Shell-shocked: Four giant tortoises stolen from college

UPDATE: Two of the four missing tortoises have been found. Geoffrey and Blastoise were located in the village of Lytchett Matravers, around 18 miles from the college, Dorset police announced on Sunday.

Ms Hassall told FE Week the college was “very relieved” to have the pair back. They’re both off to the vets today as they’re “not 100 per cent” following their ordeal. Geoffrey has damage to his shell “and is quite snotty”, while Blastoise is “very quiet and not her usual self”, she said.

“Sadly no news on the other two so we are asking everyone to still keep their eyes and ears open”, Ms Hassall said.

The theft of four beloved giant tortoises has left a “massive hole” at a land-based college – although it remains hopeful it will see them again.

The quartet vanished on Wednesday night from Kingston Maurward College in Dorset, after thieves broke into the secure shed where they lived.

Sarah Hassall, head of the animal welfare and science department at the college, told FE Week how important the four had been to the college and to learners.

“Students at all levels can really get something from working with them,” she said.

Their disappearance had “left a massive hole” at the college but “we’re hopeful we’ll see them again”.

Three of the missing tortoises, called Squirtle, Wartotle and Blastoise, are female and aged 11, while the fourth is a 24-year-old male called Geoffrey (pictured above).

All four are around 40 to 50cm long, and 30cm wide, and are microchipped.

According to Dorset police, thieves entered the rear entrance of the college on foot overnight on August 22 and broke into the tortoises’ shed.

They then used wheelbarrows belonging to the college to transport the animals to a vehicle before driving off. 

The four animals had been with the college for nine years, and their size means they will be difficult to replace, Ms Hassall said.

“They’ve all got their own personalities, and the students really engage with them,” she told FE Week.

Students on animal welfare and science courses at all levels worked with the four to learn a range of different aspects of animal care – including weighing, measurements, bathing and temperature gradients.

Geoffrey’s respiratory ailment meant students were also learning how to care for his illness, Ms Hassall said.

Not all the college’s students were aware of the theft yet, but those that were “really upset” and “shocked”, she said.

Police Constable Chris Stephens, of Dorchester police, said: “I am appealing to anyone who witnessed anything suspicious overnight in the area to please come forward. 

“If you have any information that could assist with the investigation or have seen tortoises for sale in suspicious circumstances, please contact Dorset Police urgently.

“We are desperate to reunite them with the college to ensure they are appropriately cared for.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact Dorset Police at www.dorset.police.uk, via email 101@dorset.pnn.police.uk or by calling 101, quoting occurrence number 55180136179. Alternatively, contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or via www.crimestoppers-uk.org

Bailout-backed university takeover of college finally given official approval

A cash-strapped London college’s merger with a nearby university has finally been given the official stamp of approval.

Lambeth College will join forces with London South Bank University by January 2019, the university has announced.

The on-off partnership, first announced more than 18 months ago, will be backed by almost £30 million in government bailout funding.

Monica Box, the college’s chief executive and Fiona Morey, its principal-designate, said the move was “great news for our students and staff as it will help us build upon our position as the ‘careers college’ of choice for the local community”.

“LSBU’s mission is to transform lives, businesses and communities through the power of education,” said Professor David Phoenix, LSBU’s vice chancellor.

“By partnering with Lambeth College we will be able to create clear routes from college, to university and into successful careers.”

The merger has been signed off by skills minister Anne Milton, but is still subject to parliamentary approval and contract agreement, LSBU said today.

The partnership between the two was first announced in December 2016, and had originally been set to go through by July 2017.

But in June last year FE Week reported that the college was preparing to handover wide-ranging control of how it was run to the university, ahead of a formal merger – plans that subsequently did not go ahead.

And in January this year it emerged that the merger plans had hit the buffers, and that the college was in the market for a new partner.

However, following an FE commissioner-led structure and prospects appraisal, Lambeth reverted to the original plan and announced in March that it would merge with LSBU after all.

According to the college’s accounts, published in December 2017, the original plans had been delayed “with submissions of further financial and strategic plans to the Education and Skills Funding Agency and the minister of state”.

The same document also revealed that the college was depending on government bailouts to keep it afloat.

It has been in severe financial difficulties since 2016 when a “significant deterioration” in its cashflow prompted an intervention by the former FE commissioner, Sir David Collins.

His report, based on a visit that September, found problems with the college’s finances that were so severe it was “no longer sustainable” unless it merged.

