The bright sparks of Sheffield

Around 70 students at Sheffield City College have had their achievements recognised with ‘spark awards’ presented during an evening of music, dancing and skills.

A crowd of local VIPs and parents were wowed by dancing and music displays, with catering and hospitality students whipping up canapés.

The college’s glass atrium became a runway for aviation students to demonstrate their skills to music, and for media make-up students to show off their creativity with make-up based on cities around the world.

Principal Julie Byrne said: “It was fantastic evening. We are proud of our students, and our staff who have supported them on their journey. We want to inspire more young people to discover their career aspirations.”

Bosses swap jobs with apprentices

Chief executives and directors in companies across the UK recently swapped jobs with apprentices to mark National Apprenticeship Week.

MediaCom boss Karen Blackett swapped roles with marketing and communications apprentice Robyn May, 19.

Karen said: “It was good to go back to the floor. I was impressed to see how integral Robyn is to her team; she’s clearly a valued member who has real work and real responsibility. Chief executives should do this more often.”

Robyn said: “Going from apprentice to chief executive is a huge jump. I’ve certainly had to brush up my communications skills today, speaking to directors and managing partners.

“I was really nervous this morning but I’ve learnt that it’s good to push myself and that I can do something if I put my mind to it.”

The swaps were filmed for a new online TV channel, apprentice.tv.

Adonis talks of ‘apprenticeship revolution’

UCAS should be the “principal route” into apprenticeships to ensure they were as “accessible and credible” as universities, Lord Adonis told a packed conference.

The organisation responsible for managing applications to higher education was “up for it” if the government was, said the Labour politician, and academic during a speech at Unionlearn’s annual apprenticeship conference to mark National Apprenticeship Week.

“I don’t think there is a single thing that deserves more attention in this country than apprenticeships,” he told delegates.

“We need a revolution in apprenticeships as we did in schools in the late 1980s. We now have a schools system of which we can be very proud — we will only have achieved this in apprenticeships when there are as many available as there are higher education places.”

Young people wanted to “earn and learn” not “beg and borrow”, he said, comparing the earning power of apprentices with the debts incurred by students on university courses.

His message to the government was clear — that it should lead by example.

“In the whole time I was in government I don’t recall ever having an under 21-year-old working for me. The jobs didn’t require graduate skills, so what was happening,” said Lord Adonis

Last year, half of 16 government departments had no apprentices and, of those that did, none was under 21. The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills had just one apprentice.

He urged the civil service to create more apprenticeship opportunities, adding that of about 800,000 school leavers, on average 300,000 went on to university, with just 129,000 taking up apprenticeships [last year], leaving “hundreds of thousands” not going into any form of training.

“If UCAS were the apprenticeships and university route you might get people applying for both,” he said.

A spokesperson for UCAS told FE Week it was  “happy to consider ways” to “add value” to the apprenticeship application process but that it had not received any request from the government to explore this.

Gila Sacks, head of the apprenticeship unit at BIS, told the conference that the government had responded “very positively” to entrepreneur Doug Richard’s well-documented report into apprenticeships.

It must work to “increase awareness” of apprenticeships, although this had already started as schools now had to provide independent information, advice and guidance on careers.

She said the results of a consultation on how this was working would be reported in June and urged members of the sector to put forward their views.

Four young apprentices spoke at the event, highlighting the best bits of their vocational route.

Kirsty Downs, a business administration apprentice at St Edmundsbury Borough Council, said she had been taking a gap year and was about to start university when she was offered the training opportunity.

“They give me study time for my foundation degree. Rather than getting in debt and partying at university, I earn money and spend it on what I want while getting experience doing events organising, which I was going to study at university,” the 21-year-old from Suffolk told delegates.

“I love my apprenticeship and my friends who’ve gone to university are jealous.”

More than 800 events took place around the country throughout the sixth National Apprenticeship Week. Highlights included a job swap between FE minister Matthew Hancock and Jenny Westworth, a former BAE apprentice who now works on the final assembly line for the Typhoon aircraft at her factory near Preston, and young apprentices meeting David Cameron at No 10 to discuss workplace training.

Caption for featured picture: Lord Adonis (centre) meeting with apprentices. From left: Charlotte Appleyard, 22 Kirsty Downs and Claire Cordon, both 21

Cameron’s ‘new norm’ wisdom

The Prime Minister wants apprenticeships to become the “new norm for young people,” with work-based training sitting “at the heart of our mission to rebuild the economy”.

Speaking at a Buckinghamshire training academy during the sixth National Apprenticeship Week, he called on employers, educators and MPs to expand apprenticeships for young people.

“They are at the heart of our mission to rebuild the economy, giving young people the chance to learn a trade, to build their careers, and create a truly world-class, high-skilled workforce that can compete and thrive in the fierce global race that we are in,” said David Cameron.

