A hospitality training provider is giving its staff one day a week off to support their community through the pandemic.
Over 100 HIT Training workers have so far signed up to deliver food and medical supplies, cook, clean and launder, walk pets and sometimes just provide a virtual friend, for people in need.
Staff are qualified care specialists who train thousands of social care learners and apprentices each year.
Managing director Jill Whittaker (pictured) said it feels “brilliant” to be supporting communities like this.
“We believe in doing the right thing, and this feels like the right thing at the moment.”
The scheme started this month and the provider is in the process of matching the volunteers with those who need support.
To start with, volunteers will be assigned to their home communities and clients, as well as HIT’s larger, national client base. HIT has over 450 staff, all of whom are DBS-checked, operating from 30 offices nationwide.
Each staff member is being given one day a week, workload permitting, to volunteer, and Whittaker said: “We’d like lots of people to engage.”
She added that staff have told her that, for many learners, they are often their apprentice’s only contact with the outside world, due to them being furloughed or being overwhelmed with work in the care sector or the NHS. The staff “are often finding they are providing a shoulder to lean on”.
Functional skills students can be moderated via “adapted assessment” such as online tests this summer, but only where teacher calculation is impossible, Ofqual has said today.
It has also extended the regulation end date for legacy functional skills qualifications from 31 August 2020 to 31 December 2020, to allow learners to complete them if them have not already received their certificate.
The exams regulator made the announcements along with other further details for functional skills as part of its consultation on grading cancelled vocational and technical qualifications.
Here is what you need to know.
‘Adapted assessment’ can be used where evidence is ‘insufficient’
Earlier this month the education secretary Gavin Williamson published a ministerial direction that stated that learners due to take assessments for functional skills qualifications before the end of the summer should receive a calculated result rather than an adapted or postponed assessment.
Ofqual said today that the number of assessment components in different functional skills qualifications means that awarding organisations are “unlikely to have ‘banked’ evidence for some learners which could be used towards the calculation of results”.
Some learners study for their functional skills qualifications with “limited direct contact with centres or centre staff, sometimes remotely, sometimes on short roll-on/roll-off courses”, meaning that they may have “insufficient evidence” to calculate a result.
Adapted assessment can be used in these cases. This, Ofqual said, is likely to “take the form of either enabling the assessment of centre-assessed components to take place remotely or online (such as the speaking, listening and communicating component in functional skills English), or by making changes to invigilation arrangements whereby learners can sit assessments in their own homes with online invigilation”.
Ofqual said it recognises that enabling some learners to receive calculated grades whilst other learners are expected to sit assessments, may be “perceived to be unfair, and may also pose additional demands on awarding organisations by requiring them to run two sets of arrangements in parallel over the summer months”.
However, the regulator added, “if we did not permit awarding organisations to offer adapted assessments where they felt they had the capacity to do so, because a calculated result could not be awarded safely and validly, then we risk limiting the ability of some learners to receive a result who otherwise might have done so”.
Awarding organisations will be expected to demonstrate to Ofqual that they have given “due consideration to complying with the direction and our technical requirements for calculating results, and that they have a sound rationale for proceeding with adaptation, before deciding not to issue calculated results for any learners”.
Students can still be entered for exams
Ofqual told FE Week that providers can still register students for functional skills exams for this summer if they haven’t already.
However, the regulator is concerned about a free-for-all and has advised awarding bodies to be vigilant and ultimately make the decision on which learners can still be entered.
Their consultation document said: “We propose that where an awarding organisation believes it might have learners who were not yet entered for assessments this summer, it should contact all learners registered to take their qualification to ascertain whether or not they intended to take an assessment in coming weeks/months.”
The policy applies to all students of all ages
Ofqual’s policy on teacher calculated grades applies to those aged over 19 as well as 16 to 18s.
It also applies to any learner taking functional skills as part of an apprenticeship.
How do you moderate functional skills?
Functional skills exams are pass or fail. To calculate the result for students, Ofqual said teachers should use the results of practice assignments or tests, or previously submitted class work, as well as their “professional judgement” of how learners with a similar profile usually perform.
