Profile: Michelle Brabner, CEO and principal, Southport College

FE Week meets a new college chief whose fresh and flexible approach may be just what sector needs post-pandemic

Taking up your first principalship and walking straight into an Ofsted inspection is no one’s professional dream.

Taking up your first principalship, walking straight into an Ofsted inspection and then, within weeks, dealing with a college closure as a result of a global pandemic starts to sound like a nightmare.

But Michelle Brabner is sanguine. “Looking back,” she says, “if that hadn’t happened in the way that it did… Well, if you’re not a believer in karma, this is probably a good point to become one. I would have taken my post in the Easter break, and by that stage we were all in lockdown. So the timing was probably fortuitous in the end.”

Appointed to Southport in October, Brabner’s six-month notice period from the deputy principalship at Runshaw College, where she’d been in post for five years, was shortened by mutual agreement so that she could support Southport through the unfortunately-timed absence of previous principal, John Clarke for health reasons. 

“We wanted to be able to do that because the college [Southport] was without a principal as an Ofsted inspection was happening, so I was there helping as principal-designate. It’s a very small senior team and I wanted them to have somebody, because normally you have a person that’s responsible that you can go to and say ‘Oh, this has just happened!’. They didn’t have that.”

Southport retained its ‘good’ rating for the third time since 2007. It spent the early part of the noughties with satisfactory and less-than-satisfactory judgments, but has sustained its performance through a merger with King George V Sixth Form College in 2017, overseen by Clarke. There are reasons to be optimistic at Southport.

Indeed, more than sanguine, Brabner is positively cheerful throughout our video chat, clearly comfortable with the medium after extensive practice over the past months. “I am the only one on the senior team now that’s got a child at home of school age. So when teachers are struggling with trying to do remote delivery, I understand because my daughter frequently pops up. In fact, don’t be surprised if she appears.”

She’s also happy with how she is settling into the job and with the team. “I’ve been so fortunate that I’ve joined a college where there are so many people that are just lovely and warm. Within the first few days, I’d been to an awards ceremony where people were talking about the college community and it being a family. I feel like they’ve embraced me into this family even though they’ve only known me for a very short space of time.”

I am the only senior team member with a child at home of school age

There’s no denying that the ground has shifted under this new leader’s feet, as it has under everyone else’s. But the freshness of her response to these circumstances could be exactly what Southport – and the sector more broadly – needs to get beyond the crisis and prepare for what’s next.

Not that she is without anxieties. “My concern, in this period of distance working … is whether I have done anything that inadvertently or unwittingly caused upset because I’ve simply not known people well enough to know what they needed from me. Also, I suppose there’s a possibility that people have formed a view of me based on my all-staff emails. I did a little ‘thank a teacher’ video for them all yesterday and sent that out. What does that view then become and how does it compare to the reality of when we’re back on site and working? Their view of their new principal is being formed on working from home with a fleece and a t-shirt on, and not the persona that perhaps is normally out there.”

It’s the humanity of that response that strikes me. Some may dismiss this as naivety, but Brabner has been around long enough not to be accused of that.

She qualified at the Unifversity of Plymouth as a biologist with a marine specialism, before her master’s took her for three months to the south of France. “I got into marine conservation and probably went through the typical teenage thing where you want to save all the whales and dolphins, which I’d still love to do.” She helped on a lobster conservation project, but soon found herself working in research at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital. “It was there that I had my eyes opened and realised that what I thought would be the research I would go into was no longer a high priority. I thought, ‘actually, this isn’t exciting anymore’. The bit that really excited me was the work I was doing with the undergraduates, helping them with their research projects.”

A colleague made the leap into teaching and encouraged her to do the same. Brabner wasn’t persuaded. But when she discovered she could qualify for further education, she quickly followed. “That was the moment when I stopped and thought ‘OK, that actually could really work for me. I can carry forward my passion for the subject at a level that’s stimulating and actually do the thing that I’m getting some pleasure out of’ – which really boiled down to the fact that I was able to help some people in a small way and see their pleasure in what we were getting out of it.”

