Less than 50 per cent of inspected UTCs ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’

Less than half of the university technical colleges visited by Ofsted have received ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ grades, exclusive FE Week analysis has revealed, in another blow to the ailing project.

The education watchdog has now visited a total of 20 UTCs, but only nine of these, or 45 per cent, were judged to be good enough for higher grades.

In fact, just one – UTC Reading – was actually rated ‘outstanding’ during an inspection in May 2015.

This drags the Ofsted results of UTCs well below those of sixth form colleges, general FE colleges and independent training providers – even though the previous chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw warned UTCs last July that they needed to be doing “significantly better”.

At the annual conference of the Baker Dearing Trust, the organisation founded by the former education secretary Lord Baker to facilitate the growth of UTCs, Sir Michael said: “If the UTC movement is to survive and prosper, then radical improvement is necessary.

“If this doesn’t happen, politicians will come to the conclusion that the model is flawed.”

If this doesn’t happen, politicians will come to the conclusion that the model is flawed

The Ofsted annual report for 2015/16 was also unsympathetic.

“Inspection outcomes to date have not been strong and the potential of these institutions has not yet been realised,” it found.

SFCs have fared best in Ofsted’s books, with 77 out of 89 (87 per cent) rated ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ according to data for all open and funded providers up to February 28, 2017.

286 out of 346 (83 per cent) ITPs achieved a grade one or two, while for FE colleges the figure is 140 out of 206 (68 per cent).

The most recent Ofsted report into a UTC, the engineering-focused UTC Swindon, produced an overall ‘inadequate’ rating last month. It received grade fours for effectiveness of leadership and management, quality of teaching, learning and assessment, outcomes for pupils, and 16-to-19 study programmes.

It will now join the FE-backed Activate Learning Education Trust, with backers including Banbury and Bicester College, City of Oxford College, and Reading College.

Proportion inspected rated ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’

Energy Coast UTC, which is based in Cumbria and specialises in construction and engineering in the energy sector, was also rated in February, receiving ‘requires improvement’ across the board.

And in September 2016, UTC Cambridge, which focuses on biomedical and environmental science and technology, was also branded ‘inadequate’ overall.

These new figures seem to suggest UTC performance is dipping; at the end of 2015/16, 15 UTCs had been inspected, of which eight, or 53 per cent, had received grades one or two.

During 2015/16, just one grade four overall rating was given, to UTC Plymouth, with grade threes going to Buckinghamshire UTC and UTC Lancashire.

And of the 48 UTCs currently open, 32 still have yet to receive a visit from Ofsted at all.

FE Week put its findings to the Baker Dearing Educational Trust.

Charles Parker, the trust’s CEO, conceded: “The Ofsted inspection grade is a key performance indicator for a UTC as with every other school.

No one should underestimate the challenges for our principals and their staff of starting up much-needed technical schools

“So far, we have not done as well as we should have liked, but no one should underestimate the challenges for our principals and their staff of starting up much-needed technical schools for 14- to 19-year-olds in the current English education system.

“In all cases, where we have been judged less than good, necessary changes have been made and rapid progress is evident.”

There has been more bad news for UTCs however, with the announcement this week that plans for a new one in Guildford have been abandoned.

A post on the UTC’s website from its trustees said: “It is with regret that we post this message to inform you of the cancellation.

“Unfortunately the Department for Education is no longer supportive of the project.”

Burton and South Derbyshire UTC failed to open in September 2016, after government approval for the project was withdrawn “following low pupil recruitment numbers”.

Two more UTCs are scheduled to close in August this year: Daventry UTC, following a financial notice to improve from the Education Funding Agency in April, and the Greater Manchester UTC, as a result of recruitment problems.

These closures follow four that have already shut: Black Country UTC, Hackney UTC, UTC Lancashire, UTC Central Bedfordshire.

Royal Greenwich UTC and Tottenham UTC are both converting to schools, starting in September.

