MOVERS AND SHAKERS: EDITION 378

Sian Wilson

Executive director- commercial, The Skills Network

Start date: February 2022

Previous Job: Director of channels and partnerships, Practice Labs

Interesting fact: Sian loves boxing and has completed an amateur boxing award

Naomi Phillips

Deputy chief executive & director of policy and research, Learning and Work Institute

Start date: January 2022

Previous Job: Director of policy & advocacy, British Red Cross

Interesting fact: Naomi started running just before the pandemic and is training for her 3rd half marathon. Naomi likes to run at around 5am, before the world wakes up

Stuart Hales

Managing director- apprenticeships, The Skills Network

Start date: January 2022

Previous Job: Managing director of apprenticeships, Entelechy Academy

Interesting fact: Stuart swims long distance and is currently training for a 13-mile swim

Phil Wilkinson

Chair, Nelson and Colne College Group

Start date: February 2022

Concurrent Job: CEO at Ascentis

Interesting fact: He once enjoyed a cup of tea whilst standing on an iceberg off the coast of East Greenland

Levelling up Access to Further Education Whitepaper

There is broad agreement, also among students, that universities and colleges of Further Education responded effectively to the digital challenge of “lockdown education”. It is too soon to determine in what ways remote learning is affecting student progress, but there is a sense of urgency around this question because the pandemic is far from over. Also, we discovered that virtual lessons have certain clear advantages over “real classrooms”: remote learning resolves issues around accessibility, frees up student time, and allows them to review the recorded lesson. 

Two recent reports acknowledge that technology will play an ever-larger role in delivering Higher and Further Education but are short on answers on how EdTech can help universities and FE colleges to be digital game-changers now.

Levelling up Access to Further Education 

Code Institute, Gateway Qualifications and four colleges of Further Education – Newcastle College, City of Bristol College, College y Cymoedd and South Devon College have  collaborated on a new whitepaper, Levelling Up Access to Further Education: Using technology to skill more digital talent. The whitepaper takes a forensic look at how colleges have used technology in the shape of platform, curriculum content and online tutor-support to deliver qualifications in web application development. 

Each college overcame particular challenges relating to physical resources, subject expertise and increasing frequency of course delivery to meet learner demand. This white paper explores how the technology and business model of the Gateway Qualifications Level 5 Diploma in Web Application Development, delivered on the Code Institute platform, enabled Further Education colleges to transform course delivery in the same way that fintech transformed banking, and streaming revolutionised the media and music industries.

“We’re focussed on delivering skills for jobs using a combination of learning at scale technology and qualifications. For colleges, the real benefit of the learning platform comes from the flexibility it affords in terms of how programmes are delivered. But, equally, for learners, the increased flexibility makes it easier to mix upskilling into their already busy work and personal schedules.” explains Lee Lindsay, UK Education Partner Manager, Code Institute

Welsh Experience

In Wales, where the course is fully funded through the mechanism of the Personal Learner Account, the Gateway/Code Institute programme launched with a cohort of 20 learners under a year ago, and has since scaled to prepare 200 learners for a career in software development. 

Coleg y Cymoedd offers a wide range of PLA-sponsored courses in priority sectors such as sustainable construction, business management, occupational health and safety, social care, and digital technology. “Some of these courses are taught by us,” says Kathryn Bishop, Business Development Manager at Coleg y Cymoedd, “but for Level 5 software development we lacked the required in-house expertise.”

As soon as the Gateway Qualifications Level 5 Diploma in Web Application Development was approved by the Welsh Government for PLA funding, Coleg y Cymoedd got the green light to offer this qualification through Code Institute.

English Colleges 

Whereas Coleg y Cymmoed outsources all learning aspects to Code Institute, the delivery model at City of Bristol College is hybrid: the Code Institute provide the platform, mentoring and careers guidance to support the College in delivery, while the College take the lead on assessment and provides direct support to the students, which is led by Pasquale Fasulo, Head of Department for Digital and Creative. 

