Ofsted’s decision to scrap graded lesson observations for FE inspections has been described as the “right way to go” by Principals’ Professional Council (PPC) chair Sue Rimmer.

A spokesperson for the education watchdog said on Friday (May 22) that it had consulted with FE providers and “conducted numerous pilot inspections to test the changes” before deciding to go ahead with the change from September.

Ms Rimmer, principal of South Thames College and PPC chair since January, told FE Week she previously used graded lesson observations for internal reviews, but she had “conducted a number of forums with some of our grade one teachers to gain their views of the usefulness of scheme and, having reflected on their feedback and other information, I decided to suspend graded lesson observations [from the start of 2014/15]”.

Ms Rimmer said graded lesson observations were not “a reliable measure of the daily learning experience of our students”.

“I believe that stopping graded lessons observations is the right way to go as they have lost their credibility,” she said.

But she added that she would still “want to be re-assured that there was transparency and validity around judgements made and a robust evidence base otherwise there is a danger that it will become a guessing game”.

The Ofsted decision, also backed by the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, comes after a University and College Union report published last June, called Developing a National Framework for the Effective Use of Lesson Observation in FE, raised “serious questions about the fitness for purpose of prevailing observation assessment systems in FE”.

A report in FE Week in the same month revealed that the education watchdog would be piloting inspections with no grading of teaching in individual FE sessions during 2014/15.

It followed the announcement on Twitter by Ofsted’s FE and skills director Lorna Fitzjohn that graded lesson observations could be ending.

It sparked a debate across the sector and Gill Clipson, deputy chief executive of the Association of Colleges, told FE Week on Tuesday (May 26) that views still “differ around the value of grading observed lessons separately”.

She added: “There is a need for Ofsted inspectors to give clear feedback to individual teachers about the strengths demonstrated during the lesson as well as areas where improvements can be made.”

The Ofsted spokesperson said: “This change will be reflected in Ofsted’s new handbook for the inspection of FE and skills, which we will publish before the end of the summer term.”

The FE Commissioner has praised progress being made at two colleges following revisits.

Dr David Collins checked up on the 6,800-learner East Kent College, which had taken over the Dover and Folkestone campuses from K College.

His revisit, in November, came after grade four Ofsted-rated K College was broken up last summer after falling at least £15m in debt, being graded inadequate by Ofsted and then being put into administered status following Dr Collins’ first inspection in December 2013.

Dr Collins’ report on developments at East Kent, which had a 2014/15 Skills Funding Agency (SFA) allocation of £9.6m as of April, was not published by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), but the college said he described its takeover as “transformational” for Folkestone and Dover.

A spokesperson for BIS confirmed Dr Collins’ report also said that East Kent College’s senior leadership team had brought “drive and professionalism to campuses that in the past have felt neglected”.

Graham Razey (pictured above left), principal of the college rated ‘good’ by Ofsted in April 2013, said: “I’m delighted to hear the FE Commissioner believes we are succeeding. While we recognise there is still more to do, it is very encouraging to know that we are on the right path.”

Meanwhile, Dr Collins revisited 3,669-learner Weymouth College on Friday (May 22), which was rated as ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted in February, as part of a structure and prospects appraisal (SPA) he launched in March last year.

The commissioner decided that the review of the college’s long-term prospects was needed after he raised concern about its finances and leadership in his initial inspection report, following a visit in March last year.

His inspection was triggered by the college, which had a 2014/15 SFA allocation of £2.9m as of April, being assessed as inadequate for financial health by the SFA.

However, following the revisit which he will not formally report on, Dr Collins said he was “delighted with the progress that Weymouth College has made under its new leadership and management, its successful delivery for students is now being underpinned by a much improved financial performance”.

The college’s former principal Liz Myles was suspended, pending an internal review of the college’s finances, in November last year and then retired in February.

The college cannot advertise for a successor until the SPA is concluded and acting Principal Nigel Evans (pictured above right) told FE Week: “The FE Commissioner was delighted that we expect to break even financially next financial year and even post a small surplus.”

He added: “We anticipate that the next meeting in October, when Dr Collins will check that our enrolments meet our funding allocations, will mark the end of the SPA and confirm the college’s independent future.”

An SFA spokesperson said it was “satisfied with progress to date” at Weymouth College.

She added the SFA agreed that East Kent College had “successfully integrated the provision at Dover and Folkestone” and “no further monitoring or support is required”.

BIS declined to comment.

