Funding audits to restart this month for private providers – but not colleges

New routine funding audits will restart on a remote basis for independent training providers from this month – but colleges will continue to have theirs put on hold until November, the government has announced.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency will also carry out a “risk assessment on restarting site visits” for audits and investigations, so that officials have the “ability to do so, should we need to”.

The agency had paused all audits, including those that had already started, in March owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Coronavirus guidance for training providers and colleges was updated yesterday and said that where funding audits and investigations were already in progress prior to the lockdown, the ESFA has now “sought to complete the work, taking into account training providers’ capacity to resolve any issues”.

The agency’s guidance did not provide a reason for the discrepancy between college and private provider restart dates but FE Week understands it is because the agency does not want to overburden colleges as they begin their full reopening this month.

The ESFA stated in its guidance that they “recognise the challenges” training providers face as a result of coronavirus and will be “sensitive to these in agreeing arrangements for both remote funding audits and site visits with providers” going forward.

“It may be necessary for the ESFA to contact training providers during the coronavirus outbreak in order to continue to maintain effective oversight and protection of public funds,” the guidance continued.

“Where such contact is necessary, we will continue to be sensitive to the challenges training providers face as a result of coronavirus.”

Higher education institutions funded by the ESFA are currently not in scope for audit restarts, but these are due to resume next year.

Other parts of the post-16 regulatory system, such as initial Ofsted visits, are also set to restart this month following a pause due to Covid-19.

The Ofsted visits will not be full inspections, but will “look at how effectively leaders are enabling provision to resume fully following an extended break in formal education, including considering remote education and safeguarding”. They will result in a published letter but no grade.

Full education inspections are due to restart in January 2021.

FE Commissioner activity in colleges resumed in July.

 

Why further and higher education aren’t a zero-sum-game

To truly level up the country, instead of arbitrary targets we need a joined-up system of higher and further education where every student has access to the courses that are right for them, writes Andy Norman

After two decades of steady progress, Tony Blair’s target for 50 per cent of young people to participate in higher education was finally reached last year. Less than 12 months on, however, and the current Conservative government has officially dropped the target, preferring instead to boost further education in order to ‘level up’ the country, sparking fierce debate inside the party.

Formally dropping the target for half of all young people to participate in higher education has unsurprisingly proven controversial in the Tory party, given the value university education holds in the minds of Conservative core voters. In this vein, former universities minister Jo Johnson recently hit out at what he labels “Tory uniphobia” and called not only for the target to be reinstated, but for it to be raised from 50 per cent to two thirds.

But this is also a Tory party swept to power by voters in the midlands and the north “lending” Boris Johnson their votes. The Johnson government has made levelling up these parts of the country and reducing regional inequalities its central domestic policy agenda. Stemming the rise in university participation in favour of a revitalised further education system is seen by the government as a necessary step in achieving this. Are they right?

 

The rise in higher education participation has not been spread evenly

The increase in the share of people participating in higher education in recent years has been strongest in London, up by 4.3 percentage points to 63.4 per cent between 2014/15 and 2016/17. The gap between London and the lowest performing region grew from 20.5 percentage points in 2014/15 to 23.4 percentage points in 2016/17. Longer term data on qualification levels rather than participation paints a similar picture. Between 2004 and 2019 the proportion of the population qualified to Level 4 and above grew the most in London and the least in the North East. Consequently, the gap between London and the bottom more than doubled, from 10 percentages points in 2004 to 22 percentage points in 2019.

Graduates outside London and the South East are also less likely to be working in graduate roles. 53 per cent of recent graduates in the North East are in non-graduate roles, the highest in England, compared to 41 per cent in London. Graduates in the north and the midlands also earn significantly less than those in the south five years after graduating.

As CPP has argued previously, the geography of levelling up should not be limited to a simple north-south divide, with pockets of deprivation in even the most prosperous regions – such as Newham in London or Thanet in the South East. The strong negative relationship between levels of deprivation and the share of the local population with a higher qualification remains as strong now as in 2004. The gap in progression rates to higher education between pupils on free school meals and the rest reached 18.8 percentage points in 2018/19, its highest level since 2006/07. Graduates from the most disadvantaged quintile of the population also earn 20 per cent less than those from the least disadvantaged quintile five years after graduation.

