Johnson government a thumbs up for FE investment but sad to lose Marsden and Milton

The huge 80 seat majority and return of the Conservative Party to government now puts the spotlight on Boris Johnson’s FE and skills manifesto pledges.

Significant sums of additional funding for the sector will, we are promised, form part of the government’s next budget.

From 2021 there will be, the manifesto says, a National Skills Fund with £600 million of “new funding on top of existing skills funding”, a total of “£3 billion over the parliament.”

In addition, close to £2 billion in capital funding has been ear-marked for an ‘estate upgrade’ over the next five years, starting with £194 million in 2021.

Yes, more can and should be done to reverse the real terms cuts to post-16 funding rates and overall fall in adult education spending.

And, it remains unclear how the impending apprenticeship budget overspend will be avoided.

But the manifesto commitment to nearly £5bn in new funding over the next parliament shows Boris Johnson was serious when he said from the dispatch box in July that he would make further education and skills “a priority for this government”.

And last month the Secretary of State for Education Gavin Williamson could not have been clearer when he told FE Week our sector would be “at the heart of what we’re going to do.”

So after years of cuts to FE and skills funding under the David Cameron and then Theresa May governments, these Johnson pledges to invest again can’t come soon enough.

Far less positive for the sector has been the loss of Gordon Marsden.

Marsden has been an incredibly hard working shadow minister, at the heart of Labour’s education team in seven of the last nine years, promoting the cause for both further and higher education.

He has also invested considerable time explaining Labour policies at our events and to our journalists since the day we launched in 2011, for which I am grateful.

Another champion of FE that sadly won’t be returning to Parliament is the former Conservative skills minister and independent candidate Anne Milton.

Milton fought hard for further education but, and through no fault of her own, she was mostly ignored within a Theresa May led government and Treasury that refused to listen.

Johnson has promised he will lead a government that is now listening to FE and as our readers have come to expect, we will be watching and scrutinising the detail of announcements over the coming months.

Loan scandal victims still waiting for debts to be cancelled

The government has admitted to not contacting any of the hundreds of FE loan scandal victims despite having the power to cancel their debts.

The education secretary has been able to cancel advanced learner loans for learners left in debt when their provider goes bust since July 1, 2019, following a change in legislation.

But in response to a Freedom of Information request, the Department for Education (DfE) said “268 students have been identified as in scope and are to receive a letter to that effect” but “none” of them have had their loans partially or fully cancelled.

It is understood that as many as a further 423 students could be in scope for a debt write-off.

The admission has prompted criticism from the National Union of Students, who said “too often learners don’t receive clear and timely communication, and too often they are not given the level of priority they deserve”.

The FOI response said those in scope were previously made aware that they are “not in repayment in 2019-20 and they will be contacted in the next steps.

“The department is, with the Student Loans Company (SLC) and the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), currently assessing each case in which a student is in repayment deferment. Students will be notified in the coming few months.”

The DfE would not be drawn on why those in scope had not yet been written to.

The government first asked the SLC to defer loan repayments for affected learners during the April 2017 to March 2018 tax year, and extended deferrals in subsequent tax years.

While individual learners are assessed on a case-by-case basis, former students from John Frank Training, which went into liquidation on November 30, 2016, were expected to be in scope of the new legislation.

Mussarrat Bashir, 55, was undertaking a level 3 BTEC certificate in hospitality at the provider when “a few months in, everything just fell apart” and she was left with an £8,000 debt.

She was later offered a place on a course in Chester, but this was “not viable” as she worked full-time in Stoke-on-Trent, where she had previously been studying on the same site.

Bashir, who now works as a tutor assessor, said: “Any loan on you is always a restriction. It affects your credit history.

“It is stressful when you’ve got other pressures like family. I’m a single parent, I’ve got my own burdens.”

Bashir alleges she has never received any communication regarding loan repayment deferral and has had to make repayments over the last three years, although these claims could not be verified at the time of going to press.

