Latest news from FE Week | FE Week

John Blake, director for fair access and participation at the Office for Students

John Blake, the new director for fair access and participation at the Office for Students, is heavily steeped in schools policy ̶ but now he’s examining HE provision in FE settings. What does he want to know? He sits down with Jess Staufenberg

If you’re from the schools world, you’ll probably know all about John Blake, the new director for fair access and participation at the Office for Students. And if you’re in FE and watch the schools world with a weather eye, your recent frantic internet searches will likely have told you the basics.

But for many in FE, the man appointed in November to one of the most influential posts in tertiary education will be something of a mystery.

First off, he’s a highly engaging, energetic person, who listens and responds to ideas with genuine enthusiasm.

In terms of his career to date, think of the most influential college groups in FE, and know that Blake has worked for their equivalents among multi-academy trusts.

Having been president at Oxford University Students’ Union, he became a history teacher in a grammar school, took various head of history roles, and joined academically selective sixth form the London Academy of Excellence.

(As a point of interest, some months before he joined LAE, FE Week’s sister paper Schools Week revealed students were being forced out in year 12 for not having ‘C’ grades at AS level. Then-college principal Eddie Playfair, now at the Association of Colleges, confirmed he had been taking in the booted-out students.)

Blake moved on to work for the Harris Federation, a top-results academy trust, before becoming head of education at the right-leaning Policy Exchange think tank, which is where he first became an eduTwitter household name.

A school trip to the US when Blake was working as a teacher

Then he moved to director of policy and strategy at the Now Teach charity for career switchers, and also became the first ever head of public affairs for an academy trust, at Ark Schools, giving voice to the academies sector in the corridors of power.

Blake starts off by explaining to me that his centre-left politics did not stop him from sympathising deeply with elements of what Michael Gove was trying to do from 2010.

He may have been a prominent trade union activist and founder of grassroots network Labour Teachers, but “it was clear to me that schools policy wasn’t in a healthy place,” he says.

“I can write you a list as long as your arm about what I disagreed with Michael Gove about, but there was a genuine commitment to […] beginning a really strong dialogue about what the problems were, particularly in curriculum and assessment,” he explains.

That position explains why he became a member of Parents and Teachers for Excellence, a campaign group that favours rigorous testing and curriculum in education, and which has contained politicians’ favoured educators.

(One of its core members, Rachel de Souza, is now the children’s commissioner, and another, Mark Lehain, is now a special advisor to Nadhim Zahawi. So Blake is among old colleagues as he heads up the Office for Students.)

So far, so un-FE, I hear you say. Why is he relevant now?

As a former history teacher, Blake dives enthusiastically into a potted history of the Office for Students to explain. When top-up higher education fees were introduced, so were ‘access agreements’ from 2004 under the Office for Access. Any university or college that wanted to charge the higher fees had to have an access agreement.

Then in 2016, the government wanted to shake up how HE was regulated, bringing various different regulatory bodies (including OfA and the Higher Education Funding Council for England) under one body: the newly created Office for Students. Access and participation plans were also introduced (with fees having tripled in 2012, to £9,000).

Now, however, the DfE wants “greater clarity” in the plans, so Blake is overseeing a “mass variation process” of them, beginning in a couple of weeks.

Providers will need to clearly state what they are doing around access and participation, including school engagement and improvement, and Blake’s team will be considering possible regulatory framework changes.

The access and participation plan itself is a big job for a provider – the OfS supplies only a loose template, says Blake, and the plans “tend to be very thick documents, with a lot of analysis”.

Blake and his brother as children

More recently, feedback to the OfS from smaller providers, including in FE, has led Blake to the view that access and participation plans can be a real burden for less well-resourced institutions.

“If our data team rang up FE colleges and said, did you enjoy writing your APP, they will laugh in your face! We know from an independent review of small providers that they found the process demanding, and didn’t have the scale internally to do the analysis.”

So a single regulatory framework, which included both FE and HE providers, has been “great, in that everyone knows what they’re getting […] but I think we now have to do the work to bring the small and specialist providers, including the FE sector, to a place where the quality of their contribution is recognised, but also they can be held accountable in a way that makes sense.”

We mustn’t overwhelm FE with bureaucracy

It will be a largely welcome reassurance for the FE sector, not being lumped in with the HE sector. Blake continues: “We have to work out a way of allowing that contribution to the system without overwhelming [FE] with bureaucracy, so they either give up, or […] give us data that’s unreliable.”

Then Blake says: “I’ve outlined my big priorities for my time here, one of which is improving relationships and partnerships between schools and HE, and FE colleges are a really crucial bridge there, but by definition, they also have less capacity.”

Hmmm. The feedback to the OfS notwithstanding, I do keep thinking that many heavyweight, multi-million-pound college groups have extremely well-oiled bid-writing teams and experienced back office staff who are very familiar with this kind of ‘bureaucracy’.

