Surge in the over-25s sees record rise in apprentices

The Government’s apprenticeship recruitment target of 203,200 for the financial year to March 2011 was exceeded by 54,000, John Hayes, Minister for FE, announced last week.

Particularly striking has been the volume of those apprentices aged 25 and over who started in the first three quarters of this academic year (August 2010 to April 2011).  Provisional data published by the BIS Data Service shows that these starts have increased by 234 per cent to 121,100. So far this year 37 per cent of all starts have been for the 25+ age group (17 per cent for the same period last year). Further analysis of the published figures shows that 33,750 starts (up from 9,810 last year) are for people aged 45-59 (now 10 per cent of all starts, up from 4 per cent last year), and 2,930 aged 60+ (400 last year).

Gordon Marsden MP, Shadow Minister for FE and skills told FE Week; “These figures show the largest increase coming in the post 25 category – most dramatically in 35-59. This must raise questions of how much that increase is simply transfers from Train to Gain, or people already in employment.”

Professor Alison Wolf, an advisor to Government on 14-19 vocational learning told FE Week: “Providers have been saying for some time that, if they are going to make their apprenticeship targets fast, it will be by targeting adults. The recent figures bear this out, which is bad news for youth unemployment.”

Marsden agrees, he said: “What we do know is that the modest increase in the 16-18 cohort won’t be enough to address the deepening crisis around youth unemployment.

“What’s more, if these numbers have been swelled through transfers from Train to Gain, could they also be subject to the same deadweight questions that Train to Gain attracted?”

The employment sectors seeing the greatest number of additional apprenticeship starts, according to the BIS Data Service, have occurred in framework areas that might not be considered ‘traditional’ apprenticeship, such as retail. For more on this see the Morrisons story.

The Guardian has since reported on the issue and you can see our update here.

Morrisons, Elmfield and the over-25 apprentices

Morrisons boasts that it is the UK’s biggest provider of apprenticeships, although in reality the funding is claimed from the Skills Funding Agency by the independent training provider Elmfield Training Ltd.

In the context of a national record number of apprentices (see page 1), what stands out is the rapid increase in adults aged 25 and over participating in their programme.

Figures obtained by FE Week from the Skills Funding Agency, and confirmed as correct by Elmfield Training Ltd, show that so far in 2010/11 there have been nearly 18,000 apprenticeship starts in Level 2 Retail. Incredibly, not only does this make up for 15 per cent of all 25+ apprentice starts in England so far in 2010/11, but this was from a standing start as no Morrisons apprentices over the age of 25 were started in the previous year (see figures below).

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 and work very closely with Elmfield Training in all aspects of apprenticeships”

Simon Shaw from Elmfield Training Ltd said: “Morrisons is the largest employer we work with, and supports the government’s skills and employability agendas in multiple ways, including 16-18 year olds, 19-24 NEETs and adults in local communities without prior qualifications.”

As reported in the last edition of FE Week Elmfield saw their total apprenticeship funding allocation increase in 2010/11 by £21m (to over £40m) at quarter two (quarter three figures have yet to be released by the Skills Funding Agency) and enjoyed pre-tax profits last year of £12.3m on a £33.8m turnover.

The Skills Funding Agency has also confirmed that whilst Elmfield has been planning Morrisons apprenticeship programmes to take just over a year, in fact the average actual duration has been just 28 weeks.

At the time of going to press neither Morrisons nor Elmfield Training Ltd were able to say whether a cash employer contribution was being exchanged.

Elmfield Training Ltd has yet to be inspected as a lead provider by Ofsted.

Bicton florist wins South West UK Skills competition

Bicton College floristry student Sachiko Smale has won through to the national final of the UK Skills Advanced Floristry competition.

Sachiko, who is studying for her Level 5 Master Diploma of Professional Floristry [NDSF], created a stunning bridal bouquet. Sachi said, ‘Winning this competition has proved that I am doing fine and has given me more confidence for my exams, I’m looking forward to the final.’

As the highest scoring competitor in the South West heat, Sachiko has been invited to compete in the UK final to be held at the Royal Horticultural Society show at Tatton Park in July 2011. The winner at that event will represent the UK at the World Skills final in London this October.

