Interview: Baroness Tina Stowell

Baroness Stowell is a born-and-bred FE college alumna from the Midlands who ended up leading the House of Lords. Now she’s calling for an end to the ‘disrespect’ of non-graduates

“I’ve spent a lot of time working in places where there are public crises and dramas. I’m not fazed by that, I don’t panic, I’ve seen it all before. It’s like bread and butter to me.” 

Tina Stowell, or Baroness Stowell of Beeston (the Beeston in Nottinghamshire, not Leeds, she clarifies), is not exaggerating. She has seen it all before. She’s worked for RAF chiefs, in Washington when the Berlin Wall came down, under William Hague when the Conservatives were in their late 1990s crisis, and at the BBC during the Hutton Inquiry.

In that time, she has risen from a girl training to be a secretary in a further education college in the Midlands to being appointed the country’s Leader of the House of Lords. At one point, I just ask: how did she do it? 

“I think it’s that I could make things happen. I could take charge of organising things, I was very good at building relationships and influencing people to be able to make things possible. I was like a mini-fixer.”  

With William Hague and Michael Portillo in 2000

But while Stowell, who says her strength is “defining and redefining something down to its most simple point, to drive through change”, is comfortable in a major crisis, she is disturbed by a quieter crisis – an underlying trend rather than a front-page scandal. And education, she says, is at the heart of it.

It’s not a new argument: the country, and the western world, is increasingly divided along lines of educational attainment, rather than the old categories of class. The phenomenon is behind big fallouts over things like Brexit and Donald Trump.

But Stowell is perhaps unusual in having bothered to personally pen a paper, published last month with the Social Market Foundation, in which she “defines and redefines” the issue to make sense of it. 

That’s how she came to FE Week’s attention: her report calls for an end to “disrespect” for non-graduates, once and for all. She explains.

“The education divide is showing up as a proxy for something else, and that’s the lack of respect for the people who sit on one side of that divide,” Stowell begins.

“What’s happened is over time, most people in positions of responsibility or leadership are graduates. These decision-makers among us then tend to define success in their own image. And they tend to think that the best way of serving everyone else is to encourage people along the same path as themselves.”

Stowell leans forward. “And that has led them to concentrate on academic qualifications as the main kind of credential that determines whether someone is worthy of respect or not.” She raises her eyebrows. “They don’t do it deliberately.” 

This has several consequences. First, the longer people have been going to university, “the more that degrees have become seemingly the only currency that allows you to travel”. The government is arguably hoping to change this, with its focus on technical education reform through T Levels, degree apprenticeships and the wider Skills Bill proposals, including a lifelong loan entitlement. 

But “ramping up” further education is not a sure-fire solution, Stowell warns in her paper.

It will “only assist in bridging the educational divide if it is not seen as a consolation prize for those who do not go to universities”. 

Second, among the older generation are “successful people without degrees who can feel quite frustrated that their contribution is not understood”. 

On the Red Benches in 2017

Stowell knows this all too well, as someone who got to the top with a vocational qualification from an FE college. Her father was a painter and decorator, her mum worked in a factory, and Stowell was brought up believing in work.

“I wanted to be a grown up, and work was grown up. I was in a family where work was talked about a lot. You put work first, you worked hard, you never turned down overtime.” 

At the end of school, which Stowell persisted at but didn’t love, she set her sights on a prestigious secretarial course at college. “I wanted to be a hot-shot secretary!” 

There was no sense this was a sub-par choice over university, she continues. “Those who went to university had always been known as the brainy ones. For those who went to college like I did, that was something to be proud of.”

Stowell was the only girl from her school year accepted on to the course, where she studied for the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry private secretary certificate. “I thought college was fantastic. It was because it felt different to school. The lecturers treated us like adults.”

