The ‘painfully shy’ kid who became deputy principal

Those who work in FE often hold a special place in their heart for the sector. None more so than Claire Heywood, who has spent her entire 30-year learning and professional career at the Heart of Worcestershire College (HoW). For her, it is far more than just a workplace.

The deputy principal believes the FE sector saved her life when she was experiencing “dark, dark times” and is gravely concerned that funding cuts and qualification reforms threaten her college’s ability to provide for the more vulnerable in society.

When she was just 19 and working in the college’s SEND department, Heywood’s father died suddenly and she took on caring responsibilities for her mother, who would also pass away five years later.

She survived because a “family of colleagues” rallied around her.

“I got adopted by quite a few people,” Heywood says. The “debt of gratitude” she feels toward the college and “the sector beyond it” explains her long commitment.

She compares the worsening pay conditions for FE staff to a bad relationship.

“You probably know in your head you should leave, but your heart can’t quite come to terms with that idea.

“You just think ‘I need to hang in here because I do still love you. But you’re making it really hard for me to keep loving you’,” she says.

A young Heywood with her brother

Resisting introvert leanings

I meet Heywood at an education conference after she delivered a presentation on how colleges work with employers, apparently with an easy confidence.

But she was “painfully shy” child and in class she was the one “who knew the answer but never put my hand up”. She admits that teaching “doesn’t sit any better in my stomach now than when I was at school”.

The youngest of four children, Heywood grew up on a Worcester council estate. She explains with a smile that her father was “a milkman – not ‘the milkman”, and recalls “suddenly feeling very posh” when her family were able to afford central heating.

At 16, Heywood’s “typically crap” school careers advisor pointed her in the direction of a job at a new Tesco store. Instead she became the first person in her family to carry on with education post-schooling, “following friends”. She enrolled on a BTEC national diploma in health and social care at Worcester College of Technology, which merged with North East Worcestershire College in 2014 to become HoW. The course had a wider public service focus, and Heywood “had a vague idea” about joining the military or police.

She recalls “feeling low” after the first week, and her parents reassuring her of their support if she wanted to drop out – “the opposite” of what she advises parents to say now.

But Heywood “instinctively knew” she needed to stick at it, and soon discovered she “had this brain” she wanted to use.

One course work placement was with the college’s SEND students, which Heywood was nervous about because it involved “’out there’ stuff in drama classes”. It took her as far from her comfort zone as possible.

In her early days as a support assistant on a residential for SEN learners

Drawn to naughty boys

After the course, Heywood worked in a factory and became “quite depressed”, so she readily accepted an off from the college to work in the SEND department. She quickly moved up the ranks to lecturer, while completing a degree and later a master’s in education leadership.

She was “drawn to the naughty kids who talk back, boys in particular” because “it’s where I came from”.

She describes her older siblings as “very roguish” and some school friends “ended up in prison or on heroin”.

Heywood recalls persuading her boss not to kick out naughty students and to “blame me if this goes wrong”. She could still see the good in students when others had given up.

“While some see bad behaviour, I see creativity and entrepreneurialism and I think there’s something you can do with that because its energy. It’s on us to turn that into something positive that doesn’t get them into trouble with society.”

She “very much pushed” her college bosses to develop NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) provision, and took on a succession of roles building that up.

This work brought her into contact with some “particularly high profile” young offenders “put in the area to hide away”.

She admits that occasionally she encountered students with “something dark there”. “That’s just one or two exceptions where the good was perhaps a bit manipulated,” she adds.

When teaching at a homeless hostel during a three-year project she led for the college to encourage education reengagement, Heywood recalls one lad who was “really going down a dark path” with crime and drugs.

Now he has his own family and carpentry business, and recently reached out to  show Heywood how far he had come.

“He said – quite often they do – ‘I was really naughty wasn’t I? And asked me why I put up with him. I said, ‘because your behaviour isn’t who you are, it’s just your behaviour. So who am I to judge?”

Defending college to employers

Heywood believes that college dropout statistics mask how many students “make their way back a year or two down the line, because there’s a bit of growing up that happens”.

She finds herself looking to the college’s data to defend it and its young people when she is working with employers on meeting their needs.

“The regulation and some of the beating up of colleges that goes on is really tough,” she says. “You can have an employer saying, ‘the colleges aren’t doing enough on this topic, and I’ve got vacancies to fill’.”

