Another 100 students left with FE loans and no courses after demise of provider Edudo

Another 100 learners appear to have been left with heavy student loans debt but no qualifications to show for it, after their training provider under investigation by the Skills Funding Agency went bust.

FE Week is demanding justice for them and hundreds of others left in the lurch – through our new #SaveOurAdultEducation campaign which is calling for all students’ advanced learning loan debt to be written off, if they are unable to complete courses after training providers go out of business.

The latest case affecting 100 students is with Hampshire-based Edudo Ltd. It went into voluntary liquidation in January, after the company’s “assets and business” were sold to Learning Republic Group Ltd last November.

Edudo boss Ronan Smith is also the only director listed on Companies House for Learning Republic Group, which was incorporated last July.

FE Week asked the SFA if it was checking out the circumstances surrounding the demise of Edudo, which was launched in 2011 and allocated £500,500 in advanced learner loans by the SFA as of September, and what it was doing to help the students affected.

A spokesperson said in response that there are approximately 100 learners affected, and it is “working closely” with the SLC to ensure they complete their learning.

This indicates that each of the students have been left on average with just over £5,000 loans debt.

It comes after FE Week last month revealed that the SFA was investigating the demise of John Frank Training.

John Frank Training campus

The provider went into liquidation on November 30, leaving no assets, despite recording a profit of £1.3 million in the first half of 2016.

The collapse meant that hundreds of students who had taken out FE loans to train with the London-based provider were left with hefty debts but no course.

Now commenting on the demise of Edudo, an SFA spokesperson told FE Week it had terminated its loans agreement with the provider.

“Our priority is to support the learners affected to complete their learning with minimal disruption, working closely with the Student Loans Company,” she added.

The SFA said it will look carefully at any irregularities with the case.

A statement was also released to FE Week on behalf of the former board of directors of Edudo.

It said: “In recent years, the trading environment for the company was increasingly difficult given funding changes.

“The board of directors of Edudo, on professional advice and with great sadness, appropriately concluded that the company could no longer continue to trade.

“On November 24, 2016, the company’s assets and business were sold to Learning Republic Group.

”This was considered by the board of directors of the company, on independent corporate advice, to represent the best outcome for creditors and learners.

“Additionally, it secured the jobs of the company’s staff who transferred to the new business, providing an opportunity for Learning Republic to offer continuity for and to the benefit of each and every student under its the care of Edudo.”

The statement added that “for some months” the board of directors, and its advisors, have been and remain in “proactive engagement” with the SFA.

The agency, though, told FE Week Learning Republic Group is not a provider on the register of training organisations, and does not hold a loans agreement with them.

This means it is unlikely Learning Republic Group will be able to complete the training of former government-funded Edudo learners.

A spokesperson for liquidators RSM said the company was formally installed in the role on January 13 and “during the period of its engagement, RSM have received and responded to requests for information from the SFA”.

“The liquidators have received the full cooperation of the directors of Edudo Ltd in responding to such requests.”

The SLC declined to comment on Edudo’s demise.

The parliamentary launch for #SaveOurAdultEducation, which will have both skills minister Robert Halfon and his shadow Gordon Marsden speaking, takes place this afternoon.

Former ‘outstanding’ college’s Oftsed rating slumps after first inspection for decade

A college that went a decade without being inspected by Ofsted has crashed two grades.

Bury College was rated as ‘requires improvement’ by the education watchdog in a report published today, following inspection from January 16 to 20.

That inspection came almost exactly ten years after its previous full inspection, from February 5 to 9 2007, when it was awarded a grade one.

As previously reported by FE Week, Bury was one of five colleges to have reached or passed the 10-year mark between inspections.

Ineffective self-assessment, together with inconsistent teaching and low achievement rates, were among the issues that led to the new Ofsted verdict.

Leaders and managers were found to have “not been successful in accurately evaluating the quality of provision” and “do not accurately identify what teachers can do to improve their teaching practice or focus clearly on the progress that students and apprentices make”.

“Consequently, the quality of teaching, learning and assessment has deteriorated, resulting in students not making the progress expected of them given their starting points,” the report said.

Leaders were also criticised for focusing on “developing partnerships and collaborations with other colleges and a local university”, which had “proved a distraction”.

