The new white paper is far too vague about prison education

The strategy is making the right noises, but key details – including any new funding for prison education – are worryingly absent, writes Jon Collins

The focus on getting people leaving prison into jobs in the government’s new prisons strategy white paper is welcome.

But education is the key building block that enables prison-leavers to secure employment. This must be a priority if the goals of the white paper are to be achieved. 

It is clear that reform of prison education is needed. On the same day that the white paper was published, Ofsted published its annual report, which identified prisons as being the worst of all the areas that they inspect.  

About 60 per cent of prisons are rated as ‘requires improvement’ or ‘inadequate’. The equivalent figure in other parts of the FE sector is just 20 per cent. 

Good education is key to helping prison-leavers find work, so it is unsurprising that only 14 per cent of prison-leavers are in employment after six months.  

More than 40 per cent of adults leaving prison reoffend within a year. 

But while there is much that is welcome in this white paper towards changing that, it is short on detail. 

For instance, it only commits to introducing in-cell technology in 11 more prisons by summer 2022. Plans for roll-out need to go further and faster. In-cell technology must also complement – not replace – face-to-face teaching.  

Employers often want transferable skills, and team building, problem solving and communications skills are best developed during group work in the classroom. And prison learners cannot access these classrooms if there are not enough officers to bring them from their cells.  

So a commitment in the white paper to increase the number of prison officers is welcome, but may be difficult to deliver unless low retention rates can be addressed.  

More training for staff to build a prison culture that values learning is also a positive step, as is the proposal for more specialist support on education for prison governors. 

There is, however, still a way to go. There is nothing, for instance, on how to better support prison teachers. 

There is nothing on how to better support prison teachers

The white paper also promises a new “prisoner education service”, a manifesto commitment from 2019, but two years on, it is still unclear how that will differ from what is already in place.

Prison education departments already provide the basic literacy, numeracy and vocational skills promised in the white paper, while assessments already take place when people arrive in prison.  

Meanwhile, the promise of better integration between classroom-based learning and the broader prison regime on literacy and numeracy (for example, by embedding work on functional skills into workshops) is also welcome. But again, little is said about how it will be achieved.  

At the same time, the focus on basic and vocational skills is too narrow. Prison learners, particularly those serving long sentences, need to have the chance to progress and to pursue a range of educational opportunities.

Learning has a broader value than solely as a route into work, and higher levels of education can also lead to better jobs. 

It is also unclear what further funding for prison education specifically, if any, will be forthcoming.  

At the same time, there are other elements of the white paper that are positive. The overarching focus on resettlement and on getting prison-leavers into work is the right approach.  

There is explicit recognition that prison education is currently “not good enough” and a commitment to “drive year-on-year improvements to Ofsted grades”. 

This includes the intention that in a decade, the majority of prisons will have provision of comparable quality to further education in the community. 

It also good to see the white paper reiterate the existing commitment to expand the use of secure laptops and develop new digital content.  

If the government wants to succeed in significantly boosting the employment opportunities of prison-leavers, they must first get prison education right.  

But without significant additional investment and much clearer detail, this will be impossible to achieve.

The vice principal role is now increasingly complex

The vice principal is expected to have multiple competencies but rarely gets enough development, writes Rhys Davies

The role of vice principal often covers responsibility for curriculum and quality. It has always been complex, requiring leaders to spin numerous plates at once. 

Now, the nature of these challenges has evolved. Vice principals may have had  time to reflect on the landscape and think what it may mean for them over the next two to three years.  

They will need to help the nation rise to the challenges that lie ahead, and preparing young people and adults for a transformed skills and labour market will be high on their priority lists. 

At the same time, they will also need to consider other prevailing and emerging issues that will impact on curriculum.

This includes the drive towards an environmentally sustainable future, addressing the consequences of increasing urbanisation and technological and demographic change, and the constant need to maintain high quality standards. 

