Bosses at a college in the North East have come under fire from the University and College Union (UCU) for the “cynical” timing — just before the summer holidays — of a job cuts announcement.

The UCU said that 119 staff at County Durham’s Stockton Riverside College were at risk amid plans to make lecturers reapply for their jobs at a much lower wage — up to £10,000 less.

The college said that only 10 jobs would actually be lost, but a greater number of staff were being consulted.

However, UCU regional official Iain Owens said: “This is an unbelievably cynical move by the college. Staff have a right to be treated properly and fairly.

“However, the college took the coward’s approach and hit staff with this devastating news just as they broke up for the summer.”

A college spokesperson said the consultation period had been extended by half, to 45 days, to run until the beginning of September, with the new structure expected in place for 2014/15.

She added: “There will be people that get pay cuts of £1k or £2k but that would be the small minority and they would have their salaries protected for a year.

“The only example I can think of where someone might take a £10k pay cut would be if a top of the scale lecturer going to an assessor’s job but I can’t see that happening in reality.”

College principal Phil Cook (pictured right) said: “At this point in time, we believe the worst case scenario to be 10 staff being made redundant out of a total of 461 college staff — we fully expect this to be less.”

The Tees Valley-based college rose from an Ofsted rating of requires improvement to good following inspection in April.

Mr Owens said: “Our members have worked incredibly hard to ensure the people of Stockton have good quality post-school education.

“Telling staff heading off on holiday that they may not have a job when they return, and if they do they will have a considerable pay cut, is unacceptable.”

Mr Cook said: “I would like say we have been in positive discussions with the UCU and other unions since June in an attempt to reduce the need for compulsory redundancies.”

He added: “There are an additional 14 job opportunities currently available and over the next year staff numbers employed by the college will in fact increase.

“We are disappointed that we need to lose valued staff but it is simply not possible to keep the status quo. We need to have the structures and skillsets in place and importantly to ensure fairness and parity for our staff.

“The situation is not ideal but I am certain that we can deal with the national funding cuts without an impact on the quality of education.”

The Department for Education (DfE) has published a list of English and maths qualifications that providers must choose from as a “condition of funding” for 16 to 18-year-old learners that do not already have at least grade C in English or maths.

The list of 245 eligible qualifications — part of the Study Programme implementation — includes 115 at entry level, 53 at level one, 24 at levels one and two and 53 atjust level two. Of these, 150 are for English, 89 are for maths and six are available in both subjects.

In total, 17 GCSEs are listed, run by AQA, OCR, Pearson and WJEC. The majority of those remaining — 130 — are Functional Skills qualifications, delivered by awarding organisations (AOs) including Pearson, OCR, NOCN, NCFE and City & Guilds.

Meanwhile there are 76 English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) qualifications on the list, awarded by AOs including Ascentis, Cambridge English and Trinity College London. Further non-GCSE qualifications include six Prince’s Trust QCF qualifications, which are each listed as both English and maths despite being in employment, teamwork and community.

It comes as providers prepare for a new rule which means learners without at least a C-grade GCSE in English and maths will have to achieve the qualification, or an equivalent such as Functional Skills. In 2011/12, 40 per cent (249,164) of the GCSE cohort failed to achieve A*-C in English and maths.

There will be further change in 2015/16 with learners who achieve a grade D at GCSE not having the option of taking an equivalent qualification as they try to achieve the C-grade or above. The government recently announced it was bringing forward the rule which had been expected in 2017.

A government guidance paper on the subject says: “In August 2013, the government introduced 16 to 19 study programmes following Professor Alison Wolf’s review of vocational education. A core principle of study programmes is that any student who has not achieved grade A* to C in maths and/or English GCSE, by age 16, must continue to work towards achieving these qualifications. This will become a condition of funding from August 2014.

“This means that all students on study programmes, including 19 to 25 year olds with a statement of Special Educational Need (SEN), a Learning Difficulty Assessment (LDA) or Education and Healthcare Plan (EHCP) when available, who do not have a GCSE grade A* to C in maths and English, are required to continue to work towards achieving these qualifications by studying for a GCSE or approved ‘stepping stone’ qualification as part of their study programme.

“Where a student without a grade C GCSE is not studying GCSE or an approved ‘stepping stone’ qualification, then that student is removed from future funding allocations. There will be very few students that are exempt from this requirement, but those that may be include students holding an equivalent qualification from overseas, and some students with a learning disability that prevents them from studying for any of the ‘stepping stone’ qualifications.

“Those students who have attained a grade D GCSE in maths and/or English should retake the GCSE, and from August 2015, this requirement will become part of the condition of funding for full time students. This will mean that to qualify for funding, all full time students with GCSE grade D must be enrolled for a GCSE maths or English qualification.”

The Institute for Learning (IfL) is to close and will be taken over by the Education and Training Foundation (ETF).

The move follows a vote this afternoon by the IFL’s advisory council on whether to disband and pass its legacy and assets to the ETF through a deed of gift.

The process is expected to be completed in the autumn and comes despite a last-ditch plea from former IFL deputy chief executive Lee Davies, currently chief executive at The Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys, for the body to remain independent.

The move was recommended by IfL’s non-executive board at the beginning of the month. The proposal was announced at the beginning of the month and was triggered by fears the 33,500-member IfL did not have enough cash to keep going. It has seen huge numbers of members desert in the face of increasing membership fees in response to government funding being withdrawn.

Sue Crowley, IfL elected chair, said: “The decision to close IfL was taken only after all other avenues had been exhausted. It was not taken lightly.

