Employers are cancelling T-level industry placements and providers are finding it increasingly challenging to find alternatives, new research has found.

A survey of 32 of the 44 providers due to teach the first T-levels in just six weeks’ time was conducted by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) earlier this month.

The results, supplemented by a follow-up webinar that included government and sector body representatives, have been published today and show that around a third of the providers are ready for the substantial industrial placement component ‘to a small extent’ or ‘not at all’.

Securing enough industry placements of at least 315 hours was arguably already the most significant challenge threatening a successful T-levels rollout, but this has been exacerbated by Covid-19.

Due to the pandemic, employers are “cancelling or not committing to placements and providers need to seek out new opportunities”, the report states.

One unnamed provider said: “Providers are most worried about industry placements. They feel that in many cases they are going to need to create new partnerships with employers because the pipelines they have been creating for the past two years are now seriously damaged by Covid.”

Just after the research took place in early July, the government announced a “package of support” which included employer cash incentives of up to £750 per T-level placement, with a maximum of ten learners per business.

The NFER said it will be “interesting to see whether this will make a difference to employers when deciding whether or not they are able to take T-level students on placements”.

The first T-level routes to be rolled out from September 2020 will be in construction, digital and education and childcare.

Providers reported that digital continues to be the most challenging route for finding student placements. 

This is due to the “large number of micro and small businesses” in the sector, and to employees “sometimes being required to work from home which is not usually a suitable arrangement for placement students”.

Providers also noted issues in terms of delivering education and childcare placements which have arisen as a result of Covid-19.

Placements in this route will total 730 to 750 hours – in line with sector norms – which does not allow for placements to be shifted to later in year one or into year two of the T-level, when the economy may have started to recover.

While most providers said they were “optimistic” about student recruitment from September, digital was again “a cause for concern”.

Just less than three-quarters of the providers responding to the survey reported that applications at this stage are ‘less than expected’ for digital, whereas for education and childcare and construction the majority of providers reported that they are ‘more than expected’ or ‘about the same as expected’.

There are a number of reasons for the recruitment challenges in digital, which existed prior to Covid-19, according to the report.

These include the “degree of specialisation and ‘niche content’ of the qualification, it containing new and untested content which makes it difficult to market”.

There is also “felt to be an issue” in young people’s “understanding of the careers available in digital as they are not visible, front-line jobs, they [students] might not know people who do them and they are not well-established jobs”.

The struggle of recruiting T-level students and finding enough industry placements has been heightened a by the lack of face-to-face contact providers could have with schools and employers during to the pandemic, as well as the pause in the government’s £3 million NexT Level marketing campaign, as revealed by FE Week earlier this month.

The campaign, which was blocked by the Cabinet Office to ensure government-wide communications focused on an immediate Covid-19 response, is now back underway and providers are hoping the effort will be “ramped up”.

What may also come as a concern to the sector is that the NFER’s research found that some providers are turning off “competing” qualifications, such as BTECs and other applied generals, to increase T-level recruitment.

“Some providers have, for example, decided to replace their level 3 childcare provision with the T-level,” the report said.

“As one provider commented: ‘We are confident about recruitment because we are not offering a non-T-level alternative’.”

Concerns have previously been raised that the government’s plans to withdraw funding for thousands of applied general qualifications including BTECs is manipulation of the market to ensure T-levels are a success.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Industry placements are at the heart of our pioneering new T-levels and will give young people first-hand experience of the world of work and the opportunity to develop the skills that employers need.

“We are really pleased that the vast majority of 2020 providers remain on track to deliver T-levels from September. We are working very closely with T-level providers to identify challenges, and will continue to monitor the impact of Covid-19 throughout the autumn term and whether further support is needed.”

Twenty college partnerships will receive grants through a fund designed to develop greater collaboration across the sector, the government announced today.

Skills minister Gillian Keegan has named the winners of the £5.4 million College Collaboration Fund (CCF). It builds on the Strategic College Improvement Fund.

