The Sixth Form Colleges’ Association (SFCA) has launched its 2015 manifesto calling for a national funding formula to reflect the actual cost of provision and a competitive process for establishing new sixth form providers.

The SFCA also called for its members to join school sixth forms in being exempt from VAT, which it dubbed “a learning tax”.

The 12-page manifesto further called for the government to maintain sixth form funding at 2013/14 levels while a review of all education funding is carried out to produce “national funding formula (up to and including the age of 18) based on the actual cost of delivering the curriculum”.

Deputy chief executive of the SFCA James Kewin (pictured) said: “Our manifesto shows that sixth form colleges are the most effective and efficient providers of sixth form education in the state sector.

“However, a series of damaging policy changes introduced in recent years will see some sixth form colleges close and others forced to offer an impoverished curriculum.”

The manifesto said the three biggest threats facing sixth form colleges were VAT, which costs sixth form college budgets £335,000 a-year, unfair competition posed by free schools, and the government decision to decouple As-levels from A-levels, which it says would increase the risk of students dropping out.

Currently, only a school, academy or free school sixth form can be created to meet demand for new sixth form provision.

“There should be a competitive process for establishing new 16 to 18 provision that is open to all types of sixth form provider and follows an impartial assessment of demand conducted at a local level,” according to the SFCA manifesto.

It also recommended study programmes be funded at a full time rate, for responsibility for funding high-needs students to be returned to the Education Funding Agency  and for the government to provide enough funding for sixth forms to be able to work collaboratively.

Mr Kewin said: “To ensure that sixth form colleges can continue to transform the life chances of young people, we are calling on all political parties to put students first by dropping the learning tax and adopting the recommendations in this manifesto.”

The manifesto is due to be formally launched on Monday (November 17) at the SFCA Autumn Conference, in Birmingham, where Skills Minister Nick Boles and Shadow Schools Minister Kevin Brennan are expected to address sixth form college leaders.

Prime Minister David Cameron renewed his commitment to lifelong learning in England in a speech to business leaders.

Mr Cameron, pictured above, spoke about the importance of continuing education when he spoke at the annual conference of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) yesterday.

“The idea that you go to school, go to college, get a degree and stop learning and start working, that is old think[ing]. From now on, everyone is going to be thinking of how to continuously increase your skills through your life,” he said.

“That is why I think some of these apprenticeship programmes are so exciting and I think where we need schools and some teachers to change their opinions about them, because a lot of apprenticeship programmes now are about earning and learning, including all the way up to and beyond degree level.

“I think encouraging that through our workforce is going to be absolutely vital.”

His comments have been welcomed by the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (Niace), whose chief executive, David Hughes, said: “It is encouraging to hear the Prime Minister speak in such glowing terms about the importance of lifelong learning. I liked his emphasis that

the old way of thinking – that you stop learning once you’ve started work is now gone.

“Today ‘everyone needs to develop and improve their skills throughout their lives’ is how everyone should be thinking to ensure they have the knowledge and skills for a long and fulfilling career and for life.

“Employers have a huge role to play here. Where businesses invest in training for their staff, they not only get to fill skills gaps and skills shortages, but they also improve productivity, lower turnover of staff and increase morale.

“However, far too many businesses do not make that investment in training, which has serious consequences for sustainable economic growth, especially with 13.5m vacancies expected over the next 10 years, but only 7m new labour market entrants to fill those roles.”

Labour leader Ed Miliband and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg also spoke at the conference.

While Mr Miliband said that a “revolution” was needed in vocational education to deal with a “discontent” among the British public, Mr Clegg spoke about the need for good careers advice and guidance, and hinted there had been arguments in government about the future after Connexions closed.

Mr Miliband said: “If we win the election, our focus will be on a revolution in vocational education and apprenticeships. Again this is an agenda where we have learned so much from you, as I say, from the CBI. It’s about new gold-standard technical qualifications in schools, so 14-year-olds know what they’re aiming at.

“It’s about proper work experience and careers advice for all our young people. It’s about university expansion through technical degrees designed by businesses like yours and it’s also about giving you for the first time a real opportunity to decide how the public money for training is spent. Creating jobs, giving hope to our young people, will, I believe, help to address the discontent people feel.”

Mr Clegg said: “One of the mistakes we made as a government was that we got rid of the Connexions service, for good reason, because it

simply wasn’t doing what it was supposed to. But then, candidly, there was quite a long debate, which is a polite way of putting it, in government about exactly what we’d do next.

“There were some voices in government which didn’t want to do anything next, wanted it to be left to the market so to speak, and people like myself said ‘of course government has a role in setting a direction for what quality careers advice and guidance looks like.”

It comes after the CBI used the publication of its latest report to call for colleges to be rewarded for specialism.

In its report A better off Britain: improving lives and making growth work for everyone, published on Monday, the employer body also called for more learners to complete level four apprenticeships and vocational qualifications.

John Cridland, director general of the CBI said: “We need to refocus the system and refocus the recognition and reward in the system, so that the colleges who are boldest in making sure they’re provision is specialised and is fit for purpose are the ones who are rewarded.”

