One of the five government flagship national colleges plans to “dissolve” and hand over its courses to a college and private training provider after failing to recruit enough students, FE Week can reveal.
National College Creative Industries was set up in 2016 with £5.5 million of government funding, and despite bailouts to stay afloat is now consulting on moving to a licensing model in which it quits as a provider.
Under the plans Access Creative College will take over running the apprenticeships, while South Essex College will take over classroom provision and the running of The Backstage Centre, the commercial production and rehearsal venue where NCCI is based.
A spokesperson for the NCCI said “the existing FE Corporation will dissolve to form a new Company Limited by Guarantee and deliver provision through its partners, this is similar to the successful model demonstrated by the National College for Nuclear.
“The National College vision will continue to be promoted and strengthened through the new legal structure.”
A new company, NCCI Ltd, will “steer the development of new curriculum at higher levels to address sector needs, while also ensuring the quality of its licenced provision”, added the spokesperson, much like the Baker Dearing Trust manages licences for university technical colleges.
Sue Dare, NCCI’s interim principal, said: “We are aiming for a seamless transition to our new way of working and are confident that these new arrangements will enable us to continue to improve our delivery and support for employers, apprentices and learners, while also enabling us to extend our capacity and reach for creative industries employers across the country.”
Its plans will need sign-off from the Department for Education of they are to go ahead on January 31.
Angela O’Donoghue, the principal of South Essex College, said the partnership would “create further opportunities to engage with providers from across the sector,” and would make The Backstage Centre “a magnet for industry and industry training in the southeast”.
NCCI started to look for partner organisations after it made it through 2017-18 as a “going concern” after a £600,000 bailout from the Department for Education, as FE Week reported in June.
It also received a £1.25 million working capital loan, £745,000 of which was paid out during 2017-18, with the remaining £505,000 drawn down in 2018-19.
The DfE also reprofiled loans and deferred the repayment start date from March 2019 to March 2023.
NCCI opened in 2016 as one of five centres the government promised would train an estimated 21,000 students by 2020 in “industries central to the productivity agenda such as digital and high-speed rail”.
Yet NCCI started with just 16 learners and has struggled to meet its target of 1,000 learners a year since then – recruiting only 167 between May 2018 and May this year.
The DfE revealed in a written answer in May that NCCI was looking for potential partners as part of a structure and prospects appraisal.
The National College for High Speed Rail has also had to move from its original model and is looking to change its name to the National College for Advanced Transport and Infrastructure to broaden its offering.
This is after it needed a £4.55 million DfE bailout to avoid being unable to sign off its 2017-18 accounts.
The National Colleges for Digital Skills and Nuclear are both open, but the National College for Onshore Oil and Gas has not started yet.
The DfE, which has sunk £80 million into the colleges, late last year launched an evaluation of the scheme.
The first FE provider to be inspected under the new Ofsted framework has given it the thumbs-up, but warned: if you’re in it for the money, you’ll be found out.
Apprenticeship and adult learning provider Woodspeen Training, based in Huddersfield, had a full inspection last week after Ofsted began using the new framework this month.
“It was very different,” said managing director John Deaville. “I thought this was going to be an incremental change, but it felt like a pretty significant shift in focus and emphasis on the inspection process.”
The watchdog’s focus has shifted from outcomes to the “quality of education” and what is being called the three I’s: intent, implementation, and impact.
Six inspectors were at Woodspeen from Tuesday to Friday, interviewing around 25 to 30 per cent of the around 500 apprentices and 1,200 learners and quizzing members of its 50-odd staff.
There were no lesson observations, or sifting through success rate data: at most, the inspectors spent 40 minutes talking about success rates, but had “endless conversations” with staff about impact.
“They really get under the skin of why you’re doing it, how you’re doing it and what the impact is of what you do,” Deaville found.
Inspectors were asking whether a learner who had achieved went straight into employment, or improved their skills, and how Woodspeen is evidencing that.
“It was a real focus on what have you done for these people, not just did they get a piece of paper and a qualification, and that was hugely different,” Deaville said.