Main pic: from left Dr David Collins, Graham Razey and Nigel Evans

The Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) has launched a review of the data it publishes on FE and skills every quarter that allows government to be held to account for its policies.

A consultation on the Statistical First Release (SFR) —information on 19-plus government-funded FE programmes in England — is underway until the end of the month.

The six-page questionnaire, available online, asks providers which data from the SFR they use and what they use it for, whether there is anything not reported in the SFR or supplementary tables they would like to see and what other improvements they think could be made.

A BIS spokesperson said the aim of the survey was to ensure the SFR, which FE Week regularly uses to track the number of apprenticeship and traineeship starts, was as useful as possible for the sector. The review comes with a new ministerial duty to report on apprenticeship numbers having been listed in the Queen’s Speech.

Sector bodies have shared their thoughts on the SFR with FE Week, and key among the changes they wanted to see was a more detailed breakdown of some of the key statistics.

A spokesperson for the Association of Employment and Learning Providers told FE Week: “It would be good to see more detail in the Employer Ownership Pilot section such as the number of apprenticeship starts within it and an age breakdown. The loans section could benefit from a sector breakdown and similarly the traineeships data could do with some more detail.”

The aim of publishing the SFR, according to the BIS website, is to present the performance of the FE system, as well as allowing users to assess the impact of government-funded provision and to hold the government to account over delivery of policy.

A spokesperson for the University and College Union (UCU) said: “SFRs provide a useful insight into the number of people learning at different ages and stages.

“We would like to see the data for age, participation and achievement linked more closely, particularly for apprenticeships.

“Currently starts and achievements are usually presented separately, making it difficult to determine success rates for different types of qualifications. Also, the data could usefully be broken down by sector so that we can clearly see where different areas are in growth or decline.

“Ideally, the SFR data would be linked with the Labour Force Survey or the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings so that we are better able to track learners post-qualification and quantify the impact of FE on their income and job security.”

SFR information is collated by colleges and submitted to the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) through monthly data returns — and UCU warned this process should not get any more complicated. Problems with the development of the SFA’s data reporting software, Funding Information System, during the reporting period for the 2013/14 statistics, where providers were unable to submit data through the new system has led to the SFR for 2013/14 being seen as potentially unreliable.

“It’s crucial that any changes to the data being collected do not place additional administrative strain on colleges which are already under significant pressure due to funding cuts,” the UCU spokesperson said.

A BIS spokesperson said: “The survey is being conducted as part of the commitment to ensure that the SFR is providing useful information. It’s due to run until the end of June.”

Nobody from the Association of Colleges was available for comment.

Click here for the survey (then scroll down for grey box on right containing survey link).

New target needs new statistics

With the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills reviewing what is contained within the key quarterly document for FE and skills in the statistical first release, Chris Henwood outlines what changes he thinks are required.

The statistical first release (SFR) is an eagerly-awaited document for FE Week.

It gives us the information to assess the outlook for apprenticeships, looking at whether the number of starts is heading in the right or wrong direction.

And given the significance of apprenticeships for the new government, with its 3m starts target by the end of this Parliament, the importance of the SFR as a means of checking on this performance can only increase.

But there is room for improvement in this scrutiny, and so the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) consultation on the SFR is very much welcomed and something I hope will result in a number of changes.

Currently, the Skills Funding Agency and BIS are not actively monitoring how many people start an apprenticeship. We know this because our requests for just such data under the Freedom of Information Act were rejected. What is recorded and reported is the number of starts — so one person could start a number of apprenticeships by either dropping out of one and moving to another, or even moving up a level.

It seems ridiculous that we don’t know how many people are applying and that we don’t know how many people are starting apprenticeships for the first time

We are left with a number far higher than how many people are starting apprenticeships and it is this higher number that has been bandied about as a measure of how the Coalition topped the 2m apprenticeships mark in the last Parliament. But of course the number of people would have been lower, as former Business Secretary Dr Vince Cable once conceded to FE Week.

If we are to really monitor how many new apprenticeships are being created and how many people are being attracted to the programme, then a figure for the number of learners starting apprenticeships for the first time might provide the basis for more meaningful assessment.

It’s a figure that the higher education sector has in ‘initial entrants’, with the caveat that to be counted, a student must have been on a course for a minimum of six months and after this, if they change course they are not then counted again. Such a change would therefore also allow for FE and higher education comparison.

A further SFR area for improvement would be with regard the number of applications, because again there is room for confusion surrounding how many people we are talking about. Put simply, one person could make any number of applications for apprenticeships. So one person, many applications.

