MOVERS AND SHAKERS: EDITION 364

Lynette Leith, Vice principal for curriculum, Hull College

Start date: July 2021

Previous job: Assistant principal for technical education, Newham Sixth Form College

Interesting fact: She enjoys charitable work and has spent a few summers teaching children in Africa.

Fiona Aldridge, Head of skills insight, West Midlands Combined Authority

Start date: October 2021

Previous job: Director for policy and research, Learning and Work Institute

Interesting fact: She started learning to skateboard for last year’s Lifelong Learning Week, but after just one lesson she ended up in a neck brace for four weeks and hasn’t been on a skateboard since.

Sharon Smith, Principal and deputy chief executive, DN Colleges Group

Start date: August 2021

Previous job: Vice principal for higher, vocational and professional education, York College

Interesting fact: An avid fan of Lord of the Rings, her “beloved” labradors, Samwise and Rosie are named after two hobbit characters.

Ranjit Singh, Vice principal for quality and learner experience, Hull College

Start date: August 2021

Previous job: Director of curriculum and cross college teaching and learning, West Thames College

Interesting fact: He has represented his county in football, cricket and athletics.

Inclusivity and diversity apprentice panel helps provider gain top Ofsted marks

A network of apprentices leading discussion groups on women’s issues and multiculturalism has helped earn its international training provider an ‘outstanding’ from Ofsted.

Multiverse Group Limited, formerly known as WhiteHat Group and operating out of the UK and US, is the brainchild of its chief executive Euan Blair, son of the former UK prime minister Tony Blair.

Inspectors were impressed by the “kind and inclusive” environment at the London-based provider, which has 3,000 apprentices.

Inspectors report that apprentices felt part of a “vibrant community” of their peers, through the provision of an online networking platform, which hosts both a women’s forum and a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender network.

There is also a multicultural group which has provided the opportunity for a range of panel discussions on diversity in the workplace.

The platform, called the Community Hub, is accessible through an app where apprentices can create a profile, join interest groups and sign up for events such as speed networking and seminars on self-promotion.

FE Week understands the platform to be almost, if not completely, unique for a private provider.

Leaders ensure ‘comprehensive’ community opportunities, says Ofsted

ofsted
Clare Sutcliffe

Multiverse’s vice president of community Clare Sutcliffe said the provider’s mission had been to build a “outstanding alternative to university”. That included “creating an experience that rivals the one you’d get at top universities and colleges,” and the hub with its interest groups “exists to deliver this experience”.

The community is “having a tangible impact” on attainment, she says, with apprentices who are active in the group being “more likely to achieve a merit or distinction as their final grade”.

Apprentices have found groups like the women’s and multicultural network are “vital for their professional and personal development and they really enable us to stand out as a provider”.

Ofsted reports Multiverse’s leaders ensure a “comprehensive set of online community opportunities” for apprentices to develop “personal and professional attributes”.

They also arrange high-profile guest speaker events, industry panels and apprenticeship forums to help learners explore possible careers.

Groups present ‘amazing networking opportunities’

Women’s group co-chair and Multiverse project management apprentice Niamh Briody told FE Week the group had been set up last year because it was a “topic of discussion apprentices found really interesting and obviously resonated with”.

It already has around 300 members, including male allies of women, and those who identify as female, and some of the provider’s US learners.

It has run events on personal safety following the killings of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa, in collaboration with the women’s safety volunteer group Strut Safe.

Niamh’s co-chair, digital marketing apprentice Eleanor King, said the “main thing” about the group “is inclusivity and to communicate with people who share similar beliefs to you,” but it also presented “amazing networking opportunities”.

Evelyn Koon, who is studying a level 4 data fellowship with Multiverse for the NHS, says she wants her group to “create a sense of psychological safety so people feel free to be themselves”.

Her group has a similar number of members and set up around the same time as the women’s group.

She is looking to have people from the NHS come in to speak about their experiences; and, during the joint interview between her, the women’s group and FE Week, suggested the two groups hold a film night together.

Inspectors also praised Multiverse’s “highly qualified” coaches, close collaboration with its 295 employers to build a curriculum to give apprentices “substantial” new skills, as well as its safeguarding.

Pictured top: Eleanor King, Evelyn Koon, Niamh Briody

Spending review: will it be trick or treat for the sector?

