College students stage mass walk out over ‘stop and search’ knife crime security checks

Students staged a mass walk out and a governor resigned yesterday after their college introduced what they call “stop and search” security checks – with some promising more protests are to come.

City and Islington College in London started conducting random security checks at the entrance to its sixth form campus on February 28, something leaders said was necessary because of a rise in knife crime.

The policy change has been met with strong opposition from both students and staff who say that the measures amount to “stop and search” tactics used by the police – a term the college disputes.

Students who spoke to FE Week said they feel “violated” by the checks.

A campaign against the policy has been ongoing since its introduction. But students said that following the scandal around Child Q, where a 15-year-old black girl was strip searched, they decided to stage the walkout.

Some 150 to 200 students attended the protest according to the college. FE Week has also learnt that a student governor on Capital City College Group’s quality oversight committee – the parent group for the college – has resigned over the issue.

Justifying the college’s decision Kurt Hintz, City and Islington College’s principal said: “There have been incidents resulting in injury or death of young people, including students of our colleges in London.

“As one of London’s largest sixth form colleges, our duty is not only to educate and inspire our students, but to do whatever we can to keep them safe while they are in our care.”

The checks take place on average about once every couple of weeks, on a random day. A system then randomly sends 10 to 20 per cent of students for a search when they check-in at college.

If a student is selected for a search, their bags are checked and a metal detecting wand is passed over them – something the college likens to a visit to a museum or an airport.

For those students who are selected for the check, the security screening is conducted by a specially trained security person and that person should be the same gender as the student – a rule which hasn’t been adhered to every time.

The check is also overseen by a member of the college’s curriculum or student support team of the same gender as the student.

“It seems that the first time the checks were carried out at this site, some students may have been checked by someone not of their gender, but the process is completely non-invasive, and at all times a same-gender member of our non-security staff was present during the checks,” a spokesperson for the college said.

The spokesperson said that students who do not wish to participate in the screening on the day are not able to access the site that day but can return the very next day for lessons as normal. No-one is being suspended or excluded as a result.

Hintz said students had every right to protest and said he welcomed the focus on knife crime in London and the “important debate that these additional security checks have brought about”.

However, one student who spoke to FE Week who did not want to be named, argued there’s a culture in college that assumes the guilt of young people before anything has been proven.

“It happens a lot, when teachers are suspicious of students for carrying knives, before they’ve even found anything,” they said.

“It feels like we’ve been violated because we’ve basically been told we are more likely to be carrying knives or weapons.” they added.

A spokesperson from the college said that students and parents had been properly consulted.

“The topic of the additional security checks was then discussed with students in a range of meetings, including a students’ union meeting on February 25,” they said.

The college also wrote to parents and students on March 17 and explained the rationale behind the process.

But students from the college told FE Week that they weren’t consulted properly.

“It felt like one day we turned up, and it was in place — we weren’t given enough of a warning, nor were we widely consulted,” they said.

Do students at the college feel safe?

The college carried out a survey of 987 of its students and found that 63 per cent said the checks made them feel safe.

However, a student from the City and Islington College told FE Week that the security measures had the opposite effect.

“For me, personally, I don’t feel safer if when I come into college I have to be searched. I’ve never felt unsafe in college before,” they said. 

“The college is really welcoming. The teachers are really lovely. And the college has been great throughout Covid and throughout the two years I’ve been there.

“I’ve never felt unsafe inside the college. But as soon as they started to introduce stop and search, I started to feel unsafe, because I felt like at any point I could be pulled up and I could be searched and my personal space could be violated.”

A group of students who are running a campaign called “nostopandsearchcandi” against the security measures told FE Week that the measures were “heavy-handed”.

“We do not believe the system enforced by our college is actually keeping us safe, but instead it’s causing a sense of unease and fear.”

Inspectors find ‘enormous and enduring’ failures in prison education

Poor reading education at prisons is an “enormous and enduring problem” Ofsted’s chief inspector has said as a new review by inspectors finds reading education at prisons is “minimal at best”.

Ofsted and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) carried out a joint review of reading education in prisons- the results of which were published today. 

Inspectorates sought to understand how prisoners’ reading is assessed, what provision is in place and how much progress prisoners make.

Inspectors found that reading education is not given sufficient priority in the prison regime and that much education provision was not organised in a way that supports prisoners to improve their reading. 

According to the report the curriculum at prisons was not well designed to improve reading and that prisoners with the greatest need to improve their reading generally received the least support.