From there, Stowell’s career took off. But not many other secretaries are making speeches in the Lords now. Stowell’s vocational qualifications gave her a leg up – she became private secretary to an RAF commodore and then got a job in Washington through the Ministry of Defence – but her attitude built her career. Or, as she calls it, “standards”.

With the Queen in 2015

“People like to talk about values, but they shy away from the word ‘standards’. However, values can be quite nebulous: be kind. Who doesn’t agree with being kind?

“But standards are more specific. The reason they are so critical is they allow us to judge behaviour. The only way we can judge someone’s motives is through their behaviour. You can’t judge what’s really in someone’s mind.” 

Stowell’s point is that by adhering to certain standards of behaviour, people can trust one another. “Standards like punctuality and working hard, they are an exercise in self-discipline, and they force us to show respect to someone else, and that cultivates a mutual understanding.” 

To illustrate her point, Stowell describes returning from Washington to a job as Number 10’s press secretary’s assistant. She soon oversaw the travelling press parties overseas and was an important contact for lobby journalists.

After a break from politics, she returned to work for William Hague, with Sebastian Coe as chief of staff and George Osborne as political secretary. There she was, surrounded by graduates from vastly different backgrounds to her own. 

The reason someone like me has progressed is the fact I have brought to my work my commitment and standards

But if Stowell’s preoccupation is what divides people, then her solution is these standards. “The reason someone like me has progressed is the fact I have brought to my work my commitment and standards. These have been reciprocated to me by people who have been educated in a different way, and gone through a different system.

“We’ve seen and recognised in each other common standards, which has made it possible to trust each other and form serious bonds.” It’s a powerful argument.  

Finding common standards is how Stowell works. After standing unsuccessfully to be selected as an MP in 2009, she was appointed by David Cameron to the Lords, from where she guided the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 through the House.

She did so by “telling the doubters it was OK to be doubtful”. The argument became less divisive and more were inclined to back the bill, she says. By 2014, she was Leader of the House.  

Her other superpower is articulating the problem in hand. Take this one: reform of the Lords. “The purpose of the House of Lords is to complement the House of Commons by working in a different way […] less combative, more thoughtful, less political.” But this is changing with the move away from hereditary peers towards directly appointed peers instead, says Stowell. 

“I don’t think the House of Lords is adding as much value as it might have done in the past, because it’s becoming increasingly, in its practices and its methods, more like the House of Commons.” Successive prime ministers have appointed people to get legislation through, so there are more former MPs, she explains.

“So they’re continuing what they were doing in the Commons.” There is a real danger people will “legitimately” ask what the point of the Lords is, she warns.

First day in the House of Lords in 2011

In terms of solutions, Stowell says she favours a more elected model, but she doesn’t have a blueprint.  

However, she does have solutions for the educational divide.

Everyone has “got to see FE as a route to leadership and positions of authority. It’s really important we see people who go down that path as potential leaders themselves.”

Meanwhile, employers should stop valuing a university degree over the “standards” a person displays. “Too many entry-level jobs seem to value a university degree for no good reason. Beyond qualifications there are social norms or standards, and these are things we ought to recognise.” 

But here the rub. Does Stowell realise that having these “standards” (self-efficacy, self-discipline and self-belief, often arising from a stable home life) is itself a dividing line? How do we help the people whose lives are too chaotic, or too traumatic, to learn such standards?

We know the long-term solutions for changing behaviour (high-quality social workers, coaches and therapy) are expensive. 

“I don’t know if there’s a structural answer to that question, but today’s leaders have a responsibility to demonstrate and promote those standards, to argue for them and to back people who uphold them.”

It’s not an evasion, but there are many college staff working with the most vulnerable who would say such a solution is really not sufficient. 

Nevertheless, Stowell makes a powerful case, when others have given up ̶ or wouldn’t express it half so clearly, or bravely.

Paperwork threatens to take over the job I love

If all the documentation doesn’t benefit the apprentice, why is it necessary? asks Tim McHanwell

I’m going to start with the most important point: I really, really enjoy my job. I enjoy working with the apprentices, supporting them and helping them to progress.

