The November 2022 GCSE English and maths results announced on 12 January reveal a huge problem at the heart of the re-sit policy.
The summer and autumn English cohort sizes are significantly different (697,827 and 41,529 respectively) but the difference in the grade distributions is stark. In November, 42.7 per cent of candidates received grade 3, and 23.1 per cent grade 4, as compared with 17.2 per cent and 16.0 per cent in the summer. This clustering of the November results around the 3/4 boundary is no surprise; these exams are taken largely by candidates obliged to re-sit because they were previously awarded grade 3.
The problem is a more fundamental one. What the autumn grade distribution hides is that many candidates are forced through the distressing experience of re-sitting, not because they didn’t work hard enough or had a bad day, but because their grade was wrong.
Don’t take my word for it. In September 2020, Dame Glenys Stacey, then Ofqual’s chief regulator, admitted to the education select committee that exam grades are “reliable to one grade either way”.
Should that grade 3 have been a 2? Or a 4? No one knows. But what the candidate knows is that there is a world of difference between a 3 and a 4; Only one represents many more months in the classroom and another trip into the exam hall.
Dame Glenys’s statement can be quantified. In November 2018, Ofqual published measures of just how (un)reliable grades are: their report showed that about 61 per cent of the grades awarded in England for GCSE English language correspond to the ‘definitive’ or ‘true’ grade that would have been awarded had a senior examiner marked all the scripts. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough senior examiners, so ‘ordinary’ examiners do the bulk of the job. As a consequence, around 39 per cent of grades aren’t ‘definitive’ or ‘true’. In other words, they could be just plain wrong.
It’s a tragic waste of time students could be investing elsewhere
We’re discussing English here, but let’s do some maths.
According to JCQ, for the summer 2022 GCSE English exams, 17.2 per cent of 697,827 candidates received grade 3: That’s 120,026 candidates who have to re-sit (not counting those with lower grades, who aren’t impacted by this argument).
Ofqual’s measure of the reliability of GCSE English grades implies that only about 61 per cent of those 120,026 candidates received a ‘definitive’ grade 3, while 39 per cent – that’s 46,810 students – were awarded a ‘non-definitive’/‘untrue’/‘wrong’ grade.
This means up to a huge 46,810 students were awarded grade 3 (a de facto ‘fail’) in error. The grade errors are about the same both ways, so around 23,405 students should have been awarded a grade 2, and some 23,405 grade 4, and would never have had to re-sit – if only their paper had been marked by a senior examiner.
Nevermind the shocking waste of FE resources being squandered on re-teaching more than 23,000 students who didn’t need it. But for those more than 23,000 students, it’s a tragic waste of time they could be investing in their chosen pursuits.
And this is just one example of the consequences of Ofqual’s failure to deliver reliable grades, one that happens every exam season.
Unreliable grades are a menace, and the easiest fix is for all certificates to declare, using Ofqual’s own words:
OFQUAL WARNING: THE GRADES ON THIS CERTIFICATE ARE RELIABLE ONLY TO ONE GRADE EITHER WAY
And if we accept that, then pursuing a policy to ensure all students study maths to 18 must surely be based on a better proposition than ensuring a high proportion attain a more acceptable – but also unreliable – grade.
Since Rishi Sunak’s proposal to extend post-16 maths to all, it seems everyone is reflecting on their own journey (or lack of) to maths enlightenment. Those of us who teach post-16 GCSE re-sit courses are practiced in enduring tales of contextualisation and how maths in colleges should teach mortgages and basic finances. But after many thousands of hours delivering resit maths lessons, I find the challenges GCSE maths resit learners face simply don’t echo these concerns.
Resit learners are enrolled onto maths courses because they have not achieved the level of maths proficiency determined by government. Their experiences are unique to this situation. So while I agree with the prime minister’s policy, it’s unlikely to succeed if it remains shrouded with talk of low pass rates and disenfranchised learners. When existing narratives of contextualisation and pedagogy are applied to this group, we too often observe negative results.
Consider a population divided into two groups, A and B. Group A are literate in a particular discipline, and group B are not. Logically, it is members of group A who become experts and teachers and whose advice and opinions about what they learned, how they learned it and in what context become valued. But their experiences are rooted in their history of belonging in group A.
When group A members ‘tell’ group B members the reasons why group A are so great – including the contexts and methods involved in making group A great – they are often alarmed that group B do not respond positively. In fact, group B members often rebel against this, sometimes angrily.
I observe this frequently in maths teaching. Conferences and training events are run by those in group A and discuss at length contextualisation and methods that worked for other members of group A. Yet our mission is to unlock group B!
