Focus feature: Women principals leaving a legacy in FE

This year numerous top female college principals are stepping down after giving their professional lives to the FE sector.

Jess Staufenberg sits down with three of them, all of whom have been awarded OBEs and been nationally recognised for their pioneering work. What are the highs and lows of leadership?

Karen Dobson, chief executive, Newcastle and Stafford Colleges Group

  1. Tell us a bit about your background

I was born in Stoke-on-Trent, and my mum worked in a pottery factory and my dad was a lathe engineer. My secondary school had been a boys’ school and I was in the first year it went comprehensive. Looking back, I don’t think they had much interest in what the girls were going to do as a career. Some teachers were pretty horrendous – there was still the cane and the slipper and people throwing blackboard rubbers at you – but I had a really good history teacher, and generally pretty good sports teachers. After school I went to The Elms, which is now part of Stoke-on-Trent College, and then I went to work in a bank, which I absolutely hated. So I trained as a nurse. After that, I taught in the health and social care department at Cauldon College, which later became Stoke-on-Trent College.

  • What do you remember about your principal’s interview?

I came to the old Newcastle-under-Lyme College as director of curriculum, under Frances Wittering, the principal, who was a great role model. When she retired, I applied. I remember the chair telling me I’d got the job, and I probably looked a bit shocked. I was pleased, but you do think, ‘oh god, what do I do now?’.

  • What’s changed among the students?

Some young people nowadays almost face more challenges than when I started in FE. I think there’s almost too much out there about what the ideal young man or woman should be. You have to be quite strong not to just follow. I think there’s probably also something about today’s young people not being as resilient. There aren’t many opportunities to be on your own, fall down and recover. But I don’t think we can blame young people for that – we as adults have made the world that way for them.

  • What’s been the biggest change in FE policy?

The biggest single change has to be in adult learning. When I came into FE, adult education was a big thing that was properly funded. Evening school was much more of a routine for many adults. In the past 10 years or more, the removal of funding means FE colleges now have far fewer adults in them.

  • What has been your biggest challenge or darkest moment?

Probably Covid – closing up on March 20. You didn’t know what was going to happen. The other big challenge was when we took over Stafford College, which was a grade 4. It felt, for almost 12 months, every stone you turned over there was a problem. There were lots of sleepless nights. But it was absolutely the right thing. The students get a great learning experience there now.

  • What will you look back on most proudly?

I was really proud of our new building at Newcastle College, which we opened in 2010. It shows what difference you can make to the lives of young people when they can come into a fantastic building. And then in 2019, we got Ofsted ‘outstanding’. I cried. The lead inspector gave me a big hug. The team were just brilliant.

Tenure: 2004-2022

Replacement principal: Craig Hodgson, current vice principal for finance.

Retirement plans: Gardening, playing tennis and perhaps volunteering with the college’s Institute of Technology.

Julie Mills, group principal, Milton Keynes College

  1. Tell us a bit about your background

I grew up in Bedfordshire, where at the time schools didn’t have sixth forms, so it was either FE college or work. I went to Luton sixth form college for A levels, really didn’t enjoy it and left to get a job. My mum was a teacher and my dad was an engineer, and they were surprised I wasn’t following my brother to university. But instead I worked in the unemployment benefit office. Some people were in desperate circumstances, but some were retired bankers getting their national insurance paid. It was an early awakening for me about just how different people’s lives could be. Later, I did an Open University degree and taught a bookkeeping course. Then in 1990 I got a job as a finance lecturer at Milton Keynes College.

  • What do you remember from your interview?

They asked me, ‘what would you do if the rest of your senior team disagreed with you?’ So I said that given they would be experts in finance, HR and so on, I would listen to them. But the board wanted to know I was assertive, and I’d persuade them. Isn’t that interesting? A macho person would have given a ‘better’ response. However, I’d stand by my answer now.

  • How did you get into prison education?

