Colleges and universities have been warned not to use “inclusivity” as an excuse for lowering standards in spelling, punctuation and grammar by the Office for Students (OfS).
In an explosive statement today, the higher education regulator’s director of regulation, Susan Lapworth, has slammed colleges’ and universities’ assessment practices saying that “some universities and colleges ask academics to ignore poor spelling, punctuation and grammar to make assessment more inclusive”.
Lapworth continues: “The idea that they should expect less from certain groups of students is patronising.”
The OfS’ argument is based on a report it is publishing today called ‘Assessment practices in English higher education providers: Spelling, punctuation and grammar’.
The report is the result of a “review of policies and practices in a small number of higher education providers” in order to investigate practices around the assessment of students’ written spelling, punctuation and grammar. The report’s summary states that it finds “themes” that give the OfS “cause for concern”.
The review found that some assessment policies had been designed to intentionally not look at spelling, punctuation and grammar, and that some providers use the Equality Act 2010 as justification for this.
The OfS refused to tell FE Week how many providers were part of the sample for this piece of work. The report features five case studies but fails to detail any information about the participating providers.
When pressed by FE Week, an Office for Students spokesperson said: “We looked at a handful of higher education providers – we aren’t publishing the exact number. This wasn’t designed to be a representative selection of providers, and we didn’t look at the policy of any further education colleges.”
Despite only looking at a “handful” of providers, today’s guidance has been described as “instructive” and “prescriptive” to the sector as a whole, including OfS registered further education colleges.
Nonetheless, higher and further education minister Michelle Donelan today says “it is right that the Office for Students is putting universities which disregard poor written English on notice”.
OfS are taking aim at what it calls “inclusive assessment” which it defines broadly as policies which prevent a student being advantaged or disadvantaged by any chosen assessment methods.
In one of the case studies outlined in the report, OfS found that a provider’s inclusive assessment policy stated that “learning outcomes for modules and courses can be met without including technical accuracy in written English as an objective, as long as ideas and knowledge are communicated effectively.” This was deemed unacceptable by OfS because it could “lead to unacceptably low standards”.
In another example, a provider’s assessment policy required markers to focus more on knowledge, ideas and understanding and “ignore weaknesses” in English writing. The justification for this particular approach was to not disadvantage students whose first language was not English. According to the OfS, this method actually further disadvantages the very students it seeks to support, by “reducing the pedagogical benefits associated with assessment.”
There is little evidence that this is a widespread issue in higher education. Indeed, Universities UK told FE Week that “five case studies are presented here – it’s worth noting that OfS has 418 registered providers, so we consider it quite a leap to imply that this is widespread practice.”
Several universities hit the headlines in April 2021 for prioritising students’ abilities to demonstrate their knowledge and learning over precise and technical command of written English, except in subjects where an external body insists that the latter is a requirement.
Today’s OfS report appears to be in response to those reports in which the University of Hull, Worcester University and University of the Arts London had their inclusive assessment practices exposed by The Timesand The Daily Telegraph.
Just last month, in his final major sector event as education secretary, Gavin Williamson told the Universities UK Annual Conference that “lowering the bar for certain groups of students serves no one. It is patronising to expect less from some students under the guise of supporting them. Effective academic writing requires good spelling, punctuation and grammar from every student.”
The OfS says today that it will “issue guidance” to any higher education provider where it has identified practices that are likely to be of concern.
Established for almost thirteen years, IPS Ltd has created systems for the Further Education sector and has provided end-to-end solutions across the UK.
We understand that colleges already have systems in place and our focus is to join what they already have together to make them work in a brand-new way.
We focus on integrating to a colleges current MIS system and transform it into the Colleges heart of technology, using the data to push through to a range of systems; from ID Card Software, Cashless Catering, Access Control and even our online payment platform which enables staff and students to be self-reliant and use these functionalities without having to wait for even the College to be open, they can even book online therapy sessions with our partner Mindspace24/7, who provides qualified coaches and therapists to staff and students, helping them with any mental health issues that they may have at any time of day, even out of term time.
Our systems enhance Safeguarding policies, making students safer than ever, and all with the input that is done through the MIS system. Not only can we do this, but we also reduce the workload for staff as there is no need for any additional input to any other software.
“The systems have been integrated to our MIS system, Prosolution, so that they extract the data from it. Our MIS system is now the heart of the College.
The benefits from this have meant that no person is able to enter College premises without being on a current course, meaning they will not be able to access the college building if their course date has expired or they have previously withdrawn
As all the IPS Ltd systems are synchronised with each other, our students receive a variety of key benefits in using these systems. They can top-up their ID Cards to pay for items in the catering outlets, either online or using our facial recognition kiosks and can even use their ID Cards in the College libraries.
Having self-service systems in place has meant, queue time has been reduced for a range of departments, including catering, reception, and student services, meaning there is no need for large amounts of students to be in one area.
Our staff find them easy to use and they can function around the systems in no time at all. Catering Managers can add on new items and meal deals without having to be at a till.