We should focus on the context, not mortgages or tax returns
It seems group A members are more comfortable considering group B membership as a problem to solve. To that end, I propose a diagnosis of Reflective Achievement Deficit Syndrome – RADS, with the following characteristics:
A lack of belief in one’s own ability, which prevents the individual from responding to conventional learning and reflection processes.
Conscious or unconscious ‘blocking’ of learning and reflection processes that are effective with those not exhibiting RADS, rendering them ineffective.
Development of symptoms that can be attributed to socio-economic status, (similarly to self-efficacy issues as observed by Mingming Zhou and others), but can also relate to poor relationships with previous teachers and professionals and previous trauma (including the trauma incurred from repeated perceived failures).
Often, a feeling of success or achievement can combat RADS, but this can be hard to achieve or sustain. To do that, teaching and guidance needs to occur in the context of a RAD environment, rather than using conventional contextual learning and pedagogy.
With regards to post-16 maths resit courses, we need to think very carefully about how we contextualise our subject. Repeating how useful maths will be to them in the future only disenfranchises them further because grade 4 appears out of reach.
Instead, we should explain to learners that society needs them rather than the other way round. We need our resit learners to succeed for us all to benefit, and making that explicit foregrounds that they have a worth in the world. This is much more likely to be conducive than telling them they will never progress in life if they do not pass.
Likewise, delivering maths in the context of their elective courses or real-world application reinforces the RADS. They want to succeed in their new exciting course, not feel tarnished by their perceived failure in maths.
For re-sit learners, we should ditch the idea of ‘relevance’ and focus on the context of the RAD environment, not mortgages or tax returns. Often, the only context that matters for learners with RADS is success in the exam; anything else we bring to bear is bound to be limited by our group A blinkers and risks reinforcing previous traumas or socio-economic conditions.
It feels as if we have a huge opportunity ahead of us, and I hope it is a time to reflect and consider alternative solutions.
The pandemic, Brexit and the urgent need to decarbonise and reach net zero by 2050 have all highlighted the UK’s skills and workforce shortages and shone a spotlight on our education and skills system – and apprenticeships in particular – raising questions about whether it is fit for purpose.
It’s clear that the UK’s success in key areas such as net zero, life science, transport, food sustainability and digital relies upon us having a thriving engineering and technology workforce. However, to make this a reality we urgently need to increase the number and diversity of young people taking technical routes into engineering, manufacturing and technology, such as apprenticeships. Doing so will not only be of great benefit to the young people who will develop valuable skills and knowledge required for a rewarding career, but will also enable employers to develop a talented workforce that is equipped with the future-ready skills the country needs.
While the latest apprenticeships data from the DfE suggest a move in the right direction, with a positive uptick in apprenticeship starts as we emerge from the pandemic, there is still a long way to go. Despite engineering-related apprenticeships faring better than other sectors, there has still been a decline of 9 per cent in the number of starts across engineering-related subjects since 2014/2015.
The change varies by subject, but the decline is particularly pronounced and concerning in engineering and manufacturing technologies, where we have seen a 34 per cent fall in apprenticeship starts since 2014/15. This coincides with a decline in lower-level apprenticeship starts – with level 2 apprenticeship starts in the sector falling from a high of around 67,000 in 2015/16 to around 31,000 last year.
Given our acute skills shortages and the pressing need for more engineers and technicians, we urgently need significant and sustained growth in apprenticeships uptake. However, if we want to see effective policy making in apprenticeships, we need to first unpack the pattern of decline over time in apprenticeship starts and understand the different factors at play.
It’s vital that FE providers’ voices are represented
An inquiry was launched this month – led by former Labour and Conservative ministers Lord Knight and Lord Willetts in partnership with EngineeringUK – aims to investigate this.
For the inquiry to be effective, we need the views of those involved in delivering apprenticeships at its heart. We’re urging FE training providers, employers and young people to respond to the inquiry’s call for evidence by submitting views, experiences or ideas on how to improve the availability and accessibility of apprenticeships for young people.
FE providers play a significant role in making apprenticeships a success, so it’s vital that their voices are represented in the inquiry. We’re particularly interested in hearing from FE providers about the factors that influence what apprenticeships they offer, including consideration about subjects and levels. We’re also keen to document their views on the barriers young people face in accessing apprenticeships, especially those with different protected characteristics (such as young women, young people with SEND, or those from minority ethnic backgrounds) as these groups are underrepresented in engineering and technology.
We hope the inquiry will open up conversations about how to break down these barriers, inform effective policy making and widen opportunities for young people in engineering and technology careers.
With National Apprenticeships Week fast approaching, now is an ideal opportunity for us to come together and take a holistic look at what drives demand for engineering and technology apprenticeships, and consider how we can make them more desirable for students, colleges and employers alike.
Addressing the challenges of apprenticeships uptake will require an open-mind and willingness to change collaborative working between schools, FE providers, employers and government. In particular, government will need to be open to making changes to how the system works.
