Westminster Education Forum – Over 100 UTCs by next election, says Lord Baker

England could have more than 100 University Technical Colleges (UTC) up and running by the next general election, according to Lord Baker of Dorking.

“We’re going to have a considerable number of UTCs over the course of the next few years,” Lord Baker said.

“Possibly, by the next election, more than 100 will be approved…and most of them will be open by then.”

Lord Baker, co-founder of the Baker Dearing Educational Trust, used the conference to propose a new educational system consisting of four college types, available to all students from the age of 14.

The proposed model included liberal arts colleges, focused on traditional academic subjects “rather similar to the grammar school curriculum”, as well as the emerging UTC model.

“You would then have sports, performing arts and creative arts colleges,” Lord Baker said.

“The fourth, I think, should be a career college.”

Lord Baker said the UTC model was a rare chance for businesses and employers to try and influence the curriculum.

“Industry has never had that chance before,” he said.

“I’m fed up with industrialists always complaining how awful the English educational system is – well now they have a chance to actually shape it in a way which they want it to be shaped.”

He added: “That is revolutionary.”

The UTC concept challenges the age at which students leave school and the point at which they begin to receive vocational training.

Ian Pryce, principal and chief executive of Bedford College, said: “Most schools have shown themselves to be useless, and I mean that, useless, at vocational education.

“They damage the brand.”

Mr Pryce added: “It may even be a word that’s tarnished as a result of that.”

Delegates were given an insight into the operation and learner outcomes of the UTC model by Jim Wade, principal of The JCB Academy in Staffordshire.

Mr Wade said many students think of the UTC as a fresh start, having previously been “discontented” with their experience in education.

“Quite a high percentage of our youngsters have dyslexia as a specialist educational need, and are of average ability,” Mr Wade said.

“A key factor about them though, is that they tend to be slightly discontented with their previous school experience.”

He added: “They see the academy as a second chance to make their education a success.”

I’m fed up with industrialists always complaining how awful the English educational system is”

Nineteen UTCs have been approved so far, although a further 27 were submitted for the second round of applications last week.

“They are of a very high standard indeed, right across the country,” Lord Baker said.

“There will certainly now be more than 24.”

UTCs cater for students between the age of 14 and 19, relying on relationships between both universities and employers to support the curriculum.

Each UTC specialises in one or two technical fields, but also caters for a broad range of general subjects including English, mathematics, science, a modern language, humanities and sport.

“There should be a rounded education,” Lord Baker said.

“Not just a specialist education, a much more rounded one for the student than they would get taking a course at an FE college.”

Dr Susanne Wiborg, head of lifelong learning and comparative education at the institute of education, said UTCs were a chance for the government to try and fix some of the problems associated with vocational training.

“The coalition is trying to shake up the education landscape in England through the academy and free school programme, and now also the UTCs,” Dr Wiborg said.

“The history of vocational and education training in England is long and troubled.”

She added: “It is clear for the government that many aspects of it still need fixing.”

Doncaster College rewards its staff

James Vernon has become the first recipient of the Professional Recognition Award by Doncaster College to its staff.

The Awards were launched in late 2011, to recognise the professional contribution that staff make towards the work of the college. The award will be given three times a year so a member of staff will be honoured once a term.

Mr Vernon (23), a field support engineer from Central IT Services, has won the award for the autumn term.

Nominees said Mr Vernon was “patient, empathetic and always pleasant and professional when helping people, regardless of how busy he is. He always takes time to listen and will go out of his way to find a solution and provide feedback.”

Mr Vernon, from Westwoodside, near Doncaster, has worked at the college for 11 months, said: “It was an honour to be the first to receive the Award and I’d say to anyone who wants to win it just do what you enjoy otherwise you won’t put the effort in.”

Labour leader takes tour of Harlow College

Labour party leader Ed Miliband used a visit to Harlow College to call for the creation of more apprentices.

Mr Miliband said: “Britain needs more apprentices. Any contract that government is awarding to a major employer should be on the condition that they provide apprenticeships.

