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Make Black history matter for the other 334 days of the year

New networks in college are having a ripple effect, writes Arv Kaushal

We make a big fuss of our children or partners on their birthday, but we actually do so because we love them all year round.

This is the 95th year of celebrating Black History Month, and it’s time we looked at it the same way – something to be especially commemorated each October but also to be at the front of our minds for the other 334 days of the year.

Now that’s an easy aspiration to have and to express, but at Milton Keynes College Group, we’ve been trying to build structures and processes to make it a reality.

We’ve set up a series of employee resource groups to look at the way we work, and we’ve appointed chairs, which makes that responsibility an opportunity for individuals to grow and progress in their careers.

These are people who are already passionate and eager to try to create that better future, but who have never really had a mechanism through which to achieve it.

Each network also has an internal executive sponsor to give guidance and to be that essential voice at senior level. They are all people with strong voices within the organisation.

Our director of marketing sponsors the cultural diversity employee resource group, while our chief people officer looks after the LGBTQ network.

The principal for MK College’s prison education arm supports the women’s network and the principal at College and South Central Institute of Technology does the same for the men’s network.

Meanwhile our senior operations director supports the disability group.

Gradually, people who’ve had no other alternative but to “cheer from the sidelines” when it comes to issues of diversity and equality have a reason to get more involved, to go to those external events, to look for opportunities for change.

To give even greater weight to the networks, we’ve brought in external mentors who’ve kindly volunteered their services free of charge.

So we’ve been hugely fortunate to win support from some highly knowledgeable people, each with a very specific understanding of the areas covered by each network.

Among these we have some senior civil servants and highly experienced people from industry.

These include Justin Placide, from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, who is co-chair of the Civil Service Race Forum; and Hayley Brown, co-chairwoman of the Ministry of Defence Gender Network.

Caroline Eglinton from Network Rail is the company’s disability and access ambassador and LGBTQ specialist; and Meena Chander, founder of Events Together Ltd.

The reaction has been so encouraging. At the beginning I was contacting people and asking, “Do you know about this event?”, or “Do you think it might be good to speak to this person?”.

Now the networks are getting in touch with me, telling me about the places they’ve been and the people they’ve met and the ideas arising from them.

Based on a model of allyship, the groups are taking on lives of their own

Based on a model of allyship, the groups are taking on lives of their own and each network is already creating a gentle ripple effect running through the whole college.

This approach can only hope to succeed with buy-in from the top. Management in many organisations can be reluctant to see employee networks of this kind grow in confidence, just in case they call for uncomfortable or expensive change.

It’s a risk, and we’re fortunate enough to have unstinting support from the executive level to the extent that the chief executive, Julie Mills, is the executive sponsor for the whole initiative. This leaves no one in any doubt as to the group’s commitment to positive change.

Black History Month is about celebrating individuals who achieved greatness in spite of the prejudice they faced. It is an aspiration but also a challenge, to make the fight for equality, diversity and inclusion in all its forms a 365-days-a-year campaign.

Black History Month should be regarded as a signpost, to black presents and black futures.

One day, we won’t need to remember it exclusively any more. Hastening that day, is surely what remembrance is all about.

Diversity toolkit launched to broaden apprenticeship intake

Employers have been handed a toolkit to improve diversity in their apprenticeships, as the latest statistics show little improvement in the proportion of ethnic minority starts.

Sector experts have produced an 82-page document with the Social Mobility Commission, with recommendations on hiring, progression and leadership to improve the socio-economic, ethnicity, disability and gender diversity of cohorts.

The report states that the apprenticeship workforce is “overwhelmingly white”. Apprenticeship data released last month shows black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) apprentices made up 14.2 per cent, or 35,100, of starts between August 2020 and April 2021.

That compares to 13.1 per cent for that period in 2019/20.

The proportion of female apprentices increased by 4.4 percentage points, from 48.5 per cent to 52.9 per cent, between the two periods, while the proportion of people with learning difficulties decreased by 0.5 points, from 12.6 to 12.1 per cent.  