But Heywood reminds them HoW is “not a job centre – it’s not my job to fill your vacancies. And here’s some data that suggests if you pay a little bit more, you might fill [them].”

Heywood hits back at employers who criticise the young. When they complained at a recent LSIP (Local Skills Improvement Plan) event about young people lacking soft skills and “not showing initiative”, Heywood put the ball back in their court: “Well, did you when you walked into your first job? To be fair, they acknowledged they didn’t. It’s about reminding people that it is too quick and easy to demonise young people.”

Heywood was “shocked” to discover that last year, 78 per cent of all local vacancies did not require a minimum level of education. She is concerned colleges are being tasked with providing skills, while “the employer in the driving seat isn’t asking for any”. This presents “a challenge” for education and training providers.

Heywood believes colleges are not without blame though. They can be “slow to turn things around and make a decision”, and she agrees with former skills minister Nick Boles when he warned colleges that “training providers will nick our lunch if we don’t get on things quick”.

Claire Heywood, HoW College

SEND losers in qualification reform

HoW has been providing supported internships for its SEND students since they were first piloted in 2013, and has so far placed 100 into sustained employment.

Heywood says it’s a “fantastic programme”, but “requires some additional support to businesses because there’s a lot of fear and hesitancy about whether they can cope with someone with additional needs”.  “But actually, the support you have to provide is much less than you anticipated,” she adds.

Heywood is particularly concerned about the impact of the rise of T Levels and defunding of other courses on SEND students, who already face limited opportunities as it is.

“There are some good kids practically who even the [apprenticeship] standards are too much for.  It just feels like we’re cutting them off too soon.”

Heywood is also worried about the impact of the sector’s financial stability on students. Her college has “pulled in the FE commissioner”, who advised streamlining its current portfolio of 16 buildings across four campuses. This would save costs but Heywood is concerned “the disadvantage gap is being wedged even further”.

It “boils” her “blood” that “FE is right the way down the [government’s] priority list”. “If your intent is to wipe out this sector, this is how to go about it.  You can’t even begin to finance the replacement for what that would lose,” she says

Nurturing others into leadership

Heywood, who became vice principal in 2018 and deputy in 2021, never imagined herself as a leader. She now spends much of her time delivering on aspirational leadership programmes and encourages other introverts like her to believe in their own potential. “While there are a lot of it exuberant extrovert leaders around…you actually don’t have to fit that particular mould to make it as a leader,” she says.

Heywood is also “passionate” about “taking the right person” for the job and then “giving them the skills”. When it comes to NEET teaching, “it doesn’t really matter” if an applicant has never taught. “What we want to know is what they’re motivated by. If that’s all the right things, we take them on and train them. I’m proud of people in the college now, and who’ve moved on to other colleges, who we took with no teaching background and turned into great teachers. They then go pay it forward.”

Heywood believes working in FE is “endlessly fascinating” and is clearly in no hurry to end her relationship with it just yet.

“Yes, the relationship might not all be rosy, but you can’t help but love it,” she admits.

Ministers lift ban on skills bootcamps for Restart participants

The government is set to drop a ban that stopped Restart programme participants from joining skills bootcamps, FE Week can reveal.

Currently, participants in the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) Restart programme, which gives out-of-work Universal Credit claimants extra support to find employment, cannot enrol on skills bootcamps. Those enrolled on bootcamps cannot take part in the Restart scheme.

But the DWP and Department for Education have confirmed that from April 1 that restriction – which was intended as a temporary constraint – will be removed.

The DWP said the decision recognises the differences in provision between the two programmes, and will allow participants to take advantage of the different opportunities to best gain new skills and employment.

Pat Jackson, skills director at Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership said it was a change that her organisation had been lobbying for.

Natasha Waller, policy manager at the LEP Network which represents all 38 LEPs, said: “The benefit is that the participants on Restart can get the hand-holding/wraparound support to get them job-ready while skills bootcamps will give them the knowledge of a particular sector or job role and some preparation for job hunting and interview practice, but it is not as intense as what they would receive through Restart.”

Jane Hickie (pictured), chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, said: “Currently Jobcentre Plus work coaches typically prioritise referrals to their flagship Restart programme over skills bootcamps, which has certainly impacted referrals.

“For this collaborative approach to work, we will need to give work coaches more support to understand the benefits of skills bootcamps so they can ensure potential learners take the pathway which benefits them the most.”

