2022 review: The stories that made the headlines this year

FE Week special front page

Looking back on the milestone moments of 2022, of course the one that will stick with most of us forever was the death of the Queen.

It was a Thursday when it happened, which is press day for FE Week. The whole team was together in the newsroom to make the finishing touches to the 397th edition of the paper. It was obvious something serious was happening, so we had some decisions to make.

How do we cover the death of the monarch in our paper? Should we? Should we even have a paper this week? What’s everyone else doing? Could any of our stories this week appear inappropriate or disrespectful given the circumstances? This was all pretty unprecedented after all.

Like everyone reporting on this momentous moment for our country, the most powerful coverage came from the stories and memories of people that had met the Queen. We found examples of Her Late Majesty visiting colleges going back to 1949 even before she was Queen.

‘I feel very protected’: how the UK’s colleges welcomed students from Ukraine

Where, for many, the Queen’s reign represented a stability in our constitution, the same can’t be said for our political leaders in 2022.

We began the year with Alex Burghart in the skills minister post, having been appointed in September 2021. Perhaps Burghart’s biggest achievement was seeing the skills and post 16 education bill through parliament, which wasn’t straight forward thanks to the House of Lords.

Burghart was part of that first wave of junior ministerial resignations in July. He was then replaced by Andrea Jenkyns who was, sadly, better remembered for gaffs than graft. Her spat with West Midlands mayor Andy Street was one of my favourites, but of course everyone will remember the middle finger incident outside Number 10.

Jenkyns somehow survived the Johnson downfall while the rest of the DfE ministerial team was replaced around her.

The dismantling of a sector: Adult education in crisis

The Truss premiership is one people with mortgages won’t forget in a hurry. But her subsequent downfall led to some better-known figures return to ministerial offices at DfE. Most notably, the former skills minister Gillian Keegan become the fifth education secretary of 2022, and the return of Robert Halfon to the skills brief.

All of that Westminster drama has been great for the world of journalism. We’ve never done so many ‘top 10 facts about new minister’ stories.

But it’s not been great for policy. There hasn’t been a big new idea, let along big new funding, from DfE for some time.

All this at a time when providers were re-doing their financial forecasts in light of rocketing inflation, interest rates and energy costs.

A lot of that uncertainty will carry forward in to 2023.

Reclassification of colleges to the public sector will bed in next year as new financial handbooks, guidance and approval processes are brought in to keep them compliant. Capital plans, already strained by rising cost of materials, other borrowing, salaries and severance packages will all need DfE sign off.

And rising costs with static funding could see more investors turn their back on the training market, as we saw this year with System Group.

Industrial action in our sector will only, I expect, escalate as unions in schools and universities, and elsewhere of course, escalate theirs.

There will be more devolution in 2023, putting even more pressure on DfE to keep up with funding increases being brought in by some of the mayors (see London and West Midlands).

And what of apprenticeships? A review of the levy has been looming like the sword of Damocles for some time now, and IfATE keep promising to increase funding rates but keep failing to deliver.

Whatever comes, FE Week will continue to keep decision-makers on their toes and keeping you, our readers, up to date on what’s going on.

On behalf of the FE Week team – a happy new year to all our readers and subscribers.

January

We reported on the first college to lose its ‘outstanding’ grade after Ofsted finally removed the exemption for grade 1s

College loses grade 1 after Ofsted lifts exemption

February

The levelling up white paper came out with plans for new “elite” sixth forms … which didn’t go down well with college bosses

Levelling up: Plans for ‘elite’ new sixth forms and skills ‘mission’

March

Level 2 and below qualifications were in the headlines this month as the government named the qualifications that will lose funding as part of their reform programme

DfE reveals plan to scrap thousands of level 2 and below qualifications

April

Stats out this month revealed that the drop-out rate for apprenticeships was 41.3 per cent in 2019/20 and 41.2 per cent in 2020/21. DfE blamed Covid and more challenging standards. Commentators said this was evidence of the need for reform.

Shock as half of apprentices drop out

May

In May, training providers rejoiced at the replacement of the controversial 20 per cent off the job training rule for apprenticeships with a new 6hr/week baseline

ESFA ditches 20% off-the-job requirement as part of 2022/23 apprenticeship funding rule changes

June

England’s largest training provider was downgraded from ‘good’ to ‘requires improvement’ in June. Inspectors said the firm was focussed on financial performance and starts over quality.