When a student scans their card at the till, the Operators can see the credit that is on the card, and they also see the student photo to ensure that the right person is using the right card.
Most importantly our Finance department can see the overview of all revenue and individual reports for our catering departments, our external catering outlets and even our kiosks.
Overall, IPS Ltd continues to provide our college with new innovative technology to enforce our policies and procedures to a much stronger level, giving us the reassurance and confidence to be able to focus our attention at a higher level of capability.” John Billington, Director of Facilities & Technical Services, Hugh Baird College
To see how students use our systems during their time in college, why not look at our video.
Want to know more?
IPS Ltd has set up several monthly webinars, the first webinar is on Thursday 28th October 2021, from 10.30 am – 11.30 am, this webinar will provide you with information about how our integration and automation works and how our systems work with yours.
You can take a look at our webinar range HERE, and you and your colleagues are welcome to register to any of them or call 01202 006677 for more information.
IPS Ltd has partnered with Hugh Baird College and Sapien Care Group to bring professionals of today to speak with professionals of tomorrow.
Further Education College tutors spend time structuring lessons to enable students to learn the criteria that is required for them to successfully complete their courses.
Health and Social Care students have allocated hours in a number of areas, from workplacement, lessons and also enrichment hours, which students are required to complete away from their course timetable.
“For almost 13 years, IPS Ltd.’s primary customers are within the education sector, meaning that we meet many Further Education College staff from across the country, all of whom have a passion and vision for what they do and how it enables the student journey to be outstanding, aiming for them to gain the best knowledge for their future careers.
The IPS Ltd and Sapien Care Group partnership provides an extensive portfolio of professionals within the Health and Social Care setting, in turn this gives students in FE Colleges an exciting new opportunity to learn from them and ask them questions”. Robert Powell, Managing Director, IPS Ltd.
“Many students enrol onto our Health and Social Care courses, with their career pathway being very vague. I hear many of them say that they want to become a nurse but not knowing in what profession.” Philippa Law, Assistant Director for Technical Skills at Hugh Baird College.
With the combination of IPS Ltd, Sapien Care Group and Hugh Baird College, we are delighted to be able to present to you i-Enrich.
This brand-new opportunity provides you and your students to be a part of a series of webinars that are hosted by Robert Powell, Managing Director of IPS Ltd and compered by Philippa Law, Assistant Director for Technical Skills at Hugh Baird College.
Each webinar will present a unique topic that will be relevant to your students and will consist of guest speakers that are highly professional and work within the Health and Social Care setting, and your students will get to understand and learn from their life experiences and knowledge.
Meaning they are eligible to classify attending the webinars as a maximum of thirty enrichment hours from their course.
Each guest speaker is excited to be a part of this experience, to share their knowledge and know that they are speaking to the next generation of health and social care professionals.
We would like to invite you and your students to join us at our webinars so that they gain the i-Enrich experience
Webinars are accessible everywhere, meaning that all Health and Social Care students within all FE Colleges can join us and be a part of this experience, our aim is to give our future Health and Social Care professionals as much information as possible to help them to choose the right pathway, and for them to be able to learn from current experienced professionals of today.
As a college, you can book for your students and staff to be involved, they can ask any questions to our guest speakers and listen to their stories.
Take a look at a short clip of the previous September 2021 webinar, Working from the Bottom up with our Guest Speaker Trisha Kelly a Senior Consultant from Fulcrum Care
If you would like your Health and Social Care staff and students to be a part of our webinars, then there are two options available to you.
Either book to attend the full series or choose any webinars from our series.
For more information on the Health and Social Care webinars and to read about our highly professional guest speakers click HERE
If you have any further questions, contact IPS Ltd on 01202 006 677.
The colleges and adult learning providers chosen to take part in a £9.5 million government pilot to bolster teacher training in further education have been named.
The pilots, which involve a lead provider and partner colleges in different areas of the country, will focus on strengthening staff’s skills and confidence in using technology, as well as subject-specific development to improve curriculum design and teaching, learning, and assessment.
There will also be “tailored” support for the sector’s new and inexperienced teachers to help career progression and aid retention.
The money forms part of the government’s promise in January’s Skills for Jobs white paper to take spending on the sector workforce to £65 million in this academic year.
Skills minister Alex Burghart said: “I’m delighted to announce today’s grant awards, which will help providers and teaching staff access top-quality professional development, so they can become ever more brilliant educators and trainers.
“The path to good jobs starts with good teachers. That’s why we’re funding FE providers to equip teachers with the knowledge and skills they need.
“As we build back better, this is a great time to start a career in FE teaching, and use real industry experience to help people skill up and progress.”
The lead providers and their partners are as follows:
Priority theme 1: workforce capability and confidence to use technology effectively in education
These providers will lead on activities to support workforce capability and confidence to use technology effectively in education.
