Providers have been blocked from updating their apprenticeship offer to prospective employers for a month after the Education and Skills Funding Agency’s course directory crashed.
Leaders have described the situation as “incredibly frustrating”, especially after the agency reminded providers of their contractual requirement to keep their information on Find Apprenticeship Training “up to date” two weeks after the back-end of the website went down.
It comes at a time when the government is desperate to increase apprenticeship starts in the aftermath of the pandemic and during a busy recruitment period ahead of the new academic year.
The ESFA has apologised to providers for the inconvenience and assured them they are working to resolve the issue but could not offer an estimated date for when the site will be fixed.
Course directory data and information is shared with employers when they use the ESFA’s Find Apprenticeship Training website, which provides information about a training provider’s organisation and their apprenticeship offer, such as the geographical areas they cover and delivery model.
In an update to the sector on June 22, the ESFA told providers that it is “important that this information is up to date so that employers and ESFA have an accurate view of coverage of apprenticeship provision across all apprenticeships”.
The agency added: “To ensure compliance with your apprenticeship agreement, we are asking all providers to ensure their information is up to date and complete.”
Adam Barnes, who runs Roemer Barnes Consultancy and works with multiple training providers, said training firms are “incredibly frustrated that they’re being asked by the ESFA to update their offering on the course directory when the course directory isn’t available”.
He told FE Week this is having a knock-on effect on employer engagement and providers’ ability to encourage employers to re-engage with apprenticeships after Covid.
“Providers are facing an uphill battle to raise the number of apprenticeship starts in line with ESFA expectations because they can’t actually advertise what their current offer is,” Barnes added.
The ESFA did not respond to FE Week requests for an update to the course directory’s status at the time of going to press.
College staff are skipping meals, rationing hot water at home and seven out of ten say they could quit their jobs due to low pay and the cost-of-living crisis, according to the University and College Union (UCU).
Results of a survey of over 2,700 UCU members, published today, show that working in further education has become unaffordable for the majority of staff and puts the government’s levelling-up agenda at risk, claims the union’s general secretary, Jo Grady.
“It is beyond scandalous that dedicated college staff are being forced to skip meals and ration hot water and heating because their low pay has left them completely exposed to this cost of living crisis,” Grady said.
The report, called ‘On The Breadline: The cost of living crisis for England’s college workers’, furthers union calls for urgent pay increase for college staff. UCU branches in 33 colleges are currently balloting for strike action over low pay. Ballots close next Friday, July 15.
Grady has today threatened leaders with strikes in more colleges, saying the union’s findings should “shock employers into action”.
“The harrowing testimony of college staff should shock employers into action. If it doesn’t and ministers refuse to step in, our union will ballot for strike action at even more English colleges, with the aim of delivering uplifts in pay which will enable college staff to make it through this cost of living crisis, and safeguard the future of the sector.”
College staff want higher pay, more manageable workloads, reduced administration and better job security.
This follows research published by UCU in June which found that college staff were, on average, working at least two days a week for free.
Seven in ten respondents to UCU’s survey said they will “definitely not” or “probably not” still be working in further education in five years time unless pay is raised.
“I am literally living hand to mouth. I want to get out of teaching in further education,” one survey respondent wrote.
When asked what steps staff were taking to make ends meet, over 60 per cent said they were heating their home less frequently. Just over 55 per cent said they were using savings and 45 per cent said they were using credit cards.
“I am currently working three jobs in order to be able to live. I am also unable to rent a house or flat so I’m living with my parents. I had to decline a sick note from my doctor because of my low income and lack of sick pay as I can’t afford to have time off,” said one survey response.
Negotiations between unions and the Association of Colleges for a recommended pay award for college staff are at an impasse. The AoC’s latest recommendation of 2.5 per cent was branded “beyond insulting” by the union and “simply unaffordable” by some colleges.
“As the government falls apart, the college staff responsible for delivering what remains of its levelling-up agenda are saying they cannot afford to stay in further education. With seven in ten pledging to leave their jobs if pay and working conditions continue to be eroded it is clear that the future of the entire sector is under threat,” Grady said.
Today’s report repeats the union’s ask for a ten per cent increase in pay and for “workload and wellbeing protocols” to be agreed between unions and employers.