“It’s evolved to the point where from January 2022 we’re going to do rolled monthly starts. We will continue to offer support but the approach will be more flexible. We will ring-fence and protect certain times for learners to drop in and book appointments with us and have progress reviews,” explains Pasquale.

The flexibility of the enrollment was something that appealed to South Devon College where Conrad Saunders, Programme Coordinator for Digital  understood the benefit of rolling enrolments given the likely demand for the course in the region. “We’ve seen for a long time that there are a lot of learners going off and doing their degrees but afterwards there’s nothing for them. They don’t find employment,” Saunders says. “Often they have media-type degrees in digital production that just aren’t right for today’s jobs market.

“The [Code Institute] platform is proven, the students are eligible for an Advanced Learner Loan, so let’s run with it. We just hit the ground running 100 miles an hour.

“In terms of the model, rather than looking at a traditional termly intake, we look at a monthly intake as this was technically as feasible as anything else. It also allowed us to dip our toes in the water, and see if we could get the numbers. We’ve had a cohort in September, October, and November. We paused December but started up again in January with five students.” concludes Conrad.

This flexibility was what Newcastle College spotted when they were the first FE college to rollout the qualification in 2020. That, and a strong need for a relatively short and directed course that would lead to employment in the tech sector. Currently, Newcastle has three intakes per year which have grown from 14 to 25 learners per cohort. Achieving this growth in learner numbers have been chiefly down to their pre-existing relationships with local employers who are seeking these skills.

Level 3 for Adult Learners

Building on the success of this qualification, Code Institute and Gateway Qualifications have partnered once more on the development of a Level 3 Diploma in Software Development which will be rolled out in 2022. This gives learners from a variety of backgrounds an opportunity to lay the foundation for a career in tech through further study such as the Level 5, a higher level qualification or through work based learning.

Paul Saunders, Business Development Manager of Gateway Qualification has worked with Code Institute on creating a solution that will be the right fit for learners and colleges looking to deliver these skills ina  flexible format that allow them to reach more learners: “We are delighted to be able to build on our successful partnership with Code Institute to bring the same level of expert support to more learners and centres on the Level 3 Diploma and Certificate in Software Development.

The qualifications address a key government priority and provide excellent preparation for learners wishing to develop a career in the software industry and progress to the Level 5 Diploma, or to similar qualifications.”

From a college’s perspective the quality is there, the demand is growing and the outcomes are proven. This solution offers colleges the ability deliver with flexibility outside of college hours, meet learner demand and provide adult skills qualifications where learners can access Adult Skills funding streams including National Skills Fund, Adult Education Budget, PLA funding and Advanced Lerner Loan. All key criteria in successfully increasing accessibility to digital skills.

Read the whitepaper now

FE loans training provider goes bust after damning Ofsted inspection

A loans-only training provider that quickly trebled its learner numbers has ceased trading after Ofsted published a scathing ‘inadequate’ report.   

The Education and Skills Funding Agency told FE Week its £750,000 advance learner loan facility with Focus Training Limited was terminated on January 27, 2022.   

The Bolton-based firm, which has been running health and fitness courses since the year 2000, has now gone insolvent. More than 550 learners and 20 staff have been affected.   

Ofsted inspected the provider, which delivered most training online and via phone calls, in late November and published a damning grade four report on Wednesday.   

The report said the quality of training had “deteriorated” since Focus Training’s previous full inspection in 2018.   

Inspectors found that since then, leaders have more than trebled the number of learners enrolled on courses but have not increased the number of staff accordingly. “Consequently, learners wait too long to be contacted by tutors, which delays their learning,” the report said. Some learners wait several months for feedback on their work.   

Ofsted reported that leaders’ aspirations for the most able learners were “too low”, finding that those with prior experience in the fitness industry completed the same programme as learners with no experience.   

Learners with experience subsequently became “demotivated” and did not learn substantial new knowledge and skills.   

