Draft legislation that brings the curtain down on IfATE is drawing closer with the draft bill emerging from the report stage in the House of Lords imminently.
I have yet to meet anyone who does not see benefit in creating an organisation that analyses and coalesces skills demand across the economy and aligns this with funding priorities.
IfATE was never designed to do this so Skills England could make a material difference if it gets the tools to do the job.
What IfATE does do, however, is generate and amend occupational standards, apprenticeships and end-point assessment plans, and approve technical qualifications and enact T Levels.
Moreover, these functions have an immediate impact on the fortunes of learners and apprentices – and therefore the skills agenda, the economy and the push for growth. It’s now that the nation needs the uplift.
The draft legislation returns the authority for the delivery, or delegation, of these operational functions to the education secretary, and creates latitude for them to determine what standards and assessment plans are prepared, and who prepares and reviews them.
Whilst we are yet to discover who will be the chair and chief executive of Skills England, there is little doubt it will be delivering IfATE’s current operational duties from April.
Other than this, however, we do not know much about what the future holds for IfATE’s critical operational delivery functions – the first Skills England report was silent on the subject.
A lot has been learnt during the last seven years of IfATE, including things to be improved upon. Skills England is the future and presents a rare opportunity for significant intervention at system-level.
It will be different from IfATE, so won’t run the same way in the longer term. Change is inevitable.
Seven opportunities that a system-level evolution might usefully deliver
Priority alignment across the DfE, Ofqual, Skills England, local skills improvement plans and devolved administrations.
Reduced time to generate an occupational standard, with improved collaborative working bringing together wider perspectives on what is needed.
A more manageable apprenticeship portfolio – over half of the apprenticeship standards available today for starts are in construction and the built environment, engineering and manufacturing, and health and science.
Accessing the professional knowledge of a broader range of stakeholders in apprenticeship and qualification design – including from the qualifications and assessment industry which has knowledge of best practice and value for money.
Speedier revisions that require less capacity – both full reviews and more minor adjustments ‘in flight’.
The accommodation of future skills in a meaningful and practical fashion, and the accommodation of localism.
Ensuring we use the best learning option, which in some cases will be a qualification and/or upskilling accredited modules rather than an apprenticeship, and that we simplify the current mandatory qualification policy.
The proposed additions to the education secretary’s powers provide the means of bypassing shortcomings that underlie these recommendations, but they do not amount to an all-encompassing fix.
Lots was learnt during IfATE, including things to be improved
And rushing to enact these changes for April 1 brings risk. Rapid change would be extremely difficult, if not unreasonable, for a sector still recovering from Covid, high interest rates and facing a hike in National Insurance costs.
Delivering system-level change gets more difficult as time goes on – it is tough to make changes when things are up and running.
It seems reasonable that the programme should get going early in Skills England’s tenure, be appropriately paced, and access the experience that abounds in the sector. The programme also needs to be resourced, including with time and focus from the leadership of Skills England.
Let’s not lose sight of the critical operational functions that IfATE delivers in our enthusiasm for greater clarity on demand.
We must also see the migration as a systems-level improvement opportunity before new ways of working ossify, but not rush it.
If a sensibly paced and resourced programme is announced sooner rather than later, it would build confidence that change will be genuinely progressive and collaborative.
The excitement is palpable as first-year level 3 esports students at NSCG’s Newcastle campus are told they’re about to spend today’s lesson playing their favourite shooter game, VALORANT.
The class of 16 and 17 year olds (three girls, 17 boys) are paired up and placed in deathmatch mode, with one student playing while the other stands behind them, counting up their hits, misses and headshots. They are surprised to see their lecturer, Connaire Delaney-Mcnulty, playing alongside them, but report a GG (esports slang for ‘good game’).
Some people are cynical about esports in further education. Are students just here to play video games? And is there really any prospect of a dream job at the end?
I want to find out if the doubters have grounds for concern.
Contrary to popular misconceptions, Delaney-Mcnulty says, game-playing is only permitted during about half a dozen of his esports sessions a year, with much of the course spent honing entrepreneurial, digital, marketing and video production skills.
His students’ cheers turn to groans as they now have to add their game data to Excel spreadsheets to calculate their kill-death ratios; demonstrating their maths and digital skills.
“We’ve taken an activity which they find fun and created meaningful analysis from it – the learning is then much more impactful,” says Delaney-Mcnulty.
Esports provision at Hull College
Numbers soar
There are 114 FE colleges offering esports provision. Given esports has only been recognised as a qualification since 2020, its growth is monumental – by 2023 more than 10,000 young people had completed courses.
Courses range from an online esports BTEC intended to engage home-schooled youngsters, to Pearson’sselection of level 5 higher national diplomas.
At its launch last September, Freya Thomas Monk, Pearson’s managing director of vocational qualifications and training, said “many people don’t realise” there is “a wealth of career opportunities around the esports sector, which calls upon a whole range of supporting roles and services”.
But others disagree.
The UK esports industry was valued at around £111.5 million in 2020. It is projected to reach £202 million this year and grow by 5 per cent a year to 2029. Three-quarters of its market is esports betting.
However, since the pandemic ended, many esports companies have axed staff.