Addressing the ever-growing skills and workforce shortages that threaten to hold us back is a matter of urgency. Everyone must take responsibility for their role in improving the offer and uptake of apprenticeships, and this consultation is a first opportunity to ensure they do.
The inquiry, Fit for the future: growing and sustaining engineering and technology apprenticeships for young people is open for evidence until 27 February 2023. To respond, visit:www.engineeringuk.com/fitforthefuture
So let me firstly declare my interest: I am a fan of the UKs qualification system for vocational education and training and as a CEO for an awarding organisation, it’s no surprise that I should be championing the cause for regulated occupational qualifications. FDQ is also an approved end-point assessment organisation, so we have even more skin in the game.
Against that backdrop, I was delighted when IfATE’s long-awaited consultation on mandating qualifications in apprenticeships launched in December included proposals for updating the policy and criteria for trailblazer groups when deciding whether qualifications should be included in the future.
I have completed many consultations in my 30 years in the sector, and with IfATE approaching its sixth year as the overseeing body for apprenticeships, I was hoping to see a detailed analysis of several hundred thousand apprentices who have started, left and/or completed their programmes and end-point assessments.
Disappointingly, the consultation provides no such information. Why not? EPAOs submit grade requests for completers to the DfE each week, and this data is reconciled with apprentices’ individual learning records (ILRs). The information on retention and relative success is available for each standard, and should be available for publication.
This is a significant omission in a consultation proposing to make it harder for employers to decide if qualifications will benefit apprentices on standards. These facts should have been presented to enable stakeholders to consider whether apprentices undertaking standards with mandated qualifications achieve at a higher or lower rate (I suspect higher) than those on standards with no such requirement.
Understandably, with 650 standards available across multiple occupations, the landscape is complicated. However, the consultation does confirm that around 60 per cent of apprenticeships do not mandate a qualification. Therefore, if 50 per cent of these apprentices leave without completion, it must mean thousands of leavers each year have no formal transcript of accreditation (Certificate of part-achievement) from an awarding organisation to show for their time on their programmes.
There is a significant omission in this consultation
The reason awarding organisations can award and training providers can claim part-achievement certificates is because they are protected to a large extent by regulatory centre assessment standards scrutiny (CASS). This system requires awarding organisations to have quality assurance controls in place with centres to ensure the consistency and reliability of assessment practice.
I am therefore incredulous at the suggestion from IfATE that qualifications will no longer be mandated on the basis of providing better structure for off-the-job training and/or adding breadth and depth to an apprenticeships. Structure, breadth and depth are precisely the bedrock of the current system.
The consultation is unlikely to attract universal consensus. The CASS, for example, is costly to implement. However, FDQ has seen many employers and providers continue with qualifications even where the trailblazer has withdrawn the mandating requirement. IfATE ought to investigate this type of scenario.
The updated criteria proposed in the consultation would allow for a qualification to be mandated only if it is required by a regulator or a professional body. The other option provided by the IfATE is based a ‘labour market requirement’, where it appears trailblazer groups will be subjected to a burdensome justification exercise, not to mention the work of aligning the qualification with the occupational standard, potentially resulting in adaptation of current qualifications or design of entirely new ones.
But trailblazer groups are mostly made up of busy employer representatives, all volunteering their time. New burdensome requirements will present a significant barrier to qualifications being included. Employers know what their businesses need, but they are not bureaucrats with the time or inclination to gather evidence to prove those needs.
The IfATE proposal states that it will only consider qualifications if the apprentice is heavily disadvantaged as a result of not obtaining one. Arguably, that England is the only nation in the UK where apprentices can leave with no accreditation heavily disadvantages them all.
So let’s have a balanced debate on the relative merits of qualifications in apprenticeships. But to do so, it needs to be an informed debate, and that means IfATE must supply trailblazer groups with labour market information underpinned with achievement data. Anything less undermines the consultation.
Exeter College has become the first college to retain its ‘outstanding’ grade since Ofsted’s enhanced inspections were introduced.
The college, which teaches almost 10,000 students, received the watchdog’s top grade for the second time in 10 years in a glowing report published today.
‘Outstanding’ schools and colleges began to be inspected again from September 2021 for the first time since 2010, after an exemption was removed by chief inspector Amanda Spielman.
Enhanced inspections for colleges then launched in September 2022 to include an assessment and sub-judgement of how well a college is contributing to addressing skills gaps in the local, regional and national economy.
Since then, two other ‘outstanding’ colleges have been inspected – both declining to ‘good’.
Exeter College was judged to be making a “strong” contribution to skills needs – the highest possible rating.
Principal John Laramy told FE Week he was “heartened” by the report, especially as “it will be the first time that a college has secured ‘outstanding’ overall, and the top grade for the enhanced inspection, which was perhaps starting to look like it might be impossible”.