Reintegration into a bigger social circle could be quite a challenge for some

That passion for helping and that satisfaction with impact measured on a small scale – one student at a time – doesn’t seem to have left Brabner as she has climbed the ranks. In part, that might be down to her and her sister being the first in their family to access higher education, a desire to replicate for others the experience and motivating power of a supportive family environment and supportive teachers. But talk to Brabner and you’ll quickly realise that there’s something less cerebral and more visceral to it.

Her father was a mechanic from a seafaring background; her mother a hairdresser whose family were traditionally farmers. “I do some inspection work too, and whether I’m going in that guise or in my own college environment, I love to chat to the people that are in the workshops or in the hair salons, because they’re all the smells of my childhood. Having grown up with parents that are from that skills area, I understand the value of that.”

Nothing in the past few months has shaken her core values. “The vision is still the same,” she says. “I just think the journey is going to be different.” It’s an uncomplicated vision, and one that is shared by the senior team, staff and governors alike. “It sounds a cliché, but we want to be able to – as a college and particularly having two colleges under the one – provide for the educational needs that the area has.”

That uncomplicated message is responsive by design. It’s already guiding a very positive response to the challenges posed by Covid-19 now and for the months to come. “Granted,” she says, “that educational need has probably changed.”

Her first focus is not on employment prospects, but wellbeing. “We have quite a lot of students that come to us having had difficulties with school or with particular needs. We will always find ways to get through curriculum delivery.

“But my bigger concern for them is actually about how they feel and attending to that. Just the reintegration back into a bigger social circle could be quite a challenge.”

Brabner and her team are quietly reviewing elements of their curriculum to include more focus on welfare. If this sensitive and flexible approach stretches to other aspects of Southport’s provision as responsively in the future, then it’s hard to imagine how it could be anything other than successful in a sector that’s likely to face a multitude of challenges.

It may even give them an edge. Though of course Brabner may prefer for things to settle down a little in the meantime.

Another 18 schools and colleges named as ‘edtech demonstrators’

The government has announced another 18 schools and colleges handed up to £150,000 each to become “edtech demonstrators”.

They will help other schools and colleges to use technology to support remote learning after the programme was repurposed amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The first 20 “edtech demonstrators” were announced in April and included two colleges – Basingstoke College of Technology and Darlington College. The scheme is part of the government’s £10 million edtech strategy, launched by former education secretary Damian Hinds, to “harness the power of technology in schools and colleges”.

The announcement today includes eight colleges: Derby College Group, Exeter College, Grimsby Institute, Harlow College, The Manchester College, Oldham Sixth Form College, West Suffolk College Group and Wilberforce College.

The remaining 10 are schools.

The programme aims to help education providers who are “using technology effectively” to share their expertise. The providers are awarded between £70,000 and £150,000 in grant funding, with the scheme running until the end of March next year.

Most schools and colleges have to be rated ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ and “satisfy” the DfE that they have “robust financial controls, including financial reserves”.

The guidance states that “all programme support will now be provided remotely” during the outbreak.

 

The 18 new ‘edtech demonstrators’ 

Dalton St Mary’s Primary School

Denbigh High School with Challney High School for Girls (Chiltern Learning Trust)

DCG (Derby College Group)

Elizabeth Woodville Primary School

Exeter College

Grimsby Institute of Further and Higher Education – part of The TEC Partnership

GST King’s Warrington

Harlow College

Heart of Worcestershire College

The Manchester College (part of LTE Group)

Oldham Sixth Form College

Outwood Grange Academies Trust

Pheasey Park Farm Primary School and Early Years Centre

Reach Academy Feltham

Stephenson Memorial Primary School

West Suffolk College Group and Suffolk Academies Trust including Abbeygate Sixth Form College and One Sixth Form College, Swavesey Village College and the ConnectED Teaching School Alliance led by Barrow Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School

Wilberforce College

Wildern School

Ofsted to publish paused inspection reports from next week

Ofsted will begin publishing the inspection reports that were held back because of the coronavirus pandemic from next week.

