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Why Ofsted’s new inspection framework may see ‘outstanding’ providers marked down

Some ‘outstanding’ colleges which have improved since their last inspection may still be downgraded because the bar has been raised under the latest Ofsted inspection framework.

That’s according to Chris Russell, the watchdog’s national director of education, who has said if a previously grade one college receives a ‘good’ grade, it “doesn’t mean that the school [or college] has declined in recent years. In fact, the opposite can be the case.”

He said this was because the top grade is a “challenging and exacting judgment to achieve” under the new education inspection framework (EIF).

The comments follow Ofsted chief inspector Amanda Spielman saying a drop to around one in ten schools being ‘outstanding’, half the current rate, “might be a more realistic starting point for the system”.

There are currently 16 general FE colleges with a grade one, five of which have gone more than decade without inspection.

Asked whether the chief inspector expected a similar proportion of colleges as schools to drop from ‘outstanding’, an Ofsted spokesperson said: “We can’t know what the final picture will look like, and any judgments will, of course, be rooted in the evidence we find.

“Some providers may be found to be ‘outstanding’, but given the length of time that has passed, others may not.”

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

It will be the first time ‘outstanding’ providers are inspected under the EIF, which was introduced in 2019.

Russell, in a video posted this week, said there was “no doubt that under the current education inspection framework, ‘outstanding’ is a challenging and exacting judgment to achieve”.

“So it does mean, I think, that you need to be very careful, if, for example, a school [or college] that has been judged ‘outstanding’ a good many years ago is inspected again and judged to be ‘good’.

“That doesn’t mean that the school [or college] has declined in recent years. In fact, the opposite can be the case, so very important, I think, in those circumstances, to read the inspection report really carefully, to get a really good view of how good it is now and how well the school [or college] is doing.”

In a blog published on Wednesday morning he added that the drop in standards in some schools and colleges may have been several years ago, with schools and colleges now improving again. “So it’s important not to view the loss of an ‘outstanding’ grade too negatively,” he added.

Twenty-three reports relating to ‘outstanding’ schools were published yesterday. Of those, 19 were graded. Almost three in four, 17, lost their grade one.

Ofsted declined to comment on whether any ‘outstanding’ colleges have received an inspection so far this term.’

Levelling up will only happen if maths and English improve

The country is still not getting the basics right on literacy and numeracy, writes Fiona Aldridge

Getting the basics right is fundamental, but as recent research from the Learning and Work Institute shows, we are clearly not doing well enough.

An estimated nine million working-age adults in England have low basic skills in literacy or numeracy, and five million have low skills in both, the report reveals.

Yet participation in English and maths learning has plummeted, including across every mayoral combined authority.

Surely there can be no meaningful “levelling up” unless we make inroads into this.

Here in the West Midlands, the issue is particularly acute. About one in ten adults has no qualifications at all, and 28 per cent are qualified below level 2.

The government’s 2011 Skills for Life survey identified that about one in eight working-age adults in the region had poor literacy skills and one quarter had poor numeracy skills.

So it is of little comfort to the combined authority that participation in English and maths has fallen less dramatically than in other regions, or that most of this reduction took place pre-devolution.

About one in ten adults in West Midlands has no qualifications

Our ambition is to reverse this decline, and to extend opportunities to high-quality provision that will support more people to engage and to progress.

Before devolution, our English and maths was delivered by more than 400 providers, many of them based outside the region.

There was little connection to the labour market or other local delivery, resulting in low rates of progression into work or further study.

Although we’ve seen some further decline in participation during Covid, we are pleased that since 2019-20, more than half of our AEB enrolments have been for English, maths and ESOL provision. That’s up from about 40 per cent in previous years.

We have also focused on ensuring that provision is better aligned to regional economic need.

Before devolution, two-thirds of provision in the region was at level 1 or below, much of it generic, with little on offer for those in work.

Through regional systems leadership, we have been working with providers to allow better progression into employment and further learning.

This has involved bringing AEB and community learning providers together to work collaboratively in places with the greatest need, to deliver essential first-steps learning.

We’ve also worked with providers to offer “SWAPs plus”, delivering English, maths and next level vocational qualifications to learners as they move into work.

It’s important too that we recognise that AEB is only part of the picture.

Considerable support for basic skills has been delivered, for example, at grassroots level through European Social Fund projects.

The advent of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which aims to replace EU structural funds, presents an opportunity for combined authorities to co-commission new provision aligned to AEB.

