The controversial level 7 senior leader apprenticeship has again hit the headlines in recent days, after the education secretary questioned whether the £18,000 levy-funded MBA was “value for money”. The programme is traditionally associated with high profile universities running courses for executives in the corporate sector. But FE Week found it is an entrepreneur servicing schools that has now hit the MBA apprenticeship top spot so far this year…

 

David Cobb (pictured), who runs education-services organisation Oceanova, moved into the apprenticeships market in 2018.

One of his subsidiaries is a small London-based company called Captiva Learning, which trades as the National College of Education. It recorded the most senior leader 7 starts (180) out of all training providers on the standard in the first quarter of 2019/20.

This is the goose that lays the golden egg in terms of retention

Last year they recruited 250 individuals onto the programme. Overall they are the provider with the second biggest number of starts on the apprenticeship since its launch in February 2018 – pipping many top universities such as Middlesex and Exeter.

Government data shows Cranfield University has the largest number of starts, totalling 989 so far.

Captiva could earn up to £3 million from the 180 apprentices they recruited in September if they charged the standard’s upper funding rate of £18,000.

And when the 250 previous starts are combined, that income rises to over £7 million in less than two years.

Cobb is a well-known businessman in the schools sector, specialising in teacher recruitment and training. He is listed on Companies House as an “active” director for 15 firms.

All the higher level apprenticeships his company delivers are to school staff, mostly academy trust chief executives, headteachers and deputies.

He says while he has no numerical growth target, he does want to extend the offer further across England.

Defending the apprenticeship, he told FE Week it is often a “mischaracterisation” that the standard is simply an MBA being done on the cheap by senior executives at big FTSE 200 companies such as Deloitte.

“I just don’t think that’s right,” Cobb said. “Around 90 per cent of our level 7 learners are doing it as a master’s. It is an important qualification for senior leaders and actually when you look at the numbers, over 60 per cent have been done in the public sector.

“I’m not sure Gavin Williamson would stand by policies that cut off funding to public sector leaders, which is what this is doing.”

Cobb’s customers are exclusively schools. His firm also delivers to over 200 apprentices across the level 3 team leader/supervisor and level 5 operations/departmental manager.

So, with double the number of starts on the level 7 standard, why are schools lapping up this management apprenticeship with Captiva? Cobb puts it down to the “substandard” National Professional Qualifications for teachers that have been on offer over the last 10 to 15 years.

“If we’re facing a recruitment crisis in education we’re facing a bigger leadership crisis and actually master’s is the currency amongst these people. They’re postgrad qualified professionals in their own right in schools.”

He added: “We’re quite surprised by Williamson’s statement in that respect because all different sorts of money is being poured into different types of organisations to address recruitment and retention in education, but this is the goose that lays the golden egg in terms of retention, and now we’re talking about reducing the funding where it’s clearly working very successfully.”

Cobb said he joined the apprenticeships market shortly after the levy reforms because “we thought this would be an important development”.

He admits that his firm receives criticism from the schools sector for being “profiteers”, but the “truth is we have really invested heavily into this because it’s something we passionately believe in”.

While the upper funding rate for the level 7 standard is £18,000, Cobb says his provider does follow the funding rules and takes into account an apprentice’s prior learning and experience when setting rates for individuals. His firm has charged the maximum of £18,000 in 84 per cent of starts so far, Cobb claims.

He puts his rapid growth in the market down to an “extraordinary value proposition for schools”.

Apprentices made up an average of only 0.9 per cent of the workforce in schools across England in 2018-19, despite the government’s 2.3 per cent public sector target.

“It’s really difficult for schools to engage with the levy because it’s not part of their culture,” Cobb said. “There’s still an unintended snobbery around apprenticeships, because the word apprentice means failure.

“So part of us raising awareness is about changing that narrative in schools. It’s something we’re really working hard every single day to do.”

Captiva had its first monitoring report from Ofsted published in December, which resulted in ‘reasonable progress’ ratings across the board. However, Ofsted only inspects provision up to level 5, as the higher levels are the responsibility of higher education regulator the Office for Students.

