The Education and Training Foundation review of non-GSCE English and maths qualifications is likely to result in a call for level two programmes in the subjects to be maintained, FE Week can reveal.

Although the recommendations have not yet been agreed, review chair Professor Ed Sallis (pictured) gave FE Week a preview of his findings, due to be published on Thursday, March 26.

“What’s come through strongly from the research actually is that there is a need for an alternative route for some young people and some adults,” he said.

“While GCSEs are very important and government policy is right in trying to get as many people a GCSE in English and maths grade C at least as possible, there is for some young people and many adults, the need to achieve a level two in English and maths in a different way.”

However, he did not say what the review’s conclusions would be on whether such non-GCSE level two qualifications should be “a stepping stone or whether it should be an alternative route” — although he said it was something the report “would be exploring”.

He would also not be drawn on whether the GCSE alternatives should be Functional Skills qualifications as they currently exist, or an entirely new qualification.

Former Skills Minister Matthew Hancock made moves to scrap Functional Skills in favour of GCSEs, however, in October his successor Nick Boles handed the qualifications a lifeline, saying they were “important” and simply needed to be “rebranded”.

Prof Sallis said the review would show “what percentage of employers understand and give value to Functional Skills”, but that the data had not yet been “fully analysed”.

But he said: “Not surprisingly, but very importantly, we found employers are very concerned about the level of maths and English employees have, particularly their new recruits.

“I suppose you might say, ‘we knew that’ but actually we’ve never asked the question in a proper study, so now we know it’s important to them.”

The review into non-GCSE maths and English qualifications began in December and heard from 1,400 individuals and organisations — including 489 practitioners, 229 colleges, awarding organisations and independent learning providers, and 31 apprentices — through telephone and face-to-face interviews, online questionnaires, webinars and seminars.

Prof Sallis said conducting the review had been “pleasurable” but “exacting” given the short time available to publish the results before purdah, which forbids new policy announcements during an election campaign. The aim of the report, he said was to “stimulate a really good debate”.

 

Ofsted has defended itself against criticism in an Association of Colleges (AoC) paper that branded the education watchdog as “not fit for purpose” and “driven by political considerations”.

The paper, written by FE consultant Mick Fletcher, went on to call for a “slimmed down version” of Ofsted for under-19 FE provision and a new system of self-regulation for adult provision.

There was a “growing concern” the report said, that “Ofsted focuses increasingly on compliance with government policy rather than a more widely shared understanding of quality”.

An Ofsted spokesperson said: “Ofsted reports without fear or favour.

“We strongly refute any suggestion that Ofsted is not independent.”

The watchdog also rejected the report’s accusation that the appointment of chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw (pictured) was “political rather than professional”.

The Ofsted spokesperson said: “Sir Michael Wilshaw has been a successful head teacher at a number of schools before his appointment at Ofsted and as the many public reports have shown, has not shied away from holding government or education institutions to account.”

In the 26-page discussion paper Mr Fletcher also criticised the use of a single, overall grade for an FE institution, saying such a grade was “inappropriate” for a “large and complex” institution, which also offered provision, such as higher education, which falls outside of Ofsted’s remit.

He also accused the inspectorate of prioritising “simple numerical judgements over context-sensitive support for improvement”, which he said was a “retrograde” approach.

However, Ofsted denied its grading was simplistic.

“Inspections are not focused on one performance indicator,” the spokesperson said.

“It takes into account a broad range of evidence including looking at the outcomes for learners, the quality of teaching, learning and assessment and effectiveness of leadership and management.

“What inspectors are looking for is the impact of teaching on learning and progress.”

Mr Fletcher’s report, which examined the history of inspection in the UK as well as making comparisons with other countries, said most other countries did not have inspection for post-compulsory education.

Mr Fletcher argued in the UK’s current funding landscape, where provision was increasingly financed by learners or employers themselves, a college should focus on “paying customers” rather than government priorities.

He called for a “decisive step” towards self-regulation and peer review for adult education.

Ofsted agreed that providers were “responsible for their own improvement”.

However, the spokesperson added: “They also need to be publicly accountable since they are funded by the taxpayer.

“Ofsted’s aim is to ensure that FE and skills providers are inspected and reported on regularly so that parents, learners and employers can make informed choices.”

Far from scaling back Ofsted’s inspections, the spokesperson pointed to the watchdog’s plans to introduce “frequent, shorter inspections” for good FE providers, with inspections carried out “usually once every three years”.

This would mean “signs of decline can be spotted early” and “parents, learners and employers can be kept much better informed”, she said.

