A planned strike by staff at colleges in England has been called off after the High Court handed down an injunction against industrial action.

The injunction, supported by the Association of Colleges (AoC), means the University and College Union’s planned action tomorrow cannot legally go ahead.

Its members were due to walk out over an ongoing row over pay, but the AoC challenged the UCU over the validity of a ballot of members.

The union said it had defended members’ right to strike in court, but would abide by the decision. A spokesperson said: “UCU members in colleges in England should go to work as normal tomorrow.”

Marc Whitworth, acting director of employment services at the AoC, said: “We are pleased with today’s outcome and that the court agreed in favour of the employer.

“Strike action relying on an old ballot has been prevented, which means colleges and their students can go about their day-to-day business tomorrow as normal. Our first priority is always our members, and the students they serve.”

Further education and skills has been marred by frequent change and “unsustained” initiatives, and a “lack of organisational memory” regarding past policies has resulted in an “inability to learn lessons”, a report has found.

The report, from City & Guilds and entitled Sense and Instability, also says that administering funding at local levels, for example, through local enterprise partnerships (Leps) has proved effective and points out that skills policy and initiatives need “planning, phased implementation and monitoring”.

It sets out the context that skills has flipped between departments or been shared with multiple departments 10 times since the 1980s, resulting in 13 major acts of Parliament. It also states that 61 Secretaries of State have had responsibility over the last three decades.

The 69-page report calls for stability through consensus, with an emphasis on less frequent disruptive policy changes. In particular it calls for the existing network of Leps to continue to exist for at least the duration of one more Parliament.

It also calls for better understanding of historical context to improve future policy, with references to occasions when policy has been watered-down or scrapped without realising its potential. It suggests that the business, innovation and skills (BIS) select committee holds a wide-ranging inquiry to help inform the next government’s skills policies.

Thirdly, it suggests the establishment of an organisation similar to the Office for Budgetary Responsibility for skills, in a bid to achieve “coherence through independent oversight”.

City & Guilds chair Sir John Armitt said: “They say that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

“It would be madness to ignore the evidence of three decades of skills and employment policy — yet our politicians have failed to learn from the past.

“This report is a wake-up call to all policymakers. I urge all parties — irrespective of political colours or ideology — to look and learn.”

Former Schools Minister Lord Adonis said: “Everyone responsible for policy-making and implementation must continue to challenge and improve the system.

“This report rightly highlights the need for better checks and balances on policy making so that where there is an intervention by government, or a change of direction, it is grounded in a strong evidence base that takes into consideration the lessons of the recent past.

“I hope that this paper begins a debate that is long overdue.”

The requirement for qualifications to be accredited by Ofqual before they are regulated will be lifted from next month, the qualifications watchdog chief has announced.

Glenys Stacey, Ofqual chief executive, told the Federation of Awarding Bodies (FAB) national conference in Leicester this morning that plans to remove accreditation requirement from all qualifications except GCSEs and A-levels would come into effect on November 3.

She said Ofqual was changing the way it worked, and removing barriers which “distract from validity”. It comes after the FAB raised concerns about the detail in the plans earlier this year.

She said: “Some of you will know that we are reviewing the rules and regulations to make sure they have validity at their heart, and where they don’t, and where they might encourage a tick-box approach to assessment, where they might indeed distract from validity, we will remove them.

“I can announce today that from November 3 this year, we will no longer require qualifications to be accredited before they become regulated. We will allow awarding organisations to put qualifications straight onto our register.

“Why? Because we have found that accreditation itself, a check at the start of the qualification is not an effective way of securing a valid qualification as it runs. It’s easy to assume at the moment that an accreditation process provides a vital seal of approval for a qualification but it does not.”

She said the accreditation requirement was being lifted “not without some degree of trepidation” and that it would still apply in some situations.

She added: “We will retain accreditation for A-levels and GCSEs, not because we think they are somehow more important, we don’t. It’s because of their particular nature and purpose. We regulate those qualifications using detailed and specific criteria and we expect very close comparability in the same subjects from different boards and organisations, so we will keep it for GCSEs and A-levels.

“We may well re-impose the accreditation requirement in certain other circumstances, on any qualification or awarding body as a sanction, for example, or where we’re not sure about an awarding organisation it might suit.”

She said she would be writing to awarding organisations to give more information.

Learners are turning to FE after being refused entry to school sixth forms following a change in government policy, sector leaders have suggested.

Under the government’s new study programmes, learners aged 16 to 19 have to continue to study English and maths if they fail to get a C grade at GCSE when at school.

The Sixth Form Colleges Association (SFCA) has reported a 14 per cent increase in enrolments of learners without a maths GCSE grade C or above at its member colleges and the 157 Group said some of its membership had reported learners being turned away from their school sixth forms.