Before Milton Keynes College I’d worked in training with NACRO, for the resettlement of offenders, helping them get employed. Then, when I was at Milton Keynes College, the college had a contract with Woodhill Prison and I got a job there as deputy head of education. I worked with some of the nation’s most notorious and violent offenders, but the mantra I have is, these people are someone’s family.

  • What are your biggest lessons from leadership?

Leadership is all about relationships, it’s all about using power right. Prisons are really good examples of how it can happen well, and badly. It’s a really good place to learn to be a leader.

The biggest lesson is that it’s not about winning. For prisoners, their world is so small that the smallest things can become massive and you need to respect that. So in terms of conflict, whether it’s an angry member of staff, student or stakeholder, it’s not about winning by asserting yourself, it’s about de-escalating. It’s about maturity.

  • What’s changed the most in FE?

I think the nature of FE has changed significantly because of austerity. Many colleges used to be quite a mixed environment, with adults. There’s a risk now they feel a much younger-person place. Workload is also significantly higher, and that is linked to funding too. When I started in FE, a full-time course would be 24 hours a week, and now it’s 15 or 16. But the qualification hasn’t changed. So there’s twice the number of students for staff and less time to support them in. It’s really important that’s understood by senior leaders.

  • What are you proudest of?

Probably securing the Institute of Technology funding. We’re reaching parts of the community that classic FE and classic HE never has in this area before.

Tenure: 2011-2022

Replacement principal: Recruitment process underway

Retirement plans: Flip flops and shorts for the rest of my life.

Corienne Peasgood, principal, City College Norwich

  1. Tell us a bit about your background

I grew up just outside Cambridge; my mum worked in office administration and my dad was a plumber. I was lucky enough to get a scholarship to the private Perse School for girls, but when I told the careers adviser I wanted to be a plumbing and heating engineer, she made it clear that was not appropriate. That made me even more determined. At speech day, they read out where everyone was going to university and they got to me and just said, ‘Corienne is leaving’. I did a plumbing apprenticeship, before running my dad’s company. Later we moved to Norwich and when I was 35 with children, I saw an advert for a plumbing lecturer at City College Norwich. I got it!

  • What do you remember about your interview?

It was probably the most nervous I’d been for any roles I’d gone for, because I wanted it the most. At that point, I knew who I would be as a leader. Around the same time I was on an aspiring principals programme with Amanda Melton (Nelson & Colne College), and we’d both always worked in one college. People were implying we needed experience in other colleges, but I didn’t agree – I think there are huge advantages to having many of the roles in the organisation you’re going to lead. You need to build lots of external networks too.

  • Which students will stick with you?

There’s a photo on the wall in my office of a student called Jared, who was with us for five years. He started on a part-time functional skills maths programme, and he left us with five A levels and is now going on to his doctorate at the University of East Anglia. Previously, his special educational needs had defined him in at school, but with us, he didn’t just flourish academically, he took on all the additional student activities. He became our student governor and we awarded him student of the year. He eventually won adult student of the year at the Association of Colleges awards at the House of Commons. His mum was in floods of tears.

  • What changes have you seen in FE?

Our expectations around the quality of teaching and learning students receive is much higher now than when I started in 1997. I also don’t think there was that expectation for the wraparound and additional support, which is a change for the better.

  • What’s been your biggest challenge or darkest moment?

Before Covid, I thought we’d done the toughest thing. We’d gone through a demerger and merger involving three institutions, three sets of lawyers, three sets of financial advisers, the FE commissioner’s office, ESFA and DfE. I honestly thought I’d never do anything that difficult again. But Covid was harder. It was such high stakes. We could do everything right, and someone could still get very, very ill.

  • What are you proudest of?

I think as principals we’re custodians of organisations, aren’t we? You look at what you’re passing on, and I’m confident I’m passing on a very different college. It’s ready to respond to what’s next.

Tenure: 2012-2022

Replacement principal: Jerry White, current deputy principal

Retirement plans: Spending September in Italy. No plans after that!

