My college stands opposite a Royal Mail sorting office and a train station. I have seen plenty of pickets over recent months, and soon it will be our turn. The UCU have already voted in favour of strikes and the NEU announced this week that it will be joining them. No one casts their ballot lightly, whether they voted for or against action, and the implications are as potentially divisive in the staffroom as in the negotiation room.
Many of the teachers I know feel uncomfortable with the prospect of strikes, fearing we will not have the sympathy of the public. Commuters might be miffed by missed trains, most of us probably hardly even notice missed post, but people will certainly be annoyed if their children have to miss school or college because their teachers are on strike. The post-Covid context makes it all the more likely that teachers will be blamed.
As a result of media denigration (even before strikes), some of my colleagues never tell new acquaintances that they are teachers. Hackneyed jibes about long holidays or early finishes mean that for them, teaching is the job that dare not speak its name. Instead, they vaguely refer to management, academia or finer-sounding titles like lecturer to throw people off the scent. This dissembling is driven by a strange teacher shame.
And yet, many of us maintain that teaching is one of the very noblest of professions and properly should be recognised and remunerated accordingly. After all, the lesson of Covid is surely that teachers are essential. At a time of great concern for the economy too, improving colleges is vital to our future prosperity.
Becoming a hindrance runs counter to our profession’s principles
One key problem, it seems, is that education’s benefits accrue in the long term. Another is that education is rather more complex than the input-output model politicians, the media and management culture would often have us believe. So many factors contribute to a student’s educational success that it is impossible to tease them apart. Paying teachers more now for a benefit that may not manifest for many years (or paying them at all for results that are evidently mostly guaranteed by parental prosperity) easily appears as an unnecessary expense.
In spite of all of that, our latest PM has pointed to education, and especially further education, as a silver bullet – and he is right. Where else will our nurses come from? Or our programmers? Our engineers? Our musicians? Or even our bankers?
Still, the strikes will be unpopular and that will play to a narrative many of us have internalised. Choosing to become a hindrance runs counter to the principles of a profession which is all about going the extra mile. We must not blame those who, given all of this, opt not to join the picket line. We are striking for the health of the whole educational system, which won’t be helped by pushing colleagues away. If we can’t win their hearts and minds, what chance do we have of winning over a disgruntled public?
We must also consider all of our colleagues who are not on strike and have no option to. Many are on lower pay – counsellors, administrators, cleaners, estates and security staff and many more. When you walk in through the doors of my college, it is Maryam you first meet. She sets the tone for the whole college with her cheery welcome and quick wit. I’d pay her fifty thousand a year, if I could.
Senior managers do a noble job too, striving to make pennies stretch into pounds. We all have to work together again regardless of the result of this action, and our students deserve motivated professionals and positive working environments no matter what.
And this, in the end, is the winning argument. Our learners deserve more than is being invested in them. To make that argument, we must consistently model that this is our priority. And that means celebrating the whole profession – including those who can’t or won’t be striking with us. They’re worth more than perhaps even they realise.
New census data shared last week by the Office of National Statistics has revealed apprenticeships were the highest level of qualification for 5.3 per cent of England’s population (2.4 million people). That proportion has nearly doubled since the 2011 census, when only 3 per cent reported an apprenticeship as their highest level of qualification.
In 2011 the option to choose an apprenticeship in the census was also new, highlighting the growing number of people opting for an apprenticeship over full-time college or university. Over the past decade, perceptions of apprenticeships have been transformed. The antiquated belief that apprenticeships were either for tradespeople like plumbers and electricians or those going into manufacturing have been blown out of the water by forward-thinking companies revamping their early careers programmes.
Employers are upskilling people in regional offices through more structured frameworks and training programmes and school leavers who can’t afford or don’t want to go to university are being paid to earn and learn. It’s been a remarkable turnaround in perceptions since the last census and the feedback from apprentices backs up the value of these courses.
Research from over 6,000 reviews on RateMyApprenticeship in 2022 shows apprentices rate their experiences an astonishing 8.4/10 on average. A mammoth 97% of apprentices who use the service would recommend their scheme to a friend. But for the apprenticeships sector to sustain this upward trend in uptake, three factors will be crucial: quality, innovation and adaptability.
Apprentices have consistently rated their experiences between 8.1 and 8.4 out of 10 over the past five years. Employers and training providers (at least those being reviewed) are doing an exceptional job of ensuring apprentices are gaining from their experiences. As the number of providers and learners grow, competition must drive quality up, not down. And it must be seen to do so to encourage even greater numbers of school leavers to choose an apprenticeship route to qualification over more traditional routes.
