A large London college group has today announced another “landmark” pay deal for staff – its second in the past four years.
Capital City College Group has agreed to an inflation-busting 9 per cent pay rise for staff on £30,000 and under from August 2022, while staff paid between £30,001 and £45,000 per year will get a 5 per cent rise, with a further 1 per cent in January 2023.
The college group has since improved its financial position and recorded a £167,000 operating surplus in 2020/21. CCCG was unable to say how much its new pay deal will cost the group in total annually at the time of going to press.
The Association of Colleges is currently recommending its members give staff a 2.5 per cent pay rise this year.
Roy O’Shaughnessy, chief executive of CCCG said: “Given the national cost-of-living crisis affecting all our staff, the financial constraints we are working under and the need for any pay award to be sustainable over the long-term, we had to find a difficult balance between what we can afford and what is fair for as many of our staff as possible. Having secured this pay deal, we feel that we can look to the future with some confidence.”
O’Shaughnessy added that recruitment is a significant challenge for the college sector and matching the salaries from many different sectors to “meet the needs and expectations of industry has been tough”.
“This award helps enable this and ensures we can deliver high quality and industry standard education,” he said.
The deal includes an increase in hourly paid lecturer (HPL) rates for the 2022/23 academic year and these rates will increase further in line with the pay award, a spokesperson said. This is worth up to a 15 per cent increase on the hourly rate for HPLs, worth up to an extra £4 per hour. The hourly paid support staff will see their hourly rates increase by 9 per cent.
The University and College Union said it has also secured an increase in holiday entitlement by three days, accompanied by a harmonisation of holiday entitlement across CCCG.
UCU regional official Adam Lincoln said: “This deal is the result of determined organising and industrial action from our members at CCCG.
“Crucially, it demonstrates that college employers have the resources to offer decent pay rises, which go some way towards protecting low-paid staff from the cost-of-living crisis.”
The UCU also today announced a pay agreement with Waltham Forest College which will see an average pay award of 6.1 per cent for all staff and the extension of the “lecturer pay scale by two spinal points”.
Ofsted has reviewed and updated its inspection framework and handbooks for September 2022, as it prepares to introduce a new “sub-judgement” for colleges on how well they are contributing to local skills needs.
The education watchdog will also end a curriculum grace period for schools and FE providers in place since 2019.
Here’s what FE providers need to know.
1. Only colleges to be judged on meeting skills needs
Ofsted’s five-year strategy, published in May, said that over the next four years all colleges will be subject to “enhanced inspections”. This will involve an assessment on how well they are meeting the skills needs of the economy. The watchdog has been given extra funding for additional inspectors to make this happen.
Ofsted confirmed today that its evaluation will include a “sub-judgement on the college’s contribution to meeting skills needs”, which is “linked to and dependent on the quality of education and leadership and management key judgements”.
“This evaluation will take into account not just skills needed immediately for employment, including for those already in employment, but also skills which are necessary to ensure students’ progress towards employment, in necessary stages by means of further and higher education, training, work experience and increased personal independence at all levels,” Ofsted said.
Inspectors will arrive at one of the following judgements about the college’s contribution to skills needs: limited; reasonable; or strong.
The sub-judgement will only relate to provision which is within Ofsted’s inspection scope – meaning that skills bootcamps provision will be excluded.
Independent training providers are excluded from this new sub-judgement.
2. Ofsted curriculum grace period ends …
When it introduced its new inspection framework in September 2019, Ofsted put in place “transition arrangements”, which gave schools and FE providers a grace period in which to bring their curriculum in line.
This meant that any education provider still in the process of updating its curriculum could still receive a ‘good’ grade, provided other aspects of the provision were good.
This was originally due to last until September 2020, but this was delayed due to Covid restrictions. The end to the grace period was then pushed back again from September 2021 to this spring, and then again to September 2022.
Today, Ofsted confirmed the grace period would end in September, and has removed the arrangements from its inspection handbooks.