And in doing so, we must learn lessons about the importance of creating coherent progression pathways rather than funding standalone projects.

Finally, we should avoid the trap of assuming that “if we build it, they will come”.

Findings from the latest Adult Participation in Learning survey show that half of all adults are not aware they can access free courses to improve their English and maths skills.

Others do not know where to find information about courses or appreciate how learning can help them to achieve their goals (whether that’s finding work, understanding finances, or helping children with schoolwork).

To help address this, we will shortly be launching a new adult skills and training platform for the region to make opportunities more visible, accessible and attractive for potential adult learners.

We’re also working closely with JobcentrePlus to promote awareness and use of the platform by work coaches.

As the chancellor said in his recent budget speech: “Our future success depends not just on the schooling we give our children but the lifelong learning we offer to adults.”

Getting the basics right is a critical element of ensuring this success – and something we are committed to achieving for the West Midlands.

College forced to reveal secret A-level inquiry results

A college group’s secretive review of over 1,000 students’ A-level grades, undertaken following protests by parents and learners, led to three-fifths of results being changed.

FE Week has obtained the outcome of New City College’s review into this summer’s results, revealing the extent to which teachers’ grades were changed by senior leaders through moderation.

Staff have yet to be told the results of the review, a local union representative has said, but a local MP argued that so many grades being changed back shows there were “issues” with the original process.

New City College was told about ‘deep concern’ around A-level grades

New City College’s leadership changed a series of A-level grades which teachers had set to ensure they were “consistent, robust and in line with historic performance” from 2017, 2018 and 2019, in line with Ofqual rules.

Yet after many students received worse than expected results, they and their parents picketed Havering Sixth Form College, one of NCC’s A-level providers, questioning why their grades had been changed.

Romford MP Andrew Rosindell wrote to group chief executive Gerry McDonald about his “deep concern” that grades had been “significantly” changed from those teachers had set, while Hornchurch MP Julia Lopez met with the college to discuss the issue.

New City College then announced the review but has refused to reveal the overall results of it to students and staff at the college group’s two A-level centres – Havering and Attlee A-level Academy. McDonald said this was to protect their “competitive position”.

One A-level subject had 85 per cent of grades changed through review

Following a freedom of information request submitted by this publication, it has been revealed 1,168 students were affected by the senior leaders’ moderating grades and the review had led to 685 grades being changed – 59 per cent of the grades awarded.

FE Week has also asked for data on how many grades were upgraded or downgraded during the review, but a college spokesperson said they did not have this information.

The subject with the most changes was history, 74 revisions worth 85 per cent of the total; while the grades with the least changes, English, still had 24 per cent, or 18 results, revised. The full table of results is below.

In response to the review results, a spokesperson for Rosindell said that six in ten grades having been changed is a “clear acknowledgement from the college that there were issues in the original grading process”.

Rosindell “hopes as many of these grades as possible were changed upwards and that the anxiety many of the students feel has been eased,” the spokesperson added.

The National Education Union’s district secretary for Havering, John Delaney, criticised a “worrying lack of transparency” about the way in which the grading process has been managed, saying teachers had yet to receive any communication regarding final grades for students this year.

Staff found out on A-level results day in August that teacher-assessed grades for students, brought in after this year’s exams were cancelled, had been changed by senior leaders and are “puzzled” why only a portion of them have been changed through the review.

Staff are “concerned” by the group’s chief executive Gerry McDonald’s behaviour and his “ability to manage future assessments at the centre,” Delaney added.

College says 93 per cent of students secured first-choice university

In response to Delaney, a New City College spokesperson called his comments about transparency “very surprising, as senior managers have met with more than 100 teaching staff face to face to explain the process and answer any questions”.

McDonald and Havering’s principal, Janet Smith, met with 120 teachers to answer questions on how the review had been run once it was over, the college previously said.

With regards to the comments about McDonald, the spokesperson said: “No such concern has been expressed to us regarding the chief executive.”

New City College’s spokesperson said in response to Rosindell’s comments that over 93 per cent of students have secured places at their first-choice university.

We are at a critical juncture on lifelong learning

The lifelong education commission is calling for changes – including a rule that needs abolishing, writes David Latchman

You may not have thought it applies to you, in the relatively stable, professionalised career of teaching, but “lifelong learning” is something we will soon all have to think about.

The fourth industrial revolution, characterised by extraordinary and rapid technology advances, is fundamentally changing the ways we live, work, and interact with each other.

