– Inspectorate send letters warning their logo can only be used by those graded outstanding – Schools, colleges and training providers face cost of removing logo from all publications
Ofsted has sprung a surprise by threatening legal action for unauthorised usage of its logo to advertise “good” ratings – even though it’s common practice among schools, colleges and training providers.
Institutions which have been awarded an “outstanding” overall grade have long since been allowed to use a specially designed “outstanding provider logo” on their branding.
And even though obscure policy guidance which has been in place since the year 2000 clearly states that “we do not issue a good logo”, many providers graded “good” over the years have been using modified versions of the logo in their materials.
Suddenly, however, some of them have now been told that they are breaking crown copyright law – and threatened in a letters seen by FE Week.
This new policy will come as a shock to the sector; numerous schools and colleges using the logo to advertise “good” ratings, while Mark Dawe, the boss of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, even told FE Week that he’d never before heard of the policy, describing it as “the best kept secret in education”.
In one letter recently received by an unnamed training provider, which had deployed a version of the logo on its website, the education watchdog said it would bring legal action to bear if the logo was not removed from its materials within 14 days.
The letter said: “It has been brought to our attention that you are displaying a logo identical with or similar to the Ofsted logo which is protected and also registered by Ofsted.
“This logo appears at the foot of every page of your website without our express permission.
“The Ofsted logo is covered by Crown Copyright. In addition, the Ofsted name is a registered trademark with the Intellectual Property Office. Therefore, the logo cannot be used without Ofsted’s express permission.
“You should be aware that the unauthorised use of our logo may give rise to a civil action against you. To avoid this, please remove the Ofsted logo from your website and any other offending materials with immediate effect.”
Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers union also told FE week: “I had no inclination that this was a rule. Every day you go past schools with signs and logos saying they are graded as good. These letters are monumental waste of time and resources.
“It would seem that if you are outstanding you can use the logo. Surely Ofsted should be interested in the reliability and viability of their judgment rather than kite marking outstanding?”
Ofsted has said it is clamping down on misuse like this and has promised to take action against schools, colleges and other training providers found to be inappropriately using its logo.
A spokesperson for the education watchdog said: “The policy around the use of our logo has been in place since 2000.
“We have clear guidelines published on our website governing its use which are applied consistently across all remits. We believe it is right that permission to use the logo should be limited to those who have achieved the highest Ofsted grade of outstanding.
“When we find the Ofsted logo has been used inappropriately we approach the provider and request that they remove it.”
AELP’s Mr Dawe told FE Week that the existence of Ofsted’s policy was news to him.
He said: “I’ve been a college principal, and I am a primary and secondary governor and represent FE providers and yet I didn’t know this restriction existed.
“Surely a publicly funded regulator inspecting publicly funding institutions should be allowing their logo to be used to inform the public about the quality of education and training provision. I hope common sense prevails.”
The role of the FE commissioner will be split in two following Sir David Collins’ concern over his workload covering both intervention and area reviews.
Two candidates were shortlisted to take over from Sir David, and FE Week understands that Richard Atkins will become the FE commissioner.
Richard Atkins CBE
Mr Atkins was principal of Exeter College from 2002 until March 2016, and retired on a high after the college received an Ofsted grade one in 2014.
He was president of the Association of Colleges in 2014/15, appointed a CBE in the most recent New Year’s Honours list for this services to FE and became an Ofsted board member in July.
However, Mr Atkins will mainly focus on the original FE commissioner role of overseeing a programme of college intervention and support, first established in November 2013.
Responsibility for area reviews, an 18 month programme which started in September 2015, will fall to Marilyn Hawkins, currently one of five Deputy FE Commissioners.
Marilyn Hawkins
Ms Hawkins was principal of Barnet and Southgate College from 2003 to 2012, when she retired and undertook various consultancy roles.
It was reported by FE Week in 2013 that Ms Hawkins had received just under half of the £409,000 pay-off pot shared by six departing senior managers.
Sir David, the departing commissioner, is responsible for both the intervention and area review programme.
He described during his presentation at FE Week’s Festival of Skills in June, that initially the treasury thought area reviews could be done and dusted in three months.
