The government has announced the chair to steer its new skills taskforce for the UK’s shipbuilding industry.
Captain Dr Paul Little, who is chief executive of City of Glasgow College, will lead a team of 20 members from across the UK as part of the project.
The cross-government National Shipping Strategy was launched back in March and includes a commitment for the Department for Education to develop a skills strategy for the sector, which currently supports 42,600 jobs.
Little has had a part-time maritime career that included deployment with the US Coastguard. He has also “transformed” five UK tertiary institutions and has what the government called a “strong international reputation”.
“I am honoured and delighted to be appointed as chair of the UK Shipbuilding Skills Taskforce, as it will allow me to combine my lifelong passions for skills and maritime,” Little said.
“Some of the very best and most famous ships throughout history were built in yards across the UK, by a talented workforce of naval architects, master technicians and skilled apprentices.”
Little will be joined by 20 members from across the UK, providing coverage from industry including SMEs and larger organisations, training providers and trade representative bodies.
The first meeting of the taskforce is expected to take place in June, and members will soon begin working with the wider industry to explore skills needs and shortages.
The taskforce will last for 18 months and aims to build a picture of the industry’s skills needs and provide solutions to skills shortages – particularly those related to new and emerging technologies and zero-emissions shipping.
“Making sure we can deliver more opportunities for people to train or upskill will be essential to providing the UK shipbuilding industry with the talent pipeline it needs to thrive and get more people into jobs,” skills minister Alex Burghart.
“I’m delighted [to] announce the appointment of Captain Dr Paul Little as the Chair of the UK Shipbuilding Skills Taskforce.
“I know he and all the other members will bring the experience, passion and understanding needed to make this Taskforce a success. I look forward to hearing about their work as the strategy develops.”
There are currently 16 apprenticeships available for the maritime industry. There are also a number of level 3 qualifications for the sector, as well as traineeships.
The taskforce will explore what other courses are needed to supplement the existing offer.
The 20 members of the Taskforce are:
Linton Roberts, Chief Technology Officer, Cammell Laird Ship repairers and Shipbuilders Ltd and A&P Group Ltd.
Adrian Bevin, Head of Curriculum, Technology, South Devon College
Commodore Andrew Martin Cree, Deputy Director Future Training, Royal Navy
Edward James Corbett, Project Engineer, representing Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU)
Elizabeth O’Connor, Human Resources and Legal Director, MJM Marine Ltd
Hannah Prowse, CEO, Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust
Keith Longman, Yard Manager, Berthon Boat Company Ltd.
Kerrie Forster, CEO, Workboat Association
Mark Whitehead, Snr Client and Commercial Manager, Bibby Marine
Matt Bolton, Executive Officer, UKNEST
Matthew Guy, Human Resources Director, Thales UK
Nick Mansell, Chief Executive Officer, Intermarine UK
Patrick Carnie, Strategy Director, Marine and Engineering Systems, Babcock International Group
Paul Feely, Academy and Engineering Director, BAE Systems Naval
Another three-way merger is on the cards in an effort to secure the long-term future of a Southampton college surviving on government bailouts.
The Department for Education has revealed plans that would see City College Southampton, Eastleigh College and Fareham College in Hampshire create a “single group structure”.
The proposal forms the outcome of the DfE’s long-awaited City-wide Solution (CWS) project Southampton, which got underway in late 2020.
All three colleges said they would now consider the proposal. The DfE has refused to release the project’s report or share details about when the merger could go ahead if agreed by all parties.
Multiple previous merger attempts involving City College Southampton – one of which included Eastleigh College – have been rejected.
The FE Commissioner’s team visited Southampton in December 2021 and reported that City College is surviving on emergency money, which has reached £8 million, from the Education and Skills Funding Agency. The funding is due to run out by February 2023.
It is hoped that a three-way merger between City College, Eastleigh College and Fareham College will create a financially strong network of college campuses, which will “improve the quality and breadth of the offer to learners and enable FE to respond better to local and national priorities”, according to a government spokesperson.
All three colleges are relatively small with total annual income ranging from around £15 million to £20 million. City College Southampton recorded a deficit in 2021 of £1.4 million, while Eastleigh had a deficit of £1.8 million last year. Fareham College is yet to file accounts for 2021 but its financial statements for 2020 show a deficit of £500,000.
