Give ‘grandfather’ funding option, says CBI

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has told the government that employers should be able to ignore apprenticeship reforms by “grandfathering” through existing funding arrangements, FE Week can reveal.

Its response to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) technical consultation on reforms recommended that employers be allowed to continue with effective practices.

It said that “in principle, we favour direct funding,” but it said it also wanted to see “grandfathering for existing approaches that work well”.

The CBI in effect wants providers to be able to keep receiving government funding directly, rather than switching to the new system, where cash would be routed through employers to buy training for their apprentices.

Neil Carberry (pictured front page), CBI director for employment and skills, told FE Week: “During the reform period, firms and training providers should be allowed to retain their existing relationships where apprenticeships are working well. This will allow the new apprenticeship system to be introduced gradually.”

He added: “Where firms have a direct contract with the Skills Funding Agency this should be allowed to continue, where the companies choose to do so.”

Reforming the apprenticeship funding system to give employers more control of the programme was put forward by entrepreneur Doug Richard in his review of apprenticeships, published in 2012.

A government consultation, which ran from July until October last year found that just 29 out of 366 respondents from businesses, providers and other stakeholders supported PAYE funding — but this was the main funding method put forward in the technical consultation which ran from March until May 1 this year.

The CBI’s response stressed the importance of piloting any new funding methods, and called for further details of how the system would actually work to be published.

“Business needs reassurance from the government that sufficient time and resources will be committed to ensure that the system has been thoroughly thought-out and piloted, with decisions made on funding mechanism and funding policy together, not separately,” it said.

It added: “Only with this experience will the details of the mechanisms be able to be properly scrutinised and assessed.”

The position of the CBI echoes that of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP).

Stewart Segal, AELP chief executive, said: “Our view is that giving employers the choice of direct funding or funding through a training provider of their choice is the solution that will drive more employer engagement.
“We will continue to discuss these solutions with the CBI and other employer representative bodies because it is what employers want.”

A BIS spokesperson declined to comment on the CBI response. However, she said: “The technical consultation closed on May 1 and received more than 1,300 responses from a wide range of respondents.

“These responses are in the process of being analysed and, as set out in the consultation document, the results and next steps will be announced in the autumn.”

Ofsted to end lesson gradings in FE pilot

Ofsted is to ditch graded lesson observations in an FE and skills in a pilot following a University College Union (UCU) report that raised “serious questions about the fitness for purpose” of the practice.

The education watchdog will, from September, be trying out inspections in the sector with no grading of teaching in individual sessions.

The move will have been welcomed by the UCU whose report, Developing a National Framework for the Effective Use of Lesson Observation in FE, came out on Wednesday (June 11).

It said: “This report raises serious questions about the fitness for purpose of prevailing observation assessment systems in FE.”

Author Dr Matt O’Leary, principal lecturer in post-compulsory education at the University of Wolverhampton, said: “Attempts to measure the professional capabilities of practitioners through the lens of graded lesson observations are a pointless exercise based on a pseudo-scientific approach to teacher assessment.

“The sooner we put an end to this pernicious practice, the better the sector will be for it.”

He added: “A root and branch reform of the way in which observation is conceptualised and engaged with as a form of educational intervention is what is required.”

Ofsted’s FE and skills director Lorna Fitzjohn  (pictured) revealed via Twitter on Monday, June 9, that its graded lesson observations in FE and Skills could be ending for good.

She tweeted: “Ofsted is to pilot FE and skills inspections without grading teaching in individual sessions.”

A spokesperson for the education watchdog later told FE Week: “Our prime concern is with assessing and improving the quality of teaching and learning that learners receive.

“Lesson observation is one of the key means by which inspectors can assess the quality of teaching and learning.

“We are always looking at ways we might improve the inspection process and we propose to pilot how Ofsted may inspect without grading individual lessons as part of a consultative pilot in the autumn term.”

But colleges also the practice themselves and Marc Whitworth, acting director of employment policy and services at the Association of Colleges, said: “Evidence from our work with members suggests that individually graded lessons can be useful in assessing the quality of teaching and learning for students.

