Latest news from FE Week

CONEL first London college to offer basketball BTEC

The College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London will become the first college in London to offer a course in basketball.

The London-based college will launch its BTEC level three diploma in basketball from September this year, developing it in partnership with the London School of Basketball.

The new course will offer a basketball curriculum aimed at those interested in the sport both practically and theoretically, with topics including sport-specific coaching, physical education theory, sports psychology and physical application.

CONEL already runs a basketball academy from its sports centre in Enfield with the LSB, and there are plans to integrate aspects of this with the new course.

In order to raise the profile of the academy – which recently appointed former Team GB coach Jay Williams as head coach – the college has launched a tournament for year 10 and 11 pupils at schools across Enfield, hoping to scout new players for the start of the next academic year.

Nhamo Shire, director of the London School of Basketball, said: “The performance of the academy so far this year has been remarkable. All the players have improved dramatically in a very short space of time.”

Main image: Ballers: The college’s 2016/17 elite squad

First ever procurement process for adult education budget contracts finally launched

The first ever procurement process for adult education budget contracts has finally been launched by the Skills Funding Agency.

FE Week reported two weeks ago that the procurement process had been given the ministerial green light, from secretary of state for education, Justine Greening, and was expected to begin within days.

The Skills Funding Agency first wrote to training providers in October and told them that their current AEB contracts would come to an end this July, rather than having them automatically renewed as before.

Invitation to tender for education and training services – Adult Education Budget 2017 to 2018

Now letters have been sent out and a new document, called Invitation to tender for education and training services – Adult Education Budget 2017 to 2018, has revealed the funding and timetable arrangements.

FE Week also, for example, today spotted an invitation to tender for education and training services – Adult Education Budget 2017 to 2018, for the North East, North West, Yorkshire and The Humber, East Midlands, West Midlands, East of England, London, South East, South West on the SFA’s Contract Finder site.

The key section in the new guide document on funding states: “The minimum funding that is available is £110 million, for the funding year 2017 to 2018. The funding year covers the 12-month delivery period from August 1, 2017, to July 31, 2018.”

It adds: “Please note that your response to this invitation to tender must be submitted through the SFA’s e-tendering portal before 5pm on February 27.”

Notification of tender results will be announced on May 19, while applicants must be ready to deliver on the contract start date (1 August 2017).

Source: Invitation to tender for education and training services – Adult Education Budget 2017 to 2018

Anyone already pre-qualified for AEB funding can apply via SFA tendering site – and a section from the letter sent out to providers explained what happens if they don’t apply.

It said: “In our October letter, we referred to the part of the Public Contract Regulations 2015 that allows us to directly award contracts up to a predetermined threshold level of £589,148 for one year.

“If you are unsuccessful in securing a new contract through the procurement, or you choose not to tender, we will offer you a new contract up to the value of your current 2016 to 2017 AEB allocation or this threshold value, whichever is the lower.”

The new guide document stated that applicants must be able to “demonstrate their readiness to deliver the service immediately when the contract starts”.

“Delivery must not be delayed in any way, such as by not having the appropriate staff, processes, premises or relationships that need to be established,” the document added.

Providers must also “have a track record in delivering high quality education and skills provision for those targeted by the AEB”.

It also explained: “An applicant must only contact the SFA by using the online message board attached to this specific ITT on the e-tendering portal.

“This is to ensure that the SFA can maintain the integrity and robustness of the tendering process, and guarantee that answers provided to questions are consistent.”

Government pushes for more over-60s apprentices

Over-60s are being encouraged to do more apprenticeships, in a new government report looking at how to boost employment prospects in later life.

The report by the Department for Work and pensions, called Fuller Working Lives: A Partnership Approach, was unveiled this morning.

It refers repeatedly to retraining opportunities for people aged over 45, and even for those approaching or past conventional retirement age.

Apprenticeships are referred to as an “all age programme”, and the report said: “We know that older people can and do access apprenticeships”.