“We need to challenge ourselves to go even further — that is why I want it to be the new norm for young people to either go to university or into an apprenticeship.

“We need to look at how we can expand apprenticeship opportunities so that they are available to all young people who are ready and eager to take them up, and aspire to get ahead in life.”

Martin Doel, chief executive of Association of Colleges, said his members would “happily meet the extra demand”.

“There are obviously questions around how the new expanded apprenticeships will be funded and who will take ownership of them,” he said. “To that end, we will work with government to establish the best way forward.”

This is a key test for ministers at a time when there are almost one million young people out of work”

Graham Hoyle, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP), also said that his group was “ready to respond” to the government’s call.

“With AELP members already delivering over 70 per cent of apprenticeships in England, independent training providers are ready to respond to the Prime Minister’s call by lending their frontline expertise on how to develop, improve and increase the number of apprenticeships,” he said.

He added that the AELP was pushing for at least one teacher from every secondary school to undertake work experience with a provider and go on to champion apprenticeships within their school.

Meanwhile, Shadow FE Minister Gordon Marsden argued in Parliament that public procurement funds should be used to boost apprenticeships.

“Labour has demanded the government uses the money that it already spends on public procurement to create new apprenticeship opportunities,” he said.

He claimed that for every £1m spent on public procurement, at least one apprenticeship should be created.

“This sort of approach is essential to help the economy grow, if we are to compete as a country,” he told MPs.

He said Sheffield City Council had identified that it could create 233 places for apprenticeships through public procurement.

“This approach has won the backing of the Business, Innovation and Skills committee and builds on what Labour did in government to ensure that apprenticeships were offered on the delivery of the Olympic Park and Crossrail, while Labour local authorities are also leading the way in using procurement to boost apprenticeships,” said Mr Marsden.

“FE Minister Matthew Hancock has frequently talked of how apprenticeships are at the heart of his government’s skills strategy.

“If that is indeed the case, why won’t he give them a much-needed shot in the arm and back our sensible proposals to use the money government already spends to boost apprenticeship numbers?”

He said Labour leader Ed Miliband had outlined “the real difference” that the plan would make in creating 33,000 new apprenticeships.

“This is a key test for ministers at a time when there are almost one million young
people out of work and the number of apprenticeships for 16 to 18-year-olds has fallen,” he added.

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And the prize for hardest working politician this week goes to Matthew Hancock.

The FE Minister was up at 5.30am filleting fish at Billingsgate market with apprentices in East London before dashing off to take part in events throughout the day, finally making an appearance on BBC’s News Night at 11.30pm.

In an effort to scale back on the fish puns FE Week just wanted to say: “Well done Mr Hancock, you reelly busted a gut during National Apprenticeship Week.”

Traineeships ‘will start in September’

The first  traineeships, the new government programme targeted at young people to help them acquire work-related skills and attitudes, are on track to  start in September this year,  says FE minister Matthew Hancock.

He told training providers, business leaders, apprentices and awarding bodies at a Voice of Apprentices conference in London last week that the traineeships were a “personal priority”.

Several of the 300 delegates raised concerns around the implementation of the traineeships, their purpose and what they would mean for apprenticeships.

Mr Hancock said that traineeships were a “very important part of the picture”.

“This is a personal priority of mine as minister. Traineeships are an important part of work to increase the rigour and quality of apprenticeships. We need to ensure that we provide a provision for those that need support to get a job, to get into the position of applying and holding down that job,” he said.

“We have been very consultative around the introduction of traineeships. I know that there is plenty of good practice out there from many providers and I acknowledge there is lots that I still am not aware of.

“But let me be clear, I don’t want to get in the way of this good provision. I want to support it through traineeships and bring together some of the different strands under an umbrella that also supports progression into apprenticeships and into a job.

“The timings are tight for their implementation, but they will form an integral part of the future architecture of apprenticeships.”

The minister also promised a further immediate consultation.

The forthcoming consultation will more or less explain how we will do it ”

“Our first consultation, launched earlier this year in January, looked at what we wanted to do and posed questions about how we might achieve this. The forthcoming consultation will more or less explain how we will do it and ask the sector for comments on those plans, he said.

“I am very keen that we consult a wide and varying audience on how we design and build, what I think is a very important improvement.”

The Voice of Apprentices conference, the third of its kind and the largest yet, celebrated  apprenticeships and the positive effect they have on individuals and business.

It was chaired by FE Week editor Nick Linford and included more than 24 speakers from across FE and industry, including several apprentices.

During the various presentations and Q&A sessions, delegates and speakers shared their experiences of apprenticeships and their concerns and questions for their future.

This year’s conference, organised by Lindsay McCurdy of Apprenticeships 4 England, was held at the capital’s Tower Hotel.