“It kind of suited my organisation because we’re at the lower end of skills, we do more levels two and three, so we find it quite easy to demonstrate we’re really adding value to some learners and we’re not just accrediting existing skills.”
Deaville always thought the old emphasis on outcomes for learners was wrong, saying: “You could stage manage it, put on a few good lessons, and be almost home.”
He warned other providers might not be so fortunate now, as inspectors speak to so many learners and ask so many staff about their methods, they get a pretty comprehensive picture of a provider.
“I think if someone is in the business for the wrong reasons, and they’re chasing money and genuinely not providing the level learners require, I think they will be found out.
“You have to back up your intent. ‘Why you’re doing what you’re doing.’”
As for implementation, in place of lesson observations, inspectors instead attended sessions and interacted by asking teachers why they were teaching that now and how was that building upon what learners studied last week.
They also asked learners how they felt about the sessions: “We reckon one inspector spoke to 40 of our learners, so that was a big difference.”
Another big difference was the focus on staff workload, questioning staff on whether they have the right support, and how much work they have on.
There was very little attention paid to self-assessment reports or previous inspection outcomes, and inspectors spent only a few hours discussing leadership and management preferring to observe its effects in the classrooms.
Asked whether they were prepared for the new inspection, Deaville said: “I’m not sure we were in terms of how the inspection would run. And it was very different. We were quite confident our learners would speak highly about us.”
But they struggled on impact because although they had done learner destination surveys after three and six months, “it was just not robust enough when it came to really describing to Ofsted what the impact of our curriculum had on these people”.
He does prefer this new system, however, especially the focus on intent and impact, where he thinks the sector needs to “raise its game and demonstrate the impact we have on learners”.
His advice to providers fretting about an inspection was to get the three I’s right: “If you get those, you will fly through.”
Deaville felt the inspection went well, after Woodspeen was rated as ‘requires improvement’ in August 2017.
“We had a failed entry into the manufacturing market which cost us a grade three, so we pulled out of that and refocused on West Yorkshire and that was really, really useful actually,” he explained.
“I came in 12 months ago, and there was a real focus on strategy so it meant our intent was really clear.
“We had done a lot of work on who are we, what should we be doing so there was really clear rationale to our curriculum and what we’re doing.
“I think potentially that was really useful going into this process.”
Former chancellor Philip Hammond, who is the MP for the constituency the college is based in, said the revelation was “very concerning” while shadow skills minister Gordon Marsden has demanded an “urgent” independent investigation into this lack of oversight.
It comes as the owner of the subcontracting firm involved, SCL Security Ltd, has broken his silence and claimed the college was “made aware” that he would pay employers a “finder’s fee” for apprentices, which would ultimately pay their wages and is strictly against the Education and Skills Funding Agency’s funding rules.
“I am very concerned about the situation”
FE Week has seen evidence that a former employee of the recruitment firm involved in the investigation, which was subject to an FE Week exposé in 2016 – Workforce Staffing Ltd (formerly e-Response) – blew the whistle about its relationship with SCL Security and Brooklands College in early 2017.
A senior auditor at the ESFA was handed the information but seemingly chose to ignore it. Millions of pounds of public money continued to go into the hands of SCL Security through its subcontracting arrangement with Brooklands College as a result.
The agency did not launch the investigation, which has involved three separate audit firms, until FE Week reported in November 2018 that the subcontractor was working with Workforce and no evidence could be found that the courses were advertised, who the apprentices at SCL Security were, or where it trained them.
Speaking on the record to this newspaper for the first time since the scandal came to light, Andrew Merritt, the owner of SCL Security, appeared to be in the dark about the ESFA’s investigation other than meeting an agency worker around a month ago.
He admitted that he paid Workforce Staffing Ltd a “finder’s fee” each month that the apprentice was on programme and didn’t see anything wrong with this, although admitted he was not aware of any other providers doing the same.
And he claimed that Brooklands College was aware of the payments to employers, but never challenged it.
