Southwark Council has called on the FE Commissioner to support its bid take over half of Lewisham Southwark College, criticising it for “a lack of imagination and robustness in curriculum, in strategic and financial planning”.

The council’s cabinet member for children and schools and chair of the corporate parenting committee, Councillor Victoria Mills, has written to commissioner Dr David Collins.

She put forward a takeover proposal for the part of the college that was Southwark College before it merged with Lewisham College in 2012.

It comes amid an area-based assessment of South East London’s FE and skills provision, consisting of two structure and prospects appraisals at Greenwich Community College and Lewisham Southwark after they were both served with inadequate Ofted ratings — the second in a row for Lewisham Southwark, which is currently in administered status.

And in addition to the Ofsted blows, the merged college’s £290k ‘Lesoco’ rebrand proved a failure, as exclusively revealed by FE Week.

The 30-page Southwark Council takeover proposal (pictured left) is called Raising standards and developing skills in further education in Southwark — a prospectus for change.

It reads: “Put very simply, a second inadequate rating is simply not good enough with a lack of imagination and robustness in curriculum, in strategic and financial planning.

“As a stakeholder with the interests of the Southwark learner front and centre, this is why we must now seriously re-evaluate the position of FE provision in the borough and describe a new prospectus.”

College governors’ board chair Chris Bilsland said its “model of FE is not broken,” while the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and Dr Collins were yet to comment.

However, the proposal was described as “interesting and understandable” by former Lewisham principal Dame Ruth Silver, who left in 2008 after 17 years to chair the Learning and Skills Improvement. But she also expressed concern about the college’s future under council control.

She told FE Week: “It feels like a return to the past when colleges were too often neglected by their local authorities who always put schools first — they have to, it’s the law.

“I want to see colleges in equally nourishing hands and that for now — but maybe not for long — means leadership of high calibre, governing bodies who execute their roles with knowledge and wisdom and the strongest sense of service to both place and its peoples.”

Southwark College was rated as inadequate before it merged with Lewisham, which had a grade three rating at the time (then termed satisfactory, but ‘requires improvement’ under the current common inspection framework).

However, the prospectus suggests they be demerged, with all Southwark provision being wound down before closure next month.

There would then be a transitional management team taking over in September, with competitions to secure new provision over the autumn and winter.

The new Southwark provision would then open in September next year, with delivery phased in until the following September, when the college would be fully operational.

The prospectus added: “Early indications from the destination survey suggest that very few Southwark residents are planning to attend the college from September.

“We will however offer a support and guidance service to secure alternative provision for those who have expressed a preference to attend the college. Students who are on two year courses would be supported to transfer to other colleges.”

The council’s proposal further suggests the majority of Southwark provision be based at a central hub in Waterloo. It also proposes a “radical approach… to start afresh, to devolve the commissioning responsibility and buildings in Southwark to the borough”.

It continues: “The borough would then award the FE contract(s) and take responsibility for the provision.”

The proposal comes with a letter from Councillor Victoria Mills, in which she says: “We strongly believe that for too long our residents have been let down by the FE offer in Southwark. Solutions have been tried, but each has been left wanting.

“Students are coming out of Southwark’s schools with great potential to build on their personal success. And as a borough we are job rich.

“The employment opportunities in Southwark are simply fantastic thanks to the highly ambitious regeneration of the borough by the council and our partners.

“Sadly, there is no high quality local college of choice to help make the transition between the two.”

She added: “Our mission is that by 2016 Southwark learners will attend an innovative college that truly responds to the needs of our young people, adult learners and local employers.”

Lewisham Southwark College, which has around 13,600 learners, defended its plans to turn around performance.

Mr Bilsland said: “The college absolutely understands and shares the frustration felt by the London Boroughs of Southwark and Lewisham at the college’s historic poor performance.

“However, the model of FE provision is not broken. Rather we need to focus all our collective efforts at improving quality and performance and invest in the future. That is our plan and we are confident we will succeed in this.”

A college spokesperson pointed to appointment of a new senior management team to be led by current Newcastle College principal Carole Kitching, due to start over the summer, and plans to invest more than £40m in a new Southwark campus.