Ofsted to hit England’s largest apprenticeship provider with grade 3

July

In July we broke the news that the firm that took over Learndirect had suddenly filed for insolvency after failing to win government contracts. Also, Michelle Donelan served 35 hours as educations secretary. James Cleverly took over.

Firm that took over Learndirect goes bust

August

News in August was dominated by results delays – thousands of BTEC and Cambridge Tech students were let down triggering investigations by the regulators.

BTEC delays wreck results day for some

September

First year health and science T Level students had their grades changed after regulators found “serious issues” with exams, it was announced in September. Also, Kit Malthouse becomes the fourth education secretary of 2022.

Health and science T Level results WILL be regraded after watchdog finds ‘serious’ issues

October

In October, DfE was finally forced to reveal that £2 billion in unspent apprenticeship levy funding had been returned to Treasury since 2017. Also, Gillian Keegan becomes the fifth education secretary of 2022.

DfE forced to finally reveal true amount of apprenticeship funding returned to Treasury

November

Colleges were reclassified as public sector bodies in November and immediately had new rules to follow around borrowing, senior pay controls and how to spend to their reserves.

Colleges return to public sector, ONS announces

December

And this month, after years of low starts, the government scrapped the national traineeships programme. Providers leaders said this was a blow for social mobility.

Traineeships scrapped amid years of low starts

AEB funding rates to increase in West Midlands

The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) has announced that funding rates for its adult education budget (AEB) programmes will increase by 10 per cent this year. 

Colleges and providers will see the increase “throughout the 2022/23 academic year” the combined authority has said. 

The move, estimated to cost around £10 million, will be welcomed by colleges and training providers battling increasing running costs due to soaring inflation, sky high energy bills and staffing pressures. 

This will add to pressure on the government to increase adult education funding rates nationally, as well as other mayors with devolved budgets.

Non-devolved adult education funding rates have not increased for over a decade.

Proposals to reform adult education funding in non-devolved areas, administered by the Education and Skills Funding Agency, have been delayed to 2024/25. Those reforms promised boosting funding rates for “priority” courses.

The rise in the West Midlands is more than double the increase announced by the Mayor of London earlier this year for some adult education programmes serving Londoners. 

In a statement today, the WMCA has said it is increasing AEB funding rates to “strengthen the financial resilience of providers, ensuring they can continue to design and deliver new training programmes that help residents gain the skills needed to find a new or better job”.

There are currently 27 colleges and local authorities in receipt of AEB grants through the WMCA, with a combined pre-increase total of £101.7 million. A further £21 million is allocated to 40 training providers through contracts for services. 

The mayor of the West Midlands Combined Authority, Andy Steet, is currently locked in negotiations with the government for even further devolved powers over skills. New “trailblazer” deals for the West Midlands and Greater Manchester are expected to be revealed in January 2023. 

Speaking to FE Week last month, the West Midlands Combined Authority said they were in negotiations for “greater influence over post-16 technical and vocational education and over careers, as well as joint working with DWP in shaping employment support”. 

Street said today’s announcement to increase AEB funding rates will be a boost to the region:

“By supporting our education providers in this way, we’re backing the valuable work they do to equip our residents with the skills they need to be able to access high quality employment.

“Given cost pressures providers have been facing in recent months – for materials, wages, utilities and facilities management – I’m glad that we’ve been able to extend a helping hand at this time as we continue in our efforts to build a brighter future for local people.”

The West Midlands was one of the first combined authorities to receive powers over a devolved adult education budget for its residents in August 2019.

Barber to lead region’s social mobility taskforce

Education and business chiefs in the south west of England will join a new commission being formed to drive social mobility for youngsters in the region.

The South-West Social Mobility Commission will be chaired by Sir Michael Barber, a north Devon resident himself who has advised awarding giant Pearson and led the prime minister’s delivery unit from 2001-2005. He is currently chancellor for the University of Exeter and was recently commissioned by the chancellor in the autumn statement to advise the government on skills reform plans.

Also on the commission are the university’s vice chancellor Lisa Roberts, PETROC College chief executive and principal Sean Mackney, Babcock International’s Brendan Staniforth, as well as school, council and business organisation chiefs.