See FE Week edition 118, dated Monday, November 17, for more.

Around 150 learners with government apprenticeship ambassador Jason Holt were left “stuck” and unable to register for the start of qualifications because of issues with the Skills Funding Agency’s (SFA) delay-prone Learning Aim Reference Service (Lars),
FE Week can reveal.

Mr Holt, whose influential 2012 review of apprenticeships concluded that a main barrier to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) taking on apprentices was “poor process,” took to Twitter to air his frustration at the situation.

He wrote on November 2: “Hands tied. Learners stuck. We await our prime contractor to sort with @skillsfunding [SFA].”

Learners were unable to start new level two and three jewellery manufacturing, silversmithing and allied trades apprenticeships run by the Holts Academy, with prime contractor the University of the Arts London, on time because of a delay in listing frameworks on Lars.

Mr Holt told FE Week that the issue affected around 150 learners, but had since been resolved with the frameworks appearing on Lars later this month.

He said: “It has been a difficult time for the jewellery industry with delays to the approval of the new apprenticeship, preventing new learners from commencing on these learning programmes.

“We are pleased to see that the issues surrounding this have now been resolved and that the information will appear on Lars from November 20.

“I am very supportive of the SFA. They do as much as they possibly can but they do need to be mindful of making sure that learner experience is not interrupted. Overall, they do a good job of that.”

An SFA spokesperson acknowledged the delay, but stopped short of apologising for the problems, although she did say steps had been taken to allow learners affected by the delay to start as soon as possible.

She said: “Providers will be able to select the new aims for level two and three jewellery manufacturing, silversmithing and allied trades apprenticeships framework from Lars for the R04 data collection, which opens on November 20.

“The implementation date of the new aims and the removal
of existing aims will be backdated to October 2 as per the approval date. This means October 2 will be the first date for new starters on the updated version of the framework.”

It comes after concerns were raised about the ability of the Lars system to cope with a backlog of last-minute submissions from awarding organisations (AOs) after a deadline of September 1 was imposed this year.

Speaking in September Association of Employment and Learning Providers chief executive Stewart Segal accused the SFA of creating a “false deadline” for AOs, which he warned would lead to “risks” for providers.

He said: “The tight timescale means providers take on all of the risk — those looking to expand and deliver programmes can’t make any promises on what they’re going to deliver if they don’t know what funding they’ll be getting.”

No one from the University of the Arts London was available for comment.

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Editor’s comment

Halt holt issue

The SFA has come in for much criticism for its bug-ridden and delay-prone new online systems where providers check and record learner funding.

And there are still MIS officers up and down the country wishing for an end to their Fis and Hub nightmares.

They had thought that their Lars troubles were over and, in the main, they are — other than the backlog of frameworks awaiting entry, as experienced by Jason Holt.

Despite his very understanding take, he must have been left wondering what is going on at the SFA.

Having endured its own jobs losses, perhaps there are simply not the staff numbers for new chief Peter Lauener to ensure the best possible service?

But even his remit, with the sizeable responsibility of the EFA, has been questioned.

With the weight of Treasury to contend with, it’s unlikely he could push back the tide of cuts and job losses that have hit the SFA.

But if he’s unable to act against that, then perhaps an independent review of exactly what has, and what continues to go wrong at the SFA is within his power — Fis, the Hub, cases such as Mr Holt’s and whether overstretching has become an issue need looking at.

The sector must have an SFA in which it has faith. An SFA that provides outstanding service.

Qualifications should remain “as stable as possible,” Ofqual chief Glenys Stacey (pictured) has warned Skills Minister Nick Boles as he considers a major relaunch of Functional Skills qualifications.

Ms Stacey (pictured), replying to a letter from Mr Boles early last month in which he said Functional Skills would “continue to be one of the types of qualification that learners have available,” welcomed the minister’s “clear statement about the importance you attach to Functional Skills qualifications”.

But she had cautious words for his plans for a rebrand of the qualifications, saying: “The brand of a qualification is important. It takes some years for qualification titles to become understood and trusted, particularly by employers and others who are not close to  the education system.

“In general, our view is that we should keep the qualifications system as stable as possible, to allow qualifications time to prove themselves. We did a small survey of employers and others recently and found that employers in the  survey had a broadly positive view of Functional Skills qualifications, as do colleges and other providers.

“So our advice is that you consider carefully the benefits of change balanced against the benefits of stability.”

She added: “If you do wish to rebrand, then perhaps we could work with your officials to test out the views of employers (and others) more widely about the options?

“Assuming the changes are not major, qualification reforms can usually be introduced over a two to three-year period allowing time for consultation, enactment and communication to education providers and students; so colleagues here will also discuss with your officials the options and timing for any reforms.”

It comes after Mr Boles (pictured right) revealed a more supportive view of Functional Skills at a fringe event organised by FE Week at the Conservative Party Conference early last month.

