The RAF’s apprenticeship scheme has seen it become just the second employer provider to be rated outstanding across the board under Ofsted’s current common inspection framework.
The report, released on Thursday, said success rates were “significantly above national rates for all apprenticeship subjects” and that instructors “plan learning activities very well so that apprentices of all abilities, including the least and most able, are able to achieve”.
The glowing praise came six years after the RAF’s last inspection resulted in a good grading and adds to the outstanding employer provider achievement of Defence Equipment & Support, Defence Munitions (DM) Gosport in November 2012.
Air Vice-Marshal Andrew Turner, the Air Officer Commanding No 22 (Training) Group, said: “The RAF is delighted to be recognised by Ofsted as ‘outstanding’ in delivering apprenticeships across Britain.”
Main pic: Aircraft maintenance mechanic Lorrelle Butler, aged 26, is an RAF apprenticeship graduate
The government will not be enforcing a recommendation from the Further Education Learning Technology Action Group (Feltag) that 10 per cent of all course content should be delivered online, Skills Minister Nick Boles has revealed.
Speaking at the Bett technology trade show on Thursday (January 22), Mr Boles said he was not planning to be “prescriptive” in following up Feltag recommendations.
The group called for a minimum of 10 per cent online delivery by 2015/16 to be mandated through funding in its report, published in March last year, but Mr Boles said this was more of a “vague target”.
Instead, Mr Boles said, he would be focussing on the targets to improve broadband infrastructure in college, and would be developing a forum for sharing best learning technology practice.
Mr Boles joined 38,000 other delegates, including around 90 ministers from countries around the world, at Bett, which ran from January 21 to 24 at the Excel Centre in London.
In his speech kicking off day two of the conference, he said he had been “shocked” to discover, following Feltag, one sixth form college thought it was required to measure every lesson and work out what percentage of the time was spent using technology.
“That to me is exactly what should not be happening,” he said.
“We shouldn’t be doing some form of a time and motion study to try and understand how people are using technology.”
Mr Boles told FE Week that the Feltag recommendation had been “over-interpreted”.
“I don’t think for a moment Feltag meant for teachers to be with a stopwatch working out watch percentage of a lesson they were delivering online,” he said.
“That’s simply wasting teachers’ time and I don’t want to be adding any more to their burden.
FE Week reporter Rebecca Cooney with Feltag member Bob Harrison
“What Feltag meant was let’s have a qualitative assessment of whether we are using technology as much as possible, and there’s this kind of vague target to try do a bit more and that I entirely endorse.”
He did admit however, that while the government was following the “spirit” of the Feltag report, it was “not being quite as prescriptive as they [Feltag] would have liked”.
“I’m very pleased with the work Feltag has done and I’m very grateful to them and their ideas,” he said.
“Some of the ideas were saying ‘Ofsted should require this or Ofsted should require that’ but that’s not the way we approach things — the last thing we think teachers need is any more requirements, what we do want to do is make innovation possible by investing in fundamental infrastructure.”
During his speech Mr Boles also issued a challenge to FE colleges to submit proposals for capital investment to bring their broadband capacity up to 1GB.
The Feltag report called on providers to invest in order to provide industry-standard technological infrastructure — including broadband resilience and bandwidth — which it said would “maximise the effective use of learning technology”.
Mr Boles said: “Within a few years, hopefully after the next spending review, it should be possible to ensure every FE college in the country has at least 1GB broadband capacity.
“Because if you don’t have that then you can’t experiment, you can’t innovate, you can’t try out those new technologies and those new approaches.”
He also set out plans to create a platform for FE practitioners to come together and share technological innovation.
Mr Boles in interview with FE Week
The proper role for government, he told delegates in his speech, was “supporting the exploitation of the possibility of the new technologies”, not dictating which technologies should be used.
“In government we do have a role of creating a platform for spreading best practice so that as teachers you’re not endlessly randomly searching on Google to try and find out what things people have used on to good effect,” he said.
“What we should be doing is encouraging and enabling teachers and young people themselves to explore, to experiment.”
He said government should also be “helping to spread the ideas that work, from one college and one teacher across the whole population, so that everybody can learn from each other’s successes and indeed, each other’s failures”.