It follows a report published in April on social mobility in the south west by the University of Exeter’s professor of social mobility Lee Elliot Major and Dr Anne-Marie Sim from the university’s centre for social mobility.

Both will support the commission’s work, the university confirmed.

The commission aims to boost the prospects for disadvantaged young people, after April’s research found Devon, Cornwall and Somerset were among the lowest rates of attainment in the country for disadvantaged students.

Just 40 per cent of disadvantaged pupils achieved a pass in GCSE English and maths in 2019 compared with almost 60 per cent in inner London, according to the commission.

Progression into higher education was also low, it said.

The commission will gather data and research to publish annual social mobility statistics, as well as produce advice and guidance to education, business, public sector and charitable status chiefs with the aim of boosting the prospects of students.

It will set goals for 2050 as well as each five-year period between now and then to turn around the situation.

It comes just weeks after the government confirmed Cornwall will be given adult education budget powers by 2025 under a devolution agreement, with negotiations continuing for a deal for Devon, Plymouth and Torbay.

Professor Elliot Major said the commission will “inform decision making across all quarters and irrespective of changes in politics or personnel, to obtain the long-term support needed to truly transform outcomes”.

Sir Michael Barber added that there was “strong support from those running services and businesses across the region that the facts on the ground need to change if the region is to be prosperous and successful in the decades ahead”.

The 12 commissioners are as follows:

  • Michael Barber (Chair), chancellor of the University of Exeter
  • Lisa Roberts, vice chancellor of University of Exeter
  • Kate Kennally, chief executive of Cornwall Council
  • Paul von der Heyde, chair of Somerset Integrated Care Board
  • Lisa Mannall, chief executive of Cornwall Education Learning Trust and former South-West regional schools commissioner
  • Sean Mackney, principal and CEO of PETROC College
  • Brendan Staniforth, strategy delivery director at Devonport Royal Dockyard (Babcock International)
  • Paul Crawford, chief executive of Live West
  • Karl Tucker, chair of Yeo Valley Ltd, chair of HotSW LEP and interim chair of GSW
  • Tony Rowe, chair of Exeter Chiefs
  • Alice Thomson, columnist and interviewer at The Times
  • Andrew Moreman, chief executive of Young Devon

FE financial risks “de-escalated” says DfE

The financial resilience of the further education sector is no longer a headline risk, according to the Department for Education.

The DfE this week published its annual report and accounts for the year ending March 31 2022, which featured some fresh information on its finances and Covid-19 recovery efforts.

Here are a handful of findings from the report for the FE sector.

Financial resilience concerns “de-escalated”

The DfE believes that the financial resilience of the FE sector is no longer a headline risk, according to the report.

The document said that both higher education and FE risks have been “de-escalated” after appearing in the last two years’ high-risk reports.

But it stressed that “these continue to be discussed at both performance and risk committee and leadership team on a regular basis”.

It comes as funding arrangements remain high on the list of concerns for college leaders as inflation continues to consume budgets, with Association of Colleges chief David Hughes only last week warning that “the funding picture now after more than a decade of austerity is unsustainable and it is obvious action is needed”.

Earlier this month, the Public Accounts Committee concluded that the £4 billion annual spend on 19+ education and training was failing to deliver the skills needed for the economy.

Across the wider education sector, teacher workforce delivery and early years sufficiency were two others in last year’s DfE annual report and accounts which no longer feature in the top risks, after both issues “stabilised”.

Its top six risks on the risk register now are loss of public confidence in exams; education recovery efforts; school buildings; vulnerable children attendance and attainment; high needs cost pressures; and cyber security.

More woe for national retraining campaign

The Get Help to Retrain digital scheme launched in July 2019 aimed to help those aged 24 and above with qualifications below degree level into training courses to progress into skilled careers.

Acting as the centrepiece to the £100 million National Retraining Scheme, it instead turned out to be a damp squib with the announcement just a year later that it would be integrated into the new £2.5 billion national skills fund.

The government at the time said it was to “reduce complexity in the system” but it also emerged that a number of regional mayors opted not to take part.

The DfE accounts now reveal that it lost £2.3 million on work for the online system that was “still under development at the time the government shifted priority to a much larger, more comprehensive national skills fund programme of initiatives”.

It added: “Alternative skills initiatives led to the decision to discontinue further work on this programme leading to the disposal of the intangible asset under construction”.

