West Mids to fund ‘study programmes’ for young adults

Young adults in the West Midlands are in line for better training as the combined authority introduces “full study programme” funding for the first time for 19 to 23-year olds.

The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) announced that funding for level 2 and level 3 qualifications for young adults will follow a model similar to that used for 16 to 18-year-olds from this September.

This comes on top of a series of measures from the combined authority which seek to increase the proportion of its residents qualified to level 3.

The combined authority has also confirmed that it will increase its low-wage threshold for access to fully subsidised level 3 courses from £19,250 to £30,000 from August 1, 2023.

WMCA proposed the change in a consultation which it launched in March to boost skills and earnings in the region. The consultation closed in April and officials revealed the outcomes this week.

The authority has also announced that it will trial fully funded level 3 courses for all residents, regardless of income in “key economic sectors”. Providers and employers in the region will be consulted on what qualifications should be in scope over the next six months.

Mayor Andy Street (pictured) said: “Over the past five years, we have increased our investment in higher level skills and now – following this latest consultation – we are creating our most comprehensive approach yet by offering new learners level 3 training free of charge if they are earning less than £30,000.”

A new study programme funding model for 19 to 23-year-olds was not proposed in the original consultation, but is being implemented following feedback from colleges who argue that under-funding for this age group has been exacerbated by the pandemic.

The combined authority said it had been able to increase skills funding on level 3 provision from £4.4m when it first received devolved powers in 2019 to £37 million now, “through a combination of re-prioritising the existing adult education budget” and through new funding streams such as skills bootcamps and free courses for jobs.

Qualifications for FE workers

WMCA’s proposals to fully fund qualifications for the FE workforce will also be implemented following the consultation. In addition to funding level 3 and above qualifications in coaching, assessing, quality assurance and teacher training, it has now extended this offer to include level 3 certificates in employability practice and employer solutions.

More to do on learner support

Changes to the discretionary learner support funds (DLSF) scheme – a fund available to learners aged 19 and over who are facing financial difficulties – will be delayed, however, after the authority got only “limited feedback” on DLSF. Since devolution the combined authority has not increased support funding.

It said it will now consider the “aims, focus and flexibility of the fund”, and how WMCA could support level 3 learners who are earning below the average wage.

WMCA then aims to launch any changes to the DLSF by August 2024.

Cutting ‘low value qualifications’

A series of funding uplifts to level 2 qualifications have also been introduced, where sectors identified a need in the consultation. So far, the combined authority has boosted funding by 10 per cent for level 2 qualifications in the health and social care sector and the construction sector.

Those include qualifications in brickwork, carpentry and joinery, and roof slating and tiling in the construction sector, and level 2 qualifications in care, common health conditions and a course to introduce caring for children and young people.

WMCA is now looking at level 2 courses in the digital and engineering and manufacturing sectors that need uplifts.

It also expects a reduction in “low-value qualifications that are delivered at scale with little progression or economic return for residents”.

In its adult education budget strategy, WMCA also set out plans to make a minimum of a fifth of its grant-funded AEB provision to be level 3 or above. But survey respondents said this should come with an aligned focus on training provision and local job opportunities, and greater collaboration between different providers in the West Midlands.

The respondents also suggested that WMCA should focus on four sectors in the next year for 20 per cent AEB provision – digital, construction, manufacturing and engineering, and health and social care.

Collab Group CEO to retire in August

The chief executive of the Collab Group will retire at the end of August, FE Week has learned.

Ian Pretty has led the organisation since 2015, taking the helm of what was then the 157 Group following the retirement of Lynne Sedgmore.

He leaves the organisation almost unrecognisable from the one he inherited, evolving from a body representing colleges graded ‘outstanding’ to a more open organisation for “like-minded, forwarded thinking” colleges.

Within a year of joining, Pretty had completed a strategic review of the membership body and relaunched it with a new name, the Collab Group, and a new purpose – towards policy implementation rather than just influencing.

Collab currently has 23 member colleges according to its website, a number which has fluctuated over the years.

The organisation’s attention under Pretty’s leadership has been focused on supporting college commercial activities and helping its members to deliver on key priority policy areas such as apprenticeships, Institutes of Technology and, more recently, higher technical skills. 

But that does not mean Pretty has not been trying to lobby for his member colleges. It is that, as he puts it, his approach has not been so public.

Pretty puts his influencing tactics at odds with others in the sector, preferring behind-the-scenes conversations rather than the more visible campaigns from organisations such as the Sixth Form Colleges Association and the Association of Colleges.

