A unique life skills programme for first-year students at the Sixth Form College Birkenhead has reached its halfway point – and students are already feeling the benefits.
Devised by two psychology teachers at the college, Roy Owen and Amanda Hoey, and deputy principal Mike Kilbride, the BePART (Be Positive, Ambitious, Resilient, Thoughtful) course looks at methods to improve mental health and wellbeing in teenagers.
The six-week programme focusses on the importance of sleep and diet, challenging negative thoughts, and mindfulness – a form of meditation.
Students who joined the Wirral-based college in September have now had three sessions and several are already reporting an increase in their overall wellbeing.
Sixteen-year-old Eleanor Adams, who studies biology, chemistry, English literature and maths at the college, said: “I’ve found it really therapeutic. It’s helped me with stress levels and eating habits, and made me take a step back and assess what I’m doing, which makes things a lot easier and calmer.”
“This kind of programme is so important. You may have the ability to get good grades but you’re never going to achieve that if you’re burnt out.”
Featured picture: (L-R) Psychology teacher Roy Owen, head girl Emily Wagstaff, head boy Louis Earley, psychology teacher Amanda Hoey
Staff and students from the hair and beauty department at Bridgwater and Taunton College had a lesson on sustainability during a recent trip to Spain.
The aim of the trip was to get students involved with the Green Salon project in Malaga, which develops innovative ways of promoting sustainability in the hair and beauty sector in schools, colleges and businesses.
During the visit, staff and students played a vital role in the next stages of the project, developing educational tools for use within the hairdressing industry across the EU.
Lucinda Vaughan, curriculum manager for hair and beauty at the college, said: “As a college we are so fortunate to be linked with such an important project. This trip has enabled our students to collaborate with a group of international students to discuss ideas, produce an industry video and visit Spanish salons.”
The trip also included a visit to L’Oréal Green Academy in Madrid, a salon which combines the application of modern technology and the use of environmentally friendly materials to develop a new method of hairdressing for future generations.
Featured picture: Tutor Lucinda Vaughan, centre, Rebecca Franks, top left, Melanie Sukevic, bottom left, Sophie Westlake, top right, Ellie-Mae Davies, bottom right
Allegations of malpractice lodged by a former apprentice of Highbury College are being investigated by Ofqual, an FE Week investigation has revealed.
The qualifications watchdog confirmed it is looking into complaints lodged by 35-year-old Maxwell Hyde – who started as a boatbuilding apprentice at the college in
Portsmouth in September 2011, and who went on to work there as a workshop instructor from January 2013 until May 2014.
He completed his apprenticeship, but claims that during the process he was granted qualifications for courses that he did not take.
The SFA has previously opted to “partially uphold” another of Mr Hyde’s complaints against the college – in which he alleged his apprentice progress reports were falsified – in a report released in October 2015.
An Ofqual spokesperson told FE Week that it is currently “reviewing the actions carried out by the awarding organisations” involved – VTCT, Laser Awards and NCFE – but that it won’t be investigating the college.
Mr Hyde submitted a freedom of information request to the Skills Funding Agency in February, which indicated funding had been paid out for courses he claimed to have no knowledge of, for example on preventing contact dermatitis and substance misuse awareness.
Funding had been paid out for courses he claimed to have no knowledge of, for example on preventing contact dermatitis and substance misuse awareness
“Sadly it seems to me that students are seen as little more than cash cows, and provided the correct boxes are ticked and funding is obtained, no one cares how this is achieved,” he told FE Week.
NCFE revealed it had conducted its own investigation into the complaints in June – which concluded the certificates Mr Hyde felt he should not have been awarded had been built into other parts of his apprenticeship.
It said: “Qualifications awarded to Mr Hyde by NCFE were completed as additionality qualifications which were delivered during Highbury College’s induction programme.”
Laser Awards and VTCT also confirmed that they have been carrying out investigations into the claims.
A VTCT spokesperson denied any wrongdoing, adding that Highbury College “followed appropriate assessment and quality assurance procedures”.