“This research shines a light on the reading education that prisoners are getting, or in most cases, the lack of it,” said Amanda Spielman, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Ofsted. 

“There are some serious systemic challenges, as well as plenty of poor practice. Little progress has been made in the priority of education since the Coates Review in 2016. 

“I want Ofsted, with the prison service and wider government leaders, to be part of the solution to this enormous and enduring problem.”

Last September, the inspectorates committed to carrying out a year-long review of prison education, which included this research into reading in prisons.

Ofsted jointly visited six prisons to carry out the research. Its findings are based on interviews with senior prison leaders, leaders in the education department, teachers, librarians, prison officers and prisoners. 

The regulator reviewed curriculum plans and assessment data, visited classrooms, education departments and prison libraries, and spoke to prisoners in their residential units. 

“Our study highlights the systemic barriers that prevent prisoners from receiving effective support to acquire or improve their reading skills,” Ofsted said. 

Inspectorates found that leaders’ focus was on enrolling prisoners on courses aimed at gaining qualifications, even though up to 50 per cent of the prisoner population could not read well enough to take part. 

“As a result, prisoners who need the most support with education are largely overlooked,” Ofsted said in a statement. 

Ofsted said that in most prisons, the curriculum is not focused on reading but on practising for exams and prisoners are not encouraged to enjoy reading, to apply their reading skills across their life, or to “read whole books”. 

The report goes on to say that many staff did not know how to teach reading. 

“This lack of adequate reading education means that quality support has been left to voluntary organisations or enthusiastic staff members,” Ofsted said. 

Inspectorates also found that prisons do not have systems in place to identify prisoners’ reading needs or to track their progress. 

In most of the prisons visited for the research, routine phonics screening assessments were not being used to identify the gaps in prisoners’ knowledge and skills, and information on prisoners’ learning was not routinely shared with other prisons.

“The failure to teach prisoners to read or to extend the literacy of poor readers is a huge missed opportunity. It means many prisoners do not get the benefits of reading while in prison,” said HMI Prisons Chief Inspector, Charlie Taylor. 

“And it means that many will fail to learn the essential skills that will help them to resettle, get work and make a success of their lives when they are released.”

Concerns were echoed by others across the sector.

Peter Cox, managing director of Novus, a provider that delivers education, training and employability services to offenders across the UK, said that reading is a “fundamental skill” and the starting point for learning.

However, he noted that many prisoners arrive in their cells unable to read. 

“The biggest obstacle to improving literacy among prisoners is the available budget for prison education, which does not meet need,” he said. 

“At present, the hourly funding rate for male prisoners is around 17 per cent of the equivalent rate for students in community-based adult education. 

“Prison education has a proven impact on reducing reoffending; according to research by Manchester Metropolitan University, participation in prison education reduces the likelihood of reoffending by around a third.” 

Cox called for increasing investment, which he said would reduce the £18 bn cost of reoffending to society each year.

“As the report acknowledges, education providers are mainly funded to deliver qualifications; for those learners who are unable to read, this starting point is beyond their grasp. 

“Greater flexibility in education contracts would allow providers to deliver a curriculum focused on need, rather than simply delivering qualifications,” he added. 

Francesca Cooney, head of policy at the Prisoners’ Education Trust said the report highlights that prison education is “not good enough and is not the priority that it should be across the prison system”.

“If people leave prison unable to read then we have missed a key chance to help them get a job and turn their lives around.

“The most concerning finding is that learners with the highest level of need receive the least help,” Cooney said.  

She argued that supporting learners to read must be a higher priority for prisons and the Ministry of Justice.

“They must focus on reading needs, not just on contractual targets. Funding for prison education must be increased and prison teachers must have more support and training, so that every prisoner gets a high quality education that meets their specific needs,” Cooney added.

Sally Dicketts, chief executive, Activate Learning

Sally Dicketts, who steps down as chief executive of Activate Learning this month, talks to Jess Staufenberg about getting staff development right – and where she found her two life-changing coaches

I clearly remember first meeting Sally Dicketts. It was last year at the Association of Colleges’ conference, where, as president since 2020, she was overseeing one of the first big face-to-face events in many months.

She had on a brilliant red dress, and as I ushered her towards a tiny room for The FE Week Podcast, she noticed great spots of what looked like black bike oil along the hem. “What is that?” she admonished them for a moment. Then she brushed the matter aside, sat down in front of the mic, and gave a fascinating interview. No nonsense, no fuss, straight to the point.

