Work Programme needs to focus on the right skills

A leading adult learning charity has said a £435 million government programme introduced 18 months ago to get the long-term unemployed back into work has failed to train people in the skills they need to get a job.

The Work Programme has been attacked after official figures revealed that just one in 28 unemployed people referred to the scheme had found a job that continued for six months.

The National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) called for participants to be assessed on entry to the programme and particularly criticised its failure to recognise that some needed to be taught basic English and maths.

David Cameron defended the flagship scheme in Parliament, describing it as “the right programme”.

The Prime Minister said: “It is worth remembering that the Work Programme is dealing with the hardest to-work cases there are in our country. These are people, adults, who have been out of work for over a year and young people who have been out of work for over nine months.”

At the very least there needs to be training for those who lack skills in English and maths”

NIACE chief executive David Hughes said the figures were disappointing. “We know from our own development work around this issue that far too many Work Programme providers are simply not providing the skills’ training needed for clients to make the journey into sustained and secure employment,” he said.

“We know that there are not enough jobs at present. However, that makes it even more important to provide skills training for people now so that they have the skills they, and the economy, will need in the future.

“At the very least there needs to be training for those who lack skills in English and maths, as these can be huge barriers to work. We also believe that there needs to be, for those who have good English and maths skills, sector specific training.”

The charity said inconsistent provision of English, maths and language training between providers was a problem.

“Some prime providers have elected to address English and maths skills’ needs in some parts of the contract package areas, but many haven’t,” said a spokesperson. “Sometimes, even where provision exists in one part of a contract package area, in other parts it does not.”

NIACE added that it was important to hear from Work Programme participants.

In December the organisation will publish a guide for Work Programme providers on how to give more structured skills support and advice on securing Skills Funding Agency cash.

The Association of Colleges said people were being let down by the scheme.

Teresa Frith, AoC skills policy manager, said: “The statistics show that it’s difficult to move people from long-term unemployment into sustainable work. The Department of Work and Pensions decided in 2010 to run the Work Programme with large national contracts, some of which were given to big companies with a limited track record. It may be time for a rethink.”

Government urged to ‘shine spotlight’ on further education, says Ofsted annual report

The government has been urged to “shine a spotlight” on the further education sector following a damning Ofsted annual report that has pointed to a threefold increase in the number of inadequate colleges. Click here to download the report.

It said 13 colleges received the grading in 2011/12, compared to four the previous year.

It further pointed out how, for the second year running, Ofsted did not judge a single college to be outstanding for teaching and learning.

“In the weakest providers, too much emphasis was placed on attracting young people to popular, often low-level, courses that were of little value to employers,” said the report.

“Meanwhile, the success rates in the teaching of functional literacy and numeracy skills, fundamental to the needs of students and employers, are too low.

“There has been too much of a focus on expansion at the expense of improving the quality of provision.”

The government now needs to shine as much of a spotlight on this sector as it has done on schools.”

It added: “The learning and skills sector needs re-orientating towards a moral determination to provide high quality and relevant provision, which should include reputable apprenticeship opportunities for young people.”

Following the release of his first annual Ofsted report as Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills, Sir Michael Wilshaw, said: “The further education sector is a real concern for me at a time when the nation needs skilled and qualified people entering the workforce more than ever before.

“It is vital that the sector responds with high quality provision designed to tackle the urgent issue of youth unemployment.

“The government now needs to shine as  much of a spotlight on this sector as it has done on schools.

“Schools have seen their increased freedoms balanced by a strong accountability system and action on failure. The same should be true for colleges.”

The wider report was based on the findings of nearly 25,000 inspections of early years and childcare, schools, colleges and adult learning and skills.

It said schools were improving, with year-on-year rises in the proportion of those rated good or better.

In the learning and skills sector, among others, 70 colleges were inspected, along with 63 adult and community learning providers and 128 independent learning providers.

“Overall, the quality of provision in the learning and skills sector is not improving,” said the report.

“Almost 1.5 million learners are being supported by providers who are not yet good and some colleges have now been satisfactory for over 10 years.

“For general further education colleges, the overall picture of inspection results has worsened over the past year.”

The report further questioned college governance, monitoring of apprenticeships, the “relatively small” growth in the number of apprenticeships among under 19s and said there was a “real danger that increased subcontracting will dilute quality in the learning and skills sector”.

It added: “The 261 providers that were inspected accounted for about 866,460 learners in the sector. Of these, around 380,700 were t providers judged to be either satisfactory or inadequate. This is a significant concern.”

