The architect of the government’s trailblazing flexible apprenticeship scheme has said a “misunderstanding” of the programme led to repeated missed recruitment targets.
“Shared” apprenticeships were rolled out by the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) in 2012, way before the government’s flexi-job apprenticeship scheme was unveiled in 2021.
CITB, an arm’s-length body of the Department for Education, aimed to recruit 500 apprentices per year via the partly funded programme but barely met half that figure in each of the past seven years, according to exclusive figures shared with FE Week (see table).
CITB admitted the figures were not as “high as initially expected”, insisting this was due to the shared apprenticeship model not being “as understood as the traditional routes” into construction, as well as the scheme not giving learners long-term job security and consistency of a traditional apprenticeship.
In 2023/24, just 160 apprentices started through the route, a fall of one-third from the 240 apprentice starts in 2017/18 when the scheme finally became fully fledged across England, Scotland and Wales. Achievement rates have fluctuated between 45 and 63 per cent.
CITB officials explained that when shared apprenticeships were first rolled out in 2012, the 500 annual recruitment target was accepted following a “high adoption rate” in Wales. However, a slow rollout across England, compounded by pandemic challenges, hindered overall recruitment.
Shared apprenticeships were originally set up for careers in the built environment sector to enable small- and medium-sized employers (SMEs), who cannot offer full apprenticeships, to hire apprentices. They need to last for at least 12 months by law.
The scheme works similarly to a flexi-job apprenticeship. Apprentices are placed on to short-term placements with different employers via one of six regional agencies, typically between two to five placements for the whole apprenticeship.
These agencies end up coaching SMEs with little knowledge or experience of apprenticeships, which does not always work out, according to Sally Moore, director of Training and Apprenticeships in Construction (TrAC), one of the agencies.
“We’ve had situations where we had to move people sooner than the expected duration and situations where a host company doesn’t like training an apprentice. We’ve had to move them as well because it’s not good for anybody,” she said.
TrAC, along with the other five agencies, now also offer flexi-job apprenticeships.
Construction skills gap concerns
The low take-up of shared apprenticeships speaks to widely reported recruitment challenges in the construction industry.
CITB said in a 2023 report that an extra 225,000 construction workers may be needed by 2027. Yet statistics show the annual apprenticeship starts in construction has hovered around 20,000 since 2017. Retention rates have been just 56 per cent for the past two years.
“Employers [sic] reluctant to commit to the time required to train or needing experienced and already skilled staff,” a CITB spokesperson explained.
They added that “despite the lower-than-expected numbers”, shared apprenticeships remain a “big success” as it led to different flexible apprenticeship schemes across construction and other sectors coming onstream.
“We accept there are still skills challenges for the sector, and apprenticeships – whatever form they take – are just one of many routes to try and attract new people,” they said.
Wider flexi-job scheme struggles to take off
Flexi-job apprenticeships are available in the media and construction sectors
Ministers launched flexi-job apprenticeships after the pandemic to boost opportunities in the creative, digital and construction sectors where short-term employment models are more prevalent.
The DfE wanted between 1,500 to 2,000 learners starting flexi-job apprenticeships by 2023. But to date just 1,330 starts have been recorded, according to the latest figures. Of those, 110 have completed their apprenticeship.
DfE introduced a register for companies to apply to deliver flexi-job apprenticeships in February 2022 and a quality framework came out last October to ensure providers can meet standards.
A total of 40 agencies form the final register. Companies can either voluntarily remove themselves or are expunged from the register if they do not meet DfE’s conditions.
Since last year, five companies have been removed from the register. Multiple agencies have exited due to low employer demand and high delivery costs.
A DfE spokesperson said: “We expect these numbers to grow as our network of 40 agencies mature. We will continue to monitor their progress, and work with agencies to make any changes we believe will boost uptake and improve the experience for employers and learners.”
This is not the first time a government apprenticeship target has bombed. DfE’s 18-month “portable” flexi-job apprenticeship pilot failed after FE Weekrevealed last year that it reached barely one per cent of its 2,000-recruitment goal.
Providers delivering flexi-jobs apprenticeships arrange employer placements, whereas learners on “portable” apprenticeships find their own placements and are supported by one training provider.
Providers in the pilot told FE Week at the time that employers were not convinced by apprentices working for a short time with them and preferred the full-time apprenticeship route.
A London college group has been named the capital’s only ‘outstanding’ general further education college, with inspectors noting “extremely” good student achievement.