The DfE said it has worked closely with the FE institutions and key partners in the city and the surrounding area, consulting with the Chamber of Commerce, other local education organisations, both of the city’s universities and the city and county councils.
“The colleges in Southampton have a rich history of educating and supporting local people and these proposals are the next step in ensuring they are able to continue to do so, while responding to local needs and remaining financially sustainable,” a DfE spokesperson said.
“We want to thank the partner colleges for their tireless work on this issue so far, and look forward to working with them to deliver the best deal possible for students, colleges and the people of Southampton.”
In a statement about the latest merger proposal, a City College spokesperson said: “We have been and continue to be committed to working collaboratively with the DfE, stakeholders and partners to achieve an organisation which will deliver high quality, sustainable further education in Southampton and surrounding areas for decades to come.”
Fareham College said the college will discuss the DfE proposals because it is “important to explore all options for strengthening the provision that is currently available and we look forward to working beside the DfE to determine the best way of achieving the desired outcomes for learners in Southampton and beyond”.
And Eastleigh College said: “We recognise the efforts of the past year by the Department for Education, Education and Skills Funding Agency, the FE Commissioner and others in their work to seek to resolve the challenges at City College.
“As we have demonstrated since 2018 we will continue to consider how we can support improvement and deliver an improved position for learners, employers, stakeholders and the city of Southampton. The board will consider the initial ‘City Wide Solution’ proposal in June and will feedback to relevant agencies at that time.”
The DfE said it will announce further developments in “due course”.
Sharron Robbie, managing director of the Devon & Cornwall Training Provider Network, has her feet firmly in both the colleges and ITP camps. Can she get her unique cross-sector voice heard at a national level?
Training provider networks are perhaps the unsung heroes of FE. Ministers new to the sector quickly learn there are independent training providers, passionately represented by the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, and colleges, again well-represented by the Association of Colleges, plus a multitude of other stakeholders. So far, so (fairly) clear.
But then there are training provider networks – not-for-profit organisations run off membership fees and other income streams – who arguably do the most important job of all.
They bring together independent training providers, colleges and other FE stakeholders all under the same roof, are locally focused, and advise providers, employers and government on their interests and needs.
According to Sharron Robbie, managing director at the Devon & Cornwall Training Provider Network, there are about 20 TPNs across the country, varying wildly in size, finances and governance set-ups. Hers was founded in 2005, while others are much younger. They seem to be organic organisations, driven along by people passionate about skills provision.
Sharron Robbie is the sort of energetic, go-getting person you’d want in charge of yours. Her members are six colleges, 30 independent training providers, three universities, three employer providers, two awarding bodies, two chambers of commerce, three local authorities and (pause for breath) two careers groups. It’s an FE stakeholder melting pot.
With her Old English Sheepdog, Dave
There’s an £850 flat annual fee to be a member, and although Robbie has taken membership from 32 to more than 50 providers in the six years since she became managing director, that still only brings in about £46,000 a year.
But since she’s been in post, she says, she’s boosted income streams and last year, her network pulled in just shy of £200,000, through a combination of winning project money from local authorities and other stakeholders, and through acting as an “apprenticeship expert” delivering training and advice. It’s a significant increase.
“We are one of the most expensive,” admits Robbie, regarding the annual fee – but she explains that it’s worth it. Members get access to four Teams calls, four face-to-face conferences, daily updates from Robbie if needed, board expertise and free workshops and events each year.
These workshops might be universally relevant (a recent one was “How to make the best use of LinkedIn”), or reactive to local context.
After the terrible shooting and killing of five people in Plymouth last summer, Robbie’s network delivered training on “incels” (an internet term for young men with strongly misogynistic views). The “Plymouth shooter”, as he became known, was an apprentice with Babcock International, making it all the more important to support providers.
Aside from this sort of grim but much-needed training, Robbie’s next project is more positive and global in outlook.
“We’re going to Morocco to meet partners on a blue and green skills project,” she says excitedly.
Next, we’re going to Morocco for a blue and green skills project
“Morocco is key, they’ve got a lot of wind and sun and they will be supplying the UK with electricity soon.”
