University Technical Colleges (UTCs) have been criticised in front of a Lords committee for stepping in where “colleges could already do the work”.

In the tenth evidence session of the House of Lords committee on social mobility’s inquiry into the transition from school to work, witness Pat Brennan-Barrett, principal of Northampton College (pictured above), said provision for students from age 14 — including technical education and professional pathways — had been offered by colleges “for many years”.

UTCs are 14 to 19 institutions, often run by one or more academic or commercial sponsors. The first UTC, The JCB Academy in Staffordshire, was opened in 2010.

And speaking to committee last Wednesday (October 28), Ms Brennan-Barrett said: “This is the sort of work that FE colleges have done for many years. In my previous college we had 500 students from 14 who were on technical courses and did very well with achieving … colleges could already do the work of UTCs.”

Ms Brennan-Barrett said that “not all UTCs have been coherently thought of” and she “would add some caution” to the government’s plans to have a UTC in every city across the country.

“UTCs are being placed where there is a declining demographic of 14-year-olds,” she said at the hearing on Wednesday (October 28).

“It’s at a time when we are moving into austerity for colleges and area reviews, and it doesn’t make sense to be opening a UTC with small numbers of students … we’ve got colleges that have got that capacity to manage the technical qualifications.”

The committee also heard from Malcolm Trobe, deputy general secretary of the Association of Schools and College Leaders (ASCL), who said that for some UTCs under-recruitment has been a problem, referring to the closure of Hackney UTC, reported in FE Week on July 11, 2014, and the Black Country UTC, reported in FE Week on April 14.

He added where UTCs were recruiting, the gender balance among students may have been a problem.

“Early indications are that recruitment of young women is proportionally significantly low,” said Mr Trobe.

“In one of the most successful UTCs, which is JCB, actually the number of girls in the college is extremely low.”

The issue of diversity was also raised by Ms Brennan-Barrett, who said that Black and Asian minority groups and students with learning difficulties or disabilities were also underrepresented in UTCs.

UTCs were represented in the meeting by Charles Parker, chief executive officer of the Baker Dearing Educational Trust (pictured left), part of the UTC network, who spoke in the second session of the day alongside David Nicholl, director of the Studio Schools Trust.

Mr Parker admitted that in his view UTCs had been received as “an unwelcome intruder” into the education system, but added that as they become better recognised, students whose needs were aligned with UTC provision were increasingly approaching the institutions for places.

He also said they had seen particular success with apprenticeships, with provisional data for the 700 students leaving UTCs in July 2015 showing that 24 per cent had gone on to become apprentices.

“The UTCs develop because the employers and the university in a given region have decided that they need this form of provision — what that automatically does is encourage them to be interested in it,” added Mr Parker.

The Careers and Enterprise Company (CEC) is in hot water for expecting independent learning providers (ILPs) — but not colleges — to stump up matched funding for a share of a £5m pot of cash aimed at addressing careers guidance “cold spots”.

A spokesperson for the employer-led CEC announced on Tuesday (November 27) that the new fund would pay for between 15 and 25 projects in areas its research had shown were most in need of “careers and enterprise support”.

An accompanying report said that groups containing at least six providers, which could be comprised of all FE colleges, or a mixture of colleges and schools, could bid for contracts worth between £50,000 and £1m.

The report had not made it clear whether ILPs could apply, but interim head of the fund Ian Anderson told FE Week that they could either as part of a group of ILPs, or along with colleges or schools.

However, he added that while CEC would “expect all for-profit private sector organisations [including ILPs] to provide match-funding for any sum they receive”, there would be “no match-funding expected from public sector organisations such as colleges”.

Stewart Segal (pictured right), Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) chief executive, said this was unfair and told FE Week on Thursday (October 29) that he would raise the issue with the CEC.

“We strongly feel that the bidding rules should apply to all types of training provider,” he added.

CEC has identified more than 20 regions across England, Prioritisation Indicators, where young people were missing out most “on the support needed to help them prepare for, and take control of their futures”.

A spokesperson said that the research, which for example took into account the proportion of employers that consider 16-year-old school leavers “poorly or very poorly prepared for work”, would “form the basis” for where the £5m was allocated.

Mr Anderson said that it would be up to applicants to explain in their proposals how they would spend the money on improving careers and enterprise support for 12 to 18-year-olds.

It comes after the company unveiled plans earlier this year for its team of ‘enterprise advisers’ to provide careers advice in thousands of colleges and schools across the country.

Mr Anderson said that these advisers could “collaborate” with groups of FE providers handed a slice of the £5m fund to help them implement their schemes.

Catherine Sezen, 14-19 and curriculum policy manager at the Association of Colleges (AoC), said: “Colleges have long recognised the critical nature of good careers education and will be keen to continue to work together with other education providers to support young people to make informed choices.”

David Igoe, chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges’ Association, said: “The identification of ‘cold spots’ is welcome in targeting scarce resources to where support is most needed.”

Bids for a slice of the £5m fund must be submitted by December 4.

Visit www.careersandenterprise.co.uk for more.

A council has voted to carry out its own post-16 education review to ensure school sixth forms and independent learning providers (ILPs) were fully considered in its actual government-commissioned area review.

Brighton and Hove City Council will take the results of its review to the steering group of the Sussex Coast area review, which includes eight general FE colleges and three sixth form colleges.

