6% of apprenticeship providers eligible for ‘ludicrous’ expert group

Apprenticeship chiefs have lashed out over the government’s “ludicrous” hunt to appoint “expert” training providers, after FE Week analysis revealed only six per cent are eligible to apply.

Just 90 of the 1,420 apprenticeship providers in England meet the strict criteria set by the Department for Education for its 12-month pilot announced this week.

DfE is searching for 15 providers to take on a “mark of excellence”, which will give those selected “more access” to DfE systems in a bid to reduce the time, resource and cost that providers commit to coaching non-levy paying employers through the digital apprenticeship system.

But, leaders have criticised the extreme criteria they need to meet to apply, as well as the “dangerous” title of “expert” providers.

To be considered, providers must have a ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ Ofsted rating, an apprenticeship achievement rate of at least 51 per cent in 2021/22, as well as a four-star employer feedback rating.

It also requires providers to deliver at least 30 per cent (and a minimum of 50 annual starts) of its overall apprenticeships provision to small and medium-sized employers (SMEs) and have been providing apprenticeships for at least five years.

This criterion has eliminated most of the 1,420 apprenticeship providers in England from participating, including some of the largest, such as Lifetime Training, Kaplan Financial, BPP Professional and JTL.

Just 90 providers tick all the above conditions, comprising 71 independent training providers and 17 FE colleges. Just one higher education institution makes the cut, despite DfE plans to make three of the 15 “expert” providers HEIs.

The pool may be even smaller as the guidance states providers must also be in “good” financial health and must not have been sanctioned by the DfE following an audit or investigation in the past five years – requirements that FE Week could not analyse.

One leading provider, which did not want to be named, said: “The word ‘simplicity’ simply doesn’t exist in the DfE’s dictionary.

“The stipulation of being judged Ofsted good or better should be sufficient. Instead, the department is also asking interested providers if they have four out of four stars for employer feedback which will result in perfectly good candidates being eliminated at the first hurdle. Ludicrous.”

A DfE spokesperson said: “This small pilot is deliberately targeted at training providers with a track record of delivering high-quality apprenticeships. 

“By enabling expert providers to act on behalf of SME employers, time and resources will be saved, SMEs will be better supported to deliver their apprenticeships, and the system will become more efficient. 

“We will use the learnings from the pilot to develop and implement a wider expert provider status from August 2024.”

One of the largest providers of SME apprenticeships, HIT Training, is ineligible for the pilot as it had a 36.1 per cent achievement rate, according to 2021/22 performance tables. But, managing director Jill Whittaker said she “absolutely will be applying”.

She told FE Week: “Our current achievement rates have significantly improved since 2021/22, we’re over 51 per cent this year.

“Given that HIT is one of the largest providers that work with SMEs, we have been a good provider for 17 years and we have excellent feedback as rated by employers, to exclude us because of achievement rates from a year ago would be quite ridiculous and foolish.”

The DfE’s guidance does say the pilot is designed to be a “light-touch process”, but it makes clear providers “must be able to respond positively” to all the listed criteria.

‘We suggested they think about a better phrase’

Several providers have criticised the title of “expert” for the scheme.

Julian Gravatt, deputy chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said he advised DfE to change the name. “[We] suggested they think about a better phrase because this pilot is really about expertise in administration rather than expertise in delivery.”

Another boss of a large provider excluded from the pilot said: “I’m not sure I agree with the ‘expert’ title, it’s more an advisory panel. It’s very dangerous using the term if down the line the provider runs into trouble with Ofsted, for example.”

Whittaker added: “It’s a bit of a cheeky name because it implies if you’re not on the list you’re not an expert. That is a bit of a worry.”

Another provider boss said: “The conferring of a ‘quality mark’ on these expert providers would be wholly inappropriate if such a kitemark and new group were not also established for providers more focused on the levy-paying market.”

