Funding and contracting rules are too bloated and bureaucratic for a start, writes Jane Hickie
The new Truss government has promised a “fiscal event” before the end of September. This will essentially be a mini budget, setting out the new administration’s economic priorities.
Truss has been clear in her view that she can boost economic growth by cutting taxes and tackling the cost-of-living crisis.
We can expect much more detail on this over the coming weeks, including the new energy announcement for households and businesses.
However, the government must realise that sustained economic growth will simply not be feasible without a sustainable skills sector. With any fiscal event, we will always call for increased funding. We know this is essential if we are to build a world-class skills system.
But there are actually a number of things the government could do without committing any significant new funding at all.
These interventions could make a big difference at a time when purse strings are understandably tight.
Cut red tape
Aside from rising costs and staffing, by far the biggest issue for providers is navigating the bureaucracy involved with delivering skills programmes.
This bureaucracy is also a huge barrier for employers – particularly small and medium-sized businesses – even though demand for in-work training is high.
The government could make a real impact on getting more employers engaged in skills without committing significant new money, just by making the existing system much more accessible.
The Department for Education clearly recognises the scale of the problem and has committed to undertaking a simplification project, which is welcome.
Moving to an employer-led system for apprenticeships was absolutely the right call.
However, the apprenticeship service remains a significant barrier. Providers have had to employ extra staff just to administer the system and support employers.
The fact that so few non-levy employers are set up on the system frankly speaks for itself.
The new system for advertising apprenticeship vacancies is causing delays, when employers need apprentices now.
Implementing an auto-enrolment system for employers who could then activate their account would be a significant improvement, along with stripping out duplication and layers of administration.
This would save time and money and should be at the heart of the DfE’s plans.
The apprenticeship funding rules need addressing too. Now at more than 140 pages, they have become bloated and overly bureaucratic.
We need the right measures in place to ensure accountability, but providers should be able to get on with delivering high quality training for learners and employers, without getting wrapped up in red tape.
Reducing bureaucracy around the funding rules and contracting would save providers time and money at a time when many are struggling to stay afloat.
Recycle underspend effectively
We know various skills programme budgets are currently underspent – including apprenticeships, traineeships and the adult education budget.
The reasons are complex, from the ongoing impact of the pandemic on learner numbers to trends in the wider labour market.
Treasury should not use this as an excuse to claw back funding. A strong economy relies on a well-trained workforce.
Without committing any new money, the government could use programme underspend to implement a range of learner and employer incentives to boost participation in skills.
This could include reintroducing the new hire £3,000 employer incentive, which we know had a really positive impact on boosting apprenticeship starts, particularly at level 2 and 3 and for those under 24 years old.
We also know that employer demand for traineeships remains high, yet providers struggle to get learners on to a programme.
Implementing a training allowance would incentivise participation in traineeships – a programme that has proven positive outcomes, particularly for those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
A final call – I hope the new government recognises the significant role our sector plays in delivering economic growth.
You can’t upskill the nation on the cheap – there is clear evidence of return on investment in high quality skills training.
But at a time of economic uncertainty, and with a political agenda of reducing public spending, it makes sense to consider how we can be most efficient with what we already have.
Bernie Savage, the new vice president for FE at the NUS, was blown away by her time in a strong and well-funded students’ union. She relays her message for unconvinced college principals to Jess Staufenberg
The vice president for FE at the National Union of Students has a proud history of postholders very happy to rock the boat: Shakira Martin, Emily Chapman – and even FE Week’s own editor, Shane Chowen.
But never before has it been held by an adult learner who spent time in women’s refuges and foster care, and cut their teeth at a well-funded students’ union in Scotland.
That is until Bernadette Savage, or Bernie. She appears to know exactly what an effective SU looks like, and I’m betting will accept no excuses for anything less in England.
The former BTEC student rose from being class representative at City of Glasgow College, to president of its students’ union, before taking over the FE role at the NUS from Salsabil Elmegri last month.
She is a blaze of energy and vitality, and when I begin with her childhood, replies with a wide grin that doesn’t prepare me for the tale: “Oooh, the life story is a riot!”
It started that way – Savage’s mum gave birth to her on a street waiting for an ambulance to arrive – and was left deeply unimpressed when it eventually turned up, apparently “dirty” she cackles.
Savage was one of six children and, in a bid to make herself heard, was a tearaway in her Newcastle primary school. Her punishment was to “go and read to the headmistress”, at which her mum told staff: “Well that’s stupid, she really likes reading!’”
So the school decided instead to reward her with reading if she behaved. “That worked better,” Savage chuckles.
Her wicked grin and cheery demeanour breeze through what sounds like some very tough situations for a child.
There was domestic violence at home, and her dad even took her away for several days when she was six, only returning her to her worried mum because she was hungry.
Her stepdad, an ex-Marine, turned out to be similarly bad news. So she and her mum “stuck a pin in a map, and mine landed in Devon”. It was a women’s refuge, miles from the north-east.
“That was a riot too because no one understood my accent down there,” Savage continues. She has lived twice in women’s shelters, once aged five and once again aged 11, and estimates she has moved home about 25 times.
She jokes, but with a serious edge, that three of her streets have featured in Channel 4’s The Secret Millionaire (in which a wealthy person lives in an impoverished community).
At a housing rally
During this upheaval, Savage’s mum died of breast cancer. Savage reflects on how she responded to such a great loss aged only 14.