It seems ridiculous that we don’t know how many people are applying and that we don’t know how many people are starting apprenticeships for the first time, but if we are to witness a change in this situation then it would also be useful to know whether people starting apprenticeships or applying for them were existing employees and further whether they were still in the job a few months down the line.

Hull College has given up its sponsorship of a formerly failing local school having guided it to top marks from Ofsted.

Hull College stepped into take over Pickering High School Sports College in 2008, when just 18 per cent of learners were gaining the benchmark five GCSEs at A* to C grades and government officials decided it was in need of external support.

The move worked and last year the 1,469-pupil school, now renamed Sirius Academy, gained an Ofsted outstanding grade.

And college leaders have decided their work is done and so will be stepping back from supporting the school.

Gary Warke, chief executive of outstanding-rated Hull College, told the Hull Daily Mail it would continue to work with the school “as a friend and critical partner”.

“Strong support from ourselves and strong leadership on the ground from the principal and her team has been pivotal,” he said.

The college implemented new systems and helped the school to secure funding for its £48m new campus building with state of the art sports, performing arts and technology facilities.

Mr Warke said: “When it reached the point Sirius Academy was outstanding, it became clear it no longer needed the support of a sponsor.”

One senior member of Hull College staff is expected to sit on the new Sirius board of governors.

Hull College cited its experience in working with the Sirius Academy as an example of its ability to work with a younger cohort when it successfully bid to be allowed to directly recruit 14 to 16-year-olds to the college from September 2013.

Following the college’s intervention, the school was rated outstanding across the board in an inspection in March last year.

The inspectors said: “Hull College works closely with the school, providing expertise from its own staff and commissioning external support where it is needed.

“This has had a positive impact in the sixth form, where the sponsor has helped the school to improve teaching and to refine the range of courses on offer.”

They also praised leaders and managers at the college, saying they had “been successful in improving achievement, teaching and behaviour.”

“[Students] make outstanding progress in most subjects so that, by the end of Year 11, the proportion gaining five A* to C grades including mathematics and English are in line with those seen nationally,” the report said.

Cathy Taylor, principal at Sirius Academy, said: “We would not be where we are today without the support of Hull College. It has been instrumental in us moving forward in the time frame we have.

“It has been very much a partnership in terms of raising standards. We have a huge responsibility to maintain the standards the college set out for us and we will endeavour to do that.”

The school is now following in Hull’s footsteps, offering support and advice to the nearby Thomas Ferens Academy, which has been in special measures since September.

Main pic: Gary Warke 

The creation of more apprenticeship starts is the “first priority” out of legislation announced in the Queen’s Speech, the Prime Minister has said.

Speaking in Parliament following the Queen’s address on Wednesday, David Cameron said the new employment and welfare benefits bill, which requires that ministers report annually on apprenticeship growth, would help his government in its plan to create 3m apprenticeships by 2020.

Other proposals included in the bills announced in the speech include a plan to use JobCentre Plus advisers to supplement careers advice in schools and the establishment of a “youth allowance” for 18 to 21-year-olds, which is conditional on them starting an apprenticeship, other training or a work placement.

A devolution bill will allow skills policy decisions to be taken at a local level by cities with directly-elected mayors and a consultation will be carried out on funding apprenticeship schemes for British and EU workers by implementing a new visa levy on businesses that use foreign labour.

Speaking in Parliament, Mr Cameron said: “The first priority of the Queen’s Speech is to help working people, and we are clear about what that means – more jobs, more apprenticeships, more tax cuts, more help with childcare and more opportunity to get a home of their own.

“That is the agenda for this Parliament. The last Parliament saw more than 2.2m new apprenticeships start, and the Queen’s Speech will help to create 3m more.”

The announcements have sparked a mixed reaction across the FE sector, education unions and the business community.

Lynne Sedgmore, executive director of the 157 Group, said she wasn’t surprised apprenticeships and localism were the two main points for FE in the speech, but said there was “little detail” about two “critical areas” – supporting and encouraging employers to offer apprenticeships and preparing young people for the frameworks.

Dr Sedgmore said: “We note with interest plans to use JobCentre Plus advisers to support careers guidance, and to consult on an apprenticeship levy for firms employing non-EU nationals. Both ideas will need careful monitoring.

“We have long believed that a world-class skills system will be the product of genuine local autonomy and real freedom, so we will be working hard with the new ministerial team that legislation in this area does not simply replace national controls with local ones.”