The guidance outlines that providers’ expert status will be revoked if they receive any downgrades in Ofsted ratings, the emergence of a safeguarding issue, the termination of an apprenticeship contract, or if they become the subject of a DfE investigation.

DfE is looking to fill seven of the 15 slots with independent training providers, appoint five places to FE colleges and three to higher education providers to “be reflective of current market share”.

The guidance document stressed that the pilot will not include any further funding, but successful providers could see a growth in starts and cost efficiencies from being involved.

Chosen providers will also get “priority engagement opportunities” with DfE officials through workshops and roundtables.

Association of Employment and Learning Provider director of strategy Paul Warner said the membership body has been “working closely” with the DfE on this new expert apprenticeship pilot programme which has the “potential to be a real step forward”.

He added that the focus on improving efficiency and simplification is “obviously good” but there are a “couple of areas we will need to keep an eye on including the new ‘quality mark’ or if these criteria start to be used in procurements processes”.

The pilot programme is planned to start from October 31 this year. DfE needs responses by September 27 and applicants will be told if they are successful or not from October 16. There will be no route to appeal.

FE needed a movement to improve literacy. Now it’s got one

When I was growing up, my dad struggled to gain skilled employment. The sole reason was functional illiteracy. This was his painful reality and although decades have passed, this is also the painful reality for one in six adults in England today – a whopping 7.1 million people.

I am so proud to say that my dad accessed our local FE college and trained to be an IT professional and is now working for the NHS. Literacy unlocked a brighter future for us, and does for so many others. But we have to do more to make a truly transformative impact.

FE is brimming with people looking to change their stories. If we want to hear our learners tell them, we need to mobilise across our sector to ensure we give them every opportunity. Literacy is so much more than being equipped for the workplace; our learners need literacy for their mental health, for  participating in society and for tucking their children into bed at night.

At Nottingham College, we don’t overlook the desperate need to improve literacy in our city. Ranked eleventh out of 317 districts for deprivation, we know that our literacy levels reflect a population which needs its college to be responsive and collaborative.

We have built a strong partnership with The Literacy Trust, and work to improve vocabulary is beginning. When Read On Nottingham launched their ‘Year of Stories 2023’, we seized the chance to collaborate with other colleges in The Netherlands, Slovenia and Scotland to launch Story Valley, a European, Erasmus+ funded project. The impact on students has been incredible. We saw learners’ self-expression and peer-to-peer relationships thrive.

Now, we are ready for our next steps. Over the past year, I’ve searched for support and found pockets of matched enthusiasm from other FE teachers and leaders, but no real space to bounce ideas and glean insight.

As I connected with FE colleagues from Edinburgh, Manchester and down to Portsmouth, it was clear that there was a literacy-shaped gap in our sector. Literacy advocates were isolated and colleges were crying out for guidance on how to teach disciplinary literacy and build oracy so that our learners could have the voice they need to succeed. 

It was personal. Now it’s political

These teachers and leaders were ready for a movement. We had heard so much about literacy support in the primary and secondary sectors and wondered when it was going to be our turn. There was urgency. Sharing these thoughts with Kayte Haselgrove, an FE enthusiast with the same drive and passion to develop reading, writing and speaking, we agreed that it had to be now.

This summer, Kayte and I founded ‘The FE Literacy Movement’ – a space (finally) to learn about literacy and connect as a sector. If, as Alex Quigley says, literacy is the golden thread which weaves together the curriculum, The FE Literacy Movement will be the needle for our sector.

This isn’t an exclusive club for English teachers but a team effort. We need representation from all vocational and academic areas. We are all ready to mobilise to transform the futures of the people who walk through our doors wanting more from life. For people like my dad in every college.

Our mission is to improve life chances for learners by harnessing literacy as a vehicle for social mobility. It waspersonal, now it’s political.

When the FE Literacy Movement launched on 5September, our online forum already included representatives from 20 colleges dotted across the UK – and this is just the beginning. We discussed all things literacy, the need for more research into resits and for more networking to pool together resources and ideas.