He said this “gives you a very good indication of the knowledge of the FE sector by the treasury, in that three months we would do something that involves 243 FE colleges, 96 SFCs, local authorities and local enterprise partnerships right across the country”.
Sir David Collins, departing FE Commissioner, describing a punishing workload at FE Week’s Festival of Skills
“But actually in the 18 month period up to March 2017 it is doable. It does mean that myself and my colleagues are doing more mileage than the average Eddie Stobart driver,” he added.
Sir David then described his punishing workload, including “15 steering group meetings in different parts of the country in 15 working days, which doesn’t make me very popular at home”.
Sir David has overseen interventions with 42 failing colleges and local authority providers since his appointment as FE commissioner in November 2013.
He was principal of South Cheshire College Group for 16 years from 1993, before serving the same post in an interim capacity at Guildford College Group for 2011/12.
The Department for Education, which following the machinery of government changes now oversee and funds the FE Commissioner’s office, declined to comment on the splitting of the role or the appointments.
FE Week cartoon in June when Sir David Collins announced he would be stepping down.
We want to send out a resounding message to the government that devastating cuts of between 30 and 50 per cent to apprenticeships funding, which are planned for 16- to 18-year-olds in some of the most deprived areas of the country, are simply not acceptable.
The stark drop in funding recently exposed by our exclusive analysis has prompted a furious backlash – more than 500 people have already written messages pledging support for FE Week’s first official campaign this week at our website.
Corrina Hembury, for example, said: “I support the campaign. The huge cuts in funding are unsustainable and it is the young people who will be hit hardest.”
“I hope that the Skills Funding Agency and Robert Halfon live up to their promise of listening to the consultation results and rethink these damaging cuts,” added Jeremy Colvin.
And Ross Midgley said: “The scale of these proposed cuts will force many providers to abandon apprenticeship training, while those that remain will have to charge employers well above the government cap in order to make ends meet.”
Angela Rayner MP, shadow secretary of state for education, women and equalities, supports the campaign, and has written an exclusive piece for the paper on the issue this week (see page 11).
“These cuts will disproportionately hit students from disadvantaged backgrounds, and will be particularly bad in areas where we need to develop skills the most,” she warns.
These cuts will disproportionately hit students from disadvantaged backgrounds
Our damning findings on the impact of apprenticeship funding reform plans have already provoked Gordon Marsden and more than 50 other MPs led by Tottenham’s David Lammy to write a letter to the government begging for a change of heart.
Senior politicians from across the political divide, including Mr Halfon, who defended the cuts, spoke at the launch of the campaign earlier this month.
It took place on the same day that Theresa May was asked about the issue during Prime Minister’s Questions, when she told the Commons that she “does not recognise” that there will be cuts of 30 to 50 per cent – even though the numbers come from her own government.
Mr Lammy insisted during his campaign launch speech that “it’s an absolute scandal for the PM to say she doesn’t recognise the figures. It’s her funding agency, they’re her figures.”
However, he insisted: “We will force a U-turn.”
Mr Marsden warned that the cuts were “an elephant trap in his [Mr Halfon’s] in-tray”.
Education secretary Justine Greening was also asked that morning about how proposed cuts might affect social mobility during an education select committee hearing.
The issue was raised later in the day during a subcommittee session featuring Neil Carberry, the CBI’s director for people and skills.
Party members and MPs do not need to book in advance to attend Tuesday’s rally, which will be held in the hotel’s Albert Suite, starting at 6pm.
Size matters, at least when it comes to sixth forms – as FE Week discovered when we investigated the issues surrounding smaller providers.
Mick Fletcher, an FE policy expert and the founder of Policy Consortium, insisted that the government decision to set the minimum number of students at 200 was “well-founded”.
Smaller sixth forms “don’t perform very well”, he explained.
“There’s a very strong relationship between the size of a sixth form and its performance – the smaller, the worse.”
This 200-student “break-point”, he said, had been based on Ofsted reports and analysis of success rates.
But despite these well-founded concerns, FE Week has found that many existing sixth forms already have fewer than 200 students.
According to Education Funding Agency allocations for 2015/16, there are 37 free schools with an average of 181 16- to 18-year-olds.
The smallest has just 40, while another 14 have under 100.