Covid-19 has also transformed normal ways of working for millions of people, opening up opportunities for some, while closing off vital sources of income for many others.

For those least adaptable to the gale force winds of economic change, such developments in the job market may spell disaster.

And if the UK is to remain globally competitive, it will need to redress this skills gap.

In the future, it is likely that workers will have to upskill and re-skill to remain employable.

A report published by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and management consultants McKinsey in 2020 estimated that five million workers (one in six) are likely to go through a radical career change that requires new training.

Meanwhile 25.5 million will have to upskill as their role evolves and becomes more complex, said the report.

If the education system isn’t able to meet these demands, the UK could face a persistent and intractable wave of unemployment that will be difficult to halt.

Given the UK’s historic problem with adult participation in learning, ensuring it is achieved at scale will be no mean feat.

The statistics are bleak: the proportion of adults in learning has declined since 2015, with participation rates currently at their lowest levels.

Part-time study in higher education has fallen by 54 per cent over the last decade, with changes to student fees instigated in 2012 only speeding this decline.

In addition, only ten per cent of UK adults aged 18 to 65 hold a level 4 to 5 technical qualification (equivalent to the first year of university), compared to 20 per cent in Germany and 34 per cent in Canada.

This skills shortfall is starting to become more widely recognised in policy circles.

Spending on adult skills will increase by £3.8 billion by 2024-25, the chancellor announced last week.

This is in addition to proposed schemes such as the lifelong loan entitlement (LLE) – which, if passed, would provide every adult with a loan entitlement to the equivalent of four years of post-18 study.

The government wants to make the LLE a universal entitlement, enabling everyone to access the student loan system at any age, rather than acting as an addition to the existing system for mature learners.

We welcome support from the sector on this.

But policymakers will have to go much further in their efforts to future-proof the UK skills system.

Policymakers will have to go much further in their efforts

To do this, they will need fresh ideas accompanied by a clear and definitive roadmap to reform.

Luckily, the lifelong education commission – which includes member universities like Birkbeck, University of London – is leading the charge.

Its first report, The Pathway to Lifelong Education, calls for a flexible skills system that would allow individuals to build up educational credits.

This would mean learners could transfer credit between institutions, enabling them to complete their qualifications across a variety of learning pathways.

It also calls for the equivalent or lower qualification rule to be abolished. By denying people access to funding for qualifications that are at or lower than their existing qualification, this rule inhibits reskilling.

The report also highlights the role universities can play in facilitating the retraining and upskilling of the working population.

We have reached a critical juncture. The ongoing impact of Covid-19 and the reality of rapid technological change mean that skills and education reform has never been more vital.

We can either continue to just talk about lifelong education, or we can take the urgent action needed to tackle the fourth industrial revolution.

A tertiary future for Wales

Further, higher and adult education in Wales is set to be funded and regulated by a new statutory body with responsibility for all post-16 education and training, reigniting calls for a coherent tertiary system England.

The Commission for Tertiary Education and Research is a key plank of the Welsh government’s Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Bill, which was introduced in the Senedd last Wednesday. It’ll be the first such combined further and higher education government agency in the UK that will include maintained school sixth forms.

Further education in Wales is currently funded directly by the Welsh government, with higher education funding being routed through the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW), which will be abolished.

Commission is ‘really good news’

The new commission will have wide-ranging powers, statutory duties and functions, ranging from instituting a register of tertiary education providers, establishing quality assurance frameworks as well as funding, either directly or through intermediaries like local authorities, post-16 education and training.

Yana Williams, chief executive of Coleg Cambria, told FE Week that the Welsh government’s plans for the new commission was “really good news” and would create “a much clearer system that would help learners make good choices and decisions”.

Colleges and universities in Scotland already share a funder, the Scottish Funding Council. However, that body does not fund post-16 provision in schools.

The English report of the Commission on the College of Future, which reported a year ago this month, recommended a “more networked college system” within a tertiary education structure to “develop a much more holistic and better coordinated approach”.

Collaboration between further and higher education providers in England has to date been delivered largely through government-led projects, such as Institutes of Technology and higher technical education reform. At the last reshuffle, the prime minister appointed two joint ministers for further and higher education in Alex Burghart and Michelle Donelan, leading to speculation of possible further convergence between FE and HE.