Her team won the grant from the British Council, and will be sharing expertise from ITPs and colleges such as Exeter College and Truro College with partners in the north African country.
“The British Council were really pleased, because it’s usually colleges that apply, and this was the first time a training provider network has bid,” she grins.
Robbie perhaps has a naturally internationalist outlook, having grown up in Malaysia and later in Hong Kong. Her father was in supply and logistics for the Royal Navy and her mother was a nurse – and a big influence on her.
“I remember her going to work in her beautifully starched clothes and big nurse’s hat in the 1960s, and a chap walking with her with a bamboo pole carrying a bag of instruments,” Robbie smiles. Local Chinese and Malay families become close friends, but Robbie also had to learn to entertain herself.
“As a services child, you’re left to your own devices quite a lot, so you become quite resilient and quite confident. I saw my mother as a role model ̶ she was quietly strong but with a core of empathy and a caring nature.”
Receiving her MBE at Windsor Castle
But the young Robbie also took after her father, who was a good “wheeler and dealer”. Her next story (she is a born storyteller) has to be one of my favourites ever. “I was given a budgerigar for my birthday, and a few months later, my sister got a budgie too.
“So my sister goes crying to my parents, because apparently seven-year-old Sharron had said: ‘If your budgie is in my cage, you’ll have to pay rent.’” Robbie cackles with delight. “I was very entrepreneurial!”
The return to the UK was a shock, and opportunities felt limited in the 1970s and 1980s. “I’d come from living in this quite cosmopolitan country, and it was really strange coming back. There were miners’ strikes and shortages. You know, prawn cocktail and black forest gateau were like, ‘wow’.”
Aged 14, Robbie was placed in a secondary modern in Plymouth, where, extraordinarily, students were limited to taking certificates of secondary education (CSEs) as opposed to O-levels and were capped at achieving a grade 1, which was equivalent to only a C grade at O-level.
After that she went to Plymouth College of Further Education, now City College Plymouth, and later to Bristol to work as a dental nurse in hospital, earning £6.50 a week and gaining two vocational nursing qualifications, of which she was “very proud”.
Next, she followed in her father’s footsteps as well as her mother’s, becoming a Royal Naval dental nurse and “removing impacted wisdom teeth and taking out glass”. It doesn’t sound like it was for the faint-hearted.
As a first year dental nurse in 1980
On getting married and then pregnant, she was forced to leave the Navy (how times have thankfully changed) but, undeterred, came up with an ingenious recruitment agency model to make money and fill a local skills gap. She built up a roster of women, including mothers who were dental nurses, and was rung by dentists with a vacancy that day. She would then charge the mothers to babysit their child, and charge the dentist for filling the vacancy.
If anyone is a walking-talking example of lifelong learning, Robbie is. Aged 39, she decided she wanted a university degree in business – but was refused, because of the ridiculous education policy during her childhood that meant she didn’t have maths O-level.
“So I sold my house (my husband was very supportive) and did a college foundation course in marketing,” she announces. City College Plymouth had “fantastic” lecturers, and Robbie got her foundation degree between 2002 and 2004. She was surrounded by teenagers on the course but, as she puts it, she “didn’t give a damn”. Quite right too.
Her first job was as director of marketing for an IT company, which didn’t suit her. But then in 2007 she landed a marketing officer job at her alma mater, City College Plymouth. She would stay for almost nine years, working her way up to director of marketing, corporate relations and enterprise.
“I left the college because I wanted to do the next thing, and become assistant or vice principal, but the structure didn’t allow that, which is fine,” she continues. Instead she became commercial director for Trinity Mirror news group, a high-level, “tough gig” selling ad space.
Then one day in 2016 Craig Marshall, the former managing director at the Devon & Cornwall TPN rang Robbie, and told her she should take his job. “We did a road trip across Devon and Cornwall and over six months he introduced me to all the training providers. It was a fantastic introduction. I loved seeing what went on.”
The TPN team today are a microcosm of the FE sector: there’s chair Mike Blakeley, a senior leader at Exeter College, as well as staff from South Devon College, City College Plymouth and Petroc College, and others from the ITP, charity and awarding body sector. Robbie herself is also chair of AELP’s regional network south.
