Education and Training Foundation (ETF) chief executive David Russell has spoken out to defend the awarding of a £1m learning technology contract to Gazelle as he acknowledged “scepticism” about the organisation.

The Gazelle Foundation beat three other bidders to win the learning technology contract, due to end by November next year, thanks to the “depth of knowledge and understanding” it displayed, Mr Russell (pictured above) told FE Week.

It comes just weeks after a month-long FE Week investigation into multi-million pound funding of Gazelle by UK colleges resulted in criticism from the University and College Union that public money was being used on “expensive initiatives which have little educational impact”.

It raked in around £3.5m with the group’s five founding colleges having dished out more than £530,000 each, according to figures obtained from Freedom of Information Act. More than 20 current and former member colleges had been asked what they spent on the organisation, which was launched in January 2012 with standard annual membership priced at £35,000.

Gazelle chief executive Fintan Donohue (pictured below) defended the organisation at the time, claiming “enrichment of student experiences and outcomes” was its “overriding goal”.

Nevertheless, ETF chief executive Mr Russell approached FE Week to defend the learning technology contract going to Gazelle.

He said: “I read the papers. I know there is scepticism in some quarters about Gazelle, who will lead the consortium on this delivery work for us. I understand some teachers and lecturers have asked pointed questions about whether Gazelle deliver on their promises, and about whether they always act in the interests of learners.”

He added: “They [Gazelle and its partners] won the contract because their bid was convincing in the depth of knowledge and understanding it displayed; dynamic and innovative; pedagogy-focused not technology-focused; and above all with learner benefit at its heart.

“This programme will provide support across the education and training sector, including colleges, private training providers and others (it is not aimed at any particular group of providers).

“Gazelle will be assisted by its consortium partners — the Association of Colleges (AoC), Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) , 157 Group, and National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), together with a wider steering group that they are convening to oversee the programme.” [The rest of Mr Russell’s statement can be read here]

Gazelle has also previously been awarded five ETF contracts, totalling £168k, for work including strategic consultation on learning companies, and two stages of strategic consultation on vocational education training, technology in teaching and higher level apprenticeships.

However, its latest ETF contract is easily the biggest it has won yet, at £1m.

Mr Donohue said: “The ETF’s learning technology programme will give a boost to innovation and the sharing of best practice across the sector.

“By coordinating input from teachers and leaders across all of the education and training sector, employers and the technology industry around the emerging themes for development, Gazelle hopes it can contribute to the success of the programme.

“The Feltag [Further Education Learning Technology Action Group] report makes the challenge for our sector clear. The ETF has a clear vision on what they want from the programme and we are pleased to be working very closely with them to deliver their requirements. We look forward to bringing all our energy and networks together to help the ETF achieve its vision in the year ahead.”

Jenny Williams, ETF director of vocational education and training, said the contract drew on Feltag findings and recommendations of the Commission on Adult Vocational Teaching and Learning.

She said: “A suite of innovation and action research projects will sit at the heart of the programme, and communities of practice will enable the spread of learning from these projects through local and regional networks.

“The projects will be inclusive and innovative, engaging with staff and organisations right across the education and training sector, and involving both learners and employers in their design, delivery and review.”

A Gazelle spokesperson told FE Week: “An initial advisory group has been convened that already includes representatives from the 157 Group, AoC and AELP. This is being extended to bring in the widest possible representation of colleges and training providers from across the sector.

 “Expert advice is being sought from organisations such as NFER and Coralesce, and the programme will engage with a range of technology organisations and entrepreneurs.

“A more detailed prospectus and overview of the project and partners will be produced in the coming weeks.”

The name of Warwickshire College’s Madelyn McAlpine can be listed with World Cup-winning German stars such as Mesut Ozil, Philipp Lahm and Manuel Neuer.

The PR and communications officer also proved World Cup winner, when it came to the FE Week prediction fundraiser in aid of the Helena Kennedy Foundation (HKF).

With Germany crowned champions and Argentina the losing finalists after a 1-0 scoreline last night, she had correctly guessed first and second — and even picked the Netherlands and Brazil in her top four (although unfortunately she had Brazil, who actually came fourth, in third).

