Latest news from FE Week

Winners of delayed £18m skills bootcamp tender revealed

The training providers and colleges chosen to deliver the remaining national skills bootcamp programmes have finally been named.

FE Week can today reveal that 24 organisations have won funding in the government’s £18 million tender.

Among them are 13 independent providers, six colleges, four mayoral combined authorities or local enterprise partnerships, and one university.

FE Week analysis shows that ten of the providers appear out of scope of Ofsted inspections, while four have never had a full inspection. Two of the winners are rated ‘requires improvement’, six are ‘good’ and two are ‘outstanding’.

The winners announced today bid for lot 1 of the tender that totalled £36 million. Winners of lot 2 were announced in May. Contracts were supposed to start at the end of March but have suffered delays.

No reason for the delays has been forthcoming from the Education and Skills Funding Agency.

The lot 1 tender is currently in a ten-day standstill period, in case any of the unsuccessful applicants to the tender wish to challenge the results.

Lot 1 providers will be delivering 12- to 16-week digital skills courses to adults aged 19 and over across the nine geographical regions in England.

Lot 2 winners will be covering additional sectors such as electrotechnical, nuclear and green energy, at a local or national level.

The ESFA anticipates that at least 75 per cent of all bootcamp trainees will “move into a new job or role within six months of completing training”.

Skills bootcamps were announced by prime minister Boris Johnson in a speech at Exeter College last September. He said they were a response to the “huge number” of people who are “going to have to change jobs – to change skills – and at the moment, if you’re over 23, the state provides virtually no free training to help you”.

This year’s Skills for Jobs white paper pledged the government to run bootcamps as “a flexible way to gain high-quality skills that are relevant to employers”.

Before this tender came two waves of pilot bootcamps launched last year with £8 million of funding in areas including Derbyshire-Nottinghamshire, the south west and Leeds.

These were inspired by programmes run in Greater Manchester, and the West Midlands Combined Authority’s ‘Beat the Bot’ scheme.

Lot 1 tender winners

BCTG

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority

Chichester College

Croydon College

D2N2 LEP

Founders & Coders C.I.C

Gateshead College

HotSW LEP

Isle of Wight College

Just IT Training

Learning Curve Group

Liverpool City Region Combined Authority

Local Education and Development (LEAD)

Makers Academy

Northcoders

QA Ltd

The Developer Academy

The Growth Company

The Landing at MediaCityUK

The Sheffield College

University of Bath

UpSkills Digital

We Are Digital Training Ltd

Weston College

Winners of the 2021 Festival of Learning awards announced

A domestic abuse survivor and a learner who retrained in engineering after losing her chef career in a motorbike accident are among this year’s Festival of Learning Awards winners.

Twelve students, tutors, colleges, providers, and employers were recognised at this evening’s virtual ceremony, run by the Learning and Work Institute, and have been congratulated by skills minister Gillian Keegan.

“These awards shine a light on the power of education to change people’s lives,” she said. “I hope the inspirational stories of the outstanding adult learners motivate others to fire up their own learning journeys.”

Injury, disability and violence could not stop awards winners

One such story belongs to Nikki-Ann Wyatt, who worked as a pastry chef for a Michelin star restaurant before “life-changing” injuries to her legs sustained in a motorbike crash, meaning she could not spend a long time on her feet in a busy kitchen, brought an end to that.

While the institute says it took her time to come to terms with losing her career, she has won its new directions award after embarking on a new career in civil engineering through Trafford College Group, and is currently studying for a masters degree.

The return to learning award was won by Kirsty Young, who faced domestic abuse from a young age. But following help from the police, she started a new life with her three children and was encouraged by her mum to study at East Riding College.

Kirsty is now progressing onto a degree and will shortly begin her PGCE.

The winner of the Patron’s Award, chosen by LWI patron Princess Anne, was Matthew Turner from Bradford. He won for refusing to be held back by his autism and progressing from level 1 to 3, gaining employment and volunteering in the autism community.

What the institute called an “innovative and holistic” English as second or other language project led by London charity CARAS won the President’s Award, chosen by the institute’s president Nick Stuart. The project helps young people and adults who are seeking asylum or have a refugee background to progress in learning.

