Greater contracting flexibility at the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) could help reverse the continued decline in all-age apprenticeship starts, the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) has claimed.

All-age apprenticeship starts were at 440,400 last academic year, down 13.7 per cent, having been at 510,200 the previous year, and 520,600 in 2011/12.

The 2012/13 fall in all-age apprenticeship starts was the first since 2005/06 when the figure of 175,000 was down 7.5 per cent from the previous year.

Within the fall in the 2013/14 figures, were decreases from 165,400 to 159,100 (-3.8 per cent) for the 19 to 24 age group and 230,300 to 161,600 (-29.8 per cent) among those aged 25+.

Stewart Segal, AELP chief executive (pictured), said: “To reverse the decrease for 19 to 24 we need a greater level of government investment and more flexible approach to contracting, which in turn would encourage providers themselves to invest in more capacity.”

He added: “The disappointing fall in 25+ starts is in our view down to both the impact of loans and the SFA putting pressure on providers to reduce starts for this age group.”

An AELP spokesperson said employers often lost interest in taking on apprentices, or their budget priorities changed, before the SFA reached a decision on whether to approve for apprenticeship growth requests.

A joint statement from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the SFA read: “We are reforming the funding of all apprenticeships to put employers in the driving seat and ensure apprenticeships deliver the skills businesses need to grow and compete.”

Nevertheless, the final (rather than provisional) figures for apprenticeships, published on Wednesday (November 26) in the Statistical First Release (SFR), also showed that 16 to 18 starts were continuing to recover and were up on 2012/13, from 114,500 to 119,800 (4.6 per cent).

However, the report stated that the number of traineeship starts for 2013/14 was just 10,400.

Teresa Frith, senior skills policy manager for the Association of Colleges, described the traineeship numbers as “disappointing” but said the 16 to 18 increase was “positive”.

She added that the fall in older apprentice numbers “could be caused by indecision regarding changes to the system including the way it’s funded”.

A spokesperson for the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (Niace) claimed that the introduction last April of 24+ advanced learning loans had contributed to the “dramatic fall” in adult learners as revealed in the SFR, which showed the number of 25-plus learners at levels three and four fell 27.9 per cent to 289,500.

The claim was backed with figures, published by BIS on Thursday (November 27), that showed there had been 4,930 loan applications during October — 7 per cent down on the same month last year.

The figures also showed there had been 47,480 applications for the current academic year by the end of October — 10 per cent down on 2013/14.

David Hughes, chief executive of Niace, said: “There needs to be urgent action from the government to address this serious decline and we call on them to delay, indefinitely, any plans to extend loans.”

A BIS spokesperson conceded that 24+ advanced learning loans had hit adult apprenticeship starts.

“But as soon as it became clear that loans were not the preferred route for employers or prospective apprentices we decided to remove apprenticeships from the loans programme,” she said.

“As such we look forward to seeing this trend reverse in future and a boost to the number of adult apprentices.”

 

The Labour Party has been urged by the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) to scrap its policy that apprenticeships should start from at least level three and last a minimum of two years.

Labour claims the move would improve the apprenticeship “brand”, but the AELP said the changes would stop employers taking on an apprentice where they only had level two positions available.

An AELP spokesperson said: “We would have a number of concerns if the opposition persisted with this policy. An apprenticeship is a proper job with training.

“All apprentices are employed and many employers only have an entry-level job available and they therefore offer a level two programme to an apprentice. Many employers will not have a level three job available for job entrants as in many sectors this would involve supervisory work.

“If the programme has to be level three, then employers will offer very few opportunities for young people and we would see a substantial increase in the numbers that remain unemployed.”

The policy was unveiled in September last year by Labour’s Skills Taskforce. Its report, A revolution in apprenticeships: a something-for-something deal with employers, said: “To protect the apprenticeship brand, level two training should be renamed as a traineeship or similar.”

It proposed that apprenticeships be level three or above and last a minimum of two years for level three (equivalent to A-level) and three years for level four (university level).

The report went on to say: “However, given that two-thirds of all apprenticeships in England are now at level two, these measures would inevitably lead to a dramatic fall in apprenticeship numbers if introduced suddenly.

“Employers and providers should therefore be given time to improve the quality of their apprenticeships over an agreed period. It is also vital that young people achieving at level two are able to progress to higher levels, so level two apprenticeships should be redesigned, as well as renamed, to ensure courses provide a platform for progression to a level three apprenticeship.”

However, the AELP spokesperson said: “Traineeships are for young people who are unemployed and Labour would be cutting off the real employment opportunities that level two apprenticeships give.

“We do however support the view that many more of our young people who achieve a level two should be given the opportunity to progress to level three.”

The AELP’s comments come after Shadow Education Secretary Tristram Hunt (pictured) re-emphasised his commitment to the policy in his address at the Association of Colleges annual conference in Birmingham.

He said: “It cannot be right that one label covers everything from a short-course level one up to what amounts to a vocational PhD, and I would argue that it is this elasticity which is allowing the government to get away with the grade-inflating numbers game which sees short-term employee training re-badged as an apprenticeship.”

