Employers are instrumental in reshaping the skills landscape 

There is still much we don’t know about Skills England, from how it will deliver on high-level policy targets to how it will avoid the pitfalls of previous incarnations. However, we do know that 2025 promises to be a year of significant change – and with change comes opportunity.  

As the sector positions itself to take advantage of the ongoing consultation phase and to share views collectively, we must find ways to ensure that employers can have their voices heard.  

Coordinating a collaborative reform on this scale necessarily means making choices about representation, but employers are the ones witnessing skills gaps and facing retention and recruitment challenges. Without their buy-in, policy pledges like the industrial strategy and the Youth Guarantee will be hamstrung from the outset. 

As the department for education and Skills England are consulting, at Lifetime we’ve also been in listening mode. We’ve brought together employer partners from across sectors to understand what they would want to see from reforms and from independent training provider support more broadly as we enter this new phase. 

Closing the skills gaps 

One key observation is just how universal – and familiar – their pain-points are. Employers consistently identify critical gaps in soft skills, digital literacy and leadership competencies.  

They witness daily how a disconnect between education and employment can lead to disappointment and dissatisfaction in early-career roles. And they see that despite being digital natives, young people are often unequipped to utilise work-essential tools such as Microsoft Word. 

Employers also recognise that young peoples’ expectations of the world of work are changing, with flexibility more highly prized than by previous generations. This creates an undeniable challenge, particularly for sectors such as retail, care and hospitality, where the potential for that flexibility is more limited.  

With flexibility being the buzzword of Labour’s emerging skills approach, it is positive that the rigidity of apprenticeship programmes with regards to duration and functional skills are at least being addressed. 

Unfortunately, and despite decades of campaigning from our sector, employers still find that apprenticeships are poorly understood.  

Old habits die hard, and many find that young people are put off pursuing apprenticeships because of outdated misconceptions that they are ‘just’ for electricians and plumbers, or ‘just’ for those who are not suited to an academic path. 

The fact that we have not managed to significantly move the dial on this perception highlights how essential employer collaboration is. Without involving them in the conversation, we risk preaching only to the choir.  

We need their support to demonstrate real-world case studies and highlight inspiring success stories which counter misconceptions, as well as to tailor apprenticeship programmes to industry-specific needs, making them fit for purpose. 

Balancing priorities 

Many have already argued that Skills England should not throw the baby out with the bathwater. It must balance the need to move swiftly in response to skills shortages with creating something which does not repeat its predecessors’ mistakes.  

There are already several examples of successful employer involvement which Skills England should emulate. We know from the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education’s trailblazer groups that involving employers in the process of shaping apprenticeship standards can be successful, delivering job role-aligned occupational standards.  

Given how many of the challenges employers experience are long-standing (and therefore risk becoming intractable), there is also a need for new forms of engagement. We’re facilitating roundtables early next year to listen to employers’ views around foundation apprenticeships so we can feed these insights in at a policy level. 

As we enter 2025, the stakes could hardly be higher. Without meaningful employer involvement, we risk perpetuating a skills mismatch that stifles innovation and hampers economic growth.  

But by placing employers at the heart of the conversation, we can benefit from their collective insight as co-creators of a reformed and effective skills system. 

MPs launch inquiry to find SEND solutions

Parliament’s education select committee has launched a major inquiry to find solutions for the growing crisis in special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision.

Expert witnesses will be called for hearings in the new year to suggest ways to stabilise the creaking SEND system in the short term and offer longer-term solutions to improve outcomes for children and young people up to age 25.

In the meantime, the committee is now inviting evidence from learners, parents, local authorities and education professionals.

Its call for evidence lists over 40 topics of concern for the committee along five themes: support for young people with SEND, current and future SEND needs, current and future model of SEND provision, accountability and inspection of SEND provision and finance, funding and capacity of SEND provision.

In addition to questions on future demands on local authority finances for SEND provision, the committee will also ask about how councils should improve their transport offer to post 16 students. 

Questions will also be raised about the improvements needed in post 16 provision, including whether qualifications on offer are fit for purpose.

Not another one

This inquiry follows numerous research reports on the SEND system this year alone from organisations like the Local Government Association, Education Policy Institute, and the National Audit Office. All of them point to a system struggling to cope with rapidly rising demand amid deteriorating local authority budgets.

