Government figures show adult apprenticeships more than tripled

Figures published this morning show that the number of apprenticeship starts aged 25 and above has more than tripled, to 175,500 in 2010/11.

Provisional figures in the October 2011 Statistical First Release (SFR) show that whilst the number 0f 25+ increased by over 250% (from 49,100 to 175,500), all age apprenticeships starts increased 58% from 279,700 in 2009/10 to 442,700 in 2010/11. Excluding those aged 25+, the number of starts increased just 16% from 230,600 to 267,200 starts. Click here to download the figures.

Nick Linford, Managing Director of Lsect and Managing Editor of FE Week, said: “We had been expecting the 25+ apprenticeship starts figure to more than triple, so whilst many more than the Government had planned it comes as no great surprise.

“However, given that many of these learners will have already been in employment, it is inevitable that the Government will have tough questions to answer about value for money.”

The final quarter figures published today add to the the record 327,700 new apprenticeship starts that were reported between August 2010 and April 2011 in the June 2011 SFR (click here)

As a means of chasing government targets for expansion of apprenticeships, 25+ provision makes perfect sense.  In every other respect it is probably not a good idea and dilutes an already ‘confused’ apprenticeship brand/offer.”

Professor Ewart Keep, from Cardiff University, said that the figures will likely show a dilution in the apprenticeship brand.

“Post-25 age apprenticeships, in almost every other country, would be regarded as adult training/re-training, not as apprenticeships, as this term/form of training is restricted to initial Vocational Education Training,” he said.

“As a means of chasing government targets for expansion of apprenticeships, 25+ provision makes perfect sense.  In every other respect it is probably not a good idea and dilutes an already ‘confused’ apprenticeship brand/offer.  I have no problem with offering training/re-training to the post-25 age group, but it isn’t really an apprenticeship in any meaningful sense.”

The expected rise in adult apprenticeships has been attributed, in part, to the increasing number of training schemes being run at supermarkets.

In June, FE Week reported that Morrisons have started over 18,000 25+ Level 2 retail apprenticeships in 2010/11, nearly all of which are taken up by existing employees (click here).

Julian Bailey, Head of Media Relations at Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc, said: “We think apprenticeships are important for new and existing staff as a way of developing and enhancing skills.”

We have not been able to agree at this time any additional funding for new 25+ Apprenticeship starts.”

FE Week and The Mail on Sunday has also reported on Asda (click here), who plan to deliver 25,000 new apprenticeships to existing employees only.

Many of these employees are expected to be above the age of 25.

A wholly owned subsidiary of City & Guilds was allocated more than £8 million by the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) to deliver the apprenticeships at Asda.

A spokesperson from the SFA said: “We would hope that employers and providers do not move this extra resource into significantly expanding their Intermediate Apprenticeships (Level 2) for 25-year-olds and over.”

The Agency has hinted that they won’t provide any additional funding in an attempt to reduce the growth in 25+ apprenticeships.

A document published by the SFA in June (click here) states: “We have not been able to agree at this time any additional funding for new 25+ Apprenticeship starts.”

“Although we are aware that freedoms and flexibilities allow providers to move money within their Adult Skills Budget, we expect the providers who are awarded growth to spend this as per the business cases submitted with the account teams.”

It later adds: “We want the sector to continue to focus on growth for those aged 19-24.”

Mr Keep said that a key statistic in the SFR next week should be the ratio between the number of young people wanting an apprenticeship, and the number of actual apprenticeship places available.

“At present, demand seems to be outstripping supply at an alarming level,” he said.

“With youth unemployment rising, EMAs vanishing (so earning and learning may be the only way to fund skill acquisition) and the cost of HE going up, more and more young people will want an apprenticeship place.  The problem that the government faces is that employers are free agents, and provide as many or as few opportunities for training as they choose.  I see few signs that employers are rising to the challenge that has been set them.”

The coalition government has smashed apprenticeship targets by giving providers greater freedom over funding provision.

This in turn has fuelled the surge in apprenticeships for learners aged 25 and above.

