A singing science lecturer from Middlesbrough College narrowly missed out on a $1m prize recognising the world’s best teacher.

Dr Richard Spencer, who encourages learners to join in science-inspired role-playing, YMCA-style dance routines and reworkings of popular songs with lyrics including ‘Don’t blame it on the phosphate’, was the only teacher in Europe to make the shortlist for the £674k Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize.

The A-level biology lecturer was flown to Dubai on March 15, along with the other finalists from across the world, for the award ceremony attended by former US President Bill Clinton and ex-British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

American-based English teacher Nancie Atwell was named the over winner, but Mr Spencer was commended.

He praised Ms Atwell as a “classroom teacher through and through” and said: “I do not see this as the end, but as a beginning of something unknown and exciting with lots of new opportunities for me and the other runners up.”

 

Former presidents of the Association of Colleges (AoC) have welcomed the election of John Widdowson (pictured above) as next year’s president and offered their advice to him on the role.

Mr Widdowson, principal of New College Durham, will take over the AoC role on August 1 from Exeter College principal Richard Atkins, who said Mr Widdowson would “work tirelessly to get the best deal for colleges”.

FE Commissioner David Collins, who was the first AoC president, was among those who offered their tips for the job.

“Being president of the AoC isn’t easy at the best of times but John is coming into the role when colleges are facing exceptional pressures,” he told FE Week.

“My advice would be to continue to emphasise the key role the sector plays in supporting the country’s economic and social development and to continue to push hard for colleges to play an even greater role in this regard in the future.

“More support to enable colleges to deliver higher levels of technical education independently of the university sector would be particularly welcome.”

To be president of the AoC and run a college at the same time you need “stamina and resilience” according to Maggie Galliers CBE, and “organisation” said Michele Sutton CBE.

You also need to be able to talk to ministers, policy makers, and foreign dignitaries, “as though you do it every day of the week”, said Dame Pat Bacon.

Ms Galliers, current chair of governors at City College Coventry, said: “My advice would be to pace yourself and prioritise well so that all parts of what you’re trying to achieve are getting the right level of attention.”

Bournville College principal Ms Sutton and South Cheshire College governor Dame Pat both urged Mr Widdowson to enjoy the presidential experience.

Ms Sutton said: “Enjoy the opportunity and be prepared to speak your own mind — which I know John will.”

Dame Pat said: “It’s tough — I’ve
never worked harder in my life than I did that year. But take the opportunities as they come because every year is different because it’s a different point in the political cycle.”

One experience all incoming presidents appear to dread is the president’s speech opening the AoC Conference, when, as Ms Sutton put it “there’s going to be a thousand people sitting in the hall waiting for pearls of wisdom”.

Dame Pat’s advice for the speech was to “take advice, but do it with an individual approach”. “It is your one opportunity to put your stamp on the presidency and how you’re going to do it,” she said.

Mr Widdowson said: “I want to help the Association of Colleges secure a positive future for further education, confronting the practical issues we face and sustaining the values and vision that colleges represent.”

 

Former Learning and Skills Improvement Service chair Dame Ruth Silver (pictured) has now been appointed to chair a Scottish Government commission on widening access to university.

Dame Ruth, who was principal of London’s Lewisham College for 17 year until 2009, is to lead work aimed at ensuring more students from disadvantaged backgrounds in Scotland can succeed at university.

The commission was announced in November as part of the Scottish Government’s Programme for Government, guaranteeing a move towards 20 per cent of university entrants coming from the most disadvantaged 20 per cent of society.

Further Education Trust for Leadership founding president Dame Ruth, who was born in Lanarkshire, said: “I welcome
the opportunity to lead such an important piece of work. The commission begins
and benefits from a great ambition
with its clarity of task, timescale and intended outcome.

“More importantly Scotland has a solid and creative foundation in widening access and knows how can be done. This next phase, supported by the Commission, is to find ways to go deeper and ensure all members of our community have every opportunity to succeed.”

 

Labour’s pledge to axe apprenticeships at level two  came under attack once again when Shadow Junior Education Minister Yvonne Fovargue spoke at NCFE’s policy conference in Central London.