Value of new FE quality kitemark questioned

Sector bosses have called into question the “worth” of a new quality marker launched by FE Minister Matthew Hancock.

Sir Geoff Hall, chair of the Information Authority, asked if chartered status for top providers was “worth doing”. His query came during a workshop at an Association of Colleges conference, on information and accountability in FE.

Susan Pember, director of FE and skills investment at the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, who was running the discussion, argued that the aim of the new stamp of approval was to bring together local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) and colleges to create a signpost to legitimate providers for the UK Borders Agency.

Sir Geoff said: “Shouldn’t it be more rigorous with an Ofsted marker included to make it more valuable to providers?”

Mrs Pember said that no one had come back from the public consultation asking for extra emphasis on inspections.

The status would have three categories; colleges, providers and community colleges, and would only include providers within the Skills Finding Agency’s system. Areas judged would include engagement with community, and showing strong leadership and management.

“It’s not the badge that’s important — it’s the conversations the providers will have with the LEPs. It’s about coming together and building a collective reputation for the sector,” said
Mrs Pember.

Providers would be judged by a panel of unpaid members made up of “respected” individuals with a “wide range of expertise”. They would include employers, learners, teachers, providers, the community and those with chartered status in other sectors. Colleges would not have to pay towards the process.

Other concerns were that colleges would get in top consultants to write “attractive” applications and that community work varied hugely between colleges. Those in high ethnically diverse areas faced greater challenges.

Mrs Pember said these issues would be looked at during the next stage when a “pathfinder” was created with colleges volunteering to be “dummies” on a trial run.

Mr Hancock told the conference that chartered status had “many fathers”, addressing concerns that it was “just another replacement” for previous markers such as the Training Quality Standard.

“It needs to have a long-term impact and be independent and embedded in the sector — rigorous and aspirational but not burdensome and bureaucratic,” he said.

 

 

 

Get past the rhetoric and down to business

Learning by doing should be valued equally with academic learning, says David Harbourne. But vocational education first must meet the highest possible standards

Education must provide a wide range of knowledge, skills and attributes that are best represented by a spread of qualifications of equal status and value. There are, after all, many paths to success.

Vocational qualifications (VQs) – a crucial offering in our education system – therefore must meet the highest possible standards. If not, we’ll never see any parity of esteem between vocational qualifications and more traditional, academic routes.

The Department for Education’s recent proposals to reform VQs for 16 to 19-year-olds highlights a process for deciding which qualifications should count in future performance tables, without any mention (quite rightly) of numbers or targets.

Unfortunately, the accompanying press release wasn’t quite so encouraging,  opting for the addition of some seemingly random statistics. This provided the media with an easy headline about the scrapping of ‘Mickey Mouse courses’, a line that they fell for, hook, line and sinker.

The press release talked about potentially culling thousands of level three qualifications from post-16 performance tables, giving the impression that the majority of current vocational courses are poor quality. This simply isn’t the case.

For one thing, the best current qualifications are taken by tens of thousands of young people every year with great success – albeit often without the recognition they so richly deserve.

These qualifications are more than likely to continue under the new rules subject, in some cases, to minor tweaks.

The opportunity to study technical subjects should be offered to all students, not just a few”

But other qualifications, taken by very few people, remain extremely valuable. For example, we train few farriers each year – only three colleges in England currently offer farriery – but there is no question of dropping such specialist courses or abandoning these specialist qualifications.

To add some meat to the press release, there was an additional announcement about the development of new engineering and construction qualifications to replace principal learning qualifications.

The development of high-quality qualifications is, of course, something that we fully endorse. But it was rather secondhand news, the announcement having been made by the Chancellor during a visit to Rolls-Royce a few weeks ago.

But as many a politician will tell you, if you’ve got good news it’s best to announce it as many times as you can.

The real story is the plan for clear and consistent standards for judging current and future qualifications.

We welcome this wholeheartedly it sends out a clear message that the government is willing to listen to views on how vocational learning can play an important role in education and how we can ensure young people leave school with the specific skills that employers need.

We are in the midst of a skills shortage in the UK with many employers saying that they struggle to fill positions.

As our Six Steps for Change policy document sets out (www.edge.co.uk/six-steps-for-change), we feel strongly that the opportunity to study technical subjects should be offered to all students, not just a few.

Learning by doing should be valued equally with academic learning, and all technical, practical and vocational education should be high quality and, of course, valued by employers.

Encouragingly, the Department for Education’s plans give us confidence that we can work together to establish a new qualification system that will last the test of time. All young people, whatever their abilities and interests, should leave the system with the ambition and necessary skills to succeed – as well as with the skills that the economy needs.

