LSIS prepares to hand over the baton

The Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) has published a report exploring the legacy it will leave when it closes at the end of next month.

The document, A Legacy of Learning, aimed to find out what should be retained and built on when the organisation hands over to the Education and Training Foundation (ETF — formerly the FE Guild), due to launch August 1, led by interim chief executive Sir Geoff Hall.

Based on consultation with the sector, the research said LSIS reached 97 per cent of FE colleges, 58 per cent of independent learning providers, 76 per cent of independent specialist colleges and 74 per cent of sixth-form colleges.

And 60,000 in the sector went online to access its recent guidance on safeguarding, “reflecting the extent to which LSIS became a trusted source of help and support”, the report said.

But it also revealed that some principals found the service “excessive”, report author Ian Nash told FE Week.

“One principal told me the problem . . . was that it tried to be all things to all people. There were concerns that LSIS grants were difficult to manage, they generated a lot of bureaucracy,” he said.

“One told me ‘I do resent top-slicing my budget to run any organisation like this — including the guild’.”

But there was a “strong feeling” LSIS could have been reformed and remodelled to what the guild might become, Mr Nash added, although that would have taken “a lot of work”.

At the top of everyone’s feedback was the desire to keep teaching and learning coaches, developments in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths); measures to tackle NEETs (young people not in education, employment or training); action research; equality and diversity measures; and take forward LSIS’s  legacy of better leadership of learning.

The report revealed that many saw the service’s role as an “honest broker” and “critical friend”, supporting 1,158 UK providers between August and December 2012, and 1,044 from January to April this year.

Rob Wye, LSIS chief executive, said: “The message you are sending us is that LSIS was effective in bringing the sector together as a community.”

Dame Ruth Silver, LSIS chair, said the findings showed how LSIS had “led the way” over the past five years with initiatives to enhance the performance of FE and skills providers.

“The gains made amount to a legacy that will not be lost,” she said.

“We can all be justifiably proud of what we have achieved . . . We have empowered practitioners to improve teaching and learning and developed leadership, instilling new confidence and professionalism throughout.”

Some of the sector welcomed the findings. However, a spokesperson for the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) said: “LSIS hasn’t always paid enough attention to those outside colleges, although this did improve latterly. More recently it has started to work much more closely with and through sector bodies such as AELP.  We think that this is an approach that has worked well and it should continue under the ETF.”

Lynne Sedgmore, chief executive of the 157 Group, said: “The hard work and commitment of all LSIS staff has been appreciated and we wish them every success in the future. We hope the ETF will welcome this report and use it to build on going forward.”

Skills Minister Matthew Hancock first announced proposals for a guild last October.

In a letter seen by FE Week last November, Susan Pember, former director of FE and skills investment at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, told Dame Ruth: “The new organisation will assume responsibility for many of the broad areas of activity currently undertaken by LSIS.”

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Report calls for female apprenticeship targets

The government has been urged to set private contractor targets to boost the number of female apprentices in sectors traditionally dominated by men.

The Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee report Women in the Workplace also criticises careers guidance as promoting academic rather than vocational career paths and calls for action to improve female representation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

It points to figures, verified by the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS), that show — despite there being 276,200 female apprenticeships from level two onwards overall versus 244,400 male ones — huge gender disparities in certain sectors.

For example, just two per cent (230) of construction apprentices were female in 2011/12 and in industrial applications it was 12 per cent (2,240).

The report, published today, said: “The government should use the opportunities presented by the procurement of goods and services from the private sector to advance equality for women.

“They should produce an annual statement to illustrate the way in which government contracts have been used to achieve this aim.

“The government should make this provision more widely known to employers, with the potential to enable workforces to become more diverse and more representative of the communities that they serve.

“As with the government targets for the number of women on boards, targets should be set by the government to encourage women to explore more atypical work sectors, especially in those sectors that have a skills shortage.”

Adrian Bailey MP, committee chair, said: “The early influences children are exposed to are crucial in informing them about career opportunities. As such, the current absence of comprehensive careers advice is a matter of deep concern. The government must develop an enhanced careers strategy, with careers advice fully incorporated in the work of both primary and secondary schools.

“The government has demonstrated a welcome commitment to improving the representation of women on boards. It must now show the same commitment to addressing their under-representation in certain sectors of the economy. This should include a willingness to set targets and, if necessary, to regulate.”

The report further says that employees should be entitled to ask for flexible working from the outset, not only after they have been in a job for six months.

Additionally, the government should establish a voluntary code of practice to highlight best practice in the provision of quality part-time and flexible working.

“Four decades since the Equal Pay Act, we still do not have full workplace equality. We cannot wait another 40 years,” said Mr Bailey.

“Comprising over half the population, significant public funds are invested in women. Ensuring they reach their full potential is therefore as much an economic argument as one about equality.

“At the heart of the matter is the need for cultural change. Without this we address symptoms rather than causes.”

He added: “Flexible working is not a women’s issue; it affects all employees with caring responsibilities. We must dispel the myth that it is problematic and cannot work.

“The Public Sector Equality Duty is a useful tool in achieving workplace equality. It should be retained in its current form. Far from comprising an unnecessary burden, good employment practices are good for business.