Six-figure loss on college plans

Another loss recorded in the DfE’s accounts was for £665,000 for a project at Milton Keynes College, specifically around the South Central Institute of Technology.

The write-off related to professional fees, the DfE said, adding: “The project was abandoned due to value for money concerns beyond a level acceptable for public funding”.

Students repeating a year

As part of Covid-19 recovery measures, the DfE allowed 16-to-19 providers to offer Year 13 students (or equivalent in FE settings) the chance to repeat a year if they had been badly hit by the pandemic.

DfE figures revealed 1,459 students opted to do so last year.

“This low take up of the programme shows that the repeat year has operated as we intended, being used by a small number of the most affected students,” the report said.

Missing FOI targets

The department failed to respond to more than one in four Freedom of Information requests in time – the second year in a row it has declined performance despite a lower number of requests.

Public organisations, including government departments, have a statutory duty to respond to FOI requests within 20 working days.

But for 2021/22 it only responded to 73 per cent in time across the 2,237 requests it received.

That represents a 5 percentage point fall on the year before, when there were 2,330 requests, and a significant fall on the 88 per cent 20-day response rate in 2019/20 when there were 3,133 requests – 800 more than 2021/22.

New ‘simpler’ skills funding model delayed

Plans to merge several adult skills budgets into a single skills fund have been delayed for a year. 

The Department for Education had intended to issue allocations for the skills fund for the 2023/24 academic year. The new fund brings together the adult education budget, free courses for jobs and community learning under a single heading. 

The move is part of the government’s reforms to simplify the skills funding system and make providers more accountable to government priorities. 

Other reforms include the introduction of a needs-based funding formula, moving away from historic performance, new employment related objectives for community learning and a promised rise in funding rates for priority courses.

Enhanced skills inspections, where colleges receive an extra judgement from Ofsted on how well they are meeting local skills needs, are another part of the government’s reform plans. These began in inspections this September and a number of reports have already been published.

But responses to the government’s latest consultation on the proposals, which closed in October, indicated widespread concern on the timing of the introduction of the new skills fund. 

DfE has said a “significant” proportion of its 249 responses to the consultation flagged concerns about introducing the new skills fund in 2023/24 with calls for a longer lead-in period. 

The government had now said the skills fund will be implemented in time for 2024/25.

Attached to the skills fund were proposals to increase funding rates for priority courses and plans to “re-orientate” community learning provision towards a controversial set of objectives. 

Under the skills fund, courses that are “non-qualification” based must achieve at least one of three set objectives; achieving employment, progression to further learning that brings learners close to employment and helping learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities to access independent living.

These new objectives have been met with strong opposition from adult education and local authority leaders who have argued that removing objectives relating to families, communities and health could displace thousands of vulnerable learners. 

A delay in the introduction to the skills fund also means the rate rise and new objectives for community learning have also been put back to 2024/25.

A full response to the second stage consultation is expected early in 2023.

The fight for fair funding will need to step up a gear in 2023

We’ve been through turbulent times again this year. A year ago we were in the midst of a huge spike in cases of the omicron variant and heading for another Christmas badly affected by the pandemic.

Covid is not over – we seem to be finding a way to live with it now – but the challenges this year are perhaps even more daunting. We’d all hoped that by now that further education would be on the road to recovery and that rising funding would start to make life a little bit easier. 

With runaway inflation, and the energy crisis, that’s far from the case. The impact is all too evident; with the chief inspector at Ofsted warning this week that quality in colleges is suffering from a lack of skilled staff which in turn is driven by inadequate funding resulting in low pay.

We’ve also seen Education Policy Institute analysis showing that the disadvantage gap in education has widened over the last few years.   

To add to the gloomy picture, the Institute for Fiscal Studies repeated their analysis from the last few years showing the dire state of FE funding and the Public Accounts Committee published another timely report which underscores the problem. 

We all know the funding picture now after more than a decade of austerity is unsustainable and it is obvious action is needed, but the government seems unwilling to act for colleges, having seemingly deemed that increased funding for schools was a bigger vote-winner in the Autumn Statement.

After five education secretaries, three skills ministers, four chancellors and three prime ministers this year, we have ministers now at the top table in Sanctuary Buildings – Gillian Keegan and Rob Halfon – who know us well. We have to hope that their understanding and commitment to FE and colleges can help them secure funding from Treasury. 