 

Skills Minister Nick Boles has relaxed much-vaunted rules set by his predecessor, Matthew Hancock, that limited new apprenticeship guidelines to two sides of A4.

The official government guidance for employers developing Trailblazer apprenticeship standards, published in October, stated that they “should be
short and clear, taking up no more than
two sides of A4”.

Former Skills Minster Matthew Hancock had already said in March last year — four months before he became Business, Enterprise and Energy Minister — that he wanted a “two-side description of the skills, knowledge and attitude employees need”.

But a spokesperson for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) confirmed Mr Boles had since approved six standards running to between three and five A4 pages.

She told FE Week: “For some sets of occupations with a common core, rather than having lots of separate standards it may be preferable for a Trailblazer to develop a single ‘core and options’ standard.

“In some circumstances, this will mean it is necessary for the standard to be longer than two pages.”

The longest approved standard is five pages for hospitality managers (level four).

The standards running to four pages are for craftspersons (level three), published four months ago, and digital and technology solutions professionals (level six), furniture manufacturers (level two), hospitality supervisors (level three), and hospitality team members (level two).

Meanwhile, a three-page standard has been approved for laboratory scientists (level five).

Brigid Simmonds, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association which helped develop the over-running hospitality standards, said sticking to two pages would have been “a challenge”.

She said this was, for example, because “being a chef in a hotel or silver service restaurant is very different from being a chef in a pub.

“While the apprenticeship standards may be a little longer, it is for a very good reason”.

Stewart Segal, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, said: “Sticking rigidly to two pages was not sensible. In our view, we should adopt a standard format so that each standard covers the important issues, but we would not specify how long they would be.”

Teresa Frith, senior skills policy manager for the Association of Colleges, warned keeping standards “streamlined” could “risk losing consistency in the way standards are interpreted”.

Government approval has so far been given to 144 standards, covering industries including accounting, dental health, nuclear, retail and TV production and broadcasting.

But only 15 of these — all of which are two pages long — are currently rated as “ready for delivery” by BIS, with the rest awaiting Mr Boles’ approval on assessment guidelines.

 

Ofqual hopes to ensure English apprenticeships will continue to be recognised in Europe after the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) has been scrapped, the regulator has told FE Week.

Its assurances come after Angus Gray, head of the European Social Fund division at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), told the House of Lords EU internal market, infrastructure and employment sub-committee on Monday that the QCF, due to be scrapped this year, was the reason qualifications achieved as part of an apprenticeship were valid outside England.

Jeremy Benson (pictured), Ofqual executive director for vocational qualifications, said: “The recognition of one country’s qualifications and apprenticeships internationally is an important matter.

“The UK has previously referenced its national qualifications frameworks to the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) and this helps support recognition of our qualifications in Europe.

“As we make important changes to the regulations Ofqual uses to regulate qualifications, and to the associated qualifications framework, we will aim to protect the existing relationship with the EQF.

“Our proposals for a new qualifications framework will be available for public consultation shortly.”

A spokesperson for the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) said: “Decisions on regulatory structures for vocational qualifications after the QCF is removed are a matter for the regulators.

“We welcomed Ofqual’s proposal last year to end the QCF. We look forward to seeing Ofqual’s long-awaited technical consultation on the detail of this, due by the end of this month.”

 

Providers and employers who said no to government cash for apprenticeship training going through businesses have won the fight to keep the flow of funding between government and providers.

Chancellor George Osbourne’s Budget on Wednesday (March 18) fleshed out the new plans, trailed the day before by Number 10, for a “digital apprenticeship voucher” to be in place from 2017.

The announcement followed two government consultations on apprenticeship funding reform over the last two years — the first of which uncovered support for the current system of channelling funding between government and providers from 213 of 366 respondents.

But the option was not mentioned in proposals laid out as part of the second consultation, which considered a PAYE model and a credit account model of funding — both of which were rejected with added bureaucracy among concerns.

The government finally decided on the voucher scheme, which a spokesperson said would give employers “purchasing power” — but actual government cash to pay for training will go straight to providers — and not into employers’ hands first.

John Walding, from the Forum of Private Business, said: “We hope that the proposed changes continue the focus on what the employer wants, and that training organisations respond to customer needs and use their expertise to complete the form-filling and administration involved. If this happens, this will be a victory for both employers and education providers.”

John Allan, National Chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, said: “We are pleased that the government has made a decision on the design of the funding model after listening to concerns from stakeholders, including the FSB. This has led to a result that works for small firms.”

Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) chief executive Stewart Segal said he was “pleased” the government had listened to feedback from employers and providers, but called for clarity over the new plans. He said: “We have always said that employers need to control funding but that they can do that through a training provider.”

