A Liverpool-based independent learning provider (ILP) has launched an appeal after it slumped from its previous ‘good’ Ofsted rating to ‘inadequate’.
The report on Oakmere Community College, which recruits around 300 learners each year on 16–19 study programmes, rated the ILP as inadequate across the board. The rating was down from its previous ‘good’ Ofsted rating in March 2012.
Bosses at the ILP, which has been allocated around £5m by the Education Funding Agency for this academic year, said they were appealing against the result of the report, which was highly critical of learner attendance, among other issues.
It said: “Too many learners do not attend lessons regularly or on time. As a result, they learn little and do not achieve their potential.
“The poor pattern of attendance and punctuality interrupts the learning of those who do attend regularly and slows their progress.”
The proportion of learners on study programmes who successfully achieved their qualifications, the report warned, was also “low”.
It added that this proportion was “significantly lower than other providers, with less than half of learners achieving their qualification in the last year”.
Managers were also criticised for failing to “manage successfully the transition to study programmes from foundation learning programmes which they offered at the last inspection”.
“They do not ensure that the full requirements of study programmes are met for all learners; for example, not all learners benefit from good work experience,” the report, published on January 18, added.
It said: “Managers have not developed effective arrangements to monitor learners’ attendance and punctuality, which have been low for the last two years.”
“Oakmere’s strategy to ensure a high standard of teaching in English and mathematics lacks detail and too few learners achieve their qualifications,” it said.
It added that “too many learners do not benefit from a well-planned individual study programme” and too few gained from “well-structured, well-planned and suitable work experience which meets their individual needs and aspirations”.
However, the report said that staff worked well with external agencies “to safeguard the welfare of all learners”.
“The majority of staff have recently completed training on how to identify extremism and radicalisation and how to protect learners. However, they are yet to use this information in their work with learners,” it added.
It also pointed out that “leaders and managers place a strong focus on engaging and recruiting learners who are hardest to reach”.
A spokesperson from the ILP said: “We are of course extremely disappointed with the Ofsted report and are robustly defending the outcome through the appeals process and therefore cannot say more at this time.”
Ofsted has said it will not comment on individual cases.
Skills Minister Nick Boles will face a grilling from MPs on the Committee on Education, Skills and the Economy on Monday (January 25).
A spokesperson for the committee, created from sub-committees of the Education and the Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) select committees, said Mr Boles would be questioned on a number of FE-related issues including apprenticeships, careers advice, and science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects.
“The committee will [also] quiz Mr Boles about his role as a joint Minister in the Departments for Education and Business, Innovation and Skills, and about how effectively two departments work together on education and skills matters,” the spokesperson added.
It comes after the committee launched an inquiry into careers advice, information and guidance before Christmas, as reported in FE Week.
It is looking at issues such as the quality of current careers advice and its effectiveness in supporting people into apprenticeships, focusing in particular on developments since publication of the Education Committee report Careers guidance for young people: The impact of the new duty on schools, in 2013.
The committee held its first meeting on December 7 and is jointly chaired by Iain Wright (pictured above left), MP for Hartlepool and chair of the BIS Select Committee and Neil Carmichael (pictured above right), MP for Stroud and chair of the Education Select Committee.
The date when the restriction requiring providers to have grade one or two Ofsted ratings to run traineeships will be lifted has been moved forward from August to the start of next month.
The announcement was made in the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) Update bulletin published on its website this afternoon.
Currently, only outstanding and good providers can deliver the programme, introduced in 2013, although they can subcontract to grade three (‘requires improvement’) and non-inspected providers.
But the government announced on December 7 that its grade one and two (outstanding and good, respectively) restriction was being removed from August, which had been repeatedly called for by the Association of Employment and Learning Providers.
Today’s notice, however, stated that the SFA “will bring this rule change forward to February 1, as detailed in the Funding Rules 2015 to 2016 Version 2 Addendum 3.
“All other 2015 to 2016 funding rules continue to apply. If you have an existing funding allocation and the appropriate contractual arrangements, you will be able to deliver traineeships ahead of the 2016 to 2017 funding year,” it added.
They both stated: “When we introduced traineeships we required that providers are graded ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted in order to ensure quality from the outset, but said we would keep this under review as the programme develops.
“Now that traineeships are fully established and getting excellent results for young people, from 2016/17 we will place them on a par with other provision by removing this requirement.”