Dicketts’ aura of authority – you can completely see why she was voted AoC’s president – must come from 18 years of being the chief executive of Activate Learning, an Ofsted grade 2 college group with seven colleges across Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Surrey.

Dicketts is stepping down at the end of this month, but in her first interview with this paper back in 2014, she said she thought she might have been passed over for roles earlier in her career because of a lack of “gravitas”, being naturally very “chatty” and without an Oxbridge education. Nowadays, she exudes authority, without throwing it about.

Dickett with her siblings growing up

It’s clear Dicketts has put tremendous effort into developing herself, and her staff in turn, during the past couple of decades – from a girl in Cardiff with dyslexia whose potential was often overlooked, to becoming principal at Milton Keynes College by 1996 and then chief executive at Activate Learning in 2003. Coaching has been instrumental, she says.

She found two long-term coaches – Paula and Nick – herself. Paula she met over a decade ago on a training course run by LSIS, the forerunner to the ESFA.

“They were piloting this very innovative programme and both Shelagh Legrave [now the FE Commissioner] and I were on it. It was unusual because you were there for a day and a night, and one of the tasks was you literally had to talk for 30 minutes about what you were trying to achieve in your organisation,” recalls Dicketts.

“They gave you a coach, and mine was Paula, and she just picked apart all my barriers, very delicately and very impactfully. And I just thought, ‘You’re brilliant’.”

Since then, Paula has coached and supported Dicketts with operations and organisational matters. Meanwhile, her other coach, Nick, has helped her focus on strategy and culture. She found him on a training course at St George’s House in the grounds of Windsor Castle. “He was the facilitator, and he was phenomenal. At the end I asked if he would coach me.”

It must have made an extraordinary difference to have two professional people, external to the college context, to freely bounce ideas and problems with. Dicketts’ determination to keep improving herself seems the opposite of complacent, overconfident leadership.

Dicketts, Angela Richardson MP and local business leader Kathy Slack officially open a training centre at Guildford College

It’s such a priority that she made sure all her senior leaders also got an external coach, paid for by the college group. She additionally appointed a director of coaching who trains middle management staff to coach one another, and in 2020, following the global Black Lives Matter protests, “dual coaching” was introduced.

“I worked with our ethnic minority staff to look at what was happening in our institutions and was horrified at some of the behaviours and a lack of sense of belonging,” she notes. “So those staff who are aspirational are mentored by a senior manager – but the senior manager is also mentored by the member of staff, on what it’s like being in an ethnic minority in our institutions.”

It seems to be working: there has been a 40 per cent increase in staff with black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds applying for and getting faculty manager roles, compared to before the coaching initiative was introduced.

But for Dicketts, her leadership has been about demonstrating that while staff will always be developed, the individual is expected to put in hard work for themselves too. On this, she wanted to set an example.

“For me, if you are a learning organisation, the most senior person should be the best learner,” she explains. “I’m always learning, and I’m still reading.” Right now Dicketts is reading Atlas of the Heart by Brené Brown, a former US social worker turned researcher who discusses vulnerability and shame, or a lack of sense of self-worth, and leadership.

For me, the most senior person in an organisation should be the best learner

Dicketts has wanted to boost her staff’s sense of self-worth but has also expected them to take opportunities. It’s the same for students, whom she regularly reminds that “cleverness is like a muscle – it increases the more you use it”.

“Some people might say, ‘Sally Dicketts didn’t give me what I wanted’ – I’ve given you learning opportunities, but I won’t take you there, you need to meet me halfway,” she says frankly.

“For instance, do I want staff to do all the heavy lifting for students? Absolutely not. And that’s the same in how I lead.” Dicketts has hoped to lead by example, always developing herself and taking opportunities, and giving staff opportunities for development for them to take too.

Nigel Huddleston, tourism minister, Dicketts and Nigel Tipple, CEO, OxLEP, open new hospitality and catering facilities at City of Oxford College

One of the greatest challenges of leadership has been what to do when someone is not developing themselves as expected, she continues.

“That’s difficult, when you’re going into an organisation and you’re meeting students who aren’t getting the great deal you thought they were, and for many of them, this is their last opportunity, and they will suffer. We talk about our learning philosophy, and there’s a buzz around that. But if there’s a teacher who doesn’t understand that, and we’ve not enabled that enough, that’s hard.”

