FE groups across the sector have condemned education secretary Michael Gove’s proposal to overhaul A-levels.

Mr Gove said from 2015 pupils will take exams at the end of two-year courses with AS-levels remaining but as stand-alone exams. A group of leading universities will play a bigger role in maintaining standards.

But various teaching associations and unions have rejected his proposals, with the University and College Union (UCU) saying it “entrenched elitism” into the education system making A levels “simply about university entrance”.

UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: “In the absence of good alternative qualifications young people will feel they have to continue with A-levels and many will fail.

“The secretary of state appears driven to replicate his own schooldays for all. While that era and set of qualifications may have suited him very well, they will not satisfy the varied needs of today’s pupils.”

Motivations for the move emerged in a letter to exam regulator Ofqual. Mr Gove said A-levels in their current form did not help students to develop a “deep understanding” of their subjects. Instead modular units will be scrapped, with the qualification returning to exams taken at the end of a two-year course.

Julian Gravatt, assistant chief executive of the Association of Colleges (AoC), said in FE and sixth form colleges there was “overwhelming support” for the retention of an AS/A2 structure because of the role that AS levels have in “bridging the gap” from GCSEs and in informing university admissions officers and employers.

The Department for Education has given Ofqual and awarding organisations an extra year to develop the new A-level qualifications but AoC said they were “concerned” that there appeared to be a plan to introduce new subjects in stages which “will cause confusion for students” starting sixth form in 2015.

Mr Gravatt added: “There is a question of whether the department will be providing sufficient funding to enable schools and colleges to teach a broader, harder set of qualifications.”

Toni Fazaeli, chief executive of The Institute for Learning (IfL) said: “We are concerned about reforms that remove the freedom for professional teachers to exercise their judgement about the most appropriate form of assessment for their learners, which will differ by subject.”

IfL also said they feared exams at the end of two years, without modular assessment or the ability to retake assessments, would “narrow participation” at A level and have a “damaging effect” on learner retention and achievement.

“What flexibility will there be for those who have missed periods of education through difficult circumstances – illness, disability or caring for a family member?”

Brian Lightman of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) said: “This is a classic case of fixing something that isn’t broken.”

Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers & Lecturers (ATL), said: “Michael Gove misses the point that only a very elite group of students benefited from an intensive regime that determined their future on the results of one set of exams.”

A troubled provider’s £4.5m contract with the Skills Funding Agency has been suspended after “errors and missing data” were uncovered in its learner paperwork.

Mymar Training Limited, which has indicated plans to close having failed to “secure sufficient funds for the future,” gave the agency incomplete and incorrect funding claims.

The agency said the problem could amount to a breach of contract and warned the firm, based in Plymouth, that it could be asked to pay back taxpayers’ money.

Mymar’s problems come less than a month after sister firm Walwyn Trust went into administration.

A joint statement from the agency and National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) said: “We have worked extensively with Mymar Training Limited to try to develop a quality apprenticeship programme that meets our statutory standards and offers a good experience for apprentices.

“The agency has been informed by Mymar that it was unable to secure sufficient funds for the future and therefore has announced its planned closure.

“The agency has been in discussion with Mymar as sufficient evidence to support errors and missing data in their funding claims hadn’t been received by the agency.

“The agency has suspended all future payments until sufficient evidence is received by the agency.

“If this evidence is not received, this constitutes a breach of contract.

“The agency will seek to recover any funding that is found to have not been delivered in accordance with contractual requirements.”

Mymar’s phoneline goes to answerphone and FE Week was unable to contact its chief executive who according to LinkedIn, has been Bill Haynes since September 2011. The website also listed him as current chairman of Ekode Holdings and former chief executive of Verridian PLC.

An email on Thursday, January 17, leaked to FE Week by a former Mymar employee, that appears to be from Mr Haynes, said Mymar was ceasing trading with “immediate effect” and that staff would not be paid.

It added: “Sadly and surprisingly we heard yesterday that the SFA were no longer willing to support our position and withdrew the financial support plan, thereby effectively removing our total income by clawing back the entire payment due for the month, consequently rendering the business insolvent.

“The money received from investors is simply not enough and without the support of an SFA plan for structured repayment we are unable to attract more.”

The correspondence drew a strong response from the agency whose joint statement with NAS said: “The responsibility for ensuring Mymar meets its obligations to employees rests solely with the company itself and any suggestion the failure to pay staff is due to agency actions is entirely refuted.”

It added: “We have written to learners to advise that we are working to place them with alternative providers, and where necessary employers, so they can complete their learning.

“NAS is using its apprenticeship vacancies system to help find quality opportunities for those who were on an apprenticeship programme with Mymar and Walwyn Trust.

“The agency will be arranging the collection of all learner portfolios from Mymar.

“Any concerned apprentices, parents or guardians can contact the agency’s e-mail address: mymar@skillsfundingagency.bis.gov.uk

“For any enquiries regarding any payments due, learners, parents and guardians are encouraged to contact their local Job Centre Plus.”

The NUS has branded FE loans a “dangerous policy” and raised a number of questions over the new system ahead of its introduction in August.

Its vice president and spokesperson on FE, Toni Pearce, said the new funding system could hit learner numbers.

Ahead of an anti-loans day next month in which the NUS is urging people to write to their MPs on the issue, she warned of a “major impact on apprenticeship uptake,” unease over FE loans among mature students and claimed the new system could affect Muslim learners.

“We think this is a dangerous policy and will have a major impact on apprenticeship uptake,” said Ms Pearce.

