Skills Minister Nick Boles has broken his promise to the House of Commons Education Select Committee that there would be “many fewer” new apprenticeship Trailblazer standards than the frameworks they will replace by 2017.

He told committee members in January that he was worried about the “unbelievable proliferation” in the number of frameworks, which currently stands at 334, adding “what I promise you we will achieve, is many fewer standards”.

But Graham Stuart, who was chair of the committee at the time, has hit out at the government’s streamlining effort after it was revealed that more than 350 standards have already either been delivered or are being developed.

The Conservative MP said that Mr Boles “told my then committee earlier this year that there was an ‘unbelievable proliferation’ of different standards and this represents a missed opportunity to address the problem”.

“The government has achieved a great deal with apprenticeships reform, transforming both the quality and quantity of the opportunities available to young people,” added Mr Stuart, who chaired the committee from June 2010 to March this year.

“It is, however, disappointing that ministers have still been unable to simplify the confusing landscape of different standards that are applied to apprenticeships, the sheer complexity of which risks diluting the consistency of the qualification.”

Mr Boles didn’t comment directly on the broken promise, but a Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) spokesperson told FE Week: “There will be one new standard for each occupation identified by employers as requiring an apprenticeship, and the standards will replace existing apprenticeship frameworks.”

He added: “Employers are in the driving seat developing apprenticeship standards that will benefit businesses. They are best placed to identify where there are skills shortages.”

A BIS press release published on August 21, which marked the launch of a consultation on the proposed apprenticeship levy for large businesses, stated that “there are now over 140 Trailblazer groups that so far have collectively delivered or are in the process of delivering, over 350 standards”.

It followed Mr Boles’ promise to the committee on January 14, after he was called to answer questions as part of its investigation into apprenticeships and traineeships for 16 to 19-year-olds.

The resulting report published in March warned against over-complicated “system changes which deter employers, and smaller employers in particular, from participating”.

Neil Carmichael, current chair of the committee, told FE Week on Friday: “We do need to tease out what an apprenticeship actually is and to make it as relevant as possible for the workplace.

“We have to bear in mind that we have committed ourselves to creating a further 3m apprenticeships and so be mindful of standards.”

An online FE Week report on August 6 warned of growing frustration among Trailblazer apprenticeship designers over the government’s slow progress with approving standards.

Around 35 have been judged ready for delivery by BIS so far.

More than 180 had been published by the Trailblazer groups on the BIS website at the time of going to press, but are still waiting for final BIS approval.

Meanwhile, BIS declined to say how many standards currently being developed by Trailblazer groups have not yet been published on its website.

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Editor’s comment

Not a standard first

The streamlining of apprenticeship guidance under the new Trailblazer system is a process to which a broken promise is no stranger.

In March, FE Week revealed how Skills Minister Nick Boles had relaxed much-vaunted rules set by his predecessor, Matthew Hancock, that limited the new standards to two sides of A4.
The appearance of six standards running to between three and five A4 pages had signalled, as was confirmed by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills at the time, the death of the two-page standard rule.

So to see the number of standards coming in above the number of frameworks they are replacing, represents another broken promise.

But it follows a number of other FE Week reports that do not paint a wholly rosy picture of the path to the Trailblazer standards system.

Full approval for standards is slow in coming, and even for those that are ‘ready to deliver’ the uptake is slow.

It therefore seems entirely possible that the next broken promise heading our way (unless, of course, there are others first) is an extension of the lifespan of frameworks beyond their 2017 cut- off.

Chris Henwood
chris.henwood@feweek.co.uk

 

Two general FE colleges have had their free school plans thrown out by the Department for Education (DfE), FE Week can reveal.

Croydon College’s application was rejected, it said, because there wasn’t considered to be a sufficient shortfall of school places in the local area. It was the college’s second attempt.

Meanwhile, London-based Tower Hamlets College principal Gerry McDonald (pictured), said that his had been rejected “on technical grounds”.

The college had been advised to make the “educational case stronger” before it planned to resubmit the application next month, he added.

It comes after DfE confirmed to FE Week that none of the 18 new free schools announced this month by Prime Minister David Cameron had any links to general FE colleges.

