Corndel have vast experience of working with industry to deliver transformative apprenticeships and focus on addressing some of the most pressing skills gaps in UK business today, having delivered training for 20,000 learners. With the launch of Corndel College London (CCL), we’re spearheading a new era of higher education. But we can’t disrupt the sector alone.
CCL embodies the opportunity afforded by building a higher education organisation from scratch, free from the constraints and burdens of traditional structures. By aligning industry demands with higher education, we will deliver better outcomes for students and employers alike.
Our long-standing relationships with FTSE 100 clients from BP to BUPA has allowed CCL to develop outstanding apprenticeship degree programmes that focus on management, data and tech, in order to deliver the skills that industry needs. These qualifications will instil employees with the knowledge that will help companies thrive, as well as the skills that will shape individuals’ careers.
Understandably, there is growing student and parent desire for a tangible return on investment in education. Our Workplace Training Report shows 79 per cent of 16-to-25s believe degree apprenticeships will become increasingly popular, and not just because students can earn while they learn. Students are seeking options that provide academic knowledge but also practical skills and direct pathways to employment.
Degree apprenticeships offer practical in-job training with increased employment opportunities – a social mobitlity win and a win for the economy. Recent policy announcements of plans to look at degree programmes going forward show government have no missed this fact. The Prime Minister’s campaign to ‘crack down’ on poor value degrees, mentioned in this week’s state opening of parliament, comes with a boost for apprenticeships and a cut in the red tape needed to register for one.
Our goal is to redefine higher education, but we can’t do it alone
Visa’s decision to place a number of its early talent employees on our BSc (Hons) Applied Business Management degree apprenticeship programme is a great example of the value apprenticeship degrees offer and the business community’s faith in them.
We’ll be involving employers at an early stage in the design of our courses, asking them what they are trying to achieve in their businesses, what they are looking for in future graduates and what their pain points and friction points are. We then use this information to create courses that meet the needs of students and their future employers alike. Our goal is to guarantee a trajectory that leads to career success and fulfilment.
Another strategy that has proven successful in our apprenticeship programmes is the incorporation of coaching from industry experts. This personalised approach allows apprentices to integrate industry requirements with their own purpose, desires, skill sets and personal development. By providing guidance from experienced professionals, we empower apprentices to excel in their chosen fields and stand out as exceptional candidates.
The coaching from tutors who have industry experience helps learners to reflect on their learning and to grow personally and professionally, with our coaches combining industry qualification with higher education expertise. This coaching benefits employers, too, as they get to understand how employees are progressing professionally. Line managers get the opportunity to have coaching conversations with the learners, which can help them to develop skills and knowledge themselves.
Our ultimate goal is to redefine the higher education landscape, but we can’t do it alone. In every locality, there are businesses big and small looking to capitalise on this potential, and further education providers are key to meeting their needs. Not only do they understand the qualifications, but they already work with the young people who are most likely to benefit from this new and important pathway to good employment and a strong career. Employers want degree apprentices now, but they also want a secure pipeline of talent for the future, and that talent is in our colleges.
The goal is nothing less than to shift the focus from delivering a generic experience to providing tailored education that meets the specific needs of students and employers. Our initial portfolio of degree apprenticeships is the first step in achieving this vision. We already know we will expand our offer. Colleges should seize the opportunity to join us.
For 27 years, Learning and Work Institute’s Adult Participation in Learning Survey has provided insights on who’s learning and how they learn. With technology becoming integral to how we learn, this year’s survey explores how adults across the UK are using technology to support their learning.
Questions on technology were included as part of Ufi’s ongoing strategic partnership with Learning and Work Institute and the responses, from a representative sample of around 5,000 UK adults, show that technology and learning are deeply entwined. 95 per cent of adults report using technology in their learning across both formal and independent settings.
The benefits of using learning technology are also widely reported with 97 per cent experiencing benefits to learning with digital technology, including benefits that enable learning (e.g. at a convenient time, location, level or pace) and those that aid or enhance learning (e.g. making learning more interesting and engaging, and motivating adults to learn).