The regulator said the awarding organisation is also likely to have access to a range of information about the centre, such as historical achievement data and centre risk profiles, to “enable them to quality assure centre assessment grades”.
How can AOs ensure providers submit credible calculated grades?
Ofqual’s consultation says awarding bodies should ask providers for supporting information and evidence, require head of centre sign off, judge pass rates against previous years, and conduct statistical modelling of likely centre outcomes against their assessment grades to ensure credibility of functional skills submissions.
Retakes
Functional skills students who cannot receive a calculated result or sit an adapted assessment will be offered opportunities to sit their assessments at a later date, and “as soon as reasonably possible, ideally no later than in the autumn term”.
Legacy qualifications extension
Reformed functional skills qualifications were rolled out in September 2019.
The regulation end date for legacy qualifications was set for 31 August, but Ofqual has now extended this to 31 December 2020.
This is “to allow learners who are currently on these qualifications, but who are yet to certificate, an opportunity to complete their qualification”.
Awarding organisations will be left to decide which of the thousands of BTECs and other technical qualifications can be graded by teacher calculations this summer.
Ofqual revealed today that it will not provide a definitive list of those that can be graded the same as cancelled A-level and GCSE exams.
The exams regulator has launched a temporary “extraordinary regulatory framework”, which says that as the vocational and technical qualification (VTQ) landscape is “complex”, it requires awarding organisations to “determine how best to deliver results to learners”.
Schools and colleges can either grade qualifications by calculating results, adapting assessments, or, as a last resort, delay assessments until they reopen.
Ofqual’s chief regulator Sally Collier said: “It is vitally important that learners taking vocational or technical qualifications are not prevented from progressing in their studies or careers because of the unprecedented challenges this summer.
“We have worked quickly across the sector to develop an approach which gives awarding organisations the flexibility they need to deliver results for as many learners as possible during the current crisis, while ensuring a process which those who rely on these qualifications can trust.”
Last year, 160 awarding organisations offered more than 14,000 qualifications. More than 5.8 million certificates were issued learners.
Ofqual has broken VTQs down into three categories.
For qualifications used for “progression to further or higher education”, the exams regulator says that teacher calculated grades should apply in the majority of cases, like for GCSEs and A-levels.
Calculated results may be based on the “outcomes of any completed assignments or modules, and/or centre judgements (for the whole qualification, or for uncompleted modules or units) of the result each learner would most likely have achieved had they been able to complete their assessments in summer 2020”.
The regulator said that functional skills qualifications should be assessed via teacher calculation, but it will allow for “adapted assessment” such as online tests at home where this is not possible (click here for full story).
For qualifications which are used to “signal occupational competence”, Ofqual says it would “not be suitable for these learners to receive a calculated result because it would not be clear they possessed the skills required for the job, which could have health and safety – or other professional – implications”.
They propose that the starting point for these qualifications is for awarding organisations to “adapt” the assessment or delivery model so that assessments can be completed “under the current public health restrictions”.
And for those qualifications with a “mixed purpose”, awarding organisations will need to consider whether it “more closely aligns with the primary purpose of supporting progression to further or higher education, or whether it is more closely aligned with signifying occupational competence”.
Ofqual said that where learners “do not feel that their result properly reflects their ability”, they propose that further assessment should take place “as soon as possible” in the autumn term.
The regulator admitted that the introduction of its proposed regulatory framework will have cost and resource impacts on awarding organisations, as well as on schools and colleges.
Ofqual is “keen to hear views from the sector about the resource and operational impact, which we will consider carefully before implementing our proposals”.
Ofqual has today published a consultation on how it proposes to award vocational and technical qualifications this summer. Here’s what you need to know
The new framework’s ‘key principles’
Ofqual is proposing a new “extraordinary regulatory framework” to let awarding organisations deliver results “using approaches that would not be allowed in ordinary circumstances”. It will be based on “key principles” for AOs to prioritise, and will be “designed to give awarding organisations the flexibility they need to deliver results”.
