Functional skills ‘commercially unviable’, research suggests

Training providers are still making a loss on functional skills qualifications even after this month’s funding boost, according to a new report. 

The Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) said historic underfunding of functional skills qualifications (FSQs) has led to larger class sizes, increased online delivery and higher entry requirements for apprenticeships.

FSQs have got “harder to pass,” are “no longer in line with their vocational intent,” and “have now become unviable,” today’s report asserts.

Funding for functional skills in apprenticeships was increased significantly for new learners this month.

A 54 per cent increase from £471 to £724 was announced by the government last year for eligible learners. The increased funding rate for apprentices now matches funding for non-apprentice functional skills through the adult education budget. 

But even that increased funding rate falls below the average cost of delivery of the qualifications. 

AELP’s report, ‘Spelling it out, making it count’, used financial data from 11 training providers and found that the average cost of delivering functional skills to apprentices was £911 per learner for English and £893 per learner for maths. 

Some providers were found to be spending over £1,000 per apprentice per qualification. 

Functional skills qualifications are alternatives for GCSEs. Learners without grades 4-9 in GCSE English and/or maths have to continue to study those subjects until they achieve a pass. This is a mandatory requirement to achieve an apprenticeship. 

Using average costs of delivery for non-apprenticeship FSQs, which were already funded at the higher £724 funding rate, providers on average lost £20 per learner for English and £39 per learner for maths. 

This is before any resit costs, which affect up to a third of learners, that are unfunded. One resit, adding £35 worth of costs, would increase the per-learner loss to around £69, the report said. 

“It is clear that apprenticeship providers have been incurring significant losses on mandated FSQ deliver for many years, which may go a significant way to explaining the current parlous state of many apprenticeship provider’s finances,” the report stated.

Those losses are likely to be higher though as it costs more to deliver FSQs to apprentices than to non-apprentices. Those extra costs include more one-to-one teaching, travel and additional retakes.

Before this month’s funding uplift, providers were losing on average £440 per FSQ English apprentice and £422 per FSQ maths apprentice.

Ben Rowland

The Department for Education was approached for comment. 

Ben Rowland, chief executive of AELP, said: “It is clear that the rate of losses incurred in delivering qualifications that bear increasingly little relevance to workplace scenarios is unsustainable. Urgent change is needed, and it is needed now.”

‘Commercially unviable’

The report claims that reforms to FSQs in recent years have made the qualifications “more academic in nature” with less vocational context to the main subjects learners are studying, with more content and assessment coming from GCSEs. 

Providers reported varying first-time pass rates for functional skills learners.

For apprentices, 65 per cent of apprentices pass FSQ English at their first attempt. For maths that was just 45 per cent. For some providers though, first time pass rates were as low as 19 per cent and 7 per cent respectively.  

Training providers with higher proportions of SEND apprentices and those with more open entry requirements were more likely to report making losses on FSQ delivery. 

Researchers reported more providers and employers now require English and maths entry requirements for apprenticeships to get around the requirements to deliver functional skills. This, they said, “diminished learner choice and adversely impacted on social mobility.”

One of the report’s case studies, an apprenticeship training provider, stated: “We are not in a position to progress candidates who do not currently have level 2 English and maths. This is for two main reasons: it is not commercially viable to re-train apprentices in exams which they have recently taken. Secondly, there is a higher risk they will not pass their assessment, leading to non-completions.”

AELP has called for an immediate 10 per cent uplift to FSQ funding rates, to £796, though this would still fall short of the reported average costs of delivery for apprentices. Had the rate kept up with inflation, it would now stand at £875, AELP said. 

The research was carried out with the University of Warwick’s Institute for Employment Research, with support from the Edge Foundation and Gatsby Charitable Foundation. 

Dear Jeremy: FE’s wishlist for 2024 budget

Organisations from the FE and skills sector have sent their wish lists of policy changes and requests for funding ahead of the government’s spring budget on March 6. 

At the last fiscal event, the autumn statement, the government prioritised tax cuts over government department budgets, prompting economists to warn unprotected sectors, such as FE, to brace for even more funding cuts.  

The Treasury closed its mailbox to submissions from organisations lobbying for cash on Wednesday. 

Among key asks this year are closing teacher pay gaps, increasing education budgets, and slowing down qualifications reforms. 