The Association of Colleges (AoC) has challenged the government to prove the sector was being used for bogus student visa claims after the Home Office announced “a crackdown on visa fraud”.

The Home Office announced new measures today to reduce the length of FE visas from three years to two, prevent students from staying on in Britain to work when they complete their course and stop them extending their studies unless they are registered at an institution with a formal link to a university.

In a written ministerial statement, Immigration Minister James Brokenshire (pictured above) said the measures would prevent publicly-funded college courses being used as a “back door” to the UK job market.

However, AoC chief executive Martin Doel (pictured right) said: “Colleges have well-established and stringent attendance monitoring systems in place to mitigate against any potential abuse and the sector is keen to see any evidence that it is being used as a back door for bogus students.”

He added: “International students make an important financial and educational contribution to the country and colleges take their work as sponsors of non-EU students very seriously.

“Publically funded, Ofsted inspected further education (FE) colleges provide high-quality courses for all students, not least international students.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “Rules are being tightened after Home Office officials detected early signs of increased fraud at some publicly-funded colleges and discovered immigration advisers advertising college visas as a means to work in the UK.”

However, he declined to explain what these early signs were.

The restrictions currently apply to privately funded colleges, but today’s announcement means that from the autumn they will also apply to those funding by the Skills Funding Agency and the Education Funding Agency.

According to the Home Office more than 5,000 people applied for visas to study in the UK from outside the EU in 2013/14.

Mr Brokenshire said: “Hard-working taxpayers who are helping to pay for publicly-funded colleges expect them to be providing top-class education, not a back door to a British work visa.

“These changes will further protect the UK’s reputation for educational excellence and stop immigration cheats abusing publicly-funded colleges.”

The rule changes also include stripping non-EU students of their right to work up to 10 hours a week while studying in the UK.

Mr Brokenshire said: “Our reforms — which include introducing English language testing, removing sponsorship rights from hundreds of bogus colleges, and restricting students’ access to the jobs market – are all part of our plan to control immigration for the benefit of Britain.”

The move follows a clampdown on bogus colleges in the last five years which led to more than 870 having their licence to sponsor students for a visa revoked and is part of a drive by Home Secretary Theresa May to push net migration figures below 100,000.

However, Mr Doel warned the restrictions would “limit” student progression from colleges to universities and could put students off coming to the UK altogether.

He said: “The Government risks seriously restricting the UK’s ability to attract international students.

“A Levels and International Foundation Year courses represent legitimate study routes for international students with many going on to successfully complete degrees at top ranking universities.

“In blocking the route from further education to university, the Government will do long term harm to the UK as an international student destination and this policy needs urgent reconsideration.”

The new rules are expected to be introduced to Parliament this week, with work restrictions in operation from August, and the other changes coming in during the autumn, although it is not know when.

What does FE professionalism look like? How should it be achieved? And how should FE professionals make their voices heard?

These were questions fuelling debate at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) FE conference, entitled Vocationalism is Professionalism, on Friday in Paddington, West London.

The thorny issue of a professional membership body for FE practitioners was broached by Education and Training Foundation (ETF) director for strategy, quality and research Tim Weiss, and Institute of Education professor Frank Coffield.

Mr Weiss gave delegates an update on the development of the Society for Education and Training (Set), the new membership body being set up by the ETF after it inherited the legacy and assets of the previous sector membership body, the Institute for Learning, which was disbanded in November.

“We have a very busy rest of the year as we start to roll out more and more benefits that are going to be available to members,” said Mr Weiss.

“In the autumn we’re going to start organising local network events for members where they’ll have the opportunity to join up with other professionals locally to discuss who they respond to changes in teaching and learning practice and in the teaching landscape.”

The group also inherited responsibility for Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills (QTLS) status from IfL, and Mr Weiss said it would be high on Set’s list of priorities.

“We’re looking at QTLS and making sure we know whether there are ways and places where we can improve that process,” he said.

