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Dame Jackie Fisher returns to FE front line at under fire Barnfield Federation

Under fire Barnfield Federation has announced that Dame Jackie Fisher (pictured) is to become its new interim chief executive.

Dame Jackie, ex-chief executive at NCG (formerly Newcastle College Group), replaces previous federation leaders Helen Mayhew and Stephen Hall, who stepped in for the last six months following the resignation of Sir Peter Birkett.

Her appointment comes with the Department for Education (DfE) and Skills Funding Agency (SFA) due to publish the findings of investigations following allegations of poor financial management at the Bedfordshire college.

DavidCollins-FE-Commissioner — FE Commissioner David Collins

FE Commissioner Dr David Collins CBE also visited the college last month and his recommendations are due as well.

Judy Oliver, federation board acting chair, said: “We are delighted to welcome Dame Jackie to Barnfield.

“She brings a wealth of experience and expertise that I know will prove invaluable in the coming weeks as we move forward and make changes to secure Barnfield’s future.”

She added: “On behalf of the board, I would also like to thank Helen Mayhew and Stephen Hall for their work over the past six months in leading the federation through this challenging time. They both return to their substantive roles within the federation.”

Dame Jackie arrives at Barnfield following 13 years as chief executive of NCG, one of the UK’s largest education and training providers with an annual turnover of £185m.

She achieved three outstanding Ofsted ratings at the college, but then hit the headlines in 2012 when she kicked inspectors out following what she referred to at the time in an internal email as “some troubling incidents”.

Dame Jackie left the college group around six months ago and in an exclusive interview with FE Week last month said the inspection experience — which eventually resulted in an Ofsted downgrading to good — had left a bitter taste.

“It was unlike any of the other six or seven inspections I have been party to as a senior manager,” she said.

“There was an agenda in play that was not directly related to the inspection.”

Nevertheless, during her time at the helm of NCG, she also oversaw the acquisitions of independent learning provider Carter & Carter and national young people’s learning charity Rathbone, along with the merger with West Lancashire College, plus the creation of a national e-enabled shared service with flexible working practices.

And in 2010 she was recognised with a Dame Commander honour in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to education.

Before her time at NCG, Dame Jackie was principal of Tameside College, in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester.

The DfE and SFA have been looking into Barnfield following allegations of poor financial management along with concerns about “extensive” staff restructuring and redundancies that were passed onto Education Secretary Michael Gove by local MPs Gavin Shuker and Kelvin Hopkins in October.

The college is part of the Barnfield Federation, which also includes six secondary school academies and four primary school academies.

Founder and former director general of the federation Sir Peter stepped down in the summer, just over a year after the college went from an Ofsted rating of outstanding to satisfactory (now termed requires improvement).

Coffey issues warning to government on college and Lep relationship

The man in charge of England’s college inspections has called for “oversight” of the relationship between colleges and local enterprise partnerships (Leps).

Concerns that colleges were not meeting the skills needs of their local areas were raised by Matthew Coffey, director of FE and skills at the education watchdog, during a meeting of the House of Commons Education Select Committee this morning.

Flanked by his boss, Sir Michael Wilshaw, Mr Coffey called on the government to address a “mismatch” between the skills offered by colleges and those required by their communities and Leps.

His comments reaffirmed those made in Ofsted’s annual report last year, which called for a move towards a higher quality and more relevant provision in the learning and skills sector. They also reaffirmed comments made in an exclusive Q&A with FE Week following the annual report.

And responding to a question from Stroud MP Neil Carmichael, Mr Coffey told the committee that the skills gap was a key factor in Ofsted’s demand for better working between colleges and Leps.

Mr Coffey said: “I think the key area for us in this annual report is that we think the country is facing a skills crisis.

“There are a million unemployed young people, there are employers that continue to report significant skills shortages and layered on top of that we have got a sector which has been given more and more autonomy over the years.