The motion was passed by councillors having been put before them by Tom Bewick (pictured), managing director at consultancy firm New Work Skills Ltd and chair of the council’s children, young people and skills committee.

He told FE Week the council review would “look at the supply side of post-16 provision, so all training available including schools and ILPs”. “We are also bringing in a group of local businesses to analyse the demand for skills training,” he added.

The council’s report is due out in March, for consideration by the Sussex Coast area review steering group, in which Mr Bewick will represent school sixth forms and the council.

It comes after a number of college principals complained to FE Week that school sixth forms are not involved in the seven area reviews announced so far.

Email paul.offord@feweek.co.uk if your council plans to draw up its own report on local post-16 provision in support of an area review.

The “perfect storm” of challenges facing the sector is, according to Association of Colleges (AoC) chief executive Martin Doel, a “manifestation of a problem that we should have settled a long time ago – that is defining this term ‘further education’”.

“For too often we’ve chased whatever money is available, whatever source of funding might be there, and sought to deliver in an uncritical, undiscerning way which has turned institutions in to survivors — but survivors for what? And for whom?” he said.

The event, at Westminster’s Portcullis House on Wednesday (October 28), was chaired by Fetl president Dame Ruth Silver.

She heard Mr Doel say that a clearer definition of the sector would “give us a greater sense of confidence, identity and determination and make much less likely the prospect of ministers waking up one morning just having an idea and imposing it upon the sector”.

It was a view echoed by Jill Westerman, Fetl chair of trustees and principal of Northern College, in Barnsley.

She said there was little “consensus of opinion” about what the sector is for, “even for those of us who work in the sector”.

From a policy maker’s perspective, the sector is “one of the means by which we create an economically successful and socially cohesive society”, said Ms Westerman.

“Even if you accept that, there’s much less agreement about how we get there,” she added.

“We need to begin with what is the FE and skills sector for, and then move on to what next?”

Ambition
The issue of ambition — both for the sector and for learners — was raised by a number of speakers.

“What are our ambitions for our young people?” asked Sue Rimmer, principal of South Thames College and chair of the Principals’ Professional Council.

“What type of society do we want going forward and how educated do we want our society to be? How educated do we want our young people to be?” she added.

Referring to a comment made earlier in the evening by Anne Marie Morris, MP for Newton Abbott and parliamentary private secretary to Skills Minister Nick Boles, that the UK had far fewer young people entering higher level training than other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, Ms Rimmer said: “Why are we surprised that we only have 10 per cent of people qualified to levels three, four and five? That hasn’t been our ambition like it has been in other countries”.

Ms Rimmer added that she had been “truly inspired” by a recent visit to City of Glasgow College, a “super college” which has 40,000 learners and partnerships with 50 colleges around the world. It also opened a £66m maritime skills centre last month (October).

“I think at times colleges aren’t ambitious enough. I think the leaders often aren’t allowed to be ambitious enough,” the Scottish college’s principal, Paul Little, said.

“Everything is possible with will,” he added.

Meeting the skills need
Stewart Segal, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, spoke of the opportunities opening up to the sector by taking a “workforce development approach”.

“We need to move ourselves away from being driven by funding streams — but be driven by the customers,” said Mr Segal.

Citing health and social care, justice and local government — “any of the major services that government wishes to improve” — as areas that the sector should be working in, Mr Segal said: “We need to work in partnership developing and integrating services with people both inside and outside of the skills sector.”

“We won’t just be funded by government, we’ll be funded by individuals and employers who wish to drive the skills of their workforce and we’ll be the sector they’ll look to in order to do that.”

Localisation
A number of speakers spoke about the importance of localisation, and of local providers being able to meet the needs of their local economy.

Mr Doel said that “an FE college is fundamentally about serving a local economic community at levels three, four and five”.

Professor Chris Husbands, director of the Institute of Education at University College London, said the government’s area devolution plans were “really important and really interesting”.

“Local specialisation is important in terms of driving economic growth,” he said.

Ms Westerman said it was interesting that “devolution is taking control back to localities” after strong central control.

However, she followed this with a note of caution. “Do we know what the impact of the different locations of control will be? I don’t think we do,” she said.

Vox pop: Do you feel more comfortable about the future of the FE and skills sector having heard the Fetl event speakers?

 

Professor Ewart Keep, director of Oxford University’s centre on skills

I was uncomfortable before I came, and I’m leaving just as uncomfortable. I’ve got lots of questions but very few answers.
I’m fascinated by how localism is going to play out in a world with a lot less money to spend

 

 

 

 

Simon Feneley, director of delivery and operations, Emfec

I think comfortable. Because the sector seems to be taking ownership — that’s the feeling that came through tonight. And it’s about that self-reliance, self-resilience, seizing what we’re good at and building on it and taking it forward

 

 

 

Nick Gash, policy and public affairs adviser, AAT

I think the future of FE and skills is incredibly challenging, and what is encouraging is that the sector itself is seeking to address it and make some partnerships. What we now hope is that the government will listen

 

 

 

 

Catherine Bush, head of projects, City & Guilds

I’m not sure if I can say if I’m more or less comfortable – I don’t think the purpose was to do that, I think the purpose was to explore the issues. I think Martin Doel summed it up very well at the end. There’s a whole lot of stuff going on, challenges, but I guess as always the sector will rise to it and weather the storm.