While Captiva isn’t on the OfS’ register of HE providers itself, Cobb says they are registered with the regulator through its partnership with a private higher education institution, the University of Buckingham.

He confirmed that the OfS has never visited the provider to inspect the quality of the level 7 provision.

But Cobb offers assurance that delivery of the level 7 standard is “quality”, largely because four of his lecturers “are HMI inspectors” that apply an “Ofsted lens”.

They are among 30 lecturers, tutors and assessors on his apprenticeship delivery team, who are mostly senior figures in education, ex-headteachers and school improvement advisers.

He has also recruited the former national schools commissioner, Sir David Carter, to lead on his MBA programme.

With its head office in London, apprenticeship training with Captiva is mostly delivered in the workplace as well as at various rented offices across England.

“We spend a lot of money and we have put a lot of energy into going and visiting apprentices in the workplace, delivering progress reviews, ensuring that the apprenticeship is supported by line management, that it’s actually having an impact at employer level as well as learner level.”

Cobb’s first cohort of level 7 apprentices, which totalled 156, are due to complete their programmes this summer.

Summarising his view on the management apprenticeship, he said: “People don’t leave their jobs, they leave their managers. That’s why management education is so important. It’s absolutely fundamental to successful organisations, whether that’d be a business or whether it’s a public sector institution.”

A college accused of serious safeguarding failures has failed to overturn an ‘inadequate’ judgment following a second visit from Ofsted inspectors.

FE Week understands that Shrewsbury Colleges Group will have a grade four report published imminently after its complaint to the education watchdog was not upheld.

Leaders at the college, which teaches more than 9,000 students mostly aged 16 to 18, previously alleged the education watchdog ran out of time to check evidence in its first inspection in November.

Inspectors revisited last week but found that the same safeguarding concerns persist.

Following the first visit, principal James Staniforth said he had “never experienced anything like this” after 27 years in education.

The college told FE Week the first judgment was “wrong”, denied safeguarding was “ineffective” and claimed that Ofsted’s decision was “changed on the final day of the inspection without adequate explanation”.

Shrewsbury Colleges Group declined to comment following the latest visit from Ofsted.

FE Week understands representatives from the National Education Union have also raised concerns over safeguarding procedures across the group, both before and after the visit from the inspectorate.

The college group did previously admit that West Mercia Police were called to an incident during the inspection, after a suspended student tried to regain entry to college, and that some fire call-points were disabled during the inspection “in order to stop further false alarms” after a fault and a student caused two separate false alarms.

Ofsted was originally set to report that students and staff do not feel safe and the college had not taken sufficient steps to help ensure their safety

Inspectors also allegedly found that staff required to carry out site security roles have not received adequate training and necessary risk assessments to ensure effective safeguarding covering the college estate were not in place.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency previously asked the college to appoint an independent review of safeguarding by an approved consultant following a referral from Ofsted.

A two-day audit took place at the end of January, and it concluded that there was “a strong culture of safeguarding evident which is underpinned by established policies and procedures”.

“There is substantial evidence to support this statement as detailed in the report,” the summary continued.

Last month, Staniforth maintained the college was “a safe place to study” and it was “confident” the evidence available would demonstrate the effectiveness of our safeguarding practices”.

The principal added the college was looking forward to Ofsted returning and would await their judgment.

Shrewsbury Sixth Form College and Shrewsbury College of Arts and Technology merged to become Shrewsbury Colleges Group in August 2016.

Both FE providers were rated ‘good’ in their final inspections before the merger.

The group is now based across three campuses and has a turnover of £23 million.

It advertises itself as Shropshire’s largest provider of post-16 education – which teaches 70 per cent of all 16-to-18 students in the county.

A college has been moved into FE Commissioner intervention after it breached a bank covenant and had to reclassify a near £10 million loan.

Coventry College, which teaches around 6,000 learners, had a financial notice to improve published today after the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) assessed its finances as ‘inadequate’.