Management information systems were “imprecise” with too many reports to senior managers deemed “overly optimistic”.

These included information presented at monthly business review meetings that showed apprentices to be “making good progress when in fact too many apprentices are making very slow progress”.

The “overly positive” self-assessment meant that governors were “unable to hold senior managers to account stringently for the progress students and apprentices make”.

Inspectors found that teaching, learning and assessment quality “varies considerably across subject areas and provision types”.

Teaching on study programmes was found to be pitched at mid-level, with the result that the “least able students find tasks too complex” while the most able are left with “a lack of challenge”.

Consequently, “students, particularly the most and least able, make limited progress”, inspectors noted.

But the college’s adult learning programmes and provision for learners with high needs were both found to be good.

“Adult learning provision meets the needs of employers, adults seeking employment and adults who want to progress to university,” inspectors found.

Charlie Deane, Bury College principal

Students with high needs were “well supported in their learning and make good progress,” the report noted.

Charlie Deane, Bury College principal, said: “We will build on the strengths that Ofsted inspectors recognised and we are already actively addressing the aspects that require improvement”. 

He added: “Our improvements will enable even more students to achieve their goals and progress to employment, university and further learning.” 

Other colleges to have gone 10 years between inspections include Cirencester College, which was rated grade one across the board at inspection in December 2006, and Bridgwater and Taunton College which was last inspected in November 2006.

Hills Road Sixth Form College in Cambridge was also last inspected in November 2006, while Woodhouse College had its last full inspection in January 2007.

The watchdog’s most recent FE and skills inspection handbook, for use from September 2016, states that providers judged ‘outstanding’ at their most recent inspection are “not normally subject to routine inspection”.

But it adds: “An outstanding provider may receive a full inspection where its performance declines or there is another compelling reason, such as potential safeguarding issues”.

 

School funding ‘done rather well’ and it’s cuts to 16-18 that’s the ‘bigger story’ claims Institute for Fiscal Studies

Researchers at the influential Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) have contrasted cuts to 16-18 funding with “spending shifting towards earlier in youngsters’ lives” in the last 25 years.

The IFS today publish a report into education spending and are keen to point out that despite school funding cuts hitting the headlines in recent weeks, in the last 25 years they “have done rather well in terms of funding per pupil” with spending “set to be at least 70% higher in 2020 than it was in 1990.”

By contrast, they say the “bigger story” is that 16-18 funding in school sixth forms and colleges has been “continually squeezed” with “spending per pupil set to be no higher at all than it was in 1990.”

The report, ‘Long-Run Comparisons of Spending per Pupil across Different Stages of Education’, was funded by the Nuffield Foundation and the IFS claims it is the first time “consistent data on day-to-day or current spending per pupil on different stages of education in England over a long time period” has been published. The report does not include research on adult further education funding.

Luke Sibieta, one of the report authors and an Associate Director at the IFS said: “The actions – as opposed to the rhetoric – of both Labour and Conservative governments suggest that they agree 16-18 is a low priority area for spending. Why they think that is unclear”.

The report concludes that “The overriding challenge for the 16–18 sector concerns the long-run stagnation in the level of resources available. By the end of the current Spending Review period in 2019–20, we expect that spending per student in further education will only be just above the level seen 30 years ago at the end of the 1980s.”

Angela Rayner MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Education, said “cuts to further education especially are leaving behind thousands of young people that want to pursue technical skills and education and the Tories are once again proving themselves to be the party of the few not the many.”

A Department for Education spokesperson commented on the IFS findings, saying: “We are transforming post-16 education and investing £7 billion to ensure there is a place in education or training for every 16 to 19-year old who wants one. As a result we have the lowest proportion of young people not in education, employment or training since consistent records began in 1994. This supports future economic growth, by meeting the needs of our economy and helping everyone, regardless of background, get onto the ladder of opportunity so they can fulfil their potential.”

The IFS report comes a little over a week before the Spring Budget on 8 March, with the Association of Colleges already calling on the government to increase the 16-18 national base rate as well as shift spending on education and training from 4.3% now towards 5% of GDP to “introduce fair funding for colleges.”