She became a “bit shut off”, she says – and even today finds it hard to be around someone’s naked emotions. “I’m a bit ‘there, there’ because I find it hard to know what to say. I want to know what I can do to help!”
Her other reaction was to suddenly begin behaving at school, because it was a safe space. “I went from being someone who was biting everyone to constantly being there. No one picked up on the change.”
At this point Savage, her sister and younger brother moved in with her mum’s sister, but it didn’t work out. She eventually got taken into foster care, living with an “amazing” Trinidadian woman called Sarah, whom she remains close to today.
It was just in the nick of time – Savage got six GCSEs, and headed to Newcastle College to study a BTEC in beauty therapy services.
As a result the new vice president has the benefit of experiencing students’ unions in both English and Scottish FE institutions. The one in England didn’t leave an impression on her, she warns.
“I just don’t recall it having a students’ union. At City [of Glasgow College], it’s all over the social media, people talk about it.”
Savage on her birthday
So the SU passed her by, and Savage realised she wasn’t destined for a career in beauty therapy. Instead she and Sarah drove to Northumbria University and managed to find her a place studying health and social care.
But with little pastoral support and a dislike for asking for help, Savage struggled in the degree and managed a 2:2. Soon she was back home, working in hospitality and surviving off the tips.
Two moves then followed which show there is a bravery and strength to Savage that I imagine is why her fellow students have trusted her to represent them.
First, she clocked she was in a minimum-wage “vicious cycle” and in danger of doing nothing with her life. She took the extraordinary step of moving to Australia to join her sister living there, quickly building up skills selling a newspaper on commission out there.
But on returning home after a year, most of her friends were “still on the dole or in hospitality” on low wages.
“I don’t know if I realised it would be Groundhog Day [a day that repeats itself for the rest of your life], but I booked a flight to Thailand,” she tells me. “I’m normally someone who hates change – I’ve no idea what went through my brain that day.”
Savage had landed a placement on a TEFL course, teaching English as a foreign language to kindergarten children in a rural Thai town.
In Ha Long Bay in Thailand
Working with small children was a revelation for her, and after her NUS stint she wishes to become a primary school teacher.
“You can be having the worst day, and they come in really excited about this ridiculous thing, or they’re upset because someone called them a pineapple,” she grins at me.
“FE students are great – but they’re still not quite as amusing as a five-year-old.”
After four years, Thailand’s laws banned her from teaching further without a degree, so Savage returned to the UK and headed to City of Glasgow College to take a higher national diploma in business.
First she was elected class representative and, with the arrival of the pandemic, found herself busily communicating between students and college leadership. Soon she was the paid, part-time vice president for teaching and learning – and is filled with praise for the support she received.
“I really liked it! We have student engagement officers that mentored us, we got to sit on college boards and worked with senior management.”
By contrast, FE Week reported in June that many colleges in England have slashed their student support teams due to a combination of budget cuts. Meanwhile, NUS itself also has fewer resources since a big financial restructure in 2018.
I can say to colleges in England: look what you can do with some funding
“The student association wasn’t tokenistic at City like I’ve seen at other student associations,” nods Savage, the affection for her Scottish college evident in her voice. “I can take that to colleges in England and say: ‘Look what you can do with some funding’.”
It’s a powerful message. As Graeme Kirkpatrick, a former NUS vice president for Scotland, has previously warned FE Week, it is FE students who particularly suffer from cuts to SU funding as those from less privileged backgrounds may be intimidated by the formalities of the role.
Doing TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) teaching
Savage knows this first-hand from her time in Glasgow. “The college were really good at breaking down the jargon so I understood it. The student engagement officers understood how my brain worked better than I do.”
Elected as NUS vice president in March this year, Savage has a direct message for colleges without proper SU teams here.
“The only reason not to have this is if you’re not interested. You’re just not listening to your biggest asset here. FE students and apprentices are so often overlooked and it needs to end.”
The only reason not to have an SU is if you’re not interested
She leans forward, talking directly to those at the top.
“I imagine for a lot of principals, it’s years since they were a student. Their student experience isn’t what’s happening now, and by the time it’s gone from the student rep through other people, it’s not the truth anymore. They need to break down those barriers and go and talk to the students and students’ union.”
Aside from better support for SUs, Savage has two other issues in her sights for her two-year term: apprentice pay and adult learners in FE.
After our chat she has a meeting with Ben Kinross, the deeply committed founder of the National Society of Apprentices, which launched within NUS to support apprentice representation in 2010.
“The apprentice pay rate is slave labour,” Savage says bluntly. “I would challenge the new PM to live on it. It’s disgusting.”
Receiving a college award
She also wants the voice of adult learners to be properly heard. The funding cliff-edge at age 19 or 25 for many courses and subsidised transport prevents people like her from re-training, she warns.
“People assume FE is 16-19, but it’s not. Are they carers, parents, part-time or evening? These students don’t get surveyed a lot and I feel like no one asked them what they want.”
But Savage is also aware of the contextual challenges ahead – including that many of today’s students may be more enthusiastic about global online hashtag campaigns than college policies and students’ union membership.
“I think that’s definitely a thing, because people are constantly online,” she agrees. “But that’s where the unions need to change their comms strategy. Go to where the students are, not where you think they are. Get online.”
