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Colleges can thrive despite ‘blizzard of changes’, AoC boss tells delegates

This year’s “blizzard of changes” will not stop the Association of Colleges pushing for progress over the coming months, new chief executive David Hughes has told a packed audience in his key note speech at this year’s annual conference.

Mr Hughes acknowledged that the FE sector had faced the challenges of Brexit and the appointment of new ministers – but the new chief executive, who took up his role in September, remains “optimistic”.

He reassured conference delegates that “colleges really are vital to our economy and out society”, adding “it’s time to be confident about our place in the education system and ambitious for the three million people we serve”.

He also highlighted that there will be a review of the AoC during the conference.

“We must be more transparent and engaging … much more ambitious and confident in what we are asking for”, he said.

Mr Hughes said he believed the new education secretary Justine Greening and skills minister Robert Halfon share “a passion for this sector”, and told the audience that now is the time for colleges to “be in the spotlight”.

“I think we’re in a position to be listened to probably for the first time in years,” he added.

However, he made it clear that he thinks the state of funding for FE is still unacceptable, describing the current system as “grossly unfair”.

“We need to keep putting the case for more funding for our sector,” he said.

He also spoke about problems in English and maths teaching and the impact this has on the FE sector, with colleges “taking the brunt of a system that doesn’t work until 16 and doesn’t work after that”.

Mr Hughes said the AoC will “open up a consultation in the next week or so” and is asking college leaders for “your experiences of English and maths”.

“You want to be working with us to be setting the agenda,” he said to the audience.

The introductory session of the AoC 2016 conference at the ICC in Birmingham also featured speeches from Carole Stott, chair of AoC, and Reggie Yates, AoC gold award winner, broadcaster and former FE student.

Ms Stott welcomed the full hall to the conference and spoke of the importance of FE.

“We are a primary route to success for millions of people,” she said.

Mr Yates spoke enthusiastically with host Steph McGovern about his own experience of FE, and the positive impact that his time at City and Islington College had on his 26-year career in broadcasting.

He also commented on plans to do more mentoring in the New Year saying that working with AoC on this project would be “fantastic”.

He advised college leaders to “invest in the individual not in the whole”, adding “no two people have the same dream”.

Lord Sainsbury demands more cash for technical education

Key government skills advisor Lord Sainsbury has urged ministers to take a more realistic view of the cost of high quality technical education and increase funding, as it implements recommendations on a slimmed down system.

His ‘Report of the Independent Panel on Technical Education’ was a key influence on the government’s subsequent skills plan, which will involve replacing 20,000 post-16 vocational qualifications with 15 new “high-quality routes”.

The comments come after former skills minister Nick Boles indicated there would not be more funding made available to make a success of the skills plan back in July.

Lord Sainsbury told delegates today at the Association of Colleges annual conference, in Birmingham, that his scheme stood more chance of succeeding than other botched government reforms in the past.

However, he stressed the new “high quality” system will need to be properly funded if it is to rival continental systems, particularly in Germany.

When asked by a delegate how he would secure the extra cash, he said: “All I can do is point out what cost is needed and do everything I can to convince the minister that this is needed. You only need to compare to more successful systems (overseas) in how much more they spend to see this.”

He added: “I want to suggest that my report has a better chance because we began by doing what I would do in business by looking at other systems and what we can learn from them.

“One needs to have a national system of qualifications that is well understood and generally accepted.

“Over 22,000 qualifications are currently on offer. Some commentators have joked about the confusing world of post-16 education as ‘if you are not confused about it then you don’t understand it’.”

He added that any talk of government being able to endow the system with parity of esteem without first ensuring its genuine currency with employers is “nonsense”, and also called for a big improvement in careers advice to help convince students vocational training’s a viable option.

Lord Sainsbury also stressed that some 16-year-olds will not be ready for the technical qualifications or A-levels, so they will require a “transition year” which also needs paying for.

Sir David Carter, national schools commissioner, also delivered a speech on the work he does.

He spoke to sixth form colleges looking to join multi academy trusts, stating it should not be viewed as the be-all-and-end-all for improving education standards.

He added a more general approach to supporting all types of education was needed, with schools and colleges co-operating more.

