Too few workers leaves childcare ‘revolution’ in peril

The early years sector is facing debilitating staff shortages. Jessica Hill speaks to sector leaders about how reforms to training could help, or hinder, flagship childcare reforms

Qualification reforms intended to train more early years workers could spell a “dumbing down” of the profession and will still leave the sector drastically short of the number needed to deliver the government’s landmark childcare plans. 

A vital element was missing when the chancellor announced plans for a childcare “revolution” in March. With 30 hours of “free childcare” proposed for working parents of every nursery-age child, there were nothing like enough early years staff to implement the plans. 

The entitlement will be introduced in stages: 15 hours from next April for two-year-olds and from nine months upwards from next September; then 30 hours for all under-fives from September 2024. 

The investment represents over £8 billion a year by 2027-28. But it comes at a time when workforce recruitment and retention in the early years sector “appears to have reached a tipping point”, according to the Local Government Association. 

Fewer than one in five nursery managers surveyed by the Early Education and Childcare Coalition said they could offer the extended “free hours” entitlement because of the recruitment crisis, with more than half of nursery staff considering quitting in the next year.

The early years sector is understood not to have been consulted ahead of the announcement.

To widen the recruitment pool in which childcare providers can fish, the Department for Education (DfE) is watering down early years qualification requirements and tweaking apprenticeship standards. But there are concerns these measures will reverse the substantial progress on the quality of provision made in the past 30 years. 

Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance

Will ‘revolution’ need a revision? 

Recruitment and retention is a problem across the public sector but it has been particularly devastating for early years settings. DfE data for 2022 shows 334,000 early years workers, down 10,000 (3 per cent) from the peak in 2019. Childminder numbers have fallen by one-fifth since 2019. 

In 2019, one in four parents asked by the department said the availability of local 0-4 childcare places was “not enough”; by 2022 it was one in three. 

The National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) said 651 settings closed in 2022-23, up 50 per cent on the previous year. 

The coalition report found that if all those children aged nine months to two years currently using informal childcare sought to move into formal childcare arrangements in light of the government’s plans, settings would need to boost places by 17 per cent and hire 38,726 more workers next year. A further 71,267 would be needed in 2025, of whom 43,042 would require level 3 qualifications. 

The DfE promised a national recruitment campaign earlier this year, but this has been postponed until January. 

Even before its childcare reforms are introduced, the recruitment crisis (and particularly the challenge of recruiting level 3 qualified staff) is already cited as a cause of a decline in the quality of staff. This comes as young children are showing increasing signs of complex needs and developmental delays, which require greater expertise. 

Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, warns that there is “a real risk that [the government’s plans] will result in a de-professionalisation of the workforce at a time when the need for quality care and education is as high as it has ever been”. 

No need for maths 

The prime minister recently described maths as being “every bit as essential as reading”. But, with more students failing GCSE maths this year (39 per cent, compared with 35 per cent in 2022), his government has been forced to row back on GCSE maths requirements for early years staff.

It recently pledged to remove the need for level 3 early years staff (excluding managers) to have level 2 maths to count in staffing ratios. 

Most (67 per cent) respondents to a recent consultation on reform of the early-years foundation stage statutory framework supported removing the maths requirement, which the government said “may have discouraged some practitioners from completing their level 3 childcare qualification”. 

The move was also welcomed by awarding body NCFE, which provides around 80 per cent of the qualifications. Julie Hyde, its director of external and regulatory affairs, described it as “hugely significant” as it would enable “many early years practitioners… previously unable to practise at level 3” to be “recognised in their rightful roles”. 

There are also calls for the government to go further. Hyde said the maths requirement should also be “removed from the apprenticeship rules, as it has already been with the T Level and other vocational full and relevant qualifications”. 

The Local Government Association is calling for the requirement for English GCSE to be dropped too, with some local authority leads suggesting that “not enough focus is placed on empathy or skills in working with children”, according to a paper to its board. 

But not everyone agrees with the direction of travel. Dr Iram Siraj, professor of child development and education at the University of Oxford and a judge of the 2024 Khalifa International Award for Early Learning, described scrapping maths requirements as a “dumbing down” of entry into the early years sector. 