 

The neglect of further education is the neglect of regions outside London and the South East

Relative to higher education, further education has been undervalued and underfunded for decades. Per student funding was 37 per cent lower in further education than in higher education in 2018/19 – a gap that has more or less persisted since the early 90s. This neglect has a distinctly geographical skew, with further education more prevalent outside of London and the South East. For example, 50 per cent of pupils in the North East progress into an apprenticeship or classroom-based learning at a further education college after key stage 4, compared to 39 per cent in the South East and just 26 per cent in London. The situation is similar when looking purely at deprivation. The most deprived 20 per cent of the population make up 22 per cent of all apprenticeship starts and 31 per cent of adult participation in further education and skills.

 

Beyond arbitrary targets and towards a balanced approach

In the time since Tony Blair announced the 50 per cent target, the promotion of higher education has gone hand in hand with the neglect of further education. Some rebalancing is certainly necessary if we want to level up the country and drive inclusive growth. However, simply switching to an arbitrary participation target for FE would be no silver bullet either, as the Cameron government’s ill-fated 3,000,000 apprenticeship goal powerfully demonstrated. Above all, we must resist the temptation to see higher and further education as two siloed sectors battling out a zero-sum-game.

To truly level up the country, instead of arbitrary targets we need a joined-up system where every student has access to the courses that are right for them. Targeted measures to boost university participation among under-represented groups will be important, as will ensuring the best further education opportunities aren’t captured by already advantaged groups, as is currently the case for the most coveted apprenticeships. The two sectors should also be encouraged to work together as much as possible for the benefit of learners and local economies, following the example of those already doing so.

Ultimately, what really matters for learners and for places is high quality provision that genuinely creates a passport into quality employment – whether that be through higher education, further education, or a blend of the two. This goes beyond political posturing in set-piece speeches or even delivering fair funding. As previous CPP research has shown, it requires in large part helping young people to navigate what is an extremely complex post-16 education system – promoting high quality provision and rooting out substandard courses. Rather than arguing over which siloed system is best, ensuring equality of access to quality learning across the board is the best way for post-16 education to tackle place-based inequalities in England.

New DfE guidance: Rota system planned for local lockdowns

FE providers may be asked to switch to a rota system for attendance if they are in an area with a local lockdown.

The Department for Education has published new last-minute operational guidance for sixth form colleges, FE colleges, independent training providers, adult community learning providers and special post-16 institutions ahead of the autumn term.

The government has also published details of its Covid-19 contain framework, which sets out how education providers will need to respond to different tiers of local lockdown.

Under a tier 1 lockdown, FE providers will remain open to all learners but with a requirement that face coverings be worn in corridors and other communal areas where social distancing cannot take place.

Under a tier 2 lockdown, providers will continue to allow full-time attendance for vulnerable students and the children of key workers, but all other learners will be subject to a rota. Further education providers have been told they should adopt “similar principles” to those proposed for schools, with “discretion to decide on a model that limits numbers on site but works for each individual setting”.

Tier 3 and 4 lockdowns will mean that FE colleges will open only to vulnerable students and key worker children, with all others learning at home.

The DfE has said expects FE providers to resume delivery “so that students of all ages can benefit from their education and training in full”.

This means they must “fully deliver planned hours for students of all ages from your normal term start date in autumn 2020, including those with SEND”.

They must also “ensure that on-site delivery resumes, recognising that this may be supplemented by high quality remote delivery where that is effective existing practice”, and will be expected to assess gaps in students’ knowledge and skills early and focus on addressing them.

Providers will also be expected to put in place “additional support” for vulnerable and disadvantaged young people, “including identifying whether they need support to access any remote delivery”, and to identify and put in place plans to manage “any safeguarding concerns”.

According to the DfE, some providers delivered aspects of provision remotely prior to national lockdown “and this has been successfully expanded over recent months”.

“This may continue in the new academic year,” the department said, adding that an increase in the use of remote delivery is reasonable provided that it “complements the overall offer and does not undermine the quality of education and engagement with students”, and that on-site delivery counts for the “majority of planned learning hours for all 16 to 19 students”.

Providers “should develop a strong contingency plan for remote education provision by the end of September”, the guidance adds.

The DfE has also told providers to revisit and update risk assessments, ensure buildings have good ventilation and maximise the use of their sites and any other space “if feasible”.

However, the government does not “consider it necessary” for FE providers “to make significant adaptations to their site to enable them to welcome all students back”.

The guidance also sets out specific measures for within rooms and workshops, which states that “ideally, everyone should maintain a two metre distance from each other wherever possible, or two metre with additional mitigations”.

Groups should be kept apart, with large gatherings such as meetings with more than one group to be avoided. Specific guidance on the teaching of music, performing arts and physical activity is also included.