But it’s been five years since the parliamentary committee last held an inquiry on SEND.

Education committee chair Helen Hayes said: “In recent years, report after report has documented the failures of the SEND system to deliver the support children and their families need. 

Helen Hayes MP

“This crisis has many symptoms that bleed into the rest of the education system: from attrition in the teaching workforce to soaring levels of pupil absence. There are also symptoms which blight local councils’ budgets – ever-increasing spending on transporting pupils to settings far from where they live and the chaos of money being poured into tribunals that parents are expected to win. 

“It’s widely accepted that many more councils could face effective bankruptcy if change doesn’t come soon.”

An FE Week investigation earlier this year found councils signed up to so-called ‘safety valve’ deals were cutting the use of specialist SEND provision for post 16 students in favour of places at general FE colleges that aren’t always equipped to meet their needs.

And a recent survey by specialist college body Natspec revealed 65 per cent of their members had students start late this year because of issues with local authority arranged transport.

Written evidence that addresses some or all of the committee’s lines of enquiry can be submitted from now until January 30.

Ofsted to trial ‘new inspection approach’ in January

Ofsted will trial “a new approach to inspections” ahead of a consultation on its new inspection framework, which is likely to include longer notice periods for providers and “proportionate” inspection teams.

A “small number of volunteer schools” have been selected to “informally test” a revised inspection model from the start of the spring term. Findings from these informal pilots will then inform Ofsted’s consultation on a new inspection framework, expected later in January.

Further education and skills settings will also get to trial the inspectorate’s new approach, but not until “later in the term” once its proposals have been published.

Ofsted has not set out what will be different in those early informal pilots in volunteer schools.

A new inspection framework has been on the cards since chief inspector Martyn Oliver’s Big Listen exercise. Its next iteration is likely to diverge from Ofsted’s current model which places all education provision under one governing inspection framework.

Ofsted vows to ‘tailor’ inspections and report cards to FE and skills

Oliver told FE Week in September that a new framework for FE and skills inspections would “better tailor our inspections to the diverse range of provision in the sector.”

“This means the framework needs to work as well for classroom-focused qualifications as it does for employer-led vocational and technical training,” he said at the time.

Once next year’s consultation has closed, Ofsted has promised more pilot inspections to test its final proposals with a number of volunteer providers. It will also run a series of events to inform the sector of its new approach.

This will come as Ofsted prepares to finally abandon single-word overall effectiveness judgments in the FE and skills sector and replace its inspection reports with provider “report cards” in September 2025.

Despite the education secretary describing single-word headline judgments as “reductive” and “low information, high stakes”, they have remained in place for FE and skills inspections. They were removed for school inspections in September, but Ofsted said it needed more time to remove them from FE inspections because “FE is a little more complicated.”

Alongside dropping the headline overall effectiveness grade and new proposed “report cards”, next year’s pilots could also include longer notice periods.

Paul Joyce, Ofsted’s deputy director for FE and skills, told the AELP autumn conference in November that notice periods of inspections featured heavily in the sector’s response to the Big Listen.

Joyce said: “You wanted longer notice periods for providers, and we’ve listened. We’ve heard that, and we’ll respond in due course.” 

Ofsted’s Big Listen report card

Ofsted has also published its first “monitoring report” detailing progress towards 132 actions from the Big Listen and Dame Christine Gilbert’s review of the inspectorate’s response to the death of headteacher Ruth Perry. It will be updated after every Ofsted board meeting.

So far, just under a third (42) of the 132 actions have been completed.

One of its objectives for reform is to “improve our inspection processes to – as far as possible – reduce the anxiety of inspection while always putting children first.”

For FE and skills providers, Ofsted said the progress it has made on this includes updating the inspection handbook in September to clarify how personal development and behaviour and attitude judgments are made.

It adds, under “update on progress,” that the sector will be consulted on changes to inspection notice periods and the size of inspection teams to “reduce the burden” on FE and skills providers.

Oliver, said: “Our response to the Big Listen set out our determination to retain the confidence of children, their parents and carers, and to earn back the trust of the dedicated professionals working hard to improve children’s life chances. 