Ministers hope commission will grant ‘coherent system-wide view’

Establishing a “coherent” tertiary education authority in Wales was the cornerstone recommendation of an independent review of the oversight of post-compulsory education in Wales, led by Professor Ellen Hazelkorn in 2016.

Speaking to FE Week, Hazelkorn said she was “very excited to see that this had been taken on. The Welsh are seen as leaders in this space.”

Another key steer from the 2016 Hazelkorn Review was to introduce a “limited number of high-level strategic goals to guide the system which are sustainable over the longer term”.

Five years on, this recommendation also appears to have been adopted by Welsh ministers.

The new commission will have nine ‘broadly framed’ strategic duties, established in law, which, ministers say, will guide its work. These are:

Promoting lifelong learning
Promoting equality of opportunity
Encouraging participation in tertiary education
Promoting continuous improvement in tertiary education and research
Promoting collaboration and coherence in tertiary education and research
Contributing to a sustainable and innovative economy
Promoting tertiary education through the medium of Welsh
Promoting a civic mission
Promoting a global outlook

These objectives “reflect the government’s long-term vision for the sector”, according to the Welsh government.

Jeremy Miles, the Welsh government’s minister for education and Welsh language, told FE Week that the Commission “will enable us to take a coherent system-wide view for the first time.

“We’re going to be bringing together the funding, the oversight and the regulation of further education, higher education, apprenticeships, community learning, research and innovation, as well as schools’ sixth forms through local authorities,” Miles told us.

‘May be those who want to protect their patch’

The commission will be led by a board with ministers making appointments of the chair, deputy chair and chief executive. Additional members will then be appointed by the commission, including non-voting learner representatives. The board will use the nine statutory duties to inform its strategic plan and report on progress to Welsh ministers and the Senedd annually.

One of those strategic duties, to “promote collaboration and coherence in tertiary education”, will require a culture shift, college leaders have said.

Simon Pirotte, principal and chief executive of Bridgend College and deputy chair of ColegauCymru, welcomed the introduction of the commission because it “puts the needs of learners before the needs of institutions”.

But, he said, “There may be those who are concerned about their own turf and may want to protect their patch.”

Hazelkorn shares similar concerns.

“For a long time, colleges and universities have been in competition, and I don’t think that’s particularly healthy.” When asked about how those at the top of the new commission worked together in the spirit of the new legislation, Hazelkorn suggests that the board should be chosen based on their expertise, rather than the constituency within the tertiary sector they work in.

“The model has often been that boards are made up of representatives of particular sectors or particular agencies. But in this case, you should be looking for people with certain competencies based on their experience, not who they represent. I think that’s an important change. The people on the board, as well as those working for the commission, should embrace and be committed to a tertiary perspective.” Hazelkorn told FE Week.

Wales inspection body Estyn will remain

Policy documents on the new commission reveal that despite falling under one authority, further and higher education providers would still operate under separate quality assurance approaches. Estyn will still be responsible for the inspection of further education; and an appointed quality body, like the Quality Assurance Agency, would monitor standards for higher education.

“I’m comfortable with that,” Jeremy Miles told FE Week. “This is not about creating a homogenous sector – quite the opposite,” he said. “We want to recognise and reflect the diversity that already exists but to make it easier for the different providers to work together in the interests of learners.”

On how he would personally judge the success of the new tertiary commission, the minister told us he would “want to see that our various institutions in the post-16 space are able to collaborate seamlessly with a flexible funding mechanism, and see that learners seamlessly navigate their way between school and the FE and HE provision.”

“There’s an awful lot of work to do,” the minister concludes.

SEND college censured for safety concerns and ‘inappropriate’ teaching

A residential college for vulnerable young adults has been reprimanded by Ofsted for not protecting learners and staff from “harm” and teaching “not age appropriate” activities, such as The Three Little Pigs.

Cambian Dilston College dropped from ‘good’ to ‘inadequate’ in a report published this week by the watchdog.

The college is situated on a nine-acre site in rural Northumberland and was teaching 18 young people at the time of inspection.

Inspectors found serious safeguarding concerns, including unsecure access points to the main building, and firewalls that do not protect learners from “inappropriate material relating to radicalisation or extremism”.

Too many staff are also “regularly injured as a result of learners’ behaviour”.

And staff working in practical learning environments do not securely store hazardous material, such as cleaning fluids.

Meanwhile, learning environments are “not routinely calm and orderly”, with learners often leaving their lessons for extended periods of time, distracting others.

