Complaints about racism must be heard and acted upon

The Student Commission on Racial Justice will soon publish its 2023 Manifesto for Action. Over five weeks, its commissioners will set out its five key priorities and recommendations exclusively for FE Week.

Since becoming a commissioner on the student commission for racial justice last year, I have been working to bring about change in the way colleges address and tackle racism. One of the key ways they can either support or hinder that work is in how they manage and resolve complaints. Accordingly, a key recommendation in our manifesto for action is for colleges to review their complaints structures and processes and to involve students to increase trust in their effectiveness.

As part of our work for the commission, our research found that students from minoritised ethnic groups are less likely than white students to report the race-related incidents they experience or witness. Some say it’s because they don’t feel safe, and only 58 per cent believe appropriate action would be taken.

When I spoke with students about the changes they want to see in their settings, it was clear to see the reality behind those statistics. A great number told me about the biases they experience. This included a number of instances, for example, of security guards not letting students onto campus, which they felt could only be due to their ethnic background as they weren’t causing problems or being rude. 

Sadly, I also had to witness unfair treatment first-hand when a student tried to speak out about racism. With courage, they decided to give the voiceless students in the room a voice. They put their foot down and called out someone in the room who, during an assembly, who had boldly used a stereotype to slander Indian people. 

The student who spoke out was reprimanded and told they should leave the perpetrator alone. Meanwhile, the perpetrator got away with it. The student who had spoken on behalf of the South Asian community felt publicly shamed for doing so, and the perpetrator faced no consequences, let alone any expectation that they should take responsibility for their actions.

In this context, is it any surprise students believe it’s easier to ignore race-related incidents? Speaking out about racism is just as important as asking for help when you don’t understand your assignment. Every individual should be treated with dignity, respect and have the right to feel safe.

When a student speaks out, they should be listened to

Students spoke to us about how there should be more diverse ways to raise concerns when it comes to race-related incidents. They said they would benefit from having an anonymous drop-box or an email form. They want to be able to speak about their concerns and get a response that is quick and effective.

An example of a positive response is to have a mediation session where both parties involved explain themselves and show understanding. The mediator can then see whether the perpetrator is genuinely remorseful, whether the victim needs further support, and bring the situation to an end that satisfies everyone.

In cases where perpetrators don’t take responsibility for their actions, students in our research suggested the reasonable second step of requiring the perpetrator to complete an awareness course on the impact of racism, with a threshold pass mark for returning to college. Students should be supported to learn and understand, but safeguarding must surely require some proof that their potential victims are safe from further harm.

It speaks highly of the student body that, while some felt strongly that racism should be severely punished, most want to see a response focused on education to break cycles of behaviour.

And in the end, that willingness to learn must apply to teachers too. When a student speaks out about racially motivated unfair treatment, they should be listened to. There should be a clear process to follow that re-builds that student’s confidence and trust.

If we really mean to deliver racial justice in education, then we must break the vicious cycle of complaints being ignored. That means all teachers must be appropriately and adequately trained to fight racism as an integral part of their important role in shaping the next generation.

MOVERS & SHAKERS: EDITION 430

Debbie Gardiner

Managing Director, Learn Plus Us

Start date: May 2023

Previous Job: Chief Commercial Officer, Learn Plus Us

Interesting fact: Debbie ran her first fundraiser when she was just 10 years of age; a jumble sale in her garage. It was a massive success, raising a whopping £20 (a lot of money in 1970) and it set the scene for her future voluntary and fundraising work.

Ken Merry

Deputy Principal and Deputy Chief Executive, York College & University Centre

Start date: June 2023

Previous Job: Vice Principal – Quality, Barnsley College

Interesting fact: Ken once travelled to Iceland with the sole purpose of seeing the Northern Lights. Despite perfect conditions, he did not see them but, while in Iceland, the lights were visible each night in York

David Akeroyd

Principal & Chief Executive, Barnsley College

Start date: August 2023

Previous Job: Deputy Principal, Barnsley College

Interesting fact: David spends his weekends looking after his Miniature Shetland Ponies – Dinky and Calypso – in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales

How we’re rethinking teacher development for sustainability

In January 2023, I took on the role of head of teacher development and quality improvement at Suffolk New College. I’m determined to think differently about the teaching landscape to empower my colleagues to be innovative for our learners, and for me, one of the key factors driving us towards a new paradigm of education is the desperate need for more sustainable lives.