The principles are that an awarding organisation must seek to:
issue results to as many learners as possible in spring/summer 2020, provided that those results are based on evidence which ensures that they are sufficiently valid and reliable
ensure that each result it issues is as reliable as possible
ensure that its approach minimises burden and maximises deliverability as far as possible
maintain standards, as far as possible, within the same qualification in line with previous years
maintain standards, as far as possible, across similar qualifications made available by the awarding organisation and by other awarding organisations
Where there is conflict between two or more principles, the awarding organisation “must consider the principles in the order in which they are set out here”.
So what qualifications are covered?
The framework will cover vocational and technical qualifications and any general qualification which is not covered by the government separate plan for GCSEs and A-levels.
Where a qualification isn’t in scope, AOs will determine whether they should offer learners a “calculated result”, adapt their assessments or delivery models, or delay assessments.
Ofqual plans to produce some guidance to “support awarding organisations in their decision-making in these circumstances”.
The consultation applies to three categories of qualifications. These are:
qualifications used for progression to further or higher education
qualifications serving a mixed purpose
qualifications signalling occupational competence
Ofqual is proposing different approaches to qualifications depending on which group they align with.
The postponement of assessments, leading to a delay to results, should be a last resort, Ofqual says.
Use ‘trusted’ evidence for results
Calculated results must be based on “at least one source of trusted evidence”, Ofqual says. This could include a centre assessment grade, or a sufficient percentage of banked evidence.
There also needs to be a “sufficiently robust means of quality assurance”.
It will be up to AOs to decide what’s appropriate, but Ofqual is proposing to implement “a range of technical requirements that will support their decision making, secure that results issued under the framework remain valid and trusted, and that this summer learners receive grades that fairly represent their expected level of attainment”.
AOs will have to provide “effective guidance” to centres on what information they require to calculate results.
Ofqual says the same method could be used for vocational and technical qualifications, if an awarding organisation deems it necessary.
However, it will depend on each individual qualification and is a decision that each awarding body should make itself.
“Awarding organisations may also ask for other information in order to support an approach to calculating grades such as a rank order for learners,” the consultation says.
“This might involve an overall rank order of learners or a rank order of learners in each grade.”
AOs could be forced to provide autumn assessments
The government’s policy is that learners who don’t feel this year’s results reflect their ability should be given an opportunity to compete another assessment.
Ofqual says that for many vocational and technical qualifications, another assessment opportunity “would typically be available in the autumn term in any event”.
The regulator is proposing that where an AO normally provides an assessment opportunity between September and December, it “should be obliged to continue to provide that opportunity”.
Where awarding organisations do not normally provide an assessment opportunity in the autumn term, Ofqual thinks additional assessment opportunities “should be made available where sufficient demand exists and where meeting that demand would not create a disproportionate burden on awarding organisations or centres”.
If no assessment opportunity is made available Ofqual “may require that an additional assessment opportunity must be made available”. However, relevant AOs would be consulted on the feasibility and impact of such an imposition.
No change to appeals policy, but extra guidance
Ofqual says its existing rules are in line with the government’s policy on appeals, which gives learners the right to appeal “if the relevant process was not followed correctly by the awarding organisation”.
But Ofqual plans to publish additional guidance to “promote consistency in approach and to make clear what awarding organisations should consider in relation to the conduct of appeals this year”.
In particular, the guidance will “make clear that awarding organisations are not obliged to consider appeals submitted by individual learners or their representatives unless that is the only way to secure an effective appeal”.
What about private candidates?
Where learners are private candidates and studying qualifications independently, AOs should seek to issue results in the same way as they will for other learners “where possible”.
Calculated results should only be issued to private learners “where sufficient evidence is available and where the right detail can be properly submitted on the learner’s behalf”.
Where learners don’t have sufficient existing evidence, have not engaged sufficiently with centres, or where assessment adaptation is unsuitable for private candidates, it is “likely then that the most appropriate option may be for those learners to wait until the next opportunity provided by the awarding organisation to take their assessment”.
And functional skills?
The government’s policy is that learners due to take functional skills tests before the end of the summer should receive “a calculated result rather than an adapted or postponed assessment”.
But Ofqual recognises AOs may not be able to issue safe and valid calculated grades for all learners.
“We recognise that there will be some functional skills qualification learners who still will not receive a result this summer, because they are unable to receive a calculated result, cannot access an adapted assessment, have had their apprenticeship suspended, and/or have decided to delay taking their assessments.