For more comment and analysis, see the next edition of FE Week

Richard puts tax credits at heart of apprenticeship review

An “all-or-nothing” review of apprenticeships has called for employer tax breaks in a bid to make them more attractive to businesses. Click here to download the review.

Former Dragons’ Den star Doug Richard (pictured above) today published his Richard Review of Apprentices, proposing a host of “profound” changes.

He was asked to look into the issue by Education Secretary Michael Gove and Business Secretary Vince Cable and called on the government to adopt every one of his 10 recommendations, telling FE Week: “This is not a laundry list from which it [government] can pick the elements it wants.”

Among the proposals were a redefinition of apprenticeships, a focus on the need for proficiency in English and maths, and the promotion of apprenticeship careers.

However, Mr Richard said the “heart” of his proposals was a revamp of the way apprenticeships were paid for.

He said he wanted to see a closer relationship between employers and providers and called for employers to pay providers directly for apprenticeship training.

The customer should have the money — it focuses the mind of the vendor. I feel strongly about this point and I think it’s the heart of the review”

Mr Richard said tax credits, or other forms of government incentives, should then be dished out to employers as the government pays its part of apprentice training.

“Instead of the money for providers coming from the government, they [providers] now have the more granular challenge of having to collect their money from employers,” he said.

“The employers only get the credit if they show they’ve spent the money. It means if the employer wants it done, they can’t hold the money back from the provider.”

He added: “There are differences here, profound ones, but if you net out the whole system, a provider still largely ends up providing training and getting paid through a government subsidy, but now its customer — as always should have been — will be the employer, not the government or one of its agencies.

“It changes who the training provider has as their customer. The customer should have the money — it focuses the mind of the vendor. I feel strongly about this point and I think it’s the heart of the review.”

However, Mr Richard said the changes would require administrative changes and questioned the current role of the Skills Funding Agency (SFA).

“There is a role for the administration of an apprenticeship system worth billions of pounds each year and somewhere between the current configuration of the National Apprenticeship Service and the SFA we need a new configuration,” he said.

FE Minister Matthew Hancock said he “warmly welcomes this impressive report,” while Mr Gove said he “looks forward to considering the proposals carefully”.

The review was also welcomed by Professor Alison Wolf, from Kings College London, who carried out her own FE review last year in which she recommended businesses receive public subsidies for apprenticeships.

“I’m pleased to see Mr Richard is suggesting complete reform of the way government funds apprenticeships” she said.

“This is a crucial step if apprenticeships are to deliver the skills employers need, and give enterprises the incentive to deliver high quality training.

Archaeology students go absolutely potty

Archaeology students in the North West have enjoyed a cracking hands-on practical session as part of their college course.

The second year A-Level group at South Cheshire College were given broken pots of different shapes and sizes and had the task of restoring them to their former glory using reconstruction techniques.

Peter Scott from Sourdust Pottery in Stocksfield, Northumberland made the pottery especially for students to use during the session.

Dr Jonathan Hills, lecturer at the college, said the session was an excellent opportunity to see how archaeologists work out in the field.

“The session focussed on acquainting the students with the techniques that archaeologists use to reconstruct vessels from archaeological sites.”

Student Ashley Philips, 17, of Wrenbury, said: “This was a really interesting session and as well as being able to handle pottery it also gave us the chance to see how archaeologists work to piece together the past. Some pots were harder than others to piece back together but it was an excellent challenge.”

Lecturer awarded £6,000 for virtual plumbing breakthrough

A lecturer has been awarded £6,000 for creating a virtual central heating system to help teach plumbing students.

Head of construction at the College of North West London Martin Biron received the development award from the charity BPEC at its first ever Life Awards ceremony in Derby.

Mr Biron said: “As an educator, over the past five years I have been driven with a passion to develop educational resources to encourage individuals to develop the skills needed to become competent and proficient plumbers.

The virtual world allows users to create an avatar that can fly around the central heating and solar thermal systems. The ability to zoom into the components enables students to discover far more than they could do in the real life.

The cash will be reinvested to fund the online 3D world for a further two years.

BPEC chairman Frank Glover said: “Each of the award finalists has shown how plumbing can make a difference to life, and we congratulate the College of North West London for being among this year’s recipients.”

New partnership to widen participation

A new partnership has brought together two organisations with a combined total of more than 150 years’ experience in delivering adult education.

The Workers’ Education Association (WEA) and the Open University (OU) hope to reverse a recent decline in adult learning by working together.

Research from the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) published in September suggested there has been a four per cent drop in adults participating in education since 2010.

The OU and WEA plan to develop campaigns together on widening participation.