The watchdog had paused publication of all inspection reports because they were “well aware providers have enough to deal with” in responding to Covid-19 changes.

But in an update today, Ofsted said as more schools and colleges are reopening more widely they have decided to publish the paused reports before the summer holidays.

“It is important that learners, parents and carers have access to the most recent inspection information about providers when they make decisions about their future or their children’s future.

“To delay publication any longer would not be in the public interest. We will begin to publish these remaining reports from next week and will contact affected providers beforehand to confirm this.”

Ofsted began releasing some of the pre-Covid-19 inspection reports in May in cases where individual providers requested they be published.

The watchdog said today they have now “published the reports for providers that asked for this”.

The inspectorate previously told FE Week it was sitting on 50 FE and skills reports that had been completed before the Covid-19 outbreak. Since then, 39 have been published at the request of providers.

Ofsted’s pause on inspections still stands. A spokesperson for the inspectorate told this publication last week that “no decision has been made about resuming inspection activity”.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: EDITION 320

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

David Balme, Chair of Board of Trustees, One Awards

Start date: May 2020

Concurrent job: Executive Director of Governance, Assurance and Risk, NCG

Interesting fact: Since passing his driving test David has owned 22 different cars

Vanessa Housley, Board member, Education Training Collective

Start date: May 2020

Concurrent job: Interim Chief Advisor, Stockton Education Improvement Service

Interesting fact: Vanessa is a certified PADI Advanced Open Water Scuba Diver

Sam Knowlton, Principal, UTC Oxfordshire

Start date: April 2020

Previous job: Assistant Principal, Swindon Academy

Interesting fact: She took a break from educational leadership to run a manufacturing company as an MD whilst competing at international level in archery

FE should be at the heart of shielding 19 to 24-year-olds from unemployment

It makes financial sense for FE colleges to ease the pain of unemployment sparked by Covid-19, say John Widdowson and Mark Corney

We are heading for a youth unemployment crisis this September. Thankfully, the prime minister is on the case and a policy package is expected as part of an economic statement due early next month.

When the pandemic started, 2.5 million 18 to 24-year-olds were in employment and 300,000 of them were apprentices. Employment, however, could quickly fall by 500,000 and unemployment rise to 750,000.

Boris Johnson has promised an apprenticeship guarantee for young people. The key question is whether it is workable.

To have any chance of success, the Treasury will need to contribute towards wage costs.

The apprenticeship rate is £4.15 an hour. Working and training time must be at least 30 hours a week and apprenticeships must last 52 weeks. Restricting the employer wage grant to a single payment for each apprentice, the cost for 52 weeks would be £6,474.

This is higher than the average maintenance loan award for full-time higher education students of £6,150 where the Treasury gets 55 per cent back in repayments on earnings above £26,575.

Set at the £6,474 per apprentice, the cost of the wage grant to assist 500,000 newly unemployed 18 to 24-year-olds would be £3.25 billion. A further £2 billion would be needed to cover training costs assuming, say, an average of £4,000 per apprenticeship. A further £0.3 billion might be needed if 30,000 of the present 60,000 16 to 17-year-olds in apprenticeships lose their jobs. Together, the total cost could be £5.6 billion.

An alternative would be for the Treasury to limit the employer grant to the amount it pays unemployed 18 to 24-year-olds on JSA for a full year of £3,062.80 (ie, £58.90 x 52 weeks). This would reduce the employer grant to £1.6 billion. With training costs unchanged at £2.1 billion, the bill would c£3.7 billion.

Some of the extra cost might emerge from what the Department for Education pencilled in for the apprenticeship programme budget in 2020-21, before the pandemic as existing apprentices lose their jobs and the job retention scheme ceases in October.

But the problem lies not with the promise of wage subsidies but with the promise of a guarantee. Whatever the amount, bankrupt and downsizing employers don’t need apprentices and the danger is some young people will feel desperately let down. Other parallel pathways are needed.

Eighteen to 24-year-olds can shield themselves from the labour market by staying in full-time education (FTE). Sadly, this option with maintenance support is only open to full-time HE students. About 1.5 million 18 to 24-yearolds are in FTE. During the summer, more than 250,000 will leave full-time HE and will compete for non-graduate jobs or seek a one-year postgraduate degree.

