DfE seeks candidates for ‘pivotal’ roles in Sunak’s skills agenda

The Department for Education is looking for three new high-level directors to lead on funding, technical qualifications and skills strategy.

Job adverts for the posts went out this week, stating that the roles are “pivotal” in delivering the government’s skills agenda which is a “top priority” for the prime minister.

A permanent director of funding is sought to lead a team of 300 in the DfE’s Education and Skills Funding Agency.

The successful applicant, who will earn £95,000 a year, will take over from interim director of funding Owen Jenkins who has held the post since August 2021 after John Edwards stepped up to be the ESFA’s interim chief executive.

The funding director leads a “multi-disciplinary directorate made up of teams of experts within their field”, according to the job advert.

It states that the director will approve around 500,000 funding payments totalling £67 billion to training providers in all areas of the education sector, ensuring payments are “timely and accurate”.

They will have an important part to play in the ESFA’s drive to simplify the funding system and to oversee the implementation and management of the agency’s Digital Funding Service to drive improvement across a “complex landscape”.

Applications for the director of funding close on February 6, 2023. The DfE is also hiring a director for technical qualifications who will be responsible for three “critical” pieces of work: the policy and delivery of T Levels; completion of the post-16 qualifications review; and higher technical education at levels 4 and 5.

The director will lead about 120 staff based across six sites and earn a salary of £95,000.

They will be tasked with ensuring “strategic links with other key parts of the skills strategy and other departmental policy such as the reforms to higher education, the lifelong loan entitlement, exams and awarding, and digitisation and acting a leader across the skills group”.

Applications for the director of technical qualifications close January 30.

The DfE is also seeking to appoint a new deputy director for skills strategy who will be responsible for setting “direction, objectives and workplans for the division as a whole” as well as “managing relationships with No.10, the Treasury, and across the Department for Education on the skills portfolio”.

The successful applicant, who will earn £73,000 a year, will manage a “flexible resource unit” of 10 staff who are “deployed on shortterm, high priority projects across skills group and support capability building across the group”.

Applications for the deputy director for skills strategy close on January 30.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: EDITION 411

Rebecca Durber

Area Director North West, Association of Colleges AELP

Start date: January 2023

Previous Job: Director of Public Affairs,

Interesting fact: Rebecca spent 8 years as a councillor on Manchester City
Council, representing a ward in the south of the city

Ed Reza Schwitzer

Head of External Affairs, AQA

Start date: January 2023


Previous Job: Associate Director – Education Practice, Public First

Interesting fact: While hailing from Slovak Jewish ancestry on his dad’s side and
Iranian on his mum’s side, Reza is also fluent in Italian

Richard Caulfield

Senior Policy Manager, Greater Manchester Colleges Group

Start date: January 2023


Previous Job: Area Director, AoC

Interesting fact: Richard is a ‘serial volunteer’: current roles include being
a trustee of an anti-poverty charity, a parkrun marshall (when not running it),
security at a synagogue, chair of GP practice patients group and marshall at a
Covid vaccine centre

Post-16 maths cash ‘lopsided’ towards schools

Colleges are missing out on government cash aimed at bolstering the number of students studying maths after 16, analysis shared exclusively with FE Week has found.

Beneficiaries of the advanced maths premium scheme say the cash boost has been instrumental in driving up participation, particularly on core maths courses.

But those providers have hit back at changes to the baseline funding planned for August 2023 which will see their premium grant slashed.

The advanced maths premium is paid to providers for numbers of students studying level 3 maths courses – AS levels, A-levels or core maths – above a baseline figure.

To date, the baseline has been calculated as an average of level 3 maths learners in 2015/16 and 2017/18 academic years, with the payment made to institutions at £600 per student above that figure.

But analysis by the Association of Colleges has warned that the funding has not necessarily had the desired impact.

It has found that of the £56.7 million paid out in the last four years, 86 per cent has gone to schools and just 14 per cent paid to colleges, despite around 25 per cent of level 3 maths entries being in colleges.

The analysis, carried out by the AoC’s senior policy manager Eddie Playfair, found that the biggest beneficiaries of the scheme were Brampton Manor Academy with £280,800 allocated for 2023/23 and Hereford Sixth Form College with just over £250,000.

However some FE colleges and sixth form colleges with high numbers of maths students in excess of 350 failed to get a penny. They included Peter Symonds College, with more than 600 maths entries, as well as Runshaw College and Exeter College which both had about 500.

FE Week approached all three for comment, as well as the top three beneficiaries – Brampton Manor Academy, Hereford Sixth Form College and Worcester Sixth Form College.