Nearly 200 people submitted their top four, in order, and Madelyn came closest to getting them all right.

Her predictive powers earned her a year’s free subscription to the newspaper, along with an FE Week mug.

“I thought Germany would be up there as they are always so consistent and their club teams are top quality,” said Madelyn (pictured right).

“I watched the final at home with my partner, John. It would have been good to see Argentina win as Aguero, Zabaleta and DeMichelis all play for my team, Manchester City, but Germany were definitely the best team in the tournament.”

A further five entrants will also be getting their hands on FE Week mugs having selected Germany as winners.

Among them was Richard Huish College enterprise manager Gavin Whitworth, Social Enterprise Kent’s National Skills Partnership management information officer Chris Smith, and Blackpool and The Fylde College senior management, information and funding officer (funding and curriculum development) Kevin Chadwick.

But the HKF proved the ultimate winner.

It will be receiving a cheque for £250 from FE Week after nearly 200 people gave their predictions. The HKF exists to overcome social injustice by providing financial bursaries, mentoring and support to disadvantaged students from the further and adult education sectors, enabling them to complete their studies in higher education.

Baroness Kennedy QC (pictured below), who correctly predicted the identity of two of the last four teams, said: “I should like to thank FE Week enormously for having a bit of fun and raising some money for my foundation.

“Clearly, if I ever stop being a human rights barrister, I will not find employment as a football pundit based on my own predictions of who would win.”

Madelyn added: “It’s great news about the donation as that’s why I took part — and I got Japan and Honduras in the workplace sweepstake so knew I was onto a loser with those.”

Her performance was far better than FE sector leaders who between them failed to even pick Germany as winners.

The best predictions came from Association of Employment and Learning Providers chief executive Stewart Segal (below left) and Shadow Skills Minister Liam Byrne (below right).

They both guessed that Argentina would be the losing finalists, and also correctly predicted a further two of the last four (both opting for Brazil and Germany — but both mistakenly thinking they’d come first and fourth, respectively).

HKF founder and chair Dr Ann Limb OBE, who also picked two of the last four teams, said: “What have Liam Byrne and Stewart Segal got that I haven’t? The ability to predict Argentina would come second in the World Cup when I had Germany as runners up instead — that explains a lot in my life.

“Huge thanks to everyone who took part and to FE Week for doing this for the HKF students.”

Skills Minister Matthew Hancock has ruled out joining a European apprenticeship development body, despite his counterparts in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland saying it could have benefits.

Responding to a written question from Democratic Unionist Party MP Nigel Dodds, Mr Hancock said England would not be joining the European Alliance for Apprenticeships.

However, governments in the devolved nations have all expressed interest in joining the European Commission-managed body, launched in July last year.

Mr Hancock said: “The UK recognises the value of learning from others by keeping abreast of developments in Europe and internationally.

“However, we believe that this can be achieved through less bureaucratic routes than a European Alliance for Apprenticeships.

“In England, we do not propose to participate but the devolved administrations are free to do so if they believe that the Alliance is the appropriate framework for sharing best practice.”

The European Alliance for Apprenticeships aims to bring together public authorities, providers, youth representatives and other body to promote apprenticeships, assist in apprenticeship reform programmes and maximise use of funding and resources.

Twenty one European Union member states have so far committed to the group, including Germany, Netherlands, Spain and Austria. Businesses across the EU have also pledged support, including Tesco, Nestle, Siemens and Scottish Power.

The Northern Irish Department for Employment and Learning announced its strategy for apprenticeships last month, which included a commitment to ensure apprenticeships were transferable between countries and explore the possibilities for international placements.

Its Employment and Learning Minister, Dr Stephen Farry, said: “It is envisaged that the European Alliance for Apprenticeships may offer the potential to share best practice, benchmark provision and develop networks for the purpose of supporting placements and exchanges of apprenticeships across Europe.”

Dr Farry, FE Week understands, has had discussions with the European Commission over joining the alliance.

A Welsh government spokesperson said: “We are currently considering whether we should join the European Alliance for Apprenticeships and a decision will be made very shortly.”

A Scottish government spokesperson said: “We are currently looking at whether the European Apprenticeship Alliance would be a helpful addition to our programmes supporting more people into work.”