Exam board faces £50,000 Ofqual fine for handling of qualifications fraud case

An awarding organisation is facing a fine of £50,000 over its handling of a high-profile case of alleged qualifications fraud in 2015.

The notice to impose a monetary penalty on Industry Qualifications, published today, is only the third such fine issued by Ofqual.

It stated: “Ofqual considers that IQ breached the conditions in relation to its approval and management of a college, the investigation of suspected malpractice at the college and the actions it took in respect of persons alleged to have been concerned in such malpractice.”

IQ confirmed the provider in question is Ashley Commerce College, in Ilford, which was subject to a BBC investigation also covered by FE Week.

We reported in May 2015 that IQ had to revoke 251 level two and three door-supervision and CCTV surveillance qualifications it certificated, after the college was exposed for allegedly allowing students to gain the qualifications illegally.

Ofqual’s report said that IQ had failed to “identify the potential for conflicts of interest to arise” or to manage any such conflicts when it approved the college to deliver its qualifications.

The head of the college was also an assessor and moderator for IQ qualifications and had a financial interest in the provider “such that it was in his interest for learners to pass assessments”, the report said.

The awarding organisation’s monitoring of the college was deemed “defective” as IQ had “failed to recognise” that the proportion of learner work reviewed by its external verifier was “substantially less” than was required by IQ’s policy, the report said.

IQ’s investigation into the incident was also branded “defective”.

The exams regulator said the awarding organisation could not produce records of “its investigative methodology”, “decisions it made during the investigation” nor of “the findings it made during or following the investigation”.

IQ’s response to allegations made by the head of the college was “flawed”, Ofqual said.

A “draft statement” which was “said to have been prepared by the head of the college” alleged that “241 learners had been complicit in malpractice”.

But Ofqual said that IQ “had not adequately investigated whether or not the allegations made in the (draft) statement were true” nor had it “notified the learners named in the (draft) statement that an allegation of malpractice had been made against them”.

Furthermore, the report said a signed version of the head’s statement was only available in December 2015 – eight months after IQ wrote to the affected learners.

The appeals process put in place by IQ was also deemed to be “flawed”, with a “disproportionately high” burden of proof.

The exams regulator initially set its intended fine at £60,000, having taken into account “the fact that IQ has commenced a comprehensive review its processes and procedures to secure ongoing compliance, and the desirability of allowing IQ to commit resources to that review”.

But this was subsequently reduced to £50,000, as it judged the initial amount “too high in view of the statutory maximum penalty in this case”.

In a statement, IQ said that “with hindsight, its investigation at Ashley Commerce College could have been more extensive” and that it “accepts that its management of appeals fell short of its own policy”.

But it refuted the other points raised by Ofqual, and hit out at the exams regulator for its refusal to meet with representatives of IQ during its investigation.

Raymond Clarke, IQ chief executive, said the notice was “not fair and will be challenged”.

Mr Clarke said: “It is a matter of significant concern that it has taken 22 months for Ofqual to reach this determination, a period during which Ofqual has steadfastly refused to meet with IQ, or allow any direct oral representation to those casting judgement on our actions and motives”.

The statement also alleged that Ofqual’s analysis was “flawed” and “fails to address significant weaknesses in policy and operation of the regulator”.

It comes after City and Guilds was fined £38,000 in August 2016 for the late issuing of more than 22,000 results, and Pearson was charged £85,000 in November 2016 for widespread certification failures.

A final decision on imposing the fine will be made by Ofqual on or after March 20, today’s report said.

IQ has repeatedly called – since the Ashley Commerce College scandal broke – for the Department for Education and the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy to work with Ofqual to establish a panel to explore the issue.

This is especially the case for industries that “require individuals to have specified qualifications to obtain a license to work”.

Leaked briefing document reveals £170 million Institutes of Technology could be with ‘wholly new’ institutions

New Institutes of Technology could be based at “wholly new” institutions, not just existing FE providers, a Department for Education briefing document leaked to FE Week has revealed.

In January, the release of a green paper called ‘Building Our Industrial Strategy’, confirmed that £170 million of capital funding would be spent on IoTs.

At the time the DfE indicated that they would be based at existing providers.

The latest document, seen by FE Week, goes into far more detail about the “next steps” for IoTs, including confirmation that they could be established as “a wholly new institution”.