Of the 613 school sixth forms listed, the average size was just 209 16- to 18-year-olds – with 85 schools having fewer than 100.
The average number of 16- to 18-year olds across the 40 university technical colleges was 150 – one of which had just 22 students enrolled in this age group, and 12 others had under 100.
The majority – 23 out of 34 – of studio schools had under 100, with an overall average of 83. In contrast, no general FE or sixth form college had numbers like that: the average student body across the 34 FE colleges was 2,497, while for the 93 SFCs it was 1,736.
James Kewin, SFCA deputy chief executive
Many new sixth forms – whether in schools or as separate standalone sixth forms – are opened as 16-to-19 free schools.
There are currently 21 of these 16-to-19 free schools open, with a further 10 in the pipeline. EFA figures show that student numbers across the 17 which were open during 2015/16 stood at an average of 291 – with five having fewer than 200 students.
Sizes vary amongst the more recently approved 16-to-19 free schools which are yet to open; Harris Professional Skills Sixth Form, is due to open in Croydon in September 2018 with places for 230 students (see below).
However, a number of others in the pipeline have much higher projected student numbers.
For example, Callywith College, which is due to open in Bodmin, Cornwall in September 2017, and which was approved by the DfE in February, will have a capacity of 1,280.
There is concern that new sixth forms are being opened without a view to the wider picture of 16- to-19 provision.
James Kewin, deputy chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association, has complained about “the absence of a competitive, demand-led process”.
He said this climate had “led to the creation of many new sixth form providers (particularly academy sixth forms) in areas where there is already an oversupply of good or outstanding provision” – an outcome which he said had “forced schools and colleges to increase their marketing spend”.
Mr Fletcher argued that increasing choice of institutions actually reduced choice for young people, rather than increasing it.
In order to be financially viable, small sixth forms have to limit the number of subjects they can offer, he explained.
“They limit choice, and by reducing the intake of other institutions, force them to reduce choice as well,” he said.
A DfE spokesperson said: “The free schools programme introduces greater local choice and will drive up standards by increasing competition.
“The programme is responsive to the need for pupil places; the need for an alternative to low quality local provision; and local demand for new provision. It is delivering good quality places in areas where these are needed.”
New free school sixth form in south London will have just 230 learners
A new 16-to-19 free school being set up in Croydon will have barely more students than the minimum prescribed by the Department for Education.
Harris Professional Skills Sixth Form, which is due to open in September 2018, will have just 230 students – 170 of whom will be taking up “professional skills places” in areas including construction, manufacturing, business retail and maths, with a further 60 places for GCSE students.
The school will “address local need for vocational provision” and cater for “students who wish to stay on in a smaller sixth form environment and have choice and diversity in the provision they opt to follow”, according to the Harris Federation, the multi-academy trust which is setting up the school.
But the site of the planned new sixth form, in a former police station in South Norwood, is just two miles from Croydon College, which was attended by 1,651 16- to 18-year-old students in 2015/16, according to EFA figures.
The Association of Colleges has expressed concern that small sixth forms reduce student options by limiting courses they can choose, and FE Week put these concerns to the Harris Federation.
A spokesperson for the school didn’t directly address the concerns, highlighting instead what the school would offer that had been identified as important for the area.
This includes an option for students to start their course after September, significant numbers of GCSE retakes, and opportunities for sixth formers to combine academic and vocational studies.
Andy Smith, Croydon College’s deputy chief executive, meanwhile declined to comment on the new sixth form.
He insisted that his own college, rated good by Ofsted in its most recent inspection, “successfully delivers a broad range of professional skills” – including construction, mathematics and statistics, science and business management.
History repeating : grammar consultation makes selection more likely
The first 16-19 free school to open was the London Academy of Excellence in Stratford in 2012.
It caused controversy in October 2014 when West Ham MP Lyn Brown started an inquiry into its highly selective admissions and retention policy, after a number of students were “kicked out” for failing to get high enough grades at the end of their first year.
FE Week’s sister-paper FE Week reported on October 3, 2014, that teenagers who were not achieving certain grades in their AS-levels were being told to leave, as their marks would not be high enough to gain places at the most “competitive” universities, such as those in the Russell Group.
FE Week contacted LAE to find out if this policy still applies.