“Staff at Brooklands College were aware we made finder’s fees payments to employers who recruited their own apprentices and it has never been raised as being anything other than above board,” Merritt said.
Asked about this, the college said it was “unable to comment on ongoing ESFA investigations” and it would be “inappropriate to go into any detail publicly at this time”.
One of the employers paid “finder’s fees” was Workforce, which recruited 16-18 year-olds who attended training facilities branded as SCL Security, but on Workforce premises.
Merritt refused to say how much these fees were or which other employers he worked with but did not deny the fees could have been used to pay wages.
The hundreds of apprentices trained by SCL Security were all aged 16 to 18 studying IT apprenticeships worth around £20,000 each in public funding. There is no employer fee for 16 to 18 year-olds and in addition to the “finder’s fee” some employers may have been eligible for a government incentive payment.
FE Week reported last week that the ESFA has now demanded a clawback of around £20 million from Brooklands, which threatens the college’s solvency.
Hammond, who resigned as chancellor to the Treasury in July, told FE Week: “I am very concerned about the situation. I am visiting the college next week to meet with the interim chief executive and principal.”
Marsden said: “It is extremely concerning to hear that despite a reported credible tip-off in early 2017, ESFA and the DfE seemingly didn’t follow up on it.
“That is why I will be writing to the Secretary of State demanding an urgent independent investigation into the lack of oversight from the department and how this activity was allowed to continue for over two years.”
Workforce is headed up by two brothers, Paul and Joe Alekna.
Philip Hammond
An FE Week investigation three years ago found they switched the ownership of a successful provider they ran from one parent company – eResponse – to another, before transferring out £6 million, liquidating it and leaving learners and creditors on the hook for millions of pounds.
Meanwhile, the brothers continued to run another provider called Options 2 Workplace. But when FE Week exposed the situation the ESFA cancelled its contract.
Workforce has recently been caught up in what has been described as the UK’s biggest ever modern slavery investigation (see below).
Asked about the Brooklands scandal, Workforce claimed it was not part of the ESFA’s investigation but does not deny their relationship with SCL Security.
“No part of Workforce Staffing or any other company within our group is responsible for government funded training,” a statement from the firm said.
“We do not operate as subcontractors and nor are we involved in any delivery or administration.
“As a recruitment business, and with no affiliation to the training industry we are not part of, or supporting any investigation with the ESFA.
“The sole focus of every single employee at Workforce is the sourcing, screening and selection of applicants for the many hundreds of employers we proudly represent across the Midlands.”
Since FE Week first exposed the scandal the DfE has repeatedly refused to comment.
Judge branded Workforce bosses ‘gullible’ in landmark human trafficking case
This month, e-Response, now named Workforce Staffing Ltd, featured in a BBC Panorama programme called The Hunt for Britain’s Slave Gangs.
The bosses of the recruitment firm involved in the Brooklands College subcontracting scandal were described as “gullible” by a judge after she convicted one their former employees for human trafficking.
Julianna Chodakowicz worked at Workforce until November 2015.
She was sentenced to five years in jail for her part in a Polish slavery ring on 5 July 2019. The case was described by Judge Mary Stacey as “the largest conspiracy of its type ever known”.
The gang trafficked up to 400 homeless people, ex-prisoners and alcoholics from Poland to the West Midlands, forcing them to work for anything from £100 to just £20 per week and live in “squalid and overcrowded” properties.
They relied on Chodakowicz as an “insider” at Workforce who signed-up dozens of the victims for work.
She was being paid £100 for each job she gave to slavery victims and a weekly payment of £20 from each of their wages by her gang partner. She denied being involved in the conspiracy after her arrest, but phone records and text messages seized by police discredited her account.
The judge at Birmingham Crown Court sentenced five people to a combined total of 35 years, a record for a human trafficking case.
When approached by FE Week about the case Workforce claimed that its “systems played a key role in helping the case against the ringleaders and our databases and stringent registration processes have since helped to thwart other instances of trafficking”.