“I’m pleased to now be publishing this first monitoring report, which describes all the work we are doing to improve our culture and practices. I hope that it shows that we are willing to listen, accept challenge, and take action where it’s needed.

“I am also delighted that the work to trial our new inspection approach begins in early January. Feedback from these trials, and from our soon-to-be-launched consultation, will shape and improve our proposals.”

Bootcamps: Providers ‘pushed’ to prioritise job-ready learners

Strict performance measures for intensive upskilling courses launched during the pandemic meant some providers only focused on “job ready” candidates, an evaluation of learners has revealed.

This week the Department for Education (DfE) published an evaluation of completions and outcomes from skills bootcamps in the 2021-22 ‘wave 2’ of courses, which ended in March 2022.

More than 18,000 learners started bootcamps in that year, with the majority enrolled on courses covering digital skills such as coding, and heavy goods vehicle (HGV) driving.

The evaluation found that for some, the experimental courses – which last up to sixteen weeks and are supposed to include a “guaranteed” job interview – have been transformative, leading learners to good ‘outcomes’ such as new roles and improved pay.

But others, often from more deprived areas, were less likely to complete the course or see a positive impact on their employment.

Targets set by the DfE and the intensive structure of the course also meant some providers changed their tactics to achieve better outcome targets by recruiting “job-ready” candidates who already had higher-level qualifications.

This indicates that, although the courses enhanced skills for some individuals, the likelihood of benefiting those with fewer opportunities diminished.

The evaluation is based on in depth interviews and 430 surveys with providers, learners and employers. Here’s what you need to know:

Targets ‘unrealistically high’

Some providers—80 percent of whom were independent training providers—felt that the key performance indicators (KPIs) assigned to them were “unrealistic.”

This included a target of a job interview for 100 per cent of participants and strict evidence criteria for showing DfE learners achieved positive outcomes.

Evidencing positive outcomes was a “barrier” due to the time-consuming task of chasing learners after they left the course and the six-month “cut-off” for collating evidence.

The KPIs also failed to measure success differently based on learners’ profiles, such as whether they had been long-term unemployed, ex-offenders, or new entrants to a sector.

Recruitment

Some of the ways providers found to improve their KPIs led to “strategies to reduce non-completion”, such as vetting candidates to prioritise the “job ready”.

One provider told researchers they changed their approach after initially prioritising “hitting recruitment targets” over recruiting the right learners.

Another said they later began favouring participants whose employer co-funded the course or who were “job-ready and able to complete their course and achieve a successful outcome.”

One company reduced its contracted learners to cut its drop out rate, improve its reputation with employers and concentrate on “high-quality delivery and wraparound support for learners”.

Other strategies to improve KPIs through recruitment included asking learners to sign a ‘contract’ promising to keep providers informed about their outcomes. Some also negotiated with the DfE over definitions of a positive outcome and focused some staff on achieving and evidencing outcomes. 

Transformative for some

As DfE statistics have already shown, the programme delivered positive outcomes for 6,480 participants, about one-third of those who started the course.

One learner said the course was “genuinely life changing.” It provided training they could not afford, gave them confidence, and supported them through interviews.

However, the data showed that outcome rates were worse for learners from deprived areas, with lower existing qualification levels, who were on universal credit or who had caring responsibilities.

Guaranteed job interviews rare

Only one in four learners received the “guaranteed” job interview, a key selling point of the course.

Some learners felt “disappointment” and felt the course had been “mis-sold” when they found out the interview was not available or in line with their expectations.

But three in five told researchers the course helped them find new employment, either by being included on their CVs or by preparing them for interviews.

Drop out reasons

An analysis of management information suggests that one in six (16 per cent) learners dropped out of their courses before completing them.

One-third of those learners who were surveyed said the course failed to meet their expectations.

Other common reasons included getting a new job during the course and personal commitments such as childcare.

Interviews suggested that some participants felt the course was inappropriate, while others appeared to lack commitment because it was free.

One provider said demands of the intensive course were also too “full-on” for some.

‘Useful feedback’

AELP chief executive Ben Rowland said: “While this report only covers outcomes from the very early stages of the Skills Bootcamps programme, it does contain some useful feedback, particularly on the higher success rates independent training providers deliver and how the demanding KPIs attached to the funding can have unintended consequences.