We don’t want any more warm words about skills and the importance to productivity, economic growth and levelling up – those words don’t help, they even make it all feel worse. What we need to see is proper, sustained investment and a more stable period for colleges to get on with meeting the needs in their communities. 

Unfortunately, we are asking for more funding at the same time as the Chancellor is planning a new set of severe public sector cuts from 2024/25.

Our challenge is to show that funding for colleges is an investment with strong returns for the economy and for the Treasury. We will need to remind the Chancellor of his own words in presenting the Autumn Statement that to “be pro-education is to be pro-growth”. 

For us at AoC, and for college leaders we are determined to be louder, bolder and more combative in our campaigning and influencing. 

We’ll not be doing that alone, as our Future Skills Coalition shows. That collaboration with the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) and City & Guilds has already started to bring other organisations on board to form a wider coalition of voices which we believe will make more of an impact where it matters.

We are also urging college leaders to step up again and be part of the fight. Their work in engaging MPs, mobilising the employers they work with, and their students can have a big impact when amplified across the country at key points in the year. 

Redoubling our efforts now is the right thing to do, as every other sector will also be scrambling to make the case for better funding amid fiscal tightening, especially in the run-up to a general election within two years.

It can feel exhausting to keep having to make the same arguments, especially when the case for a properly funded skills system could not be clearer. 

It is vital though to make our case strongly because it is the persistent voices – and the loudest voices – which cut through. 

We need now to fight for our sector, to fight clever, to take a united front to make the case for better skills funding. I am optimistic that we will do that and hopeful that it will reap rewards.

IfATE unveils plans to integrate professional qualifications with EPAs

Plans to integrate mandatory qualifications with final assessments in apprenticeships have been put to the sector for a 10-week consultation.

The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) has published its proposals to make mandatory professional qualifications work “seamlessly” with the end point assessments (EPAs) and eliminate some of the current problems in the system.

Currently, an apprenticeship doesn’t end until the end point assessment has been completed, but for many apprenticeships such as electrician or adult care worker, a professional qualification to work in their industry are also required. Those qualifications are often completed before the EPA.

IfATE reckons around 40 per cent of apprenticeships mandate at least one qualification.

But it says there is evidence that learners leave their apprenticeship after gaining the qualification and before EPA, meaning there is no formal record of their knowledge, skills and behaviours.

It has also found that assessment in the professional qualification may also duplicate parts of the EPA, resulting in “overassessment of learners and inefficiency”.

IfATE’s new proposals aim to integrate at least one of a qualification’s assessments with the EPA, to be conducted after a learner reaches gateway as part of the main EPA. That would ensure learners complete their whole programme at the end of the apprenticeships and strip out duplication.

It will require end point assessment organisations (EPAOs) to make clear in their marking criteria where the grade boundaries will be in the integrated assessment to pass EPA.

In addition, the proposals will require employers to submit a rationale and supporting evidence that a professional qualification is needed to prevent disadvantage in the labour market for learners.

It also wants to ensure “that the qualifications are necessary, because an apprentice would struggle to get a job or progress after finishing the apprenticeship, without them”.

A consultation has launched this week for the sector to share feedback, closing on February 17.

Sam Callear, IfATE deputy director for policy and new concepts, said the proposals are based on its experience in developing apprenticeships over the last few years, as well as feedback from employers, apprentices, providers and EPAOs, accepting that qualifications and EPAs “haven’t always worked together as well as they could”.

“We think we can improve the balance and relationship between the study and assessment needed to achieve these specific qualifications and the study and assessment that is needed as part of the apprenticeship,” he added.

Responses to the consultation can be submitted online here.

Jane Hickie, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers welcomed the consultation. Writing in the organisation’s weekly newsletter, she said: “Similar to the approach with degree apprenticeships, this is to reduce duplicate assessments and help to stop apprentices leaving early without completing EPA.

“This would be a win all round for the apprenticeship brand and drive higher success rates.”

Apprenticeship drop-outs have been a key problem for the sector, with figures for last year indicating that 47 per cent – nearly half – of apprentices failed to see their course through to the end.

It has prompted the government to set an ambitious target of securing a 67 per cent achievement rate on standards by 2025 – a target reiterated by the new ministerial team which came in during the autumn.

