Full graded Ofsted inspections will not return until the summer term, the government has announced.
But monitoring visits, including to those with grade three and four ratings and new apprenticeship providers, will resume in January.
Ofsted said FE providers that do not receive a monitoring visit “may receive support and assurance visits”, which will result in a report but no grade, similar to the “interim visits” being run this autumn.
The watchdog will also continue to have the power to inspect an education provider if they have serious concerns about safeguarding.
Under a raft of measures announced today for holding exams in 2021, education secretary Gavin Williamson said that Ofsted’s full return has been pushed back again until the summer term. Full inspections have been paused since the outbreak of Covid-19 in March.
The inspectorate described the plans as a “phased return” to normal activity.
Chief inspector, Amanda Spielman, said: “The usual level of scrutiny within the education and care system has been absent since last March, so it’s important that it returns next year as we all hope for a greater level of normality.
“But we understand the pressure that everyone in education is working under and we want to return to our usual work in a measured, sensitive and practical way.”
She added: “Our role is to offer the greatest assurance we can to parents and the public about the quality of education and care arrangements for children and learners. These plans will help us support the providers who are facing the greatest challenges during these difficult times.
“They will ensure that inspection is fair, safe and valuable, while remaining true to our core purpose and principles.”
FE Week asked Ofsted if the return of monitoring visits will include a progress judgement, as they did pre-pandemic, but did not receive a response at the time of going to press.
During Tuesday’s launch of Ofsted’s annual report, the inspectorate said it was keen to restart monitoring visits of new providers in particular after finding big concerns with the quality of apprenticeship delivery last year.
Chief executive of the Association of Colleges, David Hughes, said he was “pleased to see the common sense decision that full Ofsted inspections will not commence until summer term” as they would be “impossible to carry out fairly and safely in these conditions”.
He added that he would urge the DfE “not to continue barring colleges with legacy ‘requires improvement’ grades from being able to deliver T Levels, Institutes of Technology and other programmes where they have good sustained progress on quality”.
Ofsted is not expecting to resume graded inspections in January, the chief inspector has said.
Speaking at the launch of the watchdog’s latest annual report, Amanda Spielman said Ofsted needed to “take account of the national situation, and we’ve always said that the timing and form of our return was under review”.
I’m not expecting us to be doing graded inspections from January
Routine inspections were halted in March following the announcement that education providers would close to all but the most vulnerable pupils and the children of key workers.
Ofsted launched a programme of ungraded visits of schools and FE providers this term, which moved online following the announcement of a second national lockdown.
Inspections were supposed to resume in January, but the government has come under increasing pressure to postpone their reintroduction further.
“I’m not expecting us to be doing graded inspections from January,” Spielman said this morning.
“We need to take account of the national situation, and we’ve always said that the timing and form of our return was under review. We do understand what teachers are going through.”
Spielman also said that when inspectors do return they will “not be looking at the challenges of the lockdown and we will not be expecting people to have performed miracles, but rather to have done their best in the circumstances”.
Asked what form Ofsted’s work would take from January, Chris Russell, the watchdog’s acting national director of education said Ofsted had “a range of other inspection tools that we could use to meet the circumstances”.
“There are many things that we could do short of full graded inspections. And clearly all of those we will be ensuring that we can operate safely within the context of Covid,” he said.
Russell also confirmed that Ofsted felt its current education inspection framework was the “right vehicle” to use once full inspections resume, but said the watchdog would make “any slight modifications” needed as a result of the Covid pandemic.
Spielman also confirmed today that as the national lockdown ends this week, inspectors will resume in-person visits to schools and FE providers.
“With the reduction in restrictions, we will be going back in for the remainder of the autumn visits.”
Apprenticeships are the “weakest” area of provision in FE providers, with one in ten judged ‘inadequate’ last year, Ofsted has said.
In its annual stocktake of education, the inspectorate reported that of the 120 inspections to include an apprenticeships grade in 2019/20, 3 per cent achieved ‘outstanding’, 50 per cent were ‘good’, and 38 per cent were ‘requires improvement’.
