DfE resit policy leads to GCSE campus chaos

Colleges readying themselves for an impending Department for Education (DfE) policy have witnessed a dramatic rise in the number of English and maths GCSE exams that has left many struggling to accommodate learners.

One college even saw gridlock on nearby roads with bumper learner numbers on Tuesday (June 2) and also had to resort to using its principal’s office to host exams.

Elsewhere, principals have hired external venues or partially suspended classes to provide rooms for exams.

The increase in candidates was caused by a DfE post-16 funding policy, due from August, requiring learners with GCSE grade D in English or maths to resit, alongside taking their other studies.

Many colleges piloted the requirement this year — and found themselves overwhelmed not just by booming GCSE numbers thanks to resits, but also clashes with the A-level and vocational exam timetable.

It has left colleges pleading with awarding organisations to change timetables for next year with separate English and maths GCSE days.

Havering College of Further and Higher Education, in East London, saw a rise of 159 per cent in those taking maths GCSE, to 591, while 763 students sat English GCSEs — a 137 per cent increase on last year.

Vice principal Asfa Sohail told FE Week that the office of principal Maria Thompson (pictured) was even commandeered in the quest to accommodate learners.

Every member of staff was also enlisted to invigilate and direct learners to exams, while mini-buses were placed on standby to transport students who turned up at the wrong campus.

Ms Sohail said: “We had to hire external venues, empty out classrooms and use staff offices — literally anywhere we could find.”

She added: “We’ve got students who have failed three times and it’s knocking their confidence.

“Government needs to look at improving learners’ grades in school — we shouldn’t be getting so many through with such low grades.”

Meanwhile, East Kent College principal Graham Razey said he “had to effectively close” for three half-days to accommodate 450 candidates in rooms normally used for teaching.

At Exeter College, classes were re-roomed, a community centre was hired and 85 invigilators were drafted in to cover GCSE English, AS-level English language and other non-GCSE exams all taking place at the same time.

Assistant principal Emma Fielding said: “The focus on English and maths is critical, nobody’s denying that, but what we would ask is that the policy is properly thought through — to put that expectation on us as a sector with significant funding cuts is really difficult, and for many colleges in the long run not possible.”

And New College Swindon principal Graham Taylor said: “Our exams officer wrote to exam boards last year pleading for dedicated GCSE maths and English days because of the sheer numbers.

“They clashed with other ‘big ticket’ subjects so the logistics were a nightmare.”

A spokesperson for the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), which oversees the organisation of GCSE timetables, said: “In 2016 GCSE English/English Language will not be timetabled at the same time as any other GCSE or AS examination.

“For one of the GCSE maths timetable slots this has been possible in 2016 and further work will be taken on GCSE maths timetable slots in 2017 following the introduction of new linear specifications.”

A DfE spokesperson defended the incoming condition of funding policy and said colleges were “making good progress” in preparing to implement it.

“It is vital that all those leaving education have high standards of maths and literacy,” she said.

“That is why we want all young people who do not achieve at least a C in English or maths to continue studying until they reach that standard.”

From left: Maria Thompson, Graham Razey & Graham Taylor

Woodcock’s journey up FE ladder under way

John Woodcock, the Labour MP for Cumbria’s Barrow and Furness, was appointed Shadow Education Minister for Young People last month.

It’s a post that has seen a fair amount of change, with Mr Woodcock taking over from Yvonne Fovargue after she became Shadow Veterans Minister having had the education role for just seven months. She had gained the brief from Rushanara Ali after her tenure of a year.

Mr Woodcock takes on responsibility for 14 to 19 apprenticeships, vocational education, youth services and careers advice in Shadow Education Secretary Tristram Hunt’s team, with Liam Byrne having retained the Shadow Skills Minister brief in Shadow Business Secretary Chuka Umunna’s team.

The Labour shadow ministerial duo will be taking on Skills Minister Nick Boles, whose brief straddles both the Department for Education and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

And with a few weeks of the job under his belt, FE Week caught up with Mr Woodcock to find out what his impression of the FE sector was and what he made of his new brief.

What qualifies you for the post and why do you think you got it?