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Thinking about delivering Traineeships? Check out Nick Linford’s practical funding workshops taking place in February. Click here for more info
Fintan Donohue has retired from his role as chief executive of the Gazelle Colleges Group after more than four years at the helm.
Mr Donohue said that Carolyn Chapman-Lees, Gazelle’s executive director, would be the troubled group’s “key contact going forward”, in an email to FE Week today.
It is the first confirmation seen by FE Week that he has left the post, and comes after Mr Donohue said in early December that he would be retiring by December 31.
Gazelle chair, and principal of Highbury College, Portsmouth, Stella Mbubaegbu said at the time: “All of the members, past and present pay tribute to the vision and ground breaking thinking that Fintan has brought to the enterprise and entrepreneurship agenda in our sector.”
A spokesperson for the Gazelle Colleges Group said the chief executive role “will not be replaced at this point in time”.
The Gazelle Colleges Group was formed in 2011 and claimed to “develop innovative new learning models and new partnerships with business to deliver an improved outcome for students, their communities and the economy”.
During Mr Donohue’s time at the head of the group membership had dropped from a high of 23 colleges to just 10, as reported by FE Week in September.
It had also slashed its membership fees by over half, from £35k to just £15k.
In 2014, Gazelle was the subject of an FE Week investigation which found that colleges had paid more than £3.5m in membership fees with no evidence of the benefits of Gazelle membership.
Mr Donohue is listed on Companies House as a director for Public Sector Entrepreneurship Ltd, which was incorporated on November 6. Signe Sutherland, who was deputy principal of North Hertfordshire College while Mr Donohue was principal, and became principal after Mr Donohue, is also listed as a director for the new company.
Neither Mr Donohue nor Ms Chapman-Lees was available for comment further at the time of going to press.
Association of Colleges (AoC) chief Martin Doel has spoken out to say that new government funding for Muslim women to learn English “does not make up for” previous cuts to English language provision.
Mr Doel’s comments came in response to an op-ed by Prime Minister David Cameron in today’s edition of The Times, where he announced that the government would be providing a £20m English language tuition fund with the aim of helping Muslim women integrate into British society.
The new scheme will be targeted to women in specific communities, based on a ongoing review into segregation in England. Classes will take place in homes, schools and community facilities, with travel and childcare costs provided.
In the article Mr Cameron said: “Britain has a claim to be the most successful multi-faith, multi-racial democracy on the planet. We got here because we fought and won those long struggles for liberty, equality and mutual tolerance.
“But the job of building a more cohesive country is never complete. With English language and women’s empowerment as our next frontier, I believe we can bring Britain together and build the stronger society that is within reach.”
Mr Doel responded to the PM’s announcement with a statement, pointing out that the government has made a 50 per cent (£160m) reduction in the funds available for courses that teach English for speakers of other languages (Esol) from 2008 to 2015.
“We share the Prime Minister’s determination to promote integration but his plans to promote the learning of English need to encompass all communities, as well as focusing on women mainly from the Muslim community,” he said.
“This latest funding announcement does not make up for a 50% (£160m) reduction in the funds available for teaching Esol courses between 2008 and 2015.”
Mr Doel said that recent spending cuts have impacted on the number of people learning English in FE, with “approximately 2,000 fewer women attending Esol courses in the last year”.
He added: “Many high-level professionals come to this country but their language skills mean they are held back from offering their vital skills to the economy.”
It comes after around 600 staff and students from a range of colleges gathered at the Houses of Parliament in October to protest against a recent cut to Esol funding, in an event led by campaign group Action for Esol and the University and College Union London branch.
The demonstrators were protesting against the government’s decision in July to cut funding for a £45m programme of English courses for foreign language speakers, run with Jobcentre Plus, but no members of government were present to respond.
A Department for Business Innovation and Skills spokesperson declined to comment at the time on why no representative had been present or whether the rally would influence Esol policy.
Members of the Apprenticeship Delivery Board (ADB) tasked with advising the government on how it can hit its target of 3m starts by 2020 have finally been unveiled, five months after its creation was first announced.
The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) announced “the creation” of the ADB on July 22, but little had been said since with regards to its membership or whether any meetings had taken place, which prompted FE Week to question the agency repeatedly on these issues since the turn of the year.
The SFA said on January 8 that further information on ADB would be announced in “due course” and was due to respond over whether any meetings have taken place this afternoon.
However, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) said this morning that it would be chaired by the Prime Minister’s apprenticeship advisor Nadhim Zahawi, Conservative MP for Stratford-Upon-Avon, and businessman and apprenticeship champion David Meller (both pictured above), who already chairs the Apprenticeship Ambassador Network.
Other board members will include David Abraham, chief executive of Channel 4, Mike Thompson, head of apprenticeships at Barclays, Andrew Parmley, an alderman for the City of London, and Rami Ranger CBE, chairman of Sun Mark Ltd.
In addition, the BIS spokesperson said Melanie Hayes, resourcing and development director at Compass Group, Simon Blagden MBE, non-executive chairman at Fujitsu, and James Wates CBE, chairman, Wates Construction, would also serve on the board.
Mr Zahawi said: “I’m proud that we’ve been able to put together such an exciting line up of top business leaders for the ADB.
“I look forward to working closely with them all, raising further awareness of the business benefits of apprenticeships and providing feedback on how to continually improve quality, as well as quantity.
“As ever more great British businesses get involved, and with the inclusion of higher and degree level apprenticeships, we can raise the status of apprenticeships while delivering 3m starts by 2020; a target which provides us with an unmissable opportunity to change lives, boost skills and increase productivity in the UK economy.”
The government also confirmed in July that Richard Harrington MP, Conservative MP for Watford, was the Prime Minister’s official advisor on apprenticeships at the time.
However, a BIS spokesperson told FE Week this morning that Mr Harrington was no longer the official advisor on apprenticeships, as this post is now occupied by Mr Zahawi.
Mr Meller also established the Meller Education Trust, and is joint chair of his family business, the Meller Group, one of the largest luxury home and beauty suppliers in the UK.
Seven FE and skills providers have been told by Skills Minister Nick Boles that their FE Commissioner interventions have come to an end, FE Week can reveal.
Letters confirming the conclusion of Dr David Collins’ involvement with the five colleges and two local authorities were published before Christmas and earlier this month, after being sent to the providers between September and November.
Dr David Collins
They were Stoke-on-Trent College, Guildford College, New College Nottingham, Weymouth College, the Marine Society College of the Sea, Norfolk County Council, and Wandsworth Borough Council.
The Skills Minister’s letter to 15,000-learner Stoke-on-Trent College, dated October 26, marked the end of an intervention which began in November 2014, when Dr Collins was called in following concerns by the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) over the college’s finances.
Sarah Robinson, chief executive at the college (pictured above left), said: “The report reflects the FE Commissioner’s confidence that the college is financially able to sustain its improvements and services to the local community in the future.”
A notice of concern from the SFA was also the trigger for a visit to Guildford College by one of Dr Collins’ advisers in August 2014.
His report on the 9,476 learner college, which was rated as ‘requires improvement’ following its last Ofsted inspection in July, highlighted cash flow for its planned capital programme as the “key risk” facing the college.
Mr Boles’ letter to the college, dated September 10, confirmed that the college had addressed the necessary improvements to end the FE Commissioner’s involvement.
Dr Mike Potter, principal of Guildford College Group, said the college had “valued the support of the FE Commissioner and his team in helping the college through a period of great change”.
In his letter to Norfolk County Council, dated October 26, Mr Boles said that he was “heartened” by the action taken by the council to improve its adult education service.
The FE Commissioner’s visit to the 11,500-learner service in April came after it was branded inadequate by Ofsted in March.
Richard Bearman, chair of the Norfolk County Council Adult Education Steering Group, said: “I welcome the recognition that our improvement plan is working.”
Nick Boles
Mr Boles’ letter to Wandsworth Borough Council, also dated October 26, confirmed that Dr Collins’ intervention at the council’s lifelong learning service, which began in February following an inadequate Ofsted rating in January 2015, had ended.
A spokesperson for the council said: “We’re obviously pleased that with the support of the Commissioner we’ve been able to raise service standards up to the desired level within such a short period of time.”
In a letter dated November 17, the Skills Minister confirmed that Weymouth College was no longer in administered college status.
As previously reported by FE Week, Dr Collins’ involvement at the 4,000 learner college, which improved its Ofsted rating from inadequate to good in December, began in March 2014 following SFA concerns over its financial health.
Nigel Evans, interim principal at Weymouth (pictured above right), said: “We’re happy that we’ve come out of administered status and delighted to be a good college. We want to do the right thing.”
