Ofsted suspends ‘independent’ scrutiny panels

Ofsted stands accused of being “unaccountable to anyone but themselves” after it emerged scrutiny panels that oversee how it handles complaints about inspections have been suspended.

The panels, which crucially include a sector representative who does not work for Ofsted, check the “robustness” of how complaints are handled at the internal review stage.

Introduced in 2015, Ofsted said the “independent scrutiny” would make the complaints process “more transparent, fair and fully objective”.

But the panels have been paused as Ofsted reviews how it deals with complaints. FE Week revealed last month a review had been launched after the watchdog admitted its complaints policy was “not working”.

Ofsted told FE Week the panels had been suspended since Covid. They remain so while officials consider “how best to incorporate external sector representation in our complaints handling process”.

The watchdog aims to consult on any changes later this year. 

Ian Hartwright, a senior policy adviser at the leaders’ union NAHT, said the suspension was a step backwards.

“An independent external view is required if schools and colleges are to have more confidence in Ofsted’s handling of complaints, otherwise the inspectorate will stand accused of marking its own work.” 

Independent representatives on scrutiny panels were originally chosen from Ofsted’s headteacher reference groups.

Alongside an His Majesty’s Inspector (HMI) and a senior HMI, the panel would “test” the “robustness of the complaints handling process” for each case before confirming a final response.

Following internal reviews, complainants are able to apply to the Independent Complaints Adjudication Service for Ofsted (ICASO).

The service may then investigate alleged failures by Ofsted to follow proper procedures. 

The Association of School and College Leaders said the internal review only considered if Ofsted followed its proper procedures and could not overturn outcomes. 

An external representative “does not change the fact that this is a largely toothless stage of the process”, a spokesperson added.

Eastleigh College said Ofsted’s complaints process was “not fit for purpose” after the inspectorate published a reputationally damaging ‘requires improvement’ report while its complaint was still live.

What FE should learn from edtech’s pandemic legacy (and what it shouldn’t)

Before the pandemic, the post-16 sector was fraught with negativity about e-learning. Assessors were too nervous to adopt blended learning solutions because they thought it posed a risk to their jobs. Sweeping statements dismissed full distance learning with notions of horrific achievement rates.

In truth, there were bad practices just as there were many organisations with a matured e-learning strategy. As a whole though, the system was years behind many corporate markets.

Now we seem to be in a transitional phase, and I fear the pandemic experience, rather than bringing about system maturity, could be catastrophic for the ed tech market.

Panic purchasing and buyer’s regret

Many organisations, through no fault of their own, purchased edtech through curtailed procurement processes and ended up systems that were not fit for their purposes. For example, they may have adopted 100 per cent online lectures instead of more future-proof blended solutions, emailed assessments rather than assessment systems or learner management systems developed for staff training in corporate markets rather than a regulated environment.

What we’re left with now is many colleges and providers coming out of the contracts they were originally tied into thinking that learning technology isn’t for them, rather than that the system or solution they purchased wasn’t quite what they needed.

We’re beginning to see this in a number of ways – the slowdown of recruitment in ed tech firms and  redundancies amid new entrants to the market. This is being led in part by the back-to-class strategy, and the resulting cancellation of online application forms and many other systems that can support a learner’s journey in many provisions.

This is bad for the edtech sector, but the point of markets is to adapt. More worryingly, it’s bad for colleges, providers and most importantly learners. We need a fully thought-through e-learning and systems strategy for the further education system to stop these knee-jerk reactions.

Where do we go from here?

In the absence of a system-wide strategy, there is much that individual providers can do to support their staff and their learners and to keep driving innovation.

First and foremost, the most crucial step is to hire and develop staff who will drive innovation at all levels. This is not a question of just one job role, or even a dedicated department; a culture only works when everyone understands it, agrees with it and adopts it. A lot of work went into professional development to adapt to the pandemic. The staff who benefited from that didn’t just learn to use a specific tool or set of tools. They learned to engage with and critically evaluate those tools and educational technology more broadly. These skills shouldn’t be lost, and they should be nurtured across the workforce.