UCU is also calling for a review of non-permanent teaching contracts to increase job security and opportunities for career progression, and wants to see pay gaps closed for disabled and black staff, who are more likely to be paid lower salaries.
The Association of Colleges said it has “urged the government for emergency funding to boost staff pay” because of soaring inflation and the cost of living crisis.
Its deputy chief executive, Julian Gravatt, defended the association’s recent pay offer: “This is the largest pay recommendation since 2014, but it is on the limits of – and beyond for some – what is affordable for colleges.
“Our recommendation represents a 6.6 per cent increase for staff at the very lowest end of the pay scale because we’ve recommended both a 2.5 per cent rise and a non-consolidated cost pressure payment of £750 for those earning up to £25,000, and £500 for others subject to locally agreed thresholds.
“We have asked those colleges not currently paying staff the Living Wage Foundation minimum wage, which is currently £9.90 – and £11.05 in London – to publish their timeframe for implementation.”
“People are just doing their work. They see that they can be helpful for their community in this way,” an adult education representative in Ukraine says.
Adult education providers in war-torn Ukraine have had to get used to their lives changing overnight since Russian troops began an invasion in February. But for teachers and tutors the ethos remains the same – developing skills and supporting communities.
Whether it is assembling first aid kits, sewing clothes for troops or psychological support, adult educators in the eastern European nation have stepped up to do what they can to help those repelling the invasion.
A special recognition award was given by Learning and Work Institute to the Ukrainian Adult Education Association at the Festival of Learning awards this week.
Oleg Smirnov, a representative of the association – the body that represents and supports providers of adult education and helps develop policy around lifelong learning – told FE Week: “The first weeks were rather nervous. Still there were members at local level who continued their activities, and we had examples of people in Nikopol in south Ukraine, just a few kilometres from the nuclear station captured during the first phase of the war.
“The adult education centre there had sewing machines and they enrolled 40 to 45 women just for short courses for a few days and started to sew clothes for the army, for local defence groups, some kits for medicine, first aid kits. They started to sew what defence groups needed.
“Some other adult educators we know tried to provide psychological support. There were some individual sessions and some special sessions using art therapy. They worked online with those people who stayed in occupied territories or those who were moving to western regions.
“It was very helpful for people because of all the missile attacks and artillery in the eastern regions. Even in the western regions when you have these attacks from Russia, it is unpredictable which people will be around you and what can happen. They were very popular during the first weeks, and they are still popular.”
Some have stayed in occupied territories, others have moved to the western side of the country. Smirnov says some adult education establishments in the western city of Lviv have seen learner numbers double or triple in size as a result of the displacement of people. In some cases, educators have moved to neighbouring countries such as Poland or the Czech Republic.
But despite the dispersal of teaching staff, online teaching developed during the Covid-19 pandemic has allowed them to continue providing support remotely. Some courses can be kept online, while other support mechanisms for those who have fled the conflict, such as explaining how to transfer money and how to engage with local authorities, have continued.
“There were several organisations in occupied territories, they couldn’t leave those territories during the first days,” Smirnov said.
“One of our colleagues was captured and they spent around 40 days captured by Russian troops, and then she was liberated. A lot of teachers and educators left the country but they now work online, or at least they work for Ukrainians abroad. We have several colleagues who moved to Germany or Poland and they are now very active in those cities co-operating with local authorities, local communities, to adapt and to help other Ukrainians staying in those regions.”
Despite the ongoing conflict, Smirnov and his team continue to plan for the future and life beyond war.
He said: “We are sure that in general for the country it will be possible to liberate those territories which are occupied. There will be possibility for people to return to their places, and I am sure that adult education will have much more attention from local authorities. There will be more understanding of what it means, what non-formal adult education can do for the development, especially in local communities.
“There is one idea also that our partners on the local level could be organisations which will initiate some discussions with other stakeholders on what are the educational needs for the next several months, what are the educational needs for the period after the war, for the rebuilding of ruined cities, what kind of professions will be needed and what kind of specialists should be attracted.”
Born in 1969, Cleverly is 52 years old, which is older than the average for education secretaries, but he is a long way off being the oldest. Keith Joseph was 63.
Cleverly is the MP for Braintree in Essex. He is the first education secretary or minister of education to hail from the county since Rab Butler.
