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FEATURE: Fundraising superheroes help Jacob with his wish to walk

Staff from Weston College have gone the extra mile to raise money for a two-year-old boy who needs £75,000 surgery in the US to help him walk, writes Samantha King.

It was through a fundraiser for Jacob held at Weston College that member of staff Marcus Tyler, first heard Jacob’s story. With a ten-year background in fundraising, he decided he would go one step further – 60 miles in fact – to raise as much as possible for Jacob’s cause… while dressed as a superhero.

Marcus, who is residential coordinator at Weston College, said: “Myself and a friend went to Twickenham to watch the rugby and made these cardboard superman and batman costumes. They were getting a lot of attention and I thought they would be fantastic for fundraising.

Cardboard and laundry baskets make the perfect superhero

“We didn’t have anything to fundraise for at the time, so when this came through it just sort of clicked into place that it would be brilliant, and as I was talking about it, my colleagues overheard and said they wanted to be involved in the walk.”

Marcus was joined by colleagues Leigh Murray and Emma Rosewel, both specialist tutors at the college, as well as numerous supporters throughout the 60-mile walk, which began at Blackpool Pleasure Beach and reached its conclusion at the aptly-named landmark, Jacob’s Ladder, in Cheddar Gorge.

Marcus said: “A lot of the walk was going to different cities and towns, doing collections and taking photos. The reception from people was fantastic. Jacob and his family joined us in Blackpool when we started, and so we did collecting up there. He and his sisters walked with us along the seafront and then rejoined us when we got back to Weston.”

Jacob Baird was diagnosed at just 18 months old. After missing major movement milestones like crawling, sitting and pulling himself up, it became apparent that something wasn’t quite right. The diagnosis? Spastic diplegic cerebral palsy.

The condition causes spasticity and permanent stiffness in the lower limbs, and has rendered Jacob unable to walk. Whereas most 2-year-olds are up on their feet, Jacob can only go so far before his legs cross over and he falls.

In January 2016 Jacob’s mum, Nicola Baird set up the ‘Jacob’s Journey’ fundraising page in an attempt to raise £75,000 for a life-changing operation that could release the tension in Jacob’s legs and give him the chance to walk. The operation, called selective dorsal rhizotomy, is currently available only in the US, and requires two years of intensive physiotherapy following the procedure, which naturally doesn’t come cheap.

The superhero walk raised a total of £1,500 for the ‘Jacob’s Journey’ campaign, which has now almost reached its £75,000 target.

Nicola Baird, Jacob’s mum, said: “We’re getting very close to our target. Marcus and the staff at Weston College have given it a mighty push to get us that little bit closer.”

Marcus added: “We came in at the end of Jacob’s fundraising, so it’s really nice because they’ve almost hit the target to take him to have the operation.

It’s really rewarding knowing that’s now going to happen.

“Unfortunately the superhero costumes have been retired for now; they’re a little bit worse for wear, but they may return.”

Charlie egg-cels at art exhibition

A Suffolk teenager with artistic flair has been recognised at national level, receiving an award from one of the most illustrious arts universities not only in the country, but also the world.

16-year-old Charlie Clover, an art and design student at Suffolk New College, was one of 105 student artists selected to have their work exhibited at the University of the Arts London Origins exhibition, put on at the Menier Gallery near London Bridge.

Charlie’s ceramic egg sculpture (pictured) had a powerful message behind it, and was chosen by judges on the day as one of the best six pieces of art on display.

Explaining his project, Charlie said: “I made a box of two collections of ceramic eggs [pictured] 200 years apart, with the idea being to show the contrast and the effects of pollution.

“In total the piece took about six weeks to make and I’m pleased it achieved the effect I wanted.”

Charlie is now preparing to return to Suffolk New College to complete his Level 3 Extended Diploma in art and design next month. He hopes to go on to university before shaping his passion for ceramics into a career.

talented-charlie-two-web — Charlie Clover

Off on a legality

Greg’s dream to study law at Oxford hung in the balance after just missing out on the grades he needed.

Greg Horne, a student at Priestly College, had his heart set on studying law at university ever since he witnessed the Hillsborough inquests from the public gallery.

The former Lymm High School pupil had wanted to see the legal process in action and after attending the inquests, he knew the profession was for him.

He achieved high grades across the board, with an A* in politics, an A in history and a C in maths – but a B in English literature meant he hadn’t quite achieved what he needed to get into Oxford University.

However, after tutors and staff at Priestley helped Greg pull together every mark from the past two years, he successfully had his grade reviewed to an A.

Greg said: “It has been an emotional few weeks, but I’m glad it worked out the way it did.”