The future lies in collaboration, not competition
Which brings us to innovation. It’s not a matter of academic vs vocational or universities vs employers anymore. Seeing universities open their doors to support degree apprenticeship training shows that the future lies in collaboration, not competition.
And there’s plenty of scope for development. With well-documented issues across the healthcare industry, Health Education England recently launched a new medical doctor degree apprenticeship. Initiatives like this, solving today’s real problems and creating 200 new roles for apprentices to train as doctors over the next two years show what’s possible.
Meanwhile, we’ve seen a rise in the volume of sustainability apprenticeships within environmentally conscious businesses. Today’s young people are extremely climate-conscious, so this is a perfect example of using apprenticeships to match employer demand with workforce supply. AstraZeneca are currently recruiting for a global sustainability level 4 apprenticeship. The advert is a testament to this desire for change: “We truly value early talent– their thoughts, ideas and contributions,” it reads. “Throughout the programme, you’ll be encouraged and inspired to speak up, have a voice and make an impact.”
Similarly, forward-thinking employers are using apprenticeships as an avenue to bring digitally savvy young people into social media roles. In 2011, 4Studio’s advert for a social media apprentice to ‘coordinate, manage and build Channel 4’s social media presence across Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok’ would have been nearly unimaginable. That was the year Snpachat was launched, and Tik Tok was still 5 years away.
While that’s a sign of the incredible progress that’s been made, it also stands as a warning to apprenticeship providers and those developing industry standards. There’s no telling what the jobs market will look like in another decade, and challenging the out-dated myths around apprenticeships must also mean not allowing new ones to form.
But the biggest challenge of the next ten years is surely capacity. With more people looking to choose the apprenticeship route over full-time study, the next census will show one thing above all else – whether we have seized the opportunity to bridge the gap between work and education, and ushered in a true culture of collaboration to deliver the skills our economy needs.
Staff at The Sheffield College are set to go on strike this week in the first of four planned days of industrial action over an “insulting” pay offer.
The University and College Union (UCU) this morning announced that over 200 staff at the college could walk out this Friday, January 20, before further demonstrations on January 30, February 7 and February 9.
In addition, staff will work to rule from Monday next week, which means they will only work to their contracted hours, refusing to work additional hours or cover for other colleagues.
There are 226 UCU members at the college who are eligible to strike. The union reported that its ballot had a 59 per cent turnout, with 87 per cent of those who voted wishing to strike.
The college advised students to attend as normal with the campus and facilities open as normal.
It said that all exams will go ahead as planned, and said that alternative provision will be organised for students whose class does not have a tutor on those days.
It comes after a 2.5 per cent pay offer from the college was rejected, with the union dubbing it “insulting” while the current cost of living crisis continues to bite. Inflation is currently running at more than 9 per cent.
The union claimed that the college can afford a bigger pay rise because it is running at a surplus, with more than £9 million in its bank account and reserves in excess of £52 million, according to 2020/21 accounts.
But the college said that for 2021/22 the college had a deficit, not a surplus, that will be reflected in the next set of accounts.
Paul Simpson, executive director of people at The Sheffield College, said that from 2017/18 to 2021/22 the college provided a pay award above that recommended by the Association of Colleges.
He added: “Whilst we understand concerns about the increased cost of living and rising inflation, these unprecedented wider economic pressures are also impacting on colleges.
“We are not able to provide a greater pay award than the one already offered for 2021/22. We are in negotiations about 2022/23 currently and will continue to work with our trade union colleagues to seek a resolution.”
UCU regional official Julie Kelly said: “It’s frankly insulting that Sheffield College thinks it can get away with offering staff just 2.5 per cent when inflation is soaring and our members are being pushed into poverty. The college has millions in the bank and it can afford to make staff a realistic offer that will help them make ends meet.”
According to accounts for 2020/21, the college employs 995 people with 423 of those being teaching staff.
Those accounts reported an operating surplus of £224,000 before other gains and losses.
In July last year, the UCU published a report which said eight in 10 staff at colleges in England were worried about finances, with seven in 10 considering leaving the sector unless pay is increased.
The Association of Colleges has recommended that colleges give staff a 2.5 per cent pay rise – but the UCU had demanded 10 per cent with a £2,000 minimum uplift.