“It is a really complex situation where all the government is caring about is shoving people into nurseries to do childcare when early education has been a huge part of the drive since the late 90s,” she said. “And we’ve been winning on that – this is a backward step.” 

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak

T Level troubles 

From 2024, nine early years qualifications will be defunded because they overlap with T Levels. 

On the face of it, the T Level in education and early years introduced in 2020 has been relatively successful. But Siraj warns there is still “poor understanding” in the sector as to what T Levels are and “what it means for the salaries and future” of those learners.  

Nevertheless, T Levels are slowly gaining traction. The number of students taking the early years qualification  more than doubled from 462 in 2021-22 to 989 in 2022-23. More students achieved a distinction or above (34.5 per cent) than in any other T Level subject. 

In Ofsted’s thematic review of T Levels this summer, “many providers” said the education and early years course had “significant similarities” to previously offered qualifications. It also praised providers for their creation and use of how providers had created early years classrooms and even sensory rooms. 

Hartlepool College targeted 12 learners when it rolled out the T Level in September 2023 and got 14. Its chief executive, Darren Hankey, said finding work placements – which has proven problematic with other T Level courses such as construction – had been “not too much of a barrier”. 

But others are less impressed with the qualification. Cheryl Hadland, founder and chair of Tops Day Nurseries, a group of 33 nurseries along the south coast, believes that selling T Levels to young people who want to work in nurseries is an “unforgivable thing” to do. She pulled out of the DfE’s consultation over the T Level because she felt it was “not fit for purpose”. 

Hers is one of five nursery chains on this year’s top 100 national employers of apprentices. She objects to how the two-year T Level qualifies students to run a nursery room, whereas her apprentices require “probably three and a half years’ worth of study and practice” before they can do the same. 

She said nurseries in the south-west now “don’t have enough apprentices”. This is “probably” because learners are taking T Level courses. Her message to colleges offering the qualification is: “please don’t, you’re taking our intake”. 

To T Level graduates applying for supervising jobs, her message is also clear: “Sorry, sweetheart, but you are not anywhere like ready. You can be, and we would love to support you, but […] you’ve used all your funding doing T Levels, so we can’t put you on an apprenticeship.” 

Dr Imam Siraj of the University of Oxford

Experience-based route 

As a result of recent qualification reforms and a proliferation of online courses, there is now some ambiguity around what qualifications are actually required to work in the sector. 

Concern around a “lack of clarity” was raised by the LGA, which decried the fact that “numerous training providers” make it “difficult to navigate who is offering high-quality training and who is not”. 

But things could get even more complicated because the DfE has just pledged to introduce an “experience-based route”. This would mean that those, for example, in the care sector could have their similar level 3 qualifications count as a childcare qualification. 

Three-quarters of consultation respondents agreed with the proposal, with some expressing “frustration” that, without a formal qualification, some “highly competent and experienced” staff members cannot be counted towards statutory staffing ratios. 

The department is also allowing students on long-term placements and apprentices to be counted in ratios at the level below their level of study, allowing trainees to “build more valuable experience so they can flourish in their early years career”.

For example, a level 3 apprentice judged by their manager to be performing well could count within the level 2 staff/child ratios. 

However, the DfE acknowledged there were “concerns raised around ensuring quality” as a result. 

Leitch said that the question of “which qualifications are considered ‘full and relevant’ by the DfE” – and will allow a member of staff to count in ratios – has “long been a cause of confusion for many in the early years sector”. 

He added: “All too often, we hear of educators spending time and money on courses and training, only to discover further down the line that the qualifications … hold little, if any, value in real terms.” 

Julie Hyde of NCFE

Apprenticeship reforms 

The DfE also hopes in the longer term to remove barriers to entering the sector by introducing new “accelerated” apprenticeship and degree apprenticeship routes, so that “everyone from junior staff to senior leaders can easily move into a career in the sector”. 

Changes are also afoot in the assessment of the early years educator apprenticeship. 

The proposed end point assessment changes to the standard by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) are prompting concerns from NCFE, as they would require face-to-face external assessment. 

At a time when the recruitment crisis means assessors are in short supply (or already overloaded), there are concerns that this would further strain the system by causing delays to apprenticeship completions. 

Siraj objects to more “on-the-job assessment” because it can be “a way of just getting people through qualifications, rather than ensuring that they had a more rigorous understanding of both child development and practice”. 

