New incentives are needed for businesses to train their employees for a post-Covid world, writes Guglielmo Ventura
With the economy still in the grip of the Covid-19 pandemic, workers (especially the young) in low-paid occupations continue to bear the brunt of lower earnings and redundancy. The crisis has also accelerated trends which predated the pandemic: 61 per cent of jobs furloughed in the first part of the year are reportedly in occupations at highest risk of automation. Investment in workers’ skills has been hailed as both a safeguard against future labour market disruptions and as a way to shore up Britain’s relatively poor productivity. Recently, the government has increased its commitment to skills’ funding after many years of neglect. This is a welcome first step which should usher in a new public debate on how to reform the government’s skills policy.
In the Centre for Vocational Education Research (CVER) report published today we look at Britain’s training trends over the last decades. While, by international standards, training participation is relatively high in the country, there have been concerns around quality and ongoing skills gaps. There has also been a general decline in job-related training in the last 20 years: data from the Office for National Statistics’ Labour Force Survey reveals that the proportion of private-sector workers in job-related training fell from almost 12 per cent in 2001 to 10 per cent in 2019. The drop has been particularly pronounced among younger and more educated workers who had always enjoyed far greater training participation: among degree holders the training rate declined from 20 per cent to 13 per cent. In contrast, low-skilled workers and workers with part-time or self-employed working arrangements have consistently received very low levels of training. Additionally, we find that training duration has been declining over the years.
Publicly-funded training programmes – notably apprenticeships – have grown in importance in England in recent decades. Relying on government administrative data (from the Individualised Learner Record) we examine trends in apprenticeship participation over the last two decades: thanks to a large increase in apprenticeship starts, the share of workers participating in apprenticeships has grown from about 0.8 per cent in 2003 to 1.7 per cent in 2017. But, since 2007, much of this growth can be accounted for by the expansion of adult apprenticeships; and the expansion in apprenticeship numbers has been associated with a sharp drop in their duration since 2003.
Finally, our analysis of employers’ responses in the Employers Skills Survey reveals that, while the reported training participation has been constant between 2011 and 2017, the number of training days and training expenditure per trained employee has fallen by 18 per cent and 17 per cent respectively.
Overall, our analysis of the recent trends in job-related training participation and training quality confirms that action is needed to readdress a worrying decline. However, there are some indications that firms may be reluctant or incapable to invest more in their employees’ training due to concerns about returns to training (especially training in increasingly important transferable skills) and tightening financial budgets. In our report we sketch out some ideas for how the government can step in and provide firms with the right incentives:
Human capital tax credits: Akin to existing R&D tax credits, they would incentivise investment in workforce training by offering a tax relief to financially constrained firms. This could be piloted in sectors where displacement has been particularly acute, or anticipated (eg greening the car industry).
A more broadly defined apprenticeship levy: In its current version the levy risks favouring training of more experienced workers rather than young people (for whom apprenticeships may be more adequate). Reforms should be considered to target younger workers with apprenticeships while broadening the use of levied funds for adult workers.
Further devolution of skills policy: Further devolution of apprenticeship and training policy should be considered where better local knowledge of skills gaps can increase its effectiveness.
Job creation and retraining schemes: Embedding re-skilling or up-skilling in new programmes of job creation, including those associated with net-zero-aligned investments – with stronger incentives for businesses and support for individuals.
The search for a new Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education chair has begun after it was announced Antony Jenkins will be leaving next summer – almost a year earlier than planned.
The government’s apprenticeship quango said today that Jenkins, who started as shadow chair in 2016 before taking on the role permanently when the institute formally launched the following year, will step down in the summer of 2021.
His contract was not due to end until March 2022, but the former Barclays group chief executive has decided leave the role after five years to allow his replacement “to oversee the next evolution of board membership,” according to IfATE chief executive Jennifer Coupland, ahead of the planned departures of a number of other board members in 2022.
Coupland said Jenkins, who is now chair of a technology business he founded called 10x Future Technologies, played a “crucial role” in developing their employer-led approach, “making a huge difference to the quality of training apprentices receive”.
She added that his replacement would “lead the institute’s refreshed strategic plan for the next five years”.
Jenkins said he was “pleased to have been able to play a part in taking the institute from a concept to a successful organisation.
