The training arm of Richard Branson’s Virgin Care group has landed Ofsted’s highest grade in its first inspection.
Inspectors lauded The Learning Enterprise’s (TLE) 140 apprentices for demonstrating “outstanding resilience” to work and study while the pandemic continues to place additional pressures on the health and social care sector.
They were particularly impressed with how leaders and managers “embedded equality, diversity, inclusion and safeguarding into the curriculum extremely effectively,” allowing apprentices to apply “their learning to ensure service users are treated with integrity and dignity”.
TLE is the learning and development arm of health and care specialist Virgin Care – part of the Virgin group founded by billionaire businessman Richard Branson.
It began delivering apprenticeships in 2017. Learners work towards healthcare and management apprenticeship standards from level 2 to level 5.
‘The exceptional expertise of our team is what makes us unique’
Sarah Van Der Merwe, head of apprenticeships at TLE, said her providers is “thrilled” with scoring ‘outstanding’ judgements across the board.
“The exceptional expertise of our team is what makes us unique as a learning and development provider; our assessors are trained to the highest levels to support efficient and effective delivery of our programmes,” she added. “It is of the upmost importance to us that we are providing participants with valuable training, and our assessors work hard to plan programmes to support maximum outcomes.”
They commended an approach which helps learners to “develop increased resilience, confidence and self-esteem”.
Ofsted noted that “apprentices take on extra responsibility at work and actively seek opportunities to progress in their learning and careers”. They also commented on how assessors planned coordinated on-and off-the-job training “exceptionally well, enabling apprentices to swiftly apply their learning in the workplace”.
They went on to highlight that “employers highly value the contribution apprentices make to their businesses”.
TLE joins 42 other independent training providers that are currently rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted.
It’s difficult to see how reducing choice at level 3 by scrapping BTECs will improve social mobility and diversity, writes Kasim Choudhry
Government plans to remove funding for qualifications such as BTECs could negatively impact progression opportunities for learners and the availability of skilled labour for employers, but for BAME learners, local communities and employers it could be a bigger blow.
The government recognised and promoted the notion of inclusion and diversity and pioneered the agenda of levelling up both education and opportunities.
So why now, after all the hard work that’s been done, would they want to potentially risk what has already been achieved?
Why would government want to potentially risk what has already been achieved?
There is a serious risk that present government plans would reverse current trends to widen diversity and broaden inclusion in education.
The Department for Education’s own impact assessment published with the level 3 reform plans estimates that learners with special educational needs, from Asian or ethnic backgrounds, males, and those from disadvantaged backgrounds, are all more likely to be negatively impacted by the reforms.
Less than half of all enrolments for qualifications likely to be removed come from the least deprived students.
As a stark comparison, the students who will be impacted consist of:
46 per cent for Asian students
47 per cent for SEN students
50 per cent for those receiving free school meals
47 per cent for the most deprived students
BTECs offer more than just a qualification, they are a route of continued engagement, a vital step in our aim for genuine lifelong learning and for many, a stepping stone into higher education and entering the workforce.
BTEC qualifications also support a more diverse higher education population before they enter the workforce.
The latest data (2017) shows a larger proportion of students from a BAME background progressing to HE with a BTEC only, compared to A-levels only.
This difference is particularly large for black students, of whom five per cent progress with A-levels only, and 14 per cent with a BTEC only.
Learners wanting to progress on to an apprenticeship at level 3 may also have their choices reduced because qualifications previously offered as full-time courses might no longer be available to be used as part of an apprenticeship programme at a local college or training provider.
BTEC qualifications also support a more diverse higher education population
This is especially concerning, given how low apprenticeship numbers are currently as the UK continues to recover from the pandemic.
There is a serious risk the proposals will also reverse trends to widen diversity and broaden inclusion within higher education.
The same is true of progression to higher level apprenticeships and degree apprenticeships, especially in sectors such as construction and engineering.
T levels will be a highly valuable choice for those learners who are ready to specialise at level 3, but if they are positioned as the only vocational choice at level 3, many will be left with limited or no options to access and progress.
T Levels are heavily reliant upon industry placements. In some parts of the country, it is unlikely regions will have relevant industries to supply the placements for some T Levels.
Without an alternative, students will have to travel long distances to their next closest college, or they will have to choose a course in a subject not their first choice.