The college’s accounts for 2018/19 show a surplus of £185,000, having previously recorded a deficit of £711,000.

And its cash flow also improved from £1,256,000 in 2017/18 to £1,914,000 in 2018/19.

However, the accounts state that the college has “identified that the refinancing of an existing loan, due at 1 August 2020, presents a threat to the financial viability of the college”.

“In particular, if the refinancing of the loan is not completed by 1 August 2020 the College would not have sufficient funds to redeem the outstanding loan,” they continue.

The loan, which totals £9.414 million, has now been classified as a current liability “which contributes significantly to the current liability position of £7.975 million”.

However, the financial statements say, Barclays bank “has remained supportive and has on 23rd December 2019, issued a letter of comfort indicating that the outstanding loan will not be required to be immediately repaid due to the covenant breach”.

Discussions with the bank regarding the refinancing are “ongoing” and the “underlying financial health of the college is robust with projected resources and cash balances adequate to fund continuation of operations for the foreseeable future”.

The accounts add that the corporation and senior leadership team are “mindful of their responsibility for ensuring the solvency of the college,” and are confident the refinancing will be completed in advance of the due date.

As a result of today’s notice to improve, the grade three college is now required to meet additional conditions of funding with the ESFA.

These include allowing FE Commissioner Richard Atkins’ team undertake an independent assessment of the college’s capabilities, and prepare and share a draft financial recovery plan.

A spokesperson for Coventry College told FE Week: “We were issued with a notice to improve from the ESFA as a result of the leadership team working proactively with our external agencies to alert them to our financial position for the 2019/20 academic year.

“We continue to work closely with those external agencies including the FE Commissioner’s team to demonstrate transparency around our plans for recovery and financial improvement.”

The spokesperson also said the college has continued to make improvements as identified by Ofsted in its grade three report from September 2019.

They added: “While we continue to focus our efforts on this year’s financial position, of which there are a number of exceptional one-off costs, we are simultaneously modelling the academic year 20/21 and 21/22.

“The outcomes of this work are forecasting improvements for the college’s finances which will ensure that we are a sustainable entity which serves the needs of the community and region.”

The college declined to provide an update on its discussions with Barclays.

The public accounts committee (PAC) will quiz officials from the Department for Education on the financial stability of university technical colleges on Monday.

The hearing follows a recent National Audit Office report on the 14 to 19 technical institutions, which have faced many recruitment and funding issues since former education secretary Lord Baker launched them in 2010.

Confirming the catalogue of issues which FE Week has exposed over the years , the NAO found that the DfE spent £792 million on the UTC programme from 2010-11 to 2018-19, ten of the 58 UTCs that opened have subsequently closed, and the 48 open UTCs were operating at, on average, 45 per cent of capacity at January 2019.

At August 2019, Ofsted had rated 52 per cent of UTCs as good or outstanding, compared with 76 per cent of all secondary schools.

To combat their recruitment issues, UTCs have increasingly been lowering their age range to take on students from age 11 and 13.

They’ve also been actively encouraged by government to join multi-academy trusts to strengthen their position.

Witnesses to appear at the PAC’s hearing include Jonathan Slater, the DfE’s permanent secretary, the department’s director general for early years and schools group Andrew McCully, and academies director Mike Pettifer.

It is scheduled to being at 4pm on March 16.

PICTURED: PAC chair Meg Hillier

A high-profile radio company that runs UK stations such as Kiss FM and Magic was among seven FE providers to receive ‘good’ ratings from Ofsted this week.

But poor reports came in for four new independent learning providers, which all received ‘insufficient progress’ grades in early monitoring visits.

Most of Bauer Radio Limited’s 220 apprentices are studying level 3 standards in roles such as in junior content producer, junior journalist and broadcast production assistant.

Inspectors said many of its tutors and development coaches had worked on high-profile magazines, television programmes and radio programmes, and use their experience and in-depth knowledge to “inspire” apprentices.

Leaders and managers were also praised for establishing a “creative and innovative” curriculum.