Google stand at Bett
What was needed, he said, was a single place for practitioners, “that you can go to, one place that will show you the different assessment tools, the different lesson planning tools, the different communication tools that have been used by others working in the same field or the same subject area or maybe with the same group of young people, and that gives you the best ideas of what others have used and what has worked for others”.
He did not set out a timetable for the development of the group, but instead pledged that he would “be working with the industry to come up with a cheap simple and effective platform for the spread of best practice”.
He added: “And then ultimately it’s up to you… teachers and believers in the potential of technology to try and transform the way we communicate and aspire.”
Mr Boles said he was impressed by the scale of the Bett show, but told FE Week he felt it was more focussed on schools than colleges.
Bett development researcher Kathryn Bond acknowledged FE had been underrepresented at the show this year and in the past.
“We have recognised some of the feedback this year and last year and there will be an improved FE offering next year,” she said.
Feltag Bob’s best Bett bits of 2015
With more than 600 exhibitors packed into London’s Excel centre it’s difficult to choose what to see at Bett so FE Week reporter Rebecca Cooney teamed up with Further Education Learning Technology Action Group (Feltag) member and Toshiba education expert Bob Harrison to find out what his highlights were.
With a trusty map in hand, together we navigated the maze of household names and next-big-thing tech start-ups.
“Bett is not just about the corporate side and the products they’ve got to show,” Bob tells me.
“It’s also about networking with other educators and picking up advice.”
Iris Connect education director Graham Newell
And the best place to do this, according to Bob, is Answers, Answers, Answers — a one-stop-shop for asking questions about how to bring the technology into the college.
“They are here to say ‘before you make a decision, here’s what you need to do, this is what you need to think about’,” said Bob.
Next, we take a look at Iris Connect, which has created cameras used in the classroom for continuing professional development.
The cameras film the teacher throughout the lesson by communicating with a dongle in the teacher’s pocket, which tells the camera where the teacher is.
Teachers can then go back and review their lessons in detail and ask for feedback from a mentor.
I’m not convinced many teachers will want their every move caught on camera but Iris Connect’s education director Graham Newell assured me the technology wasn’t designed for performance management.
Iris Connect products
“This is a system which allows self-reflection, coaching and mentoring, and research,” he said. “The system is entirely built around teacher permissioning and security — the finished video goes to the teacher being filmed, and then they can choose to share it.”
Moore’s Law of computing states the capability of computer processors doubles around every two years. So far, the prediction has held true since Gordon Moore, co-founder of the Intel Corporation, made it in 1965. So, according to Bob, to find out what technology’s going to look like in the next few years best to visit the Intel stand.
“As microchip producers, Intel offers the basis of everything,” said Bob. “If you want to be doing the horizon scanning and looking to the future then Intel’s a good place to do that.”
From there we go searching — for Google, which as well as being a search engine, offers software and hardware that can be put to use in teaching and learning.
“A lot of the stuff they provide is free and if colleges and FE providers are aware of it, there’s a lot of tools they can be using such as Google Plus and Google Docs,” said Bob.
“They’re all platforms that have been used innovatively in a lot of colleges and providers — and for much of technology on show here, it’s not just about what it does, but how educators use it.”
FE providers figure in first Etag report
The first report of Feltag offshoot the Education Technology Action Group (Etag) was launched at the Bett Show 2015 — almost a year after the group was assembled by ministers.
Chaired by Professor Stephen Heppell, the group made 15 key recommendations, four of which were aimed at FE and skills providers and several others that would affect the sector.
The recommendations for FE providers included that they should provide learners with a minimum level of fast broadband connectivity and a safe, secure, resilient and robust organisation-wide Wi-Fi system for all their devices.
The report also recommended colleges should build “bring your own” approaches into their immediate and medium-term digital technology strategies and should have access to an independent, objective help, advice and support service for technology procurement and deployment.
It also said the government should make it a statutory requirement for all providers to describe and justify how they use digital technology to enhance learning across the curriculum and that relevant accountability frameworks, such as the Ofsted framework for FE and Skills, should be evolved so that they providers were required to make those explanations and justifications.
The group concluded “that the use of digital technology in education is not optional”, that competence with digital was “an essential contemporary skill set” which “belongs at the heart of education”. Each workgroup made more detailed recommendations in the document.