Sector stakeholders are waiting to see if it will be trick or treat in this month’s spending review but hope that individual learning accounts and an expanded lifetime skills guarantee will be announced.

The deadline for submissions to the spending review was Thursday, and chancellor Rishi Sunak will outline to MPs the next three years of government spending on October 27.

FE and skills bodies, as well as employer groups, are among those that have made submissions.

For instance, the Association of Colleges called for a 50 per cent increase in total revenue spending on further education and skills in their submission, which they published last week.

FE Week has found that other sector bodies’ submissions ask for a return of individual learning accounts (ILAs), more cash for adult education and an expansion to the lifetime skills guarantee.

Here is what each body has asked the chancellor for:

Association of Employment and Learning Providers

AELP is one of the organisations pushing for a policy similar to the ILAs, which were introduced by the New Labour government in the early 2000s before being scrapped amid widespread fraud.

“Individual skills accounts”, as the association calls them, “are the ideal vehicle” for improving productivity and personal growth “by focusing on employer and individual choice”.

The training provider representative group also wants procurement of training services opened to all registered providers.

Also, it calls for apprenticeships and traineeships to remain nationally contracted and not devolved.

As the adult education budget has shrunk by “just over half” since 2010/11, going from £3.6 billion to £1.3 billion, the AELP argues the government should triple the current AEB to £4 billion every year.

Publicly funding 16-to-19 apprenticeships, unfettered access to the apprenticeship levy budget for levy payers and a standalone budget for nonlevy payers, plus extending incentives for employers to hire apprentices beyond September, are some of AELP’s other requests.

Confederation of British Industry

The CBI, which represents 190,000 businesses across the UK, has used its submission to the spending review to repeat calls for the apprenticeship levy to be turned into a lifelong learning levy.

The organisation called for the levy to be replaced in a report from October 2020, so businesses could use the money for short modular courses, pre-apprenticeship programmes, product training, professional courses and soft skills training.

Individual training accounts, similar to ILAs, are another of its asks. This £3.9 billion programme would be used by unemployed people and those needing retraining to access “accredited courses”.

The government should also align the lifetime skills guarantee and National Skills Fund, which includes the entitlement to an adult’s first, full level 3 qualification, and the skills bootcamps with occupations where there are shortages.

The lifelong loan entitlement, giving people four years’ student loan funding for
further and higher education, should be rolled out this parliament rather than in 2025, the CBI adds.

HOLEX

Adult provider network HOLEX wants Sunak to announce a lifelong learning levelling-up plan, a “framework for devolution of skills and education budgets and support for the post Covid-19 recovery”.

Government-wide strategies for skills training at level 2 in shortage areas such as healthcare, service industries, transport and basic skills in areas such as English as a second or other language is another ask.

The submission also calls for a national entitlement for maintenance grants for adults eligible for working tax credits, for level 3 and below courses – again, similar to how ILAs handed out grants for people to use on educational courses.

HOLEX also wants a £5.2 billion injection of funding for adult education, with a ten-year budget, an adult education centre in every town, and for that sector’s providers to be given access to the £1.5 billion DfE capital funding scheme.

Adult and community learning institutions, HOLEX argues, should also become the “funding vehicle” for the new UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which is replacing European Social Funding.

Sixth Form Colleges Association

The SFCA has made two big demands for this year’s spending review.

The first is that it wants funding for 16-to-19 education providers to rise with inflation each year.

The second is for funding per 16-to-19-year-old student to rise from £4,188 to £4,760, in line with the demands of their Raise the Rate campaign.

The latter is “the most efficient and effective way to ensure every young person receives a high-quality education,” SFCA’s submission reads.

The “most important” part of the first demand, however, is for the government to continue to provide grant funding for FE providers to “meet the increased employer contributions to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme”.

The government has been providing this grant funding since 2018/19 and the SFCA wants ministers to “mainstream” this funding, just as they have with schools.

University and College Union

While the UCU was unable to send FE Week its full submission, the union said it will be calling on government to close the £9,000 pay gap between schools and college teachers.

This gap caused staff to take strike action, coordinated by the union, at colleges across the country this week.

The union also wants the government to move away from using student loans to fund further education provision and to ensure the lifetime skills guarantee included funding for subjects such as the creative arts.

“Proper” investment for independent careers information, advice and guidance is another of their demands.

