It is A Level results day today, so FE Week is publishing some of the happy college learners receiving their certificates. Picture above is Abiodun Aderibigbe and Tariro Dengezi from Croydon College.
Live updates: A Level Results Day
Holt prepares the ground for greater SME involvement with apprenticeships
The latest in a series of reports on apprenticeships came off the conveyor belt last week just as many 18 year olds were considering their options in the light of their exam results and the Government was said to be considering its options for stimulating growth and employment.
The focus of this latest report was SMEs, small and medium employers, an important heartbeat of the economy but by definition facing more difficulties than most in being able to offer apprenticeship opportunities. According to the author of this report, jeweller and entrepreneur Jason Holt, take up of apprenticeships in SMEs is “at best just under 10% which is less than half that of larger companies.”
the Government has little money in the kitty for new initiatives”
The particular difficulties that SMEs face appear to boil down to three problems: communication; empowerment; and simplification. Or as the report goes on to explain: “as far as SMEs are concerned, the existing apprenticeships programme is misunderstood and inaccessible, not always helped by a plethora of organisations willing to give-sometimes conflicting-advice, and one or more weaknesses in the employer-provider-apprenticeship triangle.”
Little of this will come as a surprise, so what’s the report recommending?
Interestingly it challenges some of the conventional wisdom that regulation and red tape are to blame, “nothing specific to apprenticeships of that kind has been raised,” concentrating instead on the issue of empowerment. Proposals here include developing a standard Provider Charter or online tool to enable SME’s to check out where best provision and training opportunities are available locally, freeing up SMEs to be able to develop their own training provision and more controversially, weighting funding in favour of SMEs on the basis that they cannot resort to the same economies of scale that larger companies can. The problem is however that the Government has little money in the kitty for new initiatives so many of these recommendations meet with an interested nod from Government but not much else at this stage.
In one area there will be disappointment and that is in the raising of awareness about apprenticeships at a school and local level”
One of the more significant outcomes of the report has been some changes to the Apprenticeship Grant for Employers (AGE) in particular opening this out now to larger employers, those with 1,000 employees rather than those with 250 employees or less. The aim, along with other changes such as simplifying the drawing down of funding and increasing the number of Grants an employer can apply for, is to beef up an initiative that was struggling to make impact but does raise the question about whether small businesses with less capacity might miss out. Time will tell and the Government is moving ahead with other developments that may help including piloting traineeships, looking a bit more closely at who does what around apprenticeships and reviewing Group Training Associations (GTAs) but the small business issue remains pertinent if apprenticeship growth is to spread.
In all, the report comes up with 13 recommendations covering each of the three problem areas identified. In one area there will be disappointment and that is in the raising of awareness about apprenticeships at a school and local level. This summer more than ever, young people have been considering other alternatives to higher education and that has led to considerable interest in apprenticeships. A ready supply of ‘eager young people, encouraged by their parents and school’ is, as the report recognised, essential for the continued growth of apprenticeships yet the worry is that the understanding of apprenticeships in schools is not great and unlikely to improve under current arrangements. The report calls for a concerted effort to raise awareness among young people using a combination of apprenticeship intermediaries, local authorities, chambers of commerce and so on but the Government believes the onus for any action should reside with schools.
That said we may not have to wait too long for the next report, it’s due for the end of October/beginning of November.
By Steve Besley
Holt Review into apprenticeships for SMEs published
The government has announced new measures to help small employers take on apprentices in response to the Holt Review published today.
In the report jeweller and social entrepreneur Jason Holt said that the main barriers to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) taking on apprentices are “lack of awareness, insufficient SME empowerment and poor process.”
The government will now work with the people SMEs look to for advice, such as lawyers and accountants, to promote apprenticeships, in response to Holt’s recommendation that SMEs need better information about the scheme.
It also committed to improving the performance of training providers by agreeing standards and the consequences of not meeting them, as Holt cited problems with the service from providers as an issue for some SMEs.
The review stressed the importance of students receiving better information from schools. It read: “Apprenticeships as a career path are not given a high profile in schools”.
