FEATURE: College students take schoolchildren on Lapland adventure

A trip to Lapland over the Christmas period is considered the ultimate festive holiday, and over 40 local schoolchildren had the chance to go there thanks to students at a North Lincolnshire college – with a bit of imagination, of course. Samantha King reports.

Pupils from St Bernadette’s Catholic Primary Voluntary Academy flew first class, prepared food for Rudolph and met Santa himself during a recent winter getaway – all without leaving the walls of North Lindsey college.

Organised by level two travel and tourism students, the imaginary Lapland trip was part of their assessment in events management for providing a service to the children.

Travel and tourism lecturer at the college and organiser of the annual trip, Angela Gillen, said: “We have three rooms going, the grotto, the aeroplane cabin and Santa’s workshop. The students decide what they want to do in each of those rooms, how it’s going to look and who’s going to take which role.

They use leadership skills and build their confidence, all which goes to helping them in the future really, and also they’re being assessed at the same time.”

The primary school pupils were separated into three groups of 15, with each spending around half an hour in each location. Accompanied by students from the college, they were asked what they wanted for Christmas and entertained through a variety of activities.

The trip began with a simulated flight on the college’s real aeroplane cabin, with each pupil issued their own passport as they stepped on board and enjoyed refreshments.

An in-flight visual programme was also played during the journey, giving the young passengers a scenic view of a winter landscape. There was even on-board entertainment, with one student dressing up as Elsa from ‘Frozen’ and performing a song.

Once at their destination, the children arrived at Santa’s grotto, before enjoying a festive story and participating in Christmas crafts in the workshop room.

Jade Scott-Deeley, a student at the college, said: “All our hard work paid off with the grotto and preparing all the activities. It was really nice to see all the children today and seeing their excitement for Christmas.”

Ms Gillen who played the role of Santa on the day, added: “The event has been going for a couple of years, and so far, we’ve had level three students running it. We thought this year the level two students would benefit because they don’t always get the opportunities that the higher-level students get. They’ve absolutely smashed it.”

The annual event has a reputation amongst local schools, with many requesting the chance to undertake the imaginary trip themselves, and there’s now quite the waiting list.

“The kids get lots out of it,” said Ms Gillen. “Every year we try and make it bigger and better to the point where we have schools ringing us up asking if we’ll put it on for them. There’s a bit of a waiting list for schools to do it.”

 

Featured picture: Pupils strap in for the flight to Lapland

Blackpool college uses animal organs to up STEM intake

A college looking to recruit more pupils to take STEM subjects held a gruesome day of live surgery for a group of local schools.

Blackpool and the Fylde College hosted the event to give prospective pupils hands-on experience of specialist careers, hosting a live surgery experience where they performed operations on animal organs.

It wasn’t all blood and guts however, with other activities on offer including designing and building a rocket car and curriculum staff from engineering, computing and science areas giving skills presentations.

According to the Higher Education Funding Council, the college is the largest provider of higher education STEM courses in England, training people for careers in a range of specialised fields including aerospace, automotive, maritime engineering, energy, and health.

Jane Mahon, partnerships and careers manager at the college, said: “STEM subjects are really important but are sometimes overlooked by pupils so it’s good to show them the exciting career options available to those who study technical and professional subjects.

“These are the skills learned by innovators like Neil Armstrong or Steve Wozniak, who went on to change the face of the world as we know it.”

 

Featured picture: Pupils get stuck into some animal organs

Movers and Shakers: Edition 194

Your weekly guide to who’s new, and who’s leaving.

James Staniforth has been appointed principal and chief executive of the Shrewsbury Colleges Group.

The newly formed group, comprising Shrewsbury Sixth Form college and Shrewsbury college, has become Shropshire’s largest combined A-level and vocational education provider since it completed its merger in July.

Mr Staniforth will take up the new role, leaving his current position as principal at Strode College in Somerset, and bring with him a wealth of experience from senior roles within sixth form and further education colleges.

In the role, he says he is “committed to making Shrewsbury Colleges Group a centre of academic and vocational excellence” and aims to develop a “regional and national reputation”.

He added: “I am delighted to be joining Shrewsbury Colleges Group and to have the opportunity to work with the staff, governors and the community to move the college to the next stage post-merger.”

Mr Staniforth will take over the role from the current principal and CEO, Lyn Surgeon, after Easter 2017.

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Satwant Deol has been appointed principal and CEO of the Henley College.

The college, which is based in Oxfordshire, achieved an Ofsted rating of ‘good’ in its most recent inspection, and teaches nearly 2,000 full-time students from schools across Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.