City & Guilds

The awarding body is asking the Treasury to fund new, local “employment and training hubs” to “address urgent labour-force challenges, at the same time as establishing a more consistent, joined-up and agile local/regional approach to meet immediate local skills needs”.

This comes after the big local focus of the skills and post-16 education Bill (with the local skills improvement plans and college business centres), which City & Guilds says is a “patchy” approach that is “yet to translate into a clearly understood operational framework which is responsive and easy to navigate”.

The hubs ought to be located on high streets, as well as online, to provide a “shop window for skills”, to bring together jobseekers, employers and training opportunities.

City & Guilds also wants the National Skills Fund and adult education budget to focus on transport and construction, areas that “will make a real difference in reducing our carbon emissions” and ensure the labour force is “developing at the pace of ambition and innovation”.

National Union of Students

The NUS wants the base rate for 16- and 17-yearold students raised and adult education
funding to be ringfenced.

“Future college structures” should “prioritise the needs of learners and potential learners by protecting the status of small and specialist colleges and discouraging large-scale mergers and the formation of academies of colleges,” says the union’s vice president for further education, Salsabil Elmegri.

Clumsy, complex and slow: business puts the boot into Kickstart

Businesses have slammed the government’s flagship Kickstart scheme as overly “complex, bureaucratic and slow” – as new figures reveal less than two-fifths of jobs created have been filled. 

Numbers released by minister for employment Mims Davies showed that of the 196,300 Kickstart jobs made available across the UK, just 76,970 (39 per cent) had been started by September 22. 

Sectors heavily impacted by the pandemic, such as hospitality, travel, retail and care, are among those that have struggled most to fill the wage-subsidised placements for the unemployed. 

The north-east – the region with the highest unemployment rate in England – is the area with the lowest take-up. 

Employers who spoke to FE Week described the process of signing up to the scheme as “clumsy” and surrounded by red tape, which has led to troublesome delays with payments and in some cases caused firms to walk away from it completely. 

There is a cut-off date of December 31, 2021 for young people to start a Kickstart job. It means an average of over 8,500 young people will need to start on the scheme each week between September 22 and the end of December to fill all available roles. 

That is more than double the average number (3,600) taking up a place on the scheme between August and September. 

A target of 250,000 new jobs was set for the £2 billion scheme when it was first announced by chancellor Rishi Sunak in July 2020. 

Federation of Small Businesses national chair Mike Cherry said Kickstart is a “great initiative” but there “remains work to be done”. He called for the scheme to be extended into 2022 and eligibility broadened to all ages who are long-term unemployed. 

The Department for Work and Pensions refused to comment on the figures. A spokesperson would only say: “Kickstart continues to deliver vital jobs to help young jobseekers get on track and we’re providing local support to employers to help them apply and recruit.” 

Kickstart was launched in September 2020 and offers six-month paid work placements to those aged 16 to 24 who are on universal credit and deemed to be at risk of long-term unemployment – with the government picking up their wage bill. 

Initially, small employers had to seek help from “gateway” providers – which include colleges, chambers of commerce and hundreds of private companies – to sign up to the scheme where they have fewer than 30 vacancies. 

Gateway providers in turn receive a £300 per-job placement fee and up to £1,500 for every young person they put through the scheme if they continue to help with job support and training. 

However, a previous FE Week investigation revealed how firms based outside the UK or with no trading history had managed to become approved gateway providers – an issue that led to the DWP scrapping the requirement for small employers to use them from February 3, 2021. 

Many smaller businesses continued to use gateway providers owing to the substantial and complex administrative task the Kickstart scheme encompassed. 

Davies’ figures show that social care is the sector with the lowest Kickstart job starts (1,220) compared to available posts (4,800) – a recruitment rate of 25 per cent. 

Raj Sehgal, managing director for ArmsCare Ltd (a group of care homes in Norfolk) and a board member of the National Care Association (NCA) which became a gateway provider, has not been impressed with the DWP’s handling of the scheme and was “surprised” the figures aren’t lower. 

He worked with “somebody quite high up in DWP” on the NCA’s submission to onboard Kickstarters, but to “both of our surprise” the bid was initially rejected. 

“We couldn’t understand why because I had followed the guidelines and even got somebody from the DWP to look it over and he said it was perfect, yet the powers that be refused it.” 

