sally Hunt said: “If the government really wants to put skills at the heart of its industrial strategy, adults must be able to learn throughout their lives.”

The government’s industrial strategy green paper, unveiled in January, committed to exploring “ambitious new approaches to encouraging lifelong learning”.

Malcolm Trobe, interim general secretary of the ASCL, said: “This excellent campaign identifies three key measures which would make lifelong learning considerably more secure and accessible.”

The third demand is to get advanced learning loans debt written off where adult learners are unable to complete courses if training providers go bust.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “This is an important campaign, we must continue to fight for adult education to be afforded the status it deserves.”

Training providers spend thousands on consultants to get on new apprenticeship register

Consultants are raking in thousands of pounds writing bids for training providers desperate to make it onto the new register at the second time of asking.

Numerous major apprenticeships providers, including at least 21 colleges with a combined current allocation of £44 million, found themselves left off the register of apprenticeship training providers when it was published on March 14.

Such was the outcry, the Skills Funding Agency has agreed to a second round of applications, to close on April 7.

In total, the SFA approved 1,708 bodies, from a total of 2,327 applications. Since then, a number of third-party organisations have emerged, claiming a high success rate at helping providers write bids, and charging high fees for their second-chance services.

East Essex Vocational Training, an established education management company, boasted of a 99 per cent success rate on its RoATP applications in its March 19 newsletter.

We’ve heard back from about 100 cases we helped, and 99 per cent of those were successful

“The work required for RoATP differed – some providers just wanted us to check through their bid,” said managing director Steve Lawrence. “Others asked us to write the basis of their bid and finished it themselves, and we did the whole thing for others.”

He told FE Week that the cost of the service “varied from as low as £150 to £1,800 depending on the amount of time it took”.

He added: “We’ve heard back from about 100 cases we helped, and 99 per cent of those were successful.”

In October, the Yorkshire-based Education and Skills Consultancy sold its services with a message on its website, that warned: “If you want to continue to deliver after May 2017, you need to get on RoATP. We’ll be supporting organisations through the application process”.

Its managing director James Hart told FE Week that his company’s bid writers worked on around 40 applications during the window for RoATP entries from October 24 and November 25, claiming that only two had failed.

Mr Hart said the flat rate charged for applications was £1,000 plus VAT, although “there might be additional costs”.

He suggested that, particularly for smaller training providers, his experience could be useful.

“Over the last five years, the SFA hasn’t asked them to put pen to paper on a tender, and now all of a sudden they are expecting them to have the capability and capacity themselves to write something that they never had experience of doing,” he said.

Sally-Ann Baker, managing director of London-based Bidright UK, said she found it “incredible” how many “silly mistakes” providers had made with applications.

Her company was approached by 25 to 30 providers on RoATP and took on 12 cases, all of which were successful. Its fixed rate is £2,000 plus VAT.

Laura Shepherd, senior consultant at Yorkshire-based Carley Consult, said her firm worked with nine providers, eight of which made it onto RoATP.

“We work on a rate of £495 a day, but it would depend on if we know the provider or not,” she said. “It ranged between a couple of days and a week.”

Biohazard cleaning lecturer awarded medal for excellence for his quirky teaching methods

A biohazard cleaning lecturer has been awarded a medal for excellence from the qualification board City and Guilds.

Stuart Wilson, a tutor at Accrington and Rossendale College, received the award for his innovative teaching methods, which include creating realistic crime scenes using Nutella, tomato sauce and even tinned vegetable soup.

He was recommended for the award following positive feedback left by former students, many of whom have gone on to work for private specialised cleaning companies or set up their own businesses.

Stuart has been teaching at the college for 18 years, running courses on biohazards, crime scene and trauma cleaning, having previously worked for local authorities and the police service in north-west England.

The award is only given to outstanding trainers and tutors, and Mr Wilson said: “It’s an honour to be recognised in this way for something I do every day as my job.

“I really enjoy making my lessons as interactive and engaging as possible and the fact that this important career path is being highlighted can only be a good thing. It’s a dirty job, but somebody’s got to do it.”