Dicketts is admirably frank about her own mistakes as a leader in some of those situations. “Normally the place where you might get it wrong is around people, where instead of challenging them to develop themselves further, you’ve actually made them feel worse about themselves, and that’s not great. Then it’s about trying to resolve that.”

This is why the best and most important continuous professional development for leaders focuses not on the ‘what’ of leadership, but on the ‘how’, she says.

“CPD for leaders has improved, but it can tend to be on the ‘what’, so that leaders must know about balance sheets, cash flows, marketing, which I wouldn’t disagree with, but actually it’s, ‘what are the biggest barriers to the individual succeeding?’ And that’s behaviours. It’s about looking at your behaviour as a leader.”

On this, Dicketts has all the self-insight of someone who has been coached effectively for at least a decade. “So for example, I can do things badly, I can be distracted, I can probably have a grumpy day. If that’s pointed out to me, I will apologise. You have to do a lot of work to see your strengths and weaknesses.”

It’s perhaps unsurprising then, that neuroscience is one of the five “drivers” for the 2021 to 2025 strategic plan that Dicketts is leaving Activate Learning with when she steps down. Understanding the science behind teaching and learning must be a key pillar in the group’s decisions.

The other four are: globalisation (the need to have strong global relationships, as particularly exemplified through Covid, Brexit and the Russian invasion of Ukraine); technology (its importance but also the impact of device use); sustainability (of the organisation and the planet); and wellbeing (particularly since the stress caused by the pandemic).

Dicketts at the Association of Colleges Conference in 2021

Dicketts also leaves Activate Learning the legacy of a new structure, through its academy trust (which opened in 2013 and now has four UTCs and two secondary schools) and a reworked college staffing structure – both moves designed to break down barriers between institutions and to create opportunities for development. It’s particularly her move around her senior leadership structure that pricks up my ears.

“We have a very unusual leadership structure, in that we don’t have college principals,” says Dicketts. In 2015, she replaced the principals of each college with cross-college faculty and executive directors instead, because she was finding that “principals were loyal to their college, not to Activate Learning”.

The faculty directors are responsible for six programme areas across all colleges: technology, lifestyle, creative industries, land-based, life skills; and then A-levels, professional, business and other studies as the final programme area.

We have a very unusual leadership structure

There are also three director roles: a director of pathways, who looks outwards to where learners are headed; a design director, to design the programmes; and a delivery director. “All three have to work very closely together.”

The move has largely worked, says Dicketts, although design directors needed time and training to grasp the role, and she thinks the delivery director role needs tweaking. It’s work for the person who will replace her: Gary Headland, joining after seven years as chief executive at Lincoln College Group.

As a leader, Dicketts has clearly been fascinated by how people develop and learn, driving through new roles, new challenges and free coaches during her tenure as an authoritative, motivated person.

Now, she’s headed for a well-earned break, not planning on becoming an interim college principal, and remaining in post as AoC president. All in all, as she bows out, she’s happy. “The team universally embrace learning, feedback and coaching. There’s a real learning culture.”

The FE Week Podcast: Is disability the hidden diversity issue?

In this episode, education journalist Jess Staufenberg explores disability – or differing ability – and what it means as an identity ahead of the long-awaited SEND review.

Join her, and staff and students, from across the sector. Is this sector lagging behind on disability diversity?

Low apprenticeship achievement rates will not impact Ofsted grades, chief inspector promises

Training providers will not be dealt low Ofsted grades just because their achievement rates have declined, the chief inspector has promised.

Amanda Spielman told FE Week’s Annual Apprenticeship Conference this afternoon that the watchdog’s new inspection framework “does not require inspectors to use achievement rates to make a judgement”.

Her assurance came hours after the government’s director of apprenticeships, Peter Mucklow, warned the sector that officials “will not be satisfied” with the level of apprenticeship achievement rates when they are published in the coming days.

Spielman said she was aware that the pandemic has caused more apprentices than usual to go beyond their planned end date or even out of funding.

“It’s understandable that many of you are concerned about the impact of this on your achievement rates and how this might affect inspection judgements,” she told delegates.

“Achievement rates are important. Apprentices want to pass their qualification as it is often a passport to their next steps – and that’s a good thing. But please be assured, the framework does not require inspectors to use achievement rates to make judgement.”

The chief inspector continued: “We will not be making judgements of ‘requires improvement’ or ‘inadequate’ just because your achievement rates have declined during the pandemic.