 

Helping providers recover from the impact of Coronavirus

The AELP Business Recovery Conference on 9-10 September 2020 is the flagship skills event of the year.  Presented online via Zoom, keynote speakers include:

  • Apprenticeships and skills minister Gillian Keegan
  • Shadow skills minister Toby Perkins
  • West Midlands mayor Andy Street
  • ESFA apprenticeships director Peter Mucklow
  • CBI UK policy director Matthew Fell
  • AELP chairman Martin Dunford.

The event could not be better timed as Britain starts to emerge from the lockdown showing signs of recovery but it nevertheless now finds itself officially in its worst ever recession.  While training providers and colleges are trying to ramp up their provision to try and tackle the rise in unemployment, they are still faced with the prospect of more people losing their jobs, including many apprentices, as the furlough scheme ends.  At the same time independent training providers as businesses are dealing with their own challenges as their income has been severely hit by over 60% falls in apprenticeship starts and vacancies.

Despite this, providers have performed miracles in switching apprentices and other learners from a traditional work-based delivery model to remote learning online.  Trainers and assessors from their own homes have constantly kept in touch with their learners via video calls and emails to ensure that they progress through their programmes.  Examples of this will be shown during the ‘coffee breaks’ at our virtual conference.

In July, the government stepped up to the plate with its Plan for Jobs.  We saw the big boost for traineeships and the introduction of financial incentives for employers to take on young apprentices.  Initial feedback from AELP members is that smaller employers in particular appear to be interested in taking advantage of these incentives.  It will be good to hear at the conference from skills minister Gillian Keegan how the government is taking forward the measures announced by the chancellor and equally from the shadow skills minister Toby Perkins on whether the government should be doing more.

IfATE, Ofsted and leading thinktanks will be represented at a senior level while the employer and provider viewpoint on post-pandemic priorities will be equally visible.  The new AELP leadership will set out its policy wishlist for the autumn in the efforts to boost skills and support unemployed apprentices and adults back into work.  Beamed live from California, we will also have an international perspective on how a state government is getting its apprenticeship programme back on track.

The content of the conference has been structured to appeal to provider leaders and be invaluable to operational managers.  So if listening to politicians and regulators on post-pandemic recovery plans doesn’t rock your boat, then you will find a vast array of choices instead on how providers can work best with employers and learners to support the recovery at a local level.  Looking at the frontline delivery experts presenting them, this is unquestionably the best set of workshops offered at any AELP event. 

The terrific agenda for the conference, sponsored by Learning Curve Group and Cognassist, is near completion and here is a reminder of some of the sessions you can watch:

  • Re-engaging employers and learners, especially getting young people out of the house
  • Blended models of learning delivery for different skills programmes
  • Being employer focused in these challenging times
  • Growing an effective Traineeship programme
  • Opening a training centre safely after lockdown
  • Provider risk management including HR and legal obligations
  • Ensuring that a provider is financially resilient
  • The role of leadership and management in ensuring post-lockdown regulatory compliance
  • Promoting mental well-being
  • Moving from being a good provider to a great one
  • Using data effectively for better programme delivery
  • National response needed to support the economic recovery.

AELP member organisations can purchase a ticket for £100 to enable 10 employees per organisation to watch the Business Recovery Conference.  A very reasonable multi-delegate rate is available to non-members. And delegates can dip in and out during the two days, knowing that they can catch up on a recording of any session or workshop which they missed.  This flexibility and undoubtedly the fantastic content mean that it is absolutely worthwhile for you to visit the conference website and book your place today.

Jane Hickie is managing director of Association of Employment and Learning Providers

Ofqual to face grilling by MPs over exams fiasco

Leaders from exams regulator Ofqual will appear in front of MPs next week to answer questions about this year’s exam results fiasco – but outgoing boss Sally Collier will not be with them.

Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, will also “likely” face questions about the government’s handling of the crisis when he appears in front of the education committee later in September.

Collier, who is stepping down as chief regulator, had been due to appear at next Wednesday’s hearing alongside Ofqual chair Roger Taylor.

But the committee has announced today that Taylor will now be joined by Dr Michelle Meadows, Ofqual’s executive director for strategy, risk and research and Julie Swan, the regulator’s executive director for general qualifications.

Robert Halfon, the committee’s chair, said he “had hoped to have” Collier at the hearing, “as she had agreed [to appear] a few days before her resignation”.

“But I understand due to personal reasons she is unable to attend,” he told FE Week.