Two general FE colleges were awarded grade twos in their first full inspections following mergers.

Most students at South Thames Colleges Group achieve their qualifications and go on to further study or employment while most of its apprentices remain in employment on completion of their programme, according to the inspectorate.

It also found that governors and leaders were “effective in securing a clear strategic direction” for the group, which resulted in each college maintaining good local connections and continuing to serve its communities “well”.

The education watchdog reported that students at East Coast College enjoy “a specialist and up-to-date” curriculum developed in partnership with local employers, and that leaders used public funding “effectively” to support disadvantaged adults in the community.

Since their merger, leaders and governors at East Coast have developed “robust systems to drive improvement”, they “watch improvements in the quality of learning carefully” and “take swift action should any dips in performance occur”.

East Norfolk Sixth Form College and Ealing London Borough Council both retained their ‘good’ ratings in short inspections.

Elsewhere, two independent learning providers were awarded grade twos in their first inspections.

The education watchdog found apprentices at Deere Apprenticeships Ltd developed new knowledge and skills that employers value while those at Moor Training Limited progress into well-paid careers in the plumbing, heating and gas industry.

But four private providers also received two out of three ‘insufficient progress’ grades in their early monitoring visits this week.

Ofsted said JD Academy Limited, which works with its own employees at its head office and in retail stores across the UK, had not ensured that all apprentices benefit from well-planned and sufficient training away from their job.

CS Training UK Limited was criticised as “too few” apprentices will achieve their apprenticeship on time.

In addition, leaders and managers at Dianthas Ltd were reported to “not fulfil all the apprenticeship principles and requirements” and many apprentices from Willing and Able Limited did “not know how much progress they have made, and too many make slow progress,” according to inspectors.

There were also six ‘requires improvements’ ratings handed out to FE providers this week, four of which went to independent learning providers.

Nottinghamshire Training Group dropped from a grade two as leaders’ and managers’ actions to improve standards “have not had enough impact,” and as a result, the quality of education is “very mixed”.

St Helens Chamber Limited was also downgraded from ‘good,’ with Ofsted noting that training advisers found it difficult to make the transition from apprenticeship frameworks to standards-based apprenticeships.

Furthermore, assessors at Cogent Skills Training Limited were criticised for not challenging apprentices enough to achieve their potential while leaders’ management of subcontractors was “not good enough”.

Ofsted said that although leaders and managers at Partnership Training Limited had taken “effective steps to improve the curriculum for apprentices, there is still much work to do”.

General FE college Cambridge Regional College was also hit with a grade three.

Its quality of provision for adult students was found to be “too inconsistent,” “too few” apprentices gained their qualifications and many also took “too long” to complete them.

Adult and community learning provider Building Crafts College ‘requires improvement’ as well, after previously being considered ‘good’, with managers being criticised for not ensuring that training is of “consistently good quality”.

However, independent specialist college, Exeter Royal Academy for Deaf Education, was awarded ‘reasonable progress’ across the board in a monitoring visit following a ‘requires improvement’ rating.

Hull College received two out of two ‘reasonable progress’ grades in its second monitoring visit after a grade three.

Similarly, Development Processes Group PLC was deemed to have made ‘reasonable progress’ in a second successive monitoring visit, after receiving ‘insufficient progress’ in all themes in the last.

Learning for Excellence Ltd was awarded ‘significant progress’ in each area as most apprentices made “rapid progress” in developing new knowledge, skills and behaviours.

The remaining independent learning providers to be assessed this week received ‘reasonable progress’ across the board in their early monitoring visits.

These were: Nationwide Energy Training Services Ltd, First Intuition Maidstone Limited, Keith Stevenson and Associates Limited and University Academy Holbeach.

