What do employers really want? – it’s an age old question with a seemingly endless list of possible responses and accompanying challenges. Problem solving? Motivation? Resilience? Confidence? Literacy and numeracy? Digital skills? All of the above?
When we simplify it down, employers – no matter what industry they operate in – are looking for talent. They want talent that works for the changing needs of their business. Talent they can grow and cultivate. What’s more, this talent does not always mean qualifications evidenced by a piece of paper – it means transferable, usable skills, values and competency.
Transferable skills, also known as ‘soft skills’ have always been something that employers have been interested in, as it not only shows that employees can adapt easily to new surroundings, but also that they can use skills gained in one job and transfer them to the next. This is even more relevant today with research showing that millennials may change career up to 15 times in their life, with a constant need for taking stock, upskilling and reskilling. However, these soft skills can be difficult to recognise or quantify, especially on a CV or in an interview situation – and if they’re hard to identify, then you can guarantee that they’re even harder to measure and in turn, nurture and develop.
Whether through academic or vocational means, educators are under pressure to ensure that learners leave their respective courses, qualified and ready to enter the world of work. Self-awareness and resilience however are becoming more and more vital in a highly competitive labour market, so it is also important for learners to take responsibility for their own personal development and assess their own strengths and weaknesses to know what unique skills they can offer to potential employers.
To help educators to identify their learner’s talents and untapped potential, Skills Forward, in partnership with employability practitioners and education specialists, including awarding organisation NCFE, has developed Skills Work, a new psychometric testing application that will quickly, accurately and objectively measure a person’s core employability skills based on 9 core competencies: collaboration, communications, creativity, CV writing, initiative, job seeking, motivation, persistence and personal responsibility.
Matching learners’ baseline strengths and weaknesses against the Gatsby Benchmarks to generate an employability score as recognised by the CBI, Skills Work then creates a personalised skills plan for learners which will signpost them to useful content and resources to help them improve their skills in the areas identified by the assessment as needing attention.
Although Skills Work was initially designed for learners at the very start of their working lives, it could just as easily be used by those who have come back to education in later life in order to upskill and change career.
Industry 4.0 is a topic which is being talked about with increasing regularity in the news at the moment. An industrial revolution unlike any that we have experienced before, many people think that the fourth revolution, focused on technology and how this will be incorporated into industry, will see jobs being wiped out as we gradually become replaced by robots.
Whilst we will undoubtedly continue to see the streamlining of processes through the use of technology, especially in sectors which have previously relied heavily on manual intervention, we will also actually see the creation of new, highly-skilled jobs that haven’t even been invented yet. This of course brings with it, a necessity for a whole new level of digital literacy in employees, and (more importantly) a solid base level of ‘soft skills’ to build upon. After all, you can’t teach someone to engage with artificial intelligence (for example) before they’ve demonstrated basic skills and behaviours such as confidence or communication.
Being able, through applications like Skills Work, to constantly measure and improve skills in these core areas will be crucial to the workforce of the future. While the qualifications and experience that employers seek will change over time, the skills and competencies that they demand from their employees never will. Reliability, a willingness to learn, communication, working to deadlines, teamwork, a good understanding of English and maths – these basic skills really cannot be underestimated, so why not make them work for you?
A college embroiled in an expenses scandal has appointed an experienced FE leader as its interim principal.
Penny Wycherley (pictured) will take over Stella Mbubaegbu’s responsibilities as principal at Highbury College from today after the latter was suspended last month.
It follows intervention from the FE Commissioner, who recently moved Highbury into “supervised college status”.
Wycherley said: “It’s an exciting time for the Highbury College Portsmouth with so many opportunities for us to serve and develop.
“Although there is much publicity about the challenges facing staff in further education colleges like Highbury College, those staff do amazing work in educating and training millions of young people and adults.”
Wycherley was formerly principal of Waltham Forest College until she retired in March 2018, but then took over the top job at City College Plymouth last November when its leader stood down.
Since 2006, she has helped turnaround South Kent College and Great Yarmouth College – the latter of which moved from an Ofsted grade four to a grade two college.
She originally retired in 2014, but continued to specialise as an interim principal at Waltham Forest College. She moved the college’s Ofsted grade up from a three to a two.
At the same time as Mbubaegbu was suspended, Highbury’s chair Tim Mason announced he would also be stepping down, and said he would be replaced by a national leader of governance (NLG).
