Are college governors personally liable if something goes wrong?

Dr Sue answers your questions on all aspects of governance, from taking time off to liability.

 

Question One: Time off work

As a school governor I was given time off work. Does the same apply to college governors?

Answer: Governors frequently ask about their entitlement to time off work to carry out their functions.

Under employment law, employers are required to give ‘reasonable time off’ to allow employees to be a member of the managing or governing body of an educational establishment, which includes colleges.

Leave of absence can be with or without pay

The amount of time off should be agreed between the employee and employer beforehand, based on: how long the duties might take; the amount of time the employee has already had off for public duties; how the time off will affect the business.

The employer can refuse a request for time off if they think it’s unreasonable. It should be noted that this leave of absence can be with or without pay. This is at the employer’s own discretion. What constitutes ‘reasonable time off’ is not defined in law and is an area for negotiation between the employer and employee. It may also be helpful to prepare your case before you approach your employer and be ready to explain the benefits to the business, such as, you would be helping shape the workforce of tomorrow as well as your own continual professional development.

 

Question Two: Personal liability

As a board member of a college governing body am I personally liable if something goes wrong? We have been asked to take decisions about merger and to set a deficit budget for large building projects. We’ve done due diligence but I’m nervous.

Answer: Governors are often concerned that they may be held personally liable for decisions they take in relation to their role as a college governor, particularly in respect of decisions around procurement and setting budgets.

Since 1992, governing bodies have been incorporated. As a corporate body, protection is afforded to individual members provided that they act reasonably, in accordance with procedures. As charity trustees, governors have a duty to act with skill and care to safeguard the assets of the college. The duty to act with good faith imposes a high standard of care and means that a governor must act honestly and transparently at all times.

You are right to be on guard

Governors should take reasonable care when discharging their duties, should take advice where appropriate and should be mindful of any decision that could be seen as benefiting themselves, their business or close family members.

To reassure you, I am not aware of any case of negligence being brought in relation to individual governors. Where governors act reasonably, in accordance with the corporation’s powers and their instruments and articles, the likelihood of negligence being proved is small. But you are right to be on your guard.

 

Question Three: Ofsted

I was looking forward to reading the Chief Inspector’s Annual Report BUT there was no obvious section on college governance. Am I missing something?

Answer: You are right, there is no separate section on college governance and this year the report does not go into any depth on governance matters.

However, what is there does explain the issue in no uncertain terms: “All of the colleges judged inadequate this year were characterised by systemic weaknesses in leadership and/or governance. Strengthening leadership capacity within the sector remains a priority.”

Governors should increase rigour by challenging leaders

This builds on a statement that was in the 2014/15 report which explained that in weaker colleges governors should increase rigour by challenging leaders.

Recent annual reports, through case studies and the individual college reports, do give indications of what Ofsted sees as good governance, with the main emphasis being on challenge, for example:

“Although governors know the challenges facing the college to ensure learners develop their mathematical and English skills, they have not sufficiently held leaders to account for improving the quality of teaching, learning and assessment across all subjects to improve achievement.”

“Governors have a good understanding of the main features of the college’s educational and financial performance. In a few key respects, however, they have been less effective in holding leaders to account. For example, they have not ensured that leaders’ vision for the college is clearly articulated and shared.”

“The governing body left no stone unturned in its scrutiny of progress against agreed targets for improvement. All staff had responded well to the more stringent performance management scheme that had a direct impact on improving the quality of teaching in all subject areas.”

 

Sue Pember is director of policy and external relations at Holex

 

Apprentice targets should cross administrative boundaries

We are failing to meet apprenticeship targets in construction due to some ridiculous barriers that should simply be removed, says Jeremy Rabinovitch.

Apprentices are the lifeblood of the economy. These are people who want to work yet don’t want to spend years learning something without being guaranteed a job.

Apprenticeships can provide fantastic opportunities both from a financial and career progression point of view – not to mention filling the skills gaps of the future.

I work as a workplace coordinator in the construction sector and as such I am responsible for ensuring our developments have local labour and apprentices working on them.

However, local boroughs, especially in London, make it hard to ensure this happens.

Nowadays most councils insist that around a fifth of the workforce comes from within the boundary walls; in some boroughs, apprentices can only come from within that borough. We are limiting the success of the apprenticeships initiative by setting up boundaries where they are not necessary.