“Whether that’s about improving the professional formational process or the experience of people taking it, but also looking more closely at the requirements and the content of QTLS as well to see if there are ways that we can improve that as well.”

The organisation was in the process of setting up its governance structures, establishing a practitioner advisory group and membership board, which he said would give members “a strong say” and a “crucial role in terms of designing and implementing strategy”.

However, Professor Coffield claimed the ETF’s membership offering would never be independent of government, and put forward his own proposals for an alternative, member run group.

“I’m a supporter of ETF,” he said. “It supports practitioners in terms of research and development, the model works really well but it is 96 per cent supported by government.

“So it is not independent, it is not democratic, so there is a space for an independent and democratic organisation which we will call Tutors’ Voices.”

The group he said would be “a new association to be run by and for teachers with the knowledge and expertise to stand up both to government and to management” and would be launching from September 27.

At the heart of the group, he said, would be a 10-point “Bill of Rights” for all teaching staff within FE, which included a statutory right for tutors’ representatives to be consulted on national, regional and local policy decisions.

It also called for tutors to have greater control over teaching, learning and assessment, and for all staff in state-funded institutions to be qualified.

“I think for once we should stop being so reactive and so adaptive,” said Professor Coffield. “I think that’s one of the great virtues of the sector, but I think you’re now too adaptive, too responsive and you’re not demanding enough.

“I want you to start making demands, not polite requests, of the system and of the country. We want a say in how our professional lives are run.“

However, Mr Weiss hinted that the ETF might not be entirely opposed to a rival organisation.

He said: “We’re very keen to work with other organisations through the sector. We just want to signpost people, whether it’s our members or other members to where the best quality professional development opportunities lie and where they can get the best information, the best guidance, the best research.

“We want vocationalism in the FE and skills workforce to be synonymous with professionalism and I think with this kind of mission it’s much better that it’s a shared, collective mission than working in isolation.”

Professor Coffield’s colleague at the IOE and director of Learning for London, Professor Ann Hodgson agreed that it was important for lecturers to be able to “cross boundaries” in their work.

She referred to the Commission on Adult Vocational Teaching and Learning report, published in 2013, which identified a need for FE teachers to be “dual professionals” — with professional expertise in teaching but also as a real-world worker in the area they were teaching about.

However, Professor Hodgson said: “Dual professionalism is not enough, I think there’s a need for triple professionalism.”

The third strand, she said, would be a teacher’s ability to work with their FE colleagues different institutions and industry contacts in different sectors.

“Professionals no longer work in isolation but are expected to work in networks,” she said.

“They have to communicate and cooperate with a range of colleagues but also professionals in other sectors who have different languages who work in different patterns and have different values and that means we need to think more expansively about what it means to be a professional.”

This would mean, she said, having a better understanding of the role of the college within its community and the different ways national policy was being translated and implemented in different colleges.

Professor Bill Lucas of the University of Winchester said he was “attracted” by the idea of triple professionalism, but that he was “not convinced we’ve got the dual one right”.

Instead he called for an increased focus on pedagogy. He said: “The simplest way to explain pedagogy is the decisions we as professionals make with our learners about with learning methods are best to teach whatever our desired outcomes are.”

He also hit out at Education Secretary Nicky Morgan for undermining teachers’ professionalism in schools by describing some schools as “coasting”, and warned it would soon reach FE.

“Although it hasn’t got to colleges yet, I absolutely predict it will — anything linguistically that starts in schools tends to make it back to colleges and vice versa.

“A coasting ship is one where the captain has turned the engine off, therefore it’s a repugnant term to use about leaders in schools and colleges. We haven’t turned the engine off, we’re working in difficult circumstances.”

ATL general secretary Mary Bousted also criticised the government’s handling of the FE sector and raised questions about the introduction of a training levy to be paid by large employers, as announced in the Budget last week.

“We need to be careful about the levy when we don’t know how it’s going to work,” she told delegates.

“If it’s going to be entirely run by employers, there’s a danger they’ll just take the money and run — only offering training to existing members of staff as many of them do with apprenticeships already.”

