Numeracy skills are vital in enabling people to improve their well-being and to access better jobs and better options for the future. However, more than eight million adults in England have numeracy skills lower than those expected of a 9-year-old and evidence suggests the majority of the country’s youngest jobseekers today are less numerate than their grandparents.
Confidence with numbers helps people with many everyday tasks from cooking to budgeting and helping children with homework. Brushing up on numeracy skills can also support people’s career progression and help them access higher levels of training.
So in 2022 the Department for Education (DfE) launched Multiply, its flagship programme to improve adult numeracy. Up to £270 million is directly available for local areas to deliver innovative interventions to improve adult numeracy.
There have been over 113,000 course starts to January 2024, with many more people engaged in outreach and engagement activity to build their confidence with numbers.
With such significant government investment, we want to build on this success and ensure evidence-based approaches inform future adult skills policy and delivery, and ultimately help improve outcomes for adult learners.
That is why Tribal are working with the DfE and partners to launch a series of research trials over 2024 and 2025, designed to test the effectiveness of existing and new approaches to improving adult numeracy.
The research and evidence from these trials will be used to determine the most effective strategies to engage learners and teach adult numeracy skills. By grounding interventions in evidence, policymakers, educators and practitioners can maximise the impact of numeracy programmes and ensure resources are utilised efficiently.
Rolling out effective trials
Multiply has launched a research initiative to understand what works in adult numeracy through trials designed to identify effective strategies and interventions to help adults improve their numeracy skills.
In partnership with Campaign for Learning, Education and Training Foundation, IPSOS and King’s College London among others, we are rolling out five trials, with the majority starting in September:
Preparation for GCSE mathematics
An adapted mastery approach to functional skills qualification level 1
A contextualised approach to functional skills qualification level 1
Embedding maths in health and social care level 2, and
A family numeracy programme.
The trials will be fully funded, and incentives are available. They also provide an exciting opportunity for training providers to contribute to research, collaborate with other organisations and access free training for staff to take part, all of which can enhance their existing provision.
Improving outcomes
These trials will help carve out a pathway to a more effective adult numeracy teaching landscape. By taking part you will be randomly allocated to a treatment (delivering something new) or control (business as usual) group.
If you are in the treatment group, it will be an opportunity to deliver something innovative that has potential to improve results for learners. If you are in the control group, you will continue to deliver your business-as-usual curriculum. Both groups are vital to the research and will receive payment for being involved.
If you are in the treatment group, the interventions can slot seamlessly into guided learning hours making it easy for adult learning organisations and teachers to incorporate them into current practices.
Organisations will be fully supported to deliver this new scheme of work, and teachers will receive high-quality training ahead of the new academic year.
Investing in adult maths education that is evidence-based is essential to bridge skills gaps, promote social inclusion and unlock the full potential of people across society, helping to foster a more prosperous and equal future.
By adopting evidence-based approaches and leveraging effective strategies we can enhance adult numeracy education and unlock the full potential of individuals and communities across the country.
If you are a local area or a provider delivering maths provision to adults and would like to be involved, we’d love to hear from you. To register your interest or for more information here
Assistant Principal – Apprenticeships and Employer Engagement, London South East Colleges
Start date: May 2024
Previous Job: Operations Director – Apprenticeships, South Essex Colleges Group
Interesting fact: Helen has been passionate about apprenticeships since completing her own (in hairdressing) around 27 years ago. Having worked in apprenticeships for South Essex College over the last 20 years, Helen is excited to star her new role and bring that passion to LSEC.
Graham Knott
Operations Director, HIT Training
Start date: February 2024
Previous Job: Business Operations Director, Professional Assessment Ltd
Interesting fact: Graham loves the great outdoors and photography. He can often be spotted on remote Lakeland fells with his flask and camera. Graham also recently acquired his purple belt in Shorai martial arts and is continuing to work towards black belt.
Ben Ward
Vice Chair, Hopwood Hall College and University Centre
Start date: July 2024
Concurrent Job: CEO, University of Manchester Students’ Union
Interesting fact: Through his role at University of Manchester Students’ Union and as the Managing Director for Manchester Academy Venues, Ben leads a staff team of 90 full-time and 350 part-time staff with the organisation having a turnover of £8.5million.