DfE permanently scraps annual FE learner and employer satisfaction surveys

The annual FE choices learner satisfaction survey has been permanently axed, the Department for Education announced today.

The survey, which is usually taken by hundreds of thousands of students and has been running for most of the past decade, was paused in 2019/20 and 2020/21 due to the coronavirus outbreak.

In 2018/19, over 345,000 students and apprentices responded to questions about the quality of teaching, whether their support needs were met and whether they would recommend their college or training provider.

Announcing the decision to cancel the survey going forward, DfE chief statistician Neil McIvor said: “DfE does not intend to run the satisfaction survey again in its current form. DfE will instead be considering the most useful information to collect from learners that best supports the proposals laid out in last year’s public consultation document [Skills for Jobs: a new further education funding and accountability system] – taking into account the responses to that consultation.”

The funding and accountability framework consultation closed in October but the response has still not been released. It is therefore unclear exactly how learner feedback will be gathered and used in the future.

However, the consultation did propose introducing a new publicly available “performance dashboard”, which would provide a “performance snapshot of individual colleges for all interested parties and public scrutiny, as well as an overview of how well the local and national FE system is performing”.

The dashboard, if given the go ahead, would include a list of performance indicators that “reflect what excellent delivery looks like”, consisting of “student outcomes, employers’ and students’ experience, and how well a provider is engaging with meeting local skills needs”.

The FE choices employer satisfaction survey, which was also paused in 2019/20 due to Covid, has also been permanently canned, the DfE confirmed.

Today’s announcement comes a week after the DfE launched a new apprentice feedback tool, which followed a similar employer feedback tool that was introduced in 2019.

This is what I really said about social mobility

Social mobility is complex, as FE providers know. The Telegraph’s headline about my speech was the opposite of the truth, writes Katharine Birbalsingh

You may have read that last week we launched the “fresh approach” which we want the Social Mobility Commission to take over the next few years.

The Commission has a statutory duty to report to Parliament on social mobility and can make recommendations about areas to improve.

It has the potential to influence policy, and has done some excellent work in the past. We want to make it more effective and we want to shift the focus. 

The headline which dominated on the day was the Telegraph’s rather odd spin, that “Working class people should aim ‘lower’ than Oxford” (the headline has since been changed).

This was not what was said or implied (you can see my speech here). In fact, quite the opposite.

You only have to look at the institutions my deputy chair and college principal Alun Francis and I both lead to see how high we encourage our students to aim.

We want them to be the very best they can be, and want to live in a world where no-one is held back by their background.

And we acknowledge that there is a lot of very important work going on, in schools, colleges and universities, and among employers, to improve the opportunities for people from disadvantaged backgrounds to excel.

It is fantastic that this is happening. But what we’re saying is… it is not enough. 

Social mobility is a very complex term. People have their own ideas of what it means for them, but in sociology and economics, where much of the measurement work goes on, the definitions and data are complex. 

And in policy terms, the problem of social mobility is usually framed in a particular way. 

It tends to focus on a very small group of very talented people making huge leaps from the ‘bottom’ to the ‘top.’

Of course we should strive for this to happen as much as possible – and indeed my own sixth form is all about getting disadvantaged kids into Oxbridge and Russell Group Universities. 

But there’s also brilliant work being done in the FE sector with young people who are achieving other things and who have different talents.

Not everyone can or wants to be a rich banker in the City

Well done to the FE providers supporting those 16 year olds who leave school without brilliant GCSES, who want to find something they are good at, and want to build a decent life in the place where they grew up – but either can’t or do not want to go to university! 

And well done to those supporting adults returning to learning, who want to improve their literacy and numeracy or other basic skills, or their vocational competence.

These are precisely the people that further education is devoted to.

But while many working in FE have the best of intentions when it comes to social mobility, on the current measures, most of their efforts – and more importantly, most of what the learners achieve – do not show up in the measurements.

Their progress only gets counted as social mobility if they are among the exceptional few, who leap from the bottom to the top – usually through extremely high academic achievement.  

