With advancements in technology, FE has moved on, too – not that you’d be too aware of that if you were a visitor to this year’s Bett show, argues Bob Harrison.

It was a promising start to my 12th Bett (formerly British Educational Training and Technology) conference.

Following Business Secretary Vince Cable opening the show at Excel, in London, and FE Minister Matthew Hancock’s attendance and personal interest in digital technologies, there is a unique combination of factors that suggests the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) will be taking a serious look at how technology-enhanced learning could support the government’s aims for the FE and skills sector.

This is particularly true of the massive open online course (MOOC) phenomenon which is gaining momentum in the USA and the UK.

As well as 100 ministers of education from around the globe being joined by the BIS ministers at the end-of-January event, the official Bett guide was entitled Schools and FE show guide 2013 and not only that, but there was a nominated FE day, too.

Sadly, the promise was not fulfilled from an FE perspective and what promised so much for FE veterans like me was short-lived and didn’t materialise.

Yes, the shiny gizmos, tablets, touch surface screens, high speed broadband Wi-Fi systems, sophisticated software, 3D printing and much more turned me into a rabbit in the digital future’s headlights, but where were all my FE friends and colleagues?

Perhaps they were down the road at Olympia at the mis-timed (or perhaps Bett was mistimed) Learning and Technologies UK show which features the best in the world of work-based learning?

Credit to the Association for Learning Technology who, encouragingly, are now official Bett partners for the first time, but even on the designated FE day the post-16 footprint was negligible.

I was disappointed, but not surprised as a Bett and FE veteran as it is what I have come
to expect”

I scoured the seminar programme and all the learning theatres for a sniff of FE providers who were “ahead of the curve” to learn from and perhaps share, but I was as disappointed with my non findings as I was with the lack of authenticity in Mr Cable’s words when saying things like “MOOCs, haptics, and cloud-computing”.

The words came out in the right order, but somehow you got the feeling that the real meaning didn’t really get communicated and got lost?

So I was disappointed, but not surprised as a Bett and FE veteran as it is what I have come to expect.

Since the demise of Becta (formerly British Educational Communications and Technology Agency) more than two years ago and with Jisc’s (formerly Joint Information Systems Committee) main eye being on the HE ball, compounded by the impending closure of the Learning and Skills Improvement Service, who frankly never “got it,” there has been no real strategic leadership of technology in FE.

This has to change, as does the mindset of the funding, audit and inspection regimes which are stuck in an industrial mindset when we need to be preparing students for a digital future. Most occupations now have digital literacy at their heart.

The schools are radically changing the information and communications technology curriculum and the digital expectations of my grandchildren, who will leave school in the late 2020s, will not be met by FE colleges with a creaky technological infrastructure and a skills set which needs major investment and refreshment.

The perfect storm of cheap mobile devices, high-speed always on broadband wifi, open source, virtual and blended learning is sweeping across the Atlantic and it is time those responsible for FE woke up and felt the breeze.

Perhaps then next year FE will be on the inside of the Bett show guide and not just a name on the cover? I live in hope and look forward to seeing many more FE friends and colleagues next year.

Bob Harrison, education adviser at Toshiba Information Systems (UK) and chair of the Teaching Schools Technology Advisory Board

For more on education technology, check out FE Week’s guide to FE learning tech here

Ofsted boss Sir Michael Wilshaw had some tough words for FE at a recent Education Select Committee hearing, and while some of his comments may not have been well-received, that’s no reason to be dismissive says Lynne Sedgmore.

I speak frequently with Ofsted during these delicate and complex times.

I believe all colleges set out to offer good provision and to do good work for their students, employers and communities.

But I am deeply concerned at the impact on the reputation of colleges that Ofsted’s currently-expressed views have.

Off-the-cuff remarks with little basis in evidence, such as some of what we heard at the recent Education Select Committee hearing [see page three], are unhelpful, and I reiterate this continually in my conversations with senior staff.

Having said that, I believe we must take notice and respond with true professionalism to the accurate and rigorous elements of Ofsted’s work.