“In 2015/16 over 57,700 (11.3 per cent) of those starting an apprenticeship were aged 45-59 and 3,500 were 60 years and over (just under one per cent),” it said.

It reflects recent refocusing of skills policy away from most policy concentrating on 16 to 19 year-olds, towards adult education, and any moves to drive up apprenticeships for older people would need to buck the trend over the last five years when start levels remained relatively stable.

For example in 2011/12 there were 62,200 45 to 59-year-old starts, and 3,680 for over 60s. This compared to just over 57,000 for 25 to 59s, and 3,560 over 60s for 2015/16 (the last full academic year).

Government statistics showing apprentice starts

And prior to 2007 government funded apprenticeships were only available to people under the age of 25.

But the government’s industrial strategy green paper published last week committed to exploring “ambitious new approaches to encouraging lifelong learning”.

It said this “could include assessing changes to the costs people face to make them less daunting; improving outreach to people where industries are changing; and providing better information”.

Apprenticeships and skills minster Robert Halfon then exclusively told FE Week that the government was firmly committed to boosting training for older people, saying “We wouldn’t have put this [review commitment] in the industrial strategy if we weren’t serious about it”.

The Fuller Working Lives report has now lamented that older workers can often be overlooked when it comes to new training opportunities.

“Someone in their early 50s, however, can potentially stay with their employer for 15-20 years or longer,” it added.

“There is a clear case for investing in their future and, in so doing, that of the business.

“Some employers are already recognising the importance of retraining, with Barclays and Whitbread among those running apprenticeship schemes for older people and other employers have schemes in development.”

It stressed that recent DWP polling showed that only 15 per cent of respondents not currently retired and under 60 years old would like to stop work altogether and retire between the ages of 60 and 65.

It also refers to work being done by business communities, through local enterprise partnerships.

“DWP is working with a number of employers and LEPs who have recognised the importance of the ageing demographic to productivity and growth,” the report said.

“For example, Enterprise M3 and Coast to Capital LEPs have launched an apprenticeship scheme for older apprentices in Surrey which aims to help older claimants into work.

“In 2014-2015, only a minority of LEPs had identified older workers as an important group within the workforce. Now almost all LEPs recognise that older workers are crucial to filling skills gaps and are planning projects to support older workers.”

IFS calls for minimum public sector workforce apprenticeship target to be scrapped

The new minimum target for public sector bodies to employ at least 2.3 per cent of their workforce as apprentices should be scrapped, a new report for the Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned.

The key chapter of the of the IFS’s Green Budget, called Reforms to apprenticeship funding in England, reiterated fears that quality could be seriously undermined in the drive for 3 million apprenticeship starts by 2020.

It warned there is a risk that “the focus on targets will distort policy and lead to the inefficient use of public money”.

The report out this morning, funded by The Nuffield Foundation is a charitable trust that “aims to improve social well-being in the widest sense”, warned against repeating mistakes of “recent decades, by encouraging employers and training providers to relabel current activity and seek subsidy rather than seek the best training”.

The government confirmed on January 20 that at least 2.3 per cent of the workforce in most public sector bodies in England will have to be apprentices, in a move requiring that 200,000 more will have to be recruited by 2020.

The target was provisionally aired a year ago, as part of a consultation on how large a role public bodies should play in meeting the government’s overall target of creating 3 million new apprenticeship starts by 2020.

But the IFS report said: “This potentially costly policy is largely designed to hit the government’s target for 3 million new apprentices, not as a way to increase the quality of public services. It should be removed.”

It added this “one-size-fits-all “approach to large public sector employers in England is “clearly not a sensible way to encourage more apprenticeships, or to help deliver efficient public services.”

The government response to their consultation on the 2.3 per cent target, published earlier this month, described a number of bodies that, despite being defined by the ONS as public sector, will be excluded from the target.

These include the BBC and Channel 4, Post Office, and the Houses of Parliament.

FE Week exclusively revealed last January that any public sector apprenticeship target won’t apply to colleges.