Funding calls 

More than anything, the early years sector says it needs more funding to attract the staff it needs. 

The government is boosting childcare funding rates this year and next, for which it is providing an extra £492 million. But the Institute for Fiscal Studies said the uplift fails to address previous years of underfunding. 

Siraj believes the reason early years staff are leaving in droves comes down to more than just money, however. 

“The sector is exhausted. People prefer not to have the stress of dealing with small children who aren’t toilet-trained and have behaviour issues. They are going to Asda and Tesco because life is just easier.”

Seven colleges scoop royal prize for further education

A record number of UK further education colleges have been awarded the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education.

Seven colleges were honoured this evening at a special reception at St James’s Palace, alongside 15 universities.

The awards, launched in 1994 and held every two years, are described as the “highest national honour in education” by organisers The Royal Anniversary Trust. Winning applications were signed off by the King on the advice of the prime minister.

Applicants must prove that they offer “very high quality and an example of the best the UK can do” in a particular subject, field or discipline, according to the trust.

No more than six colleges have been awarded the prize in any of the previous 14 award rounds. These latest winners bring the total number of UK colleges holding the prize to 59.

Sir Damon Buffini, chair of The Royal Anniversary Trust said: “The Queen’s Anniversary Prizes for Higher and Further Education are an integral part of our national honours system, shining a light on the ground-breaking work taking place in universities and colleges across the UK. 

“All 22 prize-winners demonstrate excellence, innovation and impact, with many tackling some of the toughest problems we as a society face today. They are to be commended for reaching this pinnacle of achievement in the tertiary education sector.”

Winners are presented with a silver-gilt prize medal, a certificate signed by the King, a special logo to use on college materials and are invited to an investiture presentation at Buckingham Palace.

Here is a run-down of this year’s college winners in England:

Loughborough College has been awarded the prize for its space engineering programme, run with the National Space Academy. Aimed at aspiring engineers, physicists and astronauts, the programme combines A levels in maths and physics with the BTEC national diploma in engineering to create a “unique and world-class” course for 16 to 19-year-olds.

Jo Maher, Loughborough College principal, said: “We are so proud to have received the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for our outstanding space engineering programme.

“Space engineering is our most academically demanding course and the destinations of our outstanding students are a testament to the success of this programme, which prepares them for the rigours of studying and working in the thriving aerospace industry.”

Bridgwater and Taunton College has been recognised as the first FE college to run nursing degrees in response to Somerset’s critical NHS workforce shortages.

Principal Andy Berry said: “By delivering nursing degrees right here in Somerset, we have not only expanded career horizons for our community but also made a significant impact on the health and wellbeing of our residents.

“This initiative demonstrates our dedication to meeting local workforce demands and retaining local talent.”

Also among this year’s winners is City College Plymouth for the work of its Centre of Higher Technical Innovation and Maritime Skills and its “international reputation for excellence” in the maritime sector.

Principal Jackie Grubb said she was “proud and delighted that the college’s expertise and commitment to developing skills has been recognised as an example of excellence”.

Hopwood Hall College and University Centre’s “trauma-informed approach” to widening participation has contributed to a growing number of traditionally disengaged and marginalised young people entering and succeeding in FE.

Principal Julia Heap said she was “so proud of the professionalism of our staff teams in embracing this nurturing framework and the impact it has had on widening participation for marginalised young people”.

She added: “This prestigious award only fuels our determination to keep removing obstacles to accessing education and making sure that all young people – regardless of the social and mental health issues that may have affected their life chances – have the opportunity to reach their potential and truly thrive.”

Plumpton College’s programmes for the English wine industry spanning nearly 40 years caught the attention of the selection panel. Courses now include apprenticeships, introductory wine academies, CPD courses and degrees. 

The college has its very own vineyard and winery, and its graduates produce “a real competitor to champagne and sparkling wines”.

Julie Dougill, chair of Plumpton College, said she was “deeply honoured” to receive the prize. “It is a testament to our unwavering commitment to excellence in wine training and education as leaders in this field,” she added.

Lakes College West Cumbria received the prize for its approach to training higher-level technicians in the UK’s nuclear and low-carbon sectors. The college said its “innovative and transferable” training model, accredited by the National College for Nuclear, is being used across a growing network of providers across the UK.