British esports firm Vexed Gaming, known for its Apex Legends, Counter-Strike and VALORANT rosters, collapsed last year, and another, Into the Breach, announced on Monday it was winding down operations. UK-based Guild Esports was bought last year by a US company after experiencing financial difficulties.
Internationally, the popular live streaming platform Twitch (owned by Amazon) axed more than 500 jobs last year. Epic Games (owner of Fortnite) shed 800 jobs in 2023 and communications service Discord axed 170 staff last year. There are many more examples.
Grant Rousseau, global director of esports and operations for Team Falcons and winner of the inaugural Esports World Cup, finds it “scary” that around 600 to 700 young people a year are completing esports courses, but there are (he estimates) fewer than 40 people in the UK working full time on a reasonable salary in the industry itself.
He points out that much of the global esports growth is being driven by a “huge explosion” in China, Korea, other European countries and the Middle East. The inaugural Olympic Esports Games takes place this year in Saudi Arabia.
“Realistically, the UK esports industry is extremely behind the rest of the world when it comes to job opportunities, legitimacy and growth of the industry,” he says. “Our jobs are extremely minimal.”
FE Week found 1,801 jobs advertised on the world’s biggest gaming and esports jobs platform, Hitmarker, of which 52 were UK-based (and not remote) and eight were entry-level (all as interns). Elsewhere online, the only UK vacancies we could find were for a partnerships director (for Fnatic), esports tutors and as a volunteer content writer for British Esports.
Rousseau believes some universities and colleges are using esports courses as a “get rich quick” scheme and attract students by highlighting the potential for UK jobs in esports which do not exist.
“It’s a horrible situation,” he says.
Connaire Delaney-Mcnulty with a student
False marketing?
All the FE college websites offering esports that FE Week looked at highlighted the opportunity to work in the industry.
Burnley College’s website informed readers about the size of the growing global esports market, saying “you can be at the forefront of this exciting field with our comprehensive esports course”.
Loughborough College tells prospective students that “as esports has grown, so too have the career options available”.
Runshaw College says its esports courses “will give you a range of experience and skills to progress to university and gain employment in the rapidly growing esports industry”.
Rousseau says while the first few universities and colleges offering esports courses did so for “legitimate reasons” because “some jobs in the industry needed filling”, that is no longer the case with such an abundance of provision on offer.
None of England’s local skills improvement plans mention esports.
Many who study esports in FE progress to an esports degree. But Rousseau claims he would “never hire someone with an esports degree”, instead seeking someone with skills related to the job at hand – with a “marketing, graphic design or business degree”.
His advice to those seeking a career in esports is not to do an esports course, but to study something they are “good at and enjoy” instead, such as graphic design, marketing or sports psychology.
Esports provision at New Swindon College
Jobs of the future
But Debra Gray, principal of Hull College, points out that careers in esports are often “location independent” and that although the UK industry is currently “embryonic”, “as it grows it will eclipse actual sport” in size, with streaming and content creation being “jobs of the future”.
“Fifty years ago, there were no social media marketers,” she says. “Now, you can’t recruit one for love nor money. You’ve got to be really switched onto those jobs of the future and start training for them early. And gaming is a multi-billion pound industry. We would be crackers not to help students find their place in it.”
Last year, Michael, 26, took out an advanced learner loan to enrol in Hull’s level three esports course, hoping to become a content creator.
He said he finds the course “engaging” and “business heavy”, as it is “very much about the industry of esports – coaching, entrepreneurship, making teams, how games work, strategies, and content creation. It’s a wild thing, all in one package”.
Michael knows it will take “a bit of luck” for him to achieve his dream, but adds: “I feel like with this course, I can build myself with those skill sets – and for other avenues in the esports industry.”
Christopher Baxter, New Swindon College
Engaging the disengaged
Rousseau often visits colleges and universities to help esports students find opportunities, and despite his concerns about esports as a full-time course, he acknowledges it “can absolutely be a tool to help keep students engaged with their work, to foster teamwork, discipline, nutrition and positive behaviour”.
Similarly, New Swindon College esports lecturer Chris Baxter says esports has “proven to be a powerful tool for engaging learners. By studying a subject they are passionate about, students feel motivated to attend college and succeed”.
Rob Forrester and Ben Lomas, co-programme leads for UAL level 3 Esports: Content Creation and Production course at Bournemouth & Poole College, admit they were “sceptical” when their college introduced esports provision in 2021. But they “quickly realised its potential as an educational platform”.
They add: “By connecting with students’ passion for gaming we’ve been able to teach them practical, transferable skills with impressive results.”
The programme’s “unique facilities” and the “engaging atmosphere” in esports classrooms generates “significant interest at open events”.
Delaney-Mcnulty acknowledges that jobs in the UK esports sector (which he previously worked in himself) “are not always long term”. But he sees esports courses as a “catalyst” to engage disengaged young people.
“Esports is their passion, and our role being the educators is making sure we’re turning that passion into something useful,” he says.
“It’s those who might not have engaged with a traditional school education who are excelling.”
Esports players playing competitive MOBA PvP top down view computer game
Transferrable skills
Delaney-Mcnulty teaches a level 3 module on shout casting (commentating on games). Although jobs in shout casting are hard to come by, Delaney-Mcnulty sees it as “helping them in public speaking, pronunciation and expressing themselves, all skills that you need in all kinds of work situations”.