“It’s a simple, basic thing. But, frankly you’re not being a good citizen as a business…you’re not being a good business, if you think you can get a government contract and not provide apprenticeships, not help train the next generation. You’ve got to show your responsibilities.”

Mr Miliband also enjoyed a short tour of the college, escorted by apprentice student Michael Travers, and full-time catering student, Georgina Georgio. He visited the college’s hairdressing and beauty department and then went on to visit students in the science laboratories.

Mr Miliband’s visit concluded with a Q&A session. His audience was made-up of Harlow College students and staff, local business people and community leaders.

Ben Murray (21) an engineering apprentice introduced Mr Miliband to the audience. Ben said: “I was pleased to be asked to do this, you have to take these opportunities when they come.”

As Mr Miliband took the floor, he said; “Thank you for having us. This is a fantastic college.”

Westminster Education Forum – NAS to drive out poor quality and rogue providers

The chief executive of the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) has warned “all will be lost” if the sector fails to tackle poor quality apprenticeships.

“In terms of quality, it’s all very well to gain market share, and grow the programme, and grow it to record numbers, but if we’re undermining the prestige and the view of whether this really is a quality pathway, then all will be lost,” Simon Waugh, chief executive of the NAS said.

Mr Waugh, who is set to leave his post in March, said short duration apprenticeships were doing a “huge disservice” to the apprenticeship brand.

He said: “There are, as we’ve grown, issues emerging around some of the quality around that delivery.

“There has emerged in the last 12 months, some apprenticeships that have been counted and asked from a provider, the money for an apprenticeship that lasts 12 weeks.

“It cannot be an apprenticeship in 12 weeks for 16 to 18 year-olds.”

He added: “It is doing a huge disservice to the brand.”

Mr Waugh, speaking at ‘The future of 14-19 vocational education in England’ conference held by the Westminster Education Forum last week, said it was a “challenge” for the NAS to drive out rogue providers.

“When we find poor provision, a lot of it is, why isn’t NAS doing something about it?

“That to me is like someone being mugged in the street and saying why weren’t the police there to stop it?”

Mr Waugh also said he agreed with the concerns of FE Week surrounding rebranded Train to Gain courses.

“We have a lot of work to do in terms of further developing frameworks, but actually I think that Nick Linford and FE Week, I know one of his big concerns are things that were NVQs and Train to Gain being badged as apprenticeships, and we’ve got to stop that happening,” he said.

Mr Waugh was joined by Peter Cobrin, national education director at notgoingtouni.co.uk, Bill Fearon, principal and chief executive at K College, Tony Ellender, training manager at Balfour Beatty Construction Northern and Ross Varnam, former apprentice and silver medallist at WorldSkills London 2011.

Mr Cobrin was keen to emphasise the lack of high quality information, advice and guidance about apprenticeships available to young people.

“We are not winning the war about how good apprenticeships are,” Mr Cobrin said.

“There is no quality information, advice and guidance on apprenticeships, and Michael Gove has abandoned this territory totally.”

He added: “I challenge the FE colleges who do have those industry connections and the awareness of the real world of work, to step up to the mark and start channelling quality information advice and guidance about apprenticeships over the heads of schools if necessary.”

It cannot be an apprenticeship in 12 weeks for 16 to 18 year-olds”

Mr Waugh seemed to agree in his opening speech, saying the first priority was to ensure the public was sufficiently aware of the apprenticeship pathway.

“If you look at the key stakeholders, starting off with young people – are they interested in it, do they know anything abut it?” Mr Waugh said.

“Also educationalists, the schools and everyone else that will be advising and talking to young people and their parents about what the route may be.”

He added: “You’re very unlikely to buy a product from a company you’ve never heard of.”

Mr Fearon said that despite the concerns surrounding short duration apprenticeships, it was up to colleges to “accentuate the positives” about vocational training.

“I don’t believe that our current system is dysfunctional,” Mr Fearon said.

“I think there are issues and problems, and the devil is in the detail and we need to address those, but I think it’s the responsibility of stakeholders to accentuate the positives about our system and to truly make the best of it.”