David Hughes, AoC chief executive, previously said college leaders want to increase staff pay, but “the money is simply not there”.
“The modest increase in funding rates last year contributed to our increased pay recommendation this year, the largest in over a decade, but this funding has largely been eaten up by soaring inflation and spiralling energy costs,” he added.
Crunch talks have so far failed to make enough progress over this year’s pay offer, according to the Association of School and College Leaders which is currently deciding whether to do its own formal ballot for strike action.
However, ballots at the NASUWT and NAHT unions failed to meet the legal threshold for strike action.
Meanwhile, 70,000 UCU members in the nation’s universities have voted for industrial action after talks over pay, pensions and working conditions broke down.
University staff will walk out on February 1 with threats of a further 17 strike days in February and March if no agreement is reached. Staff had been given a 3 per cent rise, with the Universities and Colleges Employers Association, which represents university leaders, proposing a 4 to 5 per cent rise, but the UCU says it wants a more meaningful offer.
The Sheffield College has been approached for comment.
I’m proud to have been conferred this week as a fellow of London South East Colleges for my work in supporting their students into careers. As an HR professional within international hospitality, I am seeing first-hand the challenges employers everywhere face with recruitment, and I am seeing them across every area of our business. After the pandemic decimated our industry, we are now beginning to rebuild, economically and culturally, and to do this we need people joining us who have passion as well as the right skills and knowledge.
This is no easy task, particularly with Brexit severely compounding post-pandemic recruitment issues. But attracting staff into hospitality has always been challenging. With a long-standing perception of low pay and unsociable hours, the sector is often wrongly viewed as less aspirational, career-wise, than other industries.
The reality is that our business can offer employees fantastic progression, travel and training opportunities in a wide range of specialisms. To communicate this to young people, and secure a pipeline of skills, engagement with FE providers has never been so important to us.
Unfortunately, after such a long and unprecedented closure period, relationships may have been lost just when re-opening the channels of communication with colleges has become vital. There are several reasons for that, such as key contacts moving on both sides. The first lesson towards a more sustainable engagement is therefore to ensure such relationships are nurtured by the whole organisation (college and business), rather than just one committed individual.
When we began working with London South East Colleges pre-pandemic, a particularly successful initiative was the ‘student takeover’. This saw 20 students spend two weeks at our County Hall property, rotating around departments and getting direct experience of working in a real-life hotel environment.
The real prize is securing skills pipelines for months and years ahead
Pleasingly, the programme resulted in permanent appointments. But while short-term gain in terms of instant recruitment is a huge positive, the real prize is securing skills pipelines for the months and years ahead and achieving that is about nurturing relationships. So it was all the more pleasing for us that every student gained meaningful experience, and crucial that it helped change their perceptions of what working in our industry is really like.
When it comes to fostering that sustained and meaningful organisational relationship, it’s equally important that the people teaching the students who come to us are also aware of the real-life, day-to-day running of the business and the breadth of career opportunities on offer. While most FE tutors are industry professionals, they may not have worked in the setting for some years, and hospitality – like so many other sectors – is constantly changing in response to technology and other trends.
We addressed this by inviting tutors take part in our staff orientation and spend a week with us. The experience gave tutors a new perception to take back to the classroom, enabling them to excite and inspire their students ahead of their period with us and to make sense of their experience afterwards.
The key, with staff and students alike, is to identify enthusiastic and passionate people and to give them the dedicated time they need. When it comes to students, our experience teaches us that a shorter period of intensive, compressed work experience over a 2- to 3-week period is more useful than one day a week over a more protracted placement.
Dedicated and planned work placements are such a vital part of a curriculum, helping students to identify the opportunities open to them and the sorts of skills they need. Sadly, our hotels regularly get requests from schools for work experience placements but rarely from colleges.
In the hope of changing that, it’s important to note that the hospitality sector isn’t just looking for young people interested in careers in hospitality. This makes for a neat partition of the curriculum, but the reality is that we need to fill roles in specialties from HR, marketing and business administration through to maintenance engineering and events management.
The same will be true of other sectors, and the silver lining in these difficult times may be that meeting the challenges we all face gives rise to new and more sustained relationships between employers and colleges.
The government’s “exceptional” apprenticeships funding uplifts review has finally been launched – but it is being limited to 20 apprenticeships.
And officials have confirmed that any uplift will only apply to new starters and not existing apprentices.