Meanwhile, Nathan Horton, an esports lecturer at Shipley College, believes though the number of UK jobs in esports is “not massive”, the BTEC he teaches gives students “broad skills” that “can lead into jobs within the [broader] digital industry”.
NSCG esports student at this year’s Bett edtech conference in London
Esports culture
Like many colleges, New Swindon College has seen its esports course enrolments rise successively each year, prompting the launch of an HND course this September.
Baxter puts the courses’ popularity down to students’ desire to compete in the British Esports Student Champs (BESC), a PC-based video game competition between around 200 schools and colleges, involving 600 students.
Martin Birch-Foster, who teaches IT and esports at St Vincent College, believes the competitions are of particular benefit to the college’s SEND learners, who “didn’t always get the chance to compete in more traditional sports”.
SEND learners were better able to “regulate their emotions” when they lost a game than with traditional sports, he says.
“It’s a very inclusive environment. Anyone can play, it doesn’t matter your gender, ethnicity, or disabilities.”
Many of those who teach and support esports provision are passionate gamers themselves. They include Hull principal Gray, who sometimes has Twitch open on one of her screens to watch her esports students “play in real-time while I’m working”.
Horton was a professional FIFA esports player (ranked in the top 100 globally) before joining Shipley.He uses the stories from his gaming career to motivate his learners and tells me: “Students find that cool and it brings it to life a bit more.”
Esports students playing competitively at Bett edtech conference 2025
Hardware costs
While some colleges fork out up to £230,000 for esports gaming lounges, Delaney-Mcnulty says “fancy classrooms” are “good marketing tools” but are not really needed to teach the courses.
“For a very small centre, a few mid-level gaming PCs is all you really need. Once you’ve got those facilities in place, it can provide a safe environment for students who might not have been interested in a traditional course.”
Shipley College has the latest consoles, recently bought 15 to 20 new gaming PCs for around £2,000 each and is looking to buy an F1 gaming rig.
St Vincent College was initially gifted laptops with the hardware required to run games at high graphics settings which standard classroom computers lack, estimated to cost around £500 each.
But not everyone in education is a fan of esports classroom set-ups.
Scott Hayden, head of digital at learning at Basingstoke College of Technology (which has chosen not to offer esports), recalls being put off after observing an esports class where students in “leather-bound gaming chairs” were facing screens, rather than their teacher.
“ I just felt I couldn’t stand by it, with our message on digital wellbeing. That’s my bias… I’m very open to being convinced, but it doesn’t feel like it’s there yet,” he adds.
Similarly, Harlow College principal Karen Spencer decided not to run the provision, after “quite a moral social discussion about it”.
She says: “It’s a bit like horse racing or motor racing. I’m not convinced by the careers in it. I think students are better doing games design, which we do offer, because then you get programming, coding and design skills.”
Esports at New Swindon College
Advance of AI
Another challenge facing those teaching esports is keeping up with the pace of technological change. Delaney-Mcnulty says that “even without AI, the esports curriculum was out of date the moment it was written”.
Plus, some of the skills esports teaches can now be done by AI, such as video production.
Students value the exam-free, assignment-based structure of courses. But this makes it tempting for them to turn to AI tools. For that reason, Delaney-Mcnulty says he “strays away from purely written assessments… because they’re very easy to throw into an AI generator”.
Defying stereotypes
Lomas and Forrester’s students find the toughest part of the course is “breaking the stigma that esports is just playing games”.
One student, Kabe Brickhill, commented in a college YouTube video that “people think we’re just messing about in a classroom”.
In fact, lecturers say that esports courses involve significant amounts of work compared to other courses. Michael finds the workload “overwhelming” at times.
Approved esports centres across the UK (Source: British Esports Association)
Baxter says students “find the workload challenging, particularly managing multiple assignments and meeting high standards which often involve extensive writing”.
However, “they value how the coursework connects to real-world applications, such as designing jerseys and hoodies”.
Delaney-Mcnulty believes esports learners are less prone to gaming addiction because they are taught the risks and how to control their screen time, though he has had to identify gamers who “shouldn’t be on the course”.
After students join he says they are “monitored” and “sometimes, tough conversations” are had.
Similarly, Birch-Foster says initially his college “struggled a little” with having young people taking the course “because they just wanted to play games”.
“Unfortunately, not everyone knew what esports was”, he explains. The following year, the college spent more time initially “talking with parents” about what the course entailed.
Michael admits that his screen time has to be “managed from time to time”.
“I’m trying to space it out so I’m not glued to the screen constantly, and I’m keeping aware of my wellbeing.”
The number of panellists who investigate teacher misconduct will double ahead of legislation extending banning powers to further education.
The Teacher Regulation Agency (TRA) has launched an advert for 150 volunteers who will decide the fate of teachers accused of serious misconduct, including imposing lifetime bans.
There are currently 157 panellists, who are unpaid and must have worked as a teacher in the past five years, on the TRA roster.
FE Week understands the hiring spree will replace only a small number of current members who are coming to the end of their standard five-year term – meaning there could be around 300 panellists at the Department for Education’s disposal.
