Learners earn their stripes

South Gloucestershire and Stroud College students painted two 10 foot tall zebras at a wildlife conservation park.

Rosie Watts, aged 17, and Steve Walker, 16, painted the mural at Bristol’s Wild Place Project.

They enrolled on a 12-week European Social Fund Programme, devised by preparation for work and life lecturer Luke Palmer and based at the park. The art-based course aimed to help teenagers not in education, employment, or training back into the classroom.

Rosie said: “I can’t believe we are actually up here at Wild Place painting our own artwork in public. After all the work we have done, it is amazing to see it all coming together.”

Both students now aim to begin level two courses at the college in September. Rosie has applied for art and design, while Steve has been offered a place to study animal care.

Mr Palmer said: “This sort of project gives students the opportunity to feel a real sense of achievement.”

Photo caption: Rosie Watts and Steve Walker painted two 10 foot tall zebras at the Wild Place Project in Bristol

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Commissioner ruling on grade four college leads to 150 jobs at risk

A Greater Manchester college could be forced to make up to 150 redundancies after it was ordered to balance the books by the FE Commissioner.

Dr David Collins
FE Commissioner Dr David Collins

Dr David Collins, pictured left, placed Stockport College into administered status after he was sent in following a grade four “inadequate” Ofsted inspection grading in November.

He said it “had to produce a financial recovery plan and review its structure”.

But college talks about a restructuring exercise have prompted fears among University and College Union (UCU) members that the process was being rushed.

The college said that although it had reported to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) that up to 150 jobs could be cut, there would be around 80 opportunities for staff to be “redeployed”.

It has also offered assurances that learners would not be affected this academic year, with the changes expected to come into effect from August 1. It also said courses already advertised for next year would run as planned.

Ian Clinton, pictured right, who took over as principal at Stockport College after previous boss Stephen Carlisle agreed to work from home until the end of his contract, said: “We have listened carefully to the recommendations made by the FE Commissioner and by focusing the college’s activities towards the skills needs of Greater Manchester employers we will be better able to enhance the job prospects of our learners.

“Sadly, as a consequence of this some redundancies are unavoidable. However, we hope to be able to mitigate the scale of any redundancies through redeploying staff into vacant posts in our growth areas.”

Ian Clinton
Ian Clinton

A BIS spokesperson told FE Week: “The FE Commissioner carried out an assessment of Stockport College and has since been undertaking a structure and prospects appraisal of the college.

“His assessment found that Stockport College’s outgoings were higher than their income and the college therefore had to produce a financial recovery plan and review its structure.

“The recovery plan was signed off by the college’s governing body before being implemented. We believe that the correct processes have been followed in order ensure the college becomes more financially stable and able to deliver an effective programme of learning to its students.”

Martyn Moss, UCU regional official, said: “Stockport College appears to have rushed headlong into an enormous amount of potential job losses and we are concerned that they should follow proper procedure. We are worried by the college’s apparent disregard for the minimum legal obligations to the dozens of staff facing redundancy.

“Our focus now will be to make sure the college provides the full details of its restructure plans and gives us time to have meaningful talks about job losses. We want to work with the college to minimise redundancies and the impact on staff who are facing a very difficult time.”

Stockport College caters for 9,000 learners and has a current Skills Funding Agency allocation of just under £8.2m. The proposed job cuts are expected to happen across 20 departments.

Skills policy questions for your prospective Euro MPs

With the Euro elections just two days away, Mark Ravenhall examines England’s skills policy relationship with Europe.

 

Quite often at Niace we are asked to explain “UK skills policy” to overseas visitors.

After a lengthy pause, we tend say the world of adult education is not like the Eurovision Song Contest.

Whereas the UK has one entry for Eurovision, each of the four home nations dances to a slightly different tune in terms of skills policy.

There are not just differences around, for example, the English enthusiasm for loans as a way of financing higher education and advanced level learning for the over 23s.

It concerns different funding systems, methods, approaches to staff development, and involving communities across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The devolved administrations look on with interest at the developments in England and wonder whether the experiments sometimes referred to as “English Exceptionalism” will work in their context.

But in many ways the UK context is very similar. There are cuts to colleges and local authorities wherever you go, youth unemployment blights many careers before they have begun, and basic skills is a challenge in communities the length and breadth of the UK.