An FE Week report in April revealed that Croydon College would re-submit its free school application over the summer, after its initial submission was turned down in March because the DfE thought its plans “required more detail”.

Croydon College principal Frances Wadsworth said at the time that the planned secondary school and sixth form, with capacity for 180 students in each year, could address a local need for more pupil places and give parents an extra option over where to send their children.

The proposal was also for the school, which would have been called New Croydon Academy, to have an increased focus on science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (Steam) subjects.

However, after the latest rejection, a college spokesperson said the “DfE, in consultation with Croydon Council, determined that on reflection there wasn’t a sufficient shortfall of schools places in our proposed location to warrant a new school”.

She added that DfE and the council also felt that “any shortfall that existed could be met by the free school provision in the pipeline and expansion of existing provision”.

“We are naturally disappointed, but would not wish to progress in opening a school for which there is not deemed to be sufficient demand,” she said.

A DfE spokesperson declined to comment on the Croydon and Tower Hamlets applications, or confirm if any more FE-related free school plans had been thrown out.

It comes after the DfE announced that a further six general FE colleges intended to take on learners from the age of 14 from this month.

The new 14 to 16 providers for 2015/16 were Cambridge Regional College (CRC), Central Bedfordshire College, East Durham College, East Kent College, John Ruskin College, in Croydon, and South Tyneside College, according to an EFA list published on Tuesday (September 1).

 

TeamUK finished in seventh place at this year’s WorldSkills competition, held in Brazil.

The team took home three gold medals, three silver, two bronze and 21 medallions for excellence – winning 46 medal points in total.

Beauty therapist Rianne Chester, 21, who runs Beauty By Rianne, was handed the award for best overall WorldSkills competitor at the closing ceremony on August 16.

TeamUK plumbing and heating competitor Gary Doyle, from Northern Ireland’s Southern Regional College and Kieran Trainor Plumbing and Heating were the other gold medal winners.

The Brazilian team came out on top, with 11 golds and 105 points.

The table has only today been released due to technical issues in judgement in finalising the medallions of excellence.

At the last WorldSkills’ competition in 2013, held in Leipzig, the UK came in at 10th place in the medals table.

This year Team UK managed to beat its nearest rivals France, Germany and Austria.

Skills Minister Nick Boles said: “Congratulations to Team UK on its impressive medal tally and achievement at WorldSkills São Paulo.

“Their hard work shows how far apprenticeships and professional and technical training can take young people, and the skills they are learning will help drive them towards an exciting and rewarding career.”

We have put together a free souvenir supplement from the event, with all the details of this year’s event. You can download it here.

A further six general FE colleges have been listed by the Education Funding Agency (EFA) as intending to take on learners from the age of 14.

The EFA yesterday published an updated list of FE colleges intending to start ‘direct recruitment’ of full-time younger learners for 2015/16.

The six new providers are Cambridge Regional College (CRC), Central Bedfordshire College, East Durham College, East Kent College, John Ruskin College, in Croydon, and South Tyneside College, according to the EFA.

It brings the total number of colleges “intending to deliver the programme” over the coming academic year to 20, the EFA confirmed.

Anne Constantine (pictured above), CRC principal, said the programme was a “new and exciting development” for education in the Cambridge area.

“We have created the Academy@CRC to offer a high quality learning experience, with more practical and vocational content, to young people aged 14 to 16 residing in Cambridge City, East Cambridgeshire and South Cambridgeshire,” she added.

“Its aim is to nurture a mature and independent approach to learning and to develop the skills students will need to be successful in securing and sustaining employment and a career.
“Practical and applied learning suits some 14-year-olds more than the traditional academic curriculum.

“We will offer core GCSEs and a substantial vocational programme and we expect this to enable the young people who choose to come here to progress more quickly.”

CRC will launch the programme as a pilot scheme for 15 pupils from nearby secondary school Chesterton Community College in September, and, subject to its success in the first term, offer open access to 14-year-olds from September 2016, Ms Constantine added.

