New social partnership needed for apprentices

Wider agreement between the Government, employers, learners and learning providers is needed to ensure apprenticeships set people up for long and fulfilling careers, explains David Hughes from the Labour Party Conference.

We all know apprentices are a good thing, don’t we?

Sitting on the panel at the FE Week fringe event last night on the future of apprentices was an interesting experience.

The panel included two Labour shadow ministers, as well as the Coalition’s Skills Minister, beamed in via Skype.

In many ways, you could hardly hold a cigarette paper between any of them, or any of the other panellists, in terms of what they thought about the apprenticeship programme.

The consensus that apprentices are a good thing flows through into policies, which are very similar.

The hope is there may be some much-needed stability over the coming years. Another area of all-round agreement between the panellists was the need to end the myriad of changes to the apprenticeships (and skills) programme, which have rained down from above over the past decade or more.

The Labour Party Skills Task Force published its report on apprenticeships yesterday: A revolution in apprenticeships: A something for something deal with employers.

Among many ideas for policy, a few stand out.

The headline will probably be the move to a new gold standard, with level two apprenticeships being replaced by a new and improved traineeship.

This means the term apprentice will only apply at level three and above.

I support this, with a number of caveats. Within this change, we must ensure we do not disenfranchise learners at level two.

Changing the definition of apprentice to level three and above is not enough.

What is needed is a wider definition, which describes the quality of the experience and the outcomes better.

That definition needs to be negotiated with and agreed by the apprentices themselves, along with employee and learner representatives including the unions.

Of utmost importance is that apprenticeships are open to everyone.

They should be for anyone, regardless of their age or occupation.

It is also essential we see more employers taking on apprentices from a black or minority ethnic background, or who have a learning difficulty or disability.

We are hoping the new Equality and Diversity Innovation Fund will help address this balance.

An apprenticeship should be about acquiring the transferable skills needed, not simply for a job, but for a lasting and fulfilling career.

What I would also like to see is a definition of quality which describes the learning experience.

This would include the breadth of exposure the apprentices have to the company they are working for, the support and mentoring they will receive, the relevance of the qualification and the number of hours of off-the-job training and on-the-job training.

Also, the progression opportunities at the end of the apprenticeship and the chances of getting a permanent job at the end.

More than anything, I would like to see a quality charter or guarantee that apprentices will always be supported for their career, not just the job they are in today.

This Quality Charter has to be developed with apprentices and written from their perspective, but must be agreed by the kind of social partnership we sorely lack in England.

A new social partnership, between the Government, employers, learners and providers will ensure a long-term vision for the apprenticeship programme.

The Husband Report hints at this social partnership and acknowledges the need for a stronger apprenticeship voice, but it isn’t bold enough.

The tension between what the apprentice wants and what the employer wants in the short-term must be exposed.

Good employers want staff who can carry on developing and good employees want to progress and earn more.

That is a virtuous circle of wants which we should focus more on.

The consensus on the value of apprentices can be a good thing if we are bold in our partnership approach.

I think we are nearly there, but one big collective push is needed.

 

David Hughes, chief executive of the National Institute for Adult Continuing Education and interim chair of the Education and Training Foundation

 

Uncertainty at Skills Funding Agency after job cuts announcement

More than 1,000 Skills Funding Agency staff are facing an uncertain future after workers were warned of job cuts in response to the “Civil Service Reform Agenda”.

The agency is planning to “restructure” in two phases, initially losing at least 17 members of its 44-strong senior team.

As part of our response to the Civil Service Reform Agenda and the changing landscape in the funding of adult skills we are restructuring the agency,

The first phase is expected to be finished by January, when the reduced senior team will then “design” the structure for the rest of the organisation — leaving the agency’s 1,200 staff uncertain of their jobs.

“At this stage no firm decisions have been made as to the scope and scale of phase two reductions. This will be confirmed during 2014,” an agency spokesperson told FE Week.

The agency, which delivers £4.1bn of skills training through contracts with more than 1,000 providers, is based in Coventry. It has 13 offices around England.