Ms Fovargue told delegates at the Delivering on learner outcomes: spotlight on youth employment conference that level two was still “valued” but needed to be “rebranded” to protect the apprenticeship brand — however delegates and fellow panellists questioned whether the plan was “realistic”.

The event on Tuesday (March 17) came just a week after Labour’s Shadow Business Secretary Chukka Umunna faced an audience similarly sceptical towards the policy at the FE Week Annual Apprenticeship Conference.

Ms Fovague told the NCFE conference that all of the 80,000 apprenticeships a-year Labour had promised to create in the next parliament would be level three or above.

“That does not mean level two is not valued but that level two will not be branded as an apprenticeship,” she said.

“It doesn’t matter what it’s called, it needs to be there as a stepping stone, but an apprenticeship needs to be recognised by an employer at an A level, and they know what it is.”

However, she admitted that neither she nor Mr Umunna and Shadow Skills Minister Liam Byrne knew what the level two qualification would be called.

Conference chair and BBC broadcaster Kirsty Lang asked if it was “realistic” to abolish level two apprenticeships, given many jobs in care and construction were at level two.

However, Ms Fovargue denied this was the case, and argued that workers would still need level three to allow them to progress.

Ms Fovargue acknowledged there had been a lack of “consistency” in qualifications for young people, and was challenged by fellow panellist Laura-Jane Rawlings, chief executive of charity Youth Employment UK, who said Labour’s plans would add to the inconsistency.

However, Ms Fovargue argued the move would ensure “the brand of apprenticeship is consistent”.

Ms Rawlings, whose charity helps young people into work, said inconsistency over qualifications had led to confusion among employers.

“Who’s educated our employers to be able to translate the qualifications on a young person’s CV?” she said.

“We’re constantly changing grade boundaries or the names of qualifications, so when they get a CV in from a young person who might have a diploma or a BTec or NVQ or a GCSE or a grade two, what does that mean?

“Because actually you probably need to be an education specialist to understand it.”

Ms Rawlings also revealed youth unemployment could be a bigger problem than official figures suggest, as if young people did not ‘sign-on’ for benefits, but were supported by friends or family, they would not be included in the statistics.

“The Fabian Society earlier this year estimated that alone in London 15,000 young people were unaccounted for,” she said.

“Across England, it could be 50,000 so the national figure of 750,000 doesn’t take in those hidden unemployed people.”

One of the key problems she said, was careers advice — and her comments were backed by findings of an NCFE survey, released at the conference, which found nearly a quarter (24 per cent) of respondents were not fully informed of their options and only 18 per cent would even consider taking on an apprenticeship.

The survey also revealed 48 per cent thought youth unemployment should be the top priority for the next government.

Liberal Democrat peer Lord Storey said that in government, his party would like the National Careers Service to provide “high quality careers advice” which was “available to all when needed”, as he said it had been originally intended to do.

He added the party would reinstate the legal requirement for young people to gain work experience, as well as encouraging school children to visit workplaces, FE colleges and universities “so these are not just words they know nothing about”.

Ms Fovargue said Labour would set up careers “hubs” to offer careers advice, which she said “would be a top priority for the Labour government”.

However, Lord Storey pointed out the content of party manifestos was not the only important factor, but also “what goes actually from those manifestos into government at the end”.

Ms Rawlings agreed, adding: “Whatever government we get needs to make sure that they spend time talking to practitioners.”

Main pic: Shadow Junior Education Minister Yvonne Fovargue

Further Education providers in the north and south of England have been named as key partners in a new national training college for the nuclear industry.

Bridgwater College, in Somerset, and Lakes College, in Cumbria, will form part of the National College for Nuclear — with Bridgwater set to join EDF Energy and the University of Bristol to form the college’s South West hub, and Lakes College partnering with Sellafield Ltd and the University of Cumbria for the northern hub.

The announcement was made today (March 20) by Business, Enterprise and Energy Minister Matthew Hancock as part of the National Colleges project to create specialist technical training opportunities in areas facing skills shortages.