 

The Education and Training Foundation (ETF) will run a second wave of training courses aimed at increasing the number of maths GCSE teachers in FE.

The government made it compulsory from this academic year for students on post-16 courses who had not achieved at least a grade C in either English or maths to continue working towards passing the subjects.

The ETF and Association of Centres for Excellence in College Education in Teacher Training (Acett) launched phase one of its maths enhancement programme (MEP) in November last year to increase the number of FE tutors capable of teaching the subject at GCSE.

More than 2,200 people completed the course, which concentrated on preparing Functional Skills maths teachers to teach GCSE, by the end of the last academic year. A further 300 have since enrolled on an English enhancement programme, introduced in September.

Sue Southwood [pictured], ETF programme manager for workforce development, said a contract had now been agreed with a consortium of partners led by Tribal Education to develop phase two of the maths programme, with a view to offering courses from early next year.

She said: “We are calling the second phase ‘maths pipeline’ courses. They will be aimed at people who completed the first MEP but still don’t feel confident enough to teach GCSE maths; other Functional Skills teachers who want to teach maths GCSE; vocational training teachers who use maths already, for example to teach hairdressing and current GCSE maths teachers who need support getting up to speed with teaching the new syllabus.

“This will be more flexible than phase one, as the different groups will need different pathways tailored to their different teaching needs.

“To help teachers and trainers identify the professional development that’s right for them, we are developing an online tool that will help them to identify their personal maths skills as well as think about their approaches to teaching maths — whether maths is their main subject or part of their vocational subject. ”

Meanwhile, ETF and Acett have agreed to offer phase one of the MEP to an extra 288 learners across the country, which will still cost £100 per person.

An Acett spokesperson said this was “in recognition of the fact that there is further demand for high quality support for maths teachers and feedback from the sector about the programme was so positive”.

“Providers will need to book quickly as most of these will start within a very short timescale,” she said.

The figures for the take-up on the courses come after a survey of the FE workforce found that around one-in-five maths teachers were only qualified up to level two in the subject.

Reports based on the results, published by the ETF, showed the highest maths qualification held by 17.1 per cent of maths teachers was level two functional or adult basic skills.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Our reforms to raise standards in English and maths are vital because these subjects are most valued by employers and will help young people secure a good job.

“That’s why all sixth forms and colleges must continue teaching these subjects to any of their students who did not get a grade C at GCSE.

“To help them deliver it, the ETF, with grant funding from the government, is providing a range of support programmes to raise the teaching skills of FE staff.”

Visit www.etfoundation.co.uk for more details.

The principal of Lambeth College has pleaded with University and College Union (UCU) members to step back from “damaging and destructive” strike action after they voted in favour of a second indefinite strike in just eight months.

Mark Silverman also called on government and local politicians to encourage unions to focus their efforts on the negotiating table, rather than go ahead with a series of planned strikes beginning this week.

He said it was “disappointing that UCU aren’t thinking about the learners and the impact it’s going to have on them”.

The UCU unveiled plans on November 26 for a series of escalating one, two and three-day walkouts, culminating in indefinite strike from January 17, in a row over contracts for new staff which the union says would leave teachers with longer working hours and less annual leave and sick pay.

Mr Silverman said: “I would welcome anybody who has any influence with UCU to encourage them step back from something that’s going to be so damaging and destructive, and to understand what that industrial action is going to do to learners and to the college.”

If the strike goes ahead it will be the second time UCU members at the college have taken indefinite action in eight months, following a strike from June that lasted five weeks.

Staff returned days before the summer holidays began and have been involved in talks with the college since September but in a ballot, the results of which were announced last month, 66 UCU members voted to strike, from a turnout of 80 members from a staff of 250.

Una O’Brien, UCU regional official, said: “The situation at Lambeth College is now very clear and the management cannot be in any doubt at how angry staff are about the new contracts.

“We hope that strike action, which will certainly mean major disruption again at Lambeth, won’t be necessary. The college needs to sit down with us to talk through changes to staff contracts and work towards finding a solution staff are happy with.”

The new contracts at the centre of the row were introduced for new staff on April 1 and offer 50 days a year annual leave — 10 days fewer than that given to existing staff.

However, Mr Silverman has said the terms were “in line with sector norms”.

He said they were part of the college’s recovery plan following a grade three Ofsted inspection in March 2013 (up from a grade four in October 2012) and financial deficits of £4.1m in 2012/13 and £3.5m last year.

“We’ve made great progress, we have really increased our success rates, but clearly the damaging action and the end of last year has dented that progress,” said Mr Silverman.

“UCU needs to understand the reality of the challenges we face.”

The first strike is expected to take place on Thursday (December 4) for one day, followed by a two-day strike on December 9 and 10 and a three-day strike is scheduled for December 15, 16 and 17.

Following Christmas, a two-day strike is planned on January 7 and 8, with three days of striking on January 13, 14 and 15 before the indefinite strike is set to begin on January 17.

Main pic: Striking UCU members on the picket line during the five-week strike which began in June