John Hayes, Minister of State for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning said at the Conservative Party Conference 2011: “The government has put apprenticeships at the heart of our programme for skills. Apprenticeships are growing beyond labour’s wildest dreams.

“We’ve already delivered 100,000 new places and we will create 250,000 more apprenticeships over this parliament.”

Further analysis and a link to the SFR will be published in this weeks edition of the FE Week newspaper.

Related articles in FE Week (incl. info graphic ~ 11mb):

Adult apprenticeships benefit from Train to Gain funding

Hundreds of 12 week apprenticeships advertised on NAS website are ‘under review’

Short 12 week apprenticeships are off the menu

Remind me again why I pay the training budget of a $422bn company?

City and Guilds allocated more than £8m for 25,000 Asda Apprentices

Morrisons, Elmfied and the over 25 Apprentices

12 week apprenticeships still advertised

Will 12 week apprentices ever be derailed?

Latest apprenticeship policy slammed

NAS concerned about quality following rapid apprenticeship expansion

Concern at 12 week apprenticeships

External related links:

Guardian: Jobs rebranded as apprenticeships, government report warns

Guardian: Apprenticeship figures are not what they seem

Telegraph: Apprenticeships double but concerns over ‘chasing targets’

Mail on Sunday: The great apprentice racket: Some jobs fall short of skills as firms collect millions

Guardian: Big increase in apprenticeships due to ‘striking rise’ in trainees over 25

BBC Radio 4 In Business programme on supermarket apprentices

Poor vocational qualifications scrapped from performance tables by DfE

Vocational qualifications will not count in performance tables unless they’re high quality, the Department for Education (DfE) announced under new guidance today.

The changes mean that vocational subjects will only be included on a ‘one-for-one’ basis with academic qualifications from 2014.

The DfE hopes the new rules will stop schools from choosing subjects simply to  boost their performance table position, and prioritise student needs instead.

Under the new guidance, qualifications will only count if:

  • they offer pupils proven progression into a broad range of further qualifications or careers post-16, rather than narrowing students’ options
  • they are the size of a GCSE or bigger
  • they have a substantial proportion of external assessment and require students to use knowledge across their subject
  • they have grades such as A*-G (those with simple pass or fail results will be excluded).

Nick Gibb, Schools Minister, said: “We want to be sure that the vocational qualifications taken by 14-16 year olds genuinely lead on to further education and are valued by employers. No pupil should be preparing for a vocational qualification simply to boost the schools “GCSE or equivalent” score in the performance tables.

“These reforms introduce a systematic and fair set of rules that will determine which of the many thousands of qualifications taught in schools can be included in performance tables for 2014 onwards.

“They will lead to a boost in the quality of vocational qualifications being taken and will enhance the opportunities for young people to progress.”

The DfE says that they will publish a full list of qualifications that count towards performance tables in early 2012.

GCSEs, established iGCSEs and AS Levels are said to not be affected by the new criteria.

The announcement is in response to a report by Professor Alison Wolf’s on vocational qualifications, which found that the current performance table system enouraged schools to teach qualifications with the most points.

Professor Alison Wolf found that:

  • The number of so called “equivalent” qualifications taken in schools up to age 16 has exploded in recent years – from 15,000 in 2004 to 575,000 in 2010.
  • In 2009-10, 125,367 students achieved Level 1 (grades D to G) in so-called equivalent qualifications, up from 11,007 in 2003-04.
  • In 2009-10, 462,182 students achieved Level 2 (grades A* to C) in so-called equivalent qualifications, including BTECs, up from 1882 in 2003-04.

The DfE states: “Awarding bodies are still able to refine their existing qualifications offer before then. For existing qualifications too new to prove progression or take-up, there will be opportunities for awarding bodies to gather evidence for review. Awarding bodies whose qualifications fail the assessment and/or grading characteristics only, meeting the other characteristics, will have up to a year to redevelop them. There will be a two-year period where no brand new qualifications will be considered for inclusion in the performance tables.”