“We feel in this instance it is apprentices who are going to get the worst deal as those apprentices over 24 years will be taking out a loan of up to several thousand pounds to effectively work.”

She added: “We are hearing mature students don’t want to take out loans — these are huge amounts of money.

“If I was in their shoes I would be really concerned about the financial implications — it will really difficult for mature students to access further education.”

She said there was no option to take out a loan under Sharia Law, creating a “huge problem of social integration by limiting the number of Muslims getting into further and higher education”.

However, a spokesperson for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) defended the new loans system saying market research showed their “terms and conditions … are positively received”.

The government currently pays 50 per cent of tuition fees for most further education students aged 25 and over who want to study at level 3 (or above) but from this year anyone aged 24 or over will no longer be entitled to this financial contribution.

They will have to pay the full cost – with learners becoming eligible for a loan for 100 per cent of the tuition.

Shadow FE Minister Gordon Marsden has been critical of the fact new system has not been advertised nationally. And, echoing his concerns, Ms Pearce said colleges were in the dark about loans.

“It’s really dangerous to go so blindly into something now without anyone knowing about it,” she said.

The NUS’s anti loans event next month is called the FE Fees Constituency Lobby Day. It takes place on February 8.

“We were successful last year in getting the government to write-off FE loans for people who then go on to study in higher education,” added Ms Pearce.

“The government also pledged an extra £50m to student financial support adults in further education so we are now asking people to again lobby their local constituency politician. This is all part of the same campaign,” said Ms Pearce.

A BIS spokesperson said: “Students, including apprentices will not be expected to pay anything up front for their course and will only repay their loan once they have completed the course and are earning above £21,000. Market research shows that the terms and conditions of 24+ Advanced Learning Loans are positively received. It also shows that the quality of the course and the future benefits to the individual are the most important factors when deciding to invest in training.”

The quality and quantity of young people’s career advice is not good enough and is getting worse, a government review has found.

A “deterioration” in guidance since the service became the responsibility of schools in September was identified by the Education Select Committee, whose report on careers guidance was released today.

The committee chair, Graham Stuart MP, questioned the advice of schools who, he said, “put their own interests ahead of that of their pupils, restrict access to other education providers and make the filling of their sixth form places more of a priority than their statutory duty to provide independent and impartial advice and guidance for pupils.”

We have concerns about the consistency, quality, independence and impartiality of careers guidance now being offered to young people”

The review, announced in June, looked at how careers guidance was affected by the Education Act 2011.

The Act saw provision of the service shift from the duty of local authorities, delivered by Connexions, to schools.

“We have concerns about the consistency, quality, independence and impartiality of careers guidance now being offered to young people,” said the committee report, which referred to the transfer of responsibility for careers guidance to schools as “regrettable”.

“We heard evidence that there is already a worrying deterioration in the overall level of provision for young people.

“Urgent steps need to be taken by the government to ensure that young people’s needs are met.

“Too many schools lack the skills, incentives or capacity to fulfil the duty put upon them without a number of changes being made.

“Young people deserve better than the service they are likely to receive under the current arrangements.”

The committee heard from a number of education sector big-hitters, including FE Minister Matthew Hancock and Dr Deirdre Hughes, chair of the National Careers Council, who said there was a potential loss of £28bn to the UK economy if young people were not given the right career guidance.

Mr Stuart MP said: “We found that the quality and quantity of guidance for young people is deteriorating just when it is most needed.

“We want face-to-face guidance to be available to all young people as an integral part of a good quality careers service. They deserve and should receive far better support than current arrangements generally allow.”

He also called for the National Careers Service (NCS), which he described as “a great innovation for adults,” to be extended to support schools.

“The NCS must also be adequately funded to deliver this critical service for young people. Schools can’t simply be left to get on with it,” added Mr Stuart, who called for schools to produce annual careers plans to “ensure they can be held accountable for what they do”.

See the next edition of FE Week for reaction to the education committee’s findings.

During a trip to India to promote vocational education the Skills Minister has announced that the government will establish a 10 person team in Westminster to ‘capatalise on the growth of demand for UK education from abroad.’

The Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) announcement comes ahead of the government’s education sector industrial strategy due to be published in early 2013.

Matthew Hancock said: “It is essential that we realise the potential of the largely untapped resource that is our education exports. There is a fast-growing demand for high-quality education, and we are lucky to have a dynamic and entrepreneurial sector that is well placed to contribute.

Education UK will specifically target fast-growing markets such as India and the Middle East”

“We are in a global race and other countries are presenting attractive and co-ordinated offers, so Education UK is a vital step in bringing together the UK sector to drive its international engagement, particularly on high-value opportunities.”

The  press release goes on to say: “Education UK will specifically target fast-growing markets such as India and the Middle East. The UK has an excellent reputation for education internationally, but isn’t currently exploiting this to the full.

“Education UK will work on:

• Researching, identifying and helping to develop trading opportunities for UK exports
• Supporting UK providers to respond effectively to targeted international opportunities, by fostering the development of UK consortia for specific opportunities and helping them to prepare and promote bids
• Ensuring large-scale complex commercial opportunities, which the UK is not currently well-equipped to respond to, are effectively pursued so UK organisations win the business.”

Education UK is a joint BIS and United Kingdom Trade & Investment (UKTI) initiative and the 10 person team will be based at 1 Victoria Street in London.

The FE Week team is ‘on location’ in India, and our blog can be followed and read here.