Joe Alekna, the firm’s managing director, also shared an email from the West Midlands Police that thanked the owners for their help and said they had been “instrumental in obtaining the information we needed to put the matter to court and it was very much appreciated”.
However, the Judge said Chodakowicz was often “praised as a high performer” by her “gullible” bosses at Workforce for her stand-out recruitment performance, believing she had been able to recruit 20 or more workers at a time from her “wide social network” and “clever marketing skills”.
Chodakowicz advised the other conspirators on how to train the slaves on what to say and how to behave at work to avoid the conspiracies coming to light.
The court heard how she altered bank account details to deprive the workers of their wages and even stopped genuine job seekers from being registered so as to ensure there were sufficient vacancies for the trafficked victims.
Workforce describes itself on its website as an “award-winning recruitment, staffing and Workforce Solutions specialist”.
It is a member of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation as well as Gangmasters Licencing Authority and the Association of Labour Providers.
A spokesperson for the Recruitment and Employment Confederation said Workforce is “bound by our Code of Professional Practice” and if “we suspect that Workforce Staffing Ltd are in breach of the Code we will conduct an investigation under our complaints and disciplinary procedures”.
A spokesperson for the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority said it would “not comment on individual licence holders unless they had their licence suspended or revoked”.
The Association of Labour Providers confirmed that Workforce is one of its members but did not comment on the human trafficking case.
A rapidly-expanding adult learning provider has been lauded by Ofsted, while one apprenticeship newcomer was censored for making ‘insufficient progress’ in all areas.
Best Practice Training & Development Limited made ‘significant progress’ in every area of its early monitoring visit.
After earning a funded adult learning contract in October 2017, 1,361 learners had attended courses in English, maths and ICT from entry level to level 2, in 2018/19.
Inspectors found these courses helped learners “to overcome personal and social barriers to employment by improving their self-confidence and by helping them to gain qualifications and skills”.
Tutors and managers plan courses to focus on skills their learners need to find employment, and link course content to everyday knowledge.
For example, tutors link developing digital skills and accessing Universal Credit.
They know their students “very well” and learners “enjoy their learning and feel valued by the supportive staff,” the report reads.
Learners gain confidence in their own abilities, improve their basic English, maths and digital skills and many move on to employment or further study.
Best Practice Training & Development also enrols learners on short work skills courses and on units in retail or warehousing. The inspectorate said managers need to develop a “clear programme of work experience” for these.
At the complete other end of the inspection spectrum this week was Kingswood Learning and Leisure Group, which earned three ‘insufficient progress’ ratings from its early monitoring visit.
This is partly because 100 apprentices are expected to be on unpaid leave for two months during a business shutdown while still on their training programme.
A spokesperson told FE Week: “We are clearly disappointed by Ofsted’s findings; we have been actively working on the issues highlighted.”
Having a better week is Encompass Consultancy, which has made ‘reasonable progress’ in all areas after a grade three inspection in August last year.
“Leaders have successfully reshaped the curriculum strategy for adult learning programmes since the previous inspection,” inspectors wrote.
Encompass has stopped providing business courses funded by advanced learner loans in the London area, after the previous inspection report said only half those learners completed the course as they found attendance requirements and written assignments “very challenging”.
Tutors work effectively with employers to co-ordinate the on and off-the-job training apprentices receive, however Ofsted found a small minority of apprentices do not receive the expected level of off-the-job training.
Encompass’ leaders and managers place a high priority on staff extending and updating their subject knowledge and expertise, so tutors recently undertook hot stone massage training, a popular treatment offered by many employers.
Folkestone and Hythe District Council was found to have made ‘significant progress’ in safeguarding, and ‘reasonable progress’ in the two other areas of its early monitoring visit.
Inspectors complimented “a keen awareness of safeguarding” which “permeates the culture” throughout the councils where its 40 apprentices work.
As a result, “consideration of safeguarding is well embedded into the apprentices’ daily activities”.
Accipio Limited, C & G Assessments and Training Limited, Encompass Consultancy Limited, Go Train Limited, Leadership in Action Limited, Real Skills Limited, Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust, and University of Bedfordshire all received ‘reasonable progress’ ratings in every area of their early monitoring reports.
