Latest news from FE Week

Further education colleges struggling to cope with an influx of maths and English GCSE resit students should get extra cash through a special levy on schools, a leading think tank has claimed.

A report released today by the Policy Exchange, a right-leaning think tank founded by former Education Secretary Michael Gove, called for the “resit levy”.

It would mean schools having to help cover the cost for “some or all of their students” who fail to get a C grade in the subjects and transfer to an FE College to take their resits, the report said.

Natasha Porter, author of the paper, said: “It is unfair for some schools to pass the buck to FE colleges who are already facing extreme funding pressures to fix a problem they have not caused themselves.

“To recognise the additional burden on FE colleges and shoulder more responsibility, schools should cough up and pay a resit levy.”

John Widdowson (pictured right), president of the Association of Colleges, said: “Policy Exchange has rightly recognised the challenge faced by colleges as they support an increasing number of young people needing to re-sit their GCSE English and maths after 11 years at school.

“These resits are being provided alongside the technical and professional courses that produce the skilled motivated employees that the country needs to drive productivity.

But he added: “While specific proposal to place a levy on schools, payable to FE colleges, for those students who failed to get a A* to C grade, would bring welcome additional funding into colleges, it would be easier if the government recognised the new challenge taken on by colleges in the national funding system.”

Nansi Ellis (pictured left), assistant general secretary at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said FE colleges had been “most affected” by students needing to re-sit English and maths, “with some colleges having to devote whole buildings to accommodate the huge number of students taking GCSE exams”.

However, she said: “While we agree that FE colleges should receive additional funding for helping students pass their re-sits, we do not think schools should have to pay for it.

“We also fundamentally disagree with making students keep re-sitting GCSEs in English and maths. Instead, young people who have failed to get Cs in English and maths should take functional skills qualifications.”

The report claimed that the post-16 funding system does not does not recognise the extra burden on FE colleges since resits became compulsory for learners that fail to achieve a grade C in the subjects at the start of 2014/15.

“An FE college will receive £4,000 for a 16-17 year old (and £3,300 for an 18 year old) to teach a full time (unweighted) qualification, and is now required to fund the remedial maths and English teaching and examination fees from within this sum,” it said.

A Policy Exchange spokesperson said that FE colleges were also carrying more of the burden, in terms of the number of resitting students.

For students who completed their GCSEs in 2011 and retook them in 2013, he said, FE colleges took around five times more students who retook English — 100,239 compared to 20,544 who stayed at school.

It was a similar story over the same period for maths resits, he added, when 110,811 students re-took maths at an FE college, compared to 27,579 at schools.

The report added that the levy would, under the proposals, apply “where the student has both failed to get a C and achieved a negative score below a certain level on the new Progress 8 benchmark”, so long as he or she “has been on the roll of the secondary school for a certain length of time”.

Special educational needs and disabled students would only be exempt if they have an evidenced assessment showing they are not able to study the subject, it added.

The report added that there should be “a cap on the levy on any one particular school to provide some surety in financial planning from the school’s perspective”.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills declined to comment on the levy plan.

The sector skills councils for health and for justice today announced their merger — but also said they would continue to act separately.

Skills for Health (SfH) and Skills for Justice (SfJ) have “integrated” and a joint statement from the two organisations said the move would “maximise the synergies for customers and stakeholders”.

John Rogers (pictured right), SfH chief executive, will be the merged organisation’s chief executive — a post last held at the SfJ by Steve Clark, who left in March.

Mr Rogers said customers and stakeholders would see “very little change” to services and that it would be “business as usual”.

“However, over the next 12 to 18 months it is very clear that we will be able to deliver significant enhancements by maximising the strengths and expertise of both organisations across the combined wider sector footprint,” said Mr Rogers.

The new body will act as a not-for-profit UK charity in the way the two sector skills councils previously did, operating licences for the health and justice sectors.

However, SfH and SfJ will otherwise continue to act as two separate brands with their own websites and staff, according to an SfH spokesperson, who added that all existing offices would “be retained” and “there are no requirements for relocation and no current job losses” for employees of both organisations.

The move was announced in a joint statement released this morning by Sir Duncan Nichol, chair of SfJ, and Chris Hannah, chair of SfH.

They said the organisations “have worked in close partnership on a range of initiatives and services over a number of years, and both boards felt that the timing was now right to maximise the synergies for customers and stakeholders by bringing the two organisations together”.