Tyne Coast College – lead provider
Partner provider:
Itchen Sixth Form College
Activity area includes:
collaborative peer-to-peer support
Norfolk County Council Adult Learning – lead provider
Partner providers:
Buckinghamshire Council
Central Bedfordshire Council
Adult Community Learning Essex
Hertfordshire Adult and Family Learning Service
Hull Training and Adult Education
Luton Borough Council – Luton Adult Learning
North Lincolnshire Council Adult Education and Community Learning
Southend Adult Community College
Thurrock Council – Thurrock Adult Community College
Wiltshire Council
Activity areas include:
collaborative peer-to-peer support
evidence-based training and CPD to improve practice
the development of online and blended pedagogy
City College Plymouth – lead provider
Partner providers:
Plymouth City Council
Achievement Training Ltd
Activity areas include:
collaborative peer-to-peer support
evidence-based training and CPD to improve practice
South Thames Colleges Group – lead provider
Partner providers:
Croydon College
Haringey Sixth Form College
City of Portsmouth College
Activity areas include:
collaborative peer-to-peer support
evidence-based training and CPD to improve practice
the development of online and blended pedagogy
Gateshead Council – lead provider
Partner provider:
Gateshead College
Activity areas include:
collaborative peer-to-peer support
evidence-based training and CPD to improve practice
the development of online and blended pedagogy
Priority theme 2: subject-specific professional development
These providers will lead on activities to support subject-specific professional development.
Middlesbrough College – lead provider
Partner providers:
Newcastle College
Newcastle Sixth Form College
John Leggot Sixth Form College
Activity areas include:
evidence-based approaches to improve subject knowledge and pedagogy
the application and adaption of generic pedagogic practices to specific subject areas
collaborative peer-to-peer support and subject networks
Burnley College – lead provider
Partner providers:
Blackburn College
Lancaster and Morecambe College
Preston’s College
Myerscough College
Activity areas include:
evidence-based approaches to improve subject knowledge and pedagogy
the application and adaption of generic pedagogic practices to specific subject areas
collaborative peer-to-peer support and subject networks
Waltham Forest College – lead provider
Partner provider:
Capital City College Group
Activity areas include:
evidence-based approaches to improve subject knowledge and pedagogy
the application and adaption of generic pedagogic practices to specific subject areas
collaborative peer-to-peer support and subject networks
Derby City Council – lead provider
Partner providers:
Derbyshire Adult Community Education Service
Workers Educational Association
Nottinghamshire County Council
Activity areas include:
evidence-based approaches to improve subject knowledge and pedagogy
the application and adaption of generic pedagogic practices to specific subject areas
collaborative peer-to-peer support and subject networks
Wigan and Leigh College – lead provider
Partner providers:
Hopwood Hall College
St Helens College
Stoke College
Education Partnership North East
Newcastle College Group
Activity areas include:
evidence-based approaches to improve subject knowledge and pedagogy
the application and adaption of generic pedagogic practices to specific subject areas
collaborative peer-to-peer support and subject networks
West Suffolk College Group – lead provider
Partner providers:
Suffolk New College
Inspire Education Group
Activity areas include:
evidence-based approaches to improve subject knowledge and pedagogy
the application and adaption of generic pedagogic practices to specific subject areas
collaborative peer-to-peer support and subject networks
Leeds College of Building – lead provider
Partner providers:
Bradford College
Calderdale College
Kirklees College
Luminate Education Group
Shipley College
Wakefield College
Askham Bryan College
Activity area includes:
collaborative peer-to-peer support and subject networks
Priority theme 3: supporting new or inexperience teachers
These providers will lead on activities to support new or inexperienced teachers.