Rishi Sunak’s “Advanced British Standard” risks an increase in the volume of exams, the continuation of “unregulated” international A-level qualifications and “significant investment” to deliver change on an “unprecedented scale”, Ofqual has warned.
Ofqual said achieving the ambitions of the ABS “requires change on a scale unprecedented in England in recent decades”.
“It envisages concurrent reform to curriculum, qualification content and structures, the qualifications market, and any associated technological reform.”
Reform on this scale “can be delivered successfully, but its scale and complexity require significant investment of resource across all parts of the education system”.
2. Start with compulsory maths and English
The regulator welcomed the “long-term reform timescale and the resourcing commitments set out in the consultation”, adding it was “important to sequence changes carefully”.
They suggested the government “consider a staged approach”, with compulsory maths and English introduced as a first step “initially focussing investment on the teacher workforce here, while contributing materially to the delivery of the longer-term vision of the ABS”.
3. Consider keeping A-level ‘brand’
They A-level brand is “well-regarded by qualification users”, with a trust built over 73 years, Ofqual said.
It is “likely that awarding organisations will continue to offer unregulated ‘international’ A-levels, even if the ABS means that A-levels cease to be regulated qualifications available in state schools”.
“These A-levels could be taken in UK independent schools and abroad. This could present a confidence or reputational challenge for the ABS.”
The regulator said the DfE “might consider” if the aims of the ABS could be met whilst “retaining the identity and branding of well-established, and more recently introduced qualifications”.
4. Students may not be ready for higher study
Ofqual also urged the DfE to consider the “wide range of achievement recognised at age 16”.
For example, students achieving grade 4 in GCSE mathematics “may not have studied much of the higher tier content that typically forms the basis for study at level 3, including in the existing core maths qualification”.
“Likewise, the curriculum content for English would need to be broad enough to meet a range of needs at this level, building on prior attainment and preparing students effectively for their next stages.”
5. ‘Likely’ to increase volume of exams
Ofqual warned increasing the volume of content while maintaining grade reliability “will likely increase the volume of assessment”.
This would create “challenges to address relating to exam timetabling, exam delivery in schools and colleges, and timely marking and issuing of results”.
Having more exams without “increasing clashes” for students would require a longer timetable, either encroaching on teaching time or the marking period.
And any increase in the volume of exam papers “would introduce additional risk to the delivery of results and could exacerbate existing pressures, such as examiner recruitment”.
6. ‘Major’ and ‘minor’ grading scale could ‘mislead’
The consultation proposed a single grading scale for “minors” and “majors” within the ABS for all routes. This “contrasts with the current established variety of grading approaches”, Ofqual warned.
Supporting parity across the routes “might be better achieved in ways other than a common grading scale”.
“Specifically, the direct comparability that a common grading scale appears to offer would be misleading and is likely to lead to unintended consequences.”
As the ABS is intended for a broader cohort than currently sit A-levels, the existing six-grade scale “would likely need to expand”, risking “unintended differences in grading profiles across the range, academic and occupational, of ABS components”.
7. ‘Pass-fail’ approach would lower achievement rate
The government has also set out several options for grading the overall ABS award.
The proposed lead option is a certificate or statement of achievement with minimum attainment conditions.
Making the ABS “pass-fail” would “lead to a lower number of students achieving the overall ABS than currently achieve level 3 qualifications, potentially impacting on, for example, progression opportunities post-18”.
There could also be a variation in pass rates by choice of subjects, which could “distort students’ subject choices to maximise their chances of an achieving an overall pass”.
The second option – a certificate or statement of achievement without any minimum attainment conditions – presents “few technical grading challenges”, Ofqual said.
The third option – an aggregate ABS score or grade – would “inevitably reduce the amount of information conveyed by that overall result compared with that conveyed by results for each major and minor”.
8. ‘Complex’ to use multiple exam boards…
If a number of exam boards become providers of ABS components, an individual student’s ABS “is likely to comprise elements from more than one AO”, something that would be “organisationally complex”.
