Big-name apprenticeship providers and employers such as BPP Education Group, Osborne Clarke and Learning Curve Group are among the finalists for this year’s AAC Apprenticeship Awards.
The seventh annual awards, jointly run by FE Week and the Association of Employment and Learning Providers and delivered in partnership with City & Guilds, will see individuals, training providers, employers, universities and colleges recognised for their efforts in the apprenticeship world.
Several FE colleges have made it to the national finals, including Wigan and Leigh College in the engineering and manufacturing apprenticeship provider of the year category, and Gloucestershire College for digital apprenticeship provider.
Nominations closed at the end of October and judges convened in November to review and select the finalists and winners for each of the 20 award categories.
The 20-strong judging panel included Ian Bamford, chief quality and curriculum officer at Paragon Skills, Sharon Blyfield, head of early careers at Coca-Coca Europacific Partners, and John Cope, UCAS’s director of strategy.
There were a record 380 entries this year, narrowly breaking last year’s record of 375 nominations.
Judges chose the following providers as finalists for the coveted apprenticeship provider of the year award: BPP Education Group, Bauer Academy (Bauer Radio Ltd), In-Comm Training, apprenticeships at Salford City College.
Four finalists were selected for apprentice employer of the year. These were Hob Salons Limited, Labcorp, Torus and Osborne Clarke.
Apprenticeships at Salford City College also made it into the final for the care services apprenticeship provider of the year category, alongside Paragon Skills.
BPP Education Group got a second nomination as a finalist in the legal, finance and accounting apprenticeship provider of the year.
A parliamentary reception will take place at the House of Commons in February 2024 to recognise this year’s finalists. The winners will be announced at the tenth Annual Apprenticeship Conference gala dinner on February 27 at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham.
Paul Warner, AELP director of strategy and business development, who was on the judging panel, said: “AELP is delighted to be the principal partner for the AAC Apprenticeship Awards once again. As part of the judging panel, it was inspirational hearing the amazing work that goes on across the skills sector.
“Choosing between the entrants was more difficult than ever, so this year the finalists really do deserve their nominations.”
Shane Mann, managing director of FE Week’s publisher Lsect and AAC awards co-host, said: “As chair of the judging panel, we were overwhelmed by the number and quality of the nominations we received.
“Congratulations to all finalists this year. They demonstrate that excellence happens when dedicated employers and training providers work together to provide the best quality apprenticeships on offer in the sector currently.
“We look forward to celebrating the finalists at a parliamentary reception next year before announcing the winners at the Annual Apprenticeship Conference gala dinner and awards evening.”
Kamali Stevens jumped up and punched the air in delight when he was announced as the winner of the higher education student of the year award at this year’s Association of Colleges annual conference.
The 41-year-old’s elation at that moment was understandable. He had undergone an incredible journey from prisoner to prison reformer, after being failed as a child by the systems designed to protect him.
Now he is about to complete his BA (Hons) in film and media arts production from University Centre Weston (part of Weston College Group), and is working with senior leaders within the prison service to implement cultural change. He is also developing an app supporting those leaving custody to stay on the right track.
“To come on the national stage and be recognised just blew my mind,” he said.
“Just three years ago, I didn’t even have a basic school education. It was a hard childhood, and I held on to that anger for so long. I poisoned myself with rage and resentment for being let down.”
Tina Daheley, Kamali Stevens and Karen Taylor at the AoC student awards
Path to crime
As a young boy, Stevens did not know his father and had a “difficult relationship” with his mother, who went through “tough times herself”. She would “take it out” on Stevens with a belt, and he remembers feeling “petrified” of her. He “used to run away a lot”, leading to social services involvement.
At seven, Stevens was sent to live on his grandmother’s farm in the Caribbean. Stevens recalls her with fondness as being “more like a mother” to him, and he felt “liberated” as a “nature boy” there in contrast to the “concrete jungle” of Slough. He passed grammar school entrance exams and had “plans to be a doctor”, but his mother brought him back to start secondary school in the UK.
At 12, Stevens wanted to “buy nice things” to “fit in” with his peers, and lied about his age to get work at KFC. “I’d go buy my Reebok Classics, then I’m one of the guys.” But Stevens’ life “took a turn” when his mum discovered his work uniform in his school bag, and got him sacked.
