Newly-elected Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) Select Committee chair Iain Wright has outlined his plans for greater collaboration with education’s fellow newly-elected committee chair Neil Carmichael.
Labour MP Mr Wright (pictured above left), who beat former BIS committee chair Adrian Bailey in the MPs’ vote on Wednesday (June 17), said he was “determined to hit the ground running”.
He said greater working with Conservative MP Mr Carmichael (pictured above right), who beat Tim Loughton, was one of his priorities.
“I am determined to hit the ground running and make the BIS select committee a real driving force in scrutinising government policies, championing business and skills and making sure FE has a really big voice,” Mr Wright told FE Week.
He added: “I’m particularly pleased about Neil’s election because one of the pitches I made, and we worked together on this, is that I’m very conscious that actually, despite the best efforts of business and education, often it is really difficult to make sure skills policy is closely aligned and co-ordinated between education and business as it should be.
“We have pledged to work very closely together on joint enquiries about the skills system, about how education works together with business, and also, the big thing economically with this parliament will be productivity. So we are going to be doing an awful lot together.”
Mr Carmichael said: “One thing I am going to be doing very soon is discuss with Iain our proposal of doing a joint report on dealing with productivity gap. We have already discussed this on the assumption that we both would win, we actually talked about it a week or so ago.”
Martin Doel, chief executive of the Association of Colleges (AoC), congratulated the duo, saying they would “make excellent chairs and hold government to account very effectively”.
“We have worked with them both in the past and, through their close relationships with their local colleges, they have an excellent understanding of the challenges and opportunities further education and sixth form colleges will have in the next few years,” said Mr Doel.
“We strongly support the notion — as set out by Iain and Neil — about the importance of joint working between their committees especially as the work of colleges crosses both. We look forward to meeting them in their new capacities to discuss how colleges can help.”
A spokesperson for the Association of Employment and Learning Providers said: “It’s encouraging the BIS committee will be chaired by a former minister with direct responsibility for apprenticeships and we look forward to working with Mr Wright.
“As a member of the Education committee in the last Parliament, Mr Carmichael is already aware of the importance of issues such as improving careers advice in schools and we hope he maintains vigilance on these.”
An “area-based assessment” is being carried out by FE Commissioner Dr David Collins (pictured) into provision in South London’s Lewisham, Southwark and neighbouring boroughs.
Skills Funding Agency (SFA) chief executive Peter Lauener revealed details of the review in a letter to corporation chair of Lewisham Southwark College Christopher Bilsland, sent in April but made public Wednesday (June 17).
Mr Lauener wrote: “I can confirm the review will take the form of two linked structure and prospects appraisals of Lewisham Southwark and Greenwich Community Colleges, as well as a broader examination of the best arrangements to deliver strong outcomes for learners and employers across the area.”
He also confirmed Lewisham Southwark had been placed into administered status. A spokesperson for the college said Dr Collins had “welcomed the detailed recovery plans that have been put forward by the new board and recently-appointed principal Carole Kitching”.
Greenwich interim principal Lindsey Noble said the college was “participating fully in the structure and prospects appraisal”.
Mr Lauener’s letter was made public the same day commissioner reports for City College Brighton and Hove, Warrington Borough Council, and Norfolk County Council were released.
The report on Brighton, based on a visit in February triggered by the SFA declaring it inadequate for financial health, warned that “having an executive team comprising almost entirely of interims has a destabilising effect on the college”.
Its former principal and chief executive Lynn Thackway and deputy principal and finance director Colin Henderson left in February this year and September 2014, respectively.
The college, rated as ‘good’ by Ofsted in June 2011, currently employs deputy chief executive Paul Lonsdale and principal Monica Box on an interim basis. Ms Box said considerable progress had been made to “move the college swiftly towards a sustainable financial position”.
A college spokesperson added: “The principal appointment process is underway and we expect this to be concluded by the end of the month.”
A letter from Skills Minister Nick Boles accompanying Dr Collins’ report on Warrington’s community employment learning and skills service, following a February inspection triggered by an ‘inadequate’ Ofsted rating in October, said he agreed with the commissioner’s view that “delivery of this provision would be better provided by the colleges and other providers in the area”.
A council spokesperson said: “We fully accept the recommendations from the commissioner.”
The report on Norfolk’s adult education service, following a late March inspection triggered by an ‘inadequate’ Ofsted rating in January, called for “significant investment in the IT infrastructure and management information systems and new posts to lead and develop the service”.
