A UTC failure is a setback for vocational education

Lynne Sedgmore called for a review of the drive for more UTCs in light of the second UTC closure, and here she considers what problems might be affecting the programme.

The news of the failure of another UTC, this time in the Black Country, may tempt some FE observers to indulge in schadenfreude.

It would be understandable given the way in which pioneers of the UTC movement crowed about high profile links with universities and systematically downplayed the practical support of FE colleges.

It is particularly understandable given the hubristic comments of some of their more high profile backers on what these newcomers could teach FE about vocational pedagogy or links with industry. It would be wrong to gloat however, since the failure represents another blow to technical and vocational education that we can ill afford.

Although only two UTCs have closed, many are struggling and several having to be rescued, often by a local college. There are several reasons specific to UTCs that help explain these failures.

As institutions they are generally too small; they are often poorly integrated into the local provider ecology (though this was not the case at Walsall) and they rely heavily on support from employers which can be fickle and promise more in advance than is subsequently delivered.

The main reason, however, is that delivering high quality vocational education in England is nowhere near as easy as some UTC enthusiasts seemed to think.

UTCs (and of course studio schools) are assailed by the same factors that make life difficult for FE colleges. There is, for example, the rhetorical support from all parties for higher level skills which unintentionally, but effectively, denigrates learning for lower status occupations — bricklaying, hairdressing or care.

Delivering high quality vocational education in England is nowhere near as easy as some UTC enthusiasts seemed to think

There is the determination by politicians, in the face of the evidence, to characterise our vocational education system as broken, thereby justifying yet another bout of destabilising ‘reform’.

There is the wilful disregard of the consequences for public perceptions of stripping vocational qualifications from school league tables in the name of reintroducing ‘rigour’. There is the confusion in the minds of the general public and most employers engendered by constantly inventing new organisational forms rather than building on what people know and trust.

Initial vocational education suffers disproportionately from the bizarre underfunding of the 16 to 19 phase compared with the rest of secondary education.

Although post-16 institutions are more badly affected, a fully-recruited UTC would still have half its year groups funded at the lower rate compared with two years out of seven for an 11 to 18 school. If it chose to educate those over the age of 18 it would experience a further reduction in the unit of resource.

UTCs, like colleges, must struggle against the lack of independent and impartial careers advice in many schools. A high profile launch helps, but in the long run it is hard to make headway against the default assumption that bright kids go into the sixth form.

UTCs, like colleges, also suffer from the policy confusion around apprenticeships. Government cannot make up its mind whether apprenticeships are a route to highly skilled occupations or the answer to youth unemployment and in seeming at times to advocate both the message to young people and parents is muddied.

At the same time the single-minded obsession of policymakers with apprenticeships is damaging to other aspects of vocational education.

Even where it is visible it is not clear whether it is an alternative to an apprenticeship, a preparation for one or a pathway that offers a choice of progression opportunities.

I’m really sad therefore that the hard work and enthusiasm that went into the development of the Black Country UTC has come to nought.

I fear, however, that unless any further expansion of UTCs is rooted in partnership and not unnecessary competition there will be further setbacks to come.

If we really want to encourage a high quality vocational route for 14 to 18-year-olds UTC enthusiasts need to work closely with those FE colleges who are also working to provide vocational qualifications to young people. The best chance of success is through collaboration.

 

Recruitment at 14 ‘difficult’ as UTCs’ capacity runs as low as 12.2pc

Six out of 30 University Technical Colleges (UTCs) are operating at up to just a third full — with two running at no more than 14 per cent capacity, FE Week can exclusively reveal.

The two — Central Bedfordshire UTC and Wigan UTC — did not recruit any learners into Year 10 in 2014/15, according to data released under the Freedom of Information Act.

It comes just a week after Black Country UTC, in Walsall, followed Hackney UTC in announcing it was closing due to problems in attracting learners. They both have current Ofsted grade three ratings.

UTCold

Overall capacity data for each UTC only takes into account year groups for which it actively recruited — so UTCs opening in September have capacity figures for years 10 and 12 only.