Meanwhile, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which is making its way through Parliament, proposes to expand the scope of the TRA to teachers employed within FE, independent training providers (ITPs) and online education providers.
Policy notes for the bill published this week said the process in which the TRA operates will continue “in the same way” but it is “important the teacher misconduct regime keeps in step with current policy and practice in the different ways that young people are now being educated”.
It added: “Bringing more settings within scope of the regime would enable the secretary of state to consider misconduct across the broad range of education settings.”
The TRA expansion is expected to come into force in September 2026.
Expanded function and budget?
The TRA has faced criticism for letting its caseload pile high, causing teachers facing allegations to wait up to eight years for a hearing.
FE leaders have expressed concern over the TRA’s capacity to handle additional cases coming from colleges and training providers following the expansion of its powers.
The TRA’s latest accounts show staff costs have swelled since the agency’s inception in 2018, largely due to increased staff capacity to “manage” its misconduct caseload.
In 2023-24, £4.8 million was spent on staff due to higher average staff numbers. It had an average of 96 workers last year, nearly a fifth more than the previous year and 39 per cent higher than in 2019-20.
Departmental spending for the TRA will be set out this summer when the multi-year spending review concludes, setting out budgets up to the 2028-29 financial year.
FE panellists needed
Once an initial investigation deems misconduct allegations against a teacher are serious enough, the three-person TRA panel attend in-person hearings. They then make a recommendation to the education secretary about whether a prohibition order is required, which bans the accused from teaching.
The TRA panellist advert states: “Would you like to help protect pupils and uphold confidence in teachers?
“Having enough panellists with education sector experience and the right skills is essential for the TRA to effectively regulate the teaching profession.”
The TRA is looking for two types of people to join its three-member professional conduct panels: teacher panellists are required to have experience in a school, sixth-form college, children’s home or 16 to 19 academy in England.
Meanwhile, for lay panellists, the TRA is looking to recruit people with experience working in FE, ITPs, and accredited online education providers.
The third panel member could either be a teacher or a lay panellist.
The position is voluntary and will require successful panellists to commit between 12 to 20 days per year to attend in-person hearings at TRA’s head office in Coventry.
The TRA currently pays schools up to £250 per day for the “difficulties and impact” of releasing a teacher. The DfE did not confirm whether the TRA will reimburse FE providers too.
Panellists will serve no more than two terms, with each term lasting between three and five years and no more than 10 years in total.
Saudi Arabia will offer contracts of 10 years and longer for UK-based colleges that run courses in the country, it has been claimed.
Many participants in the kingdom’s controversial “colleges of excellence” (CoE) scheme launched in 2013 subsequently quit due to low demand, strict payment terms and delays, and difficulties of working under five-year agreements.
But Burton and South Derbyshire College (BSDC) chair Rajinder Mann told FE Week it discovered during a Department of Business and International Trade-led mission that there would be a tender launched this academic year for “much longer-term contacts of between 10 to 15 years”.
She said: “These new longer-term contracts will give colleges looking to get involved with technical colleges within the kingdom increased financial security when compared to previous contracts that were rolled over a number of times.
“We believe working in the kingdom offers real benefits to UK colleges and hope many more engage in this new tendering round.”
BSDC maintained a reduced operation in Saudi Arabia after its partnership was terminated in 2023 in the hope of securing a more favourable agreement.
Lincoln College is the only provider to currently hold a Saudi contract, while several others, including Activate Learning, quit the CoE scheme which had paid out a total of around £1 billion.
Saudi cost pressures
BSDC, which suffered financially due to its loss of Saudi income, operated a female-only college in Jeddah – the International Technical Female College at Jeddah – in partnership with other colleges under a company named Highbury Burton Saudi Arabia Limited (HBSA) until it became the sole shareholder in 2020.
Launched in 2013 on an initial five-year contract that was later extended until 2023 and worth £59 million, the Jeddah college provided vocational courses in areas including business management, IT and graphic design.
Minutes from May 2024 show the BSDC board agreed to shoulder “additional costs” by continuing operations in the country despite no longer holding a contract.
BSDC’s financial health rating dropped to ‘requires improvement’ for the first time in at least five years in 2023-24, recording a deficit and negative EBITDA, partly due to the loss of income from the Saudi project.
Financial statements revealed the board “recognised the risk” in exiting the country as this would make securing future contracts “impossible due to the high level of investment and the lengthy duration it would take to set up a company again”.
Ongoing costs to BSDC associated with the reduced Saudi operation include auditor fees, storage facilities for furniture and IT equipment, bookkeeping services, two members of staff and renewal of annual licences that must be retained under Saudi law. The college said it was using profits previously gained from the Saudi venture to cover the expenditure.
Mann said: “The year-end position reflects decisions to run a deficit budget for one year that considered pressures such as staff pay as well as the ongoing operation in Saudi.”
She added BSDC suffered extra “one-off and unforeseen” tax costs of £356,000 when the former Highbury College, Portsmouth, reneged on an agreement to contribute to a tax bill when it quit HBSA in 2020.