Principal Chris Nattress praised the “hard work, creativity, dedication and talent” of his staff, as well as “learners, employers and partners who continue to support us in our first-class endeavour”.

DfE ‘considering’ making sex education compulsory in colleges

The government is considering making sex and relationships education compulsory in colleges.

The Women and Equalities Select Committee called for the move in July, arguing that doing so would help more young people avoid “potentially harmful and dangerous situations”.

Currently, relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) is mandatory in secondary schools up to the age of 16.

The Department for Education today revealed it is now weighing up applying the same rule to post-16 education, in its response to the committee’s recommendations.

It considered 14 recommendations in total, most of which focus on universities and schools.

The select committee warned in July that the gap between 16 and 18 without RSHE means young people are “unsupported” and “less equipped” with important knowledge on relationships and sex issues.

It followed an inquiry by the select committee into sexual harassment in schools and colleges, after the MeToo movement emerged and after Everyone’s Invited, an online platform set up to document stories of harassment in education, went viral.

The July report warned a lack of compulsory RSHE after 16 “leaves young people making their first steps in the adult world under-supported and less equipped to navigate potentially harmful and dangerous situations and keep themselves safe and healthy in relationships”.

The committee did not, however, hear evidence on how this recommendation could apply to independent training providers.

There is wide agreement that RSHE is needed in colleges, but some sector leaders urged the government to support colleges financially so that they can offer that provision.

Geoff Barton, general secretary at the Association of School and College Leaders, said sexual harassment and violence is “treated as an extremely serious matter in schools and colleges”.

But he warned colleges had received “very little” in the way of support or training for teachers to teach RSHE, and that they “cannot fight this battle alone”.

A spokesperson for the Department for Education said all women and girls “deserve a safe environment, and we expect schools, colleges and universities to take immediate action against sexual misconduct or harassment”. They said they will consider how their guidance and support on delivering RSHE “can be strengthened” as part of the review.

AI and VR could divide or unite – and FE needs to lead the charge

The expectation of college leavers’ tech literacy has changed drastically in the past decade – even the past three years. Previously, a cursory mention of Microsoft Office on your CV was enough to suggest you were reasonably tech literate. Now, we live in a different world.

The usual assumption is that a young person’s tech skills are greater than those before them, as they are viewed as having grown up with tech. This assumption has several flaws.

To begin with, the reality of tech in the workplace is very different to the technologies young people encounter. Social media, messaging apps and gaming won’t get them far. Even when it comes to VR itself, there is a world of difference between a gaming application and its various workplace uses.

This assumption is also based on the idea that every young person has grown up with access to a smartphone and/or a PC as well as the time, data and guidance to explore a range of applications. Educators know that simply isn’t the case. Digital poverty is real. Across NCG (as at all schools and colleges) students from different backgrounds are at a very varied range of starting points. For some, tech is an enabler to education and the workplace. For others, it is a barrier.

For these reasons and more, it’s best not to make assumptions about any young person’s tech skills but to create a more inclusive space with a bottom-up approach to tech literacy.

From remote to virtual learning

Balancing inclusivity with innovation is a constant consideration. In the next five years, virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) are likely to take off in a big way. The biggest opportunity this presents is in making the inaccessible, accessible. They promise to mitigate the cost, health and safety, time and planning challenges of taking students to real work environments like construction sites, factories and labs and offering immersive experiences to all learners, no matter where they are.

At NCG, we’re using these technologies in subject areas like construction where site access can be dangerous and in the automotive sector where the switch from the internal combustion engine to the electric motor is in full flow but access to new, cutting-edge facilities can be challenging.

I sit at the ‘edtech fanatic’ end of the spectrum. I believe fervently that we need to prepare students for the future, not just for the here and now, and that VR/AR will help us do that.

However, we know we are working with a huge range of experiences, preferences and abilities among students and staff. The speed at which we deployed digital learning during lockdown was unprecedented and broadly successful, but not everyone thrives in a digital or remote environment.