“We visited 17 colleges and we found that only three of those colleges had changed their curriculum to any large degree to meet the needs of the local area, as being defined by the Lep, so there is a real mismatch there and the concern we have expressed in the report is that with that autonomy there has to be some oversight as to how the skills are being delivered to meet the nation’s needs.

“I think the government has got to take this very seriously now, because we could have a situation where colleges are empowered to deliver whatever they want to deliver, and yet that doesn’t meet the skills requirements of the country, and who is going to intervene is the key question.

“If it is the LEP, then they need to use the P in their title of partnerships and work very closely with FE colleges and what we have found from our report is that that relationship is at its very early stages, to be generous.”

He said meeting skills need in the community was already something inspectors looked for, but said a data dashboard would be launched for governors in the FE sector in April to allow them to compare the curriculum of colleges against skill priority areas set by Leps.

But Mr Carmichael said: “All of that is predicated on there being a really effective understanding of the local labour market, and we are giving a big challenge there to Leps to make sure that they provide that.

“Surely there must be a need for some sort of strategic overview of Leps, because you have certain colleges reaching out beyond certain Lep boundaries.

“For example, in my own patch we have two Leps looking after a unified college, Filton and Stroud, so that wouldn’t necessarily work particularly well unless you had a strategic view of the labour market in that whole area.”

Don’t Doolittle…pop star urges young people to vote

City and Islington College students were interviewed on ITV news with pop star Eliza Doolittle about why it is important for young people to vote.
Around 30 of the college’s BTec business students attended an event organised by the Bite the Ballot campaign, which encourages students to become more engaged with politics, at the Centre for Business, Arts and Technology, in London.
They took part in a series of political-themed games — including one which challenged them to think about how they would manage the British economy. Two of the students, Abdullah Yusuf Ismailijee, aged 17, and Pooja Valechha, 18, were then interviewed on ITV news about why it is important for young people to vote, along with singer-songwriter Eliza.
Prabhakar Tailor, business lecturer, said: “It was fantastic for our students to meet Eliza and have their eyes opened to the opportunities for young people in politics.”

Cap: Eliza Doolittle, Pooja Valechha and Abdullah Yusuf Ismailijee on ITV news

More than 30 expert advisers announced at the Education and Training Foundation

The Education and Training Foundation (ETF) has unveiled the make-up of three expert panels with the announcement of more than 30 appointments.

Panels for leadership, governance and management; vocational education and training; and, professional standards and workforce development have seen 32 appointments, including a chair, co-chair and independent adviser to each.

Plans for a further panel on knowledge and intelligence have been put on hold, but among the appointments announced this week were college principals, governors and directors, independent learning provider chief executives and managing directors, union leaders, local authority heads and university professors.

David Russell, ETF chief executive, said: “I am delighted that we have been able to draw on the breadth and diversity of professionals across the sector to form our first panels.

“Together they have a vital role to play in shaping the future of the profession: advising the ETF on the programmes we should establish and commission, and monitoring their success.”

Expert panel chairs and co-chairs sit on the ETF governing board, where they will be expected to reflect views of their panels.

Dame Asha Khemka, OBE, principal of West Nottinghamshire College, was given the chair of the leadership, governance and management panel.

Her group, co-chaired by Stockton Riverside College governors’ board vice chair Mark White, has 11 members including Peter Coley, head of learning and development at St Mungo Homelessness Charity, and Kate Stock, managing director of Smart Training.

The professional standards and workforce development panel is chaired by Don Hayes, chief executive of the Third Sector National Learning Alliance (TSNLA) and also Enable, a voluntary and community sector learning and skills consortium serving the East Midlands.

Lynsi-Hayward-Smith-E77 — Lynsi Hayward-Smith

His co-chair is Lynsi Hayward-Smith, head of adult learning and skills at Cambridge County Council. The panel has a dozen members.

Peter McCann, principal of Kirklees College, chairs the vocational education and training panel with John Hyde, executive chairman of Hospitality Industry Training, as co-chair.