“We expect those learners to be offered opportunities to sit their assessments at a later date, and as soon as reasonably possible, ideally no later than in the autumn term.”
With no blueprint for this unprecedented pandemic, colleges are coming up with their own solutions to help international students who find them stuck halfway around the world from their friends and family.
Colleges have earned the gratitude of international students and parents for “going the extra mile” by sheltering those stuck in England during the Covid-19 lockdown.
Students like Anatolli and Andrew Filippov, both 22 and from Dudley College, who attempted to return home to Siberia in Russia last month – only to have their flights cancelled when the Russian government closed its borders.
The twin brothers have been isolated at their accommodation at Dudley ever since, supported by the college’s international team.
Despite the situation he and his brother find themselves in, Anatolli says they are not stressed as they have money for rent and food for another two to three weeks – by which time Russia is expected to have reopened its borders.
“It’s a difficult situation across the world and our situation is not horrible,” he said, whereas a lot of people “do not have the comfortable conditions which we have.”
Anatolli came to the West Midlands college to study an English for speakers of other language (ESOL) course as he always wanted to learn about English culture and its language and wants to work for an international company, perhaps in construction, once he returns to Russia.
The brothers have already had a listening and speaking exam in February, which Anatolli passed with full marks, though, he says, Andrew did a “little bit worse”.
Dudley College students Anatolii Filippov (left) and Andrew Filippov
He hopes to return home in May, but has been keeping in touch with his mother, his girlfriend and his friends via Skype.
Dudley College also has 22 learners from China studying motor vehicle programmes. They are either staying with host families or in halls of residence that they share with international students from the University of Wolverhampton.
“All are in supportive communities throughout this difficult time and are able to reassure their families back home of their safety,” a college spokesperson said.
A group of fashion and photography staff and students from Dudley who took part in an international exchange in India in March of this year were able to return to the UK without issue.
This is a particularly stressful time for individuals to be so far away from their loved ones
But Anatolli, Andrew and the Chinese students will have to cope with being away from their families during these unprecedented and dangerous times.
They are just a few of the thousands of international students studying at an FE college in England who have been affected by the virus, who also serve as an example of how colleges, like Dudley, are having to pull out all the stops in reacting to a situation for which there is no blueprint.
Dudley’s principal, Neil Thomas, said their “primary concern” for international students is to “help them stay safe and well”, and they appreciate “this is a particularly stressful time for individuals to be so far away from their loved ones”, so the colleges’ counselling and support services have been kept active supporting them.
In some cases, the international students being supported by a college are not even theirs: over the Easter break, Chichester College Group put up students from the Falklands Islands, who had been studying at another college, in their halls of residence for free. This was after the learners could not get a flight back home and the provider they were studying at had no accommodation to offer them.
The college went the extra mile for our son and the rest of the Falkland Island students
After these students eventually made it home, one parent (who did not wish to be named) gave their “heartfelt” thanks to the college for “going the extra mile for our son and the rest of the Falkland Island students”.
“It is a challenging time for everyone and I am sure it has been well recognised that the team put the students above all else to provide them with stability in a fast-changing situation.”
Chichester’s director of international Sarah Watson called it “a highly unusual time for all of us”, but said the biggest challenge for the students was “the uncertainty of how or when they would be able to return home”.
“Our team worked hard to provide individual support to our students to make this process as simple as possible,” she continued.
“We have found that providing flexibility and extra levels of support during this time has helped to significantly reduce the anxiety of our students and of parents while their children have been overseas.”
Hartpury College in Gloucestershire had found the “biggest issue” for their international students, of which it has 215 enrolled, were flight cancellations, a spokesperson said.
Twenty of the college’s international cohort had to stay on campus during the Easter break “due to the restrictions in place in their home countries”.
Hartpury College campus dog Ralph
They were supported by a small staff team, including residential wardens, who helped students collect prescriptions and essential supplies, as well as aiding their mental wellbeing. The wardens checked on students daily, and made themselves available for a socially distanced chat “with those who may be finding it difficult to be overseas and separated from their families at this time”.