Latest grade four

UTC Swindon was the latest to receive a damning grade four Ofsted verdict, after inspectors visited in January this year.

Criticisms included the “inadequate achievement” and “weak progress” of pupils in years 10 and 11 in maths, science and engineering, partly due to poor feedback that did not explain how to improve work.

Leaders were said to be making “insufficient use of the wide range of engineering-based industrial partners”, and failing to deal with “significant weaknesses in the quality of teaching, learning and assessment in order to raise pupils’ achievement”.

The governors were said to be “supportive” of school leaders, but were not challenging them “robustly enough to improve the quality of teaching and raise pupils’ achievement”.

More than half of apprenticeship standards still have no assessor

Too many uncertainties in the new apprenticeship system is fuelling the acute lack of assessment organisations for new standards, according to the boss of their industry body.

FE Week research has revealed that more than half (87 out of 162) of the apprenticeship standards approved for delivery by the Skills Funding Agency still do not have an approved assessment organisation, despite ongoing concerns from sector figures.

Responding to these findings, Stephen Wright, chief executive of the Federation of Awarding Bodies, told FE Week that the current apprenticeship system contains “too many uncertainties”, and that awarding organisations are likely to be “cautious” about engaging in any assessment that might “compromise their reputation”.

“With the high development cost and the memory of previous failed initiatives it isn’t surprising that many awarding organisations have taken a wait-and-see approach,” he said.

The lack of clarity around external quality assurance and external assessment could also discourage awarding organisations from coming forward, he claimed.

Implementing the reforms to apprenticeships will require a high level of development and investment

Earlier this month, the awarding giant OCR pulled out of delivering final apprenticeship exams altogether, potentially sending out a negative message to others in the sector.

“Implementing the reforms to apprenticeships will require a high level of development and investment, and OCR has recently decided that, unfortunately, we will not now be pursuing or developing any new apprenticeship standards that incorporate changes in assessment,” said a spokesperson for OCR at the time.

Terry Fennell, the chief executive and responsible officer at the specialist awarding organisation FDQ, told FE Week that there was a range of issues contributing to “a worrying time for awarding organisations”.

He agreed that the environment is “uncertain”, and that assessors may not want to “pioneer” services and would “probably wait until the market is more stable”.

Mr Fennell pointed out that cost remains a grey area, as there is “still much uncertainty in relation to fees that we can charge”.

He also warned that the EPA at best lacked “sufficient detail” for some standards, but at worst was “virtually undeliverable from an assessment organisation’s perspective”.

Graham Hasting-Evans, managing director of awarding organisation NOCN, said: “There are risks as well as opportunities in the AAO market, and trying to link EPA charges to training costs does not help.

“Government needs to encourage the IfA’s employer groups to engage with potential AAOs as early as possible in the development, so that their knowledge and understanding is incorporated at the beginning.”

The environment is “uncertain”, and that assessors may not want to “pioneer” services

Commenting on FE Week’s findings, a Department for Education spokesperson said: “We continue to make good progress in growing the number of AAOs on the register and are taking action to ensure there is always EPA provision by the time apprentices complete their apprenticeship.”

Back in October, FE Week reported that some AAOs applying to the register were being turned away because their plans for EPA were inadequate, after the interim chief executive of the IfA, Peter Lauener, told the parliamentary subcommittee on education, skills and the economy that the SFA had “knocked back quite a lot” of applications.

His comments followed FE Week research which revealed there were at the time no approved AAOs for over 40 per cent of learner starts on new standards.

This revelation provoked Dr Sue Pember, who stood down as the civil service’s head of FE and skills investment in February 2013, to label the situation “diabolical”.

But in November, Mr Lauener told a roomful of delegates at the AELP Autumn conference that the shortage of approved end-point assessors was not a serious problem. He accepted that the situation was “not ideal” but insisted it was “manageable”.