“Of course, there is much still to do, and I wish my successor, the board and all our colleagues in the institute all the best for the future.”
The post has a five-year term and the advert says the successful candidate will take up their post: “At a key point in the institute’s development, and will need to be able to give outstanding leadership as its board membership evolves, making the most of individual members’ strengths and skills.”
The appointment will be made by education secretary Gavin Williamson, who today thanked Jenkins, and said he was “seeking a new chair with the same exemplary leadership skills and passion for apprenticeships and technical education”.
Candidates must be a current or recent employer, who can demonstrate “exceptional leadership and non-executive chairing skills,” that they can build relationships with stakeholders, communicate decisions and issues “clearly and persuasively,” and have a “sound understanding of the central role in apprenticeships and technical education the government expects the institute to play”.
Applications must be in by 9am on Monday 1 February.
Rapid-result coronavirus tests will be rolled out to all secondary schools and colleges across England from January, the government has confirmed.
In an announcement today, the government said the rollout means students will not need to self-isolate if one of their number tests positive, providing they agree to daily testing.
From January, staff will be able to be tested weekly as a matter of routine, and staff and students who are identified as close contacts of positive cases at a college can be tested daily.
The testing will be voluntary, but the guidance says that those eligible for tests “are strongly encouraged to participate to reduce the risk of transmission within schools and colleges”.
The Department for Education said students will be eligible for daily testing for seven days if they are identified as a close contact.
The DfE says from January, those in the same bubble as a confirmed case will not need to self-isolate if they agree to be tested once a day. Close contacts of positive cases who do not want to participate in daily testing will still have to be sent home.
The DfE confirmed that there was “no expectation” school and college staff will need to work on this over the Christmas break to prepare for the testing. They say existing staff meetings or inset days can be used for training as appropriate for each college.
It comes after organisations representing staff raised logistics concerns about possible mass testing plans.
The DfE said test kits will begin arriving at secondary schools and colleges for the “first phase of rollout to staff from the first week of January”. Colleges will also be provided with personal protective equipment and “comprehensive guidance and training materials and support to introduce a testing programme that works for staff, students and pupils”.
The DfE has also said colleges will be reimbursed for “reasonable administrative costs such as staff time”.
The lateral flow tests produce a result in 30 minutes and do not require a laboratory to process.
But the government has emphasised that just because staff or pupils test negative, it does not “remove the risk of transmission”.
“In some cases, someone who has tested negative may still have the undetected disease and be infectious. It is therefore essential that everyone continues to follow good hygiene and observe social distancing measures whether or not they have been tested.”
Anyone who is showing coronavirus symptoms but has a negative result from a rapid test will be required to self-isolate until the result from a lab-based polymerise chain reaction (PCR) test is known, the guidance adds.
Association of Colleges chief executive David Hughes said it was “clear” that until a fuller rollout of the vaccine, “a strong testing and track and trace system is the best way that education and training can remain open and operating effectively”.
“This is a positive move in the right direction and one that will be welcomed by colleges. As with all things, implementation is key – it is vital that this happens smoothly and quickly, with as little impact on staff workload and learning time as possible.”
Bill Watkin, chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association, added: “Our members have worked tirelessly this year to ensure that all students have access to a high quality education delivered in the safest possible environment. Today’s announcement is another stage in that journey and we are pleased that staff and students are being prioritised.
“January is already set to be an extremely busy month for colleges, and they will need the right support to ensure these tests are administered in the appropriate way.”
The rollout will initially focus on schools and colleges and therefore does not apply to other FE providers such as independent training providers. However, the DfE will “keep this under review”.
The chair of exams regulator Ofqual is to stand down at the end of the year.
Roger Taylor, who has been a member of the organisation’s board since 2012 and its chair since 2016, will be replaced by academy trust leader Ian Bauckham on an interim basis pending a “fair and open” competition to find a permanent replacement.
It comes after a tumultuous year for the regulator which saw its chief regulator Sally Collier resign in the summer following this year’s exams fiasco.
Taylor stayed on, but the Department for Education announced today that he has tendered his resignation.
“Ofqual is an organisation of enormously dedicated and professional people who care deeply about the importance of qualifications and their role in supporting the benefits of high-quality education,” said Taylor.