Their group has nine members including independent expert Alison Fuller, professor of vocational education and work at the Institute of Education, and Walsall College principal Jatinder Sharma.

The panels will meet formally for the first time next month with the ETF hoping for each panel to eventually have a dozen members, including chair, co-chair and independent adviser.

Mr Russell said: “We will continue to add to the membership of these panels to ensure that we reflect the sector’s needs.

“I want us to bring in those whom the sector serves — learners and employers. As the customers of the sector, their voice, insight, wants and needs are of the utmost importance.

“The ETF is an impartial organisation here to ensure the quality and professionalism of the workforce. These experts, and those who will join them over the year, will play an essential role in enabling us to make sure that learners and employers benefit from a high quality and professional workforce.”

He added: “There is so much expertise among the professionals who work, train and support the education and training sector; and they have so much that they can offer and share with other professionals in the workforce.”

Email Maria.Semak@etfoundation.co.uk for information on becoming an expert panel member.

Mr Warburton enjoys a slice of college life

A member of the Warburtons family enjoyed a slice of college life after being invited to officially open new bakery teaching facilities at Leeds City College.
Brett Warburton, executive director of the Bolton-based bakery firm launched in 1876, was presented with a giant cake made by the college’s bakery students before unveiling a special plaque to mark the occasion.
The college’s bakery department opened on February 4 and contains specialist bakery, patisserie, cake decorating and chocolate classrooms. The firm, which is still run by the Warburton family, will run its own bread-making training diploma from the department.
Mr Warburton said: “We need to ensure we provide the environment for future bakers to be nurtured and developed. It is clear from what I have seen that Leeds City College is the perfect environment for this to happen.”

Cap: Leeds City College curriculum area manager for food manufacturing Joe Cavalier and Warburtons executive director Mr Brett Warburton

Community radio station finds new home in unused rooms at campus

Students from Mid Cheshire College will be able to host shows for a community radio station that has moved to the campus.
Mid Cheshire Radio transferred its broadcasting equipment into two spare rooms at the college’s Creative Arts and Sports Centre, after it was forced to move out of the Verdin Centre, in Cheshire, because Chesire West and Chester Council closed the building.
Students will now be able to help present shows and work behind the scenes with production.
Karen Burns, from Mid Cheshire Radio, said: “This will provide the perfect environment for us to launch ourselves deeper into the community and give students an opportunity to learn and express themselves in a creative environment.”

Cap: Mid Cheshire Radio presenter Jim Burns with students Louis Blair, aged 17, Emily Wilding, 16, Tyler Burrus, 17, and Kieran Jefferson, 18

Cable sparks excitement for centre of excellence

Business Secretary Vince Cable saw how building work was progressing on Fareham College’s new £12m centre for excellence in engineering, manufacturing and advanced skills training.
The centre, near Portsmouth, will contain seven workshops and 12 classrooms for 450 learners studying a variety of technical subjects, including mechanical, aerospace, manufacturing, electrical and marine engineering.
Building work started in September last year on the single-storey building, which will have a 4,000 sq m footprint, and is set to finish over the summer.
Dr Cable unveiled a plaque during the topping-out ceremony, which marked the half-way stage for construction work, and met college apprentices who are working with major firms including BAE Systems, GE Aviation and Jenson Motorsport.
He said: “What’s really good is that there will be a lot of apprentices trained here, which will directly support small and medium sized enterprises. This site is also key to the regeneration of the area. I’d like to thank you for inviting me today.”
The centre will be situated four miles from the main college campus on the site of the former Daedalus Royal Navy airfield, in Fareham, which has been out of use since 1996.