No funded qualifications for over a third of approved standards

More than a third of the apprenticeship standards that the government has deemed ready for delivery involve no funded qualifications other than a final assessment, exclusive FE Week research has revealed.

While the standards have end-point assessments in place, they will not provide apprentices with the chance to accumulate qualifications as they go along – as was the case with the previous apprenticeship frameworks.

This structure was designed to allow apprentices to build up their achievements, meaning that if they were unable to finish the full apprenticeship, they had still gained qualifications (or partial recognition in the form of units) from it.

It was also considered beneficial when a learner chose to change sectors, as it broke down the course, making transferable skills clearer to employers.

But the apparent lack of qualifications within new apprenticeships standards has raised concerns in the FE sector over the transferability of current training, and how well its quality will be measured.

Every standard “should include or itself be a recognised qualification”

Mark Dawe (pictured), AELP’s chief executive, told FE Week that he believes every standard “should include or itself be a recognised qualification”.

“The omission of qualifications from standards will adversely affect the portability and transferability of apprenticeships, make it difficult to make comparisons between standards of level and breadth, and present difficulties in inspecting for quality,” he said.

“There is a serious question about whether we have the right assessment with a need for skills and competency to be measured throughout the apprenticeship, rather than placing so much reliance at the end point.”

AELP has already recommended that the government’s Technical and Further Education Bill, which is currently moving through the House of Lords, be amended to take this into account. Mr Dawe said he was “encouraged to see both MPs and peers agreeing” with the proposal, even though “ministers still remain unpersuaded”.

Andy Walls, head of vocational policy at the Joint Council for Qualifications, agreed that embedded qualifications were valuable for apprentices.

“The evidence shows that learners benefit in their careers from obtaining a recognised qualification as part of their apprenticeship,” he said.

“Although it is right that employers decide the requirements of their sector’s apprenticeship standard, we want to see learners gaining the advantage that a recognised qualification brings.”

Teresa Frith, senior skills policy manager at the Association of Colleges, acknowledged that end-point assessment “does represent a change from the old system”, but said from her perspective the new approach could still be effective.

“In some industries, taking qualifications alongside an apprenticeship will still be important but for others the EPA is sufficient and the apprenticeship itself is the qualification,” she said.

The previous system was overly complex

“Providers need to continually challenge the rigor of the EPA system, so that we can be confident that apprenticeships remain high-quality, nationally recognised qualifications.”

A Department for Education spokesperson said the government’s apprenticeship reforms remain focused on “quality”.

“The previous system was overly complex with a huge number of qualifications that tested incremental progress, but did not necessarily demonstrate that an apprentice was competent at the end of their apprenticeship,” she said.

“We have therefore introduced new apprenticeship standards which are developed by employers themselves and rigorously checked.

“We have also taken steps to protect the term ‘apprenticeship’ from misuse helping us to achieve our target of three million apprenticeship starts by 2020 and providing excellent value for money.”

Finance director blamed in new FE commissioner report

A former finance director has been singled out as the “root cause” of a major London college’s financial failings, in one of three recent FE commissioner reports.

The former commissioner Sir David Collins and his team visited Lambeth College in September, following a “significant deterioration” in its cashflow.

Their report found that college finances were “no longer sustainable” unless it merged.

They cited and concurred with an investigation that had been carried out by the college itself, which found that “the root cause for both management and governors was the reliance on and trust placed in the vice-principal for finance and business planning who oversaw financial controls that were inadequate”.

Meanwhile, reports of the FE commissioners’ interventions into Tresham College and Epping Forest College – both published on Thursday – revealed that both had been placed in administered status.

Sir David’s team visited Tresham in September after it had been rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted, while his successor Richard Atkins (pictured) visited Epping Forest in January, after it was given a grade four.

The report into Lambeth College found that both the 2015/16 budget setting process and financial reporting had been “poor”.

Its budget had been prepared by its former finance director, but it “was not based on a realistic and accurate curriculum plan”, while there had also been “a lack of rigour in ensuring the budgets were deliverable”.