He “still wanted nice things” and turned to crime to get them. Stevens claims his mum told the court after he was arrested for robbery that “she didn’t want me at home”, and he was sent to live in a children’s home in Reading.
Life of crime
Rivalry between gangs from Slough and Reading made the move particularly challenging. Stevens was introduced to crack cocaine at 13 in a secure unit.
Social services paid for taxis to his school in Slough, but he kept “disappearing for months on end”. At 14, he was permanently excluded for stealing the deputy headteacher’s car, which he vehemently denies doing. “I spoke to somebody who did take the car, and that was enough in their eyes to kick me out. That was really hard.”
After being thrown out of another children’s home at 14 for “behaviour issues”, Stevens was moved onto a bed and breakfast. That was the last he ever heard from social services.
“I was left to my own devices and tried to survive the best I could. The streets took me from there.”
Reflecting on this time, Stevens feels he was “let down” by public services. “There was no duty of care. I had a lot of abandonment issues and unresolved trauma. Life became about just wanting more drugs.”
Lacking any qualifications, Stevens felt “stuck in a rut” and unable to break free of a life of crime.
Kamali Stevens and Dr Sarah Lewis
‘The devil came whispering’
His last stint in prison in 2017 was for aggravated burglary. He recalled how “the devil came whispering” after he left a “really horrible job” and couldn’t pay his rent.
It was his first time back in jail for 13 years, and prison conditions had deteriorated in that time. It was “like a war zone”. While there, he was told his grandmother had died and his teenage son was put into care after getting involved in county lines.
“It was frustrating seeing history repeating itself, and knowing I couldn’t stop it. I couldn’t tell my son to do better without doing better myself.”
Stevens was moved to five different prisons over the next three years, including a move to HMP Guys Marsh in Dorset after he experienced “a lot of trouble because of the people I’d robbed”. However, the move proved fortuitous, as it was there that Stevens met prison reformer Dr Sarah Lewis.
She was working to create a rehabilitative culture using an all-prison approach called The Growth Project. Lewis saw potential in Stevens and told him to apply for a position as a researcher on her team.
The job paid him £15 a week – not a lot, given that “things are more expensive in prison”, but it meant a great deal to Stevens who received no outside support during his sentence.
The job involved creating “interventions that brought meaning to the staff and residents”, including wellbeing days and a community fair. Stevens was tasked with coming up with a project of his own. At the time, spice was “causing havoc” in the prison.
Research by Middlesex University shows that almost half the non-natural deaths of prisoners between 2015 and 2020 were caused by the synthetic cannabinoid. Stevens recalls around five people dying from it during his time in the prison. He decided to write a play about the harm he saw it inflicting.
Photos of Kamali Stevens’ prison play, Choices
Prison play
Stevens’ play, Choices, told the story of a young prisoner with “lots of potential” who is guided by an older inmate, and another who commits suicide after being bullied for not paying off drug debts.
It only took Stevens one night to write – he stayed up until 3am to complete it – and another five months working with Lewis to bring his vision to life.
Stevens led six performances in 2019 which elicited “powerful emotions” from the audience of staff, residents and the local community, and was “really well received”.
Lewis recalls how inmates were referred to on the radio “as ‘actors’ rather than ‘prisoners’”, which meant they felt “seen for their talent, not their mistakes”. Spice use in the prison “fell to near off zero” following the play.
Championing prison reform
In July 2020, Stevens was released but returned to prison within six months – though thankfully not as an inmate. He has been working alongside Lewis and senior managers as a consultant, tasked with creating content for staff training, and for social media around staff and inmate experiences.
Being able to bring camera equipment into prisons makes him smile. “Only Ross Kemp does that!”
Staff and prisoners these days are shocked when he tells them he was an inmate once.
“They just can’t get into their heads that I’ve been in a cell, and now I’m working with them at that level.”
Kamali Stevens with his camera equipment
State of education
Stevens is passionate about the power of education to change prisoners’ lives. But prison education is in a “poor” state and “continue[d] to decline” this year according to Ofsted, amid “significant recruitment issues” in some prisons.
Of the 43 prison and young offender inspections undertaken this year, only four were good, 20 required improvement and 19 were inadequate, with none judged outstanding.