“That said, this evaluation report relates to 2021-22 financial year when the now well-established programme was in its infancy and should be read in that context”

A devolution revolution – or merely evolution for skills?

This week the government published its plans for a ‘devolution revolution’, setting out how it intends to ‘unleash power from Whitehall back into communities that know their areas best’. But is what we’re getting radical enough?

Having spent the past three years working in a combined authority, I have seen first-hand the transformational impact that place-based approaches to employment and skills can have in addressing the skills needs of people, places and local businesses. The prospect of both deeper devolution to existing mayoral areas and of wider devolution to new areas of the country is therefore extremely welcome.

Indeed, I would argue that devolution – alongside a renewed focus on understanding and meeting sector skills needs – is critical to the delivery of the government’s growth ambitions, and particularly to ensuring that the benefits are felt across all parts of the country.

So, are we on the verge of a devolution revolution for skills?

A leap forward

On a positive note, the commitment to full devolution coverage of England provides an exciting opportunity to extend flexibilities that have previously been enjoyed in areas such as the West Midlands to other parts of the country.

Alongside this, measures to support greater collaboration between strategic authorities should also improve the sharing of effective practice and mitigate some of the risks of fragmentation that employers who work across national and regional boundaries are increasingly concerned about.

The removal of ringfences from Skills Bootcamps and Free Courses for Jobs funding and the introduction of integrated settlements for some mayoral areas is also good news. This will provide valuable flexibility to direct funding towards addressing local needs and supporting skills development for regional growth sectors, both of which should deliver better value for money and improve outcomes for learners and business alike.

Perhaps most exciting of all is the opportunity to align skills investment with growth funding, with employment support and with local transport services to ensure that more adults can be trained, supported and empowered to access good jobs in their local area.

Bolder moves required

But to me, it still feels like we are taking an incremental approach to what the centre is willing to give away, rather than a more holistic and strategic approach to delivering the step change that is needed for skills to ignite growth across the country.

The move towards aligning local skills improvement plans (LSIPs) with the sector skills priorities in local growth plans is welcome. However, I am not convinced that joint ownership between strategic authorities and employee representative bodies (ERBs) will achieve this.

Instead, I would have liked to have seen LSIPs devolved to strategic authorities as a vital enabler to their statutory duties in relation to local growth plans, alongside a recognition of the valuable role that sector skills bodies can play in supporting local areas to understand and meet sectoral needs.

I was also disappointed to see no further influence for mayors around wider skills investment. At present, the mayor of the West Midlands has influence over just 10 per cent of overall skills spending in the region. However effectively this is spent, it is inconceivable that he will be able to address the persistent skills challenges facing the region with such partial levers.

I expect Richard Parker and other mayors to continue to argue for a greater role alongside providers and employers in shaping the 16-19 skills offer for their regions as well as for a strategic role in shaping the new growth and skills levy and in creating more apprenticeship opportunities, particularly for young people.

So it seems that the English devolution white paper is more evolution than revolution. It’s a step in the right direction, but a smaller step than I was hoping to see. In this context, I am encouraged that the proposals are described as a “floor on our ambition, not a ceiling”.

The challenge now will be to demonstrate the impact of what this step can achieve, and then use it to make a case for the next. This is a challenge – and an opportunity – that we must all come together to embrace.

Having recently taken up a new role at Skills Federation, it has become clearer to me that while mayors and strategic authorities are best placed to understand the particular needs of their local areas, many of our sector skills challenges are national as well as local.

Overlaying the expertise of sector skills bodies onto that of places, will now be vital if we are serious about creating a coherent skills eco-system that works for everyone, about helping reduce duplication of effort across regions and about ensuring the development and delivery of effective solutions to meet shared skills needs.

We must avoid devolution’s risks to deliver for communities

This week’s announcement by the deputy prime minister that government plans to transfer more powers from Whitehall to local communities is welcome. The devolution white paper is an opportunity to put adult learning at the heart of local education plans.

Communities understand their own needs best. However, we all know engaging with local levers of power is never easy. Devolution should not just be about the machinery of councils but about empowering active citizens.