East Kent College principial, Graham Razey, said his college has seen a “significant reduction in the opportunities for local young people to access high quality technical education at 14”, which is the reason why they are choosing to deliver the programme.

“East Kent College is committed to meeting the needs of the locality and is offering the Technical School to those who have the aspiration of a career in catering and hospitality or early years education,” added Mr Razey.

“The college has developed a technical school within the Broadstairs Campus which offers a discrete base for the school students and staff whilst giving easy access to the technical facilities. This includes the college’s nursery and hotel where the students will put their knowledge into commercial practice.”

Alison Maynard (pictured right), principal of South Tyneside College’s professional and vocational College, said: “Our primary motivation in establishing Career College North East was to provide outstanding instruction to young people who want more than purely academic study.

“It gives those who are clear about their future educational path the opportunity to learn the important skills they need to pursue the career they want, and to be ahead of the field by at least two years.

“We know from our close links with regional employers that there is demand for intelligent and motivated young people – employment opportunities are being created, but there remains a significant skills gap in the areas that will be covered by Career College North East.

“It is vitally important that the training given to people coming through our schools and colleges reflects genuine employment need in the areas in which they will live and work, and that is what the career college aims to do.

“For example, the ongoing creation of an International Advanced Manufacturing Park on the border of South Tyneside and Sunderland will create great opportunity for young people, and it is essential that they have the skills to capitalise.

“Career College North East will benefit greatly from being a partnership between South Tyneside College, which has outstanding bespoke facilities and highly skilled staff, and St Wilfrid’s, which is rated outstanding by Ofsted.

“It is a combination that we firmly believe will benefit young people in the North East for many years to come.”

The four original colleges that took on 14 to 16 provision in 2013/14 were Hull College, Leeds City College, Middlesbrough College and NCG (formerly Newcastle College Group), according to the EFA, while a further 10 FE colleges delivered the programme last academic year.

The additional colleges that were listed as “intending to deliver” the programme in 2014/15 included Bromley College of Further and Higher Education, Grimsby Institute of Further and Higher Education, Hugh Baird College, in Merseyside, and Newbury College.

The others were South Devon College, West Thames College, St Helens College, Leicestershire-based Stephenson College, Oldham College, and Tower Hamlets College.

The EFA and the other four new colleges are yet to comment.

Colleges will be expected to foot the bill for changes recommended during government-ordered area reviews or risk having their funding withdrawn, official government guidance leaked to FE Week has revealed.

A draft of guidance on the first wave of area reviews of post-16 education in England places responsibility for funding of the implementation of changes recommended in the post-16 education reviews on the shoulders of colleges, local enterprise partnerships (Leps) and councils.

The document, which is expected to be released in its completed form later this week, sets out the government’s expectation that colleges will provide “funding and support to implement changes, particularly as we expect change to deliver significant net savings in the longer term”.

It adds that government finance “would need to be provided as a last resort”, and goes on to say that although participation in the reviews is voluntary, it would “expect funding agencies and Leps” to only fund institutions which take action to provide a “good quality” and “financially sustainable” offer.

The area reviews were announced in July by Skills Minister Nick Boles (pictured left), and a government report, Reviewing post-16 education and training institutions, set out Whitehall’s desire to move towards an FE sector with “fewer, often larger, more resilient and efficient providers”.

The first wave of reviews are expected to begin this month, but unions have raised concerns about the level of consultation and financial burden which will be placed on colleges under current plans.

University and College Union general secretary Sally Hunt (above, left) told FE Week that although collaboration between colleges was “to be encouraged”, she was disappointed that the reviews had been announced “with little formal consultation”.

She added: “Colleges have already sustained massive funding cuts and now need to prioritise their resources on students rather than jumping through hoops to secure future funding.

“If government truly wishes to improve skills in local areas, it should focus on ensuring a properly resourced and sustainable system of further education which gives people easy access to the learning they need.”

Association of School and College Leaders general secretary Brian Lightman (above, right) also criticised the funding situation.

He told FE Week: “The last thing colleges need is a further funding pressure at a time when funding levels are so low that many colleges are struggling to maintain basic levels of provision.”