Activate Learning – lead provider
Partner provider:
Barnet and Southgate College
Activity areas include:
covering the cost of additional teacher time to provide intensive support such as paired teaching, work shadowing and reduced workload
core induction programmes covering key areas of practice essential for new or inexperienced teachers to develop
support for newly qualified teachers to broaden their experience of face-to-face teaching plus strengthen skills and confidence to undertake classroom and in-person delivery
Cirencester College – lead provider
Partner provider:
Shrewsbury Colleges Group
Activity areas include:
core induction programmes covering key areas of practice essential for new or inexperienced teachers to develop
support for newly qualified teachers to broaden their experience of face-to-face teaching plus strengthen skills and confidence to undertake classroom and in-person delivery
Derby College – lead provider
Partner provider:
Nottingham College
Activity areas include:
core induction programmes covering key areas of practice essential for new or inexperienced teachers to develop
support for newly qualified teachers to broaden their experience of face-to-face teaching plus strengthen skills and confidence to undertake classroom and in-person delivery
Bridgwater and Taunton College – lead provider
Partner providers:
South Devon College
Cornwall College Group
Activity areas include:
covering the cost of additional teacher time to provide intensive support such as paired teaching, work shadowing and reduced workload
core induction programmes covering key areas of practice essential for new or inexperienced teachers to develop
support for newly qualified teachers to broaden their experience of face-to-face teaching plus strengthen skills and confidence to undertake classroom and in-person delivery
Northampton College – lead provider
Partner providers:
West Herts College Group
Moulton College
Stoke-on-Trent-College
Activity areas include:
covering the cost of additional teacher time to provide intensive support such as paired teaching, work shadowing and reduced workload
core induction programmes covering key areas of practice essential for new or inexperienced teachers to develop
support for newly qualified teachers to broaden their experience of face-to-face teaching plus strengthen skills and confidence to undertake classroom and in-person delivery
Kendal College – lead provider
Partner providers:
NCG
Lakes College
Furness College
Activity areas include:
covering the cost of additional teacher time to provide intensive support such as paired teaching, work shadowing and reduced workload
core induction programmes covering key areas of practice essential for new or inexperienced teachers to develop
support for newly qualified teachers to broaden their experience of face-to-face teaching plus strengthen skills and confidence to undertake classroom and in-person delivery
Wakefield College – lead provider
Partner providers:
Chesterfield College
Lincoln College
Nottingham College
Wigan and Leigh College
Activity areas:
covering the cost of additional teacher time to provide intensive support such as paired teaching, work shadowing and reduced workload
core induction programmes covering key areas of practice essential for new or inexperienced teachers to develop
support for newly qualified teachers to broaden their experience of face-to-face teaching plus strengthen skills and confidence to undertake classroom and in-person delivery
Barnsley College – lead provider
Partner providers:
Access to Music Ltd
Bournemouth & Poole College
City of Bristol College
Nelson & Colne College Group
Oaklands College
Runshaw College
Activity areas include:
covering the cost of additional teacher time to provide intensive support such as paired teaching, work shadowing and reduced workload
core induction programmes covering key areas of practice essential for new or inexperienced teachers to develop
support for newly qualified teachers to broaden their experience of face-to-face teaching plus strengthen skills and confidence to undertake classroom and in-person delivery
Harlow College – lead provider
Partner providers:
Chelmsford College
Colchester Institute
New City College
South Essex College
Writtle University College
The Sixth Form College, Colchester
USP College
Activity areas include:
covering the cost of additional teacher time to provide intensive support such as paired teaching, work shadowing and reduced workload
core induction programmes covering key areas of practice essential for new or inexperienced teachers to develop
support for newly qualified teachers to broaden their experience of face-to-face teaching plus strengthen skills and confidence to undertake classroom and in-person delivery
East Kent College Group – lead provider
Partner providers:
The Sheffield College
Bradford College
Activity areas include:
covering the cost of additional teacher time to provide intensive support such as paired teaching, work shadowing and reduced workload
core induction programmes covering key areas of practice essential for new or inexperienced teachers to develop
support for newly qualified teachers to broaden their experience of face-to-face teaching plus strengthen skills and confidence to undertake classroom and in-person delivery
“Teachers are the foundation of the education system – there are no great schools without great teachers.
“Teachers deserve high quality support throughout their careers, particularly in those first years of teaching when the learning curve is steepest.”
Bear that in mind, while we turn to the situation in FE.
Every year, around 10,000 FE teachers work towards a level 5 or above in an initial teacher training qualification .
Many FE providers offer robust professional development to support their new teachers. However, training for the mentors themselves seems to be less of a priority.
Evidence suggests that without appropriate conditions and expectations for mentors, the impact of mentoring is likely to be ineffectual, or even harmful to mentees.
In schools, school-based ITT and the subsequent early career framework has received a recent boost in funding. So it’s especially concerning that FE providers are given free rein when it comes to the early careers of their teachers.
There is no minimum entitlement, no consistency across providers, and insufficient time given to support new teachers to the sector.
In one recent ITT provider inspection in FE, inspectors noted that “it is often left to workforce mentors to use their professional judgement to determine what knowledge trainees need to learn [and this] slows trainees’ learning and development further”.
This shows us that there is now a greater emphasis from Ofsted on subject specialist mentors being able to support their mentee to apply their learning specifically from the ITT curriculum.
Another issue is that mentoring in colleges can vary significantly. We know that university ITT providers often pay institutions to host trainee teachers upwards of £600 per trainee, per year.
However, this only accounts for around half of those on ITT programmes.
A significant number of trainee teachers complete their training in-service through partnership colleges or awarding organisation providers.
Here, the mentoring largely relies on good will.
The mentoring largely relies on good will
Seldom is there remission for mentors and even more uncommon is any form of payment for this important role.
That’s despite the fact that we know institutions that provide the time for their mentors and their teaching staff through remitted timetables afford the opportunity for both to develop.
However, time alone is not enough. Evidence shows that successful mentors require sociability, openness and the ability to develop relationships built on shared control (as opposed to dominance).
None of this can be learnt simply through remission, or indeed payment. Instead, it relies on a willingness from mentors to develop their skillsets.
Steve is one of the University of Derby’s FE ITT mentors. In a recent interview, he highlighted that the mentor role isn’t just about giving time to the mentee, but also that the mentor should model positivity and how to handle the stresses of the teaching role.