In November the Education and Skills Funding Agency announced plans to quickly increase funding bands in the hardest hit sectors to recognise the impact of soaring inflation on training delivery, with ambitions of unveiling details of the process at the end of that month.
At the time, top skills civil servants said there would not be a blanket rise across the board, but suggested employers and trailblazers would be able to apply for a temporary increase for all apprenticeships where they could demonstrate that costs had significantly increased.
Today, the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education has announced this “exceptional funding band review” will only apply to 20 “high-volume apprenticeships in skills shortage occupations and priority sectors”. Evidence will be needed by “early” March the new funding bands will be implemented by May 1.
The ESFA confirmed that any funding uplift applied will only be for new learners, and will be funded from the existing apprenticeships budget.
The agency would not say what the maximum allocation is for the uplift.
IfATE said the 20 apprenticeships (see full list below) – which include lorry drivers, production chefs, adult care workers and painters and decorators – had been chosen by the DfE in consultation with provider representative bodies.
Factors which resulted in those 20 being chosen included available evidence on the impacts of costs rising, skills shortages, number of starts in 2021/22 and priority sectors.
Jill Whittaker, managing director at HIT Training which delivers some of the chef and adult care apprenticeships, said that increasing costs including staff pay, cost of living increases, end point assessment expenses and other costs meant some programmes such as its chef training were running at a loss.
“We have already made strong cases to IfATE around costs, so this [exceptional funding review] is very, very welcome,” she said.
“But we are disappointed to hear they are only looking at new starters, that is a big challenge – if we are already running at a loss on these programmes it’s going to be very challenging to find a way of recovering that.”
She has called on department chiefs to reconsider including existing learners because “those costs don’t start at that point in time they start their review, they are already being absorbed by training providers”.
Sue Pittock, chief executive of Remit Training, said: “We all have significant enrolment costs, energy costs, staff costs and building costs but haven’t had a pound increase in funding to cover inflationary increases in all of these costs in five years.
“I know 20 standards will be reviewed, which equates to 3 per cent of all standards, but that means a huge compromise for the rest of the sector. How can they possibly manage five years’ worth of inflation without some sort of financial assistance? Margins are very thin in apprenticeship delivery done properly and this will render quality delivery impossible for many providers without some sort of support.”
Pittock also raised concern about the four-month time frame for the introduction of the any uplifts, especially as some standards may only see a small increase. “Why would you wait four months to do an uplift of £500? You are not going to sit there and compile a huge amount of evidence for £500,” she added.
She continued that 16-18 college provision gets around 2 per cent increase each year over the last five years, while apprenticeships have had zero.
She added: “They need to be held in the same parity because apprenticeships are a vital part of our education ecosystem, so it would be great if the money could be found as it is for 16-18 college-based provision.”
IfATE said the exceptional review will not include a full apprenticeship content review that the ordinary revisions process includes, to help speed up the process.
The institute said that by limiting the number to 20 priority standards, funding recommendations could be made more quickly and provision for key standards protected.
IfATE is anticipating that funding increases for those 20 will be by one funding band only, and subject to affordability.
IfATE chief executive Jennifer Coupland said employers and training providers had clearly set out the difficulties they were facing, and added: “We have had to target support at these 20 priority apprenticeships, to ensure affordability and a rapid turnaround on funding decisions.”
Jennifer Coupland
The organisation confirmed that those which hadn’t been selected for the exceptional funding band review will be able to apply for a full funding band review as normal, although that process takes longer, and not all reviews lead to a boost in funding.
Additional guidance for those not in scope for the exceptional review, also published this morning, said that it normally works to eight-week approval cycles but IfATE will do all it can to speed that up if it can do so without compromising quality.
Jane Hickie, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP), said that despite only 20 standards being in scope for funding band uplift reviews, these standards represent around 20 per cent of all apprenticeships starts “so it’s certainly a good start”.
She added: “It is absolutely right that adult care should be in the front rank of these uplifts given the existing poor funding levels and labour shortages there. Indeed, most of the sectors covered by today’s announcement were those highlighted as having the most pressing need for intervention in our recent rising costs survey.”
But Hickie stressed that high inflation rates are affecting the whole sector, so other standards “must not be left behind”.
Robert Halfon, minister for skills, apprenticeships and higher education, said: “This will support more businesses to take on apprentices, boost skills in key sectors, and drive economic growth.”