The Restart programme, which first began referrals in July 2021, gives Universal Credit claimants who have been out of work for nine months or more access to enhanced support to find work.

Around 340,000 people started on the programme between its launch and September last year, while 92,000 have achieved their first earnings since starting the scheme, although most have not yet had 12 months of support.

Government guidance said job coaches develop a package of support for participants having assessed their work history, current skills and aspirations.

That could include bespoke training, obtaining the correct certificates for specific industries or bolstered IT skills.

Skills bootcamps are courses up to 16 weeks in length for adults to train quickly in areas of skills shortage, such as digital, construction and HGV driving. They also guarantee a job interview for learners at the end of their course.

Data published at the end of last year reported that 16,120 people started a bootcamp between April 2021 and March 2022 against a target of 16,000, although numbers of completers and outcomes were not published.

Students ‘disempowered’ as ministers dig in over BTEC defunding

Students face a “period of great uncertainty” after ministers rejected calls to withdraw applied general qualifications like BTECs from their defunding plans, or even delay the “damaging” reforms by a year.

The Department for Education will publish a list of new qualifications that will replace the current suite of applied generals in July 2024, for schools and colleges to start delivering in September 2025.

The expectation is that most level 3 alternatives to T Levels and A-levels, which must now go through a new strict approvals process, will be refused funding from this point forward.

Ministers have already made the “conscious choice” to exclude “certain” large academic qualifications, including in health and social care, applied science, and law, from this process.

The Sixth Form Colleges Association, which leads the Protect Student Choice campaign, mapped the list of qualifications that will be eligible for funding against the 134 recently reformed applied general qualifications currently available to young people and found an “astonishing” 75 will be ineligible.

In a letter to education secretary Gillian Keegan, 360 school and college leaders described the timescale as “simply not credible,” and urged her to push back the plans by at least a year. They also called on her to exclude the 134 AGQs from the reforms.

Schools and colleges that signed the letter pointed out that prospectuses and marketing materials for courses starting in September 2025 will already have been finalised by July 2024, and engagement work with students will be well underway.

They went on to write that “it will be very difficult to provide effective information, advice and guidance to young people if we do not know what qualifications we can deliver until the end of July 2024”.

Six peers, including two former education secretaries and two ex-universities minister, sent a similar letter to the DfE at the same time warning that scrapping “popular” alternatives to A-levels and T Levels would have a damaging impact on social mobility, economic growth and public services.

Skills, apprenticeships and HE minister Robert Halfon replied to the school and college leaders this week to confirm there will be no delay to the defunding timeline.

He simply said: “We understand that this is significant change, but we believe that the long-term benefits are what is needed”.

Halfon goes on to rule out removing the 134 AGQs from the scope of the review but offers no explanation as to why.

He believes that young people will not be left without a pathway once the reforms are complete. He said: “Our reforms will provide high-quality opportunities for all, and I do not agree that young people will fall out of the system”.

College leaders disagree

Altaf Hussein, principal of Luton Sixth Form College, said: “The proposed changes to defund most BTECS are short-sighted and likely to have a massive impact on the number of students from disadvantaged backgrounds who go on to HE and good jobs in key sectors like the NHS.”

Scott McKeown, head of New Bridge College and Future Finders Employability College, added that the removal of “these reputable qualifications” will present “further barriers for SEND students aiming to progress onto skilled employment or continue their learning journey through higher education, ultimately, disempowering them from reaching their academic potential or restricting them from entering their career of choice”.

Meanwhile, Alex Pett principal of Logic Studio School, pointed out that his technical school for 14-to-19-year-olds have “always found securing even one week work placements challenging”, let alone 45-day placements that T Levels require.

He told FE Week: “If all of our students were to move to T Levels, not only would they be narrowing their breadth of study, we would simply not be able to find sufficient, meaningful work placements for all of them. BTECs allow students to gain skills and recognition against specific and segmented assignments, more closely replicating their future experience in the workplace.”

Laranya Caslin, principal of St. George’s Academy in Lincolnshire, said the T Level model “seems to be suited to large cities and simply does not translate to the countryside”.

She explained that large employers across a range of industry sectors are “few and far between in our locality, and many of our students live in outlying villages with next to no public transport”.

Caslin added: “Surely every 16-yearold, no matter where they live, should be able to access a level 3 qualification in an area of genuine interest to them. If the availability of AGQs is substantially reduced, that chance will be under threat for well over 50 per cent of my ‘secondary modern’ sixth form intake.”