When the ETF announced the new teacher professional standards in 2022, an amendment caught my eye. PVA2 called on teachers to ‘promote and embed education for sustainable development (ESD) across learning and working practices’.

I was bemused. What does this even mean? Is this about using less paper? Recycling bins in classrooms? More digital lessons? And how could I teach this authentically to trainee teachers and my peers if I didn’t know? And with that I went on a journey.

I’m still on that journey, but at this juncture I have concluded that ESD isn’t just about green skills, climate change and the environment. It’s about developing, promoting, and eliciting the knowledge, skills, values and attributes we need for a different society altogether.

That sounds like a big ask, but the truth is that the solutions are mostly already here. We just need to tap into them, and that’s a question of engaging everyone in the effort. Our staff don’t need CPD on sustainability for their subject specialisms; they are already living and breathing their industries. They don’t need external ‘experts telling them what they already know. They need time to connect with each other to develop what they do.

To deliver sustainability education, we have to deliver education sustainably, starting with teacher education. So my team and I have been planning a whole day of CPD activity to model that.

We have a floor full of escape rooms for staff to crack, aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and exploring themes such as poverty, health and education. Staff will be able to make artistic sustainability pledges to display to students. There’s a workshop dedicated to gamification tools to use as building blocks to engage individuals in solving problems and drive sustainable behaviours. And our last workshop has definite Mission: Impossible vibes, but the message it delivers will be most definitely not self-destruct.

To deliver sustainability education, we have to deliver education sustainably

This is about long-term change, and creating a culture of change. The solutions we develop now can’t become a new status quo. They will need to continuously evolve and refine, and the biggest challenge to that is that humans are creatures of habit.

Sadly, this includes some educators for whom inertia is comfortable and who meet change with resistance. The measure of our success will be whether our sustainability-led approach to teacher education and CPD can bring them along on the journey.

Sustainability demands that we experience the world in a different way, and that means teaching in a different way. In other words, teaching itself must become more sustainable, and what could make it more attractive and enjoyable than to systematically empower teachers’ critical thinking skills and their problem-solving prowess.

After all, how else can we expect them to elicit these same kinds of skills in our young learners? We have a responsibility to teach in such ways that our learners have the knowledge and skills necessary to live responsibly. Designing a curriculum for sustainability involves reviewing the content knowledge we impart, but that’s only part of it. We have to model what we teach to have any hope of truly affecting their perceptions and behaviours.


So I’m grateful to the teacher standards for putting me on this journey and I’m excited to be taking this next step on it to bring more of our staff along on the ride. I hope other colleges and institutions will join us in thinking differently about shaping the next generation of students and teachers to meet the challenge of climate change.

How we go about that will vary across regions and contexts, but the core aims will be the same: creating enabling environments and fostering a culture of change. And the way I see it, that starts with teacher development.

Why colleges are well placed to lead education towards greater neuro-inclusion

I recently underwent a neurodiversity assessment. Finally, at the age of 56, I have a formal diagnosis of neurodiversity and dyslexia. Finally, I fully understand the challenges I’ve always had. I no longer feel like I’m rubbish at certain things; instead, I employ strategies to counteract the challenges I face, and I know what support to ask for from friends, family and colleagues.   

Those challenges are simple but disruptive. Because my short-term working memory is poor, I often forget to do things colleagues have asked me to do unless I write them down. My spelling is not what it should be. And I sometimes find myself stumbling through answers while desperately trying to remember what the question was. In short, my brain functions in an atypical way.

Yours might too. Across the nine domains they measure, Cognassist (who assessed me) estimate that less than 10 per cent of people sit in the ‘average’ cognitive profile range. This suggests that places of work and learning that aren’t assessing for neurodiversity are potentially letting many people down and missing out on many talents.

I loved school and I thrived in many ways – but none of them academic. I had detentions on a weekly basis for my spelling, and I left without an O level to my name. In reality, I was being punished for something I never stood a chance of excelling at. I just got used to people thinking I wouldn’t amount to much.

