The Skills Show 2014 ended tonight with a celebration of the UK’s most skilled apprentices and learner as the winners of the National Skills Competitions were announced.
Nearly 600 competitors showed off their skills in 64 competitions at the Birmingham NEC hoping to take home a gold, silver or bronze medal.
For those under 21 there was an added pressure, as young contestants who catch the judge’s eyes could be invited to compete for a place on the squad for WorldSkills 2017 in Abu Dhabi.
Most competitors were put through events by their providers, who also offer support and extra training to the learners through the process.
The college that had the highest number of medallists among its students was New College Lanarkshire, with four gold, three silver, one bronze and four highly commended.
Ross Maloney, chief executive of Skills Show organising body Find a Future, congratulated everyone who took part.
“The Skills Show is an amazing showcase for the nation’s vast variety of skills,” he said.
“Just as we celebrate our athletes, so we champion our skills and inspire young people to make their own mark on industry.
“It is through competition activity, The Skills Show and The Skills Show Experience that Find a Future can provide young people and their parents with the chance to get excited about the world of work and make informed choices about their future.”
For more on the 2014 Skills Show, read the FE Week supplement available on feweek.co.uk on Monday (November 17) and free with edition 119 of the newspaper, dated Monday, November 24.
Dr Collins, who took up post in November last year, warns that colleges already in tough financial situations will face further cuts, and should not be tempted to cut out “resource-heavy” subjects to improve their finances.
Dr David Collins
He also repeated his concerns about the future of small colleges, echoing what he has said previously following inspections of institutions including Bicton and Norton Radstock college, both of which have been ordered to work with other colleges to survive.
He said: “As funding becomes tighter, however, questions will arise as to whether some colleges will be able to continue to offer the breadth of curriculum that they have done up until now.
“There is a danger that they will concentrate on those programmes that are less resource intensive and move away from the more expensive practically based areas. What therefore is a sensible business decision for an individual college may not be in the best interests of meeting the employment needs of the area.”
He added: “It would be foolish to pretend that the FE sector does not have a difficult time ahead.
“Reductions in public spending will necessarily continue for the foreseeable future and the demands for highly skilled individuals to service a growing economy will increase.
“When resources are short it is all the more important that colleges and institutions work together to ensure that those resources are best used for the benefit of learners and employers.
“This will mean some consolidation and indeed some specialisation, as well as neighbouring colleges, institutions and providers considering joint plans for their respective communities.
“There is a danger that without such a consideration the more expensive areas of the curriculum (for example, science and engineering) will disappear from areas where they are needed in a college’s pursuit of financial stability.”
In the report, he repeated concerns raised earlier this year about the limited skillsets of some governing bodies, slow responses by college leaders to changing financial situations and a tendency of some principals to focus on projects other than the improvement of their colleges.
The report
Dr Collins also raised concerns about big differences in the role of clerks between colleges, adding that their support of college boards often did not go far enough.
He said: “In colleges where clerking issues have been identified the main problems have arisen from a limited interpretation of what is required to enable the board to carry out its duties effectively.
“The role of a clerk in the further education sector should go much further than the keeping of records, setting of agendas and co-ordinating the production of reports.
“There are also a number of operational concerns arising out of different interpretations of the role. Some clerks, for example, still have responsibilities in the management of the college, which could lead to a conflict of interest.
“In other cases the clerk works closely with, and reports to, the principal. To ensure independence the clerk should report directly to the chair.”
Dr Collins has visited 14 colleges since he was appointed, but only 11 were covered in the report, which covers the period up to July this year.
Of the 11 colleges included, commissioner visits led to stocktake assessments at City of Bristol College, Lesoco, Stratford upon Avon College, City of Wolverhampton College and City of Liverpool College, which Dr Collins has said no longer requires his attention. He said City of Bristol College was no longer rated inadequate by Ofsted and that Lesoco was due for re-inspection soon.
