Ofsted dismisses Learner View website abuse fears

Ofsted has hit back at fears that its new Trip Adviser-style website for rating colleges could be open to abuse.

“There are always going to be concerns that there might be a campaign against a provider, but our security system means individual learners have to register,” said Ofsted’s national director for learning and skills, Matthew Coffey, who spoke to FE Week at the site’s official launch.

But he did admit that a student could set up 10 different email accounts  — “there’s nothing to stop anyone doing that” — and register on the website with negative comments.

“But they would have to be intent on doing that. Where we see peaks like that come in, we would investigate them. We have invested heavily in security, have a digital communications team and are actively monitoring the site.”

Learner View, which cost £65,000 to develop and went live in time for Ofsted’s 2012/13 inspections, draws together the opinions of students about their courses and comes up with provider ratings.

It is easy for one person to have more than one email address and submit multiple messages”

Students are faced with statements such as ‘my course/programme meets my needs’ and ‘I receive the support I need to help me progress’. It then offers responses ranging from ‘strongly agree’ to ‘strongly disagree’.

The public can see the results, which are updated after every ten responses, and it was this live element of the website, previewed by FE Week, that sparked fears of abuse.

The Association of Colleges’ director of policy, Joy Mercer, said that most colleges already had robust systems in place to capture the student experience and invested a lot of time in ensuring the student voice was heard.

“We hope Ofsted have thought through how to communicate its new system and this opportunity to students in a clear and sensible way that does not create any misuse.

“We are sure they have systems in place for dealing with potential problems such as the possibility of one student lodging multiple complaints.

“It is easy for one person to have more than one email address and submit multiple messages, which would escalate a complaint even if there is no real issue.

“We would very much like to be convinced Ofsted are able to monitor this system closely to avoid any abuses.”

But Mr Coffey further defended the website and its security. “The NUS and our learner panel quite liked the immediacy of Learner View; that what they think can be seen by people who can do something about it immediately.

“It gives an overview of what the student body is saying about their provider.

“But what is really important is that it doesn’t replace the interaction inspectors have with individual learners on individual courses.”

Apprenticeship minimum wage up 5p an hour

The apprentice minimum wage remains “shockingly low” despite an increase that kicks in on Monday, the National Union of Students said.

The figure is going up 5p to £2.65 an-hour for apprentices under 19, and for those aged 19 and over in the first year of their apprenticeship.

That’s £1.03 less than the rate for 16 and 17-year-old workers, and £2.33 less than what 18 to 20-year-olds get.

Meanwhile, the main rate — for workers aged 21 and over — has gone up 11p to £6.19.

Toni Pearce, NUS vice president with responsibility for FE, said “The disparity in the existing minimum wage on the basis of the employee’s age bracket is discriminatory and based on the questionable claim that younger workers are less productive than older ones,” she said.

Nearly half of the hairdressing group earned less than the minimum wage they should have received”

“This is particularly odd when the evidence of the Low Pay Commission suggests the national minimum wage can be viewed as an efficiency wage, motivating workers, and provides a yet another argument in favour of equalisation.

“The £2.65 minimum is shockingly low, particularly given that many apprentices work full-time without taking days off for college.

“If the government is serious about apprenticeships, it should recognise that forcing young people to choose between this paltry wage and the prospect of full-time employment at the minimum wage is bound to put people off.

“Ministers should be promoting the good practice of the many employers who pay well above this rate.”

She added: “Enforcement of the minimum wage for apprentices is also a serious problem. Five per cent of respondents to BIS’s own 2011 pay survey said they didn’t receive any pay at all, and nearly half of the hairdressing group earned less than the minimum wage they should have received.”

However, John Longworth, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, had attacked the rise in March.

“While the pressures of inflation are hurting many people, especially the lowest-paid, this decision adds significantly to the cost of doing business, and feeds wage inflation at higher levels,” he said.

Fred Grindrod, apprenticeships policy and campaigns officer at the TUC’s learning and skills, unionlearn, said: “The apprentice rate has now been established without generating any detrimental side-effects.

