Welcome to FE Week’s special supplement marking 2022’s National Apprenticeship Week. We’re proud to be able to bring together voices from the range of players working together to make apprenticeships a success; from the politicians and policymakers to the apprentices themselves.
Post-Covid
This year’s focus is unsurprisingly on emerging from the pandemic and understanding the new world of work, but you’ll see too that some familiar challenges have resurfaced as we adjust to life after the Covid crisis.
Pleasingly, there are some strong signs of recovery in apprenticeships starts based on the most recent government data. This is of course good news, but it would be easy for policymakers to get carried away here. The number of starts is, after all, just one measure and apprenticeships find themselves in a fairly unique place in the education system where the number of people starting a programme is given much higher prominence relative to the number of people completing successfully. Why is that?
Measuring apprenticeship completions and outcomes correctly comes up throughout this supplement and is clearly an issue the sector is keen to see addressed this year. Funding too is never far from the discussion. FE Week’s deputy editor Billy Camden challenges the further education minister on both of these issues in an exclusive interview on page 5.
Apprentices’ pensions
How much do you know about apprentices’ pensions? In an illuminating piece on page 14, Annabel May from the National Society of Apprentices uncovers an area rarely discussed. We also feature Holly and Jasmine, both from the Association of Apprentices, who write powerfully about their experience as degree apprentices and the difference that finding a community of apprentices has made to them.
Growth in higher level and degree apprenticeships is perhaps one of the most stand-out developments in apprenticeship policy in recent years. FE Week’s senior reporter, Will Nott, talks to the UCAS chief executive about how to meet ever-rising demand for degree apprenticeship places on page 21.
Meeting demand, growing starts, improving outcomes – none of that can happen without the people teaching, training and assessing apprentices day in day out. The Education and Training Foundation’s Paul Kessell-Holland gets underneath the changing roles of the front-line assessors and trainers on page 19.
Looking ahead
Looking ahead, what do we want to be able to say about apprenticeships for next year’s National Apprenticeships Week?
This year we’ll see the first flexi-job apprenticeships where apprentices will work with multiple employers over the course of their programme. Will we see even more flexibilities funding policy to remove barriers for small businesses? One thing is for sure – as this supplement proves – the sector isn’t short on ideas and innovations to keep making apprenticeships even greater.
The winners of this year’s Association of Colleges’ Student of the Year Awards have been revealed.
Four students were honoured for “fantastic work” at their respective colleges and in their local communities. The awards took place online via social media.
“Congratulations to all our winners this year for their amazing contributions,” said Sally Dicketts, President of Association of Colleges.
“It demonstrates the high quality learning taking place in our colleges and the dedication of the staff supporting these learners, all achieved in a pandemic. Well done to everyone.”
The full list of winners:
Young Student of the Year (sponsored by Edge Foundation)
Kizzy Wade, Selby College
Kizzy Wade is a Level 3 Media student at Selby College. She is a keen poet and spoken word activist who focuses her writing on issues such as disability, mental health and challenges people face in society. Kitty lives with Spastic Quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy and OCD, but does not let this stop her breaking through her physical limitations to create art.
Apprentice of the Year (sponsored by NOCN)
Alisha Shepherd, Barnsley College
Working remotely under the unprecedented circumstances of a global pandemic, Alisha helped her college make a seamless transition to online delivery, As part of her apprenticeship Alisha has taken a lead role in a major local campaign, has driven record-breaking results for a leading platform in the sector and, nationally, through a Department for Education film, offered encouragement and inspiration to future apprentices.
Adult Student of the Year (sponsored by Pearson)
Scott Bailey, Cheshire College South & West
At the age of 27, Scott started to lose his sight after being diagnosed with diabetic retinopathy, a complication of diabetes, and was registered blind just three years later. Scott was unable to continue working as a diary farmer and so decided to enter back into education after more than 10 years to retrain and gain new skills. He has started a Level 2 Counselling course to help him achieve his new dream career of becoming a Counsellor.