Where we live might soon determine our choice of educational pathway and ultimately career.
It’s difficult to see how reducing choice at level 3 will improve social mobility, diversity and inclusion and the levelling-up agenda in areas the government wants to see thrive – I fear it is more likely to do the opposite.
These reforms, and the managed decline of educational opportunities for young people, cannot be left unchallenged.
We appeal to ministers to listen again to the voices calling for system reform and not potentially risk what is already working for disadvantaged groups of young people already impacted by a lack of diversity and inclusion.
A-levels have their place and T Levels are a welcome addition, but they will not on their own solve the UK’s skills gap.
The BAME Apprenticeship Network supports the #protectstudentchoice campaign.
Please look into this yourself and if you agree, also make your voice heard by signing the government petition now.
The chief executive of the Office for Students has announced she will stand down at the end of April 2022.
Nicola Dandridge wrote in her resignation letter to education secretary Nadhim Zahawi and FE and HE minister Michelle Donelan that it “feels like the right time to move on and hand over to a new chief executive who will bring fresh momentum to the next phase of the OfS’s important work”.
The higher education regulator is set to open a consultation on a new strategy soon, while a new director of fair access and participation will start in January 2022 after James Wharton started as the OfS’ new chair in February.
It is not known if Dandridge has accepted a new position elsewhere, though the OfS said she had not been asked to step down.
Dandridge wrote she is “enormously proud of all that we have achieved since we were set up in 2018”.
She listed achievements such as “developing a robust and innovative approach to regulating quality and equality of opportunity, taking decisive action in a number of cases where quality and governance were inadequate, and overseeing demonstrable progress on social mobility”.
Dandridge ‘leaves a real legacy’ of improving access for disadvantaged students
She previously served as chief executive of the representative body Universities UK for eight years.
Zahawi thanked Dandridge for her “excellent work” over the last five years, saying she “leaves behind her a real legacy that includes improving access to higher education for those from the most disadvantaged parts of the country”.
He added that the next steps for finding Dandridge’s successor will be announced in due course.
There is currently a review ongoing into the operating model of the Education and Skills Funding Agency, the government’s funding regulator for the rest of the education sector, with interim findings due early next year.
Regulator faced court battles and public pressure from FE sector
It has also faced court battles over its decisions to refuse providers admission to the OfS Register, which allows institutions to receive HE public grant and student support funding, to recruit international students, and apply for degree awarding powers.
In August 2020, the Court of Appeal squashed the regulator’s decision to turn away Bloomsbury Institute, with the judges saying the OfS staff who set student continuation and progression thresholds which Bloomsbury was rejected by did not have the delegated authority to do so.
However, in October 2019, Barking and Dagenham College lost its High Court case to overturn the OfS’ decision to refuse the provider admission to the register, and for an injunction to prevent the regulator from publishing that decision.
The regulator also lost responsibility to inspect apprenticeships at levels 6 and 7 to Ofsted last April.
OfS chair James Wharton said Dandridge’s “experience, diligence and determination has been key to the success of the OfS”.
She had “retained an absolute focus on the OfS’s role to protect the interests of students, particularly in work to raise the quality bar in higher education, and to improve equality of opportunity for students of all backgrounds,” he continued.
The names of the 39 colleges and sixth forms who will share £83 million to build facilities to accommodate a demographic spike in 16 to 19-year-olds have been announced.
New classrooms, science labs and other types of teaching spaces will be invested in by providers receiving a slice of the post-16 capacity fund, which was promised in chancellor Rishi Sunak’s 2020 spending review and opened for bids in May.
The Sixth Form Colleges Association estimates there will be 260,000 additional 16- to 19-year-olds that will participate in education in the coming years.
The Department for Education said the fund will also support the government’s drive to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050, with all successful colleges and sixth forms required to show how their projects will contribute to the target.
Skills minister Alex Burghart said: “Every young person should have the opportunity to gain the skills they need to reach their goals and go on to have successful careers.
“This investment will boost capacity so we can make sure there is a place for every 16 to 19-year-old, giving them access to the high-quality learning facilities they need to succeed.”
Successful bids include East Kent College Group’s Ashford campus, which will use the funding to build a new extension, create an “engineering hub” and additional space for business and IT provision, growing capacity for around 250 new students.