The college’s principal at the time, Mark Silverman, and its then-finance director, Shaun Orrell, have left the college since its financial difficulties were uncovered.

Mr Orrell, who is currently finance director at independent training provider JTJ Workplace Solutions, said when he took up his post in March 2014 he had inherited a number of issues at the college that he had “worked hard to address”.

He added that there were “several ongoing and significant issues that affected the college’s finances”, including funding cuts, and industrial action at the college.

As previously reported by FE Week, Lambeth is pursuing plans to join forces with London South Bank University, though no date has yet been set for any link-up.

Monica Box, the college’s interim principal, said: “Lambeth College is currently working to address the recommendations within the commission report”.

She added that discussions with LSBU were “moving forward on models of governance”.

The report into Tresham College said there had been a “high level of churn” in senior management, and that the board had failed to identify this as a “key risk”.

“Weak performance has been left unchallenged until it has reached a crisis point,” it said.

Financial forecasts were meanwhile found to be unrealistic, and it was “likely that the college will go back into deficit this year”.

Although it noted that changes were now being made, the report concluded that “the quality and finance improvement agendas are both now urgent”.

Ioan Morgan, who is the interim principal at Tresham, said he was pleased the report “acknowledges that we have taken appropriate action to address the college’s position”.

He added: “The college is now working towards a merger with Bedford College which will address both quality improvement and financial sustainability.”

The commissioner’s report into Epping Forest was damning about governance, standards and finances at the college.

While the college’s financial health had been rated ‘good’ until recently, the report concluded that a “significant deterioration” in its finances meant that it would fall to ‘inadequate’.

I have every confidence that the college is on the way up

There were found to be “serious issues” in governance, and both the board and the senior team had “been too slow to recognise the declining quality and financial performance”.

Saboohi Famili, Epping Forest College’s principal, said she agreed with the commissioner’s report and was already working to implement his recommendations.

“The college has already established a renewed leadership team and new members of the board of governors,” she said.

“Our practices have been revamped to ensure our learners are successful in their qualifications and gain university places or progress to higher-level courses or jobs. I have every confidence that the college is on the way up and I am personally grateful for the support we receive from government agencies on our journey.”

Performing arts student gets real life filming experience in VR road safety video

A Walsall College student has become the face of road safety after appearing in a promotional virtual reality film created by the West Midlands Fire Service.

The seven-minute video will be used to educate young people in colleges and universities across the west Midlands about driving safely.

Dean Webb, a 20-year-old level three performing arts student, spent two days working in various locations across the Black Country to film the video, which has been shot from the driver’s perspective.

Following a group of friends on their journey to a party, the film – which can even be watched through a virtual reality headset – provides a 360-degree immersive experience, and poses decisions for the viewer to make. The choices they make will determine which scenario they end up in.

Dean said: “I really enjoyed being involved in the filming as it’s been a great experience.

“We do a lot of shows at college but this is the first time I’ve worked for a client with a real script.

“Filming the video gave me an insight into what it’s like for real actors in the industry and has made me want to become an actor even more.”

 

Main image: Hot stuff: Andy Gillespie from West Midlands Fire Service with Dean Webb

Struggling college has ‘agreed to release’ principal

A college that recently switched merger partner following an Ofsted grade four has “agreed to release” its principal.

The departure of Simon Andrews (pictured above) from Stockport College, after just two years at the helm, was announced today.

Former Guildford College Group principal Dr Mike Potter CBE will start as transitional principal on Monday.

Louise Richardson, Stockport College chair, said: “It is with sadness and regret that we have agreed to release our principal Simon Andrews, having made a significant contribution to the overall development and direction of the college.”

She said Mr Andrews had led the college, which was rated inadequate by Ofsted last November, towards a “secure future” with plans for a merger with Trafford College now “advanced”.