Central Sussex College: Rome wasn’t built in a day – it took a month!

Roman architecture came to Crawley after a legion of students from Central Sussex College completed their very own, miniature version of the Colosseum!

The fifteen students, all aged 16-19, are studying Building Craft Occupations (BCO) at the Crawley campus, and were inspired to recreate the world famous structure after looking at construction techniques throughout the ages.

Tutor Mark Blake said: “I wanted the group use their imaginations, and see the potential of bricks and mortar. I was keen that they used their imaginations, and wanted them to see the potential of bricks and mortar – to realise that they could do much more with it than building flat walls and uninspiring structures.”

The Colosseum has now been demolished, and the materials re-cycled for new projects, but it has been such a success that it will be repeated next year. The faculty are also keen to incorporate a trip to Fishbourne Roman Palace in Chichester or even to the Colosseum itself in Rome, for students to experience the scale of the structure first-hand.

Ex Grimbsby student, actor John Hurt wins Gold Award

Award-winning actor John Hurt CBE, famous for films such as The Elephant Man and The Naked Civil Servant, has won an Association of Colleges’ Gold Award. He was nominated by The Grimsby Institute for continuing to inspire generations of art and drama students.

John said he is “forever grateful” for the time he spent at Grimsby Art School, now the Grimsby Institute, where he studied Fine Art from 1956-1958. He was presented with his award by Lord Willis of Knaresborough, President of the AoC Charitable Trust, at a ceremony at the House of Commons earlier this month.

NUS VP advice to FE post-EMA

In the past few weeks, we have heard final details about the Discretionary Learner Support Fund that is to replace the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA). Managers in Further Education won’t be strangers to the idea of Learner Support Funds, but there are some distinct differences that make this one much more difficult to distribute.

Providing an unidentified number of students who are in receipt of income support, in care, are care leavers and / or are in receipt of Disability Living Allowance with a bursary of £1200; and then trying to negotiate a fair way of distributing what is left (with no guidelines to follow) to allow students to attend college and succeed. It’s not the easiest task, and it’s been made much more difficult by the government’s lack of communication and last-minute, slap-dash approach to funding formulae and allocations to colleges.

We are right to be angry at the last minute reduction in the funding multiplier, ultimately reduced to just £190 per maximum EMA recipient. We should also all be very aware that the final sum of 16-19 Bursary support is nowhere near the final £180million students were promised as it has now been deemed an “aspiration”.

Although the loss of EMA is not something that NUS intends to stop campaigning on, we need to get on with ensuring that students get the best possible deal from the new Discretionary Learner Support Fund while we continue to campaign against cuts to student support.

The first step is to review current methods of distributing Learner Support Funds that are already available, because the new system needs to be much further reaching to make up for the students who won’t be able to claim EMA.

We know the priority groups for the government do not provide holistic coverage of all the students at need in colleges.  We need to take in to consideration:

1. Students who would have been in the £10-£20 EMA brackets who now will not be automatically receiving any grant funding.

2. students who live in local authorities without sufficiently subsidised transport schemes

3. students on courses with high course costs (i.e. equipment for vocational courses and textbooks for academic subjects).

The most important thing colleges can do when reviewing their current systems is to involve students as much as possible in producing a set of fair, accessible and responsible policies around the new scheme. Invite student representatives to meetings where these review processes will be taking place, ask the Students’ Union to feed in to a consultation on the changes the college is having to make, and communicate all of these changes effectively to the student population at large.

There are other areas where colleges can help to reduce hidden costs in Further Education (and thereby reduce numbers of students who require access to the Learner Support Fund), work with local authorities to save and increase transport subsidies, and reduce equipment and college-incurred costs as much as possible (enrolment fees, application fees, materials fees and ID card charges).

NUS fully acknowledges that tough decisions have to be made by managers in FE. Where resource can be utilized elsewhere; it must, where the 5 per cent allowance for admin can be waved; it must too – our task, together, is to do everything to ensure no student drops out due to financial hardship, whilst also hammering the government on what is an inefficient and ineffective policy.

Toni Pearce, Vice President (FE), NUS Tweeting as @toni_pearce

Comedian returns to Filton for Prize Day

Bristol comedian, Justin Lee Collins is taking time out of his busy schedule to congratulate local students at Filton’s Award Ceremony.