Leaders were also criticised for not promoting an “ambitious culture”, with Ofsted finding that just over half of learners were beyond their planned end-date.   

The watchdog deemed safeguarding at Focus Training to be ineffective. The provider did not obtain or record staff recruitment references appropriately and did not always check the identification of new employees.   

Leaders also failed to “sufficiently risk assess in-person training venues”. Venues had not been assessed for safety for over two years, despite practical training resuming six months ago.   

The ESFA said all affected learners are being sought alternative training providers to complete their learning. 

Focus Training’s managing director, Bob Ellis, did not respond to requests for comment. 

Getting ready for Shanghai: inside WorldSkills UK’s motivational bootcamp

FE Week’s senior reporter Will Nott attended a WorldSkills UK bootcamp in Loughborough last Saturday to hear how competitors have been preparing for the 47th WorldSkills competition in Shanghai, despite two years of disruption caused by the pandemic. 

The morning kicked off with around 80 skilled young people coming together with their trainers to hear from somebody who had achieved what they all dreamed of. 

Haydn Jakes won a gold medal in aircraft maintenance after beating competitors from 75 countries at WorldSkills Kazan 2019. 

He stood on a stage and smiled at the audience. “I want you all to take a moment to think about why you want that gold medal,” he told the packed-out room of competitors. 

“Because it is a lot easier to get out of bed in the morning to go training if you say to yourself ‘I want this gold medal because of this’. Take that away and think about it throughout your training.” 

Keeping up motivation and dealing with added pressure has been a constant battle over the past two years. 

The pandemic has caused widespread disruption for those involved in the vocational skills championship. First, WorldSkills Shanghai 2021 was postponed by one year and is now planned to take place this October. 

To make things worse, the UK was forced to pull out of the 2021 EuroSkills competition in Graz, Austria, to the disappointment of competitors who had been training hard for the event.

I spoke to Ben Blackledge, WorldSkills UK’s deputy chief executive, who told me the past few years have been “really challenging”. 

Normal team selection cycles have been disrupted and hard decisions have had to be made on whether the UK would compete in international events. 

“It’s a lot of planning and a lot of resources and time to do that and actually we just thought our focus needed to be on Shanghai,” Blackledge said regarding the missed EuroSkills competition. 

“It was a difficult period, especially having to say to these young people ‘you are going’, then ‘you’re not going’. So we didn’t go.” 

The impact on competitors who had been training intensely for the event was significant. Abigail Stansfield, who is competing in the CNC milling skill, told me of her excitement when she was first selected to go to Europe and then her disappointment: “It definitely knocked my motivation,” she said. 

“Personally, I was high mentally after I was told I could compete for EuroSkills and then after the decision was made that the UK wasn’t going to go, that knocked me so much. 

“I was low at that point, but it’s all about working your way back up and getting motivated again.” 

Helping competitors with their mental health was a key part of last week’s bootcamp, with a team of sports psychologists being brought in to help them deal with the stress and self-doubt that can result from taking part in high pressure competitions. 

The psychologists took the competitors off into groups and asked questions about the mental blocks they were experiencing. 

The competitors shared their thoughts and concerns with each other – saying what they thought might stop them from achieving their goals. 

These moments, where competitors are able to come together in this way, are precious. Since the UK squad was selected back in 2019, they have only been able to meet once. 

This lack of contact is just an added pressure on competitors, who put everything on the line for the competition. 

Blackledge told me that WorldSkills UK had seen an increase in the need for additional support around mental health even before the pandemic struck – something that the organisation has been working hard on. 

“The closer you get to competition and the closer you are to getting on that plane, the support increases,” he said. 

“It’s about avoiding that toxic win-at-all costs mentality. But getting the balance right between ‘this is important’ and ‘this is a big deal’.” 

One competitor who feels she has been able to achieve that balance is Mona Nawaz, who is competing in the digital construction skill category. She told me that she has struggled with her mental health but that she feels support has been in place to help her keep going. 

