Apprenticeship assessment oversight change was needed as Ofqual has the regulatory levers to enforce changes

End-point assessment is a key aspect of the government’s apprenticeship reforms, providing an independent test that an apprentice has achieved occupational competence at the end of their apprenticeship.

It only succeeds where it is seen to provide a fair, reliable and consistent test of whether  different apprentices have reached competence and that includes assessing their knowledge, skill and behaviours in ways, which are relevant to the occupation in the real world. If this is not the case, end point assessment (EPA) will lose credibility and the overall quality of apprenticeships will be compromised.

For that reason, the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (the Institute) has a responsibility to ensure that evaluations of the quality of end-point assessment are undertaken on all apprenticeship standards. We meet this responsibility through external quality assurance (EQA).

This week we have published our response to the consultation we ran this spring on a proposal to move to a simplified and strengthened model of EQA. In the new model, all EQA would be undertaken by either Ofqual or, for integrated degree apprenticeships, the Office for Students. Both organisations will work to a framework set by the Institute. In addition, for a very small number of standards where a statutory regulator already has a role regulating access to the profession, we expect that these organisations will provide EQA, rather than Ofqual or the OfS.

The consultation response sets out our plans to transition to this new delivery model of the next two years. We will work closely with existing EQA providers and end-point assessment organisations to ensure that this transition is managed as smoothly as possible. The existing EQA regime will remain in place for each individual standard until it transitions to Ofqual’s remit.

I am grateful to all those who took the time to respond to the consultation, particularly at what has clearly been a challenging time for every organisation, with many competing priorities. The views expressed in the consultation were diverse, but the majority of respondents saw clear benefit in the proposed approach and we will therefore be proceeding with it.

This represents a significant development of the existing system of EQA, where the service is provided by a range of employer-led and professional bodies, as well as Ofqual and the Institute itself.

The current system has been effective in monitoring the quality of end-point assessment delivery. Many EQA providers have built strong and productive relationships with the end-point assessment organisations (EPAOs) in their sectors, combining both occupational expertise and links to employers, with understanding of assessment. This has been particularly important in recent months as we have dealt with the unprecedented challenges facing the end-point assessment system as a result of COVID-19. EQA providers have played a crucial role in our response, sign-off on flexibilities and participating in taskforces to agree more significant changes to assessment. I know, and it is further reiterated by the responses to the consultation, that this role has been welcomed across the end-point assessment sector.

I am grateful for the work that existing EQA providers have undertaken in the current system and for their continuing support over the next few years to provide a robust EQA service and supporting an orderly transition.

However, the current system is not as simple to understand or engage with as it could be. Nor is it as strong as it might be given that few of the current EQA providers possess the regulatory levers to enforce changes. This has meant that even where poor practice has been identified we have relied on the goodwill of end-point assessment organisations to ensure improvements are made. Finally, the current way of funding for the EQA system is inefficient, which has meant that EQA providers have had to charge end-point assessment organisations directly in order to cover their costs.

The proposal we are now taking forward strengthens the system by addressing those shortcomings: as EQA will be delivered by two organisations, both with established regulatory powers and both funded directly by government. The current EQA providers will work alongside Ofqual to ensure a well-managed and orderly transition.

Responses to the consultation highlighted, more than anything else, how crucial it is to make sure that the employer voice is still heard in EQA work. Respondents were concerned that without the employer voice EPA and apprenticeships will lose credibility and the link through to industry best practice.

In fact, I believe that the new system has the potential to strengthen the use of the employer voice in EQA. We will be creating a new directory of employer organisations on which Ofqual and the OfS will be able to draw occupational expertise which will supplement the assessment expertise of the education regulators, enhancing EQA. In the current system around 30% of apprenticeship standards have an employer-led approach to EQA. The use of the employer directory allows us to involve a greater number of employer bodies across a greater number of standards. It also allows us to use them more strategically so that they can add more value.

By focusing more specifically on whether the EPA is providing relevant assessment of the occupation and whether it works in industry, I hope that we will be using employer organisations and professional bodies both more effectively and more efficiently.

Rule change restricting use of 16-19 tuition fund branded ‘bureaucratic madness’

An “unwelcome” change to the rules for the government’s 16 to 19 tuition fund which restricts the learners the money can be spent on has been branded “bureaucratic madness”.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency has updated its guidance on the fund to add a new stipulation that it can only be spent on learners who failed to achieve a grade 4 in English or maths at the age of 16.

This is an unwelcome change to a welcome initiative

Ministers unveiled plans for the £96 million one-off fund for 2020-21 last month, following a U-turn on their unpopular decision to exclude 16 to 19 providers from the £1 billion Covid catch-up fund. The £96 million comes from a £350 million pot originally allocated for the government’s National Tutoring Programme.

At the time, the government said the fund was to “provide small group tutoring activity for disadvantaged 16 to 19 students whose studies have been disrupted”.

Although Education and Skills Funding Agency guidance released last month stated that funding would be allocated on the basis of the number of learners without an English or maths pass, there was no stipulation that the money be spent only on those pupils.

But updated guidance issued by the ESFA this week states that “although the actual tuition does not need to be for GCSE English or maths, the students supported all need to be those who had not achieved grade 4 or above in at least one of those subjects at this level by age 16”.

The ESFA said this week that the guidance was reissued to “correct an omission”, but the Sixth Form Colleges Association described it as an “unwelcome change to a welcome initiative”.

“Disadvantage takes many forms – it is not just students with lower levels of English and maths attainment that have fallen behind at a result of the Covid crisis,” said deputy chief executive James Kewin.

“GCSE performance is only one proxy for disadvantage – targeting the funding in such a narrow way will mean many students that live in deprived areas, have no access to IT or have caring responsibilities for example will be overlooked.”

Kewin said college leaders were “best placed to target funding at the students that need it most”.

“In general we’d like to see fewer regulations and more trust put in the professionals. That’s one reason why raising the rate of core funding remains the best way to ensure that all students get the education and support they need”.

The guidance has also been updated to include an “expectation” that tuition is “delivered to small groups of up to three students”, and that the government “would not expect groups supported from the fund to exceed five students”.

Steve Hewitt, an FE funding consultant, described the change on Twitter as “absolute bureaucratic madness”.

But the Association of Colleges said the criteria “will cover most of the students on courses below level 3 and concentrates the funding for interventions where they are most needed”.

“It doesn’t prevent colleges continuing to target other students with learning needs,” a spokesperson said.

Confirmed: Exams watchdog to takeover apprenticeship assessment quality checks

Exams watchdog Ofqual is to take the lead in a  “new simplified external quality assurance (EQA) system” for apprenticeships it has been confirmed this afternoon.

The Institute for Apprenticeship and Technical Education (IfATE) had been consulting on ending the current complex arrangements in which employer bodies and even the IfATE themselves are responsible for oversight of the end-point-assessment organisations (EPAOs) for apprenticeship standards.

The IfATE will however “retain oversight of the system, and EQA will still be delivered within the Institute’s framework. The Institute will continue to have a statutory responsibility to evaluate the quality of end-point assessments.”

Chief executive at the IfATE, Jennifer Coupland, said: “We believe that the new system will be stronger and much simpler for end-point assessment organisations. Most importantly it will ensure quality for apprentices. I’d like to thank all those who took the time to respond to our consultation and we now look forward to taking the next steps.”

Sally Collier, chief regulator of Ofqual, welcomed the decision and said: “we hope that the new arrangements will increase confidence in the apprenticeship system and provide clarity and consistency for employers and end point assessment organisations.”

Read the IfATE statement in full here.

Read the Ofqual statement in full here.

The Skills Network’s Free LMS To Accelerate Providers’ Online Delivery

Leading online learning provider, The Skills Network (TSN), has today announced that it will permanently offer its learning platform for free, in order to help accelerate a quality benchmark within the education and corporate industry.

TSN’s learning management system and course authoring tool, EQUAL, will now be available to any provider or organisation across the globe as a free solution, providing organisations with the ability to create their own blended or online learning content at no charge.

TSN was one of the 20 volunteer providers involved in Ofsted’s recent online education review. The organisation is keen for other providers to benefit from use of its learning technology.

EQUAL is now available to any provider at no cost and will enable organisations to:

  • Create blended or fully online courses
  • Publish online learning content for remote study, blended sessions or training programmes
  • Engage students with videos, gamification, quizzes and interactive learning features
  • Track, manage and report on students’ every interaction
  • Use pre-built modules for multiple different assessment types
  • Create online certifications for any of the online courses developed.

TSN currently has 300 customers across 30 countries and one million users on its system. The company believes that this strategic move will help to create an even larger community of organisations utilising online learning.

Executive Director, James Earl, said: “The last few months has been a major challenge for any organisation, in many cases doing what they have to in order to transfer their learning online quickly to stay operational. What has taken years for us to perfect, others have had to do in days. I think that the world of e-learning has transformed, and the sector has jumped ahead years in its adoption of online systems in a matter of months.

That is why by giving our system and authoring tool away, we feel we can create a new benchmark of quality in the industry, creating a truly collaborative environment for everyone to benefit from and ultimately improve online learning experiences for students which can be robustly monitored and assessed.”

Find Out More

For more information on TSN’s offer, go to www.theskillsnetwork.com/free-lms.

Colleges in administration miss third transfer date as accountants continue to rack up fees

The only FE colleges in administration, Hadlow College and West Kent College, continue to be owned and run by accountants at BDO after failing to transfer to North Kent College this weekend.

FE Week reported in May that the Education and Skills Funding Agency had been unsuccessful in agreeing a financial deal to incentivise North Kent College to take over the two colleges.

Administrators were originally due to hand over the keys on March 31, which was then pushed back to May 31 and then rescheduled for July 31.

On July 31 a spokesperson for Hadlow College said the transfer was on track but this morning rowed back, saying it had not taken place over the weekend and would not say why nor when it might.

BDO has come under increasing pressure from the ESFA to keep their costs down as they continue to run the college for far longer than had originally been planned.

The most recent administrator report lodged with Companies House showed that senior BDO staff were charging up to £310 per hour, as agreed with the Department for Education, and the costs to the public purse were already in the millions.

A joint statement from Hadlow College, West Kent College and North Kent College said: “The transfer has been delayed by agreement for a short period due to certain administrative matters, which are taking longer than expected to complete. The aim of all parties remains the completion of the transfer at the earliest opportunity. In the meantime, the Education Administrators continue to work in partnership with North Kent College to further refine the transition plan and, where possible, commence its implementation.”

A spokesperson for Hadlow College subsequently added: “The transaction will take place no later than the 15th August.”

The Department for Education said they are working closely with the Joint Education Administrators and North Kent College to ensure that the transaction is completed as soon as possible.

DfE launches new matching and redundancy support service for apprentices

A new service that allows employers to share their vacancies with redundant apprentices has been launched by the Department for Education.

The “vacancy sharing service” has been set up alongside a new online and telephone support service for apprentices who have lost their jobs during Covid-19 outbreak.

Apprenticeship vacancies can already be viewed via the government’s Find An Apprenticeship website, but the new service, which can be accessed by clicking here, will see the DfE “share your [employer] details with [redundant] apprentices who are interested in your opportunity, so they can contact you directly”.

Separately, a new ‘Redundancy Support Service for Apprentices’ is available for apprentices by calling 0800 015 0400.

Out-of-work apprentices are being advised to call that line to “get free advice, find new opportunities, and access local and national support services offering financial, health and wellbeing, legal and careers advice”.

“You can also read our guidance for apprentices affected by redundancy. There’s advice for finding alternative employment, plus information about financial support and talking to someone about how you’re coping,” the service adds.

The government has set an aim of helping apprentices to find alternative employment within 12 weeks of being made redundant.

Apprenticeships and skills minister Gillian Keegan said: “Covid-19 has had a big impact on business and the jobs market, and we know that some apprentices have lost their jobs or are facing redundancy as a result.

“We are taking unprecedented steps through our Plan for Jobs to protect, support and create jobs, with a clear focus on ensuring people have the right skills to get into work and progress. This includes creating more high quality apprenticeship opportunities to help get our economy moving.

“Our new Redundancy Support Service for Apprentices will make sure apprentices who have lost their jobs can get the help and support they need to get back on track and on the path to a new career.”

The new service also advise employers that they could be eligible for incentive payments for hiring a new apprentice from tomorrow, as announced by chancellor Rishi Sunak in his summer statement.

From August 2020 until the 31 January 2021, businesses taking on new apprentices will be rewarded with £2,000 for a 16 to 24-year-old and £1,500 for a 25 year-old or over. Further detail of the incentives can be found here.

The incentives are hoped to go some way to reversing the substantial drop in apprenticeship start caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Data published by the DfE yesterday showed that apprenticeship starts for the month of May 2020 fell 60 per cent on the previous year.

And starts recorded from March 23 – when lockdown started – to the end of June showed a 52 per cent drop compared to the same period in 2019.

ESFA scraps minimum duration repeat rule for returning apprentices

A minimum duration rule that was preventing some people from returning to and finishing an apprenticeship will be scrapped from tomorrow, the Education and Skills Funding Agency has announced.

Rules for funding apprenticeships in 2020/21 were updated yesterday and for the first time included a new exception to the 12 month minimum duration policy.

Paragraph P46.2 says that if a training provider recruits someone that had previously been withdrawn from an apprenticeship they would not need to repeat a minimum of 365 days of learning.

The document calls the paragraph a “clarification”, but a Department for Education spokesperson has since confirmed this was a mistake and it should have been described as a new rule.

Until now a training provider was not allowed to use prior learning on an apprenticeship to avoid the 12-month minimum duration or the 20 per cent of the job requirement, unless they were on a break in learning or their gap between employment was 30 days or less.

This meant some were blocked from re-joining and completing their apprenticeship as it was not possible to justify a further 12 months on the programme.

The new rule means, for example, that if an apprentice was on a one year apprenticeship but withdrew two years ago after eight months on the course, they can now return at any time in 2020/21 to complete the remaining four months of their training.

An ESFA spokesperson said: “Paragraph P46.2 means that if an apprentice has been on a break in learning, or they have been withdrawn completely, they can restart the same programme to finish what they started.

“There are no time limits on restarting learning aims, other than the certification end date, which the provider is able to check. We accept that it should have been identified as a new rule rather than a clarification.”

Association of Employment and Learning Providers chief policy officer Simon Ashworth welcomed the new rule.

“This is helpful, particularly on shorter apprenticeship programmes, such as level 2, as it enables apprentices who have previously dropped off the programme to engage at a later date and resume their apprenticeship, rather than having to navigate the challenges of undertaking another minimum period of training and ensuring that includes a further minimum 20 per cent of off the job training,” he said.

“It’s important to recognise that that the total training time across both employment periods needs to be at least 365 days, one of the government’s key requirements for what constitutes an apprenticeship.”

Adult education charity to close despite plans for a rescue deal

A long-running adult education charity in Brighton is to close with the loss of almost 50 jobs tomorrow after a local council rescue deal collapsed at the eleventh hour.

Staff at the Friends Centre were expecting to transfer to Brighton and Hove City Council, which the learning provider subcontracts from, on August 1 with the training brought “in-house”.

But they were informed on Tuesday that this agreement has fallen through as the 75-year-old charity is no longer solvent.

The Friends Centre has suffered from considerable financial difficulties in recent years after losing access to direct government skills funding, hitting repeated deficits and experiencing a substantial drop in cash reserves.

More recently, the impact of closure and course cancellations resulting from the Covid-19 restrictions has been severe and has caused the charity to go into administration.

One staff member who did not wish to be named told FE Week this is a “huge loss to the city”.

“The staff team, volunteers and learners are all devastated by this news and extremely disappointed that charity management and Brighton and Hove City Council failed to find a solution,” they added.

Helen Osborne, chief executive of the Friends Centre, said the charity was “pleased to enter into an arrangement proposed by the City Council which would have seen a significant part of our work and around half our staff transfer to the council”.

But even though they have worked “hard” with council officers to address the financial, legal and property aspects of this transfer and to design a curriculum that would “continue to meet the needs of our learners”, the charity is “deeply disappointed that the council has concluded, against our wishes, that there are still obstacles that cannot be overcome”.

“We very much regret that Friends Centre can no longer continue to serve the learning and skills needs of people in Brighton and Hove, in particular those many disadvantaged and vulnerable learners with low or no skills who have been the main focus of our work,” Osborne added.

Hannah Clare, chair of Brighton and Hove City Council’s children, young people and skills committee, said the rescue deal, agreed in April, was dependent on securing a lease of the Friends Centre’s Isetta Square site, and on the charity being able to remain financially solvent.

“However, landlord consent for this lease has not been secured and sadly the Friends Centre has informed us they will be moving into administration on 31 July,” she explained.

“As a result it is not felt it would be right for us to enter into any lease arrangements on this basis.

“As part of these developments, the council has looked at alternative properties within the council’s portfolio, but there are no available properties suitable for teaching at this current time. 

“Therefore the recommendations agreed in April are no longer achievable – a situation that is deeply regrettable.”

Twenty one staff from Friends Centre were due to TUPE to the council. FE Week understands 46 jobs will be lost in total as a result of the charity’s insolvency.

Clare said the council’s priority is now to “secure the future provision of adult and community learning in the city” and they will “work towards establishing alternative provision and move forward delivery of adult education”.   

The Friends Centre launched in 1945 when it started teaching demobbed troops, evacuees and refugees from the Second World War. It teaches around 1,000 people annually, including English, maths and IT skills for the homeless.

Other courses on offer include functional skills, English for speakers of other languages, and mental health awareness.

The charity is classed as an independent training provider and lost access to direct government funding in 2017 after failing in its bid to the controversial adult education budget tender, which was riddled with problems and delays.

It has since had to subcontract from Brighton and Hove City Council and colleges, a model which Osborne said is “unsustainable”.

Alan Tuckett, who led the National Institute for Adult Continuing Education for 23 years and became known as FE’s “campaigner-in-chief” for lifelong learning, was chief executive of the Friends Centre in the 1970s and is currently the charity’s president.

He told FE Week that the loss of the Friends Centre is a “major blow to Brighton, and loses one more independent adult education centre committed to learning for active citizenship, social solidarity and a second chance for people failed by the system”.

“It is a victim of a decade of cuts to adult opportunity, and is lost at a time when more than ever we need places to meet and actively make community together,” Tuckett added.

“Its loss is one more badge of dishonour for government.”

ESFA scraps provider achievement rate reports

Colleges and training providers will not have access to qualification achievement rate (QAR) reports to use internally for 2019/20, the Education and Skills Funding Agency has announced.

At the beginning of lockdown the agency said that it would not publish institution-level achievement rates for the current academic year due to disruption caused by Covid-19 pandemic.

Officials also confirmed that the data will not be used by others, such as Ofsted, local authorities or devolved authorities or within ESFA, to hold institutions to account.

Yesterday, the agency revealed that they have now taken the decision to “not supply 2019 to 2020 QARs for institutions to use internally themselves”.

Association of Employment and Learning Providers chief policy officer Simon Ashworth said this was an “eminently sensible” approach because “the agency was clear that it didn’t want to use the QAR to hold providers accountable for the unforeseeable consequences of the pandemic”.

“The coronavirus is impacting on delivery in many ways beyond providers’ control and it will continue to do so for at least the remainder of 2020 as the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education has recognised in its approach to maintaining Covid-related flexibilities,” he added.

The 2019/20 academic year includes learners who were due to pass between 1 August 2019 and 31 July 2020. Achievement rates would have been published in March 2021.

The ESFA said they are currently still reviewing what data “we will publish for statistical purposes in 2021 for the 2019 to 2020 QARs but, it will not contain any data at institution level”.

QARs calculate what proportion of learning was successfully completed in each academic year by providers.

They are produced for apprenticeships, adult education and 16 to 18 programmes.

The latest achievement rates were published in March and showed the overall national rate for apprenticeships dropped 2.2 per cent points last year to just 64.7 per cent.

The achievement rate for the new apprenticeship standards was particularly low, averaging just 46.6 per cent compared to 68.7 per cent for frameworks.

The ESFA minimum standard threshold sits at an achievement rate of 62 per cent.

If more than 40 percent of a provider’s provision fails to meet the minimum standard then intervention can be as severe as contract termination, in line with the ESFA’s “oversight of independent training providers” operational guidance.