We need to use the people in the industry to promote it and get the next generation into apprenticeships

Here’s an example: the company I work for is developing a large hotel and the local borough has stipulated we need to employ around 20 apprentices during construction.

At first glance that may seem fairly reasonable, however there are conditions that can make this simple target unachievable in practice.

First, we are told that all apprentices must be living in the local borough: a fantastic aspiration, but by the borough’s own admission unrealistic, given there aren’t 20 people on their books interested in construction. In practice, this means out of two people who went to the same school and want to do the same job, one will be afforded fewer opportunities with our subcontractors because they live on the opposite side of the road to their friend, who lives within the boundary of the borough.

The second issue, and possibly the bigger, is the fact that many boroughs require evidence only of someone starting an apprenticeship to count towards a company’s targets.

This means if we have 20 apprenticeships to fill, we can have 20 young people who all leave after their first day, but these are counted as apprenticeships.

This is scandalous – it’s not even work experience. Yet if we place someone on site for two years, who completes an apprenticeship but lives in a different borough, this may not meet our target and we could be fined.

We have to change the way we approach apprenticeships. When the government is so determined to make apprenticeships a vital cog in the financial wheel of the country, why are such ridiculous rules allowed to exist?

Schools are yet another battlefront. I would love the chance to go into schools and promote the available opportunities but despite contacting as many schools as possible, I find it very difficult to get invited. It is easy to surmise from this that schools are more interested in promoting their own sixth form than considering what their students may actually want or benefit from.

More and more want to do apprenticeships but encouragement from schools and even parents is often sadly lacking

The young people get it. More and more want to do apprenticeships but encouragement from schools and even parents is often sadly lacking. So how do we get round this?

Unless attitudes in parents and schools change it’s not going to change and the government’s three-million target will have been just another pipe dream.

We have to work together. The CITB offers a shared apprenticeship programme, which is a fantastic way of helping apprentices acquire the relevant work experience by moving from site to site – bearing in mind subcontractors are there only for a small percentage of the actual development.

There are some good initiatives out there, but we have to do more. We need to use the people in the industry to promote it and get the next generation into apprenticeships before we lose them to the same tired revolving door that insists on sixth form then university.

Times are changing, so we have to move with them. Let’s get the boroughs and councils working together to make the practicalities more achievable and let’s get the schools to invite more companies and training providers in to talk not just to the pupils, but to teachers and parents as well.

 

Jeremy Rabinovitch is workplace co-ordinator at Tolent Construction Ltd

FE holds the key to 2017’s global skills challenges

Building a world-class skills training system is entirely within our grasp if it is properly supported and prioritised, says Carole Stott.

To say that 2016 was an eventful year is an understatement. There can scarcely be a person whose life will not be touched in some way by its momentous events. There is little that feels stable and people, businesses and sectors the world over are wondering what 2017 will bring and are trying to plan for the unknown and the unpredictable.

Last year was testing for FE. Many of us struggled to deal with issues such as English and maths requirements, an inspection regime that appears to take little account of the context in which we operate, area-based reviews requiring fundamental long-term strategic decisions in the midst of chronic uncertainty, the need to build partnerships and alliances requiring trust and cooperation in a context where people are feeling threatened and often suspicious, a new apprenticeship policy and system which is not yet fully formed but which will be a number one priority for many, and all of this in a context of continued austerity and funding challenges.

Not all of these challenges will disappear in 2017. Implementing the decisions of area-based reviews will bring fresh challenges, and alongside this we will see further development of the Skills Plan and technical and professional routes, continued devolution, and reforms in curriculum and higher education. So it is not surprising if people feel beleaguered.

Ours is not a downhearted sector

But ours is not a downhearted sector. We have an educational and social mission that drives us forward. Every day in our work we see the positive benefits and outcomes as people’s lives are genuinely transformed.

The recent changes in the political landscape in the UK have made the educational and social purpose of FE ever more important.

Recent voting in Europe and the USA reveals a growing sense of exclusion and inequality felt by many in our communities. The decision to leave the European Union will have many unknown consequences, but one thing is very clear. If our economy is to thrive as a free-trading nation outside of the EU, we must invest in skills.

If we really want a society that works for everyone then we have to invest in developing everyone’s talents and careers.

This is a global challenge but the responses and the solutions will need to emerge locally. Our colleges and our FE system are essential to this endeavour.

We have the knowledge and expertise to make this work. Colleges in particular are essential stakeholders in their local communities. They have the relationships, the understanding and the professional expertise to help in this shared endeavour. The importance of FE is perhaps more clearly understood now.