As the CEO of Ufi VocTech Trust, whose mission is to support the development and deployment of vocational technology for adult skills development, these results echo the impact we see in the projects we support. Learning technology is being widely used and adults feel the benefits of using it. I’m pleased to see the strength of positive impact reflected in the survey results and I am looking forward to celebrating some of these personal success stories at next year’s Festival of Learning Awards, including our new Learning with Technology Award, for which nominations open today.
However, the data also highlights that there is still much work to be done.
Confidence in using learning technologies remains a barrier to learning. While adults are confident using technology in their daily lives, this confidence reduces when using technology for learning, and drops further still when using technology for work. This drop in confidence is even more evident for adults who may be furthest from learning, as seen in the responses from learners who left school with no GCSEs and for those who are unemployed.
There is still much work to be done
At Ufi we have seen how learning technology can have a huge positive impact on learner confidence and support skills development. As a sector it is crucial that we do what we can to ensure learners have the confidence to use it.
The data also reinforces the importance of using the right learning technology for a given learner group – something we see time and again with the learning technologies our grant funding and investment supports. Crucially, low levels of confidence were reported in using many technologies now commonplace across the skills sector. Fewer than half of the learners in the survey were confident learning with online video (48 per cent), video meetings (39 per cent) or learning platforms (31 per cent).
Technology may be a disruptor that allows us to do things differently, but when addressing the confidence and motivation of learners across a wide spectrum of geographies, subjects and skills, the key to progress remains in empowering people to take ownership of their own learning.
The Adult Participation in Learning Survey provides a valuable picture of the current state of learning and the use of learning technology in the UK. I hope it will also inspire action, bringing the sector together to help ensure everyone has the opportunity to learn throughout their lives, building a future economy and labour market where people aren’t just playing catch up but have the chance to thrive in new industries and sectors.
This cross-sector collaboration is already taking place and is gaining momentum, evident in this years’ Week of VocTech, which begins on Monday. This free programme of events and activities is focused on accelerating the development and adoption of digital technology for vocational learning, teaching and training, and inspiring action to transform the UK skills sector.
I would urge you to explore the programme, get involved and join the movement to get adults learning.
Alongside our research partners behind this COSMO study, we’ve surveyed 11,000 young people who have just taken their A Levels, of whom over 3,000 were studying at either an FE college or a sixth form college. Overall, we found that 44 per cent could be classified as experiencing high psychological distress.
This reinforces the alarming trend that the mental health of the current generation is worse than that of previous generations. We had picked up similar results this time last year, and it’s worrying to see these figures remain stubbornly high, indicating that the pandemic’s effects are anything but short-term. The numbers are also considerably higher than the 35 per cent experiencing high psychological distress at the same age in a similar study carried out in 2017, and the 23 per cent found in a 2007 study.
Most worryingly, those in the most deprived parts of the country were 11 percentage points more likely to say they are still waiting for the support they applied for, at 39 per cent compared to 28 per cent of those in the most affluent areas. And when it comes to specialist services, those in the most deprived areas were more than twice as likely to have not received support as the most affluent.
This stark divide has the potential to store up long-term negative consequences for disadvantaged young people’s life chances. In particular, we know they are also more than twice as likely to be persistently absent from education than their better-off peers, with mental health problems known to be a key driver of the increasing absences. Young people are missing education and falling behind because they’re not getting the mental health support they need.
The mental health crisis is the result of a long-term trend which has accelerated in recent years. There are a number of factors behind it. These include increased social media use and growing pressure on young people to get top grades to secure highly-competitive opportunities for university places, apprenticeships and jobs.
Young people are not getting the support they need
But most importantly, the pandemic has hit this generation of young people hard. Stuck at home at crucial times in their development, they suffered personally, socially and academically, missing important milestones and opportunities and having to make up for lost learning.
To begin to improve this situation, we need laser-like focus on improving mental health services in the most deprived areas. It’s completely unacceptable that young people in disadvantaged areas are the most likely to struggle to access the support they need when they need it. This can only create further issues down the line, for them and our communities.
College budgets are stretched as it is, so we are calling for sustainable and well-funded support for young people experiencing mental health issues both in college and in the community to fill the gap in provision. Preventative and early intervention services will be key to help address challenges at an earlier stage.