He said: “It’s expected that the nuclear industry will need 30,000 new employees over the next decade and the Nuclear College will equip young people with the skills they need.”

National Colleges for manufacturing, wind energy, creative and cultural industries, HS2 and fracking are also being developed.

The government has committed £80m funding for all of the National Colleges.

Bridgwater College vice principal Andy Berry said: “We are delighted to be part of this incredibly exciting opportunity to develop a National College for Nuclear.

“We have a long history of working with the nuclear industry and in particular, with EDF Energy, with whom we have developed facilities and training opportunities that have had a significant impact on our communities.

“The experience we have of partnering with industry alongside delivering extremely high quality qualifications will enable us to create a higher technical and professional curriculum that addresses skill and capability gaps and maintains and improves educational standards in the nuclear sector.”

Lakes College principal Chris Nattress said the provider’s involvement in the project would “provide excellent national opportunities for our region”.

“The National College has been specifically created to fill a shortfall in national nuclear related skills and design employer-led courses and training for the nuclear industry. This will ensure communities in West Cumbria and beyond can benefit directly from the training employers need,” he said.

Main pic: Business, Enterprise and Energy Minister Matthew Hancock

 

‘Cushioning’ agreement with BIS limits worst of adult skills cuts to 24 per cent

The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) has struck an eleventh hour deal to ‘cushion’ funding cuts at 24 per cent for the non-apprenticeship part of the adults skills budget (ASB), as opposed to a maximum of 32 per cent in their initial modelling.

Peter Lauener, SFA and Education Funding Agency (EFA) chief executive (pictured), wrote to providers late last month outlining a cut of a quarter for the non-apprenticeship part of the ASB.
However, this did not account for the new allocation protections given to Traineeships and English and maths.

To afford the additional protection, providers delivering no apprenticeships, traineeships nor English and maths would face cuts to their ASB as high as 32 per cent.

It is understood that allocations for 2015/16 had been due out Tuesday (March 17), but with officials at the SFA deep in talks about how to bring the biggest possible cuts down to 24 per cent they were pushed back to today..

It remains unclear how much the cushioning will cost, although FE Week understands the deal has been agreed on the basis it will all be paid for by recycling a predicted underspend from the current year adult skills budget allocations.

Martin Doel, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, told FE Week: “Any form of relief would be welcome even at this late stage, but can’t disguise the fact that this is still a very significant cut that will have serious consequences in terms of reduced participation in the ability of colleges and providers to respond to genuine need.”

The SFA has so far declined to comment on the deal. However, a spokesperson told FE Week yesterday: “We have previously said allocations will be issued this week. We are on track to deliver that.”
Mr Lauener assured providers last month that they would be contacted to discuss their allocations.

“As in previous years, my teams in the SFA and the EFA will be reviewing the combined impact of final allocations once these are issued in March 2015 and will
be reviewing the financial forecasts returned by colleges in July 2015,” he wrote late last month.

“We will also contact those of you most affected by the reductions in the other adult skills budget to discuss the implications of this for your organisation.”
It is understood that a number of colleges have already been contacted.

Editorial: Credit where due

The funding cuts that are being issued to providers in their 2015/16 allocations are devastating. This is unquestionable and a source of shame and short-sightedness by those in government.

So it’s difficult to feel truly happy about anything that isn’t an entirely new and fair settlement that adequately credits the FE and skills sector.

However, the Skills Funding Agency has been dealt the terrible hand it has — that of a massively (and once again) reduced budget with which it must act as the middle man.

So fair play to it for doing what it could and coming up with a deal that, while still resulting in reduced funding all around, could have been a whole lot worse.

Its idea to recycle funding to cushion the impact a bit might just be the difference between survival and shutting up shop for good at colleges and independent learning providers up and down the country.

And let’s not forget this deal was formulated and thrashed out in the short time the agency had to get allocations out due to just how late the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills was in getting its grant letter out.

But to return to the more pressing story, the one that simply cannot be overlooked, it remains a huge short-sighted cut from a government that talks the talk on adult skills, but is failing to deliver on resources.

Chris Henwood