“Simon has led with dignity, professionalism, and vision through what has been an extremely difficult period for the college. The college is now a much better place and we will be very sorry and sad to see him leave,” she said.

No reason was given for Mr Andrews’ departure.

He took over as principal at Stockport in April 2015, replacing former interim principal Ian Clinton.

The college had been rated as ‘requires improvement’ by Ofsted in December 2014, up from its previous ‘inadequate’ grade in September 2013.

But it was downgraded again before Christmas, after the education watchdog found it to be inadequate in almost all areas.

As reported by FE Week, Mr Andrews said he would appeal the judgment as it did not “accurately reflect” the improvements made at the college over the previous 12 months.

Stockport emerged from the contentious Greater Manchester area review, which ended in June last year after nine troubled months, with a proposal for a three-way merger involving Oldham and Tameside colleges.

But, as reported by FE Week last month, that plan was scrapped following intervention by the FE commissioner Richard Atkin in favour of a link-up with Trafford College.

In an email dated February 3 and seen by FE Week, Trafford’s principal Lesley Davies told staff that the merger is expected to go through at the end of December and that she will lead the merged college.

Dr Potter led Guildford College from August 2012 until he stepped down at the end of October, having previously been principal at Wirral Metropolitan College following a career in the Royal Navy.

He said:  “I am delighted to be returning to the area, with a clear mandate of working with colleagues to take Stockport College forward and to provide a strong, successful and sustainable future for further and higher education in the area.”

Ofsted watch: sixth form college plummets after 10-year inspection wait

A sixth form college that hadn’t received an inspection for 10 years sank from ‘outstanding’ to ‘requires improvement’ – in a mixed week for FE Ofsted reports.

Governors at Holy Cross College, in Manchester, were criticised for their failure to recognise the “significance of the decline in standards” at the SFC.

The new report, published on March 15, said “sufficient challenge” has not been provided to senior leaders, who themselves have not “identified the weaknesses in underperforming subjects accurately and have been too slow to implement effective improvement strategies”.

Its previous ‘outstanding’ Ofsted report followed a February 2007 inspection.

The 2,000-learner institution received grade threes this time round, in all but one area – person development, behaviour and welfare.

It was also a bad week for university technical colleges, after Swindon UTC was branded ‘inadequate’ in its first ever Ofsted report, published March 10.

The government’s watchdog hit the UTC with grade fours in almost every category, including effectiveness of leadership and management, quality of teaching, learning and assessment, outcomes for pupils, and 16 to 19 study programmes.

Criticisms included “inadequate achievement of pupils in Years 10 and 11 in mathematics”, leaders making “insufficient use of the wide range of engineering-based industrial partners”, and the failure of senior leaders and governors to deal with “significant weaknesses in the quality of teaching, learning and assessment in order to raise pupils’ achievement”.

The grade four means that more than half of the 20 UTCs visited by Ofsted have now been rated ‘inadequate’ or ‘requires improvement’.

It was however good news for employer and independent learning provider Busy Bees Nurseries Limited, which jumped from ‘good’ to ‘outstanding’ across the board in a report published on March 16.

Inspectors said that since its previous inspection, in October 2012, leaders and managers at Busy Bees have “significantly improved” the quality of teaching, learning and assessment and outcomes during a “very significant growth in learner numbers”.

The provider now has over 1,250 learners compared with just 293 five years ago.

It was less good news for Nottingham City Transport Ltd, another employer provider, who received a grade three in its first inspection.

One way for the provider to improve is by getting managers to ensure all staff provide “suitable support to apprentices to develop their literacy and numeracy skills more effectively”, according to inspectors.

Meanwhile, The College of West Anglia fell from ‘good’ to ‘requires improvement’ in a report published March 14.

The college received grade threes in all areas except for apprenticeships, where they scored a grade one.

Two other colleges – Kensington and Chelsea College and Birmingham Metropolitan College – kept their grade three ratings from previous inspections.

Bolton College on the other hand stepped up from a grade three to a grade two.