His bid was put through again with “minor tweaks”, such as adding full stops to some sentences, and with the help of the DWP official it eventually got through. 

But it took months from start to finish and required “incredible amounts” of information, such as locations, company names and registration numbers, number of Kickstart posts and for each, a job description. “We had to rewrite the book basically, and during the pandemic it was nearly impossible,” Sehgal said. 

Philip Price, founder of recruitment firm WorkAdvisor (which has five Kickstarters itself and helped 240 others get on the scheme as a gateway provider), found other small employers “giving up” because of the complexity. 

He told FE Week: “For some employers it is taking months to get approval, which is a big problem for sectors like travel and tourism that needed urgent customer service help.  

“Then once your business is approved, there’s a next step where you have to get the job approved. Lots of small employers don’t know how to write a good job description that is going to pass DWP credentials. So the job gets refused as well, which is another barrier. 

“Businesses have given up in some cases. It is very bureaucratic.” 

UK Hospitality – a trade association for a sector that has filled 6,060 (28 per cent) of the available 21,900 Kickstart jobs – echoed Sehgal’s and Price’s testimonies. 

“We’re hearing reports of poor screening of candidates, an overly slow process of putting candidates forward and businesses having to look elsewhere, or candidates looking elsewhere or losing interest as the process drags on,” a spokesperson said. 

“It’s particularly bureaucratic for multi-site operators, who have to deal with individual job centres rather than having a central platform.”  

The spokesperson added that given the “acute nature” of the staff shortages in hospitality, the low take-up is “concerning and frustrating”. 

One example of bureaucracy that faltered Kickstart was shared by Price. He said: “We were approached by a very large travel business, one of the biggest organisations in travel to join the Kickstart scheme, with some excellent jobs. They were declined by the DWP because of a very specific tax situation. They would have been a brilliant Kickstart employer.”  

Price also said there were delays to payments for his Kickstart youngsters when they were first hired in April, but this issue was eventually fixed by the DWP. 

Some sectors have simply struggled to find the time to engage with the scheme or find willing unemployed young people to take part. 

Claire Steiner, director and chair of education and training at the Institute of Travel & Tourism – a sector that has filled 230 (38 per cent) of the available 600 Kickstart jobs – said: “There are a handful of businesses that have taken advantage of the Kickstart scheme. However, the last 20 months have not been conducive to opportunities or training programmes for young people as travel and tourism companies have been focussed on survival, with limited business and income being generated. 

“We are now seeing a change as international borders open up and businesses start to look at recruitment again, but there is limited time left on the scheme.” 

Kickstart is trying to reinvent the wheel and buckled it

Raj Sehgal

Sehgal calculated that his own group of care homes could take on around 50 Kickstarters but has only been able to fill half a dozen places. 

He explained that candidates and employers were confused by the scheme and questioned why the government didn’t try to develop the recognised apprenticeship schemes for the sector instead. 

“Kickstart is trying to reinvent the wheel and buckled it slightly,” he said. 

The retail sector has made 30,400 Kickstart jobs available but only managed to fill 12,580 (41 per cent). 

Andrew Goodacre, chief executive of the British Independent Retailers Association, said that since retailers reopened following the third national lockdown, footfall has “never recovered to 2019 levels”, which has resulted in “more on furlough and no motivation to recruit”. 

“The scheme states any Kickstart role cannot be at the expense of an existing employee. This makes sense, but limits the choice for retailers,” he told FE Week. 

“I cannot see retailers turning to this scheme until they have more confidence in sales and footfall. I would like to be more positive but I just do not think this is a good scheme for retailers, especially independents.” 

The north-east has the highest unemployment rate in England, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics. A geographical breakdown of DWP’s Kickstart figures shows the region has the lowest number of people starting a kickstart job (3,610). 

The North of Tyne combined authority, led by Labour mayor Jamie Driscoll, is acting as a gateway provider but refused to say whether or not it was disappointed by the figures for the region.

 A spokesperson did say the authority has this week launched a campaign featuring some of their 100-odd young people and businesses who have benefitted from the scheme to “encourage more employers to come forward and apply for Kickstart placements”. 

Sam Windett, deputy director at Learning and Work Institute, said issues in “rollout and focus” have “frustrated” Kickstart’s potential to date. “Whilst employers struggle to fill record levels of vacancies, the number of long-term unemployed 16- to 24-year-olds has risen by a third over the pandemic,” she added.  