In his letter to New College Nottingham (NCN), dated November 4, Mr Boles confirmed that the FE Commissioner’s intervention at the college had ended in recognition of “progress against the recommendations made as part of the original assessment [by the FE Commissioner’s team] and “on the basis that the college has decided to merge with Central College Nottingham”.
As previously reported by FE Week, Dr Collins was called in to the 20,000-learner college in February following an SFA notice of concern over its finances.
Dawn Whitemore, NCN principal, told FE Week in November that she was delighted the college’s progress had been recognised by Dr Collins.
Dr Collins visited the provider, which has around 350 learners each year, on December 10, 2014, after it was slapped with an inadequate Ofsted rating in November 2014.
Mark Windsor, MSSC director of lifelong learning, told FE Week in November that he was “delighted” at the end of Dr Collins’ intervention.
Provider comments in full:
Stoke-on-Trent College
Sarah Robinson, chief executive of Stoke-on-Trent College said: “Stoke-on-Trent College is performing well with strong enrolments in all areas. However, there is a legacy of relatively high levels of borrowing to invest in the basic infrastructure of the estate.
“The college commissioned KPMG to review efficiencies prior to the FE Commissioner’s report and, with the support of the FE Commissioner’s team over the last twelve months, we have ensured we have exceeded all targets resulting in a strong operating position for last year.
“The college is engaged in wave two of area reviews and is now modelling opportunities, challenges and risks in respect of future funding models.
“The report reflects the FE Commissioner’s confidence that the college is financially able to sustain its improvements and services to the local community in the future.”
Guildford College
Dr Mike Potter, principal of Guildford College Group, said: “After all our hard work, we are naturally pleased that the FE Commissioner is satisfied that his engagement in the current process with the College is now complete.
“We have, however, certainly valued the support of the FE Commissioner and his team in helping the college through a period of great change.
“These nevertheless remain challenging times for the FE sector and we remain focused on providing quality education and training for our students and local employers.”
Norfolk County Council
Richard Bearman, chair of the Norfolk County Council Adult Education Steering Group, said: “We’re pleased that both the FE Commissioner, and Ofsted in their recent re-inspection monitoring visit, have acknowledged the significant progress made since the initial Ofsted report in March 2015.
“I welcome the recognition that our improvement plan is working and thanks to the hard work of staff we are clearly heading in the right direction. The commitment shown by all the staff and senior managers for adult education has given the cross-party steering group confidence for the future of this service in Norfolk.”
Wandsworth Borough Council
A spokesperson said: “We’re obviously pleased that with the support of the Commissioner we’ve been able to raise service standards up to the desired level within such a short period of time.
“This support was particularly useful in helping the service strengthen its strategic planning and prioritise its resources. The service is now moving forward with a much clearer view of how it can maximise funding for the benefit of local residents.”
Weymouth College
Nigel Evans, interim principal at Weymouth College, said: “Dr Collins and his team have been very helpful to us, in terms of providing clarity, and supporting us by asking us some quite challenging questions and ones that helped guide us. We’re happy in the sense that we’ve come out of administered status and we’re delighted to be a good college. We want to do the right thing.
“He made it very clear to us when we went into administered status what we had to do, and we’ve done it. In that sense, we’re pleased. Clearly, we haven’t suddenly gone from a notice of concern to outstanding, so we have to be on our toes at all times. I think we are in a different place.
“We have to be continually financial vigilant and at the same time put the needs of the students at the centre of what we do, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
New College Nottingham
Dawn Whitemore, principal at New College Nottingham said: “We’re on track to achieve our planned £1m surplus in 2015/2016.”
Mark Windsor, MSSC director of lifelong learning, said: “We are delighted the Skills Minister has confirmed that the charity has made sufficient progress and therefore FE Commissioner-led intervention is no longer needed.”
The FE sector is “inadequate at best” according to Ofsted’s Sir Michael Wilshaw, who has also hit out at colleges’ “uniformly weak” careers advice on offer.
He is due to make the comments in a speech later this afternoon, called ‘Ambitions for English Education’, for the thinktank CentreForum.
“Educational provision, for the many children who do not succeed at 16 or who would prefer an alternative to higher education, is inadequate at best and non-existent at worst,” Sir Michael is expected to say.