James Kewin, deputy chief executive of the SFCA, told FE Week sister newspaper Academies Week: “Our enrolment survey [see page 7] published this week has shown a 14.6 per cent increase in the number of students starting a course at a sixth-form college without a GCSE in maths at grade A* to C.

“This is an astonishing finding, given there was a national increase of 4.8 per cent in the proportion of young people awarded an A* to C in GCSE maths this summer.”

He said the survey “suggested that the new funding condition had led many school and academy sixth forms to become more selective.”

Andy Gannon (pictured), director of policy at the 157 Group, said: “We have heard from several of our members that this [students not being able to continue in their school’s sixth form] is happening in their localities; that young people are being turned away because they don’t have grade C — and that it is made a condition of entry before they have arrived.

“It seems sadly inevitable that it might have happened and is another example of what is often said to be an unintended consequence of policy change driving poor behaviour.”

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “The government is spending £7.2bn to make sure every young person who wants an education or training place gets one and we expect all post-16 providers to make sure no-one is denied this opportunity.

“Giving young people the skills they need to succeed in modern Britain is all part of this government’s long term economic plan.

“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.”

The spokesperson said the DfE was unable to comment on specifics as it had not been presented with evidence of where this was happening.

 

Ofsted proposals to halve the time between inspections of good FE and skills providers have been questioned by the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL).

Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw has launched an eight-week consultation on reforms to the education watchdog’s inspection regime intended to give “much clearer focus on ensuring that good standards have been maintained”.

Currently, good FE and skills providers face reinspection up to every six years if there are no concerns to trigger an earlier revisit — but Ofsted is looking at changing that to a “short inspection” up to every three years, unless concerns trigger one sooner.

Sir Michael said: “The time has come to introduce frequent but shorter inspections for good schools and FE and skills providers.”

He added: “It’s [six years] too long for us to spot signs of decline and it’s too long for improving institutions to show that they are now delivering an outstanding standard of education.”

But Dr Stephan Jungnitz, colleges specialist for the ASCL, said: “We feel strongly that moving to more inspections isn’t the right way. We understand the need for Ofsted, but the current thinking that college professionals can’t be trusted to make sound judgements themselves over what areas need improving and see those through themselves is misguided.

“What we need is fewer inspections and more responsibility placed with college professionals to drive improvements.”

Gill Clipson, deputy chief executive at the Association of Colleges, said: “There’s a balance to be struck between allowing good and outstanding colleges to get on with the job and ensuring performance remains high. We’ll be consulting colleges to ensure our response reflects this balance.”

Also among the reform proposals was the introduction of a single common inspection framework for nurseries, schools and colleges, as exclusively revealed by FE Week two months ago.

The consultation further sets out proposals for four categories of judgements — leadership and management; teaching, learning and assessment; personal development, behaviour and welfare; and outcomes for children and learners.

“Ofsted’s decision to introduce a single inspection framework for pre-school, primary, secondary and further education (FE) will need careful implementation,” said Ms Clipson. “We understand the principle behind this decision, but will need to be convinced that training provided by FE colleges, particularly for adults in the workplace, can really be judged on the same basis as the education given to school children.”

Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), questioned the sense of another round of inspection regime reforms.

She said: “None of this helps teachers to do a better job. Ofsted doesn’t look like it knows what it wants. It has made substantial changes to school inspection frameworks or guidance on average twice every year since Michael Wilshaw became chief inspector in January 2012.”

Dr Lynne Sedgmore, executive director of the 157 Group, said: “We will be taking time to digest the full details of Ofsted’s proposals but welcome anything which signals increased trust in the professional abilities of educational leaders to maintain high quality.”

The consultation is available on www.ofsted.gov.uk and runs until December 5.

 

The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) and subcontractor EQL Solutions have revealed plans to support apprentices left unemployed after Phones 4u went into administration.

The Staffordshire-based mobile phone retailer was placed into the hands of administrators PwC on September 15 after network operator EE joined Vodafone in cutting ties with the retailer.

The firm employed around apprentices and hope emerged that some might be saved weeks later ago when PwC confirmed EE had agreed to buy 58 stores, preserving 359 jobs. Vodafone was also buying 140 stores, preserving 887 jobs. That left 362 stores closing, with 1,697 staff redundancies.

Vodafone and EE declined to comment on whether their deals involved retaining apprentices, but the SFA said a “significant number” were transferring to “other employers”.

The SFA and EQL Solutions, a subcontractor which trained the Phones 4u apprentices, announced plans to support any left unemployed on Thursday (October 9).

A spokesperson for EQL Solutions said: “Following the closure of Phones 4u last month, EQL Solutions have been in discussions with the SFA to determine the best way to support the unemployed apprentices affected.

“EQL Solutions will provide a four to six week redundancy programme tailored to support each individual’s job hunt needs.

“Apprentices with less than six months to go on their programme have also been offered the opportunity to complete their apprenticeship with EQL Solutions.