A total of 10 per cent were ‘inadequate’, which the report says is “clearly too large a number”.
Meanwhile, today’s report also warns of declining quality in independent learning providers with the proportion judged ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ falling for the fourth consecutive year – dropping from a high of 83 per cent in 2016 to 74 per cent in 2020.
However, it should be noted that Ofsted has included employer providers in with the data for private providers.
In 2019/20, the watchdog said it saw in some independent providers that governance was “not in place or was not sufficiently challenging in holding senior leaders to account to identify the aspects of the provision that needed to be improved”.
“We also saw leaders, managers and the governance function not moving swiftly enough to implement the recommendations made at a new provider monitoring visit,” the report added.
“Independent learning providers did not focus enough on working closely with employers to develop a meaningful and well-thought-out curriculum to meet the training requirements of apprentices and employers.”
Nearly a quarter (24 per cent) of providers that received new provider monitoring visits this year had at least one insufficient progress judgement.
Ofsted said that in “many cases”, this was down to “weak leadership and a lack of co-development of the curriculum with employers”.
Association of Employment and Learning Providers managing director Jane Hickie told FE Week that the pressures on private providers have been “enormous”.
“Even before the pandemic struck, the Commons education committee warned that good quality apprenticeships can’t be delivered on the cheap and while the [Ofsted] report doesn’t cover the first lockdown period when inspections stopped, the lack of provider relief for levy apprenticeships and the crash in starts have added to the scale of the challenges even though the minister and others have recognised what a fantastic job providers did in keeping so many programmes going remotely,” she said.
“We hope that the current review of funding rates by IfATE leads to a realistic outcome of recognising the costs involved in delivering a good apprenticeship programme.”
In comparison to private providers, community learning providers have seen the proportion judged ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ increase for the fourth year and sat at 92 per cent in 2020, while colleges have seen their proportion shift downwards from 78 per cent last year to 75 per cent.
During an Ofsted press conference on the annual report, Christopher Russell, acting national director for education, said that the inspectorate will be “focussing sharply” on apprenticeships quality over the coming months.
“We have some concern over quality in some cases. Of our new provider monitoring visits over the year, in a quarter we found progress to be insufficient and that does give us a worry.
“We will continue to look very closely within those visits and follow-up, what the quality is/ Quite often we are finding that the leadership isn’t sharp enough, that the curriculum isn’t well thought out enough.
“And when we return we are finding sometimes that the actions that we have pointed out that are needed haven’t been taken quickly enough. This is a weaker area, apprenticeships, and we will be focussing sharply therefore on that as we do our work over the coming months.”
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We are pleased the vast majority of apprenticeships providers have continued to deliver high quality training. However, we recognise that there is more work to do to make sure that every apprentice can access the best possible training.
“We will continue to work with employers and training providers, and with the Institute and the Quality Alliance to help boost apprenticeship quality and make sure more people get the skills they need to get ahead.”
Click here to read FE Week’s speed read of Ofsted’s 2019/20 annual report.
FE Week has the key findings for the FE and skills sector.
Inspections of newly-merged colleges found a third ‘required improvement’
Ofsted inspected 26 of the 46 colleges formed from new mergers since 2015 and found that while 65 per cent, or 17, were either ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’, the others were all judged as ‘requires improvement’.
“Currently, this grade profile is lower than the original profile before the mergers,” the report reads, after nearly 100 colleges have been through mergers following the FE Commissioner’s series of area reviews in 2015.
“But nearly half of the merged colleges are yet to be inspected,” it reasoned.
FE Week reported in October that inspection results for the college sector at the end of 2019/20 fell for the first time in three years after a substantial number of merged colleges received a grade three.
Ofsted’s report today reinforces that finding, reporting the proportion of general further education colleges judged good or outstanding has slipped from 78 to 75 from 2019 to this year.
Growing concerns over sustainability
Ofsted has shone a light on the “serious financial implications” Covid-19 has for the further education and skills sector.