Pics: Bob Fallon

Ofqual FE chief Jeremy Benson hailed plans for an apprenticeship levy an “extraordinary concession” by the Treasury and said it would provide “momentum” for the programme’s 3m starts target by 2020.

Mr Benson, Ofqual executive director for vocational qualifications, spoke about the large employer levy at an Education Reform Summit, in London, organised by The Education Foundation, on Thursday (July 9).

He said Skills Minister Nick Boles had managed to get “the chancellor to stand up and say ‘I am going to give the apprenticeships budget lots and lots of money directly from employers [through the levy plan] that can only be spent on apprenticeships’”.

Chancellor George Osborne unveiled the levy in his Budget the day before and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills later told FE Week that consultation would be carried before further details were announced.

Mr Benson told the summit that the Treasury did not like “hypothecated taxes” — which is when they are only used for one purpose, so to fund apprenticeships in this case.

However, he said: “Nick Boles somehow — and he did say it was a quite an extraordinary concession by the Treasury — persuaded them to do that.

“That starts to build a momentum I think behind what is a very, very challenging apprenticeships target, which sits  in the context of the wider need to improve productivity and fund a multitude of ways to get employers engaged and really focusing on skills in the way we need.”

Deputy chief executive of the Association of Colleges Gill Clipson also spoke at the summit about a number of issues facing FE college leaders, as they consider how to cope with, for example, 24 per cent cuts to the adult skills budget next academic year.

She said they were having to “think hard” about “what it is they are offering, how they work with key partners, including local enterprise partnerships and local authorities, and crucially how they work with employers”.

Ms Clipson added that “there is a recognition” that “changes are going to be needed”, which could “lead to greater conversations about higher degrees of specialisms”.

She added that colleges were also having to consider how to maintain the balance, for example, between providing higher level training and “working with the unemployed”.

Deputy chief executive of independent charity Creative and Cultural Skills Catherine Large also told summit delegates about a new national college for creative and cultural industries, in Thurrock, that her charity is helping to develop with a consortium of employers.

She said: “It’s immensely challenging. We are starting to design our curriculum and write our business plans and have a teaching and learning approach that is really fit for purpose.”

It is one of seven national colleges planned by the government across the country, with specialism including manufacturing, nuclear, wind energy, digital skills, rail, and fracking.

“National colleges are introducing new specialist provision at a high level, focused at levels four and five, and will be very focused on what employers want,” she added.

Main pic above, from left: Jeremy Benson, Catherine Large and Gill Clipson

Details of the 2016 FE Week Annual Apprenticeship Conference and Exhibition (AAC) have been finalised — and it’s set to be even bigger and better than the first time around.

Birmingham’s International Convention Centre (ICC), which already hosts the Association of Colleges annual conference, will be home to the second annual AAC for three days from Wednesday, March 16.

The 2015 event attracted more than 600 delegates to Westminster’s Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in March across just two days.

Speakers at the event, hosted by broadcaster and journalist Kirsty Wark, included Skills Minister Nick Boles, Shadow Business Secretary Chuka Umunna and the then-House of Commons Education Select Committee chair Graham Stuart, who used the conference to launch the committee’s report on apprenticeships and traineeships for 16 to 19-year-olds.

But the new venue will mean more variety and a bigger exhibition area, workshops and plenty more besides — not to mention the extra day.

Shane Mann, managing director of FE Week publisher Lsect Ltd, said the 2016 line-up would cement the conference reputation for attracting big, influential names.

He said: “Our inaugural AAC was a resounding success, and we want to build on that with a bigger venue and a bigger and even better programme to match.

“We will once again be getting speakers from across the FE and skills sector and beyond, and enticing the most influential politicians, from both government and opposition, out of the Westminster bubble and onto our stage.

“I am also delighted that our key partners, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Association of Employment and Learning Providers and AAC Headline Sponsors OCR, will again be working with us closely on this year’s event.”

Would-be delegates are being urged to save the date, register their interest here and keep an eye out for further announcements about booking information, speakers and other activities, in FE Week and at feweek.co.uk later this year.