Mr Hyde alleges that Highbury College had wrongly indicated that the progress reports had been completed with his input, despite the fact that in some cases he was allegedly out of the country.
The SFA report said: “There is no suggestion the college has committed any kind of fraud, but not ensuring the learner is demonstrably involved in his own reviews was bad practice on behalf of the college.
“We note that the college has committed to improving its processes.”
Mr Hyde told FE Week that he had taken up his concerns with Stella Mbubaegbu, the principal of Highbury College, who told him that her managers “had acted properly”.
A Highbury College spokesperson said: “The allegations raised with the SFA by Mr Hyde were in the first instance investigated by the college in line with college procedures.
“All the SFA recommendations have been considered by the college and changes arising from those recommendations implemented.”
She added: “Mr Hyde has reported the college to a number of awarding bodies and on each occasion, where requested, a report including the scope and outcome of the internal investigation was submitted by the college in response to each enquiry.
“On all occasions the awarding bodies have been satisfied with the way the college handled the complaint and the outcomes of the investigation.”
The government’s controversial plans to replace over 20,000 technical courses with 15 routes won’t lead to just 15 qualifications, a top civil servant has insisted.
Warwick Sharp, the deputy director 16-19 strategy at the Department for Education, said it was a “myth” that the streamlining – which many in the sector worry is too drastic – would result in limited outcomes.
The plans, announced in the Post-16 Skills Plan in July and building on the recommendations of Sainsbury Review into technical education, will see the first routes being taught from September 2019.
They will be two-year, college-based programmes closely aligned to new apprenticeship standards.
The full 15 routes are due to be rolled out for teaching by September 2022, with four of the 15 “primarily delivered through apprenticeships.”
There has been considerable confusion in the sector over this significant simplification, with many worried that it would lead to just 15 qualifications
There has been considerable confusion in the sector over this significant simplification, with many worried that it would lead to just 15 qualifications – which would leave many in the range of subjects as awkward bedfellows.
The ‘Creative and Design’ route, for example, includes training as an audio-visual technician, a journalist or a furniture maker. The ‘Engineering and Manufacturing’ route meanwhile links the roles of aircraft fitter, printer and energy plant operative.
However Mr Sharp attempted to ease sector worries during a speech at the Association of Employment and Learning Providers’ autumn conference on November 1.
“There is myth out there that there are 15 qualifications because there are 15 routes,” he said, adding: “I think it will look different across each route.”
He suggested that the routes could branch, using ‘Legal, Finance and Accounting’ as an example.
“I’m not saying it will happen – but we could see three clear branches there; something like engineering or manufacturing is probably much more diverse.”
He went on: “I can’t say how many qualifications there will be, but there will definitely be multiple qualifications per route, according to how much sense it makes to either bump those occupations together, or have a qualification per occupation.
“We just don’t know yet.”
FE Week put Mr Sharp’s comments to the DfE, asking why this “myth” has been allowed to spread, whether the DfE was responsible for the idea, and what the reality will be for the routes and qualifications.
However, the department’s spokesperson insisted that there were no further comments to make at this stage.
Nevertheless, a letter from apprenticeships and skills minister Robert Halfon, written in October and sent to all chairs and principals of colleges and chief executives of independent training providers, raised the suggestion directly.
He wrote that the Post-16 Skills Plan “replaces the current system of thousands of competing qualifications with 15 high-quality routes encompassing college-based and apprenticeships”.
A release from the DfE for Business, Innovation and Skills on July 8 also said: “Thousands of ineffective courses that short-change employers and young people will be replaced with 15 straightforward routes into technical employment creating a more skilled workforce fit for modern Britain.
“Currently young people considering a technical education must choose between more than 20,000 courses provided by 160 different organisations with no clear indicator of which course will give them the best chance of landing a job.
“The skills plan proposes a new system where students who have finished their GCSEs will be able to choose from up to 15 routes providing a clear path to skilled employment.”