“We were obviously delighted as the bar is so high now for ‘outstanding’, and the fact we’ve not been inspected for sort of over eight years it is really impressive. The team here do a fantastic job. And I think what’s lovely is you can’t make it up on the day for a particular inspection. You get credit, I think, for things you’ve been doing well, for a long period of time.”
Exeter College offers a variety of courses to its 6,640 young students aged 16 to 18, 880 adults, 1,800 apprentices and 235 high-needs learners.
The college scored ‘outstanding’ in all areas apart from in its provision for learners with high needs, which scored ‘good’.
Ofsted’s report draws on the promising experiences of high achieving learners who thrive in a supportive and caring environment.
Teachers and staff are praised as “excellent role models” and “learners and apprentices treat each other and the college staff with high levels of respect”.
Inspectors highlighted how students learn “substantial new knowledge, skills and behaviours quickly” because of the “high quality of teaching they receive from their teachers and trainers”.
Staff are described as “professional, friendly, very supportive and work tirelessly to meet the needs of their learners and apprentices”.
The college environment is “calm and highly aspirational”. The report describes the “well planned teaching sessions which develop motivation in the learners as well as creating a positive environment and a culture where bullying and harassment are never tolerated”.
Elsewhere in the report, teachers were praised for their highly effective sequencing of the content of the curriculum.
“For example, adult health and social care learners discover about the heart and circulation systems in biology before learning about the effect of stress on the cardiovascular system in psychology.”
Additionally, the report describes how teachers and support staff “intervene swiftly and effectively to support any learner or apprentice who falls behind in their studies”.
The college also makes a strong contribution to meeting skills needs, “contributing significantly to the digital sector in the region and to the need for retrofit construction skills in the local area”.
Rob Bosworth, Exeter College’s deputy chief executive, told FE Week he has been building these partnership relationships for over 20 years.
“The way we do it is we live and breathe everything in the community, regardless of how big the group is. The college is there to serve the needs of the community.”
The report describes how leaders quickly recognised the challenges for Ukrainian refugees and created custom-made packages to support this community and help them become active citizens.
“As a result, leaders and managers ensure that their relationships with stakeholders are successful in improving the opportunities for those in the community who are the most disadvantaged.”
See this week’s edition of FE Week for an extended interview with principal John Laramy about how his college achieved the feat.
More improvements are to be made to health and science T Levels after findings from another government review were published today, following “serious” issues found by investigators last summer.
And the exams regulator says that its assessment of the employer-set project has not found any issues.
The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) has confirmed reports that the science content in the health pathway was too high, as well as reporting inconsistencies among occupational specialisms in the flagship new course.
The findings, published by the institute this morning, follow a separate review by Ofqual and the Department for Education during the autumn that found the core exams for the qualification were not “a sufficiently valid or reliable measure of student performance”.
IfATE’s review specifically investigated the outline content and technical qualification specifications into the three health and science T Levels currently available.
It found that the level of science content in the health pathway was too high – specifically in relation to chemistry and physics content, but said that was not the case with science or healthcare science pathways. It said that the relevance for science content would be examined for future cohorts too.
In addition, the study – which included interviews with employers, providers and higher education institutions – said that some providers reported “limited resources” to contextualise content in their teaching.
The findings went on to explain that there were inconsistencies in the specification for the occupational specialisms.
However, the investigation said that the overall amount of content was in line with level 3 qualifications of that size, and that while the technical qualification specification differed slightly to the original outline content, it was to add more context and not deemed to be a concern.
IfATE said that its next steps would include working to “separate the core for the health T Level” and consider whether more care content is needed in the longer term.
It means there will be less pure science content in the health core papers.
However, those changes will only come into effect from the September 2023 cohort.
IfATE said that to ensure students’ learning on the current content is recognised properly, teaching and exam preparation for this summer should continue as normal.
Rob Nitsch, IfATE’s director of delivery, said the feedback from employers and providers as part of the review “is a testament to both the ambition there is for the T Level programme and the commitment to the students who are taking up these qualifications”.
He added: “The potential of T Levels is undimmed and I’m confident they remain a great option for students. IfATE, together with our delivery partners, will now be pursuing the findings with rigour and pace to ensure that we seize the opportunity to improve the health and science T Level.”
Of the 1,115 first-year results issued by NCFE last summer, 914 learners were on the health pathway, with 46 learners on the healthcare science route and 155 studying the science pathway.
It prompted students to launch a petition, while a subsequent FE Week investigation into the controversy during the autumn found that one in three first year learners had either switched courses or dropped out of college entirely as a result of the problems.
Students raised concerns that the textbook was not available until only a few weeks before the exam, and that questions in the core exams included content they had not been taught.
