“The British people have chosen change,” Bridget Phillipson has declared, after the exit poll predicted a Labour election landslide.
The shadow education secretary’s Houghton and Sunderland South seat was the first to declare its result after today’s election. She won comfortably with over 18,000 votes, but Reform UK beat the Conservatives into third place with more than 11,000.
A government powered by hope. By the belief that tomorrow could not just be different from today, but better
The national exit poll – commissioned by the major broadcasters – has estimated Sir Keir Starmer’s party has won a 170-seat majority.
If it is borne out in the formal results, that would leave Labour with 410 seats, the Conservatives with 131, the Liberal Democrats with 61, Reform with 13 and the Greens with two.
In her victory speech in the north east, Phillipson said “if the exit poll this evening is again a guide to the results across our country as it so often is, then after 14 years the British people have chosen change.
“They have chosen Labour and they have chosen the leadership of Keir Starmer. Today our country, with its proud history, has chosen a brighter future. The British people have decided that they believe, as Labour believes, that our best days lie ahead of us.
“Hope and unity, not decline and division. Stability over chaos. A government powered by hope. By the belief that tomorrow could not just be different from today, but better. A government of service.
“A government with purpose – above all to change our society for good. A government determined to build a Britain where background is no barrier, no matter who your parents are or where you were born.
“Determined to tear down the barriers to opportunity, which hold back too many of our children. That is Labour’s purpose.”
The person purporting to be Adam Philip showed me “evidence” the CSCS card he was selling would evade anti-fraud smart card checker machines (designed to stop fraudsters like him), thereby getting me access to work on construction sites.
Severe skills shortages across the construction sector, arguably made worse by recent qualifications reforms, have sparked a flourishing trade in fake CSCS (Construction Skills Certification Scheme) cards. FE Week has uncovered evidence of them being sold to people without the necessary training to do building work – putting lives at risk.
We found fake CSCS cards being sold across social media networks. And in some cases, gangs have infiltrated training centres to sell cards to people who aren’t given the necessary health and safety training.
For almost 30 years CSCS cards have acted as golden tickets to work on building sites.
Getting a genuine card through official routes only costs £36. But in most cases, it requires proof that the applicant has the relevant building trade qualifications and has taken a health and safety course at a registered centre.
CSCS, the company running the scheme for the industry, explained that “this takes time and incurs costs. Fraudsters know this and tempt people to cut corners by offering a fake card”.
A post on Facebook for CSCS cards
Soaring vacancies
The UK construction industry has faced acute skills shortages since Brexit.
The workforce had 39,000 vacancies between March and May this year, compared to 23,000 during the same period in 2016. More than 251,500 extra construction workers are needed over the next five years, says the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), the skills body for the industry. And it said for almost a third of construction employers, finding “suitable skilled staff remains their key challenge, particularly with more older workers retiring and not being replaced”.
Philip is one of at least 10 sellers FE Week discovered flogging fake CSCS cards via the communications app Telegram.
Much of this activity is advanced fee fraud, where criminals purport to be selling CSCS cards online with “no exams needed”. In most cases, the cards never arrive in the post as promised. But some do.
Last month, GQA Qualifications Ltd posted a warning that “over the past few months we’ve had increased reports of fake CSCS cards being used on construction sites throughout the country”.
In 2023, 30 people were arrested for criminal offences related to the CITB related to the illicit facilitation, administration or undertaking of health and safety and environment (HS&E) tests – compared to just seven in 2019. Eight investigations are currently with the Crown Prosecution Service.
A level 3 electrical skills certificate that was being sold online
Training centre criminality
GQA Qualifications warned that as well as advanced fee fraud, “qualification fraud” is taking place whereby “organised criminals assist candidates to obtain a genuine qualification”, and a “centre’s integrity becomes compromised”.
In some cases of malpractice, examiners pass candidates who do not meet required standards and “deliberately falsify records to claim certificates”.
The CITB said 20 centres offering HS&E tests had been investigated for criminality since 2020, of which 12 had accreditation terminated and eight were reinstated with action plans.
In the same period, 10,000 HS&E tests were revoked. The CITB offered everyone awarded the cards the opportunity to retake the test, but take-up was low.
In 2022, Callum Ingram, 28, from Manchester, and Stephen McWhirk, 62, of Macclesfield, Cheshire, were sentenced to 28 months each for conspiring to commit fraud and fraud by false representation after falsifying CITB HS&E tests. The pair, who made £37,700 from the operation, were test centre administrators at the accredited DWM Plant Ltd in Cheshire.