The 20 partnerships are:

CCF lead college	Partner colleges
Dudley College of Technology	Birmingham Metropolitan College, City of Wolverhampton College
Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College	Harrow and Uxbridge College, West Thames College,The Windsor Forest Colleges Group, Brooklands College
DN Colleges Group	The Sheffield College
London South East Colleges	East Sussex College Group
Darlington College	Middlesbrough College, Education Training Collective, Hartlepool College, Northern School of Art
Wiltshire College & University Centre	Bridgwater and Taunton College
Cirencester College	Strode College, Brockenhurst College, The Henley College, Petroc
Wilberforce Sixth Form College	Franklin Sixth Form College, John Leggott College, Scarborough Sixth Form College, Wyke Sixth Form College
Truro & Penwith College	South Devon College, Petroc
Newcastle & Stafford College Group	Shrewsbury Colleges Group
The Windsor Forest Colleges Group	Berkshire College of Agriculture
Heart of Worcestershire College	Grimsby Institute
Lincoln College	Grimsby Institute, DN Colleges Group, Grantham College, Boston College, New College Stamford
Weston College	Gateshead College
The LTE Group (The Manchester College)	Bury College, Bolton College, Hopwood Hall College, The Oldham College, Tameside College, Trafford College Group, Wigan and Leigh College
Kendal College	NCG (Carlisle College), Lakes College, Furness College, Askham Bryan (Newton Rigg College)
Walsall College	Birmingham Metropolitan College, National College for Advanced Transport and Infrastructure, South Staffordshire College
Plumpton College	Basingstoke College of Technology and EKC Group
Fareham College	Highbury College, Havant and South Downs College
Heart of Worcestershire College	East Durham College

 

The CCF launched earlier this year but was paused in March due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

It reopened for applications on June 10 but with a twist: the original pot on offer totalled £9 million but was then cut to £5.4 million after the Department for Education had to “reprioritise” its spending decisions in light of the pandemic.

The fund is designed to “support FE colleges to respond to the current challenges around quality improvement and capitalise on good practice, including that developed through new ways of working” throughout 2020/21.

The DfE said activities through the programme can include developing “high quality digital content to provide improved remote and blended learning, make sure students affected by coronavirus can catch-up on lost learning hours and also to prevent young people from becoming NEET (not in education employment or training)”. 

Keegan said: “This fund will help colleges work together, to develop cutting edge digital approaches to online learning , to overcome new challenges and continue to deliver high-quality education and training for the communities they serve.

“The past few months have been a challenging time for the sector, but they have gone above and beyond to support their students. This additional funding will help to support further collaborative work as we move forward.”

David Corke, the Association of Colleges director of education and skills policy, added: “The grants will help support collaboration and the sharing of innovative good practice in the college sector.

“Importantly, developing digital content, providing catch up support, engaging vulnerable learners and addressing mental health and wellbeing will all be vital ways colleges will use this money to support students to transition into college or their next academic year.”

Groups of colleges could bid for grants of between £100,000 to £500,000 but are expected to match at least 25 per cent of the total cost of the programme of work.

However, the DfE may waive a proportionate amount of match funding contribution where a college is in formal intervention with Education and Skills Funding Agency, as asking for a contribution would “undermine a college’s financial viability”.

Each submission needed a lead applicant college with an ‘outstanding’ or ‘good’ Ofsted grade and at least one other “improvement partner” college.

Merged colleges without an Ofsted rating could still apply, as long as one of the two previous colleges met the criteria.

Each proposed programme of work must address at least one of the fund’s three “quality improvement themes” identified by DfE: quality of education, financial and resource management, and leadership and governance.

The 12-month CCF follows the Strategic College Improvement Fund – which ended last year after £12.3 million of the £15 million up for grabs was used to help 80 colleges rated ‘requires improvement’ or ‘inadequate’ team up with better performing colleges.

Education secretary Gavin Williamson previously said the new fund is needed because there “have been examples where colleges haven’t been getting it right and things that we are not comfortable with have been going on”.

All colleges that receive the funding must complete their activities from the CCF by the 31 March 2021. Successful colleges will receive payment of their grant by 18 September 2020.

The DfE confirmed earlier this month that they will launch another round for CCF funding, but the timeline for this is not yet known.