The Etag team said it was “anxious” that the progress should happen and that it would reassemble in one year’s time to review progress.
The Sky Academy invited FE Week reporter Paul Offord to look around its new Careers Lab that will give thousands of 16 to 19-year-olds the opportunity to learn about job opportunities available at the broadcasting giant and wider media, business and technology sectors.
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Broadcasting giant Sky hopes to plant seeds of inspiration in thousands of young minds through its new Careers Lab.
Almost 1,000 16 to 19-year-old learners were involved between July and November with developing and testing the lab at the Sky headquarters in Osterley, West London, and more than 100 have already spent a day there, since it was officially opened by the Prince of Wales on December 2.
The facilities include interactive displays based on Sky News and Sky News, with explanations about how stories are broken and developed for broadcast.
Another section dedicated to innovation demonstrates the difference between standard definition, high definition, ultra high definition and three-dimensional television and invites learners to watch footage through immersive reality headsets.
Nishy Lall, Sky Academy manager, said: “The idea is to try to inspire the students. They start off their visits with a session where they are challenged to explain their employability skills.
“They will also check out our interactive displays and have a question and answer session with an executive from Sky before being set a challenge to work on — which could for example to look at how we can sell Sky services such a TV channels to more people.”
Groups of learners from colleges and schools can visit the Careers Lab free-of-charge for day-long sessions which either focus on careers relating to media, technology or Business.
It forms part of the Sky Academy that also includes the existing Skills Studios, also based at Osterley, where school and college learners are invited to film, present and edit news report broadcasts based on a subject they are studying. More than 20,000 young people have taken part since it opened in 2012.
Sky is currently training 196 level two to four apprentices for example in journalism, customer services, business administration, software development and creative and digital media, in partnership with a number of independent learning providers including QA, which has bases across England, Scotland and Ireland, Outsource, which has bases across England, and London-based Creative Process.
Bella Vuillermoz, Sky Academy director, said: “We decided on a major expansion of our apprenticeship scheme last year and took on around 100 new apprentices.
“We are coming up to the 25th anniversary of the launch of the company and wanted to do something special with our training building up to that, which of course also involved opening the Careers Lab.”
Level three technical analyst apprentice with Sky, Chafik Yahiaoui, aged 22, said: “I work in the broadcasting department. If there is ever a problem with technology behind putting out reports and shows then it is all hands to the deck to fix it.
“It’s quite exciting and could involve anything from supporting post-production to broadcasting support software.
“I would definitely recommend apprenticeships. Experience on the job develops a lot of life and work skills that you can’t get from university.”
Level four apprentice software developer with Sky, Priscilla Ossai, 21, said: “I think I was one of those people who was a little bit stuck after finishing school.
“I had put in to study investment banking at Reading University, but had realised before finishing my A-levels that I actually wanted to study IT. The apprenticeship with Sky therefore kind of saved my life.
“It didn’t go down well initially with my relations when I told them I wasn’t going to do a degree, as everyone in my family normally goes to university, but I think seeing I’m being paid as I learn has won them over.”
Just stepping on to the grounds of Sky’s broadcasting centre was hugely inspiring for a seasoned journalist with 15 years of experience — so I can hardly imagine how exciting the whole experience of the Careers Lab must be for young learners, writes Paul Offord.
I was extremely impressed with the interactive display, which contained a lot of useful information on a broad spectrum or careers available at Sky and the wider media, business and technology sectors.
It contained a good mix of mediums to get the message across and I was particularly blown away by the immersive reality headset. I hadn’t tried one of those before and they are incredible.
I also think it’s a good idea that the Careers Lab staff take the trouble to actually speak to the learners, particularly through question and answer sessions, as there is still an important role for human interaction in developing our future workforce.
Having taken on the challenge of a round-the-world sailing event, Lindsey Noble has dropped anchor for the challenge of turning around the fortunes of Greenwich Community College.
Ms Noble, who left City College Southampton in August 2013 after 12 years as principal to take part in the Clipper Yacht Race, has been taken on at the South East London college following its inadequate grading from Ofsted last month.
She took up the post of principal on January 8, replacing Gary Chin, who left at the end of last month.
Ms Noble said: “I am very excited about the opportunity of working at Greenwich Community College it will be a challenging role, but one I am familiar with. I have total commitment to the student body, and I intend to work very closely with the FE Commissioner over improvements.”
