An engineering apprentice from City of Wolverhampton College has been awarded for her conservation work on a German Second World War bomber.
Bethany Colburn, aged 19, is serving her apprenticeship with the Royal Air Force Museum, in Cosford, and City of Wolverhampton College.
She was named Wolverhampton apprentice of the year by the local Rotary Club, for her work restoring parts of a German Dornier 17 aircraft that was shot down 72 years ago during the Battle of Britain and was retrieved from the English Channel in June last year.
Bethany said: “I was delighted to have been chosen as apprentice of the year. It’s great to gain recognition for the conservation work we do.”
The museum launched its apprenticeship scheme in 2005, to counter a shortage of people with the special skills needed to look after its historic aircraft collection.
Cap: Bethany Colburn holding her apprenticeship of the year trophy.
Senior staff from MidKent College and Duchy College were awarded the Queen’s anniversary prize for further and higher education at Buckingham Palace.
The Queen and Prince Philip presented medals and certificates to Sue McLeod, MidKent College principal, Andrew Brader, managing director of subisidiary firm MidKent College Training Services (MKCTS), Andrew Counsell, principal of Duchy College, and Amarjit Basi, principal of the Cornwall College Group, which oversees Duchy College.
MidKent College was recognised for its construction and engineering training to soldiers, through MKCTS, at the Royal School of Military Engineering (RSME), in Gillingham. Duchy College was honoured for research and training by its rural business school that had helped improve local farming skills.
Ms McLeod said: “It was a very special day and fantastic recognition of the unique skills taught at RSME.”
Mr Counsell said: “It was such an honour. I’m so very proud of all those who have worked so hard to make this happen.”
Cap: Amarjit Basi (front right) and Andrew Counsell, from the Cornwall College Group and Duchy College, being awarded by the Queen worked and Prince Philip.
Learners from Coleg Gwent secured 15 places in the regional final of the Association of Hairdressers and Therapists national skills competition.
Level one, two and three hair, beauty and theatrical makeup learners from the Welsh college competed against students representing providers from across South West England and Wales in a regional heat at Bristol College.
They included level three diploma hairdressing students Victoria Windle, aged 30, Sara Moylan, 21, and Frances Downing, 22, who entered the “avant garde” hairstyles category. Victoria won, Sara came third and Frances was unplaced.
Hairdressing lecturer Alison Edwards said: “In the fast evolving hair and beauty industry, competitions like this allow students to progress and make links within the business, as well as share knowledge and be inspired.
“Taking part in this event allowed our learners to build their artistic and creative vision, and the impressive set of results really boosted their confidence.”
The Coleg Gwent team achieved seven first, four second, and four third place finishes — which were all good enough to qualify for the UK-wide final at Blackpool Winter Gardens on March 17.
Cap: Stephanie Maddocks, modelling for Sara Moylan, Carla Edwards, modelling for Victoria Windle, and Ellie Moss, modelling for Frances Downing
Government research on apprenticeship funding reform proposals has found that employers were generally in the dark about how much cash their providers got for training.
As the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills looks at rerouting apprenticeship funding directly through employers so they can pay for training, its research found that most were unable to even suggest a price.
“Where they were able to provide a price it tended to be much lower than the current level of funding provided by government,” according to the research paper.
“And when presented with the actual amount of funding the providers received they were unable to gauge whether this represented a fair price.”
Thirty nine “semi-structured” interviews were conducted for the study across five industrial sectors: engineering, construction, retailing, hospitality, and financial services.
It looked at how employers might react to apprenticeship funding reforms outlined in the 2012 review carried out by former Dragon’s Den investor Richard Review.
His suggested models were for “direct payment”, where businesses register apprentices and report claims for government funding through a new online system, with government funding then paid directly into their bank account; and “PAYE payment”, where businesses again register apprentices through a new online system and then recover government funding through their PAYE return.
He also suggested “provider payment”, where registered providers make claims for government funding when they have received the employer’s financial contribution.
“The suggestion is that the price of training would no longer be set by government. In future, the price providers charge would be determined by negotiation between providers and employers,” it said in the research paper.