David Hughes (pictured right), the chief executive of the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (Niace), said the 3m apprenticeship target was a “challenge”, but could also be a “significant achievement”.

He said: “The Queen announced that the government will legislate to require government ministers to report annually on the number of jobs and apprenticeships created.

“This is a good opportunity to secure apprenticeship growth for all ages and in sectors relevant to local labour market skills shortages, matched with our proposals to ensure every apprenticeship is high quality and leads to a sustainable job after completion, career progression and with it rising wages and productivity.”

On plans to reform welfare to ensure people were either learning or earning, Mr Hughes warned that existing skills and employment systems operated “too independently”, leading to people slipping through the net.

He added: “Increasing apprenticeships, integrating employment and skills services for better outcomes, achieving full employment and, in the words of Her Majesty, realising our ‘productive potential’ needs strong and empowered cities, which is why Niace supports the announcement today of legislation to continue to devolve powers through elected Mayors across England.”

John Allan, the national chair of the Federation of Small Businesses, said the measures in the employment bill would help fill the skills gap, but that the issue was “not only about the number of apprentices”.

Mr Allan added: “The aim must be to make our apprentice system the world’s best, matching in quality to that offered in Germany, and offering a rewarding vocational alternative to academic routes.

“The only way to significantly increase the number of apprentices is to improve take-up among the UK’s 5.2m small businesses. This requires government to make it crystal clear what the benefits are, and what support is available.

“They must be affordable, have standards based on current industry practice, and the quality of training must give confidence to employers that apprenticeships will produce the skills they need for the long term.”

Malcolm Trobe, deputy general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), has raised concerns about the “two immediate issues” facing college leaders, which he claims were missing from the speech.

He said: “There is a looming crisis in both funding and recruitment which must be resolved in order to ensure that colleges have the tools with which to do the job.

“If these critical issues are not addressed, the structural changes planned by the Government may not have the desired effect, and the entire education system will be placed under enormous pressure. The situation is particularly severe in post-16 education which has already been heavily cut over the past five years.

“School and college leaders already do and will step up to the plate on raising standards but they will need the staff and funding to do the job.”

A spokesperson for the Confederation of British Industry welcomed the government’s commitment to growing the number of apprenticeships, but said the focus should be on quality as well as quantity.

He said: “Annual reporting on progress will help focus minds – but if employers are to step up to the challenge, then government must deliver on apprenticeship reform.”

Provider support plea as ‘full employment’ efforts welcomed

Government efforts to achieve “full employment” have been welcomed by the Association of Colleges (AoC) and Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP), but both groups have called for more to be done to support providers.

Martin Doel, chief executive of the AoC, said the legislation proposed in the Queen’s Speech clearly demonstrated “the government’s commitment to rebuilding the economy through professional and technical education”.

He added: “The full employment and welfare bill highlights their dedication to the creation of 3m apprenticeships; a challenging target which can be achieved if the Government and others can persuade sufficient numbers of employers to recruit an apprentice.

“We hope that the provision for Jobcentre Plus careers advisers in schools will help young people to find out about all their options, particularly those in college, as well as giving them a full explanation of what an apprenticeship is and the career opportunities they provide.

“The cities and local government devolution bill may provide new opportunities for colleges but only if they are able to tailor even more qualifications to the local job market, helping to create a pipeline of skilled people ready for employment.”

Stewart Segal, chief executive of the AELP, said: “We welcome the statement in the Queen’s Speech that legislation will be brought forward to help achieve full employment and provide more people with the security of a job.

“We believe the aspiration for 3m more apprenticeships can be achieved without risking the quality of the training under the programme.

“We are making a series of recommendations to the government on what changes are required to stimulate more demand from both employers and young people, while agreeing with the skills minister that apprenticeships should remain all age, all level and all sector programme.

“We hope to see more of a drive towards an integrated approach to skills and employment provision, including the promised expansion of the Troubled Families programme, as a proven means of securing more sustainable employment for people in Britain.”

Click here for more on the Queen’s Speech from the AoC and AELP.

The Education and Training Foundation (ETF) has launched a new professional membership body for FE practitioners.

The creation of the Society for Education and Training (Set) follows the demise of the Institute for Learning (IfL), which transferred its legacy and assets to the ETF in November after running into financial difficulties.

Set’s £63 annual membership offer will include direct and indirect access to development opportunities and face-to-face and online communities that share best practice and support with research, an ETF spokesperson said.

She added refreshed membership levels and enhancements to Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills (QTLS) status would also be available — with a plan to push the number of QTLS status lecturers above 20k in the next three years.