AELP voxpops: Is the fact that there’s no guaranteed funding for non-levy payers a big concern? Will the apprenticeship levy ultimately shut out the SMEs?
The Technical and Further Education Bill is a good start, but it needs to address structural problems that will hold us back in world trade, says Shane Chowen.
In the wake of the vote to leave the EU, the economic aftershocks are beginning to be felt. Economists still forecast a rise in unemployment – albeit not to the scale predicted immediately after the referendum – and the consequences of a weak currency are starting to have an impact, with retailers and energy companies set to increase prices.
But looking at other changes to our economy, it seems the government has not dropped the ball. Self-employment is now at its highest rate ever, helped by the rise in what has been dubbed the ‘gig economy’, where companies enlist self-employed individuals for work that is often low-paid and insecure, but very flexible.
Matthew Taylor, chief executive at the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce, and a former adviser to Tony Blair, has been asked by Theresa May to look into what these emerging employment models mean for employee rights and employer responsibilities. One of the six key themes of Taylor’s inquiry is to look at progression and training, and to recommend ways to ‘facilitate and encourage professional development’. After all, self-employed people can’t ‘apprentice’ themselves.
Self-employed people can’t ‘apprentice’ themselves
The sector must engage in this important review.
The Technical and Further Education Bill, introduced by the government on October 27, is the ideal opportunity for the government to go further in granting the regulatory freedoms necessary to respond to our changing economy. The bill provides the legislative backing for the new Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education to provide technical training pathways within defined occupational groups.
If that sounds familiar, that’s because it’s what the Sainsbury Review recommended. However, the bill doesn’t say there should be 15 routes, as Sainsbury suggested. Instead, it charges the secretary of state with responsibility to determine occupational groups, and then it will be up to the new Institute to decide which occupations fall into each group. Interestingly, there is a clause in the bill that would ensure any occupation that doesn’t fit neatly into a pre-determined group, would still have to be lumped in anyway. So I for one would not put money on 15 being the magic number.
The new Institute will have a powerful role in technical education as well as apprenticeships. It will be empowered by law to set standards and approve, own copyright for, and license technical qualifications related to those occupations.
People with learning difficulties and disabilities, and people from BME backgrounds have been famously underrepresented in apprenticeships
I would love to see a more explicit requirement to work with learners. The bill requires it to share information with Ofqual, Ofsted and the new Office for Students, but these are hardly organisations with outstanding track records of learner engagement. Lessons should be learned from the trailblazer process and learners should be systematically embedded in the development and approval of standards and assessment plans for apprenticeships and technical education.
The Department for Education’s own evidence suggests that their reforms will benefit groups of learners. For example, its impact assessment says those with learning difficulties and disabilities will benefit from the transition year proposed in the Post-16 Skills Plan. Learners from black and ethnic minority (BME) groups will benefit from the new college insolvency regime introduced by the bill, because a higher proportion of BME learners go to college relative to the general population.
Yet the bill does not even touch on glaring access issues currently plaguing the apprenticeships system. People with learning difficulties and disabilities, and people from BME backgrounds have been famously underrepresented in apprenticeships for a number of years. There should be amendments to the bill that enshrine the developed recommendations of the Maynard Review on apprenticeship accessibility.
At the very least, the bill should legislate for the new Institute to have a defined role in widening access to apprenticeships and technical education, similar to the Office for Students’ role in widening participation in universities.
The bill is a good start, but could do much more to set the sector up for a modern economy and address serious structural problems that will hold us back as we trade with the rest of the world.
Shane Chowen is head of policy and public affairs at the Learning and Work Institute, and a governor at Westminster Kingsway College.
To successfully create inclusive spaces for those with learning difficulties, the entire organisation needs to be brought on-board, says Karen Roberts.
While dyslexia is estimated to affect around 10 per cent of the general population (four per cent severely), the figure is estimated at around one third in young offender institutions.