Potential new T Levels in energy and sustainability are being explored by education chiefs as part of efforts to boost green skills.
A climate change and environmental skills action plan was published by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) today which sets out its ambitions to bolster green skills in post-16 education.
Among its commitments for 2023/24 is to assess T Level provision, with its report confirming that it is currently researching potential new T Levels with employers to “understand their needs and support pathways into energy and sustainability careers”.
FE Week has asked for more details from IfATE on when this research is set to end and when it may plan any potential new T Levels planned.
In addition, it has also not ruled out more occupational specialisms in existing T Levels to “future proof” the bellwether new qualifications, designed to be technical equivalents of A-levels.
The report said: “For existing T Levels, we will increase the climate change and environmental content in line with changes to the occupational standards on which they are based, expanding the content to cover some aspects of energy and sustainability.
“For those T Levels in the engineering and manufacturing, and construction and built environment routes there may be a need to create additional knowledge content or add further occupational specialisms to accomplish this.”
The action plan said that any changes would expect to be made as part of the annual review process for T Levels.
Elsewhere, the organisation has identified 228 priority apprenticeship standards to be reviewed across 11 themes including engineering, logistics, forestry, energy and electric vehicles, which could result in brand new apprenticeships being introduced or existing standards being revised.
So far, IfATE has reported that 100 of those already have the knowledge, skills and behaviours needed for climate change and the environment, with a commitment to have half of the 228 “greened” by June.
It pledged to complete that list by March 2024.
Among standards already looked at include the building services engineering senior technician to include green considerations in planning and resourcing, and adding more sectors to the sustainability business specialist occupational standard.
It has also approved new apprenticeships in domestic electrician (to include electric vehicle charging points, solar panels and heat pumps) and forest craftsperson to feature commitments to increasing tree canopy and woodland cover.
Over the next year, the institute plans revisions to installation and maintenance electrician apprenticeships to add skills around EV charging points, a new apprenticeship expected to launch in the summer around battery manufacture and a low carbon heating technician standard.
IfATE said it plans to publish a future innovation strategy this spring which will outline how future skills will be met.
She added: “Surveys have shown over 60 per cent of young people want to work in a role committed to tackling climate change and we will make it easier for employers and individuals to find the right apprenticeship or technical qualification for them.”
IfATE announced it was forming a green apprenticeships advisory panel back in December 2020 to advise on how apprenticeships could consider the environment more and fill gaps in provision.
Last summer, it continued that it was working with the Department for Education’s Unit for Future Skills to identify emerging skills needs, and said it planned to publish a refreshed green strategy at the end of last year.
A college on a turnaround journey has had its third consecutive ‘requires improvement’ Ofsted report published, following a visit that came 12 months “too soon” in the view of its principal.
The college has faced significant financial challenges since it formed through a merger of Henley College Coventry and City College Coventry in 2017, which were so severe the college’s solvency was threatened.
Ofsted’s latest report on the college, which teaches over 5,000 students, said senior leaders have “rightly focused their efforts on securing financial stability for the college” and recognised that they have also “invested considerable time and effort in improving the quality of education”.
However, these efforts have “not yet yielded sufficient improvements,” the report said.
“Quality assurance activities focus too much on compliance and do not improve the experience of the learner or apprentice. They do not place enough emphasis on developing the craft of teaching. As a result, there is too much inconsistency in the quality of teaching across the college.”
The college was also criticised for making a “limited contribution” to meeting skills needs, including failing to sufficiently involve employers in the design of the curriculum.
For apprenticeships specifically, Ofsted said there is a lack of “high-quality teaching”, caused in part by staff recruitment issues, and poor co-ordination of on- and off-the-job training. Many of the college’s 250 apprentices do not receive the training they need to “be successful”, according to the report.
Ofsted did however highlight many positives at Coventry College. Inspectors found that learners “enjoy being part of the college community”, they feel “respected and embrace everyone’s individuality”.
Learners are also “enthusiastic about their learning and are keen to do well” and the majority of those on study programmes are “well prepared for their next stage in education”.
Coventry College’s 2022 accounts show an improved financial position. The college achieved an overall surplus of £1 million compared to a deficit of £4.7 million in 2021, cash balances of £5.8 million, and an ESFA financial health rating of ‘good’. Its financial notice to improve was closed last year.
The turnaround includes the closure and future sale of the college’s Henley campus.
