Latest news from FE Week | FE Week

College U-turns on paid president gig after backlash

Weston College has U-turned on introducing a paid role of “president” that was promised to England’s highest-paid principal, Sir Paul Phillips, after he retired.

The college has also parted ways with Phillips’ son, Joe, just months after his recent controversial promotion from finance director to chief operating officer.

Joe Phillips joins two deputy principals who have left the college’s senior leadership team since interim principal Jacqui Ford took the helm in September.

The revelations come as Weston College was downgraded by Ofsted from an ‘outstanding’ rating awarded 10 years ago to ‘good’ this week. Its near-18-month hunt for a new permanent principal is also still ongoing.

Last summer, the college was embroiled in a governance and nepotism row after FE Week revealed its plans for a tailor-made president position for then-principal Sir Paul Phillips (pictured), timed for when he was due to step down at the end of the academic year. The position was said to be “absolutely key” to the college’s governance initiatives as well as “profile bids”.

The recruitment process for Phillips’ successor was thrown into chaos as candidates questioned the remunerated position and the recent promotion of Joe Phillips was put under the spotlight. A union representative said at the time Weston College looked like it was “being run as Sir Paul’s personal fiefdom”.

FE Week can now reveal governors have dropped plans for a president of Weston College and has no plans to fill the role.

The college refused to say why the position was ditched.

Chair of governors Andrew Leighton-Price said: “Sir Paul Phillips retired from his role at Weston College as of August 31, 2023. He has not taken on any other positions within the college group, paid or otherwise. We wish him all the best in his well-deserved retirement.”

No longer a family affair

Meanwhile, Sir Paul’s son Joe Phillips has stepped down after working at the college for 13 years. He joined the college in 2010 and was promoted last year from vice-principal for finance and business planning to deputy principal and chief operating officer, while his father was still in post.

The college doubled down at the time that there was no conflict of interest and his father had “no influence” on the promotion.

As Ford arrived as acting principal, Joe Phillips became the de-facto second-in-command.

Ofsted’s latest report on Weston noted how there have been “several recent changes at senior leadership level”. The college confirmed Joe Phillips was one of those changes.

Leighton-Price said: “Three of our senior leaders, including two deputy principals and the chief operating officer, have embarked on exciting new journeys outside the college.

“While we deeply appreciate their past contributions, we’re confident in our strong and highly experienced leadership team’s ability to continue to drive the college forward.”

New principal awaiting approval

Weston’s principal role was due to be filled by then-deputy principal of Cornwall College Kate Wills, but her job offer was withdrawn last June for undisclosed reasons. She is now back at Cornwall College in a different deputy principal role.

At Weston College, interim principal Jacqui Ford is set to steer the ship until summer, FE Week understands.

The search for a permanent principal is still ongoing, according to the college.

Sources told FE Week that the college has found a permanent principal but is awaiting approval from the Department for Education, which could be held up following the reclassification requirement for government approval on salaries above £150,000 (see page 5).

Sir Paul Phillips was England’s highest paid principal with a basic salary in 2022 of £258,000, plus pension contributions, consultancy work and benefits in kind taking his total pay package to £362,000.

Leighton-Price said: “Collaborating closely with the DfE and FE Commissioner, the college governors are actively engaged in the process of appointing a new principal and chief executive.”

‘Good’ for governance

Ofsted inspectors noted during their December 2023 inspection that the governance of the quality of education at Weston College is “mostly effective”.

The report published this week said the governors appropriately challenge leaders on education but “do not always challenge leaders enough on the timeliness and impact of the remedial actions taken,” leading to slow improvements on the weakest programmes.

However, inspectors also praised governors and leaders for listening and taking timely actions on the feedback from staff at all levels in the college.

“For example, leaders have recently appointed well-being champions to help staff manage their workload. As a result, staff feel valued and well supported by leaders and managers.”

Leighton-Price said: “Weston College is immensely proud of its ‘good’ Ofsted rating, achieved across all eight areas, alongside a ‘strong’ outcome for meeting regional skills needs.”

Holex on the hunt for first CEO

Adult education body Holex is recruiting for its first chief executive as it unveils plans to expand its services amid “increased demand” for its expertise.

The membership organisation is currently led by policy director, Sue Pember, who will stay in post under the new CEO.

Pember told FE Week having a CEO will give her more time for advocacy and lobbying on behalf of Holex’s members.

The £70,000 to £90,000 chief will report to the board, which is chaired by WM College (formerly known as The Working Men’s College), principal Dipa Ganguli.

The new role reflects the country’s “reduced and changed” adult education infrastructure and increased demand for Holex’s advice and guidance.

Last year Holex successfully forced a government U-turn on plans to end funding for adult education courses that are not directly linked to employment outcomes.

Alongside the Association of Colleges and the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, Holex is a founding member of the Education and Training Foundation.

As well as formal policy consultations, Holex organises network events and research on key topics for the adult and community learning sector such as Prevent, Multiply and Ofsted.

Over 140 adult and community education organisations in England are currently members of Holex, including local authorities, adult education institutes and further education colleges.