“This points to the need to ramp up, not dial down, support for young people to move into work.” 

The DWP did warn that the published Kickstart figures “might be subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system, which has been developed quickly”. 

They have also “not been subjected to the usual standard of quality assurance associated with official statistics, but is provided in the interests of transparency”.

College defends keeping A-level inquiry secret amid community backlash

The college boss at the centre of a community dispute about downgraded A-level results has defended keeping an internal review under wraps amid staff and MP outrage.

Students and parents picketed Havering Sixth Form College in August, claiming their teacher-assessed grades had been unfairly changed by leadership.

Following the protest, the college’s parent group, New City College, promised a “wholesale” review of whether grade boundaries were applied correctly.

This review concluded around a month ago, and while individual results have been communicated to students, the college has refused to reveal the overall outcome to staff and learners.

Labour MP for nearby Dagenham, Jon Cruddas, said he “finds it concerning” the overall results have not been shared because the situation requires “complete transparency”.

Hornchurch and Upminster MP Julia Lopez told FE Week her constituents had “recently” raised concerns with her about the matter.

a-level
Students protesting outside Havering Sixth Form in August

Havering’s local National Education Union branch, which said it represents two-thirds of the sixth-form’s staff, said teachers had been left to “speculate” on the results.

Speaking to FE Week, New City College’s group principal Gerry McDonald said the college did not want to reveal the results of the review as it would affect their “competitive position”.

For example, revealing “everything about how many entries we have” would become known to competing providers.

He also said he and Havering Sixth Form College principal Janet Smith held meetings with 120 teachers to answer questions on how the review had been run once it was over.

FE Week has submitted a freedom of information request for the overall findings and McDonald promised a response within the 20-day statutory deadline.

A-level results process explained

After this summer’s GCSE and A-level exams were cancelled in January, watchdog Ofqual instructed school and college teachers to set grades for students based on evidence showing the standard at which they were performing. Part of that evidence base included internal tests and mock assessments.

Managers within departments then confirmed these grades.

Ofqual’s guidance states the heads of centres, such as principals, were meant to confirm that students’ grades are a “true representation of their performance”. Exam boards then compared a centre’s 2021 grade submission with their performance in 2017, 2018 and 2019, according to the guidance.

This year’s exam candidates, if they were unhappy with their grade, were able to appeal in the first instance to their centre and if the centre discovered an error, they would inform the awarding body so it could produce a final grade.

‘Unbelievable’ teachers and students can only ‘speculate’ about review results

The Havering dispute arose following accusations the college leadership unfairly altered students’ A-level grades set by their teachers.

The NEU’s district secretary for Havering, John Delaney, said teachers had been “dismayed at the college’s lack of transparency” in how the results of the internal review were decided and how many appeals were successful.

He called it “unbelievable” that teachers and students could only “speculate to the actual results,” and said that this was a “professional as much as a public issue.

“The stakeholders have been bypassed: parents, teachers and the whole local community.”

The college, he added, “doesn’t seem to care”.

McDonald defended the college’s handling of the results, saying they had run “precisely the same process with A-levels as we did with GCSE English and maths”.

The college had entered 4,000 candidates for GCSEs and have only had 50 appeals, but would not reveal the figures for A-level appeals ahead of the college’s response to FE Week’s FOI request.

On appeals, McDonald said the college had seen a “bandwagon effect… For a particular student, there may have been no final moderation, no change in their original grade whatsoever.

“But they’re still appealing it because all their fellow classmates did,” and the “vast majority” of students had been able to get into their first- or second-choice university.

While his teachers had not “necessarily agreed with everything, they certainly don’t feel they’re not informed,” he said.

He also argued the college “had a duty” to “ensure there wasn’t too much inflation in the system” and it has now been recognised nationally there was “too much inflation” this year.

Ofqual and the Joint Council for Qualifications said they could not comment on whether they were investigating Havering’s A-level results.

BAME apprentice awards: back in person – and bigger than ever

The BAME Apprenticeships Awards returned in style last night as over 500 guests gathered in Birmingham in what’s believed to be the largest in-person sector event to take place post-pandemic.

The awards, delivered in partnership with Pearson, mark special achievements of black, Asian and minority ethnic apprentices and of employers of all sizes across ten economic sectors, including engineering, hospitality, logistics and health.