Ministry of Justice data for prison contracts analysed by FE Week shows that between January and March, there were 34 instances where classroom-based delivery was “significantly restricted”.
Although contracts state that “other forms of remote delivery have continued”, Stevens laments that it’s “nearly impossible” to develop meaningful learning opportunities without face-to-face interaction.“Only about four per cent of prisoners complete online courses. They don’t get that engagement they need to push them through.”
“Every establishment I went to would be making me do the same courses over and over – basic maths and English. Why?
“I’ve seen people in there with PhDs and masters degrees still having to do these courses. There’s an abundance of creativity within prisons. If it was nurtured, you’d get so many leaders coming out of there empowering others.”
Stevens believes in the adage that “culture starts at the top”, and in prison that means change needs to come from those “doing organised crime, the guys on the wing with the most status. If you can change their way of thinking, it’s only going to filter down and create opportunities.”
Kamali Stevens winning Weston’s Creative Student of the Year Award with his lecturers Ross Bliss and Richard Edkins
Appy days
Stevens believes that probation services are currently “very stretched,” with a “low trust factor” from “those they’re supposed to be serving”.
He has been involved in developing an app providing them with digital support by pulling together information about well-being, job placements, housing and education for those in custody and on probation. Stevens hopes the Growth App will also act “as a deterrent”, by providing “the fundamentals that can stop people from falling into the cycle of criminality”.
“We want people to get the most out of their time on probation instead of it being a box ticking exercise, which it has turned into unfortunately.”
Kamali Stevens with his son and granddaughter
Life on the outside
Stevens decided he wanted to do a degree while still in prison, where he did an access to HE course through the Open University and went on day release to attend an interview at University Centre Weston.
He “didn’t think anything would come of it”. However, Weston staff told him: “‘don’t worry, we’ve had people who have done worse crimes than you and given them a chance’. We take you on the merit of who you are today.’”
Stevens now has “good relationships” with his five brothers on his father’s side, and after leaving prison one brother let him sleep on his sofa in Slough for eight weeks to save money for a flat. He borrowed his nephew’s bike to travel to a construction job every day.
But starting at Weston was not easy. As a mature student in a class where “a lot” of his fellow students had “come up through school or college together”, it was “difficult being an outsider”.
Many of his classmates were the same age as Stevens’ 22-year-old son.
Stevens is currently commuting to college from West London, where he is a single dad to his youngest son, 11 and daughter, 10. They came over to the UK from Antigua to live with Stevens in September, so he could “provide a better future” for them.
It’s “a lot of back and forth”, and Weston has been “really flexible” so he can “juggle work with school runs”.
One of the most moving moments of the AoC ceremony for Stevens was not the rapturous applause he received upon collecting the award, but the conversation he had with a porter who approached him as he was leaving.
She told him, “I want my son to be like you. He’s going through some difficulties, but your story gave me hope.”
Stevens said: “For me, that’s so important because a lot of those who’ve gone through adversity don’t see people like themselves reach those heights. If they can see someone who reflects who they are, they’ll believe they can do it themselves.”
Chief Academic Officer, New Model Institute for Technology & Engineering (NMITE)
Start date: February 2024
Previous job: Head of Technical Education and Apprenticeships, University of Brighton
Interesting fact: David is involved in faith-based charitable work as someone who enjoys seeing the development of people and communities. He also enjoys travelling for work and pleasure.
Peter Husband
Interim CEO and principal, Warwickshire College Group
Start date: January 2024
Previous job: Group Principal, Warwickshire College Group
Interesting fact: Peter’s first job in engineering involved weighing oil rigs in the North of England and throughout Scotland, some of which were up to 20,000 tonnes in weight! He enjoys running to keep fit and reading for relaxation.
An ‘outstanding’ apprenticeship provider has been ordered to pay more than £50,000 to a former apprentice for discriminating against her disability during a functional skills exam.
Manchester Employment Tribunal judge Rhodri McDonald ruled that the dismissal of Miss S Molyneaux, as she is named in court documents, from Apprentify Limited was also “significantly influenced” by allegations she made of sexual harassment.