Anger over threat to legal status of student governors

UNISON have published a press release stating that “last-minute amendment to the Education Bill could remove the legal right to staff and student governors on further education college governing bodies”. Click here for the full text

The press release continues: “The amendment (83A*), which will be debated in the House of Lords today, was placed just two days before the final report stage of the Education Bill in the House of Lords. It would remove the legal, mandatory stipulation that further education governing bodies contained at least two student and two staff governors.”

Jon Richards, UNISON National Secretary Education and Childrens Services said:  “I am shocked at the way the government has tried to slip this amendment under the radar. The motive for doing this seems extremely suspect. It looks like an undemocratic attempt to remove college democracy.  This is not a necessary technical change as the government is trying to claim. They risk giving colleges the chance to remove the eyes and ears of staff and students from governing bodies. We are therefore calling on the government to withdraw the amendments.”

Toni Pearce, NUS Vice President said: “The long-standing tradition of requiring staff and student membership in college governance structures as well as parent membership in schools and sixth form colleges is incredibly important, and to remove it in this way, without any consultation would be extremely worrying. This change runs entirely counter to the governments expressed support for the existence of student and staff governors. The suggestion that this is merely a technical change simply does not hold and it is clear that there is no legal reason why this cannot continue to be a mandatory requirement. The government must urgently clarify whether or not a legal requirement for student and staff governors will be maintained. It is only too clear that a merely voluntary agreement is not good enough as it would allow student and staff representation to be removed on a whim.”

Sally Hunt, UCU General Secretary said: “These changes, if voted through, will increase the risk of mismanagement and corruption at colleges and make institutions less answerable to the public. Staff and students play a vital role in ensuring transparency and accountability and in highlighting bad governance when it arises. A voluntary code, as has been shown in numerous other industries, is simply not good enough. With the sector facing huge funding challenges it seems perverse to be pushing these changes through. Colleges benefit massively from the input of the people working at the coalface day in day out and should not just be able to remove dissenting voices.”

FE Week will be seeking comment from both the Government and the Association of Colleges today.

Education unions join forces to lobby over pension cuts

A petition opposing pension cuts was delivered to the Department for Education (DfE) by all seven education unions this morning.

The ‘Decent Pensions’ petition had more than 154,000 signatures from lecturers and head teachers.

Sally Hunt, General Secretary of University and College Union (UCU), said: “They’re angry, they’re hurt and they’re also frightened.”

Brian Lightman, General Secretary of Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: “The proposed cuts to pensions go too far, especially when there is absolutely no evidence that pensions are an unsustainable burden on the taxpayer.

“We hope MPs will put pressure on the Treasury to enter into open and genuine negotiations about reforms. If the government refuses to do this, many union members feel they will have no choice but to take industrial action.”

Nick Gibb MP, Minister of State for Schools said in response: “We are listening, we do understand, and that’s why we’re all negotiating openly and honestly.

“We want this full process to result in a high quality, with high benefits scheme that protects all the accrued rights which they (teachers) have built up over their careers, but is also sustainable in the long run.”

More than 1,000 teachers and lecturers from across the education sector lobbied Parliament today in a bid to stop cuts to their pensions.

Ian Cusack, Tyne Metropolitan College Branch Secretary (FE), was one of the lobbyists at Westminster, and said: “I don’t imagine that there will be any particular change, but I think it’s important to voice our disapproval to these changes that are being imposed on us.”

The proposed cuts to pensions go too far, especially when there is absolutely no evidence that pensions are an unsustainable burden on the taxpayer.”

Lecturers and college representatives arrived at Westminster with branded armbands, stickers and mini-placards. They slowly filed into Methodist Central Hall in the hope of meeting and discussing their concerns with MPs.

Gemma Charters, a lecturer at Liverpool Community College, said: “It’s an opportunity to get together with other teachers and express how disgusted we are with the proposed cuts to pensions.

“It’s an opportunity not just to be our own little isolated FE movement, but to be part of something bigger, part of teaching as a whole and talk about how dreadful we’re being treated.”

Under the new government proposals, contributions from lecturers in the FE sector will increase from 6.4 per cent to up to 9.8 per cent.