While the media headlines have been grabbed by claims about poor teaching and unaccountable leadership, there are, equally, important messages about how colleges have, in the past, fallen victim to a poorly-conceived skills system and some less than rigorous inspection results which inadequately considered student success rates when giving grade one results.

Sir Michael Wilshaw’s acknowledgement that guidance in schools needs closer scrutiny is to be welcomed. As are Matthew Coffey’s assertions that funding may have driven an inevitable leadership focus on business needs, and that colleges must be full partners with LEPs in any future employer-led funding system.

These are signs that, within Ofsted, there is a desire to see fairness and a strong FE sector that benefits from healthy student recruitment, engages with the business community to ensure its graduates gain jobs and, as a central preoccupation, delivers outstanding teaching and learning in every institution and community.

There was an acknowledgement on all sides of the Select Committee hearing that FE was “fundamentally important” and “little understood”.

I have written in the pages of FE Week before about the need to engage seriously with teaching and learning improvement and excellence.

It is the job of every one of us working in and with colleges to ensure that teaching and learning is always the absolute best it can be, and that learners and their success are at the heart of everything.

FE is ‘fundamentally important’ and ‘little understood’”

That means every college in the country clarifying how its values, mission and strategy, place learners centre stage; how leaders embody support and commitment to teaching and learning excellence in everything they do.

On a daily basis, they must convey this critical importance to all staff by making sure teachers and support staff are enabled and encouraged to engage with effective professional development and consistently deliver excellence for all students.

There is much research about effective leadership, effective teaching and effective professional development — not least some of the recent work that the 157 Group has published.

Encouraging staff to take the time to understand this and apply it to their work is something that must happen in every college.

So yes, we should be critical when the presentation of information is inadequately evidenced or not sufficiently robust. We should dispute sweeping generalisations which we all know are based on a small snapshot of colleges. We must evidence and proclaim where we do have good practice.

What we all share is huge passion and common values for our learners and for excellent teaching and learning.

To rise to the quality challenge we face requires the self-confidence to believe we have the potential, the expertise and the commitment to create an outstanding FE sector.

It requires building powerful alliances inside and outside our colleges, focusing relentlessly on teaching and learning and celebrating success, but also challenging poor practice and generating peer cultures that ensure all staff deliver excellence in every aspect of their college.

We will find, I suspect, that we are not that far away from the values and passion of Ofsted. But to bring together our values and ambitions, we need to build a strong partnership of mutual regard alongside being vocal about, and clear on, the excellence we aspire to and are fully capable of.

Lynne Sedgmore, executive director of the 157 Group

A bill setting out exciting aspirations for people with special educational needs (SEN) could be stymied by funding reforms warns Alison Boulton.

Launching the Children and Families Bill this month, Children’s Minister Edward Timpson said the intention was to create a system that put children, parents and young people in the driving seat.

Legislation that prioritises support and aspiration for young people and their families is to be applauded as these values underpin the idea of education for all.

In the Green paper, published in March 2011, this was applied to those with SEN or learning difficulties and disabilities and the aim was to develop more joined-up provision for these learners by linking education, health and social care.

The new 0-25 system would promote joint assessment and improved choice to make planning a future simpler and less confrontational, leading to greater personal independence and employability.

The post-16 lobby has been strong and united and after two years, 53 clauses about children and young people with SEN are now included in the Children and Families Bill.

This is reflected in a new opening clause that requires local authorities (LAs) to take account of their views, wishes and feelings — very welcome, but important to ensure LAs have the capacity and skill to make this a reality.

We did not want a bill that was largely about schools and children, with a post-16 bolt-on that did not serve young people well.

We wanted young people to genuinely be at the heart of the proposals, actively engaged in their own assessments, supported to make well informed choices and encouraged to be aspirational about their adult lives.

This is why Natspec (The Association of National Specialist Colleges) is working with other post-16 providers to make sure that young people who need it can continue their education in an age appropriate setting, learning to live independently alongside people their own age.

There is a real risk the bill will allow schools to extend their provision up to the age of 25”

Students with complex learning difficulties may take longer to learn, need time to assimilate their learning or to use assistive technology, but there is a real risk the bill will allow schools to extend their provision up to the age of 25, which is hardly the ideal setting in which to prepare for adulthood and something we need to guard against.