FE Week understands the college is still in the recruitment process for this role.
The FE commissioner was sent into Highbury by Department for Education minister Lord Agnew, who said he was “deeply concerned” after FE Week revealed that its principal had claimed expenses of £150,000 over four years, following a year-long freedom of information battle.
Included in the spending were numerous first-class flights, stays in five-star hotels, travel in luxury cars, a £350 bill – including a £45 lobster and nearly £100 on cocktails – at a Michelin-starred restaurant and a £434 pair of designer headphones.
In October Mbubaegbu, who was awarded a CBE in the 2008 New Year honours for services to further education, announced her intention to retire from Highbury in the summer next year.
The action at Highbury also comes a month after FE Week revealed that the college applied to the Education and Skills Funding Agency for up to £5 million to replace “non-compliant” panelling which, according to the architects, “failed” a safety test.
The cladding at the halls of residence for students under the age of 18 is the same type as that used on Grenfell Tower in west London which caught fire in June 2017.
Highbury is also locked in a legal battle with a state in Nigeria and this newspaper last month revealed it has substantially lowered its expectations of recovering the £1.4 million it claims to be owed. Leaders believe they now have a “medium opportunity” of recouping just £872,000.
The college recorded a £2.48 million deficit in its 2017/18 accounts. Leaders axed its sixth form and had to make staff redundant this year owing to financial pressures.
Highbury’s Ofsted grade dropped from ‘outstanding’ to ‘requires improvement’ in June 2018.
Wycherley said staff at Highbury College are “working hard” to ensure that the students “continue to have a positive experience and to lay the foundations for their future”.
“Our staff are proud to make a difference to individuals and to the communities we serve,” she added. “I welcome this opportunity to work with them doing just this.”
The first college to enter education administration has taken an “important step forward” after it sold its country and business park properties for an undisclosed sum.
Kent developers Quinn Estates have bought the 299-acre Betteshanger Park from Hadlow College and announced a planned mining museum and visitor centre at the site will go ahead.
Interim principal Graham Morley called the sale “an important step forward in the resolution of the financial issues facing the college”.
“The parks’ new ownership provides a more appropriate basis for the delivery of the original vision of an important community asset and heritage site.”
As the price has not been disclosed, it is not known how much will be put towards paying off Hadlow’s debts.
A statement of proposals by college administrators BDO, which was leaked to FE Week ahead of publication, revealed the college owes the money to a total of 300 creditors, many of which are small, local businesses.
Two of its largest debts, however, are £10.8 million it owes to the Department for Education and £3.8 million it owes to sister college West Kent and Ashford College (WKAC), which entered administration in August.
Quinn Estates managing director Huw Evans said “significant investment” has already gone into purchasing Betteshanger Park, and further funds have been set aside to complete construction works and recruit additional staff.
“We are delighted to bring to a close the uncertainty and look forward to working with local community groups, Dover District Council and other stakeholders to deliver what has been promised,” he added.
“Our vision is to deliver a regional super hub of the highest standard with social, sporting, educational and cultural excellence at its core.”
The park, built on the site of a former colliery, was a passion project of the college’s former deputy principal Mark Lumsdon-Taylor, who has said in the past it was “personal” to him, as he grew up in Sunderland and saw the effect closing mines and shipyards had on the area.
The mining museum was being developed in conjunction with the Kent Mining Heritage Foundation, of which Lumsdon-Taylor was once chair.
It will be based inside the £9.5 million, 175 metre visitor centre and has received at least £1.8 million in charitable donations to fund its development, including a £1.3 million grant from the National Lottery.
FE Commissioner Richard Atkins previously told FE Week the park was one of a number of businesses Hadlow owned, along with a vineyard and cookery school, that seemed neither “financially successful, nor core business”.
The college had tried to sell the park in 2017 for £4 million to Corinthian Land, but this sale fell through.
And due to the challenges of building on a former colliery site, Hadlow had to spend an extra £1.2 million replacing the foundations of the visitor centre
During his intervention at Hadlow and West Kent and Ashford, Atkins found the boards both failed in their fiduciary duty and put the “sustainability of both colleges and learners at risk”.
Beforehand, both Lumsdon-Taylor, principal Paul Hannan and chair Theresa Bruton resigned from their roles.