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) today restated its concerns over plans for an apprenticeship levy on large businesses as it called for existing reforms to “speed up”.

The CBI and Pearson have published the result of their education and skills survey of 310 companies, which reveals that 81 per cent of respondents felt reforms to apprenticeships were positive and 23 per cent cited the slow pace of reform as a matter of concern.

The survey also showed that “inability to relinquish control” over apprenticeships by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) was a source of concern for 23 per cent of respondents, while 38 per cent said making qualification programmes more relevant to businesses would help engage more employers, with 34 per cent citing direct employer control of funding as another catalyst for engagement.

Reforms under way include new apprenticeship standards designed by Trailblazer employer groups and a digital apprenticeship voucher.

There were concerns about delays to funding reform among a quarter of respondents, while almost 30 per cent were worried about bureaucracy and red tape.

And although employers were not quizzed on whether they would support the apprenticeship levy put forward by Chancellor George Osborne in last week’s Budget, the CBI used the release of its survey report to again question whether the measure, while helping to delivering quantity, would benefit the quality of apprenticeships.

The levy proposal had already been mooted by government vocational education adviser Professor Lady Alison Wolf just days before the Budget, drawing opposition from the CBI as well as the Association of Employment and Learning Providers.

Katja Hall (pictured above), CBI deputy director-general, said: “The new levy announced in the budget may guarantee funding for more apprenticeships, but it’s unlikely to equate to higher quality or deliver the skills that industry needs.

“Levies on training already exist in the construction sector where two-thirds of employers are already reporting skills shortages.

“Employers have a critical role in upskilling the workforce, but part of the deal must be for real business control of apprenticeships to meet their needs on the ground.

“The best way to plug the skills gaps and provide quality training is to speed up existing apprenticeships reforms already under way and encourage smaller firms to get involved.”

The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), the organisation which has for 50 years operated the levy referred to by Ms Hall, said well-designed systems would play a “positive role”, but accepted a levy wasn’t the only solution to quality apprenticeship growth.

Steve Radley, CITB director of policy, told FE Week: “Levies alone won’t deliver quality apprenticeships — it is also critical to have proper forecasting of skills demand and better engagement with training providers to meet employer needs.

“But well-designed levy systems, if they have buy-in from employers, can play a positive role in tackling the skills challenge.”

Martin Doel, chief executive of the Association of Colleges (AoC), said: “It is right that employers make a contribution to the costs of training the national workforce as they benefit from apprenticeships in terms of increased productivity among their employees and from access to a more skilled labour market.

“Levies are one way in which this can be achieved and they are already in use in many other countries.”

A BIS spokesperson said: “The apprenticeship levy puts employers back in the driving seat; they are now in charge of how apprenticeship budgets are spent and they can build the skills base they need for their future success.

“Investing in apprenticeships means young people will have the skills they need, giving them the very best chance to succeed in today’s labour market.”

The Treasury’s productivity plan proposes converting colleges into Institutes of Technology, moving away from the per-qualification funding system for adult learning and further devolution of skills matters to regions. Here, FE Week brings you the sector’s response.

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Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary, Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL)

“It is worrying that the government is suggesting that high-level, sector-specific skills training will be provided by new institutes of technology, presumably in place of FE colleges.

“It is naïve of them to assume that these institutes will be sponsored by employers, given the funding issues there are currently around apprenticeships. With continual cuts to the adult education budget, where will the money come from when employers won’t cough up?

“The government is proposing that it will simplify and streamline the professional and technical education system.

“In doing so it must be mindful that lower-level vocational qualifications are important in motivating young people who have been alienated by much of the national curriculum and the methods of assessing GCSE and other key stage four qualifications.

“Access to these vocational qualifications in FE colleges prevents many young people from becoming a ‘NEET’ statistic (not in education or training).”

 

Chris Jones, chief executive, City & Guilds Group

“It is important that the government takes steps to boost the UK’s productivity. As I wrote to the Chancellor last week, broadening high-quality skills education

and training is a vital piece of the ‘productivity puzzle.’

