This year’s Annual Apprenticeship Conference in Birmingham saw Ofsted chief inspector, Amanda Spielman take to the stage to declare that online learning and self-study can be a “toxic combination” if overused or used too soon in an apprenticeship. Spending too much time studying at home or alone could “can damage apprentices’ motivation and enthusiasm” and unsurprisingly lead some to drop out.
In reality, when executed properly online learning offers a formidable platform that can prove even more effective than in-person teaching in some instances.
We have not conducted an in-person session for two years. And having successfully transitioned from in-person to online teaching, we have consistently maintained our Ofsted ‘outstanding’ status.
Online vs online
Key to understanding our success – and much of the derision directed towards online provision – is the distinction between virtual classroom-based learning on one hand, and the loathed (but sadly much embraced) pre-recorded ‘lessons’ on the other.
Crafting effective engagement strategies is crucial to maintaining high-quality learning experiences online. Platforms like Moodle and pre-recorded content have serious limitations in advancing student learning. Their inflexible content lacks interactivity and real-time feedback, limiting engagement. They may be suitable for basic level two courses, but advanced apprenticeships demand a deeper understanding and require more innovative techniques.
Instead, a hybrid model that combines virtual face-to-face sessions with small interactive cohorts and personalised one-to-one monthly sessions maintain vital flexibility. It offers a learning experience that is engaging and tailored to individual needs, providing apprentices with the chance to choose content according to their needs. They can focus on areas where they require assistance or skip to coaching sessions where they feel more confident.
Furthermore, well-structured webinars with focused content can effectively replicate in-person interactions offered in traditional classroom settings. They aren’t without limitations; students are easily distracted and studies show that keeping webinar durations to around two to three hours enhances engagement and overall productivity. Regular breaks also play a crucial role in sustaining focus and optimising cognitive performance.
We have not conducted an in-person session for two years
Follow-up one-on-one coaching sessions further reinforce learning by bridging the gap between theory and practical application. As apprentices develop, transitioning from tutoring to coaching model shifts the focus onto real-world application.
Elevating Education with Advantages
Online learning also fosters a unique ecosystem of peer support and cross-sectoral conversations among apprentices from diverse backgrounds that in-person provision can’t consistently deliver.
The logistics of arranging eight to ten students from different sectors to sign up to the same programme at the same time and in the same location is immensely challenging. Roll-on, roll-off recruitment allows apprentices to be seamlessly recruited across various sectors and locations.
Apprentices can engage with colleagues in open cohorts at any time. This virtual format breaks down geographical barriers, enabling cross-sector interactions that enrich experiential learning.
Meanwhile, virtual breakout rooms facilitate collaborative learning and enable apprentices to gain insights into challenges across various sectors. This promotes a holistic perspective that transcends the limitations of physical classrooms. Virtual classrooms can, in some cases, be more effective than physical ones.
The benefits of online learning also extend to educators. An online setup reduces stress for tutors who no longer have to worry about timekeeping. No one is disadvantaged by traffic making students late in the morning or tiredness affecting focus on late afternoons. Tutors also cite reduced stress and improved teaching focus in an online environment, which can only benefit learners.
Online learning benefits everyone else too, as it reduces our carbon footprint. Not only does that bring us closer to our net-zero commitments, it reduces costs for learners and educators at a time when the cost-of-living crisis poses a real risk to finances.
Our corporate responsibility to deliver good outcomes for our students is a commitment we are devoted to. We would not deliver learning online if we could not provide high-quality education effectively.
Expertly implemented, online learning is far from toxic. Rather than damaging motivation and enthusiasm, it can deliver learning more effectively than traditional classroom-based provision for many learners.
Inspectors recognise that in our practices. We hope a new chief inspector will too for the benefit of all apprentices.
If you’re an online person, you’ll be familiar with the “hot dog” meme, known formally as “we’re all trying to find the guy who did this”. If you’re not aware, it’s taken from a previously obscure comedy sketch in which a man in a hot dog costume drives a novelty hot dog car into a shop window, causing massive damage.
The hot dog driver then walks around in his costume with all the other customers, tutting about who on earth would have done such a stupid thing, and promising retribution when he finds them.
Anyway, changing topic completely, Rishi Sunak gave a speech today in which he told the Conservative Party conference everything that was wrong with education and what needed fixing.
Actually, that’s not quite true. He stood there with big brown eyes and told the audience about the power of the Tories’ education reforms. He loves them. Really, really loves them. Especially the ones Michael Gove and Nick Gibb did, about knowledge-rich curricula and academic merit.
But skills? Those brown eyes looked up sorrowfully.
Skills was a mistake. A 30-year mistake.
Abolishing diplomas? A mistake, presumably. Cutting FE funding? Definitely a mistake. Introducing a new, gold-standard A level equivalent qualification called T Levels? The biggest mistake of all.