“I’ve never been a believer in running big campaigns,” he says. “My view is that you have conversations at the right levels you need to have conversations.

“So, I’ve got strong links in to Number 10 and the Treasury, I’ve got strong links at DfE. You have those conversations.”

As he reflects on his time at Collab, Pretty wants the college sector to spend less time looking inwardly at itself and concern itself more with the big issues facing the UK.

He says the sector “bases its argument in any conversation on the need to do something, as opposed to looking at the wider economic situation in the UK.

“If I look at what’s happened to colleges in the last eight years, and what might happen in the next eight years, this inward perspective needs to change.

“What I mean by that is what is the sector going to do to support the issues currently facing the UK? What we are getting from both the Conservative Party and the Labour Party is that they both talk about a high-wage, high-skilled economy.

“It all sounds fantastic, we all nod along. But the rhetoric from both parties doesn’t fit the reality of what they are going to have to invest in to achieve that change.”

One of the major shifts that Pretty has witnessed in his time in FE is the move to devolve more skills powers and funding to mayoral combined authorities. He draws a parallel with Wales where, he says, colleges have “a direct line to the minister where decisions are made”. 

This “fundamental shift in the power base” makes it “an interesting time” for the sector he says. “You’ve got to think very differently about who you’re having conversations with. And who the representative bodies are having conversations with.”

As he prepares to leave the sector, Pretty reflects on his work on area reviews, Institutes of Technology and the work he is doing at the moment supporting colleges with “a massive amount of issues” related to reclassification back to the public sector. 

Pretty’s retirement means there are three chief executive vacancies among FE’s national representative bodies. Jane Hickie officially left her post at the Association of Employment and Learning Providers last Friday and Tom Bewick will leave the top job at the Federation of Awarding Bodies at the end of September. 

FE Week contacted the Collab Group chair, LTE Group chief executive John Thornhill, but he declined to comment.

T Levels: Government departments not ‘walking the walk’ on industry placements

The government has been accused of “not walking the walk” on T industry placements for T Levels as an FE Week investigation reveals a dearth of opportunities being provided by Whitehall departments and education agencies.

Data obtained via Freedom of Information requests reveals that the majority of government departments, including the Treasury, have not offered a single placement since the launch of the flagship qualifications in 2020.

This is despite suitable T Levels now being available in subjects such as digital and management and administration.

The figures show that just four placements have been provided by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE), the government body responsible for developing and promoting T Levels.

Other Department for Education agencies including the Education and Skills Funding Agency, the Student Loans Company, the Office for Students and Ofsted, have all provided no T Level placements to date.

Placements make T Levels ‘gold standard’

The industry placement element of T Levels is lauded by education ministers as the main reason why their new “gold standard” technical qualification stands above other level 3 rivals.

Students are required to complete a placement lasting at least 315 hours (approximately 45 days) to achieve a T Level. But college leaders regularly cite local placement opportunities and lack of employer appetite for hosting learners as a key concern as more T Levels become available across the country.

Tom Richmond, a former adviser to DfE ministers who now heads up the EDSK think tank, said: “If government departments cannot find the time and energy to offer these placements then they can hardly blame other employers for being reticent about engaging with T Levels.”

The DfE itself has performed best out of all departments. It provided six placements in 2021/22 for T Level digital production, design and development students in their teacher services, digital and capital teams. 

It has 11 placements planned for this year, three further digital placements and eight for T Level management and administration students. However, only one of those had been completed by the date of the FOI response, on June 26.

Departmental T Level placements

The DfE is a Whitehall outlier, however. The Department for Work and Pensions has offered just five placements, each of them for T Level digital students in their digital team. 

The DWP did say that it had 24 placements planned for 2023/24 for management and administration T Level students within its commercial, counter fraud, customer service and digital teams. 

The Cabinet Office and Department of Health have both provided just three placements each over the past two years. Two placements have been provided by the Department for Transport and one by the Home Office.

The Treasury, Foreign Office, Department for Levelling Up and Communities and Department for Culture, Media and Sport are all yet to offer a single T Level industry placement. The same is true for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Ministry of Justice.

The Department for Business and Trade offered two placements this year but those have not been taken up by students. The Ministry of Defence is the only department yet to respond to FE Week’s FOI request.

Ofqual told FE Week that it previously sought to offer placements for students but, due to “geographical limitations”, it has not “been in a position to support students studying those courses for which Ofqual would be able to offer relevant placements”.

Other DfE agencies were blunter. “Social Work England has never provided and does not plan to provide T Level industry placements,” their FOI response said.