Tutor played ‘huge role’ in learners’ welfare

This year’s outstanding individual award was given to Rosie Wainwright who, after a “tumultuous” start in life, where her dyslexia meant she had to retake her GCSEs three times, now has a degree in law and runs a programme supporting young people in care.

The winner of the employer award is West Midlands-based company Salts Healthcare, which over the last six years has created career pathways to upskill workers to become fully qualified engineers. This has created “exceptional growth and productivity, aided retention within the business, and supported staff to overcome personal and professional barriers”.

A tutor and distance learning coordinator at HMP Pentonville, José Aguiar took home the Tutor Award after acting as a mentor for prisoners enrolling in higher education. He continued to play a “huge role” in prisoners’ mental health and wellbeing throughout the pandemic, turning back up to work a week after lockdown started.

The learning for work award went to young mother Naomi-Louize, who took matters into her own hands after her son struggled to get a haircut: she has now completed a level 3 in barbering and is self-employed, cutting the hair of young children with learning difficulties or special needs.

After being diagnosed with a lifechanging condition, Paul Ackroyd enrolled on a range of level 2 courses to improve his understanding of it and to help vulnerable customers he meets as a bus driver for First Group and has now won the learning for health award.

Learner went from zero English to entry level 3

Positive Progressions, an employability project delivered by Craven College, has won the learning provision award. Its learners are parents and carers not currently in work, some of whom have never worked or are long-term unemployed, who the project “encourages and empowers” to continue learning and to find work.

The online learning award went to Daya Mohindra, who enrolled on a digital learning preparation course when the pandemic struck. With the course under her belt, she started arts skills courses again and has now completed several online courses during lockdown.

This year’s English language learning award winner is Hasan Jasim, who fled Iraq with his family to England, but could not speak a word of the language. “Through hard work and diligence,” the institute says he has progressed from ESOL entry level 1 to 3, has passed his driving test and trained as a tiler, “transforming the life of his family”.

Awards showcase ‘how powerful learning can be’

Learning and Work Institute chief executive Stephen Evans said the award winners “show just how powerful learning can be and the difference great tutors and providers can make”.

The awards were judged by an array of sector leaders including NOCN managing director Graham Hasting-Evans, the Education and Training Foundation’s Catherine Manning, WEA chief executive Simon Parkinson, and Skills and Education Group boss Paul Eeles.

The award sponsors were NOCN, the ETF, City Lit, Skills and Education Group, and the WEA.

Pictured, top (left to right)

First row: Positive Progressions, Matthew Turner, Nikki-Ann Wyatt, Paul Ackroyd
Second row: Daya Mohindra, Salts Healthcare, CARAS ESOL, Kirsty Young
Third row: Jose Aguiar, Naomi-Louize, Rosie Wainwright, Hasan Jasim

Disappointment as human resources T Level development stopped

The government’s decision to “cease” a T Level in human resources will cut the industry off from a potentially precious entry route, sector leaders have warned.

An update from the Education and Skills Funding Agency last Friday announced the development on the qualification, due to be rolled out in 2023, had paused because no awarding bodies had come forward to develop it.

T Level ‘would have ticked a lot of boxes’

The British Institute of Recruiters, a professional body for staffing and recruitment, described the news as “disappointing” as they had big hopes it would be a game-changer in the way people in the industry, especially in small employers, are trained.

A spokesperson said the institute is concerned as the “majority working in HR for small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) have no formal qualification as they never set out to pursue a career in HR.

“This T Level, offering a mix of study and work placement, would have been an excellent route into HR that would have benefitted SMEs.

“HR skills are also needed in the voluntary sector, and this T Level would have ticked a lot of boxes.”

The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education, responsible for delivering T Levels, launched a tender for awarding bodies to develop eight T Levels in wave four of the qualifications’ rollout – including the one in HR – in November 2020.

Their aim was to award contracts in August 2021.

Announcing that the HR T Level had “ceased” last week, the ESFA said: “We were not able to award the contract for the development of this T Level to an awarding organisation during the recent wave four procurement exercise.

“At this stage, we are unable to commit to a date when work on the HR T Level might resume.”