Mostly foreign nationals – some of whom were found to speak no English – were assisted with their tests, with some candidates taking their tests in only four to five minutes by means of assistance via a remote mouse.
An typical ad on social media for skills certificates and CSCS cards with “no exam”
Scammers working online
FE Week has seen dozens of ads across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and X, as well as Telegram, purporting to sell CSCS cards with “no exams” needed. CSCS itself does not operate on these social media platforms.
Some people also sell driving licences, passports and a wide range of NVQ certificates. For example, “Standard Chatered Service UK driver’s lisence [sic]”, which set up an account (@ThomasIssa999) on X in May and claims to be based in Manchester, offers “real passports” among other forms of ID, boldly stating that: “no physical participation [is] needed” to obtain them. Its Telegram account has around 500 subscribers.
In an attempt to prove he could be trusted, Philip sent me reviews from customers thanking him – which revealed he also sells diazepam. He said he would send me a level-one green labourer CSCS card and licence for £160 within four days, with a £100 deposit paid upfront and the rest paid upon delivery.
Mark Allison’s image, being used online without his permission to sell JIB gold cards
Catherine Storer, a construction training specialist at Essential Site Skills (ESS), believes there has been “an explosion in the number of fraudulent profiles across social media”.
She claimed that scammers “even provide copies of ‘example certificates’ that are evidently photoshopped with awarding body logos and providers’ logos.”
Mark Allison, an established electrician based in East Riding, was alarmed to find his image being used on online adverts for CSCS JIB gold cards, which normally require the equivalent of a level 3 NVQ in an electrotechnical field.
He describes this as “fraudulent attempts to rip vulnerable and desperate people off” and is concerned that “fake cards are commonplace” in the workplace now.
Health and safety consultant Charlene Meek said on LinkedIn that there are “far too many Facebook groups” offering CSCS cards and training certificates without practical training or exams.
“There are THOUSANDS of members on these groups, all in our industry, all asking for cards… you cannot simply take these cards at face value,” she warned. “I’ve checked many of these cards and found many are fake.”
There is also an illicit trade in CSCS cards going on offline.
A senior source from one of the largest property services contractors in the UK told FE Week that the sale of fake cards tends to be through “word of mouth” rather than online. They had persuaded a seller of such cards to stop but this person was buying them from a larger supplier who is still understood to be operating in Liverpool.
Who is applying for fakes?
Bricklayers, roofers and retrofitters are all on the government’s UK immigration salary list of jobs where migrants can be used to plug workforce shortages. But some of the foreigners working in the construction industry lack the qualifications for the job, and the English language skills needed to get them.
In the commercial heart of Birmingham, Michael and Peter from Poland are sat eating sandwiches on their lunchbreak from a job fitting windows at a building site. Although they have level-two qualifications themselves, they know other foreign construction workers who “don’t speak English, buying fake CSCS cards”, said Michael.
Peter said that “on most” construction sites now, he meets “people from Moldovia” who it is “very hard to communicate with” because of the language barrier.
Michael said the purchase of fake CSCS cards by Moldovans was “not a problem, because these guys are really good workers and are working safely – the barrier is the language.”
Polish window fitters Michael and Peter
Challenge to stop the gangs
While some scamming operations have been shut down, it can take authorities a long time to take action.
The website of an outfit calling itself Construction Card Scheme Online UK, offering industry skills cards without tests via a WhatsApp number, was able to operate for over a year after CSCS set its lawyers on them.
CSCS’s investigations showed those responsible were taking payments but not delivering health and safety tests, training or qualifications.
CSCS said its fraud investigation team “constantly monitor and take action to shut such operations down”.
CSCS cards on sale on website taken down earlier this summer
Chipping away at fakes
From April, CSCS replaced its card-verification platform with a new ‘Smart Check’ scheme, claiming its software would flag fake or counterfeit cards.
In the two months since, on average 2.2 million scans a month have been made under the new system, which CSCS described as “very encouraging”. But it admitted that “more work” was required to “fully integrate” the platform across the industry.
“Only with regular electronic checking of cards (using CSCS Smart Check) at site gates and collaboration between the sector and law enforcement will we be able to get ahead of the fraudsters,” it said.