They should encourage the mentee to develop their own authentic style.
Steve views the role as an honour and a pleasure, which is at odds with some mentors’ perspectives, who see the role in a more transactional way, whilst others find it burdensome.
So how do we ensure that our trainees are being supported by mentors like Steve?
First, university ITT providers need to invest in their mentors, offering specific training, not just an HR-prescribed list of actions.
Second, institutions need to engage with the new Education and Training Foundation mentor framework which has comprehensive resources to support leaders, mentors and mentees.
(At the University of Derby, aspects of this framework are integrated into a ‘mentor journey’, which provides clear milestones for mentors and optional development opportunities to support trainees as they move from novice to expert teachers).
And finally, providers must identify the right candidate for the mentoring role.
Is this individual committed to supporting the development of a mentee? Do they possess the skillset to encourage without dominating, to support without leading?
The successful mentor starts with the individual. But that mentor needs to be better invested in, and valued, in the first place.
This is understandable given current driver shortages across England, which have been linked to the fuel crisis.
Ministers wanted to act quickly on a driver shortage so introduced a skills measure and a three-month visa.
What is interesting is that the Department for Education used the National Skills Fund rather than the bigger apprenticeship budget to help a sector with workforce supply.
Perhaps this is obvious. No one starting an apprenticeship now would be finished by Christmas.
But, even if they did, government gave away most of its apprenticeship levers to employers and the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education in 2017.
So when DfE needs to act quickly, it has to do something else. Apprenticeships don’t help in the short term.
What about the long term?
There are standards in place and the post-2017 system puts employers in charge of the money.
Large firms have two years to spend the levy they pay or they can transfer funds down the supply chain. Smaller firms can access apprenticeship funds, albeit with certain obstacles like co-funding.
So, is the apprenticeship system part of the solution? I don’t know. What’s worse, I’m not sure the industry or policymakers know either.
A core feature of the current apprenticeship system is secrecy.
A core feature of the current apprenticeship system is secrecy
Because employers pay their levy to HMRC, their details, how much they pay and what they spend on apprenticeships are kept secret.
Taxpayer confidentiality is a core principle but it results in an absence of data about spending.
Employers in the retail, transport and distribution sectors have paid hundreds of millions of pounds in levy since 2017 yet very little of this is being spent on directly relevant apprenticeships.
It is easy to speculate why transport apprenticeship numbers are low but, without any data on what transport employers are doing with their levy funds, I’m not sure anyone knows which reason is relevant.
HMRC rules reduce scrutiny of actual employer spending and contribute to a situation in which Treasury had to find £10 million in a crisis.
Another factor may be the way employer decision-making is individualised in the English apprenticeship system.
Employers are given an apprenticeship account, some of which they can transfer, but there is no mechanism to pool funds.
This may be fine for some parts of the economy but it’s different from most levy systems in other countries or those that operated in UK the 1970s.
The Construction Industry Training Board and a few other sectors still operate a pooled levy. Perhaps this approach needs a review.
And then there’s the question about migration and skills.
There is some controversy about whether Brexit is a direct cause of the immediate HGV driver shortage but there should be no disagreement on the fact that this is a long-term issue.
The 2021 migration rules exclude jobs at level 2 from skilled worker visas and this has been clear policy since 2018.
Transport, food and care have been clearly identified as sectors affected by this change, but only in Home Office documents. Where’s the policymaking to work through the implications?
The post-Brexit migration rules were a hefty government intervention in the jobs market but our current approach to skills relies wholly on employers to work out a response individually. This just doesn’t work.
We know that leaving everything to the market in education often doesn’t work. Adults under-invest in themselves and are reluctant to borrow for training. Employers focus on short-term needs.
If UK migration policy cuts inflow of people to some sectors, skills policy needs to react.
Workforce planning is difficult and often fails, but sometimes it might be better to have a go.
DfE is moving forward with local skills planning arrangements with the intention that these should guide the single skills fund. Perhaps they need to be a tad more ambitious.
So they should think about planning apprenticeships and definitely publish more information.
Finally, they must use the forthcoming spending review to allocate a bigger budget, and set some national objectives.
The law will change to give “equality” to technical education in careers advice in schools and religious sixth form colleges will finally be able to academise under government plans announced today.
Ministers are also moving to criminalise the use of unscrupulous “essay mills” – where cheat essays are provided to students for money.
All three measures will feature as government amendments in the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill which is currently making its way through the House of Lords.
The 2017 legislation says a school “must ensure that there is an opportunity for a range of education and training providers to access pupils for the purpose of informing them about approved technical education qualifications or apprenticeships”.
And careers advice guidance already states that “schools and colleges must explain technical education routes alongside academic routes and should not attempt to promote HE as a better or more favourable route than FE or apprenticeships”.
Lord Baker, the architect behind the Baker Clause, previously told FE Week he was seeking to amend the Skills Bill to put the clause on a statutory footing. He said he wanted to make this a “legal duty” on schools, which could be taken to court if they fail to comply.