The report reads: “The pandemic has led to growing concerns over sustainability in parts of the FE and skills sector,” because most colleges are at least partly-dependent on apprenticeship levy funding, which is not a guaranteed source of revenue.
“Hundreds” of independent providers are dependent on funding from the Education and Skills Funding Agency and other schemes to provide them with cashflow and continuation, Ofsted has said.
So, their viability depends on businesses paying for training services, however some of those customers have gone or will be going out of business, or reduce their training.
Although government funding for capital expenditure and the National Skills Fund, due to launch next April, “should help colleges to re-balance their finances to an extent,” the watchdog has warned “the full impact” of the decrease in apprenticeship revenue “remains to be seen, but some providers have already ceased training”.
Ofsted has said it will monitor developments in the market “because sufficiency of provision is central to ensuring children and young people receive the education and care they need”.
The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee heard last week from the Education and Skills Funding Agency that 64 colleges were at risk of running out of cash, and the government was on course to spend £70 million on emergency funding for them this year.
Quality of apprenticeships biggest ‘weakness’
The quality of the apprenticeships is the biggest warning from Ofsted in today’s report, with it being named as the “weakest” provision in the further education and skills sector.
One in ten apprenticeship grades are currently judged ‘inadequate’, a number the watchdog calls “clearly too large”.
Nearly a quarter of providers which received early monitoring visits in 2019-20 had at least one ‘insufficient progress’ judgement, which in many cases was due to weak leadership and a lack of co-development with employers.
However, some apprentices have seen their provision “disappear entirely,” whether that’s on- or off-the-job, the report reads, as 36 per cent of them have been furloughed, while eight per cent were made redundant and 17 per cent had off-the-job training suspended.
Apprentices on standards received a “more tailored and broader curriculum” than those studying frameworks, the report continues.
Online education only a ‘partial’ solution
The inspectorate conducted a review of online education in FE providers during Covid-19 lockdown and found that this can “only ever be a partial solution to ensuring a good quality of education and training where education cannot happen face to face”.
Ofsted warned that online education needs to be “well integrated” into the provider’s curriculum offer “as a whole and adapted to the learning needs of learners” in order to work effectively, with “suitably trained teachers”.
Some providers say their learners’ engagement is good “simply because learners have logged on to online sessions” but the “reality may be that the learners have logged on but are doing other things, and so are not fully engaged in the learning”.
Some learners “admitted to being frequently distracted”. Overall, Ofsted found that learners “miss the face-to-face contact of the classroom, not only for social interaction but also for the instant feedback and opportunity to ask questions that it provides”.
The inspectorate raised the issue of digital poverty after a recent Association of Colleges survey found up to 100,000 FE learners do not have a suitable device or internet connection to learn from home.
To avoid these learners falling behind, the Department for Education “need to invest in this as well as in a suitable virtual learning environment and staff training”, Ofsted said.
Community learning named ‘best-performing’ provider type
While private providers have been shown as the worst-performing provider type, with 74 per cent rated ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’, community learning has been proven to be the best.
A total of 92 per cent of community learning and skills providers were judged either grade one or two last year, moving up from 91 per cent last year.
Colleges have seen their proportion shift downwards from 78 per cent last year to 75 per cent.
Overall, the number of FE providers found to be ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted sits at 80 per cent – a decrease of one percentage point compared with last year.
The shadow minister for apprenticeships and lifelong learning explains his unconventional route to the front bench to Jess Staufenberg
Toby Perkins, shadow minister for apprenticeships and lifelong learning, comes into focus on my screen with a huge, unidentifiable flag behind him. I know the Yorkshire flag, but apparently I don’t know the Derbyshire flag, which the county, not to be outdone by its neighbour and cricketing rival, had specially designed some years back.
When Perkins also tells me, with his ruddy cheeks and a big grin, that “Derbyshire Food Day” is also a great parliamentary event, I anticipate an interview with a man strongly proud of his northern roots. But he has just the gentlest Sheffield twang, and, it turns out, is perhaps prouder of his own personal path than his geographic roots.