An inclusive, decolonised and diverse curriculum is also an important feature for leaders to get properly to grips with. 

Meanwhile, the government’s Skills for Jobs white paper, published in January 2021, provides vice principals and other leaders with a framework for how this pans out.

It is clear that relationships with industry and other partners will be fundamental – whether they are focused on collaboration and curriculum co-creation, networking, or ensuring that the curriculum is future-proofed by close liaison with companies leading technological advances. 

So, curriculum and quality leaders will be vital to UK’s Covid recovery, but are they ready to meet the evolving challenge?

Professor David Greatbatch at York University and independent consultant Sue Tate summarised the situation well in their joint government document, “Teaching, Leadership and Governance in Further Education in 2018”. 

It reveals that senior leaders are expected to have a sound understanding of pedagogy, knowledge of how best to secure high-quality outcomes, be astute in managing budgets and sources of income and possess considerable awareness of the driving forces behind curriculum design. 

Little wonder, then, in a publication this year entitled “Teachers and Leaders in Vocational Education and Training”, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development points to the need for high-quality and ongoing professional development for leaders of curriculum and quality. 

It reads: “While leaders in VET require multiple competences to carry out their diverse responsibilities, many of them are not well prepared before taking up their role, and might not receive the support they need throughout their career in terms of mentoring and professional development.” 

That need for ongoing professional development is echoed by college leaders in England. They recognise that today’s senior leaders must be able to access bespoke, high-quality CPD and mentoring.  

They point to the increased complexity of decision-making in recent years and warn that, without support, there is an intrinsic danger of siloed and prescriptive solutions that fail to achieve the needed outcomes. 

There is a danger of prescriptive solutions

Responding to this need and the views of senior figures across the sector, the Education and Training Foundation (ETF) is creating a new programme of support it believes will offer crucial support to senior leaders. It is called Strategic Innovation for Skills.

The first cohort will be delivered via residential stays, a conference and online workshops between January 7 and March 31. The cost is met by the participant’s institution.

It will help participants learn from effective practice both within the UK and overseas, showcasing innovative pedagogy and thinking around quality improvement.

It will also develop leaders’ networking and collaborative skills, which are vital for building close relationships with employers and other stakeholders.  

Feedback from senior leaders while the programme has been developed has been positive.

Moreover, it is designed specifically for those senior colleagues, such as vice principals, who are often reluctant to prioritise their own needs in the face of the many urgent, competing demands they must deal with. 

Its creation is an investment both in those individuals and the wider sector at a time when there are so many expectations being placed

The FE Week Podcast: Christmas review of 2020-21

In this episode, Shane is joined by deputy news editor Billy, commissioning editor Jess, and senior reporter Fraser to discuss their top story picks from the last year.

We wish you a merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

IfATE grants extensions to more apprenticeship assessment flexibilities

The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education has extended three more flexibilities for apprenticeship assessments into the new year in response to the Omicron variant.

Instead of being switched off at the end of this month, the trio of discretions which apply to all apprenticeships will now run until midnight on 28 February 2022.

The three flexibilities allow:

  1. Changes to be made to who sits on the end point assessment interview/discussion panel (when someone in addition to the independent assessor is specified)
  2. Suitable evidence of achievements to be used in place of functional skills qualifications at gateway. IfATE say other mandated qualifications are covered under temporary discretions
  3. Extension to the length of the end-point assessment period where specified

Delivery director for the institute Rob Nitsch said: “Our priority remains the safety of employers, apprentices and off-the-job training and assessment providers, whilst allowing apprentices to carry on and complete their apprenticeships with minimum disruption whilst maintaining quality.

“We hope that the extension of the flexibilities for two months will play a significant role in doing just this and we will monitor the situation and make any further adjustments as necessary.”

This comes after seven other flexibilities, also introduced to help the sector through the Covid-19 pandemic, were extended for use until next March.

Education officials have scrambled together a response to the Omicron variant after prime minister Boris Johnson announced the imposition of new restrictions this week.