The spokesperson said the campus dog Ralph was also on hand for walks and a Facebook community page was established to give students the opportunity to “stay active, stay positive and remain part of the Hartpury community”.
The Association of Colleges’ international director Emma Meredith said colleges “have been doing everything they can” to support international students, and moved “incredibly quickly” to provide online learning and support measures, such as checking in with local hosts the students stay with.
“For everybody, the coronavirus pandemic is extremely worrying and we should not forget that there are young people in our colleges who are sitting this out far away from home,” she said.
The team put students above all else to provide them with stability in a fast-changing situation
Their experience, and that of their providers, has been made slightly easier by the Home Office temporarily relaxing the rules around student visas. So, for instance, the government will not take enforcement action against students who are not able to attend their studies for 60 days or more because of Covid-19; and providers will not need to report student absences.
Meredith said she was “grateful” for the “significant” concessions, which would provide “short-term reassurance” for students and providers.
But, she said, in the longer term there will “definitely be disruption and a financial impact to the international contracts and projects colleges had planned”.
Support staff at Sheffield College will see a salary increase as high as 18 per cent from May as leaders agree to pay all workers the real living wage “for the first time”.
Trade union Unison has negotiated a deal that will see the college now pay a minimum rate of £9.30 an hour, which is above the £8.72 national living wage for workers aged 25 and above.
The real living wage was devised by charity the Living Wage Foundation, and a total of 133 non-teaching workers at Sheffield College, including cleaners, cleaning supervisors and estate staff, are set to benefit.
Around 400 of the college’s support staff, some of whom work at subsidiary companies, will also see their consolidated pay increase by at least 2.75 per cent.
Unison’s Yorkshire and Humber area organiser Jordan Stapleton said many of the lowest paid employees will see their pay increase by up to £2,805, or 18.6 per cent, “after years of bearing the brunt of austerity policies designed to slash costs”.
Unison had not balloted for fresh strike action but was in a formal dispute with Sheffield College over performance-related pay. Unions have to formally register a dispute to take industrial action.
It has been agreed that performance pay will be removed for lower pay grades, and a commitment has been made to discuss the future of performance pay, including phasing it out for all staff.
The union has argued that performance pay can have a negative effect on staff, by making them focus on competing for pay awards, rather than supporting teamwork and better service delivery.
Several of the college’s pay grades have also been adjusted, with staff at each level seeing their pay increase.
At a minimum, consolidated pay has increased by 2.75 per cent for 2018-19 and 2019-20 and staff will receive a non-consolidated pay-off of one per cent.
The college already awarded staff a one per cent pay rise last November, and this further raise will be paid in May 2020.
Owing to it being a two-year deal, parts of the increase will be backdated to February 2019 and parts will be backdated to February 2020.
Sheffield College generated a £1.3 million operating deficit in 2019, but its financial health is rated as ‘good’ by the Education & Skills Funding Agency.
Paul Simpson, the college’s executive director of human resources and organisation development, said they are “confident” the pay award is sustainable, owing to the college having budgeted for it and because of its financial health.
He added that “investing in our staff is the right thing to do” and is “vital to achieving our strategic ambition of being an employer of choice in our region”.
The raise will also affect workers at the college’s other businesses: Sparks Managed Services Ltd, where 128 employees will benefit, and Sparks Services Ltd, where 18 employees working in areas such as marketing and learner recruitment will receive the uplift.
Universities are still planning to offer the MBA in the level 7 senior leader apprenticeship, despite the qualification being axed from the programme.
Earlier this month the Institute for Apprenticeships & Technical Education launched a consultation on a revised version of the standard which scrapped all references to MBAs.
The apprenticeships quango said that requiring a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) in the level 7 senior leader standard would no longer “meet the intent of our policy on mandated qualifications”.
However, the institute has this week confirmed to FE Week that providers would still be allowed to offer the MBA as a non-mandatory qualification, though costs for qualification registration, certification and any training not directly related to the standard would not be fundable from the levy.
The MBA will always remain a key part of our programme
An employer could choose to pay these costs out of their own pocket to enable their apprentice to acquire the qualification in addition to passing the apprenticeship via the end-point assessment.
Aston University, which has recruited almost 300 people on to the standard since its launch in February 2018, said the removal of the MBA component “does not mean we would automatically remove the MBA from our senior leader offer”.