“In fact, recent research from the Cebr, commissioned by the City & Guilds Group, shows that the annual return on investment for training an apprentice is £10,280 in productivity gains. We welcome increased devolution but we must recognise this will result in difficult decisions over which colleges survive long-term.

“As ever, the devil will be in the detail. I always get worried when I hear government talk about ‘radical change.’

“As our recent report into skills policy showed, we’ve had three decades of constant change in skills and employment policy.

“In order to boost productivity and strengthen the UK’s skills base, we need stable, long-term planning that gives new policies a chance to mature. I am keen to see how core aspects of this plan will be implemented in practice, including the apprenticeship levy.’

 

Martin Doel, chief executive, Association of Colleges

“We are pleased that the government recognises that a strong professional and technical education system is critical to increasing productivity. The government is also right to identify the need for well supported and strong institutions to make this happen.

“Colleges must be at the core of this, whether as Institutes of Technology or in providing high-quality career pathways that are responsive to the local economy. Colleges have and will continue to adapt and we anticipate that they will now be able to evolve in new ways, forging even stronger links with employers, professional bodies and local agencies.

“We look forward to discussing the government’s ambition with them in the months ahead, prioritising the interests of the students, employers and communities that colleges support.

“The plan also suggests a review of validation arrangements but focuses just on degree awarding powers. One component of a professional and technical education system that we can be proud of will be stronger, faster validation arrangements, with institutions working alongside employers. This would help to prevent academic ‘drift’, which as the OECD and others have identified, has been a perennial problem in the English education system.

“We also support the moves to simplify the way that adult further education is funded in the future.”

 

David Hughes, chief executive, National Institute of Adult Continuing Education

“Whilst it is absolutely right that education and skills are a key focus of the Government’s Plan to raise the nation’s productivity, the proposals announced today place too narrow a focus on young people and qualifications.

“Supporting young people with better pathways is critical, but we need to promote a universal culture of lifelong learning that fosters the skills and talents of the entire UK workforce to achieve a truly bold vision for tackling the current low and damaging levels of productivity. Helping more people through high quality apprenticeships will help improve productivity, but that alone is not enough.

“The productivity plan ignores those already in work. Fiona Kendrick, CEO at Nestle set out clearly this week how important it is for her company to support better pathways for young people as well as supporting her existing workers to progress into new roles.

“She is right and most employers now recognise that the basic skills, including digital skills of all workers are holding back improvements in job design, continuous improvement approaches and learning of higher level skills. The productivity plan does not address these challenges enough.

“As a nation we need to get to grips with our ageing population and start to view that as an opportunity rather than a problem. Older workers have all sorts of skills, but they often lack the support and the confidence to be able to learn new skills as the workplace evolves.

“Technological changes and new approaches to work need confident, competent people and that requires a new approach and attitude to learning in the workplace. We look forward to working with the government to help them get this right.”

 

Sir Charlie Mayfield, chair, UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES)

“Improving productivity is challenging and complex but it is essential if we are to maintain business competitiveness, increase wages and raise living standards.

“Competitive advantage will depend on creating the best conditions for businesses to thrive, innovate and move into higher value markets and for employees to be engaged in fulfilling and productive work. This is the real route to prosperity and a fairer society – where everyone benefits from growth.

“Not all sectors in UK are realising their potential in terms of productive growth. As the Treasury’s productivity plan notes, five sectors – financial services, ICT, professional services, wholesale and retail and transportation and storage – represent around 40 per cent of the economy but have accounted for around 65 per cent of the productivity shortfall.

“By addressing productivity on a sector by sector basis, the specific issues dogging these industries can be better identified and addressed.

“Up to 90 per cent of the current workforce will still be in work in the next decade. If we are going to tackle the productivity deficit for the economy as a whole, therefore, there must be a much greater focus on job design, technology and progression for those in work.

“This was our stance in UKCES’s ‘Growth Through People’ statement last year, and creating more and better jobs must be at the heart of productivity growth.”

The fourth annual Brathay Apprenticeship Challenge was the closest fought yet and after a nail-biting race to the finish two teams were crowned joint champions.