The organisation, now in its 31st year, is looking for a “dynamic and experienced” leader to “build the business” and “advocate for positive change,” according to the job description.

It hopes to appoint this August, potentially in time for a general election.

Holex has called for a dedicated minister for adult education and lifelong learning in its submission to next month’s spring Budget, alongside asks for a ten-year spending plan for community education and tax breaks for employers that invest in adults without level 2 qualifications.

Applications close on March 1, 2024.

Babington announces third CEO in less than a year

One of England’s largest apprenticeship providers has unveiled a new chief executive – its third in less than a year.

Babington Business College announced on Thursday that Mark Basham, a “turnaround specialist” who was appointed in June 2023, has resigned with immediate effect for “personal reasons”.

Basham was the permanent successor to David Marsh who suddenly left the company in May 2023 after almost five years at the helm, also for “personal reasons”.

Jen Bramley (pictured), who has been the firm’s chief operating officer for the past four years, will now take over chief executive.

Marsh’s departure came months after Babington was sold by RJD Partners in December 2022 to Unigestion, a Switzerland-based private equity firm.

Babington’s latest accounts for the year ending July 2022 show £26.3 million turnover, similar to the previous year, but profit of £743,000 which dived from almost £3.5 million in 2021.

A month after Basham joined Babington, the company announced that around 120 jobs were at risk in a “strategic realignment”. It then scrapped its adult education budget portfolio, including its digital skills bootcamps and sector work academy programme (SWAP) courses, as well as its apprenticeships training offer in the property, financial services and retail sectors.

The organisation has now switched focus to apprenticeships, professional qualifications and commercial courses areas of accountancy, HR, leadership, data, and business.

Ofsted visited Babington in December and published a ‘good’ judgment in January 2024. The company had 4,300 apprentices placed with 800 employers at the time of the visit.

Bramley has worked in the education and training sector for 15 years. She joined Babington in 2018 as executive director of customer engagement and was promoted to COO in 2020.

She said: “I am proud to be taking on broader leadership of this exceptional business as we continue to deliver on our purpose of developing better futures for individuals, organisations, and society as a whole.

“In recent months we have made bold choices to do what is right for the business, and for all our valued customers, learners, and colleagues. We have a clear strategy and an unwavering commitment to delivering high-quality, effective learning programmes that support meaningful organisational and personal outcomes.”

Babington chair Mike Kinski said: “We are grateful to Mark for guiding our strategic initiatives and wish him and his family well. Jen has the confidence of her team and our clients to build on Babington’s strengths and I look forward to supporting her and the wider executive team as they work to achieve the Company’s future goals.”

Basham added: “As a new leadership team we have made great progress implementing the agreed strategic realignment over the past six months, culminating in the terrific report from Ofsted. As such, given my personal circumstances, it is a good time for me to step back and leave the Company in Jen’s very capable hands. I am looking forward to committing more time to other portfolio interests. I wish the whole Babington team every success for the future.”

Ofsted to examine how SEND pupils are prepared for adulthood

Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission will examine how young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are being prepared for adulthood in forthcoming thematic visits.

The watchdogs have published guidance ahead of visits to a “small number of areas” to look at “a particular aspect of the SEND system in-depth” between spring and summer 2024.

They will look at all phases of a child with SEND’s transition to adulthood, from early years settings through to post-16 education, to get a detailed overview of how preparation for adulthood (PFA) arrangements are working.

The visits “will not result in judgments about local areas”, but the findings will be published in a report this autumn.

This will list the areas visited and flag examples of good practice and identify any systemic concerns.

Where good practice is identified, this will be “shared with the Department for Education and the Department for Health and Social Care to support their development of policy for the SEND and alternative provision improvement plan”.

Current system ‘not meeting needs’

Lee Owston, Ofsted’s national director for education said: “The current SEND system is not meeting the needs of too many children and their families.

“I hope these visits provide valuable insight into how we can improve the experiences of children with SEND as the government develops its SEND and alternative provision improvement plan.”

Ofsted and the CQC will look at the extent to which schools and early years settings “develop the knowledge, skills, and independence of children and young people with SEND”.

The reviews will also investigate the support schools offer to help pupils to prepare for post-16 transitions, through routes such as further education and work with training.

The role of post-16 providers in readying youngsters for next steps like higher education, training, supported internships or employment will also come under the microscope.

The watchdogs will focus on “four key pathways” for PFA: employment, independent living, community inclusion and health.

They will look into…

How youngsters with SEND are supported to achieve their full potential
How they are empowered to make decisions for themselves and live as independently as possible
How they are supported to participate in society and live “as healthily as possible” as adults
The “enablers and barriers to effectively preparing young people with SEND for adulthood”

The team will usually consist of three inspectors: one from education, another from social care and a CQC inspector.

Each visit will typically consist of up to four days of off-site activity and up to four days on-site investigation, and inspectors will notify local leaders of the visits 10 working days in advance.

