Regional and social class divides in adult learning put ‘levelling up’ plans at risk, LWI warns

The gap between the highest and lowest performing regions in England when it comes to adult education participation is continuing to widen – putting the government’s levelling up plans at risk, according to new research.

And on top of this, the data shows stark social class divides persist as adults in lower socio-economic groups are twice as likely to not have participated in learning since leaving full-time education than those in higher socio-economic groups.

The Learning and Work Institute revealed the findings through its annual adult participation in learning survey for 2022, which was published today to mark the start of Lifelong Learning Week.

Here are the key findings:

Slight fall in overall participation in learning

The 2022 survey shows that just over two fifths (42 per cent) of adults are currently learning or have done so in the last three years – a slightly lower participation rate than 2021 (-3 percentage points).

However, this overall participation rate is in line with the rates seen in the early 2000s after recent years of much lower participation. Just 33 per cent of adults were in learning in 2019.

LWI researchers said the change in survey method from face-to-face to online means that comparisons to surveys pre-2021 should be treated with caution. But, they added, this finding may “indicate a sustained interest in learning post-pandemic”.

Disadvantaged adults twice as likely to not participate in education

When looking at the social divide, today’s report states that almost half (49 per cent) of adults in the AB social grade are current or recent learners, compared to 38 per cent of those in the C1, 44 per cent in the C2, and 35 per cent in the DE social grades.

Almost twice as many adults in the DE grade have not participated in learning since leaving full-time education when compared to those in the AB grade (37 per cent compared to 19 per cent).

This “class penalty” in learning has persisted since the survey started and shown little sign of narrowing, according to the researchers.

Gap widens between highest and lowest performing regions

This year’s survey shows that the gap between the highest and lowest performing geographical regions has widened.

London has by far the highest rate of adult participation in learning at 56 per cent, compared to 35 per cent in south west England – a 21 percentage point difference compared to a 17 percentage point difference in 2019.

In comparison to last year, participation in learning has increased in Wales and Northern Ireland but has declined in England and Scotland.

The survey shows that 42 per cent of adults in England participate in learning compared to 39 per cent of adults in Scotland and 43 per cent in Northern Ireland and 42 per cent in Wales.

BAME adults more likely to participate in education

As in previous years, the survey findings indicate that respondents from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds are more likely to take part in learning than those from white backgrounds (66 per cent compared to 38 percent).

The survey also found that men from BAME backgrounds are more likely to be participating in learning than women from BAME backgrounds.

This didn’t change significantly within social grades, compared to white respondents whose pattern of participation declines by social grade.

The survey indicates this may suggest that social class is more likely to be an indicator of participation among white adults, “although this should be treated with caution due to lower numbers of BAME respondents and that the use of a ‘BAME’ category can mask differences between individual ethnic groups”.

The key barriers to learning for adults

Seven in ten respondents (70 per cent) said they faced barriers which prevented them from accessing learning in the past three years. Of these, the most common barriers were cost and affordability as well as feeling too old.

Other barriers included work or time pressures, being put off by tests or exams and lack of confidence. Although three in ten adults said nothing had prevented them from accessing learning and that they didn’t want to.

Nearly two thirds (65 per cent) of current or recent learners indicated that they have encountered at least one challenge while learning. Work and time pressure were cited as the most likely challenge, with confidence, cost and exams listed after this, which are the same as the 2021 survey results.

Levelling up plans at risk, says LWI chief

Stephen Evans, chief executive of Learning and Work Institute, said: “The stark inequalities in access highlighted by our survey mean that those who could benefit most from learning are least likely to participate. The gap between the highest and lowest performing regions is, if anything, widening, so we need practical action to level up, not down.

“Ahead of the government’s medium term fiscal plan, this survey makes the case for increased investment in lifelong learning to boost economic growth and social justice. We also need local government, civic society, employers and others to help build a culture of lifelong learning. Lifelong Learning Week offers a chance for us all to do that.”

A DfE spokesperson said: “We want everyone to have the opportunity to gain the skills they need to succeed, whatever their age, background, qualifications, or employment status.

“That’s why we’ve made £2.7 billion available by 2025 to support businesses to create more apprenticeships, in addition to investing over £150 million in the last year to expand our Skills Bootcamps and Free Courses for Jobs training schemes, which thousands of individuals have already taken advantage of.”

Profile: Lee Elliot Major

Lee Elliot Major gave up a dream job to become the UK’s first professor of social mobility. Donna Ferguson finds out why he made the move to academia – and his latest plans to improve the life chances for our poorest pupils.

Lee Elliot Major recently confessed to a group of headteachers that he’d just walked past a London train station where he’d slept rough in his youth. “All the heads looked at me aghast,” the UK’s first professor of social mobility recalls. “They hadn’t expected that.” 

