The Liberal Democrats would increase per-student funding for colleges above inflation every year, widen the apprenticeship levy, and provide an annual tutoring fund to support those struggling with English and maths if they form the next government.
The party passed policies on further education and skills at its annual party conference in Bournemouth as it prepares for the next general election.
Among the policies is a new plan for a funding pot to support tutoring for students. The plan would see a £390 million fund established to support small group sessions in schools and colleges. The party said it could support up to 1.75 million young people a year.
Munira Wilson, the Liberal Democrats’ education spokesperson, pointed to analysis showing that 15.8 per cent of pupils who meet or exceed the “expected standard” in reading and maths at key stage 2 do not go on to achieve a grade 4 or “standard pass” in GCSE English and maths.
The “vital boost” from the Lib Dems would help those students to achieve those grades, the party said. It comes as the government prepares to switch off its tuition funding programme in summer 2024.
Julian Gravatt, deputy chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said he was “pleased” by the policy, and that next summer would be a “particularly bad time to end the 16 to 19 tuition fund”. He cited figures showing enrolment in colleges has grown, meaning that around 40,000 more students will need to resit their English GCSE than last year, and 20,000 more will need to re-sit their Maths GCSE.
The Lib Dems also committed to increasing per-student funding in schools and colleges above inflation every year. The party would extend the pupil premium, a grant provided to schools to support the attainment of disadvantaged pupils from reception to year 11 currently, to students aged between 16 and 18.
Its pledge for a £10,000 “skills wallet” for adults was also reiterated, which the party fronted prior to the 2019 election. The proposal would see every adult get £10,000 to spend on “education and training throughout their lives”, according to the party’s plans.
When it was first introduced as a policy, the party said they would put the cash into a “skills wallet” over a thirty-year period; £4,000 by the age of 25, £3,000 at 40 and another £3,000 at 55.
The Lib Dems also pledged to increase apprentice pay to “at least the minimum wage” to counter high dropout rates, and to expand the “broken” apprenticeship levy into a “broader and more flexible” skills and training levy. That is another reiteration from its 2019 manifesto.
Sarah Olney, the party’s treasury and business spokesperson said the plans to reform the apprenticeship levy are part of “a new industrial strategy to get our economy growing strongly again and tackle the cost-of-living crisis”.
Ofsted’s national director of education Chris Russell will retire at the end of this year after just over two years in the role, FE Week has learned.
It means that both Amanda Spielman, the current chief inspector, and one of her most senior officials will depart the inspectorate in December.
Russell has worked at Ofsted since 2006, initially as an inspector and then in various regional director posts before being promoted to national director in September 2021, replacing Sean Harford.
FE Week understands he had passed retirement age and saw the upcoming change in leadership as a good opportunity to stand down.
Sir Martyn Oliver, currently chief executive of the Outwood Grange Academies Trust, is due to take over as chief inspector in January.
Russell’s departure follows that of strategy director Chris Jones, another one of the five officials that sit below the chief inspector in Ofsted’s management structure. He joined the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities in June.
The advert states the postholder will be “responsible for the improvement and development of Ofsted’s inspection methodology for all stages of education”.
‘A clear focus on children and students’
They will ensure that Ofsted “maintains a clear focus on children and students and acts as a force for improvement”. They are also responsible for “inspector training and quality assurance of their work”.
Amanda Spielman
The job description added that the postholder will “ensure Ofsted maintains a clear focus on children and students and acts as a force for improvement, whilst ensuring the development of high-quality policy, guidance and frameworks across education”.
“As a member of Ofsted’s executive board, you will also be taking a full corporate leadership role influencing our strategic direction, policy and practice and through this, impacting the lives of millions of children and learners.”
Applications close on October 9.
It comes at a time of crisis for the watchdog, which has come under sustained criticism for its handling of the death of headteacher Ruth Perry.
Clare Howard, chief executive of Natspec, the body representing specialist colleges, is determined to get their voices heard. But she has been having a tough time of it lately.
Further education may feel overlooked by the DfE when compared with schools, but specialist colleges sometimes feel like the ultimate Cinderella service of the education world. Yet so much of the DfE’s SEND policy agenda depends on them, and it could make or break them right now.
