A National Audit Office (NAO) probe into FE and skills finances may not go far enough in looking at how the sector has been hit by “multiple funding cuts,” National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (Niace) chief executive David Hughes has warned.

Mr Hughes, a former national director of the Skills Funding Agency (SFA), told FE Week of his concerns about the purpose of NAO review in looking at the work of the SFA and Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) to monitor the financial health of FE providers and intervene.

The review, launched last month (February) and due to conclude this summer, has a “particular focus on colleges” and comes with FE and skills providers facing a national budget cut of up to 24 per cent next academic year. Apprenticeship providers are expected to escape the worst of the cuts.

Mr Hughes said: “I think the issue of the multiple funding cuts colleges have faced and the increasingly narrow margin they are expected to operate in is putting the sector into a really difficult situation and I would hope that would be part of the context for this review.

“It is almost impossible to make every college in the country financially viable given all the funding changes that have been made, and the NAO may not want to ask about that, but it’s certainly something the next government is going to have to answer.

“The NAO has to be apolitical, and given the decisions that have been made concerning the most recent cut, just looking at how the BIS and the SFA work to identify financial difficulty and intervene is a very narrow purpose.

“They have to do this review in the context of all of the cuts which have happened, including the one most recently announced, but I don’t think it will deliver quite what some of us might like it to, which is a proper review of the financial future of the sector, particularly for colleges. That is a much bigger political debate, and one which the NAO is not going to start.”

And while Stewart Segal, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, called for the financial situation of his members to be taken into account as well as colleges’, the Association of Colleges, University and College Union and Association of School and College Leaders have already called for the 24 per cent cut to be considered by the review.

Meanwhile, Dr Lynne Sedgmore, executive director of the 157 Group, said: “It will be important that the NAO examines all aspects of the future sustainability of our skills system, including the responsibility of government in this area.”

Dr Mary Bousted, Association of Teachers and Lecturers general secretary, said: “Following the government’s announcement that it would cut FE funding for 2015-16 by up to 24 per cent, we hope the NAO evaluates the government’s unnecessary focus on apprenticeships.

“We believe this focus on apprenticeships will limit colleges’ usual operations, and reduce the options for learners because colleges will have to cut many other courses to be able to fund apprenticeships.”

 

Leaders of a general FE college that sponsored a local school have seen it forced to close just two years after opening having failed to attract enough pupils.

Stockport Technical School, a 14 to 19 free school that opened in September 2013 and currently has 98 learners, offers vocational courses in engineering, construction and motor vehicle engineering through Stockport College, alongside traditional GCSEs.

It was heralded as the first technical school of its kind in the country when it launched and was described as “innovative” by principal Philippa Ollerhead (pictured above right) and “groundbreaking” by chair of governors Wayne Jones (pictured above left).

But no new students will join the school from September, and those currently attending will complete their courses and work placements until September 2016 when the school will shut its doors for good.

Ms Ollerhead blamed problems with the school’s accommodation, which left it operating out of an office block in Stockport town centre, for the recruitment problems.

“We found it difficult to attract sufficient learners as we have been located in a temporary office building — this did not support our ability to market and recruit new learners,” she said.

“The Education Funding Agency purchased the former Hillcrest Grammar School site on behalf of the school in August 2014, but unfortunately on analysis it became apparent that the building was not financially viable to run with the number of students the school was estimating at full capacity.”

She added: “Advice I would give to any other principals or head teachers in a similar position would be to ensure that a permanent building was identified and secured before opening.”

Despite the setback, Ms Ollerhead remained positive about what she had hoped to achieve.

“There is clearly a demand from employers for the ‘young apprenticeship’ model of education which the school provides,” she said.

“Stockport Technical School has successfully engaged with large, leading engineering employers in Stockport to secure 20 apprenticeship places.”

Although Stockport College is not a direct recruiter of 14 and 15-year-old learners, it is hoped the college will be able to continue offering similar vocational options through its links programmes with other schools.

A Stockport College spokesperson said: “Stockport College has been a sponsor of Stockport Technical School since its inception.

“We opened our doors to Stockport Technical School pupils and staff to provide access to workshops and facilities suitable for science, technology, engineering and maths.

“While it’s not in our remit to take ownership of delivering provision directly, we will work with Stockport Technical School, as we do with other schools, to offer an appropriate 14 to16 programme.”

The school is also supported by Stockport employers Man Diesel & Turbo Ltd, Jacobs Engineering, Thales Worldwide, Stepping Hill Hospital and Balluff Sensors, as well as the University of Manchester.