Of course, neurodiversity and its associated conditions such as dyslexia, autism, ADHD, and dyspraxia weren’t really recognised back then. We’ve come a long way since. Some brilliant work is happening across education, but there’s still so much more we could do.  

When I left school at 16, I went to college. It was transformative. Finally, I was given the chance to learn in a different way – a heavily practical way that really suited me. I started to thrive and people started to believe in me.

Think of all the talented, neurodiverse learners that would bubble to the surface

A pivotal moment came for me a few years later, when one of my tutors suggested I should teach. It was the first time that I’d felt I had something to offer an education setting. Another year later, I became the youngest lecturer ever to have worked at Walsall College. My career since has spanned 35 years in further education, and I have taken my own education to masters level.

I was lucky. I found my way. But the fact remains that I was needlessly pushed to the bottom of the academic pile for years. I always had the ability to learn; I just needed the freedom to do it in a different way. How many talented people have fallen by the wayside because they never found their niche in education?

As chief executive of the Skills and Education Group, I am on a mission to ensure education policies and assessment practice become neuro-inclusive. Any policy or practice that is solely built around the assumption that we all learn in the same way is outdated.  

We need to much better educate our teachers about neurodiverse conditions. Pupils can’t thrive on empathy alone; they need teachers who understand what their diagnosis means, the hidden challenges they present and the initiatives they can deploy to help them. We need to identify these conditions earlier, and we must be ready to support learners with them with every step of their journey.

And we need government policy that supports neurodiversity in delivery and assessment as a mainstream issue. Further education has traditionally provided a much more accessible curriculum for many by default. We can’t put this at risk through qualification reform when we should be codifying that inclusiveness and driving it to greater heights.

Colleges are precisely the kind of inclusive environments our whole education system should be learning from, but the sector can’t stop pushing forward. The collaborative networks of neurotypical and neurodiverse students they create are surely leading to a more understanding and accepting society. 

Think of all the talented, neurodiverse learners that would bubble to the surface if that was the educational norm.

Colleges should be central to discussions about tuition and post-Covid recovery

The hashtag #andcolleges has been doing the rounds on social media for a little while now, representing the post-16 education sector’s frustration in response to statements, projects and policies focused on schools (and often universities as well) that demonstrate no apparent awareness of the significance of post-16 providers in the education landscape.

When it comes to closing the attainment gap between young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and their peers, it is particularly puzzling to find colleges excluded from the discussion. After all, the majority of students from disadvantaged backgrounds progress to colleges at the age of sixteen, meaning that colleges support a far higher proportion (double the percentage) when compared with school sixth forms. More specifically, colleges work with the vast majority of the 300,000 students who need to resit their English and maths GCSEs each year, 70 per cent of whom are from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Last week, the House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts published its report on Education Recovery in Schools in England. The report highlights the role played by learning lost during the pandemic in entrenching disadvantage, noting that a decade of progress in reducing the gap in attainment between learners from disadvantaged backgrounds and their peers has been wiped out.

A significant focus of the report is on the role played by tuition, and the National Tutoring Programme (NTP) in particular, in the drive to ensure the disadvantage gap rapidly returns to pre-pandemic levels and continues to close. There was no mention of the NTP’s sister programme, the 16-19 Tuition Fund, which last year made £92 million available to post-16 providers so they could provide catch-up tuition to young people.

Colleges work with the vast majority of students who resit English and maths

One of the report’s five recommendations was that DfE “should monitor how much tutoring is being provided, in 2022/23 and 2023/24 when it is providing a subsidy, and in subsequent years, and intervene if tutoring levels drop significantly.” The focus here was on the NTP, in recognition of the impact that tutoring can have on learners from disadvantaged backgrounds in schools, but we can certainly follow this with our hashtag – #andcolleges – where tutoring can play a significant role in closing disadvantage gaps for older learners.

There is strong research evidence that small-group and 1:1 tuition can have a significant impact on educational attainment, particularly in maths and reading, and particularly for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. At Get Further, we have recently published our annual impact report for 2021/22 which demonstrates the equally significant impact that small-group tuition can have on learners resitting GCSE English and maths in post-16 settings.