James Kewin, deputy chief executive of the SFCA, criticised Halfon’s letter.

“This response does not address any of the practical concerns raised by the 360 school and college leaders that signed the letter to the secretary of state. A one-year delay would have minimised the disruption to young people’s education caused by the implementation of the government’s flawed plan to scrap most BTECs,” he said.

“Instead, we will now move into a period of great uncertainty for students, staff and institutions.”

DfE scraps apprentice cap for small businesses

A cap on apprentice numbers for small businesses that had caused employers to turn away new starts has finally been scrapped by the skills minister.

Robert Halfon confirmed in a letter to the sector on Thursday that small businesses which don’t pay the apprenticeship levy will no longer be limited to a maximum of 10 apprenticeship starts from April 3, 2023.

In the letter, the minister said businesses will be able to recruit “as many high-quality apprentices as their business needs”, and added: “We want to give smaller employers certainty over funding, and ensure they have access to the apprenticeships they need to meet their ambitions, fill their skills gaps, and grow their businesses.”

The cap has been a point of contention in the sector, with some employers saying they had been forced to turn away new apprentice starts because of it.

Jane Hickie, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers said she was “absolutely delighted” the cap is being abolished.

“Each year this causes big issues for smaller employers who wish to take on more apprentices and there is always a lack of transparency over whether the cap will reset or not,” Hickie said.

“This then leads to employers being unable to plan for the future effectively. Last year it took a huge amount of lobbying from AELP and its members to ensure the minister intervened to reset the cap.”

The cap was originally introduced in January 2020 with a limit of three new apprenticeship starts, before it was lifted to ten in summer 2020.

Small businesses that do not pay the apprenticeship levy receive 95 per cent of training costs from the apprenticeship budget, funded by levy paying businesses.

The rationale of the cap had been that it would prevent the overall apprenticeships budget from being overspent.

In April 2021 the DfE reset the cap so that non-levy paying businesses could start up to 10 new apprentices regardless of however many they already had.

Mounting pressure from the sector again last year resulted in the cap being reset once again in June 2022. The DfE at the time confirmed it would keep the cap under review.

To date, small employers who hit the cap had been forced to go down the avenue of requesting levy transfers from larger employers which weren’t using some of their levy funds, as levy transfer funded apprentices did not count towards the cap.

Since taking on the skills, apprenticeships and further education brief for a second time in October, Halfon has made growing apprenticeship starts one of his priorities, in particular pushing for more degree apprenticeship learners.

He told this week’s Apprenticeship Ambassador Network conference that “rules will be removed where we don’t need them” to help SMEs recruit apprentices.

He told the conference that a redesigned registration process will make it “simpler and quicker” for SMEs to take on their first apprentices, with employers able to ask training providers to assist with more of the account administration.

In addition, he voiced ambitions for an easier levy transfer system and plans to double the number of starts on the pathway to accelerated apprenticeship skills bootcamps, so that SMEs could recruit directly off those bootcamps at no cost.

Nottingham provider ‘taken by surprise’ over Ofsted ‘inadequate’ report

An independent training provider in Nottingham has voiced its surprise after Ofsted published an ‘inadequate’ report while it was still challenging the findings.

Voluntary and Community Sector Learning and Skills Consortium, which trades as Enable, said it had challenged the grade four rating it received from the education watchdog in a report published on Wednesday, following a visit in January.

It had previously been rated ‘good’.

Teresa Cullen, chair of the board, said the organisation was “taken by surprise when it was published”.

“We were expecting to hear something further from them, it’s been a very difficult process really,” Cullen said.

“We didn’t expect to be inadequate, we haven’t been inadequate before. We feel very strongly that Ofsted haven’t taken into account the unique challenges of an organisation like ours.”

Cullen said it “feels very much like they had already decided before they arrived,” explaining that “the report doesn’t reflect the feedback they gave us on site”. She added that the impact of Covid-19 recovery wasn’t taken into consideration, and felt inspectors “didn’t understand” the provider’s niche in the market.

Cullen acknowledged there was “a lot at stake” given Education and Skills Funding Agency guidance dictates that ‘inadequate’ providers will have their ESFA funding withdrawn.

The organisation confirmed that it is currently in negotiations with the ESFA.