Allison believes electronic card checking “does weed [the fake cards] out”. But he said the “trouble is site agents/managers don’t check often enough and take the cards at face value”. The Smart Check system reads a CSCS card’s microchip, which stores the cardholder’s identity, qualifications and training records information.
Chartered electrical engineer Gary Alder said the microchipped cards were “the best way” of stopping fakes.
He added that clues a card is fake include a name printed in the wrong format or an expiry date “too far in the future”.
David Wilkins Vice principal Bedford College
Pleas for better training
Part of the card fraud problem lies in not enough young people being trained up to join the industry.
Labour’s general election manifesto singled out the construction and social care sectors for “training plans” to reduce a “long-term reliance” on overseas workers.
“The days of a sector languishing endlessly on immigration shortage lists with no action to train up workers will come to an end,” the party claimed.
But the manifesto was silent on Labour’s approach to level 2 and 3 qualifications.
The new T Level construction courses which were launched in 2021-22 have not proven popular. In 2022-23, only 75 people started the onsite construction course, of whom 67 specialised in carpentry and joinery and only eight took bricklaying.
Another problem is that those undergoing a construction-related qualification, which requires the completion of a minimum 30-day work placement, such as T Levels, should apply for the Industry Placement CSCS card. Challenges were raised to FE Week around getting this card.
Bedford College is in its third year of offering the design, surveying and planning T Level. Its vice principal David Wilkins said only a dozen people a year had signed up for it, despite the college “really pushing” the course.
Construction site in Birmingham
The college has had only four completions of the onsite construction and building services engineering T Level specialisms, which Wilkins said was because learners “know and we know the route to that industry is an apprenticeship. So they’re reluctant to pick up high level-three study, when if they want to be a bricklayer, they don’t need to do that level of work”.
Graham Hasting-Evans, chief executive of training provider NOCN and president of the British Association of Construction Heads, said that it was therefore “crucial” that level 2 qualifications “remain funded, or we will see even more acute pressures facing the construction industry which could lead to a further rise in people seeking to join the sector through unofficial routes, or coming in as unskilled labourers”.
Meanwhile, after trying to persuade me to send cash for a CSCS card via crypto currencies, Philip eventually assured me that the card was registered on the CSCS card checker, and sent a screenshot of a card as “proof”.
However, at the time of writing, I am still waiting for my card to arrive – and to hear from Philip again.
This story has been updated to clarify that a CSCS card for T Level industry placement students is available but that challenges were raised to FE Week around getting them.
Higher technical qualifications “should be a strong contender” for funding from Labour’s expanded skills and growth levy, say policy and research experts at Public First.
Modelling by the consultancy firm, shared exclusively with FE Week, shows pushing employers to boost investment in level 4 and 5 courses through the levy could generate up to £12.3 billion in lifetime earnings.
Labour has pledged to replace the existing apprenticeship levy with a “growth and skills levy” that would allow businesses to spend up to 50 per cent of their contributions on a wider range of training qualifications.
The party’s proposed new body, Skills England, will be tasked with creating a list of approved qualifications on which businesses can flexibly spend their levy money.
Public First’s modelling, based on existing wage return research, set out to explore the impact of Labour’s levy changes.
It found higher technical qualifications (HTQs) are already available in the subjects Labour has said it will prioritise, align to occupational standards set by employers and can be taken flexibly, including by those in work, as they are “well suited” to a modular approach.
Public First also said previous government-commissioned reviews, including the 2018 Augar review of post-18 education, highlighted level 4 and 5 provision as a “missing middle” that could help meet demand for technical skills and boost productivity.
The consultancy firm’s modelling worked by breaking down spend of the apprenticeship levy by levy payers for the financial year 2021-22. Of the total DfE apprenticeship budget for that year of just over £2.4 billion, just under £1.6 billion was spent by levy payers on apprenticeships, with just over £800 million then recycled to non-levy payers.
Assuming employer spending behaviour does not change under the new growth and skills levy, Public First’s model finds “substantial benefits” from using the flexible levy portion to fund greater uptake of HTQs, with a benefit-cost ratio of 15:1.
It said if all £800 million of the levy not spent by levy payers was spent on HTQs, the “total lifetime economic return of such newly trained individuals could reach £12.3 billion”.
Under a more realistic scenario that Labour uses, a phased approach with 30 per cent of the flexible levy directed to HTQs “could result in 58,000 new qualifications and £7.8 billion in lifetime economic gains”, according to Public First.