 

The government has agreed to the automatic scrapping of a rule that forces apprentices to re-sit qualifications they already have after fears frameworks would have to be rewritten to accommodate the change.

The five-year rule will be removed from the specification of apprenticeship standards for England (Sase), and it now appears it will be stripped from frameworks too — without them having to be re-issued.

The rule, due to be removed next month, means learners with English or maths GCSEs achieved more than five years before enrolment have to re-sit them or take equivalent qualifications.

It was thought its scrapping would only affect new frameworks written after April 6, but an FAQ document published by the Federation for Industry Sector Skills and Standards and endorsed by the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) in its latest newsletter claims frameworks “do not need to be amended”.

The news has been welcomed by Ross Midgley, director of early years training provider, who had launched legal action against the rule, but he called on the government to go further.

He said: “Apparently the government lawyers have invented some magic fairy dust which can be sprinkled over existing frameworks, without the need to re-issue them, which makes the words printed in the framework take on a completely different meaning for learners who enrol after April 5.

“But in any event this does now seem to be an almost complete vindication of our judicial review. All apprentices — not just those in early years — are now free of the odious five-year rule.”

Association of Employment and Learning Providers chief executive Stewart Segal said: “It’s essential that the SFA takes a consistent approach across all frameworks.

“There will be apprentices with an old GCSE who may need to improve their English and or maths and we’re discussing with the agency how to retain this funding.”

A BIS spokesperson said: “We are working with partners to implement the changes to the Sase from April 6.”

She added that designers of some apprenticeships, including the children and young people’s workforce (England) framework and the health and social care (England) framework would still be re-issuing them “in order to ensure that the apprentices meet both the Sase requirements and specific sector/occupation requirements”.

 

Barnfield College is “looking to forge new relationships” with partners in the education sector after Whitehall rubber-stamped its split from a chain of academies and studio school.

Skills Minister Nick Boles officially approved the break-up of the Barnfield Federation, which means the Barnfield Academy Trust and Barnfield College, its original sponsor, are now separate entities.

The decision brings to an end more than seven months of uncertainty since the proposed split was announced last June, and a particularly troubled period for the college, which became the first FE provider to expect a second full visit from FE Commissioner Dr David Collins after Ofsted described it as “inadequate” in January.

It comes more than a year after the Skills Funding Agency and Education Funding Agency both published critical findings of their investigations into the federation and after Dr Collins called for at least half the governors to be replaced and for “significant changes” to the federation’s leadership after his first visit last January, triggered by financial concerns.

Tim Eyton-Jones, the new principal of Barnfield College, said the college was looking for new partners, but did not say whether he meant other colleges, schools or other providers.

He said: “We are looking to forge new relationships with all partners in the education, learning and skill sector so that collectively we can meet the needs of local learners, communities and employers.

“We have implemented a series of strategies at the college focused on reclaiming the excellence in teaching, learning, outcomes and destinations Barnfield College was once renowned for.”

Barnfield Academies Trust, which is made up of Barnfield South school, Barnfield West school, Moorlands Free School, Barnfield Vale school and the Barnfield Studio School, has also spoken of its efforts to move on from the federation.

Trust chief executive Andrew Cooper said: “Today’s announcement is the news we’ve all been waiting for.

“There have been issues and challenges in recent times, but from today it’s a brand new start for us. This is fantastic news for teachers, parents and most importantly the children and students we teach in our two primary schools, two secondary schools and studio school.

“The ministerial permission to go it alone demonstrates a huge vote of confidence in the great work already being done in our five schools. We share that confidence — we are all incredibly excited about this fantastic opportunity.”

Mr Cooper said the trust would change its name in the future.

 

The FE sector has to face up to low levels of literacy and numeracy among staff if it wants to improve learners’ maths and English, an Ofsted official has warned.

Marina Gaze, Ofsted’s deputy director for skills and FE made the comments at the BKSB Skills Conference focussing on English and maths.

Ms Gaze’s comments found support from the other members of the panel gathered at Leicester City Football Club on Tuesday (March 3).

In August, it became a condition of funding for all learners who had not yet achieved A* to C GCSE English and maths by the age of 16 to continue to study these subjects as part of their 16 to 19 education.

Ms Gaze argued one of the best ways to teach good literacy and numeracy was to embed it into other subjects, as well as offering English and maths classes.

However, she said, this created problems when staff had their own issues with literacy.

“I often see absolutely brilliant vocational tutors who can do the most amazing things, have the most fantastic skills, but their use of English is weak,” she said.

“So because if staff don’t have skills themselves, they can’t help learners improve their own skills.

“So I think we have to be honest as a sector about the staffing issues we face.”