A spokesperson added they would determine with the apprentice employers “if the most valuable vehicle for a level 7 senior leader programme remains an MBA qualification”.
“Then we would be keen to include it.”
But they said it was too early to say with certainty whether they would charge any additional fees.
The Henley Business School, which runs the senior leader programme for the University of Reading and has had 226 starts to date, said: “The Henley MBA will always remain a key part of our programme” – hinting that option will remain open for employers.
But, as the IfATE’s consultation is still live, the university’s spokesperson said they were “unable to comment on what changes we will make to our programme until the new standard and assessment plan is finalised”.
Many other universities, such as Exeter, Portsmouth, Liverpool John Moores, the Open University, and the biggest MBA provider – Cranfield University – all told FE Week they will wait until the standard is finalised before making any changes to their programme.
The University of Bradford launched a last-ditch recruitment drive for MBA apprentices last month as a result of the government’s review into the standard.
A spokesperson from the university told FE Week that they are “aware that this will be removed in future”, however, the “final version is not yet approved to affect existing delivery”.
The university will “engage in a review of our level 7 apprenticeship provision when the full, confirmed details of the new standard are published”.
The government’s review of the standard is planned to conclude by June 1.
The IfATE told FE Week that as the changes to the occupational standard and end-point assessment plan are likely to be “significant”, they expect to consider the funding band, which currently sits at £18,000.
The senior leader apprenticeship has proven extremely popular since its launch in February 2018. FE Week analysis shows it had 6,387 starts on the programme up to the first quarter of 2019-20.
As each of these attracted up to £18,000 of levy funding – it means as much as £115 million has been spent on this standard to date.
MoJ ploughs ahead with £2m tender for MBA apprentices
A government department is ploughing ahead with a £2 million hunt for MBA apprentices to “enhance social mobility” despite the qualification being axed from apprenticeships.
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is tendering for providers to deliver the level 7 senior leader degree apprenticeship with an attached Masters of Business Administration or Masters of Science.
That’s despite the Institute for Apprenticeships & Technical Education removing the MBA component following a review called for by education secretary Gavin Williamson.
The MoJ told FE Week it was aware of this, but as “no changes have been made” officially yet, they will continue to recruit MBA apprentices.
The Department for Education said that while the review is under way, it is up to providers and employers to decide how to recruit and promote apprenticeship standards.
The ministry wants to deliver the MBA apprenticeship because, the tender document says, “senior leadership capability is a key priority for the department and there is currently no apprenticeship on offer to fill this learning gap”.
Offering the apprenticeships will “enhance the MoJ social mobility strategy by allowing employees who did not attend university to gain higher-level qualifications while in the workplace”.
Applicants for the MoJ tender have been asked to submit bids by April 30.
Freddie Whittaker meets Rebecca Long-Bailey, Labour’s new shadow education secretary
The lack of an “overarching message” from Labour on its flagship national education service (NES) was one of the reasons it lost the last general election, says the new shadow education secretary.
But Rebecca Long-Bailey says the “fantastic” policy will survive and be developed by Labour under Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership.
She has pledged to “flesh out the detail” in the “next few years”.
A flagship policy of Jeremy Corbyn, the party’s former leader, the service was an umbrella term for a free “cradle-to-grave” education that had no tuition fees. It also pledged to replace Ofsted.
But although elements of the policy were extensively covered in the media and seemed to reach voters, many felt the overall vision did not hit home.
“There are a number of reasons as to why we lost, we know that, but one of the reasons is that we didn’t have that overarching message that explained to people what the national education service was for and what a Labour government was for,” said Long-Bailey in an exclusive interview with FE Week’s sister paper FE Week.
But the former party leadership candidate believes the NES was key policy “for a reason”, adding that that the coronavirus crisis has highlighted the “huge role” schools, colleges and training providers play in society.
“If we’re going to make sure that we don’t just see social mobility, the odd few climbing the ladder and doing very well for themselves, but everybody rising up and realising their potential, then we’ve got to have a cradle-to-grave national education service that means education is a right for all.”