Time for reflection

I can absolutely see a future where VR headsets, augmented reality and meeting in the metaverse are the norm, for both teachers and students. Some may see this as a threat to the traditional classroom situation. This is a valid feeling, and it is important to reassure everyone that these technologies are complementary. There will always be times when we ‘switch off’, to make time for face-to-face discussion and ideation, for finding sources of inspiration and using our imaginations.

Delivering this inclusive vision is a matter of small, incremental changes that offer time to pause and reflect. For us, a phased approach means building on blended learning first, for example by using 360 imagery and some immersive experiences from a desktop.

While we do this, we are mindful of workload implications. Indeed, one of the very reasons we are also exploring the adoption of AI is to reduce administrative time to support colleagues to upskill and develop their classroom practices. 

Because in the end, a considered, phased approach that takes everyone on the journey, will be critical to a successful digital transformation in education. If only there was a VR simulation of that near future that I could show you.

Amid struggling leadership and management, two FE colleges shine

There is no doubt that colleges up and down the country strive to provide a high quality and effective education that supports people to achieve their ambitions and their potential. While many of the ingredients that contribute to that service are obvious and much-debated – staffing, facilities, curriculum – the importance of leadership and management shouldn’t be understated.

The past few years have challenged and stretched leadership and management in the education sector. Adjusting to a completely different teaching style during the pandemic, and navigating ever tighter budgets has required ever stronger and more agile leadership and management, for both student education outcomes and for staff wellbeing. Yet despite the importance of the topic, further education colleges are conspicuously absent from leadership and management research.

That’s something we’ve been trying to address over the past few months. We have been exploring how people across the whole education sector rate the performance of management and leadership in their institutions, what their strengths and weaknesses are on those dimensions, and how best to tackle the inevitable pinch points.

Under strain

Leaders and managers set the culture of an organisation, make the plans for the future, and strongly influence the morale of their colleagues. We surveyed 455 education leaders, a mixture across junior, middle and senior management.

While overall our findings hold promise, there is a concerning tail of underperformance. The majority of those surveyed think that the senior leadership in their organisation is effective, but almost one in three said it was ineffective. Leaders and managers see the motivation and morale of their workforce as important for organisational success, but a little over a quarter feel their senior leadership is poor at motivating staff – a figure that rises significantly to one in three (35%) among FE colleges. Concerted effort is being made to improve, but obstacles remain including recruitment and retention of staff. Almost half of leaders and managers felt that their organisation didn’t perform well at attracting talent. 

Doing it well

Despite the difficulties that are experienced by a significant minority of leaders and managers, there is evidently a lot of good practice, and examples from which struggling institutions can learn. Two FE colleges – Oldham College and Exeter College – were flagged  for their best practice.

Both colleges have developed a strategic plan, with heavy staff input which helps ensure staff buy into the college’s vision. Both have also worked to develop their relationships with the wider community, including local employers.

Other elements for their success are similar in theme, but slightly different in execution. Oldham College has displayed continuous improvement, a core element of which involves staff development. The best-run colleges know that investing in staff means investing in the institution’s future. Ensuring leadership and management is baked into all continuing professional development programmes helps to build the leaders of the future. Acknowledging the importance of retaining staff, they have developed progression pathways across the college, particularly in areas where it might normally be more limited.

Exeter College arguably shows the next step in the leadership improvement journey, achieving and maintaining excellence.  Developing future leaders is a focus in Exeter, and this is done by involving more junior members of staff in developing and presenting strategic leadership plans. Staff are given the autonomy and space to manage, acknowledging that different departments will have different priorities, even while maintaining college-wide standards.

These case studies show that only by elevating skilled management to become a central plank of future education policy will we support an already strained FE system to deliver the success that students and teachers deserve.

How we’re helping people SWAP unemployment for NHS careers

Working at Weston College for two years has taught me that innovation is often the key to solving seemingly intractable problems.

One of the most pressing challenges we faced as I started, and which the entire country grappled with, was the significant strain on the NHS due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Yet, in the face of adversity, I’ve witnessed an awe-inspiring meeting of need, opportunity, and solution: Our sector-based work academies (SWAPs).

The NHS’s unprecedented demand for vaccinations met the challenge of a stretched workforce. How could we bridge this gap? The answer lay in a programme designed to harness the potential of an often-overlooked demographic: the unemployed.