Further benefits are expected to be announced in the coming months, although membership will not be compulsory.

Tim Weiss (pictured), ETF director for strategy, quality and research said: “We want the society to bring members clear added value to their practice, so that being a member speaks for itself in terms of a commitment to professionalism, to ongoing development, and to the sector.”

The responsibility for QTLS was transferred to the ETF when the IfL closed, with members automatically joining the ETF’s Professional Membership Service.

David Russell (pictured below, left), ETF chief exective, said it had been “consulting over the past six months to inform the vision and strategy for the new professional membership service.”

And while Set is currently supported and hosted by the ETF, its aim is to be self-sustainable and for membership subscriptions to fully fund the provision of member benefits in the medium to long term.

However, it has already faced criticism over its £63 membership fee — the same as the IfL’s at the time of its transfer to ETF.

Freelance interim FE manager Jayne Stigger (pictured below) said: “For the majority of poorly paid staff in FE the fee probably is too much. And compared to the amount of CPD available free and online, I don’t yet see the value of spending £63 a-year to join an organisation that appears to be moving us back in time rather than supporting the new initiatives that have sprung up during the wilderness years.”

She added: “My status within my field of expertise is my track record, my employment record, the impact I have had on the colleges I have worked for and the staff and learners I have been responsible for — not how many times I have sat through a prescribed series of CPD activities.”

An ETF spokesperson said: “We recognise that affordability is important and will be offering the payment option of monthly direct debits to allow members to spread the cost.”

FE Week understands the Set chair, chief executive and board members, as well as members of the practitioner advisory group, are expected to be appointed in time for full operation by the autumn.

Ofsted has denied “jumping the gun” on an impending funding condition after a report appeared to criticise a college that fell from a ‘good’ to ‘requires improvement’ judgement for failing to meet it.

From August, any learner aged 16 to 19 on a study programme with a grade D in GCSE English or maths has to be enrolled on a GCSE or approved iGCSE in those subjects until they reach at least grade C.

But 7,400-learner Bolton College was reprimanded by Ofsted in its latest inspection report because tutors “do not ensure that learners with a GCSE grade D successfully improve their qualification to a GCSE A* to C grade”.

FE consultant Phil Hatton, from the Learning Improvement Service, said: “The requirement to study GCSE for existing students with a D does not become a funding obligation until 2015/16, so in that sense if they are taking other qualifications a college is acting within agreed funding guidelines.

“The way it is worded in the report there is therefore an element of ‘jumping the gun’, however, inspectors could have made a judgement around a college having low expectations for raising the development of English and maths skills of their students.”

But an Ofsted spokesperson insisted the upcoming changes had “no bearing” on the report.

She said: “As per current Skills Funding Agency conditions, Ofsted assesses whether FE providers are supporting students who do not have a good pass in English and/or maths GCSE to work towards achieving these qualifications or an approved interim qualification as a ‘stepping stone’ towards GCSE.

“Where inspectors find students are not effectively supported in doing so this will be reflected in our inspection reports and judgements.”

The inspection result comes less than a month after FE Week research highlighted how the proportion of colleges and independent learning providers (ILPs) ordered to improve by Ofsted was on the rise. Of all the 57 general FE colleges, sixth form colleges and ILPs inspected and reported on between January 1 and May 5, 33 per cent were given a new grading at level three (requires improvement). For the same period last year that figure stood at 17 per cent of 64 inspections.

Nevertheless, in Bolton’s inspection report, Ofsted said the college had too few learners who were successful in achieving their main learning goal, and that the proportion of apprentices achieving their qualification within the planned time was inadequate.

It also said not enough learners studied GCSE English and maths qualifications and criticised verbal and written feedback to learners, as well as quality assurance interventions and the performance of tutors.

College principal Marie Gilluley (pictured) said the current Ofsted inspection framework was “very vigorous”, and said the college’s results were considered to “require improvement” despite being “around the national average last year”.

She said: “Our apprenticeship provision last year, where it was delivered by sub-contractors, was not good enough. We have been working for some time on a plan to improve our results in this area and have terminated all partnerships with poor success rates.

“Success in English and maths is hugely important for learners future prospects in the labour market, and we are delighted that teaching, learning and assessment for foundation English has been graded as ‘good’, with the majority of learners progressing to ‘higher level English courses or employment’.

“We are obviously disappointed that Ofsted judged us overall as requiring improvement but we are already working on our plans to improve and we are confident that
very soon we will return to being overall good.”