If colleges and FE institutions are not dyslexia-friendly, it may well be that learners and staff are not reaching their full potential and many maybe struggling to articulate their needs.
In September, HMYOI Werrington became the first secure establishment ever to receive the dyslexia-friendly quality kite mark from the British Dyslexia Association. Here are three elements that we at Novus, working alongside them, found to be essential:
Support for the leadership team
The demands of the award were stringent, assessing areas such as leadership and management, communication, training, partnerships and educational provision.
For Werrington the whole process took almost two years, from initial self-assessment on the standards, through development of an action plan, to building up a portfolio of evidence to demonstrate that we had met the standard, ready for a verification visit.
We had full support from senior management, both in the YOI and at Novus – this ensured that staff were enabled to attend the training and given time to develop the initiative in their area of the prison.
A full-organisation project
A critical factor in the success of this project was how we approached the process – as a whole establishment, not just an education department.
Young people in this environment are influenced by many touchpoints in the prison regime, and there was a danger that the impact of the project could be significantly diluted once the young people went back to other parts of the prison, if the project was contained within the education department.
Fortunately, the governor at Werrington provided his full support in ensuring the establishment took an inclusive and proactive approach. Dyslexia-friendly training was embedded into the prison induction programme for all new staff, as well as training of existing colleagues.
One thing that surprised us was the number of staff who identified themselves as needing support as a result of the training
We asked for volunteer dyslexia champions across all parts of the establishment, including the kitchen, residential wings and chaplaincy, for example – supported by their line managers and allocated time to attend training with our regional SENCo.
Once the champions started to understand the challenges faced by young people with dyslexia, and the impact this had on their daily lives, they began to identify innovative ways in which they could support them in the prison.
Their enthusiasm was infectious – coloured acetate overlays appeared everywhere, notices such as the daily menu were replaced with newly printed versions on cream-coloured paper with sans serif fonts size 14 or larger, and dyslexia-friendly support packs were provided to all wings and every department throughout the establishment.
Full training led by the governor and the education staff ensured everyone had an understanding of dyslexia and knew where to go for support.
One thing that surprised us was the number of staff who identified themselves as needing support as a result of the training – it became an initiative to support staff, as well as young people.
One member of staff in his 60s, who had not been diagnosed previously, took home a coloured overlay and returned the next day excited about the new world that had opened up to him overnight,when he had managed to read a chapter of a book.
The HMYOI Werrington and Novus team with representatives from the British Dyslexia Association
A committed project lead
We had an enthusiastic, inspirational and determined regional SENCo who was able to gain support for the project from a wide range of colleagues. The project lead needs to have a real commitment to this area of work as well as the ability to motivate others to get involved.
A dyslexia-friendly environment boosts individuals’ confidence and supports the creation of an inclusive environment, in which all can thrive and fulfil their potential.
The buzz from hearing one young offender saying he doesn’t need help with reading his letter from home today, “because I’ve got my coloured filter now”, makes the whole project worthwhile.
Karen Roberts is director of youth justice at training provider Novus.
The principal of Kensington and Chelsea College has resigned with immediate effect, FE Week can reveal.
Staff at the college were informed of Mark Brickley’s departure on Monday (October 31), after his resignation was accepted by the corporation the previous Friday (October 28).
A spokesperson for the college would only say that Mr Brickley had stepped down for “personal reasons”. She declined to go into any more detail.
Bill Blythe, previously interim vice principal finance and resources at the college, has been appointed interim principal.
Mr Brickley took over at Kensington and Chelsea in September 2013, before he was interviewed for an FE Week profile piece three months later, having previously been vice principal at Guildford College for nine years.
The 3,350-learner college received a ‘requires improvement’ rating following its most recent Ofsted inspection in June 2015, having received the same grade at two previous inspections in 2013 and 2012.
It is currently involved in the central London area review of post-16 education and training, which is expected to complete later in November.
He was unavailable for comment this week, but told previously spoke to FE Week about his passion for the sector.
