Education staff won’t be prioritised for vaccine as government continues with age-based approach

School and college staff will not be prioritised for the Covid-19 vaccine over other workers in the next phase of immunisation, the government has confirmed.

But education workers in their forties will be next in line for the jab along with all others in that age group once phase two begins, after ministers confirmed the age-based approach to immunisation would continue.

Health secretary Matt Hancock said last month that teachers have a “very strong case” for priority jabs, and the education secretary Gavin Williamson had said he was lobbying for prioritisation.

However, the Joint Committee on Vaccines and Immunisations has said today that a mass vaccination targeting occupational groups would be “more complex” to deliver and “may slow the vaccine programme leaving some more vulnerable people at higher risk unvaccinated for longer”.

They add that an “age-based approach” remains the “most effective way” of reducing death and hospitalisation from Covid-19.

Vaccine
Matthew Hancock

The government has said it aims to offer everyone over 50 a vaccine by April 15, bringing it to the end of the first phase.

In phase two, those aged 40 to 49 will be next, then 30 to 39-year-olds and finally 18 to 29-year-olds. The vaccines are not currently approved for use on children.

School and college leaders say they are “disappointed” that the JCVI have not advised the prioritisation of education staff.

The decision comes just over a week before schools and colleges are due to start reopening to all pupils on March 8.

Williamson said last month he was “fighting tooth and nail” to make teachers a priority for the vaccine.

 

It is crucial that those at higher risk are encouraged to take the vaccine

Geoff Barton, leaders of heads’ union ASCL, said: “The government needs to make a policy decision on this matter having insisted that education is a national priority and having announced a ‘big bang’ return to the classroom in England.

“It must now back that up by providing a clear direction that education staff will be prioritised in the next phase of the programme.

“This is important not only in reassuring staff who it expects to work in busy and crowded environments, but also in terms of minimising disruption to education caused by staff absence as a result of Covid.”

Professor Wei Shen Lim, covid-19 chair for JCVI, said “continuing the age-based rollout will provide the greatest benefit in the shortest time, including to those in occupations at a higher risk of exposure”.

Dr Mary Ramsay, head of immunisations at Public Health England (PHE), said: “Delivering a vaccination programme on this scale is incredibly complex and the JCVI’s advice will help us continue protecting individuals from the risk of hospitalisation at pace.

“The age-based approach will ensure more people are protected more quickly. It is crucial that those at higher risk – including men and BAME communities – are encouraged to take the vaccine, and that local health systems are fully engaged and reaching out to underserved communities to ensure they can access the vaccine.”

This is how my sixth form college will tackle the mass testing challenge

Staff will be mass testing dozens of students an hour in order to get them safely back into learning, writes Gerard Garvey

Colleagues at Newcastle Sixth Form College were relieved to have clarity over the reopening of colleges and an end to fully remote learning this week.

Whilst staff at our college have astounded me with the way they seamlessly moved to synchronous online delivery, we know that the best place for our students is in the classroom, receiving expert tuition from talented teachers who can respond to their needs.

We also know that our learners and their families are looking forward to the return to classroom based learning as well as the personalised wrap around support, which is much harder to replicate online.

We intend to bring back our 1,250 students in phases, beginning with an appointment for their initial test on Monday, March 8.

This will continue across the early part of that week until all those consenting have been tested.

We plan to invite our students in blocks of 80 per hour – the number we are comfortable our testing team of six can safely process – with a view to testing everybody by the end of Tuesday.

Naturally, this will lead to some disruption to our regular activities for a couple of days, but we are keen to get the first test out of the way swiftly.

I understand the anxiety in the sector about running large scale testing on site

We hope to have all of our students tested in time for a full reopening for all learners on Wednesday 10 March and will run the second and third tests during the college day.

I understand the anxiety in the sector about running large scale testing on site.

But our experience with the mass testing pilot last term has shown us that we can process hundreds of tests in a single day with a team of less than 10 and we have our staff testing team trained and ready.

I fully appreciate the challenge is very different for larger colleges.

As part of NCG we have some colleges with up to 11,000 students to test across the next few weeks and we have been working as a group to look at how we can do this in a way that is both efficient and safe.

I wouldn’t suggest for a second that the next couple of weeks are without challenge – but I am sure we can all agree that this is a positive move in getting young people back on site so we can finish preparing them for their futures.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: EDITION 344

Your weekly guide to who’s new and who’s leaving.