Although around 10 per cent of the 80,000 16 to 25-year-olds with education, health and care plans (EHCPs) attend a specialist college, the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and alternative provision (AP) green paper, touted as the solution to fix the broken 0-25 SEND system, failed to mention specialist colleges at all.
The subsequent improvement plan, unveiled in March, did mention reviewing how specialist colleges could be more integrated, but Howard is now concerned that any commitment to recognise the part played by specialist colleges is being overlooked.
And, while national headlines have been focused on reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) in school buildings, the issue is of concern to specialist colleges too, but they have not all been able to report whether RAAC is in their estate.
Despite the DfE’s urgent plea for surveys looking for RAAC to be completed, specialist college staff have “struggled to access” the DfE’s survey portal. They also appear to be blocked from the capital funding for mitigation works provided to other education bodies.
“This is a major omission from DfE policy which needs to be rectified urgently,” says Howard.
She points out how, if their buildings did collapse due to RAAC, it would be harder for specialist colleges to evacuate their vulnerable students.
So far, only one specialist college, Royal College Manchester, has been recorded by the DfE as having RAAC on site. It was forced to move all students from one building to another over Easter.
But some 58 per cent of specialist college buildings need “urgent repair”. And they are also not eligible for the £1.5 billion FE capital transformation fund.
Clare Howard, Natspec chief executive
‘An afterthought’
Howard appreciates that hers is a complex sector for ministers to get their heads around, partly because of the wide mix of different types of SEND provision. Most settings, although called “colleges”, are charities or non-profit companies.
Although they are publicly funded, they have never had an official legal status of their own, so their governance arrangements vary.
Getting the DfE to understand how these colleges operate is not helped by the revolving door of ministers; the latest SEND minister, David Johnston, is the seventh to oversee the SEND reforms since a landmark review of the “broken” system was launched in 2019.
“Because the need in schools is so acute, a lot of policy and data collection is always focused on schools,” Howard says. “Officials are so focused on trying to solve the five to 16 and early years problems, they don’t have the capacity or expertise to look at [SEND in] FE. We’re a bit of an afterthought.”
While the DfE has been looking the other way, the specialist college sector has been rapidly expanding. When Howard was appointed to lead Natspec in 2016, it had 75 members. Now it has over 120, catering for around 8,000 students, reflecting the rapid rise in the number of young people with EHCPs.
And demand is only likely to keep soaring over the next decade as the young children currently being identified with SEND needs reach college age.
Visiting specialist colleges is the part of her job that Howard enjoys the most, and she was “desperate” to get back to those visits after Covid. She is on a mission to visit all Natspec’s members and has managed 95 so far. “The trouble is that new ones keep joining!” she says.
They range from newer colleges serving just 10 students to more established institutions with up to 400. It is “almost impossible” to describe a typical specialist college, she says, as they are all “so different”.
Some do significant outreach work in students’ homes or workplaces, with multi-disciplinary teams working across education, health and care. Some specialise in a particular need, like autism or visual impairment, while others have a particular therapeutic approach or a vocational specialism.
On Howard’s visits, she “could be arriving at a business park, a retail outlet, hotel, pub, farm, buildings in residential areas, heritage or visitor centres – or anything in between”.
Outgoing children’s minister Claire Coutinho and new schools minister David Johnston
‘False economy’ growth
Rather than celebrating, all these new specialist colleges are a cause of “concern” for Howard. Local authorities which hold the purse strings have been asking schools – and in some cases care providers, charities and even parent groups – to open post-19 centres which then become specialist colleges with an Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) contract.
Although councils assume “they’ll get it cheaper” that way, the set-up and recruitment costs make it a “false economy” and “not the best way of planning new provision”.
Natspec would rather see more outreach and satellite sites being built through existing providers. They have published advice on their website designed to warn those interested in setting up new provision “just to be really careful”.
“Quite often, when schools open [specialist] colleges, they get a shock how different FE is from school provision,” Howard says.
New specialist colleges only get inspected by Ofsted once the ESFA provides a contract.