Blake and his brother at their Oxford graduation

Meanwhile, some already do significant capacity-building work supporting schools: several colleges leaders, for instance, also run successful academy trusts, and at least one chief executive runs a big group encompassing a university, colleges and schools.

Is Blake possibly underestimating, or over-worrying about, the capacity of some FE providers? He explains it’s about “building the right framework to allow everyone to participate in their strongest capacity”.

Sounds good. So are FE providers invited to an event the OfS will be hosting ‘with schools and HE leaders’ on April 7?

“They would be, but it’s one of those examples… it’s how do we use their time best. Yes they are welcome, but I think we have more examples of schools and university partnerships. There are example there of what’s already working that could be followed up and scaled up.”

This doesn’t quite make sense, because the FE sector has extremely tight partnerships with local universities in many cases, which could be a model to schools of how to do such partnerships. It’s hard to shake the feeling Blake is more focused on schools, mainly because he is so much more experienced in them.

Blake does, of course, make the very fair point that it’s about engaging students earlier than 16 years old. But many learners only start seriously thinking about their future aged 16, and given the high proportion of disadvantaged learners in FE, the sector is perhaps exactly where partnerships with selective universities should be encouraged.

And what about HE for adults? The DfE keeps banging on about lifelong learning, after all.

However, Blake’s great winning quality is quickly reflecting on any assumptions he might be making, and not taking himself as gospel. He acknowledges that his information on FE might not be up to speed.

“I’d be delighted if people emailed me, and said, there are 90 amazing things that are happening [in FE]. It feels to me, we don’t have that depth of knowledge about what those partnerships look like.”

Our other big topic of conversation is, of course, that the DfE is consulting on new minimum eligibility thresholds of two ‘E’s at A-level, or at least a grade 4 in English and maths GCSE, in order for people to access student finance.

This is supposedly so students “aren’t being pushed into higher education before they are ready”, and has prompted the Association of Colleges to warn that the proposal is a terrible idea, not least for adult learners, many of whom don’t arrive with the right suite of GCSEs.

Blake has already defended the consultation elsewhere in the media, and does so again.

“For what it’s worth, I think the government is genuine in its consultation about this,” he says, adding that rather than getting bogged down in the exact detail, it’s about looking at “levels of preparedness” for HE: “I think the challenge is a good one.” He does well at communicating ideas a little more flexibly than the DfE manages to.

We need to understand from the FE sector what they will be looking for from us

As we round up, I do wonder whether the educators formed in the fire of the Gove years, like Blake, haven’t yet switched on completely to the skills and FE focus which has characterised the DfE more recently.

For instance, Blake says FE has “become the repository of all the stuff that isn’t sexy enough,” and worries the country doesn’t often enough tell the “really important story of the kid who didn’t have a great school, got into a really solid FE college, and got really good skills for work, and got a decent job”. But that is arguably the exact narrative that has been picking up speed for some time.

So as HE provision undergoes this shake-up, it would be best not to leave FE out in the cold. To be fair to Blake, he does round up very positively on this note.

“We need to understand from the FE sector what they will be looking for from us. It will never be the system they love – no one loves regulation. But I think we can get closer to the system that allows them to be seen and allows them to contribute.”

Well, FE? Get emailing!

Flagship teacher recruitment programme opens to more specialisms

The Education and Training Foundation has announced that the taking teaching further (TTF) programme will now be able to support colleges and training providers to recruit for more hard-to-recruit teaching posts.

The programme’s fifth round of applications has opened today. Providers can apply funding worth up to £18,200 per recruit to cover the costs of level 5 teaching qualifications and mentoring while on the programme.

TTF has to date focussed on supporting providers recruit to teaching posts in the 15 technical route subjects. However the ETF have introduced a ‘core skills’ stream which they say will support the recruitment of “experienced business and industry professionals as English, maths or SEND teachers for technical subjects.”

Training providers and colleges have warned of significant staffing recruitment problems in recent months.

The Association of Colleges published research last month indicating that there were around 6,000 vacancies in the college sector including for teaching posts in key priority sectors such as construction, engineering and health and social care.

At the Annual Apprenticeships Conference last month, training providers similarly warned that funding for standards was not keeping up with rising delivery costs and was creating recruitment challenges for teaching, training and assessment posts.

The taking teaching further programme was launched in 2018 and has so far supported the recruitment and training of over 700 business and industry professionals. It’s now in its fifth recruitment cycle and applications can be made under two routes; one for FE colleges and sixth form colleges, and another for independent training providers, adult and community learning providers, employer providers and university technical colleges.

