Interview: Jo James

Jo James started as a typist at her chamber and has shot up the ranks to chief executive. She tells Jess Staufenberg why local skills improvement plans can’t be all things to all people

Apparently Jo James has been out dancing all night. She beams and chuckles throughout our conversation, but is seemingly feeling the effects of the evening before on her feet – it was the business awards ceremony at the Kent Invicta chamber of commerce, where she has been chief executive since 2008. (The ‘invicta’ bit means ‘undefeated’ and is Kent’s motto – something to do with scaring off William the Conqueror.)

The names of the winners have been sat sealed inside envelopes for 20 months, because James refused to do a virtual ceremony – which, let’s be honest, is never as good as the real thing. 

“We haven’t had a lot to celebrate until last night, even pre-pandemic – it wasn’t a great environment already for business,” she confesses. This is a reference to Brexit, whose effects on local economies have been worsened by the double whammy of the pandemic.

When she won her OBE for services to the economy in 2019, Prince William had apparently asked James how Brexit was affecting Kent. She’d joked that the trip to Buckingham Palace had at least “given her a day off from Brexit talk”, which, according to Kent Online, made him laugh. 

But even someone with a cheeky sense of humour like James (she got her dog on the same day she received her letter from Buckingham Palace, so he’s called, you’ve guessed it, Obe) does not try to make light of the situation facing employers now.

James and her collie, Obe

After Brexit came Covid, plus a prime minister whose flustered address this week to the Confederation of British Industry was criticised as a “failed speech” and “inappropriate” by some business groups. 

“To thrive, business needs stability and clarity, and clarity is probably more important,” continues James. “If you don’t have clarity, how can you plan? We’ve had a tough four years of uncertainty. Businesses need to know what the ground rules are.” 

This perhaps explains why James is so frank about where her loyalties lie, and how she sees the role of the government’s local skills improvement plans (LSIPs). Her chamber was one of eight to successfully bid to pilot an LSIP, and she provides fascinating insights on the process behind it. But to start us off, she is clear with me what the LSIP is for. 

“I need to inform and keep all stakeholders on board, but the only voice I need to hear right now is the voice of employers. Yes, there are young people not in education, training or employment (NEET), and there’s the 16-19 agenda, but I’m not being dragged into that. For this piece of work, it’s about the voice of employers.” 

The other stakeholders are universities, FE providers, the Careers & Enterprise Company, local authorities, private providers, and more, says James. But she argues she must prioritise employers, because they desperately need to be heard. 

“What skills we’re getting in the county at the moment is driven by the student, and there’s no relation between what a student wants, and what business wants, and the growth areas we’re going to have,” she explains. “And actually there’s a mismatch between what’s coming out of HE and FE, and business. That’s not fault of colleges: that’s a fault of the system.” 

The skills we’re getting at the moment is driven by the student, not business

One of the systemic problems is the way FE is funded, continues James. “Colleges of course need to have sufficient people to make a course financially viable […] so one of the things the government can do is to enable colleges to put on not so popular courses that are really essential to the growth of the county.” 

But how many young people – particularly in Kent, with London so close – will then stay in their county? I ask. How will the chamber ensure students who have taken critically important college courses don’t leave, and the government hasn’t wasted money on a course with no tangible local benefit? 

James nods. “Yes, it’s the big London agency that has the pull.” The pandemic has put rural economies even more on the back foot in this respect, she continues.  

“On the one hand the pandemic has given us opportunities, but on the other hand there’s also a threat.” Previously, explains James, Kent’s employers could compete with their counterparts in big cities by pointing out the drawbacks of the length and cost of commute. With more people working from home, that’s no longer the case.

“So that’s driving up salary costs here, because employers are having to compete to make the offer more compelling.” It’s a “much more candidate-driven market,” James adds.  

James receiving her OBE in 2019

Placed in this context, with business struggling on all sides, James’s friendly but firm determination to listen to them foremost makes more sense.

“I’m not getting sidetracked. The local authority may have a real problem with NEET and want to come and talk to me about it, but that’s for a later stage, that’s not now. The whole thing is about ensuring we’ve got the employer voice at the heart of FE.” 