I’m delighted to get the chance to serve in this capacity.4

My experience as a constituency MP has been representing an area which has some of the country’s finest apprenticeships in BAE, and GSK and others, an FE college — Furness College, which has been rated good again by Ofsted — as well as the sixth form college which is turning around.

FE and apprenticeships have long been recognised as fundamentally important to the community and the success of the local economy that I represent and I’m looking forward to getting to grips with the challenge nationally and hopefully helping to make this debate go from one which is too often on periphery of the ways in which government can help people and businesses to get on, and be absolutely part of the mainstream conversation.

Have you ever been to/visited a FE college? What did you think?

I was privileged to put a ceremonial golden bolt into Furness College’s new building which has now been up and running for two years and is doing great stuff.

I started a summer school for 10-year-olds which took place in the college last year, and that was a great location — whenever you take young people into FE institutions that are doing well and have been able to invest in their facilities, it really does inspire those young people to want to achieve, but it can also help open their eyes to see there are many routes to the kind of success that they’ve just started thinking about, rather than simply the traditional school, sixth form, then university.

Have you ever visited an independent learning provider? What did you think?

That’s one of the things I’m looking forward to — getting out and seeing some of the best examples of how those institutions work.

What is your experience of careers guidance?

Oh it’s awful, awful, awful — this is one of the things where we have just got to get better.

I am not suggesting the system was right under the last Labour government, clearly it had real issues, but we have undoubtedly as a country gone backwards by placing responsibility on each individual school with everything else they are doing.

Too many schools do not have the capacity to reach outwards and bring people in from the world of work and it’s something no one person as a guidance counsellor could ever manage — to give the breadth of opportunities that are out there.

One school working in isolation will always find it incredibly difficult, even if it has a laser-like focus on this will always struggle to deliver, so it’s a service which I think cries out for partnership and collaboration, which has been made more difficult over the last five years, and I think we need to be rethinking our whole approach to this.

What are the top things in your shadow ministerial intray?

The difference between being a minister and shadow minister is so biting — not being able to effect change immediately in government.

BAE Systems organisation development specialist Paul West (left) with Mr Woodcock at the company’s Barrow site in April 2011
BAE Systems organisation development specialist Paul West (left) with Mr Woodcock at the company’s Barrow site in April 2011

I’m not going to pretend that I come in here as an expert with all of these answers and I think if I did I’d get pretty short shrift from the men and women who’ve been working in this field to do their best for students for many years.

So number one is getting out, listening and understanding what is happening in the range of areas across my responsibility. I am clear that we need to understand both the strengths of apprenticeships but also where we need to improve the system.

Apprenticeships have become a buzzword in Westminster of unalloyed good, and but I want to hear from the small firms who are concerned about the risk and the investment — I want to understand why that is and what governments can do to change the balance so those firms do feel it’s in their interest to take students on. I want to really get into the guts of the FE sector, to understand exactly how it adds value at the moment both for young people coming up and for lifelong learning, and what the best role of government is to aid that process.

If you could have any role on front bench in future what would you want it to be?

A few weeks into being made Shadow Education Minister for Young People is not the time when I tell you what other jobs I want to do. I’m really happy to have been appointed to a subject which is close to my heart and is enormously important for the future of our country.

What do you think are the biggest challenges for those educating and training young people today?

I recognise that the funding situation has been disrupted over the years — they don’t always feel that they’ve had a government that fully understands and values what they’ve given and is prepared to create an incentives system that rewards them in the right way for the work that they put in and the huge difference that they can make to people’s lives. I want to hear more from them about how things are on the ground and what we ought to be doing differently.

Do you have any message for the sector?

What you do is critically important, you don’t always get the credit for what you do and too often you’ve been in recent years struggling against the tide where people should have been making it easier for you. I want spend time listening to what you say before Labour comes up with any grand new announcement of how things should be.

Are you staying away from ladders (he escaped serious injury, but called himself an “eejit” on Twitter in 2012 after spending a night in hospital in 2012 having falling from a ladder while putting his wife’s belongings in his attic)?

I’ve realised anything practical is not for me. I’ve been banned from doing any kind of DIY in the house. But I’m very glad to be back.

An interview with new Business Secretary Sajid Javid was requested by FE Week following his appointment, but he was yet to respond by the time of going to press.