Mr Waugh also called for greater credibility from colleges and training providers.

“Does it really deliver value for the employer on one side, because these are real jobs, not just a bit of training and a bit of work experience.

“These are real jobs, with definitive, training and up-skilling through an apprenticeship, and if therefore it doesn’t really deliver for employers, real added value to their business, we will never create it as an alternative mainstream pathway.”

The apprenticeship debate was followed by a panel on vocational qualifications generally, including Colin Booth, principal at Barnsley College, Kate Shoesmith, head of policy and corporate affairs at City & Guilds, Janet Felkin, headteacher at Blatchington Mill School and Sixth Form College and Simon Perks, team leader of policy development at Ofqual.

 

Further Education: the heart of post 14 learning?

When Professor Wolf published her report in March 2011 she made a number of key recommendations that would crystallise the role of further education colleges in becoming a real option for young people at 14.

Of course the caveats that there should be a focus on quality, that the curriculum should be balanced with meaningful academic and vocational qualifications being studied, and that parents and students should know about the equivalencies all applied. But ostensibly this was a report to be welcomed within the sector.

The Hull College Group has been expanding its role in delivering high quality education to young people from age 14. In an average week the group of colleges, across Hull, Goole and Harrogate engages some 1500 14-16 year olds in learning.

Inevitably the college caters for those young people who for a number of reasons have decided that school is not for them; but is increasingly becoming a real option for young people to select as a full time route and is not a last chance opportunity.

In 2011 the college welcomed almost 80 year 10 pupils full time from the east of the city of Hull, following the planned closure of their secondary school. In partnership with the local authority the college has developed a diverse range of academic and vocational programmes for this group of students.

The students, who have branded themselves the ‘Energy League’ linked to the Humber’s focus on renewables, engage in all of the core national curriculum subjects as well as having been able to select a vocational option of their choice. When asked, Energy League students described their experience as ‘awesome!’.

The students in the Energy League however are not registered at the college since there is ambiguity in the legal framework for registering students pre-16; something we hope the Department for Education will make a positive announcement on imminently.

The Group will be opening a Studio School on its Hull site in September 2012, creating opportunities for even more young people to experience this rich, but balanced learning offer.

The Group expects this to widen opportunities and choices for alternative full time learning routes at 14; young people currently have this choice reserved until they reach 16.

Are these the approaches Wolf had in mind when she recommended that colleges should be enabled to enrol young people pre-16, offering them a full key stage four programme?

Studio schools will provide a great opportunity for young people at 14 to engage with a curriculum focusing on employability, work placed learning alongside a focus on core GCSEs in English and Maths. It sounds very closely aligned to the role that many colleges play in their community already.

Arguably, as we expect young people to remain in learning for longer, we should equally enable them to choose their pathway much sooner, increasing the opportunity for that choice to have maximum impact.

The studio school will be a separate arm of the college, with its own legal structure; but will of course be able to benefit from the excellent physical facilities and shared services on site.

The Hull College Group welcomes the 157 Group report on information advice and guidance and hopes that emerging policy will fully take account of the need for all young people making life changing choices have the information they need to do so.

We’re confident with the right information and our existing track record in delivery, young people will definitely see their local FE college as their first choice at 14 full-time.

Gary Warke is deputy chief executive and deputy principal of Hull College Group

A chance for change at Skills Funding Agency

The announcement of the retirement of the head of the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) and the head of the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) on the same day is a remarkable co-incidence.

Those inclined towards conspiracy theories may read more into it and see it as a clear sign of impending reorganisation; a merger of the two bodies perhaps or some significant transfer of functions.

Even if it is just a coincidence, however, it is still a useful one since it gives an opportunity to think about reconfiguring as well as reappointing.

There are several reasons why some reconfiguration might be on the agenda. Firstly, the apprenticeship programme exists in a pretty cluttered landscape. The basic programme involves two departments of state and two overlapping quangos in the SFA and NAS: consideration of pre-apprenticeship programmes must involve a third quango – the YPLA.