According to the college’s accounts it had received £8 million in exceptional financial support, and was expecting to receive funding from the “restructuring facility of around £25 million in early 2018”.

The sum the college is requesting from the fund has now increased to £29 million, according to minutes from the college’s governing board meeting on May 24.

The link-up between Lambeth and LSBU will be the second college-university merger to go through since 2012.

Bolton College and the University of Bolton merged on August 1 using an innovative model, proposed by the DfE, through which the college has retained its own principal and governing board, giving it greater protection than it would through a traditional merger model.

GCSE maths resits: 2018 results

Here are the 2018 GCSE maths results for all students in the UK, aged 17 and over, and the trends in grades and number of entries since 2014. 

GCSE grades, maths, age 17+ (2014-2018)

 

GCSE entries, maths, age 17+ (2014-2018)

 

 

Here are the GCSE English resit results for 2018.

Thanks to Education Datalab for preparing the graphs.

UVAC demands special treatment for degree apprenticeships

The University Vocational Awards Council is demanding special treatment for universities offering degree apprenticeships, following the Education and Skills Funding Agency’s recent decision to extend existing non-levy contracts by a year.  

The body, which represents HE institutes delivering vocational training, is claiming that degree apprenticeship provision has been hit the hardest by the move and is calling for all smaller employers to have access to funding for degree apprenticeships.

“UVAC has been arguing for a new targeted procurement aimed at ensuring all non-levy paying employers have access to degree apprenticeship provision in their locality from the provider/university of their choice,” its position statement, published yesterday, said.

“Or, alternatively, that any ESFA transition arrangement prioritises and allows providers without ESFA contracts to tackle apprenticeship cold spots such as those that exist for degree apprenticeships,” it continued.

It is also asking for funding allocated to other providers who claim they can’t spend it because the 10 per cent co-investment is putting off employers to be reallocated to HE institutes without an existing allocation and who are “turning away employers and individuals who want to use degree apprenticeship”.

Apprenticeships with small, non-levy paying employers are currently funded through contracts held by just 683 providers.

The ESFA had planned for all employers to be transferred over to its apprenticeship service, currently used only by levy-paying employers, by April 2019.

But earlier this month the ESFA announced that this move had been put back by at least a year.

This was followed by a survey of providers currently on the register of apprenticeship training providers, asking for their views on the transition period for non-levy paying employers, which ran for just four days and closed on Monday.

UVAC has argued that extending the existing contracts was particularly unfair for degree apprenticeship provision.

The original tender process through which the contracts were awarded was “not fit for purpose”, UVAC argued, and had resulted in “cold-spots” where neither employers nor learners had access to degree apprenticeships.

Furthermore, it said, many HE institutes did not bid in the procurement and relied instead on the planned move of all employers onto the apprenticeship service.

“Now having developed provision and secured employer buy in they may be unable to meet such employer demand because of the ESFA failure to meet its own timetable,” it said.

Furthermore, it argued that the ESFA policy was “totally anti-competitive” and that those HE institutes or FE colleges offering HE provision “that have secured funding are being given an unfair competitive advantage; a point that might be of interest to a local MP”.

However, Simon Ashworth, chief policy officer at the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, said it was important to “ensure that the new system is fair to all rather than considering components within it that might lead to institutional bias”.

“The ESFA have made it clear that all providers on the register should have access to non-levy funding as part of the transition process,” he said.

An FE Week investigation, published on A-level results day, found that the options for those considering a degree apprenticeship as an alternative to a traditional degree were limited – with just 117 places across England on offer.

Degree apprenticeships, first introduced in September 2015, are apprenticeships at levels six and seven.

Of the 330 standards available for delivery, 61 are at this level.

But there were just 8,560 starts on 28 degree apprenticeship standards in the first nine months of 2017/18, out of a total of 119,580 starts on standards.

IfA funding rate review: retailer standard facing 20 per cent cut

The retailer apprenticeship standard is facing a 20 per cent funding cut, following the Institute for Apprenticeships’ review.

The level two standard will have its funding cap reduced from £5,000 to £4,000, FE Week has learned.

It’s currently the 13th most popular standard, responsible for 2,750 starts in the first nine months of 2017/18.

Annette Allmark, director of strategic policy at People 1st, who worked with the employer group that developed the standard, said the group had yet to respond to the proposal.