He complained the 2017 act has been “largely disregarded” by schools up until now.
A Department for Education press release about today’s announcement only said: “The law will be changed to give equality to technical education in careers advice in schools, so all pupils understand the wide range of career routes and training available to them, such as apprenticeships, T Levels or traineeships, not just a traditional academic route.”
A DfE spokesperson later clarified the department is “seeking to strengthen the provider access legislation to make it clearer what the requirement to allow access to providers of technical education or apprenticeships should mean in practice”.
They added that the process for monitoring compliance and enforcement will be “covered in the updated statutory guidance which will be published at least one term before the strengthened legislation comes into force”.
Religious SFCs able to academise after years of campaigning
Nearly all sixth form colleges have been able to convert to academy status, and in doing so enjoy the luxury of not paying VAT, since former chancellor George Osborne changed the rules in November 2015.
But a group of 14 SFCs which are Catholic-run have been prevented from doing so due to their religious character, which would not be maintained under current government rules. If they converted, they would lose protections in areas of curriculum, acts of worship and governance.
The DfE has finally found a solution to safeguard religious character. Today’s announcement said: “Additional measures being introduced to the Bill include enabling sixth form colleges with a religious faith designation to become a 16 to 19 academy, boosting diversity in 16 to 19 academies and allowing more faith school providers to open 16 to 19 academies with a religious character.”
James Kewin, deputy chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges’ Association, said he was “delighted” with the news.
“To date, 28 (SFCs) have converted, but our 14 Catholic sixth form colleges have been unable to do so while also retaining their religious character.
“The Skills Bill will make academisation an option for these institutions and we expect all of the Catholic sixth form colleges to now explore this option in more detail.”
Essay mills ‘completely unethical’
Essay mills are services offering to provide students with essays for money – an issue that is usually found in universities but also sometimes in colleges with higher education provision.
The government said today it “intends to make it a criminal offence to provide, arrange or advertise these cheating services for financial gain to students taking a qualification at any institution in England providing post-16 education, including universities”.
This is hoped to help “safeguard the academic integrity and standards of post-16 and higher education in England and protect students from falling prey to the deceptive marketing techniques of contract cheating services”.
New skills minister Alex Burghart said: “Essay mills are completely unethical and profit by undermining the hard work most students do. We are taking steps to ban these cheating services.
“We have also announced a new measure to make sure all young people receive broader careers guidance so everyone can get the advice that’s right for them.”
The Skills Bill enters its report stage in the House of Lord on 12 October.
Chambers of commerce are in the spotlight. Meet Louise Bennett, chief executive of the Coventry and Warwickshire chamber of commerce – a businesswoman, trained psychotherapist and foster parent
You could say chambers of commerce are at a pivotal moment in their history. If all goes to plan, they could become a deeply ingrained part of the further education landscape. If all goes to plan.
A structure to more closely link education and employers has come in the guise of various plans over the years: we’ve had training and enterprise councils (now gone), sector skills councils (some still knocking around), regional development agencies (axed), local enterprise partnerships (relatively recent), all tasked, in some form, with connecting business need and skills training.
In the chambers’ favour, at least, is that they’re unlikely to fade away any time soon. There are 53 of them, each private companies with a chief executive, funded on membership or patron fees from local businesses; IT firms, manufacturers, local authorities, accountants and so on – anyone involved in the local economy. They also bid to win public money to provide free advisors, and can charge commercially for services, such as, say, courses in non-executive director training.
As Louise Bennett, chief executive of the Coventry and Warwickshire chamber of commerce, tells me, chambers have been around for over a hundred years. “This one is nearly 120 years old,” she beams. “I don’t say that like we’re ancient and isn’t that fabulous. More that chambers deserve some credit for constantly morphing, changing, responding and being relevant.”
And morph again they must. At the moment, chambers do a variety of things to support business, says Bennett. “If you want to start a business, you come to us, and we deliver all the start-up support. If you want to grow the business, you can come to us – we have free advisors. If you want to export, you come to us. We do the checks to make sure you’re exporting what you say you are.”
Bennett hosting the annual Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce Chancellor’s Budget lunch
Colleges are already tightly involved, continues Bennett, as patrons (who pay between £150 and £6,000 a year to belong to the chamber, depending on their size and requirements). For instance, Warwickshire College Group, which Bennett praises as “very employer facing”, works with her chamber to find employers, speak at its conferences and so on.
But now the government wants to significantly expand the role of chambers of commerce. It is their moment in the sun. Last year, FE Week reported that ministers had chosen the chambers to help deliver its skills plans after the 38 local enterprise partnerships (which aim to “forge an alliance between local business and the public sector”) failed to impress.
Ministers had themselves lost a body to advise them on skills policy with the closure of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills in 2017 ̶ perhaps the British Chambers of Commerce could fill the gap.