“They may also require additional time prior to the release of results, with potential implications for when this could safely take place.”
9. …but could create ‘stronger market’
Exam boards would have to demonstrate “proven expertise in delivering such high stakes qualifications if they were to offer the ABS”.
“It is possible, and perhaps likely, that this would result in a consolidation of the number of awarding organisations offering the ABS when compared with those currently offering post-16 regulated level 3 qualifications.
“This could helpfully lead to a stronger market. It is unlikely that a single provider model would ensure sufficient capacity and resilience to deliver a high stakes qualification in the volumes that the ABS would involve.”
10. Warning over existing reforms
The ABS could also affect “current” reform programmes, such as the level 3 post-16 qualifications review and T-levels.
Some awarding organisations are developing qualifications “that might exist only relatively briefly before the ABS is introduced”.
Ofqual warned it was “critical that the ABS reform programme does not lead some awarding organisations to exit the market hastily, for example due to reducing demand for their qualifications or because they do not plan to offer ABS qualifications”.
“This would leave students in the short term with a reduced choice of courses and qualifications.”
A 16-year-old boy has been cautioned and must go on a programme to educate them about hacking after being arrested in connection with an exam board cyber attack.
Cambridgeshire Police arrested the teenager on suspicion of theft, fraud and computer misuse after a “data breach” at exam boards Pearson and OCR last summer.
In an update this week, the force said the boy had been given a conditional caution. The conditions included engaging with the cyber choices early intervention program, which aims to educate people about offences under the Computer Misuse Act.
Co-ordinated by the National Crime Agency, the programme has been designed for 12 to 17-year-olds to help them “find ways to develop their cyber skills and make sure they know how to do so without breaking the law”.
No other arrests have been made and the investigation is now closed, the force added.
A separate investigation by Surrey Police of a data breach at AQA exam board has been halted. Two people arrested were stood down from bail earlier this year. No one has been charged over the alleged attack.
Education providers should appoint “security leads” and devise emergency response plans, new anti-terrorism guidance states.
The recommendations have been included in documents published by government setting out “cost-effective methods” to keep learners and staff safe.
The non-statutory guidance does not appear to outline new responsibilities on schools, colleges and providers. It is more that it “adapts principles from the National Counter-Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO) into more sector-specific advice”, the Department for Education said.
Here’s what you need to know…
1. Plans to ‘deter’ terrorists
The document recommends providers devise response plans “to reduce the risk of terrorist incidents and other incidents by making it difficult for someone intending to cause harm to target their sites”.
Staff should be able to draw on their knowledge of these strategies during emergencies to “make good, informed judgements about how to keep themselves and others safe”.
So-called “bomb threat checklists” should also be created. All members of staff are expected to “be familiar with the processes” detailed in them.
2. Appoint security and incident leads
Providers should appoint a “security lead”. They will be charged with developing and maintaining emergency plans and policies.
They will also be expected to ensure their colleagues “are aware of their roles and responsibilities” and liaise with external agencies, like the police.
During an emergency, they will normally become the provider’s “incident lead” to make “fast, clear decisions under pressure, to get people to safety”.
Providers are advised to have “one or two” employees available to deputise for them should they be absent.
3. Practice drills
The guidance says it is “relatively uncommon” for practice drills to involve early years and primary school children. These settings are advised to hold the exercises on occasions when youngsters are not present.
In secondary schools, colleges and other post-16 providers drills work best “as part of a wider plan to share security awareness and incident response plans in an age-appropriate way”. Learners with SEND should not be excluded.
“Staff should ensure that discussions and activities are conducted with sensitivity and awareness of the learner’s comfort levels … it is important not shock or frighten learners,” the guidance adds.
“Discussions and drills should focus on safety procedures and avoid implying the motivations for a possible attack.”
It is also advised that councils and the police are contacted “to either take an active part in your practice drill … or to help evaluate it”.
4. Responses to bomb threats and suspicious packages
To help identify suspicious packages, providers are told to “keep clutter to a minimum”.
They are advised to assess whether the item is hidden, “obviously suspicious” and typical of what you expect to find in that part of the provider when deciding if further action is required.