Ms Gaze added the solution to issues with literacy and numeracy for both staff and learners often came from leadership.

“At Ofsted, when we see maths and English working well there is always somebody senior with responsibility for it,” she said. “It has to be led from the top.”

However, many panel members and delegates pointed to issues with recruiting and retaining staff to teach English and maths.

Dame Asha Khemka, principal of West Nottinghamshire College, said: “Recruiting the right people to teach English and maths and upskill is still an effort, but we need to do more of that.”

She added that the college had recruited more English and maths graduates recently as a result of the ‘golden hello’ bursaries offered by the Education and Training Foundation (ETF).

But, she said: “Retention is an issue. Do you know what? There’s no correlation between how much you pay people and how you retain people. It’s about motivating those people, and nurturing them and recognising them.

“It is a problem, you have to work at it, you need to skill and reskill people constantly so people are being supported to do a better job.”

Association of Employment and Learning Providers chief executive Stewart Segal said constantly changing government policy didn’t help with staff retention.

“It’s about making sure that what you’re teaching is respected so that your teachers get respect,” he said.

“Every minister says, we’ve got to improve — I know we have but what it suggests is that what we’ve been doing so far is not good enough.

“They’ve got to listen to what people are struggling with and build on what’s good and we might have a chance of convincing people that what they’re doing is recognised.”

One audience member, who provided training in the Royal Air Force (RAF), explained all their apprentices were required to take Functional Skills as many had not come straight from school.

This meant, she said, many learners were forced to take level two Function Skills qualifications, despite operating at level three.

Naomi Nicholson, director of strategic relationships for vocational qualifications at Ofqual, said level three Functional Skills had thus far not been developed because “the idea was that level two was the functional level”.

However, she pointed to the ETF review of English and maths qualifications currently underway. and due to report at the end of March, and said: “It would be interesting to see whether they might have any views on that or if other people say there’s a need for it.”

A Department for Business, Innovation and Skills spokesperson told FE Week: “We are not intending to introduce a new Functional Skills qualification at level three at this time.

“We have commissioned the ETF to carry out a review of English and maths qualifications outside of GCSE, and whether these suit employer and learner needs. We will consider any recommendations it makes.”

 

A fraudster posing as a London college principal has been foiled in the latest in a string of attempted scams to hit the sector.

Finance staff at Westminster Kingsway College received an email, purporting to be from principal Andy Wilson (pictured), instructing them to make an urgent payment.

However, despite the email appearing to be genuine, staff noticed the reply email didn’t match the principal’s email address and checked with Mr Wilson himself.

A spokesperson for Westminster Kingsway College told FE Week: “The college can confirm that it received a fraudulent email asking for a payment which was flagged immediately.

“The college has rigorous procedures and checks in place, which prevented any scam from happening and the college was not put at risk.

“This issue has been reported to the Action Fraud helpline and we are cooperating with any further investigations.”

The incident follows a series of similar attempted cons across the FE sector since the beginning of the year.

In January, at least eight colleges, including the College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London and City of Southampton College were targeted by a conman, calling himself Brian Hall, who phoned claiming to be a bailiff on the way to the college to collect £7,000 which he said was owed to a fictional company.

He then attempted to con money out of the college, saying he could get a temporary suspension order — if the college hand over nearly £4,000.

FE Week understands no college handed over any money and the case is currently being investigated by Greater Manchester Police.

Con artists tried their luck again last month when the Colchester Institute received a letter purporting to be from ISG, the building contractors constructing the college’s new £5.8m buildings.

The letter said the contractors had changed their bank account details — but when the college checked with the company, the letter was found to be bogus. Colchester institute financial controller Tanya Ellingham, who was part of the team that outwitted the fraudsters said they would have got away with “big money” if the con had not been noticed.

FE Week understands the Colchester Institute case has been handed over to Kent Police for investigation.

 

A University Technical College (UTC) which had to be rescued by its local FE college after a damning Ofsted report could be on its way out of special measures, inspectors have said.

A monitoring visit report on Central Bedfordshire UTC came out on March 2, revealing it had made “reasonable progress” since an inspection in March last year resulted in an inadequate rating and special measures.

The revisit was the third since the full inspection, which found learning was “not secure” because teachers “do not always check students’ understanding or how well they have developed skills in lessons”.

Following the initial Ofsted report, published in June, then-Education Secretary Michael Gove asked nearby Bedford College to step in as sponsor for the 150-learner UTC.

The latest monitoring report said: “The quality of teaching is steadily improving. Teachers’ subject knowledge has strengthened. Whereas previously not all teachers were teaching their specialist subject, this is no longer the case. Students have more confidence in their teachers.”