He said: “If we don’t have young people who leave schools with a thirst for more knowledge, to learn skills, they will find it very difficult over the next 50 years.

“I want to make sure that the trusts that we have can answer the key question – is my child getting a better education as a result of being in this multi academy trust than they were before.

“I would like to see the trusts identifying 10 year career plans for teachers. We need to capture that long term knowledge and put it back into the system so we don’t lose it forever.

“One of my responsibilities and my schools commissioner colleagues is to know what me mean by intervening. How do we capture the intellegience around the data to understand what the school really needs. Then it’s the diagnosis – ensuring we give them the best solutions.”

Fourth FE institute awarded chartered status

Furness College has been unveiled as the latest member of the Chartered Institution for Further Education.

The news was announced by Lord Lingfield, chair of the institute, today and means Furness College will pay £8,000 to become the fourth member of the body for “high-performing” FE colleges and training providers.

It comes after Hawk Training, Blackpool and The Fylde College, and Bridgwater College were announced as the first three members of the institute in July.

Mark Nicholson, deputy principal at Furness College, said it was a “significant achievement” for the college.

“We join the three other organisations who have so far succeeded in achieving this status. This mark of quality is awarded only to high performing organisations and demonstrates how we are helping lead the way in how the further education sector will be shaped to meet the demands of the future.”

The Chartered Institution for Further Education was granted chartered status in October last year and has been open to members rated outstanding or good by Ofsted and in receipt of public funding from the Skills Funding Agency since November.

Membership costs £5,000 a year and colleges and training providers joining for the first time also have to pay a £3,000 non-refundable fee to join the institution, which is propped up by almost £1m in government funding.

Membership will supposedly allow providers to come together and “promote, recognise and celebrate their professionalism and success”.

Lord Lingfield said Furness College has “passed a rigorous process which has confirmed their position as a leading performer in the sector”.

He added: “I look forward to working with them and our growing membership to begin driving forward professionalism in further education.

“This is the next step along the path to recognising and celebrating what the sector does well, and achieving for it a status both nationally and internationally equivalent to that enjoyed by our higher education colleagues.”

Live with Linford at AoC Conference 2016

Nick Linford, editor of FE Week, is out-and-about during AoC Conference 2016 bringing you all the news, gossip and fun. Stay tuned for live updates (see blog below).

FE Week is proud to be the premier media partner and the premier news source for the FE and skills sector.

Latest news stories from AoC Conference:

War of words continues as AoC boss accused of putting ‘institutional self-interest before learners’ interest’

A dispute between the leaders of FE’s two biggest associations has taken another twist, with one accusing the other of putting “institutional self-interest before learners’ interest”.

Last week, Mark Dawe, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, traded verbal blows with David Hughes, boss of the AoC, over the quality of apprenticeships delivered by private training providers.

Mr Hughes had claimed that independent providers offer apprentices “not very much” training, mostly assessing them “on the job”.

Mr Dawe then challenged the AoC chief to “produce the evidence” to back up his “disappointing and plain wrong” allegation.

Now, the AELP boss has taken another swipe at Mr Hughes by accusing the AoC of putting “institutional self-interest before learners’ interest”.

His comment came in the AELP’s latest weekly email sent out to members on Friday morning (November 11) after FE Week had reported on the original war of words.

Mr Dawe firstly addressed last week’s “strange and incorrect” report by left-wing think tank IPPR, which called on the government to phase out level two apprenticeships for 16- to 18-year-olds, and replace them with a pre-apprenticeship programme only offered by colleges, which was welcomed by the AoC.

One of the IPPR report authors who made the recommendation was Charlynne Pullen, who at the time of drafting was on secondment to IPPR. Controversially, Ms Pullen is now head of workforce data at the Education and Training Foundation, which is jointly owned by both the AELP and the AoC.

The AELP chief then wrote to his members: “Initially I was absolutely stunned that the AoC supported this proposal; however it would appear that their approach is to put institutional self-interest before the learners’ interest in this case.”

He added: “Anyone who believes an ounce of what has been recommended in the IPPR report should put down their latte, leave their London based office, and come out and witness the challenge of motivating young people who have been spat out of the school system with no more than entry level skills.”

In response to Mr Dawe’s latest comments, Mr Hughes firmly defended the AoC.