Furthermore, we know that bullying can be an aggravating factor for mental health. Our study shows that one-quarter of participants have reported being bullied over the past 12 months. Colleges should also implement well-evidenced anti-bullying programmes, with bullying training offered to teachers and lecturers, senior leaders and mental health practitioners who work in these settings.
There’s no simple or quick solution, and it could be years before we truly understand the full impact of the pressures faced by today’s young people. But a renewed focus on improving access to services – particularly for those currently missing out – could go a long way to ensuring their futures are not blighted by the challenges of the past few years. It will also stem the tide of new problems arising, ensuring future cohorts of young people experience more positive mental health outcomes.
Two new members have been appointed to the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education’s (IfATE) board.
Mark McClennon and Jane Hadfield will join the board as non-executive members making up a 12-strong membership at the apprenticeships quango, the government announced today.
The appointments follow the resignation of one board member who flagged a “potential” conflict of interest as her company was awarded a Department for Education skills bootcamp contract.
Both McClennon and Hadfield will serve a five-year term from November 1. They will be paid £15,000 per year for an estimated two days work per month, equating to £625 per day.
Hadfield is the national lead for apprenticeships and talent for care with NHS England. She is also the employer co-chair of St Martin’s Group, a representative of employers and awarding organisations who support employer-led skills training.
She has also chaired numerous IfATE’s employer-led trailblazer groups for health and science, including the T Level employer panel for health.
Hadfield said: “The cornerstone for IfATE is employer leadership, using our insights to ensure training is agile for current and future skills needs, and I will continue to amplify their views.
“I am delighted to have this opportunity and though we have achieved a lot, there is more to do to ensure we have the sustainable, world class system we aspire to.”
McClennon started as chair of IfATE’s digital route panel in January 2019 and helped to develop the institute’s equity, diversity and inclusion strategy. He is also chief information officer at Burberry.
He was awarded an MBE for services to further education and apprenticeships in June this year.
“It has been a great privilege supporting IfATE’s employer led reforms, which are transforming apprenticeships and technical education for the better and making sure we keep pace with the economy’s fast evolving digital and wider skills needs,” McClennon said.
“This world class skills system that we are building has to work for everyone and I’m committed to making sure people from all backgrounds reap the benefits. I relish the opportunity to take all this to the next level as a board member.”
IfATE chair Baroness Ruby McGregor Smith said: “Jane and Mark are outstanding examples of employers who have helped IfATE transform the skills system for the better. I’m delighted that they have been appointed to the board and am really looking forward to working with them.”
Meanwhile, Dayle Bayliss has stepped down after the end of her three-year term.
Jessica Leigh Jones has also left the board to mitigate a potential conflict of interest with her company iungo solutions, which was recently awarded a DfE contract to provide skills bootcamps. Leigh Jones was reappointed to the IfATE board in June 2023 and was supposed to serve in the position for four more years.
An IfATE spokesperson said: “As Jessica is the CEO, a director and shareholder, there will be financial gain. She and DfE made us aware of the contract award and potential conflict of interest and it was mutually agreed she would step down.”
Baroness McGregor Smith said: “We would like to thank Jessica and Dayle for their valued contributions. We wish them the best for the future.”
The government pledged to introduce the proposed Advanced British Standard (ABS) and increase apprenticeships in the King’s speech today.
In his first address for the state opening of Parliament, the monarch said his ministers would “strengthen education for the long term” through the introduction of the ABS, which seeks to replace A-levels and T Levels by combining them into one single qualification.
The King’s speech sets out the government’s legislative agenda for the next year.
The government is expected to launch a consultation on the ABS this month, with a proposed white paper in 2024.
But the reforms are dependent on the Conservatives winning the next election, and if implemented would take ten years to deliver in full.
Today’s speech, which was the first by a King in over 70 years, also briefly outlined proposals tabled to increase starts in high quality apprenticeships and reduce the number of young people enrolling onto “poor quality” university degrees.