But because so many councils are yet to put new providers forward for this, “we are discovering quite a few unregistered providers”. It is a “big issue … and makes it difficult to properly assess sufficiency. We want to have a decent understanding of specialist provision.”
And, when these providers are inspected, Howard says they “sometimes find it difficult to get up to speed quickly enough”, and whilst some do really well at first inspection (two have achieved outstanding judgements), “others take longer before they are graded good”.
Clare Howard, chief executive, Natspec
Transition turmoil
The pandemic hit specialist colleges hard, as they were scrambling to safeguard their vulnerable cohort and decipher changing guidance. It was also a challenging time in Howard’s life. In March 2020 she found a lump in her breast and spent much of the pandemic receiving chemotherapy.
Since then, the sector has been hit by staffing shortages, blockages in the SEND system, the energy crisis, late placements for students and councils increasingly reluctant to pay the high-needs funding that these colleges need.
One of the biggest challenges now is the mounting uncertainty over students’ transitions in and out of colleges.
Due to delays getting EHCPs updated, which legally should be done by March each year (but “that never happens”), colleges are unsure in August how many students to expect and so cannot then employ the right staffing numbers. This has been an issue since Howard started at Natspec, but higher demand and a national shortage of educational psychologists means the problem is getting worse.
On occasion, provision has been “lost” because “places aren’t confirmed early enough, and the colleges haven’t had time to recruit and budget for the staff they need”.
Then there is the transition out of college once students have achieved their educational outcomes, which is becoming harder because the services they require – social care, supported living or employment or volunteering opportunities – are “not coming together as they should”.
“Often, it’s the postcode lottery of local authorities. The pressures on local government are massive right now.”
Sport is Howard’s second passion after FE. She spent much of her early career working with organisations to boost its uptake.
Clare Howard in 1994 with her basketball team
Sports focus
But, as a keen basketball and netball player, playing sports has cost her dearly. She has had five operations since 2003 on her now “very well scarred” knees. The last one was in 2021 while she was recovering from cancer.
Knee trouble has not put her off sport, however. She is now running, skiing, open water swimming and even back playing back netball and basketball occasionally.
Howard says the need to be active was “engrained” within her from an early age. She has “no idea” whether she would have been labelled hyperactive as a child today, “but I’m very pleased that I wasn’t diagnosed with anything or put on drugs”.
Sport “definitely helped” her as an outlet for her “frustrations”. Her history and politics degree at Reading University, specialising in American racial violence, involved “few lectures”. This left her free to “play basketball all day”.
Clare Howard and friends at a Crystal Palace game (her favourite club)
Rebellious leanings
Rebelling against authority has also been a theme in her life. Despite coming from a family of teachers, she was not afraid to give her own teachers at school in Croydon a hard time. She challenged “poor decision-making” and “injustice” at a time when pupils were “still caned and thrown against gym walls”.
“I got into arguments with teachers if I felt they weren’t listening to me. My team giggle at me now when they hear my school stories.”
She set out to follow in her family’s footsteps and did a PGCE, but never got her NQT after getting a job with the Sports Council (Now Sport England) as a regional officer. She went on to strategic planning roles with different organisations and became fascinated by the interconnection of systems.
It all harks back to her love of Rubik’s Cubes as a child. “I love wicked problems, I love complexity,” she says.
She came to realise that, to find a solution, you must first define the complexity of the question.
Howard’s rebel leanings came out again while working for PMP Consultancy, which grew from a team of eight to a “corporate machine” in her seven years there. By then a mum of three, craving better work-life balance, she began “rejecting authority” at the firm, which has since gone bust.
She formed her own consultancy firm, Prospects4Sport, bringing on board some former colleagues. One project involved doing a national review of college sport, which led to her next career move, as head of sport policy at the Association of Colleges, just before the 2012 London Olympics.
Moving onto her current role was a “massive learning curve”, as Howard was the first chief to join Natspec without a specialist college background.
She has grown her staff from a single part-time post to a team of 11, and an additional network of more than 20 associates for training and development.