Ms Noble dropped out of the famous yacht race a fortnight early to go to the wedding of her partner’s grandson, but has a college principalship record from Southampton that ended with the transition from an Ofsted grade three to two.
Richard Bourne, interim governors’ chair at Greenwich Community College, which got grade fours across the headline fields, said: “Our recent Ofsted inspection had a disappointing result, and we will now be subject to the scrutiny of the FE Commissioner.
“We are so pleased that Lindsey is joining us now, as she has the skills and experience necessary to lead the college along the path to recovery.”
Meanwhile, Lewisham Southwark College is set for a new principal and chief executive in Newcastle College’s Carole Kitching this summer.
She is due to take over in July, replacing the current interim leadership team of Jo Lomax and Ioan Morgan.
Ms Kitching, who joined Newcastle College as assistant principal in 2011 and was appointed as principal in September 2013 after eight months as interim principal, said: “I am delighted to have been appointed as principal and chief executive at Lewisham Southwark College at this exciting time.
“I am passionate about establishing the college as a beacon of excellence in London and beyond for services to students, employers and the community and I am looking forward to working with governors, staff and stakeholders to achieve this vision.”
The South London college has been without a permanent boss since May with former principal Maxine Room having resigned after a visit from the FE Commissioner, whose inspection was triggered by a January 2014 inadequate rating from Ofsted.
Former Warwickshire College principal and ex-157 Group chair Ioan Morgan became interim principal and chief executive in June. Ms Lomax became interim principal from January 5 with Mr Morgan’s contract terminating at the end of last year, at which point governors agreed to split the role of principal and chief executive, keeping Mr Morgan on in the latter role.
Lewisham Southwark College corporation chair John Landeryou said: “The corporation is delighted that Carole has accepted the offer of the position. The board welcomes her experience and expertise and look forward to working with Carole to returning the college to its rightful place as an outstanding college in the heart of South London.”
Joe Docherty, chief executive of Newcastle College’s parent NCG (Newcastle College Group), said: “It is a challenging role but one which I am Carole she will excel at.”
He added: “We will start the process immediately to look for a suitable replacement for Carole to ensure a smooth hand over when she leaves us in July. We wish her every success when she takes on her new role.”
Croydon College principal Frances Wadsworth (pictured) has been appointed as one of two independent trustees on the new, eight-strong board overseeing the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB).
She is the only FE and skills-related appointment to the board, with Skills Minister Nick Boles giving five posts to figures from construction industry employers and the chair to James Wates CBE, chair of the Wates Group.
“I am delighted to have been appointed by Mr Boles as an independent trustee to the CITB, which is entering an exciting period of development,” said Ms Wadsworth, whose 11,000-learner college got a grading of good from Ofsted in June
“Construction is a key enabler of growth across the UK economy. Critically, the sector employs around 10 per cent of the UK workforce and contributes almost £90bn to the UK economy each year.
“I look forward to working with the executive and other trustees in developing the role and scope of the board and the ways in which the CITB can support this important industry.”
She was also one of five women appointed a trustee of the independent learning provider, which achieved a clean sweep of outstanding ratings from Ofsted in January 2013 as the 12,000-learner National Construction College.
Mr Boles said: “The new board will have a major role in helping this dynamic industry develop the skills it needs to grow.
“I congratulate all the new trustees on their appointment and look forward to seeing them working with business and employers to address the skills challenges faced by the construction sector.
“I am particularly pleased to see greater diversity on the Board and hope that it encourages more women to consider a career in construction.”
Maureen Douglas, group HR director at Forster Group, David Harris MBE, managing director at WRW Construction, Karen Jones, group HR director at Redrow, Maria Pilfold, HR consultant and former director of the Taylor Wimpey Group and Ray Wilson, director and general manager of Carillion Training Services were appointed employer trustees and Dr Diana Garnham, chief executive of Science Council was the other independent.
The founders of the new National College for Digital Skills have dropped plans to be called Code College after a small business with the same name launched legal action.
Company records show that Tom Fogden and Mark Smith, who last December received Prime Minister David Cameron’s backing for their new college, had incorporated their new venture as Code College Ltd, a limited company, in November 2013. The national college is also a registered charity.
