At last, a report written by people who understand FE

The clear recommendations of the Lingfield report reflect the complexity of the sector, says Lynne Sedgmore, executive director at the 157 Group. Shame about the blip on 14-18 education…

The final report of the independent review panel into professionalism in FE — the Lingfield report — deserves to be widely and carefully read.

Unlike many reports of recent years that merely repeat conventional wisdom and grand rhetoric, this paper deals carefully and constructively with some longstanding and difficult issues.

The recommendations are clear and reflect the complexity of FE. It is evident, for instance, that the authors understand the sector. They note the variety of audiences that it serves and, while recognising the difficulties that such diversity can cause, do not resort to easy proposals.

The Lingfield report is refreshing in setting out what is good about FE”

The complexity of the sector is there for a reason, and while it may desirable to have more clearly defined roles, or less confusing qualifications, change needs to be approached with caution.

The report is also refreshing in setting out what is good about FE. It is important, for instance, to record that its performance has improved immeasurably since incorporation in 1992  — that it readily compares with similar systems in other advanced countries — and that colleges now have highly sophisticated management and governance.

In particular, the report highlights how FE institutions have taken on responsibility for maintaining and improving quality, and how they have a clear focus on improving teaching and learning.

In light of this progress, the report is right to conclude that the time has come for a new settlement for the sector.

The 157 Group has welcomed the steps that the government already has taken to reduce regulation, but has also been among those arguing that this needs to be extended to the freedom to develop our own curriculum. The suggestion that the FE Guild might be the focus for sector leadership in this area is imaginative.

In the same way, the 157 Group has been arguing for a more sophisticated approach to inspection; one that focuses on a college’s capacity to improve rather than a potentially brief and unrepresentative snapshot.

Again, the suggestion that chartered status might be linked with a move to a Quality Assurance Agency-style award is imaginative and helpful.

The need to reinforce the professionalism of FE staff by removing layers of external regulation and giving scope for professional autonomy chimes with our own thinking in relation to promoting excellence in teaching and learning.

A sudden split at the age of 19 is unhelpful. We would argue that a 14 to 24 phase better reflects the reality of modern life”

The report’s one jarring note is the treatment of the 14 to 18 phase of education — one that we see as particularly important because for most young people it spans the transition from school to adult life.

Lingfield seems to characterise the involvement of FE with anyone who is not qualified to level two by the age of 16 as ‘remedial’, making the bold assumption that improvements in schools will remove the need for all such work.

While a critical aspiration, in reality no amount of school improvement will alter the fact that pupils learn at different rates, or that some are better motivated by a more practical and vocational curriculum.

Nor do we see a continued involvement with young people as in conflict with a focus on adults — indeed, we see a sudden split at the age of 19 as unhelpful and would argue that a 14 to 24 phase better reflects the reality of modern life.

Although the government has not formally responded to the report, it is good that the Minister has already agreed to move forward with the creation of an FE Guild.

The 157 group is part of the sector-wide alliance that has been asked to develop proposals for the guild and we hope it can be an effective and powerful vehicle to drive many of the other changes that Lingfield proposes — and which we fully endorse.

SFA ‘assured’ over Elmfield payments

A system of payments from the provider behind the UK’s biggest apprenticeship programme to the firm whose staff it trains has been given the green light by the Skills Funding Agency.

Elmfield Training, which was allocated £41m by the agency for the current academic year, has previously defended the payments to giant supermarket chain Morrisons, saying that it was “only right to share costs”.

The payments — understood to be £60 for every learner — began after the provider started one-day development sessions on key skills with apprentice staff at the chain, which last financial year had a turnover of £17bn.

Funding rules state that providers “must not use apprenticeship funding provided by the SFA to pay apprenticeship wages”.

But an agency spokesperson told FE Week that it is happy with the payments.

In this instance we are assured that funds are not being used in an inappropriate manner.”

“A training provider would not be able to use public funds to pay the salaries of staff covering for apprentices being released for off-the-job training sessions,” she said.

“Under the apprenticeship contract, employers agree to release staff for a minimum of one day a week and it is anticipated that this would be sufficient time to cover the needs of the individual and the requirements of the programme.

“In this instance we are assured that funds are not being used in an inappropriate manner.”

A spokesperson for Elmfield, which claims to have delivered around 100,000 apprenticeships for Morrisons since October 2009, said: “We’ve always supported Morrisons’ learners one-to-one with key skills, and last year we decided to add a one-day development day with groups of learners.

“The extra tuition means that we’ve been able to maintain high pass rates on both literacy and numeracy.

“For many of our learners in Morrisons, it’s the first time that anyone has supported them with these skills — and obviously it’s had a very positive effect on their confidence, as well as their ability to perform well at work.