The first applications in five years have been lodged for new university technical colleges, FE Week can reveal – but there is a catch.
Three new UTCs are in the pipeline but, like a traditional school, students will join aged 11, rather than at 14.
The Baker Dearing Trust, which owns the licence to the UTC brand, has welcomed the proposals but one union has warned that moving students into technical colleges at 11 will be “as unpopular with parents as moving young people in at 14”.
Ofsted grade-one Energy Coast UTC is hoping to open two colleges, in Salford and Carlisle, while WMG Academy Trust, which operates two grade-two UTCs, has applied for one in Birmingham.
A WMG spokesperson said that this would build on the trust’s existing education model, which offers “an innovative approach to students wishing to study science, technology, engineering and maths”, and they will continue to place an emphasis on STEM subjects “by providing a technical pathway for its learners”.
Energy Coast UTC principal Cherry Tingle said the decision was based on “where there is a need for good or outstanding education or where there is a skills shortage where we have expertise”.
Salford was picked for its cyber and data skills gap while Carlisle has a gap in logistics and aviation, she told FE Week.
Explaining the 11 to 18 age range, Tingle said that students have come to them at year 10 “having made little or no progress in their last three years of secondary education”, but also admitted it was “absolutely true” that there were challenges in recruiting students at 14, especially when the UTC is competing with schools.
A spokesperson for the Baker Dearing Trust said that extending the age range at UTCs was the “right approach” in “certain circumstances”.
“The overwhelming majority of UTCs recruit pupils in to Key Stage 4 [between 14 and 16], however if one wishes to extend their age range and it fits with the local education landscape, Baker Dearing is supportive,” a Baker Dearing spokesperson said.
They added that the last application for a new UTC, in Doncaster, was made in 2014. It will open in September 2020 after being approved in June 2018.
Trust chief executive Simon Connell told FE Week in September that he was “open” to UTCs changing their age range as a pragmatic solution for student recruitment problems.
He also claimed at the time that he wanted Baker Dearing to move from “quantity to quality” with no more of the 14 to 19 providers opening anytime soon.
Instead, he said, it would “consolidate” after nearly ten years of “high growth”.
Low student numbers have been just one of a range of issues with the programme, exposed by FE Week over the years, which also include 11 closures and poor Ofsted results.
Now the executive chair of the Education Policy Institute, Laws warned that a UTC operating a wider age-range “would still need to reassure parents they can provide high quality academic and vocational education”.
The new applications have stoked the UTC programme’s critics, with Andrew Morris, the National Education Union’s assistant general secretary, saying that the scheme has already cost taxpayers millions of pounds which should have gone to the wider schools system.
A National Audit Office report into the UTC programme calculated that the Department for Education has spent £792 million on the programme since it started in 2010.
But Morris was not in favour of the change in intake age, saying that children develop at different stages at school and it was “simply wrong” to think pupils and their parents will be “happy to make a hard and fast decision about the future focus of education for their children at the end of primary school”.
The UTC applicants will discover if they have been successful next summer
“Many” employers working with a new independent provider for the care sector did not know their staff were on apprenticeships, Ofsted has found.
Care Assessment Training Services was deemed to have a made ‘insufficient progress’ in two areas of an early monitoring visit for a host of issues with its provision to 102 apprentices.
The report, published today, criticised the provider’s leaders and managers for not using “integrity” when recruiting apprentices.
Inspectors discovered that apprentices on the level 5 care apprenticeship framework, for example, complete their courses early but remain on programme until the planned end date.
“Many” apprentices do not know that they are apprentices or why they are on an apprenticeship programme.
Shockingly, Ofsted’s report went further and said “many employers” also “do not know that their staff are on an apprenticeship programme”.
Many of the employees are often placed on an incorrect programme, as assessors do not use the results of initial assessments to ensure that they are on the right one.
Leaders and managers did not ensure employers were aware of the requirements of an apprenticeship, so a majority of level 2 and 5 learners did not receive sufficient time to complete off-the-job training – meaning “too many” learners did not receive their 20 per cent entitlement.
And nor do leaders and managers make sure employers and standards-based apprentices are aware of the end-point assessment.
“They do not plan effectively in preparing apprentices for the professional discussion and tests,” inspectors said.