This needs people on the ground making a racket
On the other issue facing SUs – the lack of funding in FE – Savage is utterly straight in her response. “Stop taking the cuts quietly. This is a thing that can’t be an email. This needs people on the ground making a racket.”
College leaders should be involving their students directly, Savage adds. “Colleges need to get students backing them up, and acting as case studies.”
There’s no doubt about it: Savage is a powerhouse. And with that big grin, too, she could be the very visible postholder the role so badly needs.
“Don’t make students’ unions tokenistic,” she concludes to colleges. “Students are paying for your jobs.”
Karl Scott, a teacher, was horrified when he accidentally winked at the Queen during her visit to North Hertfordshire College in 2003. After his colleagues’ carefully rehearsed lines became mixed up, he was left without any to say. He managed a nervous “good afternoon your Majesty” and gave her a wink but was kindly consoled when she gave him her hand to put him at ease.
He is among thousands of staff and students remembering the Queen’s warmth on the special occasions when she visited their college during her seventy-year reign.
The Queen’s death last Thursday has been followed by 10 days of national mourning. Colleges and training organisations have conducted two-minute silences in her memory as well as encouraging students to write tributes in condolence books and holding remembrance services.
Many have taken the time to remember her visits to colleges and the close relationship she held with specific institutions.
When royal visits take place it involves the whole college, bringing together expertise and specialisms from across the organisations to make the day a special and memorable occasion.
Teachers remember the careful planning and endless running around to prepare in the months before. Their efforts were always worth it to see the students’ awe-struck faces as they showed the Queen their work and place of study.
Queen Elizabeth receiving flowers at the opening North Hertfordshire College’s Stevenage site in 2003
At North Hertfordshire College, catering students designed the menu and prepared a three-course meal for the royal visit, while public services students worked closely with the police and the college security team to assist with parking and visitors.
Sally Mitchell, a former member of staff at North Hertfordshire College said: “We were all very excited about the Queen and Prince Philip’s visit, it was a huge privilege for our catering students to be able to cook and serve a meal for them. The food was delicious, too.
“I was warned to eat as quickly as possible because as soon as the Queen finished her meal, the rest of us would need to be finished too – her equerry told me he rarely got to enjoy dessert. One minor faux pas was when a student served the chair of governors first before the Queen, which was hopefully overlooked.”
College experiences with the Queen often involved leading roles for students studying catering, hospitality, performing arts and public services subjects.
During the diamond jubilee in 2012, 300 hospitality and catering students from City College Norwich, College of West Anglia and Great Yarmouth College catered for and served approximately 4,000 guests at a garden party at Sandringham, one of the royal residences.
“I was introduced to the Queen, and she said how good the events were and how well students from the three colleges worked together,” said Emma Seaman, a hospitality student.
Specialist colleges with royal patronages
Throughout her life the Queen held hundreds of patronages with charities and organisations linked to causes that mattered to her, including specialist education.
The Queen visiting the Royal National College for the Blind in 1987
One of these was the Royal National College for the Blind (RNC), which has had a long-standing relationship with the royal family. Their first patron was Queen Victoria, followed by every king and queen up to the present day.
Queen Elizabeth II visited the college in December 1987. Phil Mayne, the site operations supervisor, who still works at the college, remembers her visit fondly.
“It was a freezing cold day in December when the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh visited. At the time I worked for RNC as an electrician, and it was business as usual as myself and the estates team finalised preparations for our royal visitors. The royal couple spent a lot longer than planned at the college as they were so interested in everything that was on display that day. It was a joyous occasion, and I remember everyone being really thrilled by their visit.”
The then Prince of Wales, now King Charles III, took over patronage of RNC in 1997.
Ten years before the Queen’s visit, in 1979, Prince Charles arrived by helicopter to visit the college, almost a hundred years to the day after his great-great-grandfather, according to the college archives.
The archives noted that he said: “I have been enormously impressed going round and seeing the students at work and what they must do. What I always love myself is enthusiasm. I think this shows the great quality of the college; the enthusiasm and motivation on the part of all those who live and work and learn here.”
The Queen was also patron to Portland College and her first visit preceded her accession to the throne.
The Princess Elizabeth laying the foundation stone at Portland College in 1949
In 1949, the then Princess Elizabeth ceremonially laid the foundation stone of the college near Mansfield.
Portland College is a national specialist college and registered care home for people with disabilities and a centre of excellence for autism. In 1974, the Queen became patron of the college and in 1990, she visited again.
Speaking at an awards ceremony, Queen Elizabeth said: “Ever since I laid the foundation stone of this college in 1949, I have taken a special interest in your record of achievement in your field of training for disabled people. Six thousand men and women trained here over the last 40 years can testify to the way in which the college and its staff have looked after them, trained them and launched them on their chosen careers.”
‘What really stood out for me was how knowledgeable she was about vocational education’
A common theme from teachers and students is their appreciation of the Queen’s warmth, engagement and interest in the colleges she visited.
Remembering a visit to East Surrey College in 2011 to open a campus, Jayne Dickinson, the chief executive of Orbital South Colleges Group, said: “What really stood out for me was how engaged the Queen was with our students and how knowledgeable she was about vocational education.”
The Queen spent several hours touring the campus and speaking to students and teachers about their course and ambitions. Some of the students created a mock crime scene that included an outline of a body on the floor and a range of clues. A photograph ended up on the centre page of that weekend’s TheSunday Times, with the caption: ‘It was the corgis what done it, your Majesty’.