Higher apprenticeships bring in HEFCE and will on current policy involve the student loan company as well. As the 157 Group has pointed out, a young person could work with the same college and same employer from pre-apprenticeship to a higher apprenticeship programme, but their progression would involve seven different funding agencies – the two departments and their five non-departmental bodies.

Reorganisation might also be driven by valid grounds for concern about the current delivery of the apprenticeship programme. An enthusiasm to meet targets has clearly overridden a concern to focus apprenticeship funding where it matters. It must be wrong that a majority of apprenticeships for young people last for less than 12 months; the rapid expansion of short programmes for existing adult employees in areas such as retail and customer care risks doing serious damage to the apprenticeship brand. Those responsible have been slow to pick up and challenge so-called apprenticeships that do not involve real employment. Yet the tangled landscape of public bodies means that between the minister, his department, the SFA and the NAS it is difficult to determine exactly who is responsible for these shortcomings. We can anticipate the forthcoming select committee enquiry will struggle to do so.

A merger of the SFA and NAS would be one step towards simplifying the system but it is not ideal. There is a strong argument that current difficulties derive in part from putting a programme that should be about progressing young people into skilled employment into a quango focussed on adult skills. The problems with adult apprenticeships closely resemble those of the Train to Gain programme or the Employer Training Pilots or indeed the earlier experiment with Learning Accounts – too great a concern to achieve rapid growth in numbers with too little concern over the value of what was offered to the trainees and too little concern with value for money for the taxpayer. The SFA and its predecessor bodies ‘have form’ on this issue as they say.

Perhaps the answer therefore would be to be more ambitious and combine both SFA and NAS with HEFCE. As well as potentially making it easier to develop higher apprenticeships, combining all three BIS agencies in this way gives scope for some internal realignment distinguishing initial education and training from continuing education for adults. On the one side there could be full time higher education, full time FE and apprenticeships, reflecting Alison Wolf’s view that apprentices are essentially students in a work based setting. On the other there would be upskilling or re-skilling for adult employees, whether delivered through FE colleges, higher education institutions, or, as is currently fashionable, through employers.

Initial education and training would focus on giving young people a broad base of skills and knowledge to equip them for a lifetime of work; continuing education would focus on skill shortages and employers’ more immediate concerns. Initial education would be funded by a mixture of grants and loans applied on a consistent basis across all levels; and continuing education would be largely co-funded and increasingly owned and funded by employers themselves.

Conspiracy theorists should keep a close eye on HEFCE.

Mick Fletcher is a Consultant on Further Education

The meaning of freedom

Colleges and other providers are promised significant new freedoms by the coalition government in the way they are governed and managed. So, what does this mean in practice? For example, if colleges are free and can have whatever governing arrangements they like, where does that leave capital assets and to whom do they belong if the college goes bust?

We will be holding a range of conversations with principals and chairs of governors in the coming months to flesh out what “freedom” means, consider the limits of what can be done and explore the options for change.

Do providers go for mutualisation, joint governance, retaining the status quo or a form of governance yet to be envisaged? There are so many possibilities for freedom around and we know a whole set of possible governing arrangements will spring up. In partnership with the AoC, the 157 Group and NIACE, we will help providers find the best way forward. We will also scrutinise what’s working and what is not working.

Some things are, or should be, a given in exchange for those freedoms and some of these are spelled out in NIACE’s recent report Colleges in their Communities. How do colleges and others engage the community, decide what is required and design what is needed?

One key role of governors after all is to look after the community assets – the fabric, buildings and learning provision – protect them for future generations and make best use of them now.

There will be others around the table in the conversation including the AELP. It could be argued that although the college is the biggest player in the community, it might want to cede a particular area of work to a training provider. There will be a lot of horse-trading to do and the overriding aim must be to drive up performance by having each organisation focus on the bits they do best.

Some colleges are already doing this; for example, they might concentrate on the vocational and hand A-levels to schools and Sixth Form Colleges. There is evidence that the generalist approach to FE doesn’t necessarily work well and so, with the help of John Hayes, the FE and skills minister, we will be looking further at the definition of adult further education. We have already seen excellent examples of community focus in areas such as Oldham and Luton.