Awarding organisations focused on post-18 education

Two of the big awarding organisations who are delivering other T Levels, Pearson and NCFE, remained tight-lipped about their reasons for snubbing the qualification.

Both have experience in developing HR qualifications for the further education sector.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, which offers qualifications at levels 3, 5 and 7 and end-point assesses human resources and learning and development apprenticeships, said it had not bid for the T Level because “focus is primarily in post-18 education”.

A spokesperson said it “shares the government’s disappointment” that it was “not able to award a contract” but explained most of the sector’s training is focused on adult education rather than T Levels’ 16-to-18 age range.

Dropped qualification brings total number of T Levels to 23

The HR T Level was delayed from its original start date of 2022 last July, and its removal now means the overall number of T Levels has dropped to 23.

The cultural, heritage and visitor attractions T Level was the last to be removed from development, which also happened last July.

A government spokesperson said the cultural T Level had been canned because of “insufficient employer demand” for a new technical qualification in that field.

The government’s new flagship qualification, T Levels began rolling out last September, mixing classroom study with an industry placement that lasts at least 315 hours.

Three qualifications rolled out last September in the first wave: digital, construction, and education and childcare.

In September 2021, a further seven will start being taught in classrooms; while an extra six will roll out in 2022.

A further seven qualifications are to be introduced in 2023.

The procurement of awarding organisations for the 2023 wave began in November, with the winners set to be announced over the summer.

The need to put young people with SEND at the heart of recovery couldn’t be clearer

The FE sector has worked really hard to support learners with additional needs, but Covid has been so damaging, writes Paul Joyce

Recently we reported on some of the challenges that children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities have faced during the pandemic.

Our findings are based on a series of joint visits to local areas, carried out with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). They highlight just how damaging Covid-19 has been for young people with SEND, including those aged 16 to 25.

All children and young people have lost out on so much during the pandemic, and young people with SEND in further education are no exception.

But it’s clear that the sector has gone above and beyond, despite great adversity, to help young people learn and to keep them safe.

Most independent specialist colleges and general FE colleges stayed open during the three lockdowns for very vulnerable young people and key worker children.

Staff worked tirelessly to provide a service, although this tended to focus more on young people’s health and wellbeing than their education.

While many young people with SEND returned to their colleges in the autumn, it wasn’t possible for all – especially in smaller providers.

Although some learners returned briefly to college in the autumn term, they stopped again when the government’s guidance on shielding was updated.

Learners who couldn’t attend in person received remote education. Many young people coped well, but others struggled – some finding it hard to use the technology and to engage with their teachers through a screen.

We know many providers worked really hard to get paper-based and practical resources, such as cooking ingredients, to learners, delivering them by hand to their homes.

We even heard of providers taking food parcels to young people’s families who were in crisis.

Some young people with SEND had moved to a different further education provider in September 2020, but still weren’t attending in person because of health or other concerns.

Some who returned in person hadn’t made new friends, having missed out on the usual transition activities ̶ although many providers went out of their way to help learners settle in, managing transition 1:1 out of hours, so learners could familiarise themselves with the setting.

Young people told us that the pandemic had been an incredibly lonely time. Not only were they missing out on seeing friends at college, many were also shielding for health reasons.

Some had only left the house a few times since the start of the first national lockdown, and even then, this was only for medical appointments.

While some young people could chat with friends online, this wasn’t possible for others, who have difficulties communicating in this way.

Many providers recognised this, and found new ways of keeping young people in touch with their friends.

All young people missed out on academic learning and had exams and work experience cancelled. For young people with SEND, the pandemic also affected access to specialist therapies and support.

Some were able to carry on with these at home – providers used videos to help young people continue with physiotherapy, and work online with their speech and language therapists.

But in some cases, we heard that young people’s mobility and communication skills have deteriorated.

Many young people have missed out on the vital preparation and training they need to progress to the next stages of education or work, and some said they were anxious about their futures, particularly their employment prospects.

Many providers have extended young people’s learning programmes to provide them with opportunities to develop the skills that they need, particularly for independent living.