Dickinson added: “We were also delighted, and frankly terrified, when we heard that the visit was to include a lunch to take place in our auditorium. Seated next to the Queen for the duration, I recall a surreal conversation with her about Sussex pond pudding, its merits and recipe. This was followed by a brisk walk around more of the college – even in her eighties, the Queen was a very fast walker and keeping up with her was challenging.”
The Queen meeting students at East Surrey College in 2011
Her Majesty’s life-long passion for animals, especially dogs and horses, is well-documented, so a visit to open the animal management centre at Bishop Burton College in 2002 must have been a treat for both parties.
Ann Paling, who was head of the equine and animal management department, said: “The Queen was hugely knowledgeable and incredibly easy to talk to, but very small. I am tall, but she was tiny. We had a great chat about lion dogs and the various college horses. We laughed, as the previous week she had watched a display from 1,000 horses, whereas we only had ten.”
HM The Queen opening Bishop Burton College’s animal management centre in 2002
Students on parade
Education settings will close on Monday as part of the bank holiday to mark the Queen’s funeral, but normal attendance has been expected throughout the rest of the mourning period. Kit Malthouse, the education secretary, said the Queen’s devotion to public service “has been an inspiration” with her wisdom and strength providing “solace to her people in times of darkness, most recently during the pandemic”.
He added: “By her grace and dignity, Her Majesty touched the lives of millions, and she will live on in our hearts.”
Public services students at Northampton College and City of Wolverhampton College have played lead roles in remembrance services at their colleges this week.
More than 500 students at Northampton gathered for a parade through college grounds on Wednesday. In Wolverhampton, a two-minute silence was held yesterday by 70 public services students and attended by other students and staff.
Malcolm Cowgill, the principal of City of Wolverhampton College, said: “As future members of the country’s uniformed public services, the students recognise what an important role they will have to play in ceremonial events. They wanted to give their fellow students and college staff the opportunity to come together and pay tribute to Her Majesty to honour her memory.”
An apprenticeship provider has had a government-enforced suspension on new starts lifted by the High Court while the firm battles Ofsted to overturn an ‘inadequate’ judgment.
Quest Vocational Training Ltd (QVT), which is based in Dorset, was granted the order by judge Heather Williams this month after the Department for Education imposed a ban on recruiting apprentices from June 1, 2022, following a critical report from the inspectorate.
The department, acting through the Education and Skills Funding Agency, also threatened to terminate the firm’s apprenticeship funding contract – an action that could force the company to go bust – but has agreed to hold off on this decision until QVT’s case against Ofsted has been settled.
The provider challenged the education watchdog by claiming its inspection was “procedurally flawed” after a visit in November 2021, but Ofsted rejected the complaint and published the grade four report in March. QVT alleged that the report contained factual inaccuracies along with a “disproportionate emphasis on matters which were beyond our control through the pandemic” – such as a lack of off-the-job training in the care sector.
The training firm has begun a judicial review against the report. No date has been set for the court case.
This is understood to be the first time an apprenticeship provider has successfully overturned a suspension on new starts through legal action.
Provider sues DfE
QVT was formed in 2012 to provide apprenticeships for the health and social care sector. It initially operated as a subcontractor but became a main provider in 2017 with its own direct funding contract. The provider employs more than 50 staff and was training almost 700 apprentices at the time of Ofsted’s inspection last year.
Court documents obtained by FE Week show that QVT was seeking an interim injunction against the government’s decision to suspend it from taking on new apprentices – a sanction that has affected the provider’s “income and viability”.
QVT claimed that the Education and Skills Funding Agency’s decision to continue the suspension while it was in the process of a judicial review was unreasonable and disproportionate, claiming that the agency had also been given “sufficient evidence, independent expert evidence, and evidence from Ofsted” that demonstrated it had taken the necessary steps to address the regulator’s concerns.
The “evidence from Ofsted” referred to a follow-up monitoring visit on June 29 that found QVT to be making “reasonable progress” in all areas.
Private training providers do not typically receive follow-up visits from Ofsted after grade four reports as their funding contracts are usually swiftly terminated by the ESFA.
However, Ofsted revisited QVT after the ESFA said it would not make a decision about removing the firm from the register of apprenticeship training providers and terminating its funding until the judicial review had concluded.
On June 30, a day after Ofsted’s monitoring visit, the ESFA wrote to QVT stating it would in the meantime continue the suspension on starts.
The ESFA, in documents detailing its defence, denied that this decision was unreasonable or disproportionate and said the agency was “willing to reconsider the suspension if requested” by QVT.
The agency did not agree that the follow-up Ofsted monitoring visit showed “that the concerns had in fact been fully remedied”.
Williams signed off on a settlement agreement on September 1 which ordered QVT to withdraw its application for an interim injunction – meaning the case would not be heard in court – in exchange for the ESFA revoking the suspension on new starts.
QVT was told to provide a robust quality improvement plan that includes measurable milestones for improvement; progress reporting at monthly meetings with an ESFA team and “specific focus on the service being received by the care sector apprentice cohort that was in learning” at the time of the inspection in November 2021.
The suspension on starts and termination of contract will be subject to review after the judicial review proceedings.