The King said: “My ministers will strengthen education for the long term. Steps will be taken to ensure young people have the knowledge and skills to succeed through the introduction of the Advanced British Standard that will bring technical and academic roots into a single qualification.
“Proposals will be implemented to reduce the number of young people studying poor quality university degrees and increase the number undertaking high quality apprenticeships.”
Meanwhile, education secretary Gillian Keegan announced in July plans to restrict student numbers on higher education courses with poor student outcomes.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said education has “felt on the margins” of policymaking for some time and that has “not changed today” after the King’s speech.
He added: “Bringing technical and academic qualifications together is worthwhile but the Advanced British Standard is not going to exist for 10 years, if at all. It is not the right priority at a time when the education profession is under so much pressure.
“There remains no urgency to solve teacher shortages and funding shortfalls that are already impacting schools and colleges and call into question the viability of extending teaching in the way the Advanced British Standard would require.”
David Hughes, chief executive of Association of Colleges, said it was “good to see” that the government “recognises the importance of education and skills to the nation”.
He added that the principles of the Advanced British Standard – more teaching time for 16 to 18-year-olds, a broader curriculum, and higher prestige for technical routes – are “good”, but warned there are “immediate concerns about the reputation risk for T Levels and the risks of too rapidly defunding existing level 3 qualifications”.
The House of Commons is scheduled to debate aspects of the legislative proposals from the King’s Speech later today.
Dan, who has cerebral palsy and communicates with the world through technology that tracks his eye movements, giggles with delight as he shows me how he can now open the curtains all by himself. Until now, the nineteen-year-old National Star College student, who has a penchant for Harry Potter and country music, has had to rely on a human assistant to let the sunshine into his room.
Now he’s learnt how to use Amazon Alexa to do it all by himself – and to turn on lights, boil the kettle and get a robot vacuum to clean. It’s a simple, widely used technology which is not new. But for learners like Dan, it can be life changing.
We’re in the college’s new Ingram Discovery building, where National Star’s learners – who all have severe disabilities – can try out assistive technology to empower and equip them for life after college.
Right now, these learners are in ‘the honeymoon period,’ as some parents refer to their time at National Star, because here at the main college campus in Cheltenham they receive dedicated staff support in facilities comparable to those of the finest private schools.
It can then be “heartbreaking”, explains personalised learning coordinator Kat Cavill, when they are forced to exchange that nurturing community for the adult social care system and its chronic workforce shortages.
There is insufficient supported accommodation available across the country for adults with complex disabilities, so some end up spending the rest of their lives in care homes for the elderly. Others move back in with parents to areas where services have been pared back, particularly since Covid, and now barely meet the statutory minimum. That’s why as well as showing students the latest tech tools, the college is also teaching them how to speak up and fight back against the system when it fails to support them.
National Star College, Ullenwood near Cheltenham, Gloucs.
Pushing the word ‘no’
Most teachers would probably say they love compliant learners. But Cavill “really celebrate[s] and push[es] that word no” with hers.
“It’s very much about making sure they learn that they have a voice, because then when they leave they can fight for themselves,” she says. “They can say, ‘it’s not ok to sit me in front of the TV all day. I want to spend time with my friends’.”
But it can be hard for parents to see the child they left at college morphing into a wilful teenager. Cavill recalls one young learner who went from being a “people pleaser” to rejecting every suggestion put to him.
When his parents questioned whether their son really meant it when he kept saying ‘no’, Cavill told them: “For him to feel that validation, I have to acknowledge that he does.
“These students have come from the school system where learning is about putting blue pens in blue pots. But when he leaves, that’s not going to be helpful for him.”
Tutor Louise Adams with second year student Caitlin at National Star College, Ullenwood near Cheltenham, Gloucs.
The early days
National Star must remind visiting council officers from cash-strapped local authorities when they see the college’s impressive facilities – its sensory gardens, two swimming pools, theatre, airy classrooms with skylights and sweeping views across woodland – that they are paid for through the charity’s fundraising ventures.
Council bills only pick up staffing and other revenue-related costs.