Because it turns out he doesn’t like A levels after all. Or T Levels. That’s why he’s fixing the mistakes that unnamed other ministers made and scrapping them all, including the knowledge-rich curricula and reformed exams he was so proud of five minutes ago.
A whole new qualification, the prime minister announced.
“Advanced BS,” someone sitting next to me muttered.
“Hold on,” I whispered back. “Let’s hear the end of the argument.”
“No,” he said. “That’s the name: Advanced British Standard.”
“Oh come on,” I said. “Really? There’s no way they’ve picked something with that stupid an acronym. That would be like abolishing T Levels in the middle of the government’s own ‘T Levels Week’!”
I’m not saying there’s nothing good here for FE. Indeed, I can’t remember the last time a Conservative prime minister even talked about FE in a conference speech. Rob Halfon certainly welcomed it. In the hall, Gillian Keegan cried. (This was just after the PM had described her as a former degree apprentice, so it’s possible she was crying because she didn’t want anyone to know. She doesn’t make a big deal of it. One to check).
Even Nick Gibb welcomed it, though I suspect he’ll need some remedial dental work once he’s unwound his rictus grin.
More money for FE lecturers is obviously a good thing. Additional funding and research into supporting maths and English re-sits, though less universally popular, is in my view a good thing.
Explicitly recognising that improving terms and conditions for school teachers, without doing the same in FE makes the latter’s job so much harder, is long overdue. Extending learning hours for these new qualifications is also a good thing, and brings us back into line with other advanced education economies, as well as before the various changes to post-16 funding that some hot dog-loving guys cut successively since 2010.
Normally, conference announcements come with supporting information that is as lean as the prime minister. But not this time. Shortly after he left the stage, the DfE published a 45-page document telling us all about the plan.
‘Presented to Parliament’, it says on the front. I mean, maybe. It’s possible that we really don’t need HS2 because someone had managed to nip down to London from Manchester in the intervening period. Or maybe the document had been published in such a rush that no one realised this boilerplate sentence wasn’t true. Both possibilities are good!
I opened the document randomly. “For a long time, governments have claimed technical education is equal to academic, but in practice it is not”, it says.
Next sentence, “Since 2010 we have worked with employers to reinvigorate the quality of technical education and training in this country: we have introduced 18 T Levels…..”
Boy, when the prime minister catches the people who insisted we had parity of esteem and introduced these T Level qualifications that are for the scrap-heap, there’ll be a reckoning.
English and maths GCSE resit students and apprentices are set to attract higher funding rates under government plans announced today.
The Department for Education said it will invest an additional £150 million per year over the next two years from 2024/25. It is part of a £600 million reform package being introduced while officials work on a new “advanced British standard” qualification to replace A-levels and T Levels.
The funding boost means that if a student is retaking English and maths GCSE while studying at level 2 or below on their 16 to 19 course, they will now attract the same funding as those studying at level 3.
And all apprentices who have not gained their level 2 English and maths qualification will have their funding lifted to match the adult education budget – moving the rate up by 54 per cent from £471 to £724 increase.
The Association of Employment and Learning Providers said urged the DfE to implement the “long overdue” funding increases as quickly as possible.
A spokesperson added: “Although the content of [English and maths] functional skills qualifications still needs further consideration, as does DfE’s policy position on exemptions and exit requirements, this proposal to match the adult education budget rate is a welcome step forward.
Colleges and providers have this year been met with an influx of students who haven’t passed GCSE English and maths.
FE Week analysis suggests that 38,000 more students will have to continue studying English compared to last year after failing to achieve a 4 or above. This is a 28.6 per cent rise – above the 3.3 per cent rise in entries for both subjects. Nearly 22,000 students will have to continue maths compared to 2022 – a 14.9 per cent rise.
The DfE said: “We know poor literacy and numeracy holds young people, and our economy, back – so it is right we prioritise raising the floor of attainment now.”
The £600 million package will also include around £100 million a year to offer £6,000 tax-free bursaries per year to teachers in “key shortage subjects” if they are in the first five years of their career. DfE hopes this will help improve the recruitment and retention of teachers.
“We will invest c.£100 million each year to double the rates of the existing Levelling Up Premium and extending it to those teaching eligible subjects in all FE colleges,” the department said.
“This will mean that those teaching key technical such as engineering, electronics and digital, and key STEM subjects, will benefit from the support already given to maths, chemistry, physics and computing teachers in eligible schools.”
The cash will also include £40 million for the Education Endowment Foundation to expand its focus to post-16.
Documents stated: “EEF will act as the independent authority on creating and sharing evidence for teachers and leaders on what works to support outcomes for 16 to 19-year-olds, with a particular focus on approaches that work best to narrow gaps in attainment.”
Another £60 million over the two years will “improve maths education, including through: expanding teaching for mastery approaches across the country, using our Maths Hubs; and increasing access to Core Maths through provider incentives and an expanded digital tuition platform”.