“Assessors do not encourage apprentices to work towards merit or distinction grades. Consequently, apprentices do not achieve within the planned timescale or at the level of which they are capable.”
Assessors also “do not plan or sequence learning” to ensure that apprentices develop the “substantial new knowledge, skills and behaviours that they need to progress in their careers”.
Ofsted added that the “external scrutiny” of policies, systems or quality arrangements “does not exist” at Care Assessment Training Services.
As a consequence, they have been slow to put changes in place such as recruiting more assessors to give learners the full support they need.
There were some positive findings in the report; the provider had made ‘reasonable progress’ in ensuring effective safeguarding arrangements.
All the apprentices know how to safeguard residents and clients who are in their care.
A few of them also increase their skills, their confidence and their communication skills, and can use the knowledge and skills they gain at the provider to adapt how they communicate with residents and clients.
For example, apprentices at level three use electronic translation tools to communicate with residents who do not speak English.
Ofsted added that assessors have the “appropriate knowledge and expertise” in the care sector to carry out training and assessment.
Due to its poor performance, Care Assessment Training Services can expect to be suspended from recruiting new apprentices, under ESFA rules. It will only have this ban lifted if it improves to at least a grade three in a full inspection.
The provider did not comment at the time of going to press.
Successive governments are not giving up on the idea of getting former military personnel into classrooms, but could FE be a better fit than schools proved to be?
Facing a retention crisis and wringing their hands about behaviour standards, education secretaries still find the idea of a sergeant-major whipping students into shape just too tempting. Now the first cohort of ex-military staff on a programme called Further Forces – which we bet you have never heard of – will qualify this year.
Launched for the FE sector in 2017, the scheme “retrains and supports service leavers into teaching in subjects including science, engineering and technology” in the face of a “recognised shortage” of such staff, according to the Department for Education (DfE). Can this initiative succeed where others have failed?
There are promising signs, but the programme is under pressure. Funding is only guaranteed until March, at which point 210 former forces personnel should be on the programme.
FE and military have similar mentality: discipline and high expectations
Only 83 are so far signed up, meaning the organisers must more than double the figures achieved over the past two years in the next four months. It’s a horribly steep target for the Education and Training Foundation (ETF), which has been commissioned by the DfE to deliver the programme.
It also sounds worryingly familiar. Our sister paper FE Week has reported extensively on Troops to Teachers (also optimistically alliterative),which was introduced in 2012 and expected to recruit hundreds of veterans into classrooms. But the scheme, which had a £10.7 million budget, recruited only 106 qualified teachers over five years.
Troops to Teachers has now been abandoned, but education secretary Gavin Williamson, a former defence secretary, has still announced big training bursaries for ex-military personnel.
Yet schools are not the same as the further education sector – far from it – and it is worth noting that the ETF has managed to recruit about 80 people in two years, a far better rate than 100 in five.
There are two national hubs, one in the north of England managed by the Association of Colleges, and one in the south managed by the University of Portsmouth, with mentoring support from Brighton University.
In targeting ex-forces professionals to deliver vocational qualifications to young adults, the DfE, with funding partners the Ministry of Defence and Gatsby Foundation, might have hit on a formula that works.
Nigel Evans, principal of Weymouth College in Dorset, is clear that his recruit is “multi-talented” in a way that graduates straight out of university often are not. Since 2018 he has employed Nick Harper, a former lieutenant with the Royal Navy.
“We have massive difficulties in recruitment as a college on the coast because it’s rural,” Evans says. “Nick easily got the job.
This is a free qualification, a huge financial benefit for the college
“He’s the package – comfortable public speaker, confident. It wasn’t like taking on a general member of the public.”
Harper, who is studying for a level 5 certificate in education and training with Portsmouth University, was in the navy for 27 years, working as a ship’s diver, commando and parachutist. He now runs 12-week programmes with disaffected young people.
For Harper, the appeal of FE lies partly in the clear career structure. “People ask me, why didn’t you go into industry? But my medals always meant more to me than any financial bonus, and it’s the same in teaching.
“I want to get my certificates in education. I’d prefer to be achieving. Medals and qualifications make me feel good.
“There’s also a similar mentality in FE to the military. It’s discipline and high expectations.”
It would seem that the moral purpose and chain of command in colleges might be better suited to some former servicemen and women than a plush City office.