Newham College of Further Education has become the second college to be refused admission to the Office for Students’ register of higher education providers.
The universities regulator said the college had “failed to demonstrate it delivers successful outcomes”.
This finding was based on the college’s continuation data – the number of higher education students progressing from their first to their second year of study.
“This shows the college has failed to demonstrate that it delivers successful outcomes for all of its higher education students, which are recognised and valued by employers and/or enable further study for all of its higher education students,” the OfS’ decision notice reads.
One of the OfS’ conditions for initial registration is a provider must deliver well-designed courses that provide a high-quality academic experience for all students, and enable a student’s achievement to be reliably assessed.
The OfS said it is “working with the college in order for them to have the opportunity to apply to ‘teach out’ their current students”.
“Being granted designation for teach out would mean that continuing students would, subject to individual eligibility, be able to continue to access student support from the Student Loans Company.”
Newham College was approached for comment.
Refusal means Newham College will be denied access to HE public grant and student support funding, cannot recruit international students, nor apply for degree awarding powers.
It is not the first FE college to be refused admission to the OfS register: Waltham Forest College was denied admission in July for the same reason as Newham.
Colleges and sixth forms will need an extra £1.1 billion on top of the government’s recently announced spending boost to fully reverse cuts since 2010, new research has found.
This increases to £1.4 billion to “ensure that spending on T-levels is additional to an unchanged level of spending per student”, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies’ annual report on education spending in England.
Report co-author Luke Sibieta said chancellor Sajid Javid’s vaunted spending boost of £300 million (in 2019-20 prices) amounted to a “small rise” against the backdrop of cuts since 2010-11.
Between 2010-11 and 2018-19, spending per college learner fell by 12 per cent in real terms, after cuts during the 1990s and low growth in the 2000s.
Spending per student per year at different education stages (IFS)
In 2018-19, the IFS has calculated, spending per learner was £4,800 in sixth-form colleges and £5,900 in further education colleges.
The £1.1 billion that would be needed to reverse the cuts would include £320 million for 16–18 colleges and £730 million for school sixth forms.
The boost, meanwhile, will only lead to a real-terms per-learner increase of four per cent in 2020-21; seven per cent below the 2010-11 level for colleges, and 20 per cent for sixth forms.
Deputy chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association James Kewin said the IFS findings highlight the “huge reductions in 16 to 18 funding that we have had to contend with since 2010”.
“But rolling back the funding cuts imposed since 2010 is the wrong target. The key issue to focus on is what level of funding is required to deliver a high-quality sixth form education now, and in the future?
“It is also important to shift the focus from T-levels onto the vast majority of 16 to 18-year-olds that pursue, and will continue to pursue, a non-technical course.”
Chief executive of the Association of Colleges David Hughes said the report shows “the reality of a decade of cuts to colleges”.
And while the chancellor’s spending announcement was “welcome”, “it must be followed by long-term investment to reverse ten years of continuous cuts and reform”.
The IFS also calculated spending on adult education has fallen by two-thirds since 2003-04, due to cuts of 32 per cent up to 2009-10 and 47 per cent since then; driven by a drop in learner numbers from 4.4 million in 2004-05 to 1.5 million in 2017-18.
What spending there is on adult education and training is increasingly focused on apprenticeships, with 54 per cent of the spend on adult education and training diverted to apprenticeships or work-based learning, compared to 21 per cent in 2003-04.
Policy director of adult education network HOLEX Sue Pember said the report “demonstrates adult education is under-resourced and the lack of government funding has led to a sharp decline in adult student numbers.
“HOLEX trusts the Treasury and DfE will now listen, take note and do something about it in the next spending review round.”
The IFS has also found over 60 per cent of apprenticeships are at A-level equivalent or higher, and FE Week has previously reported starts on higher-level courses, such as the level 6 chartered manager programme, have shot up since the levy was introduced and are soaking up available funds, leaving little for non-levy payers.
