TeamUK’s outstanding WorldSkills competitors received a rapturous welcome home with a celebration event in the heart of London.

Skills Minister Nick Boles and Prime Minister David Cameron’s apprenticeship adviser Richard Harrington, MP for Watford, were among the guests as most of the TeamUK’s 40 competitors were honoured on Tuesday, September 8, at Dean’s Yard, near Westminster.

The UK’s official delegate and funding agencies chief executive Peter Lauener and Edge Foundation acting chief executive David Harbourne were also in attendance to see the team’s 21 medallions for excellence handed out.

The medals came in addition to the three gold, four silver, and two bronze, which gave TeamUK 46 points in total to place it seventh in the overall medals table — up three places on WorldSkills Leipzig two years ago.

An extra two awards were also presented at the event — the Woodbine Parish Award for highest scoring competitors who did not win a medal at WorldSkills was given to Martin Mclaughlin, aged 19 and from Northern Ireland’s North West Regional College, for wall and floor tiling and Hayley Edwards, 19 and from Middlesbrough College, for health and social care.

The John Barnes Award for contributing most to TeamUK morale went to Jasmine Field, 20 and from the Fashion Retail Academy, for visual merchandising and window dressing.

Mr Harrington said: “If I may begin with a ‘shout out’ to my constituent Danny Hoang [chef competitor], who won a Medallion for Excellence — Watford is proud
of you, Danny!

“The achievements of TeamUK are nothing short of incredible and each and every one of you deserves special recognition.”

Beauty therapist Rianne Chester, 22 and from Warrington Collegiate, who made TeamUK history by being awarded the Albert Vidal award for highest overall competitor’s score on top of a gold medal, said: “The support I’ve had is amazing and the whole experience has given me so much more confidence and it has completely changed my life.”

Click here for more FE Week coverage of WorldSkills 2015 from Sao Paulo, meanwhile a new Edexcel level four qualification was unveiled at the homecoming. It was designed to recognise individuals at competitions who have gone beyond the competence of a skill and recognise those skills such as planning, leadership, motivation, problem-solving and psychology of performance and it was awarded to 62 members of the squad from which TeamUK was drawn.

Mr Lauener said: “What we now really need is all of that experience, understanding and all of that knowledge working its way to the home system so that many more young people get the best skills on offer.”

Christine Doubleday, director of education and development at Find a Future, which manages the UK’s entry into the WorldSkills competition, said: “This has been the best ever UK performance in UK WorldSkills international history.”

 

Main image: TeamUK competitor Jasmine Field unable to hide her delight at winning the John Barnes award

Peter Lauener, Rianne Chester with her Albert Vidal award and Find A Future chair Carole Stott

TeamUK competitors Ben Pritchard, Danny Hoang, Sam Turner, Jonathan Gill and Matthew Beesley

Richard Harrington MP

Competitors perform the TeamUK chant

Skills Minister Nick Boles is shown some pictures from Sao Paulo by Matthew Beesley

 

 

The FE sector is a “fragile” state, Education Secretary Nicky Morgan (pictured),  has conceded.

She made the comments during a meeting of the House of Commons Education SelectCcommittee on Wednesday (September 9), during which she faced a grilling from MPs over her department’s policies.

The issue of funding in the FE sector was first mentioned by Gateshead Labour MP Ian Mearns, who said there was a “looming concern” about a funding crisis in FE, with “possibly 10 to 15 per cent of the sector facing significant deficit budgets within the next 18 to 24 months”.

Ms Morgan said: “We are aware that the FE sector is, I think fragile is probably the way to put it, and that’s why we have started a process of these area-based reviews, looking at provision in local areas and making sure that we can help colleges to be robust, in the best of financial health.

“But [we also want] to make sure there is no over-lapping provision, that people are working together, that actually if colleges need to get bigger in order to be stable, that’s the sort of thing that we want the colleges and the areas, as I say, to be thinking about together.”

Asked if she agreed the area reviews were “flawed” because they only compelled general FE and sixth form colleges to be involved and not school sixth forms, Ms Morgan said she would encourage “all post-16 providers” to take part, but that a “particular issue” with FE institutions had been brought to her department’s attention.

Ms Morgan said she would “strongly urge” colleges and schools to “work together” as part of the reviews, and said both she and Skills Minister Nick Boles were “in the market” for hearing proposals from areas.

The education secretary was also pressed on whether funding for 16 to 19-year-olds could be brought in line with funding for the 14 to 16 stage, but said funding was currently being reviewed as part of the government’s spending review, the findings of which are due this autumn.