But developing staff to understand and use edtech solutions will be ineffective if they don’t work within a system that supports them to explore what’s available. So it’s important to also maintain and develop policies and expectations that allow learning technology to be adopted through both internal and external processes

Sector leaders and policy makers should all be working to support this too. At every event and in every policy discussion, edtech should be seen as an enabler. It is and should be instrumental to implementation, not a bolt-on to be developed responsively once decisions are made.

And finally, this all depends on sharing best practice across the sector. Further education is in the advantageous position that the idea is not controversial at all and that many platforms exist to do so. If you are doing it well and getting good results, others will want to learn from you.

We can’t afford to repeat the cycle of panic buying and buyer’s remorse. It hampers colleges’ ability to adapt to future crises and developments, stifle learners’ chances to get the best from their learning journey and holds back effective innovation.

We need a long-term strategy, to keep learning technology at the forefront of educational agendas to ensure the sector moves forwards – and that starts with providers themselves.

Four principles to ensure lesson observations make the grade

For 25 years we have allowed one-off, managerial observations to become ubiquitous, often ignoring the copious evidence that now exists about their unreliability and pernicious effect. Many providers have used this evidence to move on from one-off, graded observations. But not all. Many more still use observations, albeit ungraded, for which they are ill-suited.

To ensure observations make the grade, there are four key principles to consider.

Purpose and evidence

First, it is crucial to know why you observe a lesson and triangulate your hypotheses with a wide range of carefully chosen sources of evidence.

Observations mostly contribute to teacher development or quality assurance (QA). They can’t do both. Nor can an observer see or understand everything that happens in the room during an observation. So, if an observer is clear about why they are observing, they have a greater chance of focusing their attention and capturing valuable and relevant evidence.

The current spotlight on curriculum and cognition points observers to valuable sources of evidence: sources that go way beyond the proxies for quality that so many latch onto in one-off observations. These proxies include teachers’ differentiation of resources and learners’ participation in discussions or engagement with tasks. The skilled observer creatively chooses what evidence to consider, the questions to ask and how to interpret the answers given.

Avoid managerialism

Second, there is no place for managerialism in observations. An observation that aims to improve teaching needs to be low stakes and non-judgemental. The whole process must be carried out in a culture of mutual trust. This trust can be difficult in any superior/subordinate relationship since it requires the subordinate to expose weaknesses to someone with power over them. This is not something that sits comfortably with high-stakes, career-defining judgements.

But it’s not just developmental observations that are susceptible to managerialism. Teachers: don’t assume that becoming a manager bestows someone with some mystical power to draw conclusions about learners’ progress, curriculum and pedagogy after 30 minutes in a classroom.

And managers: remember that it is hard for many teachers to argue with a superior, even if they make an unsubstantiated judgement or one based on their personal preferences rather than valid evidence. So, if you make a judgement without sufficient triangulation, or hear yourself saying ‘I would like to have seen…’, just pause. Excellent qualities for any observer are humility and self-doubt.

New ways of observing

Growth in apprenticeships and online learning demand new ways of observing. Observation systems in apprenticeships sometimes evolve from an IQA model, a criteria-based approach that takes too little account of pedagogy and learners’ progress. Or they are adapted from a classroom-based model that doesn’t accommodate the unique characteristics of apprenticeships.

We see similar issues in evaluations of online learning. QA systems tend to be adapted from those applied to other types of courses. And yet there are many distinctive features of successful online courses (one-to-one interactions, learners’ critical thinking skills, teachers’ use of formative feedback through technology, etc.) that provide an observer with rich evidence.

If leaders have not considered how observations in a QA or improvement system capture the distinctive characteristics of apprenticeships and online learning, this may be one for the improvement plan.

Values and professionalism

The culture of an organisation is so often determined by the clarity of purpose that informs leaders’ decisions, and the extent to which teachers and stakeholders agree with these. Astute leaders know the value, but also the limitations of observations. In their organisations, observations lead to improvements or help maintain standards.

These leaders include teachers in decisions about how to raise standards and demonstrably value their professionalism. In these organisations, we wouldn’t hear leaders say that they use Ofsted criteria for observations (What criteria? They never existed!) or claim that a graph showing an annual rise in observation grades is evidence of improvement. Both were once common, neither were credible.

Observations can add value, but only when they are suited to their purpose and always alongside other evidence. With these principles in mind, we can continue to evolve them for the good of the profession.