The focus we want to bring to the Social Mobility Commission is how opportunities are being improved for everyone – but especially those who are often overlooked and ignored. 

Some may want to say this is lowering expectations. But that’s not what we’re saying at all. High expectations are the foundation of great learning. 

Aspiration matters too. Of course we want to celebrate those who go to Oxbridge or become top lawyers.

But we also want to celebrate those who don’t follow those routes. Life isn’t just about becoming a top banker in the City – we should celebrate that fact, and recognise that there are great achievements to be had in other careers and other parts of the country too. 

Not everyone can or wants to be a rich banker in the City – but they still want opportunities. 

And while we want to encourage and inspire everyone to be their best, we also need to avoid prejudiced views about occupational hierarchies and places – what a “good” job is or where you should aspire to live.

It really is great to see those who break from the circumstances in which they were born, to become stand out superstars in their chosen field. 

But this isn’t only about the few who are academically excellent – it has to be about the wider range of talents which FE typically discovers.  

AELP National Conference 2022 – Book your place now!

Taking place on Monday 27 and Tuesday 28 June, the 2022 AELP National Conference will be held at the Novotel London West. Kindly sponsored by The Skills Network, this flagship event in the calendar is a must-attend conference for anybody within the skills and employability sector.

We are delighted that this year’s conference will be chaired by Martine Croxall. Martine is a presenter with the BBC News and BBC World News TV channels.

She joined BBC News in May 2001 and began her broadcasting career in BBC local radio and regional TV where she worked in various roles. She now trains new TV presenters for the BBC’s Academy.

The conference is open to both AELP Members and Non-Members and you can book your place on our dedicated event website.

Updates and discussions will include key topical areas such as:

  • The apprenticeship levy under review – is the apprenticeship levy system and the levy itself meeting the needs of the economy, employers and apprentices?
  • A deep dive into what’s next after the Skills and Post-16 Education Act 2022 – the implementation of Local Skills Improvement Plans, the list of post-16 education or training providers, new responsibilities for the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education and much more.
  • Qualification Reforms at level 3 and below – understanding the changes to the qualifications  landscape and what that means for learners, employers and providers.

As ever, AELP National Conference has a great line-up of keynote speakers covering some of the most interesting and important issues facing the sector. You can find out more about some of our speakers below.

Alex Burghart MP, Minister for Skills

Alex was elected as Conservative MP for Brentwood and Ongar on 8 June 2017. He served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Prime Minister between 2019 and 2021 before being appointed as a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Education in September 2021.

Tracy Brabin, West Yorkshire Mayor

Tracy Brabin was elected as the first Mayor of West Yorkshire, and the first ever woman Metro Mayor in England, in May 2021. During her campaign, Tracy pledged to create 1,000 skilled jobs for young people and lead a ‘Creative New Deal’ for the region. Born in Batley, West Yorkshire, Tracy was an actor and screenwriter prior to entering politics, appearing in several British soap operas and writing for several television series.

Kirsty Evans Deputy Director of Department for Education.

Kirsty has 25 years’ experience working in the post 16 education and skills system and is currently the Director of Post 16 Regions and FE Provider Oversight in the Department for Education. In that role she is responsible for effective oversight of the FE sector and FE providers, as well as the delivery of key place facing policy programmes such as Local Skills Improvement Plans and Institutes of Technology.

Jo Saxton Chief Regulator of Ofqual

Dr Jo Saxton became the Chief Regulator of Ofqual in September 2021 bringing a decade of experience in school leadership to the role. She has previously been a government advisor and was formerly an academic.

Anthony Impey MBE Chair of the Apprenticeship Ambassador Network.

Anthony Impey is the Chief Executive of Be the Business, a not-for-profit organisation that is working to transform the British economy by supporting small businesses boost their productivity. He also chairs the Department of Education’s Apprenticeship Ambassador Network and the City & Guilds Industry Skills Board.