A former chief executive of the Sutton Trust, he proudly lists on his CV the OBE he was given in 2019 for services to social mobility, with his many published works and a glittering array of academic honours, appointments and accolades. 

But perhaps equally relevant to his job at the University of Exeter – although not listed on his CV – are his experiences as a comprehensive school drop-out in the 1980s, when he worked as a bin man and a petrol station assistant. 

There were nights, back then, when he was “technically homeless”. He was a punk, he says, with “big earrings, eyeliner and blond spiky hair” and frequently clashed with his “quite strict” father. “My dad chucked me out a few times… I would have nowhere to go, and I remember…” he pauses, takes a deep breath … “him taking the front door key. That was quite a big thing for me. It did feel like I had… no home to speak of.” 

He comes from a  working-class family: his mother worked for the local council, his father was an electronic engineer. “No one in my family had been to university,” he says. “There are lots of people in sociology and economics and education, thinking about inequality and social mobility. To me, it definitely is a personal as well as professional passion.” 

‘I’m an ‘awkward climber, detached from my roots, never quite at home’

He was always interested in social justice and education was always important. He was so bright that the toughest boys at his local comp “used to be quite proud of me – I remember one of them saying: ‘he’s going to be a brain surgeon when he grows up.’” Looking back, he thinks he may have been on the spectrum in some way…”I could sit around looking at mathematical equations for hours.” 

His “very supportive” teachers recognised his potential and pushed him to apply to Cambridge. But instead of making him an offer, the Cambridge dons who interviewed him wrote to his school expressing concern for his wellbeing. “I must have spoken about my personal life… It was quite chaotic.” 

Thinking cap: beret-wearing 18 year old in 1986 while retaking A-levels at Richmond tertiary college in West London

Shortly after he stopped going to school, left home and managed to get his own place “on social security”.  

He was working for a builder he had met in the petrol station when, with a friend’s support, he got a second shot at university. “My friend was from a typically middle-class family – dad was an architect, mum was a teacher – and they took me in for a time. That was really critical.” 

His new “surrogate parents” encouraged him to retake his A-levels and he did well enough to secure a place at Sheffield, graduating with a PhD in theoretical physics six years later. 

He is very aware that the “well trodden” university route he took often only enables social mobility for the most academic disadvantaged children, and agrees with Katharine Birbalsingh, head of Michaela School, that attending an elite university is not the only road to success for a young person from an impoverished background.  

Future social mobility efforts should focus on making cultures inclusive to all talents, wherever they come from, rather than converting “working-class oiks into middle-class copies”, he says. “The big issue facing our society is shrinking opportunities to lead decent lives with affordable homes and good jobs.” 

‘We have very few people in charge who understand FE’

Universities need to “up their game” in supporting students from poorer backgrounds – “not just getting them into university, but supporting them while they’re there”. 

But he also thinks it’s outrageous that there is no pupil premium funding in FE to support the poorest pupils who do not go down the university route. “That would be my one funding ask, if I could get extra money,” he says, adding that one of the big problems facing the sector is the dominance of university-educated politicians and journalists. “We have very few people in charge who understand or empathise with FE colleges or vocational routes… we should focus on the young people who don’t go to university. But I also think there should be more university and FE links than there are at the moment.” 

London calling: Speaking at London Guildhall in October 2022 warning that London risks becoming an ‘exclusive enclave of elites’

He is carrying out policy workshops with the Department of Education to address the “forgotten fifth” – the 20 per cent of young people who leave school without a grade 4 at GCSE in English language and maths. “Providing proper vocational options, as well as academic, is a huge black hole in our education system. And I think one of the reasons why we have so many young people leave without basic maths and English skills is because they are put off by a curriculum that is – and I know this sounds awful – a bit too academic.” 

For many young people who are more vocational or creative, education in the UK is not as good as it could be. 

GCSEs label some children as failures. “What I would have, alongside GCSEs and some vocational offerings, would be every pupil having to pass a National Certificate, which would be more functional skills. So, for example, how do you use maths in everyday life? How do you communicate?” It seems obvious to him that every pupil should leave school with those basic skills. 

He left his “dream job” at the Sutton Trust for Exeter in 2019 because he wanted to have more of a direct impact on the practice of teachers and universities, and more influence on the government. 

He is full of practical ideas about how social mobility could be improved.  

For example, he would like Sure Start centres to be reintroduced  “because otherwise, as our research shows, you’re always in catch-up mode in the school system, with huge gaps at age 5 and pupils falling behind”. 

He also wants UCAS to reform personal statements, which he thinks offer middle-class children an unfair advantage, and to see more inclusive teaching. “Schools policy at the moment assumes that if you do good teaching – and that’s hard enough in itself – then everyone rises. I don’t agree.” 