On a walk in Dartmoor
This puts her in a unique position to navigate what she acknowledges is a “highly competitive space… What we offer is that critical friend. We’re able to broker those partnerships,” she says. “My impartiality – I’m not trying to grab learners – means I’m a safe pair of hands, I’m a safe harbour for collaboration.”
It seems a no-brainer to have such cross-sector organisations, I comment. Why isn’t there a national organisation to represent them all and amplify their voice?
Robbie almost leaps out of her chair in agreement. “What we have been looking at is bringing together a national group of training provider networks,” she explains. “That’s one of our strategies. When you look at how many training providers there are, how many learners, it’s massive. But actually it’s all in disparate groups.”
She’s already built strong connections with other TPNs across the south west, meeting regularly with the Dorset & Somerset, west of England, Gloucestershire & Wiltshire TPNs.
Should TPNs also get some government funding? I continue.
“We should have government funding,” she nods. “We do a huge amount of work, including a huge amount of unpaid work. We attend skills advisory panels, we provide updates, we provide huge amounts of information.
“I think our colleagues in ESFA and the Department for Education do recognise the worth of these local networks and if they could, they would. They call and text and email me all hours of the day and night!” she hoots.
“We just need to keep reminding government of the great work training provider networks do, in supporting training providers in FE.”
It’s food for thought. If anyone’s able to make the business case for training provider networks, it’s Robbie.
Ministers are being urged to stump up emergency funding for colleges so that staff pay can be increased in the face of a cost-of-living and recruitment crisis.
The Department for Education is also being asked to review policies to reduce financial risks – including by being lenient when it comes to funding clawbacks, offering an income “guarantee”, and increasing funding rates for adult education courses.
Association of Colleges boss David Hughes laid out the demands in a letter to education secretary Nadhim Zahawi today.
It comes ahead of the association’s annual negotiations on staff pay with education unions later this week. The AoC has repeatedly recommended a 1 per cent pay increase for staff over the past five years much to the protest of unions which have in turn launched numerous strikes.
In an update to members on Friday, Hughes revealed that the unions’ claim this is for a 10 per cent rise this year, with a minimum of £2,000.
He said that given inflation is running at 9 per cent, and the longstanding pay gaps with schoolteachers of £9,000 and with wider industry, that does “not look completely unreasonable”.
But he pointed out after a decade of underfunding, there is not a single college which is able to meet that claim, nor even get very close.
In turning to the government for extra funding, Hughes highlighted there is a risk to the rollout of T Levels and Higher Technical Qualifications, as well as ambitions to boost apprenticeships, because colleges are “struggling to retain and attract top talent to teach the skills needed to fill gaps in shortage sectors across the economy”.
Previous AoC research claimed that colleges are suffering their worst staffing crisis in two decades.
Hughes said: “The government’s skills revolution is in danger of stalling because, ironically, colleges cannot compete in the tightest labour market on record. At the very time colleges need to be training more people for the increasing number of skilled vacancies, they find themselves unable to pay enough to attract and retain talented, experienced and skilled people themselves.
“Colleges want to deliver but are not being given the funding they need to do it. The gap between what these teachers could earn in industry, or even in schools, compared to working in a college is now at crisis point, limiting capacity just when colleges need to grow numbers.”
He called on Zahawi to make representations to the Treasury for emergency funding. But he stopped short of saying how much is needed specifically.
Last year’s spending review announced that the DfE will be investing an extra £1.6 billion in 16-to-19 education and training by 2024/25, compared with the 2021/22 financial year. This includes an up-front cash boost which will see the rate of funding per student boosted by over 8 per cent in 2022/23.
Hughes said these funding decisions for 2022/23 assume 2 per cent inflation for 16-18 courses and 0 per cent for everything else (adult education, apprenticeships and higher education) which is some way off the current 9 per cent inflation.
Alongside pay pressures, colleges have to deal with increases in national insurance contributions, the national minimum wage, pension contributions, utility bills and other costs, Hughes said.
The AoC also wants DfE to review other policies which could be adjusted to reduce the financial risks for colleges which, in turn, could help them make a better pay settlement.