Toby Perkins MP, Shadow Minister for Skills.

Toby Perkins has been the Labour Member of Parliament for Chesterfield since 2010. He has served in a number of frontbench roles and was appointed Shadow Minister for Apprenticeships and Lifelong Learning in 2020.

Workshops

Part of what makes AELP National Conference so special is our innovative and thought-provoking workshops hosted by leading sector experts. These workshops are a fantastic opportunity to network, hear vital updates and get involved in topical discussions affecting the Skills and Employability sector.

This year there will be a terrific selection of 50 workshops to choose from over the two days of the conference. All of these will share best practice and knowledge, with the opportunity to discuss the topic and ask pertinent questions about the issue at hand.

Gala Evening

Following Day One of the AELP National Conference, there will be a pre-dinner drinks reception and Gala Dinner. This provides excellent networking opportunities in a relaxed atmosphere and is well attended by both delegates and other conference attendees/exhibitors.  

This year, the Gala Evening is open to conference delegates and non-attendees. The price includes the drinks reception, 3-course dinner, and live entertainment. All delegates should book their Gala Evening tickets at the time of booking conference places. Tickets for the Gala Dinner are not included with any complimentary conference places and therefore must be paid for separately.

AELP members can book a place for the Gala Evening only here, and non-members can book here.

We’re confident that our National Conference this year will be the best yet, so don’t delay – book your place today!

Why parents are the barrier to apprenticeship uptake

The challenge to apprenticeship uptake is the stigma of the route for parents, writes Ben Hansford

In the UK, university is still broadly viewed as the default path for school leavers. A university degree is seen as the most respected route for young jobseekers which, in the eyes of many, guarantees them a ‘successful’ job.

This is despite the fact that there has been a government focus on apprenticeships and other vocational routes into the workforce over the past few years as these have opened up to include a variety of skills, including technological and digital training.

However, even with a slowdown in apprenticeship starts through the pandemic, the programme has proved itself robust, and early indications show that apprenticeships are back on the rise and proving more popular than ever.

In 2019/20 alone, there were 719,000 people enrolled on an apprenticeship across England, with 322,500 apprenticeship starts and 146,900 apprenticeship achievements (the number of those who passed the end-point assessment).

Over 4.75 million apprenticeships were started over the past decade from May 2010 to January 2021. However, in 2020/21, 47 per cent of apprentices dropped out.

So it’s encouraging that employers such as Lloyds, HSBC and Asda offer apprenticeship programmes as a route into long careers.

But one of the main barriers to apprenticeship uptake in the UK is parents.

Ever since apprenticeships were reinvigorated ten years ago, the challenge has always been to remove the stigma of this route with parents. Parents remain the number one barrier to exponential growth in a proven route into a career.

Outdated views are stopping many school leavers from looking toward apprenticeships as a viable path into the workforce.

More than 60 per cent of parents of children aged 13 to 18 said they were concerned their child would be stuck ‘making the tea’ if they were to choose an apprenticeship, according to a 2020 survey by parent website Mumsnet.

Parents are still worried learners will be stuck making the tea

Parents need to be further informed and educated on the benefits of apprenticeships, the different types and exactly how they are run.

While government initiatives such as National Apprenticeship Week are great at raising awareness of apprenticeships among young people, without parental buy-in, young people may not get involved.

In fact research undertaken by the Association of Accounting Technicians in 2019 found that students feel they are being pushed down the route of going to university. Six out of ten students said their parents wanted them to pick that option.

The government and FE providers need to urgently rethink their apprenticeship strategies to target parents. This will help to combat the lack of information parents have regarding this route into work and relieve the stresses around whether a young adult is ready to take on a work or study programme.