QVT was attempting to argue that it could only have its funding contract terminated if it received two monitoring visit reports from Ofsted that found it to be making “insufficient progress” in at least one area.The ESFA outlined that it also has the power to remove providers from the register after an “inadequate” rating in a full inspection.
Ofsted’s allegedly ‘inaccurate and unfair’ report
Ofsted’s key complaint against QVT was that “far too many” apprentices, particularly the majority who work in adult care settings, were “not making good progress at learning enough new knowledge or participating wholeheartedly in their programmes of learning”.
Leaders were also criticised for not ensuring that all apprentices received their entitlement to off-the-job training and inspectors found that in some cases apprentices were having to complete studies in their own time, in addition to working long hours.
QVT argued that these matters were out of its control during the pandemic and it was therefore an “inaccurate and unfair reflection of the services that we provide”.
Ofsted told FE Week that it would not comment on the case but “stands by our published reports”.
QVT and the ESFA declined to comment due to the legal proceedings.
FE leaders have demanded clarity over the government’s promised six-month energy guarantee as one college announced plans to move to a four-day week to save on rising costs.
Liz Truss, the new prime minister, last week announced a six-month scheme for businesses, charities and public sector organisations – including FE colleges – that will offer “equivalent support as is being provided for consumers” to “protect them from soaring energy costs”.
The Department for Education said providers in all DfE sectors will be eligible, but no further details have been forthcoming.
Support is set to be handed out in October alongside measures for households but the Financial Times has reported concerns that businesses may have to wait until after the support for homes is given, which could push relief back to November.
Coupled with the energy guarantee only lasting for six months, college chiefs have called on the government to offer assurances to the industry.
David Hughes, the chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said the temporary support to help with energy bills “is a sticking plaster only”.
Darren Hankey, the principal of Hartlepool College, said the intervention was welcome, but added: “Colleges have curriculum areas which are energy intensive such as engineering, construction, catering and hairdressing, and the news that this government intervention needs new legislation – and is unlikely to be clarified until November at the earliest – breeds uncertainty.”
It is understood a financial statement will be issued by the government next week, with an energy bill to follow.
Until then, Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said sector leaders were “in limbo” without enough information to plan finances.
Jane Hickie, the chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, said: “Many training providers are struggling with the impact of rising costs and must be allowed to operate on a level playing field.” She added that the government “won’t be able to boost economic growth without putting the skills sector on a sustainable footing”.
The government announcement came at the end of a summer of worry for many as the country waited for the leadership election to be resolved and pave the way for the new prime minister to decide what action to take on the cost-of-living crisis.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial strategy said the six-month guarantee will “protect [businesses] from soaring energy costs and provide them with the certainty they need to plan their business”.
It said the government will provide “ongoing, focused support for vulnerable industries,” with a review in three months to consider where that targeted support will land.
It is not yet clear whether FE is considered a vulnerable industry.
The ongoing crisis has left colleges having to adopt extreme measures to ease the cost pressures.
Yesterday, South Essex College confirmed it would apply a four-day week across its campuses in Basildon, Southend and Thurrock to save cash.
The college, which was one of 189 to sign a letter from the Association of Colleges to Kwasi Kwarteng, the chancellor, last week calling for more support, has a current energy bill of about £1.2 million, with a quoted price increase of 300 per cent.
It said that even with the energy guarantee its bills are likely to double, with the increase above what it forecast in its budget-setting process earlier this year.
Failure to receive adequate support could result in significant in-year cost-saving measures, the college said.
A spokesperson said the four-day week will have “multiple benefits”, which included giving teachers dedicated time for marking students’ work and the opportunity for independent study time for learners.
“It’s important to remember college differs from school in that independent study time has always been incorporated into all timetables with supervised learning scheduled for three or four days a week,” the spokesperson said.
“It is true that cost pressures on utilities and other elements of running the college have meant we have looked at ways to make savings that do not impact on students or staff.”
It said that no study time would be lost, with no sessions timetabled for Fridays.
Colchester Institute said last week that it was trying to avoid moving to a four-day week but had not ruled it out. Other colleges said they were taking measures such as installing heat pumps and reducing the number of buildings in use for evening and weekend classes to curb energy use.
From data policies to wellbeing, don’t let the enthusiasm for diversity die, writes Haroon Bashir
After the murder of George Floyd on 25 May 2020, many colleges made a commitment to positive changes about race.
But over two years later, does that commitment hold or has the concept of equality and diversity (E&D) become the proverbial elephant in the room?
The death of Chris Kaba at the hands of the Met police reinforces that we can’t afford the latter.
So whether you’re refining or renewing your commitment, so here are five ideas to ensure E&D is impactful in your setting.
1. Be brave
First, changing an organisation’s culture is difficult and E&D leads will face resistance from individuals who may be afraid of change, or worse, apathetic.
But if we continue doing what we have always done, then how can we hope to promote E&D?
We need to be brave, to have honest conversations, to raise awareness and challenge existing practices.
Through professional development sessions, we can effectively address this with all staff. And our aim must be to increase their confidence for discussing uncomfortable topics and seeing things through a different lens.
It may cause discomfort at times – but this is also a sign of development.
2. Invest
Promoting E&D is crucial to the success of any organisation. It should therefore have a designated person who can lead, advise, challenge and question existing practices.
For profound change to be made, the designated person will need sufficient time to undertake the role; E&D is important and should not be an ‘add-on’ to existing roles.