Industrial officer for the Public and Commercial Services union Tony Conway said: “They’re [the agency] saying to us they’re not planning to close offices because the leases are not up for renewal until 2015 and later. They’re saying they will be flexible if offices do close in how people work, but it’s very early days.”

However, he added: “We’re not totally convinced the agency can deliver with that size of staff reduction.”

The announcement was made to staff on Monday (September 23) through a weekly communication and was discussed further at the agency’s annual all-staff meeting two days later.

“As part of our response to the Civil Service Reform Agenda and the changing landscape in the funding of adult skills we are restructuring the agency,” said the agency spokesperson.

“We have told staff and just started the process to reduce the agency’s senior team by more than 35 per cent. This should be completed by January.

“Once this new, smaller senior team is in place they will then design the structure for the rest of the organisation (phase two) and this should be completed in time for the start of the next spending review (2015-16).”
The Civil Service Reform Agenda, launched in July 2012, is the government’s plan to reorganise the civil service, making it “more skilled, digital and unified”.

“Many areas of the civil service are moving towards digital access [through IT systems] and that’s happening at the agency,” said Mr Conway.

“They’re saying they don’t need to talk to people directly, over the phone or face-to-face. They’re saying they can do it digitally and follow-up any questions by phone calls.”

He added: “You end up with faceless bureaucrats.”

In November 2011, FE Week reported how more than £17m would be spent on voluntary redundancy packages for hundreds of agency staff in a bid to cut long-term costs.

And in April, Business Secretary Vince Cable wrote to the agency warning that its administration budget, which includes salaries, was expected to drop £8m, to just under £85m for 2014-15.

Previous grants funding letters show that from 2012-13 to 2013-14 there was a drop of nearly £9m, to almost £93m.

FE Week at Labour Party Conference 2013

The FE Week team attended the first day of the Labour Party Conference in Brighton yesterday. We held a poll on the apprenticeship minimum wage during the day and a fringe event, sponsored by Pearson, in the evening.

There will be plenty of photos and reporting in the next edition of FE Week (September 30), along with the results of the poll, but in the meantime here are a few photo highlights:

The fringe event, The Future of Apprenticeships, was featured on the BBC News at 10, for being “unusual” in that the Skills Minister Matthew Hancock was beamed into the event via Skype.

Screen-grab from BBC News at 10 of Skills Minister Matthew Hankcock via Skype, and on the panel from left Shadow Skills Minister Gordon Marsden, FE Week editor Nick Linford, Chair of South East Midlands LEP Ann Limb OBE and Toni Fazaeli chief executive of the Institute for Learning
Len McCluskey, General Secretary of the Unite union voting in the FE Week poll
Stephen Twigg, Shadow Education Secretary middle, with Nick Linford, FE Week editor far right

Labour calls time on the level 2 apprenticeship

Labour’s Skills Taskforce, chaired by Chris Husbands, has today published a report on apprenticeships: A revolution in apprenticeships: a something-for-something deal with employers.

Describing itself as a “strategy to dramatically increase the number and quality of apprenticeships in England” the report says: “to protect the apprenticeship brand, level 2 training should be renamed as a traineeship or similar.”

“A universal gold standard for apprenticeships would reduce much of the low quality provision that is of no value to either employers or learners, and would minimise‘deadweight’, where public funds are spent on training that would have taken place anyway.

“To remedy this situation, Labour should work towards a situation whereby all apprenticeships:

• Are level 3 or above, which is the norm in Germany and other countries with strong
apprenticeship systems;
• Last a minimum of 2 years for level 3 (equivalent to A level) and 3 years for level 4
(university level);
• Include at least a day a week (or the equivalent) of off-the-job training, ensuring that
young people receive the broader theoretical training that underpins mobility and
progression in the labour market alongside work-based training; and
• Are focused on new job entrants rather than existing employees”

The report goes on to say: “However, given that two-thirds of all apprenticeships in England are now at level 2, these measures would inevitably lead to a dramatic fall in apprenticeship numbers if introduced suddenly.