Pearson and OCR reports explain 2022 VTQ results delays

Complex Covid-19 assessment adaptations, poor communication from awarding organisations and an influx of inexperienced exams officers were to blame for “unacceptable” delays to thousands of level 2 and 3 results this summer, two new reports suggest.

Ofqual this morning reported that nearly 21,000 students didn’t receive their results in August as expected, prompting the exams watchdog to outline a series of measures to prevent a repeat in 2023.

The two awarding organisations at the centre of the controversy – Pearson and OCR – have today published their own reports on the errors.

They have pledged to introduce check points with colleges, schools and providers during term time to establish any missing data earlier, and invest in more training for teachers and exam staff through complex systems.

Pearson’s report says it will also release results under embargo around a week before the results are released, rather than 24 hours before.

OCR meanwhile, which had just under 11,000 delayed results, has promised to review risk logs for Cambridge Technicals more regularly and conduct a review of staff expertise, as well as bolster relationships with schools and colleges.

The earlier results, check points, training and improved communication measures were announced by Ofqual this morning.

Both Pearson and OCR will also be represented on a new taskforce of sector leaders to implement new measures in time for summer 2023.

A Pearson spokesperson said: “It was unacceptable that some students did not receive their results when they were expecting them this summer, and we apologise for Pearson’s role in this.

“We are part of Ofqual’s new 2023 VTQ taskforce and look forward to working with Ofqual and the wider education community on improvements for the future.”

OCR chief executive Jill Duffy said she accepted in full the findings of its report, carried out by OCR staff and overseen by the University of Cambridge’s Professor Graham Virgo.

She added: “It pinpoints what went wrong this summer, and it takes a pragmatic approach to identifying improvements that will not only prevent a recurrence, but improve the wider experience for students, parents, schools and colleges.”

Pearson was at the centre of the storm in August as thousands of BTEC students reported showing up on results day to find an empty box where their final grade should have been.

The awarding body’s review, led by former Education and Training Foundation chief executive David Russell, describes how missing or incomplete data from colleges and schools on students’ exams and coursework results led to most of the delays.

Administration processes were “more complex than usual” because students completing BTECs will have experienced a range of adaptations to their assessments due to the pandemic – all of which came with additional requirements on teachers and centres.

Pearson also cite survey evidence from the National Association of Examinations Officers stating that 22 per cent of exams officers were new in post in 2022, suggesting a large proportion of the exams workforce wasn’t experienced enough to handle “complex data collation processes”.

Pearson has said that 55 per cent of the delayed results came from just 7 per cent of its centres, which those impacted most tending to offer large numbers of BTEC programmes or have a large number of sites.

Jill Duffy

One of the criticisms of awarding organisations at the time was that errors in data supplied by centres was not spotted and fixed prior to results day.

To this, Pearson, which had just under 10,000 delayed results in England, said: “We alerted every centre where our system reconciliations showed unit grades were missing and provided reports listing all students with incomplete results so that schools or colleges could identify gaps.” 

However the report added: “Our findings show there are areas for improvement in how we communicate about missing data with schools and colleges, and it is clear that we need to check more carefully that information and data requests have been received and are being actioned.”

OCR meanwhile said it was not apparent there were issues until results day itself, when it began fielding calls from schools and colleges and prompted a hasty mobilisation of staff to process results. It said that most delayed results were able to be provided within a week but “some complex cases took until 7 September”.

It said that in “almost all cases of delayed results, OCR had not received the full details needed to process qualifications from schools and colleges for those students”.

The report said that the Covid adaptations – which included teacher-assessed grades, reduced assessment in coursework and allowance of assessed grades for students who couldn’t sit exams – in conjunction with a “significant increase in missing and incomplete results” was behind the issue.

Its report said the problem exposed a need for greater data sharing between OCR, schools, colleges and UCAS than existing processes delivered, and guidance to schools and colleges either did not reach or wasn’t understood sufficiently by those who needed to know how to handle complex processes.

The two organisations will now feed into the new task force to work on implementing changes for 2023, as well as look at potential tweaks beyond to create as efficient a system as possible

Summer results delays affected nearly 21,000 students, Ofqual review finds

A review by exams regulator Ofqual has found that nearly 21,000 students were affected by BTEC and CTEC results delays last summer, more than 55 per cent more than was previously thought.

