The principal of Lambeth College has vowed to protect learners from an indefinite strike planned this week — but conceded industrial action during exams season was “particularly disruptive”.

Mark Silverman (pictured) said he would not let the college’s 15,000 learners be affected by the University College Union (UCU) demonstration and that “most classes” would still run.

Union members voted to walk out from Tuesday (June 3) and not return to classrooms until a row over new staff contracts was resolved.

It is understood that a key sticking point is the number of days’ annual leave dropping from 60 to 50.

But Mr Silverman challenged the UCU to return to the negotiating table in a last ditch attempt to avoid unrest.

“It’s particularly disruptive at such a crucial time and an important time of the year,” he told FE Week.

“I think it’s irresponsible to take action at a time which is so crucial to them.”

The ballot for strike action was supported by 89 per cent of voters —with turnout at 72 per cent.

 

The UCU was unable to provide the actual numbers behind the percentages, but according to Mr Silverman 115 staff members had voted for strike action.

“We have about 300 teaching staff, and most of them will continue as normal and most classes will run,” he said.

A UCU spokesperson said the new contracts would leave all new staff starting from April 1, 2014, with “bigger workloads, but less sick pay and fewer holidays” and “working longer hours than all but three of London’s 38 FE colleges”.

However, Mr Silverman said leave entitlement remained above sector norms.

“New staff will still have 50 days annual leave, including public holidays,” he said.

“The sector average is 48, many only have 35.”

Current teachers have 60 days’ annual leave, including public holidays, with 23 hours of contact time with students, which for new staff would rise by an hour, bringing the total working week from 35 hours to 36, he said.

“This is very much in line with what is normal in colleges,” said Mr Silverman.

Mr Silverman, who came to the college two years ago after it was hit with an Ofsted grade four inspection result, said the new contracts were necessary.

“This is a college with a notice of concern around its finances. It’s got to change and be efficient and fit for purpose,” he said.

He added: “We are keen to resolve this — I have always said our door is open for discussions.”

Una O’Brien, UCU regional official, said: “UCU members… have made it crystal clear that they will stay out for as long as it takes.

“The college has so far used every trick in the book to try and block strike action.

“It would have been better off using the time and resources to try and resolve the dispute.”

The last indefinite strike at a college was in 2009 when Tower Hamlets College staff walked out over job losses and cuts to English language programmes.

The strike lasted almost a month before the college backed down.

Providers could receive up to £27,000 for every apprentice they train — but £9,000 of that cash would have to come from employers and the rest from the Skills Funding Agency, FE Week can reveal.

And further public money, including extra cash for 16 to 18-year-old apprenticeships, could push the figure above £37,000.

The figures are for a pilot employer-led funding model in which government pays 67 per cent and employers 33 per cent. They were released to FE Week by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and are for the first Trailblazers’ group. They come in five funding bands ranging from £3,000 to £27,000.

However, the government has said it wants employers to shop around so that they might lower their own — and therefore the taxpayers’ — actual contribution [click here to download the BIS stakeholder briefing].

It is believed to be the first time a mandatory cash contribution will have been required from apprentice employers. It comes two years after a review of apprenticeships by former BBC Dragons’ Den investor Doug Richard recommended an employer-led system.

The government has not revealed how it will pay its share with the results of the latest consultation, which ended on May 1, proposing a PAYE or credit account system yet to be published.

Association of Employment and Learning Providers chief executive Stewart Segal said: “The proposals include the principle of mandatory cash contributions which we know will be a barrier for some.”

He added: “The process of monitoring employer contributions will be an important part of the pilot. We will need to carefully monitor the impact of the pilot although the Trailblazers may not be typical of the majority of apprenticeships.”

A BIS spokesperson said: “We will also provide additional incentives for completion [10 per cent], for small businesses [10 per cent and defined as fewer than 50 staff, paid to the employer] and for apprentices aged 16 to 18 [20 per cent]. This is a simple, fair system that will support employers to sit in the driving seat of the apprenticeships system in future.”

English and maths funding for apprenticeships, worth up to £1,000 per learner, would be in addition to these figures and would come entirely from the government.

Editorial

Time to improve reform, not fight it

The details of the government’s first ‘employer-led’ apprenticeship funding pilot are out.

But many will not forget the government ignored the vast majority of responses to the first apprenticeship funding consultation, and it is less than a month since the second consultation ended — before the latest set of results have been shared.

Cynics might therefore point to this announcement being more evidence of not listening to what both employers and the sector have said.

But the Minister is not for turning, and to be fair has made it clear he’s flying the Doug Richard flag.

So let’s move the debate on, and look at the detail.

Providers will now have to secure cash from the employer. A good thing.

But how will the sector cope now with negotiating on price, potentially driving it down — and quality with it?

And how does price negotiation work for employer providers, who are both the customer and the supplier?

Fortunately, unlike apprenticeship loans, this new funding system is being piloted.

So as a sector let’s be solutions-focused, and work with the government to improve the reform during the pilots, and ensure even more employers take on even more apprentices.

Chris Henwood

More than 40 colleges have expressed an interest in opening a Career College since proposals for the new form of 14 to 19 education institutions were put forward in October, FE Week can reveal.

Career Colleges Trust chief executive Ruth Gilbert (pictured) said she had been approached by colleges and also employers about setting up the specialist vocational education colleges.