The importance of FE is perhaps more clearly understood now

But if this is to be achieved we need a renewed focus on world-class standards.

We have the wherewithal and the experience and expertise to deliver this.

Success at the recent EuroSkills and WorldSkills events, where the UK was placed seventh in both competitions, was a great start.

We can build from this: grow our expertise in training to world-class standards from this base so that these standards permeate our system. This is entirely within our grasp if it is properly supported and prioritised.

I have the great privilege and pleasure of meeting many of our WorldSkills competitors. They are, of course, highly skilled young people.

But I’m even more impressed by their other qualities: their clear focus on their end goal, their absolute determination, perseverance and ability to repeatedly overcome setbacks, their constant hard work and belief that they can learn more and do better.

What employer, what country would not want these qualities in their people?

Those of us working in further education also need to nurture these qualities and these characteristics.

If we do, and like these young people, develop and use our talents wisely, then we can play our part in building the education and skills system to support a thriving economy and society in a fast-changing world.

 

Carole Stott is chair of WorldSkills UK and the Association of Colleges

Frostbite survivor shares chilling story with Trent college students

Students at Trent College received an inspiring talk on resilience from mountaineer Nigel Vardy, who lost his fingers, toes and part of his nose to frostbite.

In 1999, Vardy suffered severe frostbite in temperatures of minus 60 degrees Celsius on Mount McKinley in Alaska, but has since gone on to climb some of the world’s toughest mountains.

Vardy’s message was one of resilience, recovery and adversity against the odds, inspiring students to apply the same values both academically and outside of the college gates, telling them “never give up, however many challenges you may face”.

The talk came as part of the college’s Arts and Speakers programme, which invites guests from the world of sport, the arts, politics, industry and beyond to pay a visit to the Nottingham-based campus and share their stories with students.

David Tidy, the college’s assistant head of curriculum, who coordinates the Arts and Speakers programme, said: “Nigel’s talk was incredibly inspiring and showed the true resilience of the human spirit under exceptionally difficult circumstances.

“He helped the students realise that a setback does not have to mean the end of their dreams.”

 

Featured picture: Nigel Vardy, nicknamed Mr Frostbite following his ordeal

Virtual technology suite will aid apprenticeship learning

The UK’s first college of advanced technology has installed a virtual reality suite to enhance student learning.

Prospects College of Advanced Technology in Essex hopes the equipment will benefit its construction, utilities and infrastructure students, enabling them to test their skills without fear of failure or risk of injury.

The suite recreates a wide variety of scenarios enabling students to be virtually present on site, and allows for observation, evaluation and immediate feedback from tutors.

Ian Rist, an electrical instructor at the college who has already implemented the technology in his lesson plans, said: “The equipment will assist the students in electrical test circuits and installations without the hazards faced in real life.

“It is only when then the students become competent in a VR environment that they can progress to complete the test for real. This will teach learners to a high specification while maintaining health and safety.”

PROCAT is a specialist college, focusing on developing its students to work in the science, technology, engineering and manufacturing industries, and meet industry needs.

 

Featured picture: A student demonstrates the new technology

‘Large-scale incident’ exposes college safeguarding failures in inadequate Ofsted report

Epping Forest College has been rated ‘inadequate’ across-the-board, in an Ofsted report out today that warned of safeguarding failings that emerged through a “large-scale incident” during the inspection.

The education watchdog, which inspected the college between November 15 and 18 last year, found that the safeguarding processes and procedures at Epping Forest failed to “ensure that learners aged 14 to 16, vulnerable adult learners and apprentices are safe”.

It drew attention to a large-scale incident involving learners, during the inspection.

“The level of aggressive behaviour exhibited by a significant minority of learners during a large-scale incident was of concern and presented a threat to the safety of others,” the report said. 

“After a significant length of time, which impacted negatively on lessons, leaders dealt with the incident effectively.

“They have plans in place to increase the capacity of the security team to deal more promptly with any future repeat of such poor behaviour, but actions are yet to be implemented.”

The report on the college, which previously had a ‘requires improvement’ rating, also highlighted weaknesses with protecting the youngest group of learners, saying that “leaders have not considered the safety of learners aged 14 to 16 sufficiently, some of whom are vulnerable due to behavioural issues or who speak English as an additional language”.

It concluded that safeguarding arrangements at the college need to be improved “urgently”.