Loans worth £11,200 are available for taught master degrees. Some universities are pricing them at £8,000. The remaining £3,200 is available for living costs, just a tad over JSA for a year.

Eighteen to 24-year-olds with relevant level 3 qualifications can also shield themselves by entering full-time undergraduate HE. The minimum maintenance loan payment is £3,410 a year and 92 per cent of full-time HE students take them out.

There are 150,000 18-year-olds in full-time FE; 90,000 19 to 24-year-olds. However, 19-24 FE students are not entitled to maintenance loans, let alone grants. Moreover, even though education is “free”, only 14,000 study for a first level 3.

From this September, the government should introduce a full-time study entitlement for 19 to 24-year-olds to achieve a first full level 3. Free education should be backed up by maintenance loans of at least £3,062.80 (equivalent to JSA for a year) so at last full-time 19-24 FE students will be eligible for maintenance loans alongside full-time HE students, redressing a serious inequality.

A maintenance loan entitlement to study full-time FE would help to shield more 19 to 24-year-olds from unemployment and supply more STEM and vocational level 3 qualifications, at a time when apprenticeships cannot guarantee to do so.

FE colleges would be at the heart of helping the other 50 per cent who do not go to university to get higher qualifications. And young people will be proud to be full-time students rather than welfare claimants.

Fellowships in technical teaching: here’s why you should apply

Having a fellowship doesn’t change the quality of the work you do – but it certainly gives you a big platform from which to shout about it, and to connect up with others in a meaningful way, says Cerian Ayres

Fellowship. It’s a word that says so much. It says recognition by peers, it says achievement, and it says intellectual leadership. But it isn’t just what the word says that makes a fellowship important; it’s what it does.

In the case of those who are awarded a Technical Teaching Fellowship – an award made in partnership by the Education and Training Foundation and Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 – it does rather a lot. It creates opportunities to share the results of the work undertaken by the distinguished recipients, and in doing so positively influences the delivery of technical teaching across the country.

Hearing from James Maltby of Plumpton College and Steven Mariadas of Exeter College about the work they have undertaken since being awarded Technical Teaching Fellowships last year is an inspiring experience.

James, a learning technology manager at Plumpton College, has explored the use of immersive technology and how it can be used in technical settings, sharing the emerging practice from that work. His work has three main strands. The first has focused on supporting students and lecturers at Plumpton using 360 degree cameras to create virtual reality films that have been used for assessment and to create learning resources; the second on working with regional and national further education colleagues, employers and stakeholders to develop students’ knowledge and workplace skills; and the third on regional and national conferences and webinars to disseminate that learning.

Stephen, meanwhile, has been doing work to capitalise on the opportunity presented by the South West’s status as a hotbed of data. The presence of the MET Office, along with many other businesses that require data skills, demands a joined-up approach to recruitment. His work has been addressing that by bringing employers together with further education colleagues, creating local, regional and national networking opportunities to allow genuine two-way street working, and setting up a data science summer school to create awareness of data as a career for young people to aspire to.

The result is that employers from as far west as Penzance and as far east as Somerset are now engaged and recognise the contribution to technical skills that the further education sector can make. Importantly, this effective practice is being shared more widely with schools, higher education institutions and technical STEM employers and stakeholders.

The work each is engaged in has already had a significant impact and will continue to do so. Both acknowledge that simply being in receipt of the Fellowship opens doors – in terms not just of the funding that it attracts and the time that allows to pursue your professional interest, but also the speaking engagements and media opportunities and avenues into higher-level study that are afforded to holders.

But both also understand that being a Fellow isn’t about doing anything differently. The truth is that the award opens many doors and creates unforeseen opportunities, but it doesn’t make the holder a different person. Those who become Fellows by award are already Fellows in spirit and in practice; they’re out there showing the drive and leadership that holders require in institutions around the country and helping to transform lives and communities, and in doing so raising the status of our sector.