And we were thrilled to share our three-year plan. This year: a spring term networking event with oracy CPD at Nottingham College and a summer term conference at The University of Derby to explore literacy, English, and the subject specialist teacher through research and collaboration.

The online network will be available for all to tap into for support. We are taking bold steps to support FE, teachers, leaders and learners alike. Join us.

You can reach out to The FE Literacy Movement on Twitter and LinkedIn or by email on movement@literacyfe.co.uk

Remembering Henrietta. Why every learner should know about a silenced contribution to medical science

In the year that we acknowledge the landmark anniversaries of the NHS and the arrival of the Empire Windrush, we need to also celebrate and acknowledge one of the most influential Black women in medical history.

You may not have heard of Henrietta Lacks, but a bronze statue of her will be unveiled in October on the site where US Black Lives Matters protesters took down the statue of Robert E. Lee. Another was erected last year in Bristol, a city famous for toppling its own monument of Edward Colston.

Lacks was an African American woman whose cancer cells were taken without her knowledge or consent during a medical procedure to remove a tumour in 1951. These so-called HeLa cells – an abbreviation of her name – turned out to be the first human cells to be successfully cultured and continue to divide outside the body indefinitely. They became invaluable to medical research and contributed to numerous scientific discoveries, including the development of vaccines and treatments for polio, HIV/AIDS, Parkinsons, infertility and coronaviruses.

Her contributions to science are immense, but until recently her family faced challenges and hardships due to the unauthorised use of her cells. Their fight brought attention to the need for informed consent and equitable distribution of benefits from medical research, and her legacy continues to be a significant topic in ongoing conversations about medical research ethics.

Though not directly related to the NHS, understanding Henrietta’s story can shine a light on the continuing inequity in UK healthcare systems, research ethics and patient rights. Indeed, these well-documented inequalities persist in spite of the contribution of minoritised communities to the NHS workforce.

All of which makes the story ideal for your PSD, careers and EDI delivery. Students in health and social care, law and business could discuss it in the context of GDPR, ongoing efforts to safeguard patient rights, the importance of upholding  ethical standards, and ensuring that medical research serves the best interests of patients and society as a whole. And of course, it’s a look back in history shining a light on a largely untold story.

Her story highlights a historical pattern of exploitation

Incorporating Henrietta Lacks’s story into the curriculum can help shape future healthcare professionals who are not only knowledgeable in their fields but also empathetic, ethically aware, and committed to advocating for patient rights and well-being.

The racial, gender and economic elements of social injustice in relation to Henrietta Lacks are significant. Her treatment by medical professionals was deeply influenced by the fact that she was a poor African American woman living in the era of racial segregation and discrimination. It was not until 2013 that the National Institutes of Health allowed her family some control over access to her genomic data.

Henrietta’s cells were taken without her knowledge or permission during a time when medical procedures on African Americans were often conducted without proper informed consent. This highlights a historical pattern of exploitation and disregard for the rights and autonomy of Black individuals in medical research.

It has been compellingly argued that this treatment, including experimentation on minoritised communities, is one of the reasons some were reluctant to take the Covid vaccine even at the height of the pandemic. Research continues to highlight the higher infant mortality rates in some communities and the higher death toll from Covid among patients from minoritised groups illustrating the health inequality that continues to exist in the UK today.  

Lacks’s cells have generated enormous profits for the scientific community and commercial entities. But it wasn’t until last month that a protracted legal battle ended in compensation for her family – 70 years after her death.

Economic exploitation aside, for many years the identity of the cells’ donor was not widely known. Lacks’s contribution to medical research remained largely anonymous – a typical example of the kind of erasure of Black people’s contributions to society that we have only just begun to unpick through our curriculum work.

All of which makes Lacks’s the perfect story to spark conversations about the importance of representation, informed consent, and equitable distribution of benefits in medical research – and more widely.