‘We should focus on the young people who don’t go to university’

Teachers, he says, should have a “really explicit focus” on disadvantaged learners. “That means knowing who they are and understanding their home environment, making sure you’re giving them feedback and thinking about what approaches benefit those children in particular.” 

Like Birbalsingh, who announced last week that the The Social Mobility Commission will investigate which teaching styles work best to boost outcomes for poorer pupils, he thinks one of the most important questions the government needs to answer is: “What is it that schools, that are doing well for disadvantaged children, are doing? Which schools have done well over the past decade and how can we scale up that approach in an inclusive way?” 

Persistent absence among disadvantaged pupils also needs to be addressed. “One of our studies showed that 40 per cent of children on free school meals are not coming to school regularly. They’re missing at least 10 per cent of sessions. This is a crisis.”   

He sees it as a legacy of the pandemic, exacerbating educational inequalities that already existed. “Research has estimated that social mobility will decline for this generation… poorer children are up against it in a way that is so extreme now, compared to previous eras.” 

Yet he admits he has paid for private tutors for his own children. “I don’t think you should castigate parents for trying to do what’s best for their children,” he says, adding that it was a joint decision with his partner. “I am obviously now very middle class… Sometimes I dwell on this a lot: to what extent am I challenging the system myself?” 

After the interview, he emails to add: “My hope is that anyone from my sort of background has the chance to fulfil their potential whatever that may be. However, I would describe myself as an ‘awkward climber’ – detached from my roots and never quite at home where I’ve ended up. You carry your history with you – I guess I’ve learned to be more upfront about who I am as I’ve got older.” 

DfE reprimanded after student data used by gambling firms – but avoids £10m fine

The Department for Education has been reprimanded over a “serious breach” of data protection law which allowed a firm providing age-verification for gambling companies access to the personal information of millions young people.

But the department has avoided a fine of over £10 million from the information watchdog, despite a warning over “woeful” data protection practices.

An Information Commissioner’s Office investigation into data shared from the learning record service (LRS) found “prolonged misuse of the personal information of up to 28 million children”.

The LRS holds data on pupils and learners over 14 for 66 years, and is only supposed to be accessed for education purposes.

But the Sunday Times revealed in 2020 that employment screening firm Trustopia had used the data to provide age verification serves to the GB Group, to help gambling companies confirm customers were over 18.

The ICO launched its investigation after it was notified by the DfE, which only became aware of the breach because of the national news story.

Screening firm looked up 22k learners

According to the watchdog, Trustopia had access to the LRS database for over a year from September 2018 to January 2020, and carried out searches on 22,000 learners.

The ICO ruled today that the data was shared “without appropriate control or oversight”, and that the DfE “failed to protect against the unauthorised processing by third parties of data held on the LRS database for reasons other than the provision of educational services”.

Data subjects were also “unaware of the processing and could not object or otherwise withdraw from this processing”. The DfE “failed to process personal data fairly, lawfully and transparently”, breaching the general data protection regulations (GDPR).

“No-one needs persuading that a database of pupils’ learning records being used to help gambling companies is unacceptable,” said information commissioner John Edwards.

“Our investigation found that the processes put in place by the Department for Education were woeful.”

DfE dodges £10m fine for data failures

The ICO said it “considered” issuing a fine of just over £10 million, which would have been “effective, proportionate and dissuasive”.

However, due to a “revised approach” by the ICO to public sector organisations, the watchdog settled for a formal reprimand.

“This was a serious breach of the law, and one that would have warranted a £10 million fine in this specific case,” said Edwards. But he chose “not to issue that fine, as any money paid in fines is returned to government, and so the impact would have been minimal”.

“But that should not detract from how serious the errors we have highlighted were.”

The DfE had continued to grant Trustopia access to the database after it advised officials it was the new trading name for Edududes Ltd, which had been a training provider.

But Trustopia “was in fact a screening company and used the database for age verification, a service they offered to companies including GB Group, which helped gambling companies confirm customers were over 18”.

“This data sharing meant the information was not being used for its original purpose. This is against data protection law.”

DfE revokes access for a fifth of organisations

The ICO said that at the time of the breach, 12,600 organisations had access to the LRS database, “including schools, colleges, higher education institutions, and other education providers”.

These organisations get access so they can “verify a number of functions including the academic qualifications of potential students or check if they are eligible for funding”.

Since the incident, the DfE has removed access from 2,600 organisations.

It follows a damning audit of the DfE’s broader data processing activities by the ICO in 2020, which also found the DfE broke data protection laws in how it handled pupil data.

The DfE still hasn’t met its pledge to publish the full audit report, and now also faces potential legal action from data privacy campaign group Defend Digital Me over the way it handles data.