3. … But new grade descriptor to prevent ‘cliff edge’
However, the watchdog said it was “not introducing a ‘cliff edge’ for a judgement of good”, and recognised “that you are likely to always be revising elements of your curriculum”.
The change “does not mean that schools and FE providers will now be expected to meet every single handbook criterion to remain good”.
A new grade descriptor has been added to the quality of education judgement, “acknowledging that settings are no longer facing emergency measures and are taking longer-term approaches to return pupils and learners to the curriculum they always intended”.
In a blog post published today, Ofsted national director of education Chris Russell wrote that “we do not expect curriculum to be perfect or a ‘finished article’”.
“Indeed, the best curriculum thinking is always evolving to meet changing circumstances. Inspection supports this approach to continuous improvement.”
4. ‘Time to move on from temporary Covid measures’
Ofsted acknowledged that Covid “continues to have an impact on early years settings, schools, and further education providers, and is likely to affect how they make decisions for some time”.
But it also said that education providers were “moving on from an emergency response to the pandemic and returning to more usual ways of working”.
“We believe that now is the right time to move beyond the temporary measures that we placed in our handbooks as a response to the national disruption,” Russell added.
To reflect this, paragraphs about temporary Covid measures have now been incorporated into the main sections of each handbook, making it “clear that inspectors will continue to take account of issues that providers may be facing”.
An example given is a “clear expectation that conversations between leaders and the lead inspector will continue to include a discussion on the impact of COVID-19.
“This ensures that our inspections continue to be informed by the different contexts in which you work and the range of challenges that you may still face.”
Teething problems and tweaks notwithstanding, FE providers are unexpectedly positive about the biggest new technical and vocational qualifications in generations. How can DfE get them right in the long term? Jess Staufenberg finds out
“What’s been really good about the T Level is it’s not just learning from a textbook. It’s been about learning through skills and knowledge. It really has helped us to be more confident.”
Pushra Mohamed, an education and childcare T Level student at Newham Sixth Form College in east London, is explaining her experience as part of the first student cohort in the country to complete their two-year T Level.
According to the government, 1,300 students enrolled on the first three T Levels, which were rolled out in September 2020: design, surveying and planning for construction; digital production, design and development; and education and childcare.
“It was the work placement that attracted me to the T Level,” continues Mohamed, smiling. “Personally, I found it pretty hard at the beginning, but I learnt that as much as you put yourself out there, you get the support you need.”
It now means that she and other T Level students are setting out into the world for the first time this summer.
So, after all the fanfare and criticism, are they working for students?
First off, it’s unusual for any news report to begin with an overwhelming positive answer to this kind of question. But it accurately reflects the overwhelmingly positive response from the sector when we asked the list of FE providers whose students finished T Levels this year for their feedback.
In fact, it’s the considerable excitement from staff and students at the end of the two years that probably makes tweaks to the programme all the more important. People are clearly deeply invested.
It means a recurring question around T Levels may become even more urgent, rather than less: can and should they become the mainstream technical qualification? And if so, when?
Teething problems
First off, FE providers who chose to run a T Level over the past two years have made it clear that setting up the new programmes was hard work.
Andrew Stubbs, construction T Level lead at Walsall College in the West Midlands, said providers thinking of running T Levels in future must “go into it with your eyes open. You need to be prepared for a lot of hard work, especially setting up the project-based learning”.
The biggest piece of work was setting up the T Level’s industry placement with employers, to meet the 315-hour placement requirement for the construction and digital T Levels – and the absolutely enormous 750-hour industry requirement for the education and childcare T Level, say providers.
Chrystel St Ledger, T Level lead at Newham Sixth Form College, echoes wide sector feedback to FE Week when she says her staff were “literally banging on doors” to get employers involved.
“We were saying, ‘this is what T Levels are, we need your support, this is your corporate social responsibility’. It’s too much for one or two members of staff,” she shakes her head.
This issue is raised again and again by providers. As Sunny Bamra, director of construction at Suffolk New College, puts it: “Let’s be honest: the [now former] education secretary Nadhim Zahawi might have a T Level badge on his suit but no one really knows what it is.”