There do seem to be a few tensions here, which will need someone as friendly and light-touch as James to steer through. She’s got a clear process for trying to bring all voices to the table – but business gets the final look-in. 

To begin with, her team is gathering the ‘data’ on the problems facing employers. It’s a three-pronged approach: first, through direct conversations and surveys with 25 member organisations such as the Federation of Small Businesses, the Institute of Directors, the National Farmers’ Union, the House Builders Association and so on, asking them and their members for their views.

The second approach is through a market research company gathering responses from at least 2,000 businesses, asking about recruitment, in which sectors and which skills, and so on. The third is focus groups, with 20 to 30 people led by James and her team. 

James expects three issues to become clearer: “the immediate skills needs; the technical qualifications and what needs to change there; and where there is a lack of people going into key sectors”. She is already aware that the sectors most struggling in Kent are manufacturing, engineering and agriculture. 

This information will then be gathered and put to an “employer board”, which James expects to convene in the next two to three weeks with about 30 employers (she is clear she doesn’t just want the “usual suspects” representing local business, but those who don’t often speak up too).

“We’ll then say to the board, this is what the data is telling us – does this problem resonate with you? And if the answer is yes, we move on to creating a solutions panel.” 

The solutions panel is where FE providers come in ̶ along with HE and private training providers, government department representatives, local authorities, as well as employers and businesses. The panel will propose recommendations to tackle the problems identified by businesses, says James.

“Then we’ll take those solutions back to the employer board and say, do these sound the right solutions to you?”  

It’s clear who the LSIP is serving – business – but then, that’s what the government has contracted James to do, and she makes a fair point about the mismatch between skills gaps and education. The only problem is convincing everybody else the LSIP is definitely their LSIP too.  

“That’s why it’s so key that those stakeholders are brought into the process, so actually it’s not a chamber of ‘Jo James’ LSIP ̶ it’s a Kent and Medway LSIP,” says James.  

But with colleges facing possibly legally binding LSIPs, it will be important that providers aren’t made to feel they’ve lost all autonomy over what is in the best interests of students. 

James, however, praises how her local colleges for cultivating a close relationship with the chamber, and it is unlikely many college principals will not see the advantages of making LSIPs work.  

My final question is practical. Even if everyone is signed up in principle, frustrations could arise if the plan is not smoothly managed. What is the strategy to ensure LSIPs are actually carried out? Who will keep the plan on track? 

“To me the LSIP is just the start of the journey,” explains James. “If it’s just one piece of work, it’s a wasted effort.”  

If the LSIP is just one piece of work, it’s a wasted effort

James has a major advantage: she is immensely likeable. She is a former FE student herself, having not enjoyed school and taken a secretarial course at Ashford College. She never even intended to lead the chamber, having been interested in hairdressing.

Instead, as a stay-at-home mum, she one day applied to a newspaper advert for “typist, 12 hours a week”, and it turned out to be at the chamber of commerce. Since then she has shot up through the ranks, and was asked to take over as CEO 12 years ago. “I have a wild imagination, and I never in my wildest imagination would have thought I’d be doing this!” 

Her team has got until end of February to submit the LSIP. With so much effort put into them by exhausted employers, let’s hope they might work. 

London college group settles pay dispute after strike

One of England’s largest college groups has settled a pay and conditions dispute with the University and College Union.

Capital City College Group (CCCG) faced ten days of strike action this year. It has now agreed to a one-off £700 pay award for all staff in December, ahead of negotiations after Easter 2022 on a pay rise.

UCU London official Adam Lincoln said: “This deal is a testament to our members’ determination to fight for fairer pay, working conditions and against excessive monitoring and surveillance of staff.”

The London-based college group, which includes City and Islington College, College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London (CONEL), and Westminster Kingsway College, had attempted to implement a new “open classroom model”, according to the UCU.

This, the union said, would have allowed lecturers to be observed at any time by any manager and linked their performance in these observations to their job’s future.

The new deal means lecturers will instead receive 15-to-20-minute visits three times a year, not linked to their future prospects, and lecturers will be pre-notified about the visits.