Four more such individuals – Dr Lynda Broomhead of Petroc College, Chris Fairclough of Lakes College, Shell Fearn of North Hertfordshire College and Nicholas Hart of Sheffield College – were recognised with the award of a Fellowship at the end of January. I look forward to seeing the work they will do over the next 18 months, writing four more inspirational stories of excellence that extend the reach of our sector.

The work that these Fellows do is, without doubt, is of extremely high value. But without the status that Fellowship gives them, they simply don’t have the kind of platform to shout about it and be heard. I know that there are many of you out there whose own ideas and dedication could benefit similarly from the platform a Technical Teaching Fellowship affords. For inspiration, I encourage you to listen to James’ and Stephen’s own accounts of their time as Fellows so far. And, having done so, I encourage you to go a step further and envisage yourself becoming a Fellow. And then I encourage you to take the next step and apply. Applications for next year’s awards will open later in the summer. It could be you.

Frustration builds as Ofsted refuses to inspect paused providers

The indefinite pausing of Ofsted inspections could force an apprenticeship provider to make redundancies, its managing director has told FE Week.

Wiser Academy Ltd was suspended from recruiting new apprentices following an early monitoring visit last August which resulted in two ‘insufficient progress’ judgments.

Its “frustrated” leader, Crescens George (pictured), said the firm has 30 apprentices waiting in the pipeline but their ban, which has been enforced for almost a year, even though they were expecting a reinspection by March, is blocking them from signing up.

His company is now feeling the financial strain of the suspension and is desperate to take on new apprentices to ease cashflow issues and prevent redundancies.

The provider is one of “many” that have pleaded with Ofsted and the Education and Skills Funding Agency to find a solution, including by proposing a virtual inspection, but none has been forthcoming.

Under government policy, providers that are new to apprenticeships receive an early monitoring visit from Ofsted within 24 months of being funded.

If they score ‘insufficient progress’ in one or more theme they are temporarily banned from recruiting apprentices. The suspension will only by lifted once the watchdog returns for a full inspection – typically six to 12 months after the monitoring visit – and the provider scores at least a grade three.

Ofsted paused inspection activity in March owing to coronavirus and there is no date in sight for when they will resume.

There are currently 48 apprenticeship providers with a recruitment suspension. Sixteen of them have been waiting for a reinspection for at least nine months.

An Ofsted spokesperson said they “recognise” that this is a “frustrating situation for many providers” while the ESFA told FE Week it is also aware that a “small number of providers require an Ofsted inspection to determine whether they have made the necessary improvements to the quality of their provision to be able to take on new apprentices”.

Wiser Academy is based in Hampshire but trains apprentices in the insurance and financial services sector across the country.

It had around 110 apprentices on its books before being suspended from recruiting by government last August.

The provider’s director, George, told FE Week he has since put a new team in place who have made “tremendous progress” and he is “confident” a full inspection would result in an outcome that would lift their ban, which he was hoping would have taken place by March or June at the latest.

Wiser Academy currently has just over 50 apprentices still on programme and all of them have continued their training during lockdown.

The provider’s provision was mostly delivered virtually pre-Covid and they already had a “full remote facility” in place, according to George.

He wrote to Ofsted on May 19 asking for an update on when they could restart inspections and if they could possibly conduct a virtual inspection instead.

He explained that during Wiser’s monitoring visit, inspectors only spoke to his apprentices over the phone because they were dotted all over the country. He said this could be done again, inspectors could also “dive into a virtual classroom” and set up video conferences with their employers and his staff to conduct the inspection.

But Ofsted replied to say virtual inspections are not possible, adding they will aim to prioritise provider’s like his when they restart inspection activity. George says an inspection even as soon as the autumn term would be “too late” for his business.

“We have a pipeline of approximately 30 apprentices where businesses are ready to sign off. In fact, they are chasing us asking when can they register these people,” he told FE Week.

“My frustration is we can’t take on these new apprentices. Give it another two or three months we will really hit the financial pressure.”

He added that “everybody” is making exemptions to how business is carried out and businesses have adapted “so swiftly into remote working”, so he would “be very keen to find out in what way Ofsted has adapted to the current situation to at least keep a few things moving”.