Another issue has been that many digital industry placements involve remote working teams but the T Level guidance requires students to be supervised in-person, providers tell me.
Diana Martin, vice principal at Dudley College of Technology, says the government needs to re-think the traditional “9 to 5 in the office” model of digital T Level placements, as this does not reflect many modern workplaces post-Covid.
The government also currently limits industry placement to “up to two employers”, but extending this cap to three or four would help with finding those placements, Martin adds.
Other teething problems include making sure “apprehensive” parents got enough information and reassurance, continues Martin Lake, a tutor on the construction T Level at Walsall College. He also recommends staff being well-prepared with emergency contact numbers and clear safeguarding processes, given how long students spend off-site with employers.
Likewise, staff had to give students “a lot of additional support around transport methods” to placements, explains Lake. Getting a clear expenses system set up will also ensure both accessibility to placements but also prevent unnecessarily high spend on taxis, he adds.
The workload on staff was also not helped by an initial lack of resources available for some T Levels, explains one college lecturer, who did not wish to be named.
“One of the course textbooks was late coming out from our awarding organisation,” they tell me. “There’s definitely a need for more specialist expert curriculum support from them, too. We were invited to an event on the education and childcare T Level a few weeks ago, but that would have been really useful earlier.”
This view is corroborated by Kev Heys, digital T Level lead at Walsall College, who adds: “At the start, there were no real resources available. It’s better now.”
Unexpected staff benefits
But all the hard work and sweat has also presented staff with invigorating opportunities, say numerous providers.
Ashley Grute, assistant principal and T Level lead at Havant and South Downs College in Hampshire, says “there’s been so much opportunity for staff CPD, it’s been such a positive experience. They’re going properly back into industry to upskill and find out what the latest trends are.”
For instance, Nicolette Dryden, digital T Level lead at the college, upskilled around coding language Python – in particular, for facial-recognition technology – to be able to support student project work. Her colleague Will Sparrow, construction T Level lead, spent time with the University of Portsmouth and companies in the public and private sectors to talk with them about T Level programme content.
The need to upskill plus the search for industry placements means staff-employer relationships have also strengthened, adds Grute. “We’ve set up an employer partner board for each T Level, to understand skills gaps and ask for those opportunities around upskilling.”
The feeling seems to be that staff have been boosted by a sense of inward investment into FE and themselves as professionals, he adds.
“For staff, they feel the qualifications have been really invested in, and that they are teaching world-class qualifications with industry-standard equipment,” says Grute.
This has been underpinned by significant sums of money: Havant and South Downs College won half a million pounds from the T Level capital fund for estate refurbishment, including £500,000 for new construction, early years and digital facilities; £750,000 for a new hospital ward, community nursing facility and science laboratories and about £2 million for electronics labs and computer-aided design rooms.
Perhaps most importantly of all, numerous staff have told FE Week with apparently genuine enthusiasm how much they have enjoyed teaching the T Level compared to BTECs.
“It’s given staff their freedom back,” says Bernadette Turner, head of learning for apprenticeships at Dudley College of Technology. “With the diploma, it becomes very target- and deadline-driven. The students have to complete a set amount of tasks on a set amount of units within a set amount of time.”
By contrast, the T Level is built up over two years, allowing staff to spend longer on an area if needed, and also encouraging more creativity among students, she says.
Her words are echoed by Naz Hamilton, education and childcare lead at Newham Sixth Form College. “It gives us more autonomy about how to assess students. With the BTEC, you have to follow the unit, but this has encouraged a greater amount of working with other teachers.”
Programme design tweaks
The area that FE providers have struggled most with – industry placements – has also been the area they have praised the most.
Victoria Moyse is work experience and placement lead at Education Partnership North East, which includes Sunderland College, Northumberland College and Hartlepool Sixth Form.
She puts it this way: “We’ve always offered work experience at level 3 and level 2, but it’s been very much part of enrichment, really. It would be more like shadowing, light-touch work experience.” A BTEC student does about four weeks of work experience, she says.