Ofsted suspended inspections set for next week, except where there are concerns about safeguarding, so providers can prepare contingency measures for next term.

The Department for Education also published an “urgent” update on Thursday, telling provider leaders what to do about January exams and plans to introduce daily contact testing for students under 18.

IfATE has updated guidance about using more than 60 temporary discretions for specific apprenticeships, some of which have been given a six-month extension following requests from their sectors. Others will be available until midnight 28 February.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: EDITION 373

Suzanne Slater, Director of operations – apprenticeships, NCFE

Start date: October 2021

Previous job: Assistant principal, Gateshead College

Interesting fact: She took up sailing this year and achieved her Royal Yachting Association certificates, although after the recent cold and windy weather, she has decided “I’m definitely a ‘fair weather’ sailor!”

Tara Roudiani, Managing director, Training Now

Start date: December 2021

Previous job: Quality manager and deputy head of service, Lambeth Adult Learning, Lambeth Council

Interesting fact: When she came to England at the start of the Iranian Revolution, she couldn’t speak any English: “Farsi is my first language, so I learnt to speak English in school when I was 7.”

Kevin O’Hare, Interim principal, Keighley College (part of Luminate Education Group)

Start Date: December 2021

Previous job: Head of visual and digital arts department, Leeds City College

Interesting fact: He has spent the last 15 years making artworks related to the 1970s MB Connect 4 game.

Rachel Butt, Director of excellence, Learning Curve Group

Start date: December 2021

Previous Job: Director of quality and curriculum: teaching, learning and professional development, Warrington and Vale Royal College

Interesting fact: She started her career as a teacher of performing arts and still loves any opportunity to go to the theatre.

Susan James Relly, Professor of vocational education, University of Oxford department of education

Start date: November 2021

Previous job: Associate professor and director of the Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance (SKOPE) Research Centre

Interesting fact: She has been learning traditional upholstery since 2008 and previously taught classes in an upholstery school for adult learners.

SEND review may be folded into schools white paper

The leader of the government’s long-awaited SEND review has hinted its results could be rolled into the upcoming schools white paper, as concerns mount about affordability and student attainment.

The Department for Education is set to bring forward the white paper in the new year, while also releasing the results of a review of special education needs and disabilities (SEND) provision in the first three months of 2022. A review of children’s social care for the DfE is also ongoing.

Speaking at the Association of Colleges’ annual SEND conference on Tuesday, the DfE’s SEND review team leader Helen Nix discussed wrapping reforms from a SEND green paper, set to follow the review’s publication, into the white paper.

She told delegates “close readers of Schools Week [FE Week’s sister newspaper] will have read that there will be a schools white paper at the same sort of time” as the two reviews.

“There are closer links between those three pieces of work than I’ve ever seen before,” she said.

Sector leaders have welcomed the idea of a more “seamless” and “joined-up” system linking pre-16 and post-16 provision after young people in many parts of the country have seen official support drop off a cliff edge once they reach their 16th birthday.

‘We cannot go on as we are’

The SEND Review, originally due to be released earlier this year before being repeatedly delayed, is evaluating reforms made under the Children and Families Act 2014.

These include the SEND code of practice, which sets out legal duties for education providers, local authorities and health bodies to provide for young people with special educational needs (SEN).

The act also led to the introduction of education, health and care plans (EHCPs), which set out the needs of young people with SEN which authorities must meet.

send
Nix

A schools white paper was first mooted by then-education secretary Gavin Williamson in June as a means to widen the academies programme. It was reaffirmed in October by current education secretary Nadhim Zahawi, who said a schools white paper would be brought forward next year and “outline plans to tackle innumeracy and illiteracy”.

Nix stressed that: “I genuinely can’t predict whether or not we will want to reflect” the green paper, school reforms and the results of the social care review “in the same sort of bill”.