Let’s work together on the green industry-ready learners we all need

There is little doubt that educating our students about climate change is critical if we are to meet the Government’s targets to be Net Zero by 2050. They need to understand its root causes, possible mitigation options, the adaptations we will have to make in response to it and the areas where innovation is needed.

2050 might seem a long way away to some, but if we don’t embed these kinds of topics throughout all our students’ curricula with urgency, then the decisions-makers, consumers, change-agents, regulators, policy-makers and entrepreneurs of 2030 to 2040 (the decade when all the heavy lifting will be required) will be lost from the sectors that most desperately need them. The damage to society could be irrecoverable.

To achieve the rapid transition we face, it won’t do to treat education as producer of raw materials in the form of green industry-ready learners. We need the expertise of all those leading and teaching in colleges to shape new learning materials and experiences that will inspire, prepare, and support the workforce of tomorrow.

For twenty years of my career in resource management, we were all about waste collection and landfill disposal. Over time, we morphed into a sector that collected, recycled, composted and recovered energy from waste to reduce our reliance on landfill. Now, we are transitioning again into a low-carbon, more resource-efficient and more circular economy (less make, use and dispose).

This will require a doubling of the sector’s workforce, a localising of opportunities to minimise transportation impacts. It also calls for a raft of new skills that we have only tinkered with to date – repair, refill, reuse, upholstery, material substitution, eco-design, chemical processing, anaerobic digestion, behaviour change, regulation, policy development and new collection and harvesting models.

And my sector is only one of the many going through similar transitions. It adds up to a workforce mobilisation on the scale of World War II, but with more complex, complicated and interconnected demands. As such, the need for education, engagement, training and support is unparalleled in recent history.

It’s daunting, perhaps, but the opportunities are huge

It’s daunting, perhaps, but the opportunities are huge if we can link industry needs with education and training provision to get the right people with the right skills in the right place at the right time. That’s why I am working so closely with CAPE (Climate Adapted Pathways for Education), the CIWM, the UK Government Green Jobs Delivery Group and others like the Green Alliance, BITC, IEMA and Aldersgate Group, to map out demands and ensure supply is being adequately supported.

Industry simply must support the education sector to enable students to encounter meaningful curriculum content. We will waste the opportunity if education amounts only to calls for climate activism without preparing learners with the knowledge and depth of understanding they need to be part of the solution.

Industry does not, however, necessarily know the best way to support and develop students and future employees. Colleges and training providers therefore have a crucial role to play in shaping industry’s input. Though focused on younger pupils, BASF ScienceXperience is a great example of how a co-creative approach can develop long-term relationships between education settings and local industry, develop a shared direction of travel and meet the needs of all stakeholders.

While the offer from industry to education may not always hit the nail on the head, it is driven by a desire to do the right thing. To take a leaf from sustainable practice in my sector, the solution is not to bin them and buy new ones, but to adapt them to suit our needs.

We know the most effective partnerships focus on curriculum design, the adoption of ‘live’ contexts, making use of real data, case studies, inspirational speakers, work placements, internships and apprenticeships.

And if we can create a circular economy of opportunities for learning and training, we will be well on our way to our NetZero goal. I know my sector is all ears and ready to adapt.  

The benefits of brokering NHS partnerships are innumerable. Get started now!

I have previously written in FE Week about the role of education providers in supporting NHS staffing challenges. As a direct result, I was invited to speak last week at a national NHS conference about sustaining the healthcare workforce, where I encouraged NHS employers to establish, if needed, lines of communication with their local FE colleges.

Now I think we need to do the same. The NHS workforce plan laid out ambitious targets, but the reality is that the current pipeline of future employees is falling short. Applications for health courses at UK universities are down nationally. We need to be capturing learners earlier, and getting people excited about what an NHS career could look like.

To that end, the FE sector needs strong links with senior NHS leaders to forge meaningful long-term partnerships. So, FE leaders: where strong partnerships aren’t already established, be bold in your approach. Pick up the phone, broker a meeting and try to secure that buy-in.