Wyke Sixth Form College in Hull will grow its capacity by 350 people as they build a new two-storey extension which will provide seven additional classrooms.
SFCA deputy chief executive James Kewin said: “The post-16 capacity fund provides invaluable investment to institutions as they prepare for the demographic increase in 16 to 19-year-olds, and the projects announced today will benefit young people right across England.”
As previously reported by FE Week, only sixth form colleges, 16 to 19 academies, 16 to 19 free schools such as university technical colleges, and general FE colleges were in scope for the fund. Independent training providers were controversially excluded.
The 39 providers who successfully bid for the capacity funding are:
Aston University Engineering Academy
Barton Peveril Sixth Form College
Bedford College
Bilborough Sixth Form College (Better Futures MAT)
Brockenhurst College
Christ the King Sixth Form
Cirencester College
City of Stoke on Trent Sixth Form College (Potteries Educational Trust)
City of Wolverhampton College
Dixons Sixth Form Academy (Dixons Academies Trust)
Durham Sixth Form Centre
East Kent College Group
Hereford Sixth Form College (Heart of Mercia Academy Trust)
Hills Road Sixth Form College
Huddersfield New College
Inspire Education Group
Itchen Sixth Form College
John Leggott College
Joseph Chamberlain 6th Form College
Kirklees College
Long Road Sixth Form College
Luminate Education Group
Luton Sixth Form College
Milton Keynes College
New College Pontefract (New Collaborative Learning Trust)
Let’s hope today’s school refusers are told about college, because I wasn’t, writes Katy George
Every week when Monday rolled around, I’d feel a despairing knot in the pit of my stomach, only undone by the arrival of the next weekend.
For Friday evening and most of Saturday, I’d have a sense of relief – only to have the Sunday scaries hit me like a ton of bricks, followed by another week of desperate unhappiness.
Sometimes, my anxiety would come out as a tantrum, and I’d fight my way out of going to school.
Other times, it would come out as nausea, headaches or stomach troubles. On fewer occasions, I’d battle in, facing questions about why I had been off and pressure to catch up on missed work.
I can look back with compassion on the young girl who I now recognise was suffering from anxiety. But at the time, rather than being regarded as a mental health issue, it was treated as a behavioural problem.
My teachers wrung their hands at my naughtiness and defiance. I felt my parents – themselves teachers – were baffled and embarrassed by me, although I knew they loved me.
Constantly in conflict with the people around me, it seemed everyone thought I believed I was winning when I “got out of” going to school.
But I knew I was always, always losing. I was exhausted from the arguments, from the tension, from the permanent feeling of dread.
Because I didn’t like going to school, I thought of myself as not academic. This was in contrast with my elder sister, who was intelligent, well-liked and reliable. The A-level and university route was written in stone for her almost from day one, and she thrived.
I could never see this path for myself and envied how clear-cut her future seemed.
My parents scrimped and saved to send us to private school. The results-driven environment was ideal for my sister, and they hoped the smaller class sizes would help me to enjoy school more.
However, my time there only served to confirm my suspicions (whether accurate or not) that I was not academic, that I would never be capable of going to university, and that I would therefore be a failure – because university was the only road to success.
It was many years before I read an article about school refusal as a form and expression of anxiety, and everything clicked into place. By that time, I had left school at 17, having failed my AS levels miserably, and got a job in administration.
My fear had always been that I just didn’t have a work ethic – that I was inherently lazy – and that was why I had been unable to go to school.
In employment, however, I found the opposite to be true. Just as my sister thrived at university, I thrived in the workplace. The realisation that I hadn’t been a bad child, just an anxious one, was revelatory for me.
I never would have dreamed of taking a full-time college course other than A-levels
When I was leaving school, my perception was that apprenticeships and FE were only for the trade industries. I never would have dreamed of taking a full-time college course other than A-levels, because I quite literally didn’t know that the courses had any real value.
This perception was never corrected or challenged by my school.
Now that I work in FE, I’m amazed by the wealth of opportunities available to young people. I can imagine the hope I could have had for myself had I been pointed towards FE provision.
In college, the students are treated and respected as the young adults they are, and the courses are flexible and varied. Apprenticeships offer the chance to learn and earn in a range of professions.