“The number of apprentices has continued to increase. Given the strong growth in this sector and the value that apprentices generate for employers, we believe that there is room for more significant increases in this rate.”

Inspectors publish report on how colleges improve

Unrealistic self-assessments with little or no critical insight, plus unexpected job cuts, show up time and again among poorly performing colleges, according to a new Ofsted report.

How Colleges Improve also warned colleges about the dangers of paying too much attention to building projects and mergers.

The report, which was released last week, also highlighted inconsistent tracking of learner progress, financial instability and defensive, inward-looking colleges being slow to accept change or to act when data showed decline.

Weaker colleges, the report added, often had a high proportion of temporary staff who were not properly managed.

In outstanding and improving colleges, staff were more willing to accept change and could easily describe what their college stood for”

And, mirroring the “Deptford not Delhi” fears of chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw that featured in FE Week a fortnight ago, there were also question marks over colleges’ “quest for new and fresh business, especially, abroad…to the detriment of current learners”.

But the report, commissioned by the Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) and Ofsted, also listed where colleges had got it right.

Successful colleges, it said, had strong governance and management as well as a clear vision and direction. And good and outstanding colleges were not afraid of the self-assessment process — even if it was self-critical.

Ofsted’s national director for learning and skills, Matthew Coffey, said: “Successful colleges always had strong leadership and management and the importance of this cannot be underestimated.

“All the elements of this report are inextricably linked to the actions and behaviours of leaders and managers and the example they set.

“In outstanding and improving colleges, staff were more willing to accept change and could easily describe what their college stood for. As a result, leadership teams were better placed to act decisively to tackle underperformance and secure improvement.”

Rob Wye, LSIS chief executive, said: “This report confirms that the importance of outstanding leadership and management, underpinned by informed governance, cannot be underestimated.

“It is also clear that robust and honest self-review and reflection is a vital ingredient of any provider’s improvement journey. The evidence in this report confirms what many will have thought for a long time — that the best colleges are those where the teaching, learning and assessment delivers excellent results that match the needs of learners, employers and the local community.”

The report was welcomed by the Association of School and College Leaders. Its colleges spokesperson, Stephan Jungnitz, said: “I’m pleased the report recognises the pivotal role of college leaders in driving forward institutional success, as well as the complex and demanding range of areas they have to deal with, from buildings and finance to teaching and learning.

“As we well know, each college is unique and the road to success will be different for each — there is no magic formula. Having said that, the insights in the report will be useful to college leaders.

“For many, it will reinforce what they instinctively already know about improving their institutions.”

College and training provider step in to save 500 jobs at First4Skills

More than 500 jobs have been saved by a college and a training provider after another training provider behind around 10,000 apprenticeships across the country went into administration.

Liverpool Community College teamed up with Derbyshire-based provider 3AAA to buy the “majority” of business from First4Skills.

The Ellesmere Port firm had been allocated £19.8m by the Skills Funding Agency this academic year to run apprenticeships.

But the college and 3AAA stepped in today saving more than 500 jobs. However, it is understood around 40 First4Skills jobs will still be lost in Belfast, plus a number of posts in Wales.

The deal was struck after First4Skills went into administration on September 21, but had been on the cards for a week said a 3AAA spokesperson. The figure behind the deal was not disclosed to FE Week.

It was announced by the college and 3AAA on Monday, September 24, when Elaine Bowker, principal at the 17,000-student college said: “We worked closely with the Skills Funding Agency to achieve this result, which safeguards a large number of jobs and brings together the best practice of the public sector and the resources of the private sector to create an organisation that will be a market leader in apprenticeship training.”

A joint statement from 3AAA directors Peter Marples and Di McEvoy Robinson said: “We first became aware of this opportunity seven days ago and we have been working flat-out to achieve a successful outcome for the business, working with our colleagues at the college.

Our joint venture, which will see 3AAA taking a leading role in the strategic direction of the business, is unique in the sector.”

“There was only one other option for the business, and that was to go into administration with the loss of more than 500 jobs.”