Deal also includes extra pay and holiday

Additionally, CONEL’s lecturers will be put on a London weighting worth £1,700 and be moved onto a CCCG contract which is worth an extra £1,500 to their pay packets plus three additional days’ holiday, which will bring them in line with CCCG’s other colleges’ staff.

“We hope the settlement of this dispute will now pave the way for a more positive working relationship and improved future negotiations on pay and conditions at CCCG,” Lincoln said.

College leaders and the union have agreed to establish a working group to look at ways to reduce workload and administrative tasks.

Negotiations over learning support assistant and hourly-paid lecturer contracts will also be commenced.

This comes after Croydon College and South Thames College Group put forward pay increases and benefits such as extra leave earlier this month. CCCG is the last to settle its dispute with the union.

CCCG previously granted staff an up to five per cent pay rise in November 2018.

The group then generated a £10 million deficit in 2018/19, surprising leaders after they had budgeted for a £750,000 surplus.

It recorded a £4.2 million operating loss in 2019/20.

Capital City College Group chief executive Roy O’Shaughnessy said: “We are pleased that we and our UCU colleagues have reached an agreement.

“Both sides made concessions during the negotiations, and we’re pleased that we are now able to give our staff a well-deserved pay award, without comprising our financial position and security, and that we’re making progress to reduce the workload for our teachers.

“We are also glad that the end of the dispute also mitigates future disruption to our students’ education.”

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: EDITION 371

Dan Shelley, Chief transformation officer, EKC Group

Start date: January 2022

Previous job: Executive director for strategic partnerships and engagement, East Sussex College

Interesting fact: He has run two of the six city marathons (Berlin and New York) and wants to complete the set before he retires, but is not sure that this is compatible with his ambition to own a micro-pub.

Beverley Poole, Director of college business centres for the Solent region, Fareham College

Start date: November 2021

Previous job: Founder and chief executive, Aspire4Business Academy

Interesting fact: She has a medal for league rifle shooting.

Anthony Impey, Chair, Apprenticeship Ambassador Network

Start date: November 2021

Concurrent job: Chief executive, Be the Business

Interesting fact: He received an MBE in 2018 for his services to apprenticeships and small businesses.

The FE Week Podcast: Plans for higher education, adult participation in FE and Ofsted

This week Shane is joined by three guests, to cover three particularly interesting topics: Ed Reza Schwitzer, former DfE civil servant, Sue Pember, adult education guru, and Catherine Sezen at the Association of Colleges.

Has the government got it right with its plans to involve universities more in student outcomes?

How can the sector drive up adult participation in further education?

And why did Ofsted get into a row with a mayoral combined authority? 

Listen to episode 8 below, and hit subscribe to follow the podcast!

WorldSkills UK medal winners announced on C4’s Steph’s Packed Lunch

The gold, silver and bronze medallists from this year’s WorldSkills UK national finals have been announced. 

One hundred and eighty-six skilled young people from across the country have been recognised across a range of competitions, in which over 400 competitors took part. 

The winners were announced this evening during a special live programme from the studios of skills sector supporter Steph McGovern’s Steph’s Packed Lunch Channel 4 show. 

McGovern said: “This is just brilliant. Everyone should be jumping for joy, what an early Christmas present that is. They must have put in some graft to smash it like that.” 

English learners from across the country pick up medals

worldskills
Steph McGovern

This year’s national finals were removed from their usual venue at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre. 

They usually coincide with the wider WorldSkills UK LIVE event but this and the finals were called off owing to uncertainty around holding large-scale events during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Instead, the 62 finals were spread across 25 venues around the UK, including Weston College, which hosted the web design competition. 

Shipley College put on the health and social care tournament, while the butchery competition took place at Reaseheath College. 

The 32 gold medal winners from England for this year’s competition stretch from Yorkshire to the south-west. 

Students from North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College picked up five gold medals in the foundation skills catering, hairdressing and motor vehicle competitions as well as the contests in visual merchandising and joinery. 

Toyota Manufacturing won gold in both the mechatronics and automation competition. 

Ten Scottish competitors took gold, alongside 14 Welsh winners and six Northern Irish students. 