But, it added: “Employers were split on whether or not they wanted funding routed through them.
“Some welcomed the idea because it would allow them to obtain greater influence over the provider.
“This was not in order to influence the content, delivery and assessment of apprenticeships — as noted above most felt they had the influence they wanted — rather, it was to ensure that the quality of service provided to the employer met the standard they wanted.
“Other employers were resistant to the idea of funding being routed through them because of concerns over the amount of administration involved, concerns about the complexity of any system which may be introduced, and the risk of reputational damage should something inadvertently go wrong in managing public money.”
The paper also said that employers, “in general were satisfied with the amount of influence they had over the content, structure, and assessment of the training which comprised the apprenticeship.”
“They were not actively looking to increase the amount of influence they had over these features of the apprenticeship,” it said.
The research paper continued: “Relatively few were dissatisfied with the way training was delivered or the structure of the training.
“Some specific points mentioned by employers included: feeling that the training providers were sometimes more reactive than proactive in meeting their needs; training providers being located some distance from the business; training providers placing too much emphasis on signing-up of apprentices rather than the delivery of the training; and. training providers not providing the flexibility employers required.
It also looked at how much funding might come from employers.
“The tipping point at which employers will substantially reduce their engagement in apprenticeships lies between 20 and 50 per cent contribution,” it said in the research paper
“From the discussion with employers this feels as if it will be nearer 20 than 50 per cent. Where the cap on public funding should be set is difficult to assess since employers had little knowledge of the costs faced by providers and what would constitute a fair price for the services they provide.”
Apprenticeships could help save the country’s “struggling” high streets, according to the House of Commons Business, Innovation and Skills select committee.
Its report on the retail sector called on employers to be “more ambitious about skills training” with the aim of increasing the number of apprentices at level three and above.
The report said the skills of shop workers needed to be boosted to ensure positive in-store customer experiences in the face of growing competition from, among others, “mail order, supermarkets, shopping centres, megastores, out of town retail parks”.
The report said: “Apprenticeships are being used more frequently in the retail sector. They allow retail staff, who often leave school with few qualifications, to gain transferable, interpersonal skills.
“However, retailing is becoming a much more sophisticated industry, and those who work in the sector need to be more comprehensively trained. We support the work that employers do in training their workforce.
“The retail sector should be more ambitious about skills training, encouraging more staff to be trained at level three and above.
“Furthermore, given the importance of tourism to the United Kingdom, consideration should be given to developing language skills to enhance the international consumers’ retail experience.”
According to the report, retail is one of the largest users of apprenticeships, with 108,300 starts in the 2011/12 academic year, up more than 75 per cent on 2009/10. It also said around a tenth of the UK workforce (around three million people) is employed in the retail sector, making it the largest private sector employer.
Committee chair Adrian Bailey: “The skills needed by those working in the retail sector are changing rapidly as shoppers operate in an increasingly digital world and shopping becomes an increasingly multi-channel experience.
“The government must outline the action it will take to tackle any skills shortages and the sector itself must be more ambitious in the level of training it offers to its staff.”
The committee’s main finding was that the current system of business rates was not fit for purpose and therefore in need of fundamentally reform. It calls for a wholesale review that goes beyond the administration of business rates to examine whether retail taxes should be based on sales rather than the rateable value of a property; whether retail needs its own system of business taxation; and how frequently revaluations should take place.
“British retail is a global success story,” said Mr Bailey.
“Employing around three million people, it is the largest private sector employer in the UK.
“But its traditional home — the High Street — is struggling under a system of business rates that comprises one of the highest forms of local property tax in the European Union.”
Routing apprenticeship funding directly to employers will mean providers can no longer “force employers to take whatever training they happen to want to offer,” Education Secretary Michael Gove has said.
In a speech at the McLaren Technology Centre, in Woking, Surrey, today on the future of vocational education, he praised the apprenticeship review carried out by former Dragon’s Den investor Doug Richard, describing his work as “brilliant”.