The most enjoyable part of the experience is spending time with apprentices from a variety of backgrounds and working with them to develop their knowledge, skills and understanding. 

This could be younger apprentices who have moved away from classroom-based education and have not always thrived in education. It’s very valuable working with them because you’re getting to re-engage them.

We help to smooth that transition into an apprenticeship with employers like the NHS where there are good opportunities for career progression.

Then there are those apprentices who may have been out of education for ten to 15 years. They may be motivated, but sometimes lacking in self belief. Many of these apprentices will get to a point where they say “I can’t do this”, and it’s a challenge to get them through.

When they do, it’s really rewarding. Many of them progress on to higher level qualifications that allow them to get promoted. 

Just this week, I had an older learner who was very anxious about her end-point assessment. So I drove out to her, sat with her for an hour and a half, and showed her she was ready.

There’s a huge value in just being around someone. That takes time.

But in the ten years since I’ve been a trainer and assessor, paperwork has become a bigger part of the job.

This isn’t specific to my college, because it’s a system-wide issue. Myself and colleagues are spending more and more time writing about what we’re going to do, instead of doing it.

It’s been a “mission creep” scenario. Every year we have a little bit more to record. Every year new funding rules come out, and new things have to be documented.

Every year we have a little bit more to record

Of course, I’m not saying documentation is bad. Actually, it can be very important. Possibly ten years ago we weren’t documenting things we should have.

It’s important, for instance, that apprentices can see on paper what they will be doing in the next session. It’s helpful for them to see what I’ve written in the “actions” section of their portfolio, so they can follow this up.

But there are things we are now required to document for auditing purposes that don’t have clear value for the apprentice. I feel the amount that needs to be documented has tipped too far the other way.

Spending time filling out forms can reduce the time we spend on the most enjoyable and important part of the job ̶ working with the learner.

Sometimes you feel you have to hurry when working with a learner, just to do the paperwork. You think, “If I don’t get it logged now, I won’t have time to come back to it”. 

This can cause problems, as the paperwork can start building up. I’m a Unison union representative as well, and I know people who feel they have to work extra hours just to get it all done.

An assessor needs time to plan and come up with creative solutions, and that time just disappears. This can leave staff feeling they’re not supporting apprentices as well as they would like.

So how can we solve this?

First, we need to look again at what we are documenting and why. I feel we should place the emphasis on documenting the things that make a difference to the learner.

Trust in the professionalism of staff and their commitment to do the best for their apprentices. Who am I writing this for if it doesn’t help the learner?

Second, it’s about funding. If the Education and Skills Funding Agency attached more money to each student, then each staff member wouldn’t have to take on so many apprentices.

This in turn would reduce paperwork and stress. 

 If those changes can be made, I can get on with the job I love.

Don’t confuse the Baker clause with actual careers guidance

Media reports about the Baker clause fail to understand it’s only one part of the careers guidance picture, writes Janet Colledge

There is much that’s positive in the move to strengthen the teeth of the Baker clause.

Coming from working-class stock, I particularly see the value in high-quality skills and technical education. I meandered into university by way of college rather than via A-levels. And I’m well aware that schools and society at present seem to value the university route over technical.

So I’m strongly behind any move to ensure that young people hear about all routes into working life, and as such, I welcome the Baker clause, which requires schools to do this.

But media reporting seems to conflate meeting the Baker clause with “you’ve done a great job in delivering careers guidance”.

Headlines such as “Baker’s back: could schools be sued for careers advice?”, or “Careers advice law change among three DfE amendments to Skills Bill” seemingly enforce this erroneous view.

But sorry, I have to tell you, it’s just not true. 

Twenty-first century careers guidance consists of multiple aspects. This is a natural consequence of the profession adapting to the changes in the working world.