He added: “There are still details to be agreed and we’re very pleased the government wants providers as well as employers as part of the stakeholder process to come up with the detailed design of the model.”

David Hughes, chief executive of the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education, said: “It will be interesting to see the full details of this and to monitor whether this approach convinces employers to take on apprentices for the first time. It is clear from consultations from across the sector that the proposals for change were problematic, including the idea of channelling funding through National Insurance rebates, and that many existing apprenticeship employers seemed happy with the way funding flows currently.”

But the Association of Colleges (AoC) warned that the new proposals were “superficially simple” and would “add bureaucracy” to the process of taking on an apprentice. Chief executive Martin Doel said: “It might be an improvement on the government’s earlier proposal to use the PAYE system, but we are unconvinced that these reforms will lead to more public and private sector employers taking on an apprentice.”

The Budget document also confirmed that the government would proceed with plans to demand contributions towards training costs from employers.

David Harbourne, director of policy and research at The Edge Foundation, said: “We know from research published by BIS that some employers will be put off by mandatory contributions, and might stop employing apprentices? We need clarity on this — the sooner the better. Finally, when will colleges and providers be told how and when to cash in the voucher? I hope the system will be easy to use, but we can’t be sure until we’ve seen the fine print.”

Main pic: George Osbourne

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Funding cuts petition

A petition against cuts of up to 24 per cent to the FE budget has collected more than 18,000 signatures.

The petition at fefunding.org.uk was launched by the University and College Union and is supported by groups including the Association of Colleges, 157 Group, Association of School and College Leaders, Trades Union Congress and National Union of Students. It has also been signed by FE Week reporters and editor Chris Henwood.

It was launched in response to an announcement this month that the adult skills budget faced cuts of 24 per cent or more in 2015/16, with many organisations warning such a cut would place providers in financial difficulty.

It comes after concerns were raised about the impact an extra £12bn of cuts to departmental budgets between 2016 and 2019 announced in Wednesday’s budget would have on FE. See feweek.co.uk for more.

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Minimum wage increase puts benefits on table

Apprentices have been guaranteed access to sick pay and paid parental leave thanks to a 20 per cent rise in their minimum wage to £3.30 an-hour.

Downing Street announced the inflation-busting rise in the apprentice minimum wage, from £2.73 an-hour from October, on Tuesday (March 17) before the Chancellor George Osborne gave more details in his Budget the following day.

Based on current Department for Work and Pensions rules, the rise will mean that apprentices paid the minimum wage and working 34 hours a-week or more would earn above the £111 a-week threshold for statutory sick pay as well as maternity and paternity leave. They will also qualify for pay if they take time off to adopt a child.

On the old rate, apprentices on a 40-hour week minimum wage only earned £109.20 a-week.

National Union of Students vice president for FE Joe Vinson tweeted on Tuesday: “Rise in the Apprentice National Minimum wage means all apprentices now eligible for sick pay, maternity and paternity pay and adoption pay.”

He later called for a greater rise, saying: “It’s important to remember that a 20 per cent rise actually isn’t very much when your current wage is just £2.73 an hour. It’s certainly a step in the right direction though.”

David Hughes, chief executive of the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education, said: “We are pleased to see this much-needed pay rise for apprentices, although it will still be half of the National Minimum Wage [rising from £6.50 to £6.70]. I am concerned about its enforcement and would like to see the government take concerted action to ensure all employers pay it.”

The Low Pay Commission (LPC) had recommended a 7p (2.6 per cent) increase.

John Allan, Federation of Small Businesses national chairman, said: “The move to significantly increase the apprenticeship rate will have to be monitored closely.”

He added: “Many employers would have preferred to see a rate more in line with the LPC’s recommendation.”

David Norgrove, LPC chair, said: “We are disappointed the government has not accepted our recommendation on the level of the apprentice rate. We based our judgement on a careful assessment of the evidence, seeking to benefit apprentices while also protecting the supply of places.”

Elsewhere in the budget, the government promised to devolve more power over skills to regions including West Yorkshire and London, but the implications for the FE sector have yet to be set out.

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A Budget for drinkers not thinkers

Budget 2015 said very little about FE. In another sense however it said a great deal.

The choices the Chancellor made, ignoring a mounting crisis in our FE system while frittering millions on pre-election give-aways spoke volumes about his priorities.

For instance the Chancellor cut the duty on spirits by 2 per cent at an annual cost of £100m. That’s about the same sum recently saved through cutting the funding rate for 18-year-olds by 17.5 per cent — a cut disproportionately hitting the disadvantaged and low achievers.