She will take up the role from her current position as managing director of the Technical, Creative, Academic and Professional (TCAP) Company at Highbury college, where she held responsibility for strategic direction, marketing and budgets of the learning company, as well as leadership of the curriculum, teaching, learning and assessment.

Prior to this, she held senior roles across a number of London colleges, where, amongst other initiatives, she set up a mentoring scheme for under-achieving BAME students.

She began her career in software development, and became the first woman to lead an all-male development team in her role as head of department at Coventry University.

At The Henley, she hopes to put her experience of technology to good use, with plans to “get more young women into science, engineering and technology subjects” as well as establishing herself in the local community.

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Joe Mulligan has been appointed principal of South Wiltshire University Technical College (UTC).

Mr Mulligan is currently assistant principal at Bristol Technology and Engineering Academy, and will take up the new principalship on the January 17.

In the role, he has ambitions to make the UTC the number-one choice for local students who have a passion for STEM subjects.

He claims he is most looking forward to “working with the students and teachers” and is “getting to know the city and employers linked with the UTC”.

Mulligan, who grew up in Essex, left school at 16 to take an apprenticeship in aircraft maintenance, and even pursued a degree in mechanical engineering before eventually going into teaching.

Speaking of his decision to take up the role, he said: “Bristol is firmly established now, results are good and I wanted the opportunity to develop another UTC and make it my own.

“I really believe that Salisbury has so much potential.”

 

If you want to let us know of any new faces at the top of your college, training provider or awarding organisation please let us know by emailing news@feweek.co.uk

If DfE is listening it must act now

Employers are telling a large and successful provider of 16-18 engineering apprentices they will switch to adults once the funding reforms kick in.

Most 16-18 frameworks see a significant rate cut from May, and for the first time employers with 50 or more staff will have to pay for them.

Then there are the new replacement apprenticeship standards, which offers no age specific incentive to the provider.

Plus, according to Jon Graham at JTL, the £1,000 16-18 employer incentive is proving nowhere near enough to persuade them to take a young person over an adult.

As I suggested to Robert Halfon last year, the loss of a ring-fenced 16-18 budget means there is little the government can do to stop the funding
switch to adults.

The minister, who has so far proved to be a good listener to sector concerns, needs to take action quickly.

He should remember too that the Conservative Party stressed in its 2015 manifesto it was committing to the creation of 3 million starts by 2020,
so “young people acquire the skills to succeed”.

We can’t wait for a Technical Education reform magic pill from 2019.

The DfE must step in and take back some control now, else there will be tens of thousands of disappointed young people
in just a few months from now.

To put it bluntly, employer ownership alone simply isn’t compatible with social justice.

Outstanding colleges might now expect a visit from Ofsted

Ofsted seems to be heading for a U-turn on a controversial policy that exempts providers rated ‘outstanding’ from routine inspection.

FE Week revealed in November that two colleges – Bridgwater and Taunton College in Somerset, and Hills Road Sixth Form College in Cambridgeshire – had not been inspected for a decade.

Since then, another college – Cirencester College in Gloucester – has been added to the 10-year list, and 14 other FE institutions are now in their ninth year of non-inspection.

All were graded ‘outstanding’ during their last visits from Ofsted, but significant changes in how the sector is monitored have occurred over the last decade – raising serious questions about the wait.

However, FE Week understands that Ofsted is now looking to change its policy, which currently states providers judged ‘outstanding’ at their most recent inspection are “not normally subject to routine inspection”.

It is understood the policy may change so that ‘outstanding’ providers join the same routine procedure as others, such as being subjected to two-day short inspections the way ‘good’ institutions are, or to give them their own procedure.

If given the go-ahead, the move would be a statement of intent for radical change at the education watchdog by new chief inspector Amanda Spielman (pictured), who took the reins from Sir Michael Wilshaw this month.

A spokesperson for the watchdog, however, said this week that it had “no plans at the moment to change this policy” and noted that it had been the government, not the inspectorate, that created it in the first place.

The previous government introduced the policy in the Education Act 2011, with the aim of allowing Ofsted the best opportunity to “focus its resources on underperforming providers”.

A Department for Education spokesperson said that while ‘outstanding’ providers are exempt from routine inspection, they are still subject to accountability through Ofsted’s risk assessments.

Risk assessments consider factors such as academic performance and student attendance, but there are fears the procedure does not reveal the full truth about all aspects of a provider, such as safeguarding.

FE Week asked Sir Michael about the 10-year gaps at the launch of Ofsted’s annual report last month.