Reacting to today’s report, Coventry College principal Carol Thomas, who was appointed in August 2020, said: “Unfortunately Ofsted came about 12 months too soon for us. Anyone who has been involved in turnaround of this magnitude would know that it takes three to five years to really see the impact of decisions and actions taken and that’s when you have a full leadership team in post.
Carol Thomas
“If you add in the closing of a college site, the bringing together of two very different college cultures, plus a pandemic enforcing a series of lockdowns, remote learning, centre assessed and teacher assessed grades, followed by learners with no examination experience suddenly thrust into the world of RQF examinations – then it’s safe to say it has been nothing if not a challenge.”
Thomas continued: “The Ofsted report noted progress made from the 2019 inspection, particularly in relation to learner behaviour and attitudes, something that has been a challenge for the whole sector post pandemic, and most noticeably the whole learner experience and culture of the college, but the team are clearly disappointed to have received an inadequate grade for apprenticeships which is only 4 per cent of the college provision but dominates the Ofsted report.
“We have been battling to remove all of the apprenticeship legacy issues, which has been challenging due to the impact of the pandemic, and unfortunately an over reliance on agency staff in STEM areas, which Ofsted quite rightly noted had an impact on the learner experience.
“The college is, however, ambitious for its future and with a stable foundation and a strong team now in place, it can continue to move forward through the next phase of its improvement journey.”
Thomas said her college will ensure apprentices complete their programme successfully.
She told FE Week the FE Commissioner and Education and Skills Funding Agency have praised Coventry College’s turnaround as “one of the best they have ever seen in FE”, while Barclays bank also moved the college out of a formal “exit strategy” – something that “rarely happens in the business world”.
She also pointed out that it has taken two years for the college to establish a new senior leadership team.
Three ‘requires improvement’ grades in a row would automatically have qualified the college for an ‘inadequate’ judgement in the past.
Ofsted’s chief inspector Amanda Spielman changed this rule when she took over the top job at the inspectorate in January 2017 because she thought it was “flawed conception”.
An armed forces training centre for young people has been suspended from delivering in-person teaching by its subcontracting partner after “serious” sexual abuse concerns were found.
Ofsted has reported that too many female learners at QPD Forces Preparation College Doncaster “do not feel safe” and have “little confidence” that staff take seriously or address their complaints about harassment from their male peers.
Learners feel that the issues leading to their complaints are “too easily excused or dismissed” while cases of bullying are seen by some students as “banter”.
The courses on offer at QPD Doncaster prepare young people for a career in the military.
Ofsted criticised Aspire-Igen for failing to ensure effective oversight of QPD Doncaster. Inspectors found that despite holding frequent meetings to discuss safeguarding, Apire’s leaders are “not aware of the serious safeguarding concerns that a number of learners have raised”.
A spokesperson for Aspire-Igen said the provider has taken the decision to immediately suspend direct delivery at QDP Doncaster, with learners working remotely.
“An investigation has been carried out and liaison with Doncaster Council has been undertaken,” the spokesperson told FE Week, adding that safeguarding of all learners is “our paramount concern”.
Ofsted has placed a bigger focus on investigating sexual misconduct at schools, colleges and training providers following the Everyone’s Invited revelations of widespread sexual abuse in education settings, which came to prominence in spring 2020.
Since full inspections resumed in September 2021, inspectors have been reviewing providers’ sexual abuse records and looking at how providers handle related incidents. Learners are also now spoken with in single-sex groups during inspections.
Ofsted said that staff at QPD Doncaster “do not take concerns seriously and do not deal with them swiftly or appropriately”, and nor do they “record allegations or incidents clearly enough and do not indicate well enough how issues have been resolved”.
Leaders and managers also do not ensure that learners are safe from bullying at QPD Doncaster. Inspectors found that “too many learners do not have a good understanding of what constitutes bullying” and the attempts of staff to educate learners are “in reaction to incidents, rather than proactive”.
“As a result, learners do not take bullying seriously enough, seeing it as ‘banter’ rather than as inappropriate or harmful behaviour,” today’s report said.
Ofsted also criticised QPD’s leaders and managers for not doing enough to protect learners from the “dangers of radicalisation and extremism”, adding that “too many” students have “very little understanding of the risks that they face”.
The watchdog said that while leaders at QPD have appropriate safeguarding policies and procedures in place, with a clear reporting process, staff “do not follow these procedures well enough and, too often, do not pass on important information to the designated safeguarding lead”.
