Latest news from FE Week

Lecturer’s Everest challenge for stillbirth cause

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 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.”

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.”

Visit www.indiegogo.com/projects/willow-s-wishes#/story to donate to Willow’s Wishes.

Principals, chief executives and bricklaying tutor honoured by the Queen

More than 20 FE and skills-related figures were among the 1,163 people to have received an award in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

City and Islington College principal and chair of the Commission on Adult Vocational Teaching and Learning (Cavtl) Frank McLoughlin was chief among these with a knighthood.

The remaining awards were made up of five CBEs, 11 OBEs, seven MBEs and a BEM (British Empire Medal). Six of these (including Sir Frank) went to college principals or chief executives, one went to a governor, another to a head of student life, another to a bricklaying tutor and one to a former college higher education manager.

There was also recognition for skills provision outside the college environment with Cumbria-based independent learning provider Gen2 Training chief executive Mike Smith picking up an OBE.

Further skills honours for the business world came for Rotherham engineering firm Newburgh Engineering chair and managing director Vincent Middleton with an OBE, while South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership (SEMLEP) chair, Helena Kennedy Foundation chair and founder, and former principal of Milton Keynes and Cambridge Regional colleges Ann Limb received a CBE.

Click on image below to enlarge and click here for even more feweek.co.uk coverage of the honours.

Stewart Segal, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, said: “It’s good to see that a wide range of people across the sector have received awards.

“In the independent sector, Mike Smith’s championing of skills training in the North West has been fantastic and his OBE is richly deserved. We hope to see more independent providers recognised in future honours lists.

“We have worked closely with Ann Limb in the development of skills and employment within the sector so we are equally pleased about her CBE. And we were pleased to be part of the Cavtl initiative and therefore we are delighted about the knighthood for Frank McLoughlin.”

Martin Doel, Association of Colleges chief executive, said: “Congratulations to all our FE sector colleagues, but most particularly to those in our member colleges whose tireless work has been recognised.

“Every year principals, governors and other staff are rewarded for their dedication to FE and we are pleased to see such a number again this year.”

Dr Lynne Sedgmore CBE, executive director of the 157 Group, said: “We offer our congratulations to all those who have been honoured for the important work they do in FE and skills, which has enormous value for individual learners, employers, the economy and society.”

College project for Philippines raises £5k

South Gloucestershire and Stroud College (SGS) students taking part in a project designed to help those in need in the Philippines have raised more than £5,000.

The learners from courses across the college have been getting ready for the trip of a lifetime by raising the funds during this academic year through events such as bake and jumble sales, bag-packing and performances.

Now in its fourth year, the 18-day college project involves the students working in the Philippine Community Fund School (PCF), and also at drop-in and reintegration centres run by three other charities which support street children.

Health and social care learner Billie Rogers, aged 18, was part of the project last year and is returning for her second year. “Working with PCF and other charities is a great opportunity for someone lacking in self-confidence such as myself to break out of their shell by committing to helping those less fortunate,” she said.

Main pic: From left: Clark Alltoft, Maria Meredith, Josh Doidge, Tim, Eleanor Ford and Kheamah Powell

Sector meets Shadow Minister for Young People in ‘listening mode’ as Woodcock takes part in FE Week event at Parliament

New Shadow Minister for Young People John Woodcock MP said he was “in listening mode” at a special FE Week event at the Houses of Parliament to introduce him to the sector.

The event on Tuesday (June 16) gave 180 representatives from providers, colleges and awarding bodies the chance to tell the Labour MP what opposition policies they would like to see proposed in the new Parliament.

Mr Woodcock said: “I am very much in listening mode. I need to understand from all of you what’s happening in the sector… and what your sense is of the big challenges facing you.”

He said Labour had “palpably failed” to convince the public it could do better than the Conservatives at the election.

“And that requires some sense of determination yes, that we will do better next time, but also some humility,” he said.