Special awards were also bestowed on a learning provider of the year, and a university of the year. All of this year’s winners are listed below.

Last year’s flagship ceremony had to take place online, but organisers ThinkFest used the return of in-person festivities to present both 2020 and 2021 winners with their awards.

VIP speakers stressed importance of BAME apprenticeships

Kasim Choudhry, managing director of the BAME Apprentice Network, said: “The team have worked really hard this year to make this event happen and we are so happy that people have finally been able to come together to celebrate apprenticeships.”

This year’s ceremony featured VIP speakers including West Midlands mayor Andy Street, who spoke about the important role of apprenticeships in the UK’s economic recovery.

Claire Rogers, acting senior vice president at Pearson, and Rachel Cooper, technical education strategy director at the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education, also took to the stage. Both stressed the importance of celebrating diversity in apprenticeships and recognising outstanding leadership in employers.

Now in their sixth year, the BAME Apprenticeships Awards “showcase talent and diversity within BAME communities” and celebrate the “contribution of learning providers and employers who have assisted them along their journey”, according to its website.

Among this year’s winners is Justina Blair, who took home the overall apprentice of the year award. Judges said that Blair, a digital and technology solutions apprentice at NatWest, “shows a real passion for the women in STEM agenda” and “works hard to inspire others in innovative ways”.

List of apprenticeship award winners

List of employer and provider award winners

2022 exams: What you need to know about plan B

The government and Ofqual have published a consultation on plan B should GCSE and A-level exams have to be cancelled next year.

While the government is confident exams will go ahead, they have published contingency plans after facing fierce criticism for not doing so last year and being caught out when exams were cancelled after the Alpha variant caused a surge in cases.

The consultation outlines that teacher assessed grades would be used again this year should exams be cancelled.

However schools and colleges are being asked to collect evidence throughout the year, with guidance on how internal assessments should be run, just in case.

The consultation adds that “assessing students in line with the proposed guidance would also support students preparing for the exams we expect them to take next summer”.

DfE and the exams watchdog are now seeking views on the guidance. The consultation closes on October 13.

Here’s what you need to know…

Gap between exams to help stop disruption

Before any plan B is implemented, the government wants to take further mitigation for students next summer. 

As well as the optionality and advanced notice adaptations, exam boards have been asked to ensure there is at least a 10-day gap between exams in the same subject. This is to reduce the risk of students missing all exams in a subject. 

Students who miss one or more exams in a subject will still be able to get a grade through the special consideration process “so long as they have completed the assessment for at least one component of the qualifications”.

Colleges have been provided guidance on how to conduct exams safely, and have been given “general advice” on contingency planning from Ofqual. 

If new public health restrictions affect exams, the DfE will review its guidance and consider whether to put in place an Exams Support Service – as used in the 2020 and 2021 autumn series – to support centres with access to venues and invigilators. 

‘Tighter’ TAGs guidance if exams are scrapped

The government and Ofqual say “if, and only if” the mitigations are not sufficient to allow exams to proceed it will use TAGs to “maintain stability”. 

But they are proposing some changes to the 2021 system, which they admit had “significant workload implications for teachers”. 

They acknowledge the flexibility given to schools and colleges last year to collect evidence saw students in many centres “assessed multiple times in a short timeframe, reducing the already limited teaching time available”. 

Some students and teachers also “raised concerns that different approaches to gathering evidence were being taken in different schools and colleges, which they considered to be unfair”. 

So they think this “tighter guidance” will have advantages such as reducing teacher workload and student anxiety, as well as greater consistency between schools and colleges. That is …

Assess students once a term

In the draft guidance, colleges should plan “assessment opportunities” for TAGs in advance, and secure some evidence early in the academic year – so before Christmas. 

Teachers will want to “guard against the risk of over-assessment”, so a “sensible pattern” could be to plan to assess students once in the second half of the autumn term, the spring term and the first half of the summer term. 

The tests should allow students an opportunity to show their knowledge and understanding across the full range of content they have been taught. Teachers should also think about “specific assessment opportunities which would provide evidence from a significant proportion of the specification”. 

The tests will also help inform teaching and learning, the consultation says. Colleges should also support students to complete their non-examined assessments. 