Hackney UTC has not been included in the overall figures as it did not recruit any new learners this year. For UTCs opening in September 2013 and before, figures include capacity for all four years.

2014utc

The data, collected from each UTC, shows that Central Bedfordshire has 92 learners across the three years for which it recruited, meaning it is operating at 14.1 per cent of its 650-learner capacity, while Wigan is 12.2 per cent full, with 61 of 500 spaces taken.

Lord Baker
Lord Baker

A spokesperson for Central Bedfordshire UTC, which was taken over by Bedford College last year after the UTC was graded inadequate by Ofsted, said: “We are not recruiting for year 10. We are reviewing recruitment procedures, but we are recruiting into sixth form.”

A Wigan UTC spokesperson said the school was currently focussing on 16 to 19-year-olds while it was joining Bright Futures Education Trust, but would “extend its offer” once the transition was complete.

Joining Wigan and Central Bedfordshire with the lowest student numbers were Visions Learning Trust (Lancashire UTC) which was 20 per cent full, with 120 learners of a possible 600, Buckinghamshire UTC with 25 per cent of its 600 places filled and Plymouth has 30.7 per cent (200) of a possible 650 learners.

Black Country UTC, where a “disappointing” Ofsted inspection result yet to published was also said to be behind the closure decision, was exactly a third full, with 160 of a possible 480 students.

And in total, 55 per cent of UTC places have been filled this year.

UTCs are specialist colleges for 14 to 18-year-olds, offering technical education alongside core subjects, and were brainchild of former Conservative Education Secretary Lord Baker, chair of the Baker Dearing Educational Trust.

A spokesperson for the trust defended the recruitment figures saying that attracting learners “at age 14 is difficult”.

The UTC project was launched in 2011 — two years before general FE colleges were able to recruit full-time learners from the age of 14 — and has enjoyed cross-party support.

On the day news of the Black Country UTC closure broke, Prime Minister David Cameron launched the Conservative election manifesto at UTC Swindon, pledging “a UTC within reach of every town”.

David Cameron
David Cameron

And Shadow Education Secretary Tristram Hunt has called for “considerable growth” in the number of UTCs.

Including Hackney, there are currently 30 UTCs. A further 20 are due to open by 2017.

But last week, and in light of the Black Country UTC closure announcement, Association of Colleges deputy chief executive Gill Clipson urged caution from the government saying it needed to factor the need for “consistent demand” into plans for further UTCs.

She said: “For UTCs, or indeed any new institutions to be successful in recruiting a significant number of students there needs to be a consistent demand across all the necessary age groups. We hope that the next Government will factor this into their plans before opening any new institutions.”

Her warning came amid pleas from the 157 Group and University and College Union for a review of the UTC expansion drive with general FE colleges offering a viable alternative.

A spokesperson for Baker Dearing Educational Trust said: “UTCs developed in response to demand from employers who tell us about a severe skills shortage, particularly at level four.

 

Gill Clipson
Gill Clipson

“We know that recruitment at age 14 is difficult, most young people don’t change school at 14 but for those that know where their interests lie, a UTC gives them a really good start with their technical education and a great connection to the world of work.”

Visions LearningTrust, Buckinghamshire, Plymouth and Black Country declined to add further comment.

All of the six UTCs at up to 33.3 per cent capacity opened in September 2013 or earlier.

And all of these saw a fall in the percentage of available places filled since last year — except Visions, which went from 15.5 per cent to 20 per cent, while Black Country rose from 31.5 per cent to 33.3 per cent full.

Baker Dearing has previously defended the low recruitment of newly-opened UTCs, saying it could take time for local parents and children to understand the offer.

The Baker Dearing Trust spokesperson added: “Ninety per cent of UTC students surveyed last year told us they were glad to have made the switch.”

UTCs ‘ill-conceived’

The Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) has thrown its weight behind calls for a review of the push for more University Technical Colleges (UTCS), branding them “ill-conceived” and a “vanity project”.

The damning verdict on UTCs comes after Black Country UTC announced this month it would be closing due to a shortage of learners and a poor Ofsted grade. It was the second UTC to announce closure over learner number problems. However, the Conservatives and Labour have both called for more to be built.