“After what has been a very difficult summer, I am leaving the organisation in good shape and in good hands. We have put in place measures for young people sitting exams in 2021 which represent the best approach to these difficult times.”
The government must “urgently” set out the exam adaptations that can be used by an estimated 130,000 students sitting BTEC and other technical assessments in January, the Labour Party has said.
Shadow education secretary Kate Green today called it “unforgivable” that ministers had “neglected” these learners in their plans for aiding GCSE and A-level exams in 2021.
She said the government must “urgently” set out the adaptions for the January exams, so they “are fair for students whose learning has been severely disrupted” by having to self-isolate, or by having their practical lessons changed so they are Covid-safe.
Education secretary Gavin Williamson announced earlier this month students sitting exams next summer will be graded more generously and will have advance notice of certain topics along with “exam aids”, promising that more details about these adaptations would not be published until “the end of January”.
He added that Ofqual was working with awarding bodies to “make sure that students studying for vocational and technical qualifications and other general qualifications benefit from the same generous approach”.
The exams regulator had announced in September awarding bodies would be allowed to adapt their assessment arrangements to mitigate any impact of the pandemic – but this did not include the flexibilities announced earlier this month.
The 130,000 student figure is based on an estimate by the Association of Colleges. Its chief executive, David Hughes, said that January will “see the biggest set of exams since the onset of Covid-19”.
“These exams are also much more complex than academic exams, given the nature of technical and vocational education and training,” he added.
“Colleges have worked incredibly hard to keep learning and training happening, whilst keeping students and staff safe but we are particularly worried about those students who have lost learning time.
“More needs to be done to ensure that they are not disadvantaged, with contingencies and allowances wherever possible and required.”
The Department for Education was approached for comment.
After a gruelling first term, college staff spill the beans on how they have dealt with a period in education like no other
It has been an unprecedented time for college staff. Since the first lockdown in March they have stayed open for vulnerable learners, “bubbled” students, coped with their own health anxieties, ramped up cleaning procedures, moved their entire practice online and dealt with ever-changing government guidance and tier restrictions.
What in February was “rumours about something happening in China”, as Anita Lall, vice principal of Craven College in Yorkshire, puts it, was to become a global pandemic with consequences for learners and educators that few could foresee.
Now on the home straight to the Christmas break – one of the most exhausting terms in normal times – college leaders openly acknowledge that, as Ali Hadawi at Central Bedfordshire College notes, hard-working staff are “counting the days, the hours” until they can take a breather.
At the same time, many are clear their colleges “will never be the same” again. The coronavirus has wrought great changes in further education institutions, with some surprising consequences.
A student in art classes during the pandemic at City Lit College
The scale of the challenge faced by college staff cannot be understated. Unlike schools, the further education sector delivers vocational and technical qualifications with strongly practical elements, which do not lend themselves easily to online lessons.
In many cases learners are either younger and already at risk of disengaging from education altogether, or older and responsible for children at home or who must shield. It’s also easy to forget that at some institutions, the college is literally home.
“We’re 52-week provision, remember,” explains Simon Welch, principal at National Star College for learners with special educational needs and disabilities in Cheltenham. During both lockdowns, 88 of the college’s usual 115 residential learners remained on site at all times. Even over Christmas, staff will stay to support them.
The same is true at numerous land-based colleges – at Askham Bryan College in York, 300 residential learners have “needed to be kept safe” throughout the pandemic, explains vice principal Sandra Burnhill. Many of her agriculture students also counted as essential workers, supervised by staff as they continued to pick fruit, milk cows and lamb sheep throughout lockdown “to keep the nation fed”.
Students at City Lit College in the orchestra
Meanwhile, for other lecturers, the requirement to stay at home rather than in classrooms was itself a challenge.
Malcolm Goodwin, principal at Capel Manor College in north London, explains “we went from a completely face-to-face college to online in a handful of days. It was extraordinary.” Staff training for Zoom, Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams, breakout chats, video lessons and virtual homework were rapidly put on, in some cases for staff who had never used a single of those applications in their lives. When lockdown eased, more students were brought back in June.
By September, many staff were starting the new term without having had a real summer break.