A DfE spokesperson said the department takes the security of data “we hold extremely seriously”, adding that it will publish a full response to the ICO’s letter by the end of the year, setting out “detailed progress in respect of all the actions identified”.

No regulation for dissolved firm Trustopia

The ICO said today that it had conducted a simultaneous investigation into Trustopia, “during which the company confirmed it no longer had access to the database and the cache of data held in temporary files had been deleted”.

The firm has since been dissolved, meaning regulatory action was “not available”.

It comes after FE Week revealed in 2020 that Trustopia co-founder Ronan Smith had previously run a private provider called Edudo, which was investigated by the Education and Skills Funding Agency in 2017.

The agency subsequently terminated the firm’s contracts, which were used to deliver courses funded through advanced learner loans.

Smith then transferred Edudo’s assets to a new company called Learning Republic and went bust. Hundreds of learners were subsequently left thousands of pounds in debt with no qualifications to show for it.

Smith was approached for comment, as was the GB Group.

Liverpool City Region targets over 50s for apprenticeships

A targeted campaign is being developed in Liverpool to help older learners – particularly those aged 50 and above who have been made redundant or want to change careers – into apprenticeships. 

An apprenticeship taskforce for Liverpool City Region Combined Authority put forward a series of recommendations last month, one of which is to create a campaign to target learners over 50 into apprenticeships. 

Around 9,600 over-50s are on Universal Credit while being out of work, according to the authority, yet this demographic “may be unaware that they could access relevant qualifications” such as apprenticeships. 

Following approval by the combined authority last month, work on the action plan is now in development, with ambitions for more details to be ready by February 2023. 

But the scheme could help to address some of the skills shortages in the region in sectors such as adult care, and support the hospitality and tourism sector in time for the Eurovision Song Contest to land in the city in May next year. 

Rob Tabb, policy lead for employment and skills at the combined authority, said: “I think employers here and nationally are exploring all means possible to be able to fill some of their recruitment and skills gaps. 

“People are coming to apprenticeships at different stages. It is not, if you don’t have one by 18 your chance has gone, in that respect. There is an openness for employers to consider doing this and seeing apprenticeships as an opportunity to address and meet some of their skills needs.” 

While details of what the campaign could involve are still being drawn up, it is likely to include social media and possibly regional TV, which Tabb says has proved successful in other recent campaigns. 

But one of the key issues to overcome is likely to be around levels of pay. 

Tabb said: “I think there is an understandable point about over-50s saying I need more money than the £18,000 that a level 3 apprenticeship might be offering me in that respect, but I think that is something we want to work through and understand and see where some of the added value we can bring to that.” 

He added that it would be about removing barriers to apprenticeships that the combined authority has influence over. 

Other recommendations from the task group include a broader communications plan for apprenticeships, targeted communications programmes for those who may be harder to reach (such as school leavers and those with special educational needs), and supporting colleges and training providers to access funding for equipment and facilities. 

It also wants to promote earlier engagement between large local employers and school-aged children to help inspire youngsters sooner. 

UK hosts special WorldSkills competition this week

The UK is hosting the global WorldSkills competition this week for the first time in over ten years – albeit on a smaller scale.

Competitors have travelled from around the world, including Singapore, Canada, and Zimbabwe to compete in aircraft maintenance and manufacturing in Cardiff and Wrexham from Tuesday until Friday. 

They are taking part in this year’s special edition of WorldSkills, which is being hosted by multiple countries after continuing Covid restrictions meant the whole event couldn’t go ahead in Shanghai as planned.

Despite fierce competition and rigorous training schedules, WorldSkills international competitors donned matching waterproof jackets and headed out into Wales’s lush countryside to explore the country’s cultural heritage. 

The tiny Welsh village of St Fagans, reconstructed into a museum in 1948, lies just a few miles west of Cardiff. Red, blue, pink, and white pebbledash cottages stand amongst reconstructed Iron Age farmsteads.

International competitors walking through a Welsh village

It is Coby Yong’s first time in Wales, having flown over from Singapore to compete against 13 other countries in the aircraft maintenance competition.

The 19-year-old said: “It’s a beautiful country… Singapore is highly dense and all-around Singapore there are high rise buildings. Whereas here there is a lot of flat lands, it’s very calm and chill here.”

The teams were taken further north to Blaenavon to visit an old coal mine, named Big Pit. In its heyday the mine employed up to 1,300 men. Since then, this little village’s population has dwindled down to a few thousand. 

WorldSkills competitors walked through the old mines 300ft tunnels, sensing what life would have been like for the miners in the 1800’s.