 

Main photo: Spick and span: Stuart Wilson in his lab

FEATURE: College puts on all-wheelchair production of Chicago to raise disability awareness

A college’s musical theatre department will put on a unique version of Chicago in order to raise awareness of disability in the arts. Samantha King reports

Inspired by Kieron Hoult, a 17-year-old musical theatre student and wheelchair user, staff and students at Stratford-upon-Avon College wanted to give the classic musical a twist by putting the whole cast in wheelchairs.

Dubbed Chaircago, the department hopes the performance will show youngsters with mobility issues that they can still pursue a career in musical theatre.

Kieron is the first ever wheelchair user to enrol on the college’s musical theatre course – after being turned away by a number of other institutions – and this is the first time wheelchairs have been incorporated into one of its productions.

Alex Dengate, a lecturer in musical theatre, said: “Kieron originally auditioned at other colleges in the area and was simply turned away. He’s got a great singing voice and he can act; his only restriction is his mobility. We thought we had to give him a crack at this.”

Kieron has also taken on the job of movement director during rehearsals, teaching fellow performers how to turn, stop quickly and perform tricks like wheelies.

“A few years ago, I was told that I was unable to study GCSE drama when I was at school, so it’s really important to me to prove that this can be done and show that there is a key role for people with disabilities in the arts,” he said.

“The rehearsal period has been challenging and we’ve had a few on-stage collisions, as the other performers are still getting used to moving in wheelchairs.”

The production has received sponsorship from the Red Cross, which is lending the college 22 wheelchairs for performers to use, and representatives from the charity were in attendance at the show’s opening night.

Nadia Jambawai, mobility aid coordinator at the charity, said: “Until people experience an injury that affects their mobility, they just don’t realise how challenging it can be. The students should be applauded for their wish to raise awareness in such a positive way.”

Kieron Hoult, centre

Mr Dengate is keen that other people with mobility issues are not deterred from studying musical theatre at the college in the future. 

“I hope other wheelchair users in our catchment and community area see this and think we can do this, other than thinking their options are restricted,” he said.

“It was really heartwarming to see Kieron engage. Normally he’s used to being the only guy in the room in a wheelchair, but now when he comes to college you don’t even spot him, because everyone’s in a wheelchair.”

The show ran for two days, on March 22 and 23.

 

Main photo: The show must roll on: The cast of Chaircago

Training provider receives top accolade for their investment in employees

The Learning Curve Group has joined the 13 per cent of organisations in the UK to be awarded the Investors in People gold standard award.

The accreditation recognises organisations with good people management and provides resources for businesses to innovate, improve and expand, with a focus on their staff.

As part of the award application process, LCG employees met with assessors to discuss their job satisfaction, and the company had to demonstrate opportunities for staff progression.

One key area that helped LCG achieve the accolade was a manager’s scheme for employees, where employees identified as having potential receive extra training for managerial and directorial positions, regardless of their current level.

Founded in 2004, county Durham-based LCG is a provider of training and work-based learning, with a portfolio including apprenticeships, distance learning qualifications, vocational training and recruitment.

Working directly with over 50,000 learners and 4,000 businesses per year, LCG have now grown to over 270 employees and 400 associates across their nine centres.

Gail Crossman, director of performance and development at the company said: “People were cheering when we received the award. Staff really wanted to show the assessors that Learning Curve was a great place to work.”

 

Main photo: Brenda McLeish Learning Curve CEO celebrates IIP Gold award with employees

Meet Lancashire’s youngest English teachers

Eighteen college students have become the first teens in Lancashire to qualify as volunteer ESOL teachers as part of a nationwide language initiative.

The Nelson and Colne College students, all aged between 16 and 19, will teach conversational English to Muslim women in Pendle, Burnley and Accrington as part of the national Talk English project.

The scheme, which is funded by the Department for Communities and Local Government, helps improve community integration by helping those with poor English improve their language skills.

The newly qualified volunteers took a five-week course, and will now teach classes of up to 20 in size, joining around 30 others who are also currently teaching English in the region.