The Derbyshire flag
An A-levels drop-out, he has taken a road not entirely expected by his university academic parents, and as a small business owner and former recruitment consultant, is also perhaps not the usual shoe-in for the Labour Party either. If Starmer wins in 2024, and Perkins keeps his post, this will be the man pushing policy for FE.
The past decade must have been a curious ride for the Chesterfield MP before Starmer’s arrival. He supported, successively, centrist candidates David Miliband, Liz Kendall and Owen Smith in each of the leadership contests, at a time when the party was moving closer to its left wing. But Perkins clearly has a pragmatic streak and, like his colleague in the shadow education team Emma Hardy (who largely handles the higher education brief), seems mainly committed to “Team Labour” and whatever it takes to win an election. He spent only three months on the backbenches as a new MP in 2010 before serving on the front bench under Ed Miliband, and then took the defence brief under Jeremy Corbyn and later offered to serve him again in 2017 having backed his challenger. With Starmer now steering the party back towards the centre, one can imagine that Perkins’ time has maybe come.
His current further education brief came as a surprise to him, he says; but listening to him, there is a certain overlap of his story with that of many college leaders: sixth form didn’t fit, academia wasn’t necessarily his thing, and a training programme set him on the right path. His father worked as a film lecturer, first in FE at the now-closed Bulmershe College in Reading and then at Warwick University, and his mother lectured in sociology at the university too. After his parents split up, a 16-year-old Perkins and his mum moved to Sheffield. Thankfully, he doesn’t try to ham up any working-class roots. “I was expecting Sheffield to be this real inner-city experience and it really wasn’t. The school I was at was a middle-class school. After a few months of A-levels, I decided I didn’t want to do them and dropped out.”
A young Perkins in 1981
Conscious of having to “explain to my grandmother at Christmas why I wasn’t in school”, he went down to the job centre and joined Margaret Thatcher’s youth training scheme which, a bit like the current Kickstart scheme, saw 16- to 25-year-olds taken on by employers for £25 a week on a six-week job placement. He took a sales role. What did his parents think?
“I think they were a bit disappointed in one regard, but in a way, this was my way of rebelling.” Unlike his parents, he was “more of a doer and a talker, than a reader and studier”. He says he supported the Labour Party in those days like he did Sheffield United – mostly around election time, cheering for his team.
A couple of life changes caused Perkins to follow politics more closely and raise his eyes towards a parliamentary seat. First, an admired boss “got me into self-improvement” through audio tapes and the like. “Positive self-enforcement, you know ̶ I like myself, I’m a good person, that kind of thing.” This included thinking about his own childhood and “the kind of parent I wanted to be”.
Parenting was soon in full swing, with Perkins a relatively young father to his son at 27 years old, and later adopting a daughter. He and his wife had tragically previously lost twins in childbirth. Feeling the family pressure to earn, Perkins had become an area manager in recruitment, overseeing 30 people, but now turned his attention to politics. His interest was particularly piqued after watching Chesterfield fall to the Liberal Democrats in 2001, following the retirement of heavyweight left-wing incumbent Tony Benn. By 2003, Perkins had bagged a seat on the council.
Perkins addressing Hollingwood Primary School in Chesterfield
“I think at this point, I had half an idea of becoming an MP. I was someone from the private sector, who hadn’t been to university, hadn’t got a trade union background, hadn’t been a spad. So it was quite unusual to become an MP,” he says, following up, quite frankly, with: “So I partly thought being a councillor would be a route to becoming an MP. And I also wanted to make a local contribution.”
In the 2007 election, he watched Labour lose his constituency again by about 3,000 votes. Again speaking frankly, he observes: “My personal view was that I could do a better job of being the candidate.”
At this point Perkins set up his own business selling rugby kits (he’d always been into sport) in order to free up time for a political career. As new prime minister Gordon Brown “ummed and ahhed” about an election in 2007 – eventually deciding against – Perkins took the time to build up his local reputation ahead of the 2010 election. He managed to fight off the UKIP threat in the post-industrial, largely white town and won the seat. “Labour lost 80 seats that day, and I was one of the very few that turned the tide! On arriving in parliament, I came in very much thinking, ‘No one has given me this on a plate, I’ve earned it.’ I went in with confidence.”
