NUS gets some learner satisfaction

The lack of learner presence within a new FE body that will set professional standards across the sector has now been taken “seriously”, the National Union for Students’ president-elect has told FE Week.

Toni Pearce spoke out after a union-led discussion on learner engagement at the most recent steering group meeting for the FE Guild. She has now been invited to present a paper to the guild’s board.

It is heartening that the guild has been willing both to hear our arguments and to take them seriously,”

Last month FE Week reported how Ms Pearce called the new organisation’s plan not to include learners on its board as “a bad April fool”. Seats were set aside for the Association of Colleges, the Association of Employment and Learning Providers and the Association of Adult Education and Training Organisations (AAETO), which operates under the name HOLEX.

But Ms Pearce said it was “heartening” that dialogue had now begun between the union and the guild, which is due to launch in August.

“It is heartening that the guild has been willing both to hear our arguments and to take them seriously,” she said.

“We’re optimistic of further progress to ensure the learner voice is heard.”

David Hughes, chief executive of the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) and chair of the guild steering group, said its commitment to ensuring learners had a strong voice was “clear”.

“We have agreed that we will develop a joint paper that will ensure the learner voice is heard at the highest levels in the new guild, and this will be presented to the new board when it meets,” he said.

“I look forward to continuing to work with the union.”

Ms Pearce, currently NUS vice-president, and Gemma Painter, NUS head of further education, delivered their paper, FE Guild Governance Arrangements: Involvement of Learners, to the steering group on May 7.

A guild spokesperson said Ms Pearce was also a “key figure” at a recent meeting at Windsor Castle where 27 delegates discussed how the guild would progress.

FE Week reported last month that the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills had confirmed funding, excluding VAT, of £18.8m for August to April next year, and the same figure again for 2014-15, to run the guild.

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Editorial

It comes as welcome news that the FE Guild has revisited the issue of learner representation, and now could end up with a seat on its board for the voice of students.

Learner representation is critical to the credibility of the new body, and should also add value to its decisions.

After all, learners are the recipients of the FE service and so should have a central role in shaping proposals for improvement.

So I congratulate the NUS and representatives of the guild for being reasonable and putting their heads together for a rethink.

The result must be one in which the learner plays a role within the guild, with a voice that is listened to AND taken seriously.

Nick Linford, editor

College wins Morrisons’ contract

The contract to deliver the country’s biggest apprenticeship programme has been won by NCG (formerly Newcastle College Group).

The Academy Apprenticeship and qualifications programme of supermarket giant Morrisons will change hands from current provider Elmfield to NCG from August.

The contract will be managed by the college’s Intraining division, which works with more than 20,000 businesses and trains 54,000 learners every year, including up to 20,000 apprentices.

NCG is committed to developing high quality training and we intend to add to the Morrisons Academy to train the managers of the future so they can go from the shop floor to the ‘top floor’.

It will deliver fully accredited and recognised apprenticeships in subjects such as business and administration; retail; warehousing and storage; and customer service.

Dame Jackie Fisher, NCG chief executive, said: “Developing people through learning is at the heart of everything we do. We are delighted to have the opportunity to work with Morrisons on such an innovative learning programme.

“We will use our expertise of working each year with 20,000 young people aged 18 or less to ensure young employees are quickly engaged and inspired to take part in learning.

“NCG is committed to developing high quality training and we intend to add to the Morrisons Academy to train the managers of the future so they can go from the shop floor to the ‘top floor’.

“As a not-for-profit organisation we understand the importance of making every penny count and have created a model that ensures funding will be reinvested into learners.”

Morrisons is expected to train around 10,000 apprentices each year through its academy, on courses that will take between one and two years to complete, with more than half focused on 16 to 24-year-olds.

Mickey Greenhalgh, Morrisons’ head of craft and functional skills, said: “We completed a tender of our Academy Apprenticeship programme, to ensure it continues to best support the development of our colleagues.

“I’m delighted that we’ll be working with NCG over the coming years to equip our people with the skills they need to deliver great service to our customers.

“The programme’s ambition is to develop our internal talent and will equip many of our shopfloor colleagues for a move into management and beyond.”

NCG is one of the largest education and training providers working with 100,000 learners every year at 45 locations nationwide. It was graded as good by Ofsted last summer and had an overall apprenticeship success rate for 2011/12 of 77.5 per cent with 5,910 leavers.