But Dr Bousted, ATL general secretary, said: “The closure of the Black Country UTC shows the investment of taxpayers’ money in UTCs is ill-conceived. Lord Baker’s initiative, although well intentioned, was a vanity project that took no consideration of how UTCs would further fragment FE.” She added: “The government’s willingness to find millions of pounds to support this project, and promise more for it, shows its desire to break up state education and fails to address the expected acute shortage in secondary places within the next parliament.”.

A spokesperson for the Baker Dearing Educational Trust said: “We would expect to play an active part in any review of the UTC programme if that was to be required by an incoming government.”

 Dr Lynne Sedgemore’s Expert piece

Euro ‘funding gap’ warning of closures and staff lay-offs

The Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) has warned that a “funding gap” for schemes backed by European Social Fund (ESF) cash could force providers to lay-off staff and close training centres.

Stewart Segal (pictured), AELP chief executive, said “we are almost certainly looking at a funding gap” between when a number of ESF contracts with providers were set to end on July 31 and the agreement of new funding arrangements.

Current contracts, managed by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and Skills Funding Agency (SFA) and for example involving training schemes to improve skills of existing employees at small companies and the unemployed, have been in place since 2007 and new ones would run until 2020.

An AELP spokesperson said it was expecting a “major delay” with the granting of new ESF contracts that “will mean a real gap in provision for those most needing support, such as hard to help young people and the long-term unemployed.”

“It will also mean that training providers delivering these programmes will have a major issue and will have to reduce costs including specialist staff and premises,” he added.

It comes as Linda Dean, managing director of Sheffield-based Intraining (which is part of the NCG group), said on Thursday (April 23) that the work-based learning provider could be forced to shed 120 jobs because of “ESF-funded contracts including Skills Support for the Workforce and Skills Support for the Unemployed which are ending”.

A European Commission spokesperson said the new round of ESF contracts, which it is understood were originally supposed to be agreed for the UK by the end of last year, “needed to be carried over for adoption in 2015″. She said the” negotiation process is progressing”.

It comes after FE Week exclusively revealed in March that the European Commission had forced the government into a climbdown over plans to hand control of nearly £1bn of ESF cash to the 39 Leps.

It followed months of negotiations that AELP suspects held up the overall tendering process for ESF contracts.

The SFA and DWP both declined to comment on what may have caused delays with tendering for and agreeing the new ESF contracts.

But an SFA spokesperson said: “The SFA continues to work with Leps and the ESF managing authority on ESF programme delivery.”

A DWP spokesman said: “There will be no gap in funding. We have already started the 2014-20 programme, with 19 schemes worth more than £200m.”

However, he declined to comment when asked by FE Week to confirm whether new contracts would be granted to those 19 schemes, or any other ESF projects run by DWP, before
the end of July.

 

Trailblazer status in balance after grade four result

An employer provider’s status as an apprenticeship Trailblazer was today in the balance after Ofsted found it had “no significant strengths” and issued it with grade four ratings across the board.

Priory Central Services, which runs the national medical chain that includes London’s Priory rehabilitation centre famously attended by an array of celebrities, offers healthcare training and apprenticeships to 377 learners.

It is also part of the healthcare employers’ Trailblazer group designing new nursing apprenticeship standards.

But despite Ofsted’s damning verdict neither the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) nor the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) could say if it would be expelled from the group, while the future of its £600k SFA contract was also uncertain.

Priory itself was also unable to guarantee its continued involvement with the Trailblazer programme.

The Ofsted report, published on Friday, April 17, following the inspection last month, told how “the large majority of apprentices do not complete their framework successfully”.

Inspectors added: “Trainers are not sufficiently ambitious for apprentices; they plan to teach only to the minimum standard.” Priory was previously inspected in 2013, when it was deemed to require improvement. A Priory spokesperson said: “A robust and highly-focused action plan, in response to Ofsted’s report, is already in place. We are committed to — and are investing heavily in — the development of our staff.” She added the company’s learning and development arm was under new leadership. However, she declined to comment on whether the company would remain a Trailblazer.