Pictured: Greg Horne

Engaging learners at work remains a key challenge

With the UK again ranking low for skills, Liz Rees describes how unions can help upskill employees in English and maths.

Earlier this week I experienced a “low skills” Groundhog Day. Yet another policy report appeared highlighting the UK’s abysmal record in ensuring that its citizens are empowered to acquire the minimum skills necessary to fulfil their potential at work and in society.

In basic terms, this involves all citizens achieving an aptitude in core skills – English, maths and ICT – that is expected of school-leavers in OECD countries.

This new research was published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) in a major report setting out an anti-poverty strategy designed to solve poverty in a generation.

Low skill levels lock people out of the labour market

The research repeated many of the depressing statistics showing that the UK, despite being the fifth-largest economy in the world, languishes near the bottom of many OECD skills league tables.

The latest estimates are that five million adults in the UK lack core literacy or numeracy skills, and that over 12 million lack basic digital skills.

What was very welcome about the JRF report is that it puts low levels of skills in the context of the wider policy challenge of tackling poverty.

Improving education standards and raising skills is one of the pillars of the JRF’s five-point plan.

This is not rocket science – low skill levels tend to either lock people out of the labour market completely, or it locks them into a cycle of highly-casualised, low-paid employment interspersed with regular periods of unemployment.

A key recommendation by the JRF is to double government funding for supporting adults to attain key skills, with the aim of enabling five million more people to reach minimum levels in English, maths and ICT within a generation.

There are some other welcome policy recommendations in the report, including measures to drive up the number of high-quality apprenticeships.

It is also welcome that the JRF report (and associated research by the Learning and Work Institute) highlighted that encouraging adults to take up learning is another key barrier – and that trade unions play a vital role on this front.

The development of union learning representatives and the establishment of the Union Learning Fund in the late 1990s were hugely influenced by the Moser Report and its evidence that millions of adults lacked these key skills.

Union learning reps very quickly proved to be highly adept at supporting colleagues to take up union-led learning opportunities in the workplace.

In many cases these individuals had spent their working lives concealing the fact that they had left school without the necessary attainment in English and maths because they were embarrassed and often feared for their employment prospects if it became public knowledge.

Each year trade unions, with the support of unionlearn and the Union Learning Fund, help well over 200,000 employees to engage in learning. Many of these are adults taking the first steps to brush up on their English and maths.

Lots of these individuals then get the learning bug and gain valuable skills and qualifications that boost their career prospects.

For example, a forthcoming independent evaluation of unionlearn and the Union Learning Fund found that employees undertaking at least three episodes of union-led learning are three times more likely to receive a pay rise and six times more likely to be promoted.

Unionlearn continues to prioritise building support services for workers who, with the encouragement of their union, engage with learning at work to improve their English and maths.

Next month we will be launching a campaign on maths skills – dubbed ‘the unionlearn maths workout’ – with the aim of engaging more adults to take up union-led learning opportunities.

Liz Rees is Director of unionlearn

A blooming great achievement for Pershore College student

Lydia Knight, a student at Pershore College, scooped a prestigious gold medal for her show garden at the RHS Flower Show in Tatton Park.

The second-year BSc horticulture student was competing in the RHS Young Planting Designer category with her coastal-themed show garden.

Each garden was given a different style and soil-type to produce either a countryside, coastal or urban focus, and Lydia was partnered with a finalist from the Young Landscape Contractor category, Ewan Sewell, in order to create a complete garden at the show.

The entire project took two weeks, with the planting completed during the final four days of the build.

Lydia said: “This was the first show garden where I was alone and responsible for the planting, and we had to contend with awful weather too. I was very happy with the finished garden but to be honest, it looked nothing like I had planned.

“My studies at Pershore gave me the confidence to go with my instinct and put all the design principles I had learnt into place.

“I was surprised and ridiculously pleased to be awarded a gold medal on my first try at a show garden. I had always thought my plant combinations were something to be hidden in my back garden, not on display to the public, and for the judges to actually like them was just fantastic!”.

Pictured: Lydia Knight with her gold award

GCSEs vs functional skills: which English and maths resits should your students take?

When only one per cent of E-grade students pass their maths GCSE on resit, why are they not sitting functional skills instead? Bill Watkin describes an alternative, win-win scenario.

Every 16-year-old who has not achieved a C-grade or higher in their GCSE maths or English by the end of Year 11 must now continue in Year 12 to work towards passing a level two qualification (GCSE or equivalent), if they are to meet the DfE’s condition for funding.

Those who achieved a D-grade at 16 have no choice: it is the GCSE that they must resit. But those who achieved anything between E and U can either resit the GCSE, or study an alternative: the functional skills courses. So there appears to be a perverse incentive at play: is it better to get an E than a D at GCSE?