In Bolton, we’ve worked hard to achieve this. This is partly though the Bolton Vision partnership which brings together key public sector service providers, and partly through proactively setting up a monthly meeting with key practitioners within Bolton NHS Trust, the University of Bolton and Bolton College.

This keeps us informed of important operational developments, with key NHS staff able to tell us directly where they’re seeing shortfalls. We’re able to share our own challenges too, such as in securing staff with clinical experience. Doing this has resulted in work to explore mixed models of teaching that enable hospital staff to continue in operational roles while teaching part-time. We’ve also been able to secure a senior NHS director to sit on the Bolton College board.

The benefits are abundantly clear. We’ve seen some real highs in recent years, including a successful joint capital bid for the new Institute of Medical Sciences and securing high-quality work placements for the first wave of Health T level students.

The benefits are abundantly clear

It’s also helped us to create new community pathways for adult learners, for which we have devolved funding in Greater Manchester. We’ve worked closely with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Bolton Council on how best to utilise that and are running programmes across community centres offering routes back into study.

I’m particularly proud of one cohort of learners who participated in a community healthcare taster course, subsequently completed level 2 and level 3 at the College and have just graduated from the University of Bolton with nursing degrees. Creating local routes for local jobs in our NHS is a brilliant example of how we can work together.

But it’s not all about putting students on track for clinical careers. We also sit on the Bolton digital partnership board, where we discovered that the NHS’ digital arm is significantly understaffed, particularly in health informatics.

We’ve since worked closely with the Trust’s digital team to shape our digital Higher Technical Qualifications, aligning them more closely with sought-after skills and co-designing work-ready assessments. We’ve also invited NHS digital staff to talk to students about the careers available to them. Where students previously had no idea what ‘health informatics’ was, there’s now a huge appetite to pursue it, and we’ve seen high numbers of students opting to do work placements with the NHS.

And this partnership is benefiting our learners in other ways too. Through the AoC Region and working with GMColleges, we’ve secured funding over the past three years from the devolved Greater Manchester mental health and social care partnership and the violence reduction unit to develop learning resource on knife crime, sexual exploitation and consent – all identified as drivers of mental health issues for young people in Bolton.

My message to college leaders is simple: Pick up the phone and begin cementing a regular channel of two-way communication. Get a seat at the table, or invite them to have one at yours. FE has a vital role to play in delivering the NHS’ future workforce, but we need long-term partnership structures in place to do this effectively.

Workforce data indicates little prospect of staff shortages improving any time soon

Recent employer surveys suggest we are seeing unprecedented levels of skills shortages, threatening England’s prospects for economic growth. T levels have been specially designed to address these national skills shortages. Additionally, earlier this year Rishi Sunak set a mission for all young people to study maths to age 18, citing the link between basic numeracy skills and individuals’ future earnings.

The success of these and other initiatives to reduce skills shortages in the economy are all reliant on the FE sector, particularly the skill and capacity of the FE teaching workforce. Funding for the FE sector from government has failed to reflect this.

In 2019/20, per-pupil funding for FE colleges was eight per cent lower in real terms compared with 2013/14, making it difficult for colleges to allocate money for higher staff pay. This trend has been partially reversed recently, but it remains to be seen how much of the 18 per cent fall in real-terms pay for FE teachers since 2010/11 will be reinstated.

Deteriorating pay is likely to be contributing to increasingly severe staffing shortages. Data from the Association of Colleges shows that the average college has 30 unfilled teaching vacancies, while DfE data shows that over the past decade the rate of FE teachers leaving the profession has been significantly higher than for primary and secondary school teachers. This situation has been getting worse, with over half of FE teachers who entered the profession in 2014/15 leaving the sector within five years.

New FE workforce data published last week provides another glimpse into the potential links between FE funding, teacher recruitment and retention and pay. Three patterns in the data suggest that, in the absence of concerted policy action, FE staff shortages are unlikely to improve in the coming years.