“So we need as an opposition to reassess with you, what was right, what was wrong and not going into this simply committed to saying the same things as we were over that last five years with the same results.”

Key on providers’ list of concerns were issues around provider engagement.

Mike Motley, managing director of TQ Training, told the Shadow Minister: “Employers’ involvement with apprenticeships is at about 14 per cent in this country which is paltry.”

When Mr Woodcock asked why engagement was so low, and what government could do, Mr Motley told him incentives were key.

He said: “It’s about showing them the real benefit and we do all we can through the provider network but I don’t think enough is done from a government perspective.”

Mr Motley said reaction to the apprenticeship grant for employers, an incentive payment for those who take on apprentices, was that it was too bogged down in bureaucracy.

He said: “The other issue with employers is size — 97 per cent of employment in this country is through small and medium-sized enterprises [SMEs] and they are the hardest to engage.”

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Click here for event programme, including list of attendees and here for Mr Woodcock’s exclusive post-event interview with FE Week in which he said government had made a “dog’s breakfast” of apprenticeship funding

John Hyde, executive chair of HIT Training, said employers needed “stability” in order to commit to apprenticeships.

“If the government wants 3m apprenticeships, they’ve got to forget Trailblazers and just get on with what we can do,” he said.

“We haven’t got time to change all the programmes and all the problems that are going to come with it — it’s either 3m apprenticeships or Trailblazers, take your pick.”

Guy Helman, chief executive of the provider Impact Futures, blamed government strategy for the lack of SME engagement.

“I’d like to know if there’s going to be an employer engagement policy where actually deciding on policy we’re going to engage with the 97 per cent of SMEs out there in stead of the 3 per cent who are the larger employers,” he said.

Mr Woodcock said that while he couldn’t say what the government planned to do about the issue, he could “absolutely recognise the need” to engage differently.

“Having seen the way that Whitehall and ministers work from the inside, I can understand why government often does engage with blue chip employers because they have the economies of scale,” he said.

“But it’s unquestionable that the system is not delivering for small businesses.

“Recognising that problem is not the same as solving it, but I think absolutely we do have to work from that basis.”

Key to this, he said, would be understanding why apprenticeships were not “suitable” for small employers and how to communicate better with SMEs.

He added: “FE cannot continue in perpetuity to be the second or third cousin to other areas of education.

“It is extraordinary what many of your institutions have been able to achieve over these last few years given the squeeze — not simply financial squeeze but a squeeze on aspirations from a government which talks to universities, talks to schools and in many ways fails to understand what you are capable of.”

Main pic above, from left: panel members Richard Atkins, Association of Colleges president, Stewart Segal, Association of Employment and Learning Providers chief executive, Angela Middleton, chief executive of MiddletonMurray, Nick Linford, director of FE Week publisher Lsect, John Woodcock MP and Paul Steer, OCR head of policy and public affairs

All three? You wooden believe it!

Three carpentry students from West Suffolk College took first, second and third places in a national joinery competition.

Competing at the Worshipful Company of Joiners and Ceilers event in London this month, the learners beat more than 20 students from different colleges who were all tasked with making a traditional wooden sash window from drawings.

The competition has never seen all three top places taken by students from the same college.

The winners were level three carpentry learners Rowan Dewsbery, aged 19, in first place, Elliot Hall, 20, in second place and Conor Willmott, 18.

Brian Turner, lecturer in wood trades at West Suffolk, said: “I am so proud of our students. They are all excellent carpenters and joiners and I expect them to go on to great careers after winning this honour.”

Main pic: From left: Elliot Hall, Rowan Dewsbery and Conor Willmott

‘Watch out lesson observation — we’re coming to get you’

Ofsted is ending its system of graded lesson observation. It’s a subject that leant itself to the theme a conference on June 17 at the University of Wolverhampton’s Centre for Research and Development in Lifelong Education (Cradle). Dr Lorna Page was there and outlines the event.