FE Week has collated five key recommendations from the toolkit:

1. ‘Consistently’ collect and analyse socio-economic data on apprentices

The toolkit places a big emphasis on gathering data on the social and economic backgrounds of learners. This data provides an employer’s “foundation” since “comparing your data to relevant external benchmarks can be a great way to shape and drive your strategy forward”.

According to the toolkit, employers can ask a simple but key question: what was the occupation of your main household earner when you were about aged 14?

The answers can then be broken down into three categories: professional (teacher, nurse, business leaders); intermediate (clerical workers and small business owners); and working-class (technical and routine workers and long-term unemployed people).

This question “is easy to understand, gets the highest response rates in testing and is applicable to people from all ages and countries”. Employers should aim for a 66 per cent response rate.

2. Apprentice minimum wage ‘too low to live on’

The toolkit calls on employers to pay the living wage set by the Living Wage Foundation “wherever possible”. This is £9.50 per hour for those aged 18 and over, or £10.85 in London, compared to the current apprentice minimum wage of £4.30.

“Not offering more will exclude anyone who doesn’t have a financial cushion to tide them over,” the toolkit warns.

One of the toolkit’s authors, Anna Morrison from Amazing Apprenticeships, believes the £4.30 wage “completely undermines the value of apprenticeships” and “creates an immediate barrier” to would-be applicants.

Anna Morrison

Abolishing the rate “will mean that for many low-income families, apprenticeships become a viable opportunity for their children”.

Fellow author Alex Miles from West & North Yorkshire Learning Providers believes the rate ought to be retained for 16- and 18-year-olds, as “there is a lot more learning and development needed to do the role”, but that it ought to be abolished for adults.

 She said apprentices at all ages are taking on extra jobs in chip shops or supermarkets to “top up” their wages, which are “simply not enough to support living costs”.

Large employers transferring unspent levy funds (up to 25 per cent of their total sum) to smaller employers so they can offer apprenticeships could attach non-binding criteria that the receiving employer pays apprentices the living wage.

3. Provide more level 2 apprenticeships

That level 2 courses do not require pre-existing achievements in English and maths makes them “a great way of creating a pathway for people who have not had access to many opportunities”.

Level 2, or intermediate, apprenticeships declined by 6.4 percentage points between August 2019 and April 2020 and the same period in 2020/21.

4. More flexible apprenticeships encouraged

Working from home can be a “great enabler” for parents, carers and people who are disabled, who have additional needs or aren’t able to relocate. Opportunities to meet colleagues is also “a powerful way to create a sense of belonging”, though.

For apprentices who are remote working, employers are encouraged to check they have the right equipment, fast enough internet, appropriate conditions and the technical skills for it. They should “proactively” offer a budget to purchase kit, fast internet and also provide training.

Bosses should also consider the needs of parents, carers and disabled apprentices and find a schedule to accommodate their needs. Part-time apprenticeships can be offered if the programme’s overall duration is extended, the toolkit says.

5. Offer apprenticeships to all employees

Offering apprenticeships to every worker, including any frontline staff, will “help staff progress in their career and gain new skills” and identify talented individuals within the workforce.

Apprenticeships should also be “connected” to progression opportunities, but they have to be offered “in a way that works for staff”.

Monthly line manager meetings are an “ideal place” to advertise upcoming training and encourage people to sign up.

The system should recognise successful college drop-outs

Successful outcomes should not just be grade-related, writes Alfie Payne

I loved being in education, so when I had to drop out to focus on growing my business, I was gutted. I’d gone from being an engaged student to college drop-out in just a year.

Now, ten months after dropping out, I’ve got six employees, a client and partner list of 80 brands across four countries, and last month we at Ape Technology hit the mark of earning our first £100k.

This is an achievement I’m proud of – and it’s one I do not feel I could have achieved without the “leg up” of the education system (we don’t yet have investors, so it definitely isn’t that).

I couldn’t have asked for my college experience to have started any better, studying a BTEC in creative media production and getting distinctions in all my course work. I was making great friends and being taught by great lecturers. Then, Covid hit; I need not explain the challenges and changes that brought to student life.

The pandemic exposed what I now recognise to be my entrepreneurial personality: organisations that hadn’t previously needed it, now needed an online presence – and they needed it fast.