“The work of the two organisations covers a wide expanse of UK public services including health, police, prisons, fire services, armed forces and local government,” they added.

“Through our history of joint working we have been very aware of the benefits that could be achieved for our customers and stakeholders by combining the strengths of SfH and SfJ.

“We are delighted that we have been able to integrate the two organisations and look forward to the very positive outcomes for the sectors that we serve.”

Sheffield-based SfJ has four offices across the country employing 40 workers.

It was established in 2004 as the sector skills council for police forces and law enforcement agencies, courts, tribunal and prosecution services, forensic science services, custodial care, and wider offender management services.

Meanwhile, SfH, based in Bristol, was set up in 2002 and currently employs 150 workers across five different offices.

It covers dental nursing, clinical support services, healthcare support services, pharmacy services and health and social care, among others.

Both organisations are involved in the development and promotion of vocational qualifications, including apprenticeships.

They work with a range of stakeholders including employers, education providers, education commissioners, professional bodies and awarding organisations across their sectors.

Stockton Riverside College has merged with independent learning provider (ILP) the NETA (formerly North East Training Association) Training Trust after 18 months of “talks” between the grade two Ofsted rated providers.

A joint statement released this morning by Phil Cook, principal of the FE college, and Frank Ramsay, chief executive of Stockton-based NETA, confirmed the merger.

It said that the move “will enable both organisations to align their values of keeping business and learners at its heart”.

“We are confident that together we will be stronger, sustainable and have the opportunity to further develop and grow high quality skills training into the future,” it added.

A spokesperson for Stockton Riverside told FE Week that NETA approached the FE college, which is “looking at an approximate operating surplus of £200k for 14/15”, 18 months ago with a view to “establishing a possible partnership”.

She added that “NETA has been looking for potential partners for the past five years, but up until that point hadn’t found the right fit”.

However, she said the leaders of the providers felt that they had now found sufficient “synergy” to merge — with both set to remain “individual entities” and benefit from the “added potential for sharing resources”.

Individual names and brands will remain, she said, and “each [provider] will continue to operate from respective campuses”.

“There will be no job losses,” she added.

Stockton Riverside, which was rated ‘good’ by Ofsted in June last year and allocated £11.5m by the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) as of April, had around 6,900 learners last academic year.

Meanwhile, NETA, which was rated ‘good’ by Ofsted in May 2013 and allocated £1.5m for 2014/15 by the SFA as of April, had around 8,900 learners on average in 2014/15.

It was established as a charitable Group Training Association in 1975 and offers training for engineering construction companies.

A spokesperson for the Association of Employment and Learning Providers said mergers between colleges and ILPs was “not unusual”.

“As this example shows, each can bring benefits to the other particularly in providing a more integrated service for local employers,” he added.

“No single model of partnership works best for everyone because of differing local circumstances, and they are generally most effective when it is a voluntary process on the part of the institutions concerned.”

It comes after struggling sixth form college (SFC) Totton confirmed to FE Week on June 22 that it would be merging with national crime prevention charity Nacro from November.

The deal was announced after the Southampton SFC, which had around 1,700-learners when it was rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted in June, failed to find a suitable nearby FE college to merge with.

A merger had been on the horizon for Totton since December when former principal Mike Gaston said it was looking at options. Sixth Form College Commissioner Peter Mucklow had warned it could not function alone having been placed under Financial Notice to Improve by the EFA.

Nacro had around 3,200 learners in June and improved from an ‘inadequate’ Ofsted rating in March 2013 to ‘good’ last June.

The Association of Colleges declined to comment on the Stockton Riverside and NETA.

Pic from left: Frank Ramsay and Phil Cook

A former principal of two colleges has been named as chair of a new steering group set up by the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) to support its work on simplifying the funding system for adult skills.

The SFA announced today that it has launched the new Funding Reform and Localism Steering Group (FRLSG) to “support our work on creating a simpler, more locally focused and responsive funding system for adult skills”.

“The group will help us shape how adult skills are funded, excluding apprenticeships, to meet local needs in a way that is simpler to operate,” an SFA spokesperson added.

She said that the chair will be Dr Ann Limb OBE, chair of the South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership (Lep), who was principal of Milton Keynes College from 1986 to 1996 and Cambridge Regional College from 1996 to 2001, before moving to the charitable and private sector.