 

Taskforce under fire for ‘earn or learn’ name

Prime Minister David Cameron’s new troubleshooter taskforce that aims to ensure young people are “earning or learning” has started “on the wrong foot” — young people can do both, sector leaders have pointed out.

Downing Street announced on Tuesday it was launching implementation taskforces, made up of high-ranking Conservative MPs, to ensure government priorities spread across more than one department were being delivered.

The groups are due to start meeting in the next few weeks with focusses on, among others, housing, troubled families, extremism and youth unemployment — entitled by Number 10 as ‘Earn or Learn’.

It contains Skills Minister Nick Boles and his predecessor Matthew Hancock, now Cabinet Office Minister, as chair and they will be tracking progress on the government’s aim to create 3m apprenticeships by the end of the current Parliament.

Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) chief executive Stewart Segal said the move was “potentially very helpful”.

But he added: “Perhaps the first action would be to rename the group Earn and Learn which is the main feature of any good work-based learning programme.”

Former principal policy officer for the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education Alastair Thomson agreed.

“This particular grouping starts off on the wrong foot,” he told FE Week.

“There’s nothing wrong with making sure all young people are earning or learning but smart policies would try to encourage and support those who want to do both at the same time.”

Completing the make-up of the Earn or Learn taskforce will be, among others, Education Secretary Nicky Morgan, Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Ducan Smith and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Greg Hands.

A Downing Street spokesperson said the group would be “making sure policies are implemented, troubleshooting and fixing teething problems”.

Mr Thomson described the taskforce as “a good idea”.

“Too often policies get lost or distorted by departmental turf-wars,” he said, pointing to Policy Action Teams, a similar initiative set up by Tony Blair’s government in 1999 to work across departments.

“These came up with plenty of good ideas although their lasting impact was blunted by the Whitehall machine,” he said.

He warned there was a “risk” that in trying to meet the 3m apprenticeship target the government could “end up diluting quality to achieve an arbitrary volume target”.

Mr Segal said: “It’s potentially very helpful that all of the major departments concerned with employment and skills are involved in this taskforce.

“It is a longstanding AELP view that we need a more integrated approach to employment and skills programmes which results in more people securing sustainable employment.”

Martin Doel Association of Colleges chief executive said: “We will be seeking to discuss with all of the Ministers involved the essential role of colleges in delivering their ambitions.”

Lynne Sedgmore, 157 executive director, said the formation of the taskforce was a “welcome step”.

She said: “We have long believed a more joined-up approach to policy making is needed across government to achieve lasting impact and to avoid unintended consequences.”

See feweek.co.uk for the list of all MPs on the Earn or Learn troubleshooter taskforce.

 

Snowdon heights provide fitting FE farewell

Outdoor adventure students from City College Norwich (CCN) pushed themselves to the limit in a farewell to FE expedition, writes Billy Camden.

Seeking to end their time at CCN on a high, 13 learners studying an outdoor adventure course completed the ‘Summit to Sea’ challenge, climbing more than 3,300ft to the summit of Mount Snowdon before cycling 377 miles back to Lowestoft.

The gruelling test was set and planned by the level three students to complete the expedition component of their studies.

Setting out from Norwich, day one saw the outdoor enthusiasts hike to the top of Mount Snowdon and then back down in around six hours.

The group then set up their tents at a local camp site, before taking on five days of demanding cycling.

Harriet Hicks powering through the 377 mile cycle
Harriet Hicks powering through the 377 mile cycle

“The fourth day was probably the hardest,” said 18-year-old Henry Periam.

The team had to ride through the marshes of The Fens while struggling against an easterly headwind of about 30 to 40 mph, in “bitterly cold” conditions for 80 miles

“It was more mentally tough than physical,” said Henry.

“We would all get excited when there was a corner to block a bit of the weather out but no one moaned, we all just put our heads down and got on with it.”

Harriet Hicks, 18, said: “The adrenaline was pushing me on and made me get through it.

“The physical side was hard but what spurred us on was having all of our friends there to encourage us to go that extra mile.”

Course leader Adam Williams, who also took part in the challenge, said: “With the calibre of students that we had this year we thought we would do something a little bit special.”