The standard, approved for delivery in May 2016, was developed by a number of employers from across the retail sector including John Lewis plc, Tesco Stores Ltd and the Co-operative Group, which chaired the group.

It’s designed to train apprentice retailers to be “passionate about delivering a quality service that always aims to exceed customers’ expectations”.

It covers a wide range of knowledge, skills and behaviours that a retailer apprentice must have to do their job, in areas including customer service, sales and promotion, and product and service.

The IfA’s funding band review, launched in May, was intended to “help make sure that employers can access high quality apprenticeships and that funding bands represent good value for money for employers and government”.

It covers 31 standards – including some of the most popular.

Analysis at the time the review was launched found that the 31 represented 64 per cent of all starts on standards for the first half of 2017/18 (45,900 out of 71,720).

FE Week has so far learned of the outcomes of six of these reviews – all of which have resulted in a rate reduction.

The level two hair professional standard is set to be cut by 22 per cent, from £9,000 to £7,000.

Three management standards – including the level three team leader/ supervisor, responsible for the highest number of starts of any standard – will be reduced by between 10 and 22 per cent.

This includes the chartered manager degree apprenticeship, which is set to have its funding band reduced by £5,000 from £27,000 to £22,000.

And the level two customer service practitioner standard is facing a 13 per cent reduction, from £4,000 to £3,500.

Each of these proposals is subject to potential appeal by the employer groups behind them, and final approval by the education secretary, Damian Hinds.

Writing for FE Week, the IfA’s chief executive Sir Gerry Berragan insisted that the “collaborative approach” it had taken with the reviews was working.

Some of the reviews had resulted in recommendation that the band “stay the same, some increase, and some decrease”, he said.

“We know some trailblazers disagree with the proposed new funding bands. 

“However, some groups are content, and we have had some encouraging feedback from trailblazers who have been impressed with the level of engagement.”

If you are part of a trailblazer group that’s been through a funding band review, email us at news@feweek.co.uk to let us know how it went for you!

 

The funding band reviews are a good model for the future

Following the success of the funding band reviews, the Institute for Apprenticeships will use the same collaborative approach to carry out quality reviews, declares Sir Gerry Berragan

Reviews have been a focus for the Institute for Apprenticeships in recent weeks. As we look to make our final recommendations for the funding band review, we’re also finalising our approach to the statutory reviews of apprenticeship standards.

Some might see this as a dual challenge, but I think we have a unique opportunity to learn from the collaborative approach we’ve taken to the funding band review, capture feedback in real time and replicate what works well in future reviews.

We have engaged with trailblazer groups at every stage

With the funding band review, we have engaged with trailblazer groups at every stage. This is an opportunity to ensure each of the 31 standards have the appropriate funding to support high quality delivery, and provide value for money for both employers and government.

Each funding band review has been individual, using a consistent approach without pre-judging the outcome. Our decisions have been evidence-based, and we will communicate the outcome of the review to trailblazers before we submit our recommendations to the Department for Education, who will make final decisions.

We asked trailblazers to provide information to inform our recommendations. As this was a review of existing funding bands, we were able to assess information on actual delivery costs rather than estimates – including quotes from providers and end-point assessment organisations – as well as data from the Education and Skills Funding Agency. Using this evidence to review the identified standards has made for a more accurate and better informed assessment.

We have had some encouraging feedback from trailblazers

We have contacted 19 employer groups with reviewed funding band recommendations – we are recommending some stay the same, some increase, and some decrease.  Reflecting on how things have gone so far, we know some trailblazers disagree with the proposed new funding bands.  However, some groups are content, and we have had some encouraging feedback from trailblazers who have been impressed with the level of engagement. 

We will use this open, fair and collaborative approach as we start to undertake our wider review of all existing standards that will become an integral part of the Institute’s work as we move forward.

Statutory reviews of apprenticeship standards

It’s just over a year since the Institute was created. The initial focus was to ensure the seamless transition of the apprenticeship approvals process, whilst setting a high quality threshold for new standards. Thereafter, we sought to boost our productivity with the Faster and Better programme, accelerating the way apprenticeship standards are developed and approved. We now recognise it’s time to turn our attention to those standards approved before the Institute came into existence.

We’ve designed an approach that is employer-led

We have a statutory responsibility to regularly review apprenticeship standards and assessment plans to make a judgement on whether they should be amended or withdrawn. This will ensure all apprenticeship standards continue to be high quality and meet the needs of employers.