Martin Bean, vice-chancellor of the OU, said: “If we’re going to get Britain’s economy back on track, we have to make sure that workers of all ages have the skills they need to compete — it’s not enough just to focus on 18-year-old school leavers. I’m delighted that the OU and WEA will be working together to open up higher education to an even wider range of adult learners, helping to make that vision a reality.”

Ruth Spellman, chief executive of the WEA, said recent increases in social inequality could only be addressed if people have access to the education services that enable them to reach their full potential.

College Olympian sprints to academic success

Olympic runner Adam Gemili has sprinted his way to academic victory.

The 19-year-old 100 metres champion picked up two awards at Barking and Dagenham College’s Excellence Awards having received a distinction for his extended diploma in sport.

“It’s really great to be recognised for the time I spent at the college,” said the World Junior Championships gold medal winner. “I had two great years there, I learned so much and made so many good friends. I’m really pleased to get this award and be able to represent the college.”

He scooped student of the year at the awards ceremony held at Broadway Theatre in Barking, as well as a sports and public services industries trophy.

His tutor Errol Parker praised how he kept focus on his studies even while training and competing at the highest international level. “He always met deadlines, never made excuses, came to college when he could, and remained in touch with his tutors throughout his training,” he said.

Claire Young, finalist of reality television programme The Apprentice 2008, spoke at the ceremony. She said: “Tonight has been absolutely brilliant, and I think it’s fantastic that the college is recognising success and recognising that students are working hard and excelling.”

Students bring movie magic to centre

A community centre now has its own movie theatre thanks to ten West Yorkshire students.

The Prince’s Trust Team at Leeds City College installed a high definition projector, sound system, created a mural of movie legends, and put up drapes for the cinema at Kentmere Community Centre in Seacroft.

The students hope the theatre will help tackle social isolation among senior citizens living in Leeds.

Team leader Elliott Ward said: “The project has been a great success and has been very well received by the centre and its users. We hope this will lead to us doing more projects with the centre; it has already been noticed by Joanne Brook of Leeds City Council and hopefully this will lead to more beneficial and exciting projects for future Prince’s Trust Teams to get involved in.”

The cinema has proved popular with centre users. Barbara Kelly said: “These young people have spent a lot of time doing this and it looks really good. It will be nice to come here on an afternoon, get away from it all and enjoy a film.”

Arthur’s a silver learner after 40 years at college

The lounge of 94-year-old student Arthur Holder is filled with more than 200 handcrafted pieces of silverware.

There are vases, jugs, and bowls — and all made by the grandfather-of-two at Chesterfield College, where he has been studying on a silversmith course for nearly four decades.

“I love to be able to create,” said former estate agent and surveyor Arthur.

“When I was in business, I had up in the attic two and half tonnes of paper in files.

“That’s one of the reasons I started, I’d been working all those years, but what had I got to show for it? Nearly three tonnes of paper.

“Now I’ve been working for 38 years on silver and I’ve got more than 200 beautiful items.

“It’s fun and very fulfilling. I haven’t missed a year and I won’t ever stop, I’ll be going on until I’m 100.”

Widower Arthur said he’d always been interested in silver and enrolled at the college in 1971 after a neighbour told him about the course. And this month he was presented with a lifelong learning award at the college’s annual Aspire Awards.

“I felt like a fish out of water at the ceremony, standing there with all those young people, but I felt really proud when I got the award,” said Arthur, who has seen the price of silver go up from £3 to £30 per ounce since he has been at the college.

“It was very much appreciated, I’ve made a stand for it and it’s on display in my lounge.”

As well as his house being packed full of items he’s made and collected, Arthur has built a workshop at home so he can work on pieces all week. But he said he still attended the college because it had better equipment and he loved the environment.

“I’m always thinking about what I’m going to make next,” said Arthur, who has two grown-up children in Chris, 54, and Rosalie, 58, who has also recently taken up silversmithing.

“It’s a fantastic hobby. It enables you to use your hands and your brain at the same time. It’s hard physical work, hammering away at the silver, but I really enjoy it.”

Arthur, who goes to college once a week, visits fairs and auctions for inspiration, as well as looking through books on pieces from the past. He also gives talks on silver at different clubs.

Arthur’s tutor, Mark Veevers, said: “Arthur is a real inspiration to not only me, but also other students.

“He is enthusiastic and energetic and over the years has become very skilled in many aspects of silversmithing.

“He encourages other students to aspire to make great things and he has inspired me to continue working in precious metals as long as I am able to stand up on my own. He is a wonderful bloke and I am privileged to have known him for so long.”

College principal Trevor Clay said: “Arthur really is an inspiration to us all. He’s a shining example that you’re never too old to learn and that a passion for learning doesn’t fade over time.”