At its core, the SWAPs model is straightforward. It’s about matching immediate employment needs with short courses tailored for the unemployed. This not only provides job seekers with essential employability skills but also presents employers with a pre-trained workforce.

A SWAP typically runs for up to six weeks. It starts with an employability training week where learners are supported with the basic soft and hard skills they’ll require in their roles. What follows is a focused curriculum tailored to the specific needs of the partnering employer.

In our collaboration with the NHS, this entailed comprehensive training adapted to their requirements. But the real magic of the programme lies beyond the classroom. In week two learners are given first-hand experience through interactions with their potential employers, explaining what it’s really like to work for the NHS.

After successful completion of the course, participants move on to interview stages with the NHS, transforming their career paths and, in many cases, their lives.

Our collaboration began with Somerset NHS. But the success we achieved there has led us to start a similar pilot in Bristol.

The savings equate to £3.9 million in social ROI

The reception and results in Somerset are not just a source of pride for us at Weston College but also a testament to the power of collaboration and innovative thinking.

Engaging with the Job Centre and their dedicated job coaches played a pivotal role in our journey. In a sea of competing training providers, distinguishing ourselves was crucial. Our unique approach was to work with the job coaches themselves – understand their pressures and create a specific landing page on our website that the job coaches could use in front of their clients – our potential learners.

We then aimed to contact every enquirer within a 24-hour window, ensuring we were responsive and attentive to potential learners’ needs. This swift communication strategy cut through the noise and positioned us as a reliable and efficient partner.

Since the programme started in April 2021 Weston College has trained 470 learners as part of the NHS SWAP programme. Of these, 384 progressed to the NHS induction programme.

To put a monetary value to the project, the SWAP courses saved the public purse over £15,000 for each unemployed individual who secured work. This savings calculation takes into account the average public costs over a year and equates to £3.9 million in social return on investment.

These numbers aren’t just statistics; they represent lives changed, families supported and communities strengthened.

The qualifications we offer through the SWAP are with Gateway Qualifications: awards in health and care and mental health awareness, and a certificate in vocational studies. They equip our learners with the skills and knowledge required for the start of their journey with the NHS.

In reflecting on our journey, I’m reminded of the Thursday nights during the pandemic when communities would come together, clapping in unison to express gratitude for the relentless workers of the NHS. Those moments captured a collective desire to help and make a difference.

Through this particular SWAP, many have found a way to channel this desire into action, contributing to the NHS and transforming their own lives.

I believe the success of our SWAPs initiative underscores a larger lesson. It highlights the power of collaboration, the importance of swift and strategic action and the boundless potential that lies in tapping into untapped resources.

As we continue to evolve and expand our efforts at Weston College, I’m filled with hope and excitement for the countless lives we’ll touch and the numerous challenges we’ll overcome together.

What the SEND pilot reveals about English and maths in apprenticeships

I was very pleased to read the recent FE Week report about the emerging success of the pilot to flex functional skills minimum requirements to entry level 3 for apprentices with learning difficulties who don’t hold education and health care plans (EHCPs). However, it raises some interesting questions. In particular, why is the Department for Education (DfE) intent on keeping rigid English and maths exit requirements for everyone else?

A couple of weeks ago, in response to our freedom of information request, the DfE revealed that since 2017 only 1,420 out of over 1.7 million apprentices (just 0.08 per cent) have used the existing flexibility to lower the required completion level where learning difficulties exist.

This is not because there aren’t many apprentices with this need. As the SEND community has been telling the DfE for literally years, it is because the necessary requirement for an education and health care plan (EHCP) to ‘prove’ such learning difficulties before the flexibilities can be applied is a serious impediment.

Many EHCPs don’t refer to learning difficulties that would impact on English and maths. In addition, the process to get one is so long-winded that if the apprentice doesn’t have an EHCP on commencement, they won’t get one in the eight-week time period allowed for the flexibility to be put in place. (Quite why it’s taken so long for the DfE to at least extend the period in which the exemptions can be applied is baffling in itself.)

There’s also the issue that as recent LSE research has shown, those with SEND in wealthier parts of the country have a higher chance getting an education, health and care plan (EHCP). Local authorities often view EHCPs as a cost point rather than a support mechanism and where money is already short, the opportunity to gain a comprehensive EHCP can take a hit. The whole EHCP system is therefore in dire need of reform, with just one example being the fact that it is not a level playing field for all those who could benefit from the wider support eligibility it offers.