What’s more, some of the solutions are not devolved, such as the work of Job Centres and the Work Programme.

A twin-track approach to training for unemployed adults exists right across the UK.

As so much funding comes through European institutions, we at Niace have joined together with 120 other organisations in 43 countries to write to our prospective Euro MPs

Despite these similarities and differences there is not much sharing of practice across the UK and an analysis of what works.

That is why Niace was keen to accept the role of UK national co-ordinator for the European agenda for adult learning. This is an EU policy that involves all members’ states and several other countries in Europe. It is part of the Erasmus Plus programme that is estimated to bring around £40m into UK adult learning over the next year or so.

Niace receives a modest amount of money to coordinate communication with other national coordinators, run demonstration projects, undertake research and run conferences across the UK.

Last year, we were in Cardiff and last week we were in Edinburgh. Apart from showcasing UK-wide projects we invited people from more than 20 countries to Edinburgh to share their approaches with practitioners and learners from across the UK.

Members of the Scottish Parliament have hosted us at the Castle and Holyrood. We have discussed how the worldwide financial crisis has affected adult learning opportunities in Europe and farther afield.

We have heard from the European Commission and UNESCO. Some of us have been humbled by the amount achieved by adult educators in the poorest countries.

There has been a common theme to these discussions across the UK and Europe. One of these is that at times of austerity learning professionals need greater freedom in choosing how to deploy resources.

Explaining even our simplified funding and qualifications system in England takes some time and usually ends with the question: “Why would you make it so complex?”

Another is the challenge presented by ageing populations right across Europe. How can adult learning be developed to support older people as well as younger adults?

As so much funding comes through European institutions, we at Niace have joined together with 120 other organisations in 43 countries to write to our prospective Euro MPs. You might want to ask similar questions to your candidates.

Our questions are: what does lifelong learning mean to you?How will you support the promotion of adult education and lifelong learning if you are elected? How can different disadvantaged groups be included in lifelong learning in order to support social inclusion?What do you see as the role for non-formal adult education in helping to implement EU educational policy?How will you support the work of voluntary organisations in promoting adult education, and would you support a “European Flagship campaign on adult education and learning” — and how?

In a sense it is not the questions that matter. Just the fact we are asking them.

Mark Ravenhall, senior research fellow, National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (Niace)

UCU rejects 0.7 per cent offer as pay talks continue

Pay talks between college staff and leaders are to continue after a 0.7 per cent pay rise was rejected by the University and College Union (UCU).

The UCU claims to have rejected the offer and told college bosses to “come back to the negotiating table with an offer that addresses members’ falling pay over recent years”.

UCU members picketed pay talks held with the Association of Colleges (AoC) on Friday. They were protesting over the pay offer and the UCU’s claim that members had seen a real-terms pay cut of 16 per cent since 2009.

Michael MacNeil, UCU head of bargaining, said: “The employers’ offer of 0.7 per cent looks little different from recent years and does not address our concerns about members’ falling pay.

“To restore any credibility to these national pay negotiations the employers need to demonstrate that they are prioritising staff.

“We hope the AoC will return with an offer that better reflects our demands. We have our annual conference next week where I am sure delegates will express their frustration with the failure of the employers to seriously address our claim.”

Marc Whitworth, AoC director of employment policy and services, said: “Negotiations with trade unions continue, with a second meeting held on Friday.

“All parties acknowledge the challenges colleges face with funding, and that local affordability is a key consideration when looking at implementation of any final recommendation.

“Detailed information on college funding has been a central part of discussions, with AoC providing details which unions have been encouraged to share with members.”

The next meeting is due to take place on June 18.

NUS chief executive Ben Kernighan resigns less than one year in post

National Union of Students (NUS) chief executive Ben Kernighan has resigned after less than a year in the role, the union has announced.

The NUS last night (May 16) said that Mr Kernighan had “decided he did not wish to continue in his position” and had left the organisation.

A spokesperson said: “Ben successfully led a complex process of bringing together the disparate parts of the group under one new set of terms and conditions. He led the organisation to a number of policy successes around higher and further education funding and regulation as well as wider policy wins including winning concessions to the Lobbying Act.