General election announcement in 2015
His very first role was in the education team as shadow children’s minister overseeing social care and youth services under shadow education minister Andy Burnham. “I hadn’t necessarily asked for the education brief and at first it seemed like a square peg in a round hole. But I actually found I knew a lot more than I realised, especially as an adoptive parent.” When he was later moved into the business team, he found the opposite was true: “I thought I’d know a lot and found there was a huge amount I didn’t.”
Since then, Remain-supporting Perkins has witnessed the rise and fall of Corbyn, whose leadership he says he was “deeply concerned” by. But again with surprising frankness, he admits to admiring the support the left-wing leader inspired among many. “You couldn’t dismiss the fact he generated a huge amount of enthusiasm. So I thought, maybe there’s something in this that could lead the party, and I decided to be on his front bench when a lot of my colleagues chose not to.”
I decided to be on Corbyn’s front bench when a lot of my colleagues chose not to
Perhaps it is this flexible (as well as ambitious) nature that explains why Perkins is damning of his experience with Corbyn in 2017 after he’d backed Smith in the leadership challenge the year before. “There was a moment there where he could have chosen to be the bigger man […] I went to see him straight after the election and offered my services, but he didn’t take that approach. I think the approach he took was to double down on seizing control of the party. It was unnecessary.” The splits in the party continue to rumble on, with Corbyn-supporting members of Labour’s governing body staging a mass walkout of a Zoom meeting just this week. One can imagine Perkins has little time for it.
Not that Perkins has never been involved in conflict and controversy himself: just this year he apologised after his campaign materials said he was “disgusted” that traveller communities were “extorting” thousands of pounds in illegal camps. He had also previously said he wouldn’t want travellers living near him – and has since said sorry for his “inappropriate” and “careless” language.
We move on instead to what he would do in Gillian Keegan’s shoes, rattling off a list of policy priorities; focusing on massively expanding apprenticeships instead of its “poorer cousin” the Kickstart scheme; a “huge renewed investment in adult education and the value of careers guidance”; and, inspired by his old boss Burnham in Manchester, “a greater recognition of the role devolution can play”.
Playing rugby for the Gentlemen of Derbyshire XV against the House of Commons and Lords at Twickenham
Meanwhile, he supports T Levels in principle but accuses the government of being “complacent” about whether they are a path to university. “There’s a real danger here the government has got a new toy and will spend a huge amount of time on something that will have microscopic take-up. Almost certainly if T Levels are a success, they won’t look like they do now.”
There’s something about Perkins that almost reminds me of education select committee chair Robert Halfon: certain of his own mind but not overly dogmatic, committed to helping individuals, and really most comfortable in the centre of their respective parties. One could even imagine Perkins in the committee chair role, if Halfon ever relinquishes the reins.
Only at the end of our chat does Perkins return me with a sudden passion to his roots. “Perhaps unlike many in politics, having been a 17-year-old on £25 a week, I know what it’s like to be the lowest of the low in a company, and be a nobody. I know what it’s like to go to the ATM and wonder if it’s going to be able to give you any money, or run your own business and have any food tomorrow […] A lot of the people I meet in politics did great at school and got great university degrees, they were important from the moment they left university, or even important when they were at university. This is an entirely different perspective on life.”
If there was an FE flag, I’m pretty sure Perkins would have it on his wall. Perhaps he’ll have one by 2024.
(Advertorial) | Your chance to recognise and celebrate the outstanding achievements of BTEC learners and educators around the world in an unprecedented year
As 2020 draws to a close, it’s my pleasure to announce that we have just opened the nominations for the 2021 BTEC Awards. It’s a real highlight of every year for me and I’m already looking forward to celebrating with, and learning about, our inspirational winners next June – whether that’s in person, or in a virtual ceremony as we did for the 2020 awards.