Learners also do not receive a “rich or inclusive” curriculum that meets their individual needs and prepares them for adulthood.

For example, learners with the most complex needs do not participate in the same learning that their more able peers receive.

Ofsted also pulled the college up for teaching learners to read The Three Little Pigs during ‘story time’ and sang Nellie the Elephant and Old MacDonald in music therapy sessions. “The use of children’s nursery rhymes is not helpful in developing the character of young adults,” inspectors said.

“Resources also include picture cards that are not suitable for adult learners. These resources use cartoon imagery rather than depicting real-life situations that would be more beneficial to older learners.”

However, most learners “say that they enjoy attending the college” and staff “deal with any issues that learners raise quickly and appropriately”.

A Cambian Dilston College spokesperson said: “We are very disappointed by the outcome of this inspection. We have already addressed a number of the identified concerns raised by Ofsted and will continue to work very closely with then to address those that remain.

“We are pleased that Ofsted recognised the positive ethos that has always existed at the college and the leadership of the new head teacher, who has prioritised safeguarding since taking up post in June this year.

“Work has been in progress since September to raise expectations for all students to reach higher levels of attainment in all areas of their learning and development. The safeguarding matters raised in the report have all been addressed.”

Cambian is the second specialist college that Ofsted has raised serious safeguarding concerns within the past month.

New FE Commissioner: ‘I want to change perception from one of fear to one of support’

In her first interview since becoming FE Commissioner, Shelagh Legrave insists that support, not intimidation, will be the keynote of her tenure, and discusses the impact of Covid and the need for greater diversity in college leadership. Billy Camden reports

The new FE Commissioner is on a mission to change the college sector’s perception of the role from one of fear to one of support.

But Shelagh Legrave has also warned she will not be scared to have those “harsh” conversations when colleges run into trouble – asserting there will continue to be dismissals in rare cases where leadership loses its credibility.

“Some leaders do some really silly things, so there will always be consequences,” she said.

Legrave was speaking to FE Week in her first interview in post as the new permanent FE Commissioner.

She took the reins on October 1 from Frances Wadsworth, who has held the role in the interim period following Richard Atkins’ departure in March.

Legrave comes into the role from being chief executive of one of England’s large college groups – Chichester College Group. She is also a former accountant.

Her appointment was announced eight months ago and received a warm yet cautious welcome from colleagues. “I hope I never see you in my college”, is how some reacted, she says. “So there is undoubtedly a perception that we are there for intervention only and that’s something we’re very keen to change. It shouldn’t be a fearful conversation.”

Atkins’ four-year tenure was seen as adversarial by many. His visits were sometimes followed by the departure of principals and chairs, with his no-nonsense approach dividing the sector’s opinion.

Legrave is aiming to leave a different legacy. “The FE Commissioner is there to support the sector. Yes, it has an intervention role, but support is my focus.

“Inevitably if you’re a college in intervention and have needed a cash injection, there are consequences that come with that, and I can’t change that. But I am keen that people see me as somebody who has run a large college group, who’s got significant years’ experience of doing that, who knows the challenges they are facing.”

Her message to those needing help is: “Come and work with me and my team. We offer support to the sector, not just to colleges who are in intervention.”

The goal is in line with Dame Mary Ney’s landmark review of college financial oversight which said the Department for Education and FE Commissioner needed to shift to “nurturing and supporting” all colleges on an individual basis to spot early signs of weakness.

And this is exactly the commissioner’s goal: to switch from reactive to proactive intervention.

Legrave is starting at an unusual time – in the aftermath of a pandemic that has reportedly exacerbated the college sector’s financial fragility.

But you would be forgiven for challenging this rhetoric, considering there has only been one FE Commissioner intervention report published in 2021.

Legrave says this is simply because no colleges have entered formal intervention this year. There were 35 colleges in formal intervention as of July 2020 – the commissioner couldn’t say what the current number was, but did say it was “lower”.

When challenged on how this could be the case considering the financial strain of Covid, particularly on colleges with large volumes of adult education and commercial activity, she explains: “Covid has been a disrupter from that perspective. I suspect that for a lot of colleges, they managed to save on their non-pay expenditure. And of course, we know Ofsted inspections, one of the main triggers for formal intervention, were paused.

“I also think that the financial information being collected on colleges has shifted to focus more on cash and enables us to know a bit more quickly if there’s a problem and to try and support at an early stage.”