 

Independent Learning Providers	Inspected	Published	Grade	Previous grade
Bauer Radio Limited	21/02/2020	10/03/2020	2	M
Cogent Skills Training Limited	07/02/2020	13/03/2020	3	M
CS Training UK Limited	21/02/2020	12/03/2020	M	N/A
Deere Apprenticeships Ltd	31/01/2020	10/03/2020	2	M
Development Processes Group PLC	02/03/2020	12/03/2020	M	M
Dianthas Ltd	26/02/2020	13/03/2020	M	N/A
First Intuition Maidstone Limited	27/02/2020	12/03/2020	M	N/A
JD Academy Limited	06/02/2020	09/03/2020	M	N/A
Keith Stevenson and Associates Limited	27/02/2020	11/03/2020	M	N/A
Learning for Excellence Ltd	12/02/2020	09/03/2020	M	N/A
Moor Training Limited	20/02/2020	12/03/2020	2	M
Nationwide Energy Training Services Ltd	26/02/2020	09/03/2020	M	N/A
Nottinghamshire Training Group	27/02/2020	10/03/2020	3	2
Partnership Training Limited	21/02/2020	10/03/2020	3	M
St Helens Chamber Limited	18/02/2020	11/03/2020	3	2
University Academy Holbeach	27/02/2020	09/03/2020	M	N/A
Willing and Able Limited	13/02/2020	09/03/2020	M	N/A

 

Sixth Form Colleges (inc 16-19 academies)	Inspected	Published	Grade	Previous grade
East Norfolk Sixth Form College	27/02/2020	13/03/2020	2	2

 

Adult and Community Learning	Inspected	Published	Grade	Previous grade
Building Crafts College	31/01/2020	10/03/2020	3	2
Ealing London Borough Council	11/02/2020	10/03/2020	2	2

 

Specialist colleges	Inspected	Published	Grade	Previous grade
Exeter Royal Academy for Deaf Education	13/02/2020	09/03/2020	M	3

 

General FE colleges	Inspected	Published	Grade	Previous grade
Cambridge Regional College	07/02/2020	12/03/2020	3	N/A
East Coast College	14/02/2020	12/03/2020	2	N/A
Hull College	28/02/2020	11/03/2020	M	M (3)
South Thames Colleges Group	07/02/2020	13/03/2020	2	M

The Department for Education has revealed for the first time how the introduction of the apprenticeship levy in 2017 has led to a huge shift away from small employers.

Apprenticeship starts with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have fallen 40 per cent, while starts with large employers rose eight per cent.

One of the most affected industries, according to the figures, is health and social work.

It experienced a fall of just over 50 per cent in SME starts, from 70,810 in 2016-17 – the last time the figures were published – to 34,820 in 2018-19.

In total, there were 81,300 health and social work apprenticeship starts last year, in comparison to 121,680 who started on the programme in 2016-17.

Another sector hit by the launch of the levy in April 2017 is hospitality. Its SME starts dropped by 68 per cent, from 12,460 in 2016-17 to 3,950 last year.

Starts at SMEs in the “wholesale and retail trade” and “manufacturing” industry both fell around 40 per cent over the two-year period.

The former decreased from 22,690 to 13,080 while the latter declined from 18,620 to 11,100.

The overall number of apprenticeship starts for all employers dropped by 20 per cent, from 449,830 to 366,170 between 2016-17 and 2018-19.

The findings were revealed in the DfE’s analysis which “looked at the impact of the introduction of the apprenticeship levy on employers engaging with apprenticeships”.

Mark Dawe, the chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, told FE Week: “This analysis is very timely with IfATE launching its consultation on funding bands because while the limited availability of non-levy funding is undoubtedly a major factor, the unviable funding rates for certain standards in, for example, hospitality and adult social care go a long way towards explaining these shocking falls.”

“Neither a flatlining economy nor stuttering social mobility are going to change for the better unless both factors are properly addressed.”

The DfE’s analysis will be of particular interest to the education select committee, which held their first oral evidence session this parliament this week on the impact of, and possible reforms to, the policy.

Stephen Radley, director of strategy and policy of the Construction Industry Training Board, told the committee it had been “very challenging for the construction industry, although the experience has been very varied”.