Long-term decline in real earnings continues

DfE’s new workforce statistics coupled with existing estimates of FE teacher pay based on pension records show that the real-terms earnings of teachers working in general FE colleges fell between 2019/20 and 2021/22, continuing a decade-long trend of below-inflation pay rises for teaching staff. This is likely to be linked to the high number of unfilled teacher vacancies in FE colleges.

Vacancies greatest in the highest-earning subject areas

Last week’s FE workforce statistics also revealed that the highest rates of unfilled teacher vacancies were in construction, planning and the built environment, electronics, agriculture and horticulture, design, engineering and manufacturing, and accounting and finance.

Evidence suggests that pay gaps between FE teaching and industry occupations are largest in the construction, engineering and digital industries. However, further research is needed to better understand the relative size of pay gaps between FE teaching and industry and how these impact recruitment and retention.

Differential levels of pay

FE teachers in the subjects with the highest rates of unfilled vacancies are paid more than average, potentially reflecting the challenges providers experience competing with industry pay.

The data shows that, generally, FE teachers in subjects with the highest number of vacancies tend to be paid more than the typical teacher in a general FE college. Unlike in state-sector schools, FE colleges set pay scales for teaching staff themselves, so this may reflect FE colleges offering a pay premium to recruit in shortage subjects.

Staff shortages have immediate and direct impacts on students, as colleges struggle to recruit teachers with the appropriate level of technical and teaching skills. Staff shortages may also impact on the government’s ability to continue to roll out T levels and implement ‘maths to 18’ – policies which could benefit disadvantaged students the most if successfully implemented.

Patterns in the data do not suggest that the necessary foundation for success of these policies – a sufficiently strong FE teaching workforce – is firmly in place.   

Further research is needed on the role of pay in FE teacher recruitment and retention. NFER has been commissioned by the Gatsby Foundation to explore this area in detail and we look forward to publishing our findings and contributing further insights early next year.

155,000 young people to ‘fall through the gap’ left by BTECs, report warns

At least 155,000 young people will be left without a suitable post-16 course from 2026 as a result of the government’s plan to axe most BTECs, new analysis suggests.

Experts predict that a sharp drop in the number of applied general qualifications, like BTECs, coupled with slow growth in the number of students taking their replacement T Levels will lead to one in eight sixth formers “falling through the gap”.

First-of-their-kind projections to measure the scale of the impact of ministers’ controversial level 3 reforms have been released today by the Protect Student Choice campaign, in the absence of any official modelling from the government.

In a scathing report, the campaign also lays into ministers for “playing fast and loose” with data by using it in a “partial and misleading” way to justify their plans.

Sector leaders said the findings highlight a “disaster waiting to happen” and urged ministers to “put young people ahead of political game playing” by pausing and reviewing the reforms.

But skills minister Robert Halfon defended the reforms: “We no longer incentivise courses like self-tanning, balloon artistry and pole fitness instructing – as the last government did. 

“We’ve worked hand in glove with hundreds of employers to rebuild the entire skills system. Alternative qualifications including BTECs will continue, however, we will be removing those where there is poor uptake, inadequate outcomes, or overlap with our world-class T Levels.”

‘Calamitous impact’ of level 3 reforms revealed

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

Alternative applied general qualifications (AGQs) like Pearson’s popular BTECs will only get funding from this point if they do not overlap with the other qualifications and pass a strict approvals process.

A freedom of information request by the Sixth Form Colleges Association, which leads the Protect Student Choice campaign, found there were 281,260 students studying at least one level 3 AGQ in 2022/23, and 15,410 were studying a T Level. 

The association’s report warned that AGQ numbers will fall rapidly and significantly: 191,257 students are studying qualifications that the government has already deemed to be ineligible for reapproval and will scrap by 2026. The remaining 90,003 are studying qualifications that the government will consider reapproving.

The SFCA predicts that linear growth – a steady level of increase based on the three years of student numbers available – in T Level learners is the most likely trend, which would lead to 51,482 T Level enrolments by 2026.