Long-Bailey’s first task before she can flesh out Labour’s education policies is to hold the government to account for its coronavirus response.
She believes “clearer” communication is needed about plans to reopen schools and colleges, and warns of “a lot of concern”
among staff about a rushed return.
And in terms of training providers, she says the DfE’s response to support them financially has been inadequate – especially their latest announcement, that levy-funded apprenticeships will not be eligible for supplier relief.
“The Association of Employment and Learning Providers has raised the alarm about this and I understand that they’re seeking legal advice on the government’s action, because they believe that the grounds to exclude those providers isn’t justified.
“By being a levy provider, you would have a direct contract [with the ESFA] in any event through that system.
“So I think the government does need to address this very, very quickly because there are a number of training providers who now really are worried about not just what’s going to happen over the next few months, but they’re worried about whether they’re actually viable over the next week.”
Long-Bailey says training providers are going to be “essential in our economic recovery”, so it’s an “incredibly worrying” time for them.
Colleges are calling on Ofqual to relax plans for ranking GCSE students within each grade this summer, as doing so for hundreds across different campuses would be “impractical”.
A number that spoke to FE Week expressed fear that it would produce “inaccurate” results and put thousands of learners at a “disadvantage”.
The exams regulator is currently consulting on the proposal, which was revealed last month as part of the standardised assessment process that will replace cancelled exams due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Schools and colleges are being asked to provide both a centre grade in each subject for each student and a rank order of pupils within each grade.
Ofqual says the rank order will help determine which students move between grades during the standardisation process, which will be run by exam boards in order to ensure that students are not disadvantaged by “generous or severe” assessment.
Jeanne Rogers, vice principal for quality teaching and learning at the Luminate Education Group, told FE Week that she is not “confident in the legitimacy and accuracy of a ranking process, where hundreds of students would have to be placed in order with potentially little or no distinguishable evidence between them”.
Her group, which encompasses five colleges including Leeds City, has almost 8,900 GCSE entries from 5,520 students this summer who are taught by almost 100 teachers.
“Our main concern is that any largescale ranking will place some students at a disadvantage,” Rogers said.
“Take our GCSE maths, for example: one campus might have 800 maths students, in 60 groups, across five departments, assessed by ten teachers. Two teachers in each department will rank their 150 students, with direct experience of the comparable features of performance, giving them a good degree of confidence.
“They then have to join four other departments to merge the rankings and that’s where you will inevitably see some students being moved down in the rank order, as a consequence of sheer volume and the necessity to give each a unique rank.”
Rogers added that if 200 students were to share a grade in any one campus, there will be “clusters” within that grade, where there is “little in the evidence base to distinguish between them”.
While this is a challenge that Luminate will “take on, for the sake of each student”, they hope Ofqual will adjust the plan so that it allows for the ranking of students in smaller cohorts of around 150 – which would be equitable to a year 11 cohort in schools.
Birmingham Metropolitan College shares similar concerns. The group, made up of three colleges, has almost 4,000 GCSE students taught by 50 teachers.
A spokesperson said that ranking this high number will be “very challenging logistically. We would like flexibility in the ranking and have voiced this as part of the consultation,” they added.
Meanwhile, NCG has 80 GCSE teachers teaching around 4,000 students across its seven colleges.
A spokesperson described ranking hundreds of learners within the same grade band as a “key challenge”.
“For example, we know from the DfE progress measures that nationally, and at NCG, the majority of 16-to-18-year-old learners stay at the same grade, so, given that the annual distribution of learners is heavily centred around grade three, for all colleges, no matter the size, this will be hundreds of learners at different ages, from different departments having to be ranked,” she added.
“Getting this right, particularly at the proportional grade boundaries, will require some real care and attention.”
Their concerns have been echoed by their counterparts across the country, according to the Association of Colleges.
The membership organisation’s draft response to Ofqual’s consultation said colleges are “concerned” about a single-centre ranking for all candidate grades, which is not “necessary” and nor would it provide “any additional degree of accuracy”.
“Under the current circumstances, moderating student grades across a large team and across campuses is not practical.”
The AoC, like the Luminate Education Group, suggests that it should be possible to submit rankings either by teacher or in smaller groupings of around 150 instead.