The new report also noted that while there might be a strong case for expanding apprenticeships,

the government had failed to make it.

It said ministers would be better pursuing a more gradual increase “where we can ensure high-quality provision”.

“The government’s stated case for expanding subsidies for apprenticeships is weak,” it added. “There has been no collapse in training by employers (though there has been a shift from off-the-job

towards on-the-job training).”

Shadow skills minister Gordon Marsden commented favourably on the findings.

He said: “The IFS are confirming what we have consistently warned the government about over the past 12 months

“Rushing to hit a 3 million target without sorting out the quality or increasing the proportion of apprenticeships under the age of 25 means they risk failing to deliver the long-term skills strategy we need.”

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “The apprenticeship levy will boost our economic productivity, increase the country’s skills base and give millions a step on the ladder of opportunity. In 2019 – 20 the levy is forecast to raise £2.8billion, this will take the total investment in England to £2.45 billion, twice what was spent in 2010-11, with the Devolved Administrations receiving £460 million.”

“Quality is at the heart of all of our apprenticeship reforms. We have introduced new apprenticeship standards which are developed by employers themselves and rigorously checked and taken steps to protect the term apprenticeship from misuse helping us to achieve our target of 3 million apprenticeship starts by 2020 and providing excellent value for money.”

She added recent figures showed a 12 per cent increase in apprenticeships that were found to be good or outstanding in their Ofsted inspection, compared to last year, and “over the past year 60 per cent of new apprenticeship proposals have been rejected as a result of them not meeting our key quality criteria, ensuring that only high quality, skilled apprenticeships are being developed”.

“It’s essential that the public sector is representative of the country and has the skills it needs to deliver, both now and in the future,” she said. “Government believes that apprenticeships can play a major role in achieving the public sector’s ambitious goals and meeting national skills gaps. Consequently, Government has established a target to ensure public sector bodies are striving to incorporate apprentices into their workforces.”

Institute for Apprenticeships silent on learning difficulties and disabilities

The Institute for Apprenticeships has been silent on learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities, and that’s simply not good enough, says David Harbourne

When I was still at school, I helped a partially-sighted boy practise reading. Both of us had ambitions, but he faced more challenges than I did. It was a lesson I never forgot.

I got involved in the design and delivery of modern apprenticeships in the 1990s. At every opportunity, we looked for ways to provide additional help and support to people who needed it. It’s not just about money, of course: to choose just one example from many, we found video evidence made life easier for apprentices who had difficulties writing up their portfolios.

I’m not claiming any special insights or success stories here. I take my hat off to colleges, training providers, employers and charities for finding ways to assist learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities (LLDD). I pay tribute to successive governments and funding agencies, too, because they’ve made additional funds available to help LLDD.

In 2014/15, 9% of the people who started an apprenticeship were known to have learning difficulties and/or disabilities

And while there’s never any room for complacency, we’ve made good progress. In 2014/15, 9% of the people who started an apprenticeship were known to have learning difficulties and/or disabilities. That’s a seriously impressive 44,000 people, and the numbers were higher still in 2015/16.

So where do things stand in the context of apprenticeship reform? Starting with the good news, the government recognises that apprentices who have a learning or other disability may require extra learning support. The current system will continue, with providers eligible to claim additional funding directly from the Skills Funding Agency.

On the other hand, there will still be barriers to overcome, particularly in ensuring learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities are able to find an apprenticeship in the first place and that assessment methods are flexible enough to meet a wide range of needs.

I was therefore disappointed – to say the least – when the government’s draft strategic guidance to the Institute for Apprenticeships made just one passing reference to “improving the take up among disadvantaged groups and widening participation more generally”.

It prompted me to contact the Shadow Chair of the Institute for Apprenticeships, Antony Jenkins. I talked about the needs of particular groups of learners and went on: “In particular, the government has said too little about the needs of learners with learning difficulties and disabilities, and how they will be protected in a system based on employer ownership”.