The duo also owns the web address codecollege.org.uk and used #codecollege in posts on social networking site Twitter as recently as October 26.
But David Batty, a privately-funded coding and game design trainer based in Lancashire who owns both codecollege.co.uk and codecollege.org as well as the @codecollege Twitter account, has revealed he instructed intellectual property solicitors in April after he discovered the pair were using the brand.
From left: National College for Digital Skills founders Tom Fogden and Mark Smith. Pic: Twitter (@Wigdortz)
In an email seen by FE Week, Mr Fogden offered Mr Batty £3,000 for the domains, trademark and Twitter account last October, and Mr Batty claims he has since received an offer of £6,000. Mr Batty told FE Week: “I just thought they hadn’t done their research at first so I asked my solicitor to send them a friendly letter to ask them to stop. Then I later found out they were following me on Twitter and that they knew all about me.
“They had also registered codecollege.org.uk which is a variation on my codecollege.org name. I did get approached by them and they wanted to talk to me. They sent an offer through of £3,000 in October. I refused that.
They sent me a further offer of £6,000 for the Code College name, my trademark, the website and the Twitter account, which was just a joke really because I have spent a long time building up the brand.”
Mr Batty claims the confusion was still harming his business, because potential customers searching for Code College on the internet found media stories about the new national college and assumed they were one and the same.
But Mr Fogden told FE Week that Mr Batty had “nothing to fear” from the national college. He said: “We set up as a charity back in 2013 with Code College as a working title. We saw a website which seemed static and didn’t look like it was used. We became aware of Mr Batty’s Twitter account in March 2014.
“During the process of getting government support, we changed the name to the National College for Digital Skills. We do not want to be associated with the name Code College anymore. We do not want to infringe on him. That’s not what we’re about. He has nothing to fear.”
Mr Fogden said the national college had written to Mr Batty’s lawyers confirming it would no longer use the name.
Performing arts learners from East Durham College got all mixed up with their annual pantomime.
Foundation degree students organised the cross of classic tales Robin Hood and the Babes in the Wood and performed seven shows over three days from Wednesday, January 21.
Cast member Craig Nunn, aged 19, from Sunderland, said: “We worked really hard to get the idea and the show together before Christmas.
“We knew that it was going to be really demanding but we were all ready and up for the challenge.”
Performing arts programme leader Amanda Gregory said: “The students all worked really hard to get this up to a top level standard and they had a great energy and enthusiasm to go out and put on some brilliant performances for the public.”
Main pic: The cast of Robin Hood and the Babes in the Wood at East Durham College
Fourteen years of alpine skiing hard work have paid off for a Northamptonshire college sports science student with a call-up to Team GB for the European Youth Winter Olympic Festival (EYOF), writes Billy Camden.
While most 16-year-olds were settling back into the routine of college, 2015 started with the announcement of a lifetime for Jessica Anderson.
For alpine skier Jessica, a sports science student from Moulton College, was told she had been selected to represent team GB at the EYOF, in Austria.
“I found out this month and I just felt overjoyed, honoured and excited to represent Great Britain and ski in such a big tournament,” she said.
The five-day event, which opened yesterday (January 25), is for athletes between the ages of 14 and 18, and Jessica is one of 15 Team GB starlets having started skiing at the age just two.
Jessica at Moulton College.
“Everyone tells me I was born to ski. it all started when I was just a day old, when my parents named me after the French Ski resort of Tignes, and has not stopped ever since,” she said.
“My mum [Julia] and dad [Stuart] used to ski quite a lot and they used to take me on skiing holidays when I was a child.
“I used to just stay in the crèche but I tried it one day after seeing everyone else do it and was told I was really good.
“I carried on and at six years old I was told to go and try out for a race team, so I did and got in.”
Jessica, who is studying a level three extended diploma in sport and exercise sciences, has also represented GB in a number of competitions.
Her most successful year came in 2012 when she became British Slalom Champion and won three other competitions in Scotland.
Jessica trains in Austria in the winter and then at SnoZone Milton Keynes when she is at home.
Hoping to be as successful as her hero, Lindsay Vonn, an American World Cup alpine ski racer who won four World Cup championships, Jessica is aiming for even bigger achievements in the future.