First4Skills, which got a good Ofsted inspection grading for its work-based learning provision in August 2010, had a national client base, including a number of major high street retailers.

The joint venture agreement with 3AAA means the college will be responsible for the training of around 10,000 apprentices – becoming one of the country’s biggest providers of apprentice training.

It will also rank as the fifth largest apprentice trainer of any kind in the country, while continuing to use the First4Skills name.

“This will mean we will be able to penetrate a much bigger market more effectively and quickly, which will benefit the college as a whole,” added Ms Bowker.

The joint statement from the 3AAA directors continued: “Liverpool College has been courageous in responding so quickly, and both their governors and senior management have fully committed to this opportunity.

“Our joint venture, which will see 3AAA taking a leading role in the strategic direction of the business, is unique in the sector. This further underlines our philosophy that there is real power in harnessing the best of the public sector and private sector.

“The hard work now starts, with strong plans for growth across the business. We are really excited to be working with Liverpool Community College as part of their commitment to become a leading provider in apprenticeship delivery across the country.’

For more reaction to the deal see FE Week’s next scheduled edition.

Picture from left: Kyle Humphreys, apprentice and Elaine Bowker, Principal of Liverpool Community College

Dozens of shared service projects mark their anniversaries

Caption: Sunderland College students are getting the benefits of joined up administration among members of the North East Shared Services Project.

Organisations coming together to develop services that can be shared, including teaching and learning as well as office systems, are a year into their projects.

The 157 Group and Association of Colleges (AoC) were each given a Shared Services Grant of £2.3m by the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) to set up ten projects.

Christine Doubleday, deputy executive director of the 157 Group, said: “Real and worthwhile savings can be made by sharing and collaboration. The college projects report a cumulative saving to date of £1.5million.”

One of the AoC projects set up with the Shared Services Grant has designed a national skills qualification framework for adults who want to be entrepreneurs.

Nine partners came together to develop the curriculum, including Richmond Adult Community College, Tower Hamlets College, City of Bath College and Morley College.

Christina Conroy, project director, said The Enterprise Agenda for Adults – its official title – has been so successful partly because it focuses on teaching and learning, one of the most expensive costs for the sector.

Since the qualification framework became available in September, 25 colleges and adult learning services have signed up to share the curriculum, giving them access to teaching materials and the online activities for students, which accounts for half of the course.

Ms Conroy, former principal of Richmond Adult Community College, said the project has saved the sector more than £1.5m in the past year.

Ms Doubleday said 157 Group’s projects had been deliberately kept relatively small “to achieve deep implementation and learning”.

At the beginning of next year the organisation will publish a technical guide on shared services and evaluative research from the University of Warwick on the projects that it carried out.

The SFA said the programmes have developed approaches that deliver “greater value for money”.

The grant given was additional to the agency’s core budget and there are currently no plans for further grants, but the SFA said that it is is continuing to support the AoC and 157 Group to pass on the lessons learned and is encouraging the uptake of ideas that have been developed.

A 157 Group project, now given the go ahead, is to develop a toolkit to explain how to overcome the major barriers to shared services, such as VAT and competition law. It will be available from early next year.

In November last year the Chancellor announced changes to VAT, stating that it would introduce a VAT exemption for services shared between VAT-exempt bodies.

Savings of more than £700,000 have been made on the North East Shared Services Pathfinder project, says project manager Kathy Bland.

Ms Bland, who has been seconded from her senior manager role at Sunderland College to work on the programme full-time, said the funding has made a massive difference: “We would never have got this far if we hadn’t got the grant…releasing me from my senior management role in the college has been a big factor,” she said.

“I’ve been able to fully concentrate on the issues and go up and down the country where the need has arisen to talk to different people and remove the barriers…It would have taken me 10 years otherwise.”

Efficiency and Innovation Fund

Two years ago the Association of Colleges (AoC) was given a £4.6m Efficiency and Innovation Fund (EIF) by the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) to look at the feasibility of shared services. This is separate to the Shared Services Grant, which was given to the AoC a year ago.