“What we will want to hear about, and see evidence of, is how your teams of mentors, coaches and trainers are working with apprentices and employers to reorganise training. It’s this that will keep current apprentices making good progress, and get the apprentices who are past their planned end date, or out of funding, through their end point assessment.

“It could mean additional or refresher training, or some reorganisation of responsibilities at work. The outcome that we will be looking for is apprentices who have the skills and knowledge to achieve their qualification. 

“Similarly, if achievement rates were poor before the pandemic, perhaps as a result of a poorly planned and taught curriculum, we will want to know what it is you are doing to improve the curriculum and how you know this is working.”

Apprenticeship achievement rates dropped slightly from 64.8 per cent in 2018/19 to 64.2 per cent in 2019/20. However, they were removed in February due to an “error” and will be republished in the coming weeks.

The rates have not been published at institution level for the past two years owing to the pandemic and will not return until 2021/22.

However, while provider-level achievement rates will not be published this year, they will still be shared with providers and Ofsted privately.

DfE ‘will not be satisfied’ with upcoming apprenticeship achievement rates, top civil servant warns

The government’s top apprenticeships civil servant has hinted there will be a big drop in national achievement rates this year.

Peter Mucklow told FE Week’s Annual Apprenticeship Conference today that both the revised apprenticeship achievement rates for 2019/20 and the new rates for 2020/21 will be published imminently.

But he warned his department “will not be satisfied with those levels” when they are released.

Without revealing what the rates are expected to look like, Mucklow, the Department for Education’s director of apprenticeships, said: “We need to get those achievement rates up.

“Now I know there are good outcomes for people who leave apprenticeships without achieving their qualification. Nonetheless, achievement rates are already around the lower levels and that is something we cannot be satisfied with.”

Low achievement rates will have been impacted by Covid-19 but are also largely to blame for retention rates.

National achievement rate tables published last year showed that the overall rate for all apprenticeships fell slightly from 64.8 per cent in 2018/19 to 64.2 per cent in 2019/20.

But the retention rate for standards in 2018/19 was 48.3 per cent and in 2019/20 was 60.2 per cent. Former skills minister Gillian Keegan ordered an investigation into the “astonishingly” high drop-out rate last year.

The DfE was forced to remove last year’s published achievement rates in February due to an “error”.

Mucklow revealed today that error came about because he took his “best people” off the job owing to Covid.

‘We’re very satisfied this will not happen again’

“During the Covid period in terms of the quality assessment of data, there was an error. The reason for that error was because we put some of our best people who do the quality assessment and assurance year on year on other work in the department,” he said.

“We thought that was the right thing but we’ve since discovered that in the 2019/20 published data was incorrect. There was an error that was made. Obviously, that’s quite a serious thing. So as soon as we found that out we put that into the public domain.”

Asked whether he was confident this error would never happen again, Mucklow said “yes”.

“We’re very satisfied this will not happen again because we are putting the strongest possible quality assurance team to ensure that it doesn’t.”

‘We need you’: Highlights from the skills minister’s opening speech at AAC 2022

The skills minister has admitted the government “must” increase the number of young people starting apprenticeships and committed to “reduce friction” for small employers using the apprenticeships system.

But he conceded that the chancellor is unlikely to reintroduce apprenticeship cash incentives for employers in this week’s spring statement.

Alex Burghart used his speech to open up this year’s FE Week Annual Apprenticeship Conference to outline his priorities when it comes to apprenticeships before taking questions from the audience.

Here are the key takeaways

1. ‘I don’t want us to forget the young’

Apprenticeship starts among young people have been steadily decreasing since the government’s levy reforms in 2017.

In 2018/19, under 19s made up 24.8 per cent of all starts, this dropped to 23.6 per cent in 2019/20 and in 2020/21 it fell to 20.3 per cent.

It’s an issue the skills minister has identified and has promised to tackle – starting with a letter to school leavers.

He told conference: “I don’t want us to forget the young because there is something unquestionably special about the school leaver setting out to learn their craft.

“The economy is hungry for skills. We know that the young are hungry for apprenticeships.

“I want more young people to know about these options and these opportunities. And that’s why in National Apprenticeship Week, back in February, I wrote to all year 11, year 12 and year 13 pupils in schools and their parents to tell them about the great opportunities offered by apprenticeships.