Jasmin Lewis, Assessment development manager, Construction EPA Company

Start date: February 2021

Previous job: Healthcare partnership manager and product manager, Lifetime Training Group

Interesting fact: She has performed in a West End theatre production based on the Beatles.

Dominic Gill, Chair of trustees, Ufi VocTech Trust

Start date: February 2021

Concurrent job: Managing director, Intequal

Interesting fact: As an independent consultant, he previously developed and led Microsoft’s Partner Apprenticeship Programme.

Nick Lewis, Curriculum manager of automotive and engineering, City of Wolverhampton College

Start date: December 2020

Previous job: Operations manager, Total People

Interesting fact: He won apprentice of the year on completing his automotive apprenticeship in 1998.

Delay to Covid-19 testing for providers branded ‘madness’

The government has failed to explain why private training providers will need to wait until the end of next month to apply for Covid-19 testing kits, a decision branded as “madness”.

The move has proven particularly controversial as colleges are receiving the kits ahead of a return to face-to-face training on March 8.

Officials are developing a “demand-led model” to allow independent providers to order the kits for students and staff but it is unclear as to why this is still not available.

Despite this, Department for Education guidance states that it “expects” every 16-to-19 student will “attend their FE provider in person, and will undertake the majority of their planned hours on site” from two weeks’ time.

This “unfair” and “depressing picture” has been lambasted by private providers, especially as prime minister Boris Johnson has made mass testing central to reopening schools and further education settings “safely”.

Providers have warned that the decision constitutes a “significant risk” and some fear they will now have to delay course starts as a result.

The DfE could not provide an explanation for why its “bespoke solution” for independent providers to order the kits is not yet available or how it will work. A spokesperson only said it will “take a few weeks to implement”.

Graham Howe, executive director at the Apprenticeship College, told FE Week his provider won a contract through the DfE’s recent traineeships tender and they are “keen” to deliver to help the government’s goal of tripling the number of starts on the pre-employment programme over the next five months.

But without the testing kits “some course starts will need to be delayed until the end of March, at the earliest”, he warned.

Howe added that some of his provider’s current trainees have “little or no access” to the technology needed for remote learning, so “anything that delays their return to classroom delivery is frustrating”.

Corrina Hembury, managing director of Access Training (East Midlands) Ltd, also expressed frustration. “We provide training for around 700 apprentices and 50 study programme learners aged 16 to 19 at our sites in Nottingham and Derby and, along with many other providers, our cohort includes high levels of vulnerable and disadvantaged learners that are more likely to be affected by Covid-19 so it is unfair that they are being doubly disadvantaged by this lack of testing,” she said.

Providers are encouraged in the DfE’s guidance to use local asymptomatic testing sites until their kits arrive, but “most of these are not easily accessible by public transport and therefore it is unlikely that many of our learners will be able to use them”, Hembury said.

“We are therefore expected to deliver training without the additional reassurance of testing for both the learners and the staff.”

The DfE said that to help ensure the safety of students and staff and minimise risk of outbreaks, providers should “continue implementing the system of controls”.

A spokesperson claimed that while testing helps to identify people who are infectious but do not have coronavirus symptoms, the “system of controls involves a fuller set of actions that providers need to take to prevent and respond to any infection”.

The system of controls includes ensuring face coverings are worn as well as other personal protective equipment where appropriate, promoting the “catch it, bin it, kill it” approach, keeping occupied spaces well ventilated, and maintaining social distancing.

 

A depressing picture has emerged

The Association of Employment and Learning Providers described the delay to testing for their members as “madness”. Chief executive Jane Hickie said: “This is another example of where the DfE seems to be treating work-based training programmes as an afterthought, even though the chancellor regards them as integral to the economic recovery.

“A depressing picture has emerged of apparent ministerial indifference to a part of the sector that is working closely with thousands of employers to generate new opportunities for unemployed young people and adults who may need to retrain.”

She added: “The DfE has recognised that ITPs need home-testing kits for their staff and learners to ensure their safe return to face-to-face training, but we urgently require a delivery plan and the one which will be most effective will closely involve providers as the main point of distribution.”