‘These young people are a real inspiration,’ says WorldSkills UK

WorldSkills UK deputy chief executive Ben Blackledge said: “These young people are a real inspiration. They are an example to us all and should be celebrated. To have excelled after such a difficult year shows that their dedication and skills are truly excellent. 

“Skills are the lifeblood of every economy, creating high-quality jobs, rewarding careers, and our competitions are proof that there is amazing talent in every part of the UK.” 

He offered his congratulations to “all those who took part in our programme this year, especially the finalists”. 

See the full list of gold, silver and bronze medal winners here. 

Government strips popular Lords amendments from Skills Bill

The government have begun to reverse changes made by the House of Lords to the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill.

The Lords made a number of popular amendments, many of which went against the will of the government. These included a bolstered Baker clause on careers guidance and a four year hiatus on removal of level 3 qualification funding including BTECs. Both now face being cut from the bill.

The Conservatives do not have a majority in the House of Lords, but will make up the majority of the committee that will debate and approve amendments to the bill from Tuesday next week.

Local Skills Improvement Plans

Nadhim Zahawi announced last week that the government will amend the skills bill so that mayoral combined authorities, and the Greater London Authority, will have a right to have their views “duly considered” as part of the LSIP development process.

skills
Alex Burghart

This amendment is part of a raft of proposed changes published in the name of skills minister Alex Burghart for the bill committee to debate and approve.

Burghart’s amendments remove lines added by the Lords which stated that local authorities, further education providers and universities must also be involved in the development of LSIPs.

Level 3 funding, careers guidance and apprenticeships

Lines added by Lord David Blunkett and Lord Kenneth Baker to prevent defunding of level 3 qualifications for four years are also now set to be removed from the bill.

Lord Baker’s ‘super-Baker clause’, which would have provided an enforceable entitlement for school pupils to access information from a range of FE and training providers at least three times, is also up for deletion.

It will be replaced by a government-backed amendment which reduces the mandatory number of encounters to “at least one”, and modifies Baker’s proposal ensuring pupils access information from “a representative range of education and training providers” to “at least one provider”.

Lord Kenneth Clarke successfully added a section to the bill which would have provided funded access to education up to level 3 and that would have reserved two-thirds of apprenticeship levy funding for apprentices under the age of 25. This is also set to be removed from the bill.

Universal Credit conditionality

The Bishop of Durham passed a popular amendment in the Lords which would have
meant continuing eligibility for Universal Credit claimants on specified FE courses. This section of the bill is also up for the chop via another amendment from Burghart.

Other lines from the Lords likely to be removed from the bill include a requirement for special educational needs awareness training as part of FE teacher training courses and a duty on the education secretary to publish a report on the impact on skills levels of the equivalent or lower level qualification funding rules.

The Bill Committee

FE Week understands that Labour’s Clive Efford and the Conservatives’ Maria Miller will co-chair the committee, which will begin scrutinising the bill line by line from Tuesday.

The committee is expected to have its first meeting on November 30 and is set to conclude on December 7.

Parliamentary procedure dictates that because the skills bill started in the House of Lords, the committee will not be inviting sector organisations to oral evidence sessions but written evidence is being accepted.

Miller is best known as the secretary of state for culture, media and sport and minister for women and equalities in David Cameron’s coalition cabinet between September 2012 and April 2014. Before entering government, Miller was part of Cameron’s shadow education and skills team. She has been the MP for Basingstoke since 2005.

Efford was elected to represent the Eltham constituency in May 1997. Over the course of his parliamentary career he has served as a shadow culture minister and served on a number of parliamentary committees. He currently also sits on the digital, culture, media a sport committee.

Confirmation of their appointments, and the remaining committee members, is expected very shortly.

Ofsted at odds with mayoral combined authority’s provision

Discord between Ofsted and a mayoral combined authority has emerged after inspectors criticised a provider for enrolling graduates on a level 1 programme.

First Face to Face Limited was found to be making ‘insufficient progress’ in all three areas of a monitoring visit for its adult learning provision, funded by North of Tyne Combined Authority.