Putting community need at the heart of devolution could help to tackle some of our more challenging civic problems, from reinvigorating community activities such as volunteering to countering worrying trends in social division fuelled by disinformation.

To achieve this, resources must be directed to communities so that they can access and embrace devolved powers fully.

Rightly, ministers and mayors are talking about the importance of investing in skills and opportunities for growth. But with the right kind of investment, devolution’s impact could be both braoder and deeper than that.

For example, investment in community adult education is a powerful way to encourage active citizens; it is shown to increase a sense of belonging and raise participation in community activities.

Mayors will be able to choose to use their education budgets to fund courses that deliver these broader outcomes, helping their communities to understand their civic rights and to work towards better cohesion.

Community adult education providers are active across the country, including those which will see devolved powers for the first time. They will be instrumental in shaping this investment effectively, and will no doubt advise that a broad and flexible adult education offer can:

  • support adults into work, including those who are classed as economically inactive
  • enable better-informed and engaged citizens, and tackle the dangers of disinformation
  • improve health and wellbeing
  • create greater community connectedness and reduce isolation
  • tackle deficits in essential skills like literacy, numeracy and digital
  • and build and celebrate a more vibrant and diverse cultural scene.

This wide range of positive impacts will only come if mayors are able and willing to support a wide range of community organisations alongside skills providers and colleges.

The administration of devolution presents a real risk for organisations like ours

To fully understand local and regional need, mayoral and combined authorities should facilitate direct engagement with their local communities through local organisations and the voluntary sector. Indeed, the ‘Civil Society Covenant‘ being developed between the voluntary sector and central government could provide a useful framework for joint working at local and regional levels too.

The white paper will bring additional powers to existing mayors and complete the jigsaw of English regional devolution. As a national charity with hyper-local delivery, we welcome this direction of travel. Trusted organisations like ours already work within communities and stand ready to deliver even more for them.

However, the administration of devolution also presents a real risk for organisations like ours. Unfortunately, even in many areas where we are well established and have been delivering courses for adult learners for decades, the transition to a new devolved funding framework has been problematic. It has even disrupted or reduced support for adult learners in some cases.

For example, some mayoral authorities adopted the location of an organisation’s head office as a proxy for its local credential for funding eligibility. Others limit their skills budget to courses designed to progress people into work, leaving out equally valuable courses that promote wellbeing or community connections. As a result, well-established provision has already ended in some areas.

As a public body and a charity, the WEA is eligible for all the same grant programmes (and is subject to all the same regulatory frameworks) as, say, a local college. Yet on several occasions new authorities have defined the WEA as out-of-scope for funding through misunderstanding of our status and local track record.

It is crucial, therefore, that new local and regional leaders recognise the needs of their communities and understand the nature of the trusted organisations already active in their areas.

We must ensure a smooth transition to this devolved settlement so that adult education remains truly within reach. That’s why we want to see the minister for housing, communities and local government introduce a duty on new and expanding regional authorities to undertake full risk assessments and to publish a full rationale for their decisions in the intriduction of new funding frameworks.

This will reduce the risk of errors in classification of existing providers, ensure a level of continuity which is especially important in communities with low infrastructure, and align new funding more clearly with the needs of local people.

Teacher misconduct laws extended to FE colleges and providers

Lifetime bans for serious misconduct have been extended to teachers in FE colleges and independent training providers through legislation laid in Parliament today.

The previous government said it would apply Teacher Regulation Agency (TRA) powers to the sector “when a suitable legislative opportunity becomes available” in 2022 before dropping its planned schools bill later that year.

A new children’s wellbeing and schools bill, first announced during July’s King’s speech, was introduced this afternoon and placed the FE sector in scope of misconduct rules if a provider teaches students aged under 19.

Notes for the bill state: “Increasing numbers of young people aged under 19 years now receive their education in a more diverse range of settings, such as further education institutions, and independent educational institutions or by online education providers, and clause 39(2)(b) would list these education settings as settings that would be subject to the teacher misconduct regime.

“This clause would extend the scope of the teacher misconduct regime so that, in future, a prohibited teacher would not be able to teach young people under the age of 19 in any of the settings listed.”

Teacher misconduct powers have also been extended so that the education secretary can investigate “a person who has at any time been employed or engaged to undertake teaching work (a teacher)”.