Higher Education Student of the Year (sponsored by Shakespeare Martineau)
Ian Kenworthy, Oldham College
Ian enrolled at University Campus Oldham in 2019 on the BA (Hons) Business and Management course. His grades are consistently in the 70s/80s and he is a highly-effective Student Representative, member of the Student Engagement Group and an influential driving force in the UCO Autism Club. He has transformed from a learner needing support to one that uses his own diversity to show others that neuro-diversity conditions do not need to be a barrier to engagement and success in HE.
Jeff Greenidge tells Jess Staufenberg why encouraging non-racists to be more vocal about their opposition to racism is the crucial next step for the sector
Just over a year ago, the first ever “director for diversity” was appointed by the Association of Colleges and the Education and Training Foundation – Jeff Greenidge.
The former languages school teacher and director with training provider Learndirect had landed a year’s contract with both organisations: a seemingly huge title and huge job.
The scale of the challenge was, and is, vast. Of the 239 general FE colleges in England, it was estimated in 2020 that between only 12 and 14 were led by principals from black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds, according to the Association of Colleges.
Even more concerningly, that marked a drop from 13 per cent in 2017 to around six per cent – prompting national newspaper coverage about “systemic racism in the sector”.
So it’s perhaps unsurprising that AoC asked Greenidge to stay on an extra six months, until July (he has finished his work with ETF). But Greenidge, who was born in Barbados and came to the UK aged five, is clear that keeping him in post doesn’t mean he’s the one driving change from above.
“When you have someone who has the post of director for diversity, it’s easy to shift responsibility to that person,” he explains.
“So this post is about a stimulus. That’s what I was doing last year – looking at those game-changers, those people who have taken up the mantle and decided to take action.”
This next six months is about supporting those people to bring about further concrete change, according to Greenidge. “There are some things almost at the tipping point, and it’s about getting them over that tipping point.”
Being almost at a “tipping point” sounds to me like progress is still too slow, but Greenidge has a way of talking positively, without sounding contented, about everything brilliant happening that’s not always apparent on the surface.
More change is happening around race, and inclusion more widely, in FE than is often publicly known, he says.
“You’d be surprised how many people there are in FE doing that quietly and unobtrusively, but who are taking action,” he nods.
Greenidge in the mountains
There are three main strands to his work: practitioners, principals and sector organisations. Three years ago, Greenidge set up a coaching programme for senior leaders, middle managers and governors in FE with a protected characteristic background (including race, sex, sexuality, disability, gender reassignment and age).
The programme, which delivers seven hours of coaching to between 20 and 30 people a year over three months, has continued to grow with Greenidge’s move to the ETF and AoC, finding and developing more “change-makers”.
The programme has a two-fold purpose: the first is to “help individuals gain insight into their strengths, the things that hold them back, the habits that sabotage them”, so they can progress into leadership roles.
The second is for individuals to “pay back” the beneficial experience of coaching by taking action in their own contexts, explains Greenidge.
We start with the first: building confidence and risk-taking abilities. Greenidge tells me with a smile that he sabotages himself by “eating ice cream”. Later, and more seriously, he says he realised he was biased towards recruiting people with the same interest in sport that he has.
“If someone mentioned in an interview that they played sport, my ears would prick up. I had to stop that, because that was a bias I had,” he notes, eyebrows raised.
For other people, self-sabotage can be about being far too comfortable. “There could be an individual who has been in a job for a number of years, they live five minutes from work, and they don’t know how to progress in their role because they don’t want to move away from college,” he narrates.
“They’re sabotaging themselves because they’re in that comfortable chair, and it’s hard to get out of that comfortable chair.”
Good coaching can result in people changing their jobs, even getting a divorce, Greenidge continues. “Slowly the person becomes comfortable with being uncomfortable.”
Once people feel more confident about their ability to make changes, they are encouraged to take action around equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI), says Greenidge. Here, his precision with language (he has a degree in French and Latin) brings refreshing clarity to the term.