Highbury College, which left after financial trouble triggered government intervention, subsequently merged and is now part of City of Portsmouth College, which did not respond to a request for comment on the Saudi tax allegation.
‘Exceptional’ success
Mann said HBSA’s track record in Saudi was “exceptional” with achievement rates topping 90 per cent, the “highest” employment rates within the CoE programme at 71 per cent, and consistently achieved “good with outstanding features” grades from the kingdom’s quality assurance regulator.
She added: “We feel that our strong track record of high outcomes and excellent teaching and learning in the kingdom, partnered with our extensive in-country experience, effectively positions both BSDC and HBSA with the best possible chance of success in securing further contracts whilst also fulfilling our government’s ambitions of exporting high-quality education across the globe.”
Lincoln College landed an initial £250 million five-year agreement to operate in Saudi in 2014. It extended its presence in the country but on a reduced contract to run two colleges in the kingdom until 2029.
It told FE Week: “Lincoln College has successfully educated thousands of male and female Saudi students over the past decade.
“We work closely with the UK government to meet public sector requirements and expect this to continue as new opportunities come to the market.
“Our financial health for 2023-24 is rated as ‘good’ and will currently be ‘good’ for 2024-25, reflecting the success of our educational and commercial activities.”
A Department for Business and Trade spokesperson said: “We support skills development as one of several education goals under the UK-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council and we continue to work with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia government and the UK sector to identify opportunities for education partnerships.”
Saudi’s CoE organisers did not respond to requests for comment.
Ofsted’s new inspection report cards have been “cobbled together at ridiculous speed” with no underpinning research and concerns by experienced officials ignored, whistleblowers have claimed.
In a letter due to be sent to unions, and seen by FE Week sister title Schools Week, staff claim they have been forced to speak out publicly over the “rushed and botched framework”.
They say a consultation on the plans, due to launch next week, is a “sham” as there will be no time to introduce a model that would differ from Ofsted’s proposal.
They also question claims that report cards will be “evolution not revolution”, adding proposals amount to a “wholly different” framework.
The letter was sent by an Ofsted employee, who did not want to be named, but said they were one of six staff speaking out. They have two decades of inspection and school leadership between them.
Their concerns also “represent the feelings and anxieties of a large number” of colleagues, they added.
Sources said that similar concerns have been aired by other Ofsted staff about the pace and input into the new framework.
Staff ‘deeply concerned’
Leaked details of Ofsted’s report cards last year stated schools would be judged over multiple categories, on a scale of one to five. Report cards will also be introduced for FE and skills providers, but it’s not yet known how similar they will be in design to schools.
The letter alleges some staff are “deeply concerned” about changes.
It says: “Senior Ofsted leaders will not permit any questioning or real reflection on the workability of this rushed and botched framework.”
The whistleblowers described plans as a “chaotic mess”. While the current framework was “solidly grounded in the latest and best educational research, the new framework is amateurish and has been cobbled together at ridiculous speed with virtually no underpinning research”.
The letter also alleged the planned consultation is “just a public relations exercise, not a real consultation.
“It is a sham. By the time the public consultation reports, and pilot inspections have happened, the summer term will be ending and there is simply no time to change anything if inspectors are supposed to be trained and start using the framework in the autumn term.”
They also claimed the new framework is “wholly different” to the current education inspection framework (EIF), introduced in 2019, “in purpose and content”.
And they warned the new framework is supposed to launch in the new academic year, which was “less than a year from conception to implementation”.
“In contrast, the EIF took over two and a half years to research, consult, develop, pilot and refine before it was launched.”
It’s not clear how widespread these feelings are amongst Ofsted staff. But other insiders pointed to a number of senior staff leaving the inspectorate.
Matt Newman, from FDA civil servants’ union which represents His Majesty’s Inspectors, said a poll of members in December found they wanted to be consulted more on changes.
However, he said that is something which has since happened.
An Ofsted spokesperson said: “Ofsted is changing – for the better. We will shortly be launching a full 12-week consultation on changes to inspection and reporting, which will raise standards for children and provide more detailed information for parents.
“We are extremely grateful to colleagues here and in the wider education sector who have contributed to the development of these proposals, and we want to hear back from parents and professionals when they see the detail.”
‘No faith in senior leadership’
In the letter, the whistleblowers claimed they “have no faith in senior leadership” to listen to concerns.
They have sounded the alarm to unions because they “care deeply about Ofsted and about the children and professionals it serves, and our concern is causing us to act”.
They described themselves as senior HMIs, HMI specialist advisors and an office-based civil service member. Schools Week was unable to verify their roles.
The new Labour government scrapped single-phrase headline judgments for schools with immediate effect in September. The move will follow for FE and skills providers this coming September.
Ofsted has since led on the design of new report cards that will replace the existing inspection reports in the new academic year.
The changes are being made in response to a coroner’s ruling in late 2023 that an inspection contributed to the death of headteacher Ruth Perry.
Concerns echo those of union bosses, who last year said they feared Ofsted was “running away” with the design of report cards.
In a briefing for members this week, Association of School and College Leaders general secretary Pepe Di’Iasio said the “proposals that we anticipate from Ofsted – barring a last-minute change of heart – seem deeply flawed”.