The children’s wellbeing and schools bill states: “It was always intended that the regime should capture individuals who have committed serious misconduct even when they were not employed or engaged in teaching work but who may try to return to the classroom, but current interpretation of the legislation only permits the secretary of state to consider misconduct while the person is undertaking teaching work. 

“The bill proposes to broaden the scope of the regime to include persons who commit misconduct when not employed as a teacher, but who have at any time carried out teaching work; to broaden the scope of the regime to include a wider range of education settings; and to enable the secretary of state to consider referrals of serious teacher misconduct regardless of how the matter comes to her attention. 

“These clarify that the secretary of state is able to consider a referral of those who have previously taught and who commit serious misconduct whilst not in teaching, ensuring that they can be prevented from returning to the classroom.”

Under the touted plans, FE colleges, special post-16 institutions and independent training providers will have a legal duty to decide whether to refer cases of serious misconduct for the TRA to investigate. The TRA has powers to issue prohibition orders – preventing someone from working in teaching. 

Only cases of serious misconduct can be referred to the TRA. This is broadly defined as “unacceptable professional conduct”, “conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute” or “conviction, at any time, of a relevant offence”. 

Once the TRA receives a referral, a professional conduct panel is formed which makes a recommendation on whether or not to issue a prohibition order. This would ban the individual from carrying out teaching work, usually for life. Their name would also appear on the “prohibited list” for employers, local authorities and teacher supply agencies to be able to check. 

Outcomes of the TRA’s misconduct panels are made public, even when no prohibition order is made.

Bailout saves WCG from going insolvent next month

A West Midlands college group has received a last-minute government bailout to avoid being declared “insolvent” next month.

Today, the Department for Education (DfE) published Further Education Commissioner (FEC) Shelagh Legrave’s ‘intervention assessment summary report’ into a financial crisis at Warwickshire College Group (WCG).

The report, signed off by Legrave in October, reveals that the college wanted government bailout loans totalling £4.7 million.

This included a £1.7 million emergency loan for “working capital” and clawbacks demanded by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA).

WCG also asked the government to refinance a £3 million loan owed to Lloyds bank, with a three year “repayment holiday” until 2027.

In a letter published alongside the report, skills minister Jacqui Smith said the DfE has approved a “financial support package” for the college.

‘Increasingly concerned’

The FEC report tells a story of a college group that struggled with strategic direction as it approached the financial brink.

Its focus on repaying debts by relying on income surpluses and selling assets left it “financially vulnerable” with cash due to “run out” in January 2025.

WCG approached the FEC in May after the chair and governors became “increasingly concerned” about what the college group would need to do to remain “financially solvent”.

In July, the college group had £1.2 million in unrestricted cash – enough to last eight days.

Staff costs were “significantly above budget” in that academic year, with £2 million in agency costs that were “insufficiently challenged” by senior management.

The ESFA also demanded a clawback of an estimated £1.4 million from apprenticeship and 16 to 19 funding claims from 2023-24, with audits “likely to go back further years”.

In a recent interview with FE Week, Legrave said the college’s financial strategy was “interesting” and “wouldn’t be one that I would have followed”.

Board lacked ‘clarity’

Board members responsible for challenging college leadership said information given to them “lacked sufficient clarity”, resulting in “limited strategic discussion”.

A staff survey in June suggested that 40 per cent of staff had “no trust” in college leadership.

Budgeting was “done late” and agreed by senior managers with “limited consultation and engagement with middle management”.

However, the commissioner praised the college’s new principal’s “positive, joined up approach to leadership and governance”.

The college group is currently run by CEO and principal Sara-Jane Watkins, who took on the job in September. The college was run by Peter Husband for an interim period after Angela Joyce left to lead Capital City College Group in January 2024.

It has also recruited a new chief financial officer, turnaround director Robert Griffiths and four new board members have been recruited to “strengthen” governance.

Recommendations from the FEC include developing a ‘single improvement plan’ covering three to five years, refreshing its holistic strategic plan, reviewing its curriculum and agreeing performance indicators to monitor progress ahead of an ‘intervention assessment stocktake in March next year.

WCG hopes to receive £1.4 million from the sale of its Malvern Hills campus after fighting a high court battle with the local council.