In the GCSE resits, most students, having failed to achieve a C after five years in school, were, perhaps unsurprisingly, still unable to make the grade after just over two terms of post-16 study. Only 18 per cent of those with a D in maths in 2014 went on to pass their resit in 2015; only one per cent of those with an E managed to do the same.

READ MORE: What is Core Maths and why is funding it so important?

But E-grade students can take the alternative functional skills, so why do some colleges still enter them for the GCSE? Why would an E-grade student, with just a one per cent chance of passing, resit the GCSE rather than the alternative?

Dr Becky Allen at Datalab suggests that functional skills might not be on offer, or that the GCSE might be perceived by teachers or students as a better route to eventual success.

So which are the right English and maths resits for students with an E or lower in their GCSE?

Too often, students are asked to resit the GCSE even though it is not necessarily best suited to their aptitudes, interests, other studies and workplace aspirations.

An applicant who has functional skills will be in a better place than one who has neither functional skills nor GCSE

Some argue that the GCSE qualification is more rigorous, more demanding and therefore more valuable and respected by employers; to enter students into a supposedly lesser alternative would be to do them a disservice because their future prospects will be less bright if they do not have a GCSE.

Others say that functional skills courses, following recent reforms, are now more difficult than they used to be, less accessible to lower-ability learners, more academic in nature and perhaps less of a viable alternative. And then there are those in the other camp, who point out that functional skills are more relevant in the context of preparing for technical and trade-related destinations and give students a better chance of reaching the required standard.

And what of employers? How do employers view a functional skills qualification compared with a GCSE? Well, inevitably, a GCSE will give a job applicant an edge. On the other hand – and this may be the crucial point here – an applicant who has functional skills will be in a better place than one who has neither functional skills nor GCSE.

And if the reformed, more difficult 2017 GCSEs are to be increasingly out of reach, and if the GCSE course-content is less relevant to the job than the applied literacy and numeracy that some employers will require for parts of their workforce, maybe this could lead to a win-win situation, where employers recognise the value of functional skills and applicants are better equipped.

Functional skills might be more suited to some students’ aptitudes; they also count towards the new level two English and maths measure in post-16 performance tables. To top it off, they offer a better route to a pass for E-U students. But in some colleges, GCSE is still the currency of choice.

Despite all this, it is reassuring to know that the government’s analysis of 2014/15 shadow measures shows that sixth form colleges get better results, notably than schools and academies, in English and maths resits. Early data returns this summer appear to bear this out, which is certainly something to celebrate.

Bill Watkin is Chief Executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association

New leash of life for animal-lover Hollie

Twenty-year-old Hollie Thornton is finally on the path to realising her veterinary dreams, despite numerous setbacks.

The aspiring veterinary physiotherapist had feared her chosen career path would no longer be an option after she was diagnosed with severe hypersensitivity to animal hair and fur, which doctors warned could be a serious danger to her health.

Despite not making the grades to study veterinary science, the dedicated animal lover took a human physio course, which then introduced her to the alternative option of pet physiotherapy.

After studying a two-year BTEC course in applied science, and starting work experience at a local vet, Hollie was hit with the news about her allergy following a blood test.

Hollie said: “I was devastated. I’d worked so hard and now I thought I was going to fail at the last hurdle and lose the chance of my dream career.”

However, after speaking with her GP, Hollie realised there were ways to work around her condition and still pursue a career with animals.

“I discovered that as long as I was sensible, wore latex gloves when dealing with any animals, and took my medication as and when I needed it, I should still be able to pursue my dream.”

Hollie will start her BSc (Hons) course at Warwickshire Agricultural College in September.

Pictured: Hollie with her pet Jackawawa Gus

Is this the new dawn for apprenticeships?

While apprenticeship expansion is very welcome, let’s hope it’s not derailed by some of the disastrous aspects of the reforms, says John Hyde.

Future generations will look back at this moment to realise that apprenticeships for the 21st century have finally arrived. The extension of apprenticeships to all skills and managerial levels – encompassing all manufacturing, service and commercial enterprises, plus the public sector and all the professions – constitutes a recognition (finally) that over 80 per cent of what we learn in our lifetimes is acquired at the workplace, and that apprenticeships are the best way to quantify this.

The reforms instigated by Doug Richards and Matt Hancock brought a few advantages, namely the introduction of higher apprenticeships, graduate apprenticeships and professional apprenticeships in banking, law, accountancy; and in the public sector, planned apprenticeships in teaching and nursing.