Students to be told if test is for TAG

DfE and Ofqual say students should be told before they take the assessment that their performance in the assessment “would be used to inform their TAG if exams were cancelled to ensure they have time to prepare”. 

They should be told the aspects of the content the test will cover, but not the specific questions. 

Under the plans, students in the same cohort should be assessed using the same approach where possible and all the assessments taken should be used to determine the TAG – not just those in which students performed best. 

As in 2021, the centre will have to document the rationale when consistent evidence is not used for a whole class or cohort. Reasonable adjustments should be made where possible for disabled students. 

Teachers shouldn’t determine TAG until exams are cancelled

The consultation says teachers should mark work and carry out any internal standardisation of the marking, in line with exam board guidance where appropriate. 

Students can be provided the marks and feedback, but teachers “must not determine a TAG unless exams are cancelled nor tell their students what their TAG might be”. 

The original work should also be retained by teachers, and student can be given copies if it would help support their learning. 

‘Confidence of authenticity’ if tests can’t happen

Where disruption does not allow for assessments or coursework to be completed, colleges should arrange to collect evidence “that provides equivalent confidence of authenticity” and of “equivalent breadth” where possible.

If that’s not possible, centres may also need to collect evidence that is not based on such assessments for either a whole cohort or for individual students. Coursework can also be marked if partially completed. 

If this happens, colleges should record those decisions and the disruption experienced for inclusion in a centre policy. 

No extra exam board materials

DfE and Ofqual say that because exam boards provided past papers and test materials in 2021, they “do not believe” further material is necessary. 

But they are “interested in views” on any additional support the boards could provide to teachers if TAGs are needed. 

Exams would only be cancelled nationally

As in 2021, Ofqual proposes that a “national approach” should be taken to exam cancellation and contingency arrangements. 

They “recognise that regional differences” in the impact of the pandemic could potentially “make it easier or harder for exams” to take place in certain parts of the country than others. 

But they “believe that it would not be acceptable or command public confidence” to have difference approaches to awarding grades for the same qualifications. 

“It would not be possible to align the standards of grades awarded to some students who had taken exams with the TAGs determined by teachers, without the use of a standardisation approach of the type that proved unacceptable in 2020.” 

Private candidates should work with centres

If exams are cancelled private candidates wanting to get a TAG would need to make arrangements with a centre to complete the assessments in supervised conditions. 

DfE and Ofqual propose recommending these students discuss these arrangements with centres and take them into account when choosing where they want to register for exams.

Rather than having assessments spread out across the year, private candidates could undertake their assessments in a more concentrated period. 

Quality assurance and appeals same as 2021

The quality assurance and appeals processes appear to be largely similar to the 2021 process. 

The consultation proposes that colleges should only develop centre policies if exams are cancelled “to avoid diverting resources from other priorities”. The details of TAG quality assurance would be published after exams were cancelled. 

Centres would also have to submit evidence again – perhaps for more students than 2021, the plans say. 

It is envisaged that the same appeals process will be used, but as 2021 appeals are still ongoing “exam boards will want to ensure lessons are learned from that process”. 

2022 exams: Adaptions and grading plan finally confirmed

Students sitting GCSEs and A-levels next summer will sit adapted exams and receive grades that are a “midway” point between last year and pre-pandemic 2019 results.

The government said a “transition” year before grades return to pre-pandemic levels in 2023 will “provide a safety net” for this year’s cohort “as well as a step back to normality”.

Ofqual has also confirmed today that adaptations such as optionality and advanced notice of exam content will be made to next summer’s exam series. 

The government is also set to publish contingency plans today should exams be cancelled again. A consultation will propose teacher-assessed grades are used, and that colleges will need to start collecting students’ work as evidence from after October half-term.

Education secretary Nadhim Zahawi said they have put “fairness at the heart” of their approach, listening to students, teachers and parents. 

New Ofqual chief regulator Dr Jo Saxton said the approach will “recognise the disruption experienced by students taking exams” this year. 

“It will provide a safety net for those who might otherwise just miss out on a higher grade, while taking a step back to normal,” she added.

The plans have also been welcomed by sector associations. Bill Watkin, chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association, said, “The DfE and Ofqual seem to have got this right, with the plan to reduce the content in some subjects and give advance notice of topics in other subjects, and with the decision to delay the return of grade boundaries to 2019 levels.”

Here’s what you need to know….