Soon, a new issue rapidly emerged – the yawning learning gap among fresh recruits, resulting from the long period of “homeschooling”, an absence of summer schools and the A-level results debacle placing some learners on higher-level courses than they should be. “The big challenge of this first term has been engaging students that haven’t been in learning,” says Christine Ricketts, principal at Brooklands College in Surrey.
Another problem then soon became apparent. “Our existing students who had already had a lot of online learning since March were getting a bit fatigued with it.” Construction, engineering, hospitality and catering students had patiently endured lots of theory learning since lockdown, but the desire to get back on site for practical learning was growing, she says. “Some staff were seeing more students who were there in online lessons, but the camera and mikes were off. We needed to sort it quickly.”
A similar picture was emerging at Coventry College in the West Midlands, where students in bricklaying, performing arts and motor engineering also wanted to return. Assistant principal Gemma Knott explains: “We’d been very inventive with the timetable, having half of the learners in college and half out. But then lecturers said, ‘Actually, it’s not working to teach some of the learners remotely’.” The college reviewed its plans and prioritised bringing more students on practical courses back in.
The need for staff to be resilient and adaptable has clearly been intense.
Students in socially distanced equine lessons at Askham Bryan College
The term “digital poverty” then also quickly became common parlance, as staff ran up against the issue. Dr Robert Rees, vice principal at City College Southampton, says “The main tricky bit this term has been straddling provision for those learners in college and those who are away, to ensure they are learning at the same pace.”
Like many colleges, his surveyed students for the first time about digital accessibility – revealing that 40 per cent didn’t have “sole access” to their own laptop and prompting the college to hand out 400. “But we still can’t get them good enough broadband,” continues Burnhill, many of whose learners live in rural Yorkshire. “The government must approve broadband services. There’s only so much colleges can do.”
But what colleges have been able to do is worthy of note. The range of strategies and solutions deployed to tackle the issues are admirable.
Faced with the prospect of virtual lessons, florist and saddler practitioners at Capel Manor College sent fresh flowers, leather and tools home to students so they could practise together over video link, while horticulture teachers “have gone into their allotments to film practicals”, according to the principal, Goodwin.
At National Star College, Welch explains teachers wore extra protective gear to continue “desperately needed” hydrotherapy in the swimming pool with vulnerable learners. They also moved other learners onto mini-campuses, so they could shield their most vulnerable learners on the main site while continuing education for all.
Level 3 health and social care students at City College Southampton delivering gifts to care home residents
In many cases, meanwhile, it is clear that staff have acted on their own initiative rather than wait for college instruction. Hadawi explains that lecturers “devised learning parcels, so they could drop them off at students’ houses and then meet them online. That’s beyond the call of duty.”
He particularly praises office staff whose roles have rapidly changed. “The student services team have stayed in contact with every single vulnerable learner, delivering laptops, sending lunch vouchers. They’ve worked around the clock, including weekends.” Meanwhile at National Star, the “lettings team” found their diaries empty without events and instead “skillfully” reinvented themselves as “Covid test coordinators”, smiles Welch.
Other workarounds to keep learning on track have been rolled out.
When business apprenticeships were cancelled by SME employers, staff at Buxton & Leek College in Derbyshire invited learners to run a country fair and Christmas fair, according to assistant principal Alison Loxton. Similarly at Craven College in North Yorkshire, which was surrounded by tier 3 areas, apprenticeships were cancelled so the college put on mock interview practice and careers advice with employers online.
Lall, assistant principal, notes this move had an upside. “Because it was online, actually so many more employers could meet the learners. We doubled the number of employers usually engaging with us.”
She is not the only senior leader to point towards positive outcomes from the pandemic. Time and again, staff tell FE Week about an increased sense of closeness with one each other, students and families.
We didn’t have this kind of information to this level of depth before
A greater insight into learners has emerged, explains Dan Cundy, executive principal of South Bank Academies, who oversees South Bank Engineering UTC in London. “We’ve now got individualised student work accounts, so for the first time we can see on one platform all their learning, how much homework they’ve done, what lessons they’ve been in. It’s all there in one place.”
Danny Brett, assistant principal at Bishop Burton College in Yorkshire, explains “we didn’t have this kind of information to this level of depth before. We were conscious of connectivity issues for students before, but this has made us think differently and accelerated our want for information about that.”