The programme is funded by the Department for Education and delivered by the ETF. Funding for a full-time recruit covers the level 5 diploma in education and training (DET), 144 hours of “intensive support” and 140 hours of “reduced teaching workload.”

Part-time recruits can also access the programme. They will also receive funding for the level 5 diploma but receive half the hours of additional support.

South Essex College assistant principal Nicki Kelly said that “The taking teaching further project has enabled us as a college to promote our vacancies to attract highly skilled industry professionals to join the college with an excellent support package for their journey into teaching. This package has provided additional support and incentive to applicants into the unknown territory of teaching.”

EKC Group Broadstairs College lecturer in plumbing Shaun McDonagh, a TTF recruit, said that “Taking Teaching Further has provided me with an excellent chance to be fully supported in making the change from industry to FE teaching. The extra time to learn, prepare and gain essential skills during my first year of teaching since leaving the plumbing trade to become a lecturer has been invaluable.”

Applications for the TTF programme are open now and have to made to ETF by December 15, 2022.

Ofsted: Eight key points from latest education recovery research

Learners in FE are struggling with mental health issues and have lower levels of knowledge and skills, according to Ofsted research into the pandemic’s continuing impact on education providers.

The watchdog published four new reports on education recovery, based on evidence from 62 routine inspections that took place between January 10, 2022 and February 18, 2022.

These reports explore how early years, schools, further education and skills, and prison education providers are responding to ongoing issues. They follow on from an earlier series of reports that were published in December, 2021.

“We have seen lots of really good work across early years, schools and further education this term,” said Ofsted’s chief inspector, Amanda Spielman.

“Most providers are using effective catch-up strategies to spot gaps in children and learners’ knowledge and skills and help get them back to where they need to be. In many cases, those gaps have closed altogether.

“But elsewhere concerns remain, and it’s clear that the pandemic has created some lingering challenges.”

Below are some key findings for further education and skills and prison education.

Many learners at sixth form colleges had lower levels of knowledge and skills

Some sixth-form colleges found that new learners had lower levels of, and more variability in, prior knowledge and skills than usual.

In response, colleges had developed a curriculum to ensure that learners could reach the expected levels quickly.

Several engaged in subject-level conversations with feeder schools over the summer and first term to identify any gaps in curriculum coverage and ensure that these were filled. These adjustments helped to ensure that learners made the progress of which they were capable.

Work experience placements remained difficult to secure

There were some learners on apprenticeships that had not secured work placements because these had yet to be fully reinstated since the pandemic.

The research said that when learners did have work placements, several providers had concerns that they were not being given enough tasks at work to develop their skills sufficiently, due to pressures on businesses.

A number of employers were not giving apprentices enough time for off-the-job training. As a result, some apprentices were studying in their own time.

Disruption has adversely affected behaviours and attitudes of newest learners

In January and February, Ofsted heard more about issues concerning the behaviour and attitudes of learners, particularly those enrolling from school.

The research found that standards of behaviour were below expectations. Inspectors attributed this to the disruption learners had experienced in their education over the last two years.

Recruitment and retention of staff a challenge for many

The pandemic continued to affect staffing in further education and skills providers. One provider, for example, reported that staff turnover had increased by almost 50 per cent. Factors that made recruitment and retention of staff more challenging included the fact that salaries in further education and skills provision were lower than those in industry and the pandemic and experience of lockdowns had made some staff reconsider their careers.

The impact of this was significant and, in some cases, had a knock-on effect on the quality of education.

Mental health concerns remained high

In Ofsted’s December 2021 briefing, they reported that learners’ mental health had suffered during the pandemic. They said today that this was still the case.

New learners who enrolled from schools were the most severely affected, something Ofsted said was largely due to anxiety about sitting formal exams for the first time and about returning to education more generally.

The regulator predicted that with exams taking place as usual in summer 2022, the next few months could be difficult for learners and staff.

Prisoners’ participation in education, skills and work still ‘a lot lower’ than pre-pandemic levels

Ofsted said that leaders in prisons have been slow to maximise prisoners’ participation in face-to-face education, skills and work activities.

At the time of their visits, the number of prisoners participating in education, skills and work was increasing, albeit slowly. However, their participation in learning was ‘a lot lower’ than pre-pandemic levels and in some cases, no classroom activity had taken place since March 2020.

The education, skills and work activities that were taking place were generally good

Ofsted inspectors found that the quality of work packs had improved since they were first introduced. This was due to collaborative working between prison leaders and education providers.

The prisoners they spoke to felt well supported by their teachers to work through the packs, and teachers tended to give useful written feedback on how they could improve.

Support for prisoners identified as having special educational needs and/or disabilities remains insufficient

Ofsted found that those prisoners with the greatest need generally received the least support to continue learning through the pandemic.

There was insufficient support for prisoners identified as having special educational needs and/or disabilities.