A subsequent investigation by Ofqual and the Department for Education found that the core exams were not fit for purpose, with a letter issued to providers from the DfE reporting “question errors, inadequate mark schemes, and questions covering areas not explicitly in the specification.”
Resit opportunities for the employer set project for those first years were held in the autumn, with another planned for this summer.
When education chiefs announced the employer-set project would form students’ grades for year one, the DfE confirmed that Ofqual would also be looking at the employer-set project in its review after some concerns were raised by providers, but Ofqual did not issue any update on that in the autumn when NCFE signed the undertaking with Ofqual.
Now, the exams regulator has confirmed that it reviewed a sample of employer-set projects from both the summer and the autumn resit, with a spokesperson saying it was “satisfied that the assessments could deliver a sufficiently valid and reliable indication of student performance”.
Anecdotal evidence from tutors delivering the first-year course who spoke to FE Week reported some problems with the uploading system for the employer-set project in the first year. A blog written by one tutor, who wished to remain anonymous, said the employer-set project was “unwieldy and devoid of realistic expectations” with an “erratic” marking scheme.
However, it was not clear how widespread those issues were.
A spokesperson from awarding body NCFE explained that the outline content for the three pathways was created by panels of employers and the approval of IfATE, before then being developed and delivered by NCFE.
But NCFE agreed there was too much science content in the health pathway and said it welcomed the proposal to separate the core health element.
“We’re pleased to see the outcomes of IfATE’s review into the health and science T Levels and fully support the findings and recommendations that have been proposed,” the spokesperson said.
“We’ll also continue to work with providers on an individual and cohort level to identify and deliver additional support ahead of the summer assessments and beyond.”
Cuts to local youth and mental services means that for many young people, their college is the only place to turn at times of mental health crisis. FE Week investigations reporter Jessica Hill goes to Weston College to find out how colleges, and their staff, are providing life-saving support for students.
Without the support he received from welfare staff at Weston College, 24-year-old James Lockyer does not believe he would still be alive today. He is now an apprentice support worker at the college but, when Lockyer was a teenager, he hit such a low one night that he deliberately drove his car as fast as he could with the headlights off.
“Talking to the college counsellors made a difference after that,” he told FE Week.
Weston College in Weston-super-Mare last year became the first in England where all welfare, pastoral and specialist mental health staff have a suicide first-aid qualification – including Lockyer.
The six-hour suicide first-aid course taught Lockyer how to help the one in four post-16 students who, like him, have experienced suicidal ideations, and the language he might use to keep them alive in that crisis moment.
While colleges have sometimes been wary of focusing on suicide,Weston College is “not afraid” to broach the topic with students, says assistant principal Benjamin Knocks. “There is a myth that if you talk about suicide, you’re encouraging people – that’s not the case”.
In 2019 it was the first college to sign the Association of Colleges mental health charter – since signed by around 90 per cent of colleges – committing to prioritise tackling mental health issues.
Knocks says the college is putting mental health “front and centre, and the knock-on effect is that our students are responding positively to it. It has not increased those tragic incidences we’ve had.”
Weston has not had a student take their life for at least the past two years, although it had six attempted suicides requiring urgent medical attention in the first two weeks of this academic year.
Demand for support is rising; Weston’s welfare team saw over 2,000 student interventions for the first time in 2021-22 – up over 70 per cent on pre-pandemic 2018-19.
But its approach now means mental health support is not just the domain of specialist staff but wider faculty too. Just over half the college’s 800 staff have completed a mental health first-aid course since 2020, and the goal is for them all to do so.
Weston’s mental health lead Georgie Ford has just finished a PHD in mental health in FE, fully funded by the college, which has informed its evidence-based approach.
The research indicates that 96 per cent of students would approach a tutor first over pastoral support when their mental health suffers.
But Ford realised tutors were “really afraid of suicide, because nobody wanted to say the wrong thing”.
“We needed to change our approach and make sure every tutor is at least OK to have that initial contact, and knows what they could say to a suicidal student.”
Ford believes that, without suicide training, the “danger” is that staff “start Googling things to help students, and we don’t want people doing things that aren’t demonstrated to be effective. The accountability on that staff member then rises hugely.”
Nonetheless, the suicide course was introduced last summer with a “really quiet pilot run, because you don’t know how it’s going to sit”. It now has a waiting list, and has since been introduced at colleges within Greater Manchester Colleges Group too.
The “whole college” approach seems to be working; 94 per cent of Weston’s students told a recent survey they feel the college supports them with their mental health.
Ford believes the courses boost staff wellbeing too, because they “take the fear out” of talking about suicide.
The number of staff absences around mental health and wellbeing has “quite drastically” reduced, Knocks says, “probably as staff start to understand some of those triggers”.