With extra support provided by tutors, we have found that young people can achieve grade 4 in English or maths at rates considerably higher than the national average. We also know that achieving English and maths GCSEs can lead to economic benefits for learners, with an increase in lifetime earnings of over £45,000. Not only does the investment in tuition considerably improve the life chances of the individual young people who benefit from it directly, there are also significant benefits for the wider economy.

Post-16 education has a crucial role to play both in closing the disadvantage gaps that opened up during the pandemic and ensuring that the pre-Covid progress made in closing gaps is resumed. It is overwhelmingly colleges that are helping those young people who, due to disrupted education, missed out on a grade 4 in their English and maths GCSEs to catch up. They should not be left out of conversations about education recovery, not least because the financial and staffing pressures confronting schools are compounded in a sector that has historically been significantly underfunded.

In this context, and in light of the compelling evidence of the impact tuition can have the educational and life chances of all young people, including those over the age of 16, we are calling on the government to ensure that colleges are more than an afterthought in the decisions taken about educational recovery.

The government needs to extend and scale up national tutoring policies to ensure that high-quality, fully-funded tuition is available beyond August 2024 to all young people who need that extra bit of support to truly achieve their potential.

Mind the gap: adult skills education must adapt to changing learner needs

The workforce and learner demographics landscape is rapidly evolving, driven by factors such as demographic shifts, technological advances, and the changing dynamics of the global economy. In 2015, people aged 60+ represented 12.3 per cent of the global population, but by 2050 this will have increased to over a fifth (21.3 per cent). Additionally, more and more people are moving towards entrepreneurship, favouring its autonomy and flexibility over traditional employment structures.

It is increasingly clear that our current systems – those that govern work, education, and the intersection of the two – are at odds with these seismic changes. There is a change in how we learn, upskill and consume information. The adult education sector must adapt to fill this gap with new, innovative ways of delivering training.

For a recent report for the City of London, Social Finance conducted research into Global Skills Trends and Best Practices and came across the following workforce and learner demographics trends that are changing the employment landscape and training requirements.

An ageing population at risk of exclusion

Although working longer has financial and non-financial benefits, recent digital and technological advances mean older people are at higher risk of being excluded from the workforce. Regular skill development boot camps for older adults in lifelong learning centres could optimise the demographic benefit.

The spring budget showed the treasury is aware of this with its introduction of ‘returnships’ to motivate adults over 50 to rejoin the workforce. Elsewhere, India-based Magic Billion offers certified training to local talent, helping bridge skill gaps in nations with older populations. Collaboration with this kind of global expert could offer a temporary stop-gap and prevent an economic slowdown due to skill shortages.

Non-linear career paths

The notion of a career for life is waning, replaced by the rise of non-linear careers. Millennials in particular are leading this change, with over 21 per cent in the US having switched jobs in the past year, a threefold increase compared to non-millennials.

In the UK, millennials have held as many jobs as 55-year-olds have had in their entire careers. This trend is fuelled by a quest for better salaries, personal growth, work-life balance, and monetising hobbies. But job insecurity, the disappearance of industries and lack of progression also force frequent employment changes. COVID-19 has accentuated this trend.

Other systemic problems mean those spending significant time out of the workforce for reasons from parental leave to contact with the criminal justice system continue to face challenges when re-entering employment. For instance, only 23 per cent of those released from custody are employed six months later.

Whatever the reason, supporting such transitions with high-quality education and skills training at every life stage is crucial and requires collaboration between private trainers, employers, and government. Enhanced data collection would also help to track the challenges of those available to rejoin the workforce and refer them to existing services.

The age of entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurial activity among young people in the UK has doubled since 2000, with 53 per cent expressing a desire to set up their own businesses. This global trend sees individuals increasingly keen to turn hobbies into careers. Yet there’s a noticeable lack of training and support to capitalise on this upsurge in entrepreneurialism.

Unique programmes such as The Prince’s Trust’s Get Into offer potential solutions, with its hands-on training to support budding entrepreneurs. Likewise, Senart’s young creators programme offers invaluable mentorship aligned with participants’ goals.

Local government bodies can play a crucial role by fostering such practical learning programmes in collaboration with the private sector.