He was “more than concerned about what [the announcement] might say and how it might not necessarily make what was a previously flawed system less flawed going forward”.
A call to merge two building industry training boards under proposals to tackle a workforce shortage has been turned down by ministers.
In his delayed Industry Training Board review, published on Thursday, expert Mark Farmer said the Department for Education’s funding of both the Construction Industry Training Board and Engineering Construction Industry Training Board could not be justified.
But in its response the DfE only accepted half of the review’s 63 recommendations, rejecting three outright and only partially accepting 25 others.
This was despite Farmer saying “cherry picking” from his recommendations “could render change ineffective”.
His main recommendation – to merge the CITB and ECITB – was dismissed.
A DfE spokesperson said:“Whilst we have no plans to legislate to merge the two industry training boards, over the next 12 months we will be working with them and other government departments to implement and make progress on many of the report’s recommendations.”
The Federation for Master Builders estimates at least 240,000 extra construction workers are needed over the next four years to meet demand.
The DfE appointed Farmer in 2023 to review the role and effectiveness of the CITB and ECITB. These bodies impose their own levies on construction and engineering employers to fund training.
His review found the two boards’ interventions had “insufficient” impact to “demonstrate reasonable additionality and, on the face of it, justify their existence”.
Farmer said: “This is reflected in the growing risks of future workforce attrition, future skills misalignment and a looming potential inability to meet future industry demand. This suggests a fundamental reset is required across both ITBs to change both direction and effectiveness.”
He proposed to merge the CITB and ECITB into a single rebranded body, responsible for workforce development of new and existing workers in the construction and engineering construction sectors.
The DfE said there were “significant benefits to greater alignment and collaboration” across the two boards as well as Skills England, but that a full merger would require “further scoping”.
It said: “How this alignment should be taken forward in the long term requires further scoping. Options to be considered range from voluntary collaboration to full legal merger of the ITBs. A starting point must be enhanced collaboration on specific areas such as infrastructure across Great Britain, increasing trainers, clean energy jobs and skills passporting.”
The review lays out 63 recommendations across 17 areas, which propose the merged ITB to “maximise industry recovery of apprenticeship levy” and act as the lead coordinator to maximise the use of skills bootcamps, local skills improvement plans and other DfE-funded programmes.
Other recommendations include a refocused levy-grant system and the two ITBs retaining ring-fenced levy funds in the short term whilst options for levy consolidation are explored.
The report says: “It is recognised therefore that there is an ‘all or nothing’ subtext to this review’s recommendations, representing a last throw of the dice to prove a new ITB model can be much more effective.”
Farmer said: “Whatever happens, we should aspire to a high quality, standards-led workforce that is capable of delivering more and better.”
Andrew Hockey, CEO of the ECITB, said his board has already started developing plans to implement the recommendations.
“We welcome closer collaboration with the CITB, particularly in the area of infrastructure skills where there is the most commonality between the ITBs’ respective footprints,” he said.
Tim Balcon, CEO of CITB, said: “We must move at pace to work together to tackle the joint needs of industry without the delay and disruption that legislative or structural changes would surely bring, and that would inevitably be detrimental to industry success.
“We need to be laser-focused on addressing industry needs by providing standardised levels of competence, alternative routes into industry, and making it easier and cheaper to access high-quality training.
“Importantly, the report recognises the significant skills challenges facing the construction and engineering industries and the vital role that the ITBs play in helping address these. Further, it asserts that the best way of doing so is to retain the ITB model and industry-specific levies.”
Fiona Aldridge, chief executive of the Skills Federation, said: “ITBs have a crucial role to play in helping identify critical skills needs, engaging employers in meeting these needs, and in connecting them into the wider skills system.
“Whilst engagement with individual employers is important, there is an important role too for ITBs and other sector skills bodies in ensuring we have a comprehensive view of skills needs, including for small and medium-sized companies, and a coordinated and coherent approach to addressing them.”
Apprenticeship starts marginally grew in the first quarter of this academic year – but there were nearly 1,000 fewer young people aged under 19 on employer books, new data shows.
There were 132,560 new apprentices in August, September and October of 2024, up 1.3 per cent on the same period last year.
Higher-level apprenticeships have held up the growth while lower-level apprenticeships have fallen, following previous trends.
While the overall headline figures suggest employers haven’t drastically slowed down their apprenticeship recruitment, the data is for the period preceding the autumn budget, which contained wage and tax rises on employers that come into effect this April.
Some employers have warned the incoming measures will wreck their apprenticeship recruitment plans. Future stats releases will reveal the extent of this predicted impact.
Here are the headlines from today’s figures:
More ups but more downs
This is the first full quarter of apprenticeship statistics since July’s general election, and since prime minister Keir Starmer announced level 7 apprenticeships would face the axe in order to “rebalance” the system towards young people.
2024 saw the highest first-quarter apprenticeship starts in four years overall, but the lowest number of level 2 starts, which have fallen consecutively. Level 3 starts also fell slightly.
Higher level apprenticeships, those at levels 4 to 7, rose by 8 per cent compared to the previous year, whereas level 2 apprenticeships fell by 5 per cent.
Under 19s were the only age group to see a decline in apprenticeship starts in quarter one compared to the previous year.