It comes after the government was forced to U-turn last week and award pupils their centre-assessment grades for GCSEs and A-levels after a furious backlash over the way calculated grades were standardised by exam boards.

Now senior officials will face a grilling by the education committee in a hearing that will focus on “errors made in the process of awarding this summer’s exam grades and how students who have been adversely impacted are now being supported”.

MPs are also likely to ask “what steps are being taken to support students, schools and colleges who have lost out because of the standardisation model and subsequent U-turn, and about lessons learnt to ensure a fair system should exams be cancelled in the future”, a committee spokesperson said.

Williamson is due to appear in front of the committee on September 16.

Ofqual announced earlier this week that Collier would be departing following the exams fiasco. She will be replaced on an interim basis by Dame Glenys Stacey, her predecessor.

Colleges and schools cry foul over missing vocational results

Colleges and schools across England are still awaiting the results of some vocational qualifications, despite a promise from government that all grades would be issued by today.

Some learners have been told they may have to wait until next week to receive grades for BTECs and other vocational qualifications.

The Department for Education has refused to say how many grades are delayed, with Pearson, which is the custodian of BTECs, insisting only a “tiny percentage” of the qualifications are affected.

Skills minister Gillian Keegan acknowledged last night there was a chance some students would not receive their results today as planned, after following an eleventh-hour decision to regrade the qualifications last week.

Colleges, schools and their students demanded answers on Twitter today after some results did not arrive, with one college telling students some results will arrive as late as next week.

Pearson told FE Week that “as in every year, a tiny percentage of grades are ineligible”, but would now say exactly how many grades were affected.

“BTECs are a modular qualification, and without all relevant grades for individual modules, we are unable to award an overall qualification grade. Where we believe there are areas of clarification, we are working closely with schools and colleges and as soon as we have the necessary data, will award grades as quickly as we can.”

Derby College is one of the institutions reporting a delay to results. In a post on its website, the college said: “MOST results will be released today Friday 28th August, however, we have been informed that some results may be delayed until early next week.”

Wildern School in Southampton told pupils earlier today that it was “still waiting for the BTEC results to be sent” by Pearson.

“We will be in contact with year 11 students as soon as we can with them. It is out of our hands we are afraid.”

And Outwood Academy Ripon, in North Yorkshire, also posted this morning: “To all students still awaiting their BTEC results this morning we empathise your frustration in the delay we are working with Pearson to ensure that all results are sent out as soon as possible. We will be available for calls once you have your results.”

All three institutions were approached for comment.

Pearson has said on Twitter that “all eligible results will be released by the end of the day”, but has not set a deadline for when the remaining results will arrive.

Cindy Rampersaud, the exam board’s senior vice-president in charge of BTECs and apprenticeships, said: “We have now reviewed and regraded eligible BTEC grades for around 450,000 learners and I’d like to congratulate all those students who have worked so hard to achieve these results.”

Keegan had previously promised students their results would be “reissued by next Friday so you can move on to college, uni or a job as planned”.

And the Department for Education then promised on Tuesday that remaining results would be “reissued by this Friday”.

But Keegan last night urged providers whose students do not receive their results on Friday to “get in touch with the relevant awarding organisation to understand if they need any more information from you”, suggesting that some would not arrive on time.

A Department for Education spokesperson said there was a “small proportion” of students who would have to wait to receive their grades, but refused to say how many.

Minister hints at potential further delay to vocational results

Exam boards are set to work “through the weekend and into next week” to process vocational qualification results, a minister has said, suggesting not all will be issued by tomorrow’s deadline.

In a message to providers sent out tonight, skills minister Gillian Keegan acknowledged there was a chance some students would not receive their results tomorrow as planned.

If on Friday a student who should have received their results did not, please do get in touch with the relevant awarding organisation

Following an initial delay to results last week after exam boards decided to re-grade the qualifications, Keegan promised students their results would be “reissued by next Friday so you can move on to college, uni or a job as planned”.

The Department for Education subsequently promised on Tuesday that remaining results would be “reissued by this Friday”.

But Keegan tonight urged providers whose students do not receive their results on Friday to “get in touch with the relevant awarding organisation to understand if they need any more information from you”, suggesting that some would not arrive on time.

“I know you have been working flat-out over recent weeks to provide awarding organisations with the data they need to process results but it is possible there may be some outstanding information required,” she said.

“Awarding organisations will be working through the weekend and into next week to support you, process results and make sure every student gets the results they have been waiting for.”