“I am lucky enough that I have people that support me. My training manager, my parents, everyone is there. When they notice me going on a little bit of a downfall, they are always there to help me out,” she said. 

“It’s about having that support system that has really got me through Covid.” 

Trainers play a vital role in preparing competitors for the next stage of selection, and ultimately, if they are successful, Shanghai. 

This is particularly true of the past few years, where they have had to think of innovative ways to keep training going despite lockdowns and other restrictions. 

In one session during the bootcamp, the trainer’s contributions were acknowledged with certificates being given out for innovation. 

One of these trainers was for Sean Owens, UK training manager for culinary arts, who came up with a way to do taste tests remotely using the hedonic taste scale. 

“From my experience I do a lot of new product development and I looked at a model that was created around the end of the second world war called the hedonic taste scale,” he told me. 

The scale uses nine points to measure food acceptability. Owens, who also works as a food consultant, said that competitors used the scale to rate their own food. 

This innovation ultimately enabled competitors to keep doing virtual international pressure tests – a key part of the training process that helps competitors see how they are doing, compared to their international rivals. 

Dealing with pressure is the name of the game when it comes to WorldSkills. And so sure enough, the bootcamp finished with more tests. Competitors gathered for a series of tasks that, while fun, would also help them deal with things going wrong in skills tests. 

Practice like this could see them get through the next stage of selection or even on to Shanghai. 

When I asked Mona Nawaz whether she ever felt that all the pressure was too much she smiled. 

“Too much pressure is difficult, but you also need it to be the best you can be,” she said. 

After two years of putting up with Covid, as well as getting ready for the “skills Olympics”, they should be fighting fit and ready to bring back gold in October.

Fourth consecutive ‘requires improvement’ Ofsted rating for BMet

Birmingham Metropolitan College has received a fourth ‘requires improvement’ Ofsted rating in a row. 

In a report published yesterday, inspectors praised BMet for dealing with significant financial challenges, but issues with the consistency of a new curriculum were identified. 

The last time the college received a ‘good’ rating was back in February 2011. The college has since received grade three reports in 2015, 2017 and 2018. 

“Since the previous inspection, senior leaders and governors have changed the structure and focus of the college significantly,” Ofsted said. 

“They have reduced the number of college sites and reformed the curriculum to meet the needs of learners, employers and stakeholders in Birmingham. 

“Consequently, leaders and governors have now resolved the college’s long-term structural and financial issues.” 

However, inspectors criticised leaders for failing to “ensure that the college’s curriculum is consistently good in all subjects and at all campuses”. 

Inspectors called on governors to ensure that BMet’s leaders “identify the weaknesses” in all curriculum areas, including courses for adults and programmes for learners who have high needs. 

They added that, while governors have the experience and skills to challenge leaders’ strategy and actions, the governors “accept” that recent structural and financial issues have drawn their focus from the quality of education and reduced their effectiveness in holding leaders to account. 

The Ofsted report said the college required improvement in four out of eight assessment areas, including the quality of education, leadership and management, and provision for learners with high needs. 

Adult learning programmes, judged ‘good’ in the college’s previous inspection, now also ‘require improvement’. 

Programmes for young people however have improved to ‘good’. 

The college had just over 8,700 learners at the time of the inspection, including 4,465 young people, 3,468 adults, 757 apprentices and 88 high-needs students. 

BMet entered government intervention in 2015 after significant financial issues were identified. By the end of 2016/17 the college owed almost £14 million in exceptional financial support and racked up debts of £23.4 million. 

In 2019 the college controversially closed its Stourbridge campus and then sold it in 2020 for £3.55 million – a figure that was £1.45 million lower than the makeover costs in 2015. 

The college’s fortunes seemed to be looking up after it received a highly positive report from the FE Commissioner in 2020 which then skills minister Gillian Keegan said showed “remarkable improvements”. 

Pat Carvalho took over as principal of BMet in June 2021. She told FE Week that the Ofsted report did applaud the “focussed work that has taken place over the last two years across BMet. 

