A further education college has plummeted from the highest to lowest overall grade after its first Ofsted inspection in more than seven years.

Mid-Cheshire College (MCC) has been slammed by the education watchdog, which branded its provision ‘inadequate’ overall, with six out of seven headline fields also rated as ‘inadequate’.

Inspectors last visited the college in November 2008, when it was rated ‘outstanding’ across the board.

Today’s report is highly critical of the standard of 16 to 19 study programmes at the college, which it says account for around two thirds of the college’s 2,600 learners.

“The requirements of study programmes are not met,” the report says.

Learners on study programmes “make slow progress in improving their skills, knowledge and understanding” and “do not have sufficient opportunity to develop essential employability skills to prepare them for work and life beyond college,” the report says.

“Too little” teaching on study programmes “is sufficiently challenging” and many learners “do not achieve the high grades they are capable of”, the report says.

The proportion of learners “who achieve functional skills qualifications in mathematics and English is low,” it continues.

College leaders were criticised for having “allowed the quality of provision to decline to unacceptably low standards”.

However, inspectors were more positive about MCC’s apprenticeship provision, which they rated as ‘good’.

“Well-managed apprenticeship programmes, developed in collaboration with employers, enable the majority of apprentices to make good progress and achieve,” the report says.

“Leaders and managers work closely with employers to ensure apprenticeships meet local and national needs,” and “the majority of apprentices gain sustained employment or promotion,” inspectors found.

MCC principal Richard Hollywood (pictured right), who took over in 2013 following the retirement of long-term former principal John Reilly, said the college had an improvement plan in place before the inspection “which Ofsted recognised during their visit”.

“We have already implemented significant changes to address the more immediate issues and myself, the Governors and the staff are fully focused and determined to bring about the required improvements,” Mr Hollywood said.

“My staff and I remain fully focused on our students and helping them to achieve their aspirational goals,” he added.

Neighbouring West Cheshire College, located 20 miles away from MCC, was also rated ‘inadequate’ in November. Both colleges are currently part of the Cheshire and Warrington area review, which began in January.

Today’s report comes a day after Ofsted boss Sir Michael Wilshaw told MPs on the education selection committee that he believed 16 to 19-year-olds should be taught in schools.

An Ofsted spokesperson said: “As an outstanding college it was exempt from inspection unless its performance declined in accordance with legislation.

“Ofsted carries out risk assessment of all outstanding provisions and can conduct an inspection where it has concerns.”

City College Plymouth (CCP) has become the second college to join the 157 Group since it exclusively revealed its expansion plans to FE Week in January, bringing membership of the group to 28.

The group’s chief executive, Ian Pretty (pictured above), said he was “pleased to welcome” CCP, which was rated ‘good’ by Ofsted at its most recent inspection in 2012, “to our network of forward thinking, entrepreneurial colleges”.

Today’s announcement comes a little over a month after Cardiff and Vale College became the first college to join the 157 Group after it exclusively revealed to FE Week that it was planning to expand following a strategic review.

At the time, Mr Pretty said they had had enquiries about joining the group from 15 colleges.

“City College Plymouth is a pillar in their region with excellent employer engagement and apprenticeship programmes and an exciting plan for investing in a new STEM Centre of Excellence,” said Mr Pretty about the group’s newest member.

“City College Plymouth will make an excellent addition to our network of forward thinking, entrepreneurial colleges around the country and we look forward to working with them,” he added.

CCP, which has an SFA allocation of £9.1m and an EFA allocation of £10.8m for 2015/16, was awarded the Association of Colleges Beacon award for promotion and delivery of successful apprenticeships in 2015/16.

Phil Davies, CCP principal, said: “At City College, we work extremely hard to build and sustain mutually favourable partnerships with leading local, regional and national employers.

“To have that hard work recognised by such an influential group is simply marvellous, and we can’t wait to get started supporting the 157 Group in their mission to transform professional and technical education and support the UK’s productive economy.

“After all, their mission very much reflects our own.”

Sixth Form College members of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) have voted for strike action.

The ballot, which closed today, showed 86 per cent of members in favour of action on Tuesday, March 15, from a 44 per cent turnout.

The question put to members was “In order to persuade the Secretary of State for Education [Nicky Morgan] to increase presently inadequate funding levels which cause detrimental changes to terms and conditions within the sixth form college sector are you prepared to take a day’s strike action?”

A total of 1,689 NUT members took part in the ballot, with 1,453 voting for the strike action and 235 against.

Kevin Courtney, NUT deputy general secretary, said: “This strong ballot result shows the strength of feeling among sixth form college teachers.

“They provide a vital service to over 150,000 young people, many of whom are from disadvantaged backgrounds.”

He added many colleges will face closure if cutbacks to their government funding are not reversed.

“Funding has already been cut in real terms by 14 per cent and further real terms cuts of 8 per cent are now planned,” he said.

“Colleges are dropping courses and increasing class sizes. This clearly has a direct impact on the terms and conditions of our members as well as the education of many young people.