Among Mr Richard’s recommendations taken forward by the government was that the funding of apprenticeships should be rerouted, bypassing providers and instead going straight to employers. He suggested using the tax system to do this, which was also taken on by the government as part of its reform proposals.
Mr Gove said: “Following his [Mr Richard] recommendations we’re introducing reforms to put employers in the driving seat — giving them control of more than £1.4bn invested in apprenticeships by the government so that employers can demand higher quality from whatever training provider they choose, rather than giving it to providers who force employers to take whatever training they happen to want to offer.
“We’re getting rid of those study requirements which were inserted by self-serving lobby groups, bureaucrats and trade unions and which have nothing to do with preparing young people for the modern workplace.
“Critically, we’re getting businesses to design the quality standards which mark out an apprentice in any field as properly qualified. They are leaders in their field and will ensure that the apprenticeship programme at last serves modern business needs rather than politicians’ vanity.”
The Tory MP had opened his speech by saying: “We need to end the artificial and damaging division between the academic and the practical — the apartheid at the heart of our education system.
“We need to ensure that more students enjoy access to the academic excellence which will make a practical difference to their job prospects in a fast-changing world.
“And we need to ensure that practical, technical and vocational education is integrated with academic learning to make both more compelling for all students in our schools, and more valuable in the new labour market.”
He added: “It is striking that the jurisdictions which have seen huge improvements in their schools in recent years — such as Poland — have been those which ensure all children have access to a stretching academic curriculum until at least the age of 17.
“No matter what path students choose — whether academic or vocational – they all share a core academic foundation on which to build.”
And, just months after Mr Gove’s Department for Education (DfE) announced it would be cutting the level of funding for full-time 18-year-olds to 17.5 per cent less than that of their 16 and 17-year-old classmates, he said: “We changed the funding of education for students between the ages of 16 and 18 to make it equal for all, whatever qualifications and courses they took — overturning a status quo which favoured the purely academic.
“We also changed the demands we make of students after the age of 16, so all students — whether they are studying more practical or more academic courses — are increasingly expected to pursue maths beyond GCSE.
“And any students who fail to get maths and English GCSE by the time they’re 16 must, whatever path they’re taking, pursue both subjects until they secure those qualifications. Without those basic intellectual accomplishments, the world of work is increasingly out of reach for students.”
He went on to outline the government’s adoption of policy following the review, three years ago, of 14 to 19 vocational education by Professor Alison Wolf.
“She recommended changes to practical and technical qualifications — to make them as rigorous and demanding as academic qualifications,” he said, adding: “Now, every qualification which counts in our schools and colleges — academic or technical — must have a rigorous marking structure, external assessment, robust content and real stretch, or must be redeveloped to meet that standard.
“As a result there is — at last — the prospect of a genuine equality of worth and parity of esteem between all qualifications.”
Mr Gove further said the government had “sorted out the nonsense” of “arcane, confusing and unnecessary regulatory burdens” preventing firms providing work experience.
“Last year the Health and Safety Executive stripped away unnecessary health and safety rules, the Home Office removed the need for criminal checks on employers offering under-18s work experience, the insurance industry — at the government’s request — confirmed that young people on work experience will be covered by employers’ liability insurance, and the DfE introduced new funding rules that encourage schools and colleges to arrange post-16 work experience,” he said.
“We’ve changed the law so that for most businesses, so long as you behave reasonably, you have discharged all your duties under health and safety legislation.”
Top: Education Secretary Michael Gove gives a speech at the McLaren Technology Centre, in Woking, Surrey, on the future of vocational education. Pic: PA
Apprenticeship Debate panel. From left: Martin Dunford, John Hyde, David Russell, chief executive of the Education and Training Foundation, and Jennifer Coupland
Far-reaching government reforms were scrutinised at the Apprenticeship Debate, organised by Association of Education and Learning Providers (AELP).
The event, held at the Trades Union Congress HQ in Central London, was attended by around 200 delegates from providers, trade unions and government.
The topic of discussion was reform proposals emanating from Doug Richard’s review of apprenticeships in England, published in 2012.
Since then, change has been on the horizon and key among government reform plans is to fund apprenticeships through the tax system and increase employer ownership of the programme.