The former chief inspector said: “Where the data shows a college is doing well, we obviously don’t do an inspection. We go into those institutions where the data is not very good, or there are concerns.”

But unions want the policy reviewed, arguing that it is dangerous for providers to go so long without a full inspection.

Malcolm Trobe, the interim general secretary at the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “Ofsted does have to prioritise what they are doing but 10 years is way too long for them not to have picked up on a reinspection.

“The risk assessment procedure will not necessarily cover everything that is going on within the provider.”

The controversy of Ofsted’s inspection policy will also bring into question whether the ‘outstanding’ grade should be dropped altogether.

Ms Spielman said she would look to scrap the grade during a parliamentary hearing last year but because the government wrote the exemption for outstanding providers into law in 2011, parliament would need to repeal this law before the top grade could be removed.

Mr Trobe said he is hoping Ms Spielman will “open up the debate” on the matter now she is in post.

Navigating 2017

In 2016 the FE sector navigated very choppy waters – but for the New Year it is now full steam ahead. There is much to do to be ready for the developments 2017 will bring, and it is important to take stock of what was achieved in the past 12 months.

Click here to download the supplement

To help with this voyage through consolidation towards new plans, FE Week’s ‘Navigating 2017’ supplement rounds up the big changes of 2016 and the landmarks events to keep an eye out for in the year to come.

To begin, on page three we have the New Year’s resolutions of FE’s captain, the apprenticeships and skills minister Robert Halfon. He exclusively shares his vision for 2017 in detail, covering everything from funding reforms to the Institute for Apprenticeships and the Technical and Further Education Bill.

Then we examine the four biggest policy areas for the sector in detail and give the forecast for each over the coming year. We explore what is taking place in apprenticeship reform and funding, area reviews and devolution, study programmes and technical education, and performance tables and Ofsted.   

Pages four and five address the apprenticeship levy, covering the perspectives of providers and employers, and also revisit FE Week’s successful skirmish with the government in September’s #SaveOurApprenticeships campaign.

On six Billy Camden delves into the dark waters of the area review process, the first outcomes of which were only revealed last November. He covers delays, infighting, and the task ahead for new FE commissioner Richard Atkins.

Page seven turns to the devolution of the adult education budget, following the announcement in the Autumn Statement that the government is continuing with plans to devolve the AEB for London by 2019/20.

On pages 10 and 11, Paul Offord proves he knows the ropes when it comes to study programmes and the Skills Plan, tackling changes to English and maths for post-16 learners and the 15 pathfinder’ routes for technical education outlined by Lord Sainsbury.

The new post-16 accountability measures, which are in the offing this month, surface on pages 12 and 13, alongside a recap of FE Week’s first ever ranking table released in November.

Finally, pages 14 and 15 list some of the sector’s top skippers, who tell you what they see on the horizon for the coming year.

Sign Language qualifications accepted as English functional skills alternative for apprenticeships

British Sign Language qualifications will be accepted instead of English functional skills for apprenticeships, in a move to encourage more starts among deaf people.

The Department for Education announced the change, set to come into effect from April, this morning.

A spokesperson explained BSL will become a formal alternative qualification to English functional skills, for people who use BSL as their primary language.

She told FE Week: “This means that if an apprentice has already achieved the prescribed level of BSL prior to starting their apprenticeship, they no longer have to undertake GCSE or functional skills training in English.

“If they haven’t already achieved the minimum requirements, they can elect to undertake BSL level one and/or two.”

Max Buxton (pictured), an 18-year-old engineering apprentice with an electrical company from Nottinghamshire, uses BSL.

His family had campaigned with the National Deaf Children’s Society for BSL to be formally recognised with apprenticeships.

He said: “Being deaf and dyslexic, I find English tests really hard. It’s very difficult to translate BSL into English and for it all to make sense.

“My employer has said how well I’m doing and doesn’t think my language skills are an issue, but I still can’t complete the apprenticeship without passing that test.

“It’s an unfair, unnecessary rule that has created a lot of stress, so I’m very pleased things are changing now.”

Brian Gale OBE, policy and campaigns director at the National Deaf Children’s Society, also welcomed the move.

He said: “We’re delighted that the government has committed to these changes, because it was making it very challenging for some deaf young people to complete their courses.

“BSL is a totally different language, so for users to meet this kind of academic standard is a much bigger challenge than it would be for a native English speaker.

“We heard from parents whose deaf children who were doing brilliant work in their apprenticeships but being held back by that, which they understandably felt was unfair.”