The DfE document, which has not been made public yet, states that the delivery model will not be “one size fits all” because of the “nationwide variance in skills needs and provision”.

Instead, bidders looking to establish an IoT will be able to “adopt models best suited to their local needs”.

Different delivery and governance models provided include “extending technical education provision from within an existing high-performing college”, “delivery through partnerships of FE and HE”, or “a group of employers partnering with an education provider to create an IoT”.

And a further option would be to establish “a wholly new institution where there is evidence that existing providers cannot meet higher level STEM skills needs”.

The government first announced plans for the institutes in July 2015, then again through its Post-16 Skills Plan in July 2016.

Until now it has also been unclear whether independent training providers would be able to get involved with setting up new IoTs, through applying for the £170 million which will come as capital funding across the next three years to 2019/20.

However, this latest update from the DfE indicates that IoT bids “can be submitted by the lead partner of a consortium, who could be either an FE college, higher education institution, private training provider or employer consortia representing more than one employer; or by the local enterprise partnership or combined authority.

The document does state that the DfE expects “the majority of proposals to emerge from the area review process which has stimulated many local areas to consider how an IoT could best be established to meet their specific needs”.

It adds: “In most cases, these are based on a FE College working collaboratively and innovatively across further and higher education and industry usually as part of a consortium.”

Proposals, it says, should be supported “in most cases” by an FE college, “unless there is robust evidence that this is not appropriate for the local area”.

Backing from the local economic partnership or combined authority and local employers identified as potential “anchor partners” is required as well.

The paper warns bidders: “We would not expect to see competing bids which duplicate provision in an area and we would expect the requirement that bids are supported by the LEP or Combined Authority to ensure this does not happen.”

Ofsted watch: FE college overcomes ‘inadequate’ period

An FE college has climbed its way out of being ‘inadequate’ while an adult and community learning provider and a private provider boosted their provision upwards to ‘good’ in this week’s Ofsted reports.

City College Coventry was rated ‘requires improvement’ in a report published Wednesday (February 22) following an ‘inadequate’ grade in November 2015.

While the 3,500-learner college still has areas to improve, inspectors said its current interim principal, Dr Elaine McMahon, who joined the college shortly after the previous inspection has been “successful in bringing about improvement across the college”.

However, too few learners on classroom-based programmes are successful in developing “appropriate levels of skill in English and mathematics or achieve their qualifications in these subjects,” the report said.

And while safeguarding at the college was deemed “effective”, inspectors noted that too few learners have a “well-developed understanding of life in modern Britain and how to keep safe from the dangers of radicalisation and extremism”.

Meanwhile, Brighton-based adult and community learning provider Friends Centre rose from ‘requires improvement’ to ‘good’ in a report published on Tuesday (February 21).

Inspectors said that college leaders had “taken very successful action to raise achievement rates” with most learners now achieving their qualification or individual learning goals.

The 1,000-learner provider has also built “excellent partnerships” and ensure that courses “align well” to its city’s needs while providing learners with “good advice, guidance, support and progression routes”.

Another adult and community learning provider, was found to have made “significant” progress in areas including improvement in teaching, learning and assessment including English, maths and English for speakers of other languages courses, in a monitoring visit report published February 20.

It was the third such visit to the provider after it was rated inadequate following an inspection in November 2015.

Gateway sixth form college in Leicester had its first monitoring visit on February 22 since its ‘inadequate’ rating in November 2016.

Senior managers at the sixth form have worked with inspectors to create a post-inspection action plan, based on the improvement actions identified in the previous inspection report.

Bishop Burton College meanwhile retained its ‘good’ rating in a report published February 22.

In order to reach ‘outstanding’, inspectors said teachers should “plan additional activities and offer extra qualifications to their most able learners on study programmes to enable them to achieve high grades”.

They also need to extend apprentices’ skills “beyond the expectations for competence set out in the apprenticeship qualification frameworks”.

It was bad news for Jancett Childcare & Jace Training Ltd who slumped from ‘good’ to ‘requires improvement’.

Leaders at the 620-learner private training provider, which has five training centres in London, Surrey and Kent, have not “followed up sufficiently the majority of the recommendations from the previous inspection”, inspectors said.