Two more providers due to teach the first T-levels in just two months’ time have delayed delivery for at least a year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

It means the number of colleges, schools and other providers in England in wave one of the rollout of the new post-16 technical qualifications has now fallen from an original 50 to just 44.

The providers delaying their 2020 T-level launch plans are Sandwell Academy and Walsall Studio.

Another provider which was signed up to deliver T-levels from 2021, Reigate College, has also pulled out of delivery.

Announcing the decisions today, a Department for Education spokesperson said: “Due the impact of coronavirus, Sandwell Academy and Walsall Studio have both decided to delay delivery of T-levels until 2021. Both providers remain fully committed to T-levels and we will continue to work closely with them to make the programme a success.

“Reigate College also remains committed to delivering T-levels in the longer term but has decided not to do so in 2021 so they can focus on working with students on existing qualifications to ensure a positive recovery from Covid-19.”

The DfE added: “We are really pleased that the vast majority of 2020 providers remain on track to deliver T-levels from September and we thank FE leaders and staff for their continued support and hard work.”

Today’s news comes a month after four other T-level providers – Access Creative College, Durham Sixth Form Centre, Salesian School and University College Birmingham – also cancelled their plans for a 2020 delivery.

Another provider, York College, announced at the same time that it will now only offer one T-level route this year instead of all three they had planned for.

Other providers had pulled out of or delayed T-level delivery prior to Covid.

In October, education secretary Gavin Williamson’s old college, Scarborough Sixth Form, pulled out of offering construction and digital pathways from 2020 because of a lack of opportunities for the T-levels’ mandatory 315-hour work placements locally, and a shortage of good-quality teachers.

Three schools previously ditched plans to take part in the 2020 wave.

Skills minister Gillian Keegan confirmed in April that the government would drive forward with plans to launch the first T-levels from September 2020 despite the disruption being caused by the Covid-19 outbreak.

She said that while providers have “rightly raised some issues” with delivery, “most wanted to continue to deliver the first T-levels this year” and “we owe it to these young people to find ways to continue to deliver the courses that they have chosen and that will offer them great progression opportunities”.

The first three T-levels – in construction, digital and education and childcare – will be taught from September 2020 with more rolled out gradually between 2021 and 2023.

The new post-16 qualifications have been designed to be the technical equivalent and on a par with A-levels.

Walsall Studio, Sandwell Academy and Reigate College have been approached for comment.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency has this afternoon published its annual report and accounts for 2019-20, revealing college loan write-offs, hefty fraud investigation costs and salary boosts for top civil servants.

FE Week has the main findings:

 

1. College keeps £15m in overpayments

During the last financial year, South Thames College received an ESFA capital grant to “facilitate the acquisition of the site for a new school”.

The agency paid the college a total of £15,160,000 in “overpayment”, which has now been waived.

The ESFA’s accounts state: “In certain circumstances over-payments of grants can occur when grant payment profiles for educational bodies are based on expected learner numbers which are not supported by actual numbers or where capital grants are eligible for recovery.

“One example relates to our waiver of the capital grant recovery from South Thames College to facilitate the acquisition of the site for a new school.”

Other waivers of overpayments include £823,000 for Manchester Creative Studio and £609,000 for Wigan UTC.

 

2. Abandoned FE loans costs drop substantially

Across all education streams in 2019-20, the ESFA reported claims waived or abandoned of £25 million for this year compared to £62 million the year before.

The agency said this has reduced due to the completion of the college restructuring programme which implemented recommendations from the area reviews of post-16 colleges.

The only FE sector loan to be waived in 2019-20 was £1,750,000 for Trafford College, which was handed exceptional financial support for its merger with Stockport College. Trafford is also currently working on plans to merge with the troubled Cheadle and Marple Sixth Form College, but this process was delayed earlier in the year owing to Covid-19.

 

3. 115 ‘compliance reviews’ of ITPs…

The ESFA said it “strengthened our oversight and assurance activities”, increasing the amount of resource dedicated to ensuring the “proper” use of public funds and engaging more with the sector.