Background research on shared services and 41 projects were set up using the funds. A report evaluating the work, which involved 230 organisations, has been published by the AoC. The key findings of The Many Faces of Collaboration report were:

1.“Of the EIF project’s unique selling points, its ability to overcome previously entrenched isolationist views was perhaps its greatest: providers seeing the distinct benefits of sharing practice, ideas and issues rather than going it alone. Solutions were most often born out of a search for a third way, rather than simply taking on the perceived or accepted good practice of one particular partner – innovation in action.”

2. “Of those projects that found shared services overly challenging, there was perhaps too much reliance on the creative thinking of external consultants rather than themselves, and a lack of clarity on what was to be achieved – being overwhelmed by keeping all options open for too long. Having too many partners was also a common issue, as was failing to realise that trust and friendship need to be built on low-consequence projects before embarking on inter-organisational change.”

3. “What binds the most successful projects together was the clarity of their vision and their determination to overcome the challenges and barriers to success. They had a keen focus on the impact they intended to have, rather than on the list of jobs they had to do.
They engaged key stakeholders, such as front-line staff, in the change process, and in so doing developed not just trust, but new friendships between peers in the partner organisations.”

AOC projects funded using the shared services grant

The Enterprise Agenda for Adults
Aims to create an Adult Enterprise curriculum, supported by an efficient delivery approach, which can be rolled-out nationwide.

Wessex Federation
Will examine the creation of a central shared service centre and implementation of a series of cost, efficiency and improvement initiatives across the five colleges.

Federation Development and Shared Services Programme
Will focus on developing an innovative organisational infrastructure for delivering technical/vocational further education, A-levels and higher education in Further Education Colleges

Federation of Strategic Services Project (FeSSP)
Will look at the development and implementation of a federation model for colleges in the delivery of non-core strategic services.

West Midlands SFC Exam Efficiency Consortium
Will establish a scalable group purchasing consortium to leverage discounted fees from major awarding body suppliers.

Project Daedalus
Seeks to establish an outsourced shared services platform available to all colleges operating in the UK.

157 Group projects funded using the shared services grant

North East Shared Services Project Limited (NESSP)
Wide ranging back office sharing with legally constituted delivery vehicle.

Services in Sussex and Surrey Colleges
Wide ranging back office sharing by consortium delivery.

Collaborative curriculum development and delivery
Developing and delivering shared curriculum using new technology.

One-Stop-Shop
Collaborative delivery of staff recruitment and student job placement.

Ofsted previews their report on effective practice in colleges

Poor inspection grades at colleges already suspected of performing badly are hiding a general downward trend in results, chief college inspector Mike Davis has told FE Week.

The principal officer for FE colleges at Her Majesty’s Inspectorate said that a range of issues that kept cropping up were affecting results.

He conceded colleges considered at risk of lower grades were being targeted which skewed overall results.

But Mr Davis said their lower grades were also being reflected across the board.

“There are issues — I understand and accept that — about it not being a proportionate sample because of risk assessment meaning that we look at a higher proportion of those of concern,” he said at an LSIS conference on college performance.

“But the general sense is that of those that we’re inspecting, the movement is not in the right direction.”

Mr Davis also revealed how the Skills Funding Agency’s £30m student satisfaction website, FE Choices, was seen as carrying irrelevant information in light of Ofsted’s new competitor website, Learner View.

“The data that is in FE Choices is often many years out-of-date by the time of publication, so it is not necessarily relevant for that cohort of learners,” said Mr Davis.

The general sense is that of those that we’re inspecting, the movement is not in the right direction”

“It doesn’t cover all of the providers. Sixth-form colleges, for instance, are excluded.”

He was addressing the Birmingham conference on September 19, giving a taster of the findings in Ofsted’s How Colleges Improve report, due out shortly.

“The overriding message for organisations — whether they maintained high standards, moved forwards, or wobbled around in terms of quality and standards — was that the importance and impact of outstanding leadership and management cannot be underestimated in how colleges improve,” said Mr Davis.