“Too often, I found that 19 and 20 year old apprentices when I asked them how they found out about the opportunities, they told me that they know someone who’d done it, they told me that they found out about it on Google. Very, very few told me that they’d been told about it as part of their education or part of their time in school. And we want to start changing that, we want to cast the net wider.”

Burghart also said he has “heard loudly” that too many young people find the recruitment process for apprenticeships difficult to navigate. “We have to fix this,” he said. “My department is now looking at how we can support young people in the application process and work with employers to make sure that they present the benefits to their business of hiring apprentices.

“And we’re addressing how we support providers and employers to advertise apprenticeship vacancies, so that these are accessible to young people. We’re also going to continue to work with UCAS and capitalise on the excellent work it does connect young people with a range of opportunities available to them when they’re considering their next steps after school and college.”

2. Plans to tackle ‘burdensome’ system for SMEs

The digital apprenticeship service was launched in April 2017 but was only for levy-paying employers to manage and spend their apprenticeship funding.

Small employers fully transitioned onto the service in April 2021, meaning that all apprenticeship starts must now go through the system rather than procured non-levy contracts held by training providers.

Burghart said this has been a “time of significant change” and recognised there are concerns that this “new way of working” has introduced some “additional administration, which has been burdensome for providers, and for particularly for SMEs”.

“I want to reassure you all that in the department we’ve heard and that we’re starting in depth discussions with providing groups over the coming months to fully understand the impact and to identify areas where we can make improvements to our systems,” he told delegates.

“And I’ve asked my officials to bring people together to have a series of hackathons on the system, make sure that we can make it as effective as it can be. To make sure that we reduce as much friction as possible so that we can encourage more SMEs to get involved.”

3. No extension to employer cash incentives

Burghart used his speech to hail the sector’s efforts in recovering apprenticeship start numbers to pre-pandemic levels.

One audience member told the minister he believed this was largely to do with the £3,000 employer cash incentives that were introduced in 2020 but end this month.

Burghart said it is “really good to hear that incentives were well received” but admitted there are no plans to reintroduce them.

“I don’t think that the chancellor is going to extend it or reintroduce it during his spring statement on Wednesday,” he said.

“Rishi was very clear that it is an expensive intervention that we brought in keep the whole system going during the uniquely complex time of Covid.

“We are now moving to, you know, touchwood, a post Covid time. And so those incentives and support mechanisms put in place have to fall away.”

4. ‘We need you’

Burghart finished his speech by saying this is an “extremely exciting time to be in technical education” before making a rallying call to the sector.

“It’s the reforms that we’ve been working on, the government has been working on for the better part of a decade, and starting to gather pace and make a real difference to learners and employers to make this a success.

“We need you here to continue working with us and championing high quality apprenticeships.”

Apprenticeship reform starts with the school calendar

The apprenticeship cycle needs to move in line with university applications, writes Jo Foster

To kick-start apprenticeships in this country we need to be bold. Today, there is a stigma around apprenticeships where they are seen as “less than” a university degree. The perceived wisdom is that a student who wants to progress in life goes to university ̶ for many it is seen as the only option.

In 2020, a Department for Education study found that 48 per cent of parents polled “worried” about the future earning potential of their children if they went down the apprenticeship route.

Furthermore, 35 per cent of parents still associated apprenticeships with manual jobs, and 45 per cent did not know you could earn a degree via an apprenticeship.

This is not only a huge shame for young people of all abilities and their life chances; if the country is to become a science superpower, we need an army of technicians and lab scientists to accomplish that ̶ and apprenticeships are key to making that happen.

On the continent, university and apprenticeships are regarded on an even footing. In the UK, teachers and senior leaders (including those inspecting schools) need to be supported to understand the huge opportunity and breadth available in apprenticeships.

On the continent, university and apprenticeships are regarded on an even footing

Apprenticeships are suitable for all types of young people and are absolutely not second best. This is a particular issue for science, as many students who are suitable for science apprenticeships are highly likely to be applying for a university course.

To match-make apprenticeships between students and businesses more effectively, reform needs to start with the school calendar.

The apprenticeship cycle needs to move in line with university applications, or in advance of them. Apprenticeships should be made available in June and July, students interviewed in autumn, to start the following September.

The current cycle makes no sense – we need to give young people certainty over apprenticeship places before the university application process.

These students will almost certainly accept their university place so as not to take the risk of holding out for an apprenticeship place.

Here’s how it would work well. In year 11, students should be encouraged to make clear what subjects and routes they’re exploring to give an indication to schools and colleges of what might be needed to meet their demand.