Inspectors found the provider “recruits too many learners who are undergraduates or have degrees” to their level 1 computerised accountancy and understanding enterprise programme, when the learners “are not planning to set up their own business”.

“These learners have enrolled on the programmes simply to enhance their curriculum vitae,” the report reads.

Information on learners’ prior qualifications is gathered, but they are enrolled on programmes that are “not sufficiently challenging”.

At the time of the visit, 12 learners were studying the computerised accountancy course and fewer than five were on the understanding enterprise programmes.

‘Clear rationale’ for allowing graduates on level 1 courses

In response to the report, the provider’s managing director Charlotte Windebank said the combined authority had “specifically commissioned” the adult education provision to “respond to low business start-up rates in the northeast,” and was intended to support entrepreneurial skills “regardless of prior attainment”.

A spokesperson for North of Tyne Combined Authority argued there was a “clear rationale” for the level 1 programme which “supports undergraduates into self-employment and social enterprise”.

Ofsted responded: “During a monitoring visit, inspectors check that programmes are at a suitable level for learners and that they benefit from the intended purpose of the course.”

Adult education budgets were devolved in six areas with a mayoral combined authority in 2019.

North of Tyne Combined Authority took over its £23 million adult education budget in 2020, behind the first wave, but ahead of Sheffield City Region and West Yorkshire combined authorities, which took control of their local budgets last August.

The disparity between Ofsted’s idea of best practice and the combined authority’s plans for its adult education provision sets up a potential future conflict between the central government body and devolved areas.

Ofsted criticised how learners study same programme

Ofsted’s report also criticised leaders for not having “effective oversight” of learners’ progress and for not intervening “quickly enough” when students fall behind on the computerised accountancy programme.

All learners receive the same programme content regardless of prior knowledge and can “competently complete” course workbook activities before they start the programme.

Leaders do not ensure all the provider’s teaching and pastoral staff complete safeguarding and ‘prevent’ duty training “quickly enough”.

Windebank said the provider was “obviously disappointed” with the report, “but are taking steps to ensure it fits the Ofsted framework when we get our full inspection in the new year”.

The provider’s leaders were complimented on the “useful advice about relevant careers” received by learners, though inspectors highlighted that leaders do not ensure access to “impartial careers advice about other opportunities”.

Appropriately qualified tutors also use their skills and experience to develop the skills of learners, who improve their confidence and gain useful networking opportunities.

North of Tyne Combined Authority said it will continue to monitor the provider and are working with them while First Face to Face implements their “robust” action plan.

Chartered Institution for FE admits 6 new members

The Chartered Institution for Further Education has admitted its first new members since before the pandemic and has proffered fellowships to several sector leaders.

Six new members – including four colleges and two independent providers – will join the institution and receive chartered status today during a ceremony at Apothecaries’ Hall in London.

Institution chair Lord Lingfield said they are “delighted to be welcoming new members… Technical and professional education is paramount to the UK and world economies, so we are exceptionally pleased to be granting chartered status to those in the sector coming forward to demonstrate their commitment to excellence in this field,” he explained.

The new member providers are Bolton College, East Coast College, Kaplan Financial, Solihull College & University Centre, South Staffordshire College and The Skills Network.

Twenty providers now make up the membership of the institution, who pay an annual subscription fee of £5,000.

Skills minister Alex Burghart will be attending the event, as will Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Garden, business leader Jacqueline Shopland-Reed and the institution’s former chief executive, Daniel Wright.

The latter three will be made honorary fellows, alongside seven new fellows, including WCG (Warwickshire College Group) chief executive Angela Joyce, Hull College interim principal and chief executive Lowell Williams, and Bedford College Group chief executive and institution council member Ian Pryce.

Burton and South Derbyshire College chair Everton Burke, London South East Colleges group chair Stephen Howlett, and consultant Allan Schofield are among the other people being made fellows.

The institution was awarded chartered status, with the help of former skills minister John Hayes, in 2013.

Chartered bodies are concerned with technical excellence in their area of focus and chartered status demonstrates that person or organisation has achieved a certain degree of technical competence.

Lingfield has previously said he wanted the institution to become the “Russell group of FE”.