“What have they done to adapt to current needs, or are they just waiting for all of this to subside and get back to business as normal?”

George said the ESFA could also come forward to “support businesses like us to say ‘we understand you had an insufficient progress, but given the current situation, we will allow you to add ten, 15 or 20 apprentices just to keep your business afloat, rather than dip into the other governmental financial aid’.”

Mark Dawe, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, said his organisation is “aware Ofsted recognise this as an issue and are confident that their approach will tackle this issue in a way that meets these justifiable concerns”.

The ESFA said it is “important that we ensure all apprenticeships are high quality and every apprentice has access to excellent training to help them achieve occupational competence” and they are “working with Ofsted to determine the best way forward”.

Ofsted said: “No decision has been made about resuming inspection activity, but we are thinking carefully about how and when this will happen, working closely with government and the sector.”

Coronavirus covered: Coupland in conversation with FE Week

FE Week was joined by Jennifer Coupland, chief executive of the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE), during this week’s webcast on the response to the coronavirus pandemic for the FE and skills sector.

Here are the main takeaway points.

1) Temporary discretions and flexibilities for over 100 apprenticeship standards

Coupland outlined how external quality assurance bodies had agreed flexibilities to the delivery of end-point assessments (EPAs), such as by allowing online assessment, across more than 100 standards.

This included “fundamental” changes to around 30 assessment plans by, for example, replacing a workplace observation with a professional discussion.

She also pointed out that the IfATE is permitting the “re-sequencing” of the EPA process to enable the EPA to be taken before the functional skills calculated result is received.

Coupland said the institute wants to ensure there is “no cliff edge on these flexibilities” so they will keep them under review and assess them on a case-by-case basis.

2) ‘Deep dives’ planned for remote EPAs

The IfATE is looking to conduct “deep dives” into the operation of assessment flexibilities to ensure the “balance between flexibility and quality is being maintained”.

Coupland continued: “I think we would be remiss if we didn’t also look at things that actually we’re learning from doing things in a really innovative and creative way that actually might be better for the longer term.”

She is planning a “lessons learned exercise” with the sector to examine where improvements can be made to the system.

3) Monitoring the survival of EPA organisations

Coupland said the IfATE is working with the Education and Skills Funding Agency and Ofqual to look at the sustainability and viability of EPA organisations going forward.

She said they want to avoid a scenario where EPAOs have “gone to the wall” as a result of the pandemic and “we have gaps in the ability to assess apprentices against those standards”. The bodies are determining whether it is a widespread problem and are thinking about what actions they could take to mitigate the risks.

4) Backing for the PM’s ‘apprenticeship guarantee’

The chief executive claimed “you don’t really get much better” than the prime minister talking about apprenticeships, in reference to when Boris Johnson promised to “look at the idea” of giving young people aged 16 to 25 an apprenticeship guarantee.

She asserted it was “very early days” as IfATE will have to work “very” closely with the DfE to establish what it would “genuinely involve” and how it might be delivered.

5) Quickly adapting standards to meet new ways of working

Coupland said the IfATE has work under way to adjust to industry changes, the first of which is a “revisions process”. This will enable an employer group to update an individual standard rather than having to wait for a full-scale route review if there is “a whole new suite of things that people are being expected to do” where an industry has “moved on”.

The other is consideration of using different mechanisms to develop particular “novel” modules that could be “pulled off the shelf” and added to a standard in the event that something emerges quickly, such as new emerging technologies.

6) ‘Right decision’ made on frameworks switch-off

Coupland lent her support for the secretary of state’s decision to carry on with the July 31 date for turning off starts on frameworks, even in sectors where there is no viable replacement standard ready.

She said: “I think we’ve got really good coverage now of the economy with standards, so the 550 standards covers 90 per cent or more of the existing frameworks, and so on that basis I think that he [Gavin Williamson] has made the right decision to proceed with the timetable”.