They found too few apprentices completing their qualifications “within the time planned”, and the achievements of learners on 16 to 19 study programmes, including English and mathematics, are “low”.

Anderson Stockley Accredited Training Ltd however went in the opposite direction and achieved a ‘good’ grade this week following a ‘requires improvement’ rating in March 2015.

Inspectors said the quality of teaching, learning and assessment and outcomes for apprentices have improved since its last inspection, and a “more rigorous” approach to observations of teaching, learning and assessment has “been introduced that is linked clearly to continuous professional development and effective action planning to ensure improvement”.

Also holding on to a grade two this week following a short inspection were independent training provider Outsource Vocational Learning Limited Intec and St Brendan’s Sixth Form College.

No employer provider or other FE and skills provider inspection reports were published this week.

 

GFE Colleges Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
City College Coventry 24/01/2017 22/02/2017 3 4
Bishop Burton College 17/01/2017 22/02/2017 2 2

 

Sixth Form Colleges Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
Gateway Sixth Form College 11/01/2017 22/02/2017 M M

 

Independent Learning Providers Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
JANCETT CHILDCARE & JACE TRAINING LIMITED 17/01/2017 21/02/2017 3 2
Anderson Stockley Accredited Training Ltd 24/01/2017 22/02/2017 2 3

 

Adult and Community Learning Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
Friends Centre 23/01/2017 21/02/2017 2 3
Wakefield Metropolitan District Council 25/01/2017 20/02/2017 M M

 

Short inspections (remains grade 2) Inspected Published
St Brendan’s Sixth Form College 17/02/2017 21/02/2017
Outsource Vocational Learning Limited 24/01/2017 21/02/2017

Early years educators shaken by sudden trailblazer shutdown

The government has shut down the trailblazer group for early years educator apprenticeships, in a move described by sector insiders as “very disappointing”.

The employer-led Early Years Apprenticeship trailblazer group was disbanded by the Department for Education last week, due to what a spokesperson described as “slow progress” in developing its apprenticeship standard. FE Week understands it is the first of its kind to be shut down by the DfE.

“Given the very slow progress of this particular trailblazer, the decision has been taken to terminate its work on this apprenticeship standard,” they said.

“We remain committed to employers developing apprenticeship standards for use in the early years sector.”

The early years sector has been stuck in limbo for a while now, as it waits for the government to respond to a consultation on the literacy and numeracy qualification requirements to enter level three courses, which was launched at the start of November.

It is extremely disappointing that the Early Years Apprenticeship trailblazer group has been asked to stand down

Sector representatives want the current requirements – at least a C in both GCSE maths and English – to be extended to allow functional skills qualifications to count as a valid alternative, as they are in all other apprenticeships.

Caroline Dinenage, the secretary of state for women, equalities and early years, is understood to have pushed the schools minister Nick Gibb to accept the case for a change in policy, but the decision, which was originally expected before Christmas, has been delayed by Number 10.

Julie Hyde, associate director of CACHE, a sector specialist in health, care and education, said: “It is extremely disappointing that the Early Years Apprenticeship trailblazer group has been asked to stand down, especially at this point in time.”

However, she pointed to “the strength of support from the sector”, and said that a decision from the government to add functional skills as an alternative was still “anticipated” and would “enable the current proposed apprenticeship standard to be accepted”.

She continued: “The group has worked hard to develop the apprenticeship standard employers require and that reflects the needs of the early years workforce.”

Stella Ziolkowski, director of quality and workforce development at the National Day Nurseries Association, concurred, saying that it was “very disappointing” to lose the “knowledge and expertise” of the trailblazer group, which was one of the first to be set up in March 2014.

“We feel very let down,” she confirmed, adding that the early years sector has relied on apprentices because of its struggles with high turnover resulting from low pay.

We feel very let down

She said: “Early years employers have clearly told us that GCSE requirements should not be the only standard used to progress to level three. This simply is not working.

“It’s clear the GCSE policy has had a massively negative impact on recruitment and retention within nurseries.”

FE Week has repeatedly asked the DfE when a response to the consultation would finally be published.

“Our public consultation on the GCSE requirement for level three early years educator roles received over 4,000 responses,” a spokesperson said.

“We will respond to this, and publish our workforce strategy, shortly.”