RAAC: 10 colleges will get removal grants

The government has announced that 10 of the 12 colleges with RAAC will receive grants to remove the dangerous concrete.

Data published by the Department for Education today shows 234 schools and colleges have now been confirmed as having reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, an increase of three since the last update in December.

The DfE said today this was the “final list”, making up around 1 per cent of 22,000 schools and colleges in England.

The new list includes information about the “route of removal”, and shows 119 schools will be rebuilt either fully or partially. Another 110 education settings will receive grants while the rest have a “different” route to removal.

The “other” route is used where, for example, the education setting “doesn’t require the department to provide any additional support or funding or the case has only recently been confirmed and we are assessing the best solution for removal”.

Of the 234 affected settings, 11 are FE colleges and one is a specialist post-16 institution.

Two colleges were added to today’s updated list – Barking and Dagenham College which will receive a grant, and The College of Richard Collyer in Horsham which does not require a grant for removal at this stage.

The other college listed as not receiving a grant for RAAC removal is Camborne College, part of Cornwall College Group.

The nine other colleges with RAAC which will receive a grant are:

Abingdon and Witney College
Barnet and Southgate College
The Oldham College
Grantham College
Farnborough College of Technology
Marple Sixth Form College – part of The Trafford College Group
Petroc
Peterborough College – part of Inspire Education Group
Royal College Manchester (Seashell Trust)

Education secretary Gillian Keegan said: “Nothing is more important to me than the safety of every child and member of staff.

“We will continue to work closely with schools and colleges as we take the next step to permanently remove RAAC from affected buildings.”

She also thanked schools, colleges and local authorities “who have worked tirelessly with the department to ensure all children remain in face-to-face education”.