“Employers and providers should therefore be given time to improve the quality of their apprenticeships over an agreed period. It is also vital that young people achieving at level 2 are able to progress to higher levels, so level 2 apprenticeships should be redesigned, as well as renamed, to ensure courses provide a platform for progression to a level 3 apprenticeship.”

Today (Sunday 22) at 18:30 FE Week is holding a free to attend fringe event at the Labour Party Conference about the future of apprenticeships (for more click here) 

Veil ban college principal to retire

The principal of a Midland college at the centre of a row this month over the use of veils is to retire, FE Week can reveal.

Dame Christine Braddock (pictured), principal at Birmingham Metropolitan College, will be stepping down at the end of the current academic year.

The announcement comes just weeks after the college hit national headlines when a prospective Muslim student was told of a college security policy preventing learners from wearing a niqab.

The girl, who did not want to be named, branded the policy “disgusting” and said she was being “discriminated against”.

The policy was later amended and a college spokesperson said: “We will modify our policies to allow individuals to wear specific items of personal clothing to reflect their cultural values.”

A spokesperson for the college said Dame Christine’s retirement at the end of the year had been planned since before the veil row and was “absolutely not” linked.

Steve Hollis, Birmingham Metropolitan’s new corporation chair, said: “We will begin the search for a successor to Dame Christine.

“She will continue in her role until the end of the academic year, to enable her to support her successor, so a smooth, orderly transition can take place.”

Protestors angry at the college security policy had organised a campaign, but a demonstration was called off at the 11th hour after the college backed down in light of mounting criticism from the likes of the NUS, local councillors and MPs.

The rule preventing use of niqabs — a veil which leaves a thin slot for the eyes — also meant hoodies, hats and caps were banned.

The policy at the college, which had more than 26,000 students just over two years ago before merging with the 12,500-student Stourbridge College this summer, is that individuals should be “easily identifiable at all times”.

A college spokesperson said the policy was eight years old.

Dame Christine had initially appeared to be refusing to give in to pressure on the policy, in an interview with FE Week on Wednesday, September 11. However, at that point she declined to comment on whether it would be reviewed in light of objections and media coverage.

“Birmingham Metropolitan College actively engages with our stakeholders and users of our buildings to review our policies on a regular basis,” she said.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Schools and colleges have the freedom to set their own uniform policies. We expect them to act reasonably in accommodating the needs of different religions.”

Labour announce plans to create an apprentice for each foreign worker

Ed Miliband, the Labour Party leader, has announced plans to force firms to take on an apprentice every time they employ someone from outside the EU in the UK.

A BBC report says that Mr Miliband has told the Sunday Mirror:  “I want a high wage British economy, not a low wage brutish economy, and we’ve got plans to make that happen to drive up skills.

“So we’re going to say to any firm who wants to bring in a foreign worker that they also have to train up someone who’s a local worker, training up the next generation.

“We think that can create up to 125,000 new apprenticeships over the course of five years. And that is a massive boost in skills for our young people and that is really important.”

Gordon Marsden, Shadow Skills Minister, told FE Week: “This plan is in line with our strong overall pledge to make a radical difference to home grown skills and widen the range of apprenticeships.”

FE Week understands the scheme would apply to employers with 50 or more staff hiring migrants under “Tier 2” of the points-based system, where migrants are recruited to plug specific skills gaps and that the apprentice requirement would not need to be a like for like matching of the position being filled.

UPDATE : At 15:00 on Sunday 22, the Skills Minister Matthew Hancock tweeted from @matthancockmp “I have been advised by government lawyers that legislating to require hiring British apprentices would be contract law.” And “To be compliant the legislation would need to say the firm had to take on EU apprentices, not just British ones”

 

Labour’s Skills Taskforce, chaired by Chris Husbands, has also just published a report on apprenticeships. A revolution in apprenticeships: a something-for-something deal with employers. Read more about the report, and the call to end level 2 apprenticeships here.