As well as undertaking lobbying and policy work, Natspec provides CPD and assistive technology advice and is one of four national Centres for Excellence in SEND.
Howard says that Natspec always strives to deliver for their members, but “the strength of the organisation is in the networks, and member colleges never cease to amaze me by how they support each other”.
Previous Job: EPA Client Relations Team Manager, NCFE
Interesting fact: Leanne started her career as a business admin apprentice and has worked in a variety of roles within ITPs and awarding organisations. Leanne has continued to study in the background and is a fully qualified counsellor and currently volunteers in her spare time to offer support to survivors of abuse
Zac Aldridge
Executive Director, Accelerate People Ltd
Start date: September 2023
Previous Job: Director of Quality, NCFE
Interesting fact: Zac developed a coffee obsession during lockdown and now has a dedicated coffee room in his house. For some reason, other people insist on calling a utility room
Wes Johnson
Principal & Chief Executive, Myerscough College and University Centre
Start date: September 2023
Previous Job: Principal and CEO, Lancaster and Morecambe College
Interesting fact: Wes escapes the pressures of day-to-day college leadership by retreating to his uplands smallholding, at 1000ft high in the Forest of Bowland. Wes and his family are planning to take their farm fully ‘off-grid’ in the next few years
Specsavers has landed its first ‘outstanding’ judgment from Ofsted after its “exceptional” apprenticeship training standards caught the eye of inspectors.
The watchdog lauded the optician’s “high-quality training” and “culture of high aspirations” in an upgrade on the ‘good’ rating it achieved in 2018.
Inspectors were also impressed with Specsavers’ focus on its apprentices’ mental and emotional well-being through monthly one-to-one sessions.
John Perkins, chief executive of Specsavers, said the report was a “fantastic endorsement” of the work of its apprenticeship team, which aims to ensure “people joining Specsavers are given access to the best training and development from day one so they can realise their full potential”.
The employer provider has 534 apprentices on its books. Most of the apprentices study level two and level three optician-related programmes, while 31 apprentices are on a level two customer service course and 61 on a level three spectacle making course.
‘Culture of high aspirations’
Specsavers scooped ‘outstanding’ grades across the board.
Ofsted highlighted “exceptional apprenticeship training” at Specsavers, where learners also benefit from “excellent resources” to develop new and existing knowledge, skills and behaviours.
Inspectors pointed to a set of “ambitious and challenging curriculums that extend beyond the apprenticeship standards”, so that “almost all” apprentices complete additional learning in areas like contact lens care and audiology.
“As a result, apprentices, including those with support needs, make excellent progress in their work and careers,” the report continued. Both apprentices and leaders have a “culture of high aspirations” at the provider, Ofsted said.
‘Clear and precise feedback’
Inspectors also praised efforts at Specsavers to keep work coaches’ knowledge up to date. For example, they are allocated one day per month where they complete “back-to-the-floor” days in store. As a result, staff have the “most current knowledge and skills to train apprentices effectively”.
Apprentices working for Specsavers also get the opportunity to shadow optometrists themselves, and act on “clear and precise feedback” to improve their own standards.
Inspectors also complimented the coaches’ “swift and effective action” to help apprentices when they fall behind, and review their apprentices’ workloads “carefully”, in fortnightly meetings.
“As such, apprentices who remain on their apprenticeship make excellent progress and swiftly develop the knowledge, skills and behaviours that are essential for their current job roles,” they said.
Ofsted said leaders “rightly recognise” that too many apprentices have left their training programme early, and that they use their “effective data” to “thoroughly analyse the reasons behind this and have quickly put in place measures to ensure apprentices do not leave early”.
Dena Wyatt, head of apprenticeships at Specsavers, said apprentices are a “pipeline of brilliant talent and part of what makes us so successful.
“We are very proud to have achieved an outstanding grade, but it does not stop here. We still have so much in the pipeline to make our programmes even better.”
Young carers are being pushed away from enlisting on the government’s “gold standard” T Levels due to strict rules that would cut off their access to benefits.
College principals, experts, and MPs have warned that young carers are choosing shorter courses or dropping out of education altogether to prioritise their caring duties and claim their carer’s allowance, which pays out £76.75 a week if they care for someone for at least 35 hours a week.