Apprentify was found to have breached the Equality Act for disability discrimination and unlawful victimisation after failing to make reasonable adjustments for the former digital marketing apprentice, who was also a social media employee of the company.
Molyneaux said the experience had hindered her ability to complete the apprenticeship and find alternative employment.
In a statement provided by her solicitor, she told FE Week: “Apprentify was wholly responsible for my unfair dismissal, disability discrimination and for me not being able to successfully complete my apprenticeship that I worked so hard to complete, thus hindering my efforts to secure an alternative apprenticeship or gainful employment elsewhere because of what they did.”
Apprentify is a Cheshire-based company set up in 2016 by Paul Drew that started delivering apprenticeships in 2018. The company provides online, nationwide apprenticeships for nearly 300 apprentices studying mostly level 3 digital marketing and content production.
Molyneaux joined Apprentify in May last year and was at the time a disabled person with anxiety, depression, and dycalculia – a mathematical learning disorder. She started at the company with a job as social media executive and was already enrolled onto a digital marketing apprenticeship with Apprentify.
She was scheduled to complete her apprenticeship by September 11, 2022 upon passing a level 2 functional skills maths exam. A month after joining, Molyneaux failed her mock maths exam.
Apprentify fired her on August 3, which a judge found breached the Equality Act on the grounds of disability discrimination.
The judge ruled that Apprentify treated her unfavourably because she failed her exam and had failed to make reasonable adjustments which would have improved her experience sitting the exam.
The former apprentice had an additional learning support individual learning plan and a functional skills tutor to help prepare for her exam. The judge accepted her testimony that the company had given her no notice of the mock exam, “which added to the pressure on her”, but said he needed more specific evidence about the likelihood of her passing it had Apprentify made the reasonable adjustments.
He added that Molyneaux described how she was seen as a “troublemaker” for reporting issues of bullying and sexual harassment and her dismissal was also a breach of the Equality Act on the grounds of victimisation.
“I found it [the dismissal] was significantly influenced by the claimant having done protected acts by reporting an allegation of sexual harassment of a colleague to the respondent on 11 July 2022 and attending a meeting with that colleague about the allegations on that same date,” Judge McDonald said.
Jonathan Fitchew, Apprentify group chief executive, apologised to Molyneaux for the distress caused by the failure to accommodate her learning needs.
“We felt, at the time, that we had taken all the necessary steps to support her in completing her studies. However, we now acknowledge that we fell short in this particular case,” he said.
“We have learned some valuable lessons, and as a result have put in place a more robust set of HR systems and processes under a new HR director, to ensure our people are given all the support they need for a successful apprenticeship experience.”
The pay-out totalled £52,348.25 and was calculated by paying Molyneaux’s net loss of earnings until she was supposed to graduate, an injury to feelings payment, a 15 per cent ACAS uplift for the lack of proper disciplinary process, plus interest and compensation following taxation.
Just a few weeks after her dismissal, Apprentify was inspected by Ofsted for the first time. That November, a glowing report was published, awarding the provider an ‘outstanding’ grade.
Despite the positive report, inspectors pointed out that leaders at Apprentify were aware that the very few apprentices who require functional skills in English and mathematics “do not always receive support early enough in their apprenticeship”.
“As a result, a few apprentices do not pass their functional skills examinations. Leaders have recently recruited new staff to provide support but, at the time of the inspection, the impact of these changes could not be seen.”
Molyneaux said in a statement that the Ofsted inspection “clearly avoided ongoing staff grievance issues”.
She added: “In view of the damning tribunal judgment, I am naturally very disappointed to learn that Apprentify was awarded an ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted inspectors in November 2022.”
The manufacturing giant claimed victory over the watchdog this month after it turned a proposed ‘inadequate’ judgment into a ‘good’ following a costly, year-long legal battle.
Make UK claimed its original inspection, conducted in January, was “fatally flawed” and led by an “inept and inexperienced” team that came to a “fundamentally inaccurate” grade. Its leaders have, however, maintained they were unaware of the true reason why Ofsted surrendered before the dispute could go to trial and decided to reinspect the provider.
FE Week understands that the watchdog would have seen out the trial but stood down at the last minute after a relationship between the lead inspector and Make UK was exposed.