“It will be great experience,” said A-level student Morgan Hughes. “It’s nice to be able to teach something as simple as English and I think it will be incredibly humbling to watch people grow.”

Amanda Melton, the principal of NCC, added: “This is a fantastic opportunity for our students to go out into the real world, support people and help improve their English skills.

“Our students will become a lot more confident through this brilliant first chance to teach and it will be a really empowering experience for them.”

 

Main photo: Community service: Proud volunteers

LGBT campaigner Peter Tatchell tells students about his 50 years of activism

Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell paid a visit to Bradford College last week to talk to students about the 50 years he has spent campaigning for LGBT rights.

The 65-year-old recounted tales of his activism over the last half century, including being the 300 violent assaults he has sustained from anti-gay and far-right extremists.

Tatchell maintained that “queer freedom is an unstoppable global force” despite citing figures which show that “73 out of 193 countries still criminalise same-sex relations” during his talk.

He appeared as part of Human Rights Day, and this was actually the second time he has paid a visit to the west Yorkshire college.

Speaking of the event, Tatchell – who runs a human rights organisation  called the Peter Tatchell Foundation, said: “There were lots of great questions. We have made great progress in Britain on LGBT human rights, but there’s still more work to be done to tackle bullying and hate crime.

“Bradford is a great multicultural city but there are still communities where LGBT people are not understood and accepted.”

Lenka Kaur, the inclusion and diversity coordinator at the college, added: “Peter is one of the key human rights activists in the world so it was a great pleasure to have him come to address our students on the subject of LGBT rights and the battle for equality.”

 

Main photo: Peter Tatchell, left, with Lenka Kaur and Roy Ward

The 20% off-the-job rule will make apprenticeships economically unviable

If employers have to let apprentices out one day a week as the SFA wants, the whole system may grind to a halt, says Chris Taylor

The Skills Funding Agency has confirmed its definition of off-the-job requirements for apprenticeships. Apprentices must spend 20 per cent of their contracted work hours, the equivalent of one day per week, off the job to meet funding rules.

This has thrown apprenticeships in the UK into turmoil and raises questions about the viability of delivery and take-up by providers, colleges and employers.

This requirement will have three unhelpful results:

 

Providers and colleges will be unable to deliver apprenticeships which are now economically unviable.

 

Employers won’t engage in the levy due to its burden on staffing and resources, and will pay it as a tax.

 

The government will not reach its three million apprenticeship target.

 

Apprenticeship funding simply does not pay enough to train apprentices one day per week for at least a year, excluding maths and English. Perhaps the SFA should have applied functional skills in maths before it took this decision: customer service level two at £1,500, minus 20 per cent for end assessment, equals £1,300. Divide this by 46 weeks, and then again by five to represent one day in five means £28 per day. Divide this by seven hours comes out at £4 per hour. Which college or training provider can deliver training at £4 per hour per person? This excludes observations and everything else required to deliver an apprenticeship which funding must provide for – and forget about quality delivery.

This decision will have a real impact on employers and will reduce productivity and operations. There will be additional costs for travel and substance, and not many employers can lose employees for one fifth of their contracted hours for a year or more plus holidays.

In the worst case, some employers and providers may withdraw from apprenticeships altogether

Using the apprenticeship levy to upskill existing employees is not now an option for most employers and providers across the UK. The programme will now only suit traditional technical and trade apprenticeships, and employers in those sectors which use day/block release.

Many providers and colleges which did not make it onto the register of accredited training providers may now be glad they were unsuccessful, while employers may want to terminate programmes with providers. Self-delivery employers will now walk away and just pay the levy as an additional tax, a simpler option that’ll prove less costly to employers than training and employing apprentices.

Some employers and providers may withdraw from apprenticeships altogether, seeing them as simply too unworkable and risky.

This  requirement needs to be redefined as soon as possible by the SFA to avoid disaster. It needs to ensure apprenticeships are delivered using methods and funding rules which employers want in a technological, post-Brexit economy, especially as many will be directly paying for their apprenticeships sooner rather than later.

 

Chris Taylor is director of UK Levy Limited