MOVERS & SHAKERS: EDITION 431

Louise Ranford

Operations Manager for English Maths & ESOL, Learn Plus Us

Start date: May 2023

Previous Job: Head of Skills, PILOT IMS

Interesting fact: Louise is an adrenaline junkie and did a wing walk for her 40th birthday, raising money for Acorns Hospice. Whilst it was the most uncomfortable thing she’s done, she is planning to do another one, with a loop the loop!

Joe Turner

Managing Director, Novo Training Group

Start date: June 2023

Previous Job: Managing Director, BCE Group

Interesting fact: When travelling the world Joe spent time living with a tribe in Thailand

Tony Holloway

Operations and Quality Director, Learn Plus Us

Start date: June 2023

Previous Job: Interim Operations Director, Learn Plus Us

Interesting fact: Tony once walked from London to Birmingham (144 Miles) along the grand union canal and then the circumference of the Isle of Wight to raise over £10,000 for a children’s hospice

Engineering training provider scoops another ‘outstanding’

An engineering-specialist training provider has been graded ‘outstanding’ for the second time in six years by Ofsted.

Cheshire-based firm TTE Training retained the top rating in a report published today that praised a “highly ambitious curriculum” which enables learners to be “prepared exceptionally well for working in a highly regulated industry”.

The apprentices themselves are “highly motivated to achieve and are committed to their studies”, inspectors found.

At the time of the inspection in May, the provider had 163 apprentices enrolled on apprenticeship standards, with most of them on level 3 courses. Twenty other learners were on an engineering study programme.

TTE Training was last inspected in 2017 when it also received top Ofsted marks.

Nick Smith, chief executive of TTE Training, told FE Week he was “immensely proud” of everything TTE has achieved since it launched 30 years ago.

“I also feel privileged to lead an organisation which continues to make a vital contribution to the UK’s manufacturing sector generally, and to engineering skills development in the North of England in particular,” he added.

Today’s inspection report explains that apprentices “develop substantial new knowledge and skills beyond the apprenticeship standard”.

The apprentices also have access to a range of activities that “extend beyond their apprenticeship” including leadership, resilience and team working skills, while the learners also have access to young leadership qualifications.

Extensive industry experience

Tutors at TTE were praised for “carefully” monitoring learners and apprentices’ progress, via monthly progress reviews and mentor sessions. Support is also provided when learners fall behind, meaning “almost all apprentices and learners” complete their training and get their qualification.

The staff also have “extensive industry experience which they use exceptionally well to explain key engineering concepts”.

TTE Training offers “ongoing careers advice” meaning that they are aware of all the opportunities open to them and can make “informed decisions” on their future.

The leaders further use a “range of information” to monitor and improve the quality of the education and then quickly make changes to improve the standard.

‘Relentless’ focus on safeguarding

Ofsted also said TTE Training has “effective” safeguarding arrangements, and that they push “relentless[ly]” for safe working practices in the engineering sector.

They respond quickly to any concerns meaning that apprentices are supported and can continue with their studies.

Staff also get regular training on topics such as mental health awareness and the risk of sexual assault, while the learners are “confident” any issues they raise are taken seriously and dealt with swiftly.

ESFA allows ‘inadequate’ apprenticeship provider to keep contract

An engineering and manufacturing specialist training provider has kept its apprenticeship contract despite being given an ‘inadequate’ rating from Ofsted.

Salford and Trafford Engineering Group Training Association (STEGTA) was downgraded from ‘good’ to the lowest possible judgment in March largely because of safeguarding concerns and poor oversight of subcontractors.

Education and Skills Funding Agency policy rules that a provider will usually lose its apprenticeship funding agreement if it receives an ‘inadequate’ verdict from the watchdog, unless there are exceptional circumstances.

STEGTA’s report showed ‘good’ ratings in three of the five fields inspected, including quality of education and apprenticeships. Leadership and management was the only area judged ‘inadequate’, which pulled the overall grade down to the bottom rating.

The provider was only suspended from new starts following the grade four report. It has since been revisited by Ofsted, which conducted a monitoring visit last month and published a report this week which said the provider was making ‘reasonable progress’ in all areas.

John Whitby, STEGTA’s chief executive, told FE Week that the ESFA chose not to terminate contracts and the provider had been “supported through the new ESFA intervention strategy” under its accountability framework.

Under that policy, the ESFA identified the training provider as being “at risk” and placed it under intervention before a monitoring visit inspection.

STEGTA remains on the register of apprenticeship training providers and its temporary ban from recruiting new apprentices has now been lifted, Whitby said. 

The provider delivers level 2 to 4 apprenticeships in engineering, manufacturing and construction, and had 318 learners at the time of the visit. It works with 16 subcontractors.

Ofsted’s monitoring report said the company had carried out a “wholescale review of safeguarding”, which included appointing two additional safeguarding officers.

The watchdog previously said that staff training on safeguarding was “not sufficiently comprehensive”, but since the ‘inadequate’ rating the team is now “appropriately trained and qualified” for their roles. 