The Staffroom: The road to employment for students with SEND

Who has the upper hand in our labour market: employee or employer? With ‘we’re hiring’ and ‘vacancy’ signs commonplace, you might be forgiven for thinking that job seekers have it all their way – but that’s not quite the case for young people with SEND.

Currently, fewer than one in four young people with high functioning autism access education after GCSE level and only 16 per cent are in full-time employment.
As educators, we have to support our young people to be ready. Today, flexibility is key – whether that is in working hours, location or role demands – as is resilience to be able to cope with change, good communication skills and problem-solving abilities. Confidence in practical matters and technical skills to succeed in a digital world are vital too, as are the basics of good timekeeping, being personable and looking presentable.

All these attributes to being employment ready can be hard for young people with SEND. That’s why our student-centred approach is so important, providing the best opportunities for young people who may be disenfranchised from traditional education or whose needs simply are not being met elsewhere. Our ethos is that a young person’s learning need or disability shouldn’t hold them back.

We know our students have a lot to offer, they can be confident and employable individuals and they can pursue their dreams and succeed as young adults. We want them to have as many opportunities available to them as their peers in a mainstream school or college. It’s our job to give them the skills to help them achieve it.

We tailor every student’s study programme. They follow an individual learning journey that develops them academically, socially and culturally. As part of that, we work on their employability preparation and personal finance. However a key part of their study programme is the chance to access a supported internship linked to their own long-term target and career aims. This has only become possible by creating a strong network of local employers across a host of sectors from 3D design to groundskeeping who are willing to give our students that opportunity.

Businesses have quickly come to see how much our students have to give

We have worked hard to build this network. A member of our team is dedicated to growing these relationships, ready to work with employers to respond to their needs and questions and, importantly, resilient when some say no. As a result of this work, our business partners have quickly come to recognise how much our students have to give.

This work is ongoing as we seek to offer an even broader range of opportunities for our students. In the meantime, we continue to be innovative in our study programme ensuring our students and staff thrive in a culture that allows them to take calculated risks and not be afraid to fail.

Our learning environment is a point of difference and centres on a calm, creative and purposeful atmosphere where staff and students can be innovative in their approach to teaching and learning. The outcome is young people who have the life skills to help them overcome obstacles and achieve, all done at a pace that is right for each individual and their capabilities.

We were delighted to win nasen’s Award for 16-25 Provision last year as well as two Doncaster Chamber Business Awards, but it’s the feedback from students and their parents that tells us we’re on the right path. Our students have reported improved confidence levels, developing core skills, the ability to make new friends and being able to complete an apprenticeship which in turn has led to post-college employment.

For many of our students, this is the first time they have been happy in a learning environment; it is the first time they have made friends and they feel happy, safe and want to come to college and learn in a way they never have before.

We place no limits on what can be achieved, no matter their background or starting point. And slowly but surely, employers are seeing the value of doing the same – leading to a secure and prosperous future.

Sustainability: One giant leap on FE’s journey to net zero

Last year, the Royal Anniversary Trust launched a programme called the Platinum Jubilee Challenge. It convened 21 higher and further education winners of the latest Queen’s Anniversary Prizes and tasked them with working together on a shared sustainability challenge: accelerating the tertiary education sector’s journey to net zero.

The result has been a journey of committed collaboration between FE and HE, and the benefits are clear to see. The product is an invaluable resource to help the sector accelerate its knowledge and actions. Indeed, it should attract interest in any public body as this is the most detailed work on net zero currently being promoted across the UK public sector. 

The Challenge group began by asking a basic but fundamental question: what exactly is the tertiary education sector’s carbon footprint? While there are numerous examples of innovative carbon reduction work in colleges and universities across the UK, to date there has been no standardised method of measuring or reporting emissions across all nations.

Perhaps even more surprisingly, there was no accessible data on the sector’s carbon footprint. So, with the help of expert sustainability and climate consultants SB+CO and EcoAct, the UK’s HE and FE sectors’ emissions were estimated for the first time, revealing a combined footprint of 18.1 Mt CO2e for 2020/21, of which the FE sector accounts for 12 per cent, or 2.6Mt CO2e. 