So, I started helping them to do this by designing websites and devising marketing plans (using the skills I’d been picking up from college). Then, people started paying me.

Then I had more work than I could handle by myself, so I needed other people to help – and I started paying them. Suddenly, I had a business.

It’s not been an easy ride, and I have to make difficult decisions as MD every week. One of the most difficult to date was last December, when I dropped out of college.

It was a frustrating decision to make: I’d outgrown the system and it appeared unable to accommodate my journey further.

I’d outgrown the system

The system wasn’t recognising my commercial success as educational success – despite the efforts of the likes of our media technician, who did everything to expand my coursework and assignments to stretch and challenge me further. The college itself even introduced clients to Ape.

The education system had been invaluable to me throughout my life, so to have to leave it behind was devastating.

Success should be measured in many ways, rather than just by your grades. My team and I were having a real-world impact on organisations and generating them revenue, yet because it wasn’t work produced for an assignment brief, it wasn’t recognised.

As MD, I was leading a team, while also dealing with legal, financial and HR matters, but it wasn’t formally acknowledged by the system.

What will have been acknowledged, though, is when I dropped out: I’m a failure, a bad mark, a black spot in the statistics. The student who was getting full marks had suddenly left ̶ that’s not going to look good.

Education helped to realise my goal of having the business, yet it shot itself in the foot because it couldn’t grow with my success. For the system to only be geared towards a set of fixed outcomes for progression is very damaging.

We’re constantly hearing about the cry for synergy between employers and colleges – so why is there not more support for young people who run their own businesses? Surely the system should recognise, and support, self-employment as an outcome?

For me, one area of improvement for FE is teaching students proper commercial awareness. Having an (at least basic) understanding of how a company and business work helps you to understand the impact your work has on a company.

Employers are keen to work with students and colleges on this – but because it’s not marked in an assignment, I fear colleges may not see it as a priority.

It all comes back to the same problem. The system must adapt to widen its scope of “successful outcomes”.

Double the cash incentives so more young people do apprenticeships

Since apprenticeship reforms, providers have had to front up more of the costs, writes Jane Hickie

The pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on young people and their employment and learning opportunities.

Since the advent of the 2017 reforms, fewer young people have participated in apprenticeships.

So the right balance of incentives and funding premiums are needed to encourage businesses in their decision-making process, while equally supporting social mobility.

Before the apprenticeship reforms in 2017, 16-18 apprentices were fully funded and apprentices 19 onwards were co-funded at 50 per cent by the state.

The government also ran an incentive scheme: Apprenticeship Grants England (AGE), where employers could apply for a £1,500 government for recruiting an apprentice aged 16-24.

In 2016, the government also removed employer liability for class 1 national insurance contributions for apprentices. This is still available, but it has not been well advertised.

When the apprenticeship reforms were introduced, funding rates between young people and adults were equalised and the AGE incentive scheme was replaced by a £1,000 “additional payment” incentive solely for 16-18 starts, paid to both the employer and the provider.

This has meant that employers are less incentivised to take on younger apprentices, and providers have had to front up more costs.

And we can see it in the very worrying figures.

In the last academic year, adult apprentices aged 25+ accounted for more than 50 per cent of all apprentice starts for the first time. Meanwhile, 16-18 apprentices accounted for just 20 per cent of all new starts.

The government could do three key things to “level up” apprenticeships. These would help to increase entry-level starts and the number of young participants, while providing crucial support for SMEs.

1. Give cash incentives to employers

The AGE scheme supported thousands of employers to take on young apprentices. The incentives made available through the Plan for Jobs have also been a fantastic success.

More than 100,000 new jobs have been created so far, of which 76 per cent have been for 16-24-year-olds. This is significantly more than the starts on the much pricier Kickstart scheme.

Cash incentives give employers flexibility to choose how they invest the grant, whether that’s an indirect wage subsidy or investment in infrastructure to support the apprentice.

So we need a longer-term employer incentive scheme to build on the success of the Plan for Jobs.

However, after January 2022, this should be targeted at the 16-24 age group and maintained at £3,000 per apprentice.