Dr Limb (pictured) said: “This is a critical time for the FE sector and an opportunity to reinvigorate the sector’s long-standing connections with local employers and communities.

“As a Lep chair who has worked in the private sector for the last decade and a passionate advocate of FE, I’m pleased to have been asked to chair this group.”

The FRLSG will be made up of representatives from FE sector, Leps, and “combined authorities”, the SFA spokesperson said.

She told FE Week that The Association of Colleges (AoC) and Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) would both be invited to join.

Gill Clipson, AoC deputy chief executive, said: “Colleges play a central role in providing a wide range of technical and professional qualifications which help adults to train for a new job or boost their skills in an existing role.

“We are interested in hearing more about the role of the steering group and would be keen to be involved to represent the interests of our members.

“Dr Limb is a passionate supporter of FE and we look forward to continuing our positive work with her. Adult skills funding has been cut by 28 per cent this year alone and we need to work together to protect this vital provision from further cuts.”

An AELP spokesperson said: “As well as apprenticeships, independent providers are heavily involved in the delivery of other adult skills provision, so we would be very pleased to be part of Dr Limb’s advisory group.

“The devolution agenda by definition will result in differing approaches adopted for skills in different areas, but there are important aspects such as funding arrangements with providers where some commonality in approach will be welcome to keep the system efficient and effective in terms of securing positive outcomes for employers and learners.”

Having reviewed the SFA’s existing advisory arrangements, the SFA spokesperson added, “our current groups, Funding External Technical Advisory Group (FETAG) and Qualifications Advisory Group (QAG) will cease to operate.

“We would like to thank both FETAG and QAG groups for the considerable support and commitment to the SFA over the last few years in implementing and embedding the current streamlined funding system and qualification funding reforms”.

“The advice members of FETAG and QAG have given has been invaluable,” she added.

The Data and Management Information Advisory Group (DMIAG), chaired by Dawn Ward CBE, principal of Burton and South Derbyshire College, will continue to offer advice to the SFA on the Individualised Learner Record (ILR), data collections and related issues, she added.

The UK’s leading employers’ organisation has criticised the government’s new apprenticeship levy consultation for failing to explore the cost involved or the minimum size of “larger employers” set to cough-up.

While the document accompanying the consultation launched this morning said that the levy will be paid by “larger employers” in all sectors, based on “the total number of employees”, it failed to give any indication of the size of workforce this would entail.

The document, published ahead of an announcement this morning by Prime Minister David Cameron on how public procurement contracts will help boost apprenticeship numbers, added that the government wants the levy “to be calculated on the basis of employee earnings and for employers to pay the levy through their PAYE return”.

But it failed to give any indication of the cost involved, instead stating that the “rate and scope” of the levy for “all sectors” will be announced as part of the autumn spending review.

Neil Carberry, director for employment and skills at the Confederation of British Industry, told FE Week: “There isn’t anything here on rate, remit or the definition of a larger employer, which was something we think is important and does need to be discussed with employers and the sector.

“Our view is these are critical issues and the CBI will respond to them, even though the consultation does not ask for it.”

He added: “The UK is facing needs a world-class apprenticeship system which delivers the higher level skills that business and the workforce need.

“We must not sacrifice quality for quantity. While we did not support the introduction of a levy, the key thing now is that the apprenticeships it delivers meet business demand and give young people routes to great careers and higher pay.

“The best way to drive up quality is to give employers real control and ensure that levy cash is committed to only funding apprenticeships in levy-paying businesses.

“The consultation is welcome, but there is much to do to build a system that works, including deciding the rate of the levy and building a levy structure that avoids the mistakes of the past.”

A Department for Business, Innovation and Skills spokesperson said: “The threshold for what defines a larger employer will be announced in the spending review.

“This consultation will help determine what that threshold is.”, although there was no mention of a threshold or related question in the consultation.

Views are only requested in the consultation on how “the size of firm[s] should be calculated” as no system has been agreed.

The document also said that “larger employers” would, under the proposals, claim back levy payments to fund training through a digital voucher system.

Smaller firms would be expected to use the same voucher system too, it stated, although the BIS spokesperson told FE Week last night that they would not have access to the levy fund.

He was unable to comment ahead of publication on how apprenticeships run by small firms would funded under the new system.

The document added: “We envisage that employers will receive ‘top-ups’ to their levy account over and above their own contribution,” it added.