Ahmed Alkindi, from the United Arab Emirates Team, is happy to have travelled to Wales to compete. He said: “Wales is really nice. I think it’s the best because I have visited the castles and the mines. The weather is really cool compared to my country. It is 30 degrees in Dubai right now and gets up to 45 degrees in the summer.”

The finalists have been intensively training over the last three years to win medals in aircraft maintenance and manufacturing skills. Winning a medal will have a life-changing impact for them and their careers.

Ewan Payne is representing the UK in Aircraft Maintenance in Cardiff. George Denman, from Swansea, Michael Jones, from Caerphilly, and Charlie Samson, from Wrexham, are on the manufacturing UK team.  

Denman told FE Week that training has focussed on coping under pressure and being involved in WorldSkills will be a huge boost to his career. 

He added: “Being involved with WorldSkills UK … teaches us key skills that will be crucial in our careers. Things like coping under pressure, working as a team, and time management.”

Michael Jones says he thought that the Duke of Edinburgh would be the hardest thing he has done. Turns out he was wrong. He said: “This is harder, but I love it. To represent the UK is fantastic but I’m not sure that my partner, friends, and family quite realise yet how big this is. Winning a gold medal would be life changing.”

Payne, an RAF Aircraft engineer based at RAF Benson in Oxfordshire, is the only competitor representing the UK in aircraft maintenance. Payne has served in the USA, France and the Middle East and is a qualified sky diver. 

He is following in the footsteps of Hadyn Jakes, who brought home the gold medal for Team UK at the last championships in Kazan in 2019. Since competing in 2019, Haydn returned to his studies at the University of Nottingham and was awarded an MBE in 2020. He is now part of the WorldSkills UK training team and is working with Ewan in preparation for November’s final.

Jakes said: “It is like nothing you have experienced before and, as well as demonstrating you have the technical skills, you must be able to keep focus and perform under pressure.”

Payne added: “The training that I’ve been going through with my training manager has been hard. I’ve learnt a lot throughout this journey and I’m very appreciative of Jimmy, my training manager, for all the support he’s given me. It is a hard journey.”

Team UK are up against some of the world’s best talent. France’s Valentin Borkowski has been training full time for the past three years. Alkindi has also been training intensively over the past two years. 

As has Yong, who tells FE Week that he has been training full time, every day for the past three years. “My training starts at 8am and ends at 6pm Monday to Friday. Basically, it’s a job.”

Competitions will finish today, with winners announced tomorrow in the closing ceremony.

The 23-year-old Alkindi said: “We are all winners. Everyone who reached this level to make it to the WorldSkills are champions. Because I believe everyone here is a professional who worked hard for one to two years three years from their life. I think all of us are champions.”

Ofsted faces another legal challenge over lack of Covid consideration

A long-running hairdressing apprenticeship provider is legally challenging a damaging Ofsted grade, saying the “shock” report fails to consider the impact of Covid-19.

UK Training & Development Limited (UKTD Ltd), based in Hemel Hampstead and set up in 1998, was dealt an inadequate rating after an inspection with the education watchdog in July. Its funding contracts are likely to be terminated by the government as a result.

In a report published last week, Ofsted claimed that leaders are “not ambitious” for most of their near-200 apprentices, adding that too many do not secure employment following their apprenticeship and fewer than half stay at their current employer.

Inspectors also said apprentices often struggle to meet the demands of work and study because they “do not regularly receive their entitlement to time away from work” and claimed that apprentices were “frustrated” with the training and assessment provided.

But the provider is furious with Ofsted’s report. Managing director Theresa Wisniewski has sought legal advice, and is now preparing to challenge the inspectorate through the courts.

Her main issue is that inspectors allegedly failed to properly consider the impact of Covid on the hairdressing and barbering industry “despite the inspection handbook requiring that inspectors do this”.

UKTD is the third provider in recent months to complain that Ofsted is handing out grade fours without considering the part the pandemic has played on apprenticeship delivery – and to follow it up with legal action.

Wisniewski said her provider’s report was “devoid of any details about Covid”.

“The practicalities of work-based learning in a sector that had restrictions imposed for months after lockdown, which ended long after other sectors had already started the recovery phase, has not been assessed in our view,” she told FE Week.

“The impact lasted for at least two years.”

This is UKTD’s third ‘inadequate’ Ofsted inspection since 2017.

The previous two were based on safeguarding failings. It is not clear why the Education and Skills Funding Agency did not terminate the provider’s contracts following the previous grade four judgements, as is usual practice for independent training providers. The agency can, however, decide not to terminate contracts in exceptional circumstances.

The ESFA declined to comment on whether it would terminate UKTD’s contracts following its latest grade four.

UKTD received an improved ‘requires improvement’ report in 2019, and Ofsted found they had made ‘reasonable progress’ in a monitoring visit in 2021.