Their inspectors identified three main areas of weakness in the support systems for prisoners with SEND: the identification of, communication about and teaching support for SEND. Most prisons performed well in one or two of these areas but not in all.

‘Unit for future skills’ to launch this month

The unit for future skills, announced in the levelling up white paper, will be launched “this month” with an initial data-set which will grow over time.

The minister for skills, Alex Burghart, made the announcement during a keynote speech for the think-tank Policy Exchange on the future of skills.

Burghart outlined a series of policy reforms which have been designed to create a more employer-led skills system with local leadership coming from employer representative bodies.

Initiatives included employer-designed apprenticeship standards and T levels, alongside the lifelong loan guarantee, upcoming lifelong loan entitlement and local skills improvement plans.

“I think it’s important that we don’t just seek to present better choices” the minister said, “but we also give clarity to people about what those choices might offer.”

Burghart’s assertion was the current way of evidencing the success of education was too limited.

Measures such as qualification grades, progression to university, whether students become NEET are all, in his view “basic proxies” and “going forward, these alone will not be good enough.”

The vision for the unit for future skills appears to be an incredibly ambitious one.

The levelling up white paper, published in February this year, was the first time we saw a mention of the new unit and it was light on detail.

It said the unit would be cross-government, would be publicly accessible and will produce information on local skills demand, future skills needs of businesses and the pathways between training and good jobs.

A DfE spokesperson at the time told FE Week that the unit would take over the work of the DfE’s skills and productivity board once its schedule of reports had been completed.

In his speech today, Burghart gave a little more insight in to what use the information published by the unit would have for learners, their families and providers:

“Over time, we want to show what courses and interventions lead to what jobs. I want prospective students to know what happened to people like them, who chose a particular course at a particular institution. What were they doing a year, two years, five years later?
I want employers and providers to know what technical courses are proving effective at getting people into their sectors. And I want government to have a better idea of what works.”
Alex Burghart, minister for skills, speaking at Policy Exchange today

Data provided through a central-government dashboard will, for example, tell prospective learners “whether taking a certain qualification in health and social care go on to work in health and social care, or whether they’re going to work in retail” he said.

Parents too are set to benefit. “It’s also about showing parents that certain technical choices have fantastic outcomes that should be taken seriously” Burghart said.

Hopes to improve the quality of information available to school pupils are also pinned on the success of the UFS.

Lib Dem peer Sue Garden asked the minister what his plans were to encourage schools to celebrate the achievements of highly skilled students who get apprenticeships in the same way the celebrate academic students getting in to universities.

“This is very much something I hope better data will go some way to address” Burghart said today. Access to better data about outcomes and progression routes will, in the minister’s view, enable “more well-informed conversations about destinations.”

While hugely ambitious, the minister is keen to make a start.

In response to a question from the audience about the timescales attached to the UFS, the minister said his department will be starting to release data this month, but was keen to stress that it will be on an “iterative basis” and so would only be “an indicator of the sorts of things we can start doing over time.”

“Before anyone gets too excited, it’s just the beginning. It won’t give you all the answers you’re looking for.”

Following the speech, the Department weren’t able to tell FE Week what data will be published this month, nor how regularly data will be published by the UFS in the future.

The minister’s full speech from today is available to view online.

Capital projects worth £400 million given green light

Sixty-two colleges have been successful in the latest round of funding from the Further Education Capital Transformation Fund (FECTF).

The government committed £1.5 billion over five years to the FECTF in the March 2020 Budget in a pledge to “upgrade and transform the FE college estate”.

The Department for Education is today announcing the names of 62 colleges that will receive a share of £400 million from the second stage of the FECTF.

The amount of funding each college has been allocated for stage 2 has not been released due to “commercial sensitivities.”

Most colleges, 182 altogether, received a grant, in stage 1 of the FECTF programme in 2020. Of the 62 announced today, four are receiving cash from the fund for the first time.

Minister for skills, Alex Burghart, said today:

“Our priority is making sure that every student receives the high-quality training needed to secure a well-paid job, so that businesses in growth sectors such as construction, engineering and digital have a strong talent pipeline as can continue to level up opportunities across the country.

“That is why we are investing to ensure colleges can create modern, fit-for-purpose spaces that meet the needs of students and the communities they serve – and most importantly continue to be fantastic places to learn.”

Capital bids: mystery over match funding

Bids had to be submitted according to strict criteria laid down by the DfE. For example, the fund is only open to further education college corporations and designated institutions and requests were considered primarily for projects which delivered renovations or remedial improvements to existing buildings that were demonstrably in need.

The FECTF is separate from the post-16 capacity fund, which awarded £83 million, again, only to colleges, to build new facilities to accommodate rising numbers of 16-19 year-olds.