3. Consider wellbeing
Leading E&D can sometimes be very challenging, especially if the designated person is dealing with issues they have experienced themselves. This can be mentally taxing, so it is essential to consider what support is available to maintain the E&D lead’s wellbeing.
In this role, I have benefited a great deal from developing a network of people who I trust – people who have been there to support me during difficult times.
If we make mistakes, we must learn from them and continue to ask those questions which haven’t been asked before. It’s about making progress and addressing that elephant in the room.
4. Policies
Only seven per cent of principals in FE nationwide are from a BAME background. This is a sobering statistic.
Greater diversity and representation in governance and senior leadership is crucial to promoting E&D as this will give the organisation a variety of experiences and perspectives that will mirror their student profile.
Crucially, senior leaders and governors must make a firm commitment to E&D. One of the best ways to demonstrate this is in the college’s strategic aims. This will ensure that E&D is embedded in all policy decisions, becoming part of the new culture of the college.
Ask yourself: What does your E&D policy look like? Is it personal to your organisation or generic? What E&D data is collected to inform this policy and your decisions? Who has access to it and, more importantly, what actions result from it?
All colleges have data about students who have left, been excluded or have failed their course. But is this analysed through the lens of equality? And what action is taken to reduce those numbers? Data will help you identify a starting point and therefore allow you to measure the impact of your policy.
5. Don’t pass the buck
E&D cannot be one person’s responsibility. All too often, we waive our own responsibility by passing it onto designated people. But E&D is everyone’s responsibility and needs to be shared from the top of the organisation right through to the learner.
This means training everyone in E&D so they have the confidence to identify and challenge unfair ideas or practices. Again, CPD sessions are an excellent way to address this with all staff, and this development should filter into tutorial sessions for learners too.
We can’t change the world, and we won’t have all the answers. Equality and diversity are bigger than one college, but with these ideas in mind we can make effective change in our communities – and that’s a start worth making.
A manifestation of the lack of trust is that colleges are one of the most regulated parts of the education system, writes David Hughes
Dear education secretary,
Congratulations on your appointment to the best job in the cabinet, and welcome to the further education sector.
As a supporter of your local college, you’ll already know about the fantastic things colleges do for millions of students every year and the impact they have on local communities and businesses.
Through your visits, references to colleges in speeches and the attention you give to post-16 education and skills, you will make a big difference to how colleges are perceived and ultimately to the funding that supports their work.
Building on that, though, there is a tougher challenge I want to engage you in.
The fundamental issue for colleges is that they are not respected and trusted enough in Whitehall and among politicians. This holds back colleges from the even bigger impact they could make.
Respect and trust take time to build, so I am not expecting any overnight changes, but it would be good to hear that you want the same shift in attitudes to prevail.
It would be good to hear that you want a shift in attitudes to prevail
One manifestation of this lack of trust is that colleges are one of the most regulated parts of the education system, subject to rules and regulations designed for schools, universities and for-profit providers; and yet they are none of those.
People often tell me that colleges are too complex and do too many things and that’s why it is difficult to understand them.
An odd critique, don’t you think?
Turn that on its head and you can see colleges as truly comprehensive, community-based, charitable institutions wholly focussed on helping people to get on in life; offering everyone and anyone support, learning, training, skills, education at all levels and across most subjects.
That’s a strength, not a problem. Isn’t it?
You’ll have experience of this yourself, like all visitors to a college who hear from students about their ambitions, talents and dedication and from staff with expertise, passion and hope for their students.
Kit Malthouse, new education secretary
For me it’s as simple and compelling as that. Colleges are vital to every thriving community – for economic growth and for inclusion (whether we call it levelling up, social mobility, or social justice).
Yet a major part of your challenge will be to overcome poor understanding, low respect and low trust as well as 12 years of underfunding.
You’ll encounter this in your negotiations with the treasury and probably around the cabinet table.
We would love to work on it with you.
When it comes to the department for education, I am pleased to say there has been enormous progress in recent years.
Every week I work with officials who understand, respect and trust colleges and who, dare I say it, have become college champions.
Hundreds have seen that colleges are full of people who care about their work and about their students, and once you see that it is difficult not to love it.
Like every caring partner, the best way to show love is to celebrate, support and encourage them so that they have the confidence to use their talents to the utmost.
Wouldn’t that be a great way to work with colleges? Set them free and let them deliver.
Currently though, colleges have too many separate funding lines and programmes, all individually accounted for.
Too many instructions on what they can and cannot do, who they can and can’t help.
Too many funds they need to compete for and too many rules and regulations which get in the way.
So, as you consider where to invest your time and efforts, I hope that you will prioritise working with us to ensure colleges can deliver the economic growth that the new prime minister has promised.
I genuinely wish you well in this new role and I look forward to working with you closely.
The new deal means working closely with education providers to create new career pathways, writes Ben Bradley
On the 30 August, a historic devolution deal worth an initial £1.14 billion in extra investment was signed by Nottinghamshire, Nottingham, Derby, Derbyshire and the government.
This historic deal is a golden opportunity for our region.
For the first time, we’ve brought local leaders together with a shared vision and a united voice, and the work we’ve put in is being rewarded.
The initial investment figures will, in reality, multiply many times over as we seek to attract private sector cash to match our ambitions.
The deal gives us new powers over transport, skills, and the economy. This is crucial for levelling up – it’s the key to bringing in new jobs, and to giving people in our area the skills and connectivity so they can access those jobs.