The latest figures show apprenticeship starts at firms in the construction industry have fallen 23 per cent, from 25,230 to 19,360 at SMEs.

This contrasts with a rise at large construction firms of 23 per cent, from 6,390 to 7,830.

In January, new boss of IfATE, Jennifer Coupland, called for an additional £750 million to prop up small business apprenticeships.

The Treasury poured cold water on hopes for new funding, after it confirmed that yesterday’s budget offers no extra cash for the programmes.

But the AELP has since claimed that new skills minister Gillian Keegan has pledged “significant funding” for additional small business apprenticeships in the “coming year” following a private meeting.

The DfE’s analysis showed that public administration was the only sector to experience a rise in the number of apprenticeship starts at SMEs, although this was recorded at just two per cent – from just 630 in 2016-17, to 640 in 2018-19.

However, almost all of public administration apprenticeships (98 per cent) took place within large employers in the last year, which saw starts rise 23 per cent after the introduction of the levy, from 22,180 to 27,190.

It was also one of only four industries to see an overall growth in starts over this period.

New legislation from 2017 set public sector bodies with 250 or more staff a target to employ an average of at least 2.3 per cent of their staff as new apprentice starts over the period of April 2017 (when the levy was introduced) to March 2021.

The other sectors bucking the trend last year were information and communication (28 per cent), mining and quarrying (22 per cent), and professional and scientific programmes (nine per cent).

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We are continuing to work with all employers including small and medium businesses to make sure more people get the skills they need to get ahead and employers have the skilled workforce they need to grow.”

It is boom time at the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), a charity with a turnover last year of £15 million, where thanks to the invention of the apprenticeship standard is set to see income more than double this year and its chief executive has received a £66,500 bonus.

CMI is approved to end-point assess seven apprenticeship standards from the level 3 team leader to the controversial level 7 MBA and already have 28,350 registered apprentices, at a levy cost estimated to be more than £250 million of which CMI would receive fee income of around £26 million.

Accounts for CMI published this year reveal the chief executive, Ann Francke, has already been rewarded with a £66,500 bonus, increasing her income to £336,000, a rise of 25 per cent on the previous year.

These vested interests are showing little concern for the best interests of apprentices

A spokesperson for CMI said the bonus was agreed by a “remuneration committee” and was “in recognition of the successful growth in learners, chartered managers and invoiced revenues in line with the organisation’s mission and purpose as set out in CMI’s Royal Charter”.

But the astonishing growth in management apprenticeships funded from the levy, as first predicted by FE Week in 2016, has not proven universally popular.

So CMI has been working hard to keep policy makers onside, spending £2.315 million last year, 15 per cent of all expenditure, on what their accounts call a “representational role and public relations”.

They spent even more in 2018, £3 million, and have launched over 12 reports, such as one called ‘The value of chartered managers’, as well as sponsoring roundtable events at Conservative Party conferences.

CMI also hold regular events in parliament to lobby MPs, such as earlier this month in which their twitter feed said it was “great to have our MP Barry Sheerman here to celebrate management apprenticeships today” and there was “much excitement about the value of management apprenticeships”.

A spokesperson for the charity claimed the expenditure on public relations was “not lobbying and it covers the direct and overhead costs for all thought leadership and research which is critical to delivering CMI’s mission”.

CMI produces data of their own and claims it shows the over 4,000 starts on the senior leader (MBA) apprenticeship is “driving up social mobility, levelling-up regional skills and boosting productivity”.

But the lobbying appears to have failed to impress the secretary of state for education, Gavin Williamson, who said last month he was “not convinced the levy should be used to pay for staff, who are often already highly qualified and highly paid, to receive an MBA”.

Williamson went on: “I’d rather see funding helping to kick-start careers or level up skills and opportunities. That’s why I’ve asked for a review of the senior leader apprenticeship standard to ensure it is meeting its aims.”

The spokesperson for CMI responded, saying: “De-funding higher level management courses or other drastic steps, taken in isolation without looking at the whole apprenticeships programme in the round, risks damaging our ambitions on addressing skills shortages, as well as reducing the quality of provision and training opportunities across the country.”