Waltham Forest College in Walthamstow, north east London, received a near-clean sweep of ‘outstanding’ grades following its March Ofsted inspection, an upgrade from its ‘good’ result in 2018.
According to Ofsted data, the college will be the only ‘outstanding’ rated general further education college in London.
Learners and apprentices at the college – which has about 2,000 16 to 18-year-old and 4,000 adult learners – “flourish” thanks to excellent teaching and training, the report said.
They are “highly motivated, ambitious and work hard” to reach their goals, benefit from an “excellent” tutorial programme and an “exceptional” and ambitious leadership team.
The report is yet to be published by Ofsted, but today the college published it themselves – with a celebration of the improved grade and its “excellent” educational outcomes for learners.
It said the college is ‘outstanding’ in all areas including quality of education, behaviour, and leadership, with only apprenticeships receiving the lower grade of ‘good’.
College “delighted” at grade
Principal and CEO Janet Gardner said she is “delighted” that Ofsted has recognised the quality of her students’ experience.
She added: “The whole staff team work relentlessly in their drive to support our students and ensure they achieve the very best outcomes to progress.
“The strong collaborations with employers, partners and stakeholders further supports the overall experience and ensures the college continues to meet local, regional, and national skills needs.”
The top Ofsted grade marks a new high for the college, which had a series of three ‘requires improvement’ grades from 2013 to 2018.
“Strong” contribution to London’s skills needs
Apprentices quickly gain “advanced technical knowledge and skills” from lecturers who are “experts in their field,” inspectors said.
The college makes a “strong contribution” to meeting London’s skills needs such as childcare and construction while also offering courses that are suitable for refugees and asylum seekers.
Lecturers also work with industry specialists and business owners to ensure curriculums, such as Level 3 cookery, are relevant.
Although inspectors praised “extremely helpful” feedback to students’ work, English and maths could be taught earlier, and achievements are “not high enough”.
However, teachers and lecturers monitor students’ progress “extremely effectively”.
High needs students have “life-changing experiences” thanks to experienced SEND professionals who “work very effectively” to develop their confidence.
The report notes: “Most learners, including learners who have high needs and those at their subcontractors, achieve extremely well.”
Alongside their courses, the college offers students a range of “outstanding” enrichment activities, a “very impressive” tutorial curriculum and “high-quality” careers education.
Leaders have relevant background and expertise, are “passionate and highly committed” and have a “thorough oversight” of the college’s strengths and areas in need of improvement.
A team of 12 inspectors visited the college, led by Saher Nijabat HMI.
The sector’s longest-running “financial notice to improve” was withdrawn from City of Wolverhampton College last week after 12 years.
First issued in 2012, the notice raised concerns about “very weak” financial management practices including high “overall indebtedness”, low working capital and cash reserves, and repeated deficits.
It also came shortly after the college was judged ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted, in a report that warned its “weak financial position” was of “serious concern”.
But last week, the government confirmed that its financial intervention has ended after agreeing to help the college clear a £10.7 million debt to Barclays bank that dates from 2007.
The Department for Education has taken on £6.1 million of the debt, with the remainder to be paid off through the future sale of City of Wolverhampton College’s Paget Road base for housing.
A new £61 million campus home for the college – City Learning Quarter – is under construction. It will include City of Wolverhampton Council adult education services and a “modernised” central library.
The college’s 2022/23 accounts say it had a deficit of £931,000, down from £2.4 million the previous year, but a self-assessed financial health score of ‘good’.
College ‘delighted’ that financial intervention over
Principal Mal Cowgill said the college, which was judged ‘good’ by Ofsted last year, is “delighted” the financial notice has been lifted and praised his staff for developing financial systems and processes that reflect “best practice in the sector”.
He added: “Despite our financial challenges, we are proud that the quality of education we offer to our students and apprentices has never been compromised, and has been recognised by Ofsted.
“Our college now has a very bright future ahead as our campus transformation journey progresses.”
While construction has started at the City Learning Quarter, the college is also set to begin training thousands of students and apprentices at its new Advanced Technology and Automotive Centre from September this year.
Longest running intervention
The government’s 12-year financial intervention at City of Wolverhampton College was the longest-running in the country when it was closed last Friday.
Unlike when such notices are issued now, the government did not publish any explanation of why it took this step.
Of the 53 colleges issued with notices to improve since 2012, only two have lasted ten years or more.
The DfE closed West Kent and Ashford College’s second longest-running notice of ten years in 2022.
In February, Hull College exited intervention after seven years, a £50 million government bailout, reductions in staff and closing one campus.