 

‘Bureaucratic’ process for adding courses to level 3 lifetime skills guarantee offer slammed

One of the country’s largest manufacturing sectors has hit out at the “frustrating” and “bureaucratic” process of adding courses on to the level 3 lifetime skills guarantee offer.

The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) was left “puzzled” in December when their industry was one of many key economic sectors overlooked in the original list of 380 qualifications being offered to some adults aged 24 and above for free from April.

The federation, which represents around 900 employers, has since been lobbying for a number of food manufacturing courses to be added but has found the process “difficult”.

Only mayoral combined authorities and awarding bodies can submit bids for qualifications to be added, and the Department for Education is only allowing applications every other month. The first was in January, which was too soon for FDF’s bid to be ready, so they’re having to wait until the end of March.

Mark Corbett, the federation’s education and skills policy manager, told FE Week that food manufacturing “shouldn’t have been in this position in the first place” as the sector, which employs nearly half a million people, is perfectly placed for people who have lost their jobs and want to retrain.

level 3 lifetime skills guarantee
Mark Corbett

“We are one of the sectors that has kept the nation fed throughout the pandemic,” Corbett said. “We were hailed by government as hidden heroes, but then for courses in our sector to be missed off, and then to be asked to go through this quite difficult process of getting courses added, is disgruntling.”

Industries such as hospitality, tourism and the media were left off the government list because they were deemed to be a low priority with low wages.

Corbett said there was “clearly something wrong” with the methodology adopted and claimed the DfE confuses food manufacturing with hospitality and catering. This led to the industry being omitted while the engineering and manufacturing technologies sectors were included, he added.

Explaining his experience of the application process so far, Corbett said: “It is very bureaucratic. As a trade association we are not allowed to submit any application to get courses added.

“We have pulled together different stakeholders and created a working group. We’re currently pulling together all the courses we think should be added and align our application together to submit it through mayoral combined authorities and make this case as strong as possible.”

He continued: “We have to make a case for the number of learners we expect to have, how we will support the local economy – is it part of local skills plans and the industrial strategy.

“We are a national sector so to have that regional criteria are a bit frustrating.”

Corbett said the situation is additionally frustrating because last month’s Skills for Jobs white paper “sold itself as putting employers at the centre to influence the skills system and yet employers do not have any role in this current system of getting courses added”.

 

The process is based on existing and well-understood processes

The level 3 courses chosen by the DfE will be fully funded for adults aged 24 and above without a full qualification at level 3 – equivalent to two full A-levels. The policy will be rolled out from April, funded by the National Skills Fund.

At the time the list was unveiled, the department said it had chosen qualifications that were “valued by employers”.

Defending the process for adding courses, a DfE spokesperson said: “The process for suggesting additional qualifications to include in the level 3 adult offer is based on existing and well-understood processes.

“We encourage these organisations [mayoral combined authorities and awarding bodies] to work with employers and put forward their suggestions, to ensure the offer provides people with chance to gain the skills they need to get ahead.

“We have been engaging with sector representatives – including those from the food and drink manufacturing sector – since the publication of the qualifications list in December and will continue to do so.”

The new offer builds on a similar policy that has been in place since 2013. It allows adults up to the age of 23 to be fully funded for their first full-level 3 qualification from the adult education budget. Those aged 24 and over have since had to take out an advanced learner loan to pay for the course.

College handed emergency cash as merger hits a second delay

An embattled sixth-form college being propped up by a £3 million bailout has seen its merger delayed for a second time.

Cheadle and Marple Sixth Form College in Stockport was originally due to join Trafford College Group last August, before this was pushed back to October after coronavirus delayed the due diligence process.

The college has now told FE Week the merger date has been delayed a further six months to May 2021.

Chair Alison Hewitt said “significant” progress has been made, but the change “was deemed prudent, given the ongoing work required to ensure the merger at a time of unprecedented upheaval”.

The extended timeframe has also led to the need for emergency funding to keep the college afloat.

Cheadle and Marple’s latest accounts reveal the Education and Skills Funding Agency stumped up £750,000 at the end of 2020, which is being paid in instalments, so that it could pay the bills between January and March 2021. 

This is on top of a £2.3 million emergency loan from the government, which has been received in tranches since July 2019,
during which time the college has incurred restructuring costs, additional invoices related to the pandemic and had to prepare for the merger, Hewitt said.