“[The report] acknowledges the clear improvements in the quality of curriculum – particularly in education programmes for young people,” Carvalho said. 

“We were pleased that we were awarded ‘good’ for: behaviour and attitudes of students, personal development, education programmes for young people and for our good apprenticeships delivery.” 

Carvalho drew attention to the fact the report said learners and apprentices develop the necessary work-related skills and experience for their future success in education, employment or training. 

“There is, though, still work to do and we were disappointed, despite the clear improvements in the quality of curriculum, that the college received an overall ‘requires improvement’ grading,” Carvalho said. 

“We will continue to strive to improve and to ensure that our students have a quality experience at BMet and are able to flourish.”

Focus on adult education is promising – but lacks ambition

It is also surprising the levelling up white paper has so little to say on green skills, write Aveek Bhattacharya and Amy Norman

For those of us who have been following the government’s skills and post-18 education policy, the levelling up white paper was very familiar. We knew many of the key announcements already: local skills improvement plans, lifetime skills guarantee, more skills bootcamps. 

But although the skills sections of the white paper may have contained more rhetoric than fresh policy meat, that is not necessarily a bad thing.  

Certainly, it is encouraging that the government has made such a strong and explicit connection between the levelling project and investment in skills and training.

The fact that the government wants to talk so much about post-18 education is a positive signal about its prominence in its policy agenda. After years of relative neglect, that should not be taken for granted. 

Perhaps the most significant new announcement was the government’s stated “mission” to get 200,000 more people a year successfully completing high-quality skills training, with 80,000 of them in the lowest skilled areas.  

What constitutes “high quality” remains vague in the paper, but this renewed focus on adult education is promising.  

At the same time, however, this target is too modest, recovering only a quarter of the 800,000 lost learners in the past decade.  

That lack of ambition reflects a broader failure to recognise the amount of ground that needs to be made up when it comes to further and adult education.  

By 2024/25, per student college funding will be down ten per cent on 2010/11 levels, and adult education spending will be 15 per cent lower overall than 2009/10.  

There was at least more action in the primary education section of the white paper, with another mission to ensure 90 per cent of children achieve the expected standard in reading, writing and maths by 2030.  

If achieved, this would have downstream ramifications for FE and adult education, which play a key role in teaching basic skills to those that missed out in school – although that impact would not be felt for a decade or two.  

In any case, it is questionable whether the government’s measures to achieve this target are up to the job. These measures include focusing resources on “education investment areas”, encouraging the best academy trusts to support weaker schools and creating an online “national academy”. 

It is questionable whether the government’s measures are up to the job

The white paper also recognises the economic opportunities for levelling up from emerging clean industries that are central to a net zero economy. These green jobs will require skills transformations across the UK workforce, particularly in carbon-intensive industrial heartlands.  

Given this, it is surprising to have so little detail on the policy proposals for delivering green skills. As it stands, skills bootcamps and apprenticeship standards are limited in their offer for green skills, particularly related to home heat and electric vehicles. 

That said, it remains to be seen whether the Department for Education’s latest invitation to tender for bootcamp providers will address these gaps. 

As for the rest of the white paper, the overwhelming majority of the policy commitments it contained have been announced and re-announced several times in the past few months.

We already knew about local skills improvement plans, which bring employers, colleges and other institutions together to ensure their offering meets local labour market needs.  

And we knew about the expansion of skills bootcamps, offering rapid intensive training in shortage areas. And about investment in the FE college estate. We also knew about new institutes of technology, which are collaborations of colleges and universities to deliver higher technical education.

And we’d been told about the lifetime skills guarantee, offering free level 3 qualifications to those with low previous attainment.  

All were trumpeted in the white paper, and none was new.  

Then again, it is unreasonable to expect the government to promise new billions every time it makes a statement on education.  

There have been a lot of statements on education in the past year or so: the skills white paper, a comprehensive spending review, multiple fiscal events and an ad hoc speech from the prime minister on skills.  