It also said the provider addressed the lack of staff awareness around the Prevent strategy, and had started to teach students to understand the risks around radicalisation and extremism.

On top of that, STEGTA had taken “decisive action” to address Ofsted’s concerns that the provider did not assess the quality of the subcontractor provision well enough.

Colleges share £100m for ‘fit for purpose’ T Level-ready buildings

Over £100 million has been allocated for 107 college T Level projects to support delivery of new courses launching in September 2024, the Department for Education has announced today.

The funding, which will enable colleges to create “fit for purpose buildings”, comes from wave five of the T Levels capital fund.

It will support colleges providing T Level courses such as catering & hospitality, hairdressing, business & administration, and agriculture, environmental & animal care.

The T Levels capital fund has two parts to the fund: a building and facilities improvement grant, put out to tender for providers, and a specialist equipment allocation.

While DfE said it was unable to provide the exact amount each college was allocated, several colleges publicised their allocations in statements released to FE Week.

Stoke on Trent College received £1.5 million funding for developing new facilities for health and science and broadcast media.

The funding will be split in half, meaning £750,000 will support the college’s new broadcast and digital media T Level. The remaining half will support the development of two health and science T Levels available from 2024 supporting the care of children and young people and supporting the midwifery team.

Meanwhile, six University Technical Colleges were awarded £7,621,006 of T Level funding between them.

These include £4 million to the London Design and Engineering UTC, £1,029,312 to Brook Sixth Form and Academy, £620,000 to UTC Warrington, £593,093 to UTC Leeds, £389,857 to Global Academy.

Engineering UTC North Lincolnshire was awarded £988,744 for 2024 T Level starts.

UTC Warrington principal Chris Hatherall said the funding will facilitate its engineering and manufacturing T Levels, including the development of a dedicated metrology lab, a new engineering fitting workshop, and a new CAD studio.

Skills minister Robert Halfon said: “This boost of over £100 million is our latest investment in T Levels. These are robust, high quality technical qualifications providing a unique ladder of opportunity for students to gain both classroom knowledge and on-the-job experience.

“From robotics suites that support digital T Levels to simulated health wards where students can get a real sense of what it means to work in Healthcare Science, T Levels will support young people into rewarding careers and back businesses with the skills of the future.”

These are the 107 winning projects announced today:

Without urgent action, we risk losing another generation of vocational learners

Many people reading this piece will know first-hand that the financial scars of the 2008 financial crash, and subsequent austerity measures, continue to undermine further education.

Our latest report, Austerity 2.0: A Lost Generation, details the depth and breadth of these scars in sobering detail, and explores how the comparable shocks of Covid-19, Brexit and the cost-of-living crisis will undermine a new generation of FE learners without urgent action from the government. 

From a helicopter view, we can see the devastating impact of the 2008 crash and austerity on the sector. As the report states, from a high of £7,750 per student in 2010, spending for students in 16-19 educational settings is yet to recover to pre-financial crash levels. 

Projections suggest that this will only rise to around £6,600 per student in the coming years – a 15 per cent decline which fails to account for the economic shocks seen in recent years and will undermine students’ prospects. Moreover, spending on adult further education and apprenticeships will still be 25 per cent lower in 2024/25 compared with 2010/11.

By no coincidence, total apprenticeship starts fell roughly 37 per cent from 2015/20, with Covid then going on to hamper starts in the past few years. The drivers behind starts and engagement with further education are of course complex, but the fragile nature of the sector means the longer-term picture is bleak.

The number of adults projected to be in funded FE, for example, is expected to decrease from 786,053 in 2022/23 down to 614,252 in 2025/26 – a fall of more than 21 per cent – at a time when our economy and labour market is in desperate need of the skills, talents and economic activity of as many people as possible.

This deeply troubling landscape has a significant impact on communities. Among the most deprived quintile of adults, participation in FE fell more than 29 per cent between 2016 and 2020. 

Moreover, the removal of the Education Maintenance Allowance, and similar support levers, has disadvantaged the poorest students seeking to enter FE. Without proper support for further education, the push for true social mobility will always fail.

The government’s rhetoric on support for skills suggests we have begun to turn a corner – for example, through the funding uplift for 16 to 19-year-olds and the latest adult education budget rise. Yet we need to build on this momentum if we are to ensure funding levels go far beyond those seen before the 2008 crash. 

Providing the required funding would ensure all learners can access the same opportunities regardless of their background, and power economic growth regionally and nationally.  

In support of this, we need central government to turbocharge a comprehensive communications campaign which highlights the essential importance of high-quality FE to students, parents, employers and the wider country. This is true for schools, also, whose role in providing careers advice must be overhauled to clearly outline the exciting opportunities available to students who wish to pursue technical and vocational courses.

There is a wider economic imperative, too. Reduced investment in FE means fewer students are entering courses that will enable them to gain the skills and knowledge they need to access high-skilled employment. 

Moreover, it means our businesses and employers cannot depend on the workforce they need to remain competitive internationally. This is particularly significant for key sectors such as digital, tech, health, and social care.