So what does this all mean? Here’s your FE Week explainer.
1. What is the Advanced British Standard?
Documents published after Sunak’s speech (read them here) say the Advanced British Standard (ABS) is a “new Baccalaureate-style qualification” for 16 to 19 year-olds “that takes the best of A-levels and T Levels and brings them together into a single qualification.
This is because the current “traditional parallel structure of A-levels and technical qualifications has constraints”, such as “limiting the breadth of young people’s education and prevents full parity across technical and academic routes”.
2. A-levels and T Levels scrapped – but would take TEN YEARS …
Yes, both A-levels and T Levels as individual qualifications would be replaced.
Under the ABS, most students would instead study a minimum of five subjects at different levels – either major or minor (so for instance, three majors and two minors).
But the intention is to make “majors” have the “comparable depth and rigour to A-levels (with at least 90 per cent of the content) so that they support progression, including to university”.
BUT BUT BUT. This is obviously all dependent on the Conservatives overturning the odds to win the next election.
And either way – the “long-term reform” would “take a decade to deliver in full”, documents state.
3. … however consultation soon and white paper next year
But plans are afoot to make some progress before the expected election later next year.
Government said the huge overhauls would “need careful development, in partnership with students, teachers, leaders, schools, colleges, universities and employers, as well as the public”.
They promised to “consult extensively, and in detail, over the coming months on the design of the new qualification”.
There will also be a white paper next year setting out “our plan for delivery”.
4. Post-16 studying time will be increased …
Under the plans, post-16 students would spend more time in the classroom, with a minimum of 1,475 taught hours over two years.
Currently, a typical A-level student in England studying three subjects is taught for 1,280 hours and a technical student for 1,000 hours.
5. … and £30k bonuses to recruit more teachers
But where will all the teachers come from (we hear you ask)?
Government will invest £600 million across the next two years to help boost capacity, including around £100 million each year to double the rates of the levelling up premium payments to teachers.
That means teachers in eligible shortage subjects in the levelling up areas will get £30,000 tax-free bonuses over five years. This will also extend to further education colleges.
“Delivering our new approach will rest on there being enough great teachers in every school and college, and this downpayment is the first step to ensuring that there are,” documents state.
6. ‘Major’ and ‘minor’ levels at 16-19 …
A bit more detail on the new qualifications that would make up the ABS…
So students would take a minimum of five subjects, but in some cases this could be four if they choose “to focus on a specific occupation”.
There will be potential for “further ‘stretch’” for those who want to take four majors – similar to the four A-levels now.
Those that want to take a primarily technical route such as structural engineering could study a “major in building service engineering and a double major in gas engineering, and minors in maths and English”.
Students wanting to keep a primarily academic route could, for example, study “three majors in history, French and English, alongside minors in maths and geography. Or, they could study mixed disciplines: majors in business, geography and maths, alongside minors in English and marketing.”
An example of the new system
7. … with maths and English requirement ‘to at least minor level’
DfE says they will “ensure that everybody has to study maths and English to the age of 18”.
It will be delivered in “different ways for different people” – for some it will be a “major” like an A-level, while for others it will be a “minor” like the current core maths qualification.
On core maths, DfE says it “will strengthen and support as part of the pathway to these reforms”.
For others, “it will be about acquiring the basic English and maths they need to succeed in work and life”. DfE will explore if an “essay-based subject” could work for English.
DfE will also expand the teaching for mastery method for better maths teaching.
8. Grading to be ‘carefully considered’
DfE said it will also have to “consider carefully how to design the grading that students will receive”.
Currently, the letter system is used for A-levels in England and pass, merit and distinction grades are awarded for VTQs.
DfE said any grading will have to make sure employers and universities can understand a students achievement “both across the whole qualification and in the most relevant subjects to them, and can make the right decision about what is next for them”.
9. GCSEs could also be ‘streamlined’
Ministers are looking at what improvements can be made to GCSEs.
They say the year 11 tests can be “onerous for students and teachers, which can detract from the time available for teaching and learning time” so they will look “at where they can be streamlined while still retaining their inherent rigour”.
Things being considered include whether to reduce the number and/or length of papers that children sit to save time spent on exams and on marking.
The second is “adopt digital solutions, such as on-screen assessment, which would open up new possibilities and allow us to assess performance in more innovative and less onerous ways”.
10. Level 2 pathway with more teaching hours
Students not yet able to progress to the level 3 Advanced British Standard will be offered a dedicated pathway at level 2.
There isn’t a specially branded new qualification outlined in today’s announcement, but level 2 students “will have access to the same number of minimum hours – and high-quality teaching – as the level 3 pathway.”
Reforms to remove and improve qualifications at level 2 and below will proceed as planned.
The department said there will also be a “clear offer” with extra teaching hours for students studying below level 2, including those with SEND needs.