Inspectors said leaders, governors and managers have “worked hard” since the last inspection in 2010 to “improve successfully the outcomes for learners and the quality of the provision”.

Amersham and Wycombe College had its second monitoring visit since an ‘inadequate’ rating in July 2016 and was found to be making ”significant progress”.

Lastly, Broadland District Council, an adult and community learning provider in Norwich, went from a grade three to a grade two in a report published March 15.

Inspectors said staff provide “good-quality information, advice and guidance, which ensures that apprentices receive the right support to help them make informed decisions about their next steps”.

 

GFE Colleges Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
Kensington and Chelsea College 31/01/2017 13/03/2017 3 3
Birmingham Metropolitan College 14/02/2017 16/03/2017 3 3
The College of West Anglia 11/01/2017 14/03/2017 3 2
Bolton College 07/02/2017 15/03/2017 2 3
Amersham and Wycombe College 22/02/2017 16/03/2017 M M

 

Sixth Form Colleges Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
Holy Cross College 31/01/2017 15/03/2017 3 1

 

Adult and Community Learning Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
Broadland District Council 24/01/2017 14/03/2017 2 3

 

Employer providers Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
Busy Bees Nurseries Limited 01/02/2017 16/03/2017 1 2
Nottingham City Transport Ltd 14/02/2017 13/03/2017 3 0

 

Other (including UTCs) Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
UTC Swindon 25/01/2017 10/03/2017 4 0

How we’re preparing for the work experience revolution

The government is right to identify work experience as vital to high-quality technical education, but the cost of managing all those placements shouldn’t be underestimated, says Sam Parrett

The FE world – and indeed the wider education sector – welcomed last week’s budget statement, which included a £500 million windfall for technical education reforms.

Rarely the recipients of such a gift, all of us in FE have been eagerly studying the proposals to find out what it may really mean for us and our students.

The introduction of T-levels with 15 career-focused pathways is central to the reforms, which will consolidate thousands of vocational qualifications.

So far, so good. I am fully supportive of any initiative which aims to raise parity of esteem between academic and technical education, and I very much hope this will move things in the right direction.

Next year we’ll have to triple our work experience coordinators

But what will affect colleges, learning providers and businesses even more significantly are the proposals relating to work experience. Quite rightly, it is flagged as being crucial to all vocational education programmes, and it’s a vital theme in the new technical education reforms.

All 16- to 19-year-olds working on a new T-level programme will see their study hours increased by 50 per cent to around 900 hours a year, and will be required to do a three-month work placement as part of their course.

This is a significant undertaking for employers and colleges, particularly at a time when many businesses are already taking on more young people in the form of apprentices and trainees.

FE is generally much better than schools at providing more industry-led learning experiences. Many colleges having excellent links with employers, realistic learning environments and facilities, and teaching staff who are experts in their vocational field.

Good careers advice can help young people identify where their passion lies, and is the best way to reach their career goal.

But ultimately, if the government is going to realise its ambitious vision for work experience, we need to see real collaboration between employers and schools/colleges.

Not only must we ensure placements are worthwhile for young people, we need to make sure that employers also benefit in the short term as well as the long term. Having an extra pair of hands can be a hindrance if a student is uninterested and lacking in basic communication skills, but a keen, enthusiastic and motivated student can be a real asset to any business.

It also needs to be made easier for businesses to manage their placements and create strategies to ensure the young person gets a meaningful experience, for example: careful monitoring, mutually-agreed objectives and documented outcomes. Employers need to see that the time they are putting in will result in a skilled pipeline of talent further down the line.

What shouldn’t be underestimated is the cost of planning, organising, monitoring and managing placements

At my college, we are already preparing for the work experience revolution by setting up an employment and skills board, with 11 subgroups covering each industry area. The aim of these groups is to ensure that employers have direct input into the curriculum development, which in turn provides them with reassurance that our students will be equipped with the necessary skills.