“The thing I can tell you is I think we’ve reached a point with SEND where there is a recognition that we cannot go on as we are.” This is due to three reasons: “The first is just the sheer unaffordability of the system as it currently stands.”

SEND experts previously told FE Week that SEND students are “phenomenally expensive” compared to their peers. All young people with SEND going for an EHCP has also put “pressure” on public finances, Nix said.

The second reason Nix listed was: “When you look at the outcomes of these children, their achievements are substantially lower than their nondisabled peers. And that can’t go on either.”

A third reason, she said, was when people are trying to access the support they need, “it is really very poor and frankly, at its worst, none of us likes it very much”.

Despite “loads of brilliant practice” generated by the sector, Nix said this is “not consistent”.

Multiple Ofsted reviews of local area SEND provision published this year have identified that provision for young people with SEND falls of a cliff-edge once they reach age 16.

Government SEND reforms ‘should complement each other,’ say experts

Natspec chief executive Clare Howard “can see there would be benefit in linking the SEND green paper with other proposals to create a joined-up system”.

But she hopes “this will not prevent us from ensuring that FE and the needs of those aged 16 to 25 do not get overlooked in the SEND review”.

send
Howard

The Association of Colleges’ senior policy manager for SEND, David Holloway, said: “Better alignment between post-16 SEND policy and other policy areas is helpful to ensure a more seamless transition for young people through the education system and to level up employment outcomes for people with disabilities.”

He said the two reviews, the national disability strategy published this year and the schools white paper “should be complementing each other, and college SEND students are much more likely to benefit from government policy that embeds preparation for adulthood throughout.”

Let’s talk about SAKS: Provider scores top Ofsted marks

A hairdressing training provider has retained its ‘outstanding’ rating from Ofsted after a 15-year inspection hiatus.

SAKS (Education) Limited, which has 434 learners studying various hairdressing and barbering apprenticeships at level 2 and 3, was awarded a grade one in every area of its
October inspection.

The report, published on Tuesday, commends educators as “open, friendly and welcoming,” and for “celebrating apprentices’ strengths and supporting them to be resilient in the face of challenges they face,” including Covid-19.

Founded in 1999, SAKS was last inspected in 2006 by the Adult Learning Inspectorate (ALI) – which was absorbed by Ofsted in 2007.

Grade one education providers are being inspected this term for the first time since 2010, after an exemption was removed last year.

Inspectors compliment employer involvement, educators, and governance

Ofsted said SAKS’ educators and leaders work “very effectively and closely” with employers to plan the curriculum, which ensures apprentices develop skills they need and in the right order.

If apprentices do not develop the skills they need rapidly enough, teaching plans are adjusted with employers to help learners catch up.

ofsted

“Highly experienced” teaching staff keep up to date thanks to frequent training provided by leaders, by updating their product knowledge and by gaining other qualifications.

The workforce is supported “exceptionally well,” with leaders managing staff with compassion and ensuring they are not overloaded with work or have unmanageable caseloads.

Apprentices report feeling safe and that they know how to recognise risks and report concerns. Social media groups have weekly ‘hot topic’ discussions among apprentices, which focus on everyday issues such as the recent spate of drink-spiking incidents.

Inspectors also highlighted the provider’s “highly effective” governance, led by SAKS Education chair and former Ofsted and AIL inspector Phil Hatton.

“Board members share the ambition and vision of leaders to provide high-quality apprenticeships” and “regularly” challenge and support leaders to ensure “continuous improvement”.

Ofsted grade ‘a real credit to our apprentices and educators,’ boss says

SAKS currently delivers from academies based in Darlington and Maidstone as well in employers’ workplaces.

Tina Ockerby, managing director of the Darlington-based independent provider, called the grade one “a real credit to our apprentices and educators – and of course the salons across the UK who support their learners so wholeheartedly”.

She added that the provider knew it had to make a “huge effort” when coronavirus struck in order not to lose apprentices during lockdown, and a remote learning survey of apprentices gave SAKS a rating of 4.5 out of 5.