We no longer leave school, get a job and stay in it for many years before retiring. We now change careers on average five to seven times in a lifetime. This has necessitated different, many-pronged approaches to career preparation.

It’s like someone trying to drink from a hydrant without a cup

In other words, the Baker clause when properly delivered ensures that all young people get information about all the routes open to them after their GCSEs. What it won’t do is provide careers advice or guidance or help them to make the decision. 

Think of it as like asking somebody to drink from a hydrant, with water gushing out at top speed, and what’s more, they don’t have a cup. There’s too much to make sense of.

Every training provider must recruit and, as such, has (an albeit well-meaning) bias. Every employer that visits a school has his or her own experience and the advice they give will be coloured by this.

The Department for Education’s own statutory guidance says advice given should be in the best interests of the child. Young people must be able to process the information they are given, and this requires two things:

1. A good-quality careers learning programme

To make sense of all the information students will be exposed to, and to be able to filter and make sense of it, a proper careers programme is crucial. Students must gain the skills needed to apply the knowledge they gain from the providers to their own situation. 

This aspect of careers learning can be demonstrated through the Gatsby benchmarks established by the Gatsby Foundation.

2. A trained careers coach

Young people also need access to good-quality careers guidance from what used to be called a “careers adviser”.

They’re not called that nowadays – “guidance professionals”, “coaches” or “counsellors” tend to be the terms used now. This reflects the extensive training they receive.

The DfE statutory guidance says that guidance professionals in schools should be qualified to level 6, post-grad level or above.

The career guidance profession uses theories of career development that are backed by academic rigour, plus coaching and psychological techniques to support those they work with.

They also undertake regular CPD which enables them to keep up to date with current labour market information, course information and dozens of other factors that could impact on a young person.

This helps students make a well-informed choice about their pathway, instead of a “stick a pin in a map and see where we end up” approach.

So to sum up, the Baker clause + careers programme + professional careers advice = careers guidance. 

If you want to know more about what really good careers guidance looks like in a college or school, have a look at the Quality in Careers Award. The DfE strongly recommends it.

The government’s FE policy is dangerously wishful thinking

Government rhetoric not rooted in reality will cause colleges to choose the easy options, writes Ian Pryce

As a fan of country music, the untimely death of Nashville-based singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith gave me an excuse to play all her old albums. She never achieved great fame because she championed traditional American folk music, rather than court a wider audience.  

I wish government could show a similar appreciation for, and pride in, the long and quiet tradition of further education.

To quote from my favourite Nanci song, “If wishes were changes we’d all live in roses”. This wonderful line points out the harsh truth that you cannot wish away reality. 

Much current FE policy-making at the moment seems rooted in wish rather than reality. And if colleges believe they are being set up to fail, it is inevitable they will retreat and hunker down, rather than take risky bets.

It seems pretty clear that government wants fewer people going to university full-time and many more taking sub-degree higher education or degree apprenticeships.  

It seems equally clear government wants young people to stop doing applied general courses and do T Levels instead. 

The former education secretary also said “the future is further education”. This rhetoric seems to wish more young people would choose technical and vocational courses over A-level equivalents. Carpenters not classicists, as Mary Beard might say.

Unfortunately, this bumps up against awkward reality. Numbers taking traditional degrees are at record levels. Colleges are struggling to maintain even their relatively tiny higher education enrolments. 

Covid has battered apprenticeships and, based on 2020 starts, the average apprentice is now a thirtysomething advanced business administrator. Last year fewer than ten per cent of starts were young people aged under 19.

Meanwhile, teacher-assessed GCSEs have resulted in more students taking A-levels, a trend that Ofqual is not planning to reverse quickly. 

At the same time, whether down to Brexit or Covid, pay rates in jobs with relatively low qualification thresholds in areas such as retail and hospitality are shooting up. It makes these jobs, rather than apprenticeships and VTQs, attractive as a choice for those aged 16 to 18. 