“We share the disappointment felt by many of those who have shown their commitment to IfL as the professional body, but are confident that this is a positive decision for IfL, which has chosen this outcome and will control the process to manage the creation of this legacy.

“We would like to thank members of the advisory council — who as volunteers have given very generously of their time and effort to represent IfL members and fellows — for taking the time to understand the implications, and for voting on a course of action that will allow the most valued aspects of IfL’s offer to be preserved in the form of a legacy for teachers and trainers.

“We are very proud of IfL’s achievements, which included ensuring that the voices of teachers and trainers were heard, and leading a successful campaign for Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills (QTLS) status, conferred by IfL, to be recognised in law as equal to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) for teaching in schools.

“IfL’s description of teachers as ‘dual professionals’ — experts in their vocational or subject field as well as in teaching and learning — has been adopted in debates and reports about vocational pedagogy, and much has been achieved too in the areas of practitioner research and sharing of continuing professional development (CPD).

“It is vital that teachers and trainers in FE and skills should have a strong voice and I hope that IfL members will take the opportunity to help shape their future professional membership body and ensure that their experience and expertise translates into continuing improvements in teaching and learning.

“We look forward to working with the ETF in making sure that the new arrangements continue to offer dedicated and committed teachers and trainers the support, advice, recognition and status that they as professionals deserve.”

The proposal had earlier today enjoyed the support of ETF chief executive David Russell, who took to Twitter to post: “Hoping that @IFL_Members Advisory Council will choose to join forces with @E_T_Foundation today — we would evolve and strengthen as a result.” The ETF is yet to comment on the result of the vote.

Members of IFL who had renewed their membership until March 31 next year are expected to become part of the ETF’s professional membership.

IfL chief executive Dr Jean Kelly said: “There is a great deal of work to be done in the coming months, as we undertake the process of closing IfL’s operations and transferring our legacy.

“This process will be conducted thoroughly and diligently, with the foundation, and always with the best interests of members at heart. IfL will continue to offer member services as normal through the summer and early autumn, and to support and communicate with members as we prepare for the handover.

“I would like to thank members for their continued support at a challenging time, and IfL’s small team of staff for all their hard work to ensure that the process is as smooth as possible.”

An allegedly “supportive” report by the Education and Training Foundation (ETF) on Gazelle will not be made public with both organisations refusing to release the document.

The existence of a report by the ETF on Gazelle’s leadership development programme came to light in an expert piece written for FE Week by Gazelle Colleges Group chair Stella Mbubaegbu, who is also principal at Highbury College — one of Gazelle’s 23 member colleges.

She claimed the report was “supportive” in response to an FE Week story in which the University and College Union questioned the amount of public money being spent on Gazelle with member colleges having dished out more than £3.5m to the organisation.

Gazelle chief executive Fintan Donohue defended the organisation at the time, claiming “enrichment of student experiences and outcomes” was its “overriding goal”.

However, both the ETF, which recently awarded the Gazelle Foundation a £1m learning technology contract , and Gazelle refused to hand out the allegedly “supportive” report.

A Gazelle spokesperson said it was a “matter for the ETF,” while an ETF spokesperson said the report was written for “internal purposes,” and she also refused to comment on whether it was indeed supportive.

She said: “The ETF will publish reports from time to time. We also commission research and evaluations for a range of internal purposes, including informing our own procurement and programme design. Internal and external reports are different types of work. This was a report for internal purposes.”

The Gazelle spokesperson said: “The report has been seen by Gazelle. We are happy that it is very positive about the benefits of the programme to participants, as well as highlighting areas for improvement, and hopeful that it will help shape the conclusions of the wider ETF work around leadership in the sector.”

It comes the same week ETF chief executive David Russell defended the £1m learning technology contract being awarded to the Gazelle Foundation, which was created to take on the not-for-profit activities of the Gazelle Colleges Group.

Mr Russell, who approached FE Week to defend the learning technology contract going to Gazelle, said: “I read the papers. I know there is scepticism in some quarters about Gazelle, who will lead the consortium on this delivery work for us. I understand some teachers and lecturers have asked pointed questions about whether Gazelle deliver on their promises, and about whether they always act in the interests of learners.”

He added: “They [Gazelle and its partners] won the contract because their bid was convincing in the depth of knowledge and understanding it displayed; dynamic and innovative; pedagogy-focused not technology-focused; and above all with learner benefit at its heart.

“This programme will provide support across the education and training sector, including colleges, private training providers and others (it is not aimed at any particular group of providers).

“Gazelle will be assisted by its consortium partners — the Association of Colleges, Association of Employment and Learning Providers , 157 Group, and National Foundation for Educational Research, together with a wider steering group that they are convening to oversee the programme.”

The Gazelle Foundation has also won five other ETF contracts, totalling £168k, for work including strategic consultation on learning companies, and two stages of strategic consultation on vocational education training, technology in teaching and higher level apprenticeships.

It claims to, “develop innovative new learning models and new partnerships with business to deliver an improved outcome for students, their communities and the economy”.

Mr Donohue said: “The ETF’s learning technology programme will give a boost to innovation and the sharing of best practice across the sector.

“By coordinating input from teachers and leaders across all of the education and training sector, employers and the technology industry around the emerging themes for development, Gazelle hopes it can contribute to the success of the programme.

“The Feltag [Further Education Learning Technology Action Group] report makes the challenge for our sector clear. The ETF has a clear vision on what they want from the programme and we are pleased to be working very closely with them to deliver their requirements. We look forward to bringing all our energy and networks together to help the ETF achieve its vision in the year ahead.”