Benefits rules stipulate that carers will not be able to claim carer’s allowance if they study for 21 hours or more each week and cannot be in full-time education, even if they meet all the other criteria. T Level students typically study for more than 21 hours a week.
College leaders have called for an urgent review of the carer’s allowance eligibility rules in the context of the cost-of-living crisis.
The Department for Education said it is aware of the concerns but is yet to pledge any action.
Clare Russell, principal of Runshaw College, told FE Week that many young carers come from low-income households, who could end up seeking paid work instead of studying.
“Young carers are having to choose between claiming vital financial support to enable them to carry out their caring duties, or studying a valuable T Level qualification,” she said.
She added that preventing carers from claiming the allowance means they would either “be forced to study a different qualification with fewer course hours or drop out of study altogether in order to work and support their family”.
“This seems inconsistent with the government’s promotion of T Level qualifications as a route for students to develop vocational skills and progress into skilled employment, higher study or apprenticeships,” Russell added.
It comes after a parliamentary debate last week examined the rising cost of living for FE learners, where chair of the all-party parliamentary group for students Paul Blomfield MP said that he had heard the 21-hour rule is putting off carers from doing full-time courses.
“Subsequently [we] heard the particular issue facing young carers on T Levels who will lose their carers allowance if they study for more than 21 hours a week, so the cost-of-living crisis is affecting decisions on remaining in further education but also on the type of course, with many leaning towards shorter courses,” he said.
True figure of carers dropping out ‘impossible to know’
According to the latest census calculations, there are more than 270,000 young adult carers aged 16 to 24 in England and Wales, equating to one in 23 young people.
However, the true figure of how many FE learners are impacted by the carer’s allowance eligibility is tough to determine as young adult carers are not categorised through the Individualised Learner Record (ILR).
“It’s impossible to know how many are doing T Levels, or how many have chosen to drop out of education,” said Nicola Aylward, Learning and Work Institute’s head of learning for young people.
Andy McGowan, policy and practice manager for young carers and young adult carers at Carers Trust told FE Week: “The 21-hour rule means that for many young carers, they will be forced into choosing their course not for academic reasons, but for financial ones. Young carers should not have to choose between caring or learning.
“In the current cost-of-living crisis, this rule is pushing these young people away from learning – particularly ‘gold standard’ courses such as T Levels – as they simply can’t afford to give up their Carers Allowance.”
A DfE spokesperson said: “We want as many young people as possible to benefit from T Levels including carers. We are aware of concerns relating to benefit eligibility for students studying over 21 hours per week and that this includes T Level students.
“We want to support students to access T Levels, and those in need can access help with the costs of participating in study through the 16-19 bursary fund including for travel passes and books.”
A college for students with special educational needs is pleading with the government for exceptional financial support after dangerous RAAC concrete forced it to evacuate its learning space.
Royal College Manchester, an independent specialist college based in Cheshire that teaches students with severe and profound learning difficulties, had to close its biggest building after it found reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) this month.
However, its independent status means it is not entitled to government funding for RAAC-related work, as schools and general FE colleges are.
Clare Howard, chief executive of Natspec, which represents specialist colleges across England, accused the DfE of “treating students who are more vulnerable in a way that leaves them unprotected, when they wouldn’t do that with mainstream students”.
‘A considerable challenge’
Royal College Manchester, part of the Seashell Trust charity, had to “hurriedly” move most of its students to a building that wasn’t designed to cater for learners with special educational needs and/or disabilities at the beginning of September at the order of education secretary Gillian Keegan.
It has since had to fork out on costs to renovate the new site to make it accessible for students, many of whom use mobility aids and wheelchairs.
Bernie White, director of education and care at the Seashell Trust, told FE Week the young people the college teaches have “very complex needs” and elements of the building they have moved into, such as narrow corridors and larger classrooms for small teaching groups, present a huge challenge.
“There are practical, day-to-day issues that we’ve had to navigate and consider as we move,” she said.
“Transitions can be a challenging time for all our learners. This catapulted them into something which was very sudden.”