“Equity is a measure of justice and fairness, so perhaps that’s about bringing in a black curriculum. Diversity is a quantitative measure of representation, so, perhaps we need to understand what the diversity pay gap is.
And inclusion, that might show you that half the staff feel like they don’t belong. It’s about breaking down EDI into its constituent parts, so you can begin to take action.”
It is these concrete actions that Greenidge is helping to “tip over” into long-term change over the coming months.
Greenidge and his little brother
Someone who has already made waves is Ellisha Soanes, EDI coordinator at West Suffolk College. She has pulled together a curriculum in which students research black and other minority histories in their local area of Suffolk, explains Greenidge.
Curriculum is particularly important to Greenidge: he remembers the impression it made on him to learn about wealthy black emperors in the Roman Empire, because he studied Latin at school.
“Otherwise, youngsters grow up thinking black history is all about slavery and deprivation.”
In another example, a member of staff at Manchester College has now initiated a staff-to-staff coaching programme across the organisation, inspired by Greenidge’s coaching programme.
Inclusion might show you that half the staff feel like they don’t belong
Meanwhile, someone at a college north of London “began to challenge the senior leadership about their way of thinking about EDI”, in particular around digging more deeply into student ethnicity data to help close attainment gaps.
“The twist in the coaching programme is it urges the individual to take some action – that you’re not just being coached for your own benefit,” says Greenidge.
This work with practitioners is backed up with networking opportunities for principals, he continues.
“If they’re nervous, how can we support principals and leaders who have already made a commitment to these EDI strategies?”
There are about 12 principals involved at present, with Ali Hadawi, principal at Central Bedfordshire College, a critical driving force for this work.
Principals have one-to-ones about change strategies and also regular meet-ups every two to three months. They’ve met with David Hughes at AoC, David Russell at ETF, and next in Greenidge’s sights is Shelagh Legrave, FE commissioner, who is apparently enthusiastic.
Greenidge adds: “This is about a safe space in which to have uncomfortable conversations.”
The third strand is again a drive to turn principles into sustained action. WorldSkills UK, ETF, AoC and the Federation of Awarding Bodies have all made commitments to equity, diversity and inclusion – now the job is to check those organisations make a difference, says Greenidge.
“How can we convince them to show the progress they’re making? Because if they’re not showcasing it, we know it’s not being made.”
But again, Greenidge comes back to the need for ordinary staff members to speak up. He is encouraging and coaching people – but it is their voices that can make the long-lasting difference.
“There is still a problem,” he responds, when I ask about the state of racism in FE now. “Clearly there are people who are racist. I personally don’t believe everyone is racist. What I want to do is pull together those people who are quiet and non-racist, and get them to be a bit more vocal about their non-racism.”
It’s the same with homophobia or misogyny, he continues. “I would like to give those people who are pro-inclusion and pro-diversity the confidence and belief to be more vocal about those things. If you challenge a bully, the bully will back off.”
What about ignorant statements, or “clumsiness” of language, rather than bullying? I ask. Greenidge answers with the wisdom of a coach.
You “can’t tell” people exactly what they should be saying, he says. “But if you repeat back to them what they’re saying, they will hear themselves. They might slowly start to have the insight that they need to question themselves.”
This preference for bridge-building (bar confronting bullies) is at the heart of Greenidge’s approach.
As we conclude, he gives a word of warning about the approach he believes fits the UK context best.
This is about a safe space in which to have uncomfortable conversations
“We tend to follow the American, very confrontational model in the way we approach things,” he says. “America is a very segregated society along racial lines. But here in the UK, people are becoming more and more mixed.
“It’s harder and harder to find out if someone is Asian, Greek, mixed race or Iraqi. In my view we don’t have a system here based on racism. The split with us is more around deprivation, about the haves and have-nots.”
This means the UK has more opportunity than the US to act as a collective to improve equity, diversity and inclusion, notes Greenidge.