But last week’s ‘inadequate’ report said leaders and managers “have not rectified many of the weaknesses identified at previous Ofsted inspections. “Leaders accept modest improvements too readily and have an unrealistic picture of their current position … As a result, persistent weaknesses remain.”

Although the watchdog noted that safeguarding arrangements are effective, and apprentices feel valued by staff in their learning environments.

Wisniewski said: “We are naturally very disappointed with the Ofsted inspection findings, and we have instructed solicitors to assist us challenge the findings in the report. Only a year ago we were found to be making ‘reasonable progress’ in all areas for improvement inspected by Ofsted so the current findings have come as a shock.

“It is very frustrating for any provider when outcomes lack consistency and seem to be dependent on which inspection team arrives on the day.”

Angela Sandhal of Duncan Lewis Solicitors, who will be assisting the provider with legal action, said: “My client is concerned that the current inspection findings are part of a pattern of grade four inspections at a time when providers are still in the Covid recovery phase.

“We have asked Ofsted to provide us with the raw data gathered during the inspection process but so far they have failed to do this.”

New ESFA chief plans financial handbook ‘bible’ for ITPs

The Education and Skills Funding Agency’s (ESFA) new chief has voiced plans to introduce a financial handbook for independent training providers, as part of a pledge to improve partnership working between the agency and the sector. 

David Withey, who became ESFA chief executive in August, said the handbook will be an equivalent of the academies trust handbook, and hoped it would aid ITPs in their understanding of funding rules and procedures – essentially acting as their “bible”. 

Speaking in Manchester on Tuesday at the Association of Employment and Learning Provider’s autumn conference, Withey said: “One of the things we have been thinking about recently is an ITP handbook, based on the model we have for academies – a financial handbook intended to be the bible that sets out how everything should work in one place. 

“That isn’t perfect, but it does bring things together in a single place to be a bit clearer.” 

“We have been working with AELP and a number of individual ITPs to work out how we can make that happen because it is probably more complicated in this space.” 

Academy trusts must comply with the rules in the academy trust handbook as part of their funding agreements, and contains guidance on the main financial requirements for trusts, scrutiny checks, annual accounts and external audits, and regulation and intervention. 

In addition, Withey said he wanted to ensure the funding rules were simpler to understand for providers. 

He said he finds some of the frameworks “pretty complex” and added: “A handbook or rules only can truly help people if the rules, frameworks and procedures it encompasses are appropriately simple to understand.” 

Furthermore, the ESFA is planning to release an online version of its data analysis tool this month to act as a “data self-assessment toolkit” to help ITPs identify potential data anomalies. 

During his speech, Withey voiced ambitions for a better balance between its regulatory work and guidance for providers. “I think it is probably fair to say we are not getting that balance right all of the time,” he said. 

“Because, if this is working well, if that balance is balanced, then it means you might discover a funding issue or you might be a bit uncertain about an approach to funding rules, and feel able to come and talk to us about it without fear of consequences.” 

He added: “What I ultimately want to achieve is a shift in perspective of the agency to a greater, more supportive partnership.” 

The ‘galling’ pay-offs for DfE ministers on political merry-go-round

Nineteen politicians have held office at the Department for Education in just over a year – with those resigning or booted out in reshuffles entitled to more than £100,000 in severance pay. 

Analysis by the Institute for Government shows education had more secretaries of state (four) this year than any other department. Five other departments had three.   

FE Week analysis reveals 19 ministers have held one of what was six ministerial posts, reduced to five since September last year.  

Ministers are entitled to severance pay no matter how long they serve – providing they don’t get another government position within three weeks. 

Our study shows that 10 ministers who resigned or were sacked are due nearly £110,000 in pay-offs. 

‘Schools and colleges would be admonished for this’ 

Ed Reza Schwitzer, associate director at Public First, said: “All the talk from politicians is about civil servants being more efficient and squeezing value out of every pound of taxpayers’ money.   

“And yet the government is doing something they would admonish schools and colleges for. A school or college firing senior staff willy nilly, paying them severance, and then doing the same all over again – it would be slapped with a financial notice to improve.” 

The pay-outs include £36,000 to four ministers who were axed last week, three of whom only served for 50 days. 

It also includes skills minister Alex Burghart who resigned on July 6 over Boris Johnson’s handling of the Chris Pincher scandal, but was appointed minister for pensions and growth just 10 week later. He was due more than £5,500 severance. 

At least three education advisers were also due pay-offs – estimated to be nearly £19,000 each – taking the overall amount potentially paid out to nearly £150,000. 

Mary Bousted, the joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said it was “galling that people who have done the job with no outcomes and little evidence of success are getting pay-outs”. 

The three shortest serving education secretaries since 1941 are Michelle Donelan (1.5 days), Kit Malthouse (50 days) and James Cleverly (61 days), who all were in post this year. 