Here is what the DfE said on Tuesday:

In response to questions on Twitter tonight from shadow skills minister Toby Perkins, Keegan insisted the message was issued in “extreme caution to pick up any queries”.

The original delay to vocational results came after an eleventh-hour grading U-turn. Pearson, the custodian of BTECs, announced last week that the qualifications would be regraded to “apply consistency across teacher assessed internal grades”.

Although CAGs for internal units, such as coursework, are generally accepted, Pearson had this year subsequently calculated the grades for the examined units using historical performance data to “maintain overall outcomes over time”.

It followed a decision by the government to let centre-assessment grades stand for GCSEs and A-levels.

Students started receiving their vocational results on Tuesday, with all outstanding results due to be handed out by Friday.

In her message to the sector, Keegan admitted that “none of us wanted this delay”.

But she continued that it was “right that results have been reviewed and reissued where appropriate to ensure all students are treated equally.

“Critically, Ofqual has confirmed that no student will see their result downgraded as a result of this process. Where a grade has not been reissued, the original awarded grade will stand.”

The Department for Education was approached for comment.

Coronavirus: Colleges to receive just 10 home testing kits each

Colleges will receive just 10 coronavirus home testing kits each, and should only use them in “exceptional circumstances”, the government has said.

Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, announced in July that educational settings would receive a “small number” of kits to send home with learners or staff who develop coronavirus symptoms, but would otherwise struggle to get a test.

Today Nick Gibb, the schools minister, has confirmed settings will soon begin to receive the kits – along with some free personal protective equipment – ahead of the autumn term.

The PPE includes clinical face masks, aprons, gloves, visors and hand sanitiser that is being provided free of charge by the Department of Health and Social Care in a one-off distribution.

“I have seen first hand the protective measures schools have put in place ahead of pupils returning, and the lengths they have gone to so that their pupils and staff are as safe as possible,” said Gibb.

“This week schools and colleges will begin to receive their first home testing kits as well as personal protective equipment to use in the very rare situations in which it may be required.”

Colleges will only receive 10 testing kits each, although the Department for Education said they would be able to order more if required.

The DfE said home testing kits should only be offered to individuals in the “exceptional circumstance” that colleges believe an individual may not be able to access a test elsewhere.

In the DfE’s schools reopening guidance, it states that schools can give the home testing kits out directly to parents collecting a child who has developed symptoms at school, or staff with symptoms at school, where “they think providing one will significantly increase the likelihood of them getting tested”.

The guidance adds that PPE is only needed in a “very small number of cases” such as where a child becomes ill with coronavirus symptoms while at school and only if a two metre distance cannot be maintained. The other example is where a child or young person already has routine intimate care needs that involve the use of PPE.

Gibb added: “I hope this acts as additional reassurance to parents that schools are ready to welcome children back to school, adding to the growing parental confidence shown in recent opinion polls.”

The DfE confirmed last night pupils and staff in secondary schools and colleges in high-transmission areas will be required to wear face coverings following a U-turn by the government.

DfE top boss Jonathan Slater to leave

The Department for Education’s permanent secretary Jonathan Slater is to be replaced, the government has announced.

The Financial Times reported earlier today that Slater, the top civil servant at the department will leave the post amid the fallout over exams and rules over masks in schools.

Now the DfE and Cabinet Office have confirmed he will leave on September 1.

“The prime minister has concluded that there is a need for fresh official leadership at the Department for Education. Jonathan Slater has therefore agreed that he will stand down on September 1, in advance of the end of his tenure in Spring 2021,” a spokesperson said.

Susan Acland-Hood, the chief executive of the HM Courts & Tribunals Service who was recently seconded to the DfE as interim second permanent secretary, will take over from Slater as acting permanent secretary, and a permanent successor will be appointed “in the coming weeks”.

“The cabinet secretary would like to put on record his thanks to Jonathan for 35 years of public service, culminating in over four years as permanent secretary of the Department for Education,” said a spokesperson.

Slater has been in post since May 2016, when he replaced Chris Wormald. Before that he served as director of the prime minister’s delivery unit, chief executive of the office for criminal justice reform and in a number of director-general roles in other departments.

He is perhaps best-known in the FE sector for his attempt to delay the implementation of T-levels back in 2018. Damian Hinds, the education secretary at the time, had to issue a ministerial direction to continue with his plans.

It follows the announcement yesterday that Sally Collier, the head of exams regulator Ofqual, is to leave her post in the wake of the exams fiasco. She will be replaced on an interim basis by Dame Glenys Stacey, her predecessor in the role.