The first national conference dedicated to the issue of lesson observation was entitled Lesson Observation: new approaches, new possibilities. It attracted lecturers, teachers, researchers and managers from as far afield as Guernsey.

It gave a much-needed platform for delegates to gather, discuss and reflect about the important and timely issue of lesson observation.

Launching the day’s proceedings was Professor Alan Tuckett, who reinforced the significance of the conference at a time when Ofsted finally recognises that graded lesson observations are not an effective or appropriate way to capture quality in learning and teaching.

Professor Tuckett’s aim for the day was that we should all leave pulsating with brilliant ideas about lesson observation.

Dr Matt O’Leary, the first of two keynote speakers, gave an engaging, informative account about the need for teaching to be an evidenced-based profession.

He used the idea of Japanese knotweed being a metaphor for lesson observation — the unwelcome visitor that is quickly colonising teachers’ professional lives.

Delegates were then fortunate to be able to call upon expert voices and join a variety of focus workshops, one of which was my own. It was entitled The impact of lesson observation on practice, professionalism and teacher identity.

The workshops were presented under four themes — making the transition to ungraded models of observation; recent research studies in lesson observation; peer observation/coaching and mentoring; and lastly, innovations and developments in observing classroom practice

I joined Dr Ann LaHiff’s session which explored ‘Maximising vocational teachers’ learning: The developmental significance of observations’. She gave a passionate address to illustrate how lesson observation is a complex phenomena; that it’s more than just ‘watching’.

By the time we paused for coffee, delegates were cheerfully absorbed in exchanges relating to their own experiences of lesson observations. The energy and level of discussion that ensued illustrated how contentious the topic of lesson observation is, both for observers and observees.

Lots of nodding and positive murmurs confirmed that the findings from my own research on lesson observation resonated with the many delegates who attended my session.

Discussions that followed suggested that ungraded observations are being trialled around the country; however, they are bringing problems of post observation feedback, particularly the vocabulary being used by observers — how do you say a lesson is ‘good’ without suggesting it’s a grade two?

While the rain made attempts at dampening the campus’s grounds, the same could not be said inside the canteen where delegates were eagerly sharing their morning’s experiences and tweeting under the hashtag #obsconf2015.

Following lunch, Dr Phil Wood’s impassioned keynote talk called for a different type of observation: lesson study. This type of observation sees teachers planning collaboratively and observing the learners, not the teachers.

Dr Wood gave a compelling argument to state that learning is hidden, only elements of it can be seen — classrooms are complex adaptive systems and lesson study can be used as a system for supporting deep discussion on enhancing professional capital.

How do you say a lesson is ‘good’ without suggesting it’s a grade two?

‘Using lesson observation to promote teacher-efficacy’ was the final session I attended. Terry Pearson facilitated table discussions about whether lesson observation could promote teacher self-efficacy. Furthermore, he encouraged delegates to participate in practical challenges to demonstrate their own perceived self-efficacy. The overarching point Mr Pearson conveyed was we should be using lesson observation to address staff development needs, not to identify staff development needs.

To conclude the day’s events, delegates reconvened to dissect the issues addressed and pose questions that hitherto had been examined during the day.

Far too quickly, the conference came to a close. At the start of the day, Professor Tuckett’s aim was that we would all go away ‘pulsating with brilliant ideas about lesson observation’. I think it’s fair to say not only were we pulsating, we were positively reverberating — all I can say is, watch out lesson observation, we’re coming to get you.

Is it really time for the UK to go Dutch?

Kirstie Donnelly considers whether in looking abroad for a model skills system — with the Netherlands offering the latest template — we neglect lessons that might be learned closer to home.

The latest country to emulate, apparently, is the Netherlands, with Skills Minister Nick Boles this month advising MPs to look there for a ‘transferable and applicable’ education system.

And it’s true the Dutch set a good example — ninth to our 20th in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development school rankings, with lower youth unemployment.