“Receiving feedback on a number of occasions across the year is also an important part of assessment, which is required to help teachers improve their skills.

“However, uniform approaches to lesson observations, which prescribe what colleges should do to observe teaching and learning, are not appropriate nor helpful to support the ongoing commitment to students.”

College bribery claim before plans meeting

North East Surrey College of Technology (Nescot) has been accused of bribery for offering a day’s leave if staff attended a council planning meeting to “show support” for its new homes proposal, it has been reported.
It asked Epsom and Ewell Borough Council for permission to develop on college land.

The plans were approved at a council planning meeting on Thursday (June 12) — after Donna Patterson, director of human resources at the college, had emailed staff saying: “If you are able to attend to show support for the college’s future development we would be most grateful.

“If you are able to attend the meeting at 6.30pm for the duration of the meeting you will be entitled to one days TOIL [time off in lieu].”

The Epsom Guardian newspaper quoted one local, who did not want to be named, as saying: “It’s very out-of-hand to do this — it’s just bribery.”

A Nescot spokesperson reportedly said: “It is normal working practice to accrue time off in lieu for attending events outside of normal college hours. The email was for information, and without any requirement of attendance.

“Many staff live locally and have an interest in the application as residents and employees. Staff will not be paid for attending.”

Employers fail on apprentice wage

Apprentices were among the workers to have suffered at the hands of underpaying bosses listed by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skill (BIS) in its second name and shame round over minimum wage cheats.

Business Minister Jenny Willott identified 25 employers (see below) who paid workers less than the National Minimum Wage (NMW) — and more than one of the firms was named in relation to underpaying apprentices.

Between all of those identified, they owe workers more than £43,000 in arrears and in addition now have to pay financial penalties totalling more than £21,000.

A BIS spokesperson refused to say which of the employers had underpaid apprentices and would not give the exact number of employers, out of the 25, that had offended over concerns the learners themselves might be identified.

Ms Willott said: “Paying less than the minimum wage is not only wrong, it’s illegal. If employers break the law they need to know that they will face tough consequences.

“Any worker who is entitled to the minimum wage should receive it. If anyone suspects they are not being paid the wage they are legally entitled to they should call the Pay and Work Rights helpline on 0800 917 2368.”
The apprentice minimum wage currently stands at £2.68 an-hour, but is due to rise 5p (2 per cent) from October.

As well as being publicly named and shamed, employers that fail to pay their workers the National Minimum Wage also face new penalties of up to £20,000 — four times higher than before.

The government revised the naming and shaming scheme from October to make it simpler to identify employers who break the law. It can now name all employers that have been issued with a notice of underpayment unless employers meet one of the exceptional criteria or have arrears of £100 or less.

The government also wants offending bosses to be given penalties of up to £20,000 for each individual worker they have underpaid, rather than the maximum penalty applying to each employer.

At least one employer out of the five in the first round of minimum wage cheat naming and shaming, in February, had underpaid on the apprentice NMW.

The BIS spokesperson said: “We do not disclose information on the identity or status of the workers.”

 