LSEC students created hampers to be donated to a local foodbank
In a way, the pandemic has caused the authorities to confront the long-standing problem of digital poverty at last.
At the London & South East Education Group, for instance, £198,000 was provided by the Greater London Authority and £142,000 by the Department for Education. Louise Wolsey, chief transformation officer at the group, explains how the coronavirus has also “accelerated the work we are doing with the NHS”. This includes a training programme starting this week for roles needed in hospitals, such as “Covid immuno-nurses”, “Covid programme admin support” and “seasonal flu immunisers”. “We’re seeing more partnerships like that spring up,” she says.
College leaders are candidly clear that without the impetus of coronavirus, a great deal of upskilling, adaptability and camaraderie would not have happened. Weekly quizzes, WhatsApp groups packed with memes and supportive colleagues have all had an impact.
Knott at Coventry College even says the pandemic finally cemented a community spirit across several campuses that merged together a few years ago, but hadn’t yet fully worked as one institution.
“You would never have been able to do all this when everything was normal,” explains Mark Malcomson, principal of City Lit College in central London. “If someone had said, ‘right, we’re going to move thousands of courses online with a few weeks’ notice,’ I’d have had a small-scale riot.”
How we are currently working is not sustainable for long
Yet the warnings about staff exhaustion remain. Hadawi explains that “pressure” on the sector is at risk of becoming an unbearable “stress” if the government doesn’t help more. “How we are currently working is not sustainable for long. Staff either need remunerating more, or I need to be able to hire more staff.”
The calls for greater funding, better broadband connectivity and clear guidance on assessment have not gone away.
But, reflects Malcomson, “we will not be the same because of this. There were many challenges initially, but opportunities too.
“I wouldn’t have wished it, but it’s made us a better institution.”
This evening the Department for Education has published guidance on remote education. Click here.
FE providers have until 18 January to comply with the guidance.
It reads: “So that students (and parents of students aged 19 and below) know what to expect of their FE provider if they need to self-isolate or local restrictions require them to remain at home, you should publish your remote education offer on your website by 18 January.
“The information you should publish could include:
what remote education will be made available for different learner cohorts (14 to 16, 16 to 19, apprentices, adult learners)
delivery arrangements, such as timetabling, virtual learning environments and assessment arrangements
expectations of students
arrangements for students studying courses that require specialist equipment or facilities
support for students without devices, connectivity or a suitable environment for learning support for students with SEND”
A chain of large training providers run by a well-known entrepreneur has collapsed amid a government investigation into their funding contracts.
Four companies – MiddletonMurray, Astute Minds, Teaching and Learning Group, and FNTC Training and Consultancy – which were owned by entrepreneur and media commentator Angela Middleton, have entered administration.
FE Week understands the Education and Skills Funding Agency’s Counter Fraud and Investigation Team had been actively probing how multiple contracts were used across all four of the companies – but a spokesperson for Middleton claims it is a standard annual audit and the decision to close was not related.
Official figures show that one of the companies, Astute Minds, delivered 620 (5 per cent) of all the government funded 16 to 18 year-old traineeships in 2018/19, more than any other provider.
The companies have surrendered their apprenticeship contracts and are no longer listed on the register of apprenticeship training providers.
They received a total of £7.2 million in ESFA allocations in 2019/20, including for FE loan-funded provision, non-levy apprenticeships, adult education budget, traineeships and 16 to 18 study programmes (see table).
A spokesperson claimed the companies were “subject of a standard audit looking at qualification and achievement rates along with a number of other providers” earlier this year but blamed the closure on Covid-19.
“Regrettably, having made every effort to keep trading, we have now been left with no alternative in the face of the devastating impact of Covid-19 on the economy and jobs market but to close the company,” they told FE Week.
“This was something we had been striving to avoid during the lockdowns with structured lay-offs and redundancies, across-the board pay cuts and various cost cutting measures as the employment market became increasingly devastated.”
The spokesperson would not say how many staff have lost their jobs in total, but said trading was suspended in November and the remaining 17 staff on their books had now been made redundant. Affected learners have also either completed training or been transferred to another provider, but they did not say how many learners had to move.