Like his predecessor, he was first elected in 2015. He has had a range of government roles, including as a cabinet minister without portfolio, as well as jobs at the Brexit department and Foreign Office. He was Conservative co-chair of his party from 2019 to 2020.
He is the third education secretary to serve in two days, following the promotion of Nadhim Zahawi and Donelan’s resignation. He is the fourth education secretary this academic year, and the eighth to serve in 10 years.
Born in Lewisham to a midwife and small business owner, Cleverly said seeing his parents’ hard work “showed him “the importance of supporting both the private and the public sector”.
He served in the army after leaving school, making him the first education secretary with a military background since Ken Baker. But his career was cut short by injury and he studied for a degree in business instead. Cleverly worked in magazine and digital publishing.
An often touchy subject, but as the role involves children so directly it will be mentioned at times: Cleverly has two children.
Cleverley attended private Colfe’s School in London, and has previously tweeted his pride in the school’s work getting ethnic minority students into Oxbridge.
He has defended sending his own children to private school, saying he’d “love to give everyone enough financial freedom” to make the same choice, and adding that he would not “play politics with the future life chances” of his children.
The MP got into a spat with the National Education Union in late 2018 and early 2019, calling on them to take down their “school cuts” website. He challenged the claim that 91 per cent of schools face funding cuts and wrote to the UK Statistics Authority, who agreed the statistic was “misleading”. But the NEU stood by its figures, saying the funding crisis was “very real”.
Cleverly said in 2007 he believed grammar schools “provide the best way for bright but poor children to get on in life”, adding: “Until a better way to aid social mobility comes along I will continue to support them.”
He appears to not have spoken on FE or skills issues during his time in parliament.
James Cleverly has been appointed as education secretary, becoming the third person to hold the title in two days.
His appointment follows the resignation this morning of Michelle Donelan, who was only appointed on Tuesday evening following the promotion of Nadhim Zahawi to the post of chancellor.
Donelan’s departure after 35 hours came after the resignations of schools minister Robin Walker, children’s minister Will Quince and skills minister Alex Burghart yesterday which left the DfE with just one minister, Baroness Barran.
Cleverly said that “as someone whose grandfather was a teacher and whose children are currently in the education system, I am incredibly passionate about education and proud to be appointed secretary of state.
“From childcare and exams results, to our schools white paper, T Levels and the rest of our revolutionary skills agenda, we have a huge amount of work to do and I am looking forward to getting on with the job. That means ensuring children, young people and their families continue to be supported – they have my full commitment.”
He said he looked forward to “engaging with our brilliant nurseries, social workers, schools, colleges, universities and all the staff working across these sectors to realise people’s potential – whatever their backgrounds or wherever they come from”.
Cleverley was first elected as a Conservative MP for Braintree in 2015. The role is his fifth since joining government in 2019, serving in the Department for Exiting in the EU and the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.
He had only been appointed minister of state for Europe and North America in the FCDO in early February.
Cleverly was also the deputy chairman of the Conservative party from 2018 to 2019.
Newly appointed education secretary Michelle Donelan has resigned after less than two days in the job.
Donelan was promoted from joint HE and FE minister to the top role on Tuesday evening.
But this morning she tweeted that she has handed in her resignation.
She told prime minister Boris Johnson: “I see no way that you can continue in post, but without a formal mechanism to remove you it seems that the only way that this is only possible is for those of us who remain in cabinet to force your hand.”
Donelan added: “While I remain very worried about the prospect of no ministers in the department as we approach results day – the impact on students is real – as you know yesterday I pleaded with you to do the right thing and resign for the sake of our country and our party, both are more important than any one person.”
— Michelle Donelan MP (@michelledonelan) July 7, 2022
This leaves only one education minister left – Baroness Barran – after the rest resigned yesterday.
Meanwhile, Zahawi says he took on the chancellor role “out of loyalty” but now the country “deserves a government that is not only stable, but which acts with integrity”.
“Yesterday, I made clear to the Prime Minister alongside by colleagues in number 10 that there was only one direction where this was going, and that he should leave with dignity.
“Out of respect and in hopes that he would listen to an old friend of 30 years, I kept this counsel private.