Intraining managing director Phil Bonell said: “We deliver tailored on-the-job learning that evolves with employer and market needs. We have developed industry leading capabilities to deliver the highest quality learning, using the latest technology.

“We have systems in place to develop content in house and our dedicated e-Learning team has a proven track record of delivering high quality innovative outputs to ensure learners successfully achieve their goals.”

David Way, executive director of the National Apprenticeship Service, said: “I am very pleased that Morrisons is ready to continue its investment in apprenticeships and is giving opportunities to many young people to begin their careers in retail.

“This commitment from Morrisons shows the importance that leading employers are placing on apprenticeships to drive their businesses forward.”

Morrisons announced in February that its three-year contract with Elmfield, which had an overall success rate of 58.5 per cent last year from 22,290 apprenticeship leavers, would end this year.

Adult Learners’ Week 2013 Supplement

Download your free copy of the FE Week 16 page special Adult Learners’ Week 2013 supplement, sponsored by apt awards.

Click here to download (17mb)

Introduction

Adults return to education for a variety of reasons.

Some want to change career and some want to progress in the one they’ve got.

Some are looking for a way out of unemployment or a chance to put right what went wrong at school, while some just want to explore different sides of their personalities and broaden their horizons.

Adult Learners’ Week is a chance to honour and showcase the achievements of these learners.

This supplement, produced by FE Week, is a celebration of all of those achievements and opportunities, but, amid the celebrations, it is also a good time to reflect on what the future of adult education might look like.

David Hughes, chief executive of the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) applauds the way adult education “helps people transform their lives”, but admits he feels some “trepidation” looking ahead to the cuts expected in the looming spending review (page 3).

But it’s not just learners whose achievements should be recognised, as Christine Bullock, chief executive of awarding body apt awards, points out (page 3), tutors are often “performing miracles” to help their students.

The issue of investment in adult education is picked up by Skills Minister Matthew Hancock (page 4), who highlights research showing that “every pound invested in apprenticeship provision returns at least £18 of value to the apprentice, their employers and the wider economy,” and pledges the government will “go further” to improve the UK’s skills competitiveness.

Adult Learners’ Week is the catalyst to bring policy, action and real outcomes together”

Meanwhile, Shadow Skills Minister Gordon Marsden warns many older learners will be deterred by the 24+ adult learning loans, and points to the less obvious benefits of adult education such as better health, social cohesion and lower offending rates (page 4).

He calls on policy-makers to consider the impact of learning on government departments other than the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills — a thought echoed by Ruth Spellman, chief executive of the Workers’ Educational Association (page 5), who says “policy makers need to take a holistic view of how adult education impacts the economy”.

For NIACE president Nick Stuart (page 5), the answers to some of these conundrums might be found in Adult Learners’ Week itself, and he is chairing a review into what the festival does well, and what it needs to improve to allow tomorrow’s adult learners the same opportunities, second chances and experiences that all of this year’s winners have encountered on their journey.

Adult Learners’ Week is, he says, “the catalyst to bring policy, action and real outcomes together,” a chance to inform and sway policy-makers at the same time as celebrating achievements.

A total of 87 national and regional awards have been given out to individuals and training schemes this year from 1,412 nominations — and we’ve got some of the inspiring stories of how winners past and present have used education to completely change their lives (see pages 6 and 7).

The week is also an opportunity to encourage more adults to get involved, with over 1,400 events and taster sessions from Indian head massage to plumbing, taking place at colleges, libraries and other venues up and down the country (see pages 10 and 11 for just a handful of these).

The results of the NIACE Adult Participation Survey, revealing who is currently involved in learning and who is not, as well as comment from the survey report’s author Fiona Aldridge can be found on pages 12 and 13.

Coverage of the City Lit Adult Award ceremony and a preview of a special celebration event the week, honouring tutors’ contribution to adult education are on pages 14 and 15.

So, make sure you stay up to date with everything that’s going on this week by following the hashtag #ALW13 or @FEWeek on Twitter.

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Business advice from BBC Apprentice star

A former winner of BBC hit The Apprentice gave students his own hints and tips on how to get on in the workplace.

Lee McQueen, who got the nod from Lord Sugar in 2008, was at Loughborough College’s Employability Week.

He spent a day motivating students to stand out from the crowd in the world of work and passed on his career success do’s as well as the definite don’ts.