Lord Lingfield

To be eligible for chartered status, institutions must have a direct contract with the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) and submit evidence in support of the institution’s nine mandatory declarations (see below).

It had been financially supported by the Department for Education, to the tune of £1.7 million. However, this support ended in 2019, when Wright quit as chief executive.

After a period adrift, the institution undertook a strategic review led by former college principal and council member for the institution Lesley Davies so it could continue on a self-sustaining basis.

It relaunched in April 2021 with a report on the importance of future skills for the construction industry, funded by building company St Modwen Homes.

The institution has previously mooted awarding associate fellowships and at Friday’s event, it will be launching a recognition and awards programme for sector individuals who demonstrate their ongoing commitment to maintain dual professionalism,” starting in the new year.

This, the institution says, will include awarding fellowships and licences.

CIFE’s nine mandatory declarations

  • “My organisation is regarded by its peer
    organisations as a role model in the way
    it delivers quality teaching and learning
    and good outcomes for learners.”
  • “The learners in my organisation
    believe the management listens to
    and is responsive to their needs and
    are satisfied or highly satisfied with
    the degree of engagement by the
    management of the organisation, the
    relevance and quality of the service they
    receive, and the support they offer to
    learners in their career paths beyond
    learning.”
  • “My organisation has worked with
    other organisations in the sector for the
    collective benefit of the sector”
  • “My organisation has a public and
    published commitment to continuous
    improvement.”
  • “My organisation can demonstrate
    an exemplary record of corporate
    governance”
  • “My organisation can demonstrate
    satisfactory financial health and is well
    placed to respond to future challenges.”
  • “My organisation can show a track
    record of community-oriented
    engagement in the FE sector which
    goes wider than just the simple
    satisfaction, by delivery through
    a commercial transaction, of
    contractually-stipulated training needs”
  • “Employers who employ learners from
    my organisation see us as a model
    training provider and an exemplar for
    others in the area.“
  • “My organisation has a reputation
    within the further education sector for
    honesty, openness and transparency”

Do better: schools urged to up £4.30-an-hour apprentice TA wage

Many multi-academy trusts and local authority-maintained schools are paying teaching assistant apprentices the minimum legal amount – or about £7,000 a year. Freddie Whittaker reports

Schools are employing apprentice teaching assistants for as little as £4.30 an hour, prompting concerns that some could be “exploiting” the apprenticeships system for cheap labour.

An investigation by FE Week’s sister publication Schools Week has found that some of the country’s most prominent multi-academy trusts are among those advertising vacancies that pay the minimum legal amount to teaching assistant apprentices. However, the practice is widespread: dozens of local authority-maintained schools are also advertising roles at this rate.

The government said that while it was not responsible for pay, it “encourages employers to pay more when they can afford to do so”.

The apprentice minimum wage is £4.30 an hour for under-19s or older apprentices in their first year. It is due to rise to £4.81 next year. Over-19s not in their first year must be paid at least the national minimum wage for their age group.

‘It’s exploitative and needs ministerial attention’

It is legal to pay an apprentice the minimum rate. But unions fear the low pay – equivalent to just under £7,000 a year for someone working 40 hours a week on a term-time-only contract – risks becoming exploitative.

However, schools and trusts that employ apprentices have defended the programme, which they say can help those without the necessary skills and experience to become teaching assistants.

Analysis of 227 teaching assistant (TA) vacancies on the government’s Find an Apprenticeship platform found that 183, or about 80 per cent, offered the minimum rate.

The average hourly wage of all the vacancies analysed was £4.64, much less than apprentices more generally are paid.

The average hourly wage of level 2 and 3 apprentices nationally was £7.70 in 2018-19, the latest year for which data is available.

Jo Parry, a national officer at UNISON, said schools “shouldn’t be filling vacancies at such exploitative pay rates”, and warned that apprentices were “still learning and should be supported, not used as cheap labour”.

Avril Chambers, a national officer at the GMB union, said apprenticeships could be a valuable route into the profession, “but all too often teaching assistant apprenticeships are exploited as a form of cheap labour”.

She said the GMB was “even aware of cases where minimum wage TA apprenticeships have been advertised at trusts that have cut teaching assistant posts”.