The SLC and DfE were approached for comment about the accusations but, at the time of publication, the SLC could only confirm that Bashir’s loan is now in deferment and she will be contacted shortly about her eligibility for loan cancellation.

“You just want it off your [mind]. It’s been dragging on for a very long time now. We should have the assurance it is done and dusted,” Bashir added.

In the response to the FOI request, the DfE said a greater number of 691 students are “currently not required to make repayments on their advanced learner loan as these loans have been identified as possibly being in scope of the regulation.

“If these students have other loans, which are not potentially in scope of the regulation, they will be required to make repayments on those if they have reached their statutory repayment due date and meet the current repayment threshold.”

According to the DfE, those that are determined to be eligible will be required to reply to the SLC for cancellation to proceed.

Juliana Mohamad Noor, NUS vice president for further education, said: “The Department for Education and the Student Loans Company must work together to ensure that those learners whose provider went bust before they completed their course have their loans cancelled as soon as possible.

“These figures continue to highlight the need for the Department, the SLC and providers to work together so students have clarity on how they are protected in the event of provider failure, including the treatment of their student loans.”

An SLC spokesperson said they and the DfE have “continuously worked closely together to bring a resolution for these customers.

“We have written to them ahead of each new tax year to make sure that they are aware that their loan repayments continue to be deferred, and to ensure that no customer is financially disadvantaged while they await a decision.

“The legislation that allows the cancellation of these loans was enacted in summer and we will be writing to customers in the coming weeks to make them aware of their eligibility to have their loan cancelled and to outline the next steps of the process.”

Shadow skills minister Gordon Marsden loses seat

Labour’s shadow skills minister Gordon Marsden has lost the battle to keep his parliamentary seat.

Marsden lost out to the Conservative Party candidate Scott Lloyd Benton, 12,557 votes to 16,247.

FE Week previously reported it was looking likely Marsden would lose the election for the Blackpool South constituency after YouGov’s Multi-level Regression and Post-stratification (MRP) model, which successfully predicted the 2017 election result, observed the area was leaning towards the Conservatives.

The Tories lost out on this seat to Labour by 2,500 votes at the 2017 general election.

Marsden’s loss means it is unlikely he will be kept on as shadow FE and HE spokesperson.

His first stint as a shadow minister for FE was from 2010 until 2013, before he moved to cover the transport brief for two years.

Then, in 2015, he returned to shadow the FE portfolio and has served Labour in that role for four years.

Prior to entering parliament, he was an Open University lecturer and editor of a history magazine and after entering Parliament in 1997, he served in the Labour government as parliamentary private secretary to a number of different secretaries of state.

During his time as shadow further and higher education minister, he has been a highly-visible presence on the Labour frontbench during education questions and backbench debates.

He has also been a regular speaker at sector conferences, including for the Association of Colleges, the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, and FE Week’s Annual Apprenticeship Conference.

And when Labour launched its adult education policy for this election, it did so in Marsden’s constituency.

IfATE board ‘stressed need’ for better way of setting funding rates

The board of the government’s apprenticeship agency has “stressed” the need for a funding band methodology that “works, is clear and easy to understand”, following years of trailblazer group criticism.

Minutes from a meeting in September, published today, show the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education is carrying out a “funding improvement project”.

Robert Nitsch, the apprenticeship quango’s chief operating officer, “reminded” the board that the aims of this project were to “redefine a funding process that is clear, easy to understand and draws upon the best available evidence”.

In May, the institute made “several changes” to improve the current funding process, but the minutes state the board was keen to see improvements to two particular areas – affordability and quote moderation.

“The next phase of the project is a fundamental redesign of the funding process and the board will be kept abreast of progress over the coming months,” they added.

“The board expressed their desire for a more discursive paper to enable further debate at the next board meeting in November. The board stressed the need for a methodology that works, is clear and easy to understand.”

The IfATE’s funding band decisions, particularly their lack of transparency, have been an issue for many in the FE sector ever since the institute launched, and has led to various appeals and subsequent delays to standards getting up and running.