In February, we announced that a review of apprenticeship standards within the digital route would begin later in the year. We’ve designed an approach that is employer-led, informed by stakeholders, overseen by the appropriate route panel and that will underpin the quality of T-levels as well as apprenticeships. It will also be proportionate, taking into account other work such as the funding band review.

Balancing these requirements, we will be taking a staged approach to reviews. By choosing to focus on the digital route, a fast-evolving route driven by changes in technology, we can prioritise those standards approved prior to April 2017, linked to T-levels and where there have been low numbers of starts.

There are mixed views from our stakeholders regarding the reviews. Some are concerned that it could create further uncertainty at a time when we want to increase the number of starts on apprenticeship standards. I recognise this concern, and so this graduated approach ensures that we focus on those standards that do not meet our quality threshold – a necessity if we are to create an apprenticeship and T-level system that gives confidence to employers and learners.  

We aim to report our findings by early next year. At the same time we will publish a detailed timeline and approach for further reviews, which will build on the lessons learnt from the digital review.

If you are part of a trailblazer group that’s been through a funding band review, email us at news@feweek.co.uk to let us know how it went for you!

Government no longer backing its own 3m apprenticeship manifesto commitment

The Department for Education has, for the first time, refused to commit to its 3m apprenticeship starts target, after a spokesperson for the prime minister dodged the question this morning.

The target has been included in the past two Conservative party election manifestos, but with starts falling it’s slipping ever further out of reach.

At a Downing Street lobby briefing this morning a spokesperson for the prime minister reportedly refused to back the target, after being asked three times.

And the Department for Education subsequently told FE Week it had nothing further to add.

In its 2015 election manifesto, the Conservatives – under former leader David Cameron – promised to “support three million new apprenticeships, so young people acquire the skills to succeed”.

This was reaffirmed in 2017 under Ms May’s leadership, who pledged to “deliver our commitment to create 3 million apprenticeships for young people by 2020 and in doing so we will drive up the quality of apprenticeships to ensure they deliver the skills employers need.”

As previously reported by FE Week, there have been just 22,300 starts reported to date in May this year – an increase of 9,400 on the same month in 2017 but still 40 per cent down on May 2016.

According to FE Week’s analysis of the latest figures, starts are 414,300, or 23 per cent, down from where they need to be to hit the target.

There have been 1,435,700 starts since May 2015, when the target was launched – meaning a further 1,564,300 are needed to reach 3m.

With just 23 months left until the target end date, in April 2020, that’s an average of 68,013 starts per month – more than three times the number so far in May.

According to Politics Home, a spokesperson for Theresa May was questioned about the number of starts at a lobby briefing for journalists this morning.

Despite being asked three times if the government would meet the 3m target, the spokesperson reportedly refused to say.

Writing in The Times newspaper earlier this year, skills minister Anne Milton also appeared to back away from the target.

The government’s reforms had “made sure that apprenticeships are high quality”, and “we won’t sacrifice that quality just to meet the target that was set,” she wrote in an opinion piece in May.

Just two months earlier, in a hearing for an inquiry by the House of Lords economic affairs committee, Ms Milton said her aim was “to meet the 3m target”, but admitted that she had “absolutely no idea” how that target was arrived at.

According to an interview with the Institute for Government think-tank, published in January, former skills minister Nick Boles came up with the target during the build-up to the 2015 election.

“We had delivered two million apprenticeships in the 2010–15 parliament,” he said. “So in the manifesto process, there was a classic exercise in ‘well, okay, what are we going to promise for the next parliament?’

“There was this feeling that you can’t say two-and-a-half million – that sounds a bit tame, nobody would be excited by that – so we’re going to say three million. Then three million is really a lot of apprenticeships, it’s big growth.”

IfA funding rate review: Customer service set for 13 per cent cut

Yet another popular apprenticeship standard is set to have its funding cut, following the Institute for Apprenticeship’s rate review.

The level two customer service practitioner standard will have its funding cap reduced by 13 per cent – from £4,000 to £3,500 –  according to documents shared with FE Week.

It’s currently the third most popular apprenticeship standard, with 6,500 starts in the first nine months of 2017/18.

The decision is not being challenged by the employer group that developed the standard, according to its chair.

Dean Ashton, standards and accreditation associate at the Institute of Customer Service, told FE Week the group had instead “asked the IfA to monitor any trends in uptake/decrease in the number of apprenticeships”.