Ellie Merritt, 21, KC Saunders, 17 and James Lockyer, 24
Evidence and intervention
Weston’s approach is underpinned by data gathered in a student wellbeing survey taken by two-thirds of students in the first term, which is used to deliver targeted tutorial packages.
“If a subject area comes back with a low average score on, say, how physically healthy they are, our student enrichment team would do a specific programme in tutorial time around getting them active,” Knocks explains.
It also has an annual “celebration of success” to recognise students who have achieved “against all odds”, and a student-led wellbeing conference is in the pipeline.
Celebrity clout is also used to engage students. The UK ambassador for mental health and former Love Island contestant Dr Alex George provided Weston with his top wellbeing tips, which were promoted on social media channels.
And influencer and anorexia survivor Hope Virgo did student sessions and made webinars for tutorials on key wellbeing themes, which the college knew from its survey were affecting students.
Knocks admits that Weston’s welfare team of nine, including six counsellors, is “not enough” to meet all its students’ mental health needs. Partnerships with NHS services and charities including the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families and YoungMinds have been “vital”.
Knocks highlights the importance of “getting the language right” around suicide – which means not talking about “committing or failure to commit suicide”.
“We don’t want to criminalise it, we want to talk about how students have ‘lost their lives’ or ‘lived through an attempt’.”
Weston has also partnered with Gateshead College to set up a 24-hour helpline for students so that help is available for them out of hours.
Whereas previously staff were unaware they could speak to a GP on behalf of a student with their consent, now they are asked to record concerns with GPs who work closely with the college to “work out next steps”.
The support for students requiring intervention can be bespoke: When a student who did not have family support was recently taken into hospital at 11pm, Weston’s principal and chief executive, Sir Paul Phillips, accompanied her to hospital and “made sure she was secure,”. Then the college ensured she had support at her lodgings when she came out.
Sir Paul Phillips
‘Postvention’ – in the aftermath of suicide
Ford says there is “still really little out there” for the suicide bereaved. While colleges are “really good at prevention”, postvention is being “left so far behind” – and the after-effects of suicide “just ripple and ripple”.
Knocks knows this ripple effect first-hand having visited the home of a student who had taken their life. He recalls it as “really sobering and harrowing”.
The student had been in a relationship with the biological daughter of his foster parents and, as Knock walked in, the family were in “very different stages of shock and entering grief”.
“The mum was devastated. The father, and brothers weren’t necessarily in shock, but they hadn’t come to terms with it – they were trying to make light of the situation to keep spirits up.
“It was uncomfortable. But they continued to engage with the college and we ended up having continual support put in place for them and the wider family who were college students.”
Weston has started working with North Somerset Council on a community-wide approach to postvention, which Ford describes as a “real agenda for change”.
Knocks believes it is essential at the postvention stage that there is a focus on the impact on staff.
Weston has its own staff welfare officer who is separate to the rest of the welfare team, and all its welfare staff have mandatory one-to-one counselling. Knocks says this helps staff “shut the door on it when they go home – otherwise it will consume them”.
Weston College’s South West skills campus
The rising tide of mental health issues
As a national leader of further education, Phillips observes “all colleges struggling to cope with the sheer demands of learners’ mental health”.
One in four 17 to 19-year-olds in England had a probable mental disorder in 2022 – up from one in six in 2021, according to an NHS Digital report. But the waiting time for the NHS’s CAMHS support is around 18 months in Weston-super-Mare and up to 24 months elsewhere.
Phillips believes that, if Weston had to rely on services outside the college, “frankly we would have far more casualties of the system. That support network isn’t there anymore. It falls on the college to provide it.”
Richard Caulfield, senior policy manager for Greater Manchester Colleges Group and former mental health lead at the AoC, recalls a health colleague remarking how all his CAMHS referrals used to come from youth services. Now they come predominantly from colleges, because “those other safe spaces for young people no longer exist. It puts a heavy burden on colleges.”
Weston’s research shows the reasons its students have for attempted suicides are related to trauma, relationships, sexual identity, bereavement by an experience of suicide, bullying and peer pressure and physical health.
Phillips also blames the impact of Covid for “lots of young people” starting college with “very limited school teaching and an estimated grade which was totally inaccurate”.
“They were almost being guided towards the wrong career route for them, and that causes a lot of despondency and issues we had to watch.”
Mandy Lee
Future pressures
Phillips believes the cost-of-living crisis, rising numbers of students with complex needs and no government funding increases are creating a “perfect storm”. Weston’s ability to keep providing the same level of welfare support amid these challenges depends on its ability to continue generating profit from commercial work, which is currently reinvested into those services.
Phillips is “concerned” that “businesses will invest less and less in training because of the economic crisis”. But Caulfield warns that colleges “cannot afford not to invest in mental health”.