He told FE Week: “We have been calling for the introduction of a pre-apprenticeship offer for some time because many young people need support before they are ready to enter work.

“Colleges find that many young people need to improve their English and maths before employers will consider them.

“All FE colleges provide apprenticeships and are adapting to the new levy and other funding rules which come in next year. IPPR’s suggestion that a pre-apprenticeship offer only be open to colleges and not-for-profit training providers came a bit out of the blue.

“It is an interesting idea but not something we will be pushing for.”

The ongoing dispute is likely to be a lively debate at AoC conference which kicks off tomorrow and runs from November 15 to 17 at the ICC in Birmingham.

Reverse decline in higher level technical qualifications, demands Professor Wolf

Leading vocational education adviser Professor Alison Wolf has demanded action from the government to stem the decline in higher level technical qualifications.

Her new report for the Education Policy Institute warned only 4,900 learners achieved level four awards or above under the adult education budget in 2014/5 – a 36 per cent drop on the previous year.

She called on the government to redress this through the creation of a new “high status” qualifications framework at tertiary levels four and five, allowing delivery directly by colleges, without university involvement.

At the same time, she argued that the loans system available to university students should be expanded to cover anyone studying these “sub-degree” qualifications.

The report said: “The contrast between the high take-up of loans for degrees, and the failure of advance learner loans for FE-based learning, is in large part a result of there being no established national system of awards at levels four and five.”

The report, called ‘Remaking tertiary education‘, comes after the government introduced its vision for reforming post-16 education through the Skills Plan, based on the recommendations in the Sainsbury review of technical education – which Professor Wolf was involved in.

Speaking exclusively to FE Week, Professor Wolf said: “The Sainsbury review started to create a proper technical route but we’re never going to complete that if we don’t very soon create proper replacements or recreations of HNCs and HNDs.”

Without these “proper national technical qualifications”, she said, people would continue going to university for higher level study “because they won’t feel that level four and five as they currently exist have any real recognition”.

The report blamed the decline of higher level technical qualification on government policy over more than 30 years that “promoted large volumes of low-level vocational qualifications in the non-university adult sector, at the expense of tertiary-level qualifications”.

It concluded: “A financial entitlement which is held by the individual, and can be used for tertiary education of any sort, whenever the individual wishes, would allow England to move away from the current dysfunctional system.”

Professor Wolf told FE Week that this proposal was different from advanced learner loans, which were first introduced for learners aged 24 and above in 2013.

These loans, which were expanded earlier this year to cover all learners aged 19 and above at levels three to six, were “more limited, more restricted” than what she was calling for.

“At the moment if you’re a student who goes to university you have an automatic entitlement to a big student loan, and what I’m arguing is that that should be extended to people going to levels four and five in further education as well,” she said.

Professor Wolf’s proposals come after the government consulted on introducing maintenance loans in FE earlier this year.

The consultation, which ran from the end of March until mid-June, was around the premise of introducing loans for FE learners aged 19 and above at levels four to six, with the aim of increasing the take-up of technical and professional learning.

In September the government announced that it would not be making a decision until November – despite strong support for the proposal.

David Hughes, Association of Colleges chief executive, agreed with Professor Wolf that “it is not enough to invest in full-time, three-year bachelor’s degrees if we are to meet the skills needs of our country”.

But he called student loans to be converted into “a personal learning account that could be accessed across a person’s lifetime, also including maintenance loans for all higher education courses.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Education said: “We want to build a further and higher education system that works for everyone, and we are taking decisive action to achieve this – with two bills currently going through parliament.

“We have reformed technical qualifications, ensuring they meet the demands of employers and and help boost our economy. And our apprenticeship funding and skills plan will ensure that more young people are equipped with the skills that employers are asking for.”

Professor Wolf will present her report at the Education Policy Institute’s first annual lecture in London this evening (Monday, November 14).

Technical and Further Education Bill second reading in Commons

The new Technical and Further Education Bill will have its second reading in the House of Commons today.

It sets out proposals for a new insolvency regime for FE colleges, and includes plans to extend the role of the Institute for Apprenticeships, the new vocational training policing body.

According to the Department for Education’s factsheet on the bill, its aim is to “take forward the government’s reforms to technical education, which will help boost the country’s productivity by addressing skill shortages and ensuring high quality technical education”.