The next logical question was how to continue to measure and report going forward. And this is where the journey to net zero starts to accelerate. The report proposes a standardised emissions reporting framework designed exclusively for the sector which will enable all HE and FE institutions to measure, report and manage their carbon emissions on an ongoing basis.

This is a significant piece of work, developed by The Alliance for Sustainability Leadership in Education (EAUC) in consultation with the Challenge participants and the sector, and funded by the Department for Education. The significance of this is that while departments do not currently make reporting mandatory, the writing is on the wall: the government’s net zero strategy commits to legislating the reporting of emissions if insufficient progress is made voluntarily.

Departments are committed to enabling reporting by 2024 and as stated in its strategy: “From 2025 we will publish targets and institutional progress for the further and higher education sectors”. It really begins with institutions measuring and understanding their carbon emissions in a way that is reflective, transparent and consistent across the sector to enable peer-to-peer review.

Accelerating towards Net Zero also offers 14 recommendations to government which tackle the core blockers to change. The first of these is a call for the establishment of a National Decarbonisation Institute to provide the support and expertise needed to develop and implement decarbonation plans across the sector.

For further education, the opportunity is huge. The UK government wants the education sector to be world leading on sustainability. However, there is still a significant gap in how we teach it. 74 per cent of further education educators have not received training to embed or develop education on sustainability, even though 94 per cent agree that all learners should be taught.

And the sector must be at the heart of the skills agenda – so the government needs to support its policies by acting in education. For example, the UK government has set a target to install 600,000 heat pumps by 2028, yet there are currently only 3,000 trained heat pump engineers in the UK. At least 27,000 will be needed in the next six years, requiring increases of 4,000-6,000 per year. Who will be training and upskilling these engineers?

That is just one example, and there are many. The agenda has implications for retrofitting, hydrogen, electric vehicles, and the circular economy. Further education is at the heart of the solution.

There are 30 case studies profiled in the report which show that the UK further and higher education sectors are already world leaders in the carbon reduction space. From sewage-powered heating systems to the world’s first Passive House Premium education building in my own South West College, there is much to be proud of.

And if the sector continues to work together, as we have on this report, then there is much to be hopeful for as well.

Apprenticeships: Bounce-back stalls and disparities persist

Last week, the DfE published its latest statistics on the number of apprenticeships being started. These fell by 69 per cent between 2015/16 and 2021/22, primarily due to reforms to the apprenticeship system coupled with disruption created by the Covid pandemic. So what does the latest data tell us about the extent of the recovery?

A bumpy ride

The Government introduced a raft of reforms to the apprenticeship system in the past decade. These were aimed at addressing concerns about the quality, length and content of apprenticeships and were intended to improve their responsiveness to employer needs.

However, NFER research has shown that these reforms have had a substantial impact on the number of apprenticeships being started, particularly among young people.

We know from tracking the data that total new apprenticeships starts fell from 509,000 in 2015/16 to 393,000 in 2018/19. They then fell further to around 320,000 over the following two years, primarily due to the pandemic, before recovering in 2021/22 to 349,000.

We also know that this overall trend masks substantial differences between apprenticeship levels. The pattern for intermediate (Level 2) and advanced (Level 3) apprenticeships starts have the same downward trend as for total starts. Meanwhile, higher (Level 4+) apprenticeships have grown sharply. There are almost four times as many higher apprenticeship starts than in 2015/16, albeit from a low base, and they have now surpassed intermediate starts.     

A post-pandemic bounce-back?

In short, the initial evidence from DfE’s recent statistics is that the post-pandemic rebound has not been sustained. These statistics, which provide data about apprenticeship starts during the first quarter of the 2022/23 academic year (for August-October 2022, so not full-year figures), show total starts were down by 6.1 per cent compared to the same period in the previous year.

This may be a temporary blip as starts could pick up in the remaining quarters. However, one possible reason for the decline is the withdrawal of the £3,000 incentive payment scheme in March 2022 that the government had introduced during the pandemic to encourage employers to take on new apprentices.

The recent statistics also show starts vary significantly by type of apprenticeship. After strongly bouncing back post-Covid, intermediate apprenticeship starts have been worst affected, falling by nearly one-fifth (18.4 per cent) from Q1 of 2021/22 and Q1 of 2022/23. Advanced apprenticeships are also down by nearly one-tenth (9.2 per cent) over the same time period. However, higher level start numbers march on, increasing by 10 per cent across the time period.