Fears of even more FE budget cuts after autumn statement

Here’s what the sector is asking for:

Association of Colleges (AoC)

The AoC has warned the chancellor of “growing waiting lists for adult skills in shortage subjects including construction, engineering, digital, health and social care.”

It says colleges “simply do not have the capacity” to meet employer demand. 

The body points to £586 million raised through the immigration skills charge in 2022-23 and recommends it be directed towards skills priorities set out in local skills improvement plans and priorities outlined in DfE’s employer surveys.

A plan to close the £9,000 pay gap between the average earnings of school and college teaching staff “should be a priority,” AoC said. 

The AoC also lists several obstacles to the government’s planned Advanced British Standard: “The government needs to prepare early for the ABS by investing to close the pay gap between schoolteachers and college lecturers, extend the 16-18 tuition fund and include colleges in the VAT refund scheme to start the journey to the introduction of the ABS in 2033.”

Now that colleges are back in the public sector, the government could save colleges cash by guaranteeing pension contributions to reduce costs to local pension schemes. 

AoC also calls for multi-year grant agreements and a review of the college oversight and regulatory regimes which they say treat colleges “as if they are here-today, gone-tomorrow private companies” which adds to costs. 

Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP)

There is a growing mismatch between what the Treasury receives in levy payments, and how much is committed to DfE to spend on apprenticeships. The Office for Budget Responsibility recently forecast the levy would raise £4 billion by 2024-25, yet the DfE apprenticeship budget will only rise to £2.7 billion.

AELP said the chancellor should increase the apprenticeship budget so more of the funding raised from employers through the apprenticeship levy makes its way to apprenticeships. 

“The government rightly encourages business to invest in skills to power the economy, but business is not getting access to the funding it is paying through the levy,” the trade body’s submission stated.

And to boost apprenticeships in small businesses, the Treasury should scrap the five per cent cash contribution they currently have to pay towards apprenticeship costs. 

AELP has also called for the rules banning child benefit payments to families of young apprentices to be scrapped.

Outside of apprenticeships, AELP has called on the Treasury to double the adult education budget “to reverse the previous decade of cuts and erosion”. 

It also called for training providers to have access to the same funding flexibility reforms as some colleges, such as longer contract periods and moving funding between funding lines.

“Such flexibility to allow providers to have the confidence to invest and offer a broader array of provision and such flexibilities should apply to all providers,” AELP said. 

Holex

The government should establish a minister for adult education and lifelong learning to promote adult education across national and local governments, according to the adult community education body Holex.

It also calls for a “government-wide levelling up lifelong learning strategy” which “underpins” employment and industrial policies. 

Holex said the strategy should prioritise adults without formal qualifications and form a plan for level 2 and below courses in skills shortage areas such as health, care, and service industries, as well as basic literacy, numeracy and English for speakers of other languages (ESOL). 

The chancellor should also introduce a ten-year budget for community-based adult education which would “break the cycle of low skills” with an inflation-linked increase to the community learning budget of £330 million, and a £5.2 billion injection to the skills budget weighted towards level 2 and below adult education.

Employers that invest in adults without level 2 qualifications should also benefit from a new “learning and skills tax rebate”, Holex said.

Learning and Work Institute

Researchers at Learning and Work Institute said the budget should offer a “step-change in thinking and action” on skills, employment, and economic growth. The chancellor should set out a plan to reverse the £1 billion cuts to adult learning since 2010, L&W said. 

It proposes a tax incentive for employers to help pay for it.

Its idea is for a “skills tax credit” which it says will encourage employers to invest in training by allowing them to deduct training costs from their corporation tax liabilities, similar to the research and development tax credit. 

Running alongside should be a “super skills tax credit” for businesses in levelling up areas or those investing in literacy, numeracy or digital skills, where 300 per cent of qualifying costs could be deducted. 

Taken together, L&W estimate this would cost the Exchequer £500 million per year, but could raise employer investment in training by over £1 billion.

The budget should also scrap the so-called 21-hour rule, which prevents young adult carers from claiming carer’s allowance if they study for more than 21 hours per week. 

Federation of Awarding Bodies (FAB)

Training providers and end-point assessment (EPA) organisations are “struggling to recruit and retain” qualified trainers and assessors, FAB said, because apprenticeship funding doesn’t cover the true costs of delivery. 