“Investing early can save colleges costs later down the line. There’s a financial benefit in retaining students, we’ve got to show that. But there are tough choices for colleges, and we will see an impact over the next year or two.”
Some colleges may be tempted to cut back on face-to-face support but leave digital options in place.
But Mandy Lee, student welfare manager at Weston, warns: “You need that face-to-face interaction to find out what’s really going on for these learners. Our principal really understands that – we’re lucky they listen.”
But Lee admits that, even with a large team, there are times when they are “so busy, I’m worried when we don’t see someone there and then. We’re down to about 20 minutes per learner to see them all in a day. It’s hard when you’ve got someone who is suicidal, you can’t be looking at the clock and writing down notes.”
For Weston student Ellie Merritt, 21, who suffers with anxiety, ten minutes is all she needs with a member of the welfare team some days.
“There are times where I walk into college and I just I’m overwhelmed with all the other things going on at home. I know that welfare is a safe place, and I’ve gone there and just cried my little heart out for ten minutes. Then I can go back and do my work.
“Sometimes all you need is that time with someone you trust and can talk to, to really motivate you for the rest of the day.”
Hundreds of “warm spaces” have been established nationwide to provide support for those struggling this winter. Jason Noble speaks to the people in the FE sector who have joined the movement to find out how they are making a difference.
The soaring cost of energy coupled with the rising price of food has left many people across the country facing a stark choice between heating or eating. A fact not lost as temperatures plummeted this week.
Churches, libraries, and community centres rallied to set up “warm spaces” for those in need – places where people struggling to make ends meet can come in for a cup of coffee or a hot meal, make use of the free internet or computers, or just sit and read in the warmth.
Crucially, these sites are non-judgemental spaces. However, those who want to talk about their circumstances or learn about the support available can do so.
It’s a community effort that in just a matter of months has become ingrained across the UK, with adult learning providers and general FE colleges among those to have set up their own spaces.
Lisa Hamilton-Murray
At Learning Services Worcestershire, the Fairfield Centre – a small adult community learning space (main picture) – has been using its library as a warm space.
Its armchairs and sofas can be used by people wanting to read a book or a newspaper, while a cup of tea for those who are cold and free sanitary products for women are also provided.
Carol Berrevoets, senior improvement advisor for learning services, said: “What we have tried to promote is that you don’t have to be doing an adult learning course or borrowing a book, you can just come in and sit down, have a chat, read a newspaper or book.”
The adult education centre held a drop-in family community event before Christmas to highlight the centre’s role as a warm space too, with some of those families which attended coming back to use the space.
“People say ‘we didn’t know you were here’ – it’s quite a good way to break down a barrier when they know you don’t just have to come in and learn English,” Berrevoets said.
Clare Morgan (left) and Jess Tomlinson at West Suffolk College’s Sudbury centre warm space.
Leicester Adult Education and Wandsworth Lifelong Learning have been offering activities in warm spaces set up by others, while Lancashire Adult Learning has tied up with the county council to deliver free courses in warm spaces – teaching everything from digital skills, to watercolour techniques and chair-based yoga.
Many FE colleges have laid on extra support for students and staff, such as breakfast clubs and use of gym showers, but a few have been able to extend their reach into the community.
West Suffolk College has been operating warm spaces at specific times across its centres in Ipswich, Haverhill, Sudbury, Bury St Edmunds, Thetford and Chatteris, with free Wi-Fi, tea and coffee and computers to use. It also offers activities such as crosswords and mindfulness tasks.
Clare Morgan, head of the Sudbury business and community centre, said: “People using the space are grateful, and also I think a lot of people are pleased that we are offering the space as well – they are sharing the news out to other people that we are doing it.”
West Suffolk sees a mix of users: from members of the public who simply want to stay warm, to college students charging their phones and doing homework.
Newcastle College, which hosts a large number of ESOL courses, is offering a couple of hours on Friday afternoons at the Riverside Dene campus where users can take advantage of not just the warmth, but also guidance on CV writing and jobs workshops.
Step out of the cold and into its main HE hub and you will find board games, films and soup.
Newcastle College’s HE hub which is being used as a warm space
The college is looking at a referral process with local partners, and is also eyeing family activities such as use of the gym or a film night.
“I don’t want there to be a stigma about it so if we invite families to come in for a film night maybe people will partake in that rather than come to a warm space. We are just thinking of other ways to attract people and use the facilities,” said Lisa Hamilton Murray, deputy principal.
With pressures on college budgets already tight, providers have largely been running the spaces when their buildings will already be open and staffed. This can add value to the students’ experience.
The aforementioned film night at Newcastle is to be hosted by media students, while a new community warm lunches scheme launching at London South East Colleges in February will see catering students serving hot meals from its commercial restaurant to struggling members of the local community.