There were 41,810 under 19s that started an apprenticeship in August, September and October in 2024, down from 42,740 over that period in 2023. While 2 per cent down on the same period in 2023, under 19 starts were not quite as low as they were in 2021 or 2022.
As a share of the overall number of starts in the first quarter, under-19s made up 31.5 per cent in 2024/25, down from 32.7 per cent in 2023/24.
Alongside scrapping level 7 apprenticeships to free up some funding, Labour has announced plans to introduce so-called foundation apprenticeships in an effort to reverse this trend of falling numbers of young people. However, Labour is yet to reveal what these new forms of apprenticeships will look like.
Level 7
Labour is establishing Skills England, a new agency within the Department for Education, to replace the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education.
Ministers are yet to announce who will run Skills England, but they will be responsible for determining much of Labour’s apprenticeship policy, such as scrapping level 7 apprenticeships and funding from the growth and skills levy.
Nearly 11,000 people started a level 7 apprenticeship in quarter one of this academic year, broadly similar to the same period last year.
Around two in five of those were apprentice accountants (4262), followed by senior leader apprentices (2554) and then solicitors (1031).
Redundancies
November 2024 saw the lowest number of monthly apprentice redundancies in nearly five years.
Employers have been able to record redundancies since July 2020. Monthly figures show they peaked in August 2020, the first month of data, with 890. The average since then is 340.
Between August and November this academic year, 870 apprentices have been recorded as being made redundant, down from 1,350 over the same period in 2023/24. Of those, one-third were under 19.
This year, September saw the highest number with 330, but just 100 were recorded for November.
Provider analysis
Analysis of the largest apprenticeship training providers shows that while Lifetime Training recorded the highest number of starts this quarter, their numbers are around 20 per cent down on the previous year.
BPP Professional saw their starts grow by 40 per cent compared to the same period last year. Multiverse, Corndel and Paragon and the British Army also recorded growth in quarter one starts.
Proportions of starts by provider type didn’t change very much. Independent training providers recorded 57 per cent of starts, down slightly from 58.2 per cent the year before. FE colleges started 24.5 per cent of starts, the same as last year.
The slight fall in ITPs’ share was made up by providers in the ‘other public’ category which includes universities and local authorities.
Providers delivering franchised higher education courses face tough new rules in a bid to curb student loan fraud and “rogue operators”.
The Department for Education has unveiled plans to “crack down on rogue operators” by bringing providers delivering franchised HE into the scope of the Office for Students (OfS).
Under the proposed changes, delivery partners that teach 300 or more franchised students will be required to register with the OfS for their courses to remain eligible for student finance. DfE said the move will tackle misuse of public funding and improve regulatory oversight of franchised HE, which has seen rapid expansion in recent years.
The move could require “hundreds” of new registrations to the HE regulator, which one provider representative body said would need “substantial extra resource and a dramatic reprioritisation of efforts”.
It follows an investigation by the National Audit Office which found a lack of oversight over franchised HE cost the taxpayer £2 million in fraud in 2022/23.
The number of students studying at franchised providers more than doubled between 2018/19 and 2022/23, increasing from 50,430 to 135,850.
DfE said over half of 341 franchised institutions are currently not registered with the OfS. “In some cases, students are offered poor-quality courses that fail to justify their cost, showing a clear need for reform,” the department said.
Fraud and quality
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson said her proposed reforms to HE regulation would “ensure students can trust the quality of their courses, no matter where or how they choose to study”.
“We are committed to cracking down on rogue operators who misuse public money and damage the reputation of our world-class universities,” she added.
A recent NAO report found £2.2 million of the £4.1 million in detected student finance fraud in 2022/23 related to franchised provision. Yet, only 6.5 per cent of student loan funded students are on franchised courses.
Additionally, OfS data suggests student outcomes at some franchised providers are significantly lower than those at directly regulated providers.
Franchised providers will be subject to greater student attendance and financial monitoring, as well as scrutiny of recruitment practices – all things DfE has flagged as concerns in the franchised sector.
Alex Proudfood, chief executive of Independent Higher Education (IHE), said he supports “the principle of universal regulation that is proportionate, flexible and efficient”.
“Sadly these are not words that anyone who has undergone the registration process in the past seven years would use to describe it.”
Mandatory registration
Unregistered providers would only be required to register with the OfS if they have over 300 franchised students, excluding apprentices. Those with fewer than 300 will remain accountable to the franchising university or college. Students funded through student finance, self-funded students and international students all contribute towards the 300 threshold.
OfS registration would require providers to evidence they had met quality and governance requirements, were financially secure and were held to account for student outcomes.
DfE estimates that the 300 threshold would capture around 83 per cent of students currently at unregistered franchise providers.
The consultation sets out some exemptions to the new registration rules. Further education colleges, sixth form colleges and designated institutions will be exempt from the registration requirement as they are already subject to ESFA and managing public money regulations.
Simon Ashworth, deputy CEO at the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, thinks independent training providers should also be exempt.
“This creates an uneven playing field for ITPs who are already approved by DfE and directly inspected by Ofsted. This is already more than enough to evidence robustness – and we believe should also entitle providers to an exemption.
