A deeper understanding of T Levels by MPs will be crucial, writes Damian Hinds

Giving young people the best opportunities to set themselves on a path to quality is more important now than ever. For that, skilled employment is essential.

T Levels are a once-in-a-generation opportunity for our technical education and training. They will be key to putting the technical and academic paths on an even footing and equipping young people with the skills they will need for their future careers.

Parliamentarians have a role to play in supporting the rollout, which is why a new All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for T Levels was established last week.

It brings together members of both the Commons and the Lords with a particular interest in technical education. It is a group with a depth of insight and experience, and from across the political spectrum.

We are fortunate to have as sponsors engineering company AECOM, the Education and Training Foundation and the Gatsby Foundation, with different and important perspectives on the subject.

At our first open meeting, it was great to welcome both the education secretary and the skills minister to speak and take questions. I was really pleased that such a wide variety of both colleges and businesses were able to attend.

Raising awareness of T Levels will be vital to success, and that includes making sure there is a deep understanding of T Levels in parliament, alongside awareness among businesses and families, stakeholders and the wider public.

MPs play a particularly relevant role, through their links to the colleges, schools and training providers and businesses in their constituencies.  

‘Make sure all voices are heard’

With any new programme there are always public policy questions. In the case of T Levels these include the social mobility opportunity, ensuring diversity, careers advice and the link with onward destinations; and there is particular interest in how to optimise industry placements.

We want to make sure that the voices of young people, industry and the education sector are heard as the rollout of T Levels progresses.  

A challenging and wide-ranging qualification, T Levels will appeal to a whole variety of students. The courses involve English, maths and digital skills, alongside broad core content for the principal discipline studied, and they allow for some more occupationally specialised content too.

The total time for a T Level is expected to be around 1,800 hours over the two years – a significant increase on most current tech-ed courses.

At the heart of the T Level is ‘on-the-job’ experience in a substantial industry placement of at least 315 hours (that’s about 45 days).

This is the chance for a student both to build their technical knowledge and skills, and to develop those workplace skills on which firms place such a premium.

It is this element – the placement – that has most often caught the eye both of young people and their potential future employers. One of the key success factors is going to be about sufficiency of quality placements, across the different subjects and across the country.

Big, collective commitment is needed from firms, especially with current pressures. But it is also a great opportunity for business to invest in and develop our nation’s talent pipeline.

It is essential that the qualification meets the needs of businesses. So employers have been involved in T Level design from the start, putting together course content and setting the parameters of assessment.

‘Get the message to parents’

Launching a new qualification against the backdrop of a pandemic is clearly challenging and keeping up momentum will be even more important. I know the first providers offering T Levels have been putting a lot of thought, and effort, into the roll-out.

Key to supporting the efforts of providers and businesses is getting the T Levels message to the people who are often the most influential careers advisers in a young person’s life: parents.

This is a formative time for T Levels as the subject range extends and more providers come on board.

Most importantly, it is the time when more and more young people will be looking to the T Level as the ‘NexT Level’ qualification that can get their career off to a strong start.

Restrict the funding new apprenticeship providers can initially access and use recognised milestones to help prevent failure, writes Jane Hickie

The Skills for Jobs white paper was a good opportunity to run a stock-take on where we are in terms of protecting apprentices and other learners in the FE system when things go wrong.

It is important to recognise that this is a two-way street in the sense that government and providers have an equal responsibility to ensure that a committed learner should be able to complete their course or programme without significant disruption.

When I first joined AELP five years ago, I sat in meetings with officials when AELP member providers were proposing improvements to how provider failures should be handled.

It must be said that there was a feeling on our side that subsequent improvements could have been introduced faster; but some have taken place, particularly since the ESFA appointed a director to lead on provider market oversight. 

The pandemic has acted as a stress test for the sustainability of the provider supply base. While some providers have had to make staff redundant and use furlough, it is perhaps surprising that the number of actual provider casualties has been so low when programme starts have crashed. 

At the same time, there have been examples of administrators being called in where questions have been raised over how fast a provider has grown in a government-funded system.

‘Imposing growth caps is questionable’

Remember that in the case of apprenticeships, we are talking about an employer demand-led system.

So when the ESFA first raised in 2018 the possibility of placing a cap on a provider’s ability to grow, AELP expressed concern that this might interfere with the direct customer relationship between levy-paying employers and providers.

Now that all employers are on the digital apprenticeship service, denying choice over their external provider and imposing growth caps on good providers would be even more questionable – although we understand the government’s concerns about providers being “too big to fail”.

It is far preferable that Ofsted inspections and ESFA audits act as potential breaks on growth if things are going wrong.