Bousted said civil servants had been unable to get ministerial direction to guide policy-making. 

“Meanwhile chronic problems are getting worse: recruitment and retention, funding, industrial action.” 

Schwitzer said civil servants spending hours bringing new ministers up to speed every few weeks was also a “really poor use of time. And then the politician can’t get anything done before they are moved out.”  

‘Payments are unjustifiable’  

Analysis by Sky News shows that a total of 71 ministers and whips who were either sacked or who resigned this year were eligible to receive up to £709,000. 

But ministers can reject pay-outs. Donelan said she turned down the nearly £17,000 severance she was entitled to, after saying earlier that she would have given it to charity if she couldn’t reject it. 

Members of the Labour group for Stoke council are urging Jonathan Gullis, the former schools minister, to refuse the payment or at least donate to “local good causes”. 

“At a time when residents in our city are hit by the cost-of-living crisis – the result of the catastrophic mini-budget introduced by your government in late September – we feel such payments are unjustifiable,” the group said in a letter. 

FE Week contacted all 10 ministers due severance. Robin Walker, a former schools minister, confirmed he was entitled to £7,920, but did not say whether he was paid. 

Gullis and Kelly Tolhurst, a former schools and children’s minister, said they had not been informed of any details relating to severance pay. The others did not respond. 

Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said he hoped short-serving ministers would turn-down pay-outs, which looked “pretty sordid at a time of a school and college funding crisis”. 

But the return of experienced campaigners Nick Gibb, likely schools minister, Rob Halfon, likely skills minister, and education secretary Gillian Keegan – a former skills minister – brought hope. 

“We now have in place an experienced team of ministers, who we hope will advocate strongly for the education sector … and provide some badly needed stability,” Barton added. 

Claire Coutinho has joined as a junior minister.  

The statistics 

19 MPs have held a DfE ministerial role since September last year 

5 Education secretaries in under four months 

840 days Average time in office of education secretaries appointed before September 2021 

101 days Average time in office of education secretaries appointed after September 2021   

1.5 days Michelle Donelan’s time as education secretary 

‘Crushed’: 1 in 3 health and science T Level students turn their backs on flagship qualification

A third of health and science T Level students switched to alternative courses or dropped out of college entirely after their first year following this summer’s exams fiasco.

An FE Week investigation has unearthed the extent of the fallout from the “diabolical” assessments, which were found to have been unfit for purpose by Ofqual following protest from more than 1,110 students.

Devastated students have spoken of how the debacle left them “crushed” and with no other choice but to turn their back on the flagship new qualification.

They faced tough calls on whether to continue with the course, re-take their employer-set project in the hope of a better grade, or switch to alternative courses like A-levels or BTECs. Some (see panel) said they were no longer pursuing their dream job, or now facing “years longer” to reach their goal.

Around 1,600 students started the health and science T Level in 2021, with 1,115 receiving a grade after the first year.

A series of Freedom of Information requests were sent by this publication to all colleges and sixth forms that delivered the course, with data received at the time of publication for just under 1,000 students.

Of those, a third switched to alternative courses or dropped out of college entirely. More than 42 per cent were resitting their employer-set projects.

By comparison, the drop out rate for BTEC health and social care diploma is less than 10 per cent, while the drop-out rate for BTEC diploma in applied science is less than 11 per cent, according to latest government data.

FE Week’s figures also shows that numbers of first year starters for the 2022/23 academic year are down more than 26 per cent on the first year of the course in 2021/22.

The data comes after the exams regulator Ofqual investigated the core exams following complaints by students in the summer who received lower grades than expected, which found that papers were not fit for purpose. The regulator found “question errors, inadequate mark schemes and questions covering areas not explicitly in the specification,” which meant the assessments “do not secure a sufficiently valid or reliable measure of student performance”.

It ruled that the 1,115 first year students should be graded entirely on their employer-set project if that was better than their overall grade, with awarding body NCFE tasked with fixing the problems in time for this year’s exams.

Problems persisting?

At least 11 colleges are not running the course this year while problems are ironed out, the data shows, with at least four of those having switched all of their first years from last year onto different courses this year too.

A spokesperson from Furness College, one of those which opted not to take first years for 2022/23, said: “We took a strategic decision based on information available at the time to pause our T Level health programme until September 2023.

“Our CEIAG [careers education, information advice and guidance] to students is the cornerstone of enrolment and must always be in the best interests of students in terms of their progression and success.”

A spokesperson from Middlesbrough College, another to pause intake for 2022, said at the time of needing to decide about this year’s courses it “did not have sufficient assurance that the problems that arose this summer around examinations would not be repeated”.

