Uptake on the government’s flagship traineeship scheme is failing to reach expectations, according to senior FE figures.

It is too soon for Ofsted to report on the quality of traineeships in any detail…

Skills Funding Agency boss Keith Smith (pictured) said colleges would deliver 57 per cent of projected 19 to 23 traineeships, while Ofsted FE and skills director Matthew Coffey (pictured right) described recruitment to the scheme as “disappointing”.

The pair’s comments about traineeships came during the Association of Colleges annual conference.

Mr Smith, the agency’s executive director for funding and programmes, told delegates that “colleges have indicated they will deliver around 57 per cent of projected 19 to 23 traineeship starts for 2013/14”.

However, the agency said Mr Smith had given out a figure that was “not official” and could not supply the numbers behind his claim.

An agency spokesperson said: “This indicative figure is based on discussions we have had with providers on what they intend to deliver.

“The first official data on traineeships is expected to be available in the Statistical First Release in January 2014.”

But Mr Coffey challenged colleges to increase the number of traineeships on offer. However, Ofsted too was unable to back his claim with figures.

He said: “The initial recruitment to traineeships is disappointing. In making the impact of vocational training a priority for us, we will work to increase the quality of provision — but we expect providers to engage with employers to increase the number of places available.”

An Ofsted spokesperson said: “It is too soon for Ofsted to report on the quality of traineeships in any detail as, so far, we have not come across as many as expected during our inspections of FE and skills providers.”

Traineeships, programmes including high quality work experience as well as literacy, numeracy and employability training, were launched in September, and are designed for young people who lack the skills and experience to be accepted into work or an apprenticeship.

Learners who spend more than 16 hours a week in lessons or the workplace as part of their traineeship programme are not eligible to claim job seeker’s allowance, which has previously prompted fears that young people will be discouraged from taking part.

The option to run traineeships is currently only available to providers with an Ofsted grade one or two inspection result, which the education watchdog spokesperson said might account for the lack of traineeships seen by inspectors.

“One of the reasons is because our risk-based approach to selecting providers for inspection, prioritises those previously judged to be grade three and four for overall effectiveness and so are not able to provide traineeships,” she said.

However, she added: “Having said that, what evidence we have does not suggest good recruitment levels.”

The Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) said the policy of restricting traineeships to grade one and two providers could be limiting numbers and called for a review.

An AELP spokesperson said: “There are many providers with a strong employer reach currently excluded from the programme.

“Given that work experience is such a critical element of traineeships, provider eligibility needs to be reviewed.”

A survey is set to reveal the extent of “under-representation” of black and ethnic minority groups on college governing boards, FE Week can reveal.

The Association of Colleges (AoC) is due to publish its survey on the make-up of English college boards next Spring — but FE Week has seen the results.

And they depict a world dominated white, middle-aged men.

They show at least 81 per cent of governors were white British, 60 per cent were aged between 45 and 64, and 62 per cent were men.

The results of the AoC survey showed that just 7 per cent of governors were Indian, Pakistani, British Asian, black African or black Caribbean, while some respondents did not give details.

The 2011 Census of England and Wales showed 25.4 per cent of the population was from the 45 to 64 age group.

It also showed that 80 per cent were white British. Locally, figures for the white population range from 95.4 per cent in the South West to 59.8 per cent in London.

Mei Hui, spokesperson for racial equality group Olmec, said: “It is disappointing there is a low representation [on college boards] from ethnic communities.”

She called for a review into where colleges were advertising governor vacancies, adding: “The question is whether FE institutions are making good use of their ethnic minority networks in the local area.”

Rajinder Mann, chief executive of the Network for Black and Asian Professionals (NBAP), is set to lead an AoC Governors’ Council working group to recommend improvements.

She said: “The NBAP is not in favour of quotas, but we do support positive action to address under-representation as there is clear anecdotal evidence indicating that there is a paucity of BME [black and minority ethnic] governors.

“We want governing bodies to be representative of BME communities locally and nationally. There is a need for targeted intervention to attract, recruit, train and retain ABME [Asian, black, minority and ethnic] governors.

“In order to do this we need to have clear and transparent baseline data.”

It is further understood that just 17 per cent of college boards are chaired by women.

But, according to the 2011 Census, 50.9 per cent of the population was female.

Charlie Woodworth, from gender equality group the Fawcett Society, said: “News that the majority of governors are men sadly comes as no surprise.

“Enabling women to play a full role in public life — be it in the education sphere, politics or elsewhere — would be good for us all.”

The survey was requested by the AoC Governors’ Council and based on responses from 188 of 339 colleges across England.

Dr Sue Pember led a recent AoC review, called Creating Excellence in College Governance, into the role of college governors.

It highlighted the need for “baseline” figures to illustrate the diversity of college boards, but she rejected the re-introduction of representation quotas for ethnicity or gender, which were last used in the 1990s. Her report instead called on colleges to actively “refresh” their boards.

Speaking about the newest figures on behalf of the AoC, she said: “The ethnic make-up of governors is an area we all have to work on.

“I actually thought the figures for the number of women were better than expected. Now that we have a baseline, the next thing we want to look at is increasing the number of women chairs.”

She added: “It’s for the individual colleges to determine the right mix of governors for the communities they serve.”

The University and College Union (UCU) said it was calling for eleventh-hour talks with the Association of Colleges (AoC) in a bid to call off strikes.

The union claims that “a series of below-inflation pay offers from the association since 2009 mean FE lecturers have seen their pay cut by more than 15 per cent in real terms”.