There was a family connection between the lead inspector and a company that is both a member of Make UK and used the organisation to train its apprentices, which raises questions of impartiality.
The lead inspector failed to declare this alleged conflict during the original inspection process. FE Week understands that the lead inspector claimed to have had no knowledge of the link and therefore it could not have impacted the decisions made during the inspection, but this was contested by Make UK.
This significant information came to light after Make UK was granted a judicial review in the summer and the judge accepted it could be added to evidence ahead of the trial.
Ofsted then backpedalled and ultimately pulled out of the proceedings. The watchdog decided to conduct a full reinspection of Make UK with a different inspection team in October, which resulted in a ‘good’ report published last week. None of the allegations in the January inspection, including claims of misogynistic behaviour, were carried forward.
FE Week understands the lead inspector from the January inspection has now been suspended.
Ofsted’s conflicts of interest policy states that inspectors should “not accept work or undertake inspection or regulation activity with a provider where past, present or future employment, engagement, allegiance or relationship suggests an actual or perceived bias or any personal benefit”.
It adds: “Inspectors are responsible for continuously ensuring that there is no real or perceived conflict of interest before undertaking an inspection event or any work for Ofsted. They are responsible for declining inspections where they feel there may be a real or perceived conflict.”
Angela Sandhal, a judicial review solicitor who specialises in Ofsted disputes, said the potential for conflicts is a “wide-open field and can arise in various forms”.
She told FE Week: “Inspectors may feel uncomfortable and awkward about disclosing affiliations or memberships which could create the conflict, preferring instead to keep quiet about such matters.
“The key problem from a provider point of view is that conflicts or potential conflicts do not have to be declared to the education provider and may arise unexpectedly during the inspection itself. So providers have to rely completely on an inspector making a declaration in the first place and then Ofsted’s assessments and decisions about whether an inspector can proceed to conduct objective and impartial judgments about the quality of provision, which is ultimately what the public relies on.”
Make UK, formerly known as the Engineering Employers’ Federation, is an influential organisation that represents manufacturers across the country. It is chaired by Lord Hutton of Furness and was name-checked twice in last month’s autumn statement speech by the chancellor Jeremy Hunt.
It spent more than half a million pounds on legal fees to suppress the grade four Ofsted report, which included initially being granted an anonymity order to protect its name and reputation.
An ‘inadequate’ judgment would probably have led to the Education and Skills Funding Agency terminating the provider’s skills funding contract and ending its ability to deliver apprenticeship training.
Sandhal pointed out that “unfair” inspections can have “major ramifications for small education and training providers especially and there have been several cases recently of providers being put out of business based on a single inspection and not having the financial resources to bring these matters to the court’s attention”.
A charity is looking for new donors to help save dying heritage craft skills after it handed back a multimillion-pound donation due to sex trafficking allegations made against its philanthropic benefactor.
English Heritage welcomed an £11.2 million donation in August from the foundation of British businessman and philanthropist Hamish Ogston (pictured). It was earmarked to go towards training and apprentice wage costs on its heritage skills programme.
However, a Sunday Times investigation alleged in September that Ogston had engaged in the sex trafficking and attempted trafficking of southeast Asian women and the procurement of class-A drugs over a period dating back 15 years. Scotland Yard is now reviewing the evidence.
A month later, English Heritage announced that it had severed ties with the Hamish Ogston Foundation given the “extremely serious nature of the allegations”. The Charity Commission has also opened a regulatory compliance case.
The charity said the £667,000 it had received so far would be handed back and that it would not draw down on any further funds committed by the foundation.
A spokesperson for English Heritage told FE Week that it was now “pursuing alternative funding avenues” to overcome this “setback” and fulfil its commitment to delivering its heritage skills programme.
English Heritage’s apprenticeship programme features courses in traditional skills including flint and stone masonry and heritage brickwork to help safeguard its properties. It also aims to fund a new heritage skills training centre in East Anglia and boost outreach across schools and the post-16 sector.
Training sessions for 450 FE construction students are on offer to help with the preservation of 34 castles and abbeys in the East of England.
Upskilling in heritage crafts has been dwindling in England due to low demand and high training costs, causing training providers to pull out of delivering courses such as clockmaking, bookbinding and blacksmithing.