11. £150m for GCSE resits
DfE is committing an extra £150 million each year to support those that don’t pass GCSE English and maths.
They say it means “that if a student is retaking English and maths GCSE while studying at level 2 or below on their 16-19 course, they will now attract the same funding as those studying at level 3”.
And all apprentices who have not gained their level 2 English and maths qualification will have their funding rates lifted to match the adult education budget – which represents a 54 per cent increase on the English and maths funding currently available to apprentices.
Funding to colleges and schools will be increased “so they can deliver maths to more students aged over 16”.
12. £40m for EEF to expand post-16
The cash will also include £40 million for the Education Endowment Foundation to expand its focus to post-16.
Documents stated: “EEF will act as the independent authority on creating and sharing evidence for teachers and leaders on what works to support outcomes for 16-19 year-olds, with a particular focus on approaches that work best to narrow gaps in attainment.”
Another £60 million over the two years will “improve maths education, including through: expanding teaching for mastery approaches across the country, using our Maths Hubs; and increasing access to Core Maths through provider incentives and an expanded digital tuition platform”.
Rishi Sunak has pledged to replace A-levels and T Levels with a new single “advanced British standard” qualification.
The prime minister announced during his Conservative Party conference speech that he would create a “new single qualification for our school leavers”.
A-levels and T Levels will be merged into the new qualification, which would see 16 to 19-year-olds “typically” study five subjects including “some form” of English and maths.
More teachers will be needed to deliver “at least 195 hours more” teaching for sixth-formers, Sunak acknowledged.
Those who teach “key subjects” in schools and colleges will receive “special bonuses of up to £30,000 tax free over the first five years of their career”.
Government said it would launch a consultation next month, with a proposed white paper next year.
But the reforms are dependent on the Conservatives winning the next election, and if implemented would take ten years to deliver in full, documents state.
The announcement, made during the government’s T Levels celebration week, comes despite ministers’ plans to scrap other level 3 vocational qualifications, like BTECs, and replace them with T Levels, which only launched in 2020.
Students will ‘major’ in subjects
A policy document published by the government said the new qualification would “build on the best of A-levels and T Levels”.
The academic subjects in the advanced British standard “will be based on the content and academic rigour of A levels, taking the same knowledge-based approach”.
Students would choose “majors” with “comparable depth and rigour to A-levels” and with “at least 90 per cent of the content” that “support progression, including to university”.
Technical subjects within the qualification “will be based on the content of T Levels and occupational standards that employers and IfATE have carefully designed, supporting progression into higher technical education, apprenticeships and employment”.
…but not for a decade
But the reform will “take a decade to deliver in full”, meaning it could well never come to fruition if Labour wins next year’s general election and decides to cancel it.
“It will need careful development, in partnership with students, teachers, leaders, schools, colleges, universities and employers, as well as the public.”
Government will “consult extensively, and in detail, over the coming months on the design of the new qualification, informing a white paper next year setting out our plan for delivery”.
“If we want to change the direction of our country and build a better future for our children nothing is more important than making our education system the best it can be,” Sunak said today.
“I want to build on our Conservative achievements and take a long-term decision to address the problems with our 16 to 19 education system.
“Technical education is not given the respect it deserves but today, I am changing all of that, pulling one of the biggest levers we have to change the direction of our country.”
High apprenticeship drop out rates are ripping off taxpayers, according to the education secretary, who told the Conservative Party conference she is “hugely focused” on improving completions.
Speaking at a conference panel organised by the think tank Policy Exchange, Gillian Keegan also said she was “outraged” by the introduction of the apprenticeship levy when working in business before becoming an MP, admitting that she later realised it was designed to “irritate us into action” amid low private investment in training.
At the ‘How can degree apprenticeships fulfil their potential’ debate yesterday, Keegan was asked by Association of Colleges president Corrienne Peasgood how degree apprenticeship completion rates could be improved, particularly for apprentices from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Keegan claimed that the completion rates for degree apprenticeships were currently “about 88 per cent”, which would be much higher than the 55 per cent national average for 2021/22.
Official apprenticeship achievement data does not single out degree apprenticeships, but the published statistics do show that the latest retention rate was 58 per cent for level 6 and 59 per cent for level 7 apprenticeships. It’s also not possible to determine retention and achievement data for universities specifically, but the ‘other public funded’ provider type, which includes universities, scored a retention rate of 64 per cent for all higher-level apprenticeships.
Keegan said: “Completion rates are my big thing at the moment. Every lost apprenticeship is lost taxpayers’ money, and I’m not happy about taxpayers’ money going to waste.
“And it’s an opportunity cost for someone else that could have done it. So that’s where I’m really focussed at the moment.”
Keegan added that more apprentices are completing better quality apprenticeships because she “got rid of all the crap ones” by companies that were abusing the system.