“The situation is untenable. It is simply wrong that Government has put NUT members in the position that the only way to defend their terms and conditions is by taking strike action.”

But David Igoe, chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association, refused to back the strike.

He said: “We have no problem standing alongside the NUT in a campaign to improve the funding levels for sixth form colleges.

“However, we consider this strike action to be ill-timed and ill-judged.

“It comes at a critical time in preparing students for public examinations in the summer and any disruption to that learning is regrettable.

“It also comes at a time when many colleges are actively recruiting and find themselves in very competitive environments.

“The signal this strike gives to potential parents and students is that Sixth Form Colleges are less stable institutions than other post-16 providers and that cannot be in the interest of the Union’s members.”

A Department for Education spokesman said: “Any strike action is disappointing. The disruption caused by strikes holds back children’s education and damages the reputation of the profession.

“We recognise the importance of investing in education which is why, thanks to the difficult decisions we have taken elsewhere, we have been able to protect core 16 to 19 funding.

“At the same time we have ended the unfair difference between post-16 schools and colleges by funding them per student to ensure that all young people leave education with the skills they need to thrive in modern Britain.”

Ofqual chair Amanda Spielman will act as chief regulator on an interim basis when Glenys Stacey leaves next week, it has been revealed.

The former merchant banker and strategy consultant-turned education professional will take up the post on Tuesday and serve until a permanent replacement for Ms Stacey is found by the Department for Education.

Ms Stacey, who has led the regulator for five years, announced in August that she would stand down at the end of this month.

Ms Spielman has been chair of Ofqual since 2011, having arrived shortly before the “GCSE fiasco” of 2012 – when results for English GCSE dipped dramatically after the regulator made changes to stop what otherwise would have been a dramatic increase in top grades.

The regulator said the next chief regulator would be announced “in due course”.

The government has finally confirmed that cash will be available for colleges to implement area review recommendations – almost two weeks after FE Week exclusively revealed details of the planned restructuring facility.

However, the Department for Business Innovation and Skills’ updated guidance on area reviews, published today, does not give a figure for the size of the pot.

Cash from the restructuring facility will be available to FE and sixth form colleges to “support recommendations arising from all waves” of the area reviews, the guidance says.

Colleges will be expected to seek alternative sources of funds for implementing the area review recommendations but “in cases where the required funding cannot otherwise be secured there is a restructuring facility available”.

As previously reported in FE Week, the “default position” of the facility, which is being held by the Treasury, “will be that where public funding is required it will be provided as a loan on commercial terms” and it will “cover only a proportion of the total costs”.

In exceptional cases, the guidance states, cash may be available as a non-repayable grant. This would only be available where the “combination of net liabilities” and “one off costs” would lead to “significant financial detriment to the financial position of one of the parties involved”.

Cash from the restructuring facility will be available until March 2019, although “any funding for waves one and two will largely be provided prior to March 2017”.

The guidance also reveals that colleges will no longer be able to apply for Exceptional Financial Support after implementation of the review recommendations for their area.

“A key objective of the reviews is that they result in resilient institutions in each area and therefore no further Exceptional Financial Support will be available for colleges following the implementation of review recommendations in the relevant area,” the guidance states.

“If colleges fail in future there should be a process which allows them to close in an orderly way which protects learners,” it continues.

“The government is proposing to introduce an insolvency regime for FE and sixth form colleges which would come into effect around the end of implementation of the area review process.”

> Principal breaks silence on ‘very short’ timescales for DfE applications
> Government defends linking opportunity to area review deadlines

A principal has spoken out over the “significant pressure” being placed on dozens of sixth-form colleges (SFCs) that have been given just a few weeks to complete the complex application process for academy status.

The Department for Education (DfE) finally published guidance on how SFCs can go about converting to academies on February 19.

And although providers involved with phase one of the post-16 area reviews were given draft guidance at the end of last month, it still left the 33 SFCs involved with little time to digest the information and potentially lodge applications before the process closes for many in March.

FE Week contacted all of them over the past week and of the six that provided detailed responses, in which they all confirmed they were actively considering academisation, the principal of Hartlepool SFC Alex Fau-Goodwin (pictured) felt strongly enough to go on the record.

He said the timescale was far too tight for his college, which is part of the Tees Valley area review, and for many others.

“As a college in wave one, this places significant pressure on effective strategic decision making in order to meet the timescales of the area review,” said Mr Fau-Goodwin.

“When you consider the [academy status] application process, colleges are required to complete a detailed return to include details on collaboration with named schools, strategic financial planning and forecasting, governance structures, and information about the estate.

He added: “The ink is still drying on the guidance document, yet colleges in wave one are expected to submit these proposals in a very short timescale, this is going to be difficult.

“There needs to be an acknowledgement of the amount of work required with multiple partners to prepare for conversion, as such, time scales will need to be reviewed accordingly.”