“My goal is to compete at the Olympic Winter Games one day and EYOF 2015 is a great opportunity for me to learn and experience a part of Olympic life,” she said.
“Skiing is great sport and I hope many other children will take it up when they hear about my success.”
Craig McIlwain, programme leader for sports studies at Moulton College, said: “We are not only fully supportive of Jessica’s training and competition commitments but are also extremely proud of her achievements.
“She is an excellent role model to her peers and future sports students of the college and we look forward to seeing Jess continue to be successful.”
Main pic: Moulton College skiing star, Jessica Anderson, hits the slopes.
A former Chester Zoo worker who has also travelled to Sri Lanka to study elephants is behind a new course for dogs and their owners at Derby College.
The four-week course, launching on February 16, is run by animal behaviour specialist Jonathan Taylor.
Jonathan has worked at Chester Zoo and in Sri Lanka looking at animal behaviour from dogs to elephants and says that the course is as much about changing owners’ bad habits as it is about dog behaviour.
He said: “The dog behaviour and training evening course is aimed at new dog owners who want to be more confident in handling their pets right through to people who need special training with a view to entering their dogs into shows.
“Everybody brings their dogs to the course and we provide individual support.”
Main pic: Jonathan Taylor with Loki, a colleague’s dog
One of the most frequent complaints levelled at Ofsted is that it lacks transparency.
For example the system for dealing with complaints against inspection results, it has been claimed, is not open to scrutiny.
However Marina Gaze, deputy director for FE and skills at the education watchdog, sees things differently.
“I’m really sorry people think that,” she says.
“Because I do feel that we work hard to listen to people and, actually, that’s one of the great pleasures of my job — I do want to hear what people say.
“Obviously we’re accountable to parliament, but we’re accountable to the sector as well. It will tell us if things aren’t right.”
From left: Gaze’s, daughter Kat, husband Colin, son Alex and Gaze at Doge’s Palace in Venice
It’s hard to imagine that a career trajectory producing such a staunch defence of Ofsted could have started with, of all people, a Lycra-clad Jane Fonda. But it did.
Fresh out of an English degree at Middlesex Polytechnic in the mid-1980s, and keen to return for a master’s degree with plans to become a journalist or an English teacher, Gaze realised she was going to have raise some money.
So she trained as an aerobics teacher and was hired by her tutors to help train exercise teachers.
“I’d never done it before. It didn’t really exist before then — it sort of burst onto the scene at that time — and I think that was sort of the point, it was the newness of it,” says Gaze, aged 52.
“At that time, Jane Fonda was around and there was an explosion in exercise classes, and lots of people were getting injured and so on, so they needed to train people properly to teach exercise safely and effectively.”
When Royal Society of Arts examination board (now part of OCR) came to verify Gaze’s course, it asked her to join as an external verifier, which she did, before moving on to become the regional and then national external verifier for exercise qualifications.
“I was writing these qualifications and they were being used all over Britain, and of course all over the world as well, so it was really exciting,” she says.
Alongside that, at 28, Gaze set up her own training company.
Gaze on family pony Chester
“So the bit about being an English teacher or a journalist went all sideways,” she says with a grin.
It was also through exercise that Gaze met husband Colin when she moved to a village on the North Yorkshire coast.
“I was giving a talk to the village WI about exercise, and this woman said to me, ‘Oh, you should really meet my son’,” she says.
Gaze had her doubts. But, she says: “I did meet him and she was right — I really should’ve met him. And I married him.
“So I tell everybody I had an arranged marriage — my mother-in-law arranged it.”
Gaze’s own beginnings were much more the result of chance.
Her father, Peter, is from Yorkshire, while her mother, Edda, grew up in Italy under German occupation in the Second World War.
“They met because my dad went on holiday to Paris, and it was raining, so he jumped on a train, and went to Italy,” says Gaze.
“So if it hadn’t been raining in Paris, my parents would never have met.
“Of course, the question now to my parents is, ‘Why did you choose Yorkshire and not Italy?’”
Edda, says Gaze, had a “very broken schooling and a tough childhood”, as the youngest of eight children, whose father was killed in the war.
“My father had a better go at schooling,” she adds.
“He was from a poor working-class family, but he passed the 11+ and went to grammar school, but then went on to an apprenticeship, because his family couldn’t afford for him to go to university.