A review of the costs of running FE institutions has been branded a “waste of time” and in need of “further work”.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, Department for Education and The Treasury have published a 17-slide presentation on their joint review of FE costs, which was commissioned in February and was carried out over six weeks from March.

In February 2015, the Treasury, BIS and DfE commissioned a ‘Joint review of Further Education (FE) cost drivers’ to understand the funding, cost drivers and outcomes of the FE system in England, with a particular focus on teaching costs, E&M provision and financial management.

The study analysed financial health metrics for 1,232 FE institutions and cost breakdowns for 341 colleges, using Association of Colleges information and carried out 20 “deep dive visits”.

The review found, among other things, that there was a “significant difference” in profitability of individual providers and that providers with the best financial management drew their senior managers from the private sector and education sector.

It also found that the overall FE system operates at a 1 per cent profit, meaning any future reduction in funding “would need to be offset across the system by a reduction in costs, additional income generation or reduction in outputs”.

But the review has been criticised by Steve Hewitt, a college funding manager and expert, who took to Twitter to complain.

He said: “Anyone else asked for the Joint Review of FE Costs thing…? I have and it is a laugh riot!

“Apparently there is no link between spend and outcome, so the whole thing is a waste of time. Key point is they claim Academies spend 11 per cent on ‘admin’ whereas FE spends 17 per cent. Clearly we know why that is and that it’s all the government’s fault but it’s the sort of stat that doesn’t go away.”

Mr Hewitt also told FE Week: “You can’t compare a general FE college admin spend to an academy’s admin spend, academies don’t have to put up with 90 per cent of what we do.”

A spokesperson for the Association of Colleges said: “The ‘joint review of FE costs’ was carried out in March and focused on English and maths.

“The slides have only just been published and while some of the analysis is helpful, some conclusions need further work.”

The chief executive of one of the country’s leading awarding organisations has resigned, it was announced today.

Mark Dawe, chief executive of OCR, will leave the company at the end of the month after successfully overseeing the completion of marking in this year’s summer exams.

Mr Dawe, a former principal and chief executive at Hertfordshire’s Oaklands College, is known for his strong commitment for doing what is required for the FE sector, sources have said.

He will be succeeded by William Burton, who joins from the Construction Industry Training Board in an interim role.

It is not yet known if Mr Dawe, who is yet to comment, has a new position lined up.

Simon Lebus, group chief executive at Cambridge Assessment, said: “Mark has been at OCR for five years and has been responsible for stewarding the organisation through a period of major change in both its general and vocational business.

“I would like to thank Mark for this good work and wish him every success for the future.”

The departure follows an eventful year for Mr Dawe who was involved in a war of words with the Department for Education (DfE) over claims of an examiner staffing shortage.

He raised concerns that his board may have to find another 5,000 examiners to meet a rise in demand, which he attributed to the government’s subject reforms.

But his words triggered an angry response from Whitehall. A senior DfE source said: “Perhaps Mr Dawe wants to stop making excuses for his organisation’s lamentable failure to deliver in recent years and focus on delivering their exams this year.”

The comments relate to OCR coming close to missing the publishing deadlines for last summer’s A-levels.

A subsequent investigation by Ofqual, published last month, confirmed the company will not face a fine or any other action, despite stating that “catastrophic” consequences almost occurred.

He also gained significant media attention earlier this year after suggesting pupils should be allowed to use search engines like Google in their exams.

Mr Dawe, a former chartered accountant, also worked as a deputy director for FE strategy at the Department for Education and Skills.

 

A new group for FE practitioners aimed at helping them “meet the spirit” of the Further Education Learning Technology Action Group (Feltag) was launched at this year’s Association for Learning Technology (ALT) conference.

The Feltag Special Interest Group is a forum for teachers, lecturers, learning technologists and others working directly with learners, to discuss the challenges and areas of change in relation to the use of learning technology.

It was developed by ALT to help FE staff working directly with learners to take forward the Feltag agenda and share what was happening across the sector.

“When Feltag came along, there was a lot of work being done at a higher level — at a strategic level — looking at it from an agency perspective, from a senior management perspective,” said James Clay, Jisc project manager and one of the founding members of the group.

“One of the things we felt as a committee was that the practitioners are almost being left out.

“There’s an assumption sometimes that these practitioners, these teachers and lecturers, will go off and just be able to do it. And actually, no, they need guidance, they need advice and they need support.

“And often that advice, guidance and support is best coming from peers and colleagues.

“There are a lot of young lecturers and young teachers out there who’ve got amazing ideas but who aren’t quite sure how to share them.