A BIS spokesperson said it had “alerted” the health Trailblazer group’s chair to Priory’s Ofsted result. However, she said: “It is a matter for the healthcare Trailblazer and its chair to determine which organisations are invited to support the development of its standards and assessment plans.”

FE Week was unable to contact the chair of healthcare Trailblazer group, which includes Health Education England and Bupa UK.

An SFA spokesperson declined to comment on Priory’s Trailblazer involvement, and was also unable to say whether Priory’s training contract would be terminated. “The SFA is considering the Priory Central Services’ Ofsted report in line with its intervention strategy,” she said.

The news comes as the SFA confirmed Leicester-based Qdos Training was facing contract termination over a grade four rating this month.

Its Ofsted report noted the previously grade two-rated independent learning provider had “good success rates,” but it was awarded a grade four because criminal checks on staff with regular unsupervised access to learners under 18 had not been carried out. It also got a grade two for outcomes for learners, three for quality of teaching, learning and assessment, and four for effectiveness of leadership and management.

However, FE Week understands it is hoping to retain its SFA contract by proving, before the three-month notice of contract termination is up, that it meets the legal requirements against which it failed.

Qdos managing director Elena Ryabusha told FE Week: “Qdos has raised several issues with Ofsted regarding its concerns about our safeguarding arrangements…The concerns identified related to two unrelated incidents, which occurred as a result of individual oversights rather than systemic failures, where Qdos has taken remedial action as necessary.”

 

Interim replacement hired while New College Stamford principal ‘on leave’

Former Lincoln College principal of 14 years John Allen (pictured above left) has taken over from under fire New College Stamford principal April Carrol (pictured above right).

Ms Carrol had been hit with two votes of no confidence from staff while trying to implement new contracts that included extending the college year from 33 to 36 weeks.

The college, which is awaiting publication of the result of its Ofsted inspection late last month, last week told FE Week she had since taken leave, but declined to deny speculation she had been suspended. However, college governors’ chair Alison Grant said Ms Carrol, who was appointed to the post in July, was being replaced while on leave by Mr Allen, who stood down as principal of grade one-rated Lincoln College at the end of 2013/14.

Ms Grant said Ms Carrol was on “extended leave”. She said: “Due to the anticipated length of the absence [of Ms Carrol], and the lack of a permanent senior leadership team (SLT), the corporation felt it would be prudent to appoint an external interim principal.

“To this end we looked for an individual with experience who would be able to step in and continue the work which April has started, to continue to work to appoint a permanent SLT, to draft a post Ofsted plan of action and to continue to assess progress. I am pleased to announce that John Allen has accepted the interim principal post.”

A college spokesperson subsequently declined to comment on how long Mr Allen, who it is understood started in the post on Tuesday (April 21), would be in the post or whether Ms Carrol would be returning.

It comes after staff, including University and College Union (UCU), Unison and non-union members, passed two votes of no confidence in Ms Carrol. A UCU spokesperson said that around 80 members of staff passed the first no confidence vote through a show of hands during a meeting on March 23. He added that 123 employees then backed a second motion of no confidence in an online vote organised by the UCU a fortnight ago.

He claimed that the votes were called because Ms Carrol would not negotiate with the unions over her new contract plans. But he told FE Week: “We are pleased there is leadership in place at the college for the sake of students and staff.”

The college spokesperson said that staff had been consulted over the proposed changes to their contracts that were needed to “ensure the college remains in a sustainable financial position”.

 

Concern grows that FE quality mark has ‘stalled’

Concern is growing in the FE sector that plans for an FE Chartered Status quality mark have “stalled” with no mention of the scheme in party manifestos and little in the way of news on its progress.

Plans, originally drawn up by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), for the Royal seal of approval to be granted to high-achieving FE institutions were revealed in July 2012.

It was almost another year before the appointment of Tory peer Lord Lingfield (pictured) as chair of the Institution for Further Education (IFE), a not-for-profit company set up to launch the quality mark.