She added that due to the long, seven-year run-up to the switch-off there “isn’t really any kind of excuse for being surprised” by the decision and that postponing moving to the system would mean “delaying the opportunity for all of those apprentices who would otherwise benefit” from the new standards Coupland describes as “more rigorous and better quality”. 

7) No regrets on business admin level 2 rejection

The IfATE boss was asked whether she regretted turning down the proposal for a level 2 business administration apprenticeship standard, which was developed by many high-profile employers, including the NHS, given the likely demand post-coronavirus from young people.

Coupland replied: “So we’ve got a live business administration level 3 standard and the take-up of that is really increasing rapidly. I think people will gain confidence that that is something young people are able to access as we go forward.

“I do not regret the decision to not pursue the level 2. I do think that, as we highlighted back in the Richard Review, as you start to increase standards in apprenticeships, there are going to be some things in the framework world that no longer meet those quality tests.”

She added that IfATE needs to ensure there is a wide range of training opportunities for young people and older adults who want to upskill and retrain if they’re affected negatively by Covid-19, but that “it can’t just be an apprenticeship solution to every skills problem”.

 

The transition to our new normal will not be straightforward

From next Monday, colleges and providers will have the flexibility to offer more students face-to-face learning, explains Gillian Keegan

Last month I virtually visited Weston College to meet students and staff. It was another incredible insight into how a college has been able to successfully move its learning and resources online at speed, with an impressive 88 per cent overall remote lesson attendance.

I know, from speaking with many across the sector, that FE is leading the way in digital delivery of education. Survey results from the Association of Colleges found that 70 per cent of providers have scheduled online lessons for most of their subjects and that 95 per cent of providers reported that all, or the majority, of their students are continuing their learning remotely.

As great as these efforts have been, we all know there is no substitute for being back in a classroom or workshop, particularly where that enables access to specialist facilities. That’s why we are giving colleges and providers the flexibility to offer a wider number of students and apprentices some face-toface support to supplement their remote learning from June 15.

This initially should focus on those aged 16-19-years-old, who are in the first year of a two-year study programme. We know that colleges and training providers are best placed to know the needs of their students, which is why we have given them the flexibility to prioritise who can attend based on who will benefit from it the most.

To help reduce the transmission risk, we are asking providers to limit the number of learners attending at any one time to no more than a quarter of that group. We have published a checklist, which sets out steps to ensure risks are minimised, including enhanced hygiene care, limiting movements around exit and entry points and staggered start and end times, to make sure staff and students are safe.

Our guidance also makes clear that as part of their planning, all providers should carry out a risk assessment to identify any issues associated with coronavirus, so that sensible measures can be put in place.

I know a great deal of you are already putting these plans in place, including Sunderland College. Their overall remote attendance has been exceptionally high, at 93 per cent and they are now preparing for the increase in classroom contact. They are providing dedicated support for vulnerable learners and inviting year 11 pupils in feeder schools to join virtual classes at the college to help with the transition. They plan to flex their college week, to provide catch-up support for learners who need it most, with dedicated coaches for those at risk of dropping out.

The TEC Partnership (formerly Grimsby Institute Group) has continued to offer high standards of education throughout lockdown with an amazing 89 per cent remote attendance rate and has also been considering re-opening since the very beginning. The partnership has worked out the maximum number of students who need to be on site whilst achieving social distancing, started installing extra sanitisation in rooms and is identifying where one-way systems would be required. Although there will continue to be a blended approach – of online and face to face learning – reopening presents a huge opportunity for the TEC Partnership, and more importantly the students, who I am sure will benefit from the additional face-to-face engagement in a college setting.

The transition to our new normal will not be straightforward, and so we are starting cautiously, focussing on smaller groups of students, and asking providers to make plans now that will work for them. These are the first steps to providing greater flexibility and ensuring we have the right delivery that meets the needs of every learner. No student should be held back from progressing because of the coronavirus, so it is vital that plans are put in place so we can make sure that doesn’t happen.

As we start our phased reopening, I want to thank everyone for their continued support and hard work. I know you all have the best interest of your students at heart, so I’m urging you all to work with us, continue to show leadership and take that first step.