However, Cullen said that withdrawal of funding could put the jobs at risk for around half of the provider’s 27-strong team, and could have an impact on the 11 subcontractors it works with too, some of which are third sector organisations.

At the time of the inspection, Enable had 330 learners and apprentices, the majority of whom were on employability, English and maths courses for adults.

The report said tutors did not identify what apprentices could do at the start of their courses, or use assessments to plan individualised programmes as a result.

It found that “too often” tutors were not aware of learners’ additional needs or know how to support them.

Inspectors reported that too many learners didn’t attend lessons often enough, while the “vast majority” of learners didn’t benefit from activities beyond their vocational training.

Ofsted said that leaders, managers and trustees “do not have an accurate oversight or understand the quality of the teaching they provide, including that of subcontractors”.

The organisation works with 11 subcontractors, whom Ofsted found received “no guidance or support to develop and improve the quality of the courses they provide, beyond checks of their compliance documentation.”

The report continued that Enable’s self-assessment report is “overly positive” while weaknesses previously identified still remained and “performance has declined significantly”.

It said that learners’ targets were too generic, apprentices didn’t receive frequent reviews and were poorly prepared for their end point assessment.

Elsewhere, teaching was dubbed “ineffective” with teachers not readily available due to other teaching commitments and teaching resources were outdated.

More than 100 students were on access to HE courses. Ofsted found learners were expected to work independently on with no input from tutors unless there were problems.

Inspectors said that safeguarding measures were not effective, as leaders and managers didn’t ensure staff are suitable to work with learners and apprentices and did not carry out due diligence checks on tutors.

Apprenticeship achievements drop leaves most providers in scope for intervention

Three in ten training providers will flag as “at risk” as new figures reveal tumbling apprenticeship achievement rates.

Combined with 25 per cent falling in the “needs improvement” category of the government’s apprenticeship accountability framework, 54 per cent of training providers fall in scope for some form of intervention.

This has prompted calls from the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, which represents apprenticeship training providers, to call for an “overhaul” of the “out of date” achievement rate model of measuring apprenticeship quality.

Overall apprenticeship achievement rates dropped last year, new figures reveal, leaving the sector even further away from the government’s 67 per cent target.

National statistics for 2021/22 show that the overall achievement rate for apprenticeships fell to 53.4 per cent, a drop of 4.3 percentage points on the year before and eleven percentage points lower than pre-Covid levels in 2018/19.

There were 263,550 leavers in 2021/22, which is just under 12,000 below 2020/21. Of those, 85 per cent were training towards apprenticeship standards. Only 39,450 apprentice leavers were on frameworks, which are being phased out.

The achievement rate for standards in 2021/22 was 51.4 per cent, down 0.4 percentage points on the year before, and for frameworks the rate was 64.9 per cent, down 4 percentage points.

Skills minister Robert Halfon, in a letter to the apprenticeships sector, said: “I know that there is much more for us to do collectively to raise the annual apprenticeship achievement rate, currently standing at 51 per cent for apprenticeship standards.

“While not all the reasons for non-achievement are within the gift of providers or employers, I know that, like me, you want to see this figure improve.”

The letter stated a range of government initiatives aimed at improving quality, including the ETF workforce development programme and the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education’s consultation on mandatory qualifications and end point assessments.

Provider data

This is the first time data on individual providers has been published since 2018/19. Ministers cancelled the publication of provider level performance data for 2019/20 and 2020/21 due to the impact of the Covid 19 pandemic and lockdown measures. 

Under the government’s apprenticeship accountability framework, training providers are considered “at risk” if their overall apprenticeship achievement rate is less than 50 per cent and “needs improvement” if it is between 50 per cent and 60 per cent.

Achievement rates are one of a number of measures used by the Department for Education to hold apprenticeship training providers to account.

Today’s data shows that 309 training providers, 29 per cent of the total, flag as “at risk” and 267 (25 per cent) as “needs improvement”. This means, combined, over half of all apprenticeship training providers, 54 per cent, could be in line for “management conversations” with DfE managers and enhanced performance monitoring. 

According to the statistics, 85,250 apprentices trained with providers that scored an overall achievement rate of below 50 per cent, which represents around a third of the total.

And 789 providers, three quarters, are currently below the government’s target of 67 per cent by 2025.

Skills minister Robert Halfon recently confirmed to FE Week that the 67 per cent achievement rate target introduced by one of his predecessors, Alex Burghart, was still in place and that he is “working very hard to try and improve that”.