Phil Hatton called the provider “the best I have ever seen for self-assessment, quality improvement, professional development of staff, support for apprentices, safeguarding and the focus that all have on developing practical skills.

“I am proud to be associated with them and what they do so well.”

Pictured top (left to right): Sukye Bass, academy hairdressing educator; Eve Lofthouse, hairdressing at Number 4; Tina Ockerby, managing director, Saks Apprenticeships, Conner Heaney, Saks Middlesbrough

Moulton rises from the ashes: College climbs out of ‘inadequate’

The staff of a land-based college received an early Christmas present this week after bouncing from double Ofsted ‘inadequate’ results to ‘good’.

Moulton College has announced plans to restart apprenticeships and aims to score an ‘outstanding’ rating at its next inspection after receiving the grade two on Monday.

The Northamptonshire college, which was ‘outstanding’ in 2008, was slapped with a grade four in 2018 and again in 2019.

It was also placed into financial intervention following a report by then-FE Commissioner Richard Atkins in April 2018.

Corrie Harris, Moulton’s principal, credited this week’s result to her “amazing team”: “They have massively pulled together, and they’ve got a huge can-do attitude.”

The current FE Commissioner, Shelagh Legrave, commended the college on Twitter, posting: “Many congratulations to Moulton College on achieving good from Ofsted. A great achievement which Corrie Harris, governors and staff should be rightly proud of.”

The grade four reports, which included findings such as Moulton’s equine studies and sport teachers paying “insufficient attention to health and safety practice”, were “horrible” for staff, Harris said.

“I can’t begin to tell you how difficult it is. They feel like it’s a slur and that they’re not good enough.”

When she announced the grade two to about 200 staff, she saw “grown men crying because it’s not just a relief, they get their pride back”.

Some staff had been at the college for 20 years and always knew ”that with the right leadership and support” they could get back to results like the 2008 ‘outstanding’ rating, she said.

College strove to improve CPD and curriculum structure

Harris says the improvement on the grade four began before she joined in July 2019.

She credited it to having the right culture, introduced through new procedures and much wider use of staff training.

Both the 2018 and 2019 reports called on the college to improve teacher training.

The latest report notes how leaders “have developed suitable plans to help staff improve their teaching skills”, including training for new lecturers and opportunities for professional development.

Harris put this down to having “great coaches, a great director of teaching and learning, and a great quality director all led by the vice principal”.

As well as doing “lots” of internal CPD, the college brought in a former Ofsted inspector to train staff.

Teacher turnover has gone from 50 per cent when Harris started to just 9 per cent.

The college has also restructured its curriculum, which inspectors said contributed to an improvement in the quality of education.

Staff also now use labour market intelligence and a vector tool, which plots where all students are going to identify gaps in the labour market.

Harris said the process is so good, “we’ve now shared it with other colleges”.

However, Ofsted days attendance still needs to improve, “Leaders and managers have not yet ensured that all learners attend their classes at consistently high rates.”

Harris hit back at what she thought was the watchdog “clutching at straws a little bit”, as attendance was at 90 per cent.

‘Foot firmly on the pedal’ towards Ofsted grade one

Inspectors told her that with “a couple of little tweaks” the college would have been given an ‘outstanding’ for the leadership and management theme.

Asked whether aiming for grade one at its next inspection was realistic, when others had
lost that grade under the new inspection framework, Harris called it a matter of “foot firmly on the pedal”.

The grade four meant the college had to stop providing apprenticeships, which she said was a “bugbear” as there were “pockets” of “fantastic” provision in areas such as civil engineering.

But with a grade two, Moulton is looking to restart apprenticeships in construction – “because there’s a huge need” – and land-based sectors – “because nobody else can do them” in the county.

Harris expects her college to come out of intervention this year and for it to generate a small financial surplus in 2021-22, after a £6.5 million deficit in 2019-20.