“We have an opportunity in the UK to say, what are we going to do to make our country more inclusive? And that starts with, what am I going to do to make my college more inclusive?”
The time is now, he concludes. “The grandchildren of the Windrush generation are coming to the fore.”
FE is the best place for adults to upskill – but it needs lobbyists in parliament, writes Andy Forbes
This year, the FE sector has a real chance of moving centre stage.
Why this year, you ask, after so many frustrating years of flatline funding and piecemeal initiatives?
It’s a combination of things. Three things have become apparent.
1. Fewer adults accessing university
The successful expansion of the university sector has benefitted many young people, but not those from the “left behind” areas of the country.
For most adults, access to higher education has become more difficult, not better. There has been a steep 36 per cent fall in adult and part-time university students between 2015-16 and 2019-20.
Meanwhile, over the past decade, the increase in the proportion of students from low-income backgrounds getting in to university has been less than two per cent.
2. FE better for part-time learners
When you look at where adult higher education has best resisted decline, it’s in FE colleges. Part-time enrolment has dropped by 44 per cent in the higher education sector since 2015.
But it has dropped by much less – 20 per cent – in colleges. Colleges now deliver as much sub-degree higher education as the university sector.
In most areas of the country, if you’re a working adult and want to improve your skills to get better paid work, your local FE college is often the best bet.
3. Colleges deliver ‘levelling up’ opportunities
When you look at those areas across Britain that are most in need of levelling up, it’s usually the local FE college – often working in partnership with universities – that is delivering opportunities on the ground.
FE colleges, as inclusive local institutions, are uniquely placed to reach hard-pressed communities others can’t.
And hallelujah! The long-awaited levelling up white paper published last week, acknowledges this.
It includes a commitment “to strengthen locally accessible institutions, notably the national network of further education colleges”.
I’m more aware than ever of just how big a breakthrough this is, because since joining a London-based think tank which has the ear of government, I’ve realised just how little detailed knowledge of the FE sector there still is in the circles that policy gurus and civil servants inhabit.
Universities can afford to put significant resources into continually influencing ministers and lobbying in their interests. FE colleges can’t, and so they struggle to get heard.
So the policy door is now ajar and FE needs to put its foot in right away!
The policy door is now ajar
With the skills bill due back in parliament for its third reading this month, and with the flagship levelling up white paper now out, the next few months will be critical.
ResPublica’s lifelong education commission has put in eight skills bill amendments.
This includes sweeping away the rules penalising those on universal credit for taking courses, and also removing the outdated equivalent or lower qualification rules that prevent adults from doing courses at lower levels, even when they need to do this to make a career change.
Meanwhile in response to the levelling up white paper, the commission has this week issued a skills and levelling up manifesto , with ten headline ideas.
These include proposals for a single all-age careers service, an entitlement to free English language training for all adults, and giving devolved authorities the power to make selected level 4 to 6 courses free.
We all know skills shortages have hit the national headlines, with the pressing need to get the economy growing again after the pandemic and the arrival of a whole new political agenda around levelling up.
The minds of those in government are now focused on how best to grow a skilled workforce.
So please. Talk to your local MP and local authority leaders. Tell them again what FE is offering, and how FE and HE could work together even more closely with the right policies and funding in place.
Point out once again how much more the FE sector could do if it was properly funded and supported.
It’s easy to be blinded by the scientific theory and not think carefully about each learner, writes Jennifer Wilkinson
It is no surprise that teachers, whose primary goal it is to help people learn, are fascinated with metacognition (the process that enables us to learn and even self-regulate).
The very thought that we could somehow hack into our brain’s core processor and harness its power in the classroom sounds like something from a sci-fi novel.
So when the theory of “interleaving” began to trickle down from universities, senior management quickly became blinded by the science. And why wouldn’t they?
What is ‘interleaving’?
Interleaving is where students apply the same skills while switching between different topics. The idea is that students will make connections between different topics, which will force them to think harder about applying certain strategies.