Adam Smith, director of external relations at LAE, said: “The minimum entry requirement for students is broadly the same, five A grades at least to grade B in English and maths, and in most cases an A grade in the subject they would like to do.
“For the transition from year 12 to year 13, the benchmark equates to about three Cs – it’s a point score of their best three out of the four A-levels.”
Qube Learning, a provider of vocational courses and qualifications, has appointed Karen Kelly as its new non-executive director.
Ms Kelly takes on the role alongside her job as a self-employed consultant, in which she delivers improvement projects across the FE sector.
Prior to this, she worked as a senior manager for the Skills Funding Agency until June 2016.
She has more than 20 years of management experience of apprenticeships and FE, having worked as an employer, training provider and consultant.
Ms Kelly’s new role will involve working closely with Qube’s senior management team, sitting with them in board meetings, and supporting them with prioritising strategies and plans. She will also support the business through the introduction of new contacts, networks and the delivery of coaching and mentoring.
Ms Kelly said she is most looking forward to “the level of involvement with the senior management team”.
Speaking of her new appointment, she said: “I’m excited to be part of an organisation that takes the quality of its offer seriously.”
Ms Kelly will sit on her first board meeting with Qube in October 2016.
Sam Parrett OBE has meanwhile been appointed to the board of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers as its college representative.
Ms Parrett takes up the role alongside her current position as principal and chief executive officer of London South East Colleges – the new trading name of Bromley College Corporation, which recently merged with Bexley College and Greenwich Community College.
Her role on the AELP board will involve collaborating with learning providers and colleges in order to meet the government’s pledge to create three million apprenticeships.
Speaking of her new appointment, Ms Parrett said: “So many young people are interested in apprenticeships but are often unsure about how to get one.
“With FE colleges and learning providers working more closely together, I very much hope we can help more young people take this very positive route out of school.”
Ms Parrett began her career as a training provider, delivering NVQs, traineeships and modern apprenticeships. She made the move into FE in 1997.
Mary Bousted has been appointed as the new president of the Trades Union Congress.
She will serve in the role for a year, until the 149th congress in Brighton which will take place in 2017.
Ms Bousted takes on the role alongside her current position of general secretary at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, which she has held for 13 years.
Commenting on her appointment, she said: “It’s a great honour to be elected president of the TUC, an organisation which leads the way in research, campaigns and influence to improve the lives of working people.”
Since 2009, Ms Bousted has also chaired the TUC’s learning and skills organisation, Unionlearn.
She has served for the maximum two terms as a member of the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service board, and was also chair of the ACAS audit committee.
Ms Bousted began her career as an English teacher and became head of English in comprehensive schools across North London before making the move into higher education.
She set up an English teacher training programme at the University of York, then running the secondary teacher training programme at Edge Hill University in Lancashire before joining Kingston University as the head of its school of education.
As far as course inductions go, A-level sociology students at City College Norwich got more than they bargained for from former death row inmate Nick Yarris. Samantha King reports.
At just 20 years old, American-born Nick Yarris was sentenced to die by electric chair for a crime he didn’t commit. Convicted on charges of rape, murder and abduction, he spent 21 years behind bars – until a DNA test proved his innocence.
Mr Yarris told students what it was like to live on the infamous death row. He described how his poor choices and life of petty crime led to a conviction for something far worse. But it was his message of the importance of education that inspired the lecture hall – for it was getting an education that saved him from his death sentence.
It’s cathartic for me because I’m letting go of yesterday
During the years he spent in prison, Mr Yarris used his time to educate himself from his prison cell, where he learned about modern DNA testing. He became one of the first death-row inmates to demand the test to prove his innocence – and this played a pivotal role in not only securing his release, but reclaiming his freedom.
Mr Yarris said of his talks: “It’s cathartic for me because I’m letting go of yesterday, but it also helps me to realise that there’s a real purpose to doing it for the students too. For example, I’ve taught a lovely young lady a lesson about keeping her chin up. Moments like that matter to me.”
Seventeen-year-old A-level student Grace Ramsey said after the talk: “It was amazing, really interesting and inspiring. I’ve learnt to have confidence in myself and what I can do, also not to pressure myself as much.”