FAB called for apprenticeship funding bands to automatically increase every year by inflation, which would “improve staff recruitment and retention and enhance quality in training and assessment.”

Qualification reform should be “slowed down,” FAB have said, warning the Treasury that current plans to defund qualifications are “detrimental to learners and the wider sector in both scale and timeframe.”

Reforms to qualifications will also “significantly reduce” student choice in post-16 education, and FAB specifically highlighted the DfE’s own impact assessment which flags white males and SEND learners as groups that lose out under the government’s defunding plans. 

The reforms will lead to higher entry requirements in the future, FAB said, which, alongside more external assessment, places more young people at risk of being not in employment, education or training (NEET).

Workers’ Education Association (WEA)

One of the country’s largest adult learning organisations has called on the Treasury to commit to restoring the adult education budget to 2010 levels by 2029. 

“The sector has seen significant and persistent cuts in funding for over a decade,” the WEA said, highlighting figures from the Institute for Fiscal Studies showing adult education funding will still be 40 per cent below 2009/10 levels even with recent funding announcements.

The WEA also lists funding for a 6.5 per cent pay award for the adult education tutor workforce in its budget submission. This would match the pay deal agreed for schools, and the recommendation made for colleges. 

Last year, the DfE recycled nearly £5 million from its budgets to help colleges fund teacher pay awards. However, that funding was distributed through the 16-19 funding formula, so colleges that mostly teach adults lost out. 

“Tutors working in the post-19 adult education sector received no additional funding for a revised pay offer and are now out of step with the rest of the profession. This is despite many adult education providers being part of the same public sector classification [as colleges],” WEA said.

Students’ union to represent Jewish apprentices

A 105-year-old organisation representing Jewish university students has opened its doors to apprentices promising workplace representation and university-style socials.

The Union of Jewish Students (UJS) is set to launch a recruitment drive for its new apprenticeships network during next month’s National Apprenticeships Week.

Jewish apprentices that join the network automatically become full members of UJS, giving them voting rights at conferences and access to advice and advocacy services. 

The initiative is led by Matty Fisher, digital engagement, apprenticeships, and access to work officer at the UJS. 

“When I’ve been speaking to apprentices, they love doing an apprenticeship. But the things they don’t have, which university students have, are the opportunities to socialise and meet people, join societies and stuff like that.

“Basically, apprentices now have the same access to the same things that university students have access to, which is really exciting,” Fisher told FE Week. 

When an apprentice signs up, either themselves or through their training provider or employer, Fisher links them up with their local university’s Jewish society (JSoc). Apprentices get full access to JSoc socials, talks and networking events. 

While membership is open to all apprentices, Fisher said some social events, like pub socials, may only be accessible to apprentices 18 or over.

Fisher hopes to grow the network and build campaigns around issues affecting Jewish apprentices in education and the workplace, alongside a programme of social and professional networking events.

“We are representing apprentices on a national level. There are specific things that Jewish apprentices might need in the workplace, such as being able to leave early on a Friday for the Sabbath.”

The network will also help apprentices request time off for Jewish festivals and offer guidance should training, exams or assessments fall during those periods.

The network has also been granted two spaces on the National Society for Apprentices’ leadership team to “ensure representation on a national level” for Jewish apprentices.

While there’s no official data on the number of Jewish apprentices, Fisher said UJS launched the network following growing popularity of apprenticeships within the Jewish community. 

“I’m now getting invited to Jewish schools, especially in London, who are asking me to speak specifically about apprenticeships as an option.”

Training providers and apprentices can find out how to join the network on the UJS website: www.ujs.org.uk/apprenticeships

Feature image: Matty Fisher, Union of Jewish Students

A new centre for excellence is redefining how to tackle skills shortages

The challenges facing the NHS in addressing increasingly concerning staff shortages nationally are well known and laid out starkly in last year’s NHS Long Term Workforce Plan.

At the time of its publication in June, it highlighted 112,000 local vacancies. Increasing need from an aging population and exhausted professionals leaving for jobs with better pay or fewer demands are among the reasons the problem has grown.

The report also issued stark warnings of a staff shortfall of between 260,000 and 360,000 by 2036/37 if measures aren’t made to bolster workforce numbers in critical areas.