The premium rules mean funding rewarded those which had escalated their maths students numbers on the baseline, rather than those with consistently high numbers of level 3 maths learners.

Playfair said: “The AMP has played out in a very lopsided way and probably hasn’t done what it set out to do, which was to incentivise growth. It’s a bit of a paradox to be incentivising something that is already very popular – A-level maths is the most popular A-level.

“Colleges have told us it hasn’t changed their behaviours, so the fact there is an advanced maths premium hasn’t made them promote maths any more than they already do.”

But those which have benefited from the scheme disagreed, explaining that it had been vital in boosting numbers.

Ed Senior, principal at Worcester Sixth Form College which received more than £178,000 for 2022/23, said its growth would not have happened without the premium.

“It’s been instrumental getting lots more students into level 3 maths,” he said. “The growth in A-level maths and further maths is not very big but the reason there are 300 students is it led us to introduce core maths.”

Peter Cooper, chief executive of the Heart of Mercia Trust which runs Hereford and Worcester sixth form colleges, said they deliberately encouraged the take-up of core maths because the funding incentive could facilitate it, believing it had also helped achievement in other subjects.

But from 2023/24, the baseline funding will be calculated on an average of the 2019/20 and 2020/21 data, which means the pay-outs will likely be smaller.

Cooper added: “The adjustment to a new baseline means we will get no money at all for doing the course in the future.

This now perversely forces us to do less of it as we would have to take the money from other areas. A prime example of central bureaucratic incompetence in implementing a worthy aim.”

The DfE’s advanced maths premium guidance says that its processes will ensure “only genuine increases in level 3 maths participation attract the premium,” saying it will “monitor behaviour at institution level to indicate adverse behaviour and may follow up where data gives us cause for concern”.

According to DfE data for summer 2022 exams, there were more than 89,000 A-level maths entries.

Core maths qualifications were announced in December 2014 as a means of aiding progression in maths post-16 for those not wishing to study maths at A-level. In 2022 there were 12,311 entries – the highest number since the first exams in 2016 when just under 3,000 entries were reported.

When the DfE and Treasury announced the premium in February 2018, schools minister Nick Gibb said that “this premium will open up the opportunity for even more young people to study advanced maths qualifications”.

Playfair said that “at the very least it would have been better to spend this money on volumes,” as it would reward providers for consistently delivering A-level maths. He has called for the DfE to review the allocations.

The DfE has been approached for comment.

Minimum service law would include all FE workers, union warns

New laws mandating minimum service levels for striking public sector organisations will cover further education, according to union bosses.

Business secretary Grant Shapps unveiled controversial plans in parliament on Tuesday which will include health, education, fire and rescue, transport, border security and nuclear decommissioning services.

The University and Colleges Union (UCU) said that the legislation as currently worded would cover every college and university regardless of whether they were in the public or private sector. The legislation will not affect the process of negotiating pay, the UCU said.

The bill, if passed into law, will mean minimum service levels must be provided by organisations in those sectors which are on strike to limit disruption for the public.

Guidance issued by the government on the bill did not specify what a minimum service level will be, but the Department for Education said that if regulations are taken forward in due course there will be consultation with unions, employers and other relevant parties.

Shapps told the Commons: “We hope to reach minimum service levels that mean we don’t have to use that power in the bill,” adding that it will “ensure vital public services will have to maintain a basic function”.

According to the DfE, the legislation will allow secretaries of state to bring forward regulations for their sectors, but the education secretary did not intend to do so in the short term because her preference was to proceed through agreement and guidance.

If the legislation proceeds and gains royal assent, striking workers could be sacked if regulations are not followed.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said that the right to strike was a “fundamental freedom”, adding: “Rather than help address over a decade of falling wages, this government wants to instead make withdrawing your labour a sackable offence, and force people to work even if they have a right to refuse.”

About 4,000 UCU members across 29 different colleges took part in strike action during September and October last year over pay, the union said.

The Association of Colleges had proposed a 2.5 per cent pay increase, with chief executive David Hughes explaining that “the money is simply not there” for a bigger rise.

But union bosses called the offer “totally unacceptable”, demanding a 10 per cent rise with a minimum uplift of £2,000.

College confirms cyber attack brought down IT systems

CityLit has confirmed that a ransomware attack was responsible for a month-long IT outage, causing major disruption to online classes and enrolment.  

In a message sent to students on Wednesday, seen by FE Week, the college apologised for ongoing disruption but it couldn’t yet confirm whether any student data has been compromised.  

Regulators, including the Information Commissioner’s Office, have been informed.  

FE Week reported in early December that online lessons had been cancelled for the rest of the year and enrolment had to be paused due to “IT disruption”. The college couldn’t confirm the cause of the disruption with FE Week at the time as investigations were still ongoing. 