It’s clear that across the FE sector, providers have worked incredibly hard to help young people learn and to keep them safe over the past 16 months – and at times this has been an uphill struggle.

As we emerge from the pandemic, the need to put young people with SEND at the heart of recovery plans couldn’t be clearer.

In the coming months, we’ll be working closely with the CQC on new area SEND inspections.

The new approach will help bring improvement in the way education, health and care services work together to get the best possible outcomes for young people with SEND.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: EDITION 359

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

Candace Miller, Non-executive director, Federation of Awarding Bodies

Start date: May 2021

Concurrent job: Managing director, SFJ Awards and executive director, Skills for Health, Skills for Justice and People 1st International

Interesting fact: She enjoys walking her dogs in the local woods and gardening, both at home and at her allotment.

Sarah McGrath, Principal, Carlisle College

Start date: May 2021

Previous job: Assistant principal for quality and curriculum, Carlisle College

Interesting fact: She is very keen on crafts – in particular dress-making and textiles – and makes a lot of her own clothes and soft furnishings.

Paolo Fresia, Vice chair, UfiVoc Tech Trust

Start date: June 2021

Concurrent job: Investment director, 100% Network

Interesting fact: His passions include classic boats sailing and the alternative medicine Ayurveda.

Andy Green, Chief executive, Chichester College Group (CCG)

Start date: October 2022

Previous job: Interim chief executive, Greater Brighton Metropolitan College

Interesting fact: He led Chichester College students to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe Festivals for the last three festivals, including driving the van with set and costumes all the way from Chichester to Edinburgh.

UTCs could survive by extending year groups beyond age 18

Many struggling UTCs are lowering their age of entry, but they could have more impact by going the other way, writes David Phoenix

Technical education is critical for filling the UK’s huge skills shortages, raising productivity and giving students opportunities to learn and build successful careers.

But holes in our education system are restricting students from studying higher technical education.

The creation of UTCs in 2010 was aimed at tackling some of those challenges by offering school pupils a four-year technical education.

Unfortunately, starting at 14 years old created recruitment challenges, which some UTCs have addressed by “extending down” to 11 or 13 years old.

Just recently in FE Week we heard that more UTCs are extending their age range to help stay afloat. However, I believe only “extending down” present risks as well as benefits.

At South Bank UTC, we took a different path by “extending up”, rather than down, into year 14 ̶ an extra year of learning, from 18 years old.

That’s possible through the UTCs’ membership of the LSBU Group, a partnership between London South Bank University, South Bank Colleges (including Lambeth College) and Southbank Academies Trust, which has South Bank UTC.

Most pupils at 18 years old go on to university or to work. Few go on to study standalone technical qualifications at level 4, which are the equivalent of the first year of a degree.

Moreover, this year, some of our UTC students were unable to take their planned path when employers withdrew pre-arranged engineering apprenticeship places due to the impact of Covid-19.

Faced with this challenge, the UTC collaborated with other members of LSBU Group to find a solution and quickly spotted areas of overlap across the two institutions.

The BTEC engineering programme covered much of the content in the higher national certificate mechanical engineering course at university.

Working together, South Bank UTC and LSBU created a new year 14 to enable UTC pupils to stay on for an extra fifth year.

So we are enabling pupils to gain a level 4 higher national qualification and to go directly into the second year of higher education (level 5) at university if they so wish.

South Bank UTC pupils have the option to stay on for an extra year to study for a BTEC extended diploma in engineering.

By working with the university on curriculum content and enrichment activities, that additional year gives students the opportunity to enhance their level 3 BTEC study to meet the HNC requirement at level 4.

Students have the option to take the exam with the fees covered by scholarships from LSBU.

Second-year entry to LSBU is possible because we identified BTEC modules that matched the university’s first-year requirements.

It creates a distinctive five-year programme much closer to the German model

So we equipped pupils who achieve a merit in the requisite elements of the HNC to transfer directly into the second year of our mechanical engineering degree.

“Extending up” to year 14 creates a distinctive five-year programme much closer to the German model, enabling pupils to enter the workplace with a level 4 qualification or to complete a degree in two years.

Any UTC could provide a year 14, but major challenges are there for those without a strong university partnership, including funding, teaching capacity and course restrictions.