The plan identified increased education and training to “record levels” and ambitions for upscaling apprenticeships among the key drivers in tackling the problem.

The pilot of new medical degree apprenticeships stole the headlines when the plan was first published, but it is far more than just doctors our NHS needs; nurses, radiographers, care workers and mental health professionals are just some of those also in high demand.

But simply creating more apprenticeships isn’t enough. Health careers are highly rewarding, but we already know that learners need to be inspired and driven to pursue careers in such highly-demanding and, at times, poorly-paid jobs.

It is why a local response is needed to help address national shortages, and a brand new partnership across East Anglia plans to deliver on this.

The East of England Centre of Excellence for Health Apprenticeships (CEHA) will see three further education providers (The College of West Anglia, East Coast College and Suffolk New College), two integrated care systems (Norfolk and Waveney, and Suffolk and North East Essex) and the University of Suffolk team up to boost apprenticeship provision.

It is a model we believe will be critical to the NHS

By working together, health and education leaders across the region will identify the current shortfall in provision and expand the portfolio of apprenticeships the providers will offer to fill those vital needs. That will include working with more employers to deliver those places.

For instance, the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan’s modelling indicates that by 2031/32 around 28 per cent of nurses could train through a degree apprenticeship route, including 42 per cent of learning disability nurses and 30 per cent of adult and mental health nurses. Currently, just 9 per cent of nurses qualify this way.

Even more crucially, this partnership will provide progression opportunities for learners as they work their way up the skills ladder. For example, a learner could start out with Level 1 to 3 health and social care qualifications in an FE college, advance to a level 4 or 5 nursing associate programme, and continue to Level 6 and 7 degree apprenticeships at university.

Creating clear progression paths will help learners plan their own journeys much more efficiently, and empower them to remain in their career.

The first new apprenticeships will come on stream in the next 18 months to two years, and the beauty of the model is that more regional partners – be it FE, HE or NHS organisations – can join where needed.

The benefits are clear. Learners taking their first foray into the health or social care sectors can see their progression opportunities better than ever before; The Integrated Care Systems will have a one-stop-shop to recruit and upskill their workforces; and the region’s rural landscape – which can sometimes make it tricky for learners to access opportunities – becomes less of a barrier.

Significantly, links with NHS employers have already been established too.

The partnership is in its infancy, but it is a model we believe will be critical to helping fill the NHS workforce gaps in our area, and development of similar models elsewhere across the country could easily pay dividends nationally.

And if this model works in the health and social care sector, then who is to say it couldn’t be adopted in other areas of common skills shortages, such as construction or engineering?

Identifying the problem is one part of the solution, but real on-the-ground commitment from providers and employers will be the way to drive long-term change. Partnerships that unite all stakeholders towards the same goal will go a long way towards helping drive this much-needed change.

How to personalise PE for learners with SEND

If you asked 100 adults who said they hated PE at school why they hated it, my hunch is 99 of them would say because it was cold and they were rubbish at it. I believe strongly that all young people whatever their age or ability have the right to experience high-quality teaching that provides appropriate physical activity and meaningful competition. Sadly, too many still miss out on opportunities to experience success and to benefit physically and emotionally from movement.

Of course, sharing these benefits with all learners can’t happen by accident. It requires teachers to think about every young person and how best to meet their needs. There will never be a one-size-fits-all, but there are some fundamental principles that can help.

Using the STEP model (Space, Task/Time, Equipment, People), it is possible to adapt all activities to include everyone. By changing one or more of the parameters, anyone of any ability can have fun, feel included, learn, and experience success.

What is perceived as a simple activity to some can be overwhelming to others. If the activity is too easy or too hard, the result is the same for all: loss of concentration and possible behaviour issues. Therefore, all participants should be encouraged to challenge themselves whatever their ability within the same activity.

Competition can be ‘reframed’ so that individuals and groups compete against themselves, trying to beat their own best. This way, if the rules of the activity or the equipment are different it still feels fair.

Take a scenario: a ‘throwing and catching’ activity during a netball/basketball session.

The teacher lines everyone up in pairs with a basketball/netball. The pairs begin throwing and catching. However, one pair spends more time chasing the ball across the playground. The ball is too hard; They don’t like catching it.