This modelling assumes Labour would backfill the apprenticeship budget for non-levy payers, to ensure that spending on non-apprenticeship qualifications does not displace the overall number of apprenticeship starts.
Public First director Mike Crowhurst said: “Level 4 and 5 have long been the ‘missing middle’ in our skills system. Encouraging employers to use levy funds for these qualifications could stimulate demand for them and produce significant wage gains for workers – helping to deliver Labour’s goals on economic growth.”
There are around 163 HTQs currently approved for delivery by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education.
The government’s apprenticeships quango has lost 30 staff after being ordered to find savings by the Department for Education.
Headcount at the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) has reduced to 282 following a voluntary exit scheme launched this year.
One of the big-name departures is second-in-command Rob Nitsch, IfATE’s current delivery director and a former chief operating officer. He stepped down to take over as chief executive of the Federation of Awarding Bodies next month.
IfATE did not share information about which other departments had lost staff or how much their exits would save the organisation.
Staff costs at the quango ballooned from £14.4 million in 2020-21 to £21.5 million in 2022-23 as additional responsibilities were handed to the institute through the Skills and Post-16 Education Act.
In that period the institute’s hiring spree led to its average full-time equivalent staff figure growing from 200 to over 300.
FE Week understands the new Labour government is gearing up for further changes to IfATE’s workforce as it embarks on its plan for a new body called Skills England to oversee its skills strategy. Restructures could come as soon as next week.
READ MORE: Rob Nitsch moves to FAB
Launched in 2017 to spearhead the government’s apprenticeship reforms, IfATE, then known as the Institute for Apprenticeships, has seen its responsibilities and workforce expand in the past seven years.
“Technical Education” was added to the quango’s name and brief in 2019 as the authority also took over the content of T Levels and procurement for awarding organisations.
The institute had around 80 full-time staff in its first year of operation.
IfATE was handed new powers as set out in the 2021 FE white paper and skills bill, such as defining and approving new categories of technical qualifications as well as reviewing those already on offer and withdrawing their approval where they were no longer performing as expected.
There are certain experiences so universal among a group that their naming is simple.
In teaching, there’s The Dream. This dream usually goes along the lines of apprehension, fear and the unmasking of incompetence.
For me, the Dream tends to involve something like being brought into a year 9 class halfway through a lesson and halfway through the year. (I haven’t taught Year 9 for over 25 years.) I know none of the students’ names. They are running riot, and without their names I can’t control them. I am supposed to be teaching them Physics. Except I don’t know a thing about it.
It is, quite literally, a nightmare. But that is just the universal teacher experience of The Dream.
There is also The Slump, which is no doubt equally familiar to everyone in education.
You are running on full throttle, working 50- to 60-hour weeks and putting things off until summer comes. You pass the point of normal tiredness. You’re using up reserves. Then you’re running on empty.
Thankfully the holidays arrive. At first, it’s a weekend like any other. You don’t even notice. You spend some time with the kids, you do some work. Like any other weekend. Then, on Monday morning, you get up later than normal (after waking bang-on as normal), and something happens.
Maybe you carry on with your work, trying to get it done at the start of the break so you can relax later. And you make the fateful decision to take today off. A reward. You clean the house. You go into town for lunch.
And then out jumps The Slump to club you about the back of the head.
The Slump is that moment in a break when you feel yourself jolt as you come off the escalator. Your mood drops. Your energy is gone. You ponder the meaning of existence. You wonder how much longer you can go on in life like this. You crash.
The technical term for it is leisure sickness
That’s The Slump. Then all those things you so looked forward to doing don’t really gleam like you thought they would. You don’t relax over that coffee as much as you thought you would. Because you’re living in the shadow of the Slump.
The thing is, the Slump doesn’t last. It’s fleeting and it’s normal. So let yourself slump. But then get yourself back up again. There’s a break there waiting, a well-earned pause in proceedings that is not to be wasted.
The technical term for The Slump is leisure sickness. It is common and seems to hinge around the movement from work to non-work. It may be a reaction to a drop in the stress hormones which have kept us going and, ironically, kept us healthy. The safe moment to slump comes and our bodies make the most of it.
The presence of The Slump in your life should come as no surprise if you are a teacher, but it should come as a warning.
I have learned a thing or two over my years of teaching others. I have found that taking work home was a false economy, since that work took longer to do at home than it did at work.
When my kids were younger, I had no choice about timings: I had to drop them at school or pick them up afterwards. However, as they have grown I have tried to keep my work at work, even if that means going in earlier or coming home later.