“This week, we’ve written to all effected apprentices to provide more details of options and offered further signposting to other helpful organisations they might need right now. We’ve been keeping in touch with them over the telephone and via all the usual social media channels.”

Phones 4u, which was rated as good by Ofsted in 2009, was allocated an adult skills budget of £850,274 and £287,843 for 16 to 18 apprenticeships from the SFA this academic year.

The cash funded training, through EQL Solutions, of staff that worked across 550 stores. A spokesperson for the SFA said: “Following the closure of Phones 4u last month, the SFA has been in discussions with Phones 4u and EQL Solutions to offer support to those apprentices who wish to continue and complete their apprenticeship.

“There were around 900 apprentices at Phones 4U. A significant number are transferring to other employers and apprentices with less than six months to go on their programme have been offered the opportunity to complete their apprenticeship with EQL Solutions.”

 

A Skills Funding Agency (SFA) move to allow “topping-up” on funding for new English for Speakers of Other Languages (Esol) qualifications has been welcomed — but concerns remain about the situation for 2015/16 and beyond.

Single funding rates for the Qualification and Credit Framework (QCF) Esol qualifications had led to fears that providers might be out of pocket for full time courses — a full 27-credit qualification, for example, has been set the ‘matrix’ rate of £1,265 for around just 227 hours.

But the SFA eased concerns on Tuesday (October 7) when it revealed a new system of “topping-up” to give Esol providers extra funding for longer courses. It has allowed them to claim funding for the additional hours by adding ‘non-regulated learning aims’ to the course.

The move, which only applies to the current academic year, was welcomed by the sector but the National Association for Teaching English and other Community Languages to Adults (NATECLA) called for assurances that the top-up system would continue after 2014/15.

Jennie Turner (pictured), who serves on NATECLA’s management council, welcomed the introduction of top-ups for this academic year and the “positive dialogue” that had taken place between the SFA and her organisation before the new guidance was published.

But she said: “We note that a long-term rather than a short-term fix for Esol is needed to maintain stability and allow providers to cater for the diverse needs of their communities.

“Therefore, NATECLA would like assurances that this guidance will be maintained into 15/16 and beyond.”

However, the SFA declined to give any long-term guarantee and a spokesperson said: “As part of usual agency business cycle processes, decisions for Esol for 2015/16 will be communicated alongside all other 2015/16 decisions. We appreciate the sector’s work with us on this area.”

Ms Turner said she was disappointed the SFA declined to give a long-term guarantee, but added: “We will continue to seek these assurances and gather feedback from our members about how the new arrangements are working.”

The new QCF qualifications have been under development since February last year when the SFA set out the principles to shape the future of Skills for Life Esol.

Steve Hewitt, funding manager at London’s Morley College, told FE Week: “I’m very pleased the SFA has allowed topping up of Esol funding, because the fixed rate would not have been sufficient.

“This is a really sensible move over something that could have had a significant impact and had been of serious concern to a very large number of Esol providers.”

 

The independent learning provider (ILP) sector has been laid down the challenge of getting more involved in skills competitions.

Stewart Segal, Association of Employment and Learning Providers’ chief executive, said he wanted more of his members involved in events such as WorldSkills following the TeamUK’s success at EuroSkills, collecting three gold and six silver medals

Currently, around 80 per cent of competitors in national UK skills competitions are drawn from colleges, with the remainder split between ILPs, employers and universities.

Mr Segal told FE Week there was a move towards increasing ILP learner numbers competing in the Skills Show and WorldSkills, but that there were a number of barriers currently in place.

“I would definitely encourage private providers to get involved in WorldSkills,”
he said.

“The key thing about successful competitions and successful Skills Shows is that they bring that important careers advice and guidance for young people — they’re not something that’s just an add-on.”

He added: “Part of the problem with getting involved with the Skills Show or Skills Show experience event is about flexile location.

“Colleges tend to be located geographically — they can say ‘this is what we offer in this area, these are the employers’, they can get involved with local events and with regional skills competitions, whereas the big providers tend to operate nationally, so this can act as a barrier.

“In terms of competitions as well, many more of the learners at private providers tend to be apprentices and are employed, and may struggle to get time off work to train and attend competitions, so there is a point around encouraging employers to see the importance of it.”

However, Mr Segal, who was recently appointed to the board of Find a Future, which organises the Skills Show and Team UK’s entry in international skills competitions, said he hoped his involvement could make a difference.

“I think more and more providers are seeing the benefits of being involved,” he said.

Find a Future chief executive Ross Maloney agreed, saying Mr Segal’s inclusion on the board was to “reflect the make-up of the sector in the widest sense”.

He said: “Stewart and I are very clear we’ve got to do more engagement around private providers.

“We need to make sure providers understand the benefit of competition involvement,
and we’ve cracked that to a degree with colleges but we’ve got to do more work in
the private sector.”