Inspectors also found that leaders do not have effective oversight of whether appropriate safe recruitment practices are implemented, such as whether staff have the right to work in the United Kingdom or whether the children’s barred list has been checked.
A QPD spokesperson said: “We at QPD, have worked hard with Aspire-igen to investigate the safeguarding concerns raised at QPD Doncaster.
“As a result of this staff have received further safeguarding and de-escalation training to ensure no learner would feel unsafe at QPD. We will continue to support our learners by providing remote delivery for them to stay safe and achieve their goals.”
Janet Smith leads one of the UK’s largest colleges, which after decades of storms is now moving into calmer waters. Jessica Hill meets the new chief executive and principal of Nottingham College
Janet Smith admits she has a “very low boredom threshold”. But rather than being a curse, it has propelled her to teach courses through her 35-year career in education at almost every level, from entry to Masters, as well as taking on tricky leadership roles including steering through the merger of New College Stamford and Peterborough Regional College.
What makes this remarkable is that when the chief executive and principal of Nottingham College left school at 16, a careers adviser pointed her towards a career as a secretary.
Nottingham College, one of the UK’s largest, has gone through challenging times in recent years. But Smith, who joined in July, is adamant “we have well and truly put the past behind us”.
The college has just moved from its ‘requires improvement’ Ofsted rating it has held since 2020 up to ‘good’, Smith tells FE Week.
Age 15
Nottingham’s tumultuous past
The current college emerged from two decades of mergers and restructurings, whittling down from “at least seven big colleges and some smaller ones” to the 2017 merger of New College Nottingham and Central College Nottingham to form the current mega-college with more than 18,000 students.
Smith acknowledges that the turbulence has been “very hard for staff”.
During 15 days of strikes in 2019, union members passed a vote of no-confidence in the the college’s leadership. A few months later, Ofsted downgraded it from ‘good’ to ‘requires improvement’.
‘The college didn’t grow to keep pace with the debt’
Then the FE Commissioner intervened when it hit cashflow difficulties after completing work on its £58.5 million new city hub campus. Smith describes the swish building, where we meet for our interview, as being a “beautiful tribute to FE”. But this and other ventures has left the college facing £34 million of debt.
“The college was borrowing to buy various buildings within the city at a time when lots of colleges were doing the same, but then it didn’t grow sufficiently to keep pace with the debt,” Smith says. “It had to cut its cloth accordingly. That was very hard for staff.”
Nottingham’s position has since stabilised somewhat. Its latest staff survey is “very positive”, showing the college is “in a very different place from the difficult days post-merger in 2017”.
Smith also points to the “helpful” exiting of a PFI contract a year earlier than planned in July 2022, with the college’s debt to income ratio dropping from 52.5 per cent in 2021-22 to around 47 per cent this year.
She does not expect the recent reclassification of colleges into the public sector to have much impact on Nottingham, at least in the short term. The college currently has £7 million of commercial debt that Smith says will have to be renegotiated at the end of 2024, and “we will need to enter dialogue with the DfE about this”.
The ‘audacious’ merger bid
Before moving to Nottingham, Smith was principal of New College Stamford where she led the 2020 merger of her college – which she felt had “lost its sense of place” – with Peterborough Regional College to create Inspire Education Group.
Smith had spent a short time as vice-principal at Peterborough, but had felt she “couldn’t thrive there” as it was “not a positive environment”.
At the time of the merger, she saw it as “a bit of a sad college” that had struggled with successive grade threes. Nonetheless, she admits her merger proposal – which she made after being approached for the principalship at Peterborough – was “a bit audacious”, Stamford being the smaller college.
She told them: “’You’re financially sound and well managed in some respects, but your quality is all over the place’.” Stamford was a “really strong grade two, heading up to outstanding”, which Smith claimed was thanks to measures she brought in learned from her time as deputy principal at then-outstanding Selby College.
But Smith’s motivations for the merger were not financial, about “career climbing” or “being the grandest” , but simply about “protecting” her college.
“I always felt a danger that if austerity continued, Stamford could get taken over. I knew Peterborough could be a much better college and that its deficit was our strength.”
The resulting merger “really was collaborative”, she stresses, with “top notch stuff” Stamford was doing around quality “pushed into Peterborough”.
“It’s about making the good stuff even better”
But Smith admits it was “tough”; “Peterborough was an unhappy college and when staff are unhappy, a bit like here [in Nottingham] after all of the years of merger and disruption, you have to work hard to win people over.