Leading by example

IfATE, which has lead responsibility for developing and promoting T Levels, has only offered four placements in total. Last year it offered placements to two digital support and services T Level students in their digital services and commissioning teams. To date this year, just one placement has been taken up with a further one planned.

Tom Bewick, chief executive of the Federation of Awarding Bodies, said the government should be leading by example. “This is an example of the government talking the talk and not walking the walk,” he said. 

“If the government can’t be a leading employer in offering T Level placements, why should others?”

A DfE spokesperson said: “As more young people opt to take T Levels it will be vital that employers from across the public and private sectors can offer more placements.”

The poor performance of government departments comes despite DfE officials putting on workshops and providing online guidance on providing T Level industry placements for their Whitehall colleagues.

“We are co-ordinating placements across the civil service in areas like digital, business and administration, and finance, and have strengthened the support available to government departments, offering online guidance, workshops, and hands-on assistance to ensure a pipeline of high-quality placements,” the DfE said.

Big employers back call for ‘off-the-job’ name change

Scores of big-name apprenticeship levy payers are calling on the government to rename the controversial off-the-job training policy, warning that the “confusing” title is exacerbating high withdrawal rates.

The likes of McDonald’s, B&Q, Wagamama’s, Whitbread, Tesco and Bupa are backing a campaign launched by England’s largest apprenticeship provider, Lifetime Training, to change the terminology.

Writing to the Department for Education in a letter signed by more than 40 large employers and seen by FE Week, outgoing Lifetime Training chief executive Jon Graham said there were many misconceptions about what constitutes off-the-job training.

“We argue that this terminology is out-dated,” Graham wrote. “It relates to models of training which require apprentices to spend time away from the workplace, rather than the work-based approach.

“It does not reflect the current reality of apprenticeship delivery or the learner experience. The result is a perception that this training must be carried out at home or after-hours. This is not the case.”

Off-the-job training issues were a key reason why Lifetime Training was downgraded from Ofsted ‘good’ to ‘requires improvement’ last year.

Inspectors reported that the provider’s 20,000-odd apprentices “too often” spend their own time completing their off-the-job training assignments at home outside of work hours.

Graham’s letter to the DfE stated that misunderstanding around off-the-job requirements leads to learners failing to record off-the-job activity as they – and their managers – are unclear about what can be included.

“For managers, this creates concerns about shift patterns, while learners may be concerned that they have to complete additional work on top of their 30 or 40-hour working week. This lack of clarity is likely to be putting managers off proposing apprenticeships, and learners off pursuing them.”

He added that off-the-job training is often cited as a key reason why around half of all apprentices drop out before completing their programme each year.

‘The terminology is outdated’

Off-the-job training is a legal requirement for an apprenticeship and was introduced following the levy reforms in 2017. It originally required apprentices to spend at least 20 per cent of their normal working hours on off-the-job training, but was last year replaced by a six-hour per week baseline figure.

What qualifies as off-the-job training will vary by apprenticeship and sector, but the training must focus on developing new knowledge, skills and behaviours, and sit outside the day-to-day role, but take place during normal, paid working hours.

Joanne Vincent, the colleague capability and apprenticeship manager at B&Q, told FE Week the terminology was a huge barrier for recruitment and retention of apprentices.

The employer has around 800 apprentices across 44 different apprenticeships and there are 350 managers across the business who “all understand off-the-job differently”.

Vincent estimates that between 10 and 15 potential apprentices do not enrol each month because the “manager doesn’t understand the connotations and what sits behind off-the-job – they just literally believe that they are going to be out of the office for a day a week”.

She added: “If we didn’t label it, and we just classed it as development or learning opportunities, then that might help get rid of some of the ‘50 Shades of Grey’ that sits in the middle.”

Marie Petttitt, a level 2 customer service practitioner at B&Q, told FE Week that across the store she works in there “might be multiple staff members doing apprenticeships at any one time, meaning different off-the-job tasks”, which inevitably creates “confusion”.

“If the language was clearer, this would be one less barrier and help us manage shifts and work more effectively,” she said.

The view that the phrase creates confusion is shared by many training providers across the sector.

Simon Ashworth, director of policy at the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, said: “The current terminology is outdated and no longer reflects how and where the broad range of training provision that exists across the apprenticeship programme can and does take place.

“This causes confusion for employers and learners alike, so updating the language we use to describe dedicated time spent developing and learning new skills would be extremely welcome and impactful.”