Ms Hunt said: “The reality is that the 3% hike which is being proposed by government is going nowhere near an individual’s pension scheme. It is going directly to the treasury to offset public sector debt, which has been incurred as a result of the financial crisis.

“People are being asked in the public sector and FE in particular, on top of an increased workload, and on top of very, very minimal pay rises which have not kept pace with inflation. “

All members of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) will pay an increased rate which is tiered depending on their full time equivalent salary.

Lecturers in FE who are at the start of their career are often on temporary contracts or working at more than one institution.

Staff earning less than £15,000 each year are meant to be excluded from the rise in pension contributions, but Ms Hunt said that they will “get hammered” instead.

We deserve a decent pension and a decent time to retire.”

Ms Hunt said: “Say I’m working in three different colleges, and between those I earn £14,000. Because I’m on a particular grade or scale, they’re looking at what the full time equivalent salary for each of those three would be which would bring me above £15,000.”

“We’ve got a lot of people at the beginning of their careers, which under the current government proposals are going to be doubly penalised in a way. That is going to make it very difficult for us to have a long term sustainable pension scheme for our members, because people simply won’t be able to afford to be in it.”

Teachers and lecturers are set to lose on average £1,145 a year by April 2012.

The retirement age will also increase to 66 between December 2018 and 2020, with the possibility of a further rise to 68 in the future.

Ms Charters said: “What will upset me most is probably the retirement age being upped as much as the increased contributions. Everyone in FE, we don’t get paid as much as other teachers and it is a stressful, difficult job. Upping the retirement age and contributions it’s going to put even more stress and strain on people who really don’t deserve it. We deserve a decent pension and a decent time to retire.”

The final salary scheme would be replaced by a career average scheme, meaning that teachers and lecturers would receive up to 40% less in their retirement.

Pensions will be calculated by retail price index (RPI) rather than consumer price index (CPI), which would mean that a £10,000 a year pension has already lost £150 this year.

Mr Cusack said: “I’m particularly worried about the increase in percentage contributions. The thing that upsets me is that I paid for over 20 years in a particular level of contributions with the expectation of a particular level of benefits, and that’s been changed significantly.”

Unions are committed to industrial action if they don’t made sufficient progress in their negotiations with government.

Ms Charters said: “Yes, of course I’d be willing to go out on strike. I’ve already been out on strike twice over this issue. And if it means after that we have to escalate to ‘all out, stay out’ then that might be what we have to do. But we’re not looking that much further.”

Mr Cusack added: “I voted yes for strike auction and I’m a believer in democracy, so if the union calls this then I will take a day’s strike and lose a day’s pay.”

The lobby was not only well attended, but organised, effective and without trouble. Parliament has now been warned that if they proceed any further without negotiations, they risk extensive strike action from staff in FE.

 

Short 12 week apprenticeships are off the menu

The government’s Data Service promised to publish apprenticeship recruitment figures for 2010/11 today at 9.30am. They did not disappoint, and in the spirit of all things short, within eight minutes FE Week published their analysis of the figures (click here).

Whilst the supplementary tables show the number of 16 year-olds starting apprenticeships rose just 1%  from 29,380 to 29,750, compare this to those aged 25 and over, which increased by 257 per cent from 49,140 to 175,500. This included a 396 per cent increase in 45-59 year-olds from 9,810 to 48,650 and 878 per cent increase in 60 year-olds and over from 400 to 3,910.

The figures also showed a 13 per cent increase in construction and engineering apprenticeships to 32,850. Compare this to customer service, retail and business admininstration apprenticeships, which combined increased by 81 per cent to 132,480.

Most impressively, retail apprenticeships are up 145 per cent to 41,390. Nick Linford, Managing Editor of FE Week, tells me that when John Hayes was boasting about the Apprenticeships numbers in the corridor at the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) Annual Conference, he said that he should thank Morrisons.

Digging beneath the ‘record growth in apprenticeships’ headlines and John Hayes telling parliament it is ‘a rosy day’, there linger plenty of questions concerning the role of the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) in shaping figures. Then there is the Skills Funding Agency, who have made it clear in their statements that the funding priority is for apprenticeships aged 16-24. So what is going on?