To top it off, the “fingers in ears” assault on BTECs only adds to the risk. A switch to T Levels involves sourcing a 500 per cent increase in work experience hours.

Meanwhile at policy level, the Skills for Jobs white paper makes clear a college’s offer will be heavily determined by bodies with no skin in the game. There is no evidence that skills panels will share, let alone fully underwrite, the risk of colleges doing the panels’ bidding and finding no demand.

In such circumstances, and faced with more years of low funding, surely the logical behaviour is for a college to shrink to a stable set of popular bestsellers. In other words, to enrol low-maintenance students and show good financial margins.  

If a college wants to take risks, then logic would dictate looking to expand academic provision for those with good GCSE grades, rather than moving too fast towards qualifications like T Levels (which depend on third-party employers and are little understood by parents).

In The Crisis of the Meritocracy Cambridge University academic Peter Mandler shows that democracy and social change trumps political ideology. His study of the success of the comprehensive system shows that, in education, the government follows, rather than leads, the public.

So the British education system is built on what parents want – not politicians, not employers.

We’ll find student numbers falling and finances crumbling

The fact that 70 per cent of young people change institution at 16, most don’t study A-levels, and more post-16 young people are in college than schools, shows that colleges have been right to focus on serving their public, sometimes for over a century. 

If we start to move away from what the public wants, we’ll find student numbers falling and our finances crumbling further. 

So the danger of wishful thinking is that we end up with fewer students. As well as Nanci, we’ll all be channelling Pink Floyd’s “Wish you were here”.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: EDITION 366

Julie Sizer, Managing director, Prepare to Achieve

Start date: September 2021

Previous job: Head, DART Training and Apprenticeships

Interesting fact: She organised the first international Guide camp in Warwickshire in 1991.

George Clark, Chair, Tyne Coast College

Start date: August 2021

Previous job: Performance specialist, Audit Commission

Interesting fact: In his spare time, he is treasurer of his local scout group and local non-league football team.

Mary Curnock Cook, Chair, Pearson Education Limited board

Start date: October 2021

Concurrent jobs: Council member, Open University; Non-executive director, Student Loans Company

Interesting fact: She sailed the notorious Sydney-Hobart ocean race in 2008 and said of this feat: “Never again!”

WorldSkills Squad UK meet in person for the first time since Covid struck

The skilled young professionals vying to represent the UK at the next WorldSkills international competition met in person last weekend, for the first time since Covid hit.

Members of Squad UK met at Loughborough University with just a year to go until they are whittled down to Team UK to fight for medals at WorldSkills Shanghai 2022.

Digital construction competitor and former New College Lanarkshire student Mona Nawaz said the two-day bootcamp was “amazing”, but it was also “really weird” to see her fellow competitors again after the pandemic.

The squad’s team leader, performance psychology lecturer Stephanie Tibbert, said the aims of the weekend were firstly to create a “safe environment” for squad members to talk about how difficult it has been to access training.

worldskills
Squad UK members

It was also about developing them as a team and preparing them to be away from their families when they will “need to have social bonds within the team”.

How competitors become world-class, not just in terms of their technical skills but also their mindset to deal with distractions and noise, was also covered.

High-performance workshops engaged competitors in building social networks and explored what their motivations were for competing.

WorldSkills bootcamp about ‘resetting focus’ of Squad UK

Nawaz said the weekend was “very enjoyable,” and got squad members used to “a bit of normality again” after many of them have had to train online during much of the pandemic.

“It was a wee bit of a better experience,” she says, as “being surrounded by people is a lot easier than seeing everybody through a screen”. She felt being in-person helped her learn better as well as concentrate more.

There was “fantastic feedback” on the weekend, says WorldSkills UK’s head of skills development and international competition Parisa Shirazi.

“But really, it was around how we reset the focus among our squad and trainers.”

Calum Knott, WorldSkills UK’s training manager for mechatronics, attended the weekend after visiting the EuroSkills competition last month.