Stewart Segal, of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) chief executive, reflected a feeling among many delegates at the event when he laid out AELP’s position on the proposed reforms.
“The apprenticeships programme itself is in a good place,” he said, adding: “But we do share the key objective of the programme, simplifying the system, getting employers more involved, more engaged and improving the delivery to learners.
“We are there with the objectives — it’s about how we get there.”
Here is a snapshot of some of the issues raised throughout the day.
Trailblazers
Trailblazers are groups of companies who are leading the design of the reformed apprenticeships, which are being formed in phases.
Jennifer Coupland, deputy director of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) Joint Apprenticeship Unit, said government recognised the need to engage small employers as well as larger companies.
She said: “Twenty per cent of the employers involved in the first set of trailblazers are small employers… we’ve been very clear we didn’t want intermediary organisations taking on this role and interpreting what employers wanted, we wanted genuine employers and that’s what we’ve got.”
The Joint Apprenticeship Unit’s Jayne McCann was unable to say when provider trailblazers would be rolled out, but that “the Association of Colleges and AELP are open for expressions of interest now”.
Keith Smith, executive director for funding and programmes at the Skills Funding Agency (SFA), urged providers who wanted to get involved to “talk to the SFA and to their local enterprise partnerships”.
Better pay security
Tom Wilson, director of the TUC’s education arm Unionlearn, argued learners would be less likely to be underpaid with increased employer involvement.
“I think fundamentally, the problem we’ve got here is that employers are not yet enough at the heart of the system,” he said.
“If they were, if they really valued and cherished the course that they were buying, they would not allow that level of underpayment to happen because they’d care about it, they’d care that they were breaking the law and they’d care more about quality of what they were offering.”
Grading and end testing
Doug Richard recommended apprentices should be tested at the end of their course and graded on pass, merit and distinction and these ideas provoked opposition from many delegates.
On grading, Mr Segal said: “Providers I’ve spoken to don’t want to grade competence because as far as they’re concerned competence is binary.”
John Hyde, HIT Training managing director, agreed, saying: “It’s not about good better or best, it’s about the gain in competence.”
He described end testing as “bizarre”.
“Would you want a surgeon who had done a one-off test and was using you for practice to get their competencies up?” he said.
However, Ms Coupland insisted end point assessment “does not preclude assessment along the way”.
Advanced Learning Loans
A significant challenge facing apprenticeships has been the drop in numbers linked to the introduction of loans for learners over 23.
Apprenticeships have been dropped from the scheme and Ms Coupland admitted: “It was the wrong policy for this programme.”
Martin Dunford, AELP chair, said: “It’s about the government not listening — we made it so clear apprenticeship loans wouldn’t work.”
Mr Smith told providers they would receive the same funding for apprentices who would have been eligible for loans as they had received the year before loans were introduced.
The Apprentice Debate took place on Thursday, February 20.
A new pressure group for apprentices has been launched by the National Union of Students (NUS).
The National Society for Apprentices was officially launched today — day two of National Apprenticeship Week.
The NUS said the aim of the new society was to champion the rights of apprentices and represent their views to government.
An NUS spokesperson told FE Week: “We have been working on developing a similar organisation for apprentices for a number of years and the society is open to all apprentices across the country, from any kind of provider, on any framework.”
She said the new organisation was needed because, “our research into apprentices and their identity indicates that apprentices sometimes see themselves primarily as apprentices, sometimes as workers and sometimes as students.”
“This was echoed during the Apprentice Conversation event last year, apprentices felt they should participate in NUS events but also have their own space to develop their own ideas,” she said.
Its interim leadership team will be made up of 15 senior figures from a range of organisations involved with apprenticeships — including the NUS, public services union Unison, Leeds City College Student Union, City & Guilds, and providers ACT Training and First4Skills. It is chaired by Dr Peter Lavender OBE, chair of the corporation of North Warwickshire and Hinckley College.