Government figures showed 770,000 persistent school absentees in 2020. This number has risen due to the pandemic, so it’s more crucial than ever not to let these students slip through the cracks.
Fortunately, mental health is so much better understood today than it was in the early 2000s (although there is still a long way to go) and perceptions of FE are slowly becoming more positive.
I’m therefore hopeful that school refusers are now treated with greater understanding and empathy, and advised fully about their options, including FE.
The DfE mustn’t assume that ‘if we build it, they will come’, writes Emily Jones
The government recently consulted on the National Skills Fund – a £2.5 billion investment to help people to “train, retrain and upskill throughout their lives in response to changing skills needs and employment patterns”.
The consultation provided a great opportunity to answer some of the questions related to successful implementation of the policy.
Questions such as: how can employers be encouraged to use free level 3 courses to upskill their staff?
What challenges do providers face in delivering skills bootcamps?
And what flexibilities do adults require in order to access provision?
While the consultation asked many important questions, it missed some key challenges to engaging adults who may not otherwise take up learning or training.
All the evidence on adult participation in learning shows that those who have benefited least from learning in the past are also least likely to take up learning in the future.
Despite decades of policy changes in adult education, people in lower social grades, those with fewer years of initial education, and adults furthest from the labour market remain under-represented in learning.
Current policy doesn’t go far enough in addressing the entrenched inequalities in participation in learning. For the National Skills Fund to be effective, it must go further.
Current policy doesn’t go far enough in addressing the entrenched inequalities in participation in learning
As the Department for Education looks carefully at the responses to the questions they posed in the consultation, it will therefore be important that they take a step back and also consider the wider picture.
Here are three questions that need to be answered to ensure the policy engages the adults who too often miss out but who have the most to gain:
Firstly, how do we make adults aware of the opportunities available through the National Skills Fund?
There are significant barriers to participation in learning, including limited experience and understanding of adult learning – of its availability, what it entails and its value.
If the government wants a wider group of adults to consider learning, we need a bold communications strategy that raises the profile of the National Skills Fund and helps create a culture in which learning is an ordinary part of life.
Secondly, what support and guidance is needed to help adults choose the right opportunities?
The National Skills Fund will include a range of offers, including the lifetime skills guarantee and skills bootcamps.
Our evaluation of the DfE’s cost and outreach pilots highlighted the importance of good communication to ensure potential learners are aware of the opportunities that are on offer, how they can be accessed and the benefits of doing so.
Nearly one-fifth of learners who took part in the evaluation said that they had not received enough information about their course before starting, and these learners were less likely to have had their expectations met.
The National Skills Fund must go hand-in-hand with high-quality careers advice to help learners make the most of what’s on offer and maximise the impact of investment.
Thirdly, how do we support adults to overcome attitudinal barriers to learning?
The National Skills Fund consultation focuses on the practical barriers that adults may experience when accessing learning – mainly cost and time – and how learning provision can flex to meet individual needs.
But we also need to address the wider barriers many adults face, often from previous negative experiences, which influence their perceptions and expectations of learning as an adult.
This could involve a lack of confidence, feeling too old to learn, or not seeing the personal relevance or benefit of learning.
Our annual survey shows that adults who are least likely to learn are most likely to identify these types of barriers.
In fact, research on decision-making indicates that the practical barriers only become relevant once someone is already thinking about taking up learning.
The government assumes that ‘if you build it, they will come’
If the National Skills Fund is going to successfully engage adults who have the most to benefit from the policy, we need to address these dispositional barriers and show that learning can benefit everyone.
Of course, the government is right to consult on the practical implementation of policy, but focusing on only this assumes that “if you build it, they will come”.
In other words, if we get the funding and provision right, adults will automatically show up. The research evidence paints a much more complex picture.
While it’s critical that we have a strong and diverse set of opportunities for adults to learn, we also need to step back and ask harder questions about how we provide an offer that will engage and support adults to succeed.
To secure better funding for enrichment we need more robust evidence of its impact, writes Eddie Playfair
Students’ experience of college is so much more than just the courses they study. Colleges provide a hugely comprehensive range of additional opportunities which support student development in all sorts of ways.
These are often labelled “enrichment” and they aim to prepare students for progression, citizenship and employment and to support their wellbeing and develop their skills.