Analysis indicates that at least 155,185 students – around 13 per cent of sixth formers in England – are currently enrolled on an AGQ that will be scrapped and will not be able to enrol on a T Level if growth follows the SFCA’s linear projection.

The association said this is “almost certainly” a significant underestimate, as it has assumed that all applied general eligible for reapproval will successfully navigate the reapproval process, which in practice is “extremely unlikely”.

Funding was made available in the 2021 spending review for “up to 100,000 T Level students” by 2024/25. 

The SFCA said that achieving this number in the next two years would involve near-exponential growth, which is “not consistent with enrolment patterns to date”.

Ministers believe that T Levels will “gain traction” when competing qualifications like BTECs have been removed.

But the SFCA warned scrapping BTECs to drive up T Level numbers is a “high risk strategy that is not supported by evidence”, adding that “many” schools and colleges predict the reforms are more likely to drive up A-level numbers instead.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “This data-driven report finally reveals the calamitous impact they [the government’s reforms] will have. The government should now pause and review its plans as a matter of extreme urgency. To fail to do so is to wilfully abandon the futures of a whole generation of sixth form students.”

Halfon said: “This September there are 18 high quality T Levels available offered at more than 160 providers across the country. More courses will be coming on board over the next few years, so we expect student numbers to rise as these are rolled out.”

‘Desperate’ ministers misuse data

Ministers also stand accused of being “so desperate” to boost the number of students taking T Levels that they routinely misuse a range of measures to understate the performance of applied general qualifications and overstate the performance of T Levels.

For example, qualifications like the BTEC foundation diploma in health and social care have been criticised by ministers because “less than 5 per cent” of students progress to higher education. What officials ignore is that 64 per of students studying this qualification progress to employment and 24 per cent to further education, according to the SFCA.

The association said that by contrast, ministers routinely describe T Levels as “gold standard” qualifications that offer “the best progression for students”. Yet detailed performance data for T Levels will not be available until 2025 and progression data not until 2027 at the earliest. Data is currently limited to pass rates.

Jo Grady, general secretary of University and College Union, said: “It is incredibly worrying that ministers are playing fast and loose with the relevant data to push ahead with their flawed plans.”

Bill Watkin, chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association, added: “T Levels are a welcome addition to the qualifications landscape, but there is simply no data to support the government’s claim that they are a gold standard improvement on BTECs.

“Ministers must pause and review their plan, to avoid doing serious damage to young people, social mobility and the economy.”

DfE to appoint ‘expert’ apprenticeship training providers

The government is creating a group of “expert” apprenticeship providers in a new pilot programme unveiled today.

Those selected for this “mark of excellence” will be given “more access” to Department for Education systems in a bid to reduce the time and resource providers commit to coaching non-levy paying employers through the apprenticeship system.

But entry criteria is strict and eliminates many of the largest apprenticeship providers from participating.

The DfE is searching for a maximum of 15 providers to join the 12-month pilot, comprising seven independent training providers, five FE colleges and three higher education providers to “be reflective of current market share”.

To be considered providers must be rated ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted, have an apprenticeship achievement rate of at least 51 per cent in 2021/22 as well as a 4-star employer feedback rating.

Early FE Week analysis suggests that of the 1,058 providers on the achievement rate table, just over half (53 per cent) meet the achievement rate and Ofsted criteria.

Big hitters such as the likes of Lifetime Training and HIT Training will already be excluded due to the achievement rates threshold, while other providers like BPP Professional won’t be able to apply due to holding a 3-star employer feedback rating.

Budding apprenticeship ambassadors must also be in “good” financial health and have been delivering apprenticeships for at least five years for FE colleges and ITPs.

Providers will need to already deliver at least 30 per cent, and a minimum of 50 annual starts, of its overall apprenticeships provision to non-levy paying employers.

Applicants must be prime contract holders and must not been sanctioned by the DfE following an audit or investigation in the past five years.