The 25 underpaying employers named by BIS this month were —

  • Christine Cadden and Nicola Banks of Renaissance, Wirral, neglected to pay £7310.65 to three workers
  • Alan King and John King of Arthur Simpson & Co, Bradford, neglected to pay £6426.12 to a worker
  • Central Heating Services Ltd, Hampshire, neglected to pay £6200.28 to four workers
  • Cargilfield School Ltd, Edinburgh, neglected to pay £3739.58 to a worker
  • A2ZEE Constriction Ltd, Cramlington, neglected to pay £3375.51 to 14 workers
  • Mr and Mrs Balasco of Eugenio, Bristol, neglected to pay £3037.53 to two workers
  • Mr and Mrs Hampton of The Wheatsheaf Inn, Cheshire, neglected to pay £2057.88 to five workers
  • Steven Stainton of Steven Stainton Joinery, Cumbria, neglected to pay £1415.82 to a worker
  • Runbaro Ltd, Swindon, neglected to pay £1413.88 to a worker
  • Satwinder Singh Khatter and Tejinder Singh Khatter of The Bath Hotel, Reading, neglected to pay £1237.79 to two workers
  • Richard Last of Classic Carpentry, Godalming, neglected to pay £1236.72 to a worker
  • We are Mop! Ltd, London, neglected to pay £1018.05 to two workers
  • Mrs Sue English of Legends Hairdressers, Colchester, neglected to pay £823.40 to a worker
  • Saftdwin Ltd, Hampshire, neglected to pay £806.37 to two workers
  • Master Distribution Ltd, Essex, neglected to pay £718.62 to a worker
  • Perth Hotels Ltd, Perth, neglected to pay £556.80 to a worker
  • Bryants Nurseries Ltd, Hertfordshire, neglected to pay £494.07 to a worker
  • Dove Mill Retail Outlet Ltd, Bolton, neglected to pay £461.84 to a worker
  • Luigi’s Little Italy Ltd, Yorkshire, neglected to pay £281.04 to five workers
  • CPS SW Ltd, Exmouth, neglected to pay £261.29 to a worker
  • Mr Gary Calder, Mr Richard Calder and Mr Neil Calder of Avenue Agricultural, Northamptonshire, neglected to pay £256.55 to a worker
  • Dakal Ltd, Northampton, neglected to pay £252.00 to two workers
  • Zoom Ltd, Havant, neglected to pay £242.28 to three workers
  • HSS Hire Service Group Ltd, Manchester, neglected to pay £149.00 to 15 workers
  • Sun Shack Ltd, Hamilton, neglected to pay £134.35 to eight workers

Pilot for 16 to 19s after Career College blow

A London college is to launch its own pilot Career College after failing to make the cut for the first round of the new Lord Baker-inspired 14 to 19 institutions.

When the former Conservative Education Secretary proposed Career Colleges in October, general FE colleges in Oldham, Oxford, Lambeth and Bromley were said to have expressed an interest.

But while Oldham was given the go ahead to open a Career College in September, with Oxford said to be looking at a 2015 start and Lambeth having dropped out due to an Ofsted grade three rating, there was no mention of Bromley.

However, Lynn Barratt (pictured), corporate development director at Bromley College, said it was still hopeful of opening a Career College. “We will pilot a hospitality, food and enterprise Career College to 16 to 19-year-olds from September with a view to the full 14 to 19 Career College opening in September next year,” she told FE Week.

“We are investing more than £2.5m in new facilities to support the hospitality food and enterprise curriculum which will not be fully open until October 2014 and therefore we have decided to defer the recruitment of 14 to 16-year-olds into the new Career College.”

Hugh Baird College, in Bootle, Merseyside, was the only other college told it could go ahead with plans for this year. Hugh Baird and Oldham will specialise in hospitality and catering, and creative and digital arts, respectively.

The announcement on who had been granted licenses from the Career Colleges Trust to open in September came on Wednesday (June 11) — along with news of hopes for at least a further ten next year.

Hugh Baird College principal Yana Williams said: “The visitor economy has been identified by the Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership as a key growth area with a range of employment opportunities for our learners.”

Oldham College principal Alun Francis said: “We are thrilled at the response we have had from Greater Manchester employers working in the digital and creative sector, and strongly believe that this initiative will play an important part in regenerating Oldham.”

Career Colleges Trust chair Luke Johnson, said: “The Career Colleges at Hugh Baird and Oldham represent very different industries. Not only does this demonstrate the diverse nature of our innovative educational concept, but it highlights the different employer/industry requirements in various areas.”

City of Oxford College, part of the Activate Learning group of colleges, was said by the trust to be interested in opening next year, specialising in construction. Four Career Colleges were also planned by Birmingham Metropolitan College with proposed specialisms in health and medical, engineering/electronics, creative arts/media and professional services.

Five other colleges were said to be working towards approval and hoped to open next year, but were not identified by the trust.