A Department for Business, Innovation and Skills spokesperson said the bill for the administrative cost of the reviews themselves would be met by government, as it is with FE Commissioner visits.

Further education colleges struggling to cope with an influx of maths and English GCSE resit students should get extra cash through a special levy on schools, a leading think tank has claimed.

A report released today by the Policy Exchange, a right-leaning think tank founded by former Education Secretary Michael Gove, called for the “resit levy”.

It would mean schools having to help cover the cost for “some or all of their students” who fail to get a C grade in the subjects and transfer to an FE College to take their resits, the report said.

Natasha Porter, author of the paper, said: “It is unfair for some schools to pass the buck to FE colleges who are already facing extreme funding pressures to fix a problem they have not caused themselves.

“To recognise the additional burden on FE colleges and shoulder more responsibility, schools should cough up and pay a resit levy.”

John Widdowson (pictured right), president of the Association of Colleges, said: “Policy Exchange has rightly recognised the challenge faced by colleges as they support an increasing number of young people needing to re-sit their GCSE English and maths after 11 years at school.

“These resits are being provided alongside the technical and professional courses that produce the skilled motivated employees that the country needs to drive productivity.

But he added: “While specific proposal to place a levy on schools, payable to FE colleges, for those students who failed to get a A* to C grade, would bring welcome additional funding into colleges, it would be easier if the government recognised the new challenge taken on by colleges in the national funding system.”

Nansi Ellis (pictured left), assistant general secretary at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said FE colleges had been “most affected” by students needing to re-sit English and maths, “with some colleges having to devote whole buildings to accommodate the huge number of students taking GCSE exams”.

However, she said: “While we agree that FE colleges should receive additional funding for helping students pass their re-sits, we do not think schools should have to pay for it.

“We also fundamentally disagree with making students keep re-sitting GCSEs in English and maths. Instead, young people who have failed to get Cs in English and maths should take functional skills qualifications.”

The report claimed that the post-16 funding system does not does not recognise the extra burden on FE colleges since resits became compulsory for learners that fail to achieve a grade C in the subjects at the start of 2014/15.

“An FE college will receive £4,000 for a 16-17 year old (and £3,300 for an 18 year old) to teach a full time (unweighted) qualification, and is now required to fund the remedial maths and English teaching and examination fees from within this sum,” it said.

A Policy Exchange spokesperson said that FE colleges were also carrying more of the burden, in terms of the number of resitting students.

For students who completed their GCSEs in 2011 and retook them in 2013, he said, FE colleges took around five times more students who retook English — 100,239 compared to 20,544 who stayed at school.

It was a similar story over the same period for maths resits, he added, when 110,811 students re-took maths at an FE college, compared to 27,579 at schools.

The report added that the levy would, under the proposals, apply “where the student has both failed to get a C and achieved a negative score below a certain level on the new Progress 8 benchmark”, so long as he or she “has been on the roll of the secondary school for a certain length of time”.

Special educational needs and disabled students would only be exempt if they have an evidenced assessment showing they are not able to study the subject, it added.

The report added that there should be “a cap on the levy on any one particular school to provide some surety in financial planning from the school’s perspective”.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills declined to comment on the levy plan.

The sector skills councils for health and for justice today announced their merger — but also said they would continue to act separately.

Skills for Health (SfH) and Skills for Justice (SfJ) have “integrated” and a joint statement from the two organisations said the move would “maximise the synergies for customers and stakeholders”.

John Rogers (pictured right), SfH chief executive, will be the merged organisation’s chief executive — a post last held at the SfJ by Steve Clark, who left in March.

Mr Rogers said customers and stakeholders would see “very little change” to services and that it would be “business as usual”.

“However, over the next 12 to 18 months it is very clear that we will be able to deliver significant enhancements by maximising the strengths and expertise of both organisations across the combined wider sector footprint,” said Mr Rogers.

The new body will act as a not-for-profit UK charity in the way the two sector skills councils previously did, operating licences for the health and justice sectors.