She added that an independent Scottish government would also adopt the European Youth Guarantee where young people are guaranteed a job or further training after four months of unemployment.

Vocational education will be the focus of the House of Commons Education Select Committee’s last inquiry before the general election, its chairman has announced.

Conservative MP Graham Stuart (pictured) told the Higher Ambitions Vocational Education Summit in London yesterday (Tuesday, July 8) that his committee would use its last inquiry before the election next May to shine a light on the sector.

Chairing a session on vocational education, Mr Stuart said: “This country has traditionally struggled to give vocational education anything close to the status it enjoys in countries such as Austria and Germany, which both noticeably have far lower youth unemployment rates than we have in Britain.”

He added: “My committee, its last inquiry before the general election will be into vocational education.”

According to official archives, it will be the committee’s first inquiry on the subject since the predecessor education and skills committee examined post-16 skills in March 2007.

Mr Stuart’s office would not elaborate on his plans for the inquiry, but a spokesperson for the committee said it could happen before the summer parliamentary recess.

She said: “The committee has agreed in principle to look at certain aspects of vocational education.

“The terms of reference have not been drafted. They will be developed, discussed in private and agreed over coming weeks, and the inquiry will then be announced.

“It is not clear if this will happen before the House rises for the summer but I would tend to expect that to be fairly likely. That is all I can say at this stage.”

It comes after Ofqual’s policy director Jeremy Benson told the same summit that his organisation had an “important role to play” in vocational education, and would be increasing its involvement in the area.

He said: “At best, our regulatory arrangements can support awarding organisations in developing good qualifications, and at worst, they can get in the way and create unnecessary burdens, so we need our regulatory arrangements to drive all qualifications to have a clear purpose and to be fit for that purpose.

“Qualifications should be, in the jargon, ‘valid’. They should measure effectively the skills and knowledge that that they are intending to measure.

“I don’t want to labour the comparison with academic qualifications. We at Ofqual have focused a lot on GCSEs and A levels in recent years, and rightly so, but we are now ramping up our work on vocational qualifications too.”

He added: “We are raising our expectations for vocational qualifications and planning to remove poor quality qualifications that provide weak progression opportunities.

“We will be setting out more about our approach over the next few weeks. We will be proposing to remove the accreditation requirement, by which qualifications have to be checked with the regulator, a process which for most qualifications has little value.

“We have reviewed the current regulatory rules, the qualifications and credit framework (QCF), and found it wanting. It focuses too much on process and structure and not enough on quality and validity, so we will be proposing significant changes to that.”

The Federation of Awarding Bodies (FAB) has expressed concern over the details of Ofqual proposals in which non-accredited qualifications would appear on its official register.

The qualifications watchdog announced the plans in a consultation document, entitled Lifting the Accreditation Requirement, which puts forward allowing qualifications on its register even though they have not been submitted to Ofqual for review — known as the accreditation requirement.

However, some qualifications will still have to be accredited before going on the register, “where there is good reason to do so but in a targeted and specific way”, including A-levels, AS qualifications and GCSEs, and for awarding organisations (AOs) where Ofqual has concerns or which are newly-recognised and where additional targeted checks would be “valuable”.

The consultation, which closes on August 6, was issued along with a letter from chief regulator Glenys Stacey in which she said there would be more consultation on requiring AOs to produce a “validity strategy” on how they would ensure qualifications were valid and met the needs of end users.

She further wrote: “Our current regulatory focus for many qualifications is at the point that qualifications are first made available to schools, colleges and training providers.

“We want to change this and tailor our approach to incentivise AOs to take responsibility for their qualifications over their life cycle — as they are developed, delivered and awarded.

“We will also expect much more of a focus by AOs on gathering and acting on feedback from end users including employers as the ultimate test of a qualification’s value.”

Jill Lanning (pictured above), FAB chief executive, said she was concerned about the details of the move and was planning to meet with Ofqual officials to discuss the issue.

“We share Ofqual’s commitment to high quality vocational qualifications and welcomes the long awaited proposals to lift the detailed accreditation requirements for new vocational qualifications,” she told FE Week.

“As ever the devil will be in the detail and there is a lack of clarity around the details such as Ofqual’s proposed ‘validity strategy’ mentioned in Glenys Stacey’s letter.