Another pair are bored. It’s too easy, so they start laughing at the pair chasing the ball. Before long, the first pair opt to sit out. Suddenly the teacher has behaviour issues to deal with.

Sharing the benefits of PE with all learners can’t happen by accident

They move on to a game so there is some form of competition within the lesson. The able pupils like this. However, the pair who were finding the initial task too difficult are now completely overwhelmed. The ‘good kids’ don’t ever pass them the ball anyway, so they sit out again.

By the end of the session, the only thing the children who found the activity tricky learned was what failure feels like, reinforcing why ‘they hate PE’.

What could the teacher in this scenario have done differently?

Space: the pairs could have moved closer or further away from one another.

Task: the able pair could have tried throwing and catching using one hand or standing on one leg. They could even have come up with their own challenge.

Equipment: the hard ball could have been swapped for a soft ball or a pom pom.

People: Two able pairs could have joined together and tried throwing and catching two balls

Competition time: In your pair/small group how many times can you throw and catch successfully in 30 seconds? In your pair/small group decide your rules: if you drop it do you continue counting or do you go back to zero?

Game: Inclusion does not mean everyone is doing the same thing at the same time all of the time. With an embedded inclusive ethos, the learners won’t expect this either. They become empathetic to each other’s differences and accept that the rules or scoring systems can be different.

The important thing is to always focus on what a pupil can do, not what they can’t. What is your outcome and how can you ensure everyone gets there, accepting that for some this will take longer?

What often helps is to ask students themselves what will help them to be successful. This can only empower and motivate them because they feel valued.

Suddenly those 99 learners who could have grown up to have hated PE won’t have hated PE at all. They’ll have felt successful and won’t have got cold because they will have moved more. They’ll pass on positive messages to their own children about PE, leading to generations of healthier, happier people. Inclusion means everyone’s a winner!

Rachel Bown was named ‘FE lecturer of the year’ at the 2023 Pearson National Teaching Awards. Nominate a colleague or peer for the 2024 awards before 1 March  at teachingawards.com 

Seventy-five years on, human rights education matters more than ever

Last month marked the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Its production in 1948 was one of the first acts of the newly-formed United Nations, tasked in the wake of World War II with upholding international law; maintaining international peace; providing humanitarian aid where needed and protecting human rights.

The UDHR was key to establishing a common understanding of the rights and freedoms that should be enjoyed by all of humanity and was written in a spirit of humility, global cooperation and hope that the future would be better than the past.

Article 26 of the UDHR states that: “Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms”. It calls on signatories to promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among nations, racial or religious groups and to further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.

It remains a pertinent and powerful statement that underpins the work of Amnesty International and others in human rights education (HRE). Indeed, our HRE model emphasises the development of knowledge (learning about human rights and human rights mechanisms), the development and reinforcement of attitudes and behaviours which uphold human rights and skills to take action, and the acquisition of skills to apply human rights in a practical way in daily life and taking actions to defend and promote human rights.

Amnesty’s last published report shows that globally 4.1 million people from 61 countries and territories were reached through our HRE activities. It shares stories of transformation from across the planet brought about by people learning about rights and how to claim them. HRE is a core part of some nations’ curricula and a feature of national educational policy. In other countries, it inhabits an informal space on the periphery of the mainstream.

Human rights education is not just another tick-list item

But HRE is not just another tick-list item to be ‘embedded’ or bolted on. Rather, it offers a philosophy and a rationale for key elements of a purposeful and inclusive curriculum. Approaching equality, diversity and inclusion on the basis that all humans have rights gives a framework for exploring thorny issues. Thinking about safeguarding risks as violations of human rights enables discussion beyond general principles.

HRE offers a solid basis on which to ground an enrichment curriculum which empowers learners to become more active citizens. Amnesty youth groups were established in FE colleges in 2023 as part of a pilot project to act on issues of importance to them. At one college, local street lighting was poor, making learners feel unsafe as they came and went. The Amnesty youth group wrote to councilors and won support for their cause. When the lighting was upgraded, learners’ actions were clearly beneficial to the college community and, perhaps more importantly, students learned that they could bring about positive change.