To do so, here are the steps to take:

  1. Widen the marketing strategy to target not only school leavers but parents too.
  2. Lead with the fact that alongside more hands-on trade apprenticeships, there are professional and degree apprenticeships that span a variety of skills and sectors. Many parents don’t realise this.
  3. The costs of university versus apprenticeships should be included. This is even more relevant given the news that students will now be paying 12 per cent interest on their university loans.
  4. FE providers should hold discussions about after-school options with both students and their parents.
  5. Invite past students who have gone on to do an apprenticeship to talk about their experience. This is also a helpful way of bringing the apprenticeship experience to life.

Apprenticeships offer people the opportunity to earn a route into a profession, a degree, gain invaluable workforce experience and sometimes, have a job at the end of their programme, all at a lower cost than a university degree.

We must make sure parents are absolutely clear about this, and see apprenticeships as a competitive opportunity.

Shadowing should be embedded in apprenticeship standards

Shadowing is highly effective CPD and also helps to build relationships within organisations, writes Priya Patel

I’m a former digital marketing apprentice at an independent training provider, and now I hold a full-time role there. It means I have first-hand experience of reaping the opportunities of an apprenticeship programme.

The most impactful opportunity I had was shadowing – something that perhaps we don’t discuss very often in the FE space.

Shadowing is the activity of working alongside another member of the business that you work for, who has a different role to you. This is so you can build upon your transferrable skills while also networking in other parts of the organisation at the same time.

The whole process helps an organisation to achieve business goals through better relationships. 

When I worked with different members of the business, I found it very useful because it put into perspective how no working day is the same.

We learnt valuable knowledge from one another which enabled us to work better together in the future.

This shows how shadowing helps not only the learner, but the business and business members to work more efficiently. It set a higher standard of work for all of us involved.

It’s important to note that shadowing is different from other aspects of an apprenticeship.

This is because it’s a practice that is changeable, depending upon the different people you’re shadowing.

It means that learners can build up their skills in line with their needs, as well as the business’s needs. Shadowing helps to close skills gaps by facilitating learning first hand, in the shoes of colleagues. 

If there’s a particular skills gap in your team, pinpointing another business member to learn from could be the way to upskill apprentices further. Also, it allows a business to do this without having to employ another team member.

Similarly, if the business has connections with another business, a way for these businesses to build connections is by allowing employees from each business to work alongside one another.

This shows how shadowing can allow your team to branch outward to other businesses in a way that will provide value to one another, as well as for apprentices. They’ll get the opportunity to network in a new streamline.

Suggesting shadowing can also, of course, be an effective strategy to deploy substantial continued professional development for your team.

Within any business, shadowing should be available to apprentices if they ask or if the business recommends it.

Shadowing in apprenticeship standards would help model good leadership

But it’s important to stress that shadowing is not in the apprenticeship standards.

If shadowing was in the standard, then more talent could be brought out on programmes and more individual apprentices could be stretched and developed.

If shadowing was embedded in all apprenticeships, we could create a new generation of apprentices who are leaders of their own learning.

By incorporating shadowing into the apprenticeship standard, this will help model good leadership. It would show learners that leaders exist at different stages of the career ladder, not just at ‘the top’ of it.

This in turn would emphasise the need to assist colleagues to gain the skills for these different stages of the career ladder. In turn, this would allow apprentices to experience a learning curve that represents the kind of leader they want to be. 

For apprentices to reach their potential, they need to be given the independence to learn in different situations. But they also need the support and encouragement to do so.

When I was an apprentice, encouragement from my peers was the key to see me through the pathway of the apprenticeship.

It gave me confidence to learn as best I could on the apprenticeship programme. This has meant that on completion of my apprenticeship, I am able to continually guide my own learning as I’ve developed that habit from the get-go.

With shadowing in the apprenticeship standard, we would have the power to pass on the torch of brilliant learning, and keep it burning bright.

What can we learn from the history of policymaking in FE?

A top-down approach has left a confused legacy of abandoned institutions, qualifications and a lack of consistent funding streams, writes Bart Shaw

Bringing young people on the margins of education policy into the centre is what my organisation strongly believes is the most pressing policy change.

All policymaking should start with the question “how does this benefit the chances of those who do least well?”