Harper comes with another unusual benefit. Ex-military staff can receive their full pension after 22 years, so many choose to leave at this point. As a result, they have an income that allows them to take the hit to their salaries when they move to teaching.
“My armed forces pension allows me to live the lifestyle I want in this job,” Harper says.
Jo Ronald, director of sport and A-levels at Hartpury College in Gloucestershire, makes another financial benefit clear. The teacher training costs of her employee, Hannah Payne, a former combat medical technician in the Army, are covered by the Gatsby Foundation.
“We would normally fund any brand-new teacher who isn’t qualified yet,” Ronald explains. “But this is a free qualification, so it’s a huge financial benefit for the college.”
At a time when FE colleges have suffered years of funding cutbacks, it is a significant subsidy.
Ronald also echoes Evans in praising the personal manner of her recruit. “Her background brings real resilience as a member of staff. Her discipline, organisation and resilience is first-class.”
But Ronald feels the programme has been seriously under-marketed. She had not heard of it until Payne approached them.
“I also haven’t been asked since if we could take any more recruits on,” Ronald says. “I’d love to.”
She is echoed by June Murray, principal at the Royal National Institute of the Blind College in Loughborough, who says that until her employee Andy Marsh, a former staff sergeant in the Royal Veterinary Corps, explained that he was on the Further Forces programme, she had not known about it.
“I had no idea. I’d like to say, we’re here, if you’ve got more people please let us know.”
She particularly values Marsh as a male role model for learners in a predominantly female specialist sector. “Males are so important and we barely get them applying. Lots of specialist colleges would be interested in this.”
Lots of specialist colleges would be interested in this
According to the ETC, there are 188 colleges “engaged” with the programme, which means they share their technical teaching vacancies. These colleges also receive fortnightly newsletters that include anonymised service leaver profiles, so they know who to invite to interview.
So who is to blame? Colleges which are not signing up and checking the newsletter – or the programme?
Cerian Ayres, head of technical education at the ETF, says “we need more vacancies from colleges”. Yet it would seem that many colleges, for whatever reason, do not know what they should be doing.
And the benefits they are missing out on are evidently huge. Ben Smith, who was in the Royal Engineers for 24 years, says his experiences in Iraq, Afghanistan and flood relief allow him to “bring alive” a career in the military. He is now a lecturer in uniformed public services, which includes the forces.
Meanwhile Karen Barnaby, formerly in the Royal Air Force police, says military staff are particularly suited to the diversity of students in FE. “Because I moved around so much with the RAF, I’ve got no prejudice,” she says.
“I’ve dealt with so many different people already – ex-offenders, people from different cultures in the Middle East. I’m really used to managing people.”
She is now a trainee lecturer in uniformed public services at Highbury College in Portsmouth and praises the high-quality mentoring. But she has one criticism – that she would have benefited from a longer lead-in time before teaching.
Recruits complete just six modules online before going into classrooms. “I’m from the military so I like to be properly prepared. I would say it needs an integrated start in the college of at least two weeks before you teach.”
Another point is that all recruits FE Week spoke to were lecturers either in sport or public services, with none in “technical” roles such as engineering or technology – the supposed focus of the programme. Are there enough technical experts leaving the military to fill gaps in FE?
But the impressive skills of these recruits are undoubted. Harper already has a level 7 certificate in strategic leadership and management from the Navy. I ask if he might become a principal? “Who knows? Perhaps,” he grins.
There appears to be a much more natural affinity between the forces and FE than with schools. The Further Forces programme is definitely on to something. Let’s make sure this programme does not go the way of Troops to Teachers.
While the Conservatives’ manifesto published on Sunday had some eye-catching FE pledges, including a new £3 billion national skills fund and £1.8 billion for college capital, there were some notable omissions. FE Week chief reporter Billy Camden has taken education secretary Gavin Williamson to task on the areas his party appeared to dodge.
The Conservatives’ 2015 manifesto had a target for apprenticeships of three million starts. Why isn’t there a numerical target this time round?
“It is one of my key missions to get more young people and people of all ages looking at the options of what apprenticeships really are able to offer.
“Over the last few years you have seen a complete change in terms of our approach to apprenticeships. It is about trying to ensure everyone has the real quality that needs to flow through every single one of them and that is where our focus will continue.
“I want to see an awful lot more of them as well. I think the opportunity for young people to earn and learn at the same time is one of the best opportunities that you can possibly get.