They added that the T Level brand “had suffered to the extent that our student numbers in this area were significantly below our expectations and so we felt that running classes would not have represented a prudent allocation of resources”.

The college said it was committed to supporting the qualification in future, once issues had been supported and dealt with.

Shipley College was among those to put new students on alternative level 3 qualifications instead of the T Level this year, adding that “delivery will recommence in ‘23/24 once we are confident the issues have been resolved”.

Other colleges, while continuing to run the course, have seen a big drop in numbers this year. Leeds City College had 50 first years in 2021/22, but just 16 this time around.

Gemma Simmons-Blench, deputy chief executive for curriculum with Luminate Group which runs the college, said it was a “much bigger drop than we could have potentially hoped for, it’s been really disappointing” but was directly in correlation with the problems in the exams because “our recruitment in other T Level areas is really strong”.

She added: “It’s really difficult because we have got students when they started this programme they knew they were on a flagship programme, absolutely flying-high, just feeling really disillusioned.”

Assurances offered

NCFE has signed an enforceable undertaking with Ofqual to deliver improvements in time for the next set of exams, which includes providing statements of assurances for its T Levels confirming action plan measures have been delivered and problems raised in the first-year exams do not remain.

The awarding body said it had reviewed existing processes and rolled out a package of resources to support teaching staff.

But one tutor at a college that has switched all its students on to level 3 equivalents said colleagues still delivering the qualifications at some other establishments were “completely bewildered” on whether they needed to teach their courses differently.

The tutor, who did not wish to be named, said “lecturers are becoming despondent due to the slow nature of change,” and added: “Change must happen soon to bring some confidence back to the brand, but also to the awarding bodies and organisations that have placed the future of healthcare education in massive jeopardy.”

Simmons-Blench added that there remained a “massive fear” of mistakes being repeated this year.

Bucking the trend

Despite the problems, some colleges are bucking the trend and recruiting more students for this year.

MidKent College has 55 first year enrolments this year compared to 28 last year, while Newham College of Further Education has upped its intake from eight to 28.

City College Norwich had five students last year, on the science pathway only, but this year has 45 students – 12 on science and 33 on health.

College principal Jerry White said it opted to run both the health and science T Level and continue the level 3 health and social care BTEC it was already running.

Students aiming for social care careers were directed toward the BTEC this year, while those wanting health careers were advised the T Level suited their needs more.

Jerry White

“We can see distinct pathways, we think we can see a need that isn’t met by the T Level suite as it currently exists and therefore, we want to continue the health and social care BTEC in that regard,” he said.

The college confirmed the issues with the initial exams had not impacted on retention of its first years for this year, with White adding he had confidence last year’s errors would not be repeated.

Simmons-Blench said “fundamentally they are great qualifications,” which “should offer those students really excellent transition and progression routes”.

A spokesperson from the Department for Education said: “In response to the errors in exam papers, grades were re-issued based on students’ project assessments taken as part of their course, with no student being disadvantaged though this process, and IfATE is now reviewing the content of the courses.

“Though we recognise that some students will have switched to other courses, we are working hard to make sure these issues do not happen again.”

‘I felt completely let down’

Students who opted to switch courses have spoken to FE Week of the difficulties they have faced – and continuing impacts the summer issues have had on them.

Meg Longstaff was a student at Hopwood Hall College, with plans to progress onto a mental health nursing course at university after the two-year T Level.

She opted to switch to A-levels for this year after feeling “completely let down” by the exam problems. She continues to work towards her plans to go to university, but is now a year behind her original plans.

 “After results day when we came to find the correlation of the average grades being Es and Us across the country, I realised I couldn’t get into university no matter how well I did in the second year due to how the overall grading worked,” the 17-year-old said.

“I now feel much more confident about my future [having switched] but still wish that NCFE would have owned up to the problem at the very start, in order to try and prevent people from having to drop out or swap courses.”

Another student, who did not wish to be named, studied the first year at Fareham College, but stopped after the exams to instead work as a pharmacy dispenser full time. Their original plan had been to progress to university and qualify as a paramedic, and had been encouraged to do the T Level to get there.

Now, their plan has switched to applying for an emergency care assistant role in the next couple of years which would lead to an access course and degree apprenticeship with an ambulance trust to become a paramedic.

“Due to the T Level my plans have been put on hold for a few years,” they said. “I still feel the same about my career aspirations and want to do the same thing, but I am disappointed at how it’s going to take me years longer.”

What is happening with the review?

The DfE has confirmed that the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) is continuing to review the health and science T Level content, and said that students that started in 2021 or 2022 are studying the current version of the content.

That review is to confirm the breadth and depth of the outline content and qualification specification, according to IfATE, with findings to be published in early 2023 and any resulting changes to be signposted accordingly.