“This is about giving them an open platform that’s easy to access and easy to use, to work with others in order to share those ideas, and for other individuals and institutions to exploit those ideas in order to help meet the spirit of Feltag.”

The group was developed learning technology experts in the FE sector and, in addition to Mr Clay, the other founding members were Rachel Challen, eLearning manager at Loughborough College, Peter Kilcoyne, ILT director at Heart of Worcestershire College, Geoff Rebbeck, e-Learning adviser and Ellen Lessner, e-Learning consultant.

The group is open to all practitioners interested in promoting Feltag themes and wanting to share their ideas.

It aims to provide an opportunity to share and collaborate, and to learn from others how to use technologies to enhance learning and to improve outcomes for learners.

Mr Clay said: “It’s about how can we use it to engage learners, to widen participation, for inclusion and accessibility, and also to get teachers and lecturers to understand it’s not something that’s an extra, a bolt-on.

“We talk about the fear of technology, it’s often about the fear of change, but often these technologies are there to enable change, it’s there to make things better for learners, to make things better for learners, easier for staff and better for staff.”

The group was designed to work alongside Feltag and its work is expected to tie in to what’s happening at a higher level.

“We expect that to feed down into the group and enable us to know if we need to change direction or focus,” said Mr Clay.

“But likewise, what we also hope is that if we get enough people involved we’ll also be able to push things back up to say, real change is happening we’ve got people sharing, we’ve got people collaborating and changing the way that they work, and they’re using learning technology more effectively and efficiently to improve learning outcomes.”

In addition to a mailing list and Twitter, the group will host events and webinars to showcase the work of its members.

Members are also encouraged to use technology to develop ways to share their own ideas, such as creating YouTube channels or using instant messaging tools such as Yammer or Slack.

 

Email FELTAGSIG@jiscmail.ac.uk to join the group’s mailing list.

Main pic: James Clay

Pics by: Chris Bull

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ALT conference — working together and supporting staff

The theme of the 2015 Association for Learning Technology conference was shaping the future of learning together.

The three-day event was held in Manchester from September 8 and from an FE and skills sector perspective there was a focus on working together to support staff, and to give them the skills they need to use technology effectively.

Diana Laurillard, Rachel Challen and Neil Morris presented Blended Learning Essentials, a new open course available through Future Learn for practitioners in the vocational education and training sector.

“One of the great difficulties for the teaching practitioner, whether they’re working in skills-based learning, adult and community learning or FE college, is they all are expected somehow to embrace new technologies while also doing the day job,” said Ms Laurillard.

“The idea of the course was to make it feasible for anyone in the sector who wants to feel they know what it’s about to get in touch with it and get some experience of it, and feel supported in that process.”

The course, which is split into two parts, introduces some of the tools that are available and how to use them, as well as how to embed what they’ve learned into practice. It’s designed so that participants can learn from each other, through case studies and by sharing their own experiences of what’s worked and what hasn’t.

The aim is that it will create a sustainable community, in which participants can continue to share and collaborate after the course is finished.

“If you’ve registered in the course, you can get back to it. That means that you can stay in those groups, you can stay arguing that point, you can stay talking to other colleagues and peers about what is the best way to go about this,” said Ms Laurillard.

“That’s how any area builds its knowledge. And it keeps everything renewed, because the technologies keep changing. It’s never going to go away.”

A different approach to supporting staff was presented by Sussex Downs College, in a talk on engaging learners in an active dialogue around their digital expectation and experiences.

Through its Student Digital Leaders project, the college has brought in its learners to evaluate what the college is doing, and to help them to think differently and realise opportunities they may be missing. Learners have also worked one-to-one with staff to teach them to use the technology.

Project manager John Webber said: “It’s really vital to the next phase in developing new technology. We’ve got limited resources and limited time, so we need to be using the best intelligence we can in developing what we’re doing and these young students and the other that will work with us across the college will be vital in helping us steer that.” 

The system of prison learning contracting will come under the spotlight in a review ordered by Justice Secretary Michael Gove.

The former Education Secretary wants the inquiry to, in part, look at how the Offender Learning and Skills Service (Olass) — currently contracted to three general FE colleges and one independent learning provider — operates.

It was announced on Tuesday (September 8) along with the wider review brief of considering how prisoners could be given improved “education opportunities and qualifications” to boost job prospects.