The loan is due to be repaid by July 31 this year.

The period between December and March is when cash is most needed by colleges as that is when providers receive the lowest proportion of core funding, a Cheadle and Marple spokesperson told FE Week. They said that they receive about 20 per cent of their annual income in that time.

The spokesperson added that the college “should not require additional funds to meet its day-to-day obligations in relation to the May date for merger”.

Hewitt said the exceptional cash from the ESFA “reflects the difficult position that had developed in the past.

“The college’s operational performance is significantly improved and on an improving trend,” she added.

College finances had been ‘terminal’

The college has been in formal intervention with the FE Commissioner since June 2019, and a report by Richard Atkins published in November 2019 revealed the college had asked the ESFA for emergency funding so it could meet staff salaries and other operating costs, because its cash was “exhausted”.

merger
Richard Atkins

After it was handed a financial health notice to improve in July 2019, the commissioner’s report considered the college’s finances to be “terminal” due to “over-optimistic” forecasts, “seriously lacking” financial oversight and a £3 million deficit in 2018/19.

Its latest accounts show the college generated a £2.2 million deficit in 2019/20. The FE Commissioner’s recommendations included a change in leadership “as soon as possible”, the board to work with the ESFA to ensure “short-term stability”, and for governors to be trained in the insolvency regime.

The report also noted Cheadle and Marple was “relatively small and lacks the critical mass to be sustainable on a stand-alone basis”.

College now has ‘stable’ financial position

Hewitt said the college had met all the commissioner’s recommendations since the report and is “now confident of having achieved a stable financial position from which to move forward in a controlled manner and be able to meet its day-to-day cash requirements”.

In February 2020, former John Ruskin College principal Mohammed Ramzan was made transition principal and chief accounting officer for Cheadle and Marple.

Hewitt was appointed chair in October 2019, having previously served as vice chair.

And as part of cost-saving exercises the leadership team was cut from 14 to eight.

“With the collaborative and hugely supportive relationship with its merger partner, The Trafford College Group, Cheadle and Marple Sixth Form College looks forward to a successful and sustainable future,” Hewitt said.

Functional skills barrier removed for ‘eligible apprentices’ from today

The government has finally reintroduced a flexibility that allows apprentices to take their end-point assessment (EPA) before their English and maths functional skills test.

Updated Department for Education guidance, published today, says this this can be applied to “eligible” apprentices from February 25.

To be eligible, apprentices and providers must have “exhausted all possibilities to access functional skills assessment via face-to-face and remote assessment, and they have confirmed their intent to continue and complete their functional skills within three months of starting their EPA”.

Confirmation of this must “also be evidenced in the learner file/evidence pack”.

The DfE said this flexibility will be available until 31 May 2021.

FE Week first revealed the move was on the cards in October, but it has taken the DfE until now to roll out. This is despite thousands of apprentices being reportedly “stuck in limbo”, delaying their end-point assessment because they could not take their functional skills since September owing to Covid-19 restrictions.

Apprenticeships and skills minister Gillian Keegan said: “Our priority is making sure apprentices gain the skills they need to progress. That’s why we are introducing a new temporary flexibility which allows training providers and awarding organisations to deliver training and assessments to ensure apprentices can continue to progress.”

 

‘Apprentices must not be on a break in learning’

The rule was first put in place in May 2020 following the first national lockdown, but it only applied to those due to take their functional skills assessment up until the end of July that year.

Its reintroduction comes on the same day the government confirmed that teacher assessed grades can also be used for functional skills learners unable to take their assessment in person or remotely.

DfE’s guidance provides further details on the eligibility criteria.

It says that apprentice must not be on a break in learning; meet all other gateway criteria to progress to their EPA; have been confirmed by their provider and their employer as ready for both their EPA, and to take a functional skills qualification assessment; start their EPA on or before 31 May 2021.

Another existing flexibility – where the government has temporarily suspended the requirement for level 2 apprentices to study towards, and attempt level 2 functional skills assessments – remains available.

GCSE and A-level exams 2021: Externally-set questions to be ‘optional’

Schools and colleges won’t be forced to use externally-set questions when determining their students’ GCSE and A-level grades this year, the government has confirmed.

Teacher assessments will be used to issue grades to pupils this summer after formal exams were cancelled following partial school and college closures.