Apprenticeship job creation also means long-term sustainable employment, as over 90 per cent of apprentices are retained as staff.

2. Fund 16-18 apprenticeships from the 16-19 budget

This would remove these apprenticeships from the scope of either co-investment or levy funding and support more employers to employ younger apprentices.

3. Double the cash incentive for training providers

After all, training providers are the government’s salesforce for apprenticeships.

Training providers were previously able to access greater funding for 16-18 apprentices.

This was important, as the cost of finding, recruiting and supporting a young person in the workplace along with training and assessment is higher than supporting an adult already employed in the workplace.

The government needs to enhance the incentives it currently offers to training providers to support young apprentices through a young apprentice funding premium.

Training providers were previously able to access greater funding for 16-18 apprentices

There is a £1,000 provider “additional payment” incentive for 16-18 apprentices. But this is not high enough to drive effective positive change. The current £1,000 training provider “additional payment” incentive should at least be doubled.

Funding premiums should properly reflect the additional investment required to provide high-quality and attractive work-based learning for young people.

With these changes, the government could show it’s walking the walk, and not just talking the talk, about boosting apprenticeships.

BTECs: MPs to probe effect of defunding level 3 courses on learners

MPs have launched an inquiry into the government’s decision to defund level 3 qualifications that overlap with T Levels.

The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Youth Employment, chaired by Conservative MP James Daly, will spend three months exploring how the decision “will impact the choices available to young people and what that will mean for their employment prospects and outcomes”.

Sector experts, young people and employers will give evidence, including at meetings on November 23 and 26.

This comes after the Department for Education concluded its review of level 3 and below qualifications by announcing such courses would need to prove they give employers the skills they need to continue to be publicly funded.

Ministers facing mounting pressure over BTECs

The DfE said at the time it expected applied general qualifications, such as BTECs, will become “rare” when a new system is phased in between 2023 and 2025.

This new system will make T Levels, A-levels and apprenticeships the main options for post-16 qualifications.

Ministers and officials are under mounting pressure over this decision, with a group of school, FE and apprenticeship organisations starting the Protect Student Choice campaign to ensure applied generals “continue to play a major role in the future qualifications landscape”.

The campaign group is running a petition, calling on the government not to withdraw funding from BTECS, which has over 38,000 signatures at the time of writing.

As part of the campaign, 118 MPs and Lords penned a letter to education secretary Nadhim Zahawi this month asking him to “recalibrate” his department’s plans for BTECs.

MPs will look into whether T Levels will support learner and employer needs

The questions the APPG will attempt to answer include what impact the removal of funding will have, and will the government’s proposed ambition for T Levels, apprenticeships and A-levels support the needs of young people and employers in the future economy.

Written evidence submissions are being accepted and should be emailed to josh@youthemployment.org.uk by 5pm on December 3, 2021.

The inquiry will run from this month to January 2022, when a minister will be invited to give evidence and receive the APPG’s report.

FE’s educational ethos is being overshadowed by market logic

The vocabulary of employability and finance is taking over, writes Zahid Naz

In recent years there has been a shift away from the social values of education towards a form of economic rationality with two main concerns.

This can be seen in the strategic direction of policy initiatives, such as the 2019 education inspection framework (EIF) and the 2021 FE white paper.

First, the educational ethos – which fosters an orientation to curiosity – seems to have been overshadowed by the demands of the market.

Second, little attention has been paid to the socio-economic constraints within which FE colleges operate.

Framed within this economic rationality, the role of further education providers has become inextricably linked to being a solution to the skills deficit. This is, of course, an absolutely vital part of FE’s role.

But as a result of this hyper focus, the curriculum “intent” of FE providers is being constructed around the vocabulary of employability and finance.

Yet education also encourages the development of students’ emancipatory, political and aesthetic potential. We need to focus on teaching and learning practices from the standpoint of pedagogical, rather than marketised, logic.

The overemphasis on a model of education dedicated to the economy works to dwarf the significance of abstract and powerful knowledge in humanities and social sciences.

The ‘intent’ of FE providers is being constructed around the vocabulary of employability and finance

It also undermines the core education values of intellectual independence, imagination and selflessness.