It will give us the tools we need to keep pace with our neighbours in the West Midlands, which is devolved.
The devolution deal also means we’d have a fully devolved adult skills budget.
For the first time, we could tailor this to the needs of people in our communities and local businesses, helping residents achieve their ambitions and helping employers recruit people with the knowledge and abilities they are looking for.
We can steer further education in our area, to help people train or retrain, get the qualifications they need, and fill current and future skills gaps.
This means working closely with education providers to create career pathways.
West Nottinghamshire College and Nottingham Trent University are good examples of how this works in practice, with collaboration building routes into key jobs – health, in their case – and that’s a model I want to build on.
When the public and private sector work together, they can drive investment and massively impact positive change.
Both sectors need people with the right skills.
Local councils are short-staffed and under skilled in some areas. By working with local providers, we can ensure residents have the skills to access vacancies across public services.
So devolution is great news for public services and for residents in our region.
But perhaps the biggest opportunity is how we can combine private sector investment.
Our devolution deal was launched at Rolls Royce, which provides 20 per cent of our region’s exports, and employs around 9,000 people at its Derby headquarters alone.
Imagine attracting even just one more business like Roll Royce to our area.
Imagine attracting just one more business like Rolls Royce here
With improved public transport links and targeted training around a business like that, we can give our communities life-changing opportunities.
There are other promising things on the horizon. Derby is in the running to be the headquarters for Great British Rail.
We also hope to get confirmation on the STEP Fusion reactor in Nottinghamshire, a ground-breaking multi-billion investment in nuclear research to provide clean energy.
Both need the right skills and qualifications available locally.
This means that further and higher education providers will need to be agile and respond to changing local needs.
We want to ensure education providers have a big voice in shaping new devolved powers.
Skills is at the heart of our plans to improve people’s life chances in our region, from things like basic numeracy, to nuclear science and the most advanced forms of manufacturing.
For further and higher education, it means more say and more control over what courses are provided, where, and why.
It means being open with each other and working together rather than competing.
I want to personally thank the former levelling up minister Greg Clarke for his drive and commitment to getting the devolution deal signed for the East Midlands – his focus and determination were key to last week’s launch.
I now very much look forward to working with Simon Clarke, the new minister at the levelling up department, who I know is also a huge advocate for these plans.
I’ve already booked time in his diary for a chat to move things forward.
There is still a long way to go, but if we build this new structure and get it right, the rewards could be enormous.
Martin Sim, deputy FE commissioner and now emergency principal at City College Southampton, has done some of the toughest troubleshooting gigs in the sector. He tells Jess Staufenberg why a ‘skull and crossbones’ approach keeps him buoyed up
When the FE commissioner’s team does an “intervention assessment” at a college, I can’t help imagining a lot of efficient suits frowning at the accounts.
But Martin Sim turns that image upside down. The cheerful deputy FE commissioner – currently on sabbatical from the £700-a-day role for his new post – has been parachuted in as the emergency principal for one of FE’s most concerning stories in recent years: City College Southampton.
The college has been “three times the bridesmaid, never the bride”, as Sim puts it, in a series of failed mergers, first with Southampton Solent University, then Eastleigh College, then Itchen Sixth Form and Richard Taunton Sixth Form.
In July, former principal Sarah Stannard headed off to the Falkland Islands (having boldly criticised the ESFA’s handling of the situation) after a nine-year stint.
As the man on the FE commissioner’s intervention team for the college, he knows (because his report in February this year shows it) that the college is surviving on £8 million of emergency ESFA money, which runs out next February.
But, despite being a former maths teacher, a hard-nosed numbers man Sim is not. Instead, he catches me off guard throughout our chat with a giant grin and penchant for a fabulous turn of phrase.
“I got Shank’s pony here and got wet,” he chuckles (leaving me like a true millennial to Google the phrase – turns out it means you’re walking). Today is his 41st enrolment day, he continues proudly – a seriously impressive stint in FE.
During that period, he has overseen the merger of Pendleton, Eccles and Salford colleges to form Salford City College, become interim principal at Gateway College in Leicester, then at Barnfield College in Bedfordshire, then Vision West Nottinghamshire College and then Nottingham College.
The FE commissioner’s office was obviously impressed, and bagged him for the deputy FEC role three years ago.
An ability to see the lighter side of life has probably helped. Phrases inspired by the Wizard of Oz, the Jolly Roger, Les Misérables and Isaac Newton roll out with a twinkle in his eye as he non-pompously explains his thinking.
Here are two sporting stories (he’s something of a fanatic) that give you a pretty good introduction to the two sides of Sim.
On the one hand, he doesn’t take himself too seriously. “Once in a pre-football match warm up, I took a chair onto the pitch, stuck it onto the penalty spot and sat on it.” When someone asked what on earth he was doing, he retorted: “‘I’ve got no intention of leaving the penalty area, and I don’t run about much these days!’”
On the other hand, he likes serious analysis. “Cricket is fascinating. It’s the power of the team. You learn the analysis, the plan, the strategy. You learn the idea of risk.”
Alongside this positive yet analytical nature, Sim also learned resilience young. He jokes that he got it from his father, a fan of Bolton Wanderers FC (“if you can deal with watching my football team, you can deal with FE”).