That’s how our partnership enables us to go the extra mile and offer students new learning choices.

The benefits of “extending up to year 14” are huge. For pupils, it provides free access to a higher technical qualification without moving their institution or home and an accessible route to level 4 without committing to a full degree programme.

For UTCs it offers a unique point of difference to other providers by enabling them to provide an easier transition from school into higher level technical education.

And South Bank UTC’s recruitment is strong this year, with 149 enrolled pupils in year 12.

Finally, for the government, this model helps fill gaps in the UK education system that contribute hugely to skills shortages.

Let’s recognise the importance of specialist institutions and start extending up ̶ not just down.

Talking about a ‘middle-class’ grab on apprenticeships could send the wrong message

The claim suggests a scarcity of apprenticeships and that only working-class people should do them, writes David Gallagher

Gillian Keegan, apprenticeship and skills minister, recently highlighted her concerns about a middle-class “grab” on apprenticeships.

She outlined government fears about degree apprenticeships growing in popularity and said that “people who would have gone to university anyway… [will] squeeze out people like me, sat in a comprehensive school at 16, with nowhere to go”.

Ms Keegan is absolutely right to want to ensure that degree apprenticeships do not become exclusively for the middle classes.

Degree apprenticeships are a great chance to bridge the gap between education and employment, and it’s pivotal that they are used to open doors for those with fewer opportunities. That’s ‘levelling up’ in action.

However, the language that is currently being used has the potential to send the wrong message.

‘Divisive and counterproductive’

In fact, conversations that pitch learners from differing backgrounds against one another in a bidding war for places are divisive and counterproductive.

By suggesting that apprenticeships and other vocational routes risk being ‘grabbed’ by the middle classes, there is an implicit judgment that vocational qualifications are usually only the reserve of the working classes.

It makes it sound like they are a fall-back option for those who can’t access university.

It makes it sound like they are a fall-back option for those who can’t access university

Through this narrative, university continues to be badged as the ultimate benchmark of success. Learners continue to be marginalised and boxed in by where they have come from, and vocational education routes continue to be stigmatised.

We’ve already seen the reverse take place in higher education, which has always been framed as an aspirational, middle-class pursuit straight out of the New Labour playbook.

To date, there has been a failure to tackle this issue in universities, and we need to ensure that vocational education doesn’t fall prey to similar problems.

‘Two-pronged approach’

As apprenticeships and vocational/technical qualifications are climbing the political agenda, now is the time to positively shape public perception of vocational education. Learning has the potential to be the ‘great leveller’, creating a fairer and more inclusive society through the power of education.

So there needs to be a cultural change and increased capacity on all routes in high demand, so it doesn’t result in anyone losing out. Learners from every walk of life need to feel that opportunities are opening up to them, not being closed off, and the focus should be on expanding availability to those from all backgrounds.

For this to happen, there needs to be a two-pronged approach. Most importantly, capacity needs to be increased where demand is growing so that everyone can pursue their preferred routes – “grabbing” suggests sparsity, which is counteracted by greater supply.

If a broad range of people are recognising the excellent opportunity presented by degree apprenticeships then that’s fantastic; we just need to make sure the sector is ready to meet that demand so no one misses out.

Secondly, work has to be done to dismantle stereotypes around various education routes and who should be accessing them. Central to that strategy is placing equal value on all education routes, so that learners are equipped with the knowledge and the agency to make empowering choices about their futures.

Ultimately, we need to get to a point where learners choose their next steps in education based on their passions, skills and personal ambitions, as opposed to the expectations set by those around them and by society more widely.

Learners should no longer feel hemmed in by where they come from, or what their parents do for a living.

The focus needs to be on what suits them best. Without this holistic approach, a commitment to lifelong learning cannot be put into action in any tangible sense.

I fully appreciate that a meaningful cultural change in our perception of FE and vocational education will take time. But we stand on the verge of a real step change here and we all need to do all we can to create a more inclusive and welcoming environment across all educational routes.

Speed read: Draft statutory guidance on local skills reviews published

The Department for Education has published draft statutory guidance on college governors’ new duty to review local skills provision.