As the government will know, Dutch teens can opt for interchangeable pathways that don’t restrict what they do at 18, and more than half take a vocational route. That’s a figure we in this sector can only dream of, so perhaps he’s right that it’s time to ‘Go Dutch’.

But let’s take a step back because we’ve been here before. It was only recently that debate in FE and skills was dominated by the German model, and we all remember the spirited discussion about the merits of the Swedish schools model.

We should be advocating continuity over constant tampering, set within the UK’s own unique economic and social context

Yet evidence then emerged suggesting the German approach wasn’t the best fit for the UK, and that the ability of the Swedish model to transform school standards was questionable.

What they want is evidence-based policy reform, stable funding and the freedom to respond to local demand.

And the truth is, we’re already embracing the most relevant aspects of the Dutch design, making good progress towards enhancing flexibility and expanding access to technical options, for example via university technical colleges and career colleges.

During the election campaign there was endless debate about apprenticeships, and giving vocational education parity of esteem.

This suggests we are moving in the right direction, in allowing young people to pursue alternative professional and technical education routes while also keeping their options open, as is the case in the Netherlands.

But realistically, we’re not simply going to remake the UK system in the image of the Netherlands — or another country we admire.

Ultimately, I’m not sure this tendency to look abroad with rose-tinted glasses is that helpful. It overlooks the fact we are rarely comparing like with like.

Already, it’s clear that beyond the general emphasis on flexibility, core aspects of the Dutch system are not easily transferable.

There are definitely elements of the Dutch model that could work here, and we clearly have a good deal to learn from the experiences of other nations. However, it is also important to learn from Britain’s prior experiences — (something we know from our Sense and Instability research into 30 years of skills policy) — is not done nearly enough.

Certainly, it’s important for policy-makers to look at the most effective elements of the world’s best education and skills systems. But there is also a limit to what this can instructively tell us about our own.

As the Minister pointed out about the German model, every country has its own unique economic and social cultures and so we also need to look closer to home. That’s not to simply accept the status quo. But change has got to be incremental and we should be advocating continuity over constant tampering, set within the UK’s own unique economic and social context.

So let’s rephrase the question. Rather than looking abroad for what is ‘transferable and applicable’, let’s raise our voices about the lessons we can offer to other countries.

Education is a vital export market for the UK, yet too often it feels like we focus only on our shortcomings and not our successes. By all means, let’s look at what the Dutch can do for us, but let’s look at what we can do for the Dutch and the rest of the world too.

Click here for an expert piece outlining the Dutch Vet system and comparing it to that of England by academic Jeroen Onstenk

Adult learners’ struggles to achieve recognised at lavish annual awards ceremony

Adult learners who battled against the odds, against self-doubt and previous bad experiences to return to education were honoured at the Adult Learners’ Week (ALW) awards.

The award winners and nominees, who ranged in age from 19 to 85, as well as the tutors, projects and employers who helped them get there, received their awards at an uplifting ceremony near London’s Trafalgar Square on Monday (June 15).

Also in attendance were senior figures from the Skills Funding Agency, Association of Colleges, Association of Employment and Learning Providers, Find a Future, colleges and independent learning providers among others.

The awards came as part of ALW — seven days of events, activities and campaigns to celebrate and raise awareness of lifelong learning, organised by the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (Niace).

David Hughes (pictured below), Niace chief executive, said: “Awards like this are very special. It’s an emotional evening, because some of those winners are just amazing and it’s just sometimes important in our society to say ‘let’s celebrate people who have never really been recognised before’.

“And the impact that has on them and their families and the people around them is immense.”

The outstanding individual award winner was Lee Hughes, aged 30 and from Barnsley, who left school with no qualifications and fell into drug addiction.

But after kicking his habit and studying an Access to HE diploma at Northern College, he is now reading modern history at Sheffield Hallam Unviersity.