This could be shared with a regional apprenticeship lead (roles like this currently exist in many areas) or the education business partnership hub to ensure local knowledge about business and industry requirements is fully incorporated. 

At the start of year 12, students thinking of an apprenticeship should be able to apply online, specifying what they are interested in and where.

Regional hubs can use this information to approach small and medium-sized enterprises in the local area and match them up with relevant students.

The apprenticeships available could be offered to students, with an application process in areas of high demand, in the summer before students start year 13.

Interviews could take place in August and September and places confirmed at the end of September, before university places are offered.

This approach would need full government backing, most likely through the DfE, but there are huge advantages to investing in this, not least as it would result in spending the apprenticeship levy in a far more effective way.

Nationally, this would make apprenticeships more widely available, particularly in science, to students of all abilities and backgrounds, and there would be far fewer young people not in education, employment or training (NEET).

Locally, this would ensure apprenticeships in local areas match local business need, it would get more SMEs involved in the programme, and it would be particularly impactful in areas of deprivation where families may be unwilling to incur debt from university.

What stops students signing up to an apprenticeship is an overly opaque system

It’s widely known that careers in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) increase social mobility – so it’s a double whammy in the case of science apprenticeships.

This would also be of financial benefit to SMEs, giving them support to increase capacity and bounce back from the disruption caused by coronavirus.

Often, what stops students from signing up to an apprenticeship is a system that is overly opaque and bureaucratic.

Apprenticeships must reform to engage young adults by becoming easier to apply for and more relevant locally.

Apprenticeships in green skills sectors require joined-up thinking

Apprenticeships can only meet our green skills needs if we follow the lead of employers, and link up across government departments, writes Jennifer Coupland

Apprenticeships and technical education are vital to train people for two million green jobs targeted by government by 2030. This is a great opportunity for business to take advantage of the innovation and talent we have available in this country to help tackle climate change and set us on the road to net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Making sure current training offers are future-proofed will help, but we will also have to improve our understanding of how the economy will change and what new skills will be needed.

Predicting future skills needs is notoriously difficult – but the Institute is in a great position to lead the way.

We need deep conversations on whether the existing skills offers are right and what needs to change. We can weave insights and market intelligence from the thousands of employers we work with into occupational standards that shape apprenticeships, T Levels, and higher technical qualifications.

There’s huge demand from young people to learn these green skills

Our employer-led green apprenticeships advisory panel (GAAP), which launched last year, is working at pace and is already producing impressive results.

Its role is to identify how existing apprenticeships serve new green jobs, or could be made greener, and where new apprenticeships could be created to address emerging skills gaps.

Its immediate impact can be seen through the expanded sustainability business specialist apprenticeship to help a business in any part of the economy become more sustainable.

The role used to focus only on agriculture, but we’ve broadened it for all areas of the economy following panel members’ guidance.

Further important work is being done to develop a low carbon heating technician apprenticeship that will support the rollout of heat pumps across England.

No new petrol and diesel cars will be allowed after 2030, so it’s really important to improve training for technicians to build and maintain electric vehicles.

National Express, which is moving to an electric and hydrogen fleet from 2030, is a good example of an employer informing our work. They’re helping make the existing bus and coach engineering technician apprenticeship, which recognises emerging technologies, more sustainable.

Other GAAP priorities include apprenticeships to support more sustainable food production, animal welfare, carbon zero construction, maintenance of wind turbines, and green finance, which enables businesses to invest in projects that support better environmental outcomes, following recommendations by the Chartered Banker Institute.

This needs to be promoted and supported across government. I know from my career with multiple departments how important it is that thinking is joined-up.

That’s why we are working closely with the Department for Education’s Unit For Future Skills. We also fed into the cross-government green jobs taskforce and will, for example, fully support its call to get more smaller employers involved with training young talent at a local level.

There’s no room whatsoever for complacency

We’re united in the shared belief that apprenticeships and technical education will only meet the nation’s green skills needs by following the lead of large and small employers, who I know from countless conversations view sustainability as a priority.

We also know that there’s huge demand from young people to learn these green skills, with half of 18-to-34-year-olds expressing a desire for a career that helps protect the environment.

The GAAP, which is extending its remit across technical education, has made a good start but there’s no room whatsoever for complacency.

Rest assured the Institute, government, employers, and the whole FE sector will do everything in our power to ensure skills training plays its full part in putting the economy on a greener footing and helping to save the environment.