Of the six remaining colleges, K College has been broken up and now forms part of East Kent College and Hadlow College. Bicton College will merge with the Cornwall College Group, while Norton Radstock is said to be considering its options for a merger.
Stockport College is to continue as an independent institution with a refreshed board and leadership, while structure assessments at Weymouth College are ongoing. The Barnfield Federation is in the process of being broken up.
See edition 119 of FE Week, dated Monday, November 24, for more.
Gazelle’s five founder colleges have re-affirmed their commitment to the organisation with the announcement that one college was set to quit the group amid claims it could spend membership fees better elsewhere.
Gloucestershire College, which has more than 7,000 learners and dished out around £130,000 in membership fees and staff training costs to Gazelle since it joined nearly three years ago, told FE Week it would not be a member next academic year.
“Following a consultation exercise with staff earlier this year, and the resulting launch of a new strategic plan, the college has decided that the financial outlay could be utilised more effectively in driving our enterprise agenda forward internally, using the talent and expertise of our staff,” said the college’s head of communications, Michelle Cant.
However, the loss of the college did not appear to have shaken the faith of Gazelle founders City College Norwich, North Hertfordshire College, New College Nottingham, Gateshead College and Warwickshire College. They responded to FE Week with a generic statement saying they “intend to remain [in Gazelle] for the foreseeable future”.
The same statement was sent by City College Plymouth and Highbury College, while a spokesperson for Activate Learning said: “I can confirm that we remain a member and we do expect to remain a member to the end of the academic year.” A spokesperson for Glasgow Kelvin College said it “continually reviews all subscriptions on an annual basis.”
But a question mark remains over future involvement of the remaining 13 member colleges who did not respond to FE Week.
Gazelle chief executive Fintan Donohue said: “The membership of the Gazelle Colleges Group has always evolved and changed — each year there are new colleges that join and a very small minority that retire. We have every indication that the vast majority of members wish to sustain their membership going forward.”
News of Gloucestershire’s impending exit comes after FE Week revealed that most member colleges inspected since joining Gazelle had not improved their Ofsted ratings, despite the fact its membership pumped a total of £3.5m into the organisation up until June, leading to criticism from the University and College Union.
Mr Donohue defended the organisation at the time, claiming “enrichment of student experiences and outcomes” was its “overriding goal”.
Nevertheless, Gloucestershire College’s spend on Gazelle services includes three years of membership fees at £35,000 per year and more than £26,000 for staff development and student “educational experience”.
Ms Cant said: “Our commitment to the entrepreneurial ethos of the Gazelle Group remains and will continue to be reflected in our future plans, alongside our focus on meaningful work experience through internships and volunteering. Our priority is delivering excellence and equipping all students with the skills for success beyond college, and we are grateful to Gazelle for the positive contribution and opportunities it has provided over the past three years.”
No response was received from Amersham and Wycombe College, Barking and Dagenham College, Cambridge Regional College, Cardiff and Vale College, Carlisle College, City of Bath College, Lesoco, Middlesborough College, Peterborough Regional College, Preston’s College, South West College, City of Liverpool or The Sheffield College.
Skills Funding Agency (SFA) apprenticeships boss Sue Husband (pictured) has emphasised the need for employer involvement in standards but acknowledged concerns about “onerous” extra work for businesses.
Ms Husband, the SFA’s director for apprenticeships and delivery, appeared in front of Lords on a digital skills committee last week.
In response to a question about employer ownership of skills, Ms Husband acknowledged concerns raised by business about reforms, and said the SFA would help those who felt over-burdened.
She said: “We do see ourselves as a service, so as we have gone through this new approach with Trailblazers we have had the feedback from employers that they feel it’s probably too onerous for them to take full responsibility for updating [standards].
“However I would say that there has to be that employer involvement all the way through. It is for them to guide and advise what those standards look like and how they change and get amended.”
Ms Husband appeared alongside City & Guilds chief executive Chris Jones (pictured), who called for better careers advice and Siemens head of professional education Martin Hottass, who warned that colleges struggling to fund specialist lecturers were failing to meet demand from companies like his.