Areas should be cordoned off and the police called when suspicious items are identified. Radios and phones should not be used within 15 metres of the item.
If an evacuation is necessary, learners and staff should move to a location 100 metres away if the item is small, like a rucksack, 200 metres away if it is a small vehicle or large item, such as a car or wheelie bin, or 400 metres away if it a van or lorry.
Meanwhile, any bomb threats should be reported to the police. The guidance tells staff to “record and retain all evidence and make this available to” officers in these cases.
This can involve dialling 1471 following calls to identify the number used to make the threat and keeping hold of any menacing messages or voicemails.
5. Code words and signals
The guidance stresses that any communication methods, including any code words and signals, should be planned in advance.
Initial alerts to staff about potential incidents can include the use of existing alarms, internal phone systems, a tannoy or silent broadcasts or messages to staff devices.
Coded messages can also “convey a message to staff without scaring learners”. The guidance suggests these could “mimick a normal announcement” or use a “set of colours, numbers, trees, or anything else”.
During an incident leads and staff “need one or more communication methods to exchange information and instructions with one … until the police and emergency responders arrive”.
These should “silent and invisible” to those wanting to cause harm, allow for two-way communication and not be “dependant on your normal WiFi and wired connections”.
Initial messages to parents – chosen from “a selection of holding statements” – should be sent by the provider. They should “be clear that parents and carers should temporarily stay away from the site”.
Responding to press and social media enquiries, meanwhile, “are low priority in comparison”.
5. Grab kits filled with essentials
Providers have also been told to compile “grab kits” filled with “key items that can assist during an incident”.
The packages, which should be dotted around providers, can contain first aid kits, communication equipment – including phones and notepads and pens – and key information, medication lists and site plans.
However, staff “should not put themselves in additional danger to collect a grab kit”.
A relaxing of rules governing how qualified early years staff supervise children in a bid to tackle a nursery recruitment crisis has been described as “shortcuts and cost saving”.
In a consultation published on Monday, the government confirmed it will introduce a new “experience-based route” for early years practitioners.
Staff-to-child ratio requirements vary depending on the age of children, but under current rules at least one staff member should hold an approved level-3 qualification for each age group.
Under the government’s new policy, early years managers will be able to count some of their level-2 qualified staff as level 3 without them having the “full and relevant qualifications” that are usually required.
Low pay and limited progression
The consultation is one of several government initiatives to address the crisis in early years staff recruitment as expanded “free childcare” hours are rolled out this year.
Recruitment issues in the early years sector are widely understood to be caused by low pay and limited career progression opportunities.
However, in a report also published this week, the National Audit Office said it was “unclear” whether the new experienced-based route, a recruitment campaign, or increased funding rates for level-3 training would have the “intended impact”.
In a foreword to the consultation, minister for children, families and wellbeing David Johnston said that while high-quality qualifications were “integral” to supporting the early years sector, the experience-based solution received “strong approval” from providers when they were consulted last year.
Three-quarters of respondents agreed with the proposal, with some expressing “frustration” that some “highly competent and experienced” staff members could not be counted towards statutory staffing ratios without a formal qualification.
To address concerns about potential “negative” impacts this could have on the quality of early years education, the government is now consulting on exactly how it should set the eligibility criteria for experienced staff.
Plan ‘won’t encourage staff into sector’
Helen Donohoe, chief executive at the Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years (PACEY), said a stable workforce can only be maintained with an established body of professionals and “the appropriate pay”.
She added: “[The experienced-based route] should never be used as leverage for shortcuts and cost saving, and so for it to work a comprehensive workforce strategy must be in place.”
The Early Years Alliance’s director of quality improvement Michael Freeston called the experienced-based route “yet another” attempt to quickly increase educator numbers and said it would do “little” to encourage people into the sector.
James Hempsall, managing director of childcare consultancy and training provider Coram Hempsall’s, said: “This initiative must be matched with investment to provide continuous professional development and access to it – which is entirely possible.”
Staffing numbers down, despite popularity of apprenticeship
The number of early years staff is down three per cent from its peak of 434,000 in 2019.