Of particular interest has been the rapid rise in very short apprenticeships, or what the National Apprenticeship Agency call ‘hot housing’. There is little doubt they are linked to the growth in ‘non-traditional’ service sector adult apprenticeships.

So, if you are new to the concept of a 12 week apprenticeship, lets get you up to speed with a potted history:

June 12th : Front page in the first edition of FE Week shouts: “Concern at 12 week apprenticeships”. The story details 12 week call centre apprenticeships delivered by Synapse (owned by Elmfield Training). A short time later the Synapse website simply stated: “we no longer deliver apprenticeships”.

The FE Week article also refered to the apprenticeships advertised in as few as 12 weeks, by the De Vere Academy, where they  plan to deliver 10,000 over three years.

June 21st : Simon Waugh, The Chief Executive of the NAS, presents a slide at the AELP Annual Conference, which says: “we still need to eradicate ‘low train’ and ‘hot-house’ delivery models.”

July 18th : The Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) makes a statement which said NAS will now be “accountable for ensuring quality and standards and securing value for money for public investment in apprenticeships. The underpinning services that will support these new arrangements are currently being finalised within the NAS and Skills Funding Agency and are expected to be in place by early autumn.”

August 30th : NAS publish a two page ‘Statement on the Quality of Apprenticeship Delivery Models’. This includes the sentence: “NAS will work with the Skills Funding Agency and look critically at Apprenticeships delivered in a condensed way.”

September 12th : FE Week reports on 12 week apprenticeships advertised on The Security Training School website, a sub-contractor to Leeds and Newham College.

September 19th : FE Week reports on 12 week apprenticeships in Level 2 Railway Engineering, advertised on the Train’d Up website.

October 18th : FE Week approaches NAS for comment regarding more than 700 vacancies on their website for 12 and 16 week Apprenticeships at the De Vere Academy.

October 21st : FE Week reports on the De Vere 12 week apprenticeships, including comment from NAS that 12 week programmes are now ‘under review’. NAS also write to both the Association of Colleges (AoC) and AELP regarding the review.

October 25th : NAS publish a statement on ‘short apprenticeships’, which says: “our priority will be to remove Apprenticeship funding from provision which fails to meet the required standard”. The statement goes on: “We have already indicated to De Vere that their programme does not meet the comprehensive standards for Apprenticeship programmes”.

October 27th : NAS publish a statement on Retail Apprenticeships, in which David Way, Chief Operating Officer of the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) said: “Where the quality of Apprenticeship delivery falls below the standard required, the Skills Funding Agency and the NAS will reform provision to comply”.

History lesson over for now, but plenty to consider and for NAS to resolve. Then there is tackling the lack of investment from the big employers delivering tens of thousands of adult apprenticeships to their existing staff. As I’ve asked before, remind me again why neither Morrisons nor Asda pay a penny for their apprenticeships? In all seriousness, I wish David Way the best of luck. Taxi for Simon Waugh?

Related articles in FE Week (incl. info graphic ~ 11mb):

Adult apprenticeships benefit from Train to Gain funding

Hundreds of 12 week apprenticeships advertised on NAS website are ‘under review’

Remind me again why I pay the training budget of a $422bn company?

City and Guilds allocated more than £8m for 25,000 Asda Apprentices

Morrisons, Elmfied and the over 25 Apprentices

12 week apprenticeships still advertised

Will 12 week apprentices ever be derailed?

Latest apprenticeship policy slammed

NAS concerned about quality following rapid apprenticeship expansion

Concern at 12 week apprenticeships

External related links:

Guardian: Jobs rebranded as apprenticeships, government report warns

Guardian: Apprenticeship figures are not what they seem

Telegraph: Apprenticeships double but concerns over ‘chasing targets’

Mail on Sunday: The great apprentice racket: Some jobs fall short of skills as firms collect millions

Guardian: Big increase in apprenticeships due to ‘striking rise’ in trainees over 25

BBC Radio 4 In Business programme on supermarket apprentices

Unionlearn launch dyslexia awareness campaign‏

Unionlearn, the education arm of the TUC, is launching a campaign to help employers understand more about dyslexia.