As part of this, the agency delivered 115 compliance reviews on independent training providers (ITPs) with 21 additional control visits.

 

4. …but fraud continues to be a problem

Fraud hit the agency for £5.6 million in 2019-20, which mainly relates to two unnamed “specific cases” that are not yet in the public domain.

Recovery of the identified losses “remain ongoing”. During the year the ESFA was able to recover £8,119.

At 31 March 2020 the agency had a total of 82 live investigations and allegations to carry forward into 2020-21.

This comprises 19 on-going academy trust cases at “various stages” of the investigation cycle and similarly, 63 live cases relating to colleges and independent training providers.

The ESFA said the formation of new academy trusts and mergers continued to rise in 2019-20 with academies increasing by around 900 in-year.

Whilst there has not been a “significant” rise in the number of academy investigation visits compared to 2018-19, there is a “continuing slightly upward trend aligned to sector growth”.

Additionally, in response to changes in apprenticeships funding “we have seen a rise in the number of allegations this year”.

 

5. 894 providers removed from apprenticeship provider register

Last year the ESFA launched a refreshed and “strengthened” Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers (RoATP) through stronger criteria added to the application process and complete re-registration of providers.

There are now 2,067 providers on the register, and during the process the agency removed 894 providers who did not meet the new criteria.

 

6. Overall underspend mainly because of apprenticeships

The ESFA’s total outturn was £58.57 billion against a budget of £58.83 billion, a 0.4 per cent underspend. This included £58.51 billion expenditure on “grant and other funding, the balance of expenditure was in respect of staff costs and operating expenditure”.

The agency said the variance on resource funding was largely attributable to an underspend on apprenticeships.

As revealed by FE Week earlier this month, the Treasury took back £330 million of unspent apprenticeships funding last year.

 

7. Learning Record Service data breach investigation ongoing

An investigation was launched in January after betting companies were “wrongly provided access” to an education database containing the information of 28 million children.

This was the only “protected personal data related incident” for the ESFA that was judged significant enough to be formally reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office during 2019-20.

The ICO was notified that a learning provider, Trustopia, registered with the Learning Records Service (LRS), had been working with another company to use their access to the database for the purposes of ID verification for “non-educational purposes, in clear breach of their agreement with DfE”.

The personal data comprised of the name, date of birth, gender and postcode of 380,000 individuals registered with the LRS.

The ESFA’s accounts state that the ICO is continuing its investigation and will “contact the Department for Education once the investigation is concluded”.

 

8. Pay rise and bonuses for ESFA’s top officials

Chief executive Eileen Milner saw her salary increase from £140-145,000 to £150-155,000 whilst also bagging a bonus of up to £5,000.

Peter Mucklow, director of further education, saw his wage increase from £95-100,000 to £100-105,000 whilst receiving a bonus of up to £15,000.

The accounts say the pay boosts for both civil servants were made after they took on “additional responsibilities in 2018-19 which were reflected in their salary in 2019-20 and included an element of back pay”.

The only other top ESFA official to receive a pay rise was director of academies Mike Pettifer – from £1150-120,000 to £125-130,000 – after he “took on additional responsibilities from September 2018 which were for the remainder of 2018-19 and for the full year in 2019-20.”

Pettifer was also paid a bonus of up to £10,000.

 

9. £1.4m paid to firms linked to ESFA board members

The accounts show £964,000 was paid to Hays Travel, a company owned by family members of ESFA chair Irena Lucas. She is also the chair at Hays, one of the UK’s largest independent travel agents.

A further £984,000 was paid to the firm in 2018-19.

Meanwhile, another £684,000 was paid to Voyage Care, were ESFA board member Stuart McMinnies is a non-executive director. The firm provides support for people who have complex needs.

Teacher-assessed grades will have to be hauled down by up to 12 percentage points this year so results are not “significantly undermined”.

However the regulator has sought to reassure schools and colleges ahead of this year’s results day, promising that grades will be “slightly better” than last year.

Ofqual revealed today that grades submitted by teachers were around 12 percentage points higher than last year’s actual results at A-level, and 9 percentage points higher at GCSE.