Mr Jones said: “I think to expect a teacher in a school of 14-year-olds to give good, high quality careers advice and guidance is probably the job from hell. It’s not one I expect them to do, so that is one of the problems.
“But I think more broadly, one of the issues that I have is that there doesn’t seem to be any clear sense of accountability or consistency around careers advice and guidance today.”
Mr Hottass said: “We only have engineering apprentices and we only contract with eight colleges in the UK because the majority of colleges are not equipped to deal with what we need.”
Skills Minister Nick Boles is expected to give evidence to the committee on Tuesday (November 18) morning.
These are the five former principals and one ex-vice principal that make up the new intake of advisers for FE Commissioner Dr David Collins (pictured front), FE Week can reveal.
Phil Frier, Dr Beri Hare, John Hogg, Steve Hutchinson, Chris Jones and Lynne Craig have won posts at the commissioner’s office.
Their appointments take the total number to advisers to 11, with existing advisers David Williams, Joanna Gaukroger, Marilyn Hawkins, Malcolm Cooper and Lynn Forrester-Walker.
The appointments continue with Dr Collins’s focus on leadership, with all six of the new appointees having worked in principal or vice-principal posts, and at least three having worked in colleges where they were appointed to sort out problems with finances or quality.
Phil Frier led Park College Eastbourne, Sussex Downs College and City College Brighton before being appointed to head debt-ridden K College, which was broken up on his recommendation.
Dr Beri Hare, who currently lists herself on Linkedin as an educational consultant, was principal at Stroud College in Gloucestershire from 2006 until its merger with Filton College near Bristol in 2012. She was awarded the OBE for her services to further education in 2011.
Steve Hutchinson is a member of FE Associates and worked for a brief period as interim principal at K College, succeeding Mr Frier. He was a senior education advisory manager for KPMG and a regional finance director for the Further Education Funding Council for England in the late 1990s.
Chris Jones has been principal at Calderdale College in Yorkshire since 2006, and will continue in the role until early
next year. He is currently chair of the Leeds City Region Skills Network and is a former director of finance and corporate services at The Sheffield College.
John Hogg has been principal at Middlesborough College, Wolverhampton City College and, more recently, worked at City College Coventry, where he was appointed in July last year after an inadequate rating from Ofsted. He was succeeded five months ago by
Steve Logan.
Lynne Craig was vice-principal at Gloucestershire College before setting herself up as a freelance education consultant.
She was previously on the council of the Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) and an inspector with the Adult Learning Inspectorate.
The roles were advertised at a rate of £600 a-day, along with a prediction of 60 to 80 working days a-year for each adviser.
Government plans to launch a UCas-style vocational database by September next year have been short shrift by the boss of UCas itself.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg (pictured left) told visitors to the Skills Show, at Birmingham NEC, that the government would set up a “fully-comprehensive national database” of 16 to 18 skills and employer led-courses and opportunities in England next summer.
Mr Clegg said on Thursday (November 13): “By giving access to a one stop shop for the growing number of choices they have, more young people will be able to access the options available to them and make better informed choices about their career paths.”
But UCas chief executive Mary Curnock Cook pointed out that the admissions service had already expanded UCas Progress, which caters for post-16 choices, to offer “national coverage of vocational and academic courses in England and Wales”.
She said: “We have more than 100,000 courses through 4,550 different providers listed in England and Wales and are already registering more than 2.5 million page views per month.
“This service builds on UCas’s 50 years of experience running a national service for higher education and is free of charge for learners.”
It was not the first time Mr Clegg has been rebutted by UCas on the issue.
Head of progress at UCas Gina Bradbury claimed in an FE Week article, published after Mr Clegg first mentioned the idea in February, that it was something her organisation had launched 18 months previously.
Matthew Dean (pictured right), technology policy manager for the Association of Colleges, said: “Providing a co-ordinated central database is a step forward in the way young people find out about the range of qualifications and courses available to them.