A survey by the Early Education and Childcare Coalition last year suggested that fewer than one in five nursery managers felt they could provide the government’s extended free childcare offer because of the recruitment crisis.
It also suggested that more than half of nursery staff were considering leaving the sector this year.
Ofsted has also raised concerns about the difficulty early years providers have in recruiting and retaining staff.
A DfE spokesperson said: “This government is delivering the largest ever expansion of childcare in England’s history, and we have the highest quality provision in the world, with 96% of early years settings rated by Ofsted as good or outstanding as of August 2023 – up from 74% in 2012.
“The experience-based route will provide another avenue for people to join the sector and is in response to demand from the sector for greater recognition of practical experience alongside qualifications. It is not a replacement for formal qualifications.”
A spokesperson for IfATE said: “The ‘typical duration to gateway’ is agreed by our trailblazer groups of employers as part of the apprenticeship development process.
“It indicates the recommended length of time needed for an apprentice to become competent at the job they are training for.
“IfATE does not dictate the model of delivery of apprenticeships.
“Providers can offer the apprenticeship with a duration that suits the employer’s need while ensuring sufficient time is available to become competent in the occupation.
“There are a number of factors that could influence how long it takes an apprentice to complete.
“In addition to learning the knowledge, skills and behaviours set out in the standard, they include mandatory qualification requirements and whether a learner has prior learning before starting an apprenticeship which can allow for shorter completion time.”
Controversial industry placements of at least 315 hours are the most “important element” in preparing T Level students for their next steps.
That is the conclusion of new government-commissioned research that tracked the progress of 477 of the 1,300 students involved in wave one of the flagship qualification rollout.
The learners began their courses in 2020 and completed in 2022. The first T Levels available were in education and childcare, construction and digital.
Researchers interviewed the students 10 months after they finished their courses to find out where they progressed to.
Here are the highlights:
Destinations vary by route
Overall, nine in 10 of the first cohort of T Level students moved into paid work or higher education:
44 per cent were studying for a university degree
40 per cent were in paid work
13 per cent were on an apprenticeship
But researchers found destinations “varied substantially” by T Level route.
For example, almost all education and childcare students ended up in paid work (52 per cent) or studying for a degree (46 per cent) with only 1 per cent taking an apprenticeship.
Students who took construction T Levels were most likely to be in paid work (37 per cent) but an almost even split went on to an apprenticeship (32 per cent) or a degree (30 per cent).
Most students who took T Levels in digital progressed to a degree course (51 per cent). Nearly a quarter went on to paid work (23 per cent) and 19 per cent started an apprenticeship.
Former T Level students that made up the 7 per cent not in education, employment or training said they were looking for an apprenticeship or were taking a gap year.
Placements made the most difference
One of the most controversial elements of T Levels is the requirement of every student to complete a 315-hour industry placement. Sector leaders question how the government is going to find enough employers to host the placements each year when the courses are offered at scale.
However, students who completed the first T Levels valued the placements over any other part of the course, according to the research.
Learners who went on to further study were more likely to agree that the T Level helped them progress (89 per cent), compared to those who went on to work (73 per cent).
The industry placement was the highest-ranked element of the T Level programme that best prepared students for their next steps by those in work and still in education. Construction students found the industry placement the most beneficial, followed by education and childcare and then digital.
After the industry placement, the next most important element was reported be technical knowledge, followed by practical skills.
Education and childcare students were less likely to say the employer-set project element was “an important element” on their T Level. Just 23 per cent of those students said it prepared them for work or study, compared to 35 per cent of construction students and 43 per cent of digital students.
Only a third of former T Level students who are now in work said their employers were ‘very’ (10 per cent) or ‘quite’ (25 per cent) knowledgeable about T Levels. Nearly a quarter (23 per cent) said their employer ‘had not heard’ of T Levels.
Jobs from placements
Students with construction T Levels were the most likely to land a job or an apprenticeship with the organisation they took their industry placement with.
Researchers found that 14 per cent of digital T Level students who progressed to work or an apprenticeship went to their industry placement organisation. That figure was 34 per cent for education and childcare and 39 per cent for construction.