Providers in scope for additional monitoring can face new contract conditions, restrictions on subcontracting and, ultimately, contract termination.

Training body wants change

Training provider body AELP has said measuring apprenticeship quality using achievement rates is no longer fit for purpose.

It pointed out that the reduced overall achievement rate reflects “the residual impact of the Covid 19 pandemic” on the labour market, and said the “methodology still counts learners who left years ago based on their planned end dates alongside the impact breaks-in-learning has had.”

Chief executive Jane Hickie said: “The way in which apprenticeship achievement rates are calculated is out of date, and represents a regime prior to the introduction of an employer led system.

“We should be far more focused on outcomes, not outputs, including for those who don’t complete their apprenticeship.”

Hickie suggests “tracking learner progression and earnings following an apprenticeship” as a more effective measure of apprenticeship quality.

Low pay and high turnover of college teachers uncovered

Fuelled by an 18 per cent real terms pay cut, college teachers are leaving the profession at a faster rate than other public sector occupations, a new report has found.

Economic think-tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies has also laid bare the growing gap between what teachers in colleges are paid compared to teachers in schools.

The research investigated how college teacher pay has changed in the last decade and looks at the college sector’s staff turnover rate compared to other public sectors.

This comes as FE unions issued their demand for an inflation-plus pay award for the next academic year. 

Unlike school teachers, college teacher pay isn’t set nationally. Instead, individual colleges are free to set their own pay for teachers. 

College bosses are aided by an annual recommendation on pay rises from the Association of Colleges, but it is only a recommendation.

The IFS compared those AoC pay recommendations for college teachers with pay awards granted to school teachers. They found that while school teacher pay has fallen between 5 and 13 per cent in real terms, recommended pay of college teachers has declined by 18 per cent in the last decade. 

The median salary for a school teacher is now around £41,500 and for college teachers it is £34,500. 

Adjusted to today’s prices, school teachers were earning £48,000 in 2010 and college teachers £42,500. This proves that while teacher pay in the round has declined significantly, teachers in colleges have borne the brunt, with a 19 per cent fall in real earnings compared to 14 per cent for their school counterparts.

The gap between teacher pay in schools and colleges is well documented and has been one of the AoC’s core arguments for increased funding for FE in recent years. 

However that 18 per cent headline figure could mask a larger fall in college teacher pay. Using freedom of information data obtained by UCU, researchers found that in the three academic years between 2018/19 and 2020/21, a majority of colleges made pay awards at or below the AoC’s recommendation.

UCU general secretary, Jo Grady, said the report highlights college leaders’ “refusal” to “properly uplift pay”.

She said: “The staffing crisis in our colleges is real and has been driven by over a decade of austerity which has held down pay and cut college resources.

“The sad reality, though, is that the pay cut faced by college teachers is higher than the 18 per cent cited by the IFS, with most colleges refusing to implement pay recommendations made by the employer body. In this scenario, staff are denied binding national bargaining agreements and failed by local college employers who refuse to properly uplift pay or address shocking workloads.”

Meanwhile school teaching unions have been successful in securing an offer of a £1,000 one-off payment for school teachers this year and a 4.3 per cent pay rise for most school teachers in 2023/24.

Teacher turnover

College teachers are much more likely to leave the profession than other public sector occupations, the IFS found. 

According to the report, 16 per cent of college teachers leave the profession each year. That figure is 10 per cent for school teachers, between 10 and 11 per cent in most NHS occupations and 7 to 8 per cent in the civil service. 

Worryingly, the report finds that it’s the more experienced college teachers that are most likely to leave. 

The IFS reports that around a quarter of college teachers leave after one year and almost half leave after three years. In schools, 15 per cent leave after one year and around 25 per cent leave after three years.

After ten years, less than a quarter of college teachers remain in teaching, compared with over 60 per cent of school teachers.

Source: Institute for Fiscal Studies

This was one of the most concerning findings according to one of the report authors. 

Imran Tahir, IFS research economist and an author of the report, told FE Week: “I think this was actually one of the most shocking things we found in this research, the fact that college teachers don’t stay around for long in their in their profession. Anecdotally, we’d heard that it’s very difficult for college leaders to retain their staff. But I think just the level of turnover in the workforce has been what I personally have found it shocking.”