The new Skills and Post-16 Education Bill, currently going through Parliament, revealed in May a new duty would be placed on colleges to review how well the education or training they provide meets local needs, and assess what action they might take to ensure it is best placed to meet local needs.

Ministers hope this will help align provision with what employers want, and the duty is being accompanied by a number of measures with similar aims, including new Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs) and powers for the government to intervene in colleges not following those plans.

The ‘statutory guidance for further education colleges, sixth form colleges and designated institutions’, published today, sets out how college governors will be expected to comply with this new duty.

Here is what you need to know…

What the reviews ought to look like

The guidance insists the reviews should be “evidence-based” and “focus on improvement”.

Data and evidence on learner employment destinations, learner participation, and outcomes by institution and curriculum area ought to underpin the reviews, as should “readily-available evidence” like LSIPs.

Barriers to building on existing strengths, including structural, should be addressed in the report. Governors are told to contact the FE Commissioner and the Education and Skills Funding Agency early on “if any of the agreed actions following on from the review could lead to structural changes”.

The reviews ought to reflect the mission, specialisms and local areas the college or colleges serves. So providers with a wide range of provision will have a broader review than that of a specialist college.

Governors will be expected to collaborate with neighbours

“In reviewing provision within a local area,” the guidance reads, “governing bodies are expected to collaborate with other governing bodies also serving that area”.

The guidance places a big emphasis on local colleges’ governors working in tandem on the review, including on curriculum collaboration.

Stakeholders should also be engaged in the review, including employers, employer representative bodies which are putting together LSIPs, learners, workers, local government, Jobcentre Plus and regional school commissioners.

Skills reviews must be done at least every three years

Governors will be expected to undertake “regular” reviews of how well provision meets local need.

How regularly is answered in the guidance, which reads: “Governing bodies should undertake a review at least once every three years.”

But it adds that the reviews should be undertaken “as required to ensure they remain relevant”.

For example, so they reflect changes to employers’ skills priorities, as set out in local skills improvement plans”.

Reviews must be published on websites

Within three months of the review being completed, it ought to be published on the college’s website, the guidance states.

Where colleges have produced a joint review, the government expects this to be published on both their websites, with reference to who their partner is.

When the duty comes into force

The duty on governors will come into force two months after the skills bill receives Royal Assent, when it is signed off by the queen.

It is currently in the House of Lords and will enter the committee stage, where a detailed, line by line, examination of the bill takes place, in the House of Lords next week.

Guidance to be reviewed in 2025

The guidance says it will next be reviewed four years from now.

‘Important’ new FE data collection will start this month

A workforce data collection “project” for the further education sector promised in the skills for jobs white paper will start this month, it has been announced.

In a letter to FE providers published today, apprenticeships and skills minister Gillian Keegan wrote the data collection will open on 12 July for eight weeks.

“I want to underline the importance of ensuring your organisation’s continued engagement in this vital project,” her letter reads.

The Skills for Jobs white paper set out in January the Department for Education’s plans to introduce a mandatory, comprehensive data collection on the FE workforce, the same as they do with schools and higher education.

This collection will include demographic and personal data such as on ethnicity and disability and will be in addition to existing collections from the sector, such as submissions of learner data.

The new data, the white paper said, “will enable us to plan better and understand the impact of our policies on diversity in further education staffing and leadership”.

This is after FE Week found fewer than seven per cent of college principals in 2019 were from a black, Asian or minority ethnic background.

Philip Augar’s review of post-18 education recommended government should improve data collection for FE to improve college leadership and workforce management.

This was after its panel was struck “by the paucity of data available to the college sector compared to both higher education and schools”.

In her letter, Keegan stated she was “aware more will be asked of the sector as a result of our bold reforms,” though the white paper had promised the new collection would be co-designed to make it coherent with other data inputs.

“Your continued participation in this new collection is absolutely essential as it will ensure that the quality of the data describing the composition of the current FE workforce is as accurate as it can be,” Keegan wrote.

The data will be available to all participants in an anonymised format to “help you to compare and benchmark your institution against other relevant providers”.

She thanked providers for their contribution to “this vital work”.