To tackle our already growing skills shortages and changing demographics, we need to re-envision an education sector where every learner, regardless age or circumstance, can learn, grow and contribute. To do that, we must respond to the trends shaping not only industry but the aspirations of individuals. Our report showcases various examples of how collaborative efforts are effectively narrowing the skills gap, and we must learn from their successes.

Judge upholds 71-year-old teacher’s Covid complaints

A sixth form college in north London has lost an employment tribunal because of its “failure to take on board” the complaints of a 71-year-old teacher about working in a classroom with no windows during Covid.

Lorraine Naidoo, a part-time English as a second language teacher, took the 16 to 19 Haringey Sixth Form College, to an employment tribunal over its actions in 2020. 

Naidoo’s classrooms had no limit on the number of students to make sure they were social distanced and one had a window that wouldn’t open, a judgment published this week said. 

She repeatedly raised her concerns because of her age, as older people were at higher risk of serious illness if infected with Covid-19.  

Judge Jeremy Lewis backed her claim of indirect age discrimination.  

While there was a general risk assessment, the tribunal judges said there was a “serious failure” to adequately consider if additional requirements were needed. 

Judge Lewis, who signed the judgment, said there was also a “wholly unreasonable failure” to comply with ACAS fairness practices.  

Haringey said it was “disappointed” and is considering an appeal. A separate hearing will consider compensation for Naidoo.  

Naidoo used two classrooms, one of which had a single window that was sealed shut.  

The space tended to become “stuff and smelly” in the summer, she claimed, which health and safety guidance has suggested is a sign of poor ventilation.  

The sixth form said there was a system to draw in fresh air, but the judges said such systems were “recognised as less than satisfactory”.  

Judge Lewis also said there was “no evidence” the sixth form was unable to buy carbon dioxide monitors before the government rolled them out in September 2021. 

Naidoo was moved to a “smaller teaching room without notice” on one occasion. 

In a risk assessment, Naidoo asked for each pupil to have their own table to help physical distancing, and windows that could be opened.  

But Judge Lewis said there was a “failure to take on board and take into account” her concerns.  

Naidoo was signed off with work-related stress at the end of September and never returned. 

An occupational health report indicated that her concerns on the lack of safeguards was an “obvious impediment to her health recovering”, the judgment said. 

It wasn’t until October 9 that a “nine-point plan” was sent by the sixth form that included the suggestion to “cap your group size”. It also said she could request personal protective equipment “at any time”.  

But Naidoo said it didn’t “sound like the detailed formalised plan I requested”. Judge Lewis also said in “large part” the nine points were “merely a restatement of existing practice and guidance rather than being additional measures”.  

In her formal grievance, Naidoo said her risk assessment was “ignored” and “made me feel that I was alone in dealing with the increased serious health risks I was being exposed to at work.”  

Judge Lewis said the sixth form “did not deal with the issues raised promptly” and that there was “no adequate investigation” in response to Naidoo’s grievances.  

There was a “wholesale and wholly unreasonable failure” to comply with the ACAS code of practice, which sets out principles for handling disciplinary and grievance situations in workplaces.  

A sixth form spokesperson said it was “very proud” of how it dealt with the “many challenges arising from the pandemic, to ensure we continued to deliver a high-quality teaching and learning experience for our students, whilst doing our very best to comply with Covid guidelines, rule, recommendations and regulations and keep all within our college community safe”. 

Its Covid data “evidenced the extremely low infection rates” at the sixth form, “with no serious cases of Covid-related illness”. 

Naidoo started at the sixth form in 2008, but retired to work part-time in 2012. She had worked for less than three weeks of the September 2020 college year, which Haringey said was “unfortunate” as she was unable to see “the many measures we put in place for all in our college community, with a great deal of success”. 

HSE spot checks of schools in March 2021 found that 80 per cent had a good understanding of what it meant to be Covid secure.

PeoplePlus walks away from AEB delivery

A major training provider is walking away from adult education budget delivery this summer due to the “continuing tight labour market”.

PeoplePlus Group has decided not to renew its AEB contracts, currently held across multiple mayoral combined authorities, for the 2023/24 academic year. The company will switch its focus from face-to-face direct delivery to its online digital delivery platforms.