However, SfH and SfJ will otherwise continue to act as two separate brands with their own websites and staff, according to an SfH spokesperson, who added that all existing offices would “be retained” and “there are no requirements for relocation and no current job losses” for employees of both organisations.

The move was announced in a joint statement released this morning by Sir Duncan Nichol, chair of SfJ, and Chris Hannah, chair of SfH.

They said the organisations “have worked in close partnership on a range of initiatives and services over a number of years, and both boards felt that the timing was now right to maximise the synergies for customers and stakeholders by bringing the two organisations together”.

“The work of the two organisations covers a wide expanse of UK public services including health, police, prisons, fire services, armed forces and local government,” they added.

“Through our history of joint working we have been very aware of the benefits that could be achieved for our customers and stakeholders by combining the strengths of SfH and SfJ.

“We are delighted that we have been able to integrate the two organisations and look forward to the very positive outcomes for the sectors that we serve.”

Sheffield-based SfJ has four offices across the country employing 40 workers.

It was established in 2004 as the sector skills council for police forces and law enforcement agencies, courts, tribunal and prosecution services, forensic science services, custodial care, and wider offender management services.

Meanwhile, SfH, based in Bristol, was set up in 2002 and currently employs 150 workers across five different offices.

It covers dental nursing, clinical support services, healthcare support services, pharmacy services and health and social care, among others.

Both organisations are involved in the development and promotion of vocational qualifications, including apprenticeships.

They work with a range of stakeholders including employers, education providers, education commissioners, professional bodies and awarding organisations across their sectors.

Stockton Riverside College has merged with independent learning provider (ILP) the NETA (formerly North East Training Association) Training Trust after 18 months of “talks” between the grade two Ofsted rated providers.

A joint statement released this morning by Phil Cook, principal of the FE college, and Frank Ramsay, chief executive of Stockton-based NETA, confirmed the merger.

It said that the move “will enable both organisations to align their values of keeping business and learners at its heart”.

“We are confident that together we will be stronger, sustainable and have the opportunity to further develop and grow high quality skills training into the future,” it added.

A spokesperson for Stockton Riverside told FE Week that NETA approached the FE college, which is “looking at an approximate operating surplus of £200k for 14/15”, 18 months ago with a view to “establishing a possible partnership”.

She added that “NETA has been looking for potential partners for the past five years, but up until that point hadn’t found the right fit”.

However, she said the leaders of the providers felt that they had now found sufficient “synergy” to merge — with both set to remain “individual entities” and benefit from the “added potential for sharing resources”.

Individual names and brands will remain, she said, and “each [provider] will continue to operate from respective campuses”.

“There will be no job losses,” she added.

Stockton Riverside, which was rated ‘good’ by Ofsted in June last year and allocated £11.5m by the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) as of April, had around 6,900 learners last academic year.

Meanwhile, NETA, which was rated ‘good’ by Ofsted in May 2013 and allocated £1.5m for 2014/15 by the SFA as of April, had around 8,900 learners on average in 2014/15.

It was established as a charitable Group Training Association in 1975 and offers training for engineering construction companies.

A spokesperson for the Association of Employment and Learning Providers said mergers between colleges and ILPs was “not unusual”.

“As this example shows, each can bring benefits to the other particularly in providing a more integrated service for local employers,” he added.

“No single model of partnership works best for everyone because of differing local circumstances, and they are generally most effective when it is a voluntary process on the part of the institutions concerned.”

It comes after struggling sixth form college (SFC) Totton confirmed to FE Week on June 22 that it would be merging with national crime prevention charity Nacro from November.

The deal was announced after the Southampton SFC, which had around 1,700-learners when it was rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted in June, failed to find a suitable nearby FE college to merge with.

A merger had been on the horizon for Totton since December when former principal Mike Gaston said it was looking at options. Sixth Form College Commissioner Peter Mucklow had warned it could not function alone having been placed under Financial Notice to Improve by the EFA.

Nacro had around 3,200 learners in June and improved from an ‘inadequate’ Ofsted rating in March 2013 to ‘good’ last June.

The Association of Colleges declined to comment on the Stockton Riverside and NETA.

Pic from left: Frank Ramsay and Phil Cook