It also plans to sell part of its Evesham campus which is “assumed to be surplus to requirements”.

Challenges ‘not insurmountable’

Sara-Jane Watkins, WCG’s CEO and Principal said “The intervention report has highlighted some important areas where we need to improve, but we are already seeing positive steps towards change. 

“We view this intervention as an opportunity to reset our strategic plan and re-establish our ambitions for a stronger, more sustainable future.

“The challenges identified in the report are not insurmountable – they are stepping stones to refining our vision, strengthening our approach, and aligning our resources to meet the needs of our students, staff, and local communities.”

She added that securing the loan from the government demonstrates that the college is on the “right track”.

A spokesperson for the college did not respond when asked the total value of the loan.

The college group is responsible for about 13,000 students, including more than 2,000 apprentices, and has 1,300 staff across six colleges in Warwickshire and Worcestershire.

It’s made up of Evesham New College, Warwick Trident College, Rugby College, Royal Leamington Spa College, Moreton Morrell College and Pershore College.

Local MP for Warwick and Leamington Matt Western said: “I was deeply concerned to learn of the financial difficulties that the group are facing but I thoroughly welcome the involvement of the FE Commissioner and the financial support package to protect learners.  

“It is of the utmost importance that those learning at the group are not impacted by this financial situation.” 

We must secure another 10 years of progress on literacy and numeracy

Just over a decade ago, the OECD’s survey of adult skills delivered a shocking wake-up call about the state of literacy and numeracy among young people in England. The findings painted a grim picture: our young adults ranked among the worst in these critical skills and we were the only country where older adults outperformed the younger generation. The report generated headlines in national news outlets that spoke of an ‘education crisis’

Last week, the results from the latest version of that survey revealed a major turnaround. Now, our young people perform better than the global average in both literacy and numeracy. Not only are we no longer an international outlier due to underperformance, but we’re one of only three countries in the study where the literacy skills of young people have improved in the past decade.

There wasn’t much by way of media coverage this time around. Nevertheless, this warrants both celebration and reflection on the education policies that have contributed to this transformation.

For one, the young adults who took part in this survey would have benefitted from the focus on driving up literacy and numeracy in schools across consecutive governments.

For another, over the past decade, the condition of funding policy has ensured that all young people who fall behind in English or maths at age 16 are given the opportunity to continue to build their literacy and numeracy skills in 16-19 education.

Whereas previous generations would typically stop studying these subjects, all the young adults in this latest survey who did not hold a standard pass in GCSE English and maths will have fallen under this policy change.

In fact, the improvement among young people in this survey shouldn’t be surprising. Similar improvements are evident in our national datasets.

Since the introduction of the condition of funding, there has been a 94-per cent increase in those achieving a standard pass at GCSE English and maths in 16-19 education. The number of young people in England who hold a level 2 English or maths qualifications by the age of 19 is now the highest it has ever been, just shy of 80 per cent.

Crucially, the sector has also demonstrated its potential to narrow the attainment gap. As of 2022/23, more young people from low-income backgrounds achieve a standard pass in GCSE English and maths in 16-19 education than their wealthier peers, leading to a slight narrowing of the gap by age 19.

Currently, this is the only part of our education system where a narrowing of the gap occurs. This is a testament to the dedication and efforts of teachers in the further education sector, as well as to the importance of policies that create opportunities for lifelong learning.

The findings from the OECD survey are not wholly positive. As the report’s researchers, the NFER have highlighted, there has been less improvement in the literacy and numeracy skills among the adult population generally.

Around one in five adults in England still have low proficiency in literacy or numeracy (or both), amounting to 8.5 million working-age adults. More focus and better investment in adult learning opportunities are crucial if this is to be resolved.

Moreover, there is still much more to do to improve literacy and numeracy skills among young people. International counterparts like the Netherlands show us that it is possible to have an education system where fewer than 10 per cent of 19-year-olds are without the equivalent level 2 qualifications in English and maths.

Significantly, the new government has committed to driving up standards in the foundations of reading, writing and maths.

If this commitment extends to those aged over 16, then in another 10 years’ time we will hopefully be looking back and reflecting on the remarkable transformation of education and skills in this country, not just for young people, but across the system more widely.