More broadly, 75 per cent of T Level completers reported they were working or studying within a field related to their course. But just under a fifth (18 per cent) said they went on to a different sector, with most of them saying they had no plans to return to their subject.
University bosses who shortened a degree apprenticeship to help the NHS tackle skills gaps have been criticised by Ofsted.
The education watchdog raised concerns following its inspection of University of Liverpool’s level-7 advanced clinical practitioner (ACP) apprenticeships, which resulted in an overall ‘requires improvement’ grade.
Inspectors found the two-year course failed to meet apprentices’ expectations and employers’ operational needs. The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education’s (IfATE) guidance on the ACP standard says courses typically last three years.
Ofsted reported a “few” employers and apprentices “feel that the curriculum has become too generic for their needs and interests”.
The university reduced the length of the apprenticeship to “enable NHS employers to recruit employees more quickly to meet skills shortages,” inspectors said.
Inspectors added: “A few apprentices who are nurses are disappointed with the narrow range of subject-specific optional modules, particularly in relation to specialisms in clinical assessments, such as the interpretation of blood results.”
However, Ofsted accepted that specific areas of interest could be focused on through a “negotiated” optional model.
Inspectors also noted that while two-thirds of apprentices achieved high grades, “too many” left early, despite the shortened length of the course.
This was the watchdog’s first full inspection of the university’s programme for 111 ACP apprentices since its launch in 2019.
Do other unis have shorter ACP apprenticeships?
An FE Week spot check of the 46 universities listed as offering ACP degree apprenticeships suggests only three others run shortened two-year programmes.
When approached for comment, a spokesperson for the University of Liverpool said the length of the apprenticeship was “comparable” with competitor programmes at the University of Salford, University of Central Lancashire and University of Bolton.
They did not respond when asked whether Liverpool shortened the length of the apprenticeship of its own accord or at the request of local NHS trusts or Health Education England (HEE).
HEE’s spokesperson declined to comment when asked whether it was aware of or involved in the shortening of ACP degree apprenticeships.
The University of Liverpool’s spokesperson told FE Week: “We accept the areas that Ofsted has listed as requiring improvement and these are being addressed by the dedicated team who already have robust, clear action plans in place to address the identified areas for development.
“We note that there are many positive aspects highlighted in the Ofsted report such as how, through teaching, apprentices are given the opportunity to engage with varied clinical practitioner roles and can apply these skills to their everyday jobs.
“We look forward to continuing to work alongside our local NHS Trusts to ensure that the course continues to be a valuable offering for healthcare practitioners looking to take their next steps on the career ladder.”
What is an ACP?
To become an ACP, apprentices must already be a nurse or a regulated healthcare professional such as a paramedic or occupational therapist. Apprentices gain a master’s degree in advanced clinical practice through the apprenticeship.
The role was created in its current form in 2017 and is central to the NHS’s long-term workforce plan.
This plan aims to address chronic workforce shortages of doctors and other medical staff by training up to 39,000 existing professionals to an advanced practice level by 2036/37.
They are expected to work outside traditional boundaries in both health and care settings with a “high level of autonomy and freedom” – including undertaking health assessments, formulating diagnoses and independent prescribing.
A champion of oracy in schools and colleges, Careers & Enterprise Company chief Oli de Botton tells of his battle to improve work experience for young people
As well as leading national careers education as chief executive of the Careers & Enterprise Company, Oli de Botton’s work championing oracy skills appears to be paying dividends. The Labour Party last year talked about oracy as one of its education priorities.
Oracy, a term coined in the 1960s, fell out of favour after a renaissance in the 1980s, with the spotlight shifting to reading and phonics. As curriculum lead and later head of School 21, a free school launched in 2012, de Botton helped revive it by putting speaking skills at the heart of its curriculum.
Three years later, its founders (all accomplished orators themselves) – De Botton, Peter Hyman (Tony Blair’s former speechwriter and now senior aide to Sir Keir Starmer) and ex-theatrical producer Ed Fidoe, formed the charity Voice 21 to boost oral skills among disadvantaged young people.
It’s now hosting the new Commission on the Future of Oracy Education, chaired by former Association of School and College Leaders general secretary Geoff Barton.