The DfE can issue notices to improve when it has concerns about a college’s financial health or teaching quality.
Following this, the FE Commissioner usually assesses the college within a few weeks and publishes an intervention report with recommendations on how to improve.
Why in intervention for so long?
The FE Commissioner has published two assessment reports into City of Wolverhampton College.
Its latest report, published in 2020, noted that it had struggled with the “combined effect” of an ‘inadequate’ Ofsted rating in 2012, regional demographic decline of 16- to 19-year-olds and “steep reductions” in adult funding. These issues, combined with the limited appeal of its 1960s-built campus, resulted in a significant drop in income.
It praised the college for improving its financial practices, appointing “capable” leaders and maintaining a ‘good’ Ofsted grade at each inspection since 2014.
Central to the college’s long-running intervention was its ‘inadequate’ financial health rating caused by a requirement to classify its large debt as a liability due to a “covenant breach”.
Efforts to repair the finances began in earnest following a 2016 appraisal, after which the DfE agreed to help the college restructure its debt and a deal was struck with the council to move one of its sites to the City Learning Quarter.
However, “highly ambitious” forecasts of income from apprenticeship growth only partially materialised, and funding needed to start building the new campus took much longer than planned.
A DfE spokesperson said: “The current leadership team and governing body of City of Wolverhampton College has significantly improved the strategic and operational performance of the college, increasing income and rationalising costs.
“The financial notice to improve has been lifted following the submission of accounts that demonstrated improvement in financial health for the year 2022/23.”
As a college, we have embraced the November GCSE English and maths resits. Taking this approach has benefits for different types of learners. For those who took their exams in the summer and narrowly missed out on a pass, we can capitalise on their existing knowledge. For other learners who may have taken their GCSE a long time ago, a November exam allows them to re-familiarise themselves with exam context early in the year, so they know what to expect in the summer.
Having adopted this approach, we needed a resource that complements the intensive lessons we deliver throughout September and October. Whereas in class we focus more on exam technique, outside of the classroom we need a platform that quickly identifies gaps in knowledge and individualises learning for students, providing them with instant feedback to target underlying skills.
We chose CENTURY as it provides a comprehensive solution for English and maths. And after pleasingly few teething problems, this innovative learning tool has integrated well into our academic environment, proving to be invaluable for students in and out of the classroom.
During enrolment period, our Learning for Life and Work department carried out initial assessments in literacy, numeracy and digital skills. These were quick, efficient and user-friendly and helped to inform our decision making about the correct programme of study level for each learner. From a technical perspective, it was easy to embed this new package into the current information systems used by the college.
Once students have been assigned the correct course, the platform tailors the learning experience to individual students’ needs. Its adaptive learning algorithms analyse each student’s strengths and weaknesses, creating a personalised learning journey that reinforces comprehension and retention of course material. This level of personalisation caters to a diverse range of levels and is key for our students who need to maximise their learning time before November.
A range of different courses is being trialled across the college, including Functional Skills, GCSE maths and English and the Multiply courses, which are superb for developing students’ numeracy skills at the lower levels.
Students can explore topics in depth, reinforcing their understanding
The content library aligns well with our curriculum, while the multimedia content engages students through videos, presentations and interactive quizzes. The variety of materials ensures that students can explore topics in depth, reinforcing their understanding of relevant concepts.
One of the platform’s best features is its ability to provide instant feedback, pin-pointing areas that require improvement and reinforcing concepts that have been mastered. The platform generates detailed reports on individual and class performance, helping teachers identify common misconceptions, learning gaps, and areas of strength. This information enables us to adapt our teaching methods, providing support where it is most needed.
In English, we’ve gone back over plurals, apostrophes and have particularly targeted common ESOL differences, such as missing articles from sentences in English. In GCSE maths, following a whole-department launch where diagnostics were completed, students have been using this software every week as part of their independent learning.
We have seen numerous students completing beyond the minimum number of micro-lessons, and we are delighted to see their efforts and knowledge being applied in their classwork. In line with this, we are seeing improved assessment results too.
CENTURY enhances the way our students learn and engage with content that they’re otherwise not confident with. For teachers, the internal reporting tools are also useful, allowing staff to have an overview of class and learner performance progress, without having to keep manual records for each student, which saves a lot of time and ensures consistency across all subjects and a better perspective on various areas.
Overall, it has been a welcome addition to our teaching and learning toolkit to optimise the chance of learners experiencing success in November.
A training provider is suing the Department for Education after its skills bootcamp funding was terminated due to an alleged breach of contract.