In March 2014 he told FE Week he expected “negotiations to be completed within months” that would allow for the quality mark to be launched. An FE Week survey on the mark was carried out in May last year unveiling concern it could simply “sink without trace,” while further meetings were set to take place the following month. But the launch is yet to take place, and it is understood that an IFE petition for Chartered Status is yet to be considered by a special Privy Council committee, while IFE chief executive Ed Quilty told FE Week he “would not expect to see any further movement on this until the other side of the general election”.

Matt Atkinson, principal of City of Bath College, who took part in the FE Week survey on the scheme last year, said: “To be honest I had completely forgotten about this and the fact that the sector has not been banging down the front door of BIS asking for its swift development and implementation should be taken as an indication of how it is viewed.

“The fact that the development of Chartered Status has stalled somewhat is a reflection of just how important it is to both government and the sector.”

Verity Hancock, principal of Leicester College, who also took part in the survey, said: “While we’ve been generally supportive of the idea of Chartered Status it seems as if this is being pushed further and further away.”lord-lingfield-cutout

She warned that the “environment” now facing FE providers was much more “challenging” than when Chartered Status was first proposed. “We see little immediate prospect of that abating, so there is a real question as to how willing colleges would be
to engage in an application process if there
are additional costs or few obvious benefits,” she added.

The lack of progress comes despite a BIS competition in conjunction with FE Week to design a Chartered Status logo, with former Skills Minister Matthew Hancock meeting winner and then-24-year-old Manchester College graphic design student Lisa Cassidy in March 2013.

Dr Lynne Sedgmore, executive director of the 157 Group, said “a natural degree of scepticism has crept in” over the scheme. “It is telling that no political parties make reference to the idea in their manifestos, and I wonder whether time is not on its side,” she said.

A BIS spokesperson said: “We are satisfied with current progress in this matter.”

 

Shakira hopes to inspire minority groups with NUS election win

The newly-elected National Union of Students (NUS) vice president for FE Shakira Martin (pictured above left) has told of her hopes to boost the sector’s learner engagement and be an inspiration to minority groups during her tenure.

The 26-year-old Lewisham Southwark College students’ union president spoke exclusively to FE Week after she secured 141 votes — 86 more than her nearest rival Amy Smith, from Sheffield College — at the NUS national conference, in Liverpool, on Wednesday (April 22).

Ms Martin, who is training to be a teacher, said she wanted more learners from colleges and independent learning providers to become more involved with the NUS.

“Students from FE make up around 4.1m of the 7m NUS membership, but that it is not reflected on the national stage,” she said. “Only around 250 of the 895 delegates at our conference were from FE, which shows why we’re underrepresented.”

She added: “I’m proud to have been elected. The whole reason that I ran for this post was to help push down the barriers for other people from similar backgrounds.

“As a black, working class woman and single mother, I have seen so many talented people from my community who don’t get anywhere because they haven’t got the confidence. If seeing me achieve this inspires all sorts of different minority groups then that would be great.”

Her election came after Megan Dunn (pictured above right), aged 24, the current vice president for higher education, won an earlier election with 413 votes, which was 211 more than rival Beth Redmond, to become the new national president of the NUS. Both winners will take up their full-time, paid sabbatical posts in July. Ms Martin replaces Joe Vinson and Ms Dunn replaces Toni Pearce.

Ms Martin said she planned to work with other sector representative groups to fight FE funding cuts, including 24 per cent to the non-apprenticeship part of the adults skills budget, for 2015/16. “I want to form a broad coalition, with students joining with the Association of Colleges, 157 Group, the Education and Training Foundation and other powerful FE representative bodies to campaign against the cuts,” she said.

“At the moment everyone is just accepting it without a fight, but if we don’t have increased funding then there won’t be an FE sector apart from apprenticeships. I love apprenticeships, they are a great route to employment and I plan to campaign for an increase in the apprenticeship minimum wage, so it isn’t an excuse to some companies for cheap labour, but there is a lot more important training that FE does that is now under threat.”

Ms Dunn said she planned to “build a movement around a vision for apprentices not just with a rise in the minimum wage but with a living wage”. “The end of the false choice between FE and higher education — with the focus on how someone wants to learn and what they want to study rather than what they can afford or what they are told — is worthwhile,” she added.