RAAC removal plans – the full list

School name	Council	Grant or rebuild
Barking and Dagenham College	Barking and Dagenham	Grant
Bishop Douglass School Finchley	Barnet	Grant
Cleeve Park School	Bexley	Grant
Hodge Hill College	Birmingham	Grant
St John Fisher Catholic Primary School	Birmingham	Grant
Baskerville School	Birmingham	School Rebuilding Programme
Maryvale Catholic Primary School	Birmingham	Grant
Ark Boulton Academy	Birmingham	School Rebuilding Programme
Aston Manor Academy	Birmingham	School Rebuilding Programme
Prince Albert Junior and Infant School	Birmingham	Grant
St Mary and St John Junior and Infant School	Birmingham	School Rebuilding Programme
Bispham Endowed Church of England Primary School	Blackpool	School Rebuilding Programme
Thornleigh Salesian College	Bolton	School Rebuilding Programme
St Bernard’s RC Primary School, Bolton	Bolton	School Rebuilding Programme
St Stephen and All Martyrs’ CofE School, Lever Bridge	Bolton	Grant
Canon Slade School	Bolton	School Rebuilding Programme
St Andrew’s CofE Primary School, Over Hulton	Bolton	School Rebuilding Programme
St William of York Catholic Primary School	Bolton	Grant
Christ Church Church of England Academy	Bradford	Grant
Crossflatts Primary School	Bradford	Grant
Baildon Church of England Primary School	Bradford	Grant
Eldwick Primary School	Bradford	Grant
The Holy Family Catholic School, a Voluntary Academy	Bradford	School Rebuilding Programme
Kingsbury High School	Brent	School Rebuilding Programme
St Gregory’s Catholic Science College	Brent	School Rebuilding Programme
Sir William Borlase’s Grammar School	Buckinghamshire	Grant
St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School	Buckinghamshire	School Rebuilding Programme
St Michael’s Catholic School	Buckinghamshire	School Rebuilding Programme
Waddesdon Church of England School	Buckinghamshire	Grant
The Macclesfield Academy	Cheshire East	Grant
Sandbach School	Cheshire East	School Rebuilding Programme
Ellesmere Port Catholic High School, a Voluntary Academy	Cheshire West and Chester	School Rebuilding Programme
Camborne College (part of Cornwall College)	Cornwall	Other
Ferryhill School	County Durham	School Rebuilding Programme
St Bede’s Catholic School and Byron Sixth Form College	County Durham	Grant
St Benet’s Catholic Primary School, Ouston	County Durham	School Rebuilding Programme
St Leonard’s Catholic School, Durham	County Durham	School Rebuilding Programme
Carmel College	Darlington	Grant
St Teresa’s Catholic Primary School	Darlington	Grant
St Edward’s Catholic Academy	Derbyshire	School Rebuilding Programme
St Elizabeth’s Catholic Voluntary Academy	Derbyshire	Grant
Exmouth Community College	Devon	School Rebuilding Programme
Colyton Grammar School	Devon	Grant
Petroc	Devon	Grant
St James Academy	Dudley	Grant
Redhill School	Dudley	Grant
Featherstone High School	Ealing	Grant
The Ellen Wilkinson School for Girls	Ealing	School Rebuilding Programme
Langney Primary Academy	East Sussex	Grant
Barnet and Southgate College	Enfield	Grant
Winchmore School	Enfield	Grant
Ark John Keats Academy	Enfield	Grant
St Ignatius College	Enfield	School Rebuilding Programme
Cann Hall Primary School	Essex	Grant
Elm Hall Primary School	Essex	School Rebuilding Programme
Manningtree High School	Essex	Grant
Priory Primary School, Bicknacre	Essex	School Rebuilding Programme
Southview School	Essex	School Rebuilding Programme
Spring Meadow Primary School & School House Nursery	Essex	School Rebuilding Programme
Buttsbury Junior School	Essex	Grant
Merrylands Primary School	Essex	School Rebuilding Programme
Ravens Academy	Essex	School Rebuilding Programme
Steeple Bumpstead Primary School	Essex	Grant
Anglo European School	Essex	School Rebuilding Programme
Barnes Farm Junior School	Essex	School Rebuilding Programme
Baynards Primary School	Essex	School Rebuilding Programme
Beehive Lane Community Primary School	Essex	School Rebuilding Programme
Bentfield Primary School and Nursery	Essex	School Rebuilding Programme
Broomfield Primary School	Essex	Grant
Buckhurst Hill Community Primary School	Essex	School Rebuilding Programme
Cherry Tree Academy	Essex	Grant
Chipping Ongar Primary School	Essex	Grant
Clacton County High School	Essex	School Rebuilding Programme
Elmstead Primary School	Essex	School Rebuilding Programme
Eversley Primary School	Essex	School Rebuilding Programme
Great Leighs Primary School	Essex	School Rebuilding Programme
Great Tey Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School	Essex	School Rebuilding Programme
Harlowbury Primary School	Essex	Other
Harwich and Dovercourt High School	Essex	Grant
Hatfield Heath Primary School	Essex	School Rebuilding Programme
Hatfield Peverel St Andrew’s Junior School	Essex	School Rebuilding Programme
Henham and Ugley Primary and Nursery School	Essex	School Rebuilding Programme
Hillhouse CofE Primary School	Essex	School Rebuilding Programme
Hockley Primary School	Essex	School Rebuilding Programme
Holy Trinity CofE Primary School, Eight Ash Green and Aldham	Essex	School Rebuilding Programme
Jerounds Primary Academy	Essex	Grant
Joyce Frankland Academy, Newport	Essex	School Rebuilding Programme
Katherine Semar Infant School	Essex	School Rebuilding Programme
Katherine Semar Junior School	Essex	School Rebuilding Programme
Katherines Primary Academy and Nursery	Essex	School Rebuilding Programme
Lambourne Primary School	Essex	Grant
Lubbins Park Primary Academy	Essex	School Rebuilding Programme
Mersea Island School	Essex	Grant
Mistley Norman Church of England Primary School	Essex	School Rebuilding Programme
Roding Valley High School	Essex	Grant
Springfield Primary School	Essex	School Rebuilding Programme
St Helena School	Essex	Grant
St Lawrence Church of England Primary School, Rowhedge	Essex	School Rebuilding Programme
Stanway Fiveways Primary School	Essex	Grant
Tendring Technology College	Essex	Grant
The Billericay School	Essex	School Rebuilding Programme
The Bromfords School	Essex	School Rebuilding Programme
The FitzWimarc School	Essex	School Rebuilding Programme
The Gilberd School	Essex	School Rebuilding Programme
The Honywood Community Science School	Essex	School Rebuilding Programme
The Ramsey Academy, Halstead	Essex	Grant
The Thomas Lord Audley School	Essex	Grant
Thurstable School Sports College and Sixth Form Centre	Essex	School Rebuilding Programme
Water Lane Primary Academy	Essex	Grant
Wells Park School	Essex	Grant
White Court School	Essex	School Rebuilding Programme
White Hall Academy and Nursery	Essex	School Rebuilding Programme
Winter Gardens Academy	Essex	School Rebuilding Programme
Woodville Primary School	Essex	Grant
Wyburns Primary School	Essex	School Rebuilding Programme
St Anne’s Catholic Primary School, Harlow Green	Gateshead	School Rebuilding Programme