A council spokesperson said in line with the commissioner recommendations it had appointed Helen Wetherall as interim head of adult education services. She added the council’s “data and ICT” systems had also improved.
New regional scrutiny committees will consider complaints about Ofsted from September as the education watchdog acts to address transparency criticisms.
The eight bodies, each made up of an Ofsted official not involved in inspections along with an “external” provider leader put forward by “appropriate national representative bodies”, will rule on internal reviews of complaints about inspection.
Sir Michael Wilshaw
The news comes almost 18 months after the watchdog’s complaints system was branded “utterly pointless” by Dame Jackie Fisher, who famously threw inspectors out of Newcastle College in 2012 when she was its chief executive.
It also comes after FE Week revealed last year that of 35 formal complaints from September 2012 to mid-November 2013, 13 were upheld and at least one produced a significant uplift of grades from ‘requires improvement’.
The committees will form part of a new common inspection framework (Cif) spanning FE, schools and early years from September.
Ofsted chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw, speaking at the event, said: “I intend to set up a high-level scrutiny committee in each of Ofsted’s regions, made up of HMI and senior education practitioners not involved in carrying out inspections for Ofsted. They will assess and rule on the internal reviews of complaints about inspection. Their decision will be binding on Ofsted.”
Ofsted’s resulting eight-week consultation on the unified Cif plans, entitled Better inspection for all, closed before Christmas and its subsequent report on almost 5,000 responses indicated broad support.
Gill Clipson, deputy chief executive of the Association of Colleges (AoC), said she was “pleased” to hear about the assumption during short inspections that good colleges remained good.
She added: “Too often we hear from colleges that inspection teams begin from a negative hypothesis which is dispiriting to say the least.
“We are also pleased to see the Ofsted complaints procedure is to be made transparent as this is something AoC has long been calling for.”
Stewart Segal, Association of Employment and Learning Providers chief executive, said: “While we are generally content with the direction of travel Ofsted has taken over the new Cif, we have expressed concern at the short timetable for its introduction, especially as the current framework has only been in place for two years.
“Providers’ preparation has not been helped by the fact the Ofsted handbook has only just appeared so we need to understand how some of the new elements in the framework such as the application of the Prevent strategy and the delivery of English and maths will be judged.
“We need to ensure Ofsted recognise the differences as to how those policies apply to learners that are employed, such as apprentices.”
Stewart Segal
He added: “The establishment of regional scrutiny committees is a very welcome step.
“For independent providers, for whom a grade four can automatically mean a loss of contract and hence the possible closure of the business, having this new avenue of appeal is a very sensible reform.
“We are pleased we will be involved in ensuring those panels are fair, open and transparent.”
The new Cif handbook further sets out a plan to give the assessment of learners’ welfare, behaviour and personal development more sway over the outcome of inspections of providers from September.
During the new inspections, judgements will be made on each major type of provision, including study programmes, apprenticeships, traineeships, adult learning programmes, high needs provision and full-time 14 to 16 provision.
But inspectors will no longer make judgements on specific subject areas. Ofsted will also launch new short inspections — as short as two days — for providers previously rated good, conducted on the assumption the institution under scrutiny remains good.
Click here for an expert piece on the new Cif by former FE and skills Ofsted inspector Phil Hatton
Further education leaders have thrown their support behind FE Chartered Status after it was approved by the Queen.
The Privy Council announced on June 11 that the Queen had approved the granting of a Royal Charter to the Institution for Further Education (IFE).
It had been launched in 2013 by Lord Lingfield to pave the way for a new chartered membership organisation for high-performing FE providers.
Stewart Segal, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP), told FE Week that “IFE’s objectives to promote and celebrate professionalism in our sector will support the work that AELP and other representative groups have been doing in the sector for many years”.
“Any initiative that supports this drive is very welcome,” he said.
David Hughes, National Institute of Adult Continuing Education chief executive, said: “The Royal Charter is an important step forward for the FE sector, which needs and deserves more recognition. Now the hard work begins.
“The IFE must truly represent the best of the FE sector, in terms of quality, innovation and integrity as the sector confronts one of its most challenging times in its history.
“I’d particularly like to see it recognise the unique mission of post-compulsory FE to support the development of a truly lifelong learning society. FE does this by working with employers, providers and individuals to help people of all backgrounds, ages and circumstances to engage in learning, improve their skills, support business growth and get on in life.”
Gill Clipson, deputy chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said: “We look forward to working with the IFE to understand how it will work and the benefits it could bring to our members,” she added.
“Clearly a lot of work has been going on to achieve this status and our congratulations go to the organisation.”
