Lord Agnew to help with FE and skills brief at DfE
Yet another minister in the Department for Education has been given some responsibility for further education.
It was announced this afternoon that Lord Agnew, the unpaid minister for the school system, will take on responsibility for the “further education provider market, including quality and improvement”.
He will also lead on EU exit preparation, delivery of the careers strategy, and safeguarding in schools and post-16 providers.
Agnew is the third minister to take on an FE brief in Boris Johnson’s new government, after he failed to appoint a dedicated skills minister in his reshuffle when Anne Milton resigned.
Education secretary Gavin Williamson is taking the lead on FE, while children and families minister Kemi Badenoch is offering support.
Badenoch has, however, now gone on maternity leave and had her responsibilities taken over by Michelle Donelan in the interim.
Donelan will support Williamson in his role as skills lead, including on the delivery of T-levels, apprenticeships and adult education, in “recognition of the important role technical education plays as the country prepares to leave the European Union”.
“I truly believe that a good education is the key to creating a fair society where everyone, no matter where they come from or their circumstances, has opportunities to succeed,” Donelan said today.
“From the earliest years of children’s lives to the point at which they make decisions about their further education or training, I am proud to be joining a department that is focusing its efforts on the most disadvantaged in society.”
Donelan remains as a government whip, taking on the role at the Department for Education on an unpaid basis for the duration of Badenoch’s maternity leave.
She was previously a member of the education select committee between July 2015 and October 2018.
Chris Skidmore has returned as universities minister.
Commission calls for ‘demoralising’ GCSE English to be replaced
GCSE English in schools should be scrapped and replaced by a new qualification that could be sat at any age between 15 and 19, putting an end to the government’s “wasteful” resits policy, a major commission has recommended.
The Forgotten Third commission, which was launched by the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), suggests learners should sit a ‘Passport in English’ instead of GCSE English language, consisting of online assessment, a portfolio of a student’s writing, and a significant spoken English component.
The qualification would have various stages, from “entry level to operational proficiency to expert” for each skill area of reading, writing, and speaking and listening, which would be taken when a learner was ready.
The current system is demoralising and fails far too many young people at a crucial time in their lives
The current comparable outcomes system, whereby the spread of GCSE grades is pegged to what cohorts of similar ability achieved in the past, leads to around a third of learners failing to achieve a ‘standard pass’ – grade 4 – in English language every year, according to the commission.
In line with the Department for Education’s condition of funding rule, all 16 to 19 students who have achieved a grade 3 in English or maths are required to retake the subject until they do pass, while those with a grade 2 or lower have the option of taking the reformed functional skills qualifications instead.
Chief executive of the Association of Colleges David Hughes said the “failure” of such learners is “pointless and avoidable”, and “stage, not age” should determine a student’s ability to gain a qualification.
“The current system is demoralising and fails far too many young people at a crucial time in their lives,” he added.
ASCL are spot on with identifying the problem
Commission chair Roy Blatchford, writing for FE Week, said “The Passport would be a highly respected qualification for a new era which better reflects the full achievements of all students and supports progression to a wide range of pathways.”
ASCL general secretary Geoff Barton said the “groundbreaking proposal” would make the exam system more “humane”, and is “geared towards the language skills needed by employers”.
The commission has suggested, as a means of testing each skill area, an online assessment for reading; an interview with someone from the business world for speaking and listening; and a task involving collating information from articles for the writing test, much like is done in the A-level English language exam.
It concludes that the current GCSE English Language specification is not fit for purpose because it focuses on a restrictive choice of writing tasks with an emphasis on literary analysis, rather than on competency in English.
The commission has also suggested a companion ‘Passport in Maths’ qualification.
There are other options to GCSE English language currently out there: reformed functional skills qualifications in English and maths are now up and running, and are favoured by sector bodies such as the Association of Employment and Learning Providers.
Its chief executive Mark Dawe said: “ASCL are spot on with identifying the problem.
“However, we don’t think that we should be introducing any more possible confusion for employers.
“Functional skills are a strengthened and well-respected alternative and we would like to work with ASCL to ensure that this is the preferred solution to the concerns raised.”
Asked why the commission doesn’t suggest making better use of functional skills, Blatchford said: “We don’t doubt the merits of the new functional skills qualification, but the point of the report is to design a new qualification which would replace GCSE English Language, be taken by all students and support development over time, and we think this aim is best served by a new type of qualification.”
But this could all be for nought, as the Department for Education has today said the education secretary has promised not to change the national curriculum.
A spokesperson said: “We have dramatically reformed GCSEs over the past five years to ensure young people are leaving school ready for the world of work, while also adapting functional skills qualifications, including English, to better meet students’ needs post-16 and ensure they have a strong grasp of essential skills like reading, writing and maths.”