The Department for Education told FE Week they had put in place a “dedicated provider change” team “to support learners, apprentices and employers, and we are writing to all those affected to explain the next steps”.
A spokesperson said the department will work with employers and providers to ensure apprentices are transferred “as quickly as possible”.
The department declined to comment on the investigations.
The loss of Ofsted grade two Astute Minds in particular will be felt by the government, as it delivered 2,660 traineeship starts between 2014/15 and 2019/20.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak announced in July £111 million would be put towards tripling traineeship starts to over 40,000 in 2020/21, so losing such a valuable source of starts will make hitting that target even harder.
In a new provider monitoring report published in May 2019, the Teaching and Learning Group, was found to be making ‘insufficient progress’ in its provision to 24 apprentices.
Angela Middleton was awarded an MBE for services to apprenticeship training, youth employment and business in 2018 (pictured).
She asserts on her website of appearing in big-name media outlets like Sky News and The Daily Telegraph, and has links to several high-profile politicians.
Education Select Committee chair Robert Halfon wrote the foreword to her book, ‘Bridge that gap!: How schools can help students get their first job and build the career they want’, while Home Office minister James Brokenshire’s favourable review of her earlier book ‘How to get your first job and get the career you want’ is featured on its Amazon page.
In addition to the providers, she also operates several other active companies, some in the recruitment sector and some using the MiddletonMurray name, which do not have ESFA contracts.
We need to identify and pool the ‘gems’ that staff have drummed up under lockdown, writes Linsey Taylor
Prior to the pandemic, in my experience it was not unusual to find teaching staff who were reluctant to upload their materials to their institution’s virtual learning environment, and who rebelled at the suggestion of putting up recordings of their classes.
They cited reasons such as students not turning up if all the resources were online, or that it would threaten their job ̶ as if the materials being online removed the need for an educator.
But current circumstances have forced everyone’s hand and the big push has resulted in thousands of people creating and uploading hours’ worth of content.
It is time to acknowledge that materials being online, even lessons, do not in the slightest bit remove the need for the teacher or educator.
If it were so easy to learn remotely from pre-prepared materials, people would not have been attending educational establishments for years – and I am sure that the Department for Education would have revised its funding model quite dramatically.
So now that educators can be recognised as being a key component in a student’s learning journey, hopefully there can also be an acceptance of posting excellent-quality materials online.
Even better, it should now be clear that uploading content is crucial so students have access to both content online and their educator. One does not replace the other, but together they can undoubtedly give students more opportunities to learn.
Current circumstances have forced everyone’s hand
Even once face-to-face learning is the norm again, we must remember that providing high-quality, easy-to-share resources can significantly improve learners’ experience of education.
As we have also found out, online learning can be used to enhance inclusivity and support learning for those who have found lockdown improved their chances.
But there is also an opportunity to enhance the quality of content, also known as “learning objects”, across the sector. By this I mean that there will be amazing videos, quizzes and slide presentations that have worked really well in a session.
These resources could benefit so many more learners if shared more widely. The challenge is to uncover the gems, find an appropriate place to upload them and develop a method of identifying content to guide educators to find them.
Providing this quality content will need time, resources and an ongoing quality monitoring process.
These are serious challenges in the commercialised, time-poor and money-strapped environment that providers from across the further education sector operate in.
But – necessity being the mother of invention – this year has most definitely forced the issue. There must be a whole range of “learning objects” and different kinds of content in organisations across the country that have been developed and trialled, which are just asking to be re-used out in the sector.
I have been involved in meetings with the Department for Education and College Collaboration Fund (CCF) participants over the past few months, and see exciting prospects of their materials being shared in the near future – which I encourage those interested to keep an eye on via the CCF website.
In the long-term as a sector, we must reach a point where educators can smoothly and effectively not only plan their year ahead and map out their scheme of work, but also identify the extra resources they can access and utilise those to enrich learning.
To achieve this there will need to be a lead from the top and buy-in from the whole workforce.
I will leave you with two questions.
Firstly, do you have learning objects of which you are justly proud, and that you know have made a positive impact on your learners? More importantly, if given the chance, would you share them?
And secondly if there were a bank of learning objects on which you could call – would you?
As we go forward, I very much hope the answer to both those questions is increasingly “yes”.