Fair enough, I thought. Perhaps he’s keeping his tinder dry

I was gratified that Mr Jenkins took the time and trouble to reply. He didn’t mention widening participation, additional support or LLDD, but he did say, “We will shortly publish our draft operating plan which will outline what the Institute will do and how it will address some of the issues you raise in your letter”.

Fair enough, I thought. Perhaps he’s keeping his tinder dry.

The IfA’s draft operational plan was published on 27 January. It’s 41 pages long. I expected to find a whole section on LLDD and widening participation.

Not a bit of it. The closest we get is this: “From April 2017, the Institute will provide advice to Government on … the nature and level of additional payments for certain types of learner or employer”. Elsewhere, there is a generic reference to “tackling disadvantage” and an ambiguous comment about “progress made with regard to people from disadvantaged backgrounds”, which might (at a generous pinch) include LLDD. But that’s it.

I spent a few minutes staring at the graphic headed “who will do what within the apprenticeships system, 2017-18”. It includes roles for the IfA, Skills Funding Agency, Ofsted, QAA, Ofqual, employers, sector bodies, providers and awarding organisations. There are eight steps in the flow chart, starting with “Trailblazer application” and ending with “evaluation”. There is no mention of LLDD or widening participation anywhere in the chart.

It seems that there’s a reason why the IfA’s Shadow Chair didn’t mention LLDD when he wrote to me: the IfA has nothing to say on the matter. And that’s simply not good enough.

I sincerely hope that the newly-appointed board members will see things differently. They must ensure that apprenticeships work for everyone, not just employers. They must champion the rights of learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities, ensuring they can take full advantage of everything apprenticeships have to offer.

David Harbourne is a freelance consultant on technical and vocational education

Ofsted rates Birkenhead Sixth Form College as outstanding in all areas

A sixth form college in the north west has become only the second in the country to be rated outstanding by Ofsted under the common inspection framework.

Birkenhead SFC received grade ones across the board – up from its previous grade two – in a glowing report published Monday (January 30).

The verdict means that Birkenhead now joins Huddersfield as the only SFCs to have been given the highest possible rating from the education watchdog since September 2015, when the new CIF was introduced.

Inspectors, who visited in December, praised leaders at Birkenhead for their “unrelenting focus in developing high expectations” of staff and students – with the latter becoming “young adults with a thirst for learning” as a result.

The 1,400-learner SFC’s performance on English and maths was found to be “exceptionally strong”, with “a very high proportion” of learners enrolled on GCSEs in these subjects “improving the grade they gained at school”.

The report noted: “The vast majority of students on A-level courses make excellent progress from below average starting points, achieve their qualifications, improve their confidence and self-esteem and are motivated to progress to higher-level courses, training or employment.”

Overall achievement rates were “high and have improved each year since the college’s last inspection” in 2012, which was attributed to “highly effective teaching, support and guidance”.

“Teachers are skilled, enthusiastic, highly committed and dedicated to supporting their students,” the report said.

Inspectors also noted that teachers “monitor students’ progress and achievement relentlessly” and “identify areas for development swiftly and work collaboratively with students to make improvements”.

Outcomes for learners were also found to be positive.

A “very high proportion” go on to university, “many of whom are the first in their family” to do so, and the “vast majority” of those not going on to higher education move on to work or an apprenticeship.

“A central very successful focus of the college is on improving the personal development and employability skills of all students,” the report said.

Just two areas were singled out for improvement by inspectors – improving achievement on the “very small minority of underperforming courses”, and the “small minority of students with an insufficiently wide understanding of diversity”.

Kathryn Podmore, Birkenhead SFC principal, said she was “absolutely delighted” at the verdict.

“The report is a credit to both staff and students and reflects the passion, commitment and relentless hard work that goes on every day to ensure that the highest standards and excellence are attained in all aspects of its work,” she said.

She said the SFC’s English and maths success in particular was “based on getting the students to have belief in themselves and also to aim high, to have those aspirations that they can achieve, and through hard work they can actually get there”.