In the context of the Covid pandemic these opportunities have never been more necessary.
Despite the positive impact that enrichment can have, tangible outcomes are often more difficult to measure, and it can be hard to justify funding for these activities.
The Association of Colleges, working with NCFE and the University of Derby, is currently conducting a longitudinal study into college enrichment,
It’s to understand the relative impact of enrichment programmes on the lives of students, to evaluate the benefits of different models and to share this knowledge across the sector.
An AoC survey from 2019 asked colleges about their existing enrichment offers and showed a high level of commitment and breadth of activity, with many collaborating with external partners to design engaging programmes.
While some colleges had very broad enrichment offers, the overall picture was mixed.
The overall picture was very mixed
Without earmarked funding or structured models to support the work, some colleges struggle to deliver a full and effective enrichment programme for their students.
Part of the reason the outcomes can be difficult to measure is the sheer broadness of the activities. Anything from sport and fitness, creative and performing arts, campaigning and advocacy, or enterprise and economic literacy, comes under the enrichment umbrella.
There are also several reasons why colleges choose to embed enrichment into their offer for students.
Some offer voluntary activities that students choose to engage in, while others provide an entitlement, essentially a menu from which everyone must choose something.
Then there are the reasons behind the offer: some provide an opportunity to extend and deepen a student’s awareness, understanding or experience.
While others extend students’ horizons and allow them to explore their own interests and aspirations as well as develop new skills.
This ongoing research will build a stronger case for increased public funding for enrichment, understanding more about what works, and will use this to shape learning that makes a positive impact on people’s lives.
This ongoing research will build a stronger case for increased public funding for enrichment,
To secure better funding for enrichment we need to have more robust evidence of its impact, so that it is not seen as a “nice to have” element but recognised as a crucial contributor to student development.
We currently have responses from 84 colleges across England but we are keen to broaden the range of institutions involved; this could include GCFE, sixth-form colleges or specialist colleges.
The broader the evidence the base, the stronger our argument will be and will ultimately cement enrichment as core part of the educational experience in the new normal.
Disadvantaged adults are almost twice as likely to have steered clear of learning than their more advantaged peers, the Learning and Work Institute has found at the start of Lifelong Learning Week.
This year’s adult participation in learning survey found 37 per cent of adults aged 17 and over in socio-economic groups D and E – working class and lower-income workers – have not participated in learning since leaving full-time education.
This compares to 18 per cent of adults from groups A and B, which covers the upper-middle and middle classes.
The survey found the proportion of adults who have taken part in learning in the past three years has increased to 44 per cent, around 2,200 people, on the historic low in 2019 of 33 per cent.
Lower socioeconomic groups have seen a 14 percentage point increase in their number participating in education since 2019.
However, participation by the highest groups has risen by the same, meaning the gap between the two groups has not changed.
LWI calls for ‘collective effort’ to make this the lifelong learning century
Learning and Work Institute chief executive Stephen Evans said it was “good to see a rise in participation in lifelong learning after years of falls”.
But the “stark inequalities” in access mean “those who could benefit most from learning are least likely to participate”.
Evans called for a “collective effort to build a culture of learning and make this the lifelong learning century”.
The results of this survey of over 5,000 adults aged 17 and over have been released to mark the start of Lifelong Learning Week, the institute’s annual celebration of adult education providers and learners, which this year is taking place between Monday 8 and Friday 12 November.
Stephen Evans
In addition to the above, the survey also found 29 per cent of those who have not recently taken part in learning say “nothing” is preventing them from doing so.
Only four in ten adults are aware free basic skills courses are available, with 38 per cent of those who left full-time education aged 16 or below and 42 per cent of those who left aged 17-18 being aware these courses are available
This has triggered the institute to call on the sector to “actively promote the benefits of learning to encourage participation”.
Baroness Barran, the Department for Education minister in the House of Lords, told peers last week the department is planning to “launch a new campaign” to “raise awareness and boost understanding of skills offers among adults” in January 2022.
Chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak announced in last month’s autumn budget the government will have invested £68 million by 2024-25 to “level up the adult skills system”.
However, Evans reported shortly afterwards that this would still leave a £750 million black hole in adult skills funding, with the chancellor’s announced funding restoring only 60 per cent of cuts made since 2010.