In an interview with FE Week in February, then chief executive Sir Gerry Berragan acknowledged that it is a “common refrain that we are very secretive about how we do funding band calculations”.

He committed to becoming more transparent, but added that the institute was not willing to share the formula it uses to calculate funding bands for apprenticeship standards as it fears employer groups will “misuse” it to “inflate their costs”.

In May, the IfATE announced it would start evaluating the impact of its controversial funding band reviews, and promised to “take action” where reductions have made delivering apprentice training unviable.

The IfATE has held two funding band reviews over the past two years which have both prompted sector outrage.

The trailblazer group behind three popular management apprenticeship standards in the first review, for example, was backed by more than 150 employers – including retail giant Tesco – in its fight to overturn plans to slash their funding bands by up to £5,000.

Meanwhile, the trailblazer group creating three FE teaching standards, which had been in development since 2015, accused IfATE of exceeding its powers last year after claiming their proposed funding bands were just half what they would cost to deliver.

The group claimed that the recommended funding bands were not “based on evidence and on a formal, transparent process”.

The group successfully appealed the decision and two of the funding bands were increased, but it severely delayed the rollout of the standards until this year.

And earlier in 2019, many care apprenticeship providers said they would be pulling out of offering the level 2 adult care worker and level 3 lead adult care worker standards after the IfATE rejected calls to double their funding rates.

 

The blurred line between colleges and universities must disappear

Whoever is in power tomorrow will have to deliver on their FE funding commitments and manifesto promises, writes Vanessa Wilson. But all the parties have missed a key plank to building the skills sector’s true capability

In spite of positive promises from all sides, and whoever walks into Number 10 today, universities, colleges and independent providers will need to work hard and work together to keep technical skills on the agenda.

A commitment to increased investment in technical education has been one of University Alliance’s three, targeted general election demands. This is because combatting skills gaps will be key to maintaining the global pace of innovation post-Brexit and allowing our country to flourish.

We have therefore welcomed the many positive pledges throughout the campaign. All three main parties have promised a well-deserved funding boost for further education and reform of the apprenticeship levy. In addition, Labour and the Liberal Democrats have made commitments to promote flexible, lifelong learning.

However, a shiny new, headline-catching policy in a manifesto is one thing. Its implementation is quite another. Whoever takes office today, we will face a raft of new ministers and a domestic agenda hindered by Brexit at every turn. This poses a real danger that commitments to investment in technical education will be consigned to campaign catchphrases. With growing skills shortages and low productivity, the cost of this would be catastrophic.

The system is currently too fragmented

One of the key barriers to progress is a widespread misconception around what technical education means and how and by whom it is provided. The public, the media and, most worryingly, the government and policy makers hear “technical” or “vocational” and still conjure up images of factories, boiler suits and grease-stained rags. In fact, all lawyers, architects, paramedics, IT programmers and fashion designers have had a technical, vocational education. Similarly, those working in engineering and manufacturing will have a technical, as well as academic, understanding of their field.

In fact, the majority of university degrees could be considered “vocational” in that they prepare students for a particular job. Alliance universities specialise in these offerings. Whether it is budding journalists at Birmingham City University benefiting from their partnership with HuffPost, future police officers earning while they learn on the degree apprenticeship at UWE Bristol, or students at Coventry University gaining engineering experience in the ‘Faculty on the Factory Floor’, Alliance Universities’ distinctive pedagogy supports the acquisition of applied knowledge and skills to meet the needs of industry and public services.

A failure to understand this nuance has led to a tendency to falsely divide the academic and technical elements of education, fuelling an “either/ or” narrative in which higher and further education are pitted against one another. Yet the two cannot and should not be separated.

The boundaries between FE and HE are increasingly blurred on both sides. FE colleges increasingly provide higher education at undergraduate and postgraduate level. Both universities and colleges offer a wide range of higher technical education at levels 4 and 5, as well as apprenticeship programmes, including degree apprenticeships. They frequently work in partnership, ensuring a seamless pathway of education and training from FE to HE and back that learners may access at different points in their lives.