Nearly £29 million was committed in total by the Hamish Ogston Foundation to projects run by heritage organisations across the UK and overseas, including the Commonwealth Heritage Forum and Historic Environment Scotland.
A spokesperson for Historic Environment Scotland (HES) told FE Week it had not drawn any of the £5.2 million committed from the foundation to date. The money would have funded its new Craft Your Career programme, launching 100 traineeships over five years to protect Scottish buildings.
“HES is assessing the information available relating to the Hamish Ogston Foundation in light of these serious allegations, as well as reviewing our legal and contractual obligations and talking to partners,” the spokesperson added.
Ogston, aged 75, made most of his fortune in 1980 when he founded credit card insurance firm Card Protection Plan (CPP). At one point he was worth an estimated £500 million. CPP was later embroiled in an insurance mis-selling scandal, as customers who had lost credit cards were already protected by their banks.
The Sunday Times investigation alleged that Ogston suggested using his charitable organisation as “some foil” to bring women into the country potentially as interns.
Ogston stepped down as chair of his foundation soon after the allegations were made and is no longer involved in the governance and running of the foundation, according to a statement on its website.
His daughter Isabella has also “retired” as a trustee and the foundation will continue with new leadership and a new name “in the next week or two”.
Since it was established in 2019, the Hamish Ogston Foundation has offered donations of more than £40 million to UK and Commonwealth initiatives. The foundation did not respond to requests for comment.
The Federation of Awarding Bodies (FAB) is set to investigate the “human and emotional cost” of government regulation, including the approach and conduct of regulators.
It comes after FE Week revealed how Ofqual was accused of driving an end-point assessment organisation out of the apprenticeship market with an “excruciating” and “unfair” investigation that left its owner feeling suicidal.
The situation emerged amid the Ruth Perry inquest, which concluded last week with a coroner’s verdict that the school headteacher died in January by suicide, contributed to by an Ofsted inspection.
It was also discussed at this month’s FAB annual conference, in which one leading awarding body chief executive said that, when regulation impacts on people’s health and wellbeing, it is a “red line we should not allow to be crossed”.
John McNamara, FAB’s interim chief executive, told FE Week he now plans for the membership body to survey members on their experience of regulatory approaches.
He said: “The significant issue about the human and emotional cost of regulation was raised at the federation’s recent conference and we will be conducting research with our members to better understand the emotional impact of the current approach to regulation.
“The results will be shared, and appropriate representations made to the regulator community and Department for Education should further action be required.”
Catherine Large, Ofqual’s executive director for vocational and technical qualifications, said the exams regulator “welcomes the news that FAB is working with its members to understand sentiment within the sector”.
“Mental health and wellbeing are very important issues, and we look forward to working with FAB and its members to consider the findings of their survey,” she added.
The awarding body that accused Ofqual of forcing it out of the apprenticeships market through a “traumatic” investigation is called QFI Ltd.
The company claimed the regulator used “minor” and “petty” data errors to impose strict conditions that would make its business untenable, as well as “inappropriate evidence gathering”. This included an almost five-hour “interrogation” of the responsible officer that forced her to turn to stress medication.
Speaking at FAB’s annual conference, NCFE chief executive and FAB non-executive director David Gallagher said awarding bodies operate in a “low-trust paradigm”, describing it as a “waterfall of mistrust”.
He told delegates: “There’s a very serious point here. We saw what happened in relation to Ofsted and the reform that’s been called for because of a very, very tragic event. I know it’s quite a dark thought, but I think some of the pressures I’m seeing in the sector, some of the impact that I’ve seen on people, it’s not OK.
“I think we’ve got to challenge back with evidence, with research, with insight, with togetherness.”
An audience member then said: “I was very grateful to hear mention about the emotional and human cost of regulatory burden in the week when Ruth Perry’s inquest is going on. We’ve also read about the human cost of regulatory outcomes in our field.
“It’s really, really important that FAB continues to step up and hold their [regulators’] feet to the flames in terms of the cost of that.
“I see an awful lot of it. The pressure it puts on organisations – and it’s not always as clear because it’s organisation to organisation – but there really is a huge human cost to this, and it’s on the exponential increase, it seems.”
McNamara said all FAB members believe in “fair and robust” regulation of qualifications and end-point assessments to “maintain public trust in the UK qualifications system and to protect the interests of learners”.