Mike Kilbride, deputy principal, added: “There is no secret to being outstanding: just have superb staff, work really hard, be thoughtful and reflective in everything you do and never let go of the details.”

Apprenticeship funding rule requiring 20 per cent off-the-job training ‘not going away’

Help is being offered to the government in an effort to define the minimum 20 per cent off-the-job training apprenticeship rule.

Chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, Mark Dawe, announced this morning in a webinar to members that they would be sending out a survey later today to find out how they currently approach the rule, as his director of policy and strategy warned the issue had “been a bone of contention for some years now and it’s not going away”.

It comes as his director of policy and strategy Paul Warner warned the issue had “been a bone of contention for some years now and it’s not going away”.

Members have just 48 hours to share their views via an online survey, and all responses will be fed back to the Department for Education and Ofsted to inform any future guidance.

Mr Dawe said during the webinar that he had been “hearing concerns about the definition”.

“The 20 per cent off the job rule is a key but crude measure to ensure there are quality apprenticeships,” he said.

But such training is “not always about being away from the workplace,” he said, and could be “possible at the workstation”.

“Senior reps from DfE and Ofsted have been willing to talk it through. They want reassurance proper learning is taking place,” he continued.

Mr Dawe said the plan was to develop “formal guidance as to what is and what is not acceptable” with DfE and Ofsted as the departments were “getting lots and lots of questions”.

Government guidance stipulates that apprentices must “spend at least 20 per cent of their time on off the job training”.

And funding rules for employer providers that apply from May state that providers must outline details of “employment including: the agreed contracted hours of employment, including paid training, and 20 per cent off the job time, and the total planned length of the apprenticeship”.

They are also required to show “how the 20 per cent off the job training will be quantified and delivered”.

But it is increasingly feared that many apprentices, on “low quality” programmes, are not spending this time learning away from the workplace, and are instead effectively working full-time on a lower apprentices’ wage.

This rule was most recently mentioned in the Institute for Apprenticeships strategic guidance document, as one of the ‘core principals’ for apprenticeships.

It said an apprenticeship “requires substantial and sustained training, lasting a minimum of 12 months and involving at least 20% off the job training (training which is outside of the normal day-to-day working environment).”

AELP’s survey was prompted by concerns from its members that if they were delivering learning or training at the workplace – for example, via online learning – it would not meet the government definition of 20 per cent off the job training.

The SFA currently provide no formal definition of “off-the-job”, in terms of what can and cannot be included in the 20 percent figure.

Their funding rules for training providers simply says they must “make sure the apprentice spends at least 20% of their time on off-the-job training” and the version for employers says they must “record details of how the 20% ‘off-the-job’ training will be quantified and delivered.”

Parent anger over Daventry UTC closure

An angry parent of a student “devastated” by the news that her university technical college would close in the summer has demanded to know why the school took on new learners even though it knew it was in trouble.

Daventry UTC, which opened in 2013, announced in early December that it would close its doors at the end of August 2017 due to low student numbers.

John Dove, whose 14-year-old daughter Maisie began at the 14-to-19 vocational institution in September, is now angrily questioning the decision to allow new students in 2016/17.

“I’d like to know why they even took the kids in this year,” he told FE Week.

“I believe they knew full well that if they didn’t get the roll up to a certain number it was going to close. It’s not something that happens overnight,” he said.

Mr Dove said the school’s closure had left Maisie in tears

Mr Dove said the school’s closure had left Maisie in tears.

She had been badly bullied at two other secondary schools in Daventry, and had been out of school for a year until she was old enough to attend the UTC – where she was having a much more positive experience.

“Maisie was devastated, absolutely devastated, as were we. Having finally found a school where she was settled and happy at, to have the rug pulled from under our feet like that was pretty disgusting really,” he said.

The school had just 151 students enrolled in 2015/16, down from 169 in 2014/15 – despite a capacity of 600.