However the 800 word explanation sent to students this week doesn’t offer answers for students concerned about their data, as this is still being investigated.  

“Last year we became aware of some suspicious activity on part of our network which impacted a range of our IT systems. As soon as this was identified, we started to investigate alongside external specialists. 

“We have since confirmed this was a ransomware incident where an unauthorised third-party gained access to our systems and copied some information from our network. We successfully contained the incident by shutting down the network and began the process of getting our system back up and running.” 

Ransomware attacks have been a common tactic by cyber criminals targeting colleges and other institutions. Typically, attackers gain access to an institution’s systems and delete or encrypt files and data. A ransom note is then issued demanding payment in return for release of the stolen data.  

Further education colleges are particularly vulnerable to cyber-attacks.  

Survey evidence from the National Cyber Security Centre, an arm of GCHQ, last year showed that 88 per cent of further education colleges had identified a breach or attack in the preceeding 12 months.  

This compares to 92 per cent of higher education institutions, but 70 per cent of secondary schools, 41 per cent of primary schools and 39 per cent of all UK businesses. 

It is believed that weak defences and the quantity of data stored makes colleges attractive to cyber-criminals. 

The attack on CityLit brought online classes and enrolment to halt, as well as bringing down the college’s website and phone systems. In-person classes however were able to continue.  

Students affected by class cancellations have been contacted about claiming refunds.  

CityLit believes they have identified the group responsible for the attack through a post online which “names us [the college] and purports to contain files copied from our system.” 

The college confirmed to students that “paying a ransom to these criminals would not align with our values as an ethical organisation and would simply further fund criminal activity.” 

“There is no reason to believe anyone’s information was specifically targeted by this incident” the statement adds.  

However the college cannot yet say whether any students’ data was compromised in the attack.  

“These investigations are time-consuming, and it is important that we do them properly so that we can accurately inform you if there is any impact on your data. 

“Once our investigation is complete, we will be in touch directly with anyone who needs to take any particular action with more details and some guidance about the steps they should take.” 

A City Lit spokesperson said: “Last year we identified some suspicious activity on part of our network which we have since confirmed was a ransomware incident. Our team are working hard to resolve any disruption while in parallel our investigation is ongoing into the affected information.  

“We have updated our staff and students as well as reporting the incident to the Information Commissioner’s Office, law enforcement and other relevant regulators.” 

Ofsted admits complaints policy ‘isn’t working’

Ofsted’s senior leaders have admitted their complaints policy “is not working” and is under review.   

Officials have been told to make the process more human and less bureaucratic, FE Week’s sister publication Schools Week understands, following backlash from the sector.   

During an invite-only briefing to academy trust leaders this week, the watchdog also revealed that its inspectors have been sent on “seeing the big picture” training after complaints about inconsistent grades.   

Trust and training provider bosses have complained that some officials reached “over-zealous” judgements based on students’ remarks during inspections.   

The rare admission from Ofsted has been praised in private by some education leaders, who feel it shows the watchdog is listening and taking action.   

The percentage of complaints about inspections that were at least partially upheld fell to its lowest level in eight years last year.

Just 17 per cent of 718 complaints closed in the 2021/22 academic year had aspects upheld. This followed a record high of 26 per cent out of 320 complaints closed in the previous year, but this was heavily impacted by Covid.   

The comments were made during a meeting with members of the Confederation of School Trusts. Large trust leaders heard from Ofsted officials Chris Jones and Lee Owston on Tuesday before the pair spoke again to about 400 CST members at meeting on Wednesday.   

Trust leaders were told that the complaints process “is not working”, both for education providers and the inspectorate itself.   

Ofsted officials are now reviewing their policy to see how they can improve it. One of the changes includes a new “enhanced oversight” process, Schools Week understands, which should lead to “problematic” inspections being picked up in real time, before issues arise with contentious judgments.   

FE Week understands any changes to the complaints process would be implemented across all sectors, including schools and further education.   

Caroline Derbyshire, chair of the Headteachers’ Roundtable, welcomed a  review but said this should be shared with “everyone else in the profession”.   

She said many heads believe that issues picked up during inspections can often be “dealt with”, but issues occurring post-inspection and requiring the complaints process to resolve “rarely result in a different outcome”.   

The meeting followed CST sharing concerns about inspections raised by its members to the inspectorate last year.   

One prevailing concern was about inspectors jumping to snap judgments based on what students say. Until recently, Ofsted inspectors have not had external results data to inform their judgment.   