“They were terrible at the beginning. Because I mean, you know, companies had 40 per cent of their employees suddenly being apprentices. They weren’t apprentices. They were just trying to take advantage of the incentives that were there in terms of pay. So there was misuse of the system.
“So the reason they [completions] shot up and then went back down again is because I got rid of all the crap ones, because the crap ones were not really apprenticeships, right. But completion rates are where I’m hugely focussed.”
Last year, then skills minister Alex Burghart introduced a new 67 per cent target for apprenticeship achievements by 2024/25 in response to a 57.7 per cent achievement rate in 2020/21. In 2021/22, that figure dropped to 53.4 per cent.
“I can’t understand why they [completion rates] are not 99 per cent. Who would give up that opportunity? I know one or two may drop out, but it should be really, really high because it’s a brilliant opportunity that loads of people want now,” Keegan said yesterday.
Levy ‘irritated’ ‘lazy’ businesses
Keegan’s defensiveness over protecting public money came after she revealed she was “outraged” by the levy when it was first introduced in 2017, before she was an MP.
“I remember when the levy was introduced, and I was in business, and I was outraged. Outraged from wherever I was working at the time. And the reason was because it was a tax.
“And then I realised, actually, it was meant to irritate us into action, because businesses had got lazier than when, you know, I was younger and General Motors would reach into a comprehensive school and find a couple of kids there and help them get on in life.”
Joining Keegan on the panel was Manchester Metropolitan University vice chancellor Malcolm Press, Grant Thornton partner Justin Rix, Liverpool City Region mayor Steve Rotheram.
L-R: Rix, Press, Keegan, Rotheram, Goodhart
Devolve apprenticeship levy underspends
Rotheram attacked a “significant underspend” in the levy and called on the government to work with devolved mayors, in real time, to “help the government deliver its targets and close those skills gaps”.
His pitch was to allow mayors to use any levy underspend to fund priorities identified in their local skills improvement plans.
“We’ve gone out to the employer base and said, what sort of skills do you need? They told us what they are. We’ve put all that into a document. We’ve now gone to all of our private training providers, HE sector, and FE, and said, how many spaces could you have for each of these areas, so we know what the capacity is,” he said.
“And we know there’s an underspend in the apprenticeship levy. And we know there’s employer demand. Yet, for whatever reason, the government seems unable to join the dots. We can do all of that. So I’d ask the secretary of state, work with us … and we can start to deliver on the promises that you made about skills and apprenticeship.”
Schools and colleges should not lock down over email threats unless the move is “actively” recommended by police or leaders are satisfied it is a “proportionate response” to an immediate physical threat, the government has said.
The Department for Education (DfE) reiterated its school and college security guidance in an email to leaders today following a recent spate of malicious communications sent to schools.
Last month, schools in three counties went into lockdown in the space of a week after receiving emails “threatening violence to children and staff”.
In its message to both school and college leaders, the DfE said it was “aware of several recent malicious email threats to education settings in a number of local authority areas.
“The police have said these incidents are malicious communications and there has not yet been a credible threat.”
But it added that it recognised “threats of this nature are very upsetting and can be disruptive to the calm learning environments you strive to create”.
“Education settings are not advised to initiate a lockdown unless it is actively recommended by the police, or you are satisfied that it is a proportionate response to an immediate physical threat on-site.”
Leaders told to alert police to emails ‘immediately’
Where a school or college receives a threat, DfE told leaders to alert the police immediately and “follow their advice and guidance”.
Email threats were sent to schools in West Yorkshire, Manchester and Cheshire in September.
A man who was arrested by West Yorkshire Police on September 14 in connection with an email sent to a number of schools in Leeds and Bradford was later released without charge.
The force, which said enquiries were “ongoing”, said it had not issued guidance to schools to lockdown.
But a number of schools in Leeds took extra security measures after receiving advice from the city council.
It reportedly asked schools to “remain vigilant and ensure that your usual robust safeguarding procedures are adhered to”.
Beeston Primary School, Richmond Hill Academy and Ruth Gorse Academy were among the schools which put extra security measures in place.
It is understood the latter two schools kept children indoors during breaktimes and asked people not to visit the site unless essential.
Emergency plans should cover ‘a range’ of incidents
In a message to parents on Facebook, Beeston Primary School said staff were “being extra vigilant”.
Sharp Lane Primary School reportedly sent an email to parents saying that “children will be kept indoors for the full day”.
“All gates remain closed and locked as usual and doors and windows within school remain closed all day also,” it added.
On September 12, Greater Manchester Police and Cheshire Constabulary said they were investigating after being made aware of an email sent to schools that morning.
Cheshire Police said the email, sent to schools in Chester and Ellesmere Port, “made threats to pupils and staff”.
Lache Primary School in Chester told parents on Facebook that it had locked down the school “to ensure that everyone is safe” and could not let parents pick children up early.