‘Priority engagement’ with officials and special access to DfE systems

The pilot programme is planned to start from October 31 this year. DfE needs responses by September 27 and applicants will be told if they are successful or not from October 16.

The guidance document stressed that the pilot will not include any further funding, but successful providers could see a growth in starts and cost efficiencies from being involved.

The aim of the programme is to make it easier for providers to work with small and medium-sized employers by reducing the time and resource providers need to commit to coaching SMEs through the digital apprenticeship system.

Chosen providers will be able to “use your expert status as a mark of excellence and a marketing tool,” DfE said.

This status will give providers special “flexibilities and permissions” in the apprenticeship service, which includes accessing the system on behalf of SMEs.

Providers will also get “priority engagement opportunities” with DfE officials through workshops and roundtables.

The DfE said the scheme will give “expert” providers the opportunity to “identify and realise operational cost and resource savings”.

The guidance outlines that providers’ expert status will be revoked if they receive any downgrades in Ofsted ratings, the emergence of a safeguarding issue, the termination of an apprenticeship contract, or if they become the subject of a DfE investigation.

IT training provider scoops first Ofsted ‘outstanding’

Darlington-based training provider Baltic Apprenticeships has landed its first ever ‘outstanding’ report from Ofsted.

Inspectors praised the provider for its “well structured and carefully prepared” curriculum in an inspection in August, which was published today. Baltic Apprenticeships also received plaudits for making “substantial improvements” to both its functional skills provision, and for tackling the number of apprentices dropping out of its courses.

Tony Hobbs, managing director at Baltic Apprenticeships, welcomed the report, and said the rating will “allow us to further bridge the gap between education and employment, and accelerate our ability to make a real difference to our learner’s lives and our employer’s skillsets”.

“Our focus on tech and digital apprenticeships isn’t just about generating job opportunities, it’s about creating solid career foundations and building the skills modern businesses need,” he added.

Baltic Apprenticeships was established in 2008 and has scored Ofsted ‘good’ ratings on three inspections before this latest one. The provider mainly delivers courses in ICT, software and digital marketing and has 1,370 apprentices on its books. It also has 272 adult learners on programmes in lean manufacturing, logistics and warehousing.

‘Extensive knowledge’

Ofsted said the “proportion of apprentices who complete their programme is improving rapidly” after the provider took steps to keep them on their courses, such as encouraging employers on the level three digital marketer course to increase their apprenticeship salaries.

The provider also now provides “intensive support” on English and maths, and offers “high-quality sessions” which are “highly valued” by apprentices.

Inspectors put the provider’s high-quality curriculum down to its “leaders’ extensive knowledge of the labour market and their close working relationships with external stakeholders”.

It also received praise for its close work with employers to match apprenticeships with their needs. For instance, the provider included content on additional operating systems to the curriculums on the level three and level four ICT standards after feedback from an employer.

Baltic Apprenticeships’ “accurate oversight” of its courses also came in for praise, with inspectors highlighting its constant dialogue with apprentices and teaching observations to improve the standard of training. Inspectors focused, too, on the provider’s early assessments of apprentices at the start of their courses, and their efforts to adjust training plans to the individual apprentices.

The quality of the courses also means apprentices and adult learners develop “significant new knowledge and skills”, while “most apprentices and learners” also achieve their qualifications.

Inspectors also noted “consistently positive attitudes” among the apprentices and learners, who are “highly committed to successfully completing their programmes”.

Apprentices become ‘active citizens’

Inspectors also highlighted the provider’s “comprehensive careers advice and guidance”, which leaves apprentices “confident” about the options available to them after their courses.

Ofsted further pointed to the provider’s “high priority” focus on “developing apprentices to become active citizens” via volunteering with local charities. For instance, ICT apprentices teach basic computing skills to older members of the community, while a group of apprentices at the provider also renovated a flat to welcome a Ukrainian family to the UK.

“As a result, apprentices have a strong sense of community and the importance of being a good citizen in modern Britain,” inspectors said.