“It’s surreal to win the award,” he said. “I’d been written off a few years ago and so to get an award for learning and what I’ve done is mind boggling.”

Lee said he felt the awards were important to inspire other learners.

“It’s championing further adult education, so the people who win awards can go out and share their experiences,” he said.

“It’s never too late to learn – I’m doing things I’d never dreamed of doing a few years ago.”

Winner of the newly-introduced patron’s award, chosen by Niace patron HRH Princess Anne, Adele Tilley, aged 26 and from Leicester, agreed.

“I think it spurs people on and it shows people around you that you can achieve what you want to achieve,” she said.

“Even if you didn’t set out like that from the beginning, you don’t have to be a high achiever from the beginning to be a high achiever in the end.”

Adele grew up in care, which had a huge impact on her schooling, and didn’t return to learning until she was 21, having escaped an abusive relationship.

She completed GCSEs in maths, English and ICT, went on to do an access diploma in business management and is now working to gain a master’s degree at De Montfort University.

“Starting out was the hardest challenge, taking that first step,” she said.

“After that, everything else gets easier, as your knowledge grows so does your confidence.

“I feel totally honoured and elated at the minute — to have won the award is an amazing experience for me.

“I’m sure what I’m going to do in the future to be honest – there are so many opportunities I could take up, I’m going to finish my masters see how the land lies then and take it from there, but whatever it’s going to be it’ll be big.”

However, amid the celebrations there was a sombre note – with more and more chunks being taken from the Adult Skills Budget as part of the austerity cuts, Mr Hughes said he was concerned the that opportunities which this year’s award winners had grasped would not be available in the future.

“We’ve got a real fight on to make sure there’s public investment to help people who didn’t get a chance the first time round to have another go,” he said.

“Because when they do their lives are transformed, the lives of the people around them are transformed and businesses are transformed.”

ALW, which ran from June 13 to 19, also saw taster courses and have-a-go sessions up and down the country, offering people the chance to try their hands at hundreds of different skills, from refereeing, circus performing and ukulele to online safety, rocket building and digital photography.

Main pic above: Andrea Sanders (left), European Social Fund outstanding individual, Katie Crisp (right), European Social Fund national young adult learner, Angus Gray (centre left), head of European Social Fund division at the Department for Work and Pensions with members of the Wiltshire Scrapstore team, who won the European Social Fund national project award

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‘Back to class Mr Boles’

In the spirit of ALW Labour MP Barry Sheerman (pictured right) called for Skills Minister Nick Boles to be sent back to the classroom.

Mr Sheerman made the comments at the House of Commons ALW reception on Tuesday (June 16).

“We have got to fight back, positively, creatively [against funding cuts],” he said.

“I respect Nick Boles as a minister and his passion for this area, and we’ve got to educate him, transform him and get him on our side, because we aren’t going to go under with a whimper, we are going to fight our corner.”

Lee Hughes, who picked up this year’s outstanding individual ALW award, also spoke at the event, praising his college, Northern College, but said he was “baffled” by the funding cuts, which he described as “counterproductive and wrong”. “Compare my meagre education to those in power now,” he said.

“Surely if I can spot the flaws in slashing adult education funding, and
the devastating effect it will have on people, then one would think they could spot it too.”

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Adult Learners’ Week 2015 National Award Winners

Patron’s Award

Adele Tilley, 26, Leicester

President’s Award

Humber Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP)