East London-based Feligrace Ltd took about 30 students through a 16-week bootcamp in railway engineering before the department ended its contract early in March last year.
Feligrace claims the DfE owes it £617,000 in unpaid fees, loss of earnings and being prevented from applying for new tenders after the department labelled it a “high-risk provider”.
But alongside its defence, the department has counter-claimed it is owed £74,000 in fees because the training company “fraudulently misrepresented” that it had City & Guilds accreditation in its February 26 2022 bid, despite losing the awarding body’s approval six weeks earlier.
Although Feligrace delivered a level 3 course in rail engineering in traction and rolling stock, as agreed in the skills bootcamp contract, it was accredited by Excellence, Achievement & Learning (EAL).
This meant the company made “false” representations by claiming it would be accredited by City & Guilds, the department argues.
About 30 learners are understood to have completed the training by the time the contract was terminated, with a further 70 signed up to start in 2023.
Owned by Odaro Omoregie, Feligrace is a training provider and care agency based in an industrial estate in Barking, east London, which has been providing publicly funded courses through the Education and Skills Funding (ESFA) since 2017.
“Devastating” impact of losing the contract
Omoregie told FE Week he is taking legal action to “put things right” and hold the DfE accountable.
He added: “The impact of losing the contract has been devastating, I’ve let two staff go and it has led to some financial challenges. We were trying to build back up after the impact of Covid on our training programmes. It’s an existential threat at the moment.”
A spokesperson for the Department for Education refused to comment when asked whether it had offered the learners any support after cancelling the course at short notice.
Feligrace claims the DfE’s “contract manager” approved the change in awarding body “in writing” a month after the contract started in August 2022. It says this did not need formal approval as it was a “minor change to the contract necessary to reflect operational and administrative procedures”.
Feligrace said that before the DfE terminated the contract, the same manager agreed to fund an additional EAL-accredited level 2 rail engineering skills bootcamp.
But the department insists that the change of accreditation was “never accepted” and argues that this was a “fundamental change to the nature of services” that should have been agreed under the “change control procedure” in the contract.
Two companies at the same address
Omoregie also owns a company called London College for Technical and Vocational Education (LCTVE) which operates from the same Barking office address and had a turnover of £749,000 in 2022.
Both companies appear to offer similar courses, such as functional skills, employability and railway maintenance.
While the DfE alleges that City & Guilds withdrew Feligrace’s approval over concerns about LCTVE operating as a “sub-site” at the same address, Omoregie claims the disagreement was related to an outstanding “minimum spend” invoice of just under £5,000.
According to the court documents, Omoregie was “unwilling” to pay the awarding body’s invoice to Feligrace because it related to a period when the company’s trading was impacted by the “Covid-19 pandemic”.
In its court documents, the department also raised concerns that Feligrace is unable to show proof that learners had interviews with employers or obtained Personal Track Safety (PTS) licences, both requirements of the contract. Feligrace disputes this.
Feligrace also had a railway track operative skills bootcamp contract worth up to £858,000 with Greater London Authority (GLA), which was signed off in August 2023.
The GLA’s website lists Feligrace as its skills bootcamp provider for railway track operative courses.
Dr Fazal Dad lives in a terraced house just 174 steps from his office at Blackburn College. The proximity reflects just how important it is for this chief executive to be at the heart of his campus community.
In his last job, as Walsall College’s deputy principal, he would get the bus to and from his home – despite owning a car. Even his close family questioned his logic.
“I used to say to them, I travel to work with the real people. I suppose that’s just me.”
Despite leaving school at 16 with just one O level (in metalwork), once Dad caught the learning bug, he couldn’t stop. He spent the next 36 years in part-time education, while climbing the career ladder in FE, which culminated in his PHD aged 50.
That workload came on top of being a police special constable for 18 years, a Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) reviewer for 15 years and an Ofsted inspector for the last five years.
The Principal of Blackburn College remains as grounded now as he ever was, making sure he uses all the local shops and getting to know what “really matters” to people. “I know what it feels like to be a Blackburnian.”
Dr Fazal Dad at Blackburn College
Doing the dirty work
But Fazal’s dedication to his community is matched by the high expectations he puts on his staff. He isn’t afraid to hold them to account when they fall short.
“If you don’t offend people, you never make any changes.”
Shortly after arriving at Blackburn College in January 2019, he had to make some unpopular decisions.
The previously ‘outstanding’ college had had two consecutive ‘requires improvement’ ratings and its finances were rocky. In 2019-20, Blackburn reported a yearly drop in its net assets from £11.8 million to £2.2 million, and had £12.3 million of long-term debt.