Disadvantaging vulnerable students
Term was delayed for five of the college’s 68 students. Remote learning is also not an option due to students’ needs.
They will use that building for two years, until another building, already planned before the college found RAAC, is ready in 2025/26.
White said she is in discussions with the DfE over funding and is hoping the department will offer cash to reimburse his college for the costs it has and will continue to incur due to RAAC.
However, the DfE told FE Week specialist colleges are not entitled to funding because they are independent. Unlike schools and general FE colleges, specialist colleges are typically not-for-profit companies or registered charities.
Howard said she was “pushing to get the [RAAC support] rules changed”.
“That’s something the DfE need to look at, particularly with their commitment to every young person having quality education. They need to look at why they have a policy whereby students in mainstream education are protected, and students with more complex needs aren’t protected. That’s an equality issue,” she added.
‘Significant hindrance’
Royal College Manchester’s rush to respond to RAAC mirrors complaints made by general FE colleges.
The DfE added three colleges to its official list of educational settings which have identified RAAC this week. The list is now up to 174, four of which are general FE colleges. Royal College Manchester is the only specialist post-16 college on the list.
Farnborough College of Technology, Grantham College and Marple Sixth Form College – part of The Trafford College Group – joined Petroc as the general FE colleges with identified RAAC as of September 14.
Farnborough College criticised the DfE’s indecision for causing a “significant hindrance” after identifying RAAC months before DfE began ordering closures.
Despite DfE guidance showing concrete planks with RAAC were “generally in good condition” in July, the government told the college to urgently close 177,000 square feet of its space in August. That meant a “small number” of its adult learners could not come in the first week of term.
Grantham College, meanwhile, also had to close part of its campus while Trafford College closed part of its Marple Sixth Form College campus including six classrooms.
The Department for Education’s novel Unit for Future Skills has been “useful to a point”, sector leaders have told FE Week, after it was revealed the group has cost over £2.5 million in its first 15 months.
Set up by DfE in May 2022, the Unit for Future Skills (UFS) is an analytical and research unit, whose main priority this year was to deliver two skills dashboards on careers pathways and skills demand, showing available jobs in each area of England based on skills needs.
It was the replacement for the Skills and Productivity Board, which brought together FE experts into a committee providing independent, evidence-based advice to DfE.
The DfE revealed it spent £2,569,794 on the unit between its inception and August 2023, in answer to a parliamentary question from Labour’s new shadow skills minister Seema Malhotra who appears keen to find out whether the unit is offering value for money.
The unit, chaired by the UK Statistics Authority’s national statistician Professor Sir Ian Diamond, has around 20 people in its team who are mostly analysts. The unit also commissions external work by researchers and data experts. DfE said most of the costs incurred are for staff salaries.
“That’s a reasonable amount of money for the number of people and work involved,” said Stephen Evans, chief executive of Learning Work Institute.
“I think the question is whether that is the right number of people and if they’re making a difference to the skills system, that will determine the value for money.”
He explained that so far, the main outputs of the unit “seem to be a number of data dashboards on local labour markets and job projections”.
“A question for me is how valuable local skills improvement plans (LSIPs) have found these, how widely are they being used, and also how they add value to previous efforts,” he added.
Main users of the UFS’ dashboards included colleges and employers developing local skills and improvement plans, some of whom have criticised that the rollout wasn’t in tandem with the LSIP time scale, making it difficult to fully utilise the information provided.
“The only teething issue was that some information came out at different points so it seemed like it was being developed along the same time frame as the LSIP time frame so we couldn’t fully utilise all the information it contained,” a spokesperson for Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire chambers of commerce, which led on its area’s LSIP, told FE Week.
“The dashboard was being consistently updated through the LSIP process and if it continues down that path then will likely continue to be a useful resource.”
The spokesperson added that the dashboards were “useful to a point” as they collated data usually found across different websites and databases and allowed them to “localise it to some extent”.
Others said the development of the LSIP involved rigorous local research which went “beyond the current capability” of the UFS.