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College bouncing back from inspection shock

A formerly outstanding college that in just four years plummeted to inadequate across the board has started moving in the right direction with an improved Ofsted rating.

The 17,000-learner City of Liverpool College was hit with grade four (inadequate) ratings across each headline field in a shock Ofsted result in February last year.

Among the education watchdog’s finding were that the college, formerly Liverpool Community College, had too many students turning up late for lessons — if at all — and leave without achieving their qualifications.
But it was re-inspected just over a month ago and the resulting report issued grade three (requires improvement) ratings across the headline fields — along with four good (grade two) judgments.

“Teaching, learning and assessment are much improved since the last inspection,” it said in the Ofsted report.

It added that attendance and punctuality had also “improved significantly”.

Principal Elaine Bowker (pictured) said: “The report reflects much of the progress we are making as a college, but we aren’t complacent.

“The move to a grade three is a sign that we are making good progress and with several of our schools marked as a grade two or close to grade one [outstanding], it’s a clear sign that the changes we’ve made are now having an impact.”

It was an improvement that by no means appeared certain with an Ofsted monitoring visit in October finding that the college was struggling to improve A-level success rates, although inspectors did see reasonable progress in vocational course success rates.

There was also reasonable progress in every other element of monitoring, including self-assessment and improvement planning.

But a visit from FE Commissioner Dr David Collins followed and he too had criticism.

A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills told FE Week: “The FE Commissioner’s assessment report identified weaknesses in the governance of the college. The report makes a number of recommendations that will, once implemented, address these weaknesses and help steer the college in the right direction.”

However, the latest inspection report details improvement across all teaching areas at the college but certain schools, including catering, hair and beauty and engineering, are highlighted as performing particularly well.
“It’s difficult to pinpoint any one piece of work or initiative which has had the greatest impact on the improvements noted as part of this latest Ofsted inspection,” said a college spokesperson.

“Credit must be given to the efforts of our staff and students but a combination of many different activities underpinned by a strong strategy will also be playing a part. There are a lot of positive things happening at the college at the moment and we are pleased this has been recognised.”

 

Lingfield gets £350k budget

The body behind a new quality mark for FE providers will get taxpayer funding of up to £350k this financial year having received £201,193 last year, according to details released under the Freedom of Information Act.

The Institution for Further Education (IFE), a not-for-profit limited company, spent just over half of its £400k budget from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) in 2013-14 as it developed plans for Chartered Status.

It can call on BIS, which released the information, for up to £350,000 this financial year “to operate and exist” — but no government funding has been put forward beyond that.

However, the “position will be reviewed in light of progress made in 2014-15”.

A BIS spokesperson said: “The funding that BIS provided to the IFE to establish Chartered Status is considered appropriate.”

An IFE spokesperson told FE Week: “On money, the intention is that the institution will be self-financing from membership fees as soon as possible.

“The availability of any future grant funding beyond 2014-15 is a matter for BIS.”

The IFE was launched last July and given responsibility by BIS for developing and launching Chartered Status.

Lord Lingfield (pictured), chair of the IFE, told FE Week in March that the organisation had “prepared business plans and received seed corn funding and recently acquired the lease of premises in Victoria Street, in Westminster”.

The Tory peer added he had consulted earlier this year with 80 large and small providers on plans developed by the IFE for the quality mark.

It is understood issues covered included the potential cost of the quality mark.

He said a “small group” had been chosen from providers who responded to the consultation to “develop and refine” the proposals.

The group held what is understood to have been its first formal meeting on June 4, but IFE would not say who attended or what was discussed.

Its spokesperson said: “There was indeed a monitoring meeting on June 4, which involved a selection of colleges and training providers.

“The meeting was one of many meetings and contacts with interested parties. The work of consulting and listening is still going on.”

He added IFE was still waiting for royal permission before it could start granting Chartered Status.

Adult Learners’ Week 2014

Download your free copy of the FE Week 16-page  supplement celebraing Adult Learners’ Week 2014 ~ in partnership with NOCN.