In 2024, Amnesty UK intend to increase our partnership with Further Education. As arguably the most comprehensive form of education nationally, Further Education in all its forms is well placed to help people from multiple and diverse backgrounds gain the knowledge, skills and confidence needed to promote and protect their rights and the rights of others.

We would love to see HRE being delivered throughout FE across the UK. As a starting point, we want to hear from FE professionals, so that we understand where opportunities lie and what the appetite is to make our vision a reality.

We are calling on FE professionals of all kinds to participate in our national consultation, beginning with completing the survey below. We want to hear from teachers, assessors, coaches, managers and leaders from adult education, local authorities, colleges and independent training providers.

The survey will be open until 29 February and we will then follow up with a series of roundtable events. It is a short, multiple choice questionnaire, but it is an important first step in shaping our approach to the sector and its needs so that we can support you to deliver on those high ideals first given voice to 75 years ago.

Access the survey here

London mega-college staff cut short strike action over workload agreement

Staff at London’s biggest college cut short their strike action this week after college leaders agreed to union demands over workload.

Bosses at Capital City College Group (CCCG) met with University and College Union (UCU) representatives on Wednesday following three days on the picket lines last week protesting pay and rising workload.

Workers had planned to strike every day this week but paused action from Monday ahead of the meeting with the college on Wednesday. Last week, staff went on strike for three days.

The London-based college agreed to the union’s demand of a maximum class size of 22 learners instead of the proposed 25 per class.

A workload committee will also be set up to devise a policy to deal with the increase in teacher workload.

College leaders also agreed to honour the number of teaching weeks to 36 weeks for staff on City and Islington College contracts. 

Workers on the Capital City College Group contract will have to teach for 37 weeks per academic year but according to UCU, these staff members will get time off in lieu, meaning they will not be working over their contractual 850 hours. 

“[This] would’ve been the case as it stood before the dispute,” a UCU London region spokesperson said.

“Management refused to accept that duties like interviews, parents’ evenings, open evenings and taster days should be included as part of their global hours, which they had done so in the past. Therefore, staff would be working over their contractual hours,” they added.

“The agreement reached was that these duties would be included in overall global teaching hours. Time off in lieu (TOIL) will be granted to all staff undertaking these duties.”

A CCCG spokesperson said: “Following a meeting between Capital City College Group and UCU representatives yesterday [January 24], the dispute has now been resolved. 

“The Group is pleased that UCU was willing to pause their planned action on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning to enable a constructive discussion to take place. It is hoped that in the future agreement can be reached without the need for industrial action.”

They added: “Following the meeting this week and to reach a resolution we have agreed to implement the maximum class sizes which had already been agreed in 2022 and to ensure that teacher workloads are monitored on an ongoing basis.”

Continued pay dispute

College staff walked out in November for three days over pay and workload. The dispute continued into the new year when staff walked out for three days last week.

This was disputing the workload issues described above, as well as the college’s offer of a pay award between 4 per cent and 6.5 per cent, beginning from January 1 this year, and a £500 one-off payment on top.

The union said the offer goes against the Association of Colleges’ recommendation last September of a 6.5 per cent pay award from the start of the 2023/24 academic year.

A spokesperson from UCU London region said: “will be setting out soon their campaign for nationally binding agreements on pay and conditions. 

“If managements across the sector refuse to agree to national binding agreements UCU will continue to defend its members’ pay and conditions at a local level.

“UCU at CCCG will also continue to oppose senior management intransigents who seem to prefer conflict rather than finding resolution of real concerns in the way the group is managed.”

A CCCG spokesperson added: “The 2023/24 pay award for all CCCG staff ranged from 4 per cent to 9 per cent, with part of the award unconsolidated and the larger part consolidated. This action is primarily linked to workload, namely class sizes and the number of teaching weeks. We hope UCU will work more constructively with us to resolve these matters.”

Ofsted tightens inspection early warning alert loophole

Ofsted has shaken up how and when inspectors access provider websites after FE Week sister title Schools Week exposed a loophole that offered advance notice of visits to those who monitored their website downloads.

But the watchdog this week refused to give more details, apparently fearing doing so would allow schools, and other education settings, to identify other ways to predict inspections.

Last year, website provider Greenhouse School Websites claimed to have “developed an algorithm to accurately tell when Ofsted are looking at your school website.” It signed up thousands of its clients, though some opted out when approached about the scheme.