DfE guidance stated that the FECTF would contribute 50 per cent of the total project value, with colleges finding ‘match funding’ from sources such as their own reserves, commercial loans, donations or locally managed grant programmes such as the Towns Fund.

Colleges were however able to apply for a “match funding waiver” if they could prove they were unable to raise the amount of required match funding themselves for the work that was needed.

The DfE was asked by FE Week if any match funding waivers had been applied in this round, however our request was refused again on grounds of “commercial sensitivities.”

Prices of materials set to soar

Applications were opened for stage 2 in July 2021 and closed in early October 2021.

Colleges have been advised by their representative body, the Association of Colleges, to re-assess their plans in light of the much more precarious state of the economy today than six months ago when their bids were finalised.

In a briefing for AoC members, its deputy chief executive Julian Gravatt wrote that “there are predictions of continuing inflation and shortages in the construction sector so it would be sensible for any college that is offered funding to consider its ability to complete the project on the terms offered.”

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy publishes monthly statistics on the prices of building materials such as bricks, cement and concrete blocks.

According to Construction News, these figures show that prices rose in 11 of the 12 months of 2021. This has also prompted the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) to warn that prices for some materials have surged a further 20 per cent in 2022, with “further inflationary pressure expected as a result of the crisis in Ukraine.”

Today’s announcement means that around £600 million has now been allocated from the FECTF. In August 2020, just over £200 million was awarded to colleges in a ‘fast-tracked’ process a year ahead of schedule.

Colleges receiving funding

Abingdon and Witney College	Loughborough College
Aylesbury College (Buckinghamshire College Group)	Middlesbrough College
Barnfield College	Milton Keynes College
Bath College	Nelson and Colne College
Birmingham Metropolitan College	New City College
Boston College	Newham College
Bradford College	North Shropshire College (Hereford, Ludlow and North Shropshire College)
Broadstairs College (EKC Group)	Nottingham College
Brooklands College	Oaklands College
Bury College	Peterborough Regional College (Inspire Education Group)
Calderdale College	Salford City College
Canterbury College (EKC Group)	Sandwell College
Central Bedfordshire College	SEEVIC College
Cheshire College South and West	Shipley College
Chesterfield College	Solihull College and University Centre
Chichester College	South and City College Birmingham
City and Islington College (Capital City College Group)	South Devon College
City College Norwich	South Staffordshire College
College of North West London	South Tyneside College
Cornwall College	Stoke on Trent College
Croydon College	Tameside College
Doncaster College and University Centre (DN Colleges Group)	The City Literary Institute
Dudley College of Technology	The City of Liverpool College
Farnborough College of Technology	The College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London (Capital City College Group)
Furness College	The Manchester College (LTE Group)
Greater Brighton Metropolitan College	The Mary Ward Centre
Halesowen College	Tyne Metropolitan College (Tyne Coast College)
Lambeth College	Waltham Forest College
Leeds City College	West Nottinghamshire College
Leicester College	Westminster Kingsway College (Capital City College Group)
London South East Colleges	Wiltshire College

Source: Department for Education

Digitising EHCPs does not solve the huge waiting lists for them

Students are still desperately waiting for education, health and care plans – and this support should continue into HE in some cases, writes Sam Parrett

The long-awaited SEND green paper recognises the many challenges the sector currently faces. From inconsistent, overly bureaucratic processes and long delays in processing EHCPs, to a national shortage of SEND professionals, including educational psychologists and speech therapists – these are common issues that our own providers deal with every day.

So it’s clear that reform is needed, and it is positive to finally have movement towards some real change.

We know first-hand that parents and carers of learners with SEND often struggle to access the support they need.

CAMHS waiting lists are extremely long, with mental health issues among young people at an all-time high. The entire system is stretched to unprecedented levels post-pandemic.

FE providers can’t tackle the problems by themselves. Ensuring a student with SEND can reach their full potential relies on a fully holistic approach, with input from many other agencies, including health and social services.

Getting a timely EHCP is a fundamental part of this process. Yet this has become a major issue and in many cases, is failing to support the families who need it most.

The green paper’s commitment to digitising EHCPs makes sense in terms of bringing the system into the 21st century and will hopefully make them easier to use and understand.

However, this is evading the real problem. We are seeing students who desperately need to access special provisions but are awaiting an EHCP.

We can’t take them on until they have this document, even when their need for special education is clearly having a negative impact on their mental and emotional health, as well as on their learning.

We can’t take students on until they have this document

If young people can’t access the system in the first place, any improvement measures within the system will obviously be less impactful.

That’s rather ironic, considering the green paper’s consistent focus on early intervention and national standards.

Our own providers work across three local authorities, and it’s clear that parents and carers can find themselves in a postcode lottery when it comes to funding and support.