The group will also keep an eye on starts and report back to the IfA “any evidence that suggests this funding review will affect the take up and support for customer service”.

According to the letter sent to Mr Ashton from the IfA, the decision to reduce the funding band for the standard was based on a number of factors.

These included information provided by the Trailblazer group, providers and assessment organisations; the “cost and funding bands of any equivalent frameworks”; and the “initial funding band that would have been allocated to the standard” under the IfA’s new funding approach.

The group’s “nominated training providers submitted information about the cost of training delivery, with totals ranging from £3,937 to £4,960” while the “nominated end-point assessment organisation submitted assessment costs of £545”.

“If this were a new standard, the Institute’s initial band (allocated at proposal stage) would have been £2,000,” the letter said.

The customer services framework, which has “similarities” to the standard, has a “funding band maximum of £1,500”, it said.

The IfA’s funding band review, launched in May, was intended to “help make sure that employers can access high quality apprenticeships, and that funding bands represent good value for money for employers and government”.

It covers 31 standards – including some of the most popular.

FE Week analysis at the time the review was launched found that the 31 represented 64 per cent of all starts on standards for the first half of 2017/18 (45,900 out of 71,720).

The employer group behind three management standards, including the level three team leader supervisor, responsible for the highest number of starts of any standard, revealed on Friday that it was planning to appeal after being told that all three would have their rates cut.

This includes the chartered manager degree apprenticeship, which is set to have its cap slashed from £27,000 to £22,000.

And the hair professional standard is also set to have its funding rate reduced from £9,000 to £7,000.

All funding rate cuts are subject to final approval by the education secretary, Damian Hinds.

The 31 standards under review

A spokesperson for the IfA  said: “Following a request from the Department for Education, we are conducting a funding band review on 31 existing standards using the new 30 band structure and the Institute’s funding process. We have contacted 19 trailblazer groups to inform them of our recommendations.  Throughout the process, we worked with trailblazers to ensure the process and outcome was fair and appropriate for each standard.

“We will submit our recommendations to the Department for Education, who will make the final decision.”

Read the IfA’s letter here.

Funding rates to be slashed for popular management apprenticeships

The management degree apprenticeship standard is set to have its funding slashed by a massive £5,000.

And funding rates for two other management standards – including the most popular standard, for team leader/ supervisor – will also be reduced.

The employer group behind the standards, led by the Chartered Management Institute, is planning to appeal the cuts, according to an email seen by FE Week.  

All three, which between them accounted for almost 20,000 starts in the first nine months of 2017/18, were part of the Institute for Apprenticeship’s funding band review, which began in May.

According to documents seen by FE Week, the level management degree apprenticeship will have its funding cap cut from £27,000 to £22,000, pending approval by the education secretary Damian Hinds.

The band for the level five operational/departmental manager standard will go from £9,000 to £7,000, while the level three team leader/ supervisor standard will be capped at £4,500 – down from £5,000.

The team leader/ supervisor standard is the most popular to date, with 12,080 starts in the first nine months of 2017/18, while the operational/ departmental manager is the fourth most popular with 5,530 starts over the same time period.

And there have been 1,750 starts on the level six standard, making it the most popular degree apprenticeship.

Petra Wilton, director of strategy at the Chartered Management Institute, hit out on social media to say that “cutting funding for new high-quality apprenticeships that are working – runs counter to all commonsense”.

And Sean Williams, chief executive of training provider Corndel, warned that the funding cuts would have a “catastrophic effect”.

The Trailblazer group has said it is intending to appeal the decisions, warning that if implemented they would hit the quality of training and the reputation of apprenticeships, and would lead to a drop in the number of starts.

According to the letter from the IfA to the leadership and management trailblazer group, seen by FE Week, the decision to cut the funding band for the degree apprenticeship was based on a number of factors – including information provided by the Trailblazer group.

This included quotes from a range of providers, stating that it would cost between £27,000 and £28,994 to deliver, and one quote from an end-point assessment organisation with a cost of £1,169.93.

“You told us that a reduction to funding would lead to providers exiting the market and reduce provider ability to deliver high quality training provision,” the letter said.

The news comes on the same day as the Trailblazer group behind the hair professional standard, another of the 31 under review, revealed that they’d been told their funding was being cut from £9,000 to £7,000.

The Institute for Apprenticeships declined to comment.

Read the IfA’s letters to the Trailblazer group in full: