Ministers have once again proven that FE is an afterthought for this government

Mind the gap! Warm words from ministers on skills can’t conceal the gulf between rhetoric and reality, writes Toby Perkins

Three months on from the prime minister’s proclamation that he would lead a skills-based recovery, two recent examples of the government’s neglect for further education continue to undermine it.

Firstly, it will be a huge frustration to the sector, that while the government unconvincingly adapts GCSE and A-level exams taking place next summer, the more immediate crisis of BTEC students due to sit exams in January appears to have been completely overlooked.

To date, there has been no additional support from the government for BTEC students to catch up on missed learning due to Covid-19, and now there is a staggering lack of preparations for their impending exams.

BTEC students studying practical courses have seen a big reduction in the amount of learning they’ve received with many of them on rotas and missing as much as 50 per cent of their hands-on technical education in fields like mechanics, hair and beauty and welding.

In a cruel twist of fate, the number of BTEC students sitting exams early in the New Year has increased after measures were introduced to strengthen the qualification.  Currently there are estimated to be 130,000 students due to sit exams in January who are affected by the uncertainty.    

It is not just the preparedness of students for BTEC exams but also of their FE institutions which is worrying me.

Colleges have received nothing by way of exams support from ministers, with the end of term almost upon us. Colleges face additional costs in delivering socially distanced exams, in funding extra cleaning of exam halls and PPE for exam invigilators and staff. The government must urgently review the funding available for colleges, ensuring they don’t lose out by doing the right thing to protect their students and staff.

The government is badly neglecting students and institutions and must urgently set out how it will ensure exams can go ahead safely and, in a manner, which is fair to students who have lost substantial amounts of teaching.

The second recent example of government neglect came through the FE Week revelation that the ‘lifetime skills guarantee’, only applies to those level 3 qualifications that the government considers worthwhile with dozens of sectors, including hospitality and tourism excluded.

Not only have whole sectors been excluded, but anyone with a level 3 qualification who now needs to retrain into a new sector, precisely the people the prime minister’s Exeter College speech seemed to be talking about, will also miss out.

This is not only a personal tragedy for the individuals who will lose out; it exacerbates the skills shortages which exist already in our economy and undermines the prime minister’s central message from his Exeter College speech. 

With these new developments, ministers have once again proven that FE is an after-thought for this government. At a time when retraining, upskilling, and educating should be at a forefront of the political agenda, this government continues to damage the prospects of our FE students and colleges by ignoring these key issues.

Regulators took over after apprenticeship assessment bodies refused to comply

A lack of regulatory powers for quality assurance providers to enforce compliance with apprentice assessment rules was a key reason for moving the job to Ofqual and the Office for Students, according to a new report.

The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education has today published its first ever ‘external quality assurance’ (EQA) annual report, providing a stocktake of the key findings around how end-point assessment (EPA) has been delivered throughout the year.

It warned that a “small number of incidents” occurred where the EPA plan or conditions of the register of end-point assessment organisations have “not been complied with and where the independence or validity of assessment has been compromised as a result”.

While there were no instances on the standards for which Ofqual or the IfATE currently provide EQA where they had to take enforcement action, a number of other EQA providers, which are professional or employer-led bodies that do not hold regulatory powers, ran into resistance from assessment organisations.

“The majority of EQA providers lack the regulatory powers to enforce changes from EPAOs,” the report said.

“This has meant that a number of EPAOs have refused to make changes requested by EQA providers, either in a timely manner or in some cases at all, which allows unsatisfactory end-point assessment practices to continue.”

It added that quality assurance and regulatory regimes are put in place to identify and intervene in cases of poor practice and these kinds of incidents are “clearly unacceptable”.

The report does not go into detail about the cases or name those involved, but does say “egregious incidents” of malpractice and breaches of the conditions involved, for example, an EPAO “assessing apprentices on a standard that it is not registered to deliver; and another attempting to assess apprentices on an obsolete version of an assessment plan which was no longer relevant to or endorsed by the industry”.

FE Week has previously reported on serious government concerns over the maturity of the EPAO market, and sector leaders have previously called for the register of EPAOs to be “purged”.

IfATE says EPAO non-compliance is one of the reasons it is moving to a new regime where all EQA will be carried out only by Ofqual or, for integrated degree apprenticeships, the Office for Students both of which have regulatory powers.

Since the apprenticeship reforms came into force three years ago, the government has handed quality assurance responsibility to around 20 professional or employer-led bodies, in addition to Ofqual, IfATE and OfS.

The transition to the new streamlined EQA regime began this year, with 68 standards transferred to Ofqual in November and will continue in 2021. The full transition is expected to be completed by summer 2022.

Today’s report says there is further work to be done in other areas of EQA to ensure that gradings are applied fairly across apprenticeship standards, that reasonable adjustments are implemented consistently and fairly, as well as aspects of the design and delivery of specific assessment methods like multiple choice questions and professional discussions.

It also provides an overview of the “over 100 flexibilities” to the way EPA can be delivered in the face of Covid-19 restrictions, which will be in place until at least the end of March 2021.

Jennifer Coupland, chief executive of the IfATE, said: “I’m incredibly proud of all the fantastic work the sector has done with the institute to ensure that EPA and EQA has continued successfully throughout the pandemic, allowing large numbers of apprentices to complete and move on with their exciting careers.

“While there are areas to improve on, this report shows that the vast majority of assessment is being delivered to a high-standard which is encouraging as we look ahead to 2021.”

You can read the report in full here.

 

DfE extends free sanitary products scheme for an extra year

The government has extended its free sanitary products scheme for schools and colleges for an extra year.

Schools and 16 to 19 providers will continue to be able to order products for any students who need them until December 2021, the Department for Education has announced today.

However, the DfE has not said whether it is investing additional money in the scheme.

Since January this year, schools and colleges have been able to order products from supplier Personnel Hygiene Services Group (PHS) via an online portal, email or by phone.

PHS originally received £11.4 million from the government to oversee its delivery.

The government admitted at the time the scheme would actually cost cost £18 million per year if all 1.7 eligible students accessed it, but the department projected only around 1.1 million would access the scheme.

However, ministers reported earlier this year that eight months into the scheme, only four in ten eligible organisations had taken it up.

Asked by Labour MP Tulip Siddiq, via a written question, the steps the DfE was taking to publicise the scheme and increase school and college participation, minister for children Vicky Ford replied that PHS had reported almost 40 per cent of eligible organisations had placed orders as of August.

“The scheme remained in operation during partial school and college closures, and these organisations are still able to order a range of period products and distribute them to learners.”

Ford added the government also intended to “publish positive stories from organisations that have benefitted from the scheme in order to promote it further”.

PHS’s contract with the DfE was due to end this year with the option of extending it until 2022, however so far it has only been extended until December 2021.

This year, schools and colleges were each given an amount to spend based on predicted take-up rates and their pupil populations.

They will be allocated a new amount in January 2021 which can be used to order products until the end of December 2021.

As in 2020, the amount organisations receive is based on 35 per cent of the number of learners “whose legal gender is female and who, based on age, are likely to have started their periods”.

“Having periods should not be a barrier to education for any learner. Making learners aware of the scheme is vital to making sure they can access period products when they are needed and to reduce the stigma surrounding periods.”

Covid workforce funds: What colleges need to know

The Department for Education has published the thresholds and eligibility criteria for its new ‘Covid workforce fund’ – but said colleges cannot make claims until next spring.

The fund was announced in November to help cash-strapped general, sixth form and specialist colleges pay for high staff absence rates, by meeting costs including bringing in supply teachers and paying additional hours for part-time teaching staff.

It covers the period November 1 to December 31 only.

Here is what you need to know from the new guidance…

1. Colleges need 45 cash days or fewer to be eligible

Sixth form and FE colleges will be eligible for the fund, the guidance reads, if they have an end of month cash position of 45 days or less at any point between November 2020 to March 2021.

Special post-16 providers will be eligible if their reserves at the end of March 2021 are no more than 4 per cent of their annual income.

The DfE warns funding can be clawed back through the assurance process if this criterion is not met at the year-end.

2. Use staff from different campuses if they are within an hour of each other

In addition to the cash days threshold, colleges are eligible if they experienced a short-term teacher absence rate at or above 20 per cent, or a longer-term rate of 10 per cent or above.

This new guidance elaborates that colleges can be eligible for payments for short-term absences on any given day, and can be eligible for payments for long-term absences if this has been the case for 15 or more consecutive days (excluding weekends).

Absences by permanent staff and staff employed on a long-term contract can be claimed for, and colleges should calculate their teacher absence rate at the level of the whole corporation, rather than for individual teachers.

For example, “a college experiences an absence rate of 15 per cent for 20 days, which then reduces to 8 per cent. The college could claim for up to 5 per cent for six days (for days 15 to 20)”.

If the college corporation is split up into different campuses, which are “within a reasonable travel time of each other,” which the DfE exemplifies as an hour by car, providers are expected “to consider options to use existing capacity across different sites to mitigate staff absence, before considering additional staffing spend”.

The DfE has told colleges to avoid double claiming for the same absences against the long-term and short-term rates.

Absences by support staff will be eligible “on an exceptional basis” if those staff are directly involved in education, or involved in duties such as cleaning, catering staff, transport, IT or if they are estates staff.

For special post-16 providers to claim, their short-term rate is for total teacher and leader absences at or above 15 per cent on a given day; their long-term rate is the same as FE and sixth form colleges. Support staff thresholds are the same as teaching staff thresholds.

Claims by specialist providers can be made “for roles which are necessary for maintaining critical provision for students, where the institution certifies that these roles cannot otherwise be managed using existing staff and resources,” the guidance reads. Providers must show they have tried to mitigate the absences.

3. What sort of assurance will be involved?

Colleges should keep records of all expenditure relating to staff absence and keep records to show support staff are eligible for funding.

The college leader who submits the claim must certify the claim is fraud and error-free, and their provider must identify this income and confirm it was appropriately used in their accounts.

4. What else do colleges need to evidence?

In addition to the above, colleges also need to show they were open for on-site delivery in the days in question, are not claiming costs from an existing insurance policy.

5. But colleges will not be able to claim funding until spring 2021

Although the DfE has restricted this funding to colleges “facing significant funding pressure,” the guidance released today says: “Colleges will be able to make claims for costs eligible for reimbursement through this fund in spring 2021.

“We will publish detailed guidance about the claims process then.”

Meaning colleges already running short of cash will have to bear the weight of staff absence costs for another three months at least.

The DfE has highlighted, though, that colleges will continue to receive their core funding allocations.

The 16 to 19 tuition fund, a £96 million pot which colleges can use to help students catch-up on education, has been used by some providers to hire extra teaching and pastoral staff. But the DfE has insisted in the new guidance: “Colleges must not divert this funding to help meet with the costs of staff absence.”

Colleges also cannot claim for training or other incidental staff-related costs; increasing part-time staff pay unless there is an increase in responsibilities as well; cover for absences where teaching or training is delivered commercially; or for capital costs for staff delivering education remotely.

Providers must be “financially prudent when sourcing cover,” the guidance adds.

Thank you to everyone in FE for your extraordinary efforts

Virtual visits during lockdown have revealed many excellent practices to tackle Covid-19 in colleges, writes Gillian Keegan

There has never been a better time to applaud the extraordinary efforts of everyone who works in the FE sector.

For colleges and FE providers, this term has presented many challenges, but what is even more remarkable are the great successes that they have achieved.

Thanks to the huge amount of work accomplished by staff, students returned on-site in September to a “new normal”. Existing students were supported in their return to studies and new students were welcomed onto courses, ensuring valuable face-to-face time with their tutors and peers.

All the while,  huge efforts were made to ensure they and staff were as safe as possible.

We have, of course, had a role to play to support providers in making sure no student falls behind.

We provided a one-off, ring-fenced grant of up to £96 million for colleges, sixth forms and all 16-19 providers to offer small group tutoring activities for disadvantaged students whose studies had been disrupted.

I know how much this funding was needed and I was pleased to read that colleges had told FE Week that the funding had been spent on hiring extra pastoral and study staff, and in a couple of cases on hiring young people either about to start, or just graduating from, university –  to help make the people delivering this tuition more relatable for students.

To make sure this support continues, we are introducing a new Covid Workforce Fund for further education and sixth form colleges with high staff absences, that are also facing significant financial pressures, to help them stay open.

I know how much this funding was needed

Over the last few months, I have had the pleasure of virtually visiting many providers around the country and witnessed this excellent work first-hand.

I would like to shine a light on Newcastle Sixth Form College (NSFC), who rolled out a mass testing pilot and transformed their central computer lab into a fit for purpose testing site.

NSFC, with the help of military personnel, ran three days of routine testing last week, testing over 900 staff and students. Two positive cases were confirmed, and dealt with swiftly – the positive students being removed from class and sent home for self-isolation.

Those that were in close contact with the positive students were tested regularly to check they weren’t infected and this meant that they could continue with their studies and didn’t need to self-isolate.

I’m delighted to hear the experience has been highly rewarding for the college, military staff and the students, who shared how impactful the work felt.

They have been particularly exceptional – modelling data scenarios, providing feedback and more – with regards helping others do the same. We cannot thank them enough.

Even in the face of the challenges Covid-19 has brought, something I am particularly excited about has been the launch of the first three T Levels – Design, Surveying and Planning for Construction, Digital Production, Design and Development, and Education and Childcare – with seven more to come next year.

On my visits – both in person and virtual – to T Level providers since September, I have met students from all three programmes and have been blown away by the staff and students’ enthusiasm for what the T Level offers and how it will help them get ahead in their careers.

One reaction that has stuck with me was a student from Thorpe St Andrew School’s reply to whether the government had “got T levels right”. The student reacted with a resounding: “100 per cent”.

Another said that the prospectus had seemed “too good to be true”, but that the course was proving to be even better than he’d imagined.

I want to congratulate Thorpe St Andrew School and all the providers who are pioneering the new qualifications, and especially for the work that went into preparing for the launch over the summer.

As you all know by now, we will soon be publishing our FE White Paper. The coronavirus pandemic has exposed the need for a more flexible, responsive FE system – and as we deal with its impact, improving the skills of people across the country will be critical for our future success. 

Our education reforms will play a huge part in ensuring that we build back better with a world-leading FE system, by supporting learners to progress into prestigious careers, and delivering the skills that employers and the economy need to thrive.

As we reflect on the previous term and look ahead to the New Year, I want to thank you all for your continued leadership and hard work throughout the pandemic to ensure all students get the education they deserve.

Here’s to 2021, and I look forward to hearing of more success for the FE sector.

Why urgent support is needed to address UK skills deficit

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.

Hunt underway for new IfATE chair after incumbent announces early departure

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 search for his replacement has now begun: a job advertisement has been posted online, with a £29,500 a year salary for one day a week of work.

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 Covid-19 tests to be rolled out in all colleges from January

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.

The DfE say testing pilots that have taken place in schools and colleges over the autumn term have shown the “positive impact” regular testing can have in finding asymptomatic cases before they spread.

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”.

Ofqual chair Roger Taylor to stand down

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.”

It comes after FE Week revealed that former Cambridge Assessment CEO Simon Lebus is being lined up take over as chief regulator in January, again on an interim basis.

Dame Glenys Stacey, who served as the regulator’s chief before Collier, has been doing the job in an acting capacity since her successor’s resignation earlier this year.