Standardising this – as is being proposed with a national framework – would be of huge benefit, providing clarity on entitlement fairly across the country for each child.

And where we talk about enabling a young person to reach their full potential, this must focus on their entire educational journey if it is to be truly meaningful.

Our college-sponsored MAT very much supports the retention of 0-25 EHCPs as they provide a clear line of sight to adulthood, supporting parents and students through each transition phase.

However, EHCPs usually cease on admission to higher education.

As the FE adviser to the Office for Students’ disabled students’ commission, I have argued that extending EHCP support for academically able SEND students would improve transition and provide continuity.

The green paper proposals recognise this could be a real improvement on the current arrangements, which are bureaucratic, time-consuming and lead to duplication.

They involve applying for the disabled students’ allowance, which is a process that all too often leaves students on a cliff edge and at a significant educational disadvantage to their peers when starting HE courses.

Students need access to high-quality, personalised support from day one. This must then continue throughout their educational journey so they can progress successfully into appropriate destinations – whether this is HE, an apprenticeship, employment or a supported internship.

Ensuring alternative provision has an integral role within the SEND system will play an important part in delivering this ambition. Many students in alternative provision have undiagnosed SEND, and improved alignment of the two will facilitate better and earlier intervention – leading to better outcomes for young people later.

So all in all, the proposals in this green paper are encouraging and recognise many of the challenges we face.

But there is scope for improvement on the journey from green paper to enacted reform – and precious little time to deliver necessary change for struggling young people and families.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: EDITION 385

Jenny Craig

Principal & CEO, Buckinghamshire Collge Group

Start date: July 2022

Previous Job: Deputy Principal, Abingdon & Witney College

Interesting fact: Jenny won the West Yorkshire cycling proficiency championship when she was just 11 years old

Rebecca Gater

Principal & CEO, Solihull College and University Centre

Start date: September 2022

Previous Job: Vice Principal- Curriculum & Quality, Solihull College and University Centre

Interesting fact: Rebecca’s first part time job was in a pizza shop where she would sometimes have to deliver pizzas in a bright yellow Nova with a giant, illuminated phone handset on the top

Neil Morrison

Board Member, Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education

Start date: April 2022

Concurrent Job: Director of HR and Communications, Severn Trent

Interesting fact: Neil started working life as an FE lecturer at the Isle of Wight College and has completed three full ultramarathons and the three peaks 24 hour challenge

Sir Peter Estlin

Borad Member, Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education

Start date: April 2022

Concurrent Job: Chair of FutureDotNow

Interesting fact: At 17, Peter asked the then Lord Mayor of the City of London “How does one get your job?” Forty years later, Peter became the 691st Lord Mayor of the City of London.

A green skills solution from The Skills Network

In October 2021 the state of the climate was highlighted in Glasgow, where more than 200 of the world’s leaders united to discuss the climate crisis at COP26.

The event described as “the world’s best last chance to get runaway climate change under control” [1], brought talks of a green industrial revolution and a reaffirmation of the commitment to limiting global warming to 1.5C.

Now six months later and amidst an exceptional energy crisis throughout the UK, the demand for sustainable energy, practices and knowledge is now paramount for the future both of the economy and society as a whole.

Why now?

As the climate crisis grows, calls for an integration of a fourth functional skill into mass upskilling across the country are clear. The three functional skills areas – those basic skills required for a successful life – have been focused on Maths, English and ICT comprehension. But now a push for a fourth and vital upskilling resource in climate sustainability is emerging – critical to turn the tide on climate change.

The workplace has seen an 142% increase in the demand for “green” knowledge in employment over the last five years, with hard skills in Sustainability, Environment Health and Safety and Auditing now critically needed. This, alongside a growing green sector is demanding skills in practical “how to do” sustainability and pushing ITPs and educators to step up to the mark in green skills training.

The growth of “green” offers prediction of the direction the job market is traveling, but to solve the climate crisis it is now fundamental that “green skills” are integrated across all sectors. Targeting green jobs alone will not bring the scale of change needed to meet sustainability targets.

When it comes to skills training to facilitate the scale of social change required to fight climate change, it’s essential that those operating in non-green jobs have access to green skills training to develop widespread individual sustainability practices.

While green skills training is becoming ever more essential for employability, the challenge remains of inducing widespread personal and societal change in behaviour, ensuring individuals know how their choices, as citizens and consumers, impact on the climate and future generations.

This means that our challenge goes far beyond developing skills for green jobs. We need to embed mass eco-literacy and sustainability skills across all sectors, job roles and society as a whole. The skills sector is the obvious choice to lead on this.

Those of us working within the skills sector are clear on our responsibility in this fight and we at The Skills Network are leading on this with the development of our training provisions.

How can it be done?

To address the climate sustainability skills shortage, we must train in a way that looks beyond the green sector, focusing on developing a provision that is widely accessible.