These include:
– how the business case processes can be designed to allow more leeway for 2021-22 and 2022-23 AEB and 2022-3 T level shortfalls because colleges risk clawback on both;
– more flexibility on the extra 40 funded hours in 2022-23 which are eating into the funding available, and which are also more challenging to deliver given the widespread difficulties in recruiting and retaining teaching staff;
– suspending intervention action on ESFA financial health assessments and the FE commissioner 65 per cent staff cost benchmark because those measures will severely constrain colleges from making better pay offers to staff;
– a cost increase sharing mechanism for approved DfE capital projects (currently 100 per cent of extra costs fall to the college) because of the large inflationary increases in construction materials and labour costs;
– offering an income guarantee for colleges where the grade inflation in last summer’s exams led to more young people staying in school sixth forms. This impacts through the lagged system on income from the autumn, just when we expect those student numbers to bounce back. The lagged system was not designed for such unique circumstances and needs to be amended for next academic year;
– considering a rate increase on AEB, learning from the approach taken in London by the GLA with it’s devolved powers. The AEB funding rates have not increased for over a decade;
– considering a rate premium on priority courses and qualifications, including in skills shortage areas such as construction, engineering, digital and health where colleges have the most difficulties in recruiting skilled staff and for T Levels, HTQs and other courses which the Government wishes to see grow.
Staff at Richmond upon Thames College are striking every day this week in response to the college threatening the use of “fire and rehire” tactics to drive down staff holiday allowances.
The University and College Union said that the college issued notices to “sack every teacher at the college” as part of a plan to force them to reapply for their jobs on “worse terms and conditions” that would see a reduction in their annual leave.
However, the college has hit back, saying they are “hugely disappointed” to see strike action go ahead given that students have already experienced a large amount of disruption due to the pandemic – and have argued “fire and rehire” would only be used as a last resort.
And an MP has waded into the debate- calling for RuTC withdraw the section 188 notice (a notice an employer intends to make a number of employees redundant), to help an “amicable settlement to be reached”.
“The management team at Richmond upon Thames are effectively putting a gun to the head of its own staff. It is deplorable behaviour, and it will be met with the full force of our union,” said UCU general secretary Jo Grady.
Adam Lincoln, UCU’s regional official, said that this week’s strike shows staff will not allow management to “fire them and rehire them on worse terms”.
“Fire and rehire is a sickening tactic used by some of the UK’s worst employers and Richmond upon Thames College’s management needs to treat staff with the dignity they deserve.”
Lincoln said that the 127 teachers who now face “a battle to save their jobs” have dedicated themselves to supporting their students, not least during the pandemic.
“The fact that management are trying to slash 10 days from their holiday entitlement is a mark of shame for the entire college, and one which will prompt fury amongst students and the local community,” Lincoln added.
The dispute has arisen over the college’s proposal to reduce the current 64 days per year of annual leave (including Bank holidays and efficiency days) to what the college calls “a level in line with other FE colleges”.
UCU has claimed staff would lose 10 days of holiday – but the college has said they are proposing a “net loss” of 8 days of annual leave with full financial compensation.
RuTC in turn claimed the move will bring annual leave to a level in line with other FE colleges.
It said the final option to “dismiss and re-engage” would only be used in the “worst case scenario”.
Strike action all week
Staff will be picketing the college from 7am to 11am everyday of strike action.
UCU told FE Week that they expect over 100 members of staff to take part in the strike over the course of the week.
The college has said that UCU represents fewer than 50 per cent of the college’s teaching staff.
They added that the ballot was not unanimously in favour of strike action and the college have been made aware that many of its teachers are “equally disappointed in the union’s decision to strike”.
“Richmond upon Thames College are hugely disappointed to see strike action go ahead at this time, when students across the country have already experienced a large amount of disruption due to the pandemic,” a statement on the college’s website said.
“The college has demonstrated a consistent and genuine desire to negotiate on the overall package of benefits including pay and levels of annual leave and has confirmed the offer of 100 per cent financial compensation (consolidated) for the net reduction in annual leave.”
The statement added that this offer financially compensates and recognises the work that teaching staff regularly carry out during holiday times.
Failed negotiations
UCU and RuTC have met for negotiations – but so far, no solution to the dispute has been found.