There would though, under the plans, be “a limit” to how much employer’s voucher accounts “will be topped up each year”.

The document also raised questions over whether providers funded through the levy would need to be approved and their provision inspected.

It added that employers would be able to use the vouchers to cover all costs of an apprentice’s training, including English and maths, assessment and certification.

The consultation forms part of what the Prime Minister calls a “package of radical plans” to help the government hit its target of 3m apprenticeship starts by 2020.

The BIS spokesperson said that this would include new measures requiring all bids for government contracts worth more than £10m to “demonstrate a clear commitment to apprenticeships” from September 1.

Shadow Skills Minister Liam Byrne said that the Conservatives had made an “apparent U-turn” on the issue — after Tory MPs opposed previous Labour proposals for enforced targets on apprenticeship recruitment ahead of the general election.

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin will also today announce plans to create 30,000 apprenticeships in the road and rail industry over the next five years.

Meanwhile, the government confirmed this morning that a further 59 new Trailblazer apprenticeship standards have been published, although none are “ready to deliver”.

Visit https://bisgovuk.citizenspace.com/ve/apprenticeshipslevy to download a copy of the consultation that closes on October 2.

 

Plans have been announced for struggling Greenwich Community College to “merge into” Bromley College of Further and Higher Education.

Basic details of the “merger proposal” for the South East London colleges were announced this morning, but a spokesperson for Bromley has now told FE Week how it anticipates this working.

He said that the Greenwich college would, under the proposal, “merge into Bromley [College] from a legal and financial perspective”.

“The name [of Greenwich Community College] will therefore disappear, although a Greenwich FE brand identity will remain in place and the exact name will be the subject of further consultation,” he added.

It comes after FE Week reported in March that FE Commissioner Dr David Collins had recommended a structure and prospects assessment (SPA) for Greenwich following its grade four Ofsted rating in December last year.

*The SPA, along with Skills Minister Nick Boles’s accompanying letter to Richard Bourne (pictured top right), acting chair of governors at Greenwich, in which the merger proposal with Bromley was backed, was published on Tuesday, October 27, 2015.

Richard Bourne (pictured top right), acting chair of governors at Greenwich, which had around 5,000-learners in March and was allocated £9m by the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) as of April, said: “There has been a thorough process to analyse the opportunities available to the college for the future, including a standalone option.

“The college has worked hard in the last six months to improve the way it is operating and see improvements to the quality of the provision,” he added.

But Mr Bourne added: “I have spoken to the chair of Bromley and I am reassured that it will be an excellent partner.

“I look forward to working with colleagues in Greenwich and Bromley to bring the merger to a successful conclusion.”

Roger Dawe (pictured top left), chair of governors at 9,000-learner Bromley, which received a ‘good’ Ofsted rating in February 2013 and was allocated around £9.3m from the Skills Funding Agency as of April, said: “Bringing together Bromley and Greenwich colleges gives us an opportunity to enhance the quality of education, skills and training we provide.

“It would greatly benefit students, employers and the local communities across both boroughs and across South East London as a whole.

“Taking into account the increasing challenges the further education sector faces, we need to look seriously at opportunities like this. It makes good sense.

“We need to ensure these challenges are met and fully realise the opportunities they bring.

“Many steps remain to be taken before this proposal becomes finalised and a merger takes place.”

A spokesperson for Greenwich and Bromley added that the merger proposals would not affect students enrolling for the colleges for 2015/16 and “both colleges will be delivering a first class curriculum for the coming year for students and employers”.

It comes after FE Week revealed in May that “discussions” had taken place over possible closer collaboration between Greenwich and fellow grade four Ofsted rated Lewisham Southwark College, which both faced structure and prospects assessments.

It is understood that this option is no longer being considered.

The SFA declined to comment on the proposals for the Greenwich and Bromley colleges.

The Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) has questioned the sense of forcing resits on learners who fail maths and English GCSE after the pass rate fell for 17-year-olds.

The 2014/15 academic year was the first in which learners who previously had not achieved a grade C in either subjects, but had continued onto post-16 study, were required to either resit their GCSEs or equivalent level functional skills exams.

It is a key reason why the number of 17-year-old learners across FE and schools who sat maths GCSEs increased 30.2 per cent from 100,587 last year to 130,979 this year, while the number sitting English rose by 22.9 per cent from 79,045 to 97,163.