After exams were cancelled this year due to the coronavirus, Ofqual required schools and colleges to submit centre-assessed grades of what results pupils were most likely to achieve, which will then be standardised nationally.

Ofqual said it won’t reveal the full details of its standardisation model until results day as this could lead to some “unfairly finding out their results early or cause unhelpful anxiety if they are incorrectly calculated”.

But, ahead of rising tension about how grades will look this year, the regulator has attempted to reassure schools and colleges, saying “overall, results will be no worse and indeed slightly better”.

They said national results this summer may approach a one per cent increase overall for GCSEs and around two per cent for A levels.

Ofqual said this varies by grade, but this mean that when you aggregate all A-level results there will be a slight overall increase in higher results.

The regulator said this was down to “a number of decisions which work in students’ favour” being taken as part of the standardisation model.

That includes historical data used being based on previous years’ results after any reviews of marking or appeals and allowed students to receive ‘off-tier’ grades in tiered GCSEs.

However, they’ve had to haul down the results submitted by teachers quite substantially as they were, on average, 12 percentage points better than in 2019 at A-level and 9 percentage points higher at GCSE.

But there were greater peaks at some key grades. For instance, 65 per cent of pupils were awarded a grade B at A-level by their teachers under this year’s system, compared to 51.6 per cent in 2019 (an increase of 13.4 percentage points).

Meanwhile, at GCSE, 82.4 per cent of pupils were awarded a grade 4, compared to 72.7 per cent last year (an increase of 9.7 percentage points).

Ofqual said: “Improvement on such a scale in a single year has never occurred and to allow it would significantly undermine the value of these grades for students.”

This means a “substantial number” of students will receive at least one grade that has been adjusted as a result of the standardisation process. As centres have submitted grades that are “higher than would be expected”, this means it’s most likely results will be marked down.

But Ofqual added: “That is not surprising, given that the circumstances meant teachers were not given an opportunity to develop a common approach to grading in advance; and they naturally want to do their best for their students.”

They said the adjustments mean that “universities, colleges and employers can be confident this year’s results carry the same value, and students can compete on a level playing field for opportunities with students from previous and future years”.

Ofqual also said there was around a fifth of a grade difference between centres at GCSE, and a quarter of a grade difference at A-level. The regulator would not reveal further details of which centres submitted more generous grades.

But Ofqual said that overall, from the data it has reviewed, they expect the “majority of grades students receive will be the same as their centre assessment grades, and almost all grades students receive will be the same as the centre assessment grades or within one grade”.

They added: “Results for students will therefore almost always be broadly in line with centres’ and teachers’ expectations, reflecting the skills, professionalism and integrity of those involved.”

The regulator also said the preliminary analysis suggests there will be “generally be no widening of the gaps in attainment between different groups of students. In other words, the concern that identifiable groups of students would lose out from this year’s arrangements have not been borne out.”

But there were small changes. For instance, an initial analysis found the difference in the gap in mean grade between white and black pupils rose by a 25^th of a grade at GCSE this year, compared to last year.

 

The government has U-turned on its decision to exclude 16 to 19 providers from its £1 billion Covid catch-up fund.

A one-off, ring-fenced grant of up to £96 million will be stumped up to provide “small group tutoring” for disadvantaged 16 to 19 students whose studies have been disrupted by the pandemic.

Prime minister Boris Johnson and education secretary Gavin Williamson had sparked outrage last month when they announced the programme for schools and excluded 16 to 19 providers at the last minute.

Organisations such as the Association of Colleges called the move “indefensible” while Toby Perkins, Labour’s shadow apprenticeships and lifelong learning minister, said it was an “unforgivable disgrace”.

The £1 billion fund has two streams: £650 million additional funding for the 2020-21 academic year to help school pupils catch up on education missed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, and £350 million will pay for the establishment of a National Tutoring Programme.

Announcing the distribution of the catch-up funding to include 16 to 19s, the DfE said today: “As part of the tutoring fund, we will also provide a one-off, ring-fenced grant of up to £96 million for colleges, sixth forms and all 16 to 19 providers, to provide small group tutoring activity for disadvantaged 16 to 19 students whose studies have been disrupted.”