A young Martin Sim
But Sim also lost his dad to a heart attack one Saturday morning when he was just nine – and was brought up an only child by his mother.
Like the witty Lancashire man he is, he eschews any pity. “She brought me up fantastically. I don’t want to paint the picture of a poor disadvantaged person. You learn to take responsibility.”
It’s a characteristic he shares with further education. “FE should be called The Resilience Society,” he announces, with another fabulous turn of phrase. “The resilience, the creativity, the dedication that you see within all levels of FE.”
FE should be called The Resilience Society
One day, another sport-mad figure noticed Sim’s aptitudes and encouraged him into teaching. He had “drifted” into an electrical engineering degree at Bolton Institute of Technology (he quit after four weeks) and was working at a working men’s club.
One day the cricketing chair had “a long conversation about life and ambition” with Sim and suggested teaching. “At the end of the day, you can’t drift through life, you’ve got to sort of use it,” he says.
So, Sim trained as a maths teacher at the City of Manchester College of Higher Education, staying in Salford 33 years and rising to deputy principal at Pendleton College by 2010. This period formed his philosophy on FE, phrased in his own excellent way.
“You know in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy enters Munchkinland and it goes from black and white into colour?” he grins again. “That’s FE. At it’s best, it colourises people’s lives!
“You still get the odd Wicked Witch of the West. But it’s about kids who experience failure, and suddenly the light shines and there’s colour because they’re successful.”
Similarly, “Pendleton [College] went in one colour and came out another” during the merger. He learned a lot about change tactics from his then-principal, Michael Sheehan.
“You have to manage with a heart. There is a mantra, which I’m now using here at Southampton: ‘Learners come first, staff a close second.’ You must create a positive culture.”
Two more thought-provoking analogies follow.
“Is it Newton’s first law which says energy cannot be created or destroyed, only converted from one form to another?” Sim muses. “The risk of any change process is to use the positive energy without changing it into negative energy.”
Then: “You do have your Susan Boyle moments [the singer famous for her rendition of Les Misérables’I Dreamed a Dream, which includes the lyrics ‘the tigers come at night’].”
You have your Susan Boyle moments, when the tigers come at night
“The sleepless nights,” continues Sim. “The hardest job any principal can do is sit someone down and say ‘we’re having to let you go’ and see the blood drain from their face. No one does it for sport.”
After Salford City College, he moved to Ofsted grade four Gateway College in Leicester in 2017, where he spent a year demonstrating “that growth is not essential, quality is essential. You can’t just try to get bums on seats.”
Ofsted found “reasonable progress” the same year when Sim handed it over (it’s now a grade 2). After this Sim tackled grade three Barnfield College in Luton in April 2018, with inspectors finding two areas of reasonable progress and two of insufficient progress in September the same year.
In October 2018, he arrived at the crisis unfolding at West Nottinghamshire College. This, he tells me, was a very tough gig.
“One of the hardest jobs I ever had to do was at West Notts,” he says (for anyone who hasn’t read FE Week, the former principal resigned in 2018 amid significant financial troubles, and Sim faced a £22.5 million debt, and about 220 people were made redundant).
“One of the most humbling experiences is when you talk to staff and go through the evidence, and staff thank you for telling them their jobs are at risk.”
But, he adds, “the quality was excellent, and it continued to be so through that difficult period.”
He then joined the FE commissioner’s team in September 2019, before a final stint as interim principal at Nottingham College from May 2021, which had faced strikes and a £47.2 million debt. Four months later Ofsted inspectors found reasonable progress in most areas. After leaving in June this year, it was off to City College Southampton.
It seems to be Sim’s capacity to spot brilliance amid chaos that makes him an effective trouble-shooter.
“I call it the skull and crossbones approach,” he grins wickedly. “I’m flying the Jolly Roger, I’m pirating, I’m nicking someone’s great idea.”
He refuses to be drawn on exactly what has gone wrong at City College Southampton, promising me he’s “not being evasive” but that it’s complex.
Why, for instance, did the ESFA reject three proposed mergers – even withdrawing its support for the first one with Eastleigh College?
“There are many reasons mergers fail. If we had about three hours, I could probably have a go at explaining why,” Sim says, admitting a triple failure is an “extreme situation” which has badly impacted staff.
But one thing the college must do is “mythbusting”, he says. He doesn’t want to give the rumours “lip service” but an image overhaul is clearly needed.
This includes recognising the college’s strengths: its high proportion of ESOL learners and the fact GCSE passes have increased 10 per cent since before the pandemic. “I’m looking at a lot of good things.”
This positive attitude reflects a shift in approach at the FE commissioner’s office, according to Sim (whose contract at the office continues until the end of 2023).
“The proactive approach under the current commissioner [Shelagh Legrave] of active support is going the right way,” he says, pointing out interventions now dropping.
It’s true – only four colleges entered formal intervention in 2020-21, down from 13 in the previous year. But Legrave has also warned “the challenge is going to come in 2022-23”, when lower recruitment due to the pandemic could mean “income will be down”.
But for now, Sim “remains optimistic” about the new three-way merger proposal for City College Southampton. He adds the DfE, FEC and ESFA are “onboard and working proactively with us”.
It would be good if more principals could remain in post because the margins for running a college weren’t so tight. But given the circumstances, it seems we’re lucky to have pirating, Wizard-of-Oz admiring, Newtonian enthusiasts such as Sim to step in if needed.