By contrast, students on T Level placements are “like trainee employees,” says St Ledger at Newham Sixth Form College. As a result, many providers run proper interviews and selection processes alongside employers to ensure the placements are a success.
“We went through a proper matching service and every student had three interviews,” adds Moyse. “But it meant when placements started, the students and employers really benefited.”
Paul Phillips, principal at Weston College, echoes this. “They’re not given a bit of insight into the company, they’re given a direct role. One of our students was given the role of junior developer and created a website for the company. It’s real value to the learner in terms of industry exposure.”
Until more placements are found, however, not all students who applied for T Levels have been accepted.
For instance, Walsall College got 70 applications for 20 construction T Level places, which were whittled down through interview. It raises the question: do ministers want the T Level to be so selective?
Students are similarly largely very positive about their placements – but are clear it can also be a mixed bag.
Joe Harper, who completed his digital T Level this year, has been told by national gas supplier SGN that he can approach them for work following a successful 17-day placement with them. “It was challenging, but that’s what it’s supposed to be. I’m really glad I did it.”
But another placement had “little relevance” to his course, following a mix-up, he says.
Meanwhile, on the assessment side, students (including Harper) and staff have mainly raised queries about the employer-set project, which is one of the assessed components. “The employer-set project wasn’t employer set, it’s set by the awarding organisation,” says Harper. “I think they should rename that or replace that with a genuinely employer-set project where you work properly with the employer on it.”
Joe Harper, T Level student
He is echoed by Stubbs, Heys and Lake, T Level leads at Wallsall College, who all say that the employer-set project “duplicates” the occupational specialism pathway on the T Level. The T Level is already huge, and doesn’t need to be made any bigger than necessary, they explain.
But no staff FE Week spoke to thinks the qualification should be reduced to the size of one A level. Their strength is the industry placement and project work, which would be too demanding to complete alongside other programmes, I’m told. As Phillips at Weston College tells me: “If they were smaller, I’m worried they’d basically be an A level with just a bit of work experience.”
What next?
The main thing holding providers back around T Levels is clearly the lack of awareness among employers, parents and schools about the qualification.
For baby qualifications, this is perhaps to be expected. But David Gallagher, chief executive at T Level awarding body NCFE, urges the DfE to run a “huge awareness campaign” among employers as soon as possible.
The employer-set project may also need a serious rethink, according to some providers.
But the real question is around expansion of T Levels over the coming years. Should they be selective, to ensure the ‘right’ students are on them? Or should they be more modular and iterative, to boost inclusion, including for adult learners?
If the latter, the debate over BTECs is far from done. Some staff still tell me “T Levels are not the answer to all the needs of the sector” while others say the BTECs feel “tired and old” and “out-of-date now”.
Interestingly, three providers tell me their employers are more impressed with, and would “prefer”, T Level students over BTEC students on placement. So – how will the DfE prevent a two-tier vocational qualifications system?
For now, students seem genuinely chuffed.
Abigail Tighe, who did the assisted teaching pathway in the education and childcare T Level at Dudley College, concludes: “I didn’t expect how much I would grow as a person.
“It was real responsibility, not just standing around. I’ve really gained a lot of skills.”
Professional discussion can play a valuable role in student assessment but only if used carefully, explains Paul Kelly
Essentially a two-way conversation between an assessor and a candidate, professional discussion is often used as part of end-point assessment (EPA) for apprenticeships.
Taking the style of an interview, the assessor asks an apprentice a series of set questions as a means of building a clearer picture of the depth of an apprentice’s understanding.
The assessment takes place in timed conditions, with specific criteria to meet and, in some cases, the apprentice’s portfolio is referred to.
Often, the apprentice isn’t familiar with the assessor, which can prove daunting in an interview scenario.
There’s no invigilator present, and the independent assessor is responsible for managing the process, including the timings and making sure the apprentice knows how much time is left.