St Thomas More Catholic School, Blaydon	Gateshead	Grant
Marling School	Gloucestershire	Grant
St Thomas More Catholic Comprehensive School	Greenwich	School Rebuilding Programme
Westside School	Hammersmith and Fulham	Other
The London Oratory School	Hammersmith and Fulham	Grant
Havant Academy	Hampshire	School Rebuilding Programme
St Anne’s Catholic Primary School	Hampshire	Grant
Farnborough College of Technology	Hampshire	Grant
Cranbourne	Hampshire	School Rebuilding Programme
Hounsdown School	Hampshire	Grant
St Mary’s Priory RC Infant and Junior School	Haringey	Grant
Hornsey School for Girls	Haringey	School Rebuilding Programme
Park View School	Haringey	Grant
St John Vianney RC Primary School	Haringey	School Rebuilding Programme
Welbourne Primary School	Haringey	School Rebuilding Programme
Golden Flatts Primary School	Hartlepool	School Rebuilding Programme
The Coopers’ Company and Coborn School	Havering	School Rebuilding Programme
Bushey and Oxhey Infant School	Hertfordshire	School Rebuilding Programme
Churchfield Church of England Academy	Hertfordshire	Grant
Links Academy	Hertfordshire	Grant
Watford Grammar School for Boys	Hertfordshire	Grant
Markyate Village School and Nursery	Hertfordshire	Grant
St John Catholic Primary School	Hertfordshire	School Rebuilding Programme
Widford School	Hertfordshire	Grant
St Aloysius RC College	Islington	Grant
Westlands School	Kent	School Rebuilding Programme
Birchington Church of England Primary School	Kent	School Rebuilding Programme
Godinton Primary School	Kent	Grant
King Ethelbert School	Kent	School Rebuilding Programme
Palmarsh Primary School	Kent	School Rebuilding Programme
St Bartholomew’s Catholic Primary School, Swanley	Kent	Grant
St James’ Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School	Kent	School Rebuilding Programme
Sunny Bank Primary School	Kent	School Rebuilding Programme
Shelley College, A Share Academy	Kirklees	Grant
Batley Girls High School	Kirklees	Grant
Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School	Lambeth	Grant
Haslingden St James Church of England Primary School	Lancashire	Grant
Knuzden St Oswald’s Church of England Primary Academy	Lancashire	Grant
Our Lady’s Catholic High School	Lancashire	School Rebuilding Programme
Shadwell Primary School	Leeds	Other
Woodkirk Academy	Leeds	School Rebuilding Programme
Mayflower Primary School	Leicester	School Rebuilding Programme
Parks Primary School	Leicester	School Rebuilding Programme
St Joseph’s Catholic Voluntary Academy	Leicestershire	Grant
Myatt Garden Primary School	Lewisham	Grant
Grantham College	Lincolnshire	Grant
Dixons Broadgreen Academy	Liverpool	Grant
Avenue Centre for Education	Luton	Grant
Surrey Street Primary School	Luton	Grant
All Saints C of E Primary School	Manchester	School Rebuilding Programme
Holcombe Grammar School	Medway	Grant
Denbigh School	Milton Keynes	Grant
St John Vianney Catholic Primary School, West Denton	Newcastle upon Tyne	School Rebuilding Programme
St Francis’ Catholic Primary School	Newham	Grant
Thomas Bullock Church of England Primary and Nursery Academy	Norfolk	Grant
Gordano School	North Somerset	Grant
St Columba’s Catholic Primary School, Wallsend	North Tyneside	School Rebuilding Programme
Scalby School	North Yorkshire	School Rebuilding Programme
Holy Trinity Catholic Voluntary Academy	Nottinghamshire	Grant
The Oldham College	Oldham	Grant
Abingdon and Witney College	Oxfordshire	Grant
Wallingford School	Oxfordshire	School Rebuilding Programme
Peterborough College (part of Inspire Education Group)	Peterborough	Grant
The Palmer Catholic Academy	Redbridge	School Rebuilding Programme
Wood Green Academy	Sandwell	School Rebuilding Programme
Abbey Lane Primary School	Sheffield	Grant
Pippins School	Slough	Grant
Selworthy Special School	Somerset	School Rebuilding Programme
St James’ Catholic Primary School, Hebburn	South Tyneside	School Rebuilding Programme
Shoeburyness High School	Southend-on-Sea	Grant
Kingsdown School	Southend-on-Sea	School Rebuilding Programme
Sir Thomas Boughey Academy	Staffordshire	Grant
Bramhall High School	Stockport	School Rebuilding Programme
Cheadle Hulme High School	Stockport	Grant
Royal School, Manchester	Stockport	Grant
St Thomas’ Church of England Primary School Stockport	Stockport	School Rebuilding Programme
Marple Sixth Form College (part of Trafford College Group)	Stockport	Grant
Royal College Manchester (Seashell Trust)	Stockport	Grant
Glade Academy	Suffolk	School Rebuilding Programme
Stour Valley Community School	Suffolk	Grant
Newmarket Academy	Suffolk	Grant
Stowupland High School	Suffolk	School Rebuilding Programme
Farlingaye High School	Suffolk	School Rebuilding Programme
Claydon High School	Suffolk	School Rebuilding Programme
East Bergholt High School	Suffolk	School Rebuilding Programme
Hadleigh High School	Suffolk	School Rebuilding Programme
Thurston Community College	Suffolk	School Rebuilding Programme
St John Bosco Catholic Primary School, Town End Farm, Sunderland	Sunderland	School Rebuilding Programme
Pewley Down Infant School	Surrey	School Rebuilding Programme
Kings College Guildford	Surrey	Grant
The Grove Primary Academy	Surrey	Grant
The Magna Carta School	Surrey	School Rebuilding Programme
Danetree Primary School	Surrey	Grant
Shawfield Primary School	Surrey	School Rebuilding Programme
St Paul’s Catholic Primary School, Thames Ditton	Surrey	School Rebuilding Programme
The Link School	Sutton	Grant
Donnington Wood Infant School and Nursery Centre	Telford and Wrekin	Grant
Thameside Primary School	Thurrock	Grant
Ortu Corringham Primary School and Nursery	Thurrock	School Rebuilding Programme
Arthur Bugler Primary School	Thurrock	School Rebuilding Programme
East Tilbury Primary School	Thurrock	School Rebuilding Programme
St Clere’s School	Thurrock	School Rebuilding Programme
Mulberry Stepney Green Mathematics and Computing College	Tower Hamlets	Grant
Stepney All Saints Church of England Secondary School	Tower Hamlets	School Rebuilding Programme
Seven Mills Primary School	Tower Hamlets	Grant
Altrincham College	Trafford	Grant
Sale Grammar School	Trafford	Grant
St Thomas à Becket Catholic Secondary School, A Voluntary Academy	Wakefield	School Rebuilding Programme
Myton School	Warwickshire	School Rebuilding Programme
Outwoods Primary School	Warwickshire	Grant
Fairfields School	West Northamptonshire	Grant
Northampton International Academy	West Northamptonshire	Grant
The College of Richard Collyer in Horsham	West Sussex	Other
Greenway Junior School	West Sussex	School Rebuilding Programme
St Mary Magdalene CofE Primary School	Westminster	Grant
Atherton St George’s CofE Primary School	Wigan	Grant
Dean Trust Rose Bridge	Wigan	School Rebuilding Programme
St Francis Catholic Primary School, South Ascot	Windsor and Maidenhead	School Rebuilding Programme