He added most deaf young people move to vocational education at 16, and apprenticeships are a much-needed route to employment.

For those whose first language is BSL, this “simple change will mean they truly have equal opportunities to achieve their potential”.

There are around nine million people in the UK who are deaf or hard of hearing. And in 2015/16, 50,640 of those starting an apprenticeship declared a disability or learning disability (LDD), which the DfE said represented an increase of 14.8 per cent on 2014/15.

Skills and apprenticeships Minister Robert Halfon said: “I am committed to breaking down barriers to ensure people of all ages and all backgrounds get on the ladder of opportunity through an apprenticeship.

“For those whose first language is BSL, this simple change will allow them to achieve their full potential.

“I look forward to implementing more changes like this to make sure apprenticeships can work for as many people as possible, whatever their background.”

16-18 apprenticeships are set to plummet

Unbelievably, the government may be about to chop away the first rung on the ladder with its new funding system for apprenticeships, says Jon Graham

On the face of it, the combination of the apprenticeship levy’s start, the well-publicised industrial strategy and the government’s social justice agenda promise great things for a provider like JTL in 2017.

After all, we tick all the right boxes in that we offer virtually all of our apprenticeships to young people, we are a good STEM provider, and we’re meeting employer demand in traditional sectors where the unlimited but vital supply of migrant labour may be subject to future control.

So why are my trustees, colleagues and I looking forward to the new year with such real trepidation?

JTL is a national, not-for-profit training provider specialising in the building services engineering sector, with over 6,300 apprentices training each year in electrical, plumbing, heating and ventilating, and engineering maintenance services.

Seventy-five per cent of these apprentices are aged between 16 and 18, and borrowing the theme from this year’s 10th anniversary of National Apprenticeship Week, we offer them the first step onto the ‘ladder of opportunity’.

Unbelievably, the government may be about to chop away that first rung with its new funding system for apprenticeships.

Unbelievably, the government may be about to chop away that first rung with its new funding system for apprenticeships.

Our employers say that under the new system when the traditional age differentials in funding rates are removed, they would sooner employ young people aged 19 and over.

Some 16- and 17-year-olds aren’t allowed on site due to health and safety rules, and many of them have yet to pass their driving test, but the present funding makes it still worthwhile to take them on.

Remove the incentive and employers will switch back to recruiting older apprentices.

The so-called £1,000 incentive for employers to recruit 16- to 18-year-olds simply doesn’t work for STEM sectors. Our level three apprenticeships typically last four years, meaning the incentive equates to a mere £5 per week, which is of no interest to employers given the additional challenges of younger employees.

If the government increased the incentive to, say, £1,000 per annum, then the switch might be avoided but right now, JTL is expecting a complete change-around in its provision; at present 75 per cent of our apprentices are aged 16-to-18, but this might fall to-25 per cent, leaving far fewer opportunities for that age group than we can offer now.

Whether the number of apprentices tin that group will remain over 6,000 is another major concern. JTL has 3,500 employers on its books and the proportion which are levy-payers is tiny, perhaps one per cent.

We serve a few large companies such as Balfour Beatty, Kier and Carillion, but 85 per cent of our employers have seven operatives or fewer; they’re your typical ‘men-and- van’, but ones with excellent skills, high in demand.

There is a growing and strong body of evidence that by the end of the second year, levy-payers may be consuming nearly all of the levy pot themselves, leaving little funding for the thousands of SMEs who offer apprenticeships in our sector.

There is a growing and strong body of evidence that by the end of the second year, levy-payers may be consuming nearly all of the levy pot themselves

Unless the government puts an indicative annual budget in place for non-levy payers, the cry of “you can’t find a good plumber anywhere these days” will become even louder, especially in post-Brexit Britain.

The Skills Funding Agency is telling providers like us to change our business model and focus our efforts on the levy-payers. But this is ludicrous because such a strategy in no way responds to employment patterns in STEM industries. JTL receives over 20,000 applications a year from young people seeking an apprenticeship. What are these young people going to do if we have nowhere to place them?

I read over the holiday that the permanent secretary at the Department for Education has committed the department to formulate policy only after listening. If he wants to make an effective contribution to the industrial strategy, he needs to start listening fast.

Funding reform will see 16-18 apprenticeships ‘drop by two thirds’

The government must make a “clear and unambiguous” commitment to 16-to-18 apprenticeships, after a major provider warned that funding changes will cause its starts for that age group to plummet by two thirds.

The claim was made by Jon Graham, chief executive of JTL, which specialises in training for the building services engineering sector, in an exclusive article for FE Week. 