It comes after concerns emerged in April that FE Chartered Status plans had “stalled”.
Plans, originally drawn up by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) for the Royal seal of approval to be granted to high-achieving FE institutions, were first revealed in July 2012.
But after confirming this month that Royal assent had been granted, Lord Lingfield said: “The new institution will give the sector its first ever chartered body.
“It will be part of the work of driving forward professionalism in FE, celebrating and building on what we do well, and bringing together the best performing organisations to take that work further.”
Further education and skills achievers took a walk on the wild side to receive their honours at this year’s City & Guilds Lion Awards.
London Zoo was the setting as TV presenter Kate Humble, along with City & Guilds managing director Kirstie Donnelly and chief executive Chris Jones helped recognise the efforts of tutors, students and a college.
The winners were Amy Rush (National people’s choice award), aged 20 and from Flint; Polaris Dyas (apprentice of the year and outstanding achiever), 20 and from Chester; Anthony Gregg (learner of the year), 41 and from London; Scott Mitchell (tutor of the year), 44 and from Chatham; and Sisira Dharmathilaka (international learner), 44 and from Sri Lanka.
The remaining winners were the Royal School of Military Engineering/MKC Training (centre of the year) headquartered in Chatham; and April Poblete (future leader), 25 and from London.
Ms Donnelly said: “This year’s winners are shaping the future workforce – from young women such as winner Amy Rush who is blazing a path for other women in the UK’s male dominated motor industry, through to the committed lecturers ensuring individuals have the skills to allow them to achieve.” See feweek.co.uk for more.
Main pic: City & Guilds chief executive Chris Jones (far left), managing director Kirstie Donnelly (third from left) and TV presenter Kate Humble (centre left) with Lion Award winners at London Zoo on June 17
Young people with learning and physical disabilities and their families gathered outside the Houses of Parliament to demand the right to choose an FE college that best suits their needs.
They brandished banners and wore T-shirts emblazoned with the “Right Not a Fight” slogan of a nationwide campaign being waged by the Association of National Specialist Colleges (Natspec).
It took place on Thursday (June 18) — two days after the University and College Union led a protest at Westminster against FE funding cuts.
The Natspec campaign was launched a year ago, just before the introduction of The Children & Families Act that promised greater choice to suitable colleges.
The special educational needs and disability code of practice also says that “the aspirations for children and young people will be raised through an increased focus on life outcomes, including employment and greater independence”.’
But a Natspec spokesperson said: “There’s a growing void between the act, the code and reality.
“Young people and their families were highlighting issues about the number of hurdles they have to jump to get into to the college they wish to attend — the lack of impartial information, advice and guidance, the endless assessments with people who often have very little understanding of their needs, and delays throughout the system.”
A survey, carried out this year by National Star College for people with physical and learning disabilities, in Cheltenham, found that out of more than 1,600 families questioned, 80 per cent had only been given information on options run by their local authority.
Meanwhile, 30 per cent had been actively stopped or discouraged from finding out about other options and 87 per cent said they had no idea how local authorities were making decisions about their child’s future.
Kathryn Rudd, principal of National Star College and chair of the Association of National Specialist Colleges, said: “Young people don’t believe they should have to fight for months to get into the college that best meets their needs and ambition.”
Further education providers have been warned they could be left with a bill for greater numbers of compulsory English and maths learners as the new numbered GCSE grades regime makes it harder to achieve a pass.
Under a condition of Department for Education (DfE) funding, providers must make 16 to 19 learners who have not achieved at least a C in English or maths resit until they pass.
But the current system’s C grade is partially the equivalent of a four under the new system and that won’t be enough for a ‘pass’.
It has prompted warnings of even more 16 to 19 English and maths learners who must continue to study to get the more difficult ‘pass’ grade.
Indeed, research by FE Week sister newspaper FE Week has discovered around two thirds of learners who achieved a C grade for maths and English GCSE last summer would be considered to not have passed under the new system — where five will be the lowest possible pass (with nine being the best).
James Kewin (pictured above left), deputy chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association, said: “Making the maths and English GCSEs harder to pass will mean colleges having to find the resources to teach the subjects to a lot more young people post-16.
“It’s going to be a case of FE having to pick up the pieces for failures with teaching in schools.”
However, a DfE spokesperson said FE providers would, up to the end of 2018/19, only have to teach maths and English to 16 to 19 learners who hadn’t reached grade four, to give “time to adjust”.