“Our initial interpretation of the new condition contained in the consultation document was that the proposal was to require all qualifications offered by AOs to be submitted for Ofqual regulation — including bespoke qualifications for employers and others which are currently non-regulated.

“We are pleased to have received an assurance from Ofqual that this is not their intention which is very welcome. We look forward to meeting with Ofqual to find out more about the details of their proposals and to working with them to support the development of a regulatory system that ensures vocational qualifications can continue to be trusted and valued.”

In her letter to the sector, Ofqual’s Ms Stacey (pictured left) said the consultation, “sets out proposals to lift the requirement that all qualifications be checked by us before they are added to the list of regulated qualifications, known as the accreditation requirement. ”

Although some awarding bodies would not comment on the plans — among them was NCFE, which has been selected to pilot the new accreditation, and OCR, which said it wanted to wait until its consultation response was finalised — they have nevertheless been welcomed by David Short, head of regulation, audit and improvement at City & Guilds.

He said: “We support the changes that Ofqual is proposing, especially as it underpins a renewed focus on the validity of qualifications across their life cycle.

“It recognises that bodies like ours have effective mechanisms in place to develop qualifications and, as a result, we firmly believe that this important step will allow us to be more responsive to the skills needs of the country.”

 

Ofqual Q&A on accreditation proposals

Why is Ofqual proposing to allow non-accredited quals onto the register?

For most qualifications, we do not believe accreditation is the most effective way of regulating to ensure fitness for purpose across the qualification life cycle.

We want to tailor our approach to incentivise awarding organisations to take responsibility for their qualifications over their life cycle — as they are developed, delivered and awarded.

We will implement a systematic audit and inspection approach to detecting problems over the life cycle of the qualifications.

Our audit schedule will be risk-based and will include a proportion of randomly selected awarding organisations and qualifications.

We will prioritise those that pose a greater risk, are publicly funded and taken by large numbers of students, but any qualification could be reviewed at any time.

What is the difference between a regulated qual and a qual with an accreditation requirement?

Regulated qualifications are those we recognise an awarding organisation to award.

A qualification with an accreditation requirement is a regulated qualification which must be submitted to us for review (accreditation) before it can be made available to learners.

Currently, all regulated qualifications have an accreditation requirement. Our proposals mean fewer qualifications would have an accreditation requirement in the future.

Ofsted’s plan to introduce separate graded judgements for school sixth forms next academic year has enjoyed overwhelming support in an official consultation.

It had already been welcomed by much of the FE sector because it will allow school sixth forms to be directly compared with colleges, and more than 74 per cent of consultation respondents agreed, many of them strongly, with the idea (pictured is a pie chart from the consultation report, which can be viewed here).

The response to plans to introduce separate gradings for the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) was also positive.

The report says: “Ofsted will introduce separate graded judgements for the EYFS and sixth form in September 2014. These judgements will be underpinned by separate grade descriptors.

“As with all other inspection grades, inspectors will be expected to gather evidence during the course of the inspection in order to arrive at a professional judgement for each area. Ofsted will deploy inspection teams with appropriate expertise.

“When arriving at the judgement on the quality of education provided by a school, expressed by the overall effectiveness, inspectors will take account of the EYFS and/or sixth form judgements (where relevant).

“However, these will not be ‘limiting judgements’ on the school’s overall effectiveness. Inspectors will consider the outcomes for the EYFS and/or sixth form and make a professional judgement of the impact on the school’s overall effectiveness grade.

“We believe that these changes will increase focus in these important areas of school provision and help to ensure that many more children and young people have the best education possible.”

The consultation received 1,498 responses, of which 39.6 per cent (536) came from teachers and 20 per cent (271) came from head teachers.

Only 10 per cent of respondents disagreed with the new judgements, which the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) said could be down to schools concerned by the impact their sixth forms could have on inspection reports.

A spokesperson told FE Week: “We don’t have an issue with the separate grade. This was only removed a few years ago, so schools and colleges will be familiar with the format.

“But in schools where sixth form provision isn’t particularly strong, there may be concern about going back to separate grades. However, as the consultation response shows, for most it should not be an issue.”