The centrepiece, a Victorian pseudo-gothic manor house where the college’s first cohort of ten students lived in bunk beds 57 years ago, is “lovely, but not fit for purpose” for current learners and their much more complex needs. Most of the current cohort now require wheelchairs and high-tech assisted communication devices.
But in the sixties, an orange plastic tube used as a fire escape hung from the top floor of the manor, which students couldn’t resist sliding down on their last night at college.
Back then, all students were taught to type. They included a lady with cerebral palsy for whom an apprentice engineer invented a foot lock device that enabled her to make typing movements. The learner went on to work for a council, where she met her husband.
Marianne Sweet, the college’s communications officer, recently tracked down that engineer, and the former student was able to thank him for changing her life through his nifty invention.
The story is typical of the way the college often goes above and beyond to put a smile on the face of its students past and present. When last year’s student union president Chelsea Pettit expressed concern about life after college (the supported living arrangements she was offered failed to materialise), she was asked by the college’s wellbeing team what she would tell her future self and jokingly compared the question to the movie Back to the Future.
College staff then procured a DeLorean (the movie’s time machine car) to take her for a spin around campus.
Skills for Work student Jack working in StarBistro, a social enterprise open to the public at National Star College
Championing the learner voice
Nowhere is the learner voice championed more than through the students’ union, which is “very much a consultative body”, explains learning programmes coordinator Andrew Evans. Its seven student rep groups are led by senior management rather than teaching staff, because “they’re the ones with the power to make change”.
One student, Chesca, campaigned for longer lunchtimes, successfully arguing that an hour was not long enough for her to travel between settings, eat their meal and attend to their personal care needs. Evans had “never before seen a timetable changed in the middle of an academic year” during his 18 years in education. It was “wonderful to see”.
He acknowledges such a move would be impossible within mainstream education, which has the pressures of more rigid curriculums to contend with. But at National Star student sessions are “individualised”, with more scope for flexibility.
“The students are the experts in their own experience. They are customers so to speak, their local authorities are paying for them to be here – we want to give them the opportunity to advocate for themselves.”
But not all requests can be met: one for a “large screen in every room” (including toilets) was ruled out for financial reasons, and pleas for a nation-wide esport FIFA competition to take place on sports day were also turned down due to the hefty work involved in organising such a contest.
“That’s part of the ‘learner voice’ as well, being able to understand when you can’t do something,” Evans adds.
Student Union president (left) Laith and SU member Owain at National Star College
Parent power
It’s not only the students but also their parents who are becoming activists on their offspring’s behalf. Over a third of the applications National Star receives for places each year are turned down by local authorities. But increasingly, parents are fighting those decisions through the “inundated” SEND tribunals system, says the college’s chief executive Lynette Barrett.
Some cases won’t be heard until later this month (November) or even January next year for placements that were meant to start in September.
What this means is those young people whose parents have the “knowledge, understanding and financial means” have a “far better chance” of clinching college places.
Sweet is acutely aware of the injustice of this. “We see the ones with parents who learned to navigate the system through hell or high water. Often, those parents are labelled [by local authorities] as difficult.”
She recalls one father who described the process of getting his daughter into National Star as being more traumatic than when his own father passed away. “He was told ‘if she goes there that money could be used for the care of others, and that he was being very selfish’. But we don’t know what happens to those young people who don’t have champions like him.”
Parents of current college learners are also joining forces through parent governor groups and pooling their resources to secure supported housing for their young adult children when they leave college.
National Star is also receiving an influx of extension requests for learners to remain there as students after the standard three years, due to concern over lack of services available to them in their family areas. But these extensions then take the places of prospective new learners, posing a difficult dilemma for college leaders.
One learner is now in his fifth year there while he awaits a new home to be found that can meet his complex medical needs. Another learner’s extension request was turned down by their local authority, but their family appealed the decision. Due to backlogs, the tribunal is not scheduled to happen until April 2024 – by which point they will almost have finished their fourth year anyway.
The current students’ union president, Laith, a second-year with cerebral palsy, currently lives with his girlfriend Hannah who he loves playing boccia with. It is unknown whether they will be able to live together after college, due to their medical complexities.
“They understand the challenges of being together,” says Sweet.