So with the support of Baroness Alison Wolf, who advises the prime minister on skills, chambers were asked to step into the breach. As a result, all eight “local skills improvement plan” (LSIP) trailblazers were given to chambers of commerce as the lead “employer representative body”.
Of course, the task is not without controversy. First off, there are the employers, who are now expected to work closely with their local chamber (membership of chambers, unlike in Germany, is not compulsory here). But in March, the director of one firm said he “didn’t think chambers are close enough to what industry needs”.
Bennett is a tour de force in repudiating this. “Whether you love us or you’re not so sure, we’re the only network across the country that has a local base.” She points out other business groups such as the Federation of Small Businesses and the Institute of Directors are “all fabulous” but “have no national infrastructure”.
The British Chambers of Commerce is also international, which seems useful post-Brexit: it runs an accredited network of chambers across the globe. “We’re local, national and international. We’re unique.” They’ve also been established longer than LEPs, which were set up in 2011, and so are less likely to get abolished or renamed. She does seem to have a point.
However, LSIPs could also put the chambers in the slightly uncomfortable position of having more say over provider courses than providers themselves. Again, Bennett is firm: “Colleges want us to be collaborators. They want to see us as a positive influencer on policy, not us in the press saying ‘colleges are useless’. It’s about us being a true collaborator.”
LSIPs are also “not trying to duplicate what colleges are already doing. They’re either trying to plug gaps, or be innovative.” So for instance, a local business might need to “reshore” its suppliers, which means no longer using suppliers in, say, China or India and find them locally instead.
“So then it’s, let’s do a trailblazer around that, and work collaboratively with the college to make that work.” It’s not about changing everything a provider does, but looking at what might be missing, she explains.
Bennett when appointed High Sheriff of the County of the West Midlands
With these tricky balances to manage, perhaps the ultimate success of the chambers’ expanded role will depend on the personalities of chief executives like Bennett. In another world, one can imagine Bennett as a college principal: she is interested in learning, education and mental health, and is a trained psychotherapist.
“I’m a Black Country girl from a working-class background, and I was the first person in my family, as many people are now, to go to university. I love learning, I love listening, I love having creative conversations like this one now.”
She attended the University of Wolverhampton business school, did a masters in business at the University of Derby, began in retail and then moved into HR, becoming qualified with the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. She has worked for the NHS and in the private sector.
Then Bennett became head of policy at the Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, and has been with the chambers since. She laughs, self-deprecating: “Why would you be a political lobbyist with a Black Country accent? It sounds really bad on TV.”
Eighteen years ago she was appointed one of the youngest female chief executives of a chamber of commerce, and hasn’t looked back.
Bennett hosting visitors meeting businesses across Coventry and Warwickshire
Perhaps more unusually, Bennett is also a foster parent. Her own mum brought her up with adoptive siblings, and she and her husband began fostering eight years ago. “The girl we have now has been with us for four years, and it’s the longest placement of her life so far, bless her. You do try and give them your values and beliefs. You try to influence them to take learning seriously and to take aspiration seriously.”
As such, Bennett wants to see more young people leave college with the skills to set themselves up as self-employed.
“It’s a shame more of our young people don’t see self-employment as on a par with employment – it would be nice to see more young people who see entrepreneurship as an opportunity.” She recalls with pride one girl the chamber supported to design a make-up line that became very successful in Asian markets.
However, I then wonder whether “local skills improvement plans” should really be so local. What if a talented designer in Coventry has a much bigger overseas market than a local one?
“I think you’ve come up with a real dilemma there,” admits Bennett thoughtfully. “Colleges do have to respond to employer demand. So it’s a real dilemma marrying up between the needs of business, college delivery, and the passions and desires of young people.”
This looks set to become more, rather than less, of a pressing issue: she says that since the pandemic, more people are approaching the chamber with creative and arts-related start-up ideas, many of which will have their main markets in London or overseas.
At the same time, a lack of jobs due to the pandemic is also pushing a “trend towards forced self-employment” in the area. It makes it all the more important that colleges ensure their students leave with an understanding of cash flow, financial planning and intellectual property, she says.
But it also means the idea of a ‘local’ skills improvement plan seems a little odd in a world that has become – particularly around buying and selling – increasingly virtual, and it’s good to see Bennett openly acknowledge that. If anything, it makes the international export links of her chamber even more important. Perhaps, ironically, the chamber will be a much-needed antidote to the LSIPs themselves.
Bennett with Andy Street, mayor of the West Midlands
Her other insight into the world of FE is that the chamber runs an independent training provider, Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce Training Ltd, as a subsidiary company. It has about 1,400 learners a year, 550 of whom are apprentices, and got a grade 2 in 2016. “That helps to develop our understanding of the challenges colleges face in getting young people into apprenticeship vacancies,” says Bennett.
She says she also sympathises with those training providers “going to the wall” because of the new barriers to entering the market being erected by the government; but she points out they’re also encouraging smaller providers to collaborate and merge more.
Her chamber’s ITP, for instance, has taken on a “tiny independent training provider” focused on engineering. However, running an ITP sounds rare among chambers: Bennett thinks only one other chamber does it.