“To set out your goals and achieve them is incredibly rewarding. Today my passion is about helping others to realise their potential and provide them with a platform to go on and achieve,” said Mr McQueen.

Tina Smith, lecturer and foundation degree course manager at Loughborough College, said: “Every single student at Mr McQueen’s lectures and workshops went away inspired and buzzing with ideas on how to go about building their career or business.”

Featured image caption: From left: Loughborough College tourism management BA students Jack Clements, 21, and Wjeddha Walton, 20, with 2008 Apprentice winner Lee McQueen

Coventry principal to leave after Ofsted inadequate

The principal of City College Coventry, labelled inadequate by Ofsted, is to leave as soon an interim replacement can be found, FE Week can reveal.

Paul Taylor is expected to have been replaced by July, a college spokesperson said.

After 16 years in the job and two previous poor inspections, Mr Taylor was hit with grade four results across each of Ofsted’s headline inspection fields last month.

The 8,000-learner college was also given grade fours throughout the main findings board, including apprenticeships and 19+ learning programmes.

Mr Taylor had wanted to stay on despite the blow, telling FE Week at the end of April: “If I walk away I’ll regret it forever.”

However, the college spokesperson said: “The decision has been taken that Paul Taylor is to leave his position as principal of City College Coventry.”

FE Week editor Nick Linford is expected to take part in a BBC Coventry and Warwickshire Breakfast Show item on Mr Taylor and City College Coventry today (Thursday, May 16) at around 7.15am.

Read edition 67 of FE Week, or revisit this website tomorrow, for more.

The future’s black at Sparsholt

Most families might have just one black sheep, but at a college in Hampshire, a ewe has given birth to four of them.

The arrival of the black lambs at Sparsholt College is an event so rare it happens once in a generation.

Shepherd John Garrett, who has 35 years’ experience in the industry and worked at the college for the last 23 years, has never seen this many black lambs born at once.

“As with all farmers we are very used to multiple births and our students are
trained to deal with such circumstances,”
he said.

“However, quads are rather rare which does make this latest litter very special.”

The lambs were born to a Suffolk cross ewe and a Welsh black ram.

John added: “I’ve had to wait over 35 years to experience my first quad of black lambs so I hope the agriculture students realise just how fortunate they are.”

Featured image caption: Agriculture students Laura Claxton, 16, and Dan Fellows, 17, with some rare new arrivals

Students get hands-on with history

A replica Second World War Spitfire dropped in on learners in Salford to help bring their history A-level to life.

The iconic aircraft was brought into Pendleton Sixth Form Centre by staff from the Lytham St Annes Spitfire Memorial Fund, who restored the plane, who spoke to learners about its history.

Student Katie Bagshaw said: “Seeing the Spitfire in real life helps you to understand what it was like for pilots sitting in the aircraft and feeling how small it is in the cockpit makes you appreciate the conditions they were fighting in.”

It is thought that there are only 75 original Spitfires still flying.

Student Jess Trimble said: “I’ve never seen anything like this before other than in a museum; it’s definitely going to help me visualise and understand the Second World War aspects of our course.”

Featured image caption: Katie Bagshaw, Jess Trimble, Adam Millar, all 18, and Keith Maddox, from Lytham St Annes Spitfire Memorial Fund

College opens wide for Ministerial visit

It was smiles all round as Skills Minister Matthew Hancock visited a West Midland college.

He toured the £77m Central Campus at Sandwell College, in West Bromwich, and met dental nursing apprentices.

He visited on Friday, May 3, and heard from representatives from Bhandal Dental Practice which is developing a new, employer-led apprenticeship with the college.

Mr Hancock also presented trophies to winners of the college enterprise society Piggy Bank Micro Business Challenge — a competition for eight new student start-ups run for four weeks.

“It’s great to be able to reward and recognise the initiative and enterprise on display in Sandwell College’s Piggy Bank Challenge. It’s this originality that proves what is on offer linking further education to enterprise,” he said.

College principal Val Bailey said: “We are very pleased to welcome the minister, to show him the state-of-the-art facilities on offer at Central Campus and in particular how we are developing employer-led apprenticeship programmes to meet evolving demand.”

Featured image caption: Sandwell College dental nursing apprentices Danniella Wyatt, 20, and Charlotte Rae, 22, brush up on their skills with tutor Janyne Rogers and Skills Minister Matthew Hancock