But he pointed out that the sector has seen an increasing regulatory burden. Three main regulators operated across the UK market in 2010. There are now eight organisations performing these functions.
Gallagher told FAB’s conference that, while the regulatory burden “is a problem”, the “approach” of regulators must also be examined.
He said: “I’ve spent most of my career within the sort of auspices of Ofsted regulation, and for me actually when it comes to Ofqual regulation, it’s so different. At least with Ofsted, you’re building up to an inspection, you’ve got a grade, you knew where you stood.
“Do you ever have any sense of achievement with Ofqual regulation? Are there any lessons that really come out of the, you know, the audits or the investigations?
“So, stylistically, it’s not just the burden, it’s the approach. I think it’s becoming really concerning and, when it impacts on people’s health and wellbeing, that is a red line that I don’t think we should allow to be crossed.”
Six colleges entered formal intervention last year, according to the FE Commissioner’s (FEC) latest annual report.
But Shelagh Legrave’s annual stocktake of the sector is unusually silent on the major issues facing the college sector.
Previous reports have highlighted the FEC’s key concerns about the issues affecting college performance. For example, last year’s report flagged a lack of staff to deliver T Levels and college support services, poor oversight of subcontracting, cyber-security risks and the impact of inflation on college finances.
This year’s report, which covers Legrave and her team’s work between August 2022 and July 2023, speaks of “a great year” for the college sector despite warnings from other regulators that under-funding and staff recruitment challenges were negatively impacting learners.
This much more upbeat report was deliberate, Legrave told FE Week, because she believes the sector is in a better position financially.
“It was deliberate in so far as I think funding-wise, we’ve moved forward, which is great. It’s never going to be enough, but there was a settlement in the summer which I’m absolutely delighted with.”
It comes in the week the Institute for Fiscal Studies published its annual report on education spending which highlighted how spending per college student in 2024/25 will still be about 10 per cent below 2010/11 levels despite extra government funding.
Legrave said that cyber-security “remains a threat,” the use of subcontracting is “really reducing” and there will “always be challenges around governance”.
These issues have instead, Legrave claimed, been discussed with colleges at the annual strategic conversations and it her termly letter to college leaders.
Legrave told FE Week: “I have used that mechanism to talk about the specifics. My overall view is colleges are in a stronger place than they were, they are working really closely with employers, they’re growing their numbers of apprenticeships and delivering on government priorities.”
Colleges were reclassified as public sector organisations in November 2022, during the year this annual report covers. The move brought in immediate new controls on college borrowing and new rules on seeking approval for high-paid senior roles and “contentious and novel” transactions, which bring colleges in line with public sector Managing Public Money guidance.
Despite not making it into her final report – “I have talked about this elsewhere” – Legrave said, “the biggest problem at the moment is Managing Public Money because of the lack of loans, particularly for colleges that have grown substantially in September”.
“Most colleges are in a good place, I think,” she said.
The annual report details the work of the FE Commissioner’s office, which includes eight deputy FE commissioners, 13 FE advisers, 11 national leaders of governance and ten national leaders of further education.
Legrave reiterated her personal “key performance indicators” which were outlined in her speech at last month’s Association of Colleges annual conference, and included helping colleges increase the number of apprenticeships by 10 per cent and growing the number of skills bootcamp participants by 25 per cent.
As of July 31, 2023, there were 15 colleges in intervention, up one from last year. During the year five colleges exited intervention, meaning that six entered.
The only intervention report published by the commissioner during that year was for Ruskin College, which praised college leaders for taking swift action to improve its safeguarding procedures following an ‘inadequate’ Ofsted inspection.
One college was dissolved in the year. St Mary’s College Blackburn became the third college to go through the college insolvency regime in October 2022 after failing to find a viable merger partner.
The report lists the merger of Central Bedfordshire College with The Bedford College Group, the merger of Greater Brighton Metropolitan College with Chichester College Group and the formation of the South Hampshire College Group as outcomes of FEC-led structure and prospect appraisal outcomes during the year.
Another structure and prospects appraisal was started, but the college withdrew, according to the report.
The FEC team “supported” 80 principals, chief executives and governing bodies during the year, up from 52 the year before.