With few resources offering practical action through skills training, now a regulatory requirement for colleges, educators have an essential role in embedding sustainability training into all elements of education – bringing climate action to life through real case study scenarios and practical application. We at The Skills Network are proud to be one of the first ITP’s to develop and offer to the market just this – a leading solution for mass sustainability and eco literacy skills development in non-green jobs.

Now we have urgently developed an innovative end-to-end learning solution to meet the demands of sustainability training on a national scale, leading on the delivery of sustainability training and accessing those operating in industries far removed from the “green sector”.

Through our expert provision we are able to train staff while providing adaptable, sector specific examples and practical applications of sustainability practices. Through the quality of our technology and expertly developed course content, both the employer and employee can become sustainability champion instantly! And it is the simplicity and accessibility of this resource that will prove key in the fight against environmental disaster.

Our new suite of fully accredited training courses cover key topics related to environmental sustainability including the control of global warming, reducing carbon emission and efficient energy management, with embedded case studies and activities throughout. Our sustainability content is delivered through two Level 2 Certificates in Sustainability and Sustainability Impact for Work. The content has been developed to align with the UN’s 17 sustainable Development Goals, addressing the global challenges we face including those related to poverty, inequality, climate, environmental degradation, prosperity and peace and justice.

Through the first three modules, learners will explore the key principles of sustainable developments, communities and energy management. This content is closely aligned to SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities and SDG 12 Responsible Consumption and Production. The remaining four modules explore themes of social responsibility for businesses, the principles of waste management, sustainable transport and a module exploring the application of sustainability principles in applicable settings.

Throughout each unit there are opportunities to apply learning, a training approach that allows for the development of competency-based sustainability knowledge and skills that can be aligned to multiple roles and sectors, making learners more employable and able to use the practical skills developed to effect positive changes within society.

The content is aligned to the global context. As well as incorporating the concepts from the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals, we have embedded key information from the biggest summits on climate change on an international scale, allow the development of the most relevant and expert sustainability training provision produced to date.

To help transform cultures, systems, communities and societies, this offer is designed to find ways to meet the people where they are, and shrink the distance between the issues we collectively face and the personal choices we make every day.

The courses are available is at no cost, funded by the Government’s Adult Education Budget and will be deployed to schools and institutes across the country through our award-winning learner management system Equal. The development and delivery of such content looks to lead the way in sustainability and climate education on a national scale, encouraging educators and students to equip themselves with the tools necessary to change the direction of the climate crisis now.

This accessible provision and expert content allows employers to embed environmental sustainability into their staff training programmes, providing adaptable, sector specific examples and practical applications of sustainability practices.

The critical element here is the impact of our training. We do not need more people to simply know more things, but rather to feel able, empowered and ready to do more. To meet this challenge, and to address the sustainability skills gap, The Skills Network has developed it’s transformative solutions.

Offering a real word solution through government funded courses, The Skills Network is fighting the climate crisis, allowing employers to align sustainability training to their individual business’ needs and ultimately upskill on mass in these key areas.

The next step?

The EU is applying a requirement that 25% of skills funding must now be allotted to sustainability linked programmes, – this provides a likely forecast to skills funding allocations in the UK. This alongside further Government investment into the Lifetime Skills Guarantee, shows the funding sources in the pipeline for sustainability training provisions in the coming months and years.

The Skills Network is ahead of the curve, acting to fulfil the most critical skills shortage crisis ever seen, through their expertly developed provision.

It’s time for the industry to catch up and join the climate fight together so become a sustainability champion today.

Want to know more? See The Skills Network’s Sustainability training content here https://bit.ly/3tWB9SS

[1] https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ukraine-invasion-chills-cop26-fossil-fuel-commitments-f0nr2h0kj

Recovering colleges’ latest Ofsted results

Three colleges that have faced significant leadership and financial challenges in recent years had full inspections from Ofsted in February and saw their reports published this week. FE Week spoke to the leader of each college to find out how they got on:

Inspection came ‘too soon’ for Hull College

The interim boss of Hull College has said Ofsted’s visit came “too soon” after going through multiple leadership changes since the college’s last grade three report in 2019.

Numerous scandals have engulfed the college, which resulted in formal government intervention and seven acting principals over the past two and a half years.

Ofsted inspected the college again in February and gave them a second consecutive overall ‘requires improvement’ rating.

However, the report rates three out of four of the college’s provision types – courses for apprentices, adult learners and learners with high needs – as ‘good’.

The area where the college continues to struggle is its teaching for 16- to 18-yearolds. Lowell Williams is in the final days of his second stint as interim chief of the college.

He’ll hand the reins to Debra Gray, who is moving from The Grimsby Institute (now known as the TEC Partnership), next week.

