Stressed and nervous but determined to prove themselves: the students sitting exams for the first time 

“You joke about it with your friends – ‘we’re the year that didn’t do exams’ – but you do think you got the easy way out,” says Blackpool Sixth Form College student Megan Taylor, 18. 

As the sun beams in through huge glass windows in a room on the college’s second floor, offering tree-topped views across the Fylde coast, Taylor is one of six students giving their views on the return of exams this summer – the first since pre-Covid 2019. 

For Megan, the chance to take exams is about “self-credibility and self-fulfilment… You don’t have to worry about what other people think about you going through your young adult life and not having an exam”. 

It’s a common theme. Earlier in the day we had visited South Shore Academy, also in Blackpool.  

Students preferred to be taking exams. One said they were “more accurate”. Another didn’t want “Covid grades”. 

‘The dynamic has changed’ 

But they were all nervous. A few talked about it being stressful. One of the reasons behind this, according to head Rebecca Warhurst, is that year 11 pupils have “not had the peers to look up to in the same way, due to lockdown.  

“We noticed a change in ambience and dynamic but, with wellbeing at the heart of everything we do, we have been able to fully support our students.” 

Ofqual allowed adaptations this year to try and smooth out some of the Covid disruption. One year 11 pupil at South Shore said being able to take in a formula sheet had “taken the stress off our shoulders”. 

But the youngsters – we spoke to around 10 across years 11 and 10 – also said the extra adaptations just added more things to get used to. Some exams this year will have reduced content, and there have also been coursework changes. 

The government confirmed this week that exams would return to full subject content coverage. While the intent is to return to normal “as quickly as possible”, it has not ruled out allowing exam aids and advance information in next year’s exams.  

The year 10 pupils at South Shore think it only fair they should get some help. “We did miss a lot of school too,” one said. Another felt they had not properly settled into the independent learning of year 10 because of Covid disruption. 

Speaking after the visits, Saxton said her heart was set on assisting pupils but, with her regulator hat on, the right thing to do is to check the evidence after the use of aids this year. The government will “monitor the path and impact of the pandemic” before deciding. 

‘Classrooms are being taken out of action’ 

But back to this year, and schools and colleges are facing their own disruption amid a surge in students requesting access arrangements and reasonable adjustments to exams. 

South Shore would usually have a handful of pupils asking to do their exams in a separate room. This year it is 20, most of whom say they are too anxious to sit in such a big room. 

Four in five of the 527 heads surveyed by the Association of Schools and College Leaders said the level of stress and anxiety among exam students was higher than in pre-pandemic years. A similar number said they had received more requests from pupils to take exams in separate rooms.  

A survey by training provider communicate-ed of 146 school and college staff found the average increase in referrals for extra exam help was around 30 per cent. The most popular requests were to sit the exam in a separate room, be given extra time, use a word processor or have supervised rest breaks. 

But more than half of respondents said they felt their centre would not have the capacity to accommodate all the requests, as well as being overwhelmed by the time needed for the associated admin.   

Stuart Ormson, assistant principal at Blackpool Sixth Form College, said students were “struggling to cope with anxiety and stress more generally. But that is becoming more and more challenging trying to house it. It’s taking classrooms out of action.” 

In the meantime, the college is looking to repurpose a restaurant as an exams hall. Unity Academy in Blackpool is looking at using 22 rooms for 120 exam pupils. 

Saxton pointed to the lack of familiarity with exams – for both pupils and new staff – as a contributory factor. She said schools were going “above and beyond in a new way” to provide such support. She hopes things will get closer to normality next year. 

But the issues are also exacerbating invigilator recruitment struggles. Blackpool Sixth had already lost some of its most experienced invigilators, who don’t want to “take the risk” after Covid. The ASCL survey found more than a third of heads had not recruited enough invigilators.  

Ofqual has relaxed some rules, including extending the normal ratio of one invigilator for every 30 pupils to 1:40. But staff we spoke to said they wanted to stick with 1:30 as having more adults in the room makes pupils feel more at ease. Blackpool Sixth has trained some of its senior leadership team as invigilators. 