This data therefore suggests that apprenticeship starts are returning to the long-term trends seen before the post-pandemic bounce-back, with intermediate and advanced apprenticeship starts continuing their decline while higher level apprenticeships flourish.

As highlighted in previous NFER research, the reasons for this are complex and multi-faceted. Potential solutions include looking at the current funding system, the qualification offering at intermediate level and improving access to apprenticeships.

Apprenticeship starts by age

With regard to longer-term trends in apprenticeship starts by age, we find that all age groups broadly follow the same decline trend described above for total apprenticeship starts. Among them, under 19s have been particularly affected, falling to half the level of 2015/16 starts in 2020/21, before recovering slightly.

Looking at DfE’s most recent statistics, these show that starts for the 19- to 24-year-old group has fallen sharply by 11.4 per cent between Q1 of 2021/22 and the same point this year. Conversely, starts for under 19s have dropped by 4.1 per cent while starts for the 25+ group fell by 3.5 per cent.     

As apprenticeships take centre stage in the government’s strategy to upskill and reskill the workforce to meet skills shortages, these new statistics serve as a reminder that improvements are urgently required. This is particularly the case for the recruitment of under 19s onto intermediate and advanced apprenticeships, to ensure that there is a clear and effective pathway for young people to progress into higher-level training or employment.

Care leaver apprentice bursary to triple to £3,000

Young care leavers starting an apprenticeship from August 2023 will receive a £3,000 bursary – triple the amount that is currently on offer.

The government has also pledged to support local authorities to recruit up to 500 new child and family social worker apprentices.

The commitments are part of a new £200 million package announced today and to be spent over the next two years to improve a “fragmented, siloed and struggling” care system.  

It is part of an overhaul of children’s social care after last year’s landmark MacAlister review into the tragic murders of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes and Star Hobson.

The bursary available to care leavers undertaking apprenticeships will increase from the current allowance of £1,000 to £3,000.  

Almost 1,250 bursaries have been paid to young care leaver apprentices since the scheme’s introduction in 2018.

It is a one-off £1,000 payment for care leavers aged 16 to 24 intended to help them with the extra barriers they face in the transition to the world of work.

Under current rules the cash, which comes from the DfE’s existing apprenticeships budget, is paid “once to each care leaver in the eligible age range” via their training provider.

Employers are also given a £1,000 bursary to take on a care leaver apprentice.

The DfE said today that it will aid local authorities to recruit up to 500 new “child and family social worker” apprentices and there will be consultation on proposals to reduce over-reliance on agency social workers.  

Skills, apprenticeships and higher education minister Robert Halfon said: “As a long-term champion for social mobility, I am thrilled we can offer this extra support for those leaving care, extending the ladder of opportunity to help more young people gain greater access to sustainable work and higher wages.”

“Employers and training providers will continue to get £1,000 in funding for every care leaver they take on and, on top of this, we are tripling the bursary which care leavers get from £1,000 to £3,000 from August to support more care leavers start paid work and get world class skills as apprentices.”  

The DfE has also said it will extend pupil premium plus funding.

The pupil premium is grant funding provided to schools to support the attainment of disadvantaged pupils from reception to year 11. Pupil premium plus is for the same age range specifically for pupils who are looked after or leaving local authority care.

Officials said today they will extend the “post-16 pupil premium plus style of funding” with a further £24 million between 2023 and 2025 to “address the cliff edge in educational support that children in care and care leavers face in 16- to 19-year-old education”.

Green light for religious sixth form colleges to academise

Sixth form colleges with a religious character can finally apply to become an academy.

Nearly all sixth form colleges (SFCs) have been able to convert to academy status, and in doing so enjoy the luxury of not paying VAT, since former chancellor George Osborne changed the rules in November 2015.

But a group of 13 SFCs which are Catholic-run have been prevented from doing so due to their religious character, which would not be maintained under government rules. If they converted, they would lose protections in areas of curriculum, acts of worship and governance.

The DfE finally found a solution to safeguard religious character through the Skills and Post-16 Education Act 2022, which became law in April.

Regulations that enable SFCs with a religious character to convert to academy status came into force on December 28, 2022.