We are calling on educators across the UK and internationally to nominate young learners, adult learners, colleges and schools for their outstanding achievements in what has been an unprecedented year for the BTEC class of 2021.
Nearly a million learners globally completed BTEC courses in the past year alone, so there is a wide pool of potential nominees. I’d like to ask you to take a moment to think about any tutors or teachers you work alongside, or learners you teach, who have achieved exceptional things this year and deserve recognition, and then nominate them at btec.co.uk/awards. Please make sure your colleagues know about this too, encouraging anyone you think could be interested in making a nomination this year.
Cindy Rampersaud
2021 will be our 11th BTEC Awards. Over the past 10 years, the BTEC Awards have recognised those that demonstrate the exceptional knowledge, skills and behaviours that go into preparing for the jobs of the future and this year is no different. 19 category award winners will be celebrated from around the UK and internationally in subjects such as Health and Social Care, Construction, Engineering, IT, Business, Performing Arts and Sport.
While the Awards are always a chance to celebrate the power of BTEC, next year they will rightly have a particular focus on the resilience and commitment of the learners, who will be nominated for their achievements when studying through unprecedented times. We will also celebrate the dedication and professionalism of the BTEC teachers and tutors who have continued to deliver outstanding vocational education in this exceptional year.
Applications for the Awards are open now and close on Friday 2nd April 2021. The winners will be invited to the awards ceremony, which will take place either in person or online subject to Government guidelines and restrictions, with the overall BTEC Adult Learner of the Year and BTEC Young Learner of the Year also receiving a £1000 cash prize and featuring in a short video dedicated to them and their journey.
As the world continues to adjust to the pandemic and widespread change across global industries, it’s never been more important to celebrate those in college, in school or studying as an adult who are taking vocational courses to equip themselves with the knowledge, behaviours and practical skills that employers need. The past year has brought into sharp focus the value of key workers and the crucial role that vocational and technical education plays in supporting the economy and communities across the country, something that we believe will continue long into the future as existing and emerging industries continue to develop.
There will be some extra special BTEC stories to celebrate in 2021 and we want to hear about those outstanding students and colleagues – the learners, teachers and tutors that shone during an extraordinary year. We look forward to celebrating them.
To find out more about the BTEC Awards and how to enter visit: btec.co.uk/awards
An MP has hit out at a college group’s decision to close and sell a historic adult education site.
Harriett Baldwin, the Conservative MP for West Worcestershire, said she was “shocked” by an announcement made by Warwickshire College Group (WCG) on Friday that it will shut Malvern Hills College by August 2021.
It is the latest case in a string of colleges looking to sell off a campus in order to balance the books.
Malvern Hills began delivering to students in 1886 but WCG says it has conducted an 18-month review of its provision and found it was no longer viable to run due to “reduced adult education funding and a diminishing customer base”.
The college currently has around 900 adult learners on part-time arts and craft commercial courses but also offers government-funded vocational programmes including hair and barbering via the adult education budget.
The government-funded provision moved to WCG’s Evesham College campus in September owing to the Covid-19 outbreak while Malvern Hills stayed closed.
Under WCG’s plans, government-funded provision offered at Malvern Hill will be moved to Evesham College permanently – which is 40 minutes away by car and over an hour away by public transport.
The college group said they could not say how many jobs were at risk at this stage.
Baldwin (pictured above) said: “I am shocked with the Warwickshire College Group for taking this decision at a time when training young people could not be more important, and I am saddened for those people taking courses like hair dressing or beauty therapy who are faced with a long diversion to Evesham to continue their studies.
“They also have done it without even a consultation or the courtesy of sharing their thinking with me. In fact, when the group took over the Malvern site they promised they would invest. Last week’s spending review delivered a £375 million investment in skills.”
She added that this feels like a “very short-term decision” and has asked for an “urgent conversation” with WCG chief executive Angela Joyce to “understand her thinking and to reassure me that this is not just an asset-stripping exercise”.
WCG was formed through the merger of Warwickshire College Group and South Worcestershire College in 2016, at which point WCG’s name was kept. The group now has seven campuses – three of which are in Worcestershire.