“I believe FE changes lives, I really do, and that’s what I’m always striving to do in this job [at Kensington and Chelsea College],” he said. “I’ve got this thing called the ‘toothbrush test’. It’s just me, as a human being, looking in the mirror twice a day, brushing saying ‘you’ve done a good job, you’ve worked hard today and fundamentally you’re a decent human being.’
Mr Brickley added: “You only get one crack at this life, and if you can say that honestly, every day, you’ve done well.”
Fresh concerns have been raised about endpoint tests on apprenticeships, after an FE Week investigation found learners who will finish in March on a new standard without any officially approved awarding organisation.
Global insurance company Aon has confirmed this to be the case for the first wave of students taking its level three insurance practitioner standard without any AO to run final tests.
FE Week recently revealed that more than 40 per cent of learner starts on standards approved by the government had no official AO.
The news provoked a furious reaction throughout the sector, with former top FE civil servant Dr Sue Pember describing the lack of consideration towards learners as “diabolical”.
There is still no officially approved AO listed by the government to run end point tests for the level three insurance practitioner standard – although City & Guilds said this week it and the Chartered Insurance Institute had been cleared to develop this.
When asked if it was concerned about the short notice, which will leave learners little time to prepare for the test, an Aon spokesperson said: “As with much in the apprenticeship space we’re trailblazing, so sometimes ‘just in time’ is the only option we have.”
This attitude reflected the relaxed approach taken by Skills Funding Agency boss Peter Lauener (pictured above), who told delegates at the Association of Employment and Learning Providers autumn conference that while it was “not ideal” to have no approved awarding organisations for learner starts on so many standards, the situation is “manageable”.
Apprenticeships and skills minister Robert Halfon said this week that he was “pretty sure” no apprentices would get to the end of their course without an end-point assessment organisation in place, during a sub-committee on education, skills and the economy hearing on November 2.
However, Terry Fennell, group operations director at the Food and Drink Training and Education Council and deputy chair of the Federation of Awarding Bodies, was more concerned.
“A part of any good assessment approach is that the apprentices won’t face any nasty surprises at the end testing stage,” he told FE Week.
“There is a danger here that while AOs will no doubt have the resources to produce an effective assessment at short notice, candidates may not have sufficient time to adequately prepare and be ready to undertake the end tests.”
Dr Pember added: “Although it is called an end test, the method and content has an impact on the success of the whole programme.
“We do not treat our A-level students in this way. A-levels have also gone through a major reform programme in the same timescale as the change to apprenticeship standards but, although the process was probably difficult for awarding bodies, it did safeguard the students’ interests.
“Where an A-level couldn’t be approved in time for the start of the academic year, the old one stands until the new one is approved by Ofqual.
“For A-levels, assessment material must be submitted at the start of the approvals process and no approval is given without them. If that process is right for A-level students and their teachers, then we must ensure apprentices and their trainers have the same level of support.”
A Department for Education spokesperson would only confirm that “level three and four insurance standards have been approved and the assessment plans are included in the list of standards we publish as part of the register overview”.
She conceded however that no awarding organisation had been officially confirmed yet for these, but insisted an announcement would be made on it soon.
I would like to congratulate the Association of Colleges on its important win for the sector.
It flexed its muscles through demanding a judicial review, and the DfE was right to respond by dropping plans to fund what would have been another undersized and unneeded sixth form.
Our discovery that a further Loxford Trust sixth form cleared by the government is potentially operating with under 20 students, raises further serious questions over judgement and scant regard for its own guidelines.
Justine Greening should now review all recent decisions to approve small sixth forms.
They’re poor value for taxpayers’ money and have been flooding an already overcrowded post-16 market for too long.
It would be wrong of the DfE to continue forcing through a decline in the number of established and valued colleges, while dubious school sixth forms are allowed to proliferate.
On a closing note, while David Hughes is being rightly lauded for seeing the legal challenge through, we should also credit his predecessor Martin Doel for preparing the way.