The CBI called on the government this week for a £100 million yearly top up to the levy to stop it becoming a “roadblock to the government’s wider and welcome efforts to modernise the skills system”.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We recently announced a £14 billion investment in schools – the biggest cash boost for a decade.
“Alongside this, we announced a significant real terms increase in funding for 16 to 19 year olds in 2020-21 to make sure we can continue to develop world class education to rival countries on the continent. We also provided £700 million extra for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.
“Together this package will give all young people the same opportunities to succeed and access the education that’s right for them regardless of where they grow up. The Prime Minister is clear that education is one of his main priorities, and we want a system that boosts productivity, improves social mobility and equips children and adults with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed.”
On Friday Highbury College, to avoid being in contempt of court and having to pay a fine, finally emailed FE Week the corporate card expenses for their principal, Stella Mbubaegbu.
The college then defended it all, including: the cocktail fuelled lobster dinner for four at a Michelin Star restaurant in London; the $56 bottle of wine and $50 steak dinner for six in Orlando; the Cadillac and executive taxis; the $528 headphones from an Apple store in Washington; the stays in five star hotels with room service; first class rail and flights and as if in a two fingers up to the rest of us, buying a book called Check The Ego: Operate with a high degree of humility by admitting mistakes and taking responsibility.
They college board has, according to their minutes from the meeting in May, now told Stella she needs to be “more visible within the college”. I think she needs to apologise to the sector she has tarnished, pay back from her own pocket any spend deemed by the FE Commissioner to be inappropriate or lavish. And far from being in the college more, she should then resign, without taking a penny of severance pay.
Speaking at a conference in South Africa in 2017 Stella is reported on twitter at the time (see below) to have been talking about funding challenges at colleges and said “we don’t have any money, now we have to think”.
Labour is “looking at all options” for an overhaul of the school and college accountability system, including replacing Ofsted, Angela Rayner has said.
In an exclusive eve-of-conference interview with FE Week’s sister paper FE Week, the shadow education secretary repeatedly refused to rule out scrapping the inspectorate and replacing it with a new system to hold education providers to account.
Rayner said the idea of replacing the watchdog, a move favoured by the influential National Education Union, had been discussed by Labour’s national policy forum and that “various different options” are being considered by the party as it prepares to flesh out its plans for a National Education Service.
Despite having been announced as a flagship policy by Jeremy Corbyn during his first leadership campaign in 2015, the National Education Service is still little more than just an umbrella term for a series of existing policies including free education “from cradle to grave” and scrapping the GCSE English and maths forced resits policy.
The second of two consultations held to feed into Labour’s plans focused on accountability, and it was common knowledge that party policy advisers had been looking at the future of Ofsted.
Rayner said the idea of abolishing Ofsted “is something that’s come out through the policy forum”.
“Obviously people have views across our party on that and we’re looking at all options at the moment,” she said.
“I think [the system] drives bad practice at the moment, and I don’t think it’s Ofsted that does that, I think it’s the politicisation through the DfE’s politicians who have done that.
“I do think there are issues with the current set-up – with Ofsted – and we are looking at that and in the near future I’ll say more on it.”
The National Education Union has long called for the scrapping of Ofsted. Its joint general secretary Mary Bousted has repeatedly warned that the inspectorate has become a “weapon of fear and terror”.
Asked what Labour might put in place instead, Rayner accepted some form of accountability system was needed.
“Parents need to feel confident and I will need to feel confident that our state system is performing to the best of its ability so we recognise we need a system in place, but we also recognise there are current weaknesses in the system.”
Rayner, who has now been in her job for more than three years and served opposite four secretaries of state, is unapologetic about the time taken to develop firm plans for the NES.
“I think the responsibility of creating something as radical as the National Education Service means you have to be evidence-based,” she said, pointing to the “huge amount of information” available “just on further education, tertiary education alone”.
“I could spend 10 years doing a PhD on it and not get through the literature, so I think it’s entirely responsible to do what we’ve done” she added, and pointed to Labour’s lifelong learning commission, “which will report shortly”.