In March 2020 Atkins did tell the sector that formal intervention would not be triggered if colleges seek assistance from the FE Commissioner because of financial troubles relating solely to the pandemic.

Asked whether she had seen any evidence of colleges hiding behind Covid as an excuse for their financial difficulty, Legrave said, “I absolutely haven’t seen any evidence of that.”

She adds that is “impossible to say” whether the return of Ofsted inspections this term will result in a spike in formal intervention cases.

Legrave also insists transparency around intervention reports is not being watered down and they will publish the reports as and when they’re needed.

But she does, as an accountant, “find it very difficult to understand” how colleges “just run out of cash”, which has happened in several cases in the past.

“Surely you know you’re about to run out of cash,” she adds, before conceding there could be a raft of complex reasons for it.

“Some have spent money on capital projects without realising their capital project wasn’t necessarily affordable. Sometimes something changes in their locality, schools open different sixth forms, or the competition becomes more difficult etc. Some are also possibly too small to be able to afford the overheads that they’re having to suffer.”

Ney’s report warned that while there has been a downward trend in the total number of colleges in intervention in recent years, the overall profile of fragility of financial standing of colleges “remains alarming”.

Legrave says the sector “continues to be fragile” and warns this will remain until there is a funding increase to the 16-to-19 base rate. The rate currently sits at £4,188 per student and has only been increased once since 2010.

Atkins oversaw the first college – Hadlow – to go through the education administration process in 2019, a moment he said was his worst as FE Commissioner.

Legrave said she “couldn’t comment” on whether any others are currently close to going insolvent, pressing that “lessons have been learned” from the first case, which is estimated to cost over £60 million.

But asked whether government officials were now hesitant to use the tool, she said: “I haven’t picked that up. I think that education administration is there and will be used again if it becomes necessary. I just hope we don’t have to do it very often.”

Another key issue Legrave wants to tackle is the diversity of the FE Commissioner’s team. There are no black, Asian or minority ethnic representatives in the national leaders of FE or governance roster.

It is something that concerns the commissioner, but she regretfully insists it is “reflective of the small number of BAME leaders in the sector”.

“I fully believe in diversity. I think it is really sad that we haven’t got as diverse in our leadership in FE as we should have. And I will certainly work with everybody to try and ensure that there is a greater diversity.”

Revealed: Winners of FAB Awards 2021

A WorldSkills UK teacher training project and a leading T Level awarding organisation are among the winners of this year’s Federation of Awarding Bodies awards.

Awarding organisation of the year is NEBOSH, otherwise known as the National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health. It offers a series of qualifications in health and safety, as well as environmental management.

End-point assessment organisation (EPAO) of the year was given to City & Guilds, which has won contracts to develop qualifications for the 2021, 2022 and 2023 waves of the government’s new flagship qualifications, T Levels.

Other awards presented tonight included the collaboration of the year award, given to WorldSkills UK’s and NCFE’s Centre of Excellence programme, which seeks to train college and independent provider teachers in the methods used to train the UK’s competitors for the international WorldSkills tournaments.

‘Immensely proud of the industry,’ says FAB chief

Federation chief executive Tom Bewick praised the “abundance of excellent nominations” they received, which were “of a very high standard”.

“I am immensely proud of how our industry has risen to the challenges of the last two years and I have heard and seen so many examples of excellence demonstrated by individuals and teams pulling together to support one another as well as centres, employers and of course learners,” Bewick continued.

He co-hosted the awards with Jackie Weaver, the parish council clerk who hit the headlines in February for her handling of a rowdy meeting.

The awards were judged by former skills minister Anne Milton, Black FE Leadership Group executive member and former Highbury College principal Stella Mbubaegbu, and National Union of Students president Larissa Kennedy.

Milton said the judges were “incredibly impressed at how well awarding organisations have “overcome the significant challenges they faced during the pandemic,” which was only possible “due to the hard work and dedication of so many staff”.

“What shone through all the entries is the commitment to learners and to the sector as a whole,” she said, calling it a “privilege and inspiration for us to be asked to judge”.

“Although not everyone is a winner, they are all worthy of special mention,” she said.

The awards form part of this year’s Federation of Awarding Bodies annual conference, FAB 2021, which is running between 11 and 12 November in Leicester.