Andrew Cox, group director of strategic growth and partnerships at London South East Colleges, said that delivering food in a warm space will also help bolster students’ serving and ‘front of house’ skills.
The warm lunches will mark the next phase in the college’s cost of living efforts, which began with Foodbank Fridays during Covid-19 to donate food, followed by a warm bank for coats – where staff and students are encouraged to donate coats they no longer use which are available on a rail at the college for students in need to pick up and use.
London South East Colleges’ warmth bank for coats.
And if the community warm lunches prove a success, it is also exploring a potential project for those students to create dinners where families can be fed at reduced or cost prices.
Cox said: “If the students are doing lasagnes one week then why don’t we do a huge batch of the lasagnes and then allow the community to come in? You can kind of do it at cost or for free because you are already paying for the materials through the curriculum.”
What all those colleges have in common is the desire to run their spaces discreetly. As such, staff are not asking questions about why people are coming in, but being available for conversations for those who need advice or using the computers to search for support in their area.
“You can’t turn on the news without seeing a family talking about how difficult it is to make ends meet,” Cox said. “Even if we can save £5 a day of a family not having to put their heating on, that is a day of food.
“There might only be five people that come in, but that is five people who don’t need to go to the foodbank that day, and that can mean extra people getting food.”
But far from just being doom and gloom, for all of those providers it is also opening up conversations about potential study options or courses that may not have happened otherwise.
Berrevoets said: “Part of the challenging thing for community learning providers generally is convincing the under-confident who had a really bad experience at school who don’t think education is for them.
“The reality is if you get people through the door they might start doing a basic arts and crafts course, and then something with their children, and then an IT course. Before you know it they are doing English GCSE.”
Andrew Cox
She added: “It’s that first step back in for people. A lot of people can find it a daunting prospect.”
At West Suffolk, the short online courses on topics such as sustainability, leadership and understanding mental health have been popular because of the short duration, often between four and 12 hours.
Morgan added: “While people are in the centre we have the opportunity to just talk to them and introduce them to some of the other courses we do. Maths, English and ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) are always very popular classes for us, and computer classes as well.”
Time will tell how long those spaces are needed, but the informal set-up means they can be responsive until needed otherwise.
Cox concluded: “I have never had to see our communities have to do warm spaces, lend coats out. I have always seen foodbanks but I have never seen us have to do these new things. It seems to be quite apparent now that it is a much wider and much more needed initiative.”
A free wellbeing support service is being opened to college principals and their deputies amid low take-up among school headteachers.
Education Support was contracted in November 2021 to support 2,000 school headteachers by March this year through six one-hour, free peer support sessions, or one to-one support or counselling.
The £760,000 programme has been extended by a year after only reaching about half of its target in schools.
From April, college principals, their deputies and senior leaders reporting to the principal will also become eligible.
Faye McGuinness, the programme’s director, said a pilot of its professional support service with college leaders showed it was “making a difference”, adding: “We are really happy that it’s been introduced to college leaders.”
A 2021 Further Education Trust for Leadership study found that a “high proportion” of principals experienced stress on a “frequent basis”, with 45 per cent surveyed experiencing distress three to five times per week. A further 10 per cent said this was over five times a week.
Jen Hope, the Association of College’s mental health lead, said she was “delighted” to hear of Education Support’s contract extension.
“Further education staff already benefit from accessing Education Support’s services for direct emotional support via their helpline and financial assistance via their grants service. The they will now also be able to benefit from professional supervision which is very welcome,” she said.
Hope added that the AoC is currently delivering a mental health and wellbeing programme with Education Support and other partners on behalf of the Education and Training Foundation, to “provide leaders and practitioners space to reflect on their own mental health and consider how their approach to developing self-awareness and prioritising self-care impacts others”.
A “deep dive” by Education Support into the low school take-up found many heads felt they “simply don’t have the time and capacity to do it”, Faye McGuinness, the programme’s director, said.
But many might also believe that their mental health and wellbeing “doesn’t matter as much as everybody else’s… if we want people to take action we really need to change their beliefs”.
“Some of the stuff that has come up through our peer support work is almost a feeling of guilt of spending the time looking after themselves.”
When the scheme was launched it was aimed at those in deputy head levels and above with no access to an employee assistance programme.
That was scrapped in June and the scheme was opened up to assistant heads in September.
However, the peer support route will be dropped from April.
McGuinness said this was “very popular” at the height of the pandemic when heads “wanted to get into the room and say to each other what on earth is going on, how do we deal with this?
“We are now seeing leaders are in a space to reflect and think about the impact of the past two or three years on them personally, and how that plays out professionally.”
An evaluation of the programme is being conducted by York Consulting.
The Department for Education was approached for comment.