SFCs can only convert to become an academy as part of the area review process, according to the guidance DfE guidance document.

A total of 33 SFCs and 50 general FE colleges across seven areas are involved in the first wave of area reviews, which began between September and November.

FE Week understands that a number of these areas will be publishing their reports, including final recommendations, in March.

This leaves some SFCs with less than a month to reach a decision — a timescale that another principal who asked to remain anonymous described as not long enough to “consider fully this criteria and to make an informed decision about conversion, let alone complete a 12 page application”.

James Kewin, deputy chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges’ Association, said they had been pressing the DfE on the timescales for academisation.

“We continue to make the case for SFCs in waves one and two [of area reviews] to have a greater degree of flexibility in developing proposals for academy status.

“Some SFCs in wave one have been given a matter of weeks to provide information (identifying potential partner schools for example) that colleges in wave five will have almost a year to prepare,” he said.

David Igoe, the chief executive of the SFCA, writing exclusively for FE Week (see page 14 in the newspaper), also looked at the advantages and disadvantages for converting to academies, and described the “real prize” as being “taken seriously as part of the 16-19, sixth form landscape.”

The DfE guidance stated that the key assessment criteria for conversion is the development of “stronger partnership and collaboration between the college and schools with which they will work”.

Colleges that propose to “establish or join a multi-academy trust (MATs) should be well-placed to meet the partnership criteria”, the guidance states.

Only SFCs that are “financially and educationally strong [assessed by the department and Ofsted as good or outstanding for both]” will have the option of converting to become a standalone academy.

A spokesperson for the DfE said it had given SFCs draft guidance ahead of publishing the full guidance, which FE Week understands was sent to wave one sixth form colleges on January 25.

This, the DfE said, was “to enable them to begin preparing applications, and we have extended timeframes for all wave one reviews to allow colleges time to consider the guidance and submit their application”.

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Editorial: Don’t be Bole’d over

It is unfair and short sighted of the Department for Education to force sixth form colleges in the first round of area reviews to prepare and apply for academy status in just over four weeks, when others in future rounds are likely to get at least a year.

This is all a consequence of Skills Minister Nick Boles’ decision to force through the one time only area reviews under unreasonably tight deadlines.

It is hard to understand why decisions over academisation are being tied to area reviews anyway.

The colleges that don’t need immediate rescuing from financial problems should be allowed to take their time to make reasoned decisions over whether they want to make the switch in the interests of their learners and future.

It’s also one thing to complain off-the-record about the rushed process, but another entirely to have the guts and conviction to break ranks and speak publicly.

So full-credit to Alex Fau-Goodwin for having the courage of his convictions and expressing his views so openly and well.

Nick linford

The Association of Colleges (AoC) has said it supports the banning of subcontracted loan-funded provision from 2017/18.

The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) first announced on Monday that advanced learner loans would have to be delivered directly by lead providers after the next academic year.

It explained in its Update bulletin two days later that the decision followed “a review of subcontracted loans delivery and learner and sector feedback” and would “protect the interests of learners who use loans for their training, and public funds”.

“We have allowed an 18-month period to enable lead contractors and current loans subcontractors to transition to the new arrangements,” it added. “This will minimise any disruption for current learners, whose loans-funded training is subcontracted.”

The AoC has now backed the move.

A spokesperson told FE Week: “It’s important that people taking out student loans get the right advice and are completely clear about who is teaching their course, so there’s a case to remove sub-contracting from the FE loan scheme.

“There’s been a similar, though voluntary, shift away from sub-contracting for loan-supported provision in higher education.

“It is right that SFA has given advance notice of the change, because this gives time for colleges and providers to rearrange their activities and also to run through the implications for officials.”

The SFA said delivery of all loans-funded subcontracted learning aims had to be completed by July 31 next year.

Providers should also “not enter any new subcontracting agreements for the delivery of loans funded provision in 2016 to 2017, over and above those which they are already be engaged with in 2015 to 2016,” it added.

Meanwhile, in 2016/17 “any provider which holds a loans facility directly with the SFA cannot also act as a subcontractor to another prime contractor for the delivery of loan funded provision.”

The agency has been contacting existing loans subcontractors “whom it considers may meet its criteria to access a loans facility directly”.

These organisations could, where applicable, be invited to apply for a direct loan facility for the 2016/2017 funding year.

It comes after SFA funding and programmes director Keith Smith warned college leaders last November they needed to face up to a future without sub-contracting loans.

But Stewart Segal, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers told FE Week: “Where a subcontracting [loan] arrangement works for both a prime and a subcontractor and more specifically the learner then those arrangements should be allowed to continue, as they allow for greater learner choice.

“We should therefore monitor the situation over a longer period before making any changes.”

There were 75,400 learners with a 24+ Advanced Learning Loan in 2014/15, as revealed in the January Statistical First Release. It represented an increase of 28 per cent on 59,100 in 2013/14, but that is still thought to be well below the government’s target take-up.