Epping Forest College is a medium-sized college in West Essex on the outskirts of Greater London which had around 3,000 learners over the previous contract year.

Other problems highlighted there included a continuing decline in the proportion of learners and apprentices making adequate progress; poor attendance and punctuality; and a failure amongst the leadership to monitor progress and work effectively with the local enterprise partnership, employers and wider community.

The report added: “The behaviour of too many learners and apprentices is poor and impacts adversely on the safety and learning of others.”

It added: “Leaders do not monitor the progress of learners and apprentices robustly to understand accurately the strengths and weaknesses of the provision”.

The only strengths identified were good coaching by the majority of teachers in workshops, enabling learners of all ages to develop practical skills well, and a set of action plans to bring about rapid improvement developed by the recently appointed principal Saboohi Famili.

She told FE Week: “We are delighted to report that since the Ofsted visit in November 2016, Epping Forest College has proactively addressed the safeguarding issues that were identified.

“Recent visits from Epping Forest District Council and Essex County Council safeguarding officers confirm the significant improvements that are made to ensure our learners feel safe and are safe at our College.

“The new leadership of the college remain focused on ensuring swift actions are taking place to remedy the weaknesses found at the inspection.  We look forward to working with our colleagues, the FE commissioner and Ofsted, to ensure the college makes the urgent improvements that are needed whilst planning for creating sustainable change across all areas of the organisation.

“The new college governing body and leadership of the college has high aspirations for the future and are confident that these can be achieved as outlined in our Vision 2020 strategic plan.”

Public services students become first in the country to undertake prison work experience

Six students from City College Norwich are the first in the country to complete a week’s work experience behind the walls of a prison.

The group, who are on the extended diploma level three public services course at the college, undertook the placement at HMP Norwich as part of a scheme aiming to engage young adults with careers in the prison service.

Students had the chance to work in the control room and offender management unit, and had an insight into processes such as visitation, education and rehabilitation. They also completed a fitness test required of all prison staff, and witnessed the work of security sniffer dogs.

At the end of the placement, the students gave a presentation to justice secretary Elizabeth Truss, highlighting what they had learned, and talked about how they found the overall experience.

Patrick Setters, who worked at Norwich Prison before joining City College Norwich as a public services lecturer, said: “There is a recruitment shortage for prison staff and this is one way of helping to address that. I believe this scheme will help to recruit dedicated people who are aware of the challenges which will therefore retain staff.”

 

Featured picture: (L-R) Davina Wright 18, Jake Sumner 18, Robson Summers 18, Isaac Mace 18, Thomas Crouch 20, Scott Richards 18

Wellbeing applies to staff as well as students

Improving staff wellbeing is not only vital to college success, it’s our moral duty as FE leaders, says Stuart Rimmer

At the recent AOC annual conference, its president Ian Ashman declared 2016/17 the year of mental health in FE. This was an important, welcome and long overdue step that has been superbly received by the sector.

At the conference I was invited to deliver sessions on the broader topic of wellbeing, including launching the AOC Eastern Region Further Education Wellbeing Guide. It was great to see a rebalancing of the conference sessions away from an exclusive focus on skills and involving a more holistic approach to post-16 education.

At my college we have made huge gains in supporting wellbeing and mental health for students, but I admit we need to do much more to increase support for staff.

We must begin to look after ourselves from the inside out

If we are to be effective in tackling and improving wellbeing in our students, our staff must be sufficiently equipped, both in terms of personal resilience and wellbeing and with the tools and knowledge to pass onto others. We must begin to look after ourselves from the inside out.

We have introduced a ‘happy balance’ programme, initially with a focus on learners: being in an area of deprivation and with many of our students struggling with basic physical and mental needs, it was imperative that we implemented our student programme quickly.

It was relatively easy to introduce via our tutorial programmes and we partnered with Action for Happiness; adopting its ‘10 keys to happiness for students.

It has become apparent that in an ideal world staff should have come first: our staff teams are in need of more coaching, tools and knowledge, both for themselves and others.

So we are extending the programme, addressing the three elements of social, mental and physical wellbeing, to our staff.

Developing a prescription for how we can improve conditions for our teams is more challenging than for students.

At times talking to staff about their wellness can be uncomfortable and risk being perceived as a nanny-state intervention, or just one more thing to do in a busy institutional schedule of requests.