“Morrisons makes a huge financial contribution to the apprenticeship through all the training and support it provides learners. Where additional costs are incurred to improve the quality of the programme, it is only right they are shared fairly, with ourselves as the provider.”

A Morrisons spokesperson said the company was also happy that the payments from Elmfield were above board.

The agency’s OK comes as company accounts reveal that Elmfield director Gerard Syddall, who owns 95 per cent of the company’s shares, took just under £900,000 in pay and dividends last year. Elmfield posted a £5.3m profit with Companies House — £7m down on the year before.

News of the payments and Elmfield’s continued profitability comes weeks after FE Week reported claims that the provider was proposing to shed a third of its 600-strong workforce.

In early October, two of every three staff were warned that they could face redundancy, according to a worker who wanted to remain anonymous.

The Elmfield spokesperson described the redundancy figures supplied to FE Week as “inaccurate, selective and misleading”. It would not comment further.

The company also declined to comment further on the payments system to Morrisons.

Apprenticeship highs and lows

Apprentice numbers in engineering and construction have plummeted while management apprenticeships have rocketed 45 per cent.

Engineering, based on provisional figures for the full 2011/12 year, fell 30 per cent to 12,890, while construction dropped 18 per cent to 12,850.

Their high points, respectively, were 20,700 apprenticeship starts in 2006/07 and 18,330 in 2010/11.

The numbers appear in a breakdown of the 502,500 new apprenticeship starts announced by the government last month.

The number of start-ups was welcomed, but there was also concern that the number of 16-18 apprenticeship starts had fallen 10 per cent from the previous year to 22,000.

Gordon Marsden, Labour’s shadow FE minister, described the fall in construction and engineering apprenticeships as a “serious concern”.

He said: “These figures come on top of continuing gloom about decline in construction industry activity and echo the worrying fall in apprenticeship starts for 16 to 18-year-olds.”

Earlier this year Mr Marsden called for incentives to increase starts in high-quality apprenticeship areas, such as engineering and construction.

He suggested that the government use the Growth and Innovation Fund to give incentives to large companies to buddy-up with both their supply chain and other small and medium enterprises in their sector.

“This, and giving Local Enterprise Partnerships more funding and powers, as Lord Heseltine has just recommended, would also help.

“We desperately need action orchestrated locally to kick-start growth to expand younger and older people’s apprentice opportunities in these areas.”

These figures come on top of continuing gloom about decline in construction industry activity and echo the worrying fall in apprenticeship starts for 16 to 18-year-olds.”

The number of management apprenticeship starts rose to 43,330 last year. In 2003/2004 there were just 880.

Matthew Street, Skills CFA interim head of development, said: “Management and leadership skills have a huge impact on the development, productivity and performance of organisations of all sizes, in all sectors.

“We’re really pleased with the increase in management apprenticeships over the past few years, with the numbers suggesting a real tipping point has been reached for team-leading and management apprenticeships.

“We have been promoting the value of business skills for a number of years and we believe that management is management, regardless of the sector or industry an individual is working in. It’s a great boost to see the generic-management and team-leading apprenticeship numbers taking off.

“It’s interesting to note that management apprenticeships are predominantly taken by individuals already in employment, with significant numbers being over 24.

“To us, this suggests that there is increasing acceptance that apprenticeships aren’t just for learning basic skills or for younger learners. Skills CFA and FE have been promoting this for many years.”

Chris Jones, chief executive officer and director general of City & Guilds, said: “It’s extremely encouraging to see such an increase in numbers of management apprenticeships — it shows apprenticeships and the vocational route more broadly are being recognised as viable routes to advancement both in more office-based and managerial roles, as well as the traditional trade sectors.

“At City & Guilds, we have always believed that learners should be able to reach the highest levels through work-based learning.

“It’s vital that investment should be focused on the provision of fuller progression routes for young people.”

Heseltine questions funding agency’s future

A wide-ranging report from the Tory grandee Lord Heseltine (right) questions the role of the Skills Funding Agency, instead calling for devolved powers and funding to be handed to regions through local enterprise partnerships.

The former deputy prime minister suggests that almost £48bn of government cash in different Whitehall departments should be placed in a single local funding pot. He also proposes adding a further £9bn of EU cash, arguing that EU spending was bureaucratic and inefficient.

The 39 partnerships would then bid for the cash to spend on meeting local needs “free from Government diktat”.

One of the 89 recommendations in Lord Heseltine’s No Stone Unturned report says: “The budget for vocational training for learners aged 19 and over, and all funding currently set aside for apprenticeships for those aged 16 and over, should be devolved to local areas through the single funding pot.

“This therefore calls into question the continuation of the Skills Funding Agency (SFA). Each partnership should incorporate skills’ needs within their local economic plans driven by the needs of local employers and the practical experience of FE colleges.”

free from Government diktat”

His report was released just over a month after the Association of Colleges (AoC) warned that the partnerships were failing to take advantage of the “fantastic” education resources offered by colleges.