But Tom Richmond, former adviser to the former skills minister Matthew Hancock, produced his own report in January, which claimed the levy was descending into farce.

Richmond took particular aim at hundreds of millions being spent on “rebadging management training and professional development courses for more experienced employees”.

In response to figures in the latest set of CMI accounts, Richmond said: “It is disappointing to see that, for all its good intentions, the apprenticeship levy is now being openly exploited for commercial gain. Far from improving the productivity of UK plc, it appears that the startling growth in ‘management apprenticeships’ is just lining the pockets of senior executives at the CMI as well as some training providers.

Richmond added: “These vested interests are showing little concern for the best interests of apprentices or taxpayers, yet they are consuming hundreds of millions of pounds that could have been used to help young people start a career in a skilled job or occupation.

“Gavin Williamson was right to voice his concern about the rapid emergence of MBAs within the apprenticeship system. Even so, our recent EDSK report called on the government to go much further by scrapping fake apprenticeships such as rebadged management training courses, as this will ensure that the levy funding prioritises younger recruits instead of existing employees.”

The government has embarked on a very last-minute mission to find out if students could fail to secure the mandatory T-level industry placement.

A tender to evaluate the controversial component of the new post-16 technical qualifications went live last week, with fewer than six months to go until students take their first class.

The Department for Education’s procurement documents said the timing makes this evaluation “particularly vital”.

It will focus on support measures announced last May to help providers and employers deliver T-levels, which included flexibilities in the mandatory 315-hour industry placement so learners could split the placement across two employers, and special allowances for certain routes: learners on the construction route, for instance, can complete a charitable project for 105 hours of their placement.

This seems to show that there are still concerns about gaps in provision

That’s in addition to £55 million in capacity and delivery funding handed out in 2019/20, after the DfE released £60 million in 2018/19, and adjustments in the 16-to-19 discretionary bursary fund “to account for the additional costs students might face due to participating in industry placements”, like travel and subsistence.

One of the questions intended to be answered by the evaluation is: “Are there any routes where sourcing placements is still challenging, or placements are not deliverable? If so, why?”

Three T-levels – in the digital, construction and education routes – will start in September 2020, with more being rolled out every year until 2023.

As the evaluation contract end date has been set as October 31, the DfE will not know what further support will be required until learners are already sitting the qualification.

The National Union of Students’ vice president for further education Juliana Mohamad-Noor said: “Tendering for some evaluation work just a few months from their beginning seems to show that there are still concerns about gaps in provision.”

But the union, Noor says, is “glad to see the government looking at how to make placements flexible” and they hope to see bursaries are used “to ensure cost is no barrier”.

A DfE spokesperson called the evaluation “routine” and added that since the launch of an industry placement pilot in 2017/18 they have commissioned several evaluations of placement delivery, as well as a further review of the available support.

The industry placement has become the most controversial element on the level 3 qualifications, with Scarborough Sixth Form College saying they dropped out of delivering the digital route last year partly because of the difficulty they had in securing sufficient numbers of placements.

Boston College principal Jo Maher previously told FE Week her provider had not signed up for T-levels as they had found placements “a challenge for rural areas” like theirs.

Fellow Lincolnshire principal Janet Meenaghan, of New College Stamford, has also said making placements work in the area was “really, really difficult” because a lot of the county’s businesses were either small or micro, many with just one or two staff members.

An earlier review of the support measures put in place by the DfE in 2018/19, including the £60 million for the capacity and delivery fund and £5 million invested in the National Apprenticeships Service to link employers with providers, is due to be
published this spring.

The initial T-level rollout was delayed by 12 months in 2018 amid worries about its pace, yet at that time the then-education secretary Damian Hinds refused a request by the DfE’s permanent secretary Jonathan Slater to delay their start from 2020 to 2021.

Bidders have until Monday, March 16 to express an interest in the new tender. The successful bidder will be selected in the week beginning April 27. The contract value is unknown.