It added: “Students typically display positive attitudes towards their learning because teachers have become more skilled at meeting their needs when planning for learning.”

It also praised the support Bedford College had offered the UTC, saying it had been “successful” in strengthening the quality of teaching.

Central Bedfordshire UTC head teacher Lesley Glover (pictured) said: “Improvements are being made since Bedford College became involved with the UTC.”

The news comes as the Baker Dearing Trust, which oversees UTCs, announced it would be establishing a new UTC in Newcastle.

Northern Futures UTC will specialise in IT and healthcare science and is so far is the only UTC due to open in September 2017.

There are 30 UTCs currently open, and 13 more are due to open in September, with a further 14 in September 2016.

Baker Dearing Trust Chair Lord Baker said he was “delighted” by the announcement.

He said: “Our challenge now is to ensure that young people and their parents have access to the information and advice they need to take advantage of this exciting and important technical provision.”

For groups wanting to apply to open a UTC, there is expected to be an application round later this year, closing in October.

 

A Hampshire sixth form college has had to go back to the drawing board in its search for a partner with Sixth Form College Commissioner Peter Mucklow having warned it could not function alone financially.

Totton College principal Mike Gaston (pictured below, left) announced in December that his college would be seeking a partnership and Eastleigh College had emerged as a favourite.

But Eastleigh rejected the move this month following a governors’ board meeting.

A Totton spokesperson told FE Week: “Eastleigh College has been in discussion with the Education Funding Agency [EFA] regarding merger with Totton College.

“They have now had the opportunity to model the impact of a closer relationship and following their recent corporation board meeting have decided not to proceed.”

Mr Mucklow visited the 3,000-learner Totton College, which was deemed by Ofsted to require improvement a year ago and has an EFA allocation of £5.4m, in October after concerns were raised about a lack of improvement since it was issued with a financial notice to improve.

He warned the college, which also runs adult provision with a £2m Skills Funding (SFA) allocation and through subcontracting, faced an “immediate” crisis with the SFA seeking to claw back funding allocated for 24+ apprenticeships never delivered.

In response, Totton had been in talks over a potential merger with 14,000-learner and grade one Ofsted-rated Eastleigh College, also in Hampshire, which has a current SFA adult skills budget allocation of £16m.

The Totton spokesperson said, having missed out on the Eastleigh merger option, it was working the EFA “to agree a solution that is considered to be in the best interests of its students and our community”.

“We have been advised by the EFA to continue recruiting for September 2015 intake. It’s important to highlight that meeting students’ needs will be at the heart of any decisions. We are still looking for a partner to realise the college’s ambitions for future stability and growth,” she said.

A spokesperson for Eastleigh College said: “In any merger situation we would want to deliver the same outstanding level of provision for learners at all the sites while achieving the necessary economies of scale.

“We were unable to see how this would be possible in this instance. Therefore we have now withdrawn from the Totton College process.”

A DfE spokesperson said: “We are aware that Totton College’s preferred partner has withdrawn. The EFA is now working with the college to agree a solution that is in the best interests of its students and the community.

“Discussions are still ongoing and it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.”

David Igoe (pictured below, right), chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges’ Association, said: “It’s sad to see another sixth form college get into financial difficulties and not table to find a suitable partner to aid its recovery.”

He added: “This college’s plight highlights the general problem which we have been at pains to point out to Government, that the funding settlement for 16 to 19 is insufficient for many colleges to continue to offer the kind of education that young people need.

“We need a fundamental review of the way all state education is funded to ensure that young people at every stage and age gets the educational opportunities
they deserve.”

 

Skills Minister Nick Boles told the House of Commons the government has no intention of “promoting the establishment” of new sixth form colleges (SFCs).

Labour MP Kelvin Hopkins, chair of the all-party parliamentary group for SFCs and vice-chair of governors at Luton Sixth Form College, asked Mr Boles if he supported opening more SFCs during education questions on Monday (March 2).

Mr Boles replied that while the government had backed the creation of new sixth form schools, “we do not currently plan to promote the establishment of more sixth form colleges”.

He said SFCs were “generally fantastic institutions producing great results, but I disagree… on this obsession with particular forms and structures”.

James Kewin, deputy chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges’ Association, told FE Week: “It is this obsession [with structures] that has seen the inexorable rise of more expensive and less effective free school and academy sixth forms, while the number of sixth form colleges has continued to decline.”

He added the government could afford to stop charging SFCs VAT, while schools and academies get a 20 per cent refund, if it stopped “lavishing money” on school sixth forms.