Click here to download (3mb)

Learning that goes far beyond the school classroom

Welcome to this year’s Adult Learners’ Week (ALW) supplement.

For me, the best thing about this annual week of celebration is the stories of people who find new skills that change their lives.

What has struck me this year is that it’s not just people who struggle at school who benefit from adult learning (although, of course, they do), it also boosts those who want to progress at work or pursue a lifelong dream or are in prison and want the skills to change their lives when they are released.

The National Institute for Adult Continuing Education (Niace) wants everyone to experience these benefits; on page 3, read the manifesto that it believes will help to make this happen.

On pages 4 and 5, learners, including winners of the ALW awards, tell their stories. Read too about the Transforming Lives award for tutors.

On pages 6 and 7, there’s a profile of Bob Rose, South Gloucestershire and Stroud College’s head of work and life preparation. He’s a man who has experienced the power of adult learning in his own life.

We’ve got a feature on prison learning on pages 10 and 11, with a piece by Prisoners’ Education Trust chief executive Rod Clark that celebrates offender learners’ achievements.

On page 12, Association of Colleges president Michele Sutton tells us what colleges can do for adult learners, and Dr Fiona Aldridge, Niace assistant director for development and research, analyses the institute’s adult learning participation survey.

On page 13, Frances Graham, director of Workbase Training, writes about Learning Associates who support learning in non-unionised workplaces, while Association of Employment and Learning Providers chief executive Stewart Segal calls for integrated employment and skills programmes.

Finally you can look at pages 14 and 15 for our calendar of taster sessions running across the UK throughout this wonderful week.

As always, you can contact us and keep track of events on twitter via @FEWeek #ALW14

Learner destination worries over homepage proposals

Concerns about the tracking of learner destinations have emerged with a new consultation on plans for colleges and schools to show key performance data on their website home pages.

Association of Colleges policy director Joy Mercer said she had worries about the Department for Education (DfE) proposals.

The DfE launched a consultation on Friday, June 6, for at-a-glance post-16 measures to be carried on college home pages to include students’ progress in academic subjects or Tech Levels as well as students’ average grades in each category.

Colleges and school sixth forms would also be expected to show the progress made by students who joined them without a C in English and/or maths, what proportion of their students drop out, and what proportion of their students go on to further study, a job or training at the end of their courses (when data is robust enough).

Ms Mercer said: “We are pleased to see a consultation on headline measures, because they were not part of the original consultation on changes to performance tables from 2016.

“It is very important these new headline measures are accessible to parents and potential students because all colleges will have to publish them as a condition of funding. However independent learning providers, which are also publicly funded, will not.

“We remain concerned that the headline measures using current national data, causes a particular problem for colleges in the way information on student destinations and progress is collected. This is something we’ve raised with the DfE.”

The consultation ends on July 4 with the proposals expected to come into force from 2016.

Current guidelines already require schools to publish information on performance. However, where and how this information is presented varies between schools and colleges. A DfE spokesperson said this made it “difficult and time-consuming” for parents to find information. Up until now colleges have not been required to publish evidence of their performance online.

James Kewin, deputy chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges’ Association, said: “The idea of schools and colleges publishing standard performance measures on their websites is a good one.

“But the data behind these measures must be robust. We would not want a situation where colleges are required to include measures on their websites based on incomplete or inaccurate data.

“The performance measures selected must also be the right ones. The five proposed in the consultation are important, and we are particularly pleased with the inclusion of a progress measure. But it must also be possible to link to make comparisons using more granular data if required. For example, using the proposed attainment measure, 80 per cent of sixth form colleges would have an average grade per academic entry of a C+, C, or C-.
“It is essential that the detail behind this proposal is thoroughly worked through before colleges are required to include performance information on their websites.”

The DfE proposals also affect primary schools, who will have to show pupils’ progress from age four to 11, among other things. And secondary schools will have to show pupils’ progress from age 11 to 16, including average grades across eight subjects.

Schools Minister David Laws said: “The information that will be published online by every school and college in future will support parents when choosing the best school or college for their child and help them challenge poor performance.”