Legrave also hailed the success of the first rollout of curriculum efficiency and financial sustainability reviews, where experts advise colleges on curriculum cost savings and financial planning. An early evaluation indicates that the reviews have saved participating 35 colleges between £250,000 and £1.2 million.
A recruitment round will be launched early next year for new FE advisers with expertise in apprenticeships and land-based education.
Addressing long-held diversity gaps in the FEC team, the report said: “The FE Commissioner hopes to increase the diversity within the team to more accurately represent the FE sector, and would particularly encourage applications from those who identify with characteristics which are currently underrepresented within the team.”
The past twelve months have been transformational, with the explosion of AI and uncertainties surrounding the apprenticeship levy raising questions around the future of apprenticeships. Here are my predictions for what could be around the corner in 2024.
AI as a teaching aide
OpenAI introduced ChatGPT in November 2022, and since then it has shaken up the education sector and given us a glimpse at the future of learning. Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT excel as an educational sidekick, and we see apprenticeships being one of the sectors set to benefit the most.
Existing apprenticeship curriculums dictate that apprentices should divide their time between working and studying. With AI, these activities could be integrated into a cohesive learning strategy as the algorithm learns your schedule, workload and particular learning style. LLMs can adapt to almost any knowledge level, responding instantly and accurately to queries, generating their own relevant questions and adjusting their methods to complement your skills. They are also available 24/7, all year round.
For training providers, offering learners an informed and relatively inexpensive virtual tutor that supports their students individually will be a welcome resource. If 2023 is anything to go by, apprentices are set to become very familiar with AI in 2024.
More growth for bespoke apprenticeships
For many employers the traditional, one-size-fits-all approach to apprenticeships is starting to transform into a model of specialised courses, tailored to the company’s unique requirements. By guiding learning towards their specific business needs and values, employers can create a common knowledge base and culture.
Allowing apprentices to focus on areas directly relevant to their industry also creates a more engaging and effective learning environment that directly translates into more relevant skills, improved career readiness and better job satisfaction. Training providers are already offering this type of course as a recruitment solution, so we can expect their continued growth into 2024.
Changes to the levy
The apprenticeship levy has been a subject of political debate for a few years, with both major parties differing in their approach. Labour has produced a fully-fledged proposal to transform the existing arrangement into the ‘Growth and Skills’ levy, recommending the creation of a new expert body called Skills England and permitting firms to spend 50 per cent of their contributions on non-apprenticeship training, including modular courses and functional skills.
This proposal does present a risk to the apprenticeship sector, with the Department for Education forecasting that it would limit apprenticeship uptake to 140,000 a year, down from 336,000 in the 2022/2023 academic year. In response to this concern, Labour has also promised an additional spending commitment for apprenticeships in SMEs.
Ultimately, the exact future of the government’s role in apprenticeship funding remains to be seen, and largely depends on the specific details of the policy implementation.
More emphasis on soft skills
Recent data suggests a growing concern about the soft skills gap among university graduates as they transition into their professional careers. With our workplaces becoming increasingly technical, soft skills like presenting, communicating, emotional intelligence and teamwork can be neglected. Additionally, AI’s ability to execute sophisticated or routine tasks makes human-centric soft skills more necessary.
Apprenticeships, traditionally valued for their practical, hands-on approach to learning, are well positioned to bridge this gap because apprentices develop their on-the-job skills in conjunction with their technical education.
More technically skilled teachers needed
With our workplace technology becoming more complex, apprenticeship educators will require more technical proficiency to educate apprentices to business-ready standards. Teaching is continually made more difficult by the intense rate of technological development, requiring educators to frequently upskill.
We can fulfil these technical labour requirements by commissioning industry-expert trainers or partnering with cutting-edge private sector firms to assist in keeping curriculum delivery up to speed.
Changing demand for skills
As we noted last year, proficiency in digital and technical skills like data analysis, software development and digital marketing will become increasingly essential. This is still the case, with 27 per cent of the workforce lacking sufficient digital skills. As AI utilisation becomes mainstream, employers will require skills that complement and enhance the technology, so expect to see new apprenticeship opportunities arise in this area in 2024.
So here’s to another busy year for the sector. Happy new year!