The qualifications, which include English, maths and ICT skills, had previously been described as “stepping stones” to GCSEs by previous Skills Minister, Matthew Hancock.

And in her response to Mr Boles, published this month, Ms Stacey said Ofqual’s review of Functional Skills had so far found areas for improvement.

She said: “In our review of these qualifications we are finding some of them wanting but capable of improvement and we intend to act to ensure they are improved.

“We will say more about our findings later in the year. As with GCSEs, the ownership of the curriculum and the purposes of these qualifications lies  with policy Departments, so while we understand you are not seeking fundamental changes in these areas we welcome continuing engagement with you and your officials in this area.”

 

Computer skills are “not relevant” for tax apprentices enrolling on a new framework at Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), FE Week can reveal.

Learners on the HMRC’s level three programme do not have to learn ICT skills as part of the “transferable skills” section of the programme.

In contrast, a level two business administration apprenticeship run by Skills CFA requires ICT training.

A spokesperson for HMRC said it had an “entire division of highly skilled IT staff” with “separate development programmes”.

He added: “HMRC requires a vast array of skills to ensure the tax system continues to evolve and operate to meet the needs of our customers.

“While ICT is an essential and greatly valued skill for all roles at HMRC, the tax apprenticeship is specifically tailored to policy work where certain skills are essential to do the job.”

But the lack of transferable ICT skills in the framework has been criticised by the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (Niace), with chief executive David Hughes warning apprentices might not be getting the most out of the course.

He said: “It is inconceivable that any apprenticeship should not have a good dose of IT skills as part of the programme. An apprenticeship shouldn’t be just about the current job, but should equip each apprentice with the skills they need to guarantee they have a sustainable and fulfilling career.

“To achieve that, we know that digital skills are as essential now as good English and maths. As technology progresses this will only increase. By next year it is estimated that 90 per cent of jobs in the EU will need at least basic computer skills. However around half of adults don’t have them and almost two-thirds of employers (62 per cent) have concerns about the level of IT skills in their workforce.

“So I am surprised that the apprenticeship in ‘tax’ does not recognise this and am concerned that the apprentices are not getting the full and expansive experience in their training to equip them for a career which might span several jobs, different sectors and un-knowable technological change.”

The tax framework was submitted to the Skills Funding Agency by HMRC two days before the August 31 cut-off for schemes not run through the Trailblazer programme.

The HMRC argued the new framework provided “a structured approach to training and developing prospective tax specialists who understand the needs of the organisation,” and was developed “to create a new vocational pathway in tax to attract, develop and retain talent for the future and to professionalise the roles for HMRC”.

The department claims the framework was relevant for tax caseworkers, support risk-based quality compliance checks into businesses, employers and individuals, and for tax/policy specialists, who draft guidance for HMRC and external customers of the department.

A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said: “ICT qualifications may be included in an apprenticeship framework or standard, where the developer believes they are necessary for the job. Qualifications in ICT are not a mandatory part of all apprenticeships.”

 

Colleges should be rewarded for specialisation, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has said.

In its report A better off Britain: improving lives and making growth work for everyone, published today, the employer body also called for more learners to complete level four apprenticeships and vocational qualifications.

John Cridland (pictured), director general of the CBI said: “We need to refocus the system and refocus the recognition and reward in the system, so that the colleges who are boldest in making sure they’re provision is specialised and is fit for purpose are the ones who are rewarded.

“I see lots of entrepreneurial FE colleges with inspirational principals focusing on unique things they’re good at.

“We’ve got to get a lot cuter in making sure we are delivering those skills in quite a specialised way and rewarding colleges on the basis of outcome.”

He added in the future he wanted to see a skills landscape where “every college becomes different rather than every college being homogenous” which “reflects the reality of the modern business community”.

The report argued that the UK’s economy had evolved, becoming a higher skilled economy, although this did not mean that “middle-skilled, middle-income jobs” were disappearing.

“They are just slightly higher-skilled than they might have been in the past, lengthening the path to these jobs for people entering the labour market at low skill levels,” the report said.

It added: “By 2022, half of all jobs will require workers to have completed some form of higher education”.

The solution, the report said, was to encourage more learners to complete qualifications at level four – such as higher national diplomas, higher apprenticeships, or foundation degrees.

Mr Cridland said: “Twenty years ago, somebody wanting to get out of a minimum wage job perhaps needed to get to level three.

“Certainly the reality of the upskilling of our labour market is they’re now going to need to get to level four to do jobs that their parents or grandparents would have considered craft or technical.”

The report also called for employers to take great ownership of the skills system, and for colleges to develop stronger relationships with local business.

Mr Cridland expressed support for the apprenticeship reforms, which will see funding for apprenticeships routed through employers rather than providers, and said that in order to encourage small employers to get involved “the answer is to make it more like a market”.

“If you empower small firms with the wherewithal to buy provision back I think colleges are in a great position to get that business,” he said.

“If the funding goes the other way with the small company at the end, by the time it gets to them, frankly they’ve lost the will to live never mind train anybody. I would turn the system round.”