The underlying rationale for this perspective may well lie in an assumption about FE students’ intellectual ability. It could also reflect assumptions about their previous grades, which could reflect a range of socio-economic factors rather than act as real markers of “intelligence”.

So, it would be unreasonable to assume these learners are not developmentally ready to process “difficult theoretical knowledge” and therefore need only be employment-ready.

Instead, we could combine technical and academic knowledge, which could make the latter more accessible for FE students.

The inclusion of “powerful knowledge”, through subjects such as history, politics and philosophy, can add value to vocational curricula. However, the Skills for Jobs white paper makes no mention of this.

For example, it says the key focus is on economic growth and jobs, which will be delivered by “putting employers at the heart of the system so that education and training leads to jobs that can improve productivity and fill the skills gap”.

But an approach that valued powerful knowledge would not only enhance FE learners’ ability to meet civic obligations to the public and the market, but also make FE qualifications a better progression route into higher education.

We know from figures on access to university released by the government last week that the entry gap between disadvantaged and more affluent students is now the widest it has been in 15 years.

Another concern I have is how the education inspection framework, which mainly draws on research from school settings, puts FE at a considerable disadvantage.

FE is a complex environment, and the demographics of FE colleges are different from schools. FE provides its learners with a chance to continue their education at whatever level is best suited to them.

We know from evidence that the personal skills wanted by employers and education institutions are social competences often shaped through previous experiences.

This includes experiences informed by social class and gender. Students will display these competences to different degrees.

It’s for this reason that differentiated assessment tools should be applied to colleges, rather than a universal inspection framework based on a one-size-fits-all perspective.

The market-based rationality is also embedded in the EIF, which, like the white paper, links the role of FE to employability skills. It also functions to obscure the significance of powerful socio-political knowledge as well as vitally important traditional educational principles.

For example, the key focus is on the attainment of “qualifications, skills and behaviours that enable students to find employment”. The onus is on a college to ensure that learners recognise that their skills are transferable.

Overall, a reform in FE policymaking that puts pedagogy, not just market needs, at the forefront of FE curricula is long overdue.

Let’s have a collective post-18 system for HE and FE

The lifelong loan entitlement will fail if policy doesn’t remove other barriers for students, writes Tim Blackman

Colleges Week marks the critical role colleges play in education and training, bridging skills gaps and equipping students of all ages to thrive in the workforce.

The Open University (OU) has a long history of links with the further education sector, working closely with individual colleges and the Association of Colleges to widen access to opportunity.

At the Conservative Party Conference recently there was a strong political and policy focus on skills, lifelong learning and broadening educational pathways.

This makes it an exciting as well as potentially challenging time for post-18 education.

But it is essential that we think about a collective post-18 system.

We must use this opportunity to be bold and ambitious, so that our frameworks enable flexible study without the often false distinctions between ‘academic’ and ‘technical’ paths.

The much-heralded lifelong loan entitlement in England is a key milestone on that journey but it will fail if it does not embrace incentives that overcome the many financial and practical barriers that adult learners face.

Critical to the lifelong loan entitlement is that everyone has access to the same funding entitlement regardless of how they choose to study.

That could be part-time, full-time or through modular study, face-to-face or distance learning, and higher technical qualification or traditional higher education qualifications.

Another area of uncertainty is around the fee caps and it is not yet clear how these will be set for modular study. Currently, there are two fee caps – one which applies to students registered on full-time courses and one which applies to students registered on part-time courses.

Under current legislation, there is no link between a part-time student’s study intensity and the fee cap which applies to them – it is set at 75 per cent of the full-time fee cap, no matter what.

This is a blocker to flexibility – many OU students want to be able to flex their study intensity over their qualification so they can fit their studies around their working and family lives.

We are calling for a single credit-based tuition fee cap linked to study intensity – where the fee cap applicable to a student would be determined based on how many credits they were actually studying rather than their mode of study.

Maintenance support should be extended to cover modular study

Maintenance support should also be extended to cover modular study, higher technical qualifications and distance learning rather than just full-time students and part-time degree students as it is at present.