However, this raises an interesting question of, who is accountable for what? If all providers specialise in what they do well, the danger is that the most problematic or specialist bit doesn’t get done. How do we retain the broadest choice of provision the government expects of us working together? Which is why LSIS is engaged in these conversations – to help providers work together in determining what stages they need to go through, reconsider their future role and improve their understanding of what a community needs. This will help them define more clearly their role and decide what they are best-placed to provide.

This gives us a chance to connect and to:
• understand the new freedoms
• talk to other governors about how freedoms can be deployed
• do it side by side with chief executives
• put community, voter, citizen at the heart of the service
• learn from other professional practices and
• give providers the chance to open up their doors

There will be different answers in different places and our job will be to help colleges and other providers through and point where others have had a go and succeeded. We have already kicked things off with research into the different range of organisations and understanding what is happening at the moment. The AoC is just completing research into community engagement. New ideas are burgeoning such as the creation of the entrepreneurial college enshrined in the recently-formed Gazelle Group.

It is important when considering change to allow colleges and other providers, within reason, to move at their own pace. We are in a world where some move faster than others, some are middling, while others are late adopters. We will find that some of the things people attempt don’t work. It is just as important to identify what doesn’t work as what does. Also geography matters; things will work in some areas but not in others.

There is a big role working with governors. If we can demonstrate that working in a more collegiate and collective manner results in overall improvement, that will be a good message. However, we have to recognise that it may not always be so; others may find a more centralised and highly focused approach can deliver.

As to the timescale, we will want to see the sector taking freedoms up throughout 2012-13. However, it’s a long haul and needs the policy stability promised by the Government in New Challenges, New Chances, its response to their consultations with the sector.

This will work if people believe it can happen. So we will constantly monitor and respond to developments, carry out research, disseminate the various models and support innovation. But above all, we won’t be “telling” people what to do because it’s not that sort of world any more.

Rob Wye is Chief Executive of the Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS)

AoC survey reveals a ‘worrying’ drop in low level learners

Worrying trends have been revealed in the recruitment of Level 1 and Entry Level students.

In their latest survey on 16-18 recruitment, the Association of Colleges (AoC) has found Level 1 learner numbers declined by 6.6 per cent and Entry Level figures by around 6.4 per cent on last year.

The data was collected from 231 institutions enrolling more than 530,000 young people aged 16-18. It shows overall 16-18 year old learner numbers in the sample declined by 1.78 per cent between 2010/11 and 2011/12.

However, the recruitment pattern was varied, with more than 41 per cent of colleges reporting an increase in enrolment numbers and around 59 per cent a decline.

AoC chief executive Martin Doel said the survey “gives us the most detailed picture yet of recruitment among colleges from September 2011 onwards and allows us to make some valuable conclusions”.

Mr Doel also said the autumn term recruitment drive of colleges “appears to have had a positive impact on enrolment” and that the decline of less than two per cent is consistent with earlier studies.

However, he added: “Worryingly, however, the trends related to Level 1 and Entry Level students that were identified in earlier versions of this survey, echoed in the latest statistics about young people not in education or training, continue.

“The drop in the number of students leaving school with low levels of qualifications starting at college this year has been the most dramatic, even if it has improved since the previous study.

“In addition, the decline is steeper in the most deprived areas of the country.”

“If these young people are not studying at college then they are most likely to drop out of education altogether because most schools do not provide the types of courses they need, and work-based learning routes like apprenticeships are closed to them.”

The task now, Mr Doel said, is identifying the reasons behind the figures.

Mr Doel added: “Although the recruitment picture is clearer it is, sadly, less obvious as to what is driving this decline in enrolments among those students leaving school with the least qualifications.

“Our members tell us that the loss of the Connexions service and the erosion of independent advice and guidance is likely to have had a significant impact, as have, say members, local authority transport cuts and the disappearance of the Education Maintenance Allowance.

“Students’ worries about employment prospects and higher education costs may also be a stumbling block to aspiration.”