Rayner continued: “There’s so much we’ve already done, and so much for us to achieve, but it’s right to do it in a way that’s based on evidence, so we don’t undermine the principles of what we’re trying to achieve before it even gets off the ground.
“It’s very simple. It’s a national education service, free at the point of use, from cradle to grave. I think most people understand that.
“The question is, when you get in the weeds, everybody wants to talk about every fine minutiae of what it means to them at that point, and I totally understand that, and I welcome the discussion and value people’s opinion on that, and we will continue to move towards that.”
The shadow education secretary confirmed Labour would come up with updated education spending plans for its next manifesto.
The Level 4 and 5 higher technical education (HTE) space has been the subject of much attention in recent months, with the Department for Education’s Review of Level 4 and 5 Higher Technical Education (HTE) highlighting the great potential of and need for this type of education. The government is focused on strengthening this landscape to support UK productivity needs, and have recently released a consultation outlining their proposals for how to do this, with a focus on employer recognition for HTE to support student progress into careers. The role of further education colleges, National Colleges and Institutes of Technology in delivering a high-quality learning experience is also key in their proposals.
We agree that there is a need and opportunity for more young people and adults to be undertaking HTE in future. The 2017 CBI/Pearson Education and Skills survey of 500 employers, between them employing over 3 million people, found that three quarters of businesses (75%) expect to have more job openings for people with higher-level skills (at levels 4 and 5 – equivalent to the first and second year of an undergraduate degree) over the coming years while just 2% expect to have fewer. Well over half of businesses (61%) are not confident there will be enough people available in the future with the necessary skills to fill their high-skilled jobs. We know that there are skills gaps at levels 4 and 5 which need to be met to ensure that UK productivity is maintained.
BTEC Higher Nationals – high-quality HTE
Pearson recognise and support the value of Level 4 and 5 higher education and have a long history of supporting and developing education in this space. The Pearson BTEC Higher Nationals (HNs) represent the best in higher technical education as defined by the DfE in their 2017 action plan (Post-16 technical education reforms T level action plan October 2017). BTEC Higher Nationals are designed to support a broad range of learners, including older age groups, into higher level skilled occupations. They are developed with employer guidance and input at all stages. A HEFCE-commissioned report found that ‘Overall, employers have a reasonable awareness of the different types of intermediate qualifications, being most familiar with Higher National Certificates (HNCs) and Higher National Diplomas (HNDs) [at levels 4 and 5 respectively] (79%), followed by foundation degrees (67%)’ (‘Employer demand for intermediate technical education in higher education’, Report to HEFCE by Pye Tait Consulting (September 2016), p.8.) The HNs also align with Higher Apprenticeship Standards in key technical sectors, further supporting employer needs and student outcomes. And wherever possible professional recognition is built into the HNs, either by becoming recognised by professional bodies, or providing exemptions to professional qualifications.
As well as supporting the student journey to professionalisation and employment, importantly the HN route doesn’t cut off progression opportunities for those students who want to continue their higher education journey after completing a HN via features that ensure students are prepared to progress directly into Level 6 study.
HTE can be very beneficial for students who undertake it. Recent research has shown that students studying on HTE qualifications in scientific and technical areas like Engineering can earn up to £5,000 more a year than people with degrees from many universities. To meet the HTE opportunity for both students and the economy, HTE needs to be available to as broad a group as possible – level 4 and 5 education can be used for both upskilling and retraining, and also to broaden choice for young people who are choosing what they want to do post level 3 study.
The BTEC Student of the Year for 2019, Christopher Meredith, is a great example of what HTE can do for students (https://youtu.be/jtWu995gJHs). Chris is an HND Civil Engineering student at Leeds College of Building. He returned to college to study, and now communicates with project teams all around the world, and is instrumental in solving complex civil engineering problems for Jacobs Engineering. In March, Chris gained the Institution of Civil Engineer’s Quest Technician Scholarship – awarded to Apprentices of only the highest calibre. He has thrived on a course that blends a college and work environment. As he puts it he uses his knowledge at work and his work knowledge at the college. He is an ambassador for STEM and for the college, going out to local schools to talk about the college progression opportunities available to students.