Regulators have today published an action plan for 2023 vocational and technical qualification results, which they hope will prevent a repeat of this year’s blunder, but more time is needed to determine the cause of the delays and the appropriate sanctions on awarding bodies.

Ofqual will introduce a “hard deadline” for vocational qualification results next summer and form a taskforce with sector chiefs to prevent results delays seen this year with BTEC and Cambridge Technicals from happening again.

It comes as new data reveals that more students were affected by the summer problems than first thought.

The exams watchdog today announced a five-point plan to ensure problems arising in this summer’s exams, which left thousands of students on Pearson BTEC and OCR CTEC courses waiting for results way beyond level 3 results day in August.

Figures from October’s education select committee scrutiny of the issue indicated that there had been around 13,500 results delayed – 7,000 level 2 BTECs, , 3,300 level 3 BTECs and 3,200 CTECs.

But figures released by Ofqual today revealed it was around 21,000 results in total – 12,346 level 3 results and 8,573 level 2 results. That was across 1,550 schools, colleges and other centres.

Ofqual’s chief regulator Dr Jo Saxton told FE Week that more work is continuing on investigating the root causes of the delays, and said it was too early to talk about any possible sanctions, but unveiled five measures to begin in 2023 to ensure the same issues do not arise next summer.

That includes a hard deadline for vocational and technical qualification results, likely to be a week before the main level 3 results deadline for general qualifications like A-levels, but to be finalised in consultation with the sector to ensure it is the right timing.

In addition, a taskforce will be formed of “key senior sector leaders of those who were affected this summer”, to be chaired by Saxton, to ensure new requirements are working, refine arrangements where needed and ensure direct and regular communication.

That will meet for the first time in January, and will discuss any additional measures for 2024.

Pearson and OCR bosses will be on that panel, Dr Saxton confirmed.

Elsewhere, exam boards will be required to have a term-time check point with centres, likely to be in June but also to be confirmed in consultation with sector leaders, to ensure any missing units are established early enough.

Bespoke training for exams officers, administration staff and any academic staff that would like it will also be carried out, as well as a requirement for improved communications from awarding bodies, including a duty to have a senior contact point with a mobile phone number.

Dr Saxton told FE Week that the plan will be “a proof of concept that these new systems will work” and that, while more work is needed on investigating the causes of the problems, the package of measures provides “a good sense” of those causes it has found so far.

“My priority, once we understood the scale of this, has focused on the things that need putting in place for 2023 to protect students against this happening again,” Dr Saxton said.

“In terms of the root causes, I want to take a bit longer to understand that and be sure we are putting the right things in place.”

On the improvements, she added: “We are really conscious of not wanting to create any additional workload for anyone. Our overall strategic aim, apart from protecting students from this risk, is to not create any new or additional workload, but to try and frontload the workload or at least break it up throughout the year so it isn’t all over 24 hours during non-term time.”

Any future sanctions on Pearson and OCR will come later on in the process.

Dr Saxton also said that the bosses at both awarding bodies had been receptive and co-operative through the process.

In the meantime, as part of the continuing work on establishing the causes of the issue, Ofqual is keen to gain evidence from students and their parents affected by the issues.

But Dr Saxton said Ofqual had heard from “surprisingly few” students and parents so far, which is another reason more time is needed to hear from more. It was also more complicated to work out how many students were affected than initially expected, Ofqual said.

Ofqual’s portal for hearing from those affected remains open. Centres can take part here while students and parents can email discussions@ofqual.gov.uk.

The task group membership is as follows:

Dr Jo Saxton (Ofqual, chief regulator) (Chair)

Catherine Sezen (Association of Colleges, interim director of education policy)

Dr Anne Murdoch (Association of School and College Leaders, senior advisor, college leadership)

Steve Rollett (Confederation of School Trusts, deputy chief executive)

Jenny Oldroyd and/or Stuart Miller (Department for Education, qualificationas directors)

Tom Bewick (Federation of Awarding Bodies, chief executive)

Ian Morgan (Joint Council for Qualifications, chairman)

Sarah Hannafin (NAHT, senior policy advisor)

Jugjit Chima (National Association of Examinations Officers, chief executive)

Jill Duffy (OCR, chief executive)

Freya Thomas-Monk (Pearson, SVP qualifications and training)

Bill Watkin (Sixth Form Colleges Association, chief executive)

Clare Marchant (UCAS, chief executive)