Anne Murdoch, senior adviser in college leadership at the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “It is simply not sustainable to have nearly half of all teachers leaving after three years. The fact that just one quarter remain in the profession after 10 years should also be a source of great concern. Colleges need to be able to retain and develop staff with a wide range of specialist and technical skills.”

The future is ‘gloomy’

The report highlights that between 2010/11 and 2019/20, public spending per 16-19 year old fell by 14 per cent and spending on classroom-based adult education has halved. 

Despite this, college and union leaders have to date been unsuccessful in lobbying for extra funding to close the teacher pay gap and make college teaching competitive not only with schools, but with industry. 

According to David Hughes, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, the exodus of college teachers is already causing course closures.

“This staffing crisis in colleges, means that courses are having to be withdrawn or restricted. The irony of this is profound, because fewer courses means the skills shortages in the labour market will get worse, making it even more likely that college lecturers will leave their teaching roles. The impact will be fewer trained builders, health workers and technicians and a brake on the UK’s economy.” Hughes said.

Pay negotiations between unions and the AoC for the 2023/24 academic year are set to begin on April 19. The National Joint Forum, made up of unions UCU, NEU, GMB and Unite, have set out their demands for a pay increase worth 15.4 per cent, which is January’s inflation (RPI) figure plus two per cent. 

Last year’s AoC pay recommendation was for a 2.5 per cent pay rise with a £500 or £750 non-consolidated cost of living bonus.

Cost pressures on further education providers, like colleges, were ignored in the recent spring budget, so any pay awards for 2023/24 will need to be found from already stretched budgets. 

Without extra support, “the immediate future for the college workforce appears gloomy” the report concludes.

Catholic sixth form college retains ‘outstanding’ after 14-year Ofsted respite

A Catholic sixth form college has been judged to be ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted – 14 years on from its last inspection.

Cardinal Newman College, in Lancashire, was handed top marks across the board in a report published today following a visit in February.

The college teaches more than 4,200 young people on a mix of level 3 A-level and vocational programmes.

Inspectors found students who were “overwhelmingly positive about the education that they receive and the care and support that staff give them during their time at college”, adding that students “thrive in the supportive and nurturing environment that leaders and staff have created”.

Teachers were praised for promoting and advocating the “Newman mindset”, which includes “high expectations and aspirations for future life beyond college”.

Teachers also plan students’ learning “meticulously so that they gain a deep knowledge of the content but also develop high levels of transferable skills such as critical-thinking, problem-solving and data analysis”.

Leaders were lauded for providing “an ambitious, focused and high-quality curriculum offer”, as well as a “broad variety of A-level and vocational programmes to provide progression to university, apprenticeships or employment”.

Inspectors also found that leaders “provide a highly effective foundation learning programme for young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) that helps them to achieve in line with their peers and prepares them for their next steps in independence, further training or employment”.

This was Cardinal Newman College’s first inspection since 2009, at which point the college was also judged ‘outstanding’.

Since the last visit Ofsted has introduced an enhanced inspection framework, meaning inspections place less emphasis on exam results and more on the quality of teaching and curriculum, as well as the skills inspection element which assesses how well it is meeting the needs in the area.

Principal Nick Burnham said: “Cardinal Newman College is proud to have been rated as outstanding by Ofsted once again.

“The outcome of the report is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our wonderful staff, students and the wider Newman community, who always go above and beyond.”

College student suicide risk on the rise, ‘stark’ report reveals

Urgent calls have been made by colleges for more resources to support student mental health after a new survey found nine in ten colleges reported attempted suicide by learners in the last year.

The Association of Colleges’ 2023 mental health survey found that more than 80 per cent of colleges had referred a learner to A&E as a result of mental health needs, as 95 per cent of colleges say they have seen an increase in mental health disclosures among their 16 to 18 students.

The report said that colleges face a “tsunami of need” as demand for wellbeing services soared, but praised the efforts of the sector to bolster measures in recent years with more mental health policies, boosted training for staff and counselling provision for learners.

The survey published this week gathered views from 82 general FE colleges, 13 sixth form colleges, six specialist colleges and four from academies and independent specialist colleges. It found that nine in ten colleges were aware of a learner or learners who had attempted suicide in the last 12 months.

It reported that 70 per cent of the 79 respondents to that question had seen an increase in attempts, which totalled 1,357 in the last year.

The report said it demonstrated the need to expand suicide first aid training, with only 61 per cent of colleges citing that as part of their staff development programme and a third of colleges not being engaged in the local suicide prevention plan.