Blacon High School in Chester also put additional measures in place after receiving the email, but told parents it was not “in lockdown”.
In its email, DfE also emphasised that all schools should have emergency plans in place which should be “generic enough” to cover a range of potential incidents.
It added that they should also have a “competent person or persons” to lead in health and safety, and security including online or cyber security attacks.
Gillian Keegan has not met any LGBT+ groups to discuss the government’s planned transgender guidance, despite claiming that delays to its release would allow her to consult stakeholders.
Schools minister Nick Gibb made the admission after Labour MP Nadia Whittome asked how many of the organisations the education secretary had spoken to about the planned guidance over the last year.
She stressed that the move would ensure the advice issued to schools and colleges “meets the high expectations that these groups rightly have for it”.
Transgender guidance ‘created in vacuum’
Nick Gibb
In his response to Whittome, Gibb said the “secretary of state has not met any LGBT organisations directly to discuss” it, but added ministers are “keen to consider the full range of views”.
The DfE will undertake “a public consultation on the draft guidance prior to publication”, he added.
“During the consultation period, the department plans to engage with a range of interested organisations, including organisations that support the LGBT community.”
But Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, accused the department for education of developing the guidance “in a vacuum”.
Keegan: ‘More information needed’
Academies minister Baroness Barran has said guidance will set out schools’ and colleges’ legal duties and provide “clear information to support their consideration of how to respond to transgender issues”.
Speaking about it at the Conservative party conference today, she confirmed the document, which she described as “one of the most sensitive things that I think any of us have ever been involved in”, is “nearly there”.
Barran stressed she “absolutely hear[s] the real need to deliver it and deliver it quickly”, but added: “We are trying to push to be as practical and constructive as possible while sensitive to what is probably one of the most difficult issues that has to be dealt with in school.”
The guidance was scheduled to be published before the summer break.
Keegan insisted at the time that more information was “needed about the long-term implications of a child to act as though they are the opposite sex”.
“We also need to take care to understand how such actions affect other children in the school or college. These decisions must not be taken lightly or in haste,” she said.
‘Schools and colleges urgently need transgender guidance’
“We have made the decision to allow more time – to speak to teachers, parents, lawyers and other stakeholders – in order to ensure this guidance meets the high expectations that these groups rightly have for it.”
National Association of Headteachers general secretary Paul Whiteman said leaders have been “promised this guidance for several years now”. The union leader stated that it is “urgently needed by schools and colleges who are currently being left to navigate complex and sensitive issues in isolation, without support or training”.
Barton added that he is concerned “there has been so little dialogue” up to this point.
“As far as we can see the transgender guidance is being developed in a vacuum without any reference to LGBT groups or other stakeholders, including the schools and colleges which would be required to implement it.”
Young people fleeing conflict, oppression and destitution in their home countries are arriving in England in record numbers.
In the year to June 2023, 4,513 16 to 17-year-olds applied for asylum, up 7 per cent on last year. Eighty-three per cent were unaccompanied. Another 72,391 adults sought asylum, up 19 per cent on last year.
On arrival, young asylum-seekers and refugees face a myriad of complex and competing systems; legal, housing, benefits – and further education.
Hampered by strict course funding rules that limit supply in the face of growing demand, colleges and college teachers aren’t just providing education and training – they are on the frontline bringing all of those systems together to try and make them work for those young people.
Home office data on asylum seekers
Soaring demand for ESOL
Soaring demand for ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) courses has left colleges scrambling to put on enough provision and provide the wraparound support these students need.
But Home Office decisions to move large cohorts into areas without giving local services time to prepare have left colleges struggling to meet those needs.
Refugee Education UK (REUK), a charity that helps refugees access education, researched the barriers that displaced young people face in accessing education.
Interim findings shared with FE Week show the biggest obstacle, cited by 49 per cent of the survey’s 140 FE respondents, was a lack of available provision, with courses described as being “often over-subscribed”.
While some colleges offer termly ESOL courses, others are annual, leaving prospective learners having to wait many months.
Megan Greenwood, coordinator for FE Colleges of Sanctuary, a network of colleges that have pledged to support displaced migrants, said one college opened up a course in the spring specifically for recently arrived Ukrainians. But the move was “not the norm”.
A Home Office policy to disperse asylum-seekers and refugees across England, reducing pressure on port areas, has led to placements in areas not accustomed to accommodating non-native speakers. This has left those migrants in some cases struggling to access any ESOL provision at all.
Some areas where the Home Office has placed large numbers of migrants all at once have been suddenly inundated with demand for ESOL.
In York, the arrival of 450 asylum seekers in the city last Christmas meant an “already stretched education system” had to find places for them, Greenwood says.
Luminate Education Group’s ESOL provision in Yorkshire grew from 3,404 in 2021-22 to 4,000 the following year; it also doubled the number of evening classes in Leeds this year.