This is where the hundreds of FE colleges in England come in.

They support almost a million young people at a time. These students are disproportionately those from lower-income or non-white backgrounds, and those with higher levels of learning needs.

Yet policy making (and research) marginalises young people in FE.

One way in which policymaking undermines and underfunds young people in FE is through high levels of ‘churn’ in funding and policy decisions.

This year I read the Edge Foundation’s excellent review of the last 30 years of FE policy, by Oxford University professor Ewart Keep, thinktank founder Tom Richmond and former college principal Ruth Silver. I highly recommend a read: it’s called ‘Honourable Histories’.

High levels of policy churn undermines FE

The overall message is clear: the FE sector in England has been characterised by frequent and significant changes in policy direction.

That’s especially the case in comparison to other countries, where the pace of change is more incremental.

England’s hyperactivity when it comes to FE policy has generally been problematic.

The report notes:

“Rather than seeking to establish and build up durable institutional arrangements we have a tendency to periodically raze them to the ground, scatter the rubble and start all over again with the erection of new, ultimately equally temporary edifices.”

In other countries, change is often built on consensus, with leaders of FE institutions, unions or representative groups, regional and local government and employers. But in England change is often centrally and swiftly imposed.

Coupled with frequent changes in direction, this top-down approach has left a confused legacy of abandoned institutions and qualifications and a lack of consistent funding streams.

Even when government rhetoric prioritises the FE sector, the relative funding, accountability structures, recruitment drives and celebration of achievement remains weighted heavily in favour of schools and the push for ever-improving academic attainment.

What, then, can current and future education ministers (for whom ‘skills’ is a stated top priority) learn from the failures of FE policymaking in the past?

I have three tentative suggestions. These are made in the spirit of slow policy change and not aiming to solve all problems in one go, but rather to lay a foundation for future reform.

1.Real terms funding to at least match 2010

Whilst the capital funding promised in the levelling up white paper is useful, the universal refrain from within the sector is about the continued shortfall in revenue funding. At the very least, real terms funding for colleges should match 2010, with longer (five year?) funding horizons to enable sustainable staffing and planning.

2. Put those with the highest need first

For the Department for Education, this means resourcing the FE sector to at least the same extent at schools. Funding, recruitment and strategic position within the department has been marginalised for too long.

Focus on young people whose learning needs are more complex and less likely to fit what is already happening. Forty-five per cent of young people aged 16 plus with an identified SEND are in FE colleges compared to 12 per cent in school sixth forms.

Ensure that every new decision is made with these young people in mind first.

3. Stick with the current portfolio of qualifications

Give T Levels a chance to bed in. In the meantime, rather than imagining that the system will need streamlining, and BTECs should make way for T Levels, allow both to sit alongside each other and spend time observing, measuring and testing solutions before radically re-landscaping.

Let’s not keep repeating the cycles of the past.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: EDITION 392

Katy Quinn

Principal & CEO,
City of Portsmouth
College

Start date: Summer term

Previous Job: Principal & CEO,
Strode College

Interesting fact: In her younger years, Katy played County netball for Somerset.

Gary Potts

Principal, Northumberland College, Education Partnership North East

Start date: August 2022

Previous Job: Group Vice Principal – Business, Innovation and Partnerships,
Education Training Collective

Interesting fact: Gary began his career as a design engineer following a five-year apprenticeship in toolmaking design and programming electric discharge machines.

IFS: Spending on adult education and apprenticeships will be 25% below 2010 levels by 2025

Total spending on adult education and apprenticeships will be 25 per cent lower in 2024/2025 compared with 2010/2011 according to new analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies.  

Researchers found that total spending on adult education and apprenticeships fell by 38 per cent in real-terms between 2010–11 and 2020–21. Looking at classroom based learning on its own, the IFS found that spending has plummeted by 50 per cent over ten years. 