“You’ve got to get your messaging right, to show people it’s not threatening but it’s about lifting the whole organisation up and celebrating and making the good stuff even better. That’s what we did.”
Christening photo 1963, with Mam and very proud Dad
In-built resilience
Smith came from “real working-class roots” in Darlington. Her dad was a workshop foreman building railway wagons, and she “absolutely loved” her time at the local comprehensive.
But her childhood was beset by tragedy when Smith was 12 and her sister 11, and their 44-year-old mother, who had type one diabetes, died following a heart attack.
The day of our interview is the 47th anniversary of her death, which Smith recalls as “character forming”. “I see both my sister and I as real fighters and survivors. We helped each other, because my dad had to keep working. I didn’t have the sort of childhood some kids around here might have – Nottingham is a very deprived city. But I certainly got resilience.”
Despite getting an impressive ten O Levels and telling a school careers adviser she wanted to teach, Smith was “talked into” applying for a secretarial course at Darlington College after mentioning her mum had been a secretary.
She hadn’t thought about going further in education until a college lecturer pointed out she could do a degree.
She got her first taste of teaching while she was studying office systems management at the University of Hull. She was interviewing lecturing staff at North Lindsay College as part of her dissertation on how IT was coming into the FE business curriculum. “There was a strike on and staff were working to rule – the college was struggling to get cover for classes,” she recalls. “So I fell into my first experience of teaching and loved it.”
After lecturing at Hull College, and then the University of Hull University where she did a part-time masters in computing, Smith spent nine years at Grantham College, moving up from head of faculty to vice-principal.
She was involved in community learning there, with the college taking education out into deprived communities through Sure Start.
While funding cuts have seen much of that community work ebb away, Nottingham College is still “out there working in community venues – we don’t ask people to come into a college in a central location”. Smith says that element of the college was “highly praised” in its recent inspection, set to be published imminently.
Student Union Card, age 23
The Ofsted mandate
Smith’s “first transformation project” and the “most daunting challenge” of her career was at Hopwood Hall College in Rochdale.
When she arrived as VP curriculum and quality in 2009, it was struggling after a succession of grade threes. The principal gave her a sole mandate: to get the college up to grade two within 18 months.
There was a “huge amount” to do, and “working out where to start and how to prioritise actions was the greatest challenge, alongside getting buy-in from a very demoralised body of managers and staff”.
“I can gee people up, get them on the same page“
But Smith was full of enthusiasm. “The bit I can do is gee people up with passion and messaging and get everybody onto the same page.”
The approach worked, and Hopwood Hall moved to grade two as Smith moved on to Selby College as deputy principal two years later.
The future for Nottingham
Smith is optimistic about Nottingham’s future. She believesthe “mental health and socialisation” issues brought on by the pandemic are now “gradually petering out’. And while Nottingham, like most colleges, experienced more “low-level disruption and behavioural issues” last year, “it’s a lot calmer this year – as if we’ve recovered some of it”.
But she is concerned about the rollout of T Levels and believes it is “regrettable” the government has “not listened” to sector feedback not to de-fund BTECs.
She has heard significant criticism from the principals of colleges involved in the pilots on how the courses are “very narrow in focus”.
“They won’t suit all level three students, nor will there be enough placements for them all. That worries me.”
Smith is also critical that colleges with grade three status are unable to be involved in such pilots, which she sees as “punitive and retrograde”. “You’re blocked out of doing things and you stand still as an organisation – the things that could rescue you and help you turn a college around, you’re blocked from doing.”
She admits people in Nottingham are “a bit suspicious” of the newly signed East Midlands devolution deal, but believes it provides “real opportunities” for the city “so long as the protections are still there”.
She too was initially a “cynic” about devolution because “you’ve got to replicate the ESFA in each area to deliver the skills budget, which takes money away from the frontline”.
But she saw the benefits Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority brought to that region in her previous roles.
“It took a while for them to really flex the way they ran the budget but when they did, they started to support genuine innovation.”
Janet Smith
“I want my colleagues to be part of the answer”
Devolution also allows colleges to be “very fleet of foot”; Peterborough got off the blocks responding to the lack of HGV drivers in less than two months with 80 people on a road haulage training programme, which “couldn’t have happened under the ESFA”.
“I want my colleagues to be part of the answer, to flex with the funding and really deliver for the people of Nottingham, because that’s what FE is about. We’re here in and of our communities.”