An association report said that there was “patchy” engagement between the two, with a lack of college representation on partnership boards and a lack of understanding of the role that FE played in economic growth.

“We very much agree that growth needs to be at the forefront of government activity, but we do not want to see added layers of bureaucracy brought in that could actually hinder college responsiveness,” Martin Doel, AoC’s chief executive, said.

“Suggestions that money should be handed directly to local authorities who would then distribute it would add extra complication to an already intricate funding system. Any disassembly of the SFA could lead to more labyrinthine structures. This would be yet more change for the sake of it.”

He said that much of the association’s research suggested that, “with a few notable exceptions”, partnerships almost completely ignored education and training in their area, which would hamper the growth agenda.

“We will wait and see what action is taken by government in light of this report and stand ready to contribute to the debate on the way ahead.”

Mark Ravenhall, the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education’s director of policy and impact, said: “No one feels skills’ mismatches more heavily than the thousands of people unable to access adult learning due to narrow funding rules.

“But despite some salient weaknesses, there is much to be commended in the current system, particularly more recently with some flexing of funding rules. We hope this continues, with learning providers given more freedom to plan and show accountability to their communities.

“This was the vision put forward by Lady Sharp last year.”

Lord Heseltine’s 228-page report, launched on October 31, sets out a comprehensive economic plan aimed at improving the UK’s ability to create wealth.

It makes the case for a major rebalancing of responsibilities for economic development between central and local government, and between government and the private sector.

“For the UK to face up to the challenge of increasing international competition, we must reverse the long trend to centralism. Every place is unique. Local leaders are best placed to understand the opportunities and obstacles to growth in their own communities,” Lord Heseltine said in the report.

New courses bypass the regulator

The government has allowed new adult English and maths qualifications to be funded without the usual approval of an independent regulatory body because “gaps in provision were causing issues”.

The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) said new qualifications were due to be available from August, but that the timescales for their development and accreditation had been “challenging”.

“We have been alerted to gaps in provision as a result of the Qualification Credit Framework offer not being available and we understand that this is beginning to pose issues for a small number of colleges and training organisations,” said a statement from the agency. “Therefore, in order that learners are not disadvantaged, and that colleges and training organisations can respond to demand, we are putting an interim arrangement in place.”

From October 24 to December 31, English and maths qualifications already submitted to Ofqual to help adults progress to GCSE or level 2 functional skills standard can be funded without final approval from the regulatory body.

We have put in place these interim arrangements so that colleges and training organisations can continue to respond to the needs of learners and employers,” said an agency spokesperson.”

The SFA said the plans had been agreed with Ofqual and were made under the government’s Innovation Code. The code, available from April this year, was a key recommendation of last year’s Colleges in their Communities inquiry, led by Lady Sharp.

“We have put in place these interim arrangements so that colleges and training organisations can continue to respond to the needs of learners and employers,” said an agency spokesperson.

Ofqual said that it knew that the qualifications were important to learners and providers, and had ensured “swift” accreditation processes. The regulatory body said it approved proposals as soon as they were “of the right quality”.

A spokesperson said: “We think that regulated qualifications are a good way to assess and reward learners’ achievements, but recognise there are times when this may not be what learners and centres are looking for.

“We are happy that the SFA has clearly set out its expectations that funding through the Innovation Code will in many cases lead to the development of new regulated qualifications.”

Carol Taylor, the director of research and development at the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education, said: “We note that this is a short-term contingency plan and would urge regulating bodies to move swiftly, to enable providers to use these new qualifications to best support learners.”

She added that the adult education charity would “keep a close eye” on developments.

The SFA said that only qualifications from the following awarding organisations would be funded: OCR, City and Guilds, and Ascentis.

OCR said its proposals were in the final stages of accreditation at Ofqual. It was “excellent news” that measures had been put in place to immediately fund qualifications given the “great demand”.

A spokesperson said: “Ofqual has put these replacement qualifications under high scrutiny and OCR is positively working with the regulator to get these qualifications accredited at the earliest opportunity.”

New report critical of government’s education divide

The government’s departmental split over education responsibility has been branded “damaging and artificial” in a new report from the 157 Group.

The division of arrangements for those aged 18 and under, and those aged 19 and above, “risks separating planning for apprenticeships from that for other routes.”

Effective Transitions from School to Work: The Key Role of FE Colleges recommends the divide between the Department for Education and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills respectively, comes to end.

It also describes the split in funding for education, between the Education Funding Agency and the Skills Funding Agency, as “unhelpful”.