Ethnic minority target for apprenticeship diversity group

The government launched the Apprenticeship Diversity Champions Network this week. One of its key aims will be to increase the proportion of apprentices from black, Asian and minority ethnic communities by 20 per cent. FE Week’s Alix Robertson went along to the opening event to find out more.

A new employers’ network designed to promote diversity in apprenticeships was launched this week, and it’s put good practice and dispelling myths at the top of its list of priorities.

The Apprenticeship Diversity Champions Network is chaired by Nus Ghani, MP for Wealden, and is made up of 23 employers, including Rolls Royce, the BBC and BAE Systems, alongside other small- and medium-sized employers.

We have to make parents understand that this is a solid step to their child not only learning but earning

One major focus for the new group will be to help the government achieve its commitment to “increase the proportion of apprenticeship starts by people from BAME backgrounds by 20 per cent by 2020”, which was first spelled out in a document called ‘English Apprenticeships: Our 2020 Vision’, published last December.

FE Week asked the Department for Education to put this target into context ahead of the launch event, at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London.

A spokesperson said that the aim would be to increase the proportion of BAME starts from just under 10 per cent at present to 11.9 per cent (which amounts to a 20 per cent increase). The DfE would not confirm where the original 10 per cent figure was taken from.

According to our analysis of the latest available statistics, the problem of BAME underrepresentation in apprenticeships appears to lie more in recruitment than in attracting candidates.

For example, while 38 per cent of the applications for apprenticeships in 2015/16 were from individuals not classed as ‘white British’, they made up just 17.2 per cent of the apprentices taken on for the same year.

We put this to the apprenticeships and skills minister Robert Halfon at the launch, to find out what he and the network were going to do to drive change.

Halfon with Nusrat Ghani, chair of the Apprenticeship Diversity Network

“The ‘Get in Go Far’ apprenticeships promotion campaign is hugely important because it is being shown on social media, on TV, on radio, and in cinemas and it is not just about encouraging people to do apprenticeships, but encouraging employers in terms of recruitment,” he said.

“The diversity network is something very serious because when you have someone like Nus as the ambassador, and you see companies like Balfour Beatty or Rolls Royce successfully employing significant numbers of BAME individuals, then the culture will change.”

He also claimed that schools had to share some of the blame for underrepresentation from BAME groups, saying: “We’ll only achieve this if schools do a lot more to encourage apprenticeships and skills and at the moment they do not.”

Ms Ghani told FE Week that the effort was “also about convincing the parents”.

She added: “We have to make parents understand that this is a solid step to their child not only learning but earning and opening up their opportunities and their career going forward.”

This particular problem was picked out by Mr Halfon during his speech at the launch.

“Sometimes I meet families from different black and minority ethnic backgrounds and they say to me that they just want their kids to go to university, because that is seen as the prestigious route.”

Cultural preconceptions were also raised in speeches made by apprentices at the event.

One of them, Chris Achiampong, a degree-level apprentice with IBM, told his story of growing up on a council estate and being signed by Arsenal football team – but having to give up his dream after a bad injury.

When I first said to my mum that I wasn’t going to university … her heart nearly exploded, she was going crazy

He has subsequently become one of the faces of ‘Get In Go Far’.

“I’m from a Ghanian household,” he said. “My mum came to the UK for a better life and lived in what you would call deprived circumstances. She was a single parent and she believed in the power of education and academic achievement.”

Chris explained that after leaving football he had won a place at Loughborough University to study economics, but declined it in favour of an apprenticeship.

“When I first said to my mum that I wasn’t going to university … her heart nearly exploded, she was going crazy,” he said.

However, he added: “I took her into the offices and she saw everyone else in their suits and she said ‘ok, I can see my boy here’. Now she’s telling all her friends.”

People with disabilities and women also key

The work of the new Apprenticeship Diversity Champions Network is not only focused on improving BAME representation – it will also aim to boost the number of female apprentices and those with disabilities.

Mr Halfon spoke passionately to FE Week about how he hopes the network will widen access to apprenticeships for people with disabilities, by tackling simple day-to-day challenges as well as addressing the bigger picture.

Mr Halfon himself was born with mild cerebral palsy and developed osteoarthritis partly due to undergoing many operations to treat it.

