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If ministers did the necessary background research, failed initiatives like the National Colleges would be less likely to be repeated, writes Tom Richmond

Albert Einstein famously asserted that “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. 

When the policy memory of many government departments – particularly on education matters – seems about as long as the average ministerial tenure, there is inevitably a risk that the same mistakes could repeat themselves.  

Step forward National Colleges. 

Launched to much fanfare in 2016 with £80 million behind them (not to be sniffed at in the age of austerity), the five National Colleges were set up to ensure that the UK had enough skilled workers in several industries crucial to economic growth.  

The plan was for the Colleges to focus on training at levels 4 to 6 (degree level) to plug the gaps in our skills system. 

When they were launched, who would disagree with the concept of a National College for High-Speed Rail to support HS2, or a National College for Nuclear to support Hinkley Point?  

Throw in National Colleges for Onshore Oil and Gas, Digital Skills and the Creative and Cultural Industries, and you have a policy that appeared to be in exactly the right place at the right time.  

Five years later, and we learnt this month that the National College for HS2 has officially come off the rails after being closed by ministers when facing insolvency.  

That’s after the College took millions in government funding and even blew £73,000 on a legal challenge over its ‘inadequate’ Ofsted grade, which it eventually abandoned. 

Rather than being scrapped, it has been converted into part of the University of Birmingham.  

Despite this dramatic rescue, it is just yet another dismal episode in the National College saga. 

In 2019 it was revealed the National College for the Creative Industries would be dissolved, despite being set up with £5.5 million and getting bailouts to keep it afloat. 

Then this month FE Week revealed the National College for Onshore Oil and Gas is being wound up without ever having properly opened. 

Seasoned observers may have raised an eyebrow when National Colleges first emerged, not least because it had only been a few years since “National Skills Academies” (NSAs) were unveiled ̶ accompanied by their very own fanfare, naturally.  

These Academies, like National Colleges, were supposed to be employed-led centres of excellence that would improve the quality and quantity of vocational training by responding to skills needs in particular sectors. 

They were first established in 2006 and subsequently rolled out in industries such as nuclear, and creative and cultural skills (detecting a trend yet?). 

Although the idea for NSAs originated in a New Labour government white paper in 2005, the coalition government kept the ball rolling in the early 2010s with new NSAs in “green skills” and health.  

The policy rationale was always dubious

Even so, the top-down nature of this initiative coupled with a strong whiff of ministers “picking winners” meant that the policy rationale was always dubious.  

The quiet relegation of NSAs in the mid-2010s coupled with the appearance of National Colleges was a subtle switch that was never fully explained or justified. 

Spending public money on shiny new buildings for some of the National Colleges and NSAs also raised questions about whether improving existing facilities and colleges would have been a more sensible bet. 

It would be wrong to say that National Colleges and National Skills Academies were identical in every respect. Nevertheless, the circular nature of such policymaking does not bode well.  

Ministers come and go, as do senior civil servants, with the latter often showing even less interest in policy history than the former.  

If the necessary background research had been done before National Colleges were devised, considerable resources and ministerial blushes would almost certainly have been spared. 

The latest wheeze comes in the form of “Institutes of Technology” (IoTs), which are yet another attempt to impose a top-down institutional solution on the skills landscape.  

That is not to say these Institutes are doomed to fail, nor that the investment isn’t welcome (it certainly is). Nevertheless, one wonders whether we will look back in a few years from now on IoTs and ask why nobody pointed out at the time that we were about to make the same mistakes all over again.  

Amidst all the uncertainty surrounding the future of the IoTs and the remaining National Colleges, all we know for certain is that Einstein would not have enjoyed a career in skills policy.

Initial challenges to making best use of the College Collaboration Fund were tackled by both sides, write Rebecca Conroy and Sam Parrett

“Collaboration” brings to mind teamwork and shared goals.

This is what we were thinking of last year when London South East Colleges applied for a grant to work with East Sussex College Group from the Department for Education’s College Collaboration Fund.

The £9 million fund was introduced by the government in February 2020 in a bid to improve governance and leadership at colleges.

It followed the Strategic College Improvement Fund, which ended in 2019. Bids of up to £500,000 can be submitted by groups of colleges to “share good practice and expertise” over a 12-month programme.

As with all new relationships, we came up against challenges on the way, but managed to tackle them and achieved more than we had initially hoped.  

LSEC led the project and was awarded funding based on a comprehensive bid, focusing on four main areas: financial resilience, SEND quality, leadership and governance and digital transformation.

The DfE’s match funding requirement of 25 per cent was covered by LSEC, as we were confident the benefit of the project outweighed these initial costs.  

Throughout the project, we have delivered four virtual conferences around our selected workstream. We also developed digital transformation strategies for both colleges, established nine new online courses (focusing on healthcare, digital and warehousing) and collaborated with eight additional colleges to see what further lessons we could learn from them.

Both of our college groups are also on track to reduce costs for subcontracting to zero by the end of 2021-22 to ensure that we are meeting the specific needs of our communities.

We have packaged this programme into a college improvement framework called #ChangeMakers – a comprehensive resource we will share with the sector.  

An independent project manager was also recruited

But, as with any new venture, reaching these positive outcomes has required flexibility, lateral thinking and a common purpose.  