He said: “It’s humbling to think that there will be a new voice for almost a million apprentices across the UK. What the NUS has done is inspired; the team’s energy and imagination will do the rest. This is a voice we need if we are to improve productivity and business success. Without strong apprenticeship development we’ll have an impoverished skills strategy.”
Raechel Mattey, NUS vice president (union development), said: “We understand the importance of strong representation and having a voice to shape your environment.
“I’m delighted that we are setting up the society in National Apprenticeship Week. It’s the perfect way to celebrate apprenticeships and the positive impact they have on individuals, businesses and the wider economy.
“For the first time ever, apprentices will have a voice and it’s high time we started to champion our apprentices by tackling exploitative practices within the industry and rooting out abuse where it exists.”
All providers that train apprentices will be invited to join the society. After they join, their apprentices will be entitled to apprentice extra discount cards, which were launched by the NUS in June 2012 but will now be managed by the society.
The National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) will promote the society and the discount card on its website.
David Hughes, chief executive of the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education, said: “We strongly support the NUS and NAS in the launch of the National Society for Apprentices.
“The voice of apprentices is vital to making the new apprenticeship reforms work for individuals, employers and the whole economy.”
An Association of Employment and Learning Providers spokesperson said: “It’s important that we build on the channels of communication that organisations such as Unionlearn and the Education and Training Foundation already provide for learners.”
Lynne Sedgmore, chief executive of the 157 Group, said: “We have always believed that the learner voice should be a powerful force in the design, development and delivery of apprenticeships and this new initiative seems to be a positive step in the right direction.”
A permanent leadership team for the apprentice society is due to be chosen in the summer.
Labour’s Skills Taskforce has called for school funding to be conditional on whether students progress into FE, employment or training.
The third report by the group, set up last year to provide independent policy recommendations to Labour, was published today and recommends that funding withheld from affected schools should go towards their careers guidance services.
Young people should also continue to study maths and English until 18, according to the report, entitled Qualifications Matter: Improving the Curriculum and Assessment for All, and there should be a new national baccalaureate for school leavers, including skills, “character-building” and workplace learning.
Taskforce chair Professor Chris Husbands said: “In Britain, we have a poor record of delivering high skills and effective qualifications for the forgotten 50 per cent: the half of young people for whom the current qualifications regime simply does not deliver.
“The taskforce has set out plans for radically improved information and advice which will help young people negotiate an ever more complex labour market, and for a deliverable National Baccalaureate — a simple framework for qualifications and skills which will make it easier for all young people to make the transition to adulthood.
“What we have set out is do-able and practical. Our economic and our social future depends on getting this right.”
The report suggests funding should be withheld from schools where students do not progress into FE, employment or training, and these funds should be used to support the delivery of better careers advice services which would be delivered in partnership with employers and brokered by local enterprise partnerships.
Schools would be responsible for tracking the destinations of their students.
Shadow Education Secretary Tristram Hunt said: “This report is an excellent contribution to Labour’s thinking on education and skills.
“The talents of the forgotten 50 per cent — those young people who wish to pursue a vocational route through education — are being overlooked by this government.”
The proposed national baccalaureate would either be available to all learners leaving secondary school, and would consist of level three core learning, maths and English, a personal development programme and an extended project.
Following the UK’s poor performance in literacy and numeracy compared to other countries, revealed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development report in October, all learners would continue to study maths and English until 18, regardless of what course they were taking, said a Labour spokesperson.
The report comes the week after figures from the Office for National Statistics for October to December showed that there were 1.04 million 16 to 24-year-olds in the UK who were not in education, employment or training — a decrease of 38,000 from July to September 2013 and down 37,000 from the previous year.
Mr Hunt said: “Labour will deliver for the forgotten 50 per cent through a technical baccalaureate with rigorous vocational qualifications, requiring schools and colleges to collaborate to reduce NEETs and transforming careers advice by working with local employers so young people have the best chance of succeeding in the job market.
“David Cameron’s ambivalence to vocational excellence will cost our country dear, prising young people out of the global labour market. Reforms must focus on driving up standards in maths and English, strengthening character and resilience and equipping the labour market of the future with the skills set it needs. More of the same just won’t do.”