“I am heartbroken that he hasn’t listened and that he is now undermining the incredible achievements of this government at this late hour.”
More than 500 students and apprentices set to compete in a prestigious national skills competition in disciplines like bricklaying and culinary arts have been unveiled.
WorldSkills UK has today published the list of finalists (see here to download full list) competing across 60 of the 62 disciplines at the national finals in November, with competitors in with a shot at representing the UK in the ‘skills olympics’ in France in 2024.
The competition will showcase the skills of students and apprentices in a host of professions as diverse as fire alarm systems, floristry, restaurant service, beauty therapy, IT support, aircraft maintenance, plastering and website development among others.
In total, 518 people from across the UK will be competing in the 60 categories already confirmed, including 259 from England, 128 from Wales, 68 from Scotland and 63 from Northern Ireland.
Finalists in the stonemasonry and foundation skills (woodworking) competitions are set to be announced on Thursday, July 14.
Ben Blackledge, deputy chief executive of WorldSkills UK said: “I want to offer my congratulations to everyone who registered for our competitions this year, especially those who are now going on to compete in November’s finals.
“We are really excited to be taking the show on the road again this year with finals hosted by colleges across the UK. We hope seeing the finals in person or catching up with our online content will inspire more young people to develop their skills and have a go at one of our competitions next year.
“Our competitions and competition-based development programmes equip apprentices and students with the lifelong, world-class skills that will help increase UK productivity and competitiveness.”
According to WorldSkills UK, the competition has helped previous participants in their career progression, with 90 per cent saying their progression had improved as a result of the tournament and 86 per cent saying their personal and employability prospects had also been boosted.
The 47th WorldSkills international competition will take place in Lyon, France, in September 2024, where young vocational learners globally will compete. UK finalists in the national competition this year may have the chance to compete on the world stage then.
Skills minister Alex Burghart is the latest Conservative to resign from prime minister Boris Johnson’s government.
The Brentwood and Ongar MP followed colleagues in a string of resignations from ministerial positions, triggered by the high-profile resignations of Sajid Javid as health secretary and Rishi Sunak as chancellor of the exchequer on Tuesday evening.
They came as a result of the prime minister’s handling of the Chris Pincher allegations around groping.
Burghart tweeted this afternoon: “It is with great regret that I am today resigning as a minister in the Department for Education – I am very grateful to the Prime Minister for having given me the opportunity to serve.”
In a joint resignation letter with several other ministers, Burghart told Johnson: “You have had the most the most difficult task in a generation. We hugely admire your fortitude, stamina and enduring optimism. You can be rightly proud of the significant decisions which you have, by common acclamation, got right.
“However, it has become increasingly clear that the government cannot function given the issues that have come to light and the way in which they have been handled. In good faith, we must ask that, for the good of the party and the country, you step aside.”
It is with great regret that I am today resigning as a minister in the Department for Education – I am very grateful to the Prime Minister for having given me the opportunity to serve pic.twitter.com/mDJUksDGM8
Will Quince, Colchester MP and minister for children and families quit his DfE role on Wednesday morning, saying he felt he had “no choice” but to step down from “a job I love”.
Then followed Robin Walker, minister for school standards resigned from his ministerial role, in his letter saying the party has “become distracted from its core missions by a relentless focus on questions over leadership,” and has become “overshadowed by mistakes and questions about integrity”.
David Johnston has also resigned as parliamentary private secretary to the DfE ministerial team, saying he “cannot defend what has taken place these past few days – or indeed these past few months”.
Robert Halfon, chair of the education select committee, also said he has “lost confidence” in Johnson.
The mental health of students is a significant concern for further education settings. Around one in five 17- to 22-year-olds has an identifiable mental health condition.
All colleges reported having students with the following manifestations of mental health issues: self-harming, eating disorders, attempted suicide, and suicidal ideation/thoughts.
100% of colleges reported having students diagnosed with depression. 99% reported having students diagnosed with severe anxiety, 97% with bipolar disorder and 90% with psychosis.
85% of colleges reported an increase in students with disclosed mental health issues in the past three years – with 54% of colleges saying there were significant increases.