This trend is rightly set to accelerate in the future but, with different funding rates for different providers and a lack of clarity in higher technical qualifications, the system is too fragmented to support it. We need the next government to support and invest in a more agile, responsive and flexible post-18 education system that further incentivises HE and FE to work together to deliver flexibility, choice and career pathways for learners of all ages.

From day one, our new government will be facing a vast array of new challenges. However, overlooking the threats posed by skills gaps would be a grave error. Investment in comprehensive technical education can unlock the UK’s reserves of productivity and innovation and we look forward to working closely with further education to help the government recognise and deliver this.

College delivers TV Christmas to local pensioner

Oldham College learners have teamed up with BBC Breakfast to deliver a Christmas tree and a carol concert to a lonely local pensioner.

After Terrance went on the show to talk about how he had spent every Christmas alone since his mother died 20 years ago, college leaders put their heads together and agreed they had to do something for him.

They got on the phone to BBC Breakfast to organise Terrance’s festive surprise and to find out his favourite carol – Silent Night – so they could set the choir to work rehearsing it while they carried out some emergency Christmas shopping.

A caravan of gifts, singers and a Christmas tree then met up with Breakfast presenter Dan Walker around the corner from Terrance’s house on Wednesday night.

After Walker went to speak with Terrance, he let in learners from the nearby college to erect and decorate a Christmas tree in his front room.

They then helped the emotional Terrance, who volunteers with Age UK, to go outside and hear the choir deliver their rendition of Silent Night.

Terrance also received a specially-made Oldham College Christmas card signed by staff and students, a luxury hamper, wine and gift vouchers.

“This is what Christmas spirit is truly about,” said Oldham principal Alun Francis.

“We were so proud and privileged to be able to help Terrance. His volunteering for Age UK is a real asset to the community – two students were so touched by their visit that they immediately signed up as volunteers themselves.

“We are delighted to have been able to help warm the hearts of the nation ahead of the festive season. This is a story about what represents the very best of us all and showcases the amazing work that all FE colleges – not just ours – do with our communities.”

Terrance will not spend this Christmas alone: he is seeing his 90-year-old friend Nancy, whom he met through Age UK.

And as an added bonus, actor and singer John Barrowman has offered Terrance VIP tickets to his Fabulous Christmas Tour in Sheffield.

Oldham’s musical endeavours do not stop there, however: the college is also in the running to be Christmas number one with its single Christmas With You, and all its proceeds will go to Stop the Traffik, a charity which fights human trafficking.

At the time of writing it has been played almost 4,000 times on Spotify and had over 4,500 views on YouTube.

The 8 concerns researchers found at approved T-level providers

The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) has today published its second research report into T-levels.

It follows a roundtable event in October which included six providers due to deliver the new qualifications from September 2020, as well as government and sector body representatives.

The first report, published in June, was based on interviews with half of the first 50 T-level approved providers.

FE Week has pulled out the latest key findings…

  1.  Providers will have just six months to work out how to teach T-levels

The full specification for T-levels will not be available until March 2020, which leaves just six months for the first three pathways – childcare, digital and construction – to be made ready for teaching, including the summer break.

This was a “cause for concern” among providers and it was commented that while the childcare T-level will need less work to prepare, as it is similar to the CACHE level 3 diploma in childcare and education, the construction and digital pathways “included more content that was completely new for providers”.

  1.  Major work needed to raise awareness

“Delegates felt there remained significant work to do to raise the awareness and understanding of T-levels among young people, parents and carers, and employers,” the report reads.

This is despite the best efforts of the ‘NexT Level’, a campaign costing the taxpayer over £3 million to help recruit the first wave of learners for T-levels.

Providers said that without the detailed specifications they could not always answer students’ and employers’ more detailed questions about the qualifications.

  1.  WANTED: Learners for T-levels

Providers were positive about meeting their student recruitment targets, but this was because “they had set conservative targets which they felt were achievable”.

There were, however, concerns regarding school “protectionism” which is making it a struggle to promote T-levels in schools with sixth forms.