The DfE updated guidance today that outlines the process they have to follow.

It states that SFC’s with a religious character will need to liaise with their DfE academy delivery officer to “apply for an order to designate the new 16 to 19 academy with a religious character”.

The SFCs will also need to “arrange for a separate order to be made, to enable them to lawfully give preference in admissions to those of a particular religion or belief”.

When submitting an application the colleges will need to provide the religious denomination of the 16 to 19 academy as well as details of any representations made by any religious body regarding the designation application.

The DfE said SFCs should be aware that the education secretary can “consult the relevant religious body if necessary, so it is important that sixth form colleges that are considering conversion ensure they engage with the relevant religious body at the earliest opportunity”.

James Kewin, deputy chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association, said: “We are very pleased to see the publication of this guidance as it means our 13 Catholic sixth form colleges are now able to academise. We believe that all sixth form colleges should have the option to academise, even if they ultimately choose not to do so.”

He added that there are at least three Catholic SFCs already weighing up whether to follow the 29 sixth form colleges that have converted since 2017 and “are now flourishing as 16 to 19 academies”.

‘Morale is at an all-time low’: Keegan’s DfE staff go on strike

Department for Education staff criticised real-terms pay cuts, with one claiming “morale is at an all-time low”, as they joined teachers in the biggest strike for a decade today.

Around a dozen staff and union representatives gathered at a Public and Commercial Services union picket outside the DfE’s London office. Staff held banners and were handing out leaflets to colleagues heading to work.

The civil servants walked out as part of a co-ordinated day of action across the civil service and other departments.

It follows an 88 per cent vote in favour of industrial action, with PCS calling for a 10 per cent pay rise, “pensions justice”, job security and no cuts to redundancy terms across government.

The DfE and other departments were told to only offer average pay rises of 2 per cent.

PCS has 1,816 members at the DfE, marking around a quarter of the workforce. Ofsted officials also walked out today, but not Ofqual, after a ballot failed to meet government turnout thresholds.

Some staff ‘can’t afford’ to strike

Owen Mooney

Owen Mooney, who works in the DfE’s strategy group on disadvantage, said he had only worked there for just over a year but had “already had a real-terms pay cut”.

“The cost of everything is going up. Everyone is feeling it at the moment.”

For lower-paid staff it will be “impossible”, he said – with some colleagues saying they can’t afford to strike.

“It’s important those who can afford to lose a day’s pay do strike. You can’t run public services unless you fund them properly. Morale is at an all-time low.”

Civil servants are “just as important” as staff working in schools and colleges , he added. 

Another DfE civil servant, Jack Hampton, said issues had been “building up” for years, including not only pay but pensions and increased outsourcing of lower-paid staff.

Jack Hampton on strike
Jack Hampton

“You hear arguments about a wage-price spiral – but they don’t work as people don’t pay for public services.”

He said he used to save £350 a month, but with his rent rising and a below-inflation pay rise he now only saves £150 a month. If he couldn’t split the £1,100-a-month rent bill for a room in a house share with his girlfriend it would be “abysmal”.

Hampton said he was not among the lowest-paid at the department, but an inflation-matching pay rise would have helped him save for his own property. 

Rachel, a member of the DfE’s skills team on the picket line, said: “It’s really good the unions are all aligned. I’ve been a member of PCS since I started.

“It’s about the right pay for the work that we do, which keeps government and FE rolling. It’s about a real-terms pay cut. For lots of my colleagues, it’s about being able to put food on the table, and have a life.

“It’s about retention of staff too – everyone’s leaving. The best retention method is pay.”

ESFA chief declined to comment

Education and Skills Funding Agency chief executive David Withey was among the civil servants passing the picket line on their way to work. He declined to comment.

Trades Union Congress general secretary Paul Nowak visited the picket line to offer striking staff his support.

He said civil servants get treated as “back room staff who don’t make any difference”, but this “couldn’t be further from the truth.”

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka also told a union rally later in the day civil servants were seen as “bowler-hatted Sir Humphreys”, but thousands were claiming benefits and using foodbanks.

Education secretary Gillian Keegan faced criticism on social media for criticising striking teachers this morning, when her own departmental staff were also taking action. The minister has said little publicly about the civil service dispute.