When announcing the closure of the Malvern Hill campus on Friday, Joyce said her group has “worked hard to maintain” its colleges in Worcestershire, all of which had “quality or financial issues when they merged into the group”.
“Given the widely-known pressures in the FE sector, linked to a decade of funding cuts, we have had to continually drive improvements and like almost all organisations and businesses, Covid-19 has impacted WCG significantly,” she continued.
“The type of education offered at Malvern Hills College is sadly no longer viable for WCG as Malvern Hills College has been financially supported by the rest of the Group since. We recognise the important role the college plays in supporting part of the community and we hope we can find a way for the courses to continue for local people to attend.”
WCG was also keen to point out that it will be retaining a training facility in Malvern for digital and cyber skills at a site in Science Park, aimed at training young people and adults “in the skills to meet local employer demand”.
According to WCG’s latest accounts, for 2018/19, the group generated a deficit before other gains and losses of £2.9 million. The group also recorded net debt of £7.3 million.
The accounts state that as of the end of July 2019, the group was in its fifth year of a “debt reduction strategy linked to a series of property transactions and an attendant debt amortisation schedule”.
Other site sales for WCG in recent years included selling its Henley College campus to Wasps Rugby.
As well as closing and selling Malvern Hill, the group plans to sell buildings that are part of Evesham College as it is a “currently under-utilised site”.
WCG is one of a number of colleges that have announced plans to close campuses and been met with MP opposition in recent years.
1. Number of colleges entering formal intervention stayed the same
Thirteen colleges were referred for FE Commissioner intervention during 2019/20 – same number as 2018/19.
Meanwhile, three local authorities also entered formal intervention.
Of the 13 colleges entering last year, 11 received their first assessment visit during 2019/20. The other two colleges were subject to FE Commissioner intervention in previous reporting periods and were “re-referred”.
The majority (eight) of the 11 to receive their first visit entered intervention due to financial triggers.
A further three colleges were subject to a “refreshed intervention during this period” due to having been in “intervention measures for an extended period of time”.
2. Colleges in intervention hits 35
As of 31 July 2020, a total of 35 colleges and other institutions, such as local authorities, were subject to FE Commissioner intervention – a 50 per cent increase on the 23 in intervention at the end of 2018/19.
This number included 19 colleges that remained in intervention from 2018/19, three of which were subject to “refreshed intervention”. It also included the 13 colleges and three local authorities that received their first assessment or were re-referred into FE Commissioner intervention in 2019/20.
Five colleges left FE Commissioner intervention last year, two as a result of mergers, two as a result of the lifting of financial health notices and one where the college had “put in place the necessary improvements” and no longer met the criteria for intervention.
3. Fifty principals are being supported by national leaders
The commissioner has a team of “national leaders” of further education (NLFEs) who are serving college leaders that have a “strong track record of delivering improvement”.
Atkins also has a team of national leaders of governance (NLGs) who are “experienced college governors and clerks with a strong record of supporting college improvement”. Both NLFEs and NLGs provide “strategic mentoring” to other colleges that need to improve.
As of November 2020, NLFEs and NLGs are currently supporting 50 principals, chief executives and governing bodies.
During the 2019/2020 academic year, an additional five NLFEs and four NLGs were recruited, taking the total number offering support to colleges to 19 – ten NLFEs and nine NLGs.
4. Lockdown ‘support’ given to 54 colleges
Formal commissioner visits to colleges paused as a result of the lockdown in March 2020, which led to Atkins’ team moving to a “new programme of direct support work for colleges, offered remotely”.
This support included reviewing finance forecasts and advice on staff restructuring as a result of the restrictions put in place due to the outbreak of Covid-19.
In total, 54 colleges “benefited” from this support during the lockdown period. Today’s report says the amount of time offered ranged from one to three days.
5. One out of 11 diagnostic assessments led to formal intervention
Diagnostic assessments occur at the request of individual colleges and involve the commissioner’s team looking at improvement plans and deciding whether those plans are fit for purpose or need strengthening. The goal is to prevent major problems from arising.