While the 2021 spending review provided an additional £900 million for adult education by 2024–25, total spending on adult education and apprenticeships will still be 25 per cent lower in 2024/25 compared to 2010/11. 

Sector leaders were quick to criticise the government’s spending review promises on adult education at the time.

The IFS has said today this will make it harder to achieve the government’s high ambitions to improve technical education and adult skills in order to level up poorer areas of the country.

“As part of efforts to level up poorer areas of the country, the government has announced an additional £900m in extra spending on adult education by 2024-25,” said Imran Tahir, IFS Research Economist and author. 

“However, due to significant cuts over the past decade, government spending will still be 25% lower in 2024–25 than 2010–11.”

Tahir explained that taken together, the government’s adult education reform plans will provide extra help to those who left schools with good GCSEs or equivalent qualifications. 

“Yet the main plans set out for helping adults with few qualifications – skills bootcamps and the new “Multiply” programme –  are relatively untested and are unlikely to lead to formal qualifications. 

“Providing effective support and training for this group is a significant challenge that will be key to levelling-up poorer areas of the country,” he added. 

Stephen Evans, chief executive of Learning and Work Institute said that the research echoed their findings that the “welcome increases” in funding would still leave budgets far short of 2010 levels. 

“With employers investing just half the EU average per employee on training, it’s clear we need to up our game. 

“Critically that means learning at all levels, with our research showing a 63% fall in adults improving their literacy and numeracy. This is a slow motion disaster, limiting people’s life chances and business access to skills. It’s a short-term saving with a long-term cost,” he said. 

Learner numbers have dropped just as drastically as funding. 

The IFS says there’s been a 50 per cent fall in adults taking qualifications at Level 2 and below, and a 33 per cent fall in the number of adults taking Level 3 qualifications. 

Researchers noted that such falls will partly reflect cuts in public funding for such courses and the introduction of advanced learning loans under the coalition government.

Toby Perkins MP, Labour’s shadow minister for Further Education and Skills, said the government’s “neglect of further education is plain to see” in shrinking opportunities and falling numbers of adults taking part in training and reskilling.

“Together with the lowest level of workplace learning in over a generation, it is clear that the Conservatives do not have a plan to tackle skills shortages across our economy” he added. 

Apprenticeships growth focused at advanced and higher levels

The IFS also found that apprenticeships were more focused at advanced and higher levels. 

After 2010, the number of adult apprenticeship starts initially increased to about 350-400,000 per year. 

However, researchers found that apprenticeship starts have dropped off to about 250,000 per year since the introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy in April 2017. 

“At the same time, there has been [a] shift in the type of apprenticeships taken by adults. In 2020, fewer than 50,000 adults began the lowest level of apprenticeships (intermediate apprenticeships) compared to 200,000 a decade earlier,” the IFS said in a statement.  

“The number of higher apprenticeships (which include degree apprenticeships) has rocketed from a few hundred starts in 2010 to almost 100,000 starts in 2020”.  

The research found that whilst increasing numbers of higher and advanced apprenticeships is welcome, the number of apprenticeship opportunities at lower levels has been drying up.

“Both the economic downturn and the changing nature of the labour market are likely to increase demand for adult education and apprenticeships,” said Josh Hillman, education director at the Nuffield Foundation. 

“To ensure that adults from a wide range of backgrounds from across the UK are able to gain the skills required by employers, it is essential that the further education system is adequately funded.”

The DfE told FE Week: “We are targeting support where it is needed most, investing in high quality training that is delivering the skilled workforce employers need to grow, while plugging skills gaps in our economy and helping more people into jobs.

“This includes making £2.7 billion available by 2025 to support business of all sizes to create more apprenticeships, in addition to investing over £260 million in the last year to expand popular adult training schemes, such as Skills Bootcamps and Free Courses for Jobs.

“This approach is working. It is great to see the number of people starting apprenticeships across England so far this year bouncing back to pre-pandemic levels, and thousands of people have already taken advantage of the opportunity to upskill or retrain for free through one of our adult skills courses.”