It was hit with a financial notice to improve by the Education Funding Agency in April, due to concerns over its financial management.

When FE Week put Mr Dove’s complaint to Daventry UTC principal Russell Ball, he insisted the decision to close had been made by the Education Funding Agency” two days before parents and children were informed”.

But the DfE told FE Week that the decision to close, which it said had come at the request of the school, was the culmination of a process that began with the financial notice to improve eight months earlier – suggesting that its leadership team would have had a good idea it was going to close at the start of 2016/17.

The UTC has said it would work with local education providers to “bring about a smooth transition for existing students”, including the opportunity to transfer to Silverstone UTC.

This engineering specialist school is located about 20 miles away from Daventry, in the famous British motorsport racing ground.

FE Week’s sister paper FE Week reported in early January that the cost of transport services between Daventry and Silverstone, which would amount to £1,400 a year for each pupil, will be met by the DfE.

Mr Dove told FE Week that a transfer to Silverstone was Maisie’s “first, second and third” choice because of the bullying at her other schools.

He said he had believed the transfer was going to be “automatic” but was subsequently told he had to apply for a place for Maisie from September, with no guarantee she would get in.

Mr Ball insisted to FE Week that “all children who choose Silverstone will be given the opportunity to transfer – guaranteed”.

Daventry is the sixth UTC to announce closure, with 48 currently open.

Halfon: Careers advice at colleges ‘state of the art’ but schools not good enough

The skills and apprenticeships minster has hailed the “state of the art” careers advice that colleges deliver, but called on schools to “do more” as he looks ahead to unveiling the government’s ‘comprehensive careers strategy’.

Robert Halfon told an audience of education professionals at Westminster Academy today that careers guidance would play a “significant part” in the government’s industrial strategy as set out in its green paper last week.

Speaking about the government’s comprehensive careers strategy today – which was supposed to be released in the first few weeks of 2016, but has been delayed until later this year – Mr Halfon said “the facts are” that students “are not getting enough good careers advice on skills and apprenticeships” from schools and they need to “do more”.

But speaking exclusively to FE Week after the event, the minister said the work he has seen by colleges on careers guidance had been on the opposite end of the spectrum and labelled it as “excellent”.

“Whatever colleges I have visited the careers advice there has been state of the art,” Mr Halfon said.

“I cannot think of one college I have been to where the careers advice has not been excellent.

“Around 70 per cent of our colleges are good or outstanding and I’ve gone to see amazing apprenticeship schemes where they have progressed into employment and other forms of training and enterprise.”

The minister’s view will be a welcomed breath of fresh air for the FE sector after being continually lambasted by Ofsted over careers advice in recent years.

Former chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw labelled careers guidance in colleges as “uniformly weak” in July last year but was the exposed by FE Week for lacking any identifiable external source or inspection based evidence.

Mr Halfon said today that “on the whole”, the work he has seen in FE on careers advice has been “really good”.

Plans for a comprehensive careers strategy were first unveiled in 2015, and it was expected to be released in early 2016.

However, the government admitted in its green paper on its new industrial strategy last week that a review of careers advice was still ongoing, and that the strategy would now be published later in 2017.

The Department for Education has pledged to spend £90 million on careers in this parliament, most of which has gone to the Careers and Enterprise Company to fund its network of enterprise advisers, mentoring scheme and grant scheme.

The Careers and Enterprise Company, first announced by former education secretary Nicky Morgan in December 2014, was launched in the summer of 2015.

On December 2, FE Week reported that the colleges and local enterprise partnerships included in the Careers and Enterprise Company’s “enterprise adviser network” also revealed a postcode lottery for FE coverage, with 15 LEPs not covered – and London completely absent.

Claudia Harris, the company’s chief executive, confirmed that it did not work with any of the capital’s 44 FE and sixth form colleges.

She said the company was working with “nearly all” local enterprise partnerships across the country, but the list of colleges that FE Week saw listed just 24 of the 39 LEPs.