The UK pulled out of the Europe-wide event, this year held in the Austrian city of Graz, in February owing to uncertainty around Covid.

Yet Knott says he has come away from EuroSkills feeling “confident we’ll still be competitive” at Shanghai.

Tibbert found this Squad UK was “more mature” than others had been at this stage, having developed “a little bit of resilience” through Covid.

National finals next month will complete squad

One unfortunate consequence of the long wait between tournaments has been squad members pulling out of the running for Team UK.

Knott has had two people drop out of mechatronics, and with another on a work placement abroad, he has just one competitor.

The mechatronics competition, based on the trade for building and maintaining automated equipment, such as assembly lines or bottling equipment, requires a team of two.

It is hoped the squad can be filled out from next month’s national finals, which this year will take place across the country, rather than at Birmingham’s NEC.

Squad members will find out if they have made Team UK in the spring.

For now, WorldSkills UK will continue running virtual competitions, known as “pressure tests”, pitting UK competitors against those from other nations.

These are intended to sharpen competitors’ skills, as well as benchmark their performance against the other countries.

The plan is for WorldSkills UK to compete in a virtual pressure test, having competed in ten so far. These will cover most of the circa 30 skills competitions in which WorldSkills UK is looking to participate in Shanghai.

Colleges reintroduce Covid measures as cases spike

One college has called off its freshers’ events while another has brought back mask-wearing a week after relaxing the restriction, as they respond to surging coronavirus rates.

Cornwall College Group, which has around 1,000 staff and 12,000 learners over nine sites, has postponed its freshers’ day and open events after its local authority requested it bring in extra Covid prevention measures.

Trafford College Group and Derby College have both asked staff and students to start wearing masks in communal areas in response to local Covid rates.

College group bans travel to campus with high Covid rates

Cases in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly rose by 12.9 per cent in the seven days to October 8, from 332 to 2,896. The area is in the government’s second-highest category for its case rate, 503.2 per 100,000 people.

Nearly 78 per cent of its population aged 12 and over have had both doses of a vaccine.

Cornwall College Group’s measures, which also include mask-wearing in communal areas, are running until at least the beginning of November.

“Unessential” travel by staff to and from the group’s Camborne campus has also been banned, after the case rate for this particular part of Cornwall hit 872.5 per 100,000 people – placing it in the highest of the government’s categories.

A vaccination centre has also been set up on the Camborne campus, along with two others at the group’s Bicton and St Austell sites.

“Our top priority is making sure our students can enjoy their college experience and continue their studies safely,” a spokesperson said.

Provider’s area put in highest category for Covid cases

Trafford is another area in the highest “black” category for its Covid case rate, which is at 845.6 per 100,000 people. The number of cases there has risen by 59.2 per cent (747) to 2,009.

After relaxing a requirement for masks just last week, Trafford College Group brought back in the measure for its Altrincham and Stretford campuses on Tuesday.

Social distancing measures are also in place, affecting the provider’s around 10,000 students and 600 staff.

The college has teamed up with Trafford Council to set up a vaccination centre on campus next week.

Total cases in Derbyshire rose by 17.6 per cent (673) to 4,498 in the seven days to October 8, bringing the case rate to 557.2 per 100,000 people. Eighty per cent of its population are fully vaccinated.

Derby College, which has four campuses, more than 12,000 students and 1,000 fulltime staff, insisted reintroducing masks is a “temporary control measure based on case numbers, which will be closely monitored and reviewed”.

Other colleges are keeping a cautious eye on their Covid rates in case they need to
implement measures.

Covid
Liz Bromley

The executive team of NCG, which runs seven colleges across the north of England and London, is meeting weekly to monitor the Covid situation and “ensure that we have appropriate plans in place to continue to safely deliver education on campus”.

It also has a contingency framework in place, “ready to react to any change in operational guidance which would result in a move to hybrid or remote teaching or any other relevant actions to mitigate any local or national increase in the risk of transmission,” chief executive Liz Bromley says.