How we practically and, in some respects, philosophically approach who is responsible for improving wellbeing in the workplace is worthy of discussion. Is improving wellbeing the duty of a paternalistic college or should the individual use opportunities to help themselves? The answer is both.

Spending time and resource improving staff wellbeing is both vital to college success and our moral duty as FE leaders

We have developed activities and resources and offer a practical guide, including hints, tips and reading for self-help plus supportive intervention where needed. The importance of training and knowledge, myth-busting, meditation, counselling support, exercise, getting outside, eating well and socialising are all addressed to encourage staff to proactively improve and maintain their wellbeing.

Having recently completed the Health and Safety Executive’s stress survey, our FE staff are clearly experiencing some difficult times both inside and outside of work.

We have a long way to go. Last year we established that every member of staff would be given a wellbeing target as part of their appraisal. The targets were self-determined and ranged from running marathons through to simply setting aside time for a lunch break; from training in understanding anxiety through to yoga and mindfulness sessions.

In a sector of constant change, with mergers, area-based reviews, curriculum upheaval through Sainsbury and apprenticeship reform, performance tables and the ubiquitous pressure of Ofsted, spending time and resource improving staff wellbeing is both vital to college success and our moral duty as FE leaders.

We should want our staff to come to work happy and lead positive, flourishing lives. Increased happiness also leads quickly to improved performance too, which soon begins to feel like a win-win.

I’m hoping that 2017 can also be FE’s year of staff wellbeing and one in which we all, including principals, begin to find our ‘happy balance’.

 

Stuart Rimmer is principal and CEO at Great Yarmouth College

Gazelle Group on its last legs after its director and most members quit

The Gazelle Colleges Group is on life support following a precipitous drop in membership, months of inactivity and the departure of its executive director.

At its peak, the group, formed in 2011 to promote enterprise in colleges, had 23 members – each of which paid many thousands of pounds in annual membership fees.

But FE Week investigations have found that just six members now remain – City College Norwich, Activate Learning, Barking and Dagenham College, Highbury College, Glasgow Kelvin College, and South West College.

Significantly, the group’s former executive director Carolyn Chapman-Lees left the group in June – a fact which FE Week discovered when we attempted to email her, as the Gazelle website still lists her as its main contact.

The group, which is registered at Highbury College Portsmouth, was subject to an FE Week investigation in 2014.

This revealed that the five founding member colleges had each paid more than £530,000 to the group since it was launched.

This included a payment of £120,000 for the “purchase of educational concept” by Gateshead College.

Among Gazelle’s activities was the Pantrepreneurship Challenge, run by the fair-trade underwear brand Pants to Poverty in partnership with the group.

However, the underwear company was dissolved in October, as reported in FE Week.

Despite heavy criticism about the waste of public money, no return-on-investment analysis was ever published.

FE Week this week asked Stella Mbubaegbu, the principal of Highbury College and one of Gazelle’s two remaining directors, to justify the huge sums of public money paid to the group. She declined to comment.

However, Gazelle’s other director, Alan Sherry, principal of Glasgow Kelvin College, said the group is now operating on a collective basis to “share best practice and skills across the member colleges” with no paid leader.

He added the group was not actively seeking new members and that its website, which has not been updated since April, should have been taken down. Its Twitter account has also been dormant since December 2015.

Policy expert Mick Fletcher, who voiced his skepticism about the group in FE Week as early as March 2012, said Gazelle was “not the first example of unwise investment by FE colleges and probably won’t be the last”.

He added: “Two things stand out: one is the scale of the sums gambled by the founding members, but perhaps even more significant is the sheer credulousness of a few leaders who built a business fantasy on the back of some interesting but unremarkable approaches to curriculum innovation.”

City College Norwich is the only founding member that is still be part of the group. Warwickshire College Group left last May, New College Nottingham quit in July 2015 and North Hertfordshire College pulled out in May 2015, while Gateshead College also left in 2015.

The current Gazelle Colleges Group company was formed in February 2016, following the liquidation of its predecessors, Gazelle Global and the Gazelle Foundation.

These had “ceased trading” by May last year, when Ms Chapman-Lees told FE Week Gazelle Colleges Group was the “new legal entity”.

Ms Mbubaegbu and Mr Sherry are its only two directors, according to Companies House, after a third – Margaret Constantine – resigned in July.

Membership fees were initially £35,000 a year, but these were slashed to £15,000 in September 2015 following a membership review.

Former Gazelle executive chair Fintan Donohue retired at the end of 2015 after more than four years at the helm.