For example, if your English lesson focuses on inference, you might give your students a number of extracts based on different topics and ask them to identify the inference from each text. You could even ask them to compare the inference for tone.
Researchers now overwhelmingly agree on the benefits of interleaving, including improved working long-term memory and strengthened problem-solving abilities, even if it is more difficult for students in the short run.
However, in the feverish rush to include learning theory in practice, fundamental errors are being made.
Basics come first
For a start, interleaving is not meant to be used as an initial learning strategy but as a revision tool within a scaffolded curriculum.
Just like the old saying goes, you must walk before you can run. Students need to learn the basics before applying a complex skill over a range of topics and contexts.
Depends on subjects
The theory lends itself better to some subjects, such as GCSE maths, over other subjects, like functional skills English. That’s because functional skills employ a contextual problem-solving model, which means the skills needed come from the context of the topic.
Interleaving takes for granted that students already have contextual knowledge, which is often simply not the case. By having multiple short extracts instead of a longer, more informative text, you limit the contextual knowledge that the student will gain from the reading.
This is exactly why it is often not the best approach for students still developing their reading skills.
Fun fact: when the functional skills qualifications were in their early stages back in 2006, it was explicitly recommended that interleaving not be used for this exact reason.
However, in GCSE maths, this approach works well because of the absence of long narratives, which means students only need to apply the same skill and are not disadvantaged by the lack of context.
Not designed for complex needs
Finally, educational research tends to reflect the researchers: white, well-educated men, usually without any language barriers or learning difficulties.
Educational research tends to reflect the researchers – white, well-educated men
Now, I cannot speak for you, but that damn sure does not sound like my classroom. Asking students to jump from one topic to another can be highly confusing at the best of times, without factoring in complex learning needs.
For students with dyslexia, ADHD, ADD and autism, the lack of consistency in the topic only compounds pre-existing difficulties.
It makes it more mentally strenuous to connect information or draw parallels, resulting in cognitive overload that manifests in the classroom as behavioural issues, emotional breakdowns and burnout.
Before you know it, your lesson has gone down the drain, and all the students remember is how much they hate the subject.
Balance theory with practice
Although interleaving definitely has its place, we need to be careful about how much weight we place on theory. It is the responsibility of senior management to make themselves aware of the research gaps. They need to ask themselves, can this theory really work in practice for all our learners?
They should be creating an environment where educational theory can be challenged when it is not working.
It is easy to become dazzled by the science. We need to elevate FE staff, and push for more inclusive research that focuses on FE and its learners.
Students at AELP’s first-ever green skills summit say sustainability should be learnt alongside English, maths and digital, writes Nichola Hay
Last week AELP held its first-ever green skills summit. The event, sponsored by the Skills Network, was a success. But it also showed there’s still much work FE can do to help reach net zero and to transition towards a green economy.
Increasingly, AELP members have been highlighting how vital sustainability is becoming to our sector. AELP hosting its first green skills summit felt like an important step towards answering some of the challenges facing us.
Discussions throughout the day were thought-provoking. One key message came through consistently: this is not a time to rest on our laurels. We need to take more action.
I was delighted to chair the event and it was great to hear from a wide range of speakers, including skills minister Alex Burghart and deputy mayor of London Jules Pipe. We also heard directly from four young people working in the green economy.
Seray, Carys, Kofi and Ismail expressed exactly why sustainability is so important. They said sustainability is increasingly being seen as the “fourth functional skill” alongside English, maths and digital.
It is becoming clear that sustainability and low carbon should be embedded into every curriculum as the fourth functional skill.
This would also be about changing individual behaviours – to think and act differently. It’s a skill that recognises the impact we each have on the environment, every day.
However, teaching this skill does present a major challenge to educators, as there is currently a real gap in training, knowledge and resources available to the sector to deliver for our learners. There is not just a need to train our learners on this, but to upskill and support those delivering training too.