Quite apart from the long-term ramifications of the 2008 crash and austerity, the economic shock of Covid-19 and the unfurling cost-of-living crisis, combined with rapid policy and regulatory change, has left the sector in a fundamentally fragile state. 

The sector needs comprehensive support and transformational new measures to thrive, alongside a recognition that FE is seen as part of the solution to the problems we face as a society. There is, rightly, bold rhetoric about a “world-class skills system”, but this simply cannot be achieved without the funding to match.

Young adults need better funding post-Covid

The West Midlands has a young, diverse and vibrant population. It is a great region to live, to study and to work in, but the impact of Covid has been profound – particularly on the mental health of our young people.

Before the pandemic, we were already seeing an increase in mental health issues affecting students at all levels and of all ages, but primarily among those from disadvantaged areas and backgrounds. Lockdowns, Covid restrictions and lack of adequate access to education and training only served to exacerbate this further. 

For many, this has had a serious impact on their studies.

The nature of vocational studies, coupled with the learning needs of students from many of our most disadvantaged wards, has meant that large numbers of young people have missed key elements of their education, including basic social and study skills. 

For some, this has been compounded by a lack of access to technology and to family support. And it is now being exacerbated by anxiety about finances and the increased cost of living.

At South and City College in Birmingham, our key focus is to educate and train young people for their future employment. This primarily means providing teaching and learning in classrooms and workshops. 

However, the increasing prevalence of mental health issues among our students – resulting in poor attendance or behaviour, physical difficulties, attention problems, and difficulties in completing work etc – is presenting serious challenges for how we can achieve this. 

Over the past year, we have sought to address this through a pilot scheme that employs a small number of specialist staff who support students with serious mental health issues. While this has had made a massive impact on our students, the cost of this support is simply too high to expand it within current levels of funding – particularly for students aged 19-plus.

While the level of funding for 16-18 study programmes is becoming increasingly insufficient, it does enable us to provide a far greater level of support than is possible for equivalent learners aged 19-plus, where funding is only available for individual qualifications, rather than for wider wrap-around support and enrichment activities – a funding gap of around £1,200 per person. 

This is not only unfair for learners and financially challenging for colleges, but also risks adding to our regional challenge around increasing youth unemployment and inactivity.

To help address this inequality, we made the case to the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) as part of their recent level 3 consultation that they should implement a full study programme approach to funding level 2 and level 3 qualifications for young adults aged 19-23. 

And we have been extremely pleased to see that this will be introduced from September 2023 – a clear demonstration of the benefits to learners and to colleges of skills devolution, through co-development of solutions that can make a difference to our learners and the local labour market.  

We anticipate that this will help us to reach more young people and enable them to achieve level 2 and 3 qualifications. Longer term, this should also reduce demand on public services such as employment support and the NHS.

As a next step, we will continue to work with WMCA as they seek to implement the findings of the West Midlands Mental Health Commission by creating a new “Thrive at College” programme as part of our wider work and health offer for the region.

SEND college to close after second ‘inadequate’ rating

A specialist college for young people with autism is to close after being given an ‘inadequate’ Ofsted rating for the second time in a year.

Farleigh Further Education College in Frome, Somerset, owned by Aspris Children’s Services, told FE Week that it will shut the college at the end of the summer term due to “ongoing shortcomings” in provision.

The college said it has “no viable option” but to close. “We are sorry for the disruption this will cause,” a spokesperson added.

As of May, the college had 24 learners aged 16 to 25 with autism. All are in receipt of high needs funding.

During its inspection in early May, inspectors found that staff did not take “a small minority” of cases seriously enough when learners reported bullying or harassment. 

The report also found learners’ attendance was too low and staff did not help learners to catch up after an absence.

Inspectors questioned staff teaching methods and a failure to plan curriculum content well enough so it accounts for what learners already know and can do.

While arrangements for safeguarding were effective, inspectors criticised the college’s “minimal” careers guidance and advice to learners and said there was little oversight of skills that learners gained on work placements, leading to “too slow” progress from learners developing work-appropriate skills.

At its last full inspection in February 2022, when the college was given its first ‘inadequate’ rating which prompted the headteacher to step down, inspectors made the same critique over Farleigh’s slow action to address learner reports of bullying and discrimination.

Since then, the college has undergone two monitoring visits, the latest of which was in March this year. Inspectors said the college was making reasonable process to implement improvements.

A spokesperson for the college said: “We set ourselves high minimum standards for the quality of education and support to be delivered, and it has become clear that the college will not be able to meet the required level within what we consider to be an acceptable timeframe.

“As a responsible provider, we have therefore found ourselves with no viable option but to close the service, as we are not prepared to deliver a standard of education, we consider unacceptable in the medium- to long-term.”

West Mids to fund ‘study programmes’ for young adults

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Qualifications for FE workers

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

More to do on learner support

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

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

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

Cutting ‘low value qualifications’

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

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

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

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

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

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

Collab Group CEO to retire in August

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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