The expedition crew reach the last leg in Norfolk
The expedition crew reach the last leg in Norfolk

He said the expedition was particularly impressive because the students — who live in Norwich — were used to terrain “as flat as a pancake”.

“For a group of students from Norfolk to complete this task at the most mountainous place in the country was definitely an eye-opener.”

He also hailed his students’ representation of their age group.

“It was the best I have ever seen a group of teenagers before. Everyone says that this generation are lazy, this, that, and the other, but this group proved that theory completely wrong,” he said.

“No one quibbled of anything, they just got on with the task in hand and saw it as a challenge that they were going to overcome as opposed to moaning about it.”

And the moment the team arrived back in Norwich was one to be remembered
for all.

“Riding into Lowestoft with a group of students who had just completed something massive got me a little bit emotional,” said Mr Williams.

“It was the first time in my career as a teacher that I felt like I could cry.”

Main pic: The team of outdoor adventure learners from CCN prepare to take on the ‘Summit to Sea’ challenge

Pictured, from left: sports activities supervisor Phil Barnard, learners Anthony Iacovazzo, aged 17, Braden Kiddell, 18, Rory Townsend, 17, Louie Seago, 18, Mo Douglas, Ariella Watson, both 19, Henry Periam, 18, Kamil Goldyn, 19, Harriet Hicks, Emma Catling, Joe Chandler, all three 18, and outdoor adventure course leader Adam Williams. Not pictured are learners Sean Brammall, 20, and Dalton Stuart, 18

 

Gloves are off for James

A talented graphic designer from Walsall College claimed the top award at a national competition after impressing with a poster design promoting the use of gloves for safety.

HND graphic design student James Breckles beat competition from hundreds of college and university learners from across the country in the contest run by The Worshipful Company of Glovers of London.

The brief was to design a “powerful and hard-hitting” safety poster which highlights the importance of wearing the appropriate protective gloves when performing potentially hazardous tasks.

James, aged 19, said: “I had a lot of fun creating my design and incorporating a super hero theme.

“Winning this competition is great as it is something I can put on my CV which will help me to stand out when applying for jobs.”

James has been invited to a formal prize giving lunch at the City of London Livery Hall next month when he is due to receive his £400 cheque prize.

Main pic: James Breckles with his winning poster

 

Learners lose sleep over homeless

South Yorkshire college learners and staff raised more than £1,000 for charity by spending a night sleeping rough on campus grounds.

The team of 40 from Dearne Valley College did the ‘sleep out’ last month to raise funds and awareness for Safe@Last, a charity that works with young homeless people.

The sponsored volunteers had just cardboard, clothing and sleeping bags, as well as hot water and soups to keep them warm during the night.

Sports tutor and event organiser John Lund said: “It is important that our
students understand that homelessness is a real problem, and one which some individuals at their age are facing for a variety of reasons.”

The college rough sleepers were visited by staff from the Safe@Last charity who spoke about the work they carry out and the importance of fundraising events.

Main pic: Dearne Valley College staff and students try to get comfy for a night of sleeping rough on campus grounds

 

The Indy Scene

At the prestigious city headquarters of the Bank of New York last month we presented the first group of 12 managers from Aramark, the incumbent caterer on the BNY (Bank of New York) Mellon site, with their level four hospitality higher apprenticeship certificates.

Andrew Main, the UK chief executive for Aramark, and Jill Whittaker, HIT managing director, made the presentations.

We have been working with Aramark and People 1st to pilot this first cohort of learners on this new higher apprenticeship programme and partnered with University College Birmingham for some of the theoretic input.

HIT has been at the forefront of hospitality management apprenticeships and Aramark already has two further cohorts undertaking this programme. It has been a sharp learning curve for the HIT trainers and assessors involved as well as our local staff who acted as mentors to the individual management apprentices at their sites throughout the country.

The benefits of the programme have already been seen within the company and one of the apprentices was able to use her level four qualification to gain a work permit to take a promotion to Aramark’s head office in America.

From HIT’s point of view, it has enabled us to develop staff with previous hospitality management experience to deliver these higher apprenticeship programmes.

It is another way of retaining and motivating proficient trainer-assessors to utilise their expertise outside of our core level two and three delivery.