Challenges for new teachers, too 

Like their pupils, many of the Blackpool schools’ early career teachers (ECTs) had not yet experienced exams. 

Stephen Cooke, head of nearby Unity Academy, who joined us during the South Shore visit, said new teachers not knowing the exams process “puts a lot of pressure on the more experienced staff.  

“So you have pressure at both ends. Although a lot of ECTs have been through it this year, so a lot of that worry will disappear quickly.” 

This all follows an unrelenting few years for staff. South Shore had to defer an Ofsted inspection this year because 22 people were off.  

They collapsed year groups into the hall, with classes taught by new teachers or non-specialists, just to keep the school open. 

South Shore serves eight of the country’s 10 most deprived neighbourhoods. Sixty-two per cent of its pupils are on free school meals.  

During Covid the school, like many of its neighbours, had to provide resources such as pens and paper to families. They also gave out dongles with 30GB of data as some parents did not have internet access, but live streaming lessons meant that was sometimes burnt through in a day. 

Warhurst added: “We’ve all been through the same storm, but in very different boats.” 

The school is making great progress with a literacy-centric approach that includes 40-minute form periods where teachers read books to pupils. The current year 10s, the first group to go through a programme where progress is tracked via the New Group Reading Test, run by GL Assessment, saw their average standardised age scores shoot up from 86.2 per cent in year 7 (well below average) to 94.6 per cent (average). 

But, overall, the Blackpool heads felt the pandemic had exposed the inequalities between poorer pupils and their peers. Ofqual has admitted it was unable to come up with a solution that ironed out those differences.

However, with a “roll your sleeves up” attitude, staff have battled through to give students the best possible shot – and it means a lot to the youngsters.   

Blackpool Sixth Form College student Lloyd Paterson, who hopes to study journalism at university, said exams offered him the chance to “prove I can do it. I didn’t have that fulfilment when we finished school”. 

“I don’t want people looking back and seeing us as ‘the year that didn’t do GCSEs’,” added Taylor. 

In search of new college governors: DfE opens tender for board recruitment service 

Around half a million pounds is up for grabs to set up a new governor recruitment service for colleges at risk of intervention. 

The successful bidder will have three years to place at least 134 governors on college boards in return for £458,000. 

Colleges “identified by department colleagues” will have access to the service which will seek out new board members for them for free from September 2022. 

FE Week understands that the new targeted recruitment service will replace the Inspiring FE Governance programme, which was open to all colleges and training providers with governance vacancies. 

Procurement documents seen by FE Week show that at least 50 per cent of governors recruited by the successful bidder will have to be women and at least 30 per cent must be from black, Asian and other ethnic minority backgrounds. 

At least 80 per cent of newly sourced governors must be in post for at least six months. 

Governance experts have welcomed the new service and its requirements on the winning supplier to increase diversity on college boards. 

Fiona Chalk, founder and CEO of Governance4FE, told FE Week that investment in governor recruitment “shows an important direction of travel on the professionalisation of college governance.” 

The diversity and skills sets of college boards was flagged as a priority area for the government in its 2021 further education white paper, Skills for Jobs. The document committed the DfE to provide “more support for college corporation boards to develop their capacity and build a diverse membership that better reflects their local areas”. 

As well as bolstering board membership, the white paper also promised a review of the process for paying board chairs, refreshed guidance on the appointment of senior leaders and new requirements for regular external governance reviews. 

Firms bidding to win DfE’s recruitment contract will be expected to ensure that “cognitive diversity” and “diversity of knowledge and experience” is considered alongside traditional equalities characteristics such as gender, age, race, religion and sexual orientation. 

This new service will only be available for colleges referred to it by the DfE itself, likely through its territorial teams and the further education commissioner. 

This isn’t the first time struggling colleges have had access to free governor search support. 

The government funded a pilot of a fully subsidised governor recruitment service in 2020/21. The £110,000 pilot contract was won by Peridot Partners. 