He gave an example of meeting with the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association.

“One of the problems they have is with apprentices not being able to get there because the bus is so troublesome,” he said.

Something as simple as talking buses can help people who have eyesight difficulties to cope with the logistics

“People think of macro government initiatives, but something as simple as talking buses can help people who have eyesight difficulties to cope with the logistics.”

He also highlighted the importance of sharing positive examples, saying: “I very much want ‘Get In Go Far’ to feature a disabled person, and that doesn’t just mean the stereotype of a disabled person in a wheelchair, I want people with autism to have access to apprenticeship too and others.”

The network will also look at the lack of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

“Jaguar Land Rover is working with Warwick College, and setting a great example with I think around 20 per cent of its apprentices being women. If they can do it, why can’t everybody else?” asked Mr Halfon.

“Again, unfortunately this goes right back – not just to secondary school, but primary school. A huge cultural shift is required.”

Manchester merger scrapped by FE Commissioner

One of just two mergers recommended in the troubled Manchester area review has been scrapped following intervention by the FE commissioner, FE Week understands.

Plans to merge Tameside, Oldham and Stockport colleges have been called off after the FE commissioner Richard Atkins visited at least one of them – forcing them back to the drawing board.

The proposal was made at the end of a nine-month process riven by deep tensions between the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and the colleges involved.

Both Oldham and Tameside colleges have told FE Week that the merger is “not going ahead”.

“All three colleges are now considering alternative options”, a spokesperson for Oldham College added.

Oldham received a financial notice of concern from the Skills Funding Agency in November, triggering intervention from Mr Atkins and his team.

FE Week understands that the commissioner made a number of recommendations, including changes to its merger plans, although these have not yet been published.

A formal structure would not achieve our longer-term aims

Meanwhile, Stockport College has already found an alternative merger partner, and is in talks with nearby Trafford College.

Trafford was due to have joined the LTE Group alongside Manchester College, but this plan has now also fallen off the table.

In an email dated February 3 and seen by FE Week, Trafford’s principal Lesley Davies told staff that the merger is expected to go through at the end of December and that she will lead the merged college.

Trafford’s chair Graham Luccock confirmed that the college was in “early discussions” with Stockport over a possible merger

He said the college had reviewed “possible options in detail” with the LTE Group but had “decided that a formal structure would not achieve our longer-term aims”.

But he added: “We fully support the aims for the Manchester area-based review”.

The new merger plan comes after Stockport was rated ‘inadequate’ in an Ofsted report published in November.

It’s not known whether the report triggered a visit from Mr Atkins’ team, as the college had previously been subject to intervention from the FE commissioner.

The college was placed in administered status in December 2013 following a visit from Mr Atkins’ predecessor Sir David Collins, and it’s unclear if this was ever lifted. FE Week asked Stockport College for a response, but was told that the only person who could comment was its principal Simon Andrews, who was out of the country.

The college’s deputy principal was not fully briefed on matters relating to the college’s merger plans, and the college chair was unavailable, a spokesperson said.

As previously reported by FE Week, the Greater Manchester area review has been one of the most problematic of the reviews of post-16 education and training.

It began in September 2015 but didn’t come to an end until June 2016 – making it the longest of the reviews so far – and caused serious ructions between the colleges and the GMCA, which chaired the process. Despite 10 general FE colleges and 11 sixth form colleges taking part, it ended with just two proposed mergers involving five colleges.

In a statement seen by FE Week in June, the GMCA said it “remains to be convinced” that the proposed outcomes would meet the skills need for Manchester.

The final report into the Greater Manchester review, published in November, said that the three-way Stockport, Oldham and Tameside merger would create a “new post-16 institution which focuses on progression to high quality technical education and training”.

But it acknowledged that “Stockport College is financially weak, and all three colleges were graded ‘requires improvement’ in their most recent Ofsted inspection”.

A spokesperson for the Department for Education would not be drawn on whether Mr Atkins recommended that the colleges change their merger plans, saying: “The FE commissioner is working with Oldham College and stakeholders in the area.”

Theresa Grant, Trafford Council’s chief executive, who chaired the Greater Manchester area review on behalf on the GMCA, declined to comment.