Adults starting to move back to face-to-face learning
The effects of the pandemic on virtual learning can also be seen from the survey, with 52 per cent of respondents saying their main learning has taken place entirely online.
But those learning currently, the survey continues, are more likely to be learning face-to-face, compared to those who took part in learning in the last three years, 31 per cent to 26 per cent.
“This finding may reflect a gradual return to face-to-face learning as coronavirus restrictions ease,” the survey reads.
“However, the continued prevalence of online learning indicates that this will still be an important mode of learning in future.”
One-fifth of respondents who were asked what would encourage them to take up free English and maths courses gave “the option to take the course entirely online” as their answer.
The institute says this “provides lessons” for the government for the design of the £560 million Multiply adult numeracy programme which Rishi Sunak announced last month and is intended to benefit up to half a million people.
A spokesperson for Department for Education, which part-funded this survey, said: “It’s great to see that there has been a rise in adult learners since 2019, but we recognise there is more do to make sure more people from disadvantaged backgrounds are aware of and can access the training they need to progress.
“We want everyone to have the opportunity to learn and develop the skills they need to succeed at any age. That’s why we are continuing to invest in education and skills training for adults through the adult education budget and the National Skills Fund. Our Free Courses for Jobs offers over 400 free courses to help adults progress in a wide range of sectors, and our Skills Bootcamps are supporting more people to gain sector specific skills with a clear line of sight to a job. The Chancellor has also announced a new £560 million scheme, Multiply, to improve the maths skills of hundreds of thousands of adults across the UK.”
The adult participation in learning survey has been running almost annually for 25 years since 1996, save for 1997, 1998 and 2016.
This year’s survey the institute’s excludes findings from 2020 due to the “unique context” of the Coronavirus lockdown restrictions, meaning they are not comparable to 2021’s findings.
With the world’s eyes on the UK at COP26, Jess Staufenberg looks at who’s coming up with a proper net zero plan for the FE sector
With impeccable timing ahead of this and next week’s global climate summit in Glasgow, a report came out that cut through the hype.
Every corner of society is failing to make the changes needed to cut carbon emissions to zero by 2050, stated the report from Systems Change Lab, which monitors climate change transformations around the world.
It noted, “None of the indicators are on track to meet our 2030 targets” (which in turn are needed to meet the overall 2050 target). Three indicators were actually going in the wrong direction.
This was not a report on England alone, or on FE specifically. Happily, there are positive signs that the country is capable of concrete action: carbon emissions are down 40 per cent in 2019 compared with 1990, which is the largest reduction in the G20 (a group of the world’s largest economies).
Also in 2019, the UK became the first major economy to legislate to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
A Youth Strike 4 Climate protest in Parliament Square, London
And within FE, there is a plethora of initiatives, including admirable grassroots efforts in colleges.
But in this feature, FE Week will look at leadership from the top: government, representative bodies, associations and think tanks.
If the world is badly off track for avoiding disastrous climate consequences, then system-level intervention is needed. So, who has a sector-wide plan?
Full DfE strategy not due until April
Well, nobody yet. In its net zero strategy published on October 19, the government promises to “forward a strategy which will set out how our children’s services, education and skills systems” will help meet the net zero target.
A reminder: the overall goal is for net zero emissions by 2050, but some sub-targets are much closer. By 2035, the government wants the energy system to be “powered entirely by clean electricity”.
The Department for Education has yet to publish a comprehensive strategy on this, but has today at least published a draft. The final strategy will then be published in April 2022.
The draft sustainability and climate change strategy claims to have four aims: Preparing all young people for a world impacted by climate change; reaching net zero: ensuring resilience to climate change (through buildings and infrastructure) and a’ better environment for future generations’ (through biodiversity and increasing access to nature).
Unsurprisingly, publicity around the draft strategy is dominated by initiatives aimed at children and schools. This includes a ‘Climate Leaders Award’, which the Department for Education is comparing to the Duke of Edinburgh awards, and testing zero carbon ‘energy pods’ to replace school boilers.
At the time of going to press, the ‘flagship’ FE initiative in the strategy included sustainability within the new apprenticeship standard for FE teachers.
But we knew about this already, of course. It was part of the government’s net-zero strategy published two weeks ago.