Welsh college rapped by Ofsted
A Welsh college is to be suspended from recruiting apprentices in England after Ofsted found it making ‘insufficient progress’ in all areas of an early monitoring visit.
Gower College Swansea, which claims to have “award winning apprenticeship delivery” in Wales, moved to deliver the provision across the border in October 2017.
Its apprenticeship offer in England has started small, where 57 levy-funded apprentices are currently trained. Ofsted’s visit focussed solely on this provision, around half of which is delivered by a subcontractor.
The feedback from Ofsted’s new provider monitoring visit was clearly very disappointing
The watchdog found a catalogue of issues, namely that the college does not ensure that its provision complies with the principles and requirements of an apprenticeship programme.
Inspectors found that leaders do not make sure that all apprentices receive their full entitlement of off-the-job training during working hours, and tutors do not place “enough importance” on apprentices developing their English and math skills.
Managers do not involve apprentices’ employers and workplace supervisors in the training and development of their employees, which leads to apprentices not benefitting from enough “carefully planned” on-the-job learning.
“Leaders’ self-assessment of the quality of provision is insufficiently evaluative,” inspectors said.
Tutors were criticised for not taking account apprentices’ starting points. As a result, more confident and competent apprentices “do not make the rapid progress of which they are capable”.
They also do not give “sufficiently detailed” feedback to apprentices which means they do not know what they need to do to achieve higher grades in their end-point assessment.
Safeguarding was also an issue raised by Ofsted.
Leaders and managers “do not ensure that all apprentices receive training in safeguarding and the ‘Prevent’ duty” and as a result, “too many apprentices do not have the information they need in order to keep themselves safe”.
Ofsted did however praise leaders for ensuring that apprentices enrol on the correct programme at the most appropriate level, the large majority of which stay on programme.
“Apprentices take on new responsibilities at work,” inspectors added. “Many apprentices increase in confidence as a result of their training.
“Apprentices benefit from well-qualified tutors who deliver theory and practical training that help apprentices relate what they learn to their job roles.”
Gower College Swansea said Ofsted’s feedback was “clearly very disappointing”.
“Whilst the College has a long standing record for the delivery of high quality apprenticeship provision in Wales, our delivery in England has been kept intentionally small and to date has been limited to six employers, mainly in the south of the country,” a spokesperson explained.
“Although our predicted qualification achievement and retention and rates are very good indeed, it is fully recognised that there are still improvements that we need to make in terms of some of the different expectations required in England.
“We therefore accept Ofsted’s findings and are confident that we can make the necessary improvements to enhance the service we offer to our apprentices and employers in England – building on our award winning apprenticeship delivery in Wales.”
Providers that are found to have made ‘insufficient progress’ in one or more area of an early monitoring visit are suspended from recruiting apprentices in England, under ESFA rules.
ESFA suspends another 23 providers from recruiting apprentices
Twenty three more new training providers have received temporary bans on recruiting apprentices following early Ofsted inspections that found them making poor progress.
Since October 2018, the watchdog has been carrying out monitoring visits at every directly-funded provider which won its own contract to deliver training after April 2017.
Any that are found to be making ‘insufficient progress’ in at least one area will be suspended from recruiting unless there are “extenuating circumstances”.
The Education and Skills Funding Agency has released an updated version of the register of apprenticeship training providers for September, which shows 56 providers are currently banned from taking on apprentices.
The new additions are: 2 Sisters Food Group, AAA Training Solutions, Amdas Consultancy, Apprentice Assessments, Ashley Hunters, Azilo Training, Biffa Waste Services, Bior Business School, Contracting Services (education and skills), Fresh Training Services, Goodman Masson, Havilah Prospects, Hertfordshire Catering, Home Group, Matrix Solutions International, Medivet Group, Prospect Training (Yorkshire), Rita’s Training Services, SHL Training Solutions, SSG Services, The Academy Hub, Wiser Academy and YMCA George Williams Company.
Inspectors visiting employer provider 2 Sisters Food Group found that “too often, line managers do not release apprentices from the production roles to attend off-the-job training workshops, due to work pressures and the need to meet production targets”. It had 62 apprentices at the time of the inspection.
A provider to 97 apprentices, Amdas Consultancy was found by inspectors to have not gathered information to help them fully understand the reasons why many apprentices are on a break from their training.
Inspectors wrote national waste disposal employer Biffa’s implementation of their sole standard, the level 2 large goods vehicle programme, was “weak”, and Biffa does not ensure apprentices all over the country receive their full entitlement to off-the-job training, with its 21 apprentices.