Further investigation revealed the use of such practices was widespread and an open secret, with discussions on IT forum Edugeek about setting up an “Ofsted early warning” system dating back as far as 2015.

At the time, inspection teams were understood to look at key information documents from websites between two and 14 days before inspections.

By monitoring who was downloading documents, schools were able to work out if this was an inspector.

The inspection system is built on the principle that education settings should only be told about inspections in the relevant notice period, up to two working days for FE and skills.

Minister says Ofsted has ‘made changes’

When pressed about Schools Week’s investigations this month, schools minister Damian Hinds revealed Ofsted had “made changes to its processes around how, and when, inspectors access school websites.” 

It is understood this means documents are downloaded much closer to “the call” informing schools they are due to get an inspection. 

Ofsted is “also continuing to consider proportionate technical options to hide or disguise its access to websites prior to an inspection,” Hinds added. 

FE Week understands this includes the use of virtual private networks (VPNs).

Ofsted said the changes were “intended to stop schools from monitoring website traffic, we won’t be putting specific details about them in the public domain.” 

Professor Colin Richards, a former senior inspector, said Ofsted and DfE “have clearly been embarrassed” by the investigation “and are afraid to give anything away – even at the cost of a lack of transparency.” 

But Frank Norris, another ex-inspector and senior manager, said he understood why they “don’t want to alert schools to how they might be able to avoid website searches undertaken by inspectors being detected.”

The Department for Education also refused to say whether it had carried out a formal investigation into the practice when alerted to it last year. 

Former schools minister Nick Gibb had warned monitoring could “cause unnecessary pressure and add to workload for staff.” 

James Bowen, assistant general secretary at the NAHT, added the use of alerts was “further evidence that the impact and significance of Ofsted inspections has gotten out of hand.” 

Improve apprenticeship outcomes with City & Guilds: Supporting you for success

Giving people an opportunity to earn and learn, as well as filling skills gaps faced by many industries, it’s well-known that apprenticeships offer huge potential to transform both industries and lives.

However, despite their potential, apprenticeships suffer from high-non completion rates with nearly half of all apprentices dropping out before completing their programmes.

Over two-thirds of early leavers cite issues with training quality and support. The government has set out targets to address issue and to increase apprenticeship achievement rates to 67 percent by 2025, encouraging providers to analyse performance and boost retention. The St. Martin’s Group, in their Apprenticeship Outcomes and Destinations report and recently released Enabling Better Outcomes report, identified that direct support from providers and employers is vital for apprentices to succeed.

Supporting you to secure apprenticeship success at AAC

At City & Guilds, we believe that by working together we can secure apprenticeship success, and we are here to support you at every stage of the journey from onboarding through to end-point assessment (EPA).

We are looking forward to an action-packed two days of talks and workshops at AAC in Birmingham on Monday 26 and Tuesday 27 February 2024. We’ll be exploring topics including:

  • Funding and policy updates – what’s happening with apprenticeships
  • Driving learner success and preparing for EPA in Leadership & Management
  • Closing the digital skills gap through apprenticeship delivery
  • AI in Education: Navigating myths and realities for better apprenticeships
  • Driving success and preparing for EPA within the engineering sector

Access the full schedule here.

Our team will also be at Stand A51 to answer all your questions about delivery support, policy, funding and the evolving landscape of apprenticeships. Whether you are a provider looking for further support to ensure your apprentices’ success, or an employer looking to optimise your apprenticeship programmes, please join us to gain valuable insights and new perspectives.

More apprenticeship support: Guidance and best practice for providers

To help you maximise the success of your apprenticeship outcomes from start to finish, we have also created an apprentice success guide aimed at providers. In the guide we identify some of the key challenges that contribute to apprentice withdrawal at different stages of the journey and share practical tips to help you and your teams overcome them.

The guide includes expert advice on:

  • How to develop a clear onboarding plan and learning structure for your apprentices
  • How to overcome common challenges on-programme and ensure your apprentices develop the knowledge, skills and behaviours to succeed
  • How to help your apprentices prepare for end-point assessment
  • Additional support resources to help you plan ahead at each stage of the apprenticeship journey

Download City & Guilds’ apprenticeship success guide