Key conference motions

 

Of the 38 FE-related motions that went before NUS conference, vice president for FE-elect Shakira Martin said the most important focused on fighting FE funding cuts, restoring the education maintenance allowance (EMA) and restoring free education.

She said that she was pleased that all three were passed by delegates.

Motion 207 stated that “the government needs to reverse all cuts to FE and instead provide a well publicly-funded FE which is accessible for all”.

It also resolved that the NUS should “campaign nationally to restore all FE funding cut since 2009 and for yearly real terms increases”.

Motion 211 stated that “it doesn’t make sense to fight for free education in higher education but not FE”.

It called for NUS to “campaign for free education funded by taxing the rich for all students in FE and higher education.”

Motion 303a stated that “EMA was a lifeline to thousands of students that, in England, was cruelly scrapped by the government in 2010”.

Payments of up to £30 a-week used to be given through EMA to students from low-income households. The motion called on the NUS to “launch a major national campaign to bring back EMA”.

 

Dual mandate spells double danger

A month after the launch of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) ‘dual mandate’ consultation on the future of FE and Mick Fletcher reflects on what the hefty 90-page document presents.

It is a measure of how far our expectations of BIS have sunk that a deeply flawed paper such as the consultation on a ‘dual mandate’ has received such a positive reception.

The reason is obvious; after years in which the answer to every issue in vocational education has been more apprenticeships the FE sector is pathetically grateful to be given any mandate at all; offered two they think Christmas has come early. On closer examination however the paper is not only confused but dangerous.

The confusion starts in the title. Having ascribed the dual mandate to adult vocational education, and decided early on that one part of that mandate is higher vocational education all that is left is lower vocational education. That would seem trite however so the lower level stuff is wrapped up as ‘second chance ’. Unfortunately any reasonable definition of second chance goes far beyond the confines of vocational education as do many of the examples in the document. Indeed some, though clearly valuable like liberal adult education, are neither vocational nor much to do with second chance.

We need to ask why BIS couldn’t bring itself to think about mandates for adult education as whole which could have resolved this definitional problem: it was probably because it shows there should be far more mandates than two.

Higher vocational education, one part of the dual mandate, is an area where colleges have a proud track record and could do more

Higher vocational education (HVE), one part of the dual mandate, is an area where colleges have a proud track record and could do more. The implication in the document however appears to be that the development of HVE should come about through a redirection of adult FE. Surely it should come about through a redirection of higher education.

The resources devoted to higher education are many times larger than those remaining in the adult FE budget, even excluding the £5bn or so spent on university research.

The BIS budget to support higher education teaching is almost £9bn even though most higher education teaching is funded by student fees. Higher education student maintenance amounts to around £5bn compared with £0.2bn in adult FE.

Not only is there far more scope for developing HVE from within the higher education budget, but colleges should strongly reject the implication that the shortfall in higher vocational education compared with some other countries is due to misplaced priorities in the FE sector.

It is largely due to the very generous treatment of young full time undergraduates in universities compared with all other modes of FE and higher education. Colleges should be keen to help develop HVE, but not at the expense of existing FE programmes and not on the currently unlevelled playing field that obtains.

BIS is also concerned about the second part of the mandate; what it brigades as ‘second chance education’ for adults. Unlike providers however, who would see lack of resource and recognition as the major problems, BIS is concerned about the nature of the market. It wishes to explore how new providers might be brought into the market, how competition might be increased and how commissioning might be developed. BIS looks to pilot a model which would involve prime contractors bidding to deliver a limited range of employment-related outputs specified by commissioning partners.

The experience of programmes such as OLASS, the Work Programme or Skills Support for the Workforce which follow such a model demonstrates its fundamental weakness.

Provision for vulnerable learners is best safeguarded by working with providers that are known and trusted locally, that serve as ‘anchor institutions’ for communities and are committed to adult education for the long term.

The theoretical advantages of sharper competition would be more than offset by the complexity of specifying appropriate outputs, the bureaucracy and inflexibility inherent in public sector procurement processes and the gaming behaviour associated with a manipulative rather than a trust relationship with providers.

The old saying is ‘beware of Greeks bearing gifts’. Beware of BIS bearing mandates.