“During his working life, he was very strong with the unions, so I suppose he always had quite a strong sense of social justice, and actually still does.”
We’re accountable to parliament, but we’re accountable to the sector as well. It will tell us if things aren’t right
Gaze, the oldest of three, loved her own experience of education — as part of the first cohort to attend comprehensive schools.
“I have always enjoyed learning, always,” she says.
“So I am a great believer in state education — I work in the state education system and my children are in the state system.”
And it is in discussing her 10-year-old twins, Alex and Cat, that Gaze raises an issue she is keen should be included here. They, she tells me, born through IVF.
“I don’t mind that being printed,” she says.
“I think people should talk about it and know that medical treatment can work.
“We had lots of cycles of IVF, I think it probably was tough but I think — sorry if it’s awful to say it — it’s all character-building stuff.
“My husband and I went through it together, and the joy of having children at the end of it was just wonderful. And it puts things into perspective, doesn’t it?”
Gaze in her Yorkshire village Staithes with Kat and Alex, both aged two.
From chief external examiner for OCR, Gaze moved to the newly set up Training Standards Council (TSC).
“I was very impressed by them very quickly because, as an organisation, we had teeth,” she says.
At that time, she says, “there was a lot of very poor provision”.
“When I started as an inspector, the national success rate for apprentices was about 7 per cent,” she says.
“And of course, there were lots of people getting money for things that they weren’t doing.
“So we felt we had an impact very quickly — the inspector reported on where the poor provision was, and the funding bodies took the money away.
“You either got better or you had your funding removed. It was very satisfying.”
From there the TSC became the Adult Learning Inspectorate, and was incorporated into Ofsted in 2007.
In her years as an inspector, she says, she has seen some things that were “absolutely shocking”.
“Without going into detail, we have had occasions where there are learners or apprentices on programmes and the provider has just been to visit them a couple of times for the last couple of years, things like that,” she says.
“It’s grossly unfair on the young person who is learning and it’s just not a very good use of taxpayers’ money either.”
Gaze with twins Alex and Kat at a Pony Club Show
Despite that, she says there’s always cause for optimism.
“One of the things that does amaze me as an inspector is even if I go into a provider or a college where there is poor provision, I can guarantee there will be an outstanding teacher in there somewhere,” she says.
“Even when things generally aren’t very good, there will be sparkle in there, there will be something that is worth holding on to and building on.”
And the situation for adult education, she says, is “an improving picture”.
“There are some very good short course programmes that can help people get into employment quickly,” she says.
“But I think there still needs to be that big picture around all the other skills that people need to help them get into work — English and maths and so on — there is still a lot more to be done.”
Gaze sees her commitment to educational standards as being rooted in her love of exercise.
“Why wouldn’t you want the best?” she says.
“Why wouldn’t you want to take best practice and spread it around and aim for it?
“With exercise, it’s quite simple — if you don’t do it properly, you get hurt, and you don’t get the benefits you think you’re going to get, so it has to be done, and done well.”
It’s a personal thing
What is your favourite book, and why?
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. It has all the elements of a fantastic book. It’s a ghost story, it’s a love story, it’s a story about different generations, and of course it’s a story about Yorkshire, where I’m from
What do you do to switch off from work?
I’ve got 10-year-old twins, so I don’t. I go from one hectic lifestyle to another, so a lot of my life outside of work involves doing things with the kids. We’ve got ponies, we go riding on the beach, they go to karate, so we do karate with them — I started karate at the age of 50. But for just something for myself, I go for a run. I can cope with anything as long as I get an hour to myself to go for a run
What’s your pet hate?
Low expectations. It really irritates me in our sector when people say things like, “Well you can’t do anything with those kids, because they are from such-and-such a place or such-and-such a family”
If you could invite anyone to a dinner party, living or dead, who would it be?
I’d actually quite like to have dinner with my husband once in a while. I think I would like to meet Aphra Behn, she was a restoration playwright, and she was a spy. No-one really knows anything about the first 27 years of her life, so I would like to know what she was doing then, and I think I’d like to know what it was like being a woman in such a male-dominated world. And I’d have prison reform campaigner Elizabeth Fry
What did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be a war correspondent or to work in human rights