Fresh Training Services was criticised for not recruiting apprentices, of which it had 25, “with integrity”, because they had not made sure they are employed appropriately to allow them to complete an apprenticeship.
It was found by Ofsted that Prospect Training (Yorkshire) that the information it had collected about its 112 apprentices’ progress was “incomplete and inaccurate”.
Staff at YMCA George Williams College, with its ten apprentices, were found not to have “sufficient knowledge and skills of the requirements of apprenticeships to plan and deliver programmes that meet all apprentices’ needs”.
You can see all of the currently suspended providers below.
Ofsted has started conducting full inspections of new apprenticeship providers that were previously banned from taking on new starts following ‘insufficient’ monitoring reports, and awarded them grades that allow them to start recruiting again.
BNG Training, Construction Gateway, Developing Performance Partnership, Ensis Solutions, Mooreskills, NSL, T.M.S Learning and Skills Support and Vogal Group have been removed from the suspended list.
The full list of 56 providers which have been suspended:
| 2 SISTERS FOOD GROUP LIMITED |
| AAA TRAINING SOLUTIONS LIMITED |
| AGINCARE GROUP LIMITED |
| AMDAS CONSULTANCY LTD |
| APPRENTICE ASSESSMENTS LIMITED |
| ARRIVA LONDON NORTH LIMITED |
| ASHLEY COMMUNITY & HOUSING LTD |
| ASHLEY HUNTER LTD |
| AZILO TRAINING LIMITED |
| BIFFA WASTE SERVICES LIMITED |
| BIOR BUSINESS SCHOOL LIMITED |
| CARE TRAINING SOLUTIONS LTD |
| CATALYST LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT LIMITED |
| CENTRAL AND NORTH WEST LONDON NHS FOUNDATION TRUST |
| COGENT SKILLS TRAINING LIMITED |
| CONTRACTING SERVICES (EDUCATION AND SKILLS) LIMITED |
| E.Q.V. (UK) LIMITED |
| EMA TRAINING LIMITED |
| FRESH TRAINING SERVICES (UK) LIMITED |
| GLOUCESTERSHIRE ENTERPRISE LIMITED |
| GOODMAN MASSON LIMITED |
| HAVILAH PROSPECTS LIMITED |
| HERTFORDSHIRE CATERING LIMITED |
| HOME GROUP LIMITED |
| JM RECRUITMENT EDUCATION & TRAINING LTD |
| JT DEVELOPMENT SOLUTIONS LIMITED |
| MANATEC LIMITED |
| MATRIX SOLUTIONS INTERNATIONAL LIMITED |
| MEARS LEARNING LIMITED |
| MEDIVET GROUP LIMITED |
| MERSEY CARE NHS FOUNDATION TRUST |
| MOOR TRAINING LIMITED |
| PIPER TRAINING LIMITED |
| POOLE HOSPITAL NHS FOUNDATION TRUST |
| PREMIER NURSING AGENCY LIMITED |
| PROSPECT TRAINING (YORKSHIRE) LIMITED |
| PROSPECTS TRAINING INTERNATIONAL LIMITED |
| RIGHT TRACK SOCIAL ENTERPRISE LIMITED |
| RITA’S TRAINING SERVICES |
| SCL SECURITY LTD |
| SECURITAS SECURITY SERVICES (UK) LIMITED |
| SHL TRAINING SOLUTIONS LTD |
| SSG SERVICES (EST 2003) LIMITED |
| THE ACADEMY HUB LTD |
| THE BUSINESS PORTFOLIO (UK) LIMITED |
| THE DEVELOPMENT FUND LIMITED |
| THE EDUCATION AND SKILLS PARTNERSHIP LTD |
| THE SANDWELL COMMUNITY CARING TRUST |
| THE TEACHING & LEARNING GROUP LIMITED |
| TOOK US A LONG TIME LIMITED |
| TOTAL TRAINING COMPANY (UK) LIMITED |
| UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS BRISTOL NHS FOUNDATION TRUST |
| VORTEX TRAINING SOLUTIONS LTD |
| WDR LIMITED |
| WISER ACADEMY LIMITED |
| YMCA GEORGE WILLIAMS COMPANY |
The ‘Forgotten Third’ deserve the dignity of a new type of qualification
In spite of decades of curriculum and qualifications reform, a third of 16-year-olds in England are not awarded a ‘standard pass’ at their English Language GCSE. It’s high time the qualification was scrapped, argues Roy Blatchford, Chair of the Forgotten Third Commission, and replaced with one we can all be proud of.
It is a remarkable statistic in the home of the English language, and in one of the world’s top economies, that one third of 16-year-olds, after 12 years of compulsory schooling, fail to achieve what the Department for Education describes as a ‘standard pass’ (grade 4) in GCSE English and maths.
This was the starting point for the independent Commission on ‘The Forgotten Third’ which was established by the Association of School and College Leaders, and which delivers its final report today. Its headline recommendation is for the replacement of GCSE English Language with a new type of qualification, a Passport for English, which would be taken at the point of readiness of the student and could be built upon over time between the ages of 15 and 19.
The many hundreds of students, teachers, school leaders, employers and parents who gave evidence to the Commission argued that we cannot continue with a system that – in the poignant words of one 17-year-old – “fails a third of students so that two-thirds can pass.”
This high rate of attrition is a product of the current system of ‘comparable outcomes’ under which the distribution of grades is determined largely by how similar cohorts have performed in the past. It means that, unless we take action, there will continue to be a dividing line with roughly the same proportion falling short of the coveted ‘standard pass’.
The Commission argues that the system must change in the core subjects of English and maths which, in the DfE’s own words, consitute “the passport to future study and employment.”
Then there is the very nature of the current GCSE English Language examination. It is, in all but name, a test in analysis of literature, rather than the everyday skills sought by employers. In the words of one Head of English: “There are, dispiritingly, large parts of the reading element of each English Language paper which many students are simply not intended to access.”
That is why English Language GCSE should be replaced by a Passport in English, certificated by a body of national and international standing. We make a similar recommendation for maths.
The Passport would be a highly respected qualification for a new era which better reflects the full achievements of all students and supports progression to a wide range of pathways. As its name deliberately signals, this qualification would give all students a valued passport to future education and employment.
The recommended content of coursework for writing, speaking and listening would be complemented by assessments in reading and comprehension. These would be focused on young people’s abilities to handle language in a variety of everyday contexts, write with accuracy, and express themselves with confidence and articulacy – the very skills employers and parents have said to the Commission time and time again they want to see in school leavers.
The Passport would have the merit of being able to be taken by ‘stage not age’, over the 15 – 19 age range. It would also make redundant the wasteful GCSE resit industry which currently means that many young people currently have to retake GCSE English and/or maths in post-16 education only to then suffer the further blow of failing to improve their outcomes.
In 1963, John Newsom and his colleagues presented to the government of the time a beautifully crafted report titled Half Our Future. The landmark report painted a picture of 50% of the nation’s 15 year-olds with an unsuitable curriculum leading to poor or no qualifications. The number one recommendation was to raise the school leaving age – which took a decade to implement.
We are hoping for a more urgent response to what we consider is a landmark report in its own right. We need policy-makers to recognise that every young person deserves the dignity of a qualification of which they can be proud.
Banks given £201m to clear college debts during area reviews
Colleges had over £200 million of bank debt paid off by the Treasury during the post-16 area reviews, but civil servants say it is “too early” to determine the programme’s success.
An ‘Area review: end of programme report’ was published by the Department for Education this afternoon to provide a “factual record” of the implementation of the programme, which kicked off in September 2015 and officially ended in March this year.
It noted how, as part of the spending review 2015, the government offered up a £432 million restructuring facility to help with the implementation of recommendations made by the FE Commissioner.
Today’s report stated that between 2016 and 2019, 157 “transition grants” were awarded to colleges, and £201 million (46 per cent) of the restructuring facility was used to pay off commercial debts.
It means that combined college debt has gone from £1.6 billion in 2014-15, to £1.48 billion in 2017-18.
The DfE is no rush to publish which colleges won individual awards, citing grounds of commercial sensitivity associated with the contractual terms of both loans and grants.
Today’s report stated that following this “large investment” in the FE sector, the “expectation is that, going forward, colleges will manage themselves effectively to ensure their sustainability, and support will be available through early engagement with the ESFA or the FE Commissioner”.
It showed the number of general FE colleges in England has shrunk from 241 to 193, while the number of sixth form colleges has reduced from 93 to 54 – which included 23 academy conversions.
Colleges with a financial health rating of ‘inadequate’ has gone down from 37 to 21 as a direct result of the mergers.
Although it is “too early” to determine the long-term financial position of the college sector, early analysis “suggests that area reviews have had a broadly positive impact to date”, today’s report said.
“The area review programme and the financial support it provided delivered a great deal of focussed progress in a relatively short time to re-shape the sector and deal with some of the most difficult financial cases,” it added.
“It will take time for financial efficiencies to be fully realised and for the benefits of stronger leadership to show in improved financial performance and Ofsted grades. Some early inspections have had promising results but we will continue to track and monitor performance.”