At the Open University, we are well placed to work together with colleges, to help learners, businesses and public services succeed in what will be very challenging times.

We currently partner with 30 colleges across the four nations, validating their higher education programmes, sharing course content and expertise, and helping to expand their apprenticeships offer.

In England, we have worked with Milton Keynes College and the South Central Institute of Technology to offer new progression routes to engineering and computing degrees.

Learners will study at the college for two years, qualifying for a Higher National Diploma, and then progress to a third year at the OU to achieve a BA in engineering or computing honours.

This is made possible through a precedent award, which allows students to bypass the review that standard applicants undergo, expediting their application for the undergraduate degree.

Excitingly, our first students on this programme began their studies with us this month.

Such progression agreements are likely to become more common, helping those that want to qualify as quickly as possible to enter the workplace and earn.

The HND programmes at MKC cost £3,625 per annum – with the OU topping up £6,336 – making them affordable and an attractive option for many.

In Scotland, we’ve been working with 15 regional colleges to support transition between college and university.

These partnerships promote progression routes and credit transfer opportunities for students who wish to go on to degree study with the OU, again at lower cost while studying at the right pace for them.

The Open University in Wales has partnered with Cardiff and the Vale College to support 68 of its students to progress into higher education with monthly support interventions to help remove real and perceived barriers.

This is a model which can be adapted to work with other college partners.

Finally, in Northern Ireland the OU has been working with Belfast Metropolitan College to address the shortage of cyber security skills through a higher-level apprenticeship, leading to a foundation degree in cyber security.

This also allows students to progress to the final stage of the OU computing and IT degree.

We have a long history of being innovative and responsive to the needs of our learners, industry and public services.

Our partnership with the further education sector, as evidenced through some of these examples, demonstrates what is possible in challenging times.

FE staff offered scholarships to explore gaps in sector’s research

FE staff will be funded to take a Masters or PhD by the Association of Colleges and NCFE, under a new scheme to fill research gaps in the sector.

Research Further will fund ten scholarships in the first year of a three-year scheme, focused on areas such as adult education and tackling inequalities.

The association’s senior policy manager for research and evidence Julia Belgutay said the FE sector has “historically had a limited amount of research to tap into when we consider reports, data and general knowledge around FE and skills”.

She said the “ground-breaking” collaboration between AoC and NCFE will “support practitioners from the chalkface, those who know the sector best, in helping fill this gap and ultimately improve practice and the sector as a whole”.

The AoC has also announced the launch of a new research unit to “coordinate commission and utilise high quality research to support informed post-16 teaching practice and policy development at scale”.

Both announcements come during Colleges Week, an annual event intended to celebrate the FE sector which this year is taking place between October 18 and 22.

Proposals to research digital and adult education particularly welcome

Research Further will fully fund tuition fees, with commitments being made annually, though the AoC could not say how much will funding the scheme will have in total.

While there are no specification on what scholars must focus on, proposals to research areas like digital, what works in specific subjects or with specific cohorts, adult education and tackling inequalities will be particularly welcomed.

Proposals should also demonstrate there is a gap in existing evidence for the area the scholar wants to look into.

Applicants should have contacted the university at which they would like to study, though they can be assisted to identify the most appropriate one.

Existing Masters or PhD students can also apply, and part-time and full-time projects will be considered.

The scholars’ work will be disseminated through a webinar series. New findings about pedagogy or policy will be shared through think pieces, reports, articles, and blogs.

Project will ‘power impact-focused research’

NCFE chief executive David Gallagher is seeking “high quality data” which can “identify gaps” and allow the sector to “collaborate to tackle the changes which are needed within the education eco-system”.

Research Further will “power impact-focused research that will drive excellence and innovation in FE and make the greatest possible positive difference to learners’ lives,” he said.

The scheme is being supported by an advisory board made up of representatives from Ofsted, education technology company Jisc, Gatsby Charitable Foundation, the government, college leaders, research practitioners and the four nations of the UK. The precise membership is yet to be confirmed.

The board will advise on research themes and which applications will be funded.