“Although colleges work hard in practice to minimise the significance of artificial barriers imposed by age, it is not helpful that provision for young adults is split between two departments of state and two government agencies, particularly when the latter appear to be adopting different operating principles,” says the report.

It adds: “We call for a unified approach and a single line of responsibility for all forms of education and training for young people from the ages of 14 to 24.”

The report goes on to highlight, with the use of case studies, how FE colleges had developed such an approach, with a “coherent and inclusive system that bridges the worlds of employment and education.”

Lynne Sedgmore, executive director of the 157 Group, said: “FE colleges are already taking advantage of the new freedoms and initiatives recently introduced by the government to help build inclusive and responsive local systems.

“As large but flexible and dynamic institutions, colleges are well placed to exercise local leadership, respond rapidly to business and community needs, and help young people succeed in making the transition from school to work.

“Colleges could be even more effective, however, if instead of the artificial divide at 19 there were an overarching strategy for provision for 14 to 24-year-olds, with the college role being clearly articulated and promoted by the government.”

The report also calls for a review of arrangements for financial support, including child benefit, jobseeker’s allowance and learner support funds and recommends more clarity about the circumstances in which FE colleges might receive an allocation of funding for pupils aged between 14 and 16.

Marilyn Hawkins, chair of the 157 Group, said: “To secure effective progression and minimise the duplication of resources, it is important that colleges should be involved in any development of new schools with a vocational or technical specialism.

“Colleges also have a central role to play in supporting apprenticeships at all levels, and having them funded and managed through an agency focused on adult skills rather than on the development of young people does not make sense. Nor is it helpful that provision for young adults is split between two departments of state and two government agencies.”

Visit www.157group.co.uk to read the report in full.

How leading-edge practice can entice the policymakers

Look at what is happening on the ground if you want to understand the way that things are moving, says Sarah Robinson. Developing more coherent arrangements for the transition from school to work is a case in point in light of the 157 Group’s new report, Effective Transitions from School to Work: The Key Role of FE Colleges.

The conventional wisdom is that practice follows policy. Strategic decisions are taken at the centre and practitioners duly implement change. It follows, therefore, that if you want to understand the future, you need to read white papers and ministers’ speeches — and keep an eye on Whitehall.

In reality, however, things often happen the other way around. It is leading-edge practice that shapes the future, with policymakers struggling to catch up.

To understand the way that things are moving, you really need to look at what is happening on the ground. Developing more coherent arrangements for helping young people to make the transition from school to work is a case in point.

In think-tanks and policy circles there is talk of a ‘middle tier’ — a level of decision-making between government and schools.

Most agree that Whitehall cannot run everything, but there is no consensus on what intermediary arrangements should be put in place. Some in local authorities, for example, see the chance to win back a central role they once held; for others, that would be a backwards step that would undermine moves to free education from bureaucracy.

While the policy wonks debate the issue, a new ‘middle tier’ is already emerging on the ground.

In Stoke on Trent, as in other areas of the country, the local FE college has taken a lead. It is working with the local authority and other partners to sponsor new studio schools and academies, and to provide progression pathways for their pupils.

It is using the ability to form a multi-academy trust to set up a structure within which separate institutions will do what they do best, but all will collaborate to ensure clarity and quality for learners.

The collaboration builds on, and is strengthened by, the college’s existing links with local industry and higher education.

In policy circles there is also increased debate about whether it is right to split responsibilities at 19 between the DfE and BIS. Should the two combine or would it be better for the DfE to have responsibility for all those up to the age of 25, as it already does for those with learning disabilities?

The 157 Group is clear that the present split is unhelpful. Many of those aged 19 to 24 need the same sort of programmes as those under 19; it is simply that, for one reason or another, their progress has been slower.

Similarly, it makes little sense to split responsibility for apprenticeships from responsibility for pre-apprenticeship programmes.

While the policy is sorted out, however, colleges are bridging the gap. The latest 157 Group publication, Effective Transitions from School to Work, highlights many excellent examples of what is being done.

Leeds City College, for example, has set up an Apprenticeship Academy offering a work-focused route for young people aged 14-24. In addition to working closely with schools to promote and prepare young people for work-based learning, there are four clear pathways for 16 to 24-year-olds — preparation for apprenticeships or foundation programmes, employed status apprenticeships, apprenticeship training agency (ATA) apprenticeships and higher level apprenticeships. Other 157 group colleges are actively involved — for example, through the development of ATAs and other initiatives.

Finally, although government may have set a clear strategic direction following the Wolf Review, the all-important detail on the nature of study programmes for those aged 16 and over is seriously incomplete.

It is likely that once again the true shape of the policy will be fleshed out by those on the ground. Colleges such as my own are already hard at work on the task.

Sarah Robinson, 157 Group director and principal of Stoke on Trent College, which features as a case study in the 157 Group’s new report.