Justin will return to his roots to host Prize Day at his former college.

The college is awarding students with cash prizes to assist with their education or career paths. Prizes include over 40 £50 prizes as well as a special prize draw, which all students in attendance can enter to be in with a chance to win one of three cash prizes, with a top prize of £1500 towards their next step on their educational journey.

Justin said: “I can’t wait to return to my old college. I learnt a lot whilst studying there and I’m looking forward to giving something back. The students will have a great time at their Prize Day. I recommend Filton College to anyone in the area.”

Peter Jones Academy hitting the headlines

BBC Dragon, entrepreneur and now further education celebrity, Peter Jones has been bringing FE into the nationals this week – kicking and screaming.

Now I know that FE Week has called FE the invisible sector, (see article below) but Peter Jones has proved us wrong.

The Daily Mail ran two stories, suggesting Peter might be pulling a ‘fast one’… the newspaper detailed allegations from Tom Bewick former National Enterprise Academy CEO, that Mr Jones had financially mismanaged the government-funded training academy he founded for young entrepreneurs.

Both The Telegraph and The Daily Mail said that Mr Bewick had written to Mr Jones and to Vince Cable MP, Secretary of State for Business, alleging financial mismanagement.

According to the two papers, the Skills Funding Agency investigation found “no evidence to substantiate these allegations”.

Mr Bewick had apparently claimed that the £9million government funding of the NEA was “hard to justify” because the academy wasn’t producing its predicted results. Mr Bewick claimed that the NEA was in danger of running out of money and also accused Mr Jones of being “disingenuous” about the amount of his personal fortune that he was contributing to the initiative.

But Mr Jones hit back at these allegations and The Telegraph reported that the multimillionaire businessman had said that the number of students who had passed through the NEA was exactly on track with the business plan.

Mr Bewick had claimed that only 260 students had so far graduated from the academy, compared to 2,715 predicted in the NEA’s business plan. Mr Jones said the 2,715 target was “across all customer groups” and that they had met this target through 745 direct BTEC students, and 1,970 students on other services.

The Telegraph reported that Mr Jones had dismissed suggestions that the NEA was struggling financially. “How could anyone question the viability of a charitable foundation owned by me?” he said. “If next month it needs millions, I’ll put it in.”

 

The National Enterprise Academy was launched in September 2009 and is billed as the UK’s first non-profit educational institution dedicated to teaching enterprise and entrepreneurship.

Simplify the funding formula? Heard that before!

Both the Young People’s Learning Agency (YPLA) and the Skills Funding Agency are beavering away, independent of each other, on two brand new ‘simpler’ funding formulae for the 2012/13 academic year.

The YPLA (soon to be Education Funding Agency) will attempt funding rates based on 16-18 year-old learner programmes (as opposed to individual enrolments) and the Skills Funding Agency will try to rationalise Qualification and Credit Framework funding rates whilst also introducing non-qualification outcome payments (such as the learner getting a sustainable job).

Let’s start with a simple fact. The FE funding formula has been through two major overhalls in the last ten years, the last time was for 2008/09. Each time ‘simplification’ was the prize, and it alluded the then Learning and Skills Council on both occasions.

The immediate obstacle now, beyond the winners and losers requiring complex transitional arrangements (which on past form would last longer than the new methodology), is that there will be two very different approaches, one for 16-18 and another for 19+.

Each time ‘simplification’ was the prize, and it alluded the then Learning and Skills Council on both occasions.”

So perhaps in isolation the 16-18 formula may become simpler, but, with the exception of a few sixth form colleges the rest of the college sector will now also have to operate a completely different 19+ formula (along with the data related processes).

So, let’s start by pointing out the obvious. Until the sector returns to one education department operating a single method of paying colleges, the way post-16 funding is earned by colleges will only become more, not less, complex.

Then there is the question: who is calling for simplification? Do they know enough about the current system, and previous ones, to be a voice worth listening too? Sure funding is complicated, but that is because it needs to cope with FE, the one bit of the education sector which innovates and operates such a wonderful variety of delivery models to a wide rage of learner need.

Let’s keep things simple and stop changing it.