Grading ‘transition year’ as results return to normal in 2023

This year will act as a “transition year” to “reflect the recovery period”, Ofqual said. Grade boundaries will be set by exam boards at a “midway” point between 2021 and 2019, the last time exams were sat before the pandemic.

Grades are expected to return to normal by 2023. The approach will “provide a safety net for this year’s students as well as a step back to normality”, the government said.

Grade boundaries will be set by senior examiners after they have reviewed students’ work. 

While results will be higher than pre-pandemic exams, the exact position may vary by subject and grade because of a shift in entry profiles (for instance, more higher attainers taking a particular subject).

Top grades soared in the last two years where exams did not go ahead. The proportion of A-A*s at A-level rose from 25.2 per cent in 2019 to 44.3 per cent this summer. 

Meanwhile, at GCSE the proportion of grade 7s and above issued to 16-year-olds in England rose to 30 per cent this year, up from 27.5 per cent in 2020 and 21.8 per cent in 2019.

Autumn series results, including for GCSE English and maths resits, will be aligned to summer 2021 grading. 

This year’s A-level students will have not sat formal GCSE exams as they were cancelled and replaced with centre assessed grades in 2020.  

Optionality and advance notice confirmed

There will be a choice of topics in some GCSE exams this year, such as English literature and history.

Where there is not a choice of topics, advance information will be provided to help students target their revision. There will also be support materials like formulae sheets in maths. 

Advanced information will be released by February 7, before half term, but the timing will be kept “under review subject to the course of the pandemic” and can be brought forward. 

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said they remained concerned at the February date as it would “limit the desired impact”. 

“Providing this information sooner would help to reduce the differential impact of the pandemic on students so far,” he added.

The consultation on the plans, launched in July, had more than 6,000 responses. The government’s response is due to be published today, but is it expected to be largely the same as the proposals.

Colleges should start collecting plan B evidence this term

The government was lambasted for not having an “off-the-shelf” plan B ready for when exams were cancelled in January. But a two-week consultation is due to launch today outlining the DfE and Ofqual’s proposals. 

These are that if exams cannot go ahead next year – either because of further disruption or because of public health advice – teacher assessed grades will be used again. 

DfE and Ofqual say assessments that take place over the course of the year already – such as coursework and mocks – will make up the evidence base wherever possible. 

Colleges will be asked to start collecting this evidence from the second half of this term. 

Students will be told beforehand by their teacher if any work could contribute towards a TAG. Also the time that students spend in assessments this year will be limited so they take no longer than the total exam time for that subject. 

The department hopes that this will be less burdensome than last year and final guidance would be published after half term. There will be no cut off point on when the plan B can be implemented.

No decision has been made on the grading standards if TAGs are used. 

Whiteman said it is “vital” the evidence collection works “alongside the teaching, learning and assessment which teachers have planned for this year”.

“It should not create significant additional workload for teachers nor add pressure to students who are working hard to complete their courses,” he added.

‘Benefit of the doubt’ on UCAS grades

Ofqual recommends that teachers use the familiar 2019 standards as the basis for predicting students’ grades for UCAS. But borderline students should get the “benefit of any doubt”. 

This means if a student is likely to be on the borderline between two grades, they should predict the higher one. 

Ofqual said that in recent pre-pandemic years, overall grades have been “generously predicted” by teachers. 

Vocational and technical qualifications

The Education Policy Institute has said: “A chief concern of ours that is yet to be addressed by the government is the large gap between students taking academic and vocational qualifications.”

David Robinson, director of post-16 and skills at the institute warns: “Academic students saw far greater increases in their grades in 2020 and 2021 and may continue to do so under these plans. The government must take action and provide assurances to vocational students that they will not lose out under this system.”

Assessment arrangements for vocational and technical qualification have already been announced, but VTQ awarding organisations will be told to “take account” of the assessment approach taken for GCSEs and A-levels when setting their own standards so students are not disadvantaged.

The first cohort of T Level students are due to complete their qualifications in 2022. Guidance for those learners will say that should planned exams and assessments not be able to go ahead, TAGs will be used. However, practical competence assessments may need to be delayed under contingency arrangements.

Back to normal on results days 

This year, results days were held earlier and in the same week, two days apart. But these too are going back to normal. So, A-level results day is on August 18 and GCSE results day on August 25.

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