“After a meeting with UCU on Tuesday 10 May, the employer confirmed that it would not enter further negotiations and would begin conducting 1-2-1 meetings with staff ahead of delivering dismissal notices,” UCU said in a statement.
“The employer continues to refuse to recommence negotiations to resolve the dispute.”
However, the college said it informed UCU on February 22, this year that there would be proposals to change the terms and conditions of the teaching staff contract to see if agreement could be reached and individuals could voluntarily move to the revised contract.
RuTC said it was agreed that they would move to formal consultation on March 8.
The 45-day formal consultation period was due to end on April 22, and the College extended the timeline by a further 18 days until May 10.
“Consultation came to an end on that day when the UCU response made it clear that negotiations could go no further,” the college said.
Munira Wilson, MP for Twickenham, said that she had spoken with representatives from both Richmond upon Thames College and the University and College Union to listen to their respective views on the dispute.
“Whilst I believe it is not unreasonable for RuTC to seek to renegotiate staff contracts, the fact that the college has issued a section 188 notice (which begins the consultation process to fire staff), whilst still in the process of negotiating with those affected, undermines their ability to negotiate in good faith,” she said.
“I have urged the college to withdraw the section 188 notice, as I believe this could help bring the strike to an early end and allow for an amicable settlement to be reached.”
Disruption
The strikes come at a time when many students are sitting exams.
RuTC said they will be doing everything they can to minimise disruption to their students’ ongoing teaching, learning and assessment and that the impact of strike action is likely to vary for different students, depending on the union membership within different programmes.
“Some students may notice little disruption, others may experience more,” the college said.
“We are investigating a range of options to enable any lost learning to be recovered, wherever possible. The strike action will not impact on the operation of formal exams that will be taking place at RuTC during the week of the strike,” it added.
Previous Job: Business Development Manager, SCL Group
Interesting fact: With a passion for grass-roots football, James has coached Aylestone Park FC for six years and recently took them to league cup victory.
Ros Parker
Principla, Isle of Wight College
Start date: September 2022
Previous Job: Principal, Southend Adult Community College
Interesting fact: Ros is a volunteer radio presenter aiming to reduce social isolation in older people. She has interviewed some inspirational guests and celebrities but her all-time favourite are Orville, closely followed by Jean-Christophe Novelle.
Two colleges have been rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted this week, with one making the jump to the top rating just three years after being given ‘requires improvement’.
Chadsgrove Specialist College in Worcestershire was criticised back in 2019 by inspectors who found directors, managers and staff were “not suitably experienced in working with students” in FE.
But following an inspection in March, Ofsted said this week that the college had a highly ambitious curriculum in place, and that students were able to develop in a “safe and highly inclusive” environment.
A report for Nelson & Colne College Group in Lancashire was also published this week, with the group retaining ‘outstanding’ ratings in their first inspection since 2009.
“From the moment learners enter the college premises, they encounter a very welcoming, caring and calm environment,” inspectors said in a report about Chadsgrove Specialist College, published this week.
“Learners develop in an environment that is safe and highly inclusive. Learners are supported by experienced staff who give learners high levels of respect, care and kindness. This includes learners who require high levels of intimate care.
“Leaders and managers ensure that the highly ambitious curriculum meets learners’ individual needs and aspirations very well. This prepares learners very well for their next steps into adulthood.”
Chadsgrove Educational Trust Specialist College is an independent specialist college that provides education and training to young people aged 19 to 25 with severe and profound special educational needs and/or disabilities, including complex physical, health and medical conditions.
At the time of the inspection, there were 12 learners with education, health and care (EHC) plans who had high needs.
Ofsted rated the college ‘outstanding’ in all inspection five areas including the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management and provision for learners with high needs.
“Since the previous inspection, leaders have made very significant improvements to the quality of provision… Leaders and staff have high ambitions and aspirations for learners with complex needs to achieve their best,” inspectors said.
“Learners follow highly individualised programmes to increase their independence, communication, confidence and community engagement. As a result, this leads to improved life outcomes for learners.”
In a statement, Chadsgrove Educational Trust said it was “delighted” to be recognised as outstanding in its recent inspection.