He arrived “with the remit of getting quality right”.
His “forensic systematic approach” involved “removing some colleagues” and bringing in “people with the right attitudes and behaviours”.
Covid hit Blackburn hard, with longer lockdowns than anywhere else.
Dad kept a close eye on standards throughout. For example, he would “randomly ring students up” to check that their teachers were doing their duty by keeping in touch with them.
He trimmed his workforce from 688 in 2019-20 to 550 in 2023. Dad believes principals “don’t get paid to do just the good things” or to “do the job from the back seat”.
He chastises some principals for “always handing out the presents at the awards”, but “not wanting to do the dirty work”. He conducts “protected conversations” when they’re needed with staff himself.
But he’s also quick to stand up for colleagues when it’s called for.
A month after he arrived in Blackburn, the FE Commissioner was seeking “ammunition” to remove his board’s chair and vice chair. Dad objected as he felt no ill will towards them; “they were fantastic people”.
However, the commissioners made it clear that when they returned later that year, they expected the board to have new chairs. Dad relented but ensured they left with integrity and were thanked for their “years of hard work”.
It was “the most difficult challenge” he had to face in his career.
Dr Fazal Dad
Wake-up call
Dad credits his father [a foundry worker] and his mum [a housewife], both first-generation immigrants from Pakistan, with keeping him “level-headed”. “You appreciated whatever was on the table for tea.”
But as a teenager growing up in Birmingham, he was more into watching Liverpool Football Club play than applying himself academically.
His “wake-up call” came because his one O level meant he had to take a level two electrical engineering course at Dudley College of Technology, rather than a level three like his friends.
Dad is also an Ofsted inspector and was recently sent back to Dudley to inspect it. Walking down the same corridors he’d walked as a teen was an “ironic full circle”.
Dad did an electrical apprenticeship and has continued to sit exams regularly since then which he could use to grant him access to work on a construction site. However, he has not practised the trade for 30 years.
As an electrical apprentice, his geeky fascination with electrical regulations prompted him to “wrongly or rightly embarrass” colleagues on construction sites by quoting regulations at them.
Dr Fazal Dad
Superhuman work ethic
Dad was promoted to contract manager on construction sites, and in the evenings started teaching electrical engineering, maths and regulations at Walsall College. He also taught classes at Stourbridge College.
Those were the “good old days” of adult education.
“Car parks were rammed” most evenings with adult learners studying a “whole portfolio of qualifications”.
The classes were life-changing for many. He recalls one ex-student, a bricklayer who now runs his own electrical company. He reflects how “very naïve” it is of the government to have cut the adult education budget for such programmes, “then complain years later that we have a workforce issue”.
After four years he secured a full-time teaching position at Stourbridge College where he spent the next 11 years, rising to head of construction and then assistant principal.
Doctor Dad
FE gave Dad a “lifeline”, and he still pinches himself sometimes over the fact he now has a PhD in middle management leadership in Further Education (as well as a CertEd and a Master’s in education).
So what drove him to spend all that time studying?
He wanted to “prove that I could learn at that level”. Plus, it was “great fun”.
He also volunteered as a special constable, rising to inspector ranking.
He recalls having to arrest a former student of his, which “couldn’t get any more embarrassing”.
The role helped with his “ability to communicate” with his students. It also taught him the need to “connect with people before you correct”.
He saw “parallels” between the criminal justice and education sectors, as “some individuals can exhaust the system. We don’t know what to do with them.”
Dr Fazal Dad when he was a special constable, with his family
Many mergers
Dad has witnessed many mergers [and near mergers] throughout his career.
As deputy at Walsall College, it merged with the Walsall Adult Community College, then tried to merge with Rodbaston College. The deal went to the “nth degree” before the board “decided it was not going to invest in a college in Staffordshire”.
While he believes mergers are almost always financially driven, they “have to create a win-win situation”.
Blackburn pulled out of discussions about merging with nearby St Mary’s Catholic College in 2020 because it had no assets and a large deficit, which Dad was “not willing to accept”. St Mary’s, which was England’s smallest sixth-form college, closed for good in 2022.
The proudest moment in Dad’s career came when Walsall went from Ofsted ‘good’ to “straight grade ones” in 2013.
In the final feedback meeting with inspectors, he “just couldn’t look up” after becoming teary-eyed. He went out and sat on a bench in the car park on his own for a while to take it in.