She does seem to straddle the multiple worlds the government needs her to straddle. But success will depend on FE providers feeling that the chambers of commerce are “true collaborators” ̶ not directors of fortune.
Can the chambers morph again, and make a success of it?
New skills minister Alex Burghart has promised that people who need level 2 qualifications to “step up” into apprenticeships and the level 3 entitlement “won’t be forgotten”.
Burghart, who joined the Department for Education – his first ministerial job – in the cabinet reshuffle two and a half weeks ago, spoke today at the Conservative Party Conference in his first panel discussion in the role.
He used some opening remarks to the panel, which discussed green jobs, to set out his priorities, including helping people without level 2 qualifications achieve them so they can move on to levels 3 and beyond.
‘Big part’ of Burghart’s work will be on level 2
While the government is “stacking a whole series of green initiatives” into the apprenticeships programme, he said: “We have about 20 per cent of people in their twenties who lack basic qualifications.”
Burghart said “a big part” of his work will be “making sure that that part of society isn’t forgotten”.
He wants the Department for Education to help those people “step up” so they can take advantage of the government’s new entitlement to a first, full, free level 3 qualification as well as technical apprenticeships.
Also, so they can take money from their lifelong loan entitlement, which the government is rolling out in 2025, to do “much needed” level 4 and 5 skills “to push forward productivity in the economy”.
The Learning and Work Institute published a report in July 2021, warning that if the level 3 entitlement “comes at the expense of basic skills and level 2, it risks limiting opportunity”.
DfE is ‘greasing axles of change,’ says minister
Burghart described the DfE’s role in the government’s aim to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 as “greasing the axles of this change”.
This would entail having a workforce trained and ready to step in once new, green industries come online.
To achieve this, the minister said the department is focusing on apprenticeships in areas like solar power and wind power.
It is also looking to create “opportunities for young people but also people who want to change their career, to get technical know-how in a specific area, to become the next generations of workers in very specific high skilled jobs”.
Burghart dodged the question, saying: “What we’re trying to do is build a whole system that is much more responsive to the needs of local businesses and the national economy.
“So, thinking about how is it that we can make sure training providers of whatever colour are offering young people and older learners the skills that local and national industry is going to need.
“So, that’s really where my priorities are focused and then there’ll be plenty of initiatives to hang on that.”
Ultimately, Burghart said the department is “trying to create a much closer relationship between the desires of the individual for work, with the desires and needs of industry, and the capabilities of training providers”.
“Tying” those ideas together will create a “much more responsive system,” capable of identifying skills which will be needed in three to five years’ time so the training can be available “either in FE, or as bootcamps, or as apprenticeships”.
This is so “you know we have an economy that is ready and able to generate the skills it needs for the jobs it needs”.
The awarding organisations that will develop, deliver and award T Levels in the fourth wave of their rollout in 2023 have been announced.
City & Guilds, which already won contracts to develop the new flagship qualifications for rollout in 2021 and 2022, will develop and award the new animal care and management pathway, plus the agriculture, land management and production courses.
NCFE, which developed qualifications for the first wave of T Levels last year as well as for the wave starting delivery last September, will develop the craft and design; media, broadcast and production; and hair, beauty and aesthetics programmes. The latter of the three will be developed in partnership with awarding body VTCT.
Awarding body Highfield Qualifications will make its T Level debut by developing a catering qualification.
Alex Burghart
The new minister for skills Alex Burghart, appointed in last month’s cabinet reshuffle, called it “excellent” the new contracts had been signed as it means “even more students can benefit from world-class training, unlocking exciting new pathways in areas such as media, design and agriculture”.
T Levels are level 3 courses, equivalent to thee A-levels, which last two years and combine classroom learning with a minimum 315-hour industry placement.
The first three T Levels, developed by City & Guilds and Pearson, started being delivered in September 2020, with seven additional qualifications created by City & Guilds and NCFE rolling out last month.
A further six created by Pearson and City & Guilds will start next year.
Awarding body ‘can’t overstate’ what winning T Level contract means
City & Guilds’ managing director David Phillips said they are “delighted” to be awarded the contract, as it: “Gives us the opportunity to help the next generation of young people develop the vital land-based skills they and employers need.”
NCFE chief executive David Gallagher said they are “looking forward” to collaborating with experts “to help us to raise the standards and expectations of skills within their industries, shaping the future workforce and nurturing a new generation of talent”.
VTCT chief executive Alan Woods said the partnership with NCFE “combines their tried and tested experience in delivering T Levels with our unrivalled hair, beauty and aesthetics sector knowledge and expertise”.
Highfield Qualifications chief executive Jason Sprenger said it had been “well noted” T Levels were “one of the most significant developments in hospitality education within the last decade”.
So his organisation “really can’t overstate what this accomplishment means to us or how seriously we take this responsibility”.
The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education, which ran this procurement, has been asked how much each of the three will be paid to develop the T Levels.