“Staff, students, therapists and directors, a wonderful team, have worked unremittingly over the past three years in developing comprehensive curriculum pathways for learners with physical disabilities and complex health needs,” the statement said.
“Our sincere thanks go to this amazing team and the families that have been integral to achieving this recognition.”
Nelson & Colne College Group was also rated as ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted following an inspection that was carried out between March 15 and 18.
The group offers sixth-form provision, adult learning, apprenticeships and programmes for learners who have high needs.
At the time of the inspection, the college provided education programmes for 2,265 young people who were studying A-levels and vocational programmes from entry level to level 3.
Inspectors found that learners aged 16 to 18 make excellent progress on their programmes and that they speak positively about the support they get for their next steps.
“Learners and apprentices love being learners at the college. They describe their teachers and trainers as inspirational and knowledgeable,” the report said.
“Teachers and trainers create highly supportive, calm learning environments in which learners and most apprentices thrive. Learners rapidly build their confidence and produce work of a very high standard. Apprentices develop substantial new knowledge, skills and behaviours.”
Nelson & Colne College Group said the rating meant they are now the only college in Lancashire to be graded ‘outstanding’ under the new Ofsted framework.
“I am beyond proud to be a part of this extraordinary college group,” said chief executive Amanda Melton.
“Our focus has always been to provide the very best education and training to learners and apprentices across Lancashire, and now, after two mergers and a pandemic, Ofsted has recognised us as an ‘outstanding’ group of colleges.
“All of the colleges within Nelson & Colne College Group are now ‘outstanding’ and this is a true testament to the hard work, dedication and talent of all of our staff and students.”
The government and its education arms-length bodies have officially cut ties with the National Union of Students – but FE Week has found the decision is unlikely to make much difference as engagement on FE issues is already minimal.
Last week, minister for HE and FE Michelle Donelan (pictured) suspended all engagement with the NUS following antisemitism allegations – meaning the union will no longer be able to attend Department for Education policy groups and will be replaced with alternative student representation.
The DfE also requested that its arms-length bodies, such as the Office for Students, follow its lead and suspend their engagement with the NUS.
However, a DfE spokesperson confirmed to FE Week there are actually no routine, long-standing engagements with the NUS in relation to FE at the department and the Education and Skills Funding Agency.
This is despite the majority of student unions in the NUS’s membership being in FE providers ̶ around 64 per cent, according to the NUS.
Minimal engagement with arms-length bodies
The NUS will also be prevented from attending groups on FE with arms-length bodies – but their overall engagement with these affiliated organisations is already minimal, FE Week has learned.
“As per the request from the Department of Education, we will temporarily disengage with the NUS,” a spokesperson from the Student Loans Company said.
The spokesperson said the main stakeholder event the NUS is invited to at SLC in relation to FE is their advanced learner loans forum, which the union will no longer be able to attend to represent students.
The spokesperson added that the NUS is invited on a range of other forums across the organisation but did not specify how relevant these forums were to FE.
The Office for Students, which regulates higher education, told FE Week they have historically engaged with the NUS through information sharing meetings and involving them in policy-focused committees.
“We will cease to involve the NUS in our formal policy development. Informal information-sharing meetings between the NUS and the OfS may continue, including to discuss progress in their investigation of antisemitism within the NUS.”
However, other arms-length bodies told FE Week they had limited or no engagement with the NUS.
A spokesperson for the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education said: “We support the position of the Department for Education. We will continue to focus IfATE’s learner engagement through our panel of apprentices.”
IfATE said it will conduct a “fuller review” but that they did not believe they worked with the NUS at all in a formal capacity.
A spokesperson from Ofqual told FE Week it will also stop engagement with the NUS, but could not say what specific engagement is being cut in relation to further education.
Ofsted also told FE Week the watchdog does not have regular contact with the NUS.
The DfE also announced that the NUS will not receive any government funding. But a spokesperson confirmed the NUS does not currently receive any money from the DfE – and that this comment related to future funding opportunities.
Allegations of antisemitism
The government said that the allegations of antisemitism at the NUS, which have been “well-documented and span several years”, have prompted a feeling of insecurity amongst Jewish students across the country.
These include concerns about the invitation of the rapper, Lowkey, who has been accused of making antisemitic comments, to the 2022 NUS conference.