Large swathes of northern England have a Covid case rate above 400, though most of London has a much lower rate in the hundreds.

Schools already told to reintroduce coronavirus measures

The situation in colleges mirrors what is happening in schools, where pupils and staff have had to mask up and re-enter bubbles.

Earlier this month, Staffordshire Council recommended the over 500 schools in its area, which includes former education secretary Gavin Williamson’s constituency, bring back Covid measures.

Its Covid cases increased by 7.8 per cent (337) in the seven days to October 8, having surged by 28.8 per cent last week.

Colleges in the area to whom FE Week has spoken say they have not received similar recommendations from local authorities.

The Department for Education’s Covid-19 guidance for FE providers states measures should be considered if positive cases at the setting or in the local area “substantially increase”.

Local public health directors can advise colleges that face coverings should temporarily be worn in communal areas or classrooms.

However, they ought to “only ever be considered as a last resort, kept to the minimum number of settings or groups possible, and for the shortest amount of time possible”.

FE’s new ministers hit the road for first college visits

Skills minister Alex Burghart has made his first trip to a college since being appointed, in one of a number of visits by politicians to further education and skills providers this week.

The minister, who was appointed last month, took a tour of City of Wolverhampton College on Thursday after having previously visited a T Level school and a skills bootcamp provider.

“Great outing to Wolverhampton, thank you City of Wolverhampton College and [Conservative MP] Stuart Anderson for having me,” Burghart posted on Twitter afterwards.

He also visited Walsall College yesterday, with the provider tweeting: “Some excellent conversations have taken place this afternoon, with Alex Burghart listening to everything we had to say about T Levels, apprenticeships and vocational course opportunities.”

Gove visits college to see ‘levelling up in action’

college
L-R Matthew Burgess, Madeline Howard, Michael Gove, Jo Dally, Rowena Hay, Tim Atkins, Bruce Gregory

On Wednesday, minister for further and higher education Michelle Donelan visited Swindon and Wiltshire Institute of Technology to launch a wave of 65 short and modular technical courses.

Levelling up and communities secretary Michael Gove was another political leader who went to college this week, visiting Gloucestershire College’s new Advanced Digital Academy on Tuesday.

The former education secretary met with cyber degree apprentices, T Level students and staff on Ada Lovelace Day, which commemorates the famous mathematician and is intended to celebrate women in science, technology, engineering and maths.

“It’s exciting to see levelling up in action,” Gove said of his visit.

Starmer makes first visit to an independent provider

Labour leader Keir Starmer attempted lorry driving at apprenticeship provider Mantra Learning’s National Logistics Academy on Tuesday.

Starmer made headlines during the visit when he hit a fence while reversing a lorry, causing the instructor sat next to him to remark: “You would have failed your test.”

He tweeted following his scrape: “It takes weeks of training to drive an HGV. Thanks to Mantra Learning for showing me how it’s done.”

Donelan’s visit was intended to publicise the free courses, which are being offered through ten of the 12 institutes of technology.

However, she faced questions during the trip over the government’s decision to pull funding from level 3 applied general qualifications such as BTECs, in favour of the government’s own T Levels.

This week, a cross-party group of 118 MPs and Lords wrote to the new education secretary Nadhim Zahawi, calling on him to “recalibrate” the government’s “disastrous” plans to scrap the majority of BTECs.

“One thing you can be sure of is we will ensure there is a good range of courses, these are high quality, and young people have those opportunities to go into whatever career they want,” Donelan told the BBC.

In addition to this week’s outing, Donelan paid a visit to Bury College last week to speak to staff and students about the provider’s new T Level courses.

https://twitter.com/SW_IoT/status/1448298731825152012?s=20

The new education secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, has already visited a college, making the trip to Barnet and Southgate College a couple of days after he was appointed in September.