As learner numbers increase, we continually require more trainer-assessors but not necessarily more management posts. Therefore to retain the best trainer-assessors without promotion prospects, we need to make their role more interesting and demanding and also provide the opportunity to increase their salary by undertaking higher apprenticeship or specialised trainer-assessor roles.

The government response to encouraging the growth of higher apprenticeships is certainly the way forward, particularly to fill the vacuum left by the polytechnic technician grade vocational programmes

With nearly 300 learners currently on level four hospitality management higher apprenticeship programmes and a further 145 on the level five care and social care leadership higher apprenticeship there is plenty of scope for our trainer-assessors.

The government response to encouraging the growth of higher apprenticeships is certainly the way forward, particularly to fill the vacuum left by the polytechnic technician grade vocational programmes that had almost disappeared with the inappropriate rush to degrees for all.

The bias between academic and vocational learning becomes irrelevant. In fact, the training of airline pilots and doctors with their combination of theory and practical training is an apprenticeship by any other name.

One of the main learning curves for HIT in delivering level four and five higher apprenticeships is the level of ability of learners put forward by their employers for these programmes. If ever initial assessments are needed, then learners who have left education without A-levels or a degree, really need to be screened for their maths, English and IT skills before commencing a higher apprenticeship.

It seems unreal that learners on these higher apprenticeships have ‘special learning needs’ that have been hidden since leaving school.

We must ensure that effective initial assessment is written into all the Trailblazer higher apprenticeship standards and provision for continuous external assessment, as it is unlikely most employers will have the skill set to undertake competence assessment of their own employees at levels four and above throughout the programme.

Similarly, with the constant changes in professional cookery products and cooking techniques, regular revision of the Trailblazer standards needs to be maintained, or the National Occupational Standards maintained and updated and mandated to be the finite skills index for the trailblazer standards.

Finally, we are likely to hear next week, half way through June and halfway through the final quarter of the academic year, if any growth cases have been approved. We will have just six weeks to spend a whole quarter’s growth.

Ideally these decisions should be released by the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) at the end of April to allow providers a full quarter to deliver. Otherwise individual providers will underperform on their growth allocations and be criticised again by the SFA.

 

Prime Minister’s apprenticeships ‘troubleshooter’ taskforce officially unveiled

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This is Prime Minister David Cameron’s new “troubleshooter” taskforce set to track government progress on its 3m apprenticeship starts by next parliament target.

It contains eight MPs including Skills Minister Nick Boles and his predecessor Matthew Hancock, who is the Cabinet Office Minister and also chairs the group.

They will be joined on the “earn or learn” taskforce by, among others, Education Secretary Nicky Morgan and Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith.

In addition to taskforce’s remit to “ support 3m new apprenticeships,” the group is also tasked with “making sure that all young people are either earning or learning” and “helping businesses to create 2m new jobs to achieve full employment”.

It is one of 10 new taskforces, including immigration and childcare, set up to track policy performance.

A Number 10 spokesperson said: “Each group will be looking whether policy is being followed through and tracking the progress of new measure in that space.

“The group will be made up of key persons in the department, making sure the policies are implemented,  troubleshooting and fixing teething problems.

“The best way to measure what they will do is to look at the key commitments we’re making in that area — in the case of earn or learn, we’ve promised the 3m apprenticeships and the work programmes with the Department for Work and Pensions to ensure young people on benefits get work experience as soon as possible.

“The meetings will be held within weeks, but they will be treated like an internal delivery meeting, and we will not be releasing details of each individual meeting.”

The make-up of each taskforce was released today by Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Oliver Letwin, who is in overall charge of the Cabinet Office and also sits on the earn or learn taskforce.

“I am publishing an updated Cabinet Committees list. Alongside the committees, the Prime Minister has created 10 implementation taskforces to monitor and drive delivery of the government’s most important cross-cutting priorities,” he said.

See FE Week edition 140, dated Monday, June 8, for more.

The earn or learn task force consists of:

Cabinet Office Minister Matthew Hancock (chair)

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Oliver Letwin
Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith
Communities and Local Government Secretary Greg Clark
Education Secretary Nicky Morgan
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Greg Hands
Employment Minister Priti Patel
Skills Minister Nick Boles