Elsewhere, eight in ten colleges had made an A&E referral for a learner’s mental health in the last year – 560 in total, or nine referrals per provider average.

It comes amid a backdrop of increasing mental health concerns as 95 per cent reported a slight or significant increase in 16 to 18 learners disclosing a mental health need and 82 per cent of colleges saying a significant number of students were experiencing mental health needs without a formal disclosure.

According to the survey, the biggest drivers of student mental health difficulties were circumstances at home (90 per cent), Covid-19 (85 per cent), social media (77 per cent) and gender identity (72 per cent).

Other reasons reported included exam stress, cost of living, money worries, employment, and drugs and alcohol.

Olly Parker, head of external affairs at mental health charity YoungMinds, said: “It is concerning that so many students are struggling with their mental health and that there has been an increase in those reaching crisis. We know from speaking to young people that the last year has been one of the most challenging for this age group, emerging from the pandemic to more limited prospects for their futures, an increase in academic pressure to catch up on lost learning, and a cost of living crisis.”

The organisation has called on the government to commit to a four-week waiting time to ensure young people do not get worse while waiting for help.

The AoC’s report, however, found that despite tight finances in the sector, colleges had been making huge efforts to provide support.

It said that 90 per cent had appointed senior mental health leads, three quarters had dedicated mental health policies for students and staff, 100 per cent were running wellbeing sessions for students, 86 per cent had delivered general mental health awareness training for staff and 96 per cent had trained mental health first aiders.

The findings said that 68 per cent of respondents were now employing their own counsellors (on average two part time and one full time counsellor per provider) while a further 36 per cent bought in counselling support from external organisations.

Stuart Rimmer, chief executive of East Coast College and chair of the AoC’s mental health and wellbeing policy group, said: “It does paint a stark picture of the position of colleges right now, and in the context of that the underfunding of the broad aspects of the public sector.

“The issues presenting to colleges are increasing in volume and the issues are becoming more acute for colleges. The reality is that this is now sucking a huge amount of resource in colleges which fundamentally we are not paid for.”

Rimmer said ringfenced funding for mental health measures would be helpful, but praised the efforts of colleges.

He added: “If colleges did not do this work, there would be cause to worry gravely for the mental health outcomes of many displaced or forgotten sections of society now supported by their local college.”

Jen Hope, mental health policy lead at the AoC, said: “Faced with huge disruption, budget restraints and massive uncertainty, colleges have worked hard during these challenging times to support students with their mental health and wellbeing.”

In addition, staff mental health concerns were raised as 62 per cent of colleges reported an increase in staff accessing mental health services. Recurrence of existing mental health issues and high workloads were the two biggest reasons given for those, with others including Covid-19, caring duties, cost of living fears and job uncertainty.

The report said there was a lack of specialist support and timely access to it in both colleges and the wider community health services, while the lack of funding was impacting the overall effectiveness of support measures.

The report referenced the government’s announcement in January that it would pump £150 million by April 2025 into 150 new urgent and emergency mental health facilities, but said that while this will help it “does not go far enough”.

The AoC’s commitments in the report included dedicated research on learner mental health, regular reporting on emerging issues, helping champion and resource staff development opportunities, and developing dedicated resources and peer-networking.

That is set to include “a suite of resources, lesson plans, workshops and awareness campaigns aimed at learners”.

It has called on government to ensure funding reaches further education providers and continued review of data around the impacts of key concerns such as Covid-19 and cost of living worries.

Colleges have been urged to conduct regular surveys of staff and learners to build an evidence base, broaden staff development to include areas such as suicide awareness training, sign the AoC’s mental health charter and engage with local health services.

Dr Nihara Krause, consultant clinical psychologist and chief executive and founder of youth mental health charity stem4 said that only a third of young people were able to access early intervention support, meaning that often by the time students reach college their difficulties are more severe.

Krause said that colleges “should be applauded for making mental health and wellbeing a priority,” and added: “If we really want to turn the tide of mental ill health in this young generation, urgent action is needed in the form of more effective evidence-based early mental health interventions. 

“And this requires meaningful investment in secondary care and access to effective mental health support in every school, college, and university across the UK, as well as specialist mental health practitioners supporting primary care providers.”

The Samaritans are available 365 days a year day or night. Call them for free on 116123, email jo@samaritans.org or visit www.samaritans.org to find your nearest branch.