Oli de Botton at The Careers & Enterprise Company’s offices in London
Diverse roots
De Botton’s public speaking abilities were moulded through independent schooling and life at Cambridge University. This gives him an air of privilege which is somewhat deceiving. His parents, who separated when he was two, were both Jewish and from very different backgrounds.
His maternal grandfather, who hailed from the East End, was an orchestral cellist and working-class communist.
His father’s family came to London as refugees from Egypt – his dad “never recovered” from the ordeal of fleeing their homeland in the 1950s and the racism he suffered here.
As a child, de Botton’s paternal grandfather, a former Egyptian cricket team captain, would “open a map of the world” and “go on a journey” with him, exploring exotic lands.
Oli with his paternal, Egyptian grandfather
The leftish streak
His grandfathers both gave de Botton a “vibrant sense of world history” and appreciation for musical education.
In a recent paper for Labour Together he called for making “music as important as geography”, and incorporating local history into broader school curriculums.
De Botton’s mother was a “social justice warrior” who raised him and his sister as a single mum. He attended the primary school where she taught.
She instilled in her son a “leftish streak”, and a love of drama.
De Botton’s political leanings surfaced when, in Year 5, he was incensed by the unfairness of new satellite TV companies being allowed to buy up footballing rights, restricting some matches to those who could afford subscriptions. He wrote to his local Finchley MP, Hartley Booth, and his campaign featured in the local rag.
Oli as a boy
Hiding in an ancient world
While some of de Botton’s work for the Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC) involves matching young people with the skills the economy needs, the subjects he picked for A-level (history, Latin and Greek) and his degree (classics) were not high on the nation’s skills priority list.
De Botton doesn’t recall what careers advice he was given but believes that “you work out later in life why you’ve ended up taking that route”.
His school encouraged him to apply to King’s College, Cambridge – a “pretty left wing” institution. “They had worked me out”.
He “found his feet” socially there. He led the students’ union and campaigned on university access for under-represented groups.
It was a proud moment for de Botton’s paternal grandfather, who at the same age had been forbidden by his father from accepting an Oxford scholarship, instead having to work in the family business.
Trainee shockers
He joined the inaugural cohort of Teach First, the education charity that recruits top graduates to teach in deprived communities, in 2003.
De Botton taught at Albany School in Enfield (which during his time there became Oasis Academy Hadley), at a time when “education was on the move”, with the launch of the London Challenge school improvement programme and the National Literacy Strategy.
But he found teaching English 25 hours a week “sapping and all-consuming” and made “all sorts of shockers” as a trainee.
De Botton taught A-level politics during the 2004 US election. His class preferred speeches by George W Bush to John Kerry’s, and de Botton “understood why”. “He wasn’t speaking jargon. I learnt from that.”
De Botton was appointed head of sixth form but felt “pretty burnt out”.
He left and spent 18 months as a consultant for PwC, then embarked on a series of international projects for the education charity now known as the Education Development Trust (then CfBT).
De Botton was seconded as an adviser to David Miliband during his failed Labour leadership campaign in 2010. De Botton “always thought really highly” of David but added he was “challenging to work for, because he was smart”.
Oli de Botton
School ‘1921’
That same year, de Botton was elected as a Labour councillor for Hackney, and the coalition government introduced free schools. De Botton, Hyman and Fidoe “managed to navigate some of the politics” around the movement to clinch an existing school site in Stratford.
De Botton brought a “passion for alleviating disadvantage”, Fidoe (who as a child starred in kids TV series Woof) an “innovation mindset” and Hyman “a bit of both”.
The trio had “really good debates about how radical to be”.
De Botton now questions whether the name School 21 – which they used with the strapline, ‘preparing children for the 21st century’ – fitted with their objectives. He can appreciate why a DfE official commented during a visit that they “should’ve called it School 1921”.
Its innovative curriculum, which de Botton led on, incorporated oracy and drama. “We were trying to be the best of the new, and the best of the old.”
In 2014, School 21 was rated outstanding by Ofsted. De Botton became head the following year, and he, Fidoe and Hyman founded Voice 21 to promote oracy further.