“If the DfE wants to properly review franchising arrangements, we would urge them to lift the lid on some of the disproportionate fees and charges imposed on franchisees.”
The OfS register is currently closed to new applications. The regulator shut its register and paused applications for new degree awarding powers in December while it prioritises university financial health. That freeze is expected to come to end this August at the latest.
Regulate for growth
Alex Proudfoot
Proudfoot questions whether the OfS will have the resource to register what could be hundreds of new providers following a backlog off the back of the current freeze. This would come on top of “many years of unacceptable performance, opaque decision making and the absence of reliable service standards”.
He said: “In 2024, the OfS registered just 7 providers, despite rising demand and a backlog of applications, so it is obvious that any requirement to register what could be hundreds of additional providers within a two-year period must be accompanied by substantial extra resource and a dramatic reprioritisation of effort towards this core statutory function.
“More than that, to get this job done will require a cultural step change within the regulator itself and a leadership who genuinely understands the importance of growth, innovation and investment in the higher education sector.
“It’s time for the OfS to meet the challenge set so clearly by the prime minister and chancellor of the exchequer this week and start regulating for growth, not just for risk.”
Depending on the outcome of the consultation, the new registration rules could be introduced in April next year. Decisions about course eligibility for student loans would then be made in September 2027 for implementation in the 2028/29 academic year.
Since their inception in 2015, degree apprenticeships have rapidly gained prominence. They offer a debt-free pathway to achieving a degree, blending academic learning with practical, on-the-job training.
Promoted as a means to address skills shortages, boost productivity and advance social mobility, degree apprenticeships have experienced significant growth, with over 170 standards now available in a range of sectors, across 101 providers.
However, research from the Edge Foundation, based on nearly 100 interviews with key stakeholders and conducted in collaboration with the universities of Bath, Oxford, and Huddersfield, reveals there are persistent threats to their long-term sustainability and capacity to foster diversity.
Regulatory and financial roadblocks
Education and training providers play a pivotal role in the development and delivery of degree apprenticeships. However, complex auditing, overlapping regulatory requirements and crucial employer liaison activities are highly resource intensive.
This means that compared to mainstream undergraduate provision they are more expensive to run and more administratively challenging. As one provider put it: “Why the heck are we doing this for £21,000 when it would be £28,000 and a lot cheaper to deliver because you don’t have skills coaches, and we don’t need to worry about Ofsted?”
Uncertainty around employer demand, coupled with changes in the policy landscape – with details of the growth and skills levy still up in the air – count against degree apprenticeships.
Employers also report barriers to engagement, particularly related to the apprenticeship levy.
Large organisations frequently cite underuse of levy funds due to bureaucratic complexities and restrictions on expenditure.
SMEs typically rely on levy transfers from large employers, facilitated by providers, to participate in degree apprenticeships.
The system is heavily reliant on informal networks and personal relationships, rather than fostering systemic collaboration.
Advancing social mobility and diversity
The potential of degree apprenticeships to enhance social mobility and diversify the workforce remains both celebrated and contested. Apprentices frequently cite the appeal of earning a wage while avoiding student debt, particularly those with caring responsibilities or those deterred by mainstream academic pathways.
And, encouragingly, some employers are using degree apprenticeships to attract women into traditionally male-dominated fields, such as engineering and IT.
But despite these advantages, our research paints a patchy picture of careers advice about degree apprenticeships that risks entrenching advantages for pupils in independent and higher attaining state schools.
As one employer explained: “If their schools really promote it, if their parents are supportive of it and they have access to social media, they have that digital network that allows them to see opportunities.”
Degree apprenticeships appear to be primarily targeted internally towards existing employees rather than school leavers, although there are signs of this changing.
The prime minister’s intervention on the growth and skills levy, asking employers to “rebalance their funding for apprenticeships [and] invest in younger workers”, signals policy levers may be pulled in this direction.
Nonetheless, the impact of degree apprenticeships as tools of social mobility is constrained by variable recruitment practices and inconsistent employer engagement with diversity goals.
The government should consider modelling the impact of differentiating levy funding available for degree apprenticeships by age and/or staff status, to encourage employers to diversify the workforce.
Enhancing collaboration and delivery
Modes of delivery also vary widely, and while flexibility allows for tailored approaches, it poses challenges for ensuring consistent quality and support.
The integration of academic education with workplace learning is particularly critical as this is the backbone of work-based learning.
Collaboration between providers, employers and apprentices is central to the success of all apprenticeships. Yet, our research highlights that effective coordination mechanisms and sufficient resourcing, such as regular reviews and dedicated liaison teams, are not uniformly implemented.
Miscommunication and a lack of understanding of apprenticeship requirements by employers and providers often impede progress. Successful examples demonstrate the value of close employer-provider collaboration and robust mentoring frameworks.
However, the availability and quality of mentorship remain uneven, with limited training provided for mentors. Providers and employers should work together to share best practice around mentoring and student support.
Degree apprenticeships are transforming what higher education can be, but their sustained growth and long-term future hinges on addressing regulatory, financial and collaborative challenges.
By streamlining processes, fostering inclusivity and strengthening partnerships, stakeholders can ensure degree apprenticeships continue to serve as a robust, equitable pathway into higher education and employment.