So, while there is more work to do around the bill, it is good to have some very sound material to work with.

One of our biggest challenges is that running alongside the legislative reforms, but not subject to parliamentary scrutiny, is a set of funding reforms for those described as having ‘high needs’.

They will be introduced this coming September, a year before the SEN legislation, and are intended to create a ‘simple and transparent’ 0-25 funding system for all pupils and students with support costs of more than £10,000.

The proposals replace a single funding source, the Education Funding Agency (EFA), with three elements of funding, two of which come via the EFA but are determined differently, and the third being negotiated with and paid by each student’s home LA.

The creation of this system, involving the EFA, LAs and providers, has become so multi-faceted and bureaucratic that hours of time are being spent trying to understand and implement each aspect of it.

For LAs trying to forecast how many learners they will place, and where, there are massive capacity issues.

For providers trying to plan on the basis of forecasts which are fundamentally inaccurate, it presents significant risks. But most of all, for young people and their families caught up in its complexities, it is a real nightmare.

We are left with a dilemma — while the bill heralds a new, person-centred, joined up approach, an impersonal, overly bureaucratic and uncertain funding system can only fail to deliver these ambitions and urgently needs to be reviewed and amended.

Alison Boulton, chief executive of Natspec

Thanks to the raising of the participation age, staying on after school no longer means sitting in class after the end-of-day bell rings — it also means big changes for education along with benefits for 17 and 18-year-olds, as Lesley Donoghue explains.

Most parents and adults who work in education will be aware that from September 2013 the government is raising the participation age (RPA) to which all young people in England must continue in education or training.

This effectively means young people will be required to continue in learning until the end of the academic year in which they turn 17 and from 2015 they will have to continue until their 18th birthday.

This change in law is intended to help young people to achieve national qualifications.

Recent statistics from The Department of Education have shown that 96 per cent of 16-year-olds and 87 per cent of 17-year-olds already choose to remain in education or work-based training after Year 11.

However, the small minority reluctant to continue in learning will now be given an extra push under new RPA legislation, helping them to achieve qualifications between the ages of 16 and 17, which really can help to increase future prospects for youth employment.

From our own research, it would appear that not everyone fully understands the broad range of opportunities RPA presents and the most common misconception is that RPA means children now have to stay on at school until 17.

In fact, RPA makes numerous learning options available and offers young people the freedom to choose the option that is right for them.

RPA is about cultivating young people who are more empowered and ultimately more successful”

This could be full-time education, or work-based learning — such as apprenticeships — full-time work or volunteering alongside studying for part-time accredited qualifications. So this means that students can learn what interests them, in the way that suits them best.

Under this new legislation, FE colleges, schools and training providers have an even greater responsibility to students, to monitor attendance and to ensure that any apprenticeships or other means of training are being delivered properly.

This is a duty that we will take very seriously at Reading College and we will have dedicated staff and independent careers advisers on hand to support and mentor young people and their parents from the age of 14 who are considering their options.

Part of every student’s curriculum at Reading College would also include an on-going and personalised development programme called The Edge, which is aimed at giving students extra learning opportunities way beyond their qualification.

The Edge involves setting practical goals and objectives for pupils to develop skills based on employability and enterprise, and it also looks at wider personal development topics such as safety, well-being and respect.

The key message that I would like all educational facilities to deliver to their students and their parents is that RPA does not affect the school leaving age in the slightest.

Instead, it aims to offer young people the opportunity to continue developing skills and qualifications to encourage learning beyond 16. Students can stay at school, study at college, go to the workplace, undertake apprenticeships or work towards accreditations.

Those more suited to vocational education have the opportunity to find full-time employment whilst continuing to work towards some form of accreditation and not stay on in education if that is not where their skills lie.

RPA is about cultivating young people who are more empowered and ultimately more successful. It is about giving young people independence, freedom of choice and increasing their self-esteem and will make young people think about their futures and what they want to achieve in life.

By working together, collaborating with students, their parents and career counsellors, we can make sure that every young person is engaged in developing their learning and ultimately their career.

Lesley Donoghue, principal of Reading College, part of Oxford & Cherwell Valley College Group