These requirements make apprenticeships an outlier

What is also interesting is that skills minister, Robert Halfon MP sees the pilot’s success as “incredibly encouraging” in opening access to apprenticeships. Clearly, an apprenticeship with a lower level of English and maths accreditation is as vocationally valuable in his view as any other. This raises the question: why insist on every apprentice having an accredited level 1 qualification in English and maths if that level actually makes little or no difference to the value or efficacy of the apprenticeship?

There is no apparent inherent advantage in the apprenticeship having English and maths qualifications as an exit requirement. Not only does this make apprenticeships an outlier (A levels and T levels don’t require them), but these exit conditions are often the very reason for the qualifications’ near-fifty per cent drop-out rate. Worse still, they can stop many from even signing up for an apprenticeship in the first place.

This absolutely does notmean that English and maths aren’t vital skills, or that they should somehow be removed from apprenticeships. But study towards English and maths as a condition of funding rather than an exit requirement would mean employers and providers could target the essential literacy and numeracy skills actually needed for a particular occupation rather than forcing the apprentice’s attention to unnecessary elements that bear little or no relation to what is vocationally essential.

I’m pretty sure the SEND pilot was not intended to highlight the strength of the case for English and maths qualifications to be dropped as an exit requirement for apprenticeships – but that does rather appear to be the case. Making this change would ensure we maintain literacy and numeracy as a central part of the apprenticeship but allow many more apprentices to build, refine and demonstrate their vocational skills to the benefit of themselves, employers and society as a whole.

Autumn statement: It’s time for real incentives for skills development

Employers urgently need chancellor Jeremy Hunt to provide real incentives to address skills shortages within their industries and to drive economic growth. In particular, confusion surrounding the apprenticeship levy is a missed opportunity.

Since its introduction in 2017, the apprenticeship levy has undergone a series of changes, and many employers have lost sight of its purpose and how it could help them to tackle skills shortages and future-proof their businesses. At a time when businesses are facing significant commercial pressures, they can no longer afford for so much of the levy to go unclaimed and return to the Treasury unspent.

The chancellor needs to think outside of the box about how to use fiscal measures to encourage more private sector investment in skills development and provide greater clarity too. Businesses know that they need an urgent injection of skills to support them in achieving positive transformations. They need a whole host of skills – business analysts, data scientists, software testers and developers. What they often don’t realise, and don’t have time to find out, is how the current system can help them to meet those needs.

For example, there are currently about 800 different apprenticeship standards in existence, as well as multiple delivery models. It’s not easy for companies of any size, but how can small companies with limited resources be expected to make sense of it all and select the right options?

Meanwhile, many don’t realise that they could reskill existing staff or recruit talented people to complete an 18-month apprenticeship programme leading to an industry-recognised, degree-level qualification. Crucially, they may be unaware that they can work with a specialist training provider to build programmes that fit around the operational demands of their business. 

How can small companies be expected to make sense of it all?

To address these gaps in understanding and encourage more investment in skills development, the Chancellor needs to take a different approach. A key problem is that many businesses are put off by the idea of paying the levy and an apprentice’s salary on top; they see this as a lose-lose proposition rather than a scheme that could support the delivery of their strategic growth plan.

Additionally, many larger employers don’t realise that if they don’t spend their levy funds each year, the money available to them is effectively wasted. They also may not know that while apprentices must be paid a salary, the business isn’t required to pay employers’ national insurance contributions.

Data sourced by FE Week as part of a freedom of information (FoI) request shows that levy payers are spending less on level 2 apprenticeship participation. Spending in this area dropped from £622 million in 2017/18 to £421 million in 2021/22. This needs to be rectified.

The good news is that more is being spent on higher level apprenticeships. This shows that larger employers recognise the value of some of the programmes supported by the levy. There is an opportunity now to build on this and spread the benefits of apprenticeships to businesses, to encourage more to take on people at a lower entry level, who are focused on skills attainment and learning their way to a rewarding career.