“Unbelievably,” he wrote, “the government may be about to chop away that first rung with its new funding system for apprenticeships,” referencing the skills minister Robert Halfon’s new ‘ladder of opportunity’ slogan.

Mark Dawe, the boss of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, backed the claim, and told FE Week that JTL was “one of many providers” which had made it clear that 16-to-18 engagement would tumble once the apprenticeship levy launches.

Under the pre-levy standards funding regime, which will be in place until the end of April, financial incentives offered by the government for taking on a 16- to 18-year-old apprentices can be worth up to £5,400.

But the incentive will fall to just £1,000 per apprentice from May, which Mr Graham warned would cause a “complete change-around in its provision” away from 16to-18s at JTL.

The provider was allocated £15,149,256 for younger apprenticeships by the Skills Funding Agency for 2016/17, and currently has over 6,300 electrical, plumbing, heating and ventilating, and engineering maintenance services apprentices.

Three quarters of these are aged 16 to 18 – but Mr Graham expects that number to drop to around 25 per cent once the levy comes in.

He wrote: “Our employers say when the traditional age differentials in funding rates are removed, they would sooner employ people aged 19 and over.”

Mr Graham explained that while present funding incentives made it worthwhile taking on younger apprentices, who have less established work habits and lack skills like driving licenses, £1,000 wouldn’t be enough to entice employers to take them on.

“Our level three apprenticeships typically last four years. That equates to £5 a week,” he wrote.

Mr Dawe said: “We really need now a clear and unambiguous statement from the government that it’s fully committed to supporting apprenticeship opportunities for 16- to 18-year-olds, with appropriate levels of incentives kept in place.”

Teresa Frith, senior skills policy manager at the Association of Colleges, said: “We share the concern that the funding changes might reduce demand from employers for younger apprentices.”

A DfE spokesperson said it wants “to encourage employers to take on young people”.

She continued: “Our research indicates that the proposed £1,000 incentive to employers and providers is likely to cover additional costs faced by both [employers and providers], irrespective of subject or length of apprenticeship.

“We have also increased funding for STEM apprenticeship routes by 40 per cent at level two to encourage more young people to undertake training in these vital subjects and increase quality.”

Analysis by FE Week carried out last summer showed that the new £1,000 incentive, combined with wider ‘upper limit’ apprenticeship funding levels – overall funding stood to drop by up to half in many deprived areas.

Our findings sparked mass outrage, which was channelled through our #SaveOurApprenticeships campaign, and helped convince the skills minister Robert Halfon to announce plans to pay an extra 20 per cent on funding band limits for the age group.

FE Week subsequently proved that this inadequate measure would still result in smaller – but still huge – funding cuts.

Labour’s former skills minister David Lammy, an outspoken #SaveOurApprenticeships backer, called this week on the government to “come clean” about how badly the cuts will still affect younger apprentices.

Mr Halfon has previously told FE Week that he “absolutely” doesn’t accept that starts will fall, “because we’re giving the incentives to the employers and providers. We’re doing everything we can to encourage them to employ young apprentices”.

Calls for extra funding for this age group gained prominence in 2011, through the influential ‘Review of Vocational Education’ published by Professor Alison Wolf, who was unavailable for comment this week.

It recommended employers who take on 16- to 18-year-old apprentices “should be eligible for payments (direct or indirect)… when they bear some of the cost of education for an age-group with a right to free full- time participation”.

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DfE really listening?

Employers are telling a large and successful provider of 16-18 engineering apprentices they will switch to adults once the funding reforms kick in.

Most 16-18 frameworks see a significant rate cut from May, and for the first time employers with 50 or more staff will have to pay for them.

Then there are the new replacement apprenticeship standards, which offers no age specific incentive to the provider.

Plus, according to Jon Graham at JTL, the £1,000 16-18 employer incentive is proving nowhere near enough to persuade them to take a young person over an adult.

As I suggested to Robert Halfon last year, the loss of a ring-fenced 16-18 budget means there is little the government can do to stop the funding switch to adults.

The minister, who has so far proved to be a good listener to sector concerns, needs to take action quickly.

He should remember too that the Conservative Party stressed in its 2015 manifesto it was committing to the creation of 3 million starts by 2020, so “young people acquire the skills to succeed”.

We can’t wait for a Technical Education reform magic pill from 2019.

The DfE must step in and take back some control now, else there will be tens of thousands of disappointed  young people in just a few months from now.

To put it bluntly, employer ownership alone simply isn’t compatible with social justice.

Nick Linford, editor