Education Secretary Nicky Morgan (pictured right) announced on June 15 that five would be a “good pass” under the new GCSE grading system.
And Ofqual has indicated that a grade five would only be awarded to the top third of pupils achieving the current C grade — so learners who previously achieved a middle or low C would have got a level four, and so not passed.
Catherine Sezen (pictured main, right), senior policy manager for 14 to 19 and curriculum at the Association of Colleges, said: “What’s particularly concerning is the plans to align the new GCSE good pass with the 16 to 19 English and maths funding condition for colleges.
“While this will be a phased approach, the detrimental effect this could have on college funding is worrying.”
Dr Lynne Sedgmore (pictued below), executive director of the 157 Group, said: “This announcement will undoubtedly add to the well documented challenges that colleges are facing in implementing policy around English and maths.”
Dr Lynne Sedgmore
The FE Week research, which focused on learners who sat GCSEs last summer only, showed that 27.3 per cent of learner grades were C for English — but under the new numerical grading rules, only a third of these (9.1 per cent) would have achieved a grade five.
In maths, 30.4 per cent of students received a C grade. However, FE Week found that only a third of these (10 per cent) would have received a grade five.
The DfE spokesperson said: “From 2019/20, we intend to align the funding condition with the new good pass at grade five.”
Hundreds of teachers and tutors are descending upon the grand setting of Berkshire’s Wellington College for two days of classroom-related talk, debate and fun.
Among the day one speakers yesterday were university technical colleges boss and former Education Secretary Lord Baker and Gazelle chief executive Fintan Donohue.
They took part in a number debates and panel sessions and are featured below, where Lord Baker outlines his views as to why apprenticeships should not be for those aged more than 25.
Also featured below is Mr Donohue session where he expressed his views on the level of entrepreneurial know-how among college boards, during a panel session hosted by Association of Colleges deputy chief executive Gill Clipson.
Lord Baker proposes ‘late 20s’ apprenticeship cut-off
People in their late 20s and 30s “shouldn’t be given apprenticeships,” former Education Secretary Lord Baker (pictured above) has claimed.
In a speech at Wellington College, in Berkshire, on day one of the Festival of Education, which counts FE Week as a key media partner, he spoke about the future of technical education. And he warned apprenticeships for older learners were “largely a re-labelling exercise”.
Lord Baker, who served as Secretary of State for Education and Science under Margaret Thatcher from 1986 to 1989, said the government had committed to a “very large” expansion in the apprenticeship movement, and that he “applauded” efforts to reach 3m starts by 2020.
But he said they “should be 3m good apprenticeships,” adding: “Many of them are now for people in their late 20s and 30s.
“Apprenticeships were never devised for those sorts of people, and shouldn’t really be given to them in my view, particularly in the public sector it’s largely a re-labelling exercise.
“The really significant levels of apprenticeship are at 16 and 18, but an apprenticeship is supposed to last for two or three or four years.
“You don’t need to spend two or three or four years as an apprentice in retail to know how to run a shop. You really don’t.”
Last academic year, learners aged 25 and above made up 37 per cent of the 440,400 apprenticeship starts. It was 45 per cent of the 510,200 starts the previous year and 44 per cent of the 520,600 apprenticeships in 2011/12.
Lord Baker also spoke about how his University Technical College (UTC) programme for 14 to 19-year-olds was developing, with 30 currently in operation and a further 20 due to open by 2017.
He said asking learners to leave school at 14 was a “challenge”, requiring a “big marketing job”.
But when pressed by FE Week on the fact both the Hackney and Black Country UTCs were closing this summer, with the latter having been rated as inadequate by Ofsted, and on recruitment and attendance problems facing a number of UTCs, Lord Baker said he accepted there were instances where the model hadn’t worked.
“Out of the 30, we have decided to close two because I’m not interested in keeping failing schools going. If I was still Secretary of State, I would close failing schools very quickly,” he said.
“We have had two that have not done well and the reason why they did not do well was they had very poor heads and governing bodies. We are now very much more involved. We sit on the board of appointments of headteachers in UTCs.”
Lord Baker said recruitment had been “sticky at the beginning” but was “now much better”, adding that the UTCs opening this September would “virtually all be fully-subscribed, some over-subscribed”.
He said: “For a UTC, which has only been going for two years, pioneering a new type of education, to get an outstanding is unique in the history of education. It’s remarkable.”
‘Governors don’t know entrepreneurship’ — Donohue
Most college governors “don’t know what entrepreneurship is,” Gazelle chief executive Fintan Donohue told Festival of Education-goers.