However, the positive news is that the summit showed there’s a real enthusiasm in the skills sector to ensure we are not just responding to employers’ demands, but that we’re showing leadership too.
The immediate challenge following the event is to harness that enthusiasm and put it into action.
Achieving the government’s ambitions to reach net zero by 2050 presents a sizeable challenge to the wider economy ̶ and we can’t wait until that deadline to make the changes needed.
There will be two million new green jobs by 2030. The green jobs taskforce has a huge role to play in ensuring people have the necessary skills. But we also need government to recognise that independent training providers are well placed to deliver much of the skills training required.
Young people also need to know there are opportunities open to them. That starts with proper careers guidance that outlines all available options, including parity for academic and vocational routes.
That’s why we’re so keen to see the government use the skills and post-16 education bill to enforce the Baker clause.
We also need to ensure people get work experience in those careers – whether that’s short-term work experience or structured schemes such as traineeships.
The enthusiasm amongst young people in particular could easily turn to frustration if we don’t prove we’re serious about sustainability.
Enthusiasm among young people could easily turn to frustration
That’s why I’m pleased that AELP has committed to setting up a “task and finish” group that will look at how to introduce a sustainability charter for ITPs, similar to its code of good governance.
This charter, underpinned by key green and ethical principles, will enable providers to show that sustainability is at the heart of what they do – giving confidence to learners that this is a sector that takes our environmental impact seriously.
We will also need to work with the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) to ensure these skills are properly embedded into apprenticeship standards, with appropriate funding for providers.
Climate change will force us all to live differently. Hosting a green skills summit felt like a breakthrough moment.
But we cannot afford to stop here. We will need to make real changes – and quickly.
Level 4 and 5 qualifications have historically suffered from a perception problem, writes Ian Pretty
Next September, the first round of higher technical qualifications will kick off. But the overall level of demand for these qualifications needs a closer look.
The approvals cycle for digital qualifications concluded in the summer, with the first digital HTQs to be taught from September 2022. This will be followed in 2023 by construction, health and science. The full rollout of all HTQs – including agriculture, hair and beauty, catering and design – will happen over a four-year period.
Essentially, these already exist as HTE qualifications but are being relaunched with a HTQ “quality mark”.
But we have some worrying findings.
At Collab Group we are embarking on a research project into FE college provision of level 4 and 5 HTE involving 26 of our colleges, beginning with a review of existing reports and data.
We have also sought to determine the number of learners currently undertaking HTE courses, primarily through analysing individual learner record data, or equivalent, from 22 colleges.
Worryingly, this analysis suggests that HTE uptake across England declined by one-third between 2015-16 and 2019-20. This is a surprising and concerning drop-off, especially at a time when the government is advocating the need for a higher skilled, higher wage economy.
It is vital, therefore, that we better understand what barriers are limiting participation across level 4 and 5.
Our research has identified several long-standing factors that complicate the ability to increase provision as a whole.
Level 4 and 5 courses have always competed with degrees for students and are, on the whole, far less popular. This is perhaps unsurprising, given school guidance has always been skewed towards university, with the prestige of degrees as well as the attraction of the “university lifestyle”.
Meanwhile, colleges have claimed a rise in unconditional offers for degrees has also deterred learners from higher technical education, according to a Gatsby Foundation study. FE colleges are now competing with universities at level 4 and 5 as the latter look to occupy more of this space.
This is understood to be hurting qualification validation agreements between universities and colleges. If colleges cannot rely on validation from universities, then future provision remains uncertain.
The introduction of the apprenticeship levy has also been extremely damaging for HTE. Most courses are employer-funded but are excluded from the government funding for apprenticeships.
Meanwhile among self-funding learners, reduced adult education budgets have also limited retraining opportunities.
Finally, a historical lack of clear information on why we have these qualifications and what skills they deliver has caused a perception problem for both learners and businesses.
The Department for Education aims to stimulate demand for these qualifications through the HTQ programme. But is this really enough to turn the tide? These qualifications have historically been under-regarded and are now floundering under the competition from other courses.