Initially, it was difficult for ESCG to find the time needed for staff to dedicate to the project. Focus was understandably on the day-to-day running of the college during a global pandemic!

However, we both understood that staff buy-in was crucial and people had to be supported in terms of their time and workload. So we used some of the funding to backfill some roles and free up other staff to commit fully to the partnership.     

An independent project manager was also recruited to facilitate conversations across both our colleges. This unbiased oversight proved invaluable by keeping us all on task.     

As CEOs, our positive relationship with each other from the outset also helped ensure that our teams were encouraged to work well together.

We were aware of potential resistance from staff to this new partnership and to the changes being suggested. However, we established a systemised leadership approach, which is about embedding processes you know work, delivered by the people on the ground who have tried and tested the techniques.

It also provided excellent CPD opportunities for staff

For instance, LSEC staff at all levels shared their experiences of what genuinely works for them in practice, while ESCG staff listened, asked questions and fed back. Both teams then came up with solutions together. The staff could see the real value of what we were trying to achieve and felt involved in making changes.

It also provided excellent CPD opportunities for LSEC staff, through mentoring and supporting others.  

Having to conduct the entire programme of work virtually had its limitations, particularly in relation to our special educational needs workstream.

LSEC’s expertise in this area has helped ESCG to develop a new and consistent offer across its sites – but owing to the pandemic, it was not possible for ESCG staff to visit LSEC’s facilities.  

We tackled this issue using virtual tour technology, which was adequate but not quite the same. With restrictions now easing, our teams are planning proper site visits.

Our strong college-to-college partnership and commitment of staff has been crucial – but in reality, the project would not have been a success without the funding.   

This model is a gamechanger for FE, facilitating real collaboration and harnessing the expertise and talent we know is widespread in our sector.

Through its many incarnations, the Learning and Work Institute has supported initiatives that are still with us now, writes Alan Tuckett

The Learning and Work Institute celebrates its hundredth birthday today. Despite never being blessed with a surfeit of cash, the LWI can look back on 100 years of advocacy and research for lifelong learning.    

Along the way it has fostered a range of successful innovations that led to the establishment of major national and international institutions. It has throughout been a critical friend to governments, challenging and supporting policy around adult education. 

The LWI was founded as the British Institute of Adult Education (BIAE) in 1921. It was the brainchild of Lord Haldane (who went on to become Lord Chancellor) and Albert Mansbridge, who also created the Workers’ Educational Association.  

I was an active member from 1974, and led its work from 1988 until 2011. Its membership when it first opened was limited to individuals rather than institutions, drawn from universities, voluntary bodies and local government. They recognised the value of a national voice promoting adult education that could also research and share good practice. 

In the 1920s it fought budget cuts and launched two inquiries, one on broadcasting and adult education, and the other on the role of film in national life. These led to the BIAE helping to create the British Film Institute, and the BBC’s education advisory council.

In 1934 the BIAE’s charismatic secretary, W.E. Williams, noticed the lack of public art in provincial towns and established Art for the People, taking exhibitions of borrowed works to municipal settings.   

Parallel initiatives in music led to the creation of the Council for Encouragement of Music and the Arts, which from 1945 became the Arts Council, eventually led by Williams.  

Meanwhile, Williams also became chief editor of Penguin Books, and during the Second World War, the BIAE seconded him to run the Army Bureau of Current Affairs, too. The weekly discussion materials sent to soldiers about current affairs are often cited as contributing to Labour’s 1945 landslide.  

In 1945 local authorities established the National Foundation for Adult Education, with local authorities and other providers as institutional members. 

BIAE was strapped financially, and in 1948 the two amalgamated as the National Institute of Adult Education.   

NIAE’s international work helped create the European Bureau of Adult Education in 1954 and the International Council for Adult Education in 1974.  

From 1975 NIAE hosted the government-backed Adult Literacy Resource Agency and its successor bodies, playing an active role in the establishment of English as a Second Language courses.   

Throughout the 1980s it also supported activist member committees on gender and race equality, and promoted learners’ voices.    

Its work had a major influence on the expansion of adult opportunities between 1997 and 2003

Then in 1973 the NIAE became the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education, to mark a broadening brief. Until 1991 it hosted two additional innovative government-funded agencies, REPLAN – for unemployed adults – and the Unit for the Development of Adult Continuing Education.    

NIACE returned to advocacy with a bang in the run-up to 1992 legislation, where the government threatened to end public funding for community adult education.  

Working with the National Federation of Women’s Institutes and local government, NIACE co-ordinated a campaign that saw the proposal reversed in just six weeks.   

At the same time NIACE launched Adult Learners’ Week, to celebrate existing learners and encourage others to participate, with free helplines and in partnership with television companies. It was a striking success, was adopted by UNESCO and spread to 55 countries.    

NIACE’s annual adult participation surveys have also helped the government to focus on who doesn’t participate, and its qualitative studies have put forward solutions.   

Its work had a major influence on the expansion of adult opportunities between 1997 and 2003, and has been essential in the fight to limit cuts as public policies have narrowed in the years since.   

The latest name change came in 2014, with the amalgamation of NIACE and Inclusion, which was the research organisation that developed from the unemployment unit. 

As it celebrates its centenary, the LWI’s work is as relevant and vital as ever.