Peridot’s director of education practice Drew Richardson-Walsh told FE Week that the department’s focus on diversity was “really positive” and revealed that 36 per cent of governors recruited through the pilot were women and 38 per cent came from a BAME background. 

While tender documents state that colleges “experiencing considerable difficulty” can apply directly to the DfE to access the service, Chalk said that a lack of a sector-wide universal service for governor recruitment was “disappointing, but in this case understandable”. 

The Inspiring FE Governance matching service was launched by the Education and Training Foundation in 2017. Unlike the recruitment service DfE are currently tendering for, Inspiring FE Governance was accessible to all colleges and training providers. An independent evaluation of the programme said that it had been “largely successful” and that the DfE had agreed to continue to fund the ETF to run it in 2021/22. 

This has not been the case, however. The ETF’s national head of governance development, Kurt Hall, confirmed that “the DfE has decided to replace Inspiring FE Governance with a revised programme of support for the recruitment of governors. 

“As part of the ETF’s ongoing efforts to provide high-quality training in this area for the sector, we are developing new qualifications for governance professionals, as well as offering a variety of other programmes and support for college boards. We are excited about this programme of leadership and governance support and more details will follow on this in due course.” 

Bootcamps should become a firm fixture of the national skills fund

Digital skills such as cyber security are more important than ever, and bootcamps are a good delivery model, writes Caroline Fox

As well as reporting the tragic consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on the ground, the media carries regular stories of a propaganda war being conducted in cyberspace.

Teams of IT experts are trying to get round state-controlled outlets to explain to the Russian people what is really going on. 

Meanwhile, away from the warzone, governments, businesses and educational institutions across the globe have been reviewing the security of their own IT systems in case they are on the receiving end of cyber attacks from Russia.

Of course, cyber attacks from Russia are nothing new (GCHQ has reported that UK ransomware incidents doubled during 2021). But the war has brought home how vital it is for us to protect our essential utilities, of which IT networks are one.

It is therefore particularly important that the government and the mayoral combined authorities have made digital skills a key priority in skills bootcamps.

As a delivery partner for the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), we are running programmes for cyber security analysts within our digital bootcamps offer.

As the name implies, bootcamps are by definition short (up to 16 weeks) and so no one can become a cyber security expert overnight by participating in one of these courses. A credible degree of core IT knowledge from prior learning is required. 

Nevertheless, within the space of a few days, the learner can acquire new skills and knowledge to help augment an organisation’s ability to protect its own or a client’s cyber security. 

This is where the reforms in last year’s skills white paper represent a genuine step forward in giving the country the skills it needs for the economy to grow. 

Bootcamps should be better aligned with other programmes like Restart

It’s heartening to see government recognition through bootcamps that learners can top up their existing skills in ways directly relevant to fast-evolving employer needs.

In this sense, bootcamps are one solution to addressing post-16 education’s perennial challenge of providing obvious routes for progression. 

Another major advantage of bootcamps is that their content can be relied upon to be up to date. In many areas, such as ICT, the speed of technological change can be very rapid. This means that by the time a student has completed a medium-term course of study for two years, new areas of priority may have emerged. Bootcamps can close that gap in knowledge.

Partnership is a recurring theme in the reforms for both higher and further education, and bootcamps point to a complementary model of provision gained from the combination of FE colleges and independent training provider-delivered bootcamps. 

The latter can also draw on the ITP strength of good employer engagement.

In terms of the wave 3 expansion of bootcamps that the DfE announced in January, real thought and imagination have gone into the design of the latest procurement. This includes the invitation for ‘bespoke’ bids for digital.

But there is still room for improvement. For instance, bootcamps should be better aligned with other programmes, such as Restart, the job support programme for universal credit claimants. At the moment, learners who have signed up for a bootcamp can still be referred to an additional programme, which then takes priority.

Unfortunately this can disrupt a learner’s progress towards securing a positive employment outcome.

Providers have also been confused by the plethora of national and devolved procurements for bootcamps. The DfE’s announcement of a dynamic purchasing system (DPS) will reduce the number of tenders, but a DPS relies on providers keeping capacity in place with no guarantee of future funding.