And learners could be put off by “the size of the qualification”: young people who rely on part-time jobs or had caring responsibilities would find it difficult to meet the 600 minimum guided learning hours requirement as well as the 315 hour minimum industry placement.

It was brought up that how those 600 hours would be spent, being instructed towards an exam-based assessment, would not attract students looking for workshop-style delivery and continuous assessment.

The question of how learners from rural areas could get transport to class and to their industry placement was also listed as a “concern”.

  1.  Industry placements need more flexibility

One of the most controversial aspects of T-levels is the requirement for learners to go on a 315-hour industry placement; the previous NFER roundtable found providers were concerned about a lack of viable placements.

Recognising the challenge, the Department for Education introduced flexibilities earlier this year, including allowing the placements to be taken with two different employers.

However, educators have called for further flexibility in what counted towards the industry placement; specifically, they wanted project-based learning and work-related learning to count towards it.

The NFER said: “This would enable the engagement of employers who lacked capacity to support a placement and did not have a physical base,” namely digital businesses.

  1.  WANTED: Staff for T-levels

Challenges in attracting staff from the construction, digital and engineering sectors will be “particularly severe,” says the report, because their industries can pay higher salaries.

Another hurdle providers spoke about was keeping staff’s industrial knowledge and skills up to scratch; an issue some providers have addressed by setting up a bank of freelance staff they can draw on to deliver part of the digital T-level.

  1.  Will completing a T-level enable learners to progress on to a level 4 apprenticeship?

T-levels’ “lack of” occupational competencies – the knowledge, skills and attributes for a vocational career – has raised doubts about whether learners completing the new qualification will be able to progress on to a level 4 apprenticeship.

This was particularly the case in technical and practically-orientated apprenticeships like construction and engineering, and will put a dent in “an important selling point for T-levels”: the size and scale of the industry placement.

It will also be up to universities whether they accept T-levels, which carry UCAS tariff points. There were questions over whether the Russell Group would accept them, which may influence other universities and could “tarnish” T-levels in the minds of parents.

  1.  Could T-levels be a block on social mobility?

The requirement for learners to have a grade four at GCSE maths and English was seen as a barrier to accessing T-levels, according to the NFER.

And the scale of the guided learning hours requirement and the industry placement is, as highlighted earlier, anticipated to be a problem for learners with part-time jobs or caring responsibilities.

As the specialist focus of T-levels and its exam-based assessment will not suit all learners, providers instead want the level 3 vocational and technical offer to “continue to provide young people with a range of options and learning styles, as well as broader vocational study”.

On that point…

  1.  Providers plea for BTECs and other AGQs to stay

“T-levels are heralded as ‘gold standard’ qualifications but applied general qualifications are an established route with a licence to practice,” the report reads.

Yet earlier this year the government launched a consultation on withdrawing funding for thousands of AGQs, ahead of T-levels’ introduction.

There remain “some concerns” around what is going to happen to BTEC/Cambridge Assessment level 3 vocational students “if some or all of these qualifications are discontinued and what might be the unintended consequences”.

It was felt at the roundtable, which was attended by a Department for Education representative, that the breadth and specialisation of AGQs and T-levels were different enough “that different types of qualifications can thrive alongside each other”.

When asked for a response, the DfE pointed out they had recently launched their T-level campaign to increase awareness and said it is working closely with HE providers and their decisions around admissions policies will be made in due course.

UK competitor appointed to WorldSkills Champions Trust

A Team UK competitor has been appointed to the international WorldSkills Champions Trust, making him its sole representative from the country and one of just 11 from around the globe.

Dan McCabe, who competed at WorldSkills Abu Dhabi 2017 in 3D Digital Game Art, is also the first person from that skill competition to join the trust, which is part of the international WorldSkills movement separate from the UK operation.

WorldSkills UK chief executive Neil Bentley-Gockmann has congratulated Dan, calling him a “brilliant member of the Team UK alumni” who will “help champion mental strength in young people as part of his work”.

McCabe himself has said: “So excited to have been appointed as a European representative for the WorldSkills Champions trust.