The parents of those living away from home while they study also “learn how to stop being a parent 24/7 and become individuals again”. But that can make the readjustment back to being a carer “hard” when their son or daughter returns.
National Star College chief executive Lynette Barrett
Long-term living
The college is filling in some of those gaps in suitable long-term provision itself by providing supported accommodation for 32 adults, on top of supporting its 236 students. Sweet claims National Star could fill that provision “ten times over,” such is the demand.
Residents include 32-year-old Andy, who was left with a complex brain injury after being hit by a van aged 14. After attending the college for four years as a student, he moved into its Gloucester living provision.
But when his health deteriorated in 2020, Andy’s local NHS integrated care board announced they were moving him back to a less expensive home in his family area – without consulting him. But Andy, who communicates by blinking his eyes, was “cognitively able to answer this question”.
National Star supported Andy and his family to “remain where he wished to live”, Sweet explains. “It was resolved. However, the distress and anguish this caused Andy and his parents during this time was almost unbearable.”
National Star College student Jaspar trying out the Mollii suit in his standing frame with Anesuishe Madondo, senior physiotherapist
Tech tools
Back in the Ingram Discovery Rooms where Dan is dabbling with Alexa, assistant technologist Maizie Morgan explains how she will be demonstrating the tech to students’ families in the hope they will pay to have it embedded into their accommodation.
Whereas specialist equipment can be “complicated” to use and costs around £10,000 per room, Alexa is simpler and only costs around £100. Morgan sees Alexa as an “extra tool” that makes most people “lazier, probably”. But for students like Dan, it can “open up doors – literally!”
National Star also tries to get pricier equipment on loan in return for supplying companies with data on how their products are functioning.
Jaspar, 20, who has cerebral palsy and loves monster trucks, is normally wheelchair-bound. But today he’s connected to a £6,100 milli suit (to help with muscle movement) the college has borrowed from the company that sells it, attached to a standing frame.
Spending all day in a wheelchair brings on muscle stiffness, but the suit sends electrodes that develop muscle tone. This enables Jaspar to reduce these symptoms without needing medication. It means he’s able to stand and engage with me at eye level, which he appreciates.
Jasper says he finds it “incredibly frustrating” as a disabled person to feel like his voice “isn’t being heard or understood”.
“I just want to be treated with the same respect and consideration as anyone else.”
Adult participation in education has grown to its highest ever recorded level – but stark social class and geographical divides persist, according to a new survey.
Data shows that adults in lower socio-economic groups remain twice as likely to not have participated in learning since leaving full-time education compared to those in higher socio-economic groups and the gap has increased in the last year.
Learning and Work Institute (L&W) revealed the findings through its annual adult participation in learning survey for 2023, which was published today to mark the start of Lifelong Learning Week.
The report caveated the findings that the change in survey method from face-to-face to online means that comparisons to surveys pre-2021 should be treated with caution.
“However, survey results over the last three years appear to indicate a sustained interest in learning post-pandemic,” it said.
Here are the key findings:
Adult education participation a highest-ever level
The 2023 report found nearly half of all adults in the UK (49 per cent) have taken part in learning in the last three years, an all-time high.
That number has significantly increased since 2022, rising eight percentage points and the highest recorded since the survey began in 1996.
L&W points out that the survey deliberately adopts a broad definition of learning, including a “wide range of formal, non-formal and informal learning, far beyond the limits of publicly offered educational opportunities for adults”.
For example, learning can mean “practising, studying, or reading about something…It can also mean being taught, instructed or coached”.
Nearly three in ten adults (28 per cent) say they are currently learning, with a further one in five (21 per cent) saying they have done some learning within the last three years.
“The increase in adult participation in learning is good news, and the survey indicates that this is driven by adults being motivated to learn for leisure post-pandemic,” said Stephen Evans, chief executive of Learning and Work Institute.
Adults from lower social backgrounds less likely to access education
Despite the rise in overall learning participation rates, it is not evenly distributed across different social grades.
Three in five adults (60 per cent) in the AB social grade, who are in managerial and professional occupations are current or recent learners.