Apprentices from Dale Power Solutions and Sellafield shared the victory after the three gruelling days of team building and outdoor challenges.

Second place was also split between the team from Plymouth City Council and the joint team from Pera Training and Emfec (self-titled Perfec), while the Nottingham City Homes team took third place. Also in the final were teams from Redrow Homes South West, HSBC and British Airways.

To get there, the teams had to complete a project in their community, as well as raising awareness of apprenticeships.

Once at the final, held at youth charity Brathay’s headquarters on Lake Windermere in the Lake District over three days from Monday, they also faced the challenge of a series of team building tasks — from orienteering and coracle boat building to an assembly line puzzle.

The challenge came to a dramatic conclusion with a whaler boat race — a timed five-mile rowing and navigation trial around Lake Windermere.

Adam Sharp, aged 21 and a level three mechanical design apprentice for Sellafield told FE Week he was “really pleased” by the shared victory.

“It’s been a culmination of six minutes hard work – everyone’s pulled together at the right time and its been testament to us as a team,” he said.

“We all came in as strangers and for us to come out as friends and winners is something else.”

Dale Power Solutions level three supply chain apprentice Amber Rushworth, 21, said: “It’s been absolutely fantastic, it’s been hard, it’s been challenging, but it’s something we’ll remember for a lifetime.

“There’s a real sense of achievement, we’ve really worked together a team and we’ve really pushed ourselves to the limit so we’ve found new boundaries.”

Nick Wilson, deputy director of the National Apprenticeship Service told the 72 apprentices who made it though to the final: “You really are living proof of what apprenticeships are all about, you’ve have shown how skilled you are, what qualifications mean and what an inspiration you can be as apprentices to other people.”

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The scores from the community project and awareness raising element, the assembly line puzzle and the whaler boat race were combined to give the final ranking.

The team from power plant Sellafield smashed the previous record of 11 seconds on the assembly line puzzle, figuring out a solution as a team in just 8.1 seconds.

FE Week joined the teams’ mentors to watch the action on board a tug boat which also formed a part of a key task in the race when rowers had to collect a token from their mentors – without touching the boat.

The task led to tense scenes with mentors leaning perilously out over the water to hand over the tokens, but fortunately, with the exception of one token – belonging to the Dale team – taking a dip in the lake, everyone remained dry.

For their community project, the Sellafield team organised a site-wide collection for North Lakes Food Bank — which involved negotiating their way around tight nuclear security but ultimately raised almost £9,000.

Accompanying the team was Sue Hunter, apprentice programme support at Sellafield, which has entered teams into the challenge in the previous two years but never made it through to the finale.

She said: “We’re aware of the way the challenge gives apprentices experiences they wouldn’t normally get and the company encourages that kind of initiative, motivation and inspiration for its apprentices.

“They’ve worked very hard for the last six months and I’m very proud of them.

“Their personal skills have increased dramatically — self-confidence, leadership communication, team working and they’re all things that they’ll bring back to work.”

Their co-winners Dale Power Solution also showed they could pull together when it counts, coming first in the whaler boat race final in a time of 54 minutes and 56 seconds.

“The whaler was the highlight, I thought that was fantastic, we really blew ourselves away with the race,” said Amber.

For their community project, the team took on the task of restoring a 150 year old park shelter in Scarborough, which, Dale chief executive Tim Wilkins said, had presented more of a challenge than they’d expected.

But, he said: “It’s superb the way the whole team has worked together on all the initiatives over a sustained period of time. Being here the last few days has been great but the work they’ve put in over the last six months has been tremendous.”

The company began its apprenticeship scheme a decade ago, and two years ago heard about the Brathay Challenge.

“We decided it was the right thing to do to enter and to be here two years on as a winner is a dream come true,” said Mr Wilkins.

Over the course of the four years of the competition, 280 teams, involving 2,500 apprentices, have carried out 174 charity projects and have promoted apprenticeships to an estimated 2.5m people, through 12,000 pieces of media and social media.