Five years later, just before joining Blackburn, Dad became an Ofsted inspector himself.
But being in that role means he puts even higher expectations on his own college.
When in 2022 Blackburn went from ‘requires improvement’ to ‘good’, “everyone else was over the moon”. But Dad was disappointed. “To this day” he asks himself the “burning” question: “why didn’t you get it to grade one?”
Dr Fazal Dad
Healthy competition
Dad describes himself as having “relaunched” Blackburn in the last five years.
He says achievement rates were hovering in the 70s when he started – now it gets 90 per cent.
He launched a new A-level centre which has “worked a treat”, providing 23 subjects to 250 learners.
It puts the college in direct competition with local sixth forms for learners. “We now compete with the big boys on our patch,” he says jokingly.
But Dad is no stranger to competition; in the West Midlands, it was “dog eat dog” between colleges. “But you have to get on with your job.”
Blackburn also has a new hybrid and electric automotive training facility, one of only a handful in the country. It has revamped its construction facility, created a hospital ward in its university centre and now boasts a cyber security training unit set up to feed a pipeline of workers into the National Cyber Security Centre the government is opening in nearby Samlesbury.
It’s been “difficult” to recruit teachers because such IT sleuthing skills are in high demand.
Dad also secured £33 million from DfE towards the £36 million refurbishment of its listed technical college building, which stands proudly as one of the town’s architectural crown jewels.
It was key to Dad that with all the uncertainty about the future of qualifications and the skills agenda, its new rooms would have “built-in flexibility” to adapt to different courses and class sizes.
Blackburn students celebrating A Level results in 2021 with Dr Fazal Dad
Zero tolerance approach
Dad introduced the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme at Walsall and then at Blackburn and is a big fan of how it connects pupils from different qualifications and walks of life. Dad credits the scheme for “equipping our young people with a broader understanding around teamwork and problem-solving”.
He believes that such schemes are more needed than ever, against a backdrop of rising incidents of poor behaviour and mental health needs.
“Sometimes a college lecturer is the guardian, social worker, nurse and confidant, never mind the teacher, because of the challenge that individual is going through.”
Dad operates a zero-tolerance approach to drugs at Blackburn, as he has in his previous colleges.
He recalls in a previous role having “arguments” with his local police chief inspector for insisting on permanently excluding a student caught with cannabis. So far this academic year, he estimates having permanently excluded around 10 students.
He is concerned over how nowadays some public areas “reek of cannabis”, as if “almost we’ve accepted” the drug being smoked publicly. But he insists that “on my college grounds, I am responsible. The students know now – you have drugs at Blackburn College, you’re going home… you have to draw the line somewhere.”
The carved board with a message of gratitude from a former student of Dr Fazal Dad
Open door
The door to Dad’s office, which is next to the library at the heart of its campus, is “always open”. He sees himself as “old fashioned” in that he’s still “out on the door” from 8.30am welcoming students.
He shows me a board containing a message of gratitude, which a former student had carved in her native African homeland.
She gave it to Dad for helping her to “climb another ladder in education”. After passing her level two in health and social care, she could not afford the BTEC extended diploma she had her sights set on. Her teachers pleaded with Dad to let her do it for free. As a “unique one-off”, he relented.
Now, the learner is in her final year studying midwifery at university.
Looking at the board still brings a tear to his eye.
His father was unable to educate himself in his lifetime but impressed upon him the value of education. It’s a lesson which stuck with him.
“He said, ‘son, your wife can run off. You can lose your car in an accident. But one thing you’ll never lose is education.”
The government has rolled back on its “free courses for jobs” offer by restricting access to adults who are paid less than £25,000 – in a move branded as “short-sighted policy control”.
Education and Skills Funding Agency rules for the incoming adult skills fund in 2024/25 introduce an “earnings threshold” to the flagship post-pandemic offer that aims to help people retrain and get into work.
The scheme, launched in 2021 as part of then-prime minister Boris Johnson’s “lifetime skills guarantee”, has enabled adults to study one of more than 500 level 3 courses (equivalent to two full A-levels) for free if they do not already hold one regardless of what they are paid.
Before it was rolled out, only 19- to 23-year-olds were fully funded for their first level 3 qualification, while anyone older had to take out an advanced learner loan to pay for the course.
Department for Education officials have decided to limit the offer to adults earning below £25,000.
A DfE spokesperson said the eligibility criteria has been restricted so that funding is “better targeted to support those further down the earnings spectrum or who are unemployed to gain the skills they need to get a good job”.