The full list of FAB award winners

Awarding Organisation of the Year – Sponsored by Creatio

NEBOSH

EPAO of the year – Sponsored by RM

City and Guilds

Qualification of the year – Sponsored by Coelrind

Open College Network West Midlands with Level 5 Diploma in Retrofit Coordination and Risk Management

Collaboration of the Year – Sponsored by Civica

NCFE and WorldSkills UK : WorldSkills UK Centre of Excellence

Learner of the Year – Sponsored by Eintech

Deepak Ranindran nominated by CMI

Individual of the Year – Sponsored by Gordon Associates

Joint winners: Kelle McQuade and Andrew Walker from Training Qualifications UK

Innovation of the year – Sponsored by Advanced Secure Technologies

CMI with Interview360 and CV360

Exporter of the Year – Sponsored by TestReach

Active IQ

Exams 2022: Ofqual confirms ‘plan B’ details

Students must not be over-tested as schools and colleges gather evidence for the potential return of teacher-assessed grades in 2022, Ofqual has warned, as it confirmed contingency plans for next summer’s exams.

The government has said it plans to hold GCSE and A-level exams next summer. But Ofqual consulted on a plan B in case they need to be cancelled for the third year in a row.

If exams are cancelled, teacher-assessed grades would be used again next year. Schools and colleges have been asked to test pupils throughout the year and collect evidence in case the contingency plans are activated.

Today, Ofqual published its consultation response, along with guidance for schools and colleges on how to collect evidence.

Here’s what you need to know…

1. ‘Guard’ against over-assessment

Ofqual said the total assessment time “should not normally exceed” the total time students would spend taking exams for a relevant qualification, “plus any time spent on non-exam assessment”.

Teachers should “guard against over-assessment”, the regulator said. Schools and colleges should also think about scheduling tests which would “provide evidence from broadly the same proportion of the specification as would normally be covered in exams”.

As set out in the original consultation, Ofqual said students should be assessed under exam-like conditions “wherever possible”.

2. Test students once a term

exams — Ofqual chief regulator, Jo Saxton

Ofqual said teachers should consider the balance of exam and non-exam assessments when deciding how many times students should be tested.

A “sensible approach” would be to test students once a term. Ofqual believes that for many schools and colleges, these tests will likely already be planned.

Assessing pupils early would mean that if the pandemic disrupts education later in the academic year, there will be “some evidence” that TAGs can be based on.

3. Assess on ‘wide range of content’

Students should be assessed on a “wide range of content”, similar to what they would expect in their summer exams, Ofqual said.

But in deciding how to phase the tests throughout the year, teachers should “bear in mind” that if TAGs are used, “they will be based only on content that students have been taught”.

If a student was absent when a particular topic was taught, and that topic is covered by an assessment, schools and colleges don’t need to change the test to accommodate them.

4. Tests should be ‘similar’ to past papers

Ofqual said that in order to make the tests “as useful as possible” for students, they should be “similar” to the exam papers they are preparing to take next summer.

Past papers could be used, in full or part, where appropriate.

The same reasonable adjustments that would be made for a disabled student taking summer exams should also be applied to the assessments “where possible”.

5. Inform students of TAG tests

Where tests are planned following the publication of this guidance, students “must be told” before each assessment whether the results will be used as part of TAGs evidence.

Students should be told “sufficiently far in advance” to allow them to revise and prepare.

They should be told which parts of the subject content will be covered in the test. But they should not be told the questions in advance, or “be able to predict the questions from the information given to them”.

Students should be provided with feedback, which could include marks or comments.

6. Students should not re-sit assessments

Students should not be given the opportunity to repeat a test, for example, to “improve their mark in response to feedback”.

But Ofqual accepted that performance in later assessments “might, of course, reflect feedback on their performance in earlier assessments”.

7. Disrupted schools and colleges should still collect evidence

Where “significant” disruption to education means tests cannot be completed for all or some students, schools and colleges “should take reasonable steps to collect evidence of each student’s knowledge and understanding in ways that align as far as possible with this guidance”.

Schools and colleges will need to be “assured” that the evidence collected is “of the student’s work alone” and “covers a broad range of the subject content and assessment objectives”.

Schools and colleges should also record the “exceptional reasons” why this has happened.

However, schools and colleges are not expected to “deviate” from the guidance for “minor disruptions” to a student’s education.

8. No decision on appeals or quality assurance

In the original consultation, quality assurance and appeals processes appeared to be largely similar to the 2021 process.

But Ofqual said it was not making decisions on these “at this time”. On appeals, the watchdog said it would “wish to learn” from the appeals arrangements this year.

But if exams are cancelled they would “take decisions quickly”.