“He also oversaw the successful launch of the National Society of Apprentices. Membership of NUS grew during Ben’s time here and he used his wide network of contacts within civil society to broaden the reach and message of NUS and place it in a strong position in the run up to the general election.

“The organisation is grateful for Ben’s contribution and would like to take this opportunity to thank him and to wish him every success in the future.”

Mr Kernighan has not made any comment at this time.

Photo credit: National Union of Students

Seven-year wait for new FE and skills professional teaching standards is over

New guidelines for FE and skills teachers, lecturers and trainers have been issued by the Education and Training Foundation.

A list of 20 “professional standards” — the first since 2007 — fills one side of A4, separated into three headings of values and attributes, knowledge and understanding, and skills.

Among the professional practices listed are “evaluate and challenge your practice, values and beliefs”, “manage and promote positive learner behaviour” and “contribute to organisational development and quality improvement through collaboration with others”.

The list is accompanied by a 22-page guidance document that aims to offer practical examples of how the standards can be applied.

Helen Pettifor, foundation director of professional standards and workforce development, described the standards as “a major milestone for our sector”.

She said: “By working with the whole sector to establish a consistent benchmark as to what constitutes effective practice, we have produced an aspirational set of standards that both unite the sector in the drive for professionalism and excellence, but succeed in being flexible enough to be fully relevant and applicable to whatever part of the sector you’re teaching in.”

Nearly 1,000 sector professionals were involved in the seven-month process of drawing up the standards, which was conducted on behalf of the foundation by Pye Tait Consulting through consultation events, in-depth interviews and an online survey.

The resulting standards replace those issued by Lifelong Learning UK in 2007, and Ofsted, which was involved in the review for the new standards, said they would be used as part of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) and FE and skills inspections.

Marina Gaze, deputy director of FE and skills at Ofsted, said: “To evaluate outcomes inspectors look at completion and employment rates, how well trainees and former trainees teach and how well they attain in relation to the relevant professional standards.

“The 2014 professional standards will replace the 2007 overarching standards in terms of ITE inspections.

“When making judgements about the quality of training on ITE inspections inspectors will look at how the 2014 standards are used with trainees to provide feedback and developmental targets.

“Inspectors will also consider the success of leaders and managers in preparing trainees to meet the 2014 standards.”

Dereth Wood, chair of the foundation’s professional standards steering group, said: “Vocational teaching, learning and assessment has always been a sophisticated professional occupation but in the contemporary world, with rapid change in the workplace, and increasing use of technology for teaching and learning, the need for teachers and trainers to continue to refine and develop their skills is even greater.

“There is a real opportunity for the new professional standards to provide a framework for teachers and trainers to take responsibility for their own professional learning.”

Skills Minister Matthew Hancock said: “The launch of the 2014 standards will play a key role in helping leaders, managers and teachers to improve the quality of their offering for the benefit of learners, employers and the wider economy.”

Institute for Learning chief executive Dr Jean Kelly said: “Presented simply on a single sheet of A4 paper under three headings, the standards summarise the expectations that teachers and trainers set for themselves. Rather than being prescriptive, they offer a framework for teachers and trainers to evaluate and develop their practice, collaborating and sharing with peers.

“The standards provide an excellent foundation for professional conversations about learning and development, and recognise the value of teachers and trainers being able to use their judgement and exercise professional autonomy, to ensure the best outcomes for learners.”

Stella Turner, head of qualifications and delivery at the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, said: “We were involved in producing these standards and wanted to make sure they were relevant to the independent learning sector. We think this has been achieved and the standards are going to be really useful.”

A spokesperson for the foundation said that once teachers, trainers, leaders and managers had started using the new standards, case studies of their use would be produced in spring next year and the guidance would also be updated.

Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), said: “ATL welcomes the foundation’s publication of new professional standards for teachers and trainers working in the FE and skills sector.”

She added: “It is important that FE and skills teachers and trainers are recognised as professionals who use research and evidence to improve how they teach and are encouraged to take part in professional training throughout their careers — which these standards both encourage and promote.

“It is particularly encouraging that autonomy and trust in teachers in the FE and skills sector are endorsed in the standards. And we look forward to seeing how colleges incorporate these standards into the working lives of our members.”

The Association of Colleges declined to comment.