When I have managed this, The Slump has not reared its head but slumbered on, undisturbed.
So my advice is simple. Trace the shape of your slump. Mark out its boundaries. Notice when it appears, time how long it lasts, see when it has passed. And try to ease yourself into the break.
Really, approaching a holiday as a race to the line is always going to be a disaster. That is like driving into a corner at full speed; you will only career off the road. Slow into the break. Keep the work at work as far as you can.
And when you are home, work can then stay in its place.
Properly resourced, colleges can dramatically improve the outlook for young people who are not enjoying and often not attending more traditional forms of 14-16 education. A new government must consider them as part of the solution to some of the challenges facing schools and the economy.
Leeds City College’s 14+ Academies offer a different environment and level of support for young people to complete valuable GCSE qualifications while also gaining a vocational element to their studies. The different environment, culture and level of support on offer has proven particularly effective in engaging young people disenfranchised by a more traditional approach to 14-16 education.
And demand for this provision far outstrips supply. Each year, almost 2,000 enquiries compete for the 110 places we can offer. What might the number be nationally?
These high levels of demand are indicative of how traditional 14-16 education is failing to effectively meet the needs of all learners. Our 14+ learners often come from challenging backgrounds, with many having experienced mental health issues, bullying or special educational needs. Parents and carers regularly tell us our 14+ Academies provide an invaluable ‘lifeline’ to children.
Although currently underutilised, further education colleges sit in a unique position to provide more tailored and engaging support to learners whose needs are not being met. They can also support traditional 14-16 education settings by taking on provision that they would otherwise struggle to offer.
Often, the failure of traditional schooling to cater for diverse learner circumstances and needs further disenfranchises those young people. This leads to falling levels of attendance as they progress to increasingly important years of their education. This process can be seriously detrimental.
As well as options to take core GCSE subjects, Leeds City College’s 14+ Academies students also have access to specialist English for Speakers of other Languages (ESOL) or P-TECH (Pathways in Technology Early College High School) courses.
2,000 enquiries compete for the 110 places we can offer
Colleges can also offer practical, technical forms of education that are out of reach for traditional 14-16 settings. Through our 14+ Academies, we know that teaching technical skills that young people can see will benefit them in the world of work motivates and empowers students to succeed in subjects that would otherwise not have interested them, like English and maths.
Sometimes, it is the positive experience they encounter when pursuing a technical subject that encourages them into more academic forms of education. Other times, it can be the realisation that maths and English can be a requirement to pursue the technical option they have enjoyed at a higher level.
This impact is so great, in fact, that we frequently witness 14+ Academies students go on to pursue A levels that they would have thought completely out of reach beforehand.
There is general consensus that our education system should better encourage uptake of technical subjects. Likewise, the economic case for more young people to pursue technical subjects to tackle shortages in critical roles across the economy is well understood.
Expanding college-based 14-16 provision could play a significant role in widening the bridge young people cross when travelling from academic to technical education. This could increase the overall number of post-16 students taking up vocational forms of study – and succeeding first time in their English and maths GCSEs.
There is another facet of the economic argument for college-based provision of 14-16 education too. If our 14+ students were not attending the Academies, most would be in Alternative Provision or Pupil Referral Units. Such settings cost taxpayers around twice as much per student as our 14+ Academies and secure far poorer outcomes in the process.
The Association of Colleges is currently working with IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society, on a Nuffield-funded research project exploring the offer to and experience of 14 to 16-year-olds in colleges, and what enables them to achieve their full potential and flourish.
Whatever the colour of the incoming government, a review of the funding behind colleges’ capacity to deliver this type of provision could prove incredibly valuable. So too would establishing local pilots to gather detailed data on their impact.
If we are serious about finding ways to improve outcomes for young people whose needs are not met by mainstream school environments, then this is a great place to start.
A single mother who retrained as a carpenter, a life turned around by GP-prescribed learning and a bakery school for unemployed refugees have all won awards at this year’s Festival of Learning.
The festival, run by Learning and Work Institute (L&W), is a long-running annual celebration of adults who have used learning to transform their lives.
Its twelve award winners include both individuals and organisations that highlight how lifelong learning can offer “endless possibilities,” said Stephen Evans, L&W’s chief executive.
He added: “We know from our annual adult participation in learning survey that adults in England have a greater appetite for learning than ever – and that they’re investing billions of pounds’ worth of time and money on their own futures.