A spokesperson from Devon and Plymouth Chamber of Commerce said: “As part of the DfE LSIP funding we undertook rigorous, local research that went into specific detail beyond the current capability of the UFS.
“We understand that UFS is still in development, and we have provided our feedback as requested through the appropriate channels.”
Out of all 38 published LSIPs in England, 13 mentioned the UFS as a data source in their plans.
The unit has already made the careers pathways dashboard live, which shows the education pathways into industry and gives statistics on qualification and subject area outcomes. It is planning to update the dashboard later this year to link the pathways to job occupations for learners.
A DfE spokesperson said: “The Unit for Future Skills is meeting its priorities and providing value for money, helping to build a skills system that is employer-focused, high quality and fit for the future.
“This includes producing resources to help learners see which higher and further education courses will best help them reach their career goals, working with the ONS to develop a new source of job vacancy information that will provide colleges and learners with precise information on local job demand, and working closely with employer bodies to support their local skills improvement plans.”
The sector has long prided themselves on having ‘excellent relationships’ with employers. Accordingly, colleges around the country have been collaborating on a level not seen before to help tackle skills gaps. Whether it’s via apprenticeship provision, work placements or some curriculum delivery, there is no doubting the value that strong, industry partnerships can have on students’ learning and progression.
And many employers recognise the benefits of engaging with colleges; enabling them to secure their future skills needs and influence the types of skills and behaviours being taught to the next generation of experts.
Government skills policy has always been focused on the need for employers and educators to collaborate. The apprenticeship act of 1964 established the framework for young people to receive practical training alongside their academic education – and FE colleges have continued to play a crucial role, designing courses with local employers to meet the specific skills requirements of a regional workforce.
There has been a growing emphasis on collaboration between higher education institutions and employers too. Degree apprenticeships are well regarded, together with research and development opportunities and work placements being integrated into HE programmes.
The more recent apprenticeship levy and development of T Levels have further reflected the government’s support for employer-led training, and the fundamental role it needs to play in the growth of the economy.
So, at first glance, the introduction of LSIPs is not revolutionary in terms of employer-educator partnerships. Arguably, they’re just another take on encouraging organisations to work together, with the aim of getting more people into good jobs.
But having become fully immersed in developing the LSIF bid for the Local London region over the summer (which is our response to the LSIP), it’s clear that meeting the challenge of the skills crisis requires more than that.
What we have realised and learned through the LSIF process is just how much more can be achieved when working collaboratively with other colleges, HEIs, training providers and local authorities – as opposed to just linking up with employers.
It goes beyond employers. It is about working as a regional collective
Crucially, every organisation involved in this work has the same aim. We all want to meet employers’ skills demand, open up great local job opportunities for people in our communities and help support a thriving economy.
This goes beyond just working with employers. This is about breaking down barriers – including any concern about ‘competition’ between colleges. It is about working as a regional collective to maximise the funding available and develop effective proposals that will achieve the greatest possible impact for local people.
By joining up with 12 other FE colleges across the Local London region, three universities, adult education providers, local authorities and many employers – we have been able to collectively design an approach that will address green and digital skills gaps across our whole region.
This process has not been straightforward. It has taken time and, most importantly, has required genuine drive and commitment from every partner to make it work.
But the skills crisis is not going away. We need to create a system that can operate with greater agility to meet the rapidly changing needs of the workforce. This isn’t just about qualifications; it’s about training people in the way that employers need, to respond to their ever-changing operating environment.
Our focus on digital and green skills is just one example, but the picture is the same across multiple industry sectors.
Colleges are expert collaborators; we understand the needs of our students and we can adapt and flex to meet the needs of businesses. But discrete college-employer partnerships alone are no longer enough to close the rapidly expanding skills gap.
Genuine engagement with stakeholders across the whole skills ecosystem – including local authorities, funding agencies and all types of education providers – is crucial if we are to develop, create and sustain long-term solutions and secure the necessary funding.
What’s more, by creating this collaboration blueprint, we will have a far greater ability to influence and shape policy moving forward. The Local London LSIF is proof that there is strength in numbers and shows just how much impact can be achieved when people are committed to achieving a shared aim.