Oli de Botton
Reinventing work experience
De Botton made School 21 more future focused by “reinventing work experience” from a typically “two-week hit of making the tea” to half a day a week out in industry for Year 10s.
De Botton’s work caught the eye of the Careers & Enterprise Company, the quango formed in 2014 to improve careers education, which recruited him to lead it in 2021.
The government ditched compulsory school-age work experience in 2012, and a report this month by Speakers for Schools found only half of state school students get any. This is partly because industry placements are a key component of new T Level courses, which means employers are facing huge demand to facilitate them.
But de Botton points out that schools and colleges are reporting progress across the eight Gatsby benchmarks that are used as a framework for career education.
FE Week profile interviewees often recount having had terrible careers advice when they were at school. But de Botton claims that’s no longer the experience for most young people, and the “national discourse” has changed around careers guidance. Around 96 per cent of students received at least one employer encounter last year. Some of the strongest performance is in disadvantaged areas.
He says the Gatsby benchmarks, which were drawn up in 2013, are now “quite well embedded” in schools and colleges.
Oli de Botton
Careers reforms
CEC was initially intended to become self-sustaining, but in 2023 received £29.3 million in government funding, up from £23.8 million in 2022. That’s on top of £2.5 million last year from JP Morgan and further funding from the Salesforce Foundation for boosting disadvantaged young people’s take-up of digital apprenticeships.
While schools and colleges are responsible for providing advice and guidance, overseen by CEC, responsibility also sits with the National Careers Service and the Department for Work and Pensions and its agencies.
Both the government and the Labour party are eyeing reform of the system, which an education committee report last year criticised as “confusing, fragmented and unclear”.
Devolution is making matters more complex.
Together with partners, CEC runs 44 regional career hubs, covering 92 per cent of schools and colleges and bringing them together with employers and apprenticeship providers. They’re often co-funded by combined authorities in devolved areas.
New county deals are putting more power over the skills agenda in the hands of local government partners.
CEC “tries to match” its priorities from DfE with local skills priorities. This is “important because young people need to know what the local jobs are. Digital is fastest growing in Manchester City region for example, so it’s important those young people have access to those skills.”
Oli de Botton
Siloed sectors
De Botton’s own experience going from school to university to a schools-related career, meant that he “didn’t always understand” the purpose of apprenticeships. But he has learnt at CEC that degree apprenticeships and higher technical qualifications are “incredible”, and that colleges are “extraordinary institutions”.
He praises Walsall College, which he recently visited, for its integrated local careers hub which includes support for adults, in an office which acts as a “beacon in the town”.
He believes, however, that schools, colleges and training providers are “siloed” and “sometimes talk past each other”.
To break down barriers, CEC held an event with Leora Cruddas, the chief executive of the Confederation of School Trusts (which represents academies nationally), David Hughes from the Association of Colleges, and representatives from the Association of Employment and Learning Providers.
“That sort of thing doesn’t often happen” de Botton said.
Today’s politics
De Botton claims to be “not very political these days”.
However, his wife, Amber de Botton, was the Prime Minister’s director of communications for ten months until August 2023. De Botton laughs nervously when I suggest they must have had some interesting dinner conversations.
They met when Amber, formerly a journalist (she later rose to head of UK news at ITV News) interviewed him for a magazine (Total Politics) for an article about “up-and-coming politicians”. She wrote “very nicely” about him and they stayed in touch.
Meanwhile, de Botton’s own political legacy might just end up being oracy.
He believes it has a big role to play in colleges, as “high quality classroom discussion helps [students] grapple with big ideas”.
Our recent investigation found a perception among college support staff that young people are becoming increasingly disengaged in education. De Botton believes “hearing from young people” could be “crucial to making things better”.
“The AI revolution will require young people to be able to critically engage with the technology properly, so the discursive element of education seems to be central.”
De Botton’s proudest career moment was during a recent primary school parent’s evening, when he was told his son’s class would study oracy this term.
De Botton said he “welled up”. “Gosh, this is actually happening,” he thought. “I feel in a small way, I’ve contributed to that.”