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said it agreed that more needs to be done to improve awareness of apprenticeships amongst young people, but added: “Whilst we welcome the specific suggestions made by Mr Holt on this issue, we believe that it should be up to schools, together with local partners including employers, to determine how best to address this challenge.
On publication of his report, Mr Holt said: “Whilst apprenticeships offer undoubted growth opportunities for businesses, not enough SMEs are taking advantage. This is because they have an outdated view of apprenticeships, are often in the dark, and frequently do not receive the specific training provision their apprentices need. My recommendations are intended to address these issues with government, employers and providers all playing a part.”
Business Secretary Vince Cable said: “Only a small minority of SMEs currently employ apprentices. Many of the rest are missing out on an effective way of growing and up-skilling their businesses.
“We hope that the measures announced today will make a difference by raising awareness of the benefits of apprenticeships amongst SMEs and making it as easy as possible for these businesses to take on an apprentice”.
Click here to download the government response to the report.
More comment and analysis will be in the next edition of FE Week (10th Sept). Subscribe here.
First GB Paralympic gold for former Cheadle and Marple 6th Form College student
Former Cheadle and Marple Sixth Form College student Sarah Storey wins Britain’s first gold medal after earlier breaking her own world record in cycling.
This is the 24th gold medal for the 34-year-old who was born with a congenital abnormality of the left hand.
Also an Association of College (AoC) Gold award winner in 2010, Sarah defended her women’s individual pursuit C5 gold from Beijing after lapping Poland’s Anna Harkowska half-way through the final race.
Her athletic career began when she was fast-tracked onto the British Paralympic swimming team aged 14, but after winning 16 medals in the pool she suffered from a serious ear infection in 2005 that kept her out of the pool and she began to cycle to keep fit.
Storey rapidly fell in love with the sport and became the first cyclist with a disability to compete for Great Britain at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, where she finished sixth overall.
The winner of the Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year in 2009 has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Manchester Metropolitan University and is married to Para-Cycling sprint pilot Barney Storey.
Picture: Winning Gold at Laoshan Velodrome during day four of the 2008 Paralympic Games on September 10, 2008 in Beijing, China. Photo from www.paralympic.org
Newcastle College boss accuses Ofsted of ‘flaws’ in their Good inspection grade
Ofsted have today published their delayed inspection report for NCG (formerly Newcastle College Group), reducing their overall grade from Outstanding to Good.
FE Week reported in July that NCG had controversially cut the inspection short following what Dame Jackie Fisher, chief executive of NCG, referred in an internal email to staff as “some troubling incidents.”
Since then Ofsted have met with NCG to conclude the inspection, and Ms Fisher today said: “I was astounded to see the final grading of NCG, but not surprised when I saw the flaws in the way the grade was arrived at.”
Ms Fisher was keen to point out that she felt NCG were given a Good grade despite an outstanding report.
She said: “The inspectors ran out of superlatives to describe us, there are more than a hundred mentions of words such as outstanding, exceptional, excellent, superb and successful – more than four on every page.”
FE Week took up the challenge of counting the use of these five words, and found they were used 89 times, including 34 references to ‘outstanding’.
However, this was outweighed by the use of the word ‘good’ 101 times.
The Ofsted report praised many aspects of NCG, but did criticise college-based long course success rates, which saw a slight decline in 2010/11 and “were close to the national average, and have not improved over the last three years.”
The report goes on to say that in some cases success rates were “below average, for example, in science and mathematics and construction” and that at a “minority of less effective lessons observed by inspectors attendance was sometimes low, teachers did not use their time well or check the progress of all learners adequately, and they did not challenge learners sufficiently.”
“NCG provides good quality education and training both in its colleges and through Intraining.”
The quality of academic support experienced by learners, in the form of tutorials, progress reviews and the use of electronic individual learning plans was also described as “too variable.”
However, in terms of overall effectiveness the report said “NCG provides good quality education and training both in its colleges and through Intraining. The organisation makes a significant contribution to improving the life chances of a large number of young people and adult learners, both in the communities served by the colleges and nationally. The proportion of learners who complete their courses successfully is consistently at or above national averages.”