So it looks like the sector will be waiting almost half a year to get a new full plan from DfE.
‘Still early days’
Perhaps this explains the impression of catch-up across the sector.
For instance, several organisations are just beginning to collect information or trial solutions to the climate crisis, focused on skills.
Rebecca Durber, director of public affairs at the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, says the organisation is planning a “green skills summit” in February next year to get the net zero drive “to the forefront of members’ minds.
“We’ll be talking about the challenges and thinking about the real, practical things that providers can be doing.”
Next year AELP also wants to commission research on sustainability, says Durber, adding “it’s early days in terms of what we’re doing”.
One issue providers are facing is “that it’s an employer-led system, and employers and learners just aren’t knocking down the door asking for green apprenticeships,” emphasises Durber. “I think something really needs to be done by the government to stimulate that interest.”
Trying to get apprenticeships up to speed is the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE).
Following the government’s Green Jobs Taskforce (a group of skills and industry representatives) set up late last year, IfATE launched the “green apprenticeships advisory panel” in March this year.
Rachel Cooper, strategy director, says “the role of the panel has been to review the suite of apprenticeship standards and say which ones are supporting green industries, and where do they need adaptation”.
So far, 44 apprenticeships have been approved. For instance, the level 7 business sustainability specialist, originally tailored to the agriculture industry, has now been expanded to be applicable to more industries.
Students at a hybrid energy centre on campus at Wirral Met College
“It’s also about looking at where we may also need brand new standards,” says Jane Pierce, the institute’s deputy director for engineering, construction and transport.
A new standard, for example, is likely to be retrofitting in construction, putting high-efficiency energy systems into existing buildings. There are about 600 standards to review.
Similarly tackling the sustainability skills gap is Learning and Work Institute.
It won £2 million through the government’s Covid support fund to run five pilots across the north-east, south-west, Edinburgh, Belfast and Swansea beginning early next year until the end of 2023.
The pilots are focused on people whose jobs are affected by the pandemic, and the growth sectors they could move into, including in the green economy.
Emily Jones, head of research at LWI, says the pilots are “a great opportunity to test how to help people make that transition” into green industries. About 6,000 people are expected to benefit from the pilots, with FE colleges involved in the retraining.
Jones adds: “We’ve got some really big ambitions from the government, but we need to think about what this looks like locally.”
We need to think about what this looks like locally
Continuing with the skills focus is the Education and Training Foundation, the body for professional development and standards in FE – this time focused on staff, rather than workers.
The ETF’s research has found that sustainability “doesn’t get taught” if it isn’t in the college curriculum with guided learning hours, says Charlotte Bonner, national head of education for sustainable development.
So the ETF is about to publish 20 curriculum case studies, with “explanation on change management techniques”.
Meanwhile the ETF is also reviewing the professional standards for FE teachers, and is “recommending that the standards look at a teacher’s role in progressing the sustainability agenda”.
This echoes the government’s net zero strategy, too. In September the DfE launched a new FE teacher apprenticeship in which apprentices are “required to integrate sustainability into their teaching”.
This standard “will soon be incorporated into all future further education teaching qualifications”, says the strategy. Bonner welcomes the move, adding that upskilling existing teachers also needs to be a priority.
‘Introduce mandatory emissions reporting’
But while training and skills are important, what about actually cutting the FE estate’s carbon emissions down?
Leading the conversation here are three organisations: the EAUC (the Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges, with 70 colleges and 150 universities), SOS UK (Students Organising for Sustainability) and the Association of Colleges.
“One of the best things the commission has done” is the climate action roadmap for FE colleges, says Iain Patton, EAUC’s chief executive.
It’s a document that presents a range of initiatives colleges can take to reach net zero emissions, with a scorecard. Launched in July last year, there are about 90 colleges using it.
The EAUC is also publishing a climate action guide for FE governors (the university governors’ one is already out) and has other initiatives, including the “green gown awards” to recognise the most sustainable colleges and universities, and the SDG Accord, a group for embedding sustainability development goals in post-16 education.
An electric zero emissions van at Craven College
But all the initiatives are voluntary, and colleges sometimes struggle to find the time to be involved, says Patton.
He points to Scotland and Wales for more established frameworks.