Nobody wants to take strike action and lose a day’s pay, but this year’s 0.7 per cent pay offer from the employers was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

And, following a pay offer of 0.7 per cent this year, the union balloted its members in FE colleges in England. More than two thirds of those who voted (71 per cent) backed strike action.

The union, which sought a 5 per cent deal, said its negotiators have offered to clear diaries for talks to avert strikes expected to take place on Tuesday, December 3.

Michael MacNeil, UCU head of bargaining, said: “College lecturers have seen their pay fall by 15 per cent in the past four years and fail to make up any ground against school teachers’ pay, despite increasing workloads.

“Nobody wants to take strike action and lose a day’s pay, but this year’s 0.7 per cent pay offer from the employers was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

The UCU strike vote came despite the AoC having reached agreement with Unison, AMiE, ATL, UNITE and GMB through the National Joint Forum.

The AoC declined to comment on the UCU’s call for last-minute talks.

However, when the strike plans were initially announced last month, Emma Mason, AoC director of employment policy and services, told FE Week: “We are disappointed that UCU members have voted to take strike action.”

She added: “The pay recommendation for 2013/14 is for a 0.7 per cent increase and £282 for staff earning £14,052 or less and increases the recommended minimum hourly rate to £7.45 in line with the UK  Living Wage.”

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has warned that careers guidance is “heading towards a cliff edge”, joining sector-wide calls to ensure young people are aware of all their options.

The comments, from CBI director for employment and skills policy Neil Carberry, come after a survey of 2000 14 to 25-year-olds showed that only 26 per cent of them were given information on apprenticeships and only 17 per cent were advised on vocational qualifications.

Advice is scarce for young people not interested in being funnelled towards A-levels and university and exciting, potential life-changing career alternatives are being lost.

Mr Carberry said: “Careers guidance in England’s schools is heading towards a cliff-edge.

“Advice is scarce for young people not interested in being funnelled towards A-levels and university and exciting, potential life-changing career alternatives are being lost.”
He added: “There is a worrying shortage of skills in some of our key industries and if we don’t give young people the information they need to find apprenticeships or sign up to high-quality vocational training, this will only get worse.”

The warning coincided with a report published by the Skills Commission — a body administered by cross-party think-tank Policy Connect — calling for action on a career advice “crisis”.

The report, One System, Many Pathways, is the result of a cross-party inquiry chaired by Sir Mike Tomlinson, former chief inspector of schools, and Ian Ferguson, chairman of trustees at Metaswitch.

It said: “The Department for Education [DfE] must immediately acknowledge the crisis in information, advice, and guidance, and undertake a full review of provision.”
It added: “Teachers are not trained to offer employment advice, and cannot be expected to understand what all careers entail, or even recognise how a particular aptitude might translate into a perfect career option.”

Since April 2012, schools, rather than local authorities have been responsible for providing information, advice, and guidance on future careers.

But, the report said: “As the recent Ofsted report made clear, this is not yet working, and government must intervene before more learners leave this transition phase with scant clear knowledge from their educational provider about how their skills might translate into worthwhile employment.”

Meanwhile, the Association of Colleges has its own Careers Advice: Guaranteed campaign calling for increased access to advice through Jobcentre Plus and local authorities, accountability through Ofsted and investment from the DfE.

At the association’s annual conference last month, association president Michele Sutton said: “Wherever I go, whoever I speak to, principals across the country all agree that the quality of impartial advice and guidance is nothing less than appalling.”

The principal of a large London college has taken a leave of absence following the suspension of an apparently homophobic and racist department head.

Denise Brown-Sackey (pictured centre), at Newham College, and her board of governors took the decision after a recording emerged of dance and drama head Dr Mark Walcott (pictured right) seeming to make vile claims during a staff meeting early last year.

A 50-minute recording was posted on YouTube on November 17.

Newham College’s focus remains unwaveringly on its learners.

However, FE Week understands that an eight-month internal investigation into Dr Walcott had already taken place with no action having been taken — until the clip went online.

A Newham College spokesperson said: “In light of recent events concerning an online recording expressing views which do not reflect the values of Newham College, and in the best interests of the college, the board of governors has agreed with the principal, Denise Brown-Sackey, that she will take a leave of absence, pending an independent investigation into recent allegations.

“Newham College’s focus remains unwaveringly on its learners.

“We are proud of our reputation as a leading college and a fair employer, not least as the only FE College in the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index top 100, and will continue to make this the focus of our work.”

Mrs Brown-Sackey will be replaced while on leave by her predecessor as principal, Martin Tolhurst CBE.

She has been principal of Newham College since 2010, moving up from deputy principal when Mr Tolhurst resigned.

She has served at the college for almost 25 years, starting as a lecturer in 1988 and working her way up to principal, with a brief stint as deputy principal at Havering College between 1999 and 2002.

The college spokesperson added: “We will not be commenting on these matters as they are now the subject of an inquiry, and do not envisage it being appropriate to comment further during the course of the inquiry.”

During Dr Walcott’s recorded rant, he seemed to say that gay people were ineffective and unsuitable teachers who would try to “indoctrinate” students into homosexuality, comparing them to the Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan.

A spokesperson for the college described Dr Walcott as a “contractor”, but declined to give further details on any contractual relationship.

Dr Walcott is listed on what appears to be his LinkedIn profile as chief executive of the east London-based London Music and Dance Academy.

Dr Walcott, who has been suspended pending the independent investigation, could not be contacted by FE Week.