The DfE confirmed to FE Week that the £96 million will be taken from the £350 million National Tutoring Programme, it is not new funding in addition to it.

Further details, including how the £96 million will be shared out, will be published “shortly”.

Skills minister Gillian Keegan said: “I’m absolutely delighted that we have secured an additional £96 million so colleges, sixth forms and all 16 to 19 providers can provide small group tutoring activity for disadvantaged students whose studies have been disrupted due to Covid-19.

“The past few months have been extremely challenging for students, and we are really grateful to the FE sector for their hard work to support students to study online. This funding will make sure those that students who will benefit from additional tutoring support will get the help they need to get ahead.”

AoC deputy chief executive Julian Gravatt said today’s announcement is a “welcome step”.

“We have argued all along that they deserve as much support to overcome the challenges thrown up by Covid-19 as every other age group, including their peers in schools.

“The ringfenced funding for disadvantaged 16 to 19 students will allow colleges to be flexible in their support programmes and enable them to reach those most in need. For example, 70 per cent of students resitting English and maths are from disadvantaged backgrounds and will need tailored and concentrated support to ensure they can succeed next academic year, despite the disruption.

“Today’s announcement is a strong sign that the government recognises the unique role colleges play in getting the country’s young people back up to speed but, in future, it would be better to get these decisions out earlier. Most colleges have already set their budgets for 2020-21.”

The country’s biggest skills and careers event, WorldSkills UK LIVE, has been cancelled for 2020 due to the health and safety concerns caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

This year’s WorldSkills competition cycle will also not run.

But both events will return in 2021 as the UK begins to prepare its next group of talented young trades people to take to EuroSkills St Petersburg 2022 and WorldSkills Lyon 2023 – competitions which are dubbed the ‘skills Olympics’.

Preparations for EuroSkills Graz, which was scheduled to take place this September but has been postponed until January, and Shanghai 2021 have been ongoing virtually throughout lockdown. Team UK for Graz is expected to be announced either next month or in early September.

WorldSkills UK LIVE, which takes place annually in November at the NEC, Birmingham, hosts the National Finals of the skills competitions and welcomes tens of thousands of young people every year to hear from top employers such as BAE Systems, HS2 and Health Education England.

Neil Bentley-Gockmann, chief executive of WorldSkills UK LIVE, said: “It is with a heavy heart that we have had to cancel LIVE and our competitions  but the ongoing uncertainty, coupled with the practicalities of hosting more than 70,000 people under one roof, led us to taking this difficult decision.

“We will be returning to the NEC in 2021 stronger and more effective than ever.”

Although WorldSkills UK will not be running its national competitions cycle in 2020 the organisation said they will continue to work with all the competitors who registered to “provide them with skills and mindset development”.

This will include access to virtual bootcamps that will provide information and advice regarding well-being and employability, supported by former WorldSkills competitors known as ‘skills champions’, performance coaches and Youth Employment UK.

While cancelling LIVE was a “sad” decision, Bentley-Gockmann said it has presented an opportunity for his organisation to increase its work on digital platforms.

“Through these challenges has come the opportunity to evolve our programmes and create a new online offering for tutorials, masterclasses and assessment to help many more young people get access to our resources so they can continue to think about their career next steps and develop their skills.”

Speaking to FE Week, Bentley-Gockmann explained their digital presence will mostly be enhanced via online seminars focussed on mental health and well-being and employability skills.

“It is about helping competitors with advice and techniques about managing their mental health and wellbeing, goal setting, time management, attention control.

“So that will be online seminars around thinking about your skills and employability skills and what employers are looking for, such as CV writing and interview preparation.”

He added that next year’s LIVE event could also become more virtual to reach more parts of the country.

“We’re thinking about potentially a virtual LIVE as part of our thinking about how we make the event accessible from anywhere in the UK, as well as people coming into it physically from West and East Midlands.

“If you can’t get to a LIVE event, we want to explore how you make it virtual so wherever you are in the country, you can experience what’s going on.”