“I think one of the big things is that most of our governing bodies don’t know what entrepreneurship is,” he told the audience on day one of the festival.
“Let’s make it simpler and say, ‘what’s the cost and return on innovation in the organisation’.
“Governing bodies spend oodles of time monitoring I think very small amounts of money sometimes and very manageable things.
“The real cost to colleges is in innovation and growth but it’s quite invisible for most of our governing bodies.”
He added that colleges needed to be “inventive” when trying to deliver their “community mission”, and said they should turn to alternative sources of income, like local businesses, when trying to run competitions and other elements “beyond the classroom”.
“If you’re in the college system and you look at programmes of study and the funding, there is a lot of flexibility in there if you are prepared to find ways to stretch it,” he said yesterday.
“I think there will be ways in which we can do it, but there is a real possibility of doing more with students beyond the classroom. We have a mentality at the moment that we can only do what we are funded to do.
“But the truth is we have large assets, big campuses, lots of technology and resources, and if we want to deliver our community mission then I think we’re going to have to find new ways of saying ‘this doesn’t have to be funded, this is a gift from our college’.
“We can run competitions, we can do much more with it, alongside that which we’re funded to do, and I think we’re going to have to think about doing that if we’re going to give the young people, the adults, an opportunity to go beyond what the public sector is going to fund in the future.”
Peter Jones Foundation chief executive Alice Barnard was also on the panel.
She said: “We talk about employer engagement all the time, and some places have done very well with it, and some places it’s just talked about and not a lot happens.
“To have meaningful business engagement, that needs to be businesses coming into colleges. It means work placements. It means masterclasses, mentoring, business services. It means taking on apprentices.
“Government is talking about taking on 3m apprentices, but you need the businesses to commit to that. I could promise 3m apprentices right now in the same way as the government has, but if I don’t have any employers lined up, then that could take me 150 years.
“It’s really critical that we don’t just talk the talk.”
More FE and skills sector coverage from the Festival of Education will appear in a supplement with edition 143 of FE Week, dated Monday, June 29.
College lecturer Bill Fowler didn’t rest in his bid to raise funds for a cause close to his heart as he cycled more than 166 miles in under 12 hours on North Wales’s steepest mountain, writes Billy Camden.
There was no rest North Shropshire College lecturer Bill Fowler as he took on the Horseshoe Pass 12-hour Everesting Challenge raise more than £500 for a learner.
It was done in the name of level three animal management student Cerian Cowley, aged 21, who suffered a stillbirth in February and has since been on a fundraising mission for her charity Willow’s Wishes.
Named after Cerian’s stillborn baby, the charity aims to provide more cuddle cots, which allow bereaved parents to spend time with their stillborn child, at the Wrexham Maelor hospital where she gave birth.
Cerian’s family friend and course lecturer, Laura Pugh, approached engineering lecturer Bill to help with the fundraising. She said without the cot “Willow would have been placed in the mortuary away from family and friends”.
Bill Fowler
Bill said: “You can imagine the upset it [the stillborn] caused. It is awful, I couldn’t think of anything more traumatic.”
Keen cyclist Bill completed the Everesting challenge, which involves choosing a hill and cycling up and down it enough times to gain enough vertical height to make a total of 8,848 metres (the height of Mount Everest) on North East Wales’s Horseshoe Pass. It is the biggest mountain climb in North Wales in terms of height gain.
“Physically it was hard. I was caught in a headwind throughout the day which didn’t really help but I think it is more of a mental challenge,” said Bill.
“You’re literally riding a loop and once I had gone up and down for the fourteenth time I started to recognise things like a bit of litter in the hedge road. It all started to seem awfully familiar but not in a terribly good way. It was like being in a hamster wheel.”
But when times got tough, Bill set his mind on what was really important.
“In that situation you’ve just got to press on and think about the cause it was for,” he said.
“I think cycling is one of those disciplines where the pros talk about “learning to suffer”, which sounds very dramatic, but you learn to just think about other things and for me it was thinking about Willow’s Wishes.”
Cerian said: “We are all very proud of Bill and what he has achieved, with raising money, his help, generosity and completing a new personal achievement.”
From left: Laura Pugh and Cerian Cowley
He thanked all those who came along and supported him, including Laura and fellow North Shropshire College animal lecturer Jenna Motley.
Laura said: “I was there to support Bill all the way and being at the finish line was emotional not only to see Bill achieve a personal challenge but to be so selfless and help raise money for a friend of mine who has been through such a heart breaking ordeal. Bill you are a super star.”