“On the eve of the general election, we’re calling on the next government to meet that ambition from individuals with its own higher ambition, achieved by getting employers training, helping people into learning, and building a better, more joined-up skills system.”
The single-mother carpenter
This year’s ‘new directions’ award winner, Shez Grigg, is a single mother who spent a decade working in food retail before turning to a career in carpentry and joinery after studying at Bolton College.
Aged 29, she enrolled on a construction multi-skills course, which she completed alongside a full-time job and caring for her daughter. She went on to gain a level 2 diploma in carpentry and joinery.
Finding a job in the “male-dominated industry” was difficult, but she now has a full-job which has had a “completely transformative” impact on her life.
She said: “I’m constantly challenged and inspired by the work I do, finding fulfilment and pride in every project.
“It’s not only given me a deep sense of purpose, but a good work and life balance, with structured hours that allow me to spend more time with my daughter.”
Paul Eeles, chief executive of award sponsor Skills and Education Group, said the award shows it is “never too late” to try something different and develop new skills.
GP-prescribed learning
A learner who struggled with a “chaotic and unmanageable lifestyle” turned her life around partly thanks to courses prescribed by her GP.
Angie Collard won the ‘return to learning’ award after taking five courses with the Bournemouth Churches Housing Association learning service including personal wellbeing, self-care techniques and chi gong, a meditation technique.
She described herself as a school “drop out” without qualifications, but is now thinking about applying to study at college or university.
Angie added: “Along with having a sense of purpose, my horizons have broadened, and I strongly feel that I am a useful and productive member of my community.”
Other celebrated learners include Susannah Goulding, who won the ‘learning for health’ award for studying art at City Lit after being diagnosed with incurable metastatic cancer.
‘Learning for work’ award winner Wayne Hardman is a former painter decorator who retrained for a site coordinator role in the rail industry after finding himself out of work during the pandemic.
Awards for organisations
Organisations that won awards include Breadwinners, a charity that aims to support refugees and asylum seekers into work through a bakery that sells bread on market stalls and wholesale.
The London and Brighton-based charity, which won the ’employer’ award, says it has helped more than five hundred refugees and young people seeking asylum by providing them with work experience, training and personal mentors.
Similarly, Code Your Future won the ‘learning with technology’ award for helping more than 250 marginalised adults into work through its offer of free technology and soft skills training.
The BEGIN project, set up by Nottingham College, won the ‘president’ award for creating a “one-stop-shop” for English as a Second Language learners which coordinates courses across the city to reduce waiting lists.
Since the election was called, I have emphasised to politicians that adult education and skills development is for all, not just level 3 and above.
The stats are alarming: government has cut investment by £1 billion since 2010; employers are investing 26 per cent less in training per employee than 2005; 17 per cent of adults lack a level 2 qualification; and 9 million have poor essential skills.
Traditional education failed these adults, and the previous government ignored them.
Adult community education (ACE) faces huge challenges. It needs to inspire adults to overcome their fear and anxiety of learning. But despite a 40 per cent austerity budget cut, ACE centres, colleges and institutions still educate over 400,000 learners annually in more than 10,000 venues, with 97 per cent rated ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’. They could do more with government support.
The adults they teach and train often have disrupted educational backgrounds and are just starting to gain qualifications and skills. They lack a voice, so we urge the new government to prioritise education and skills programmes for them.
This renewed focus will soon pay for itself through enhanced productivity, increased economic benefits and improved wellbeing.
However, it’s crucial that a new government avoids the mistakes of its predecessors and develops a robust, lifelong learning strategy that is government-wide, led by a senior minister with cross-government responsibilities, inclusive of all ages and levels, delivered in all settings and underpinned by statute.
It will be easy for new ministers to accept a simple repackaging, but the sector needs more. In that vein, here are five elephant traps to avoid:
A single departmental Lifelong Learning Strategy
Creating a successful lifelong learning strategy is akin to navigating a minefield, with pitfalls created by previous administrations. Treating skills development in isolation is like cooking with only salt – bland and ineffective.
Integrate lifelong learning with broader economic and wellbeing plans for a cohesive approach. A lifelong learning strategy should be the responsibility of all government departments and underpin industrial, employment, health and migration strategies.
Ignoring the student voice
We all know the adage that you can take a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. Remember it is only the student who does the learning. If they are not on side, the programme will fail. So listen to their voice.