Chris’s story shows how BTEC Higher Nationals can work to support student progression, bringing together employer, college and student benefits.
Partnering for growth – Commissioned Higher Nationals
So how do we work to meet the need for more high-quality HTE? Partnership is essential in delivering the best HTE qualifications and learning experiences. Pearson works with employers, professional bodies, FE colleges, the new Institutes of Technology, universities and students themselves to design the type of high-quality career focused higher technical education described above. As Rosa Wells, Director of Employment and Skills at Solihull College and University Centre, part of the Greater Birmingham and Solihull IoT says ‘We have ensured that Higher Nationals in Engineering sit at the heart of the IoT offer as a tried and tested approach to supporting non-traditional learners to transition into Higher Education as well as developing essential skills to secure career progression. Employer feedback confirms the value of the HNC brand within engineering and the flexibility of its design allows us to adapt the teaching to meet different industry needs’.
And partnership in qualification development is the model that underpins the Commissioned Higher National service. Using this service we can create bespoke BTEC Higher Nationals to support you in meeting the level 4-5 technical education agenda and satisfying local employment needs – working with you and your local employer partners. Pearson will consult with you on the design and validation of a unique BTEC Higher National qualification that is fit for purpose to fill identified skills gaps in relevant sectors and industries. Examples of developments we can support include: upskilling existing employees in technical or professional sectors e.g. Engineering, Healthcare, Construction, and beyond; development of HNs in niche sectors to enable students to progress into local or national employment; providing an HN to support the on-programme element of specific Higher Apprenticeship Standards.
As part of the Commissioned Higher National service we offer:
– access to subject matter expertise across a wide range of sectors including Engineering, Construction, Health & Social Care, Computing, and many more;
– support from a dedicated representative from the BTEC Higher Nationals team who will work alongside you throughout the development process;
– the option to commission full HN qualifications or individual bespoke units to support local employer and skill development needs;
– a bespoke educational product that has undergone our rigorous validation process, with involvement from industry partners, so you can be confident that it meets requirements;
– a competitive advantage should you wish to retain the Intellectual Property (IP);
– further development of progression opportunities via university engagement and articulation.
The Commissioned Higher National Service in action
In 2018, representatives from Pearson’s Commissioned Higher National development team worked in collaboration with BMW to develop a new BTEC Higher National Certificate (HNC) in Manufacturing Operations. The development of this qualification was truly collaborative. BMW were involved in each stage of the process, from inception to identifying key unit content, resulting in a qualification which clearly meets their needs.
The HNC in Manufacturing Operations qualification was also designed to support the delivery of the on-programme element of the Level 4 Process Leader Higher Apprenticeship standard, so can also be used by organisations with high volume manufacturing or advanced manufacturing processes, in which large volumes of products are made in assembly, moulding, metal processing, chemical processing, pharmaceutical, textiles, food and drink or similar processes.
In 2017 the College of Policing announced a new bursary scheme for 2017/18 providing officers and staff in police forces in England and Wales with the opportunity to apply for funding of up to £3,000 per year (for up to two years) towards tuition fees to complete higher education studies. Responding to this need, North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College has worked in partnership with Pearson’s Commissioned Higher National development team to develop a new BTEC Higher National Certificate and Diploma in Policing, currently available to all approved centres in England for first teaching from September 2017.
The BTEC Higher Nationals in Policing provide a practical higher education qualification that can widen participation for those who would not previously progress to university, and should enhance career opportunities for those living in the local and wider communities of the College. They are recognised by the College of Policing and listed in their qualification directory.
Starting a conversation
If you would like to learn more about how Commissioned Higher Nationals can help you grow your higher technical education offer and support your work with local employer partners, or you have an idea for a development opportunity or would like to talk about BTEC Higher Nationals in general please contact highernationals@pearson.com to start a conversation.