Following the ESFA proposals in 2018, we recommended restricting the amount of funding new providers could initially access, and using recognised milestones.

These could include successful Ofsted monitoring visits, full Ofsted inspections and the ESFA’s provider financial assurance visits, to allow access to greater amounts until they become established.

‘Use a before, during and after approach’

AELP now believes in the light of the white paper that we should be adopting a “before, during and after” approach to provider monitoring and intervention. The “before” part is centred on a provider’s application to the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers.

The fact that we are on a second RoATP refresh in two years demonstrates that this aspect of the regulatory regime has not worked well, with many providers – even after the first refresh – not evidencing any delivery. 

This time the government really must get it right. The Skills Bill in the Queen’s Speech may also address the question of individuals being “fit and proper” to run all provider types in the sector.

The “during” part necessitates a shifting of the dial and a far more proactive approach to prevention and support, rather than reactive intervention.

Last year the ESFA set up a large provider oversight unit, covering the 30 largest ITPs. This was a welcome move away from a one-sized approach to provider and risk management.

In the unfortunate event of a provider failure, we need a more effective process to protect learners

Alongside this, the focus should be particularly on Ofsted, including outstanding new provider monitoring visits in the short term to ensure all providers have had some level of quality oversight.

Then, in the unfortunate event of a provider failure or market exit, we need a more effective process to protect learners – the “after” part. That requires more transparency from the ESFA on the actions it takes.

We also need to return to those discussions of five years ago on how the support of the providers who take on the affected learners is properly and fairly recognised.

Tightening up the approach towards these three aspects of oversight will greatly reduce the temptation to become too preoccupied with how much a provider is growing in order to meet employer demand.

Taking a restorative approach so learners can say what they really think about sexual harassment is a powerful starting point, writes Tif Ward

For many staff in FE, there will have been a sense of familiarity in the claims of sexual harassment made on the Everyone’s Invited website, after the murder of Sarah Everard.

Some people on the website said they have felt unheard when they’ve made disclosures, because of the reactions of others. We know that young people sometimes report that their peers say that inappropriate behaviour is “banter” or just a laugh.

Young people can often feel as though they themselves have to be apologetic about what has happened, even if they were the ones who were uncomfortable. They don’t always know how to name what has happened to them in clear language, perhaps out of politeness or not wanting to be too challenging.

‘Using the right language’

That’s why we’ve focused on open, clear conversations at our college. It’s important to normalise talking about healthy sexual relationships.

We want to encourage students to use the right language – not “he forced me to have sex”, but “rape”, for instance. And we want to have restorative conversations, so everyone, not only females, can be involved.

This is particularly important because some families in further education can often blame the victim or minimise experiences. Parents might say, “Well, what do they expect if they get drunk?” or “I told them not to go out and hang with those friends, they’re bad for them”, and so on.

So we need individual conversations on a case-by-case basis about language, including the language they’re using and what that means.

In a recent session on consent at our college, some male students were very challenging in their behaviours and attitudes. They were condoning a victim-blaming approach. We ran a restorative approach where we asked the other students how that language made them feel.

It was done in an expert way, and several of the males in that group realised, and fell away from the main leader. He was then picked up by safeguarding, to try to understand why he held that view.

‘Listen to the student voice’

It’s hugely important we give learners the chance to be really open about what they truly think. A restorative approach is a starting point for resolving that.

These conversations often result in a peak in disclosures in college, from female students but from all students, too. The conversations trigger something, and now is their chance to get help.

Colleges can do further things to normalise conversations about healthy relationships. Staff need to be visible and available in communal areas to observe groups, to spot issues with power dynamics.

The conversations trigger something, and now is their chance to get help

Increasing student voice is really important, such as taking learners to forums with the police, the constabulary and the crime commissioner, and to the governing board, too. This means change is escalated to the most senior levels.

We must include all students. We must emphasise the importance of having male friends if you’re a girl, for example, and vice versa. We need to acknowledge that toxic masculinity affects both boys and girls, and boys can also be victims of sexual harassment.

We also need to build awareness around some vulnerable young people with special educational needs and disabilities as they explore their sexuality, and how they can stay safe. Sometimes other students don’t know how to respond if they are approached romantically by more vulnerable learners, so it’s about supporting them too.

Ahead of festivals, it can be a good idea to hold conversations on how to stay safe in these environments.

Meanwhile, adult learners on campus can be brought in to share their experiences.

Colleges are in a unique position because they interact with so many different sections of society – they engage with learners, employers, families, business groups and so on.

We have to be mindful that these open, restorative conversations can’t just be for tutorial time. They need to be undertaken across the whole board, with everyone