A new government could start with helping with living costs, for example, enabling students on courses below level three to draw down a grant, access maintenance loans, or carry-on claiming universal credit.
Not acknowledging local context and needs
What works in a bustling city won’t necessarily work in rural areas. Too many new programmes were designed in Whitehall. If we are keeping Local Skills Improvement Plans, expand them to cover all adults, not just those at level 3 and above.
Implementation needs to be local and at council ward level, so empower local authorities through statute to lead, because they know their communities best.
Insufficient engagement with those who deliver
Developing policies in an echo chamber is like planning a surprise party for someone without asking what they like – awkward! So don’t forget adult community education. We are out there and know what adults want and need.
Consult not just with businesses, but educators and communities to keep the new strategy grounded in reality and avoid embarrassing surprises.
Centralised control can stifle creativity. Allow educators to design flexible, adaptive programmes that respond to economic changes and technological advancements.
Creating an unfair funding system
Current post-16 budget allocations favour those who did well in school, and the system creates inefficiencies. Lifelong learning should be prioritised to ensure continuous personal and professional growth for all, so fund adult education properly to allow everyone the opportunity to succeed.
The adult skills budget has been reduced by 49 per cent since 2010. Cutting that funding without considering the consequences has led to 7 million fewer qualifications being achieved. The unintended consequences: poor productivity and increased reliance on foreign workers. Adequate funding is crucial to maintain a skilled workforce.
By avoiding these elephant traps, a new government can develop a veritable spend-to-save lifelong learning strategy – and that’s a policy win-win.
Today could mark a shift in the fortunes of the post-16 education and skills sector, with a new Labour government committed to some potentially radical changes, even if there is unlikely to be lots of new investment in the short term.
New ministers will want to move quickly on some things to show that change is happening. They will probably announce some reviews and make some key early decisions (on things like pausing qualifications reform and school and college pay, for instance), while leaving bigger-ticket items until the Autumn when they’ve had time to consider things more fully.
At AoC, we have been working hard to influence the new government, both in public and behind closed doors, to ensure that any policies or reforms introduced work for colleges, their students, employers and communities.
I was pleased to see our ideas reflected in the pledges in many of the manifestos: it’s clear that colleges are viewed as essential anchor institutions by the Labour party and key to the delivery of many of their manifesto commitments in education and beyond.
If they get Skills England right, it should help ensure that the new industrial strategy includes clear implementation plans and investment for the skills and training that are needed to underpin their economic growth ambitions.
In our recent reports, including 100% Opportunity England published in April, we’ve been calling for a new post-16 tertiary system. So it was pleasing to see that Labour has committed to establishing Skills England and setting a new post-16 strategy.
Those would be a great start, but we also need a strong young person’s guarantee, demand-led adult funding and a wide-ranging and forward-looking national review of curriculum and qualifications to help move to an effective, efficient and fair tertiary system.
We’ve tried to help this system thinking in other publications including our 14 in-depth policy papers, a detailed paper published by Work Advance and commissioned by AoC, which explores the role of a new national social partnership body (like Skills England), and proposals for the future of local skills improvement plans (LSIPs).
The case for investing in what colleges can offer is strong
This approach to a post-16 system will take time, but if done well it could lead to streamlined accountability arrangements for colleges and more flexibility for them to meet learner and employer needs.
There are urgent decisions for new ministers to make on their commitment to a pause and review on qualification reform as well as on college pay, which we will be keen to discuss.
More exciting, though, is the prospect of a wider reform of curriculum and assessment. This should be looking to the future and not hamstrung by the past, thinking creatively about the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning in assessment as well as teaching.
In the autumn, we will publish another important report in partnership with the Bell Foundation, This will focus on what needs to change in English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) and adult education to ensure all learners have access to the education they need to help them thrive.
As the adult education budget (and therefore most ESOL funding) is devolved to the mayoral combined authorities (MCAs), we have worked with them closely on this report. With Labour mayors in 11 of the 12 MCAs, we are keen to generate a debate about how an enhanced adult budget could support their ambitions for inclusive and fair economic growth.
We know that budgets for public services will be tight in the next few years, but the case for investing in what colleges can offer is strong: for the economic growth Labour has talked so much about, for fairness, and for a more tolerant and inclusive society. We will continue to make that case with the new government.
There has never been a stronger recognition that colleges are essential institutions and need to be nurtured and engaged. I am confident that this government knows that an investment in colleges is a worthwhile one and that in the medium term the funding will come.