The decision appears to have been made abruptly, considering the firm was awarded a new AEB contract in the North of Tyne area just two weeks ago.

PeoplePlus held the largest national AEB contract among all independent training providers in 2020, with an allocation of £5.6 million. At the time it was delivering courses to around 8,000 adults and training to around 3,000 apprentices.

But the scale of this provision has plummeted in recent years after the company failed to secure another national contract with the Education and Skills Funding Agency in the controversial 2021 AEB tender.

PeoplePlus also sold its “loss-making” apprenticeship business to Babington Business College in December 2020.

The company was downgraded from ‘good’ to ‘requires improvement’ by Ofsted last month when it had just 148 adult learners on its books studying level one and two courses in subjects such as security, health and safety, customer service and digital technology.

Ofsted reported that achievement rates across PeoplePlus’ students were “too variable”, and that there was not enough effort to improve learners’ English and mathematic skills. 

On some courses, the “type or location of work opportunities are not always compatible with the needs of the learners”, inspectors added.

PeoplePlus said all current learners would be “unaffected” by the decision to discontinue its AEB delivery, adding that the provider will support them to complete their qualifications.

The company would not confirm whether any jobs were at risk.

PeoplePlus currently holds AEB contracts with combined authorities in West Yorkshire and Tees Valley and a five-year contract with Liverpool City Region, worth more than £1.2 million, £755,800 and £657,000 respectively. 

It also recently secured a five-year contract with Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority for an unknown amount of funding.

Last August PeoplePlus scooped a seven-year £15 million contract to offer teaching at the Werrington Young Offender Institution in Staffordshire and was delivering education programmes across 22 adult prisons at the time.

PeoplePlus is owned by Staffline Group PLC, one of the biggest recruitment firms in the UK. In its latest annual report for the year to December 31, 2022, Staffline noted that PeoplePlus was “impacted by the disruption to its skills training as a result of the tight labour market, with workers being able to go straight into jobs without pre-job training”. That caused its revenue to slide by 6.3 per cent from £83.1 million to £77.9 million, according to Staffline’s accounts.

Staffline also devalued PeoplePlus by 12.1 per cent to £59.6 million, which it blamed on a “reduction of forecast earnings by the division”.

A spokesperson for PeoplePlus said: “In the continuing tight labour market, we want to ensure that our adult education offering in England is optimised for these new conditions and the changing requirements of learners.

“This means that, from the 2023/24 academic year, we will be revising our footprint in the sector to allow us to focus on the continued rapid growth of our digital learning platforms and our portfolio of partner services through which we support a fast-growing number of fellow provider organisations.

“Learners on our 2022/23 programmes will be unaffected by the transition to this new service model as we support them to complete their qualifications.”

‘Inadequate’ provider stops trading with almost £1m in unpaid bills

An insolvent adult care training provider has left creditors with over £960,000 in unpaid bills after announcing it will wind up operations following a scathing Ofsted verdict.

Bestland Solutions Limited, which traded under the name Training Associates during its 20-year operation, was given an ‘inadequate’ rating by the watchdog in March. Inspectors found apprentices quickly dropped out due to being “overwhelmed” and demoralised by the lack of off-the-job training.

The provider, which offered mostly adult care training nationwide to more than 500 apprentices at the time of the inspection, has since had its skills funding agreement with the government terminated. 

Leaders of the firm held a general meeting on June 13, where it announced a special resolution to wind up voluntarily.

According to Bestland’s statement of affairs published this week, the company will be unable to sell any of its assets, leaving creditors unlikely to recoup their share of a total debt of £960,343.76.

Elias Paourou and Sean Bucknall, the joint voluntary liquidators from Quantuma Advisory, identified close to £560,000 worth of assets, including a £355,000 director’s loan account. But they estimated that none of it could be used to pay off debts.

Documents show employees are likely to be left in the lurch with regards to unpaid wages. Bestland owes £116,757 in back pay, holiday pay, tax and national insurance contributions.

The company has also incurred debts of £843,434 to non-preferential creditors, namely trade creditors, banks and employees.

Bestland Solutions chief executive Jeremy Gilbert did not respond to FE Week’s request for comment. Quantuma Advisory declined to comment.