Time restrictions are strict to ensure fair assessment for all apprentices, so it’s important the candidate provides sufficient detail in the timeframe they have. While the timescale will vary according to an apprentice’s level, interviews are usually between 30 and 90 minutes in length.
Professional discussion assessments are often used alongside other methods, such as observations or a written portfolio, and are becoming an increasingly popular way to help grade technical and vocational qualifications.
But the very nature of a conversation-based assessment leaves it open to questions of validity, particularly when compared to more formal methods. So how can we protect validity in a two-way discussion?
Firstly, as the flow of a conversation can vary greatly between different people, assessors must be self-aware and mitigate potential for bias, unconscious or otherwise. It’s vital to take a consistent approach, sticking to the same set of questions and resisting any urge to prompt or support students with their answers.
Similarly, when it comes to grading, there are frameworks in place that can guide an assessor on levels of achievement.
For instance, apprentices who offer examples of their knowledge and skills in a factual manner would receive a lower level, while those with a higher level would have demonstrated a broad range of theoretical and technical knowledge through their skills in practice.
These frameworks help guide assessors in awarding a level that best reflects the understanding demonstrated through the interview.
As well as any potential bias on an assessor’s part, various factors can influence an apprentice’s performance in an interview scenario. One of the most common is nerves.
Feeling nervous can easily prevent a student from fully engaging in the process and therefore holding back from showing just how much they understand.
This is why it’s crucial to give apprentices plenty of opportunities to practise so those who feel nervous aren’t at a disadvantage compared to their more confident peers. This includes the opportunity to listen back to review their performance.
Teachers can also help by sharing straightforward information about the nature and purpose of the assessment, including resources and guides on professional discussion. They can also remind apprentices that it’s not an interrogation, but an opportunity to show how much they know.
One of the most common issues is nerves
For their part, assessors must take steps to help put nervous apprentices at ease, such as listening carefully and responding thoughtfully to what’s being said.
Factors such as attention, memory and use of language can also greatly impact a student’s performance. For some, not having to express their thoughts in writing might be beneficial. But for others, missing the chance to revisit their answers as they would in a written assessment could hamper their performance.
So, while it’s important to protect validity through a consistent approach, the varying needs of individual apprentices means some will require a different kind of interaction.
As professional discussion assessments come to play a bigger part in apprenticeship assessment, supporting everyone to involved is key to safeguarding validity. That means sticking to clear guidance for assessors and for students to have the support they need to prepare.
While interview-style assessment may seem daunting for students, it can provide a useful means of demonstrating their skills and understanding in a different way. But it must be used correctly.
Boris Johnson loyalists Brendan Clarke-Smith and Andrea Jenkyns have been appointed junior ministers at the Department for Education. Portfolios for the new ministers have not yet been confirmed.
Jenkyns
The DfE’s ministerial team was turned upside down this week as ministers across government resigned in protest of Boris Johnson’s leadership earlier this week.
Robin Walker resigned as minister for schools and Alex Burghart resigned as minister for skills on Wednesday.
Will Quince also resigned on Wednesday as a parliamentary under secretary of state at the DfE, but returned to the promoted position of minister of state on Thursday night following Boris Johnson’s resignation.
James Cleverly replaced Michelle Donelan, who resigned after just 36 hours in post, as secretary of state.
Clarke-Smith
The appointments of new junior ministers today, and the return of Quince yesterday, now means that nearly all ministerial vacancies have been filled.
Confirmation of individual ministerial portfolios is expected over the coming days.
Clarke-Smith became the MP for the Nottinghamshire constituency of Bassetlaw in 2019. He’s the first conservative to represent the seat since 1929. He has no experience as a minister but clocked up five months as a member of the House of Commons education committee and was on the skills and post 16 education bill committee. He holds a PGCE and taught, and later ran, an international school in Romania.
Jenkyns took the Morley and Outwood constituency from the former Labour shadow chancellor Ed Balls in the 2015 general election. She has worked in government as an assistant whip since September 2021.
Footage shared on social media appears to show Jenkyns raising a middle finger at protesters outside Downing Street yesterday.