Lifetime Training has put forward three potential alternatives to the term “off-the-job”:

· Dedicated development time

· Learning and development time

· Apprenticeship professional development 

A DfE spokesperson said: “Providers are free to use their own terminology when speaking to employers about apprenticeship training. We will consider the views raised in the letter and respond in due course.”

Ofsted chief sounds warning over Labour safeguarding audit plan

Ofsted’s chief inspector has poured cold water on Labour plans to introduce a new annual review of safeguarding, saying it would be “much more expensive and complicated”.

Addressing the Festival of Education at Wellington College in Surrey on Thursday, Amanda Spielman said the government would “have to make something four times the size” of Ofsted’s current inspection operation to roll out the proposals.

She was not commenting explicitly on Labour plans, but was asked if safeguarding should be removed from the Ofsted inspection framework and undertaken as a separate “indicator”.

In March, Labour outlined plans for yearly school and college safeguarding reviews at the annual conference of the Association of School and College Leaders.

Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson said the safety of children and young people was “too important” to be left to infrequent inspections.

Safeguarding would remain within the remit of Ofsted and the two inspections would “complement one another”.

“You’d actually make safeguarding a bigger thing, relative to everything else,” Spielman added. “It would take a very big commitment of energy.”

Ofsted dealt with Ruth Perry case ‘humanely’

Last month, Ofsted announced changes to the inspection system following pushback in the wake of the death of headteacher Ruth Perry.

Spielman in conversation with Schools Week's editor John Dickens today
Spielman in conversation with Schools Weeks editor John Dickens today

It included a commitment to reinspect schools which are graded ‘inadequate’ overall due to ineffective safeguarding faster.

Perry’s family said she took her own life after her school was rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted as a result of safeguarding failures at Caversham Primary School. An inquest into her death has yet to be held.

On Thursday, Spielman described the case as “very, very sad” and added that her sympathies “remain with Ruth’s family and colleagues”.

Asked if she would have responded to the situation any differently in hindsight, given criticism from the sector, the Ofsted chief appeared to suggest she would not.

“I’m confident that my team were professional, fair, sensitive and humane,” she said. “There’s a very distressed family, every body has to be very sensitive and careful around that.”

Spielman ‘happy’ with legacy

Spielman will step down as His Majesty’s Chief Inspector (HMCI) at the end of the year after seven years at the helm.

It is understood her successor will be announced before the end of this month.

Reflecting on her overall tenure in the top job, Spielman said: “Broadly I’m happy with how I’ve approached the job.”

She added that she did “a lot of listening” to the sector before starting and would encourage the next HMCI to do the same.

As in previous interviews, she defended single-word judgments, which have been a source of controversy in recent months.

“Parents do value the simplicity and clarity,” she said.

Asked which single word she’d used to describe her tenure, however, she retorted: “I’m not playing that game”.

Catering T Level in doubt as awarding body ends development

The future of the proposed T Level in catering hangs in the balance after its designated awarding body cut ties with the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education.

A statement from the institute today said that Highfield Qualifications has ended its development of the technical qualification and more consultation is needed to determine the future of the course.

“IfATE and Highfield have worked very hard to ensure the success of the catering T Level to date,” the statement said.

“It has, however, become apparent during the development stage that there is not a shared vision of the technical qualification. As such both parties have agreed that their relationship in connection with the proposed catering T Level will now come to an end.”

Highfield was awarded a contract worth £2.6 million to develop the catering T Level in October 2021, with the intention of starting delivery this September. But education secretary Gillian Keegan announced in March that the programme would not be ready for delivery until at least 2025.

The catering T Level is now the only flagship qualification without a licensed awarding organisation.

The institute said that “a further announcement on the next steps for this T Level will be made” following “additional consultation with employer and sector bodies”.

Highfield said it could not comment “for legal reasons”.

NCFE transfers two T Level licences to rival

A major awarding organisation has handed over responsibility for two of its T Levels to a competitor.

In a sector first, NCFE and the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) have “jointly agreed” that the licences to develop and award both the craft and design, and the media, broadcast and production T Levels will transfer to Pearson.

Both T Levels are set to begin delivery in September 2024.

IfATE said this was to give NCFE “greater capacity to focus on its existing T Level portfolio”.

The change means that Pearson takes over from NCFE as the awarding organisation in control of the most T Levels – eight and seven respectively.

The transfer to a new awarding organisation follows the decision by education secretary Gillian Keegan to postpone the delivery date of several NCFE T Levels, including the craft and media qualification, from September 2023 to September 2024.

Keegan said at the time that there was “more work for awarding organisations to do before IfATE and Ofqual can be clear that these T Levels are capable of meeting the high-quality bar required by both organisations to enable them to be taken into delivery, and that will not be possible in time for launch this September”.