Establishing a relationship with a diverse range of employers is not only helping us shape our study programmes effectively, but will also give these businesses an insight into the importance of providing young people with work-related experience.

The government is absolutely right to identify work experience as important. However, what shouldn’t be underestimated is the cost of planning, organising, monitoring and managing placements for, in our case, around 4,500 students.

Last year we had to triple the numbers of our maths and English teachers, next year we’ll have to do the same with our work experience coordinators!

This is no easy task for an already squeezed FE sector – and I can’t help feeling that the £500 million may be a drop in the ocean.

However, I do firmly believe that working collaboratively with employers will move things in the right direction – for both students and our economy.

 

Sam Parrett is principal and CEO of London South East Colleges

Institute for Apprenticeships most popular for external quality assurance

The Institute for Apprenticeships is the most popular choice for external quality assurance for apprenticeship standards – even though it was only set up as a “last resort” option for this sort of thing.

Of the 162 apprenticeship standards currently approved for delivery, 26 have chosen the IfA as their EQA route, compared with just 15 that have gone with the government’s official qualifications regulator Ofqual.

The Quality Assurance Agency, which generally deals with higher education qualifications, is also available, but has been named for quality assurance with just three standards.

A further 58 still have no confirmed choice of EQA provider, while the remaining standards have selected professional bodies or employer-led approaches.

An Ofqual spokesperson said that in the new apprenticeship landscape it was “inevitable” for trailblazers to reach “different conclusions regarding their preferred EQA provider”.

The IfA has said that it considers itself to be ‘the EQA of last resort’

He said: “The IfA has said that it considers itself to be ‘the EQA of last resort’. In this evolving landscape trailblazers may change their initial preferences.”

However, he defended Ofqual’s credentials, saying: “We start from a base of having renowned assessment expertise, regulatory tools and a tried and tested framework.

“This means that we are in a great position to provide EQA and can draw upon our statutory powers to impose rules, set gateway criteria, undertake audits, investigate, impose sanctions and compel action.”

He added that Ofqual is also “exploring how we can work in partnership with employers and professional bodies as providers of the EQA role”.

Speaking during a webinar on January 6, Peter Lauener, the shadow chief executive of the IfA, told FE Week’s editor Nick Linford that the IfA did not have “the resource to do the quality assurance role directly”.

He also insisted it would be acceptable for the Institute to charge for EQA because “the principle of a regulator charging bodies in the industry for regulation is not uncommon at all”.

In contrast, an Ofqual spokesperson told FE Week: “We don’t charge and do not intend to introduce charges for our external quality assurance role.”

Furthermore, while Ofqual, QAA and other professional or sector bodies which Trailblazer groups may set up to tackle EQA will be overseen by the IfA, the Institute itself will not have an organisation regulating its delivery of this role.

FE Week understands that the IfA has yet to tender for its EQA work, despite plans to start procurement in February.

And last month the Department for Education ran a consultation on the draft operational plan for the IfA, which invited feedback on quality assurance and other functions, and closed on February 27.

The principle of a regulator charging bodies in the industry for regulation is not uncommon at all

In its own response to the operational plan, Ofqual branded the “responsibilities and accountabilities” in the current apprenticeships system “blurred”, labelling it “crucial” to make the landscape “clear and easy to navigate”.

FE Week asked both the IfA and DfE to comment this week on whether they were now rethinking the IfA’s role in the process, and what would be happening with the EQA tender. They declined to comment.

Terry Fennell, chief executive and responsible officer at specialist awarding organisation FDQ, told FE Week that having four different EQA options is “extremely worrying for awarding organisations”.

He said: “We are used to one set of rules set out by Ofqual for qualifications and to this end all AOs are in the same game with the same expectations.

“When it comes to end-point assessments there are three new EQA bodies in the market and each is likely to have a different approach.

“Importantly it’s not clear who will police the EQA bodies so there is likely to be dispute and huge conflicts of interest.”