Responding to achievement targets for 16-year-olds, set out by CentreForum in its annual report, published Friday (January 15), he is due to say: “But what of the quarter to a third of youngsters who cannot achieve those challenging targets? What is to become of them?
“Even when I was head at Mossbourne Academy in Hackney, which had a great academic reputation, 20 per cent of youngsters failed to reach our targets.
“Most of them went to a local FE college, usually a large, impersonal and amorphous institution, and did badly.”
Sir Michael is also expected to criticise the standard of careers advice on offer at schools and colleges.
“Preparation for employment remains poor and careers guidance in both schools and colleges is uniformly weak,” he is expected to say.
He adds: “No area of the country, however, can really claim to succeed when it comes to provision for those youngsters who do not do well at 16.
“Nor can we say that we are really delivering high-quality vocational education to youngsters of all abilities who would prefer to take this route.
“The statistics show that those who fail to achieve the required grades in maths and English at 16 make little or no progress in FE colleges two years later.
“The 16-19 Study Programme is yet to make an impact on these success rates.”
Sir Michael is also expected to outline his vision for what he called “federations” of schools, which would include university technical colleges “that would admit youngsters across the ability range to focus on apprenticeships at levels 4, 3 and 2”.
“It would not be a dumping ground for the disaffected and cater just for the lower-ability youngsters.”
The 157 Group is set for expansion following a strategic review, chief executive Ian Pretty has revealed in an exclusive interview with FE Week in which he claimed that up to 15 colleges had already asked about signing up.
The results of the review were explained at an event in London on Thursday (January 14) and Mr Pretty, who took over from executive director Dr Lynne Sedgmore in September, said members told him they wanted the group to grow.
Mr Pretty (pictured above), whose previous roles included senior roles in HMRC, the Cabinet Office and Capgemini, told FE Week: “The members wanted to take the 157 Group in a different direction, which is why they took the conscious decision to hire someone from outside the sector.
“What I said to them was in order to create this new mandate for the 157 Group we need to undertake a strategic review — the members agreed.”
He added: “Our members have agreed that we should look to take on new member colleges. We have 26 members at present and there has been discussion over whether we want to have more or less in future. We decided to look at expanding.
“I am aware that anywhere between 10 and 15 colleges who have expressed an interest in joining us, with the bulk of those contacting us over the last six months.”
The 157 Group is now based at Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College, which according to the representative organisation’s website was still a member, even though it was hit with an inadequate Ofsted rating in December. It indicates a relaxation of previous membership guidelines, as Dr Sedgmore said in March 2014, with an “honourable agreement” existing among members that they would “voluntarily leave” if served with a grade four Ofsted rating.
Mr Pretty said: “A set of new attributes have been agreed to assess any future requests from a college to join. Colleges would typically be large, diverse, technically and professionally focused, employer facing, focused (or aspiring to focus) on level three four and five provision and successful.”
But, he said: “Ofsted grades one and two are regarded as successful, but inadequate is not, but there are other factors to be taken into account. There are a number of indicators of success that could be considered, for example if a college has been given a Beacon Award or impressive success rates.”
Mr Pretty acknowledged the 157 Group “was previously very focused on influencing government policy”. But he said following the review “we want to move toward a heavier focus on policy implementation — so, for example, how we can work with the government to help in area such as the development of Institutes of Technology and technical and professional education pathways including apprenticeships.
“I’m of the view that there is little to be gained from spending an awful lot of time on trying to affect a policy decision,” he said.
Mr Pretty said that over the next five years members aimed to, for example, support devolution, find alternative funding streams to government payments, and identify cost efficiencies which “means effectively collaborative buying” for example with energy suppliers.
Stick to founding principles not floundering principals
The 157 Group was set up in 2006 because of a perceived gap in the market.
Sir Andrew Foster described in paragraph 157 of his review of FE colleges the need for “greater involvement of principals in national representation”.
Specifically, “those from larger, successful colleges where management capacity and capability exists to release them for this work.”
The Association of Colleges represents nearly all colleges, so Foster’s paragraph 157 spawned a new membership organisation, with very particular “large and successful” entry requirements.
Jump forward a decade and the 157 Group has its second boss in chief executive Ian Pretty consulting with members as to where to take the organisation next.
Growing the large and successful college membership is to be encouraged, but at what cost to the group’s reputation if unsuccessful colleges aren’t politely shown the door?
Foster was right that the FE sector needed a 157 Group and I wish Ian and the new team another decade of success.