So although the levelling up white paper does not provide anything substantially new for skills or further education policy, it does emphatically reaffirm the government’s commitment to the skills agenda. 

The task for the coming years is ensuring they fully deliver on that commitment.

Councils oppose ‘elite’ sixth form plans

Local councils are already opposing government plans to create new “elite” sixth forms in their area – insisting they have enough quality 16-to-18 schools and colleges. 

Ministers have also been warned they must not allow the new institutions to become “cuckoos in the nest” which damage local education “ecosystems”. 

Fifty-five areas have been identified as having “weak” school outcomes and will now be known as “education investment areas” under the government’s levelling up plans. 

These “cold spots” will be prioritised as the location for “specialist” sixth form free schools with a “track record of progress on to leading universities” – such as the highly selective Harris Westminster Sixth Form. 

But FE leaders have questioned the evidence for the new institutions – with one college principal saying it is the last thing his area needs. 

FE Week analysis shows there are 1,414 existing sixth forms and colleges in the 55 education investment areas already. And 303 of them teach fewer than 200 students – the Department for Education’s benchmark for a financially viable sixth form. 

Nottinghamshire has the highest number with 71, while Hartlepool and Knowsley have the least with five. 

Some councils in the education investment areas have already voiced concern at the government’s plan. 

Kate Groucutt, St Helens Borough Council’s cabinet member for education, skills and business, told FE Week her area’s seven existing sixth forms and colleges instead need “certainty, stability and more funding”, while Luton councillor Aslam Khan said his area already has a “enough and a good breadth of” nine school sixth forms and colleges that “just need to be funded better”. 

Cambridgeshire County Council, which has 55 school sixth forms and colleges, also questioned the need for another sixth form as its team completed a review of post-16 providers 18 months ago which “showed there is sufficient provision for our five-year planning period”. 

The exact make-up of the proposed new sixth forms isn’t clear as the levelling up secretary Michael Gove’s white paper is light on detail, with no promise of extra cash to fund them. 

A DfE trail of the announcement earlier this week labelled them as “elite”, but there is no mention of them being selective in the white paper. 

However, ministers last year backed a joint bid by Eton College and Star Academies to sponsor three selective sixth forms in the north and Midlands, which could be an insight into the direction of travel. 

Leaders of existing selective sixth forms told FE Week’s sister publication Schools Week their model allowed them to provide a more rigorous academic education to those aiming for top universities, but sounded caution over expansion plans and their potential impact on other communities. 

At Newham Collegiate Sixth Form in east London, prospective students need at least eight GCSEs, including EBacc and a grade 7 in English and maths. 

The City of London Academies Trust, which sponsors NCS, is also launching a new “collegiate” group of sixth forms, including two more selective institutions, in September. 

Trust chief executive Mark Emmerson said a similar “pathway arrangement” in metropolitan areas of the north “might be a really good way of avoiding the elite institutions taking children from the other schools, which is a potential problem”. 

But he warned new sixth forms must not be “cuckoos in the nest”, adding that it was “really quite important that that borough-wide knowledge in the local area is brought into the discussion”. 

Harris Westminster Academy requires entrants to sit an exam and attend an interview, with pupils previously eligible for free school meals prioritised in admissions. 

Principal James Handscombe said because of selection, his teachers could focus on a “smaller breadth and provide for those students that might not be challenged in a group where everything was aimed at the middle”. 

But he admitted replicating the model outside London could be a “challenge”. 

College leaders were quick to slam the idea of more 16-to-19 providers opening in the area. 

Darren Hankey, the principal of Hartlepool College, said: “I think the last thing Hartlepool needs on top of an FE college, a sixth form college, two school sixth forms, a specialist sixth form, and at least five private providers that send buses to the town to collect students is another provider.” 

Derek Whitehead, principal of Leeds College of Building, added: “Government does not need to create more institutions. What is needed now is increased support and investment in our colleges so we can continue to expand our provision.” 