“All the elements in the report are inextricably linked to the actions and behaviours of leaders and managers.”

He added: “Themes that come through are complacency, a lack of ambition, direction and vision from the top.

“Governors who did not set clear institutional targets or monitor performance well enough, they were quite restrained in terms of their understanding of their role and what their expectation of the college.

“Therefore they monitored too narrowly and in some instances they allowed the senior management or leaders to effectively tell them what their targets should be.

“Again on inspection in many of these organisations there’s a defensive and inward-looking approach to management. They are organisations which look inward rather than outward.”

Mr Davis said he wanted to see good teaching take precedence over issues such as finance and buildings.

“Leaders and managers are too focused on finance and, or buildings to the detriment of the promotion of good teaching and learning, or the development of the curriculum,” he said.

“Now we go to organisations sometimes where say that it’s been really difficult. I know it’s been difficult in the sector — I worked in the sector for a long time and it has been very difficult over the last number of years.

“But at the end of the day, the learners that are in classes or on programmes this year will not benefit from that new build, which is a year, two years down the line, and if senior managers spend a lot of time and energy looking at that to the detriment of the curriculum and the quality of the teaching they will be held accountable.”

Mr Davis added: “Management teams that were unsettled by frequent changes in personnel or too reliant on external consultants working in key roles on an extended basis.

“So you’ve got this flux going on inside the organisation, people arriving or going who don’t have particular allegiance to the college, lots of stop gaps all over the place, so everybody starts getting demotivated in terms of their role and how the whole thing fits together.

“Poorly-managed staff changes led to a loss of expertise and often were accompanied by a plethora of management initiatives that were simply not explained properly to staff.

“There is an issue where inadequate quality assurance systems extended to poor monitoring of sub-contracted work — if you’ve got an organisation that hasn’t got its own house in order in terms of quality assurance, assessment, a real clear focus on learners and driving up improvement, some of these organisations have taken the opportunity to take on numerous large subcontracted provision.”

He took on the challenge of laid down by chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw, who questioned whether colleges should look for opportunities abroad when they should be concentrating on local learners.

“Sir Michael is asking the question about other types of provision — surely there should be some link here between the organisation’s ability to manage its own provision well and the opportunity to expand and develop its own empire?”

Deptford not Delhi – but why not both?

Kate Green, director of business development at the 157 Group, responds to Sir Michael Wilshaw on behalf of the 157 Group International Network

It would be interesting to understand the basis for Sir Michael’s warning in the last edition of FE Week. Is he concerned our FE colleges are being overrun with foreign students, or is he worried that a college’s focus on quality could be undermined by diversifying its student body too much?

In either case, it is worth looking at the facts.

It seems odd that Sir Michael at this stage should choose to question what appears to be a central tenet of government policy”

The UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) figures for 2008-9 show the vast majority of FE institutions with overseas students have fewer than 200 such students on roll, spread over a wide range of curriculum areas.

What we can say is that the benefits of international work have been made clear over successive years – demonstrated by government ministers advocating a Global FE strategy. It seems odd that Sir Michael at this stage should choose to question what appears to be a central tenet of government policy in this area.

The important role of FE colleges offering qualifications to international students who may then progress to British universities, or, even more importantly, return home with skills they may not have been able to gain, is surely an aspect of global social contribution that should not be underestimated.

What do institutions have to gain from a vibrant international population?

Well, the financial benefits are one aspect – would anyone question the ability of leading universities or private schools to include large numbers of international students in their overall cohort?

It is worth remembering that the fees paid by international students contribute towards enhancing the provision of the college as a whole – and the use of local services by these students also has a direct impact on the local economy.

Should a group of students who undoubtedly bring diversity and a breadth of knowledge from which the whole college community can benefit not be encouraged to be here and study?

I am constantly impressed at the stories I hear from my colleagues in the 157 Group International Network about international students playing active roles in everything a college does.