The DfE also plans to run an extensive communications campaign to support the rollout of HTQs. But this seems insufficient to address declining participation.
What’s more, there is a real risk that introducing HTQs could split the market even further instead of stimulating demand. This was the case with the introduction of foundation degrees.
The government must make absolutely clear who HTQs are for
So the government must make absolutely clear who HTQs are for. Are there two markets – those continuing in education and these returning to education?
If courses need to suit both groups, then they must be designed in such a way to match these different requirements.
A focus on modularisation in courses would allow for flexibility. But can this be done without sacrificing employer engagement in curriculum design?
Consequently, the government needs to think hard about how HTQs can address the existing challenges faced by HTE. Without targeted action, these issues look set to persist regardless of what the qualifications are named.
Ministers are being urged to relax financial intervention rules for the rest of 2022 to protect college reputations in the face of ongoing challenges.
The Association of Colleges has written to education secretary Nadhim Zahawi with the request after finding a “significant minority” of their members face “real financial difficulty” due to changing patterns in 16-to-18 recruitment and low adult enrolments caused by the pandemic.
Colleges that receive ‘inadequate’ financial health ratings from the Education and Skills Funding Agency usually receive a financial notice to improve and subsequent FE Commissioner report, both of which are published and can lead to news articles in the local and trade media.
David Hughes, the AoC’s chief executive, told FE Week the normal intervention regime “triggers all sorts of unhelpful things, not least of which is a public bad mark”.
He feels this would be “unfair” over the next year, considering the unavoidable impact of Covid-19.
“What you want is for colleges to feel confident about coming forward now. It’s not every college, but it’s a significant minority. We don’t want colleges to worry about that honesty which brings all of those potentially negative outcomes.”
Hughes’ letter said the fact that most colleges have long-term bank loans and covenants “will continue to ensure discipline”.
The FE Commissioner’s team paused most duties in March 2020 as a result of the first lockdown, while the ESFA also paused its routine funding audits.
“Confidential” support to any colleges struggling financially as a direct result of the pandemic was offered by the FE Commissioner until normal duties were resumed in August 2020. Audits then got back under way in November.
And in October 2020, the ESFA announced that colleges which apply for government bailouts will not automatically fall into formal intervention from that point on.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We recognise the impact the pandemic has had on the FE sector.
“Nobody wants to see any college get into financial difficulties, which is why our published guidance sets out that there is already the ability to take covid impact into account.”
Hughes’ letter pressed that colleges face “several unprecedented challenges” just at the time the government wants them to develop more opportunities, such as skills bootcamps, traineeships and apprenticeships.
The association said FE’s lagged funding system will “see many colleges facing reduced funding in 2022/23, even though it is likely that their learner numbers will begin to bounce back” due to summer exams taking place, which are expected to move the grade profile of GCSEs back towards 2019 levels.
The AoC also said lockdowns have made engaging adults learners and employers “very difficult”. Despite this, there has been a “clear message” from the DfE that the normal 97 per cent performance threshold for the national adult education budget will apply in 2021/22.
But this was set before Omicron emerged. The AoC said current data implies a clawback of £100 million in funding from colleges by the end of 2022.
The association has called on Zahawi to adjust the clawback threshold to 90 per cent, as it was in 2020/21, as well as to hold a business case process for colleges.
As part of the government’s education recovery package announced in October’s spending review, an extra £800 million has been committed over the next three academic years to fund an additional 40 learning hours for students on 16-to-19 study programmes and T Levels.
This will increase the national FE base rate by 8.4 per cent – rising from £4,188 to £4,542. But this will only come into effect from August 2022.
Hughes’ letter said the increase, on the face of it, “will help” but warned the extra hours “will squeeze the money available for rising costs”.
He added that the combined cost of higher energy prices, the higher minimum wage and the national insurance rise “prevents adequate money to properly invest in all staff including teachers”.