Brighton, Hove & Sussex Sixth Form College (BHASVIC), which provides ESOL courses for 16 to 19-year-olds, increased its ESOL intake this year by 50 per cent and expanded it from a basic English qualification to English, maths and IT.
When Ukrainian refugee Iryna Samofalova moved to Colchester in July through the Homes for Ukraine scheme, she found it “so stressful and upsetting” to be told by the local Colchester Institute she would not be able to access ESOL provision for several months. However, she was subsequently offered a place on a higher-level course starting in September.
The institute currently has about 100 students awaiting ESOL assessment.
The surge in demand has left some colleges struggling to recruit enough ESOL teachers. West Yorkshire mayor Tracy Brabin told FE Week in June that colleges in her area were “desperate for tutors”, forcing her combined authority to propose setting up boot camps in ESOL teacher training.
Meanwhile, Luminate is appointing several ESOL teaching apprentices each year, and supporting teaching assistants to retrain as ESOL teachers.
Catherine Gladwell of Refugee Education UK, taken by Stephanie Alcaino
Interpret funding rules ‘generously’
The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) funds 16 to 19-year-olds until the end of year 13, but after that, asylum-seekers are only eligible for central adult funding if they have lived in the UK for more than six months while the Home Office is considering their claims, or are receiving certain local authority support.
If they are refused asylum, they become eligible if they have appealed against this and no subsequent decision is made within six months.
All eligible adults can take English and maths up to level 2 if they do not have those GCSEs, and ESOL provision up to level 2 if they’re unemployed or on a low wage.
But Greenwood encourages colleges to take a “generous interpretation” of the funding guidance.
Colleges are “sometimes very nervous” to do so. But BHASVIC’s safeguarding manager Jackie Raybone said her college is “providing learning opportunities regardless of circumstances”.
BHASVIC ESOL teacher Jamal Salman admits ESFA funding “realistically isn’t enough”, with the “minimal” funding increase in recent years “subsumed by the rising cost of living and staffing”.
“All our ESOL students also have social workers and complicated lives that require additional support and advice. We are having to provide this without any additional funding.”
University of Bristol research into 16-plus migrant provision found “dedicated and talented teachers trying to support learners with complex and often poorly understood needs, in a highly fragmented education system”.
It also pointed to a “significant funding gap” for learners who “fall between the school-based and adult education budgets”.
While some colleges offer non-accredited ESOL courses for students unable to pass a qualification, others do not because “funding only goes with qualifications”, explains Oldham College ESOL teacher Eve Sheppard.
Those with “very low levels of education need several years of unaccredited classes” to get to the standard required for accredited courses.
Luminate Education Group’s ESOL provision
The local offer
The cost and availability of adult ESOL provision also depend on decisions by local government, with some areas widening the scope of their ESOL provision to include other subjects while others have not.
Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority is advising its colleges to package ESOL qualifications into a study programme to include maths or numeracy, digital skills, careers and “enrichment”, such as “life in the UK”.
As well as providing fully funded adult ESOL courses, it is “test[ing] new and innovative ways of delivering ESOL in the workplace” as well as funding training for ESOL tutors.
Surrey’s virtual school “may suggest” unaccompanied asylum-seekers under 16 join an FE setting rather than a school, to “minimise” the number of moves they have to make between settings.
But in some areas, cash-strapped councils are curbing their support of asylum-=seekers to save money.
Kent Council, which is at risk of bankruptcy, decided this month to restrict its offer of supported accommodation to unaccompanied asylum-seekers aged up to 18, changing the cut-off point from 21. Restricted services “may include” sessions on education and training, including opportunities such as apprenticeships.
ESOL learners at provision provided by Luminate Education Group
Coping with trauma
Asylum-seekers and refugees often arrive with complex mental health needs. Unaccompanied children who are placed in unsuitable adult asylum hotels can be further traumatised.
The Local Government Association says the number of unaccompanied children in hotels “increased significantly” in June, with six in use and more in the pipeline.
Council sources in Plymouth and Warwickshire told FE Week the Home Office is now placing higher numbers of asylum-seekers into each hotel to maximise their use.
Camden Council leader Georgia Gould says some young asylum-seekers in her authority had been stuck in hotels for two years, which was “severely impacting their mental health”.
Community network Citizen’s UK’s senior organiser Froilan Legaspi describes asylum hotels serving “undercooked chicken and expired milk”, with “many young people staying there losing weight”.
Faheem, 16, a member of All4One – an unaccompanied young asylum-seekers group in Manchester – arrived in June 2022 from Calais, where he spent three days without food.
Nine months later he is still waiting to access any legal support, while another All4One group member has been waiting two years.