Nevertheless, the case is growing to make bootcamps a firm fixture within the national skills fund.

We can see on the international stage just how important cyber security skills are for every nation. Here in the West Midlands, bootcamps have become one of the most sought-after methods to obtain the additional skills required.

Are you tackling cultural poverty among students?

Ofsted is inspecting for ‘cultural capital’, but limited experience of the world is still holding learners back, writes Josh Spears

Have you ever felt like more and more learners are struggling to answer essay-style questions, not because they don’t know the facts, but because they lack good analysis?

Maybe, like me, you teach GCSE English Language re-sit, where learners struggle with fiction and non-fiction writing tasks.

Or you’re vocational studies, or A-level, wondering just why the evaluative elements of a student’s work just seem to fall flat.

It might just be because your students are living in cultural poverty.

I only really put the name cultural poverty to this issue at the start of 2020, defining it as “learners being unable to engage with creative and social concepts due to a lack of personal experiences that take place in the wider world”. So far it is holding up well enough.

To put it more simply, let’s ask this question: how can we expect a learner to write creatively about a time they went to a forest, if they’ve never been to one?

Just this year, a re-sit cohort went on a college visit to a gallery in Middlesbrough and nearly all of them had remarked that they’d never been to Middlesbrough. Darlington is 16 miles away. Yet they’d never been once.

High travel costs, lack of access to transport, no knowledge of activities. These are the bedrock of cultural poverty.

It worries me that those in cultural poverty can be at greater risk of fake news and radicalisation as they lack the ability to judge truth, having been exposed to little debate, coupled with that feeling that the community has no use for you.

Those in cultural poverty can be at greater risk of fake news

Don’t mistake cultural poverty with the failed, classist theory of aspirational poverty, which has since been debunked by academic Morag Treanor, in 2018. Aspirational poverty suggested that the poor, working class of the country didn’t aspire to “good” jobs in law, health or any such profession where you exchange business cards over a Pret lunch.

But learners want to be the best ̶ it’s just they don’t always know what is out there to be the best at! Or they do know, and they want those roles, but they don’t know how they can get there.

We give them careers advice, but do we give them varied careers experience?

American professor E. D. Hirsch suggested that learners existing in this state lacked “cultural literacy”. This idea focused around a national “shared vocabulary of ideas”-̶ not just an awareness of historical dates but the ripple effect these events had on our shared “tribe”.

The concept of cultural literacy appealed so much to Michael Gove when he was education secretary in 2012, that it inspired think tank Civitas to produce the ‘Core Knowledge’ curriculum, boldly stating that they will create “culturally literate citizens”.

This is good… but it doesn’t solve the problem of cultural poverty, and not only because it seems to focus on schools, not FE.

What we need is more than just facts, dates and their impacts. Learners at FE age need to be brought into the world and given a stake in it, a way to give something of themselves.

They need to be paid as well, because all the good feelings and intentions you offer pale in comparison to money. If we don’t offer this, then a part-time job that a learner might mistake for a career surely will ̶ I’ve seen it happen. We need to compete to win them back.

Ofsted is now inspecting for “cultural capital”, which it is calling “the essential knowledge that children need to be educated citizens”.

It’s down to organisations to determine what defines culture and how it can be championed. My own college is now investing in one of the first professional development events focused entirely around cultural poverty and how to lift learners out of it with the right tools.

Calling it cultural poverty, rather than capital, is important: we don’t tell students on free school meals that they lack food capital, so why do it with culture?

We owe our learners a way out, and into the wider world.

I’ve seen cancel culture first hand in FE

There is an intolerance in the sector for people with views contrary to the prevailing ideology, writes Tom Bewick

The minister for higher and further education, Michelle Donelan, gave a really important speech recently. She set out the government’s plans to legislate to protect free speech.

Controversially, she also delivered a critique of so-called ‘cancel culture’ on campus, saying: “Where once we found critical debate and arguments were won on their merits, today we see an upsurge in physical threats and complete intolerance of opposing ideas.”