Analysis by Schools Week shows that 62.5 per cent of constituencies covered by the 55 education investment areas are led by Conservative MPs. 

Conservative MP for Mid Derbyshire Pauline Latham welcomed the idea of an additional “elite” sixth form to be added to the 58 school sixth forms and colleges that already exist in Derbyshire. 

She told FE Week: “Some pupils in Derby and Derbyshire currently have no choice but to attend the local college, but for some children, the protected environment of a specialist sixth form is more appropriate. 

“If they are properly implemented, then I believe elite sixth forms will give high-fliers in Derby and Derbyshire the opportunities to excel.”

Top Tory mayor to bid for unprecedented skills powers

West Midlands mayor Andy Street has revealed he will fight for control of more post-16 skills funding from government as negotiations open for a “deeper” devolution deal. 

The levelling up white paper announced plans for the West Midlands and Greater Manchester to be “trailblazer” combined authorities which will be allowed to bid for more powers. 

Both areas took control of their adult education budget in 2019 but have called for greater devolution of skills funding on several occasions, including for 16-to-18 education and apprenticeships. 

Street took to Twitter this evening to say this was one of three areas he will request more power over during negotiations with the government. He stopped short of specifying exactly what funding streams he wants or why they would be better devolved. 

However, Street used his 2021 re-election manifesto to announce that he would “seek the full devolution of all 16-to-18 further education funding to the West Midlands, so that it can be aligned with West Midlands priorities and with 18+ adult education funding”. 

A spokesperson from the WMCA later told FE Week: “We have already seen the benefits of devolved powers over the adult education budget, which has enabled us to work with the further education sector to develop more responsive skills provision that better meets the needs of employers and communities.  

“We are keen to extend our influence over wider skills and training budgets, and the delivery of careers services.” 

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority was unable to say whether it would also seek greater control over skills funding beyond the adult education budget. 

The Association of Employment and Learning Providers warned that there “may be risks” to further skills devolution. “A diverse approach to commissioning can mean that providers are bidding for multiple different pots of funding in multiple different formats,” a spokesperson said. 

“This impacts on their ability to deliver a fully joined-up skills offer to employers operating at a regional and national level.” 

Apprenticeship achievement rates removed due to ‘error’

National apprenticeship achievement rates for 2019/20 have been taken down by the government after statisticians spotted that they are likely to be overstated due to an “error” – almost a year after publication.

The decision to remove the rates, first published in March 2021, was announced by the Department for Education’s chief statistician Neil McIvor this evening.

He said the error has “identified people who had withdrawn from their apprenticeship programme but who, at the time of publishing, were thought to have continued into the next year”.

McIvor also said the error is “likely to lead to a reduction to the overall 2019 to 2020 rate that was previously published”, but the size of the impact “can only be robustly quantified once the revised data is calculated”.

The rates have now been taken down “until new data is available”.

National achievement rate tables published last year showed that the overall rate for all apprenticeships fell slightly from 64.8 per cent in 2018/19 to 64.2 per cent in 2019/20.

Simon Ashworth, director of policy at the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, said it was “disappointing” that the error has only just been identified.

He added: “This is likely to have masked the actual impact that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on apprentice achievement. At the time, it seemed to have held up better than expected. The government must recognise the impact that the pandemic continues to have on apprenticeship success rates. They need to take a measured and pragmatic approach to any subsequent intervention.”

McIvor said his teams now need to complete the “full production cycle for 2020 to 2021 in order to provide new data for 2020 to 2021 and revisions to any preceding years which will include full quality assurance of the 2019 to 2020 data”.

He added: “This revised data for 2019 to 2020 will form part of the national high-level three-year time series, containing data for 2018/2019 to 2020/2021, which is scheduled for publication in March 2022. Once that data has been calculated and quality assured, national level data for 2019 to 2020 will be available again.”

The 2019/20 achievement rates did not contain any provider-level data due to the pandemic.