It was alleged that current NUS president Larissa Kennedy suggested that Jewish students segregate themselves into a quiet area designed for neuro-divergent students during his appearance, which was “utterly unacceptable”, the DfE said.
The DfE was also “deeply concerned” about social media comments made by the president elect, Shaima Dallali, which have included a tweet in support of Hamas.
Education secretary Nadhim Zahawi said: “I am seriously concerned to hear of so many reports of alleged antisemitism linked to the NUS.
“Jewish students need to have confidence that this is a body that represents them, and we need to be sure that the student bodies that we engage with are speaking fairly for all students, which is why we are disengaging with the NUS until the issues have been addressed.”
The department said it is working closely with the Union of Jewish Students and other Jewish groups to ensure there is a consensus that the NUS is fully able to represent all students, including Jewish students.
“When this happens we will consider re-engaging with the union,” the DfE added.
An NUS spokesperson said the union was “disappointed” that Donelan announced the decision in a statement to the press rather than “seeking to engage with us directly”.
An independent investigation into the antisemitism allegations is currently ongoing.
An investigation into whether a college lecturer who died of Covid-19 contracted the virus at work has come back inconclusive – but the college has to pay a fee for breaking health and safety laws.
The Health and Safety Executive opened a fatality investigation into Donna Coleman’s death after the University and College Union raised Covid health and safety concerns at Burnley College during the pandemic.
Coleman (pictured) tested positive for coronavirus on December 14 and died on January 6, 2021 aged 42.
The HSE found the college failed to meet social distancing and ventilation requirements, failed to enforce the wearing of face coverings by some staff and senior managers, and that staff were being encouraged not to report close contacts of Covid.
The college also held a Christmas party for staff where social distancing requirements were not met on December 18 – after Coleman contracted the virus.
At the time, the country was in “very high alert” tier 3 restrictions, where outdoor and indoor socialising was banned and hospitality and entertainment venues were closed.
In a letter about the outcome of the investigation Laura Snelgrove, an inspector for the government’s health and safety regulator HSE, said it was “impossible to conclude that from the evidence presented, on the balance of probabilities, that Donna Coleman’s exposure to Covid-19 took place within the workplace”.
Snelgrove added that the evidence does not present a specific, identifiable incident that led to an increased risk of exposure and the information gathered confirms the general levels of Covid-19 infection within the community was “very high” at the time when Coleman tested positive.
However, the HSE did rule that health and safety laws were “broken”, and Burnley College will now have to pay a fee to cover administrative costs due to these “material breaches”.
HSE said it could not share the value of the fee, but told FE Week the agency will meet with the college, Coleman’s family and the UCU next week to discuss the findings.
The UCU said the union, alongside Coleman’s family, is pursuing appealing the HSE’s inconclusive ruling about where Coleman contracted the virus.
Health and safety failings identified by the HSE include a failure to meet social distancing and ventilation requirements within the office that Coleman shared with two colleagues, one of whom also tested positive for Covid on the same day as Coleman.
Vicki Coleman told FE Week she was confused by the HSE decision and felt the inconclusive ruling was contradictory.
She confirmed her family will be appealing and told FE Week they have also reported the case to the police.
Paying tribute to her sister she said: “Donna was really caring just thought of everybody before herself. She was compassionate.
“She probably took on more than she should have done with people’s problems and was always a bit of an agony aunt. But she just always saw the best in people.”
UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “The HSE has found numerous instances where Burnley College failed in its duties to protect the safety of its staff and students during the deadly second wave of Covid.
“Whilst the HSE was not able to find that Burnley’s failings directly caused Donna’s death, it is clear that the college endangered the lives of staff and students. The college should not need a yearlong investigation to address basic failings like refusing to allow staff to self –isolate when it was a legal requirement or to realise that it is incredibly reckless to push ahead with a Christmas party during a pandemic.”
Grady added: “Many workers have lost their lives to Covid and today our thoughts remain firmly with Donna’s family. We hope that the HSE investigation is a stark reminder to employers that they need to take workplace safety seriously and engage with unions when we raise health and safety concerns. The risk of not doing so is too great.”
Burnley College did not respond to requests for comment.