Outstanding Individual Award

Winner: Lee Hughes, 30, Barnsley

Finalist: Ishenaisu Ntaibu, 45, Bradford

Finalist: John Pierre-Madigan, 49, Huddersfield

Finalist: Vera Benfield, 85, Croydon

European Social Fund Outstanding Individual Award

Andrea Sanders, 48, Barnsley

European Social Fund National Young Adult Learner Award

Katie Crisp, 19, Cornwall

European Social Fund National Project Award

Wiltshire Scrapstore

Digital Learning Award

Keith Rogers, 43, Canterbury

National Employer Award

Winner: Screwfix

Finalist: Canley Food Packers

Finalist: ZF Lemforder UK LTD

Learning for Work National Individual Award

Jami Blythe, 37, Sunderland

Young Adult Learner of the Year National Award

Mohammed Mahyoub, 23, Warrington

National Project Award

Winner: Back in the game

Finalist: Money House

Finalist: Right Direction — West Yorkshire Community Rehabilitation Company

Tutor of the Year Award

Winner: Karen Scott, 47, Leicester

Finalist: Joan Murray, 60, Skipton

Finalist: Bernadette King, 50, Liverpool

What’s in a name? What’s in an apprenticeship?

The government announced its first measures aimed at helping it achieve the target of 3m apprenticeship starts by the end of this Parliament. David Harbourne assesses the measures, including the provision for legal protection of the ‘apprenticeship’ term.

When the government announced that the word ‘apprenticeship’ is to be legally protected, I had an odd sense of déjà vu.

The Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 introduced a raft of definitions, ranging from ‘apprenticeship agreement’ to ‘recognised Welsh framework’. Under the Act, apprentices had to be employed, which put paid to programme-led apprenticeships.

That was the first legal definition of apprenticeship in this country in nearly 200 years. Before that, there had been a Statute of Artificers, passed during the reign of Elizabeth I — but it was abolished in 1805, and not replaced until 2009.

We don’t yet know what the new definition will be, but Skills Minister Nick Boles has said the Enterprise Bill will give the government powers to ‘take action when the term is misused to promote low quality courses’.

And that begs the question: what is a low quality course, in the context of an apprenticeship?

Previously, the government has equated poor quality with short duration — anything less than a year can’t be considered good enough. I always had my doubts about that.

Previously, the government has equated poor quality with short duration. Anything less than a year can’t be considered good enough. I always had my doubts about that

When we first developed Modern Apprenticeships, the idea was to tailor the apprenticeship to the needs and abilities of the individual. Some people learn quicker than others. If full competency can be reached in 11 months, why make someone wait the extra month before they can claim to be qualified?

Next, we bump into concepts such as restrictive and expansive apprenticeships. Professors Alison Fuller and Lorna Unwin from the Institute of Education have been talking about this for some time.

At the risk of over-simplifying their ideas, expansive apprenticeships prepare people for careers in a chosen occupational field, whereas restrictive apprenticeships prepare them for a narrowly-defined job role.

On this basis, almost all of Switzerland’s apprenticeships can be described as expansive. I visited a Unilever factory which makes powdered foods. Their apprentices learn by doing a variety of jobs in different parts of the factory, but they pick up additional skills and knowledge by attending off-job courses.

That sets them in good stead for their future careers, not just to work on a production line.

Alison and Lorna would argue that too many of England’s apprenticeships are restrictive, because they are based on the minimum skillset needed to do a particular job, and neglect the wider skills and experience offered to Swiss apprentices.

Then there’s the question of training versus assessment. The argument goes that in some cases, public funding pays for assessment, not training.

There are definitely benefits from assessing and accrediting skills, but critics believe we should focus on training people who are new to their jobs, not on accrediting the skills of people who have already been in work for some time.

In the end, you get what you’re willing to pay for. Here in England, there is a long tradition of co-investment in some sectors.

Engineering is a prime example, where both the state and the employer contribute towards apprenticeship training and assessment costs. In other sectors, external apprenticeship costs have been entirely state-funded, though employers do of course still pay apprentices’ wages and other employment costs.

Squaring all of these circles isn’t going to be easy. I don’t think the Trailblazers provide all the answers. I doubt a new statutory definition of apprenticeships will either, though I live in hope.

But saddled with a target of 3m apprenticeship starts, maybe the real question is this: will the government simply pile ‘em high and sell ‘em cheap? I seriously hope not.