Reacting to the report, Williams said the new leadership could have done with more time and called on Ofsted to be more aware of individual college circumstances when deciding when to inspect.

“We weren’t expecting an inspection so soon. I’m not sure it’s helpful or represents good value for the public,” he told FE Week.

“In the period between that last inspection in 2019 and now there have been seven people who have acted as the principal of the college, if you count me twice. And there has been a pandemic in between, where the college has effectively closed, really.”

Williams pressed that the latest new senior team has only been in place for eight months.

“So, the college’s journey to recovery, after the instability in leadership, and after the pandemic, started in August 2021.

“Quite what the value is in inspecting the college in March 2022 I’m not sure. That said, ironically, it does show that the college is making huge progress and making huge progress quickly, because three out of four the provision types were good.”

He added: “I think it would have been better served all round to have had a full academic year. It’s very, very difficult to really improve the provision for young people on full-time study programmes unless you’ve been through a whole academic cycle.”

Williams called on Ofsted to work more collaboratively with the FE Commissioner’s team and the Education and Skills Funding Agency where there are exceptional circumstances for colleges.

In its report, Ofsted acknowledged that the college’s senior leadership team have undergone a “sustained period of instability”.

Williams said the staff at Hull College have been “desperately let down by leadership over time” and it’s their stewardship of the college that has “meant there was still a college there to recover”.

He added: “I’d like to pay tribute to all the staff for their resilience and stewardship of the college during the period of instability. Finally, the college is looking forward to the future with confidence.”

Delayed city-wide review thwarting progress at Southampton City College

Sarah Stannard

The FE Commissioner’s failure to resolve questions on a college’s financial position has slowed leaders’ progress in improving its quality of education, according to Ofsted.

Southampton City College’s latest inspection resulted in another ‘requires improvement’ judgment overall. This follows a previous grade three report back in 2018.

The college is currently surviving on emergency money from the Education and Skills Funding Agency which is due to run out by February 2023.

The FE Commissioner is working on a city-wide review of Southampton’s FE provision which aims to ensure the positive long-term future of the college.

However, the college’s principal Sarah Stannard has said the review has taken up much of the college leadership’s time and limited their ability to make “rapid improvements” to tackle ongoing quality issues – something noted in the Ofsted report.

“We note the inspectors’ judgment that the failure of external decision-makers to resolve questions on the college’s financial position and post-16 education in Southampton has taken up much of the college leadership’s time and has limited our ability to make rapid improvements,” she said.

“This is very frustrating for all at City College. Staff and students have been made to wait too long for a clear way forward.” Stannard said a clear solution “with a real date” was needed to help college leaders’ work on improving the quality of education.

“Much leadership time has necessarily been devoted to negotiations with, and representations to, external bodies,” the Ofsted report said.

“This has slowed progress in other aspects of college improvement. Over the past six years, public debate about the college’s future has also had a negative impact on staff morale.”

Inspectors said that as a result, leaders’ efforts to provide high-quality vocational training for students aged 16 to 18 have only been partly successful.

Other findings of the report were that senior leaders do not check the quality of education closely enough.

“Consequently, they have not identified many of the weaknesses that inspectors found during the inspection and have not moved swiftly to put in place effective methods to deal with those that they have identified,” inspectors said.

Cornwall College bounces back to ‘good’

The chief executive of Cornwall College has said he is “delighted” after a recent Ofsted inspection found senior leaders and governors have “transformed the culture at the college”.

Ofsted rated the college ‘good’ – a jump up from a ‘requires improvement’ rating they received in 2019. The college has had its fair share of financial issues, which resulted in a £30 million bailout from government and a controversial campus sale.

The FE Commissioner later suggested the college should merge with Truro and Penwith College, but it was later decided that both colleges should remain standalone.

Cornwall College’s fortunes have now turned around, with Ofsted finding that governors, senior leaders and managers have worked “relentlessly to establish the college as an influential partner in the region”.

“Myself, governors and staff are highly delighted with the result, which is the accumulation of an immense effort from everybody which all comes down to putting the learner at the centre of all your decisions,” chief executive of Cornwall College John Evans, who took over in 2019, told FE Week.

Evans, who is a former Ofsted inspector, said the college has always had some “brilliant niche provision” and lauded the efforts of staff for the latest Ofsted result.

Ofsted’s report was largely positive, with inspectors saying that leaders focus consistently on learners and their learning and wellbeing.

“They place a high priority on the importance of good teaching. Leaders have communicated this message to staff, who share the same high expectations for learners,” they said.

Evans told FE Week that leaders focused an “immense effort” on improving the quality of teaching learning assessment and the learner experience.

“The college did many things well, but not consistently. And it was pulling together effectively ten campuses and driving the culture of everybody having an uncompromising ambition for their learners,” he added.