Meanwhile, the A* to C pass rate for that age group fell from 38.9 per cent last year to 35.8 per cent for maths, and from 37.9 per cent in 2014 to 35.1 per cent this year for English.

An AELP spokesperson said that this fall strengthened its view that more post-16 learners who failed maths and English GCSE first time round should do functional skills instead of GCSE resits for FE and skills courses.

Paul Warner (pictured above), AELP director of employment and skills, said: “At the moment there’s a bit of an assumption that the government considers GCSEs as the be all and end all when it comes to resits, which is why so many learners on FE courses are made to do GCSEs when there are other options such as functional skills that may be more suited to them.

“The fall in the pass rate for 17-year-olds suggests that a lot of people who are being made to resit would be better off taking another route.”

At present, learners who get a D for maths and English GCSE first time round have to keep resitting GCSE exams throughout their FE courses until they pass.

Learners who get below a D can take functional skills exams instead.

The Department for Education (DfE) confirmed today that this will continue in 2015/16.

However, Mr Warner said: “We are not anti-GCSE, but I think in a number of cases, learners who get a grade D might be better off taking another option for English and maths.

“AELP training provider members engage with thousands of employers every day with the running of apprenticeship and traineeship programmes.

“Many of these employers are now happy to recognise functional skills for English and maths as an alternative to GCSEs because they provide the applied skills which the apprentice or trainee needs to do their job.”

Martin Doel (pictured right), chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said: “We would urge the government to work with closely with employers

and colleges to ensure maths and English qualifications reflect the workplace and everyday life.”

He added: “Colleges supported an increased number of young people re-sitting GCSE English and maths this year with a third of students over 17-years-old achieving an A* to C grade.

“It is a great result for those thousands of students who’ve spent time re-sitting these exams.

“It is important for everyone to achieve a good standard of spoken and written English and the ability to do simple calculations but GCSEs aren’t suitable for everyone.

“Congratulations to all students who received their GCSE results today and whatever the grades, there are a host of options open to them and they should calmly assess their personal situation, look at what they want to achieve and decide on the best route for them.”

A DfE spokesperson said: “Post-16 schools and colleges are making good progress in ensuring all 16-19 year olds are given the opportunity to achieve good GCSEs in English and maths by age 19.

“For the 2014/15 academic year, we know the vast majority of colleges enrolled nearly all their students without A*- C GCSE on approved English and maths courses.”

y all their students without A*- C GCSE on approved English and maths courses.”

Latest official statistics have shown the proportion of young people not in education, employment or training (Neet) in the UK has continued its downward trend.

An Office for National Statistics (ONS) report published today said that there were 922,000 16 to 24-year-old Neets between April and June this year — a decrease of 21,000 from January to March 2015 and down 44,000 from a year earlier.

The figures meant 12.7 per cent of the total number of 16 to 24-year-olds in the UK (7,258,000) were Neet, which the ONS said was the lowest figure during any quarter-period over the last five years.

The proportion of Neets among 16 to 24-year-olds for April to June was 0.3 per cent down on the previous quarterly figures for January to March, and 0.5 per cent lower than the figure for the same three monthly period last year.

The report added: “Just under half (47 per cent) of all young people in the UK who were Neet were looking for work and available for work and therefore classified as unemployed.

“The remainder were either not looking for work and/or not available for work and therefore classified as economically inactive.”

The government, which had previously refused to acknowledge the ONS UK figures, has also put out its own report today using different figures based on its own rules and covering just England.

It showed that the proportion of 16 to 24-year-olds who were Neet had fallen by 0.4 percentage points to 13.1 per cent, down 23,000 compared to the same period last year, and the lowest level since 2004.

The figures for 16 to 18-year-old Neets had fallen by 0.6 percentage points to 7.5 per cent, representing a fall of 11,000, which is the lowest level since 2000, and 19 to 24-year-olds Neets had fallen by 0.3 percentage points to 15.7 per cent, a reduction of 12,000 on last year.

Skills Minister Nick Boles said: “Today we have yet more evidence this government is delivering on its commitment to get all young people either learning or into work.”

“While the proportion of young people NEET is at its lowest for this time of the year since 2004, we will not stop there.

“Our focus remains firmly on equipping all young people with the skills they need — not least through our pledge to deliver 3 million new apprenticeships in this Parliament.”