This is much higher than the 46 per cent in the C1 social grade (supervisory, administrative and junior managerial occupations), 55 per cent in the C2 grade (skilled manual occupations) and 38 per cent in the DE grade, who are semi-skilled, in unskilled manual occupations.
Adults in the DE socio-economic group remain twice as unlikely to have participated in learning since leaving full-time education compared to those in AB grade (35 per cent compared to 14 per cent).
Last year, the gap between the two social grades were respectively 37 per cent compared to 19 per cent respectively.
Geographical divides remain
A higher proportion of adults in England (51 per cent) say they are current or recent learners in 2023, an increase of nine percentage points on last year’s survey.
Only England has shown a substantial increase in participation rates since 2022 – a nine percentage point rise – an observation that was not evident in last year’s survey, the report said.
Among English regions, London continues to have the highest participation rate at 64 per cent, explained in part because of its younger and more highly qualified population. There remains a 22-percentage point gap between London and the lowest-performing region (the North East), the same as last year.
Age gaps in adult participation closing
Compared to 2022, there has been a sizeable increase in participation for adults aged 35-44 (16 percentage points) and a 10-percentage point increase in adults aged 55 to 64.
The report said there has been a “welcome decline” in the gaps in participation in learning between the oldest and youngest age groups and suggests that older learners are utilising online learning opportunities.
“It’s good to see some narrowing in inequalities in learning, particularly by age. But the gaps remain stark and persistent and if anything, geographical differences have widened,” Evans added. “This is where Government policy needs to step in to help level up opportunity so everyone can access learning.”
“The Government and employers need to reverse their reductions in investment in learning to tap into this interest and ensure people’s opportunities to learn aren’t capped and cut off.”
Two-thirds of learners record at least one barrier to learning
The survey found a “statistically significant increase” of current or recent learners (68 per cent) reporting at least one challenge while learning compared to 2022 (65 per cent).
Data also shows an increase of learners recording challenges to their learning but authors pointed out that the pattern of reported challenges has seen little variation compared to previous surveys.
Learners are most likely to identify work and time pressures (24 per cent), the cost of learning (16 per cent), lacking confidence to learn (13 per cent), being put off by tests and exams (12 per cent) or feeling too old (12 per cent).
Official statistics revealing the numbers of Ofqual-regulated apprenticeship end-point assessments (EPA) and pass rates have been published for the first time.
The exams regulator admitted though that the stats don’t yet provide a “full picture” as there is “still a good degree of churn” in the EPA market.
The data covers EPAs where Ofqual acts as the external quality assurance (EQA) body between March 2022 and February 2023, so excludes integrated degree apprenticeships where final external assessments are regulated by the Office for Students.
A handful of other EPAs are quality-assured by other organisations, but most are now regulated by Ofqual.
Ofqual had announced they would finally be publishing some EPA data at the Annual Apprenticeships Conference earlier this year.
Speaking at the Association of Employment and Learning Providers’ autumn conference earlier this week, Lucy Sydney, Ofqual’s director of strategic relationships, said: “Given there was still a good degree of churn in the EPA market during that time with EPAs transitioning into Ofqual regulation, this isn’t a full or steady state picture yet.
Lucy Sydney
“But, it’s the first time we’ve published outcomes data. We think it’s a good start and we intend to publish this data set on an annual basis,” she added.
Here’s what we learned…
Business route thrives
Between March 2022 and February 2023, Ofqual regulated EPAs for 388 apprenticeship standards delivered by 121 end-point assessment organisations (EPAOs). A total of 124,750 EPAs were taken and of those, 110,575 were completed.
By far most EPAs were delivered in the business and administration subject route, taking up 27 per cent of all EPAs passed between March 2022 and February 2023, 30,005 in total.
The level 3 business administrator standard had the most completed EPAs, followed by the level 3 team leader or supervisor standard. Education and childcare was the next most popular apprenticeship route, with 11,320 regulated assessments followed by sales, marketing and procurement which had 10,255.
At the other end, the creative and design route had 665 completed EPA, protective services with 1,290 and catering and hospitality with 2,770.