I believe that what Donelan said deserved to be reported on, at least by the sector press. Whether we like the ‘culture wars’ or not, they are a part of our national discourse.

The backlash I received on social media, from parts of FE, makes me think we have a problem.

I was the only sector leader to draw attention to the speech.

One FE commentator, Mick Fletcher, suggested cancel culture was, “fake news”, made up by a Tory elite looking to distract from austerity.

Former FE Week editor Nick Linford echoed a similar sentiment; posting an incredulous looking gif. Tagged to my twitter timeline, it read: “conspiracy times.”

Of course, they are entitled to their opinions. But what some people are guilty of in our profession, in my view, is straight out of the cancellation culture playbook. Not in the sense of an organised conspiracy. It’s more insidious than that.

For a start, telling people something isn’t real is known as ‘gaslighting’. If you don’t know what this phrase means, it refers to a colloquialism that is about manipulating an individual or social group to question their own sense of reality.

A gas-lighter engages in false narratives. An example of this in FE is the debate about whether colleges have actually been successful in securing more funding. The government’s cheerleaders pump out the false narrative that funding has increased.

Meanwhile, respected bodies, such as the Institute for Fiscal Studies, point out that in real terms, particularly relative to the recent past, FE is still chronically underfunded.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, those who point out this fact don’t generally get invited to join government panels or speak at sector conferences. They are cancelled.

Perhaps our FE leaders don’t believe we have a problem because we haven’t seen equivalent high-profile cases like that of Kathleen Stock? The academic was hounded out of her Sussex University post for expressing perfectly lawful gender critical views.

Similarly, education secretary Nadhim Zahawi has not been asked to intervene in any major rows affecting free speech in a further education college, unlike in a school recently, where a diocese allegedly tried to get a gay author banned from speaking to pupils.

FE staff write to me all the time saying they have been ostracised by colleagues

These examples display shocking levels of intimidation and bigotry. They should have no place in a modern society.

But neither is it right for those in FE to simply dismiss growing concerns about cancel culture and self-censorship as some sort of conspiracy theory. Gaslighting or not.

I’ve seen cancel culture first hand. I had to pull out of a live college production of my podcast after the principal insisted that a national mainstream media commentator was de-platformed, refusing to give a reason why. I said I couldn’t go along with that decision.

FE staff write to me all the time saying how they have been ostracised by colleagues or lost out on promotions for admitting that they voted for Brexit, as I did, in the 2016 referendum.

Others tell me how they voted for Brexit but simply self-censor because they fear the consequences of being so open about it.

Indeed, it is this intolerance in the sector for people with contrary views to the prevailing ideology or who refuse to be part of an ‘echo chamber’, that we should now tackle.

Putting hashtag ‘be kind’ on social media profiles, or sector leaders virtue signalling about the latest EDI strategy, are not going to be enough.

Freedom of speech must be at the heart of everything that FE stands for.

Without open and contestable debates, we all suffer. 

Are you lonesome tonight? Check how your colleagues and students are feeling

Social, emotional and existential loneliness may be affecting more of your colleagues and learners than you realise, writes Stuart Rimmer

Amid busy college corridors and offices, it might seem strange to talk about loneliness.

This week a charity that the FE sector has supported for many years, the Mental Health Foundation, has placed the focus on loneliness.

A 2020 government review suggested that 47 per cent of adults experience periods of loneliness.

Almost ten per cent of 16-to-24-year olds report they often or always feel lonely.

Sadly, higher social deprivation or lower educational outcomes also negatively impacts on loneliness.

Being single, divorced, unemployed or with poor health can increase chances of feeling lonely.

Younger people can also experience loneliness and isolation around issues such as sexual orientation, low self-esteem, starting a new course or new job, relationship break-ups, or moving to a new place, such as university.

When described in these terms, the people who can often feel lonely sound very much feels like an FE cohort. 

Loneliness is different to social isolation but students and staff might experience both of these.

It has links to long-term poor physical and mental health. Within each of our classes or teams we might easily find someone who feels lonely if we look hard enough.