The report also adds that “NCG provision is outstanding in meeting the needs and interests of learners.”
19 (63%) of FE colleges that have been inspected in 2012 have seen their overall Ofsted inspection grade fall. Just 4 (13%) saw a grade increase.”
Ofsted also acknowledged that NCG is a “large and complex organisation.”, employing around 3,600 people and comprising four divisions (Newcastle Collegein the North East, West Lancashire College in Skelmersdale, Intraining, a national training organisation based in Sheffield and the youth charity Rathbone based in Manchester [not included in the inspection]).
To add to the complexity, in addition to acting as a subcontractor to 15 providers, the report lists all 89 subcontractors, which “provide training on behalf of NCG.”
NCG joins a growing number of unhappy FE colleges, with 19 (63%) of those inspected in 2012 seeing their overall Ofsted inspection grade fall. Just 4 (13%) saw a grade increase.
The table of all General Further Education inspection results in 2012 below, produced by FE Week, also shows that all eight Outstanding colleges going into an inspection in 2012 have been demoted to at best Good, and in one case was graded as Unsatisfactory.
Eastleigh College in Hampshire is the only general FE college to have been awarding an overall Outstanding grade so far in 2012.
SFA to aid the sector by publishing a list of all providers they reject
The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) have announced that they will be publish on their website providers that they reject, in order to “aid the sector”.
In a document published yesterday the SFA repeated criteria for the rejection of providers and subcontractors, but added in the final sentence (point 17) that: “The Chief Executive will publish on the Skills Funding Agency website a list of organisations to whom the criteria apply and in respect of which the Chief Executive has taken action.”
A spokesman from the SFA told FE Week: “The document is a revamp of previous policy guidance. Following our commitment to the sector and in line with the intentions of the government’s transparency agenda, point 17 is an addition to the former policy, the intelligence the Agency intends on sharing will aid the sector particularly when they consider entering commercial and legally binding relationships.”
Reasons for organisations to be rejected, and published in the new online list, include: significant irregularities in the award of qualifications, having to make a repayment of £100,000 or 5 per cent of contract value, and on-going investigation relating to suspicion of fraud.
Providers that meet the criteria to be rejected may also be removed from the register of training, be excluded from bidding and prevented from sub-contracting provision.
The Association of Colleges (AoC) told FE Week that they support the SFA publishing a list of rejected providers.
Julian Gravatt, the assistant chief executive of the AoC said: “AoC supports the decision by the SFA to have a procedure in place that will help to identify high-risk providers. We also see the move to publish a list of names as a positive step, which will help inform our members.
“However, as this is the first year it will happen in this way we do expect that SFA will review the way it works and whether it is the best approach.”
Graham Hoyle, Chief Executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) agrees.
Mr Hoyle told FE Week: “As a long-standing champion of good quality provision, AELP has no issues with the SFA’s proposals for transparency on this matter.”
Colleges celebrate the Olympic success of their students
As the Olympics came to a close last night, many colleges have been celebrating the success of former and current students. Twelve of Great Britain’s 65 medals were won by college students – here is the full list of winners:
Picture caption (left to right): Luke Campbell, Nicola Adams and Anthony Joshua
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Deputy Chief Executive of the Association of Colleges quits to join Pearson
Lesley Davies, the deputy chief executive of the Association of Colleges (AoC), is leaving the AoC to become Director of Quality and Standards at Pearson.
The announcement follows an unsettled time for the AoC, which has been making voluntary and compulsory redundancies as part of a cost saving and restructuring process, as reported in FE Week in May.
Martin Doel, AoC chief executive, told FE Week: “I am pleased for Lesley, but not at all surprised, that she has been asked to fill such a prestigious post with Pearson, and at the same time very sorry that she will be leaving us.
“Her experience includes work within colleges, the Adult Learning Inspectorate, Government agencies and a major education membership body. She is an outstanding professional with great integrity and deep knowledge of education and the College sector – qualities that no doubt led to Pearson being so keen to recruit her.”
The AoC employs over 100 members of staff, as well more than 30 staff at three sister organisations located in separate regions.