Ofqual’s figures show that 42 apprenticeship standards had fewer than five completed EPAs over that period. Among them were the level 4 cyber intrusion analyst, level 2 wall and floor tiler and the level 7 creative industries production manager.
City and Guilds dominate
City and Guilds of London Institute delivered the most Ofqual-regulated apprenticeship assessments. Between March 2022 and February 2023, they delivered just over 1 in 10 of all in-scope EPAs (10.5 per cent).
The Chartered Management Institute delivered the next highest volume, 10,010, followed by Innovate Awarding with 8,445.
According to Ofqual, there were 121 awarding organisations delivering Ofqual-regulated EPAs over the period. The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation delivered the fewest completed EPAs, with 15 and 20 respectively.
Level 3 apprentices least likely to pass first time
Overall, the average first time pass rate for Ofqual-regulated EPAs in 2022/23 across levels 2 to 7 was 91 per cent. However, there was an 8.4 percentage point difference between the highest and lowest first-time pass rates.
Assessments on level 5 standards had a first-time pass rate of 87.9 per cent, whereas non-degree apprenticeships at level 6 had a first-time pass rate of 96.3 per cent.
The vast majority of in-scope EPAs were at level 3, which had a first-time pass rate of 88 per cent, followed by level 2 which had a first-time pass rate of 90.6 per cent.
Senior leaders most likely to pass first time
Apprentices on the level 7 senior leader standard had the highest first-time pass rate – 99.4 per cent of 2,760 completed EPAs were passed the first time. This was followed by a 96.9 per cent first-time pass rate for adult care worker apprenticeships, and 95.4 per cent on the operations or departmental manager apprenticeship.
Ofqual’s figures only list first-time pass rates for ten popular apprenticeships.
Ranked ninth and tenth were the early years practitioner and early years educator apprenticeships, with first-time pass rates of 82.6 per cent and 80.2 per cent respectively. This means one in five early years educator apprentices do not pass their EPA first time.
The general secretary of the University and College Union (UCU) has announced that she is standing for re-election.
In a video posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, Jo Grady confirmed she will stand again for the role. Nominations close on Thursday, November 9, at 5pm.
Grady, who was first elected to the job in May 2019, pledged to release her manifesto “in due course” for the role, which is advertised with an annual salary of between £111,723 and £125,745, plus £5,058 of London weighting.
“I will set out my vision for the next five years, and I will campaign on the basis of being the best candidate possible to lead our union,” she said.
But Grady warned that there are currently “far more important things for me to be doing than electioneering”.
The strike will run from Tuesday, November 14 to Thursday, November 16 – which is just after the GCSE resits series but during the Association of Colleges annual conference.
In her video, Grady said she “need[s] to be on picket lines with our further education members”, and that “our members need, and they deserve my full attention”.
But she also referred to a brewing conflict between the union and government after the UK’s national funding agency for science and technology research –UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) – suspended its equality, diversity and inclusion advisory board earlier this week.
That was in response to a letter from secretary of state for science, innovation and technology Michelle Donelan, who said some members of the advisory board had “shared some extremist views on social media” following the attacks by Hamas on Israel on October 7.
The UCU said Donelan had “seriously misrepresent[ed] the views” expressed by the board members “in a transparently political attack”, and called on the UKRI to reinstate the advisory board.
“What is happening with the UKRI is the start of something very sinister,” Grady said in her video on X. The UCU threatened that it would call on its members to resign from any voluntary positions with the UKRI if it does not reinstate the advisory board, and carried through with that threat on Friday.
Academics have since resigned from the UKRI in protest.
Grady’s first term in office has not been without controversy. Earlier this year it was reported that Grady paid around £20,000 in damages and costs following a libel hearing over a row on social media with Fire Brigades Union activist Paul Embery.
No other candidates have openly announced they will run against Grady.
The general secretary will “lead UCU and ensure its strategic and operational aims and objectives are met; to maximise UCU’s potential within and outside the post-compulsory education sector nationally and internationally”, the job advert states. The term of office lasts five years.
As well as a general secretary, the union will be electing its vice president for further education, a trustee and members of the National Executive Committee.
Ballots for all roles will open on January 25 and will then close on March 1.