Ms Gilbert said: “We have had more than 60 individual enquiries from organisations interested in opening Career Colleges — two thirds instigated by FE colleges, and many by employers.”

She declined to say who she had been approached by, but the list of those due to open in time for September is expected to be announced by the trust on June 9.

“They have to meet the standards we’ve set out in terms of engagement with employers and clear, employer-led career pathways,” said Ms Gilbert.

“As well as speaking to Ofsted, we’re also looking at local demand and the facilities the college has available.

“At the end of the day we won’t compromise on quality and we would rather delay to get the right college than open where it’s not.”

When former Conservative Education Secretary Lord Baker proposed Career Colleges in October, general FE colleges in Oldham, Bromley, Oxford and Lambeth expressed an interest.

Oldham College may postpone the opening its proposed creative industries Career College as its £9m purpose-built centre may not be ready for September, but a spokesperson said the college was “working closely” with the trust.

Ms Gilbert said the trust would “not accept students being housed in temporary accommodation”.

Lambeth College’s grade three Ofsted rating has scuppered its plans as currently only one or two-rated colleges can recruit students from 14, but a spokesperson said the college was “still keen” and was “on course for a good inspection in the autumn”.

Bromley College director of corporate development Lynn Barratt confirmed the college hoped to open a food, hospitality and enterprise centre for this September while City of Oxford College confirmed it was delaying its construction Career College until September next year.

Two out of eight providers hit with an Ofsted grade four rating since February last year have been allowed to keep their Education Funding Agency (EFA) contracts, the Department for Education (DfE) has revealed.

It said the two that kept their contracts were given a chance to work with civil servants to improve performance.

The six other grade four organisations — five independent learning providers (ILPs) and one local authority — had their EFA contracts terminated, said the DfE.

But Gloucestershire-based independent specialist college Ruskin Mill kept its contract, as did adult and community learning provider Nacro.

Nacro has 2,655 learners and a current EFA allocation of £8.578m. The London-based national charity was given a grade four rating February last year and had previously been grade three.

Principal Josh Coleman said: “Working with government agencies and local authorities over this last year has given Nacro the opportunity to improve its education provision by getting back to basics and focusing on the individual learners’ experiences.”

It is believed Nacro has been visited by Ofsted again recently and is expecting a more favourable grading soon.

Ruskin Mill has 110 learners and a current EFA allocation of £1.188m. It was rated as inadequate by Ofsted after a visit in March, having previously been deemed outstanding following an inspection in 2011.

The college, which recently demoted its principal Elisabeth Johnson to deputy and drafted in new executive principal Oliver Cheney, declined to comment.

The news has led to a call from the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) for a review system that might allow ILPS graded as inadequate to also hold onto EFA contracts while working towards improvement.

Paul Warner (pictured), director of employment and skills for the AELP, said: “No such review system exists for ILPs, who normally suffer an automatic loss of contract without the chance of review or remediation.
“This variance in approach remains iniquitous and the AELP will continue to be lobbying for a more equitable system to be devised and implemented.”

A DfE spokesperson said: “We consider each case on its merits and have been working with Nacro and Ruskin Mill after they were given inadequate ratings by Ofsted in an effort to drive up standards.
“Where appropriate we will terminate contracts with commercial and

charitable education providers. Six organisations had their agreements terminated in 2013-14.

“When deciding whether to terminate contracts we take into account criteria such as the best interests of learners, strategic importance of provision, availability of replacement provision, and capacity to improve in making judgments about whether to terminate.”

Ofsted inspections of FE and skills providers and schools will no longer be carried out by private contractors from September 2015.

The education watchdog said it would not be renewing contracts with inspection service providers (ISPs), which are set to expire in August next year.

The current contracts, with CfBT, Serco and Tribal, have run since September 2009.

Ofsted said additional inspectors (AIs), who are currently contracted through ISPs for inspections on behalf of Ofsted, would continue to form a “significant part of the inspection work force”.

From September next year, AIs will be contracted directly by Ofsted, giving it more direct control over their selection, training and quality assurance, it claimed.

The move follows, FE Week understands, concerns that inspectors have not been following Ofsted guidance, such as being told not to grade individual lesson observations.

Joy Mercer, director of policy at the Association of Colleges (AoC), said: “We welcome the decision to end the outsourcing of inspection… and take the responsibility in-house. We hope that this will lead to consistency across inspections.”

The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) supported Ofsted having “more direct control over the selection, training and quality assurance of inspectors and inspection teams”.

Learning improvement consultant Phil Hatton (pictured), who was an Ofsted inspector from 1998 until January last year, told FE Week: “Hopefully the changes will lead to more consistency with inspections and improved training of inspectors.”

But a spokesperson for the Association of Employment and Learning Providers said while it had received regular complaints until 2013 about inconsistencies with inspections of independent learning providers, it had received “far fewer” in the last 12 months.

He raised concern about losing “the experience and knowledge of the inspectors that work through the external organisations”.

Ofsted declined to comment on the consistency of its current inspection regime.

But its director of corporate services Nick Jackson said: “For the last five years our ISPs have delivered a successful and professional inspection programme for Ofsted.

“With the conclusion of these contracts the time was right to look again at how Ofsted can best deliver a service that is efficient and flexible.”

Ofsted’s existing contractual arrangements for the delivery of early years’ inspections will continue.