People can feel lonely in relationships, excluded or on the edge of teams. People can feel lonely in a crowded room. 

The pandemic undoubtedly amplified loneliness and isolation.

Digital exclusion continues to be a huge contributing factor towards “designing in” isolation.

During the pandemic, both staff and students reported this and sought solace in the community of colleagues on site. But we haven’t fully considered a post-pandemic strategy. 

Loneliness and isolation in leadership roles is well-reported, with over half of CEOs in a Harvard Business Review study reporting loneliness.

Leaders can miss out on the social elements of work and friendships (this is not me looking for mates!). This can lead to a loss of empathy and lower tolerance levels among CEOs as a result, which can then impact on staff. Isolation is also linked to burnout. 

Leaders can miss out on the social elements of work and friendships

Teacher demands of the job can add further pressure and crowd out work life balance leading to social isolation.

In my own college the changing teaching styles post-pandemic, with moves towards digital or remote preparation and some support staff still working from home, has seen greater disconnection from teams. It is much easier to become professionally isolated.

I often speak of the importance of ‘teamship’ within departments and the wider college. Being connected and having a sense of shared values and belonging is the starting point for this but we’ll need to be proactive to ensure all members of the team are included.

The What Works Wellbeing Centre suggests there are three distinct types of loneliness.

Firstly, social loneliness: a lack of quantity as well as quality of relationships.

Secondly, emotional loneliness: loss or lack of meaningful relationships or belonging.

Finally, existential loneliness: a feeling of being separate from others, which is sometimes linked to trauma. 

For me, colleges are a place of connection and community. They have always proudly been a place for inclusion. We are a place of recovery and renewal. As we have said many times, we don’t always know the lives of students or colleagues beyond the college gates.

Beyond our educational mandates, creating connection is a college’s ‘super power’.  Everyone should be able to find a place to belong – to a class, a study group, a team.

The Good for Me, Good for FE campaign has now teamed up with the Mental Health Foundation to support concepts such as social prescribing (where social activities are prescribed for people’s health) and volunteering.

So, this Mental Health Awareness Week I’d encourage everyone to take that extra moment to check in with colleagues and all students.

Ensure everyone has a connection and, as ever, welcome everyone into our college communities.

DfE – go through employers to promote the lifelong loan

The lifelong loan entitlement won’t drive behaviour change unless the public know about it, write Ed Reza Schwitzer and Patrick Thomson

During both our times in government we have seen countless policies falling at the final hurdle, whether under Labour, the coalition or Conservatives – implementation. Typically, the bigger the policy, the more that can go wrong.

And in the education and skills world they do not come much bigger right now than the lifelong loan entitlement (LLE).

As universities minister Michelle Donelan said: “Like the revolutionary ideas that shaped the founding of our NHS, LLE is based on the idea that people regardless of background or wealth should have a clear understanding about their loan entitlement, with those eligible able to access the system flexibly – as and when they need it.”

Comparing the LLE with the NHS? No pressure then.

The challenge

At its heart, the challenge for the LLE is behavioural.

If students continue to use their entitlement to study traditional three-year degrees at age 18, the LLE hasn’t delivered its objectives.

With more people living and working for longer, we need a system that genuinely supports people to access opportunities to train and reskill at all stages of life.

Success means different types of learners, including people in mid-career, returners and older workers, accessing more flexible, shorter courses offered by providers, who have in turn engaged with employers on what they need.

So how can the Department for Education achieve this?

We polled a nationally representative sample of over 2,000 people in the UK and ran four focus groups with people in their 40s, 50s and 60s to find out.

Raising awareness requires employer buy-in

The LLE will not drive behaviour change unless the public know the opportunities it provides them.

A cautionary tale on this comes from T Levels, which are also a relatively new initiative. The DfE has spent substantial time and resources raising awareness about them.

However, in our polling we found that awareness of T Levels is almost identical to the awareness of fictional ‘H levels’.

Whatever the government has done to drive up awareness of T Levels, it cannot rely on doing the same for the LLE.