The hair, beauty and aesthetics T Level, which was also delayed to 2024, is currently still with NCFE. However, this week’s announcement suggested a further update on the “future delivery” of the qualification will be made in the coming months.

NCFE was subject to multiple investigations by regulators last year following an outcry from students who received lower than expected grades in their health and science T Level.

The issues meant NCFE had to regrade students after an Ofqual review determined that the 2022 core assessment papers “do not secure a sufficiently valid or reliable measure of student performance”. The Ofqual review found “question errors, inadequate mark schemes and questions covering areas not explicitly in the specification”.

In an interview with FE Week following the investigations, NCFE chief executive David Gallagher said “lessons had been learned” and explained how the organisation itself had questions about the outline common core science content, which is designed by the IfATE’s route panel, from as early as January 2020.

NCFE was unable to comment.

Adding to Pearson’s growing list of T Level licences is the T Level in marketing, it was also announced this week. The qualification is set to be delivered from September 2025.

Labour pledges to pause and review BTECs cull

Labour would pause and review the current government’s controversial bonfire of BTECs if the party wins the next general election, Bridget Phillipson has pledged.

The shadow education secretary made the vow in a letter to the Protect Student Choice campaign, which suggests an incoming Labour government would not defund any level 3 applied general qualifications in 2025.

Her letter, seen by FE Week, said: “Labour believes the way in which the transition from BTECs to T Levels is being handled by the government is putting the broader success of T Levels as a new qualification at risk, and constraining opportunities for our young people.

“Labour recognises the instability that is being caused by the government’s reckless treatment of our nation’s vital further education sector.

“The next Labour government will ensure all students are able to complete their courses and will review the diversity of options at level 3 before making further changes.”

The pledge is also included in a document setting out Labour’s education “mission”, which will be released today following a major speech from leader Keir Starmer at Mid Kent College.

It marks a big step for the Protect Student Choice campaign, which has called for a pause and review of the process with the backing of cross-party MPs and Lords.

James Kewin, deputy chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association which leads the campaign, said: “In accepting the campaign’s request to pause and review the level 3 defunding process, Labour has thrown a potential lifeline to tens of thousands of young people who will be left without a pathway under the current government’s plan to scrap most BTECs.

“Knowing that a Labour government would adopt a more considered approach to qualification reform will come as welcome news to schools, colleges and universities who until now, have had no alternative but to plan for a hasty and misguided cull of applied general qualifications.”

The Department for Education is moving towards a streamlined system for students finishing their GCSEs which pushes them to study either A-levels, T Levels, or an apprenticeship from 2025.

Alternative AGQs like Pearson’s popular BTECs will only get funding from August 2025 onwards if they do not overlap with the other qualification and pass a strict approvals process.

The DfE doubled down on this timeline yesterday in its response to a report from the House of Commons education select committee, which called for a pause and review of the reforms.

Kewin said that in the SFCA’s conversations with the Labour team, the party has been “clear” that no AGQ would be defunded if it wins the next general election until a review of the options at level 3 has been carried out.

“This is a potentially game-changing development in 16 to 19 education and illustrates a commitment to the sort of evidence-based policymaking that the government has chosen not to adopt at any stage of the level 3 reform process,” he added.

National AEB tender winners 2023 revealed

Results of the delayed national adult education budget tender have been released tonight, FE Week can reveal.

Fifty-five training providers have been awarded contracts from the Education and Skills Funding Agency.

Contract values for individual providers have not been released, but FE Week understands the full amount available of £75 million has been awarded.

Big names missing from this year’s winners list (see table below) include the likes of The Child Care Company, Skills Training UK, Babington and the Learning Curve Group.

However, the results are subject to a 10-day standstill period in which unsuccessful bidders can appeal. Contracts are due to commence from August 1.

The overall tender, launched in February, is made up of £12 million for Free Courses for Jobs and £63 million for non-devolved adult education budget (AEB).

AEB contract values range from £203,950 to £2,496,460 and, for Free Courses for Jobs, between £17,780 and £825,506.

The 54 winners represent a further reduction in the number of training providers with AEB contracts with the ESFA.

The agency reduced the number of AEB contractors from 208 to 88 last time when it last procured in 2021.

Of the 2021 winners, just 20 have won contracts again this time around.

FE Week analysis shows that eight of the 55 winners are judged as ‘requires improvement’ by Ofsted, half of whom were inspected this year. Meanwhile, four of the contractors have not yet been inspected by the watchdog at all.