‘A lot of time and support from staff’

At Great Ouseburn Primary School, a local authority-maintained school in York, younger apprentices start on £4.30.

But their wage goes up to £6.90 after six months, and to the national minimum wage rate after 12 months.

Nick Oswald, the school’s head, said the scheme was used either to offer young people still living at home the chance to study an alternative to A-levels, or to help career-changers join education without having to pay for a qualification.

He admitted the pay was “not mega bucks by any means, but I think the important thing is it is a training role”.

“We put a lot of time and effort into getting them trained up. If you just see it as a job, yes it’s appalling and no one should be paid that much. But they’re getting a lot of time and support and expertise from staff in school alongside that.”

Academy trusts seeking apprentice TAs for £4.30 an hour include the David Ross Education Trust (DRET), the Gorse Academies Trust and Ormiston. DRET and Ormiston have in recent years considered support staff redundancies, and Ormiston finished the last year with a surplus of £37.9 million.

The three trusts all operate mostly in the north of England, although dozens of schools in the south also advertised roles at the minimum rate.

Most apprentices get offered jobs

A spokesperson for DRET said the apprenticeship route was used to bring “those with no relevant work experience into the profession and to grow our own talent”.

“In the vast majority of cases, these apprentices become fully qualified teaching assistants with us who then move on to the regular payscales.”

According to the National Careers Service, the average starting salary for a new non apprentice TA is £12,621.

A Gorse spokesperson said the trust provided apprentices with “excellent training and offering permanent roles to the vast majority”.

They explained apprentices were “paid less than our non-apprentice teaching assistants, who all have previous experience, a qualification or both, and carry out their work without the need for supervision”.

Ormiston said the scheme gave learners “an opportunity to receive comprehensive training and obtain their qualification, while getting first-hand experience of working with young people”.

The trust also said it was “making an active effort as a trust to ensure our apprenticeship offer is as strong as possible, including having salaries that reflect the immense contribution of all our colleagues”.

Dr Mary Bousted, the joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said it “speaks to deep-rooted problems in recruitment and retention as well as long-standing funding challenges within the sector, that schools are now driven to using apprenticeships to fill vacancies”.

Apprentice schemes “have their place”, she said, but her union was “concerned that this does not tip into exploitation or fail to lead to permanent positions”.

There may be awkward questions for bigger academy trusts, whose chief executives tend to have larger salaries.

For example, Gorse chief executive Sir John Townsley’s pay rose to at least £220,000 last year after a £30,000 pay hike.

Ormiston’s highest-paid employee earns between £200,001 and £210,000.

Paying more ‘shows commitment to local community’

But some employers pay a lot more than the minimum for TA apprentices.

Ringwood School, in Hampshire, is advertising a role for £11.48 an hour. The school declined to comment.

Schools Week found other examples of schools offering more than the adult minimum wage.

Harris Academy Ockendon recently advertised a position that will pay £6.56 an hour for 18 to 20-year-olds, £8.36 for 21 and 22-year-olds and £8.91 to over-23s.

George McMillan, the school’s executive principal, said the apprenticeship programme allowed for the recruitment of school leavers and graduates “who don’t have the skills or confidence to become a TA but are attracted to the apprentice route as they get high-quality training and a qualification”.

He added that the pay was higher than government guidelines “and we hope that, as well as being fair, this will help attract the best quality candidates”.

The Tandridge Learning Trust recently advertised for an apprentice TA with a starting salary of £12,766.

Judith Standen, the trust’s HR manager, said that offering the option of earning a salary while training “makes joining us an attractive proposition for those who might otherwise not be able to access such training”.

“We sometimes find that apprenticeships attract colleagues who are changing career paths to accommodate personal circumstances or realise new ambitions. Providing a fair salary enables the realisation of these aims.”

She said that by offering more than the minimum wage, the trust demonstrated “our commitment to support our local community and to attract the best talent possible in the current employment market”.

The government said the apprentice minimum wage was “designed and set at a rate that acknowledges the particular costs for employers and benefits for young people involved in the provision of apprenticeships”.