It will be led by Dame Sally Coates (pictured right), director of academies south for the United Learning schools group, who carried out a review of teaching standards for the Department for Education in 2011.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice said Dame Ruth would be looking “into Olass as part of the [latest] review”, including contract arrangements where funding is directed by the Skills Funding Agency, before reporting early next year.

The Olass system was first rolled out across the country in 2006 and the fourth round of Olass contracts were agreed in August 2012. They are currently set to end in July next year.

Dr Paul Phillips OBE (pictured left), principal of Weston College which holds the Olass contract for the South West of England, said: “As a college, we have invested substantial resources to meet the maths and English agenda, and in many ways we would seek even further improvements in regard to technical qualifications.”

He added: “On a number of occasions, as principal, I have argued that the apprenticeship-type framework needs to be embodied within prison education alongside the more traditional forms of learning.”

The Manchester College holds Olass contracts for the North East, North West, Kent and Sussex, Yorkshire and Humberside regions, as well as London.

Peter Cox, managing director of the justice division at The Manchester College, said: “We welcome a review which will make education a higher priority in prisons.”

A spokesperson for Milton Keynes College, which holds the other Olass contract for the South Central and East and West Midlands regions, declined to comment, as did Olass East of England contractor People Plus.

The review follows a Prisoner Learning Alliance (PLA) report out in May entitled The Future of Prison Education Contracts, Delivering Better Outcomes.

It called for the lifespan of current Olass contracts to be extended a year, stating: “We are very aware of the costs and disruption for staff and learners that comes with re-competition.

“To avoid this, we would therefore recommend that the contracts are extended… subject to building in greater flexibilities and incentives to achieve better outcomes.”

A Department for Business, Innovation and Skills spokesperson declined to comment on the review, but said “the focus [of Olass provision] so far has been on preparing prisoners to be able to take up apprenticeship opportunities on their release”.

“Ways to engage prisoners in apprenticeships [while in prison] are always being considered,” he added.

Sector leaders have warned that the government’s post-16 education and training area review plans are “fundamentally flawed” because they concentrate too much on general FE and sixth form colleges (SFCs).

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and Department for Education (DfE) unveiled plans this morning for reviews for Birmingham and Solihull, Greater Manchester, and Sheffield city region to start on September 18, 21 and 28 respectively.

A joint statement identified 22 FE colleges and 16 SFCs that will be directly involved — but no schools, University Technical Colleges, free schools, or independent learning providers (ILPs).

James Kewin (pictured above), deputy chief executive of the SFC’s Association, said the process was “fundamentally flawed because it only focuses on FE colleges and SFCs” and criticised a lack of “coherent or joined up policy making”.

Association of Colleges chief executive Martin Doel (pictured below right) agreed that all post-16 provision should be considered, adding that it would be “unreasonable and illogical for the government to allow more new sixth forms and other post-16 education to be created during the course of the reviews”.

A BIS and DfE spokesperson subsequently told FE Week that the government was separately “reviewing the criteria for the opening of new school sixth forms, because of the risk of oversupply in various local areas”.

He added that while the post-16 area reviews “will normally involve all the general FE colleges and SFCs in the area”, other providers “may opt in if the local steering group agrees”.

“In particular we would expect that any providers delivering significant levels of post-16 education and training in the area will want to opt in,” he said.

He added that post-16 area review reports could make general observations about opportunities for collaboration, improved progression and signposting, and efficiency savings “across all providers”.

BIS and DfE wanted school sixth forms to collaborate with the reviews, he said.“Similar provision in [school] sixth forms is often duplicated in relatively small geographical areas when it could be delivered in a more joined-up way,” he added.

“This may be particularly the case where sixth forms are very small, as some evidence raises concerns about the costs, breadth of offer and outcomes for these providers.”

A guidance note for the upcoming post-16 area reviews, published this morning by DfE and BIS, said that they will focus on the current structure of FE colleges and SFCs, although there will be opportunities for other institutions including schools and independent providers to “opt in”.

It added that the reviews will be led by steering groups consisting of college chairs of governors, local enterprise partnerships, local authorities, regional schools commissioners, SFC Commissioner Peter Mucklow and FE Commissioner Dr David Collins.Regional school commissioners will also “consider the implications” for school sixth form provision, the note said.

An Association of Employment and Learning Providers spokesperson said that such reviews could present opportunities for greater co-operation with ILPs, “especially if those involved are willing to be open minded and look at alternatives to the obvious college merger solutions, the evidence for the success of which is ambivalent at best”.

But Sally Hunt (pictured left), University and College Union general secretary, said that “this programme of rationalisation risks leaving students high and dry if their own aspirations don’t match the local area’s priorities”.