FE recruitment hasn’t changed for 20 years. This year it must

Anyone involved in recruitment across further education must face up to the challenges that lie ahead. Here are my predictions for what those trends and challenges might look like in 2024, and how to best navigate them.

Developing the workforce

According to the latest government data, 205,200 people work in FE, including 81,400 teaching staff and 7,100 leadership staff. Last year, almost 6 per cent of teaching positions and 3 per cent of management roles went unfilled.

To address this issue, it’s vital to develop recruitment that takes the candidate journey into account. This will not only ensure more effective recruitment, but will help the right people to find their way into the right roles. This in turn will also improve retention.

To that end, recruitment firms can be vital partners rather than mere suppliers. It’s important to get people quickly into roles to fill gaps. However, the most effective way to ensure a strong and reliable workforce is to strike a balance between sessional and permanent contracts. This helps to secure engaged and well-suited staff who can meet an institution’s needs for the long term.

Closing the revolving door

At present, recruiters provide a broadly one-dimensional service which does not attend to the full spectrum of the sector’s needs. This has helped contribute to a culture whereby candidates often don’t stay in post very long.

To combat this revolving door, it’s important that recruiters understand the specific needs of the business they’re supporting from top to bottom. This will allow them to create a personalised and caring candidate journey that will in turn reduce the chance that the door keeps revolving.

The other key factor here is reducing the number of basic mistakes that plague education recruitment. These include ensuring candidates have the right qualifications and checks for the role and get paid the right amount at the right time. Another common error is to simply wave goodbye to candidates once they’re placed. This can mean that people don’t feel valued and invariably head for the door.

Rise to the skills challenge

In 2024, the best candidates aren’t simply the best qualified, but those who can best keep pace with changing skills needs. This doesn’t just apply to education, but in any sector young people are aspiring to work in.

In many industries, younger people struggle to get hired because they lack the length of experience employers demand. Further education can’t afford to be such an industry and stands to gain a competitive edge by embracing early-career hires. Added benefits include the opportunity to develop and mould your workforce. Young candidates can also deliver energy and new ideas, especially in the areas of curriculum, data management and marketing.

With projections indicating that by 2025 Gen Z will make up roughly 30 per cent of the workforce, embracing the new generation is vital.

AI for a more human experience

Education recruitment is first and foremost a people business, but technology now has a big role to play. Smart chatbots can offer more efficient and effective engagement, and AI and machine learning have the potential to save time and cut down on tedious tasks. In this way, embracing AI could in fact allow more resources to be committed to running a personalised and engaging service.

Wellbeing as standard

In the modern workplace, potential recruits are far more focused on their wellbeing than ever before. Of course, employers have a huge responsibility to ensure high employee satisfaction, but recruitment firms have a big part to play too.

That starts with aiming to place the right person in the right job, so I often advise to avoid recruiters who treat the process as a game of numbers.

But the most important factor is to be proactive rather than reactive in meeting employees’ needs. Today’s workforce is increasingly on the look-out for flexibility, and while that isn’t always easy to deliver in education, your recruitment partner is the best port of call to help solve the issue.

The bottom line

Unfortunately, cutting costs will remain a priority this year for many in the sector. The key here is to remember that investing resources might cost more in the short term, but can save much more in the long term.

‘Prepared, not scared’: Why Ofsted should rethink inspection training

Ofsted’s latest changes to its inspection handbook are a further acknowledgement that inspection processes are coming under intense scrutiny following the tragic loss of Ruth Perry.