Cap: Vince Cable shaking hands with college principal Nigel Duncan

Ofsted inspectors rate early years nursery as outstanding

Birmingham toddlers are getting outstanding care at a college nursery has been recognised with a grade one rating by Ofsted.
The nursery was rated by Ofsted inspectors, who praised the “interesting learning activities” for children and a good relationship between parents and staff.
As well as providing care for learners’ and members of staff’s children, childcare students also gain hands-on experience through working at the nursery.
Mike Hopkins, principal of the college, said: “We are extremely proud that Ofsted has recognised South & City College Nursery as an outstanding setting for children. The staff are dedicated to providing the best environment and experience they can, and this report recognises their hard work and achievements.
“Not only does being graded outstanding positively affect the children here, but it also has an excellent impact on our childcare students who undertake placements in the nursery as part of their courses.”

From left: Rocco Beard, aged three, with level three childcare student Henna Hussain , 21. Inset: Staff from the nursery

DIY SOS team redecorates house for twins who lost fundraising mother to cancer

Students from South Leicestershire College have transformed many dilapidated rooms and community facilities since they launched a DIY SOS scheme three years ago. But the current team was presented with one of its biggest challenges yet when asked to repaint an entire house for twins whose mother died of cancer five months ago, writes Paul Offord.

Finding valuable work experience for students can be a challenge for providers, but South Leicestershire College is managing to find jobs that are both challenging and worthwhile.
Duncan MacColl, construction project manager at the college, launched a DIY SOS scheme three years ago where the college advertises for worthy causes in need of a helping hand.
His learners do all the painting or construction work for free, gaining in return realistic and invaluable work experience.
The latest project was one of their biggest challenges yet and involved 14 students spending three days re-decorating every room in a two-bedroom house.
It belongs to 24-year-old Ionuts Langham, who came to the UK 20 years ago along with twin brother Dumitru.
Suffering learning difficulties and cleft lips and palates, they were adopted from a Romanian orphanage by children’s homes fundraiser Ruth Langham, who helped Ionuts buy the house three years ago.
The house, in Coalville, Leicestershire, had been rented out since it was purchased while Ionuts and Dumitru continued living with Ruth, who died of cancer in October last year, aged 42.
Andy Sarson, a family friend and former painting and decorating lecturer at Leicester College, contacted Mr MacColl to ask if his students could help re-decorate Ionuts’s house, which had suffered at the hands of uncaring tenants.
The students filled and rubbed down all the walls and ceilings, applied wallpaper to the lounge and one large wall in a bedroom, and painted all the other ceilings and walls.

They also applied undercoat and gloss to all the doors and skirting.
Mr Sarson said: “I promised Ruth before she died that if there was any decorating to be done, I would organise it and the college thankfully stepped in.
“Now the lads are very settled in and their [adoptive] grandparents live just around the corner. It’s wonderful.”
The twins’ grandfather, John, said: “The students have done a fantastic job and it was nice to hear them say how much they enjoyed these projects.”
The work of the students means a place to call home for Ionuts, a cleaner at East Midlands Airport, and Dumitru, who works as a technician at Melton College having recently completed a media studies degree there.
Painting and decorating student Jordan Buckley, 17, said: “It was really nice to be able to use my painting skills to help people as deserving as the twins.”
Mr MacColl said: “The look on the twins’ faces when they saw all that the students had done was really special.”
Around 100 construction, carpentry, brick-laying, and painting and decorating students have worked on a variety of the college’s DIY SOS projects.
These have ranged from building a disabled access ramp for Kirby Muxloe Cricket Club, in Leicestershire, and re-painting a bar in Saffron Lane Working Man’s Club, in Leicester, to decorating a room which was home to an 80-year-old woman in a care home in Wigston, Leicestershire.
Mr MacColl said: “I thought there are a lot of people out there who need jobs done but can’t afford it.
“The work experience also counts towards the students’ end-mark for their NVQ or diploma qualifications, so it works well both ways.”

Cap for main image: From left: Painting and decorating tutor Kevin Croft and family friend Andy Sarson (kneeling down) with students at Ionuts Langham’s house