It is often said that international students act as role models to others – either through an enhanced work ethic or simply because they appreciate the value of being able to access our skills system – which has obvious benefits to all. The global perspective is something we ask our students to develop – surely the best way for them to do this is to be exposed to those from other cultures and countries?

In an age where communities of learning are encouraged to flourish, many colleagues report that the opportunities opened up by international provision for the exchange of practice, for staff and students alike, have led directly to improved teaching and learning in the classroom or workshop.

And we must not forget the external face of our own skills system – why would we not want our skills sector to be a source of pride, and something that people from other countries might aspire to be a part of? Surely this is all about the reputation of UK plc as much as anything else?

All colleges have a local mission – they serve their communities well – the point is that they do not look to international markets to undermine this but rather to complement it.

 

Focus on Bradford and Bangalore

Professor Daniel Khan OBE, chief executive of OCN London, offers a response to Sir Michael Wilshaw’s ‘Deptford not Delhi’ speech

ir Michael Wilshaw has a reputation for making controversial statements, and his speech at AoC’s conference this month has once again thrown him into the media spotlight.

The Ofsted chief inspector warned of the dangers of concentrating on attracting international students to FE colleges. He spoke of focusing on Deptford rather than Delhi, in a speech aimed to promote the recruitment of domestic learners.

However Sir Michael’s speech reveals a rather short-sighted and narrow-minded approach to FE. FE exports are valued at £1bn a year and international learners are important both culturally and economically to colleges and communities.

Are Sir Michael’s misguided comments based on arrogance or, perhaps, ignorance of the FE sector?

Sir Michael appears extremely close-minded in ignoring the advantages of a multicultural student body”

In May John Hayes announced an FE ‘Global Strategy’.  The AoC conference in which it was launched encouraged colleges to open themselves up to international students and stakeholders.  Hayes advocated an international strategy in order to create a mobile and culturally diverse student body, which will be well-placed in the global marketplace. By doing so, colleges and students will have the skills and knowledge required to compete against the most competitive emerging markets.

Furthermore, the government’s 2011 New Challenges, New Chances paper spoke of the increasing demand for technical and vocational skills and their importance to sustained economic growth. Hence, the government has demonstrated its commitment to ensuring colleges remain focused on international recruitment.

In the light of such commitment, Sir Michael’s words seem somewhat ill-informed.

He also woefully ignores that students from across the globe do not just benefit the college in which they study, but the community as a whole. International students bring their own traditions, enriching the local area culturally. They can help in widening the horizons and experiences of local students, exposing them to new values, beliefs and opportunities.

He appears extremely close-minded in ignoring the advantages of a multicultural student body. An influx of international learners can offer a wealth of experience to our students, colleges and communities.

Aside from cultural concerns, foreign students are also of enormous benefit economically, to both the communities in which they live and the country as a whole. Such economic value extends well beyond their fee payments. International students, especially those arriving with expertise, can fill skill gaps and generate new economic growth during study and after graduation. This is particularly the case in students from emerging markets, primarily China and India, who bring with them cutting edge technical expertise. At the same time, the local economy also benefits from ‘subsistence’ spending, the money that students spend on goods and services outside their studies. Inevitably local businesses profit from such expenditure.

A good example of a college’s success in tapping into the international market is the Grimsby Institute of Further and Higher Education. In conjunction with major local employers, the college helped create an Institute of Food and Fisheries.  It did so to meet the needs of the industries based in the town, the largest concentration of food industries in Europe. The Grimsby institute recognised an excellent opportunity to provide expert training and consultancy in this area.

Since its creation it has been recognised internationally and attracted students from across the globe to its programmes. This has enabled local students to integrate with people of diverse backgrounds, which they would need to do when working in a global economy.

In the light of these considerations, Sir Michael’s words seem ill-judged and short-sighted. He fails to see the wider perspective and the importance of an international outlook for colleges.

The creation of an international student body extends beyond bringing in money for the College; it diversifies the local community and boosts the economy with new skills and innovation.

If colleges follow Sir Michael’s advice they are in danger of sacrificing their share in the country’s best export and compromising the strength of the FE sector as a whole.