Trust leaders said a resulting over-focus on comments made during the student voice part of inspections – particularly relating to behaviour and derogatory language issues – were being given too much weight in final judgments.   

The watchdog admitted to leaders there had been inconsistency in judgments across these areas.   

Colleges and training providers have echoed these concerns experienced in schools to FE Week in recent years.   

Academy trust leaders were told new inspector training started last week called “seeing the big picture”.   

This is to ensure inspectors know the framework should not be taken verbatim, leaders were told, and that inspectors must not leap to snap judgments that any such issues are endemic in the school or provider.   

A spokesperson for Ofsted said: “The landscape in which inspectors and leaders work is always evolving, which is why we run a continuous training programme for all our inspectors. We also make every effort to engage with people from the sectors we inspect and act on their feedback where we can.”   

They added any “formal proposals for changes to our processes, such as complaints, will always be subject to wider consultation”. 

‘Inadequate’ private provider escapes ESFA contract termination

An independent training provider will keep its government apprenticeship contract despite an ‘inadequate’ rating from Ofsted because of “unique” circumstances, FE Week understands. 

Officials at the Education and Skills Funding Agency have taken the unheard-of decision to retain the funding agreement for Medipro’s emergency care training and there will be no suspension on new starts.   

After the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust’s apprenticeship contract was terminated in late 2021 amid safeguarding concerns, the ESFA and Health Education England asked Medipro to take on 537 apprentices, in addition to its own 700 apprentices.    

In recognition of the “calamity” facing the sector and learners who would have been unable to complete their programme, Medipro agreed and spent £500,000 to open a new training school to house the apprentices.  

However the provider received the education watchdog’s lowest possible grade in a report published on Wednesday.   

Despite the report being full of praise for the training delivery, inspectors judged Medipro to be ‘inadequate’ overall because leaders had allegedly failed to act “quickly or effectively enough” to ensure a smooth transition for apprentices who the company was forced to step in and save.   

The majority of the transferred apprentices, many of whom were already past their planned end date and carried over very little allocated funding, have now completed their programme. At the time of Ofsted’s visit to Medipro in November, however, 230 of the apprentices were still on programme.   

The inspectorate said “too many” of the transferred apprentices are “demotivated” and “frustrated” by the “lack of guidance and clarity they receive about their progress”.   

Ofsted also claimed that the apprentices had experienced “long delays in the return of marked work and, in too many cases, have been without a tutor for a long period of time”.   

Medipro leaders “have not put in place the infrastructure and resources needed to support the significant growth in provision following the transfer,” the report said.   

“Leaders have not ensured that transferred apprentices have had a good learning experience. Consequently, too many of these apprentices are not making rapid enough progress.”   

The ESFA’s rules state that it will terminate an apprenticeship provider’s funding agreement if the company receives an ‘inadequate’ from Ofsted. The agency can however decide to not terminate in exceptional circumstances.   

The case highlights the risks for providers that agree to step in to complete the training for large cohorts of apprentices who unexpectedly find themselves without provision.   

Medipro told FE Week the agency has contacted them to confirm it will not cancel the apprenticeship contract but will monitor their provision.   

Brian English, managing director of Medipro, said: “Medipro is grateful to ESFA for taking the context of the report and our unique circumstances into account by deciding not to cancel our contract. This allows us to continue to support students in a much-needed sector. We will continue to engage with them whilst we are making the required improvements.”   

Medipro was given ‘requires improvement’ ratings in four of the five fields judged.   

Apart from those who have been transferred from another provider, inspectors found that apprentices are “fully attentive, motivated to learn and eager to participate in sessions”.   

The report said leaders and managers provide training that “meets the skills needs of the emergency and urgent care sector”, adding that leaders are qualified paramedics and understand the industry “extremely well”.   

Leaders and managers have also “designed a curriculum that contributes to meeting a significant skills gap in the sector” and recruit “qualified staff who are highly experienced in their field”.   

English said he was “disappointed” with Ofsted’s rating which he feels is “not a true reflection on the overall standard of training we provide”.   

“The report focused on the learners who were passed planned end date and many of them were in the group that transferred to Medipro from another provider,” he told FE Week.   

“Given the numbers of apprentices involved, the accelerated timeframe required for the transfer and that the learners were on paper-based portfolios, this process for the transfer was not straightforward but we supported it to ensure there was minimal disruption to this group of learners and to support the clinical workforce at a challenged time.”   

Phil Carver, regional director East of England at Health Education England, said: “Health Education England has fully supported Medipro as appropriate in relation to our apprentices. We will continue to work with the ESFA and other stakeholder partners to ensure our learners training pathway is not disrupted to ensure we protect the future NHS workforce.”   