The DfE said it intends to publish an evaluation report in 2022, which will focus on the impact of the programme.
A spokesperson said: “The area review programme has helped in supporting colleges to be more financially sustainable, which is crucial if we want to continue to deliver the skilled workforce we need for the future.
“We are really pleased that the area review programme has encouraged collaboration and has made it possible to maintain provision in areas that could have been under threat of losing access to a local FE college.
“We are continuing to build on this through the work of the FE Commissioner and the college oversight regime to support colleges to go from strength to strength. We have also recently pledged a £400 million boost to help colleges and FE providers to continue to deliver high-quality education and training and recruit and retain the brilliant teachers and leader they need.”
College to stay open as usual during ‘mammoth’ 15-day strike
Nottingham College has said it will be open as usual during 15-days of strike action by the University and College Union, including two full weeks of industrial action.
College staff will be on picket lines from Wednesday 11 September to Friday 11 October after members voted to stage a one-day walkout which will escalate to strikes of two, three, four and five days in subsequent weeks.
The action has come about because of a dispute centring on a move by the college, the UCU says, to impose new contracts which leave over 80 staff more than £1,000 a year worse off, and remove protections for staff against work overload.
UCU general secretary, Jo Grady, said: “UCU members at Nottingham College are rightly furious at the college’s attempts to force staff into these damaging new contracts.
“These changes increase the risk that staff will burn out or simply leave the college, impacting on the student experience.
“Strike action is always a last resort, but staff are sending a clear message that they will not tolerate this attack on their pay and conditions and the college’s uncompromising approach has only hardened their resolve.”
She said that following Sajid Javid’s announcement of a £400 million funding boost for colleges last week, “the college cannot use funding as an excuse for refusing to address members’ concerns”, after staff have not received a raise since 2010.
But despite this action, a Nottingham College spokesperson said the college will be open as usual through any industrial action: “Everybody in the college cares passionately about providing our students with the best possible education, training and personal development and the last thing anybody wants is a strike.
“We have already reached collective agreement with UNISON and NEU and we remain in discussion with UCU in the hope that we can resolve remaining issues and reach an agreement.”
The full strike dates are:
- This week: Wednesday 11 September
- Week 2: Thursday 19 and Friday 20 September
- Week 3: Monday 23, Tuesday 24 and Wednesday 25 September
- Week 4: Monday 30 September, Tuesday 1, Thursday 3, and Friday 4 October
- Week 5: Monday 7, Tuesday 8, Wednesday 9, Thursday 10 and Friday 11 October
New education secretary commits to Stourbridge College sell-off meeting
The education secretary has committed to meeting with principals around Stourbridge to discuss how further education can continue in the area – after its only general FE college was sold off.
Cash-strapped Birmingham Metropolitan College controversially announced in May that it would sell off and close Stourbridge College in a desperate bid to ease a financial situation which threatens its solvency.
Margot James, the MP for Stourbridge, has since been battling to find a way of offering skills provision and adult education in her constituency.
Just three days ago she tweeted to say she had met education unions about the future of the Hagley Road site that housed Stourbridge College, and was “pleased” to say there is “positive progress towards continued education provision on the site in the future”.
She took the matter to the Houses of Commons today to ask for the secretary of state’s help with the issue during his first appearance at education questions.
“Following the deeply regrettable closure of Stourbridge College earlier this summer, can I ask my right honourable friend whether he would consider meeting the principals of all the Dudley Colleges – Dudley College, Halesowen College and King Edwards – with a view to discussing their wish to continue to provide vocational skills training, particularly adult education, in my constituency of Stourbridge?” she asked.
Gavin Williamson said he would be “very happy to meet with my honourable friend to discuss this in detail with those stakeholders”.
Stourbridge College’s 900 learners have been transferred to Dudley College of Technology and Halesowen College since BMet announced the closure decision.
Many have, however, been left frustrated with extra travel time and costs.
James, who was the minister for digital and the creative industries until July’s reshuffle, believes Stourbridge College was “let down by the failures of management and leadership at BMet”, which is now on the “brink of insolvency”.
She wrote to the National Audit Office’s comptroller and auditor general Gareth Davies last month asking him to investigate how this situation unfolded.
James told Davies how under BMet’s stewardship, the college “got into difficulties” and has had to obtain multi-million pound loans and bailouts to survive, while Ofsted has rated it ‘requires improvement’ three times in a row.
Davies used his response to reveal that the UK’s public spending watchdog is preparing to launch a value for money review on the management of colleges’ financial sustainability.
He added that in the meantime, he has asked his education team to “engage with the Education and Skills Funding Agency in order to establish in more detail the facts of this particular case”.