While Ofsted is taking steps to improve its internal practices and training, it is critical that nominees or provider staff feel confident to raise concerns and professionally challenge inspectors during or after the inspection. The inspectorate is also re-evaluating its complaints procedure, including a new national helpline for leaders to raise concerns. The Fellowship of Inspection Nominees (FIN) advises providers how to make a complaint without fear or trepidation, but hopefully the need for this type of support will diminish.

But how does the inspectorate propose to reduce the stress and fear of inspection itself? Most comment on this absolves Ofsted and instead looks to the DfE to get rid of one-word judgments. I believe this misses an important change of approach the organisation could take today.

FIN promotes the mantra “prepared, not scared”, which helps to support nominees while also emphasising the importance of building resilience among staff. We have worked with providers to achieve this, improve learning provision before inspection and, where needed, we help to pick up the pieces following inspection.

It can be tough witnessing the extreme emotions, anxiety and devastation which a poorly-managed inspection or a negative outcome can have. Ofsted has now publicly recognised the importance of upskilling inspectors and raising awareness in identifying signs of stress and anxiety among education leaders and staff. As MPs have recommended, there should be more dialogue about this as part of the forthcoming ‘Big Listen’.

The consultation should acknowledge that Ofsted has been critical of providers engaging in what is termed as ‘preparing for inspection’. It has discouraged providers reaching out for consultancy support, frowned upon inspection preparation training and has been horrified at the notion of a mock inspection. This stems primarily from concerns about additional workload and stress. However, we can only presume that it also reflects the inspectorate’s worry that such preparations might create an artificial environment, possibly leading to inaccurate assessments of the quality of education they provide.

It’s time for providers to take back control

In reality, as long as there is inspection, there will be inspection preparation. But it’s time for providers to take back control of that process. They should be focusing more on their own needs than Ofsted’s particular likes or dislikes, which can change over time as FIN’s tracking of inspection reports shows.

Inspection preparation programmes should allow providers to give targeted support for the nominee and the shadow nominee, and to train their staff to gain confidence in showcasing their provision. Programmes should also focus on preparing staff to deal with the pressures associated with inspections, fostering resilience. Indeed, it is arguably far more dangerous to mental health to send teams into a high-stakes test without this kind of preparation.

The concept of TCUP (Thinking Clearly Under Pressure) should be at the forefront of this training, concentrating on maintaining composure, presenting evidence and making informed decisions during high-pressure situations. When provider staff fully understand the triangulation of required evidence and measuring impact, it helps to demystify inspection. Equipping staff with these tools will not only impact positively on the provision but will also help to make the inspection experience far less challenging.

Our experience with providers is that practice interviews or a quality review are insightful, motivational and a proven method of resilience building. Collaborative working groups are extremely beneficial with nominees coming together for professional exchange and talking through challenges. Following inspection too, nominees and staff should share their experiences, what they did or did not do well and what they would do differently.

Ofsted’s approach to inspection training is at best naïve, based on the vain hope of seeing providers as they truly are. It should shift to a more mature model that respects preparation as a positive part of the improvement process and a protective measure for staff.

MPs have highlighted a number of other issues which should be considered as part of the ‘Big Listen’. The sector should not waste the opportunity to help shape a more positive environment surrounding quality assurance.

Using everyday tech to support learners with additional needs

Despite the digital age, mobile phones continue to be a rare sight in both mainstream and specialist classrooms. Here at The Oaks, a specialist college for 18-to-25-year-olds with additional learning needs in Kent, East Sussex and surrounding areas, we are embracing mobile phone technology to support our learners.

We are actively fostering an environment where every-day, readily-accessible smart technology rather than expensive, specialist software or hardware bridges barriers to engagement and participation in learning and daily tasks. We aim to create digitally empowered young people who have autonomy over their independence.

Personalising user settings and practising skills on learners’ own mobile devices increases the likelihood that they will generalise skills to activities beyond the college day. We are therefore building a curriculum where learners are supported to access the incredible power of their own smartphone, irrespective of their learning profile.

The power in their pocket

By using a phone’s read-aloud features, or apps such as Microsoft or Google Lens, a learner can overcome difficulties with literacy by listening to text rather than reading it, choosing a speaking rate that they are best able to understand.

Exploring text size as well as screen brightness, colour and contrast increases the opportunity for learners with visual differences to engage.

Enabling dictation on the device allows a learner’s speech to be converted to text and reduces literacy difficulties related to spelling as well as fine motor difficulties which may be a barrier to typing.

Practising the use of alarms, calendars and reminders increases responsibility and reduces reliance on other adults for those who experience memory challenges.

Translation apps reduce barriers for those for whom English isn’t their first language.

Using QR codes within learning tasks demystifies them when seen in the wider community.

While it may appear common-sense that these features can support a wide range of different learning profiles, our observation is that learners do not typically have experience of using them before arriving with us.

By exposing our learners to them and demonstrating their practical application, we enable them to make autonomous informed decisions about which skills will be helpful to them.

A learning jounrey

Our curriculum is influenced by the unique needs of our community and is developed by teaching and therapeutic staff working in close partnership to ensure the content is relevant within the college and beyond.