A joint consultation by Ofqual and the Department for Education last month asked whether exam boards should “make available a set of papers” to aid teachers in reaching grades, and also asked whether their use should be mandated.

But the proposal for the papers, dubbed “mini-exams”, was met with hostility in some quarters and has been watered-down in the government’s final plans.

Exam boards will instead provide “optional” questions for each subject, which teachers can use alongside other evidence – such as coursework and mock exam results.

The government is due to publish its full response to the consultation later today, but has released some details in advance.

It has confirmed that it is proceeding with plans to have students appeal to schools and colleges first if they suspect an error in their grades.

It has also been announced that for the second year in a row, a full autumn exam series will be held for students who want to improve their grades.

Results days have also been moved to August 10 for A-levels and August 12 for GCSEs, later than the early-July date tabled in the consultation.

‘Flexibility’ for teachers

Exam boards will provide optional assessment materials to schools and colleges by Easter. Teachers will be able to pick from a range of subject-specific questions. The materials do not have to be used in timed conditions, unlike exams. Teachers will then have until June 18 to submit their grades.

It comes after only 26 per cent of students who responded to the consultation agreed that externally set papers should be provided. Schools and colleges were more supportive – 69 per cent of teachers agreed, as did 72 per cent of leaders.

Dr Mary Bousted

Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary at the National Education Union, said the process set out today is “better than the original consultation proposals” and is likely “the least worst option available”.

But she warned there were question marks over how “extra work necessary to facilitate grading will be dealt with”.

“Substantial time will need to be set aside for the initial assessments and gradings and then the internal school or college moderation processes; it may well be that extra staff need to be employed to release teachers for this important work.”

Sample and ‘risk-based’ checks

Schools and colleges will have their internal quality assurance processes signed off by exam boards prior to grade submission.

In June and July, exam boards will randomly pick schools and colleges to sample the evidence they used. There will be more targeted scrutiny where exam boards identify “cause for concern”.

Also, if they have results that are unusual, it could trigger a visit by the exam board, although this could be virtual.

Concerns over grade inflation

FE Week understands the DfE is hoping the quality assurance process will prevent substantial grade inflation this year by picking up on extremely high grades.

But the Education Policy Institute warned that “risk remains” in the plan.

“There is still a very high risk that we will see inconsistences in the grades among different pupils and schools,” said chief executive Natalie Perera.

“Without timely and detailed guidance for schools on how this year’s grades should be benchmarked against previous years, and with classroom assessments only being optional, there is a significant risk that schools will take very different approaches to grading.”

Simon Lebus

‘No harder to get grades’

Simon Lebus, Ofqual’s interim chief regulator, said the aim is to “make it no harder overall for this year’s students to receive a particular grade than students in other years”.

Education secretary Gavin Williamson, said the government was providing the “fairest possible system” for pupils “asking those who know them best – their teachers – to determine their grades, with our sole aim to make sure all young people can progress to the next stage of their education or career”.

Ofsted monitoring inspections paused for week of colleges’ return

Ofsted will pause its remote monitoring inspections for the week beginning March 8 to allow schools and colleges to focus on wider reopening.

The watchdog has been carrying out remote monitoring visits of those graded ‘inadequate’ or ‘requires improvement’ since January in place of routine in-person inspections, which have been suspended during the pandemic.

The visits have a particular focus on how well learners are being educated remotely. While a report is produced and published, these inspections are not graded.

But the inspectorate has updated its guidance to state it will pause those inspections for the week schools and colleges are due to reopen.

The updated guidance adds that, for the rest of the term, Ofsted will “continue to carry out our monitoring inspections remotely by default”.

However, the watchdog will carry out on-site inspections “if we have any immediate concerns – for example, about safeguarding or the leadership of a school or college”.

The move comes after colleges were told they would have to test returning students three times before switching to a system of home testing. This has prompted concerns about the logistics of testing large numbers of pupils in a short space of time at the same time as resuming in-person lessons.

However, the DfE clarified yesterday that secondary schools and colleges will be allowed to start testing pupils on-site before this date “if they would like to do so”.

According to Ofsted, the purpose of the monitoring inspections is to reassure parents and support school improvement.

It is intended that full inspections will resume in the summer term, and the Department for Education stated this week it is “continuing to keep the inspection arrangements under review” during its reopening guidance.