The wait is having a “severe impact” on Faheem’s mental health, and on his education: “I am happy that I go to college, I am trying to learn, but the problem is that you keep thinking about your family, waiting and waiting. All the books are in front of me, but I can’t concentrate. You are not sure whether you are going to have a solicitor soon or not. You don’t know what’s gonna happen to you.”
At BHASVIC, Salman believes the uncertainty around immigration status has a “greater impact” on learners than the trauma that brought them to the UK.
“Many” students are receiving CAMHS support, with ESOL teachers “regularly” dealing with solicitors, social workers, key workers, foster carers and the police if the student runs away from home.
“The social workers supporting these students are also overwhelmed and underpaid,” he says. “The expectations of what we can deal with as a college, beyond providing them with learning, is very high.”
An asylum seeker student at BHASVIC in Brighton
Disappearing learners
Asylum-seekers and refugees can sometimes disappear from college communities altogether, either because they have been trafficked by criminal gangs, are evading the authorities to avoid forcible removal, or the Home Office has moved them on at short notice.
About 400 unaccompanied children have gone missing from Home Office-run hotels since July 2021. By June this year, 154 were still missing. The rest were found by the police either with people known to the children or at risk of exploitation by criminal gangs, according to children’s rights organisation ECPAT UK.
The Illegal Migration Act, which became law this year (but has yet to be fully enacted), stipulates that unaccompanied children be removed from the country when they turn 18, prompting concern from the Local Government Association that more young people will disappear shortly before their 18th birthdays.
If they stay, they would be denied access to further or higher education or vocational training.
Similarly, the Hub for Education for Refugees in Europe (HERE) say more children nearing their 18th birthdays are “likely to go missing from care or Home Office accommodation to avoid being detained and removed”.
Greenwood believes colleges are as yet largely unaware of this issue.
But Sanctuary has seen increased interest from colleges in anti-trafficking training because of concern over the exploitation of vulnerable students. “Colleges want to make sure they’re keeping an eye on these students, but at the same time, they don’t want to police them. It’s really challenging.”
BHASVIC ESOL learners
Hotel life without education
Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are entitled to access education within 20 days of arriving in the UK. But that legal duty appears to be rarely met.
Some members of All4One had to wait up to eight months for provision, and in the meantime were “bored”, “isolated” and “desperate to learn”, a recent report for Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit found.
Greenwood says that young people placed in hotels when they arrive have been “ignored and overlooked” when it comes to education.
But the Home Office says that “dedicated staff” are regularly based in hotels, including on weekends, to provide advice and signpost available English language instruction.
The government promised free English courses for Afghan refugees as part of the government’s Operation Warm Welcome scheme. But when Schools Week visited Afghan refugees at a hotel in Essex in July, young mothers described being offered only up to five hours a week of English lessons.
A government inspection of hotels for unaccompanied children last year found that “activities for young people were limited and comprised access to art materials, sport including swimming and football, indoor games, and some basic, perfunctory informal English language sessions”.
“By failing to provide any formal education or schooling, young people’s basic educational needs were unmet.”
Sometimes, the reason for the long wait for provision is down to confusion and miscommunication over what young asylum-seekers and refugees are entitled to receive.
Greenwood believes that college courses offered to these groups are “not very well advertised, both internally and externally”.
REUK’s survey found 41 per cent identified “unclear or inaccurate information about accessing FE” as a barrier.
Greenwood says in some instances asylum-seekers have applied for courses they believed were free, but were later “given a big bill they couldn’t pay”.
REUK’s chief executive Catherine Gladwell says: “Education is critical in enabling young refugees to build hopeful futures in this country. Yet every week we hear from young people who are denied education – sometimes for the simple fact that they are in temporary accommodation or have been given wrong advice about their eligibility.”
But efforts are being made to overcome these problems. Greater Manchester Combined Authority has created an ESOL Advisory Service with contact points in each borough.
Ronnie Bage welfare officer at Hartlepool College with donations for refugees
Colleges going above and beyond
Staff at colleges across England are taking steps through food banks and donations to ensure their refugee and asylum-seeking students don’t go without.
At Hartlepool College, welfare officer Ronnie Bage is using his office to store donations for refugees that include bicycles and cooking equipment.
ESOL classes alone do not give young migrants the opportunity to mix with their English peers, but some providers have found creative ways to integrate them into the wider college community.
That’s especially true at the 19 Colleges of Sanctuary, which were awarded the status by the charity City of Sanctuary UK in recognition of their good practice.
Leeds City College has held listening sessions with ESOL students to better understand their college experience, introducing a training programme for staff to explore common misconceptions about asylum-seekers and refugees.
At BHASVIC, ESOL students felt segregated because their provision was “tucked away at the edge of the building”, so it was moved to a more central point, Raybone explains.
The ESOL tutor group was also combined with a mainstream A Level tutor group, and while this was later discontinued, Raybone recommends the initiative to other colleges.
The college is now seeking to develop activities with a “universal language” such as sports, music and art.