On Sunday 22 at 18:30 FE Week is holding a free to attend fringe event at the Labour Party Conference about the future of apprenticeships (for more click here) 

Labour shadow visits Walsall College

New policies due soon, says Hunt

New announcements about Labour Party policy on FE will be released within a month, Shadow Junior Education Minister Tristram Hunt told FE Week editor Nick Linford.

On a tour of Walsall College, the first college graded outstanding under Ofsted’s current inspection framework, Mr Hunt said many policy ideas were still in the pipeline, but would be announced in the run-up to publication of the final report of his party’s skills taskforce.

“The skills taskforce report is a significant piece of work because I think it shows that where our political energy is — with skills agenda, with FE colleges, with apprenticeships, with what Ed Miliband calls the forgotten 50 per cent,” said Mr Hunt.

Tristram Hunt MP interviewed by FE Week editor Nick Linford

One recommendation from the interim report was that all FE teachers should have level two maths and English, which Mr Hunt said he supported, along with the requirement for teachers to be qualified.

“We’re very pro-qualification achievements. We want to upgrade the status of the teaching profession,” he said, but warned the policy may need more thought.

“We need to make sure that this will work —if you have a brilliant Spanish cookery teacher who is teaching kids brilliant cookery skills but his English is not quite where it could be, does that preclude him from teaching those brilliant skills?

“So we have to be sensible about the application but we are clear that English and maths are key to employability and success, and the people who are trying to make you employable should have those skills as well.” He also hinted at the idea of a UCAS-style admissions system for FE.

“One of the things we’re really interested in is how we make things simpler for progression through the education systems in terms of technical and vocational route,” said Mr Hunt.

“We know the academic pathway through GCSE, A-level, and university is very clear to navigate and teachers are very good at telling pupils about that, but it’s very unclear for technical and vocational education, so creating a streamlined UCAS-style system is something we’re going to be pushing for as a policy route.” Mr Hunt declined to give his or the Labour Party’s position on direct enrolment of 14 to 16-year-olds into colleges, but did warn that competition between different education providers could “create problems for pupils”.

Ultimately, he said, he did not have any “hard and fast answers today”.

Policy would depend on the findings of the skills taskforce and the review currently being carried out by David Blunkett into the local oversight of schools, said Mr Hunt, which would take the educational “landscape” — such as FE colleges — into account.

“The principle is clear — we want high quality teaching in FE colleges,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Hunt also had praise for Walsall College, describing it as “impressive”.

On a college tour

“On the one hand you’ve got a very rigorous focus on vocational achievement, getting people into work, but on the art and design floor they’ve clearly given the teachers space to get foundation students to think, be creative and innovate and not be too target driven,” he said.

“An institution which can combine both very rigorous metric and outcomes and creativity seems to me to be outstanding.”

Hairdressers get the Commons touch

An MP brushed up on all things apprenticeship when he visited West Nottinghamshire College.

Apprenticeship ambassador Andrew Jones was given a tour of college facilities and met hospitality, catering, hairdressing and beauty apprentices.

He also met principal Asha Khemka OBE and senior executives, local employers and apprentices for talks on local apprenticeships available

Mr Jones said: “I’ve been really impressed with what I’ve seen here in terms of the facilities and the apprentices themselves.

“There’s a huge buzz around the college — it’s great to see students enjoying their learning and making great starts on new careers.

“They’re clearly some of the best ambassadors for apprenticeships.”

Andrew Jones MP takes a seat in the Revive salon as apprentice Libertie Westwood offers hair advice

Jenni shows off garden handiwork

Talent bloomed as students in the North East enchanted judges with their 3D nail designs.

A dozen level three nail technology trainees at Tyne Metropolitan College were pitted against each other in a nail technique competition.

Jenni Tulip, from North Shields, won the contest with her detailed enchanted garden design. Second place went to Carmen Quinn, 39, from Wallsend; and, in third place was Naomi Curson, 20, from North Shields.

Amber Button, teacher in beauty therapy the college, said: “All of the students produced some excellent designs for this competition; the amazing creative designs showcased the talented students’ high standard of work.”

Tyne Metropolitan student Kayleigh Garratt, aged 28, models the nail designs of competition winner Jenni Tulip (right), 27