Events and assessments designed to help make workplaces more dyslexia friendly will take place during Dyslexia Awareness Week.

An online survey carried out by Unionlearn found that over half of their learning support representatives said workers with a learning disability had come across barriers while being trained for their job role.

Eighty per cent of representatives said they were aware of colleagues and workmates who had dyslexia, but almost two thirds had received no training in how to support them. 

One representative said: “Often dyslexia isn’t recognised for what it is. Managers seem to think that it is purely a difficulty with reading, when it can also lead to organisational difficulties.”

A series of documents will be provided during the campaign to help negotiate dyslexia-friendly polices with managers and HR staff, and there will be an information toolkit available online.

The British Dyslexia Association estimates that ten per cent of the population are affected by dyslexia and research has found that more than 50 per cent of them keep it a secret.

The awareness week runs from October 31- November 6 and there are lots of events going on around the country to celebrate individual achievements, and encourage nationwide understanding.

FE Week hits over 100,000 views

Since FE Week launched in early September our website has had over 100,000 page views. On average that means 2,131 visits to our site and article reads per day!

So far the FE Week team has delivered extensive coverage of key events, profiled influential figures, delivered exclusives and given expert advice.

By reporting from behind the scenes of FE, we’ve aimed to provide a newspaper that is connected with the sector’s most pressing issues.

Paul Head, principal of the college of Haringway, Enfield and North East London certainly agrees.

He said: “FE Week is really showcasing the best that FE has to offer and tackling in detail, the issues that affect our sector.”

FE Week now has a strong following that’s been growing every day. We owe a huge thank you to our readers for keeping the dream alive and can only hope our success is a sign of things to come.

Sixth-form funding expected to fall dramatically in next three years

Sixth-form spending is expected to fall by 15.8 per cent in the next three years, according to a report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).

The IFS estimates that the Department for Education’s (DfE) Deparmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) for sixth-form funding will drop from £2.4 billion in 2011-12 to £2.2 billion in 2014-15.

The report, titled ‘Trends in education and schools spending’, says that this is equivalent to a 17.6 per cent reduction in ‘real terms’.

A spokesperson from the DfE said: “Whilst we have had to make some difficult decisions in order to reduce costs and secure greater efficiency – including by removing the historic gap in funding between school and college funding – our priorities have been to protect funding for the core education programmes for young people as well as targeting more help and support on the students with greatest needs.”

They added that Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, didn’t dispute the figures in the report when interviewed on the BBC this morning (October 25).

The IFS report states: “It seems clear that spending on the education of 16- to 19-year-olds will receive a disproportionately large cut, as evidenced by planned real-terms cuts to all areas of spending in 2011–12 and expected cuts to sixth-form spending by 2014–15.

“These cuts will take place at a time when the education leaving age is due to start rising (from 16 to 18) from 2013, which is likely to make the pressures on individual providers even greater.”

The statistics were calculated using spending plans published by the DfE, the Young People’s Learning Agency (YPLA), and those in the Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses (PESA) and the 2010 Spending Review.

The IFS says that the figures are “not exhaustive”, but are “the most comprehensive assessment published to date.”

The IFS said they expected the total cuts to 16-9 edcuation to be “of a similar magnitude” to the 20 per cent spending reductions estimated for the early years and youth services.

Cuts to the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) was later attributed to the expected 4.1 per cent fall in total spenditure for 16-19 education in 2011-12.

Study on bureaucracy expected next month

A study on reducing bureaucracy in further education (FE) is due for release next month.

The study, conducted by the National Audit Office (NAO), will examine the efforts of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) to reduce the bureaucracy faced by FE colleges.

NAO say reducing bureaucracy is a key part of the approach to freeing up the sector and supporting structured cost reduction and they will “seek to assess if the Department’s plans, and those of its agencies, to reduce bureaucracy are likely to be effective.”

FE Week today spoke to NAO, who revealed the study will be released in November, subject to the timing of parliamentary recess.