The new minister took to Twitter to explain her actions.
Previous job: Principal, The Manchester College, Deputy CEO, LTE Group
Interesting fact: Lisa’s background is art and design, and she has exhibited at The Manchester City Art Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery in London.
Nic Hutchins
Assistant Director – Education, Skills and Work, Greater Manchester Combined Authority
Start date: July 2022
Previous job: Principal (Apprenticeships and Technical Education), Greater Manchester Combined Authority
Interesting fact: Nic started her career in skills teaching dry stone walling and hedge laying. She now spends her spare time as a funk, soul and disco DJ with FunkyStuff Music, including presenting a regular show on a local radio station!
Before he resigned with other ministers en masse on Wednesday, he announced he wanted to get the achievement rate back to where it was before Covid. Burghart was also trying to get the achievement rate for standards up to what it was previously for framework apprenticeships.
The now ex-minister described the target (set for 2025) as “stretching”, and Jane Hickie, chief executive at the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, warned that it may not be achievable.
Step back from the detail, though, and ask yourself if you’re really comfortable with this ̶ that we’re working hard to recruit and train apprentices expecting that one in three won’t succeed. One in three.
For nine years I was secretary to the Maritime Skills Alliance, the sector body for maritime industries, until I stepped down in March – and so creating and promoting apprenticeships dominated what I did.
I’m frustrated when I look at the 67 per cent target because I can’t prove that our achievement rate is much higher (data is only available down to the 11 sector subject areas), but I’m sure it is.
In the absence of national data I asked Princess Yachts what their achievement rate is. They build luxury yachts in Plymouth and they run an award-winning apprenticeship programme, working particularly closely with South Devon College. Their latest achievement rate is 96 per cent.
I also asked one of the sector’s niche providers, SeaRegs, also based in Plymouth, who help deliver the boatmaster apprenticeship on the Thames. Covid has meant redundancies, sadly, particularly in the leisure sector, but the achievement rate for the 2019 intake looks very likely to be over 80 per cent.
The plural of anecdote is not data. But if I’m right that in many cases we’re already doing far better than the new target, why is that?
I can’t offer simple solutions applicable to all, but I’d say that overwhelmingly maritime employers recruit apprentices for the right reasons.
They’re not using a government ‘scheme’ for short-term advantage, but genuinely working hard to recruit the next generation of talented people they need for the company to continue to succeed. I’ve always been careful to talk in terms of the government ‘subsidy’ available for training they want to do anyway.
And most employers have had very many more applicants than places.
Off-the-job support is in the hands of specialist colleges or private providers, and the end-point assessment, too, is in the hands of maritime specialists who recruit assessors with relevant experience.
Most employers have had more applicants than places
I think we’ve worked to well-designed standards, and for the most part we’ve had decent funding. Neither is accidental and both took hard work.
I’ve no simple answers, therefore, but we’re a very long way from the stereotype of pushing the unwilling into the arms of the ineffective.
May I suggest two further actions to our new minister, when one is appointed? If we’re to make this work we need finer-grain achievement data: sector subject area level is not nearly good enough. And we need something more sophisticated than a single national target.
One of the 11 sector subject areas already hits the 67 per cent target and two others are a smidgen away, on 66 per cent.
Seven of the 11 met the target in 2018/19, so it can’t be that hard to win that ground back again. Yet ‘retail and commercial enterprise’ was a long way behind, both before the pandemic and in the most recent data.
Differential targets, maybe?
And beyond that, let’s have a serious look at how we make a real difference to achievement rates, so that every sector matches the record of the best.
Mentors without the time or skills to do a good job are leaving new entrants to the profession feeling angry, upset, stressed, lost and sad, writes Kayte Haselgrove
As we wave goodbye to FE teacher trainees who have achieved their qualifications and are off to their first year of teaching, it’s time for us to reflect on this year.
Research carried out by my post-14 team this year into the impact of poor mentoring has highlighted the devastating impact this can have on a trainee’s development and wellbeing.