“The government’s stated commitment to workplace equality is welcome. Its actions at times, however, not only fail to live up to the rhetoric, but stand in direct contradiction to it.

“Far from reducing workplace inequality, introducing fees for pregnancy discrimination cases, calling time on Equality Impact Assessments, and repealing provisions for the questionnaire procedure in discrimination cases, all risk exacerbating it.”

Carpenters do it by the book

Young carpenters in Sussex have posed for the illustrations in two new textbooks.

Central Sussex College carpentry and joinery students Sam Folkes, 18, Charlie Barber, 17, and Shaun Scofield, 18,  will feature in the City & Guilds textbooks due to be published later this year, after the college was approached to provide workshops and models for the project.

Level one student Sam said: “It’s quite exciting to think we’re going to be in a textbook that will be seen by thousands of students up and down the country.”

Charlie said: “I was nervous at the start of the day, but I got used to the cameras — I can’t wait to get a copy of the book to see what the photos look like.”

Featured image caption: Would-be pin-ups Sam Folkes and Charlie Barber

Dancers inspired by the works of Shakespeare

All the world’s a stage for Stratford-upon-Avon college dance students who will dance outside the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) as pre-show entertainment.

The BTec level three dance students have devised a site-specific performance that is inspired by Shakespeare’s sonnets and uses the floors, pillars, staircases and walls of the theatre’s front-of-house areas.

College dance lecturer Laura Dredger said: “It’s a unique and exciting opportunity for the students to explore and perform in such a historic and world-famous venue.

“We are lucky to have this opportunity and we would like to thank the RSC.”

The dancers will be entertaining theatre-goers before Thursday and Friday’s productions of A Mad World My Masters, As You Like It and Hamlet.

Struan Leslie, head of movement at the RSC, said: “We have had a great time sharing our knowledge and skills in movement.

“It has been highly rewarding watching the students’ work develop from these ideas.”

Featured image caption: Students will use the theatre’s font-of-house area for their performances

Film gives an insider’s view of care sector

The National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) has launched a film to encourage more young people into apprenticeships in the care sector.

The film features four current and former apprentices working in different roles across the sector discussing how an apprenticeship has benefited them.

Lindsay Giess, 32, who features in the film, completed an advanced apprenticeship in health and social care and is now a senior carer at a residential home.

She said: “I knew for quite a while that I wanted to work in this sector but I wasn’t sure of the best way to go about it.

“Being an apprentice meant from the outset I was doing exactly what I wanted to do – [it] is one of the best decisions I ever made.”

Care employers are being encouraged to promote the film across the sector and to young people, and it will also be used by NAS as a resource for schools and careers events.

To see the film, visit apprentice.tv

Featured image caption: Lindsay Giess in the NAS film that encourages young people into the care sector

Crumbs! That’s how to do it

Raising money for charity was a piece of cake for public service students near Manchester.

The Warrington Collegiate services students raised more than £80 for the ‘Peace of Cake’ campaign for the Peace Centre, which works to support victims of terrorism and their families.

The students were thanked by mascot Hero the Bear and former police officer Pam White, who was caught up in the 1983 IRA bombing of Harrods, and who now works with the charity.

Pam said the charity was “delighted” by the students’ efforts.

She added: “As well as enjoying some really nice cakes they raised a fantastic amount of money.”

Featured image caption: Pam White with Hero the Bear and Warrington Collegiate students

Social enterprise offers prisoners a future

Prisoners at Eastwood Park women’s prison in Gloucestershire are learning to make luxury soap as part of a social enterprise.

The scheme, launched by Weston College, employs eight women to design and manufacture the  soap to help to prepare them for life after they are released.

One of the prisoners, who cannot be named, said: “This is the best course that the prison has offered.

“It gives us real skills that we can use
when we leave prison and potentially it will enable us to set up our own business.”

She added that when the four-week course ended, she hoped to stay on to help other prisoners to learn.

The soap is sold to prison officers and staff at Weston College, but it is hoped the women may be able to create a business selling in people’s homes on their release.

Tutor Ian Rampton said: “The ladies finish the course passionate and excited, developing the belief that they can do something for themselves.”

Featured image caption: Prison and college staff show off the prisoners’ work

Muffin can stop this baking duo

Two entrepreneurial students in Yorkshire have whipped up a tasty business idea which they are marketing to fellow students.

Lancaster and Morecambe College students Mathew Whelan and Mike Fort took the idea of the simple but messy method of microwaving a brownie in a mug and created the Lazy Bake, which gets rid of washing up by providing a sachet of brownie mix in a bio-degradable container, so all it needs is water and a drop of oil.

“The Lazy Bake started initially because it is something we enjoy,” said Mike.

“Students like food that tastes good and is quick and simple to prepare, and our product fits that description.”

Mathew is heading to university in September, but the duo said they see this as “an opportunity”.

Mike said: “We are talking with a few local shops about stocking Lazy Bake, but our ultimate aim is to have our product on the shelves at university campuses.”

Featured image caption: Lazy Bake creator Mathew Whelan, 24 and Mike Fort, 22