Mr Wilkins added: “Promoting apprenticeships is something a lot more people should be doing in the UK and I’d like to thank the Brathay Organisers – a lot of work goes into this sort of event, please, please, please keep it going and lets hope for many years to come more apprentices can go through this exercise and get the enjoyment that our guys have had.”

The Treasury this morning published its eagerly-awaited productivity plan. Here, FE Week examines the main headlines for the FE and skills sector.

Apprenticeship levy

Announced by Chancellor George Osborne during his emergency summer budget on Wednesday, the apprenticeship levy has already divided opinion in the sector. The productivity plan expands on the rationale behind the policy, but doesn’t offer further details, which will be confirmed in the autumn.

The report says: “The government will introduce a levy on large UK employers to fund the new apprenticeships. Levies to fund training are already in place in Germany, France, Denmark and over 50 other countries, often supporting high quality apprenticeship systems.

“The levy will apply to large employers and will support all post-16 apprenticeships. In England, any firm will be able get back more than it puts in by training sufficient apprentices.

“The government will put control of the funding in the hands of employers via the digital voucher scheme to ensure that it delivers the training they need. Crucially, this will enable an increase in the quality of apprenticeships at the same time as an increase in quantity.”

Funding

Funding for 16 to 19 education is already issued on a per-learner basis, but the government seems to want to extend that to adults.

The report says: “The government will move away from the funding per qualification model for adult learners and, with input from local areas and employers, will develop options to ensure provision is targeted at training with the greatest impact.”

Technical education

The government’s commitment to national colleges is well-documented, but Institutes of Technology are new, although the document is light on detail.

The report says: “The government will simplify and streamline the number of qualifications so that individuals have a clear set of routes which allow for progression to high level skills, rather than thousands of qualifications.

“The government will invite some colleges to become prestigious Institutes of Technology to deliver high-standard provision at levels three, four and five.

“Building on international best practice, Institutes of Technology will be sponsored by employers, registered with professional bodies and aligned with apprenticeship standards. The government will empower National Colleges, Catapults, and elite professional institutions to design each route, alongside employers and professional bodies.”

Destination data and careers advice

The last government was under a lot of pressure to improve both of these, but the plan doesn’t include anything it hasn’t said before.

The report says: “The government will improve destination data to enable informed choices. The government is supporting the development of online portals to present all post-16 learning options to young people in a user-friendly way, and is strengthening the provision of destination and earnings data.

“The new careers and enterprise company will encourage greater collaboration between schools, colleges and employers, helping young people to access the best advice.”

Devolution and localism

Involvement of regional authorities in the skills agenda was a well-publicised policy of the last government, so it’s no surprise to see their wish to extend skills devolution beyond its traditional flagship areas like Manchester and Sheffield in this report.

The report says: “The government will invite local areas to participate in the reshaping and recommissioning of local provision to set it on an efficient and financially resilient footing. A differentiated approach to local involvement will be adopted which will enable areas with the strongest governance and levers to shape provision, building on the skills flexibilities agreed with Greater Manchester, London and Sheffield.

“These devolution packages could be extended to other regions. The government anticipates that many colleges will be invited to specialise according to local economic priorities, to provide better targeted basic skills alongside professional and technical education, and that some will be invited to become Institutes of Technology.

“Following on from this restructuring process, the government will enable local involvement in the ongoing commissioning of provision, putting power in the hands of people who are best placed to tailor provision to local economic needs.”

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Chancellor George Osborne said: “The only way to sustainably raise the living standards of the citizens of our nation is to confront the challenge of our lifetime, to raise productivity.

“This will not be achieved over night and will require a truly national effort by government, business and working people.

“But with this blueprint to fix the foundations of our economy, I believe that we have taken the vital first step towards securing the prosperity and a livelihoods of generations to come”.

Business Secretary Sajid Javid said: “This is a bold and ambitious plan, to achieve our vision of a more dynamic economy, with a business environment that fosters long-term investment, raising our living standards and become the best of all the major economies by 2030.

“The plan we are publishing today shows we are taking the decisions necessary to address issues of productivity and build a foundation for Britain’s future.”

 

More details about the new proposals in the plan are expected in the autumn.