A better route could be to build awareness via employers, particularly for people in mid-career who already have ties to their employer.

It is not clear from the government’s recent LLE consultation who would-be learners can go to for support around the LLE. We would hypothesise that individuals’ existing employers would be a natural port of call.

An existing ‘touch point’ the government could use is the midlife MOT, different models of which have been trialled by government, businesses and providers. The government offer consists of free online support to encourage people in their 40s, 50s and 60s to undertake more active planning in the key areas of work, wellbeing and money – and it’s aimed both at employees and employers.

Linking the LLE to the midlife MOT would utilise an existing touch point for changing behaviour.

Providers will need to change their offer

Even if individuals are aware of the LLE, they will only use it if the offer suits them. When we asked poll participants what they thought would make the LLE scheme successful, the top-ranked answer (74 per cent) was “the ability to fit the learning around other commitments (e.g. caring or work)”.

In our focus groups, this was absolutely crucial for midlife and older workers in particular. Whether this means more bitesize courses, night-time and weekend classes, part-time learning, or something else, it is clear the LLE has to be about developing more flexible courses. This can only happen through proper engagement with providers. 

In short, the LLE has great potential.

But successful implementation will require more serious engagement with employers and providers, if the government wants to succeed in driving genuine behaviour change.

Three colleges remain ‘outstanding’ more than a decade after last Ofsted visits 

Three colleges have retained their ‘outstanding’ grades despite not having been inspected by Ofsted for over ten years, with all three achieving the feat in reports published this week. 

Notre Dame Catholic Sixth Form College in Leeds and Barnsley College and Greenhead College in West Yorkshire were last inspected in 2008, 2010 and 2009 respectively. 

This week Ofsted published the results of new inspections and found that standards at the three colleges had not slipped, despite the long period of time between inspections.   

Ofsted rated Notre Dame Catholic Sixth Form College ‘outstanding’ in all key areas and praised leaders, saying that students “flourish” in the college’s “positive and harmonious” environment.  

“[Students] respect and value the wide range of cultures and views that they experience at the college,” inspectors said.  

“For many students, the college’s diverse and inclusive nature significantly influenced their decision to study there.” 

Notre Dame Catholic Sixth-Form College is situated in inner Leeds and recruits students from three Catholic partner schools and 110 high schools. 

At the time of the inspection, 2,378 students were enrolled on full-time study programmes. Nearly all students studied three level 3 subjects. Most were doing A-levels, with a significant minority studying advanced vocational courses.  

“Students are empowered by the trust that staff show in them to take responsibility for their learning journey. Highly skilled and knowledgeable teachers motivate and support students to always try their best,” inspectors said.  

Ofsted found that leaders and managers at the college had devised a “highly ambitious curriculum” and that they have “exceptionally high” expectations of students so they can “be the best that they can be” ̶ something inspectors said is reflected in students’ “highly positive behaviour and conduct”.  

The principal of Notre Dame Catholic Sixth Form College, Justine Barlow, said she was “incredibly proud” to have retained the Ofsted grade.  

“I would like to say a huge thank you to all the students who, after two very difficult years, have demonstrated an outstanding attitude to learning, outstanding resilience, and have helped to re-energise the community of Notre Dame,” she said.  

“A special thank you goes to all the staff, who relentlessly support students academically and pastorally to be the ‘best they can be’! Finally, thank you to all parents and carers: your support is invaluable and very much appreciated.” 

Leaders at Barnsley College received similar recognition from Ofsted, who said that students work in a “purposeful and very calm environment” in all areas of the college and in lessons.  

Barnsley College is a large general further education college with a number of sites in the town of Barnsley. Its latest full inspection was carried out on March 8, this year.  

At the time of the inspection, the college had 4,600 students on education programmes for young people, which equates to around two-thirds of all further education students at the college.  

There were approximately 1,150 adult students, 1,200 apprentices and 361 students with high needs studying at the institution. 

“Teachers have very high expectations for students and provide a high level of support and encouragement that enables most students to achieve well,” Ofsted inspectors said.  