“As many of you know WorldSkills UK is a huge part of my life and who I am. So, this is an incredible honour to go global, becoming one of three European representatives and one of 11 representatives in the world.”

The other representatives are all former competitors and the trust was established as an advisory group to work closely with the main WorldSkills organisation.

The trust works to raise engagement among former WorldSkills competitors, who are known as champions, and promote involvement in WorldSkills projects, initiatives and activities.

McCabe will now have to go through “an intensive training camp” in early 2020.

It comes at a time of increasing demand for the trust’s help: WorldSkills said “increased requests for former and current Champions Trust representatives to speak at technical and vocational education and training events around the world demonstrates that WorldSkills Champions serve as an authentic voice of youth in the global skills debate”.

The current representatives will hold their posts for two years. A a new group will be selected in 2021.

It is the latest international win for Team UK after they picked up two gold medals, one silver, one bronze and 15 medallions for excellence at WorldSkills Kazan 2019 in Russia earlier this year.

SFC delays Diamond payout report till January

A report into an influential college commission chair’s controversial payout from an ex-employer will be released in the New Year.

The Scottish Funding Council, which oversees further and higher education funding north of the border, has been investigating £282,000 paid by the University of Aberdeen to its ex-principal Sir Ian Diamond during his notice period.

The Press and Journal reported in June that the investigation began because Diamond, who is leading the College of the Future commission, triggered his 12-month notice for his role as university principal in July 2018 – the same month he retired from the role.

He originally announced his plans to retire in August 2017.

A spokesperson for the council said the report is now at the draft stage, and it was “very unlikely” it would be published before the Christmas-New Year break, but they are intending to publish in early 2020.

They had intended to publish it in December, but January now seemed “more realistic”.

The report will feature recommendations for the council on whether the university broke any rules and it could recommend Diamond pay back the money.

The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator is also probing the pay-out as the university is a registered charity in Scotland. 

But the regulator would not be drawn on when its inquiry would conclude “as this may prejudice the work of OSCR and the charity”, according to a spokesperson.

Diamond, who became the UK’s National Statistician in October, was unveiled as the chair of the College of the Future commission in May, along with commission members such as Confederation of British Industry’s chief UK policy director Matthew Fell and the former National Union of Students president Shakira Martin.

The commission is looking to answer the question “what does the college of the future look like?” and is aiming to release a final report with recommendations next spring.

It is being supported by nine organisations including the Association of Colleges, the chief executive of which, David Hughes, attacked university bosses for spending university cash on “wine and beer” at the Conservative party conference in October.

Hughes, who was referring to English universities, said vice-chancellors were whinging they couldn’t “possibly survive” if tuition fees were cut to £7,500 per year, in line with the Augar Review’s recommendations.

The AoC published a senior staff pay code in 2018, which said bonuses and severance payments “must be reasonable and justifiable,” senior staff should only get a pay rise if all staff do too, and no individual should be involved in deciding their own pay.

English further education leaders have come under pressure for their spending following the appointment of Lord Agnew as minister for the FE market.

Since coming to the job in September, when he took over responsibility for financial oversight of colleges and the FE Commissioner’s office, he has publicly intervened in a furore over nepotism and inappropriate use of funds at Hull College.

Even before then though, the leaders of further education providers were under pressure for payments they received during their notice periods.

In May, the University and College Union criticised pay rises and 12-month notice period extensions for all the executives at Stephenson College, which came into force in 2015 ahead of a merger consultation.

The union described the move as “tone-deaf” and said it “flies in the face of widespread calls for senior pay restraint in colleges and shows that, when it comes to pay and conditions, it’s one rule for those at the top and another for the rest of the staff”.

And Mike Hopkins, the former principal of Sussex Downs College, was paid £80,000 by the college while on gardening leave for five months after his provider merged with Sussex Coast College Hastings last year.

This was despite the fact Sussex Downs was facing a deficit of £1.9 million and planning a wave of staff redundancies. He also received a final payout for leaving, but it is not known how much this was.