Fellow student Caitlin Byrne, 16, added: “It was really lovely to see someone who’s been through so much come out the other side.”
In the years since his acquittal, Mr Yarris has become a motivational speaker, author and the subject of a harrowing documentary film about his experience, ‘The Fear of 13’.
He often visits colleges in an attempt to deter students from heading down the wrong path – frankly sharing his own experiences of stealing cars and drug abuse, and how this behaviour ultimately led to his wrongful conviction for murder.
It was at a conference in London eight years ago that sociology lecturer Emma Dobson first met Mr Yarris. He had been one of the keynote speakers at an event about prison life called ‘Behind Bars’, and at the time had not long been off death row.
Ms Dobson, who was working at a school in Hertfordshire, said: “I chatted to him after his talk, and he said if I ever wanted to bring him into classes to speak he would. He gave me his email and then I quickly got him into the school.”
The unlikely pair soon became friends, and every year since, Mr Yarris has done talks for all of Ms Dobson’s students (FE Week reported on one in December 2014). So, when she became a sociology lecturer at City College Norwich, he followed.
With the majority of Dobson’s students choosing the ‘crime and deviants’ route on the sociology course, Mr Yarris’ talks are a rare, practical insight into an area that many only learn as theory.
Having visited the college three times now, Mr Yarris said: “City College Norwich students have been so loving.
“I keep learning again and again how many great students are passing through the doors here.”
Yarris with Emma Dobson (L) and student Trevyn Bell (R)
A pair of football legends visited students at Bracknell and Wokingham College last week.
Ex-Arsenal chairman David Dein and retired international footballer Tony Woodcock spoke to students about their illustrious sporting careers.
The pair also imparted valuable career advice, stressing the importance of being innovative, and not being afraid to put yourself forward.
Dein has been widely praised for bringing manager Arsene Wenger to Arsenal in 1996. During his reign, the club won numerous accolades, including the FA Cup five times.
Woodcock played for Arsenal in the 1980s and was the club’s top scorer for four seasons. He played professionally across England and Germany as a striker, and won the European Cup in 1979 with Nottingham Forest FC.
The talk was arranged through charity Speakers for Schools, who provide state secondary schools and colleges with talks from public figures, industry leading professionals and academics, free of charge.
Picture: (L-R) Tony Woodcock, Campbell Christie (principal) and David Dein
City College Brighton and Hove is helping disabled learners access employ-ment through a newly launched social enterprise – with the help of a famous face.
The college will be working in partnership with the charity Team Domenica, which offers learning programmes for young adults who have learning or social barriers to help get them into employment.
Part of the initiative is the new Equality Works training café at 62-63 Old Steine in Brighton, which was officially opened by actress Julie Walters at its launch event earlier this month.
The café will be open to the public during term time, to help students to develop their professional and social skills. There will also be support for students who want to work in other industry sectors, such as digital media.
So far, the charity has signed up 21 students in partnership with City College, and a number of local employers have offered placements and support for the students.
The charity was started by Rosa Monckton whose daughter Domenica has Down’s Syndrome. She began the initiative to meet the needs of young adults who were struggling to find regular employment.
Monckton said: “This is just the start of a much larger operation. Our plan is to open other centres across the south coast and then nationally. The aim is to transform the lives of the learning disabled.”
Picture: students with Julie Walters at the Team Domenica launch event
A London college has partnered with global engineering giant Siemens to train its next generation of apprentices.
The College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London (CONEL) will provide training for 17 new recruits to the company’s apprenticeship scheme, giving them access to workshops equipped with the latest engineering tools and equipment at its Enfield Centre campus.
The apprentices will train in the design and development of rail systems, including electrification of railways, road traffic systems, healthcare equipment and building technologies.
Martyn Hottas, Siemens’ general manager of skills and professional education, said: “Siemens has always believed in apprenticeships as a very good start to a career in our business.
“We chose CONEL as our partner college because of its commitment to delivering engineering qualifications to the level required by our business, to prepare young learners for a great career.”
Siemens is one of the UK’s leading employers, and has more than 500 apprentices on its training programme across all its business divisions, including 120 new apprenticeships this year.
Picture:Kurt Hints, vice principal for curriculum and learner experience at CONEL with Heather Robson, Siemens vocational skills consultant