We are moving towards apprenticeships being available at every level and in every sector, profession and public service; funded directly by employers through the levy or co-investment, with the cost removed from general taxation. As apprenticeships become a more viable option – and a financially attractive alternative to sixth form, FE college or university – the government will make substantial savings from general taxation by simultaneously reducing funding to these institutions, as potential students opt for apprenticeships instead.

Let us hope, however, that the welcome expansion of apprenticeships to graduates, the professions and the public sector is not derailed by the disastrous delivery and end-assessment ‘reforms’ that were recommended by Richards and Hancock and so clumsily implemented by government.

Employer resistance is beginning to surface over apprenticeships that have bizarre end-point assessment criteria or do not include a qualification in the standards, as the new standards are introduced.

The uncontrolled development of end-point assessments is concerning employers. At one extreme, a small garage owner will have to lose their apprentice for four days away from work to attend an assessment centre, causing substantial disruption to an SME. Conversely, other sectors have much shorter assessments, with perhaps a 90-minute online knowledge test, one brief site-observation and a 40-minute discussion from the external assessor. Even this means two more days away from work than the highly regulated, continuous assessment currently in place.

Uncontrolled development of end-point assessments is concerning employers

Employers are questioning how such an insignificant amount of time from a stranger (sorry, ‘external independent assessor’) can produce a valid judgement, let alone distinguish between a pass and a distinction.

Now that parliament is sitting, let’s hope some of the anomalies that came from the much-delayed SFA announcements on the levy, rates and co-investment will be corrected.

For example, the SFA, in attempting to persuade training providers to adopt the new standards by restricting any growth cases, is in fact penalising any employer who adopts the new standards early – by demanding a one-third contribution now, when from April it will be just 10 per cent for non-levy payers. This provides no incentive to move now to the new standards, especially as the third rate will continue for the duration of the apprenticeship and cannot be reduced to 10 per cent from April or set off against any levy payment.

The abolition of the area uplift will also decimate the apprenticeship provision currently available in London, when providers realise they cannot afford to operate in the capital with these substantially reduced rates. So much for the new prime minister’s ‘social mobility’ agenda. This seems just another example of policies being driven by the limitations of the HMRC/DAS software and not by what is best for the national skills and mobility agenda.

John Hyde is chairman of HIT Training, a hospitality training provider operating across England.

Two new super-colleges set to be created in north-west

Two new super-colleges are set to be created in the north-west through mergers involving six colleges and one university.

Consultation opened this week on the first phase of a proposed new Cheshire-wide college, which will be formed by a link-up between four Cheshire and Warrington colleges.

Meanwhile a massive new university and college group, which will serve 40,000 learners, has been given the green light in Bolton and Bury after merger plans were formally approved by the two colleges involved.

Both mergers have come about due to post-16 education and training area reviews, and follow a prediction in July from the FE Commissioner Sir David Collins that the total number of colleges would fall by a third once the area review process was complete.

West Cheshire College and South Cheshire College will partner up in January to create the Cheshire College, subject to the outcome of the consultation which closes 1 October.

According to the current proposals, they will be joined by Mid Cheshire College in August 2017, and Warrington Collegiate
in January 2018.

This multiple merger is one of the outcomes of the Cheshire and Warrington area review, part of the second wave of reviews, which had its first steering group meeting on January 29.

West Cheshire College, which had almost 16,800 learners in 2014/15, was rated ‘inadequate’ overall following its most recent Ofsted inspection last September, while 6,600-learner South Cheshire College’s last full inspection in May 2012 resulted in a rating of ‘good’.

“The merger will create a stronger organisation delivering high quality outcomes for learners and employers and provide a strong delivery partner for LEP priorities for the region,” said Dame Pat Bacon, South Cheshire College’s corporation chair.

Christine Russell, chair of West Cheshire College’s governors, said: “We have a very clear vision of what we want to achieve with the merger.”

In a separate development, the governing bodies for Bury College and Bolton College have confirmed that plans have been approved for the two colleges to merge with the University of Bolton in July.

The three bodies will make up a new super-group, which will also include University Technical College Bolton.

A spokesperson for the University of Bolton said the new group would have 2,300 staff and more than 40,000 students.

Bury College principal Charlie Deane has been appointed chief executive of the new group and will oversee the merger.

But a spokesperson for Bury College told FE Week that no date had been set for when the merger will take place.

This merger was one of just two to come out of the Greater Manchester area review, which was one of the first reviews to start in September 2015.

The plans provoked anger from two unions – the University and College Union and Unison – which warned that this was more of a “takeover” than a merger.

The University of Bolton’s president and vice-chancellor Professor George Holmes said: “I am delighted with the progress we have made, and this is in no small measure due to the remarkable contribution of the chairs of the governing bodies and the principals of the colleges.

“They have shown vision and determination to develop something which is first class for the learner.”