“Three lockdowns and the social distancing requirements of the pandemic have made the situation worse. Children and young people have struggled with the loss of normal social structures, being unable to socialise in person with peers and not being able to attend school or university. The need for teaching and assessment to take place virtually led to further stress because of the uncertainty it created about people’s futures. Research from the Centre of Mental Health shows that, in England, 1.5 million children and young people under 18 will need new or additional mental health support as a direct consequence of the coronavirus pandemic.”Children and Young People’s Mental Health
Pressures for the Further Education Sector
The FE Sector has been able to recruit Counsellors and Wellbeing Coaches to help with students who are facing any mental health issues. Student Mental Health is growing and the backlog of students who are waiting to see Counsellors and Coaches causes pressure in colleges.
The overall aim is to keep young people on the right track to enable them to achieve their career goals.
Funding
The situation for students’ mental health is not going away, in fact is increasing, and the education sector is desperate to find solutions to help our future generation.
There are very limited funds being allocated to the FE sector for this and they are now having to get creative to fund solutions.
IPS Ltd and Mindspace 24/7 can help provide solutions.
Even though covid-19 is not a news priority at present. The fact is the experience of the lockdown is still with students, many of them have experience very little exam conditions and only this year SATS Tests have been returned to schools and for the last two years GCSE and A levels results were taken from predictive grades.
Meaning for students returning to “normal” has provided immense pressure for them. On many occasions the government have said that funding will be available however the return of this has been limited, and the need is now not later.
As we all know its in your interest to spend allocations of funding, so the last thing that is wanted is to return funding and then receive a reduced allocation for the following academic year.
A college has recently purchased hourly credits from MindSpace24/7 for therapists to support mental health to extend the aids for students.
How can MindSpace 24/7 help?
In partnership with IPS Ltd, MindSpace 24/7, is committed to removing the barriers to access mental health and wellbeing services within colleges and universities for their students and employees. We have developed a system where students and teachers can access a fully qualified BACP counsellor, on video call or telephone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The access is almost instant and doesn’t require a GP appointment and the inevitable long waiting times.
MindSpace 24/7’s large team is highly skilled, with licensed counsellors and therapists who specialise in multiple areas including exam stress, anxiety, body dysmorphia, loneliness, relationship issues, sexual worries, life coaching, bullying and depression.
How this works
Further Education Colleges purchase credits which can then be allocated to your students by your college staff. The student will then be able to choose and book the therapist of their choice.
This extension of resources will provide an assistance to your Counsellors and Coaches and reduce any waiting time for students, meaning that students will have the help they need to focus on achieving their courses.
“Providing the resources to the education sector so that students can speak to someone at any time of day and night even out of term times is a breakthrough. We have all faced difficult times through lockdown and even now the there are many pressures that we face including fuel and food price increases.
The pressures for teenagers are always a struggle. However, they have had a tough journey in the transition from school to further education over the past few years, especially as covid-19 has created changes in the way that the processes take place and for teenagers this has continued to be stressful. Now, returning to exam conditions this year means that they have limited experience of this environment.
Moving forwards, we know that the education sector wants to make sure that their students are in a safe and strong environment and can easily provide aids for any mental health issues that they have. However, staff workloads are always pushed to a high capacity and we at MindSpace are able to ensure that there is an additional resource available.
IPS Ltd has always focused on being able to provide the education sector with stronger abilities, and now with the partnership of MindSpace 24/7, our combined offer is superb and we can go the extra mile to enable you to gain the best experience from us, your students in their college journey is positive and successful, and your staff have the resources they need so that they are providing quality and not quantity.” Robert Powell, Managing Director of IPS Ltd and MindSpace 24/7.
Contact us
If you would like to discuss how to purchase credits, with Mindspace24/7 further, please email info@mindspace247.com we can provide you with all the information and we can work with you don’t have to return funding.
We can help you take the steps to improve the lives of students, no matter what challenges they are facing in complete confidence.
Join our webinar
On Thursday 8th September 2022, 10.30 am – 11.30 am, MindSpace 24/7 would like to invite you and your colleagues to our FREE webinar, where you will learn more about our company offer and further information on how we can provide therapy resources for you.
You will meet some of our management team and there will be two guest speakers who will be providing you with sessions on laughter and meditation.
There will be a question and answer session where you are welcome to ask us any questions you have.
To register places for you and your colleagues click HERE.