Shrewsbury Colleges Group is currently the only grade four college in England.

New DfE skills board: scanty minutes lead to ‘closed shop’ accusations

The Department for Education has been accused of turning its skills and productivity board into a “closed shop” after publishing fewer than two pages of minutes for each of their meetings.

Details from seven meetings of the group of experts, stretching from December 2020 to September 2021, were recently and quietly published by the DfE.

But each set of minutes runs for just a couple of pages each, with most of the first page taken up with a list of who had attended the meetings.

Agenda items are covered in as little as two lines of text.

Minutes from a meeting in August revealed a discussion was held on how the skills system promotes productivity in areas that are underperforming economically, but simply states: “Board members provided updates on the four research proposals agreed under question 3. All leads shared high-level research plans with the secretariat.”

A member of the board, who was previously sworn to secrecy about the board’s work, admitted the minutes are “very brief” but insisted their work will help improve the design and planning of FE provision.

A meeting from this January, the only one attended by an education secretary, revealed the following about a discussion between then-minister Gavin Williamson and board members: “The secretary of state for education shared his priorities for skills reform and expressed his enthusiasm for the board’s work. Board members engaged in Q&A with the secretary of state.”

‘DfE’s work ought to be open to scrutiny, not a closed shop’

After being shown the minutes by FE Week, chair of the Commons education select committee Robert Halfon demanded the board “publish more detailed minutes” as the public “should be able to access proper records of the advice and evidence that is being passed on to ministers and informing their decisions.

“Education for adults will be absolutely fundamental to driving our economy and enabling people throughout our country to live fulfilling lives,” he said.

“Therefore, the department’s work in this sector ought to be open to scrutiny, not a closed shop.”

The board was commissioned by Williamson in October 2020, with six top researchers led by a chair from industry to provide independent advice on how courses and qualifications should align to the skills employers need following Covid-19.

So far it has had two chairs: Stephen van Rooyen from Sky, who left after a year in post due to “family reasons”, and was replaced in August by Siemens’ Angela Noon.

skills
Van Rooyen and Noon

FE Week reported in October how, a year on from the board being set up, it had yet to publish any minutes.

The DfE previously came under fire for how sluggishly it published board minutes: a drop of seven sets of minutes in August 2020 were the first to be released since February 2018.

A report published last month by the cross-party Lords Youth Unemployment Committee called on the department to make public the skills board’s findings and annually publish data on skills gaps.

Speaking about this latest release, committee chair and Liberal Democrat peer Lord Shipley called it “very surprising that minutes of meetings are so incomplete”.

A DfE spokesperson said: “The published minutes reflect the issues being discussed by the board, and all products from the board’s work will be published in the spring.”

‘We need to stop fixating about qualifications,’ says board member

Board member and Oxford University emeritus professor in education Ewart Keep told FE Week a “fundamental problem” with the board is its name, which he argues implies they are a policy body that makes “huge decisions and what not,” rather than a research body.

“Most of what we discuss is actually really rather minute technical stuff.”

Having read the minutes, Keep said they are “very brief” but he certified there was nothing missing.

One of the board’s key findings so far, he said, was that the country has a “reasonably good understanding” of its stock of qualifications, but not of what skills are in the labour market.

skills
Ewart Keep

This is because people may attain a qualification and then go on to complete more, uncertified training during their careers.

As such, Keep believes, “we need to stop fixating about qualifications,” which cannot be “the sole analytical frame” for working out skills shortages.

Through the board, he had also found soft skills, such as communication and team and project management, are in “short supply… More and more employers are asking for more of them at a higher level, so ultimately, it’s important those skills are embedded in both qualifications and teaching.”

Asked how the board’s work will impact on the sector, he answered that the “quality of labour market information, which will help course planning and course design, will improve”.

This will be through “finely grained indicators” on future skills demand, which will inform student numbers, what sectors are most in need, and what each qualification will be required to do.