If the commissioner’s team find areas of concern, the college can be moved to undertake a structure and prospects review, or lead to formal FE Commissioner intervention.
The FE Commissioner’s team conducted 11 diagnostic assessments in 2019/20, of which one led to formal intervention.
“This means that 10 colleges were supported to improve earlier than would have been the case before the introduction of diagnostic assessments, helping to save money and protect learners,” the report reads.
6. Five mergers completed last year following structural reviews
During the 2019/20 academic year, seven structural review were started and are due to complete next year, subject to negotiations between the colleges and Department for Education.
Meanwhile, the outcomes of five past structural reviews were “successfully implemented” last year, which resulted in three college mergers and two colleges joining multi-academy trusts.
According to the report, structural reviews are undertaken when a “change to the structure of a college or provision may be needed to maintain financial sustainability and high-quality opportunities for learners”.
The Department for Education can’t delay any longer – contingencies and adaptations for next summer’s exams must be published immediately, writes Bill Watkin
We are getting uncomfortably accustomed to a diet of divided opinion, it seems. Brexit, Trump, even wearing masks and lockdown, have all split views and raised the temperature in homes across the country.
And, of course, there are next summer’s examinations. There are passionate advocates of exams and hardened opponents, both sides now battle-scarred by their experiences last summer.
So, should exams take place, or shouldn’t they?
It’s not a straightforward question, and for many, the conversation ends up taking the form of a yes, but… no, but… discussion.
On the one hand, exams are widely acknowledged to be the simplest, apparently most objective, and certainly the most accepted method of terminal assessment.
Yes, but (I argue with myself) exams are unreliable at the best of times! There is evidence to suggest that the grade you were awarded could easily have been one higher or one lower if the wind had been blowing in a different direction.
Even if exams can take place – and they almost certainly will – they would be inherently unfair. Young people won’t have the same learning opportunities this year.
No, but the alternative to exams last summer was something of a disaster. Some centres are still embroiled in legal challenges from disappointed students, there was grade inflation, some students reached aspirational destinations with potentially inadequate preparation.
Yes, but we have learned the lessons: right from the start, Ofqual said we should rely on teachers’ professional judgement. We know now that we mustn’t worry excessively about grade inflation.
No, but employers, universities and colleges need to be clear about what a young person knows and can do! Only an exam can provide that objective benchmark that allows us to feel confident about that.
Yes, but sixth-form colleges and universities can put on foundation years to get young people up to standard. Except that the third year of sixth-form funding is 17.5 per cent lower than an already low rate. And university students will balk at paying £3,000 more in tuition fees.
Yes, but we can still deliver a grading system without exams – we just need to agree some contingencies and adaptations. We can’t afford to rush to a decision.
No, but we are already well into the school year. We could reduce the content to be tested and say in advance which topics might be in the exams. And we could compensate students for lost learning by allowing aids in the exam, such as set texts and formula sheets.
Yes, but this can be counter-productive – the more material there is, the greater the danger of cognitive overload. It won’t help those who need it most.
No, but Ofqual could also use comparable outcomes to ensure that this year’s students would be treated as “generously” as candidates in 2020.
Yes, but that applies to all students and does nothing to level the playing field and compensate those who have had a tougher time of it this year. And some students will be ill or self-isolating in the summer and won’t be able to take all of the exams.
As we can see, the Holy Grail that is “fairness” is proving elusive
No, but if the timetable allows for a time gap between the different papers in each subject, and if there is an extra chance to take the exam later, it is very unlikely that a student would be unavailable for every window.
Yes, but even one young person missing an exam means we need a back-up plan. We can’t just rely on exams.
No, but we can bring back ranking. Not all students, just those who have not done any papers.
Phew. As we can see, the Holy Grail that is “fairness” is proving elusive, and the opinion divide is not surprising.
But now is the time for the Department for Education to decide once and for all what contingencies and adaptations will be introduced this summer.
Teachers and students need to know what they are preparing for and how to prepare for it. We are almost at the end of term one and every lesson counts.