“The Deputy Prime Minister is right to recognise that vocational education is not a poor relation when choosing a career path.
“Increasing the number and choice of apprenticeships is important, but the government must work with colleges to ensure that employers are prepared to take on apprentices of all ages.”
Fiona Aldridge, assistant director for development and research for the National Institute of Continuing Education, said: “If this is implemented then we think it’s essential that there is an all-age approach to this rather than just a focus on those aged 16 to 18.”
Lynne Sedgmore CBE, executive director of the 157 Group, said: “This announcement reaffirms the original commitment made by the Deputy Prime Minister, but adds little more detail. We will be keen to see how it will work in practice.”
Mr Clegg also announced a dozen new social mobility business compact champions.
They were Accenture, Aspire Group, Baker & McKenzie LLP, The Co-operative Food, Deloitte, EY, Grant Thornton UK LLP, KPMG LLP, Linklaters, Mears Group, Standard Life and Telefónica O2.
The social mobility business compact scheme was launched in 2011 to provide young people from all backgrounds with “fair and open access to employment opportunities”.
Visit www.feweek.co.uk for more sector reaction to Mr Clegg’s Ucas-style database announcement.
Hartlepool Sixth Form College has crashed from a good to inadequate Ofsted rating.
It received a grade two rating in June 2010, but a report published on Thursday (November 13), based on an inspection in September, gave it the lowest possible mark.
The report said “too few students stay to complete AS courses or progress from AS to A-level,” adding “leadership and management are inadequate”.
It recognised that there had been a “period of instability at senior level” and the 1,000–learner college’s new leadership team, including principal Alex Fau-Goodwin, only took over in September.
Rick Wells, who had been principal since 2005, stood down in August last year. Carole Horseman was acting principal until the end of last academic year.
Mr Fau-Goodwin said: “The new team are very clear about the improvements that need to be introduced.”
The Gateshead and Middlesbrough College Confederation has been terminated after just 12 months.
The two colleges came together in September last year to pool resources and ideas, but are now preparing to split after governors decided the partnership did not “offer additional value to learners”.
The move casts doubt over the future of confederation chief executive Mike Hopkins, who is also chair of the Principals’ Professional Council, with Zoe Lewis having replaced him as Middlesbrough principal after the colleges joined forces.
Both colleges declined to comment on what role, if any, Mr Hopkins would play at the colleges in the future. A joint statement from Gateshead College chair Robin Mackie and Middlesbrough College chair Bob Brady said: “Having undertaken a review we are in agreement that while we have seen some benefits, we do not feel that this arrangement offers additional value to learners at either college at this time. The two colleges remain firmly committed to the principles of working in partnership where it has clear benefits for our students, staff and stakeholders.”
The statement added that the confederation had been formed to “explore collaborative approaches which could benefit both colleges”. During that time we have worked together on a number of projects which have enabled us to secure funding for a joint technology initiative, share best practice and offer combined student projects,” the statement added. It continued: “We are unable to say anything further with regards to Mr Hopkins at this time as discussions with him are ongoing.”
The end of the confederation was made public in minutes from a September 24 Middlesbrough College board meeting where it was revealed that “both parties had agreed to mutually terminate” the confederation agreement on September 10 this year.
In a press release issued at the time the confederation was formed, a spokesperson for the colleges said: “Those behind the move believe the colleges’ combined size, scale, vision and influence will make them more resilient to future challenges and both will benefit from a more regional perspective enabling them to deliver a responsive and comprehensive offer to North East businesses and the wider community.”
It added that the colleges would “work far closer, sharing ideas and collaborating on initiatives that will ultimately deliver even higher standards of training and skills provision”.
The move comes after the FE Commissioner David Collins told three struggling colleges — Bicton College, Norton Radstock College and Stratford-upon-Avon College — that they should join forces with other colleges as they might not survive on their own.
Devon-based Bicton has since revealed plans to merge with The Cornwall College Group by August, while the commissioner’s revisit to Stratford resulted in new hope for its independence after positive feedback from Dr Collins.