Ten mayoral combined authorities that have devolved powers over adult education funding including free courses for jobs (FCFJ), which account for 60 per cent of the country, are deciding whether to adopt this change or stick with the current criteria. London, the West Midlands, Greater Manchester and Liverpool told FE Week they have no plans to introduce the earnings limit.
The Learning and Work Institute (LWI) estimates that two-thirds of employees earn above £25,000 and would be ruled out by the ESFA’s threshold.
LWI chief executive Stephen Evans pointed out the UK has “far fewer people qualified to level 3 than many comparator countries, and the number of adults gaining these skills has more than halved since 2010”.
He said this new earnings threshold is “short-sighted spending control that risks further holding back already weak economic growth”, adding that the government should be transparent about how many people it expects this restriction will affect.
Funding expert Steve Hewitt criticised the move. He said: “It’s very disappointing to see one of the most progressive changes introduced by this government rolled back without consultation or warning.
“This will limit opportunity for many people who didn’t have the chance to get a level 3 qualification when they were younger and don’t want to get themselves in debt via a student loan.”
Government data shows there have been 57,300 enrolments on the FCFJ offer from people who did not already hold a full level 3 qualification between April 2021 and January 2024.
Enrolments are 61 per cent higher than on equivalent courses in 2018/19, according to the DfE. But of those starters, just over half have achieved the qualification.
Sue Pember, director of policy at adult education provider network Holex, said take-up of the offer has been “lower than planned so we are disappointed that DfE is limiting the offer”. She told FE Week: “We also understand that retention is low, and we believe that is because many students are encouraged to enrol even when they haven’t level 2 in English or maths and therefore struggle with the course.
“We would prefer students to be offered a vocational level 2 with maths and literacy confidence courses before they start the level 3.”
Multiple large colleges are reconsidering their Association of Colleges membership after the organisation suddenly upped their fees by more than 20 per cent to £57,700.
At a recent meeting, the AoC board voted to retain the body’s subscription rate at 0.1 per cent of a college’s turnover but decided to increase the membership fee cap, set at £47,700 since 2019, by £10,000.
It means any college earning more than £47.7 million will see their annual fee rise in 2024/25, up to a maximum fee of £57,700.
About 30 of AoC’s 178 general FE college members are set to be impacted by the move, which could increase the membership body’s income by about £200,000, or 3 per cent, depending on member retention.
The hike comes at a difficult financial time for colleges that have dealt with more than a decade of government underfunding and high inflation, which has prevented many from offering staff suitable pay awards to cope with the cost-of-living crisis.
AoC chief executive David Hughes said: “With more mergers since then [2019] and high inflation, [AoC’s] fee income has been flat despite rising modest overall college sector turnover. We know this is not an easy time to be asking for more when college finances are so pressured, but after five years with no increase we felt it was necessary.”
Membership numbers for AoC have shrunk slightly from 221 in 2019/20 to 202 in 2023/24, mostly caused by mergers. The company represents 98 per cent of all general FE colleges and has 24 sixth-form college (SFC) members – 55 per cent of all SFCs.
Hughes said the fee cap has made it “harder to maintain services to members and work on influencing and campaigning” in recent years.
‘It’s important that we demand value for money’
Most affected leaders of large colleges who spoke to FE Week said they understood that to maintain a high level of service the fees must be reviewed. They spoke of the importance of the sector speaking with one voice through the membership body and several praised the quality of service they get in return including through strategy groups.
Nottingham College principal Janet Smith also lauded the AoC for “excellent support” when her college was under threat from industrial action.
However, multiple colleges have taken issue with the size of the cap increase and questioned whether they are getting value for money.
John Evans, chief executive of Cornwall College Group, said: “I’m struggling with it [the rise]. I fully recognise the role that AoC do and the voice that they give the sector. But at a time when we are struggling to give pay awards, I’m having to weigh up whether it’s the right thing to use that money for.
“It’s quite difficult when you’re denying people a cost-of-living rise when you’re paying that to the AoC. They [staff] will question what they get back for it. I think the sector needs a voice, but it’s how effective the voice is, I guess.”
A source close to another large college, which did not wish to be named, said leaders were “unhappy” with the hike and are now “looking at our future membership”. “There is frustration among the leadership. We may end up staying in, but our team are split about what value we get.”
Some colleges raised the point that £57,700 could pay for two full-time staff members, while others questioned the effectiveness of drives such as the Love Our Colleges week. A couple also took issue with the cap rise being communicated without consultation.