We asked a diverse range of former trainee teachers from nine different providers across the UK if they would be willing to share their negative experiences of mentoring when they were trainee teachers.
The results identified that poor mentoring had made the contributors feel “unsupported, angry, upset, lacked focus, stressed, lost, sad” and, in worst-case scenarios, “close to suicidal”.
The cause of these emotions could be placed in two main categories: the mentor either didn’t have enough time to work with the trainee, so communication was poor. Or, the mentor lacked knowledge about the subjects being taught, or in relation to mentoring itself.
The results were that many of the trainees who had these negative experiences didn’t go into teaching. The few that did said they were “determined to never do the same and to protect others” from encountering what they had experienced.
What’s important to note is that none of the participants had been mentored by people who intended to make their lives harder.
But those who didn’t have time or knowledge to mentor were having a hugely negative impact on the experience and the wellbeing of the mentees they were supposed to be helping.
So, what can we do?
Considering the two main causes (lack of communication and inadequate knowledge) we addressed the issues where we could through the actions below.
Mentors for post-14 trainee teachers at the University of Derby have always been provided with regular contact throughout the year which ensures they have the knowledge they need to support trainees effectively.
We have regular interactions with mentors, both through our central placement liaison (a member of our core team) and through interactions and tripartite milestone reviews with trainees.
Mentors are sent regular newsletters to provide timely information regarding where the trainee is in their studies and how they can support the trainee to integrate theory to practice.
New for this year, we have introduced certificated training in the form of a ‘mentor journey’. This is where mentors complete training on the expectations of the role and on evidence-informed approaches to mentoring.
This includes how to identify your own areas for development, the needs of your mentee (where they stand on the novice-to-expert continuum) and to provide tailored support in order to aid their success.
Please, just give mentors more time
Additional sessions have been offered throughout the year, inviting mentors for question-and-answer sessions with the post-14 team, as well as further training on evidence-informed methods of mentoring and coaching.
Conscious of the need for adequate time to support trainees, we were aware the training and guidance offered above could increase the issue, so all training and communication was designed to be as succinct as it could be.
The feedback was positive. We have taken great strides in working towards ensuring our mentors had the knowledge they needed to effectively support trainees.
But the barrier for us still lies in the issue of time.
I want to ask providers who welcome teacher trainees in September 2022 to consider the level of investment made in their mentors.
More than 90 per cent of the first T Level learners completed their work placements, according to unpublished internal data held by former skills minister Alex Burghart.
Responding to shadow skills minister Toby Perkins during Monday’s education questions in the House of Commons, Burghart – who quit his ministerial role on Thursday as part of an exodus of junior ministers – said that “we managed to get almost all – well over 90 per cent of students – their work placements.”
The Department for Education confirmed that there is not currently any published data on T Level work placements, but claimed the ex-minister was referring to internally held data.
But the DfE refused to divulge any further detail about the alleged data, such as whether it is based on all 1,300 students who started the first T Levels in 2020 or only a portion of the overall cohort or only those who did not drop out.
Ministers and sector leaders have been worried about convincing enough businesses to host students for the 315-hour, or 45-day, mandatory placements, a concern exacerbated by Covid-19.
Burghart told the House of Commons on Monday: “T Levels are going extremely well, we have very good uptake.
“In terms of T Level work placements, the first year of T Levels was perhaps conducted in the harshest circumstances imaginable during Covid. But thanks to the hard work of my officials and the hard work of principals, we managed to get almost all – well over 90 per cent of students – their work placements.
“If we can do it in the conditions of Covid, we can do it elsewhere.”
The first three T Levels were launched in September 2020 in digital production, design and development; design, surveying and planning for construction; and education and childcare. Results for the first learners on those courses is due this August.
Wave two courses began in September 2021, and included building services engineering for construction; digital business services; digital support and services; health; healthcare science; onsite construction; and science.
T Levels starting this September include accounting; design and development for engineering and manufacturing; engineering, manufacturing, processing and control; finance; maintenance, installation and repair for engineering and manufacturing; and management and administration.