“In Scotland, colleges have to do mandatory reporting of their carbon emissions, and in Wales that’s just starting. We would like to see mandatory reporting. It would just make colleges sit up and be accountable.”
In Scotland, colleges have to do mandatory reporting of their carbon emissions
One attempt to do this is a website set up by SOS UK, called carbontargets.uk. Meg Baker, director of education at SOS UK, explains it as a “league table showing how ambitious university and college carbon targets are”.
Colleges lag significantly behind universities, according to the website, particularly around indirect energy and supply chain sources. “And of course, these institutions have self-identified on there, so that means there will be a skew on data,” continues Baker.
The AoC has been playing its part by disseminating the FE climate action roadmap to members, says Philippa Alway, campaigns and strategic projects manager.
It has also set up a special interest group for developing net zero and climate-change resilient campuses, and published a report called The Green College Commitment.
Among other recommendations, the report calls for £1.5 billion capital funding over the next three years so that college estates can meet net zero.
To be fair to the government, it has taken some actions. It offered a £1.5 billion pot to upgrade college estates through the FE Capital Transformation Programme – but only £200 million went to all colleges, with the rest focused on the colleges in the worst condition. It’s also not clear the main focus was on net zero design.
More promising, perhaps, is Education and Skills Funding Agency guidance, put out in August and entitledStreamlined energy and carbon reporting for college corporations, encouraging colleges to publish consecutive years of energy-use data on their websites.
However, again, the guidance is non-statutory.
‘Profoundly shocking that education isn’t leading’
Long-standing sustainability campaigners such as Patton, and famed environmental activist and artist Judy Ling Wong, who also chairs the IfATE’s green apprenticeships advisory panel, say time has run out.
Despite good work in many combined authorities and colleges, the sector and the DfE badly need a harder approach.
“Colleges must raise the social prestige of apprenticeships and green jobs in the community,” says Wong. “And government and local authorities should see it as their duty to get net zero experts out to colleges and the community.”
Judy Ling Wong, chair, IfATE green apprenticeships advisory panel and environmental activist
Personally, she is “keen for harder measures” around requiring colleges to publish carbon emissions data. “Scotland are doing it. Why aren’t we taking this on? What’s wrong with us?”
You can sympathise with her frustration. The Climate Change Act was passed in 2008 and the Paris Agreement made in 2015. Yet the government only produced a “Ten-point plan for a green industrial revolution” a year ago and its net zero strategy is its first ever.
Compare that to Patton’s organisation, EUAC, which has been around for more than two decades.
He is pleased the DfE has now set up a sustainability and climate change unit, which is meeting with EAUC monthly. But it’s all very late.
The experts are clear – mandatory targets on carbon emissions and environmental protection, linked to government accountability measures, are needed.
That might, by proxy, be one of the quickest ways to upskill staff and students in sustainability solutions – which could also prompt interest in the green jobs market in turn.
Patton concludes: “For us, it’s profoundly shocking that education isn’t yet giving the leadership on this that society needs.”
The government’s pledges in the net zero strategy:
Deliver the lifetime skills guarantee and grow key post-16 training programmes (such as apprenticeships, skills bootcamps and T levels) in line with the needs of employers in the green economy.
Reform the skills system so that training providers, employers and learners are incentivised and equipped to play their part in delivering the transition to net zero ̶ including by legislating for skills required for jobs that support action on climate change and other environmental goals to be considered in the development of new local skills improvement plans.
As part of the pathway towards the lifelong entitlement, trial short courses provision at levels 4-6 enabling learners to flexibly build towards a full qualification in subjects crucial for net zero.
The majority of strategic development fund pilots, announced in July 2021, include a project focused on green skills, covering areas including decarbonisation, renewable energy and electric vehicles.
Reform the adult funding and accountability system so that provider funding reflects value of courses to the taxpayer and introduce accountability agreements to encourage delivery towards national priorities, such as the green economy.
A refreshed FE teacher training curriculum and apprenticeship standard to embed and promote sustainability.
Introduce a sustainability and climate change strategy for education and children’s services which will include a focus on equipping children and young people with the knowledge and skills they need to contribute to the green economy.
While skills policy is devolved, the government welcomes close engagement with the devolved administrations, mayoral combined authorities and the Greater London Authority on this important agenda to ensure everyone across the UK has access to green skills and jobs.