This is not the first proposal supporting extra research in the FE sector: the Social Mobility Commission recommended in January 2020 the government spend £20 million on a research centre to explore “what works” in the sector and where extra investment is needed.

Applications for AoC-NCFE’s scheme are now open and close on 19 November. Applicants must work for an AoC member college and provide confirmation from their senior managers they will be allowed to spend at least one day a week on their course.

The application form is available from: https://www.aoc.co.uk/research-further

Make climate education compulsory and give us £1.5bn to build sustainable campuses, colleges tell government

College leaders have warned that the government’s net zero target will fail unless all courses for 16- to 18-year-olds are changed to include compulsory modules on climate change.

They also want an additional £1.5 billion capital investment in the next three years to sustainably transform their estates and invest in technology required to train for green jobs.

Their demands have been made in a letter signed by 150 college bosses to prime minister Boris Johnson and education secretary Nadhim Zahawi. It comes less than two weeks before world leaders meet in Glasgow to discuss how to reduce the effects of climate change at the COP26 summit.

The government published its Net Zero Strategy on Tuesday, which details how ministers plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to reach an aim of net zero by 2050.

Some colleges have made their own commitments to become net zero by 2030 but there is currently no sector-wide target that all colleges have signed up to.

Ministers are also aiming to “support up to 440,000 jobs across net zero industries in 2030” and say in this week’s strategy that colleges will be “key” to this goal.

College leaders believe the net zero ambition is “likely to fail” without making education on climate change and sustainability part of all study programme courses.

A curriculum audit from their membership body, the Association of Colleges, has found that less than 1 per cent of post-16 students are currently on a course with broad coverage of climate education.

The college leaders say the Department for Education and Ofqual should urgently work with stakeholders like awarding bodies to review all qualification specifications and ensure that they describe how education for sustainable development (ESD) is addressed.

AoC chief executive David Hughes said: “The government’s plans for the transition to net-zero simply will not work without aligning education policy with climate and sustainability priorities – that includes embedding climate modules in all study courses.

“College leaders and students have been crystal clear this is something they want and is necessary to meet the emerging skills needs of a greener economy.”

Colleges are also calling on the government to establish national centres of excellence in low carbon skills.

These would be hubs of experts in colleges which “could enable collaboration and sharing of best practice across the sector, with an easily accessible and well-known point for employers and people to engage with”.

Additionally, ministers should “urgently” fast-track the lifelong loan entitlement for training in priority green sectors.

The entitlement is currently set to launch in 2025 and will allow people to access funding for four years of study between levels 4 and 6, either in full years or as modules throughout their life.

One hundred and forty universities, all part of Universities UK, committed yesterday to cut their emissions by at least 78 per cent by 2035 compared to 1990 levels. They have committed to net zero by 2050. Both targets are identical to those set by the government for the whole economy.

Neither the college leaders’ letter or the AoC’s ‘green college commitment’ report commit to a hard target for when all college campuses will become net zero.

But some have committed to doing so by 2030.

Gloucestershire College is one signed up to the target. It is planning to undergo a £4.8 million energy “retrofit”, which is being partly funded by a £2.8 million grant secured through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme.

The project will involve installing ground source heat pumps, solar panels for the college to generate its own renewable energy, followed by battery storage and smart energy controls.

Matthew Burgess, Gloucestershire College principal, said it currently takes the equivalent of 13 million kettles being boiled to run his campus every single day, so becoming carbon-zero is the “biggest and most important goal we can have”.

Other colleges committed to becoming net zero by 2030 include Craven College and Harrogate College – both located in North Yorkshire.

Colleges want a £1.5 billion injection in the next three years to develop sustainable campuses. This would be in addition to the £1.5 billion already committed by this government over this parliament for college capital projects.

The AoC estimates that 237 English colleges hold 8.5 million square metres, which they say “presents a significant opportunity for [net zero] impact”.

A DfE spokesperson said: “As we build back greener from the pandemic, we are committed to supporting people to get the green skills they’ll need for the careers of tomorrow.

“From skills bootcamps to apprenticeships, T Levels and traineeships, our programmes will create the talent businesses need in key sectors and help people at all levels to get the skills they will need for the green jobs of the future.”