An East of England Ambulance Service spokesperson said it was aware that some of its apprentices who transferred to Medipro have had “some difficulties which is reflected in the Ofsted report and we are sorry for their experiences”.   

“We are committed to working with Medipro to successfully support all apprentices through their qualification,” they added.   

The ESFA declined to comment. 

Vocational training sector mourns loss of ‘inspirational’ Steve Lawrence

Tributes have been paid to EEVT cofounder Steve Lawrence, who died at the weekend aged 71 following an illness.

Lawrence, who was managing director of EEVT, set up the business development firm in 1999 with his partner, Lisa Caley. His career in training and education spanned over 30 years and he would go on to play a leading role in the drive for diversity in apprenticeships.

Caley told FE Week that Lawrence died “after a battle bravely fought”.

“Passionate about education and training, Steve was a committed advocate for the sector and believed strongly that teaching and lifelong learning could change lives for the better. He always placed learners at the heart of everything he did, supporting many, often disadvantaged, into training and employment,” she said.

For over two decades, Lawrence and EEVT worked with businesses in vocational training and employment support sectors on bid writing, strategy development and business advice.

David Morley, director of Pitman Training Essex and Suffolk, said: “I have known Steve for over 20 years and he was always there whenever I wanted any advice or ideas to help our businesses.

“He was one of the nicest people I have met and always had time for you, no matter how busy or inconvenient it was for him. His death is a massive loss to us all and will be missed greatly.”

Meetu Madaan, managing director of Skills Provider Limited, said: “Can’t express how sad I am. He has always been by my side, ready to help, listen, support. He was true and honest inside out. I have known him for more than 10 years and he was one of the pillars of where I am now. You will always be remembered.”

Lawrence ran his own business but had also held roles at Reed In Partnership, Computer Gym UK and IC Training Centre, among others, and was the first head judge of the Multicultural Apprenticeships Awards.

Saf Ali, founder of the awards and CEO of Pathway Group, said: “The skills and employability sector has suffered a great loss with the passing of Steve Lawrence. Steve was genuinely valued for his honest talk, his knowledge, his honesty and openness to support and encourage others.”

Lawrence’s commitment to inclusion and diversity in apprenticeships was praised in a tribute from the Association of Employment and Learning Providers. Chief executive Jane Hickie said: “On behalf of AELP, I’d like to send our condolences to Steve’s family and friends. He was a strong advocate for a better skills system so this is a very sad day for our sector. In addition to his work with EEVT, Steve will be remembered fondly for his role as an ambassador at the Multicultural Apprenticeship Awards, helping to promote inclusion and diversity within apprenticeships.”

Caley added: “Steve was highly valued for knowledge, honesty and integrity, always happy to listen, help and support where he could. A mentor, inspiration, oracle, or legend, depending on who you ask. He truly was one of a kind and is a great loss to the industry.

“I would like to say thank you for everyone’s comments about Steve. He would be moved and humbled and it has been a great comfort to read them all. He will be missed more than words can say.”

Principal and social mobility tsar to move colleges

Principal and new interim chair of the social mobility commission Alun Francis is moving college.

Having led Oldham College for more than a decade Francis announced today that he is set to join Blackpool and the Fylde College as principal later this year.

He will replace Bev Robinson at Blackpool who will be retiring after a near-30-year career in further education.

Francis joined Oldham College in 2010 from Oldham Council where he served as director of transforming learning. He was made an OBE in the Queen’s New Year 2021 Honours for his services to education.

Francis said it was a “tough decision” to leave Oldham for Blackpool.

“I have huge affection for our staff and learners, and for the wider Oldham community, because we have been on amazing journey together,” he added.

Francis was named as the new deputy of the government’s Social Mobility Commission in October.

He stepped up to be chair of the commission last week, for an interim period at least, after Katharine Birbalsingh – Britain’s so-called “strictest headteacher” at Michaela Community School in London – quit.

Writing exclusively for FE Week, she said her controversial opinions “puts the commission in jeopardy” and was doing “more harm than good”.

Francis will now lead the commission until a permanent chair is appointed.

His departure date from Oldham College, which is judged as ‘good’ by Ofsted, is yet to be finalised and arrangements for the appointment of his successor will also be confirmed at a later date.

Bev Robinson

Robinson has led Blackpool and the Fylde College, also judged ‘good’ by Ofsted, since 2013 and will be retiring in the summer.

She has been a contributor to influential government reviews including serving as a member on the independent panels for both the Augar review on post-18 education and Sainsbury review on technical education.

Robinson, who was made a CBE for services to further education in the King’s new year honours list 2023, is also on the board of the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education – a role she will continue in her retirement.