We introduce learners who are newer to these skills in fun ways: cheating at quizzes, accessing jokes through QR codes, exploring our on-site smart flat to use the automatic vacuum cleaner, the smart doorbell and smart speaker.

And we support those who are closer to the end of their college journey to practise these skills in the community or in work placements, for example by using bus apps to plan journeys, reading ready-meal labels in a shop or accessing a customer feedback form via a QR code and dictating their responses.

This approach delivers meaningful outcomes which increase our learners’ confidence and independent living skills: reading a menu independently rather than have it read aloud by others at the table, communicating confidently with a member of the public in another language and sharing the skill of digital translation with new colleagues, checking the allergens in the small print of food packaging in spite of a visual impairment, or reading a bedtime story to a younger sibling for the first time.

We have learners who choose to dictate their college work and those who prefer to type. Some use smart assistants to take responsibility for checking spellings and key information. Others have overcome their reduced literacy to engage and contribute to social media conversations with their friends.

Skills for life

Our vision is to ensure that every learner makes clear progress and they are respected and valued in their community, confident and able to contribute to society. By actively shaping a curriculum and community that harnesses the use of smartphone assistive and accessibility technology, we are ensuring our learners are equipped to overcome potential barriers for life.

We use free apps and accessibility features embedded within smartphones and laptops. These features have applications far beyond the specialist education sector and are available to anyone who has a smartphone or laptop.

Each class group is a unique community of differing learning profiles, needs and preferences; consider how adopting some of the accessibility features may enhance learner experience within your classroom.

Working with employers to make apprenticeships more accessible to autistic learners

According to government statistics, fewer than three in ten autistic people are in work.

Yet autistic students may bring highly-prized attributes such as tenacity, seeing things in a different light, heightened analysis and confidence in problem-solving. These characteristics may be additionally attractive to some highly-skilled industries like tech, particularly when combined with advanced abilities in coding and programming, or excellent memory, which many autistic people can display.

However, our autistic students frequently tell us that applying for jobs or starting new roles can be overwhelming, with lots of quick-fire questions, noisy open-plan offices and anxieties over following unwritten social rules.

And on the other hand, many employers want to attract autistic applicants but simply aren’t sure about how to make their environment more accessible. As providers, our insights and expertise can play a positive intermediary role.

Here are some of the suggestions we can and should be passing on to our employer partners:

Recruitment

Implement inclusive recruitment processes that accommodate different communication styles and support neurodiversity. Offer clear, straightforward application instructions and consider alternative methods of assessment.

Support

Provide tailored support systems including mentors or job coaches to help autistic apprentices and those with special educational needs more broadly to integrate into the workplace. This can enhance their learning experience and overall job satisfaction.

Flexibility

Create flexible work environments that can adapt to individual needs. This may involve adjusting work schedules, providing quiet spaces or allowing for remote work when necessary. Create a structured and predictable work environment. Autistic individuals often thrive in routines and predictability, so establishing clear patterns and expectations can contribute to their success.

Communication

Foster clear and open communication channels. Clearly outline expectations, tasks and goals, and be receptive to different communication styles such as written communication or visual aids.

Colleagues

Conduct training sessions for existing staff to raise awareness about neurodiversity, autism, and SEND. This can help create a more supportive and understanding workplace culture.

Sensitivities

Be mindful of sensory sensitivities. Create a workspace that takes into account potential sensory challenges, such as providing quiet areas, minimising fluorescent lighting or allowing the use of noise-cancelling headphones.

Customisation

Develop apprenticeship programmes that can be customised to suit individual learning styles. This may involve incorporating hands-on experiences, visual aids or other accommodations to enhance the learning process.

Adaptability

Establish a system for regular feedback and adjustments. Check in with apprentices to understand their progress, address concerns and make necessary accommodations to ensure a positive learning experience.

Collaboration

Collaborate with support organisations that specialise in working with individuals with SEND and autism. Seek guidance and resources to enhance your company’s ability to create an inclusive and supportive apprenticeship programme.

Lifelong learning

Work with local schools, colleges and other providers to create careers networks where business and education can support one another to nurture talent and develop a local supply of engaged staff.

Disability Confident

Employer partners may be interested to know that many of these approaches are included in the government’s Disability Confident Scheme, which offers a positive, practical framework to improve how they recruit and retain disabled staff. This can make for a stronger workforce and also allows customers and other businesses to identify those who are committed to workplace equality.

Access to Work funding

It is worth reminding employer partners that not all of these adaptations need to be paid for by them. Schemes like Access to Work support disabled people to start or stay in work and can be used to cover the cost of support or adaptations beyond reasonable adjustments. For example, adaptations to equipment, a support worker to help an autistic employee in the workplace or disability awareness training for colleagues with whom the autistic staff member will work.

By sharing this advice we are giving employer partners practical suggestions for fostering an inclusive work environment while also creating a more diverse, skilled and profitable workforce that can support their overall business goals.

And of course all of that applies to us as employers too.