In the meantime, Mr Doel wants the government to continue to work with the AoC and its partners to understand “cause and effect” in the behaviours of the age group.

He said: “In tandem, we believe that there is a need for a more co-ordinated policy programme across Government departments, predicated on robust research.”

Government publish FE Choices

Private providers ahead of FE colleges in government learner satisfaction survey.

Learners think private training providers listen and respond to their views better than general FE colleges, according to analysis by FE Week.

Private training providers outscored colleges in every category of the learner satisfaction survey, published online in the ‘FE Choices Publication of Outputs’, formerly known as the Framework for Excellence, by the Skills Funding Agency (SFA).

“Undoubtedly the ratings for independent providers are encouraging,” a spokesperson for the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) said.

“The high turn-out of our members at quality improvements events that AELP organises regularly across the regions in partnership with the likes of Ofsted and LSIS demonstrates that there is a real appetite out there to deliver a better service to both learners and employers.”

The biggest difference in views were for the learner satisfaction categories titled “listening to learners’ views” and “acting on learners’ views”. Private training providers had an average score that was 11 per cent higher than general FE colleges in both categories, based on learners at all age groups.

In particular, private training providers received a satisfaction score that was 13 per cent higher for learners aged between 16 and 18.

The AELP spokesperson added: “The ability to be flexible in response to employer and learner needs is certainly a hallmark of the provision that independent providers are offering. Learners also appreciate the close links that our members have developed with local employers, which obviously counts for a lot in the current economic climate.”

Learners aged between 16 and 18 gave private training providers a rating 10 per cent higher than FE colleges based on “how good or bad” they thought they were as an organisation.

In the same category, respondents at all ages gave private training providers a rating seven per cent higher than FE colleges.

A spokesperson for the Association of Colleges (AoC) told FE Week: “Colleges take the views of their students very seriously, indeed they run their own internal student satisfaction surveys throughout the year to garner such views.”

“The feedback information available on ‘FE Choices’ is another source of helpful information that can be used by our member colleges and other training providers and we know that individual colleges will be examining the data and thinking about how to further enhance their student experience, or satisfaction levels.”

The spokesperson added: “However, a single satisfaction score never tells the full story and does not provide a truly meaningful measurement.

“Great care needs to be taken when making comparisons of this nature, as FE Week are doing, as there are so many variables at play; for example, general further education colleges teach and train thousands of students of all different ages on a wide variety of courses, yet they may be being compared here with all training providers, some of which may only train small groups of 35 people.”

Learners rated private training providers eight per cent higher than FE colleges based on the “support” they were given on the programme.

Toni Pearce, vice president (Further Education) at the National Union of Students (NUS), said: “I think it’s important to take care when looking at these results, particularly when looking at the differences between different types of providers.

“The difference between private providers and colleges is not entirely surprising, as numbers and experiences between the two are often not comparable.

“It looks as though experiences of learners at colleges do appear to be more consistent.”

Learner satisfaction is a performance measure released as part of ‘FE Choices’ and based on a questionnaire of learners’ views.

Questions include the amount of information, advice and guidance given by a provider, the quality of teaching and learning and the learner’s overall satisfaction with the programme.

Geoff Russell, chief executive of the SFA, said: “The publication of FE Choices is an important feature of the government’s approach to working in partnership with the sector to develop a new sector-led FE Public Information framework.”

Private training providers also outscored general FE colleges in the employment rate data published in ‘FE Choices’.

The employment rate, the proportion of learners who completed a LSC-funded programme in 2008/09 and then entered employment by 2009/10, was on average 20 per cent higher in private training providers than in general FE colleges.

Questions have also been raised about the quality of the data published in the ‘FE Choices Publication of Outputs’.

Elmfield Training received an average employer satisfaction rating of 2.8 out of 10, despite receiving a seven for “Likelihood to recommend this organisation”.

A spokesperson for Elmfield Training said: “On reviewing the detailed information on the gateway we believe there is a problem with the survey data. We have alerted the Skills Funding Agency to this anomaly. They have assured us they will look into the matter.”

Click here for FE Week’s analysis of the numbers