When the chancellor makes his autumn statement next week, we would like him to introduce real incentives for employers to invest in skills development. He could do this by transforming the apprenticeship levy into a fiscal benefit, with opportunities for corporation tax relief. Instead of paying a levy, employers could earn tax relief based on their investment in apprenticeship programmes and other training initiatives. This could help to change the way that employers think about skills-based training and the benefits it can bring. To avoid confusion, we also think that the new incentives should be made available to all employers, regardless of size.

But boosting interest alone won’t be enough. As well as providing a real and easily understood incentive, government needs to focus urgently on better signposting. Employers and prospective learners alike need to know where they can go for more information about apprenticeship programmes and the options available to them. The new UCAS search facility will aid learners through this process. Employers likewise should be able to easily access information and advice.

The economic challenges are clear for all to see. Unfortunately, the solutions – though they are here – are far less clear to those who need to implement them. Unless we get this right, and urgently, some UK businesses will find it increasingly difficult to compete, and the economy as a whole will suffer the consequences.

AoC conference: brewing optimism amid a sector finding its voice

The AoC annual conference was back in Birmingham this week. The event is always the main highlight in the FE calendar, with thousands descending to the ICC to hear from senior politicians, sector leaders, students and other inspiring speakers, as well as getting the chance to share best practice and network with colleagues.  
 
It is safe to say that the mood at the conference this year was a stark contrast to the last. Against the backdrop of qualification reform, more than a decade of funding neglect, workforce challenges and much more, the 2022 autumn statement was understandably a bitter pill for the sector to swallow. Less than 24 hours after education secretary, Gillian Keegan took to the stage, we found out that the school sector had been awarded £2.3 billion, with no new funding available for colleges.

This year, however, it feels as though our fortunes have changed. In his opening remarks, AoC chief executive, David Hughes cheekily half-joked that we are now having to say “and universities” instead of “and colleges”.   
 
Rather than seen as moaners, colleges are now being recognised by decision makers as the solution to the nation’s challenges. And while it’s still not enough, the funding is starting to follow.  

In July, we found that colleges had been awarded £185 million through the 16-19 study programme budget, with a further £285 million pledged for next year too to help tackle pay disparity.

In the prime minister’s Conservative party conference speech, he announced a further £600 million would be made available over the next two years to improve teacher recruitment and retention in key subject shortage areas, to increase teaching time by 15 per cent and to improve quality and attainment.  

Over to the opposition. Shadow skills minister, Seema Malhotra used her AoC conference speech this week to reaffirm Labour’s commitment to colleges with pledges to introduce technical excellence colleges, reform the apprenticeship levy into a growth and skills levy and launch a new body, Skills England to oversee a national effort on meeting skills leads. This hasn’t happened by accident. It’s on the back of significant campaigning from the AoC and our members.  

We head into the most critical election of a generation

Colleges are fighting clever, fighting better and fighting together. And it is paying off. We need to continue channelling this newfound optimism into action as we head into the most critical election of a generation. The next year is where we can make a real difference for students, staff, businesses and communities.  

Alongside an impressive main stage line up, we had some brilliant break-out sessions on the key issues impacting our colleges.  

Despite a crowded field, the session that I chaired on local skills improvement plans (LSIPs) on Wednesday morning was packed out, with well over 100 attending to join the discussion on how we can make them deliver. It felt timely, not least with the announcement of a local skills investment fund last week.  

Regardless of the outcome of the next election, we know the direction of travel around devolution and employer engagement in skills is only going to continue at pace. LSIPs are a major part of this space, and it is very early days, so it’s unsurprising that there is lots of variation in practice across the country. 

AoC have been conducting research on LSIPs, speaking to college leaders, MCAs, chambers of commerce and employer representative bodies to evaluate their experience, learn about the challenges and the green shoots of best practice. The conversations have been eye-opening: colleges want genuine and mature partnerships with the other organisations involved and they are frustrated by the lack of national strategy. The role of universities still seems unclear, and there’s feeling that LSIPs sit outside of MCA strategies and the wider funding system.  

The good thing is, there’s broad consensus and commitment to making LSIPs work from college leaders, employer representatives, devolved government and regional stakeholders. Let’s not give into the temptation of scrapping LSIPs, only to have to replace them with yet another local skills plan.

And while we’re at it, let’s make LSIPs the plan – instead of one of far too many.