David Harbourne, director of policy and research at the Edge Foundation

An ‘end-to-end’ professional development

The Credit Services Association is determined that debt collection become an industry with real career prospects, writes Stephen Morley

Debt is set to top the agenda for some time to come. Therefore, it is paramount that talented youngsters are attracted into the credit services industry and that those involved in collecting debt are recognised as true professionals.

The Credit Services Association (CSA) is the only UK-wide association for businesses specialising in debt collection, tracing and related debt buying, and selling services. Members range from high street banks to credit reference agencies, debt buyers and funders, and own and/or collect around £60bn of consumer credit receivables.

Though it may have a large slice of the debt collection cake, the association is committed to enhancing the professional identity of the credit industry. So in partnership with the National Open College Network (NOCN), it plans to give the credit industry an ‘end-to-end’ professional development pathway that will reflect the financial sector’s diversity.

With that goal in mind, NOCN has already proved its worth. Its hugely successful level three diploma for the debt collection industry has led the CSA to develop level four and five qualifications this year.

But it all starts with the development of a level two apprenticeship, which will give CSA members the chance to recruit local talent and offer youngsters real job opportunities.

This first stage apprenticeship, aimed at encouraging youngsters to select the debt industry as a career choice, will soon become a reality as Ofqual has now approved our recently developed practical qualification for debt collection.

The essential ingredient to any successful learning and development strategy is the stakeholder”

Every qualification has a defined and definite purpose. The level two apprenticeship, for example, will be aimed at encouraging youngsters into the industry while providing our members with an affordable financial recruitment and training solution.

The level three diploma, our benchmark professional standard, will become more widely available as we look to finalise a new funding partnership in the coming months.

The level four qualification, meanwhile, will be aimed at developing the talent of the future, whereas  level five will focus on compliance and provide professional recognition for compliance officers and middle and senior managers.

We recognise that we still have some way to go. But our current level three diploma, coupled with our level two modern apprenticeship, and level four and five qualifications, means that the journey has begun. But it needs to be driven by the membership.

Hopefully as employees become more qualified, then individual organisations will be able to measure a tangible return on investment in having a more proficient, valued and potentially valuable workforce.

And let’s not forget that the essential ingredient to any successful learning and development strategy is the stakeholder. We therefore should not forget the importance of the student.

But equally important is our external partnerships with NOCN, our awarding organisation partner, and the Financial Skills Partnership, the sector skills council for the financial sector.

Stephen Morley, head of learning and development at the Credit Services Association

Out of the starting blocks

Bob Harrison reflects on the first meeting of the Further Education Technology Action Group 

Matthew Hancock’s inaugural gathering of some key people in the worlds of FE and technology was all about action.

More than 20 strong, the membership is an interesting mix of public and private sector providers as well as the usual representatives from colleges, agencies, examination bodies and membership organisations.

The FE minister has a personal interest, stemming partly from his family business interests, which are technology based, his own personal use of social media (he has more than 7,000 followers on Twitter) and his recent visit to India where he was investigating distance and open learning and the growth of MOOCs.

He has set the group the task of advising the government on the potential for emerging technologies to inspire innovations in learning.

He clearly is interested in how these can be harnessed to drive up the quality, efficiency, and accessibility of FE.

And he was in listening mode for the first meeting, willing to learn about best practice, and how the government could encourage and promote it.

One of the group’s key driving forces is co-chair Manoj Badale, the co-founder and managing partner of Blenheim Chalcot, an early stage investment group that manages a portfolio of fast growth ventures in technology, financial services or media.

He took over chairing the inaugural meeting when the minister had to leave to address a gathering of sixth-form college principals and made it clear that he wanted the group to produce outcomes and not just rehearse previous arguments.

Will the current analogue mindset and culture stifle the very impetus that Matthew Hancock is keen to create?”

The wide-ranging discussion covered all the new technologies relevant to teaching and learning, with an emerging consensus around some key barriers such as funding methodology, leadership and governance, workforce skills and Inspection.

Dick Palmer, chief executive of Norwich City College group and chair of the TEN group of colleges, was pleased with the first meeting. “There is a substantial appetite for the use of technology for learning in FE. Colleges are aware of the potential but there is confusion, anxiety and uncertainty around issues such as funding, assessment and qualifications,” he said.

Paul Rolfe, 157 group and Highbury College, was anxious to ensure the learner voice was heard. “There is a lot of expertise and skills within colleges in the student body and it is important that we tap into that,” he said.

The first challenge will be to see if there is the ministerial will to provide the “nudges” to the system that will encourage teachers to innovate and take risks using technology to improve learning. Or will the current analogue mindset and culture stifle the very impetus that Matthew Hancock is keen to create?

Time will tell.

Bob Harrison, education adviser for Toshiba Information Systems (UK) Ltd, consultant with National College for Leadership of Schools and Children’s Services
and chair of the Teaching Schools
Technology Advisory Board