The first reading of the bill took place on October 27.

It will go through three more stages in the House of Commons, and then five stages in the House of Lords before it can gain Royal Assent.

On October 27, FE Week reported details of the bill’s proposals for a new insolvency regime.

The new system will carry the objective of minimising disruption to students’ work if their college is affected.

We will bring forward legislation in this session of parliament that will expand the remit of the Institute for Apprenticeships to encompass all technical education

A DfE spokesperson said at the time that the new regime, which follows a consultation launched in July, will address the “current absence of any provisions for college insolvency, giving creditors certainty for the first time about how their claims will be dealt with”.

This week Angela Rayner criticised the bill, arguing that the government should be investing more in FE – instead of than creating a system that makes it easier for colleges to go bust.

The legislation also includes a provision to rename the Institute for Apprenticeships to include ‘Technical Education’ in its title – to highlight its role in monitoring the 15 new ‘professional and technical’ routes introduced in the government’s Post-16 Skills Plan.

The first hint that the Institute would be expanding came in the Skills Plan, which said: “We will bring forward legislation in this session of parliament that will expand the remit of the Institute for Apprenticeships to encompass all technical education.

“It will become the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education.”

The white paper accepted a series of recommendations made by the Independent Panel on Technical Education headed by Lord Sainsbury.

In his foreword to the Skills Plan, the former skills minister Nick Boles acknowledged the impact of the work of the Sainsbury review.

He said: “We accept and will implement all of the Sainsbury panel’s proposals, unequivocally where that is possible within current budget constraints.

“We want to ensure there is a strong and stable network of colleges and other training providers, and want to take this chance to put in place wider changes to the system, including reforms to accountability, funding, and careers education and guidance.”

Lord Sainsbury will be speaking at 4.15pm on the first day of this year’s Association of Colleges conference taking place from November 15 to 17 at the ICC in Birmingham.

Three-legged ferret scoops the top title at exclusive ferret show

Four ferrets belonging to Berkshire College of Agriculture brought home a number of rosettes in a prestigious ferret show, with three-legged Boo scooping a top title.

The college’s small-mammal team entered five of their ferrets into the Hants & Berks Ferret Club Show, with four: Boo, Josie, and brother-and-sister team Stig and Mouse, returning victorious.

It was three-legged ferret Boo (pictured above) that achieved the highest accolade, scooping first place in the “physically challenged” category.

Becky Stevens, a small-mammal technician at the college, said: “Boo was unfortunately trodden on when she was a baby. If she had been fully grown, we would have been able to splint it, but as she was so tiny, it seemed fairer to take the leg off.

“The show had the physically impaired group to give the ferrets a fair chance, as obviously they couldn’t walk as well as ferrets in the other groups.”

Ferrets were judged on their appearance, ease of handling, temperament and movement.

The college is currently home to 15 ferrets, with a recent renovation of their living quarters meaning they now live in a spacious barn, with indoor and outdoor play areas, and even their own ball pit.

Featured picture: Boo with her 1st place rosette, right and bottom, two of the other successful ferrets with their 3rd place rosettes

Theatrical make-up students simulate injuries for staged firearms incident

Students at City of Bristol College partnered with local police and rescue services to stage a major firearms incident as part of a police training exercise.

Theatrical media make-up students used their skills to provide more than 200 actors with realistic-looking injuries, reflective of those experienced in a serious shooting incident.

Actors were asked to play injured members of the public on a set in Bristol, as ‘gunmen’ took over a shopping centre.

Kate Dowle, a theatrical and media make-up lecturer at the college, said: “Events like this require a large amount of preparation, such as premade prosthetic limbs and wounds, something that would be required in the industry. The event highlighted what it’s like to work on a live brief on a hectic set, and the students all rose to the challenge.”

Avon and Somerset Police, Avon Fire and Rescue service and South West Ambulance Service Trust were all involved in the event, staged by Black Rock Specialist Training Centre, which specialise in training officers in police firearms tactics.

Rheia Roberts Budworth, a student at the college, said: “The actual exercise was scarily real and it was great to see our hard work in action.”

Featured picture: Actors show off their theatrical makeup