It’s an odd society that cuts £700 from the education of every 18-year-old just to knock 16p off a bottle of whisky.

It’s not the only odd choice. The Chancellor spent £85m exempting children from Air Passenger Duty. That’s more than twice the cost of abolishing the ’Learning Tax’ whereby sixth form colleges pay VAT that schools and academies don’t.

The average sixth form college will continue to pay £335k per year on VAT, cutting the teaching hours of A-level students just so families can save £13 on flying a five-year-old to Malaga.

Researchers recently showed that 16 to 18-year-olds in our schools and colleges are systematically short-changed compared to those in almost all other advanced countries; our ‘ full time’ programmes have around half the teaching hours of high performing jurisdictions like Shanghai and Singapore.

One reason for this is the abolition of the entitlement which cut the funding for 84 hours ‘enrichment’ per year from full time programmes.

Half of that could be reinstated for £250m but the chancellor used the money instead to stop the rise in fuel duty this autumn; an increase that would hardly be noticed when oil prices are plummeting.

Repairing recent damage to 16 to 18 education was not the only option the chancellor overlooked. He could have plugged some of the gaps appearing in adult FE where over a million learning opportunities have been lost since 2010.

The average cost of a place in adult FE is around £670; so the £85m spent reducing the price of beer by a penny a pint might instead have provided places for 125,000 adults. So could the money spent subsidising ‘Granny bonds’ for pensioners with cash to spare.

It’s a sad day for skills when investment in booze and foreign holidays is deemed more important than supporting FE.

 

 

 

 

A singing science lecturer from Middlesbrough College narrowly missed out on a $1m prize recognising the world’s best teacher.

Dr Richard Spencer, who encourages learners to join in science-inspired role-playing, YMCA-style dance routines and reworkings of popular songs with lyrics including ‘Don’t blame it on the phosphate’, was the only teacher in Europe to make the shortlist for the £674k Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize.

The A-level biology lecturer was flown to Dubai on March 15, along with the other finalists from across the world, for the award ceremony attended by former US President Bill Clinton and ex-British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

American-based English teacher Nancie Atwell was named the over winner, but Mr Spencer was commended.

He praised Ms Atwell as a “classroom teacher through and through” and said: “I do not see this as the end, but as a beginning of something unknown and exciting with lots of new opportunities for me and the other runners up.”

 

Former presidents of the Association of Colleges (AoC) have welcomed the election of John Widdowson (pictured above) as next year’s president and offered their advice to him on the role.

Mr Widdowson, principal of New College Durham, will take over the AoC role on August 1 from Exeter College principal Richard Atkins, who said Mr Widdowson would “work tirelessly to get the best deal for colleges”.

FE Commissioner David Collins, who was the first AoC president, was among those who offered their tips for the job.

“Being president of the AoC isn’t easy at the best of times but John is coming into the role when colleges are facing exceptional pressures,” he told FE Week.

“My advice would be to continue to emphasise the key role the sector plays in supporting the country’s economic and social development and to continue to push hard for colleges to play an even greater role in this regard in the future.

“More support to enable colleges to deliver higher levels of technical education independently of the university sector would be particularly welcome.”

To be president of the AoC and run a college at the same time you need “stamina and resilience” according to Maggie Galliers CBE, and “organisation” said Michele Sutton CBE.

You also need to be able to talk to ministers, policy makers, and foreign dignitaries, “as though you do it every day of the week”, said Dame Pat Bacon.

Ms Galliers, current chair of governors at City College Coventry, said: “My advice would be to pace yourself and prioritise well so that all parts of what you’re trying to achieve are getting the right level of attention.”

Bournville College principal Ms Sutton and South Cheshire College governor Dame Pat both urged Mr Widdowson to enjoy the presidential experience.

Ms Sutton said: “Enjoy the opportunity and be prepared to speak your own mind — which I know John will.”

Dame Pat said: “It’s tough — I’ve
never worked harder in my life than I did that year. But take the opportunities as they come because every year is different because it’s a different point in the political cycle.”

One experience all incoming presidents appear to dread is the president’s speech opening the AoC Conference, when, as Ms Sutton put it “there’s going to be a thousand people sitting in the hall waiting for pearls of wisdom”.

Dame Pat’s advice for the speech was to “take advice, but do it with an individual approach”. “It is your one opportunity to put your stamp on the presidency and how you’re going to do it,” she said.

Mr Widdowson said: “I want to help the Association of Colleges secure a positive future for further education, confronting the practical issues we face and sustaining the values and vision that colleges represent.”