“Students enjoy working with peers who have similar interests to themselves in subjects in which they have a real interest.” 

Ofsted found that students aged 14 to 16 on full-time provision demonstrated a very high standard of behaviour at the college and that students feel very safe in the college and its surrounding areas. 

Yiannis Koursis, chief executive of Barnsley College, said: “This fantastic accolade is a reflection of all the amazing work our staff, students and partners do every single day to transform the lives of our students and the Barnsley community. 

“The inspectors saw first-hand the inspirational teaching, learning and support that takes place across the college, and we are delighted that they recognised that our staff go above and beyond to give our students a truly outstanding learning experience.” 

Greenhead College, in Huddersfield, was judged to be outstanding in six key categories. 

At the time of the college’s inspection, there were 2,767 students on education programmes for young people, of whom 10 were students with high needs.

Ofsted found that staff across the college set “very high expectations” for what they expect of students in terms of their attitudes to learning and their behaviour. 

“Students respond to these exceptionally well, and their behaviour is exemplary. They are highly respectful of each other and staff,” inspectors said. 

They added that leaders and managers have a “very clear and effective strategy” to provide A-level programmes in a safe and nurturing environment that helps almost all students to progress into higher education or higher-level apprenticeships. 

“They have designed a highly ambitious curriculum across all the courses that they offer,” inspectors added.

‘Outstanding’ colleges are subject to full inspections for the first time this year since 2010, after an exemption was lifted. 

T Levels will make the qualifications system less confusing

But other qualifications, including BTECs, will continue to play an important role alongside T Levels and A levels, writes Alex Burghart

The skills and post-16 education act becoming law last month was a watershed moment in bringing our skills system into the future.

From our clear-eyed analysis of what works here and abroad, we found a key ingredient of success: employers’ voices being heard throughout the system, especially when setting the standards for qualifications and when offering courses.

Through our changes, the qualifications on offer will meet the needs of employers and support more people into higher-skilled, higher-wage jobs.

This process had already started five years ago when, in 2017, we reformed the apprenticeship system so that each of the 640 standards available reflect the needs of employers – helping employers while providing apprentices with assurances that they are learning skills that will allow them to compete in the labour market.

Since then, we have introduced new world-class technical qualifications at 16 to 19: T Levels. Equivalent to A levels, they have been designed with employers to meet the needs of employers – they give students the confidence that the skills that they are studying are those that employers are after.

The rigour of T Levels, combined with the meaningful industry placement of at least 45 days in a genuine workplace, will equip more young people with the skills, knowledge and experience to access skilled employment or further technical study.

I want every student to have confidence that every qualification on offer is high quality, and to be able easily to understand what skills and knowledge that qualification will provide and where it will take them.

That is why the benefits stemming from these essential reforms will only be realised if we also address the complexities and variable quality of the broader qualifications system.

As when we have previously introduced new qualifications – for example when GCSEs replaced O levels, or when we introduced reformed A levels last decade – the qualifications which T Levels are replacing will be retired, gradually, as each new T Level comes on stream. 

I want every student to have confidence that every qualification on offer is high quality

That means funding will be removed from qualifications that overlap with T Levels for learners aged 16-19. This will make the qualifications system less confusing and ensure that young people studying technical qualifications are studying for the most up-to-date, relevant award that employers value.

A provisional list of 160 level 3 qualifications that overlap with wave 1 and 2 T Levels was published on Wednesday, representing a small proportion of more than 2,000 qualifications at this level.

Awarding organisations have until July 8 to appeal a qualification’s inclusion on the list, and we will announce the final list in the autumn to give providers two years to adjust.  

As the post-16 qualifications review continues, we will assess the quality of qualifications that we continue to fund alongside A levels and T Levels.

I know that other qualifications, including BTECs and similar qualifications, will continue to play an important role alongside T Levels and A levels in future – and we will continue to fund these qualifications where they are high quality and where there is a clear need for them.

Taken as part of our wider package of reforms, our goal is simple: to ensure that we have qualifications designed with employers that will give students the skills that the economy and society need.