One college boss, who also did not want to be named, said: “There are a few of us thinking about the effectiveness of AoC and for the bigger colleges, this increase is going to make that debate more acute.”
A spokesperson for NCG, the country’s largest college group, said: “We are very keen to have a strong representative voice for the sector and AoC is the strongest voice we have at this time. As part of the public sector, it’s important to us that we demand value for money from any membership organisation. We will continue to support AoC while working closely with them to ensure that they are serving the sector and NCG well.”
Elsewhere in FE, the Sixth Form Colleges Association charges members a flat fee of £10,100, while the Association of Employment and Learning Providers charge between £700 and £12,150 a year, depending on how many learners the provider has.
In the higher education sector, where most universities record more than £100 million turnovers, Universities UK charges fees of between £30,000 and £70,000, depending on size.
‘Increasing the cap aims to maintain impact we have’
The AoC’s latest accounts, for the year ended March 2023, stated that the association will “remain financially strong going forward”.
Hughes, whose salary has remained at £185,000 for the past two years, said his organisation’s latest satisfaction survey found almost 90 per cent of its members were either “satisfied” or “highly satisfied” with the AoC’s service.
AoC, which employs 145 staff, recently downsized its office in London to save costs.
Hughes told FE Week: “There’s a real desire among members to ensure that our voice is heard in the next 12 to 24 months, before and after the general election. We’re increasing our policy work, which we think is biting and is having a big influence. Increasing the cap aims to maintain what we do and the impact we have.”
“Distracting and anxiety-inducing” Ofsted inspections should be axed and replaced by a peer-led model to improve education quality, according to the University and College Union.
A survey of more than 1,000 further education union members found that just one in five believed Ofsted raises standards and nine in ten backed “an alternative model of improvement/challenge”.
Ofsted has come under increasing pressure to reform its inspection regime from all sides of the education sector following the death of headteacher Ruth Perry last year.
Last month, the National Education Union (NEU) reported that nearly two-thirds of its member schoolteachers believe inspections have caused them mental ill-health and four in five want Ofsted replaced. NEU has advised its members not to work as inspectors or to display their school’s judgments on publicity materials.
The education watchdog is in the final weeks of its ‘Big Listen’ exercise, with new chief inspector Sir Martyn Oliver repeatedly vowing “nothing is off the table” when it comes to reform.
“College staff are clear that Ofsted inspections need to be abolished,” UCU general secretary Jo Grady said.
“Our members say inspections are traumatic and, especially after the tragic death of Ruth Perry, we need an end to the stress and anxiety they induce,” Grady said.
UCU’s report reveals just over three-quarters of college teachers believe the Ofsted term ‘inadequate’ is “not acceptable terminology” with the union recommending simpler ‘satisfactory’ and ‘requires improvement’ judgments instead.
The government last week rejected calls from MPs to ditch single-word grades, justifying that the grades provide “a clear basis for taking action” to improve underperforming institutions.
“It is simply unacceptable for the government to rule out replacing it before Ofsted’s consultation has even finished,” Grady added.
The Labour Party pledged in January that a Labour government would end single-word Ofsted judgments and bring in report cards with annual safeguarding and attendance checks.
UCU’s survey found that 83 per cent of college staff agreed that Ofsted visits caused anxiety and stress. Nine in ten teachers said inspections were an additional workload burden and detracted from teaching.
To combat this, UCU said Ofsted should consult on removing the notice period on colleges ahead of an inspection. Colleges should also be required to publish how much they spend on inspection preparation, including consultancy.
Teachers said their colleges dumped “excessive and unnecessary” paperwork to prepare for Ofsted inspections which took priority over teaching.
“There was a huge amount of paperwork unnecessary in my opinion that I was expected to redo even though it was perfectly adequate. Going in on days off and the weekend were expected prior to the visit which just increased the stress and anxiety for all the staff,” one UCU member said.
Another member said her college rolled out initiatives “purely” to achieve a good grade at inspection and had “very little focus” on whether learners were benefitting from them.
In place of Ofsted, UCU has said the FE sector should be funded to run a “co-designed, collaborative, peer improvement model”, which it claimed would be “valued and trusted” by staff and the public.
Speaking at the Schools and Academies Show earlier this week, Oliver described the existing inspectorate as “a peer-reviewed system” because the “vast majority” of its workforce were serving principals and headteachers.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Ofsted’s independent inspections are vital to ensuring students are safe and receive the education they deserve. We are looking forward to conclusion of the Big Listen, which will help inform us of the steps needed to continue to raise standards for children and young people across the board.”