“Do I want to see the quality improve? Yes. Do I want to see the number of people taking them increase? Yes I do.”
We understand that you want more apprenticeships, but why no target in this manifesto? Are there lessons learnt from the failure to achieve the three-million target?
“The focus is driving quality and opportunities. We can all bandy around numbers but it [the manifesto] is focusing on delivering on quality apprenticeships that lead to long careers and that is where the focus has got to be. But we do want to see a substantial increase in the number of people taking apprenticeships.”
It has been widely reported – and the government itself has recognised – that the apprenticeships budget is not sustainable in its current form. The Conservative manifesto offered no solutions to alleviate funding pressure, other than promising to “look at how we can improve the working of the apprenticeship levy”. Why were no solutions put forward in the manifesto?
“These discussions will happen around the spending review. If you look at the way we’re doing the national skills fund, investing £3 billion over a five-year period, you can see how seriously we’re taking the issue of skills and training.
“In terms of apprenticeships, they are an absolutely critical part of this. In the manifesto we have outlined the direction of travel in terms of the value we are putting on apprenticeships, the fact we are going to be making more apprenticeships, the levy is an absolute vital part of that.
“Making sure that the levy is properly funded and that it is able to satisfy the needs of industry is critical – and we recognise that. It will be part of the discussion on the spending review.”
There wasn’t a single mention of T-levels in the manifesto. Is this a sign that the government is softening its commitment to them?
“No, not at all. It’s like all manifestos, it can only have so many pages and it is almost impossible to mention absolutely everything.
“It is not because they’re not important, it is just an absolute given that T-levels are there.
“T-levels are absolutely the centre point of what we are doing in technical education. I have talked extensively about it as education secretary and it is something we are backing up with cold, hard cash as well.
“I think you’ll struggle to recall when you’ve had a secretary of state for education where they’ve addressed their party conference and spent so long talking about the importance of further and technical education. It’s at the heart of what we’re going to do.”
Moving on to funding for 16 to 18-year-olds, the manifesto has no promise to further increase the base rate beyond the modest increase announced in August – why? Can you give any guarantee to the sector that this funding will be addressed? If so, by when?
“That extra £400 million [announced in August] was something that was needed and was welcomed in the sector. I think £400 million is a lot of money – if that is not your view I’d love to see your house.
“It is a great investment in terms of what we are trying to do and a real sense of intent.
“You know, a manifesto isn’t a spending review and both I and the chancellor have been clear that we are going to set things up for the future and want a skills revolution. I recognise there are costs in doing that and that’s what we’ll be having as part of our spending review discussions.
“We’ll be asking more for it [the 16-18 base rate] and we’ll be always asking more of everything, whether that is FE colleges or schools.”
What do you make of the criticism that the 16 to 18 rate rise (from £4,000 to £4,188 per student) announced in August isn’t nearly enough?
“What I feel is we’ve put £400 million towards FE. I think the fact that we’ve also targeted a chunk of that funding to the most high-cost courses is a quite logical thing to do.
“We don’t want to lose those areas of skills, so that was a choice that I had to make and I thought that we don’t want colleges to be getting rid of higher-cost courses and also courses that really add to the productivity of the country.
“I think that’s a much more logical approach because otherwise the things you would be saying to me would be ‘what are you going to do about high-cost courses’? Maybe that’s me being a bit cynical and people might disagree with it, but I think it was the right decision.”
Announced as the “centrepiece” of the Conservatives’ skills plan, a new national skills fund has been backed with £600 million a year. The proposal is to offer matched funding for learners and small employers for high-quality education and training, but what does it actually mean and how will it work?
“What we’ll be doing is going out to consultation very, very rapidly. We’re putting forward a system, we’ve got the commitment in terms of £3 billion over a parliament in terms of delivering that, but we’re going to be coming forward with more details of how that looks and how that is going to be in the not-too-distant future.
“I think the best approach to doing this is working with those people who are going to be delivering it, it is also going to be working with those people who are going to be using it for their businesses.
“We want to have the opportunity to do a proper consultation, to implement it and they get it out there as rapidly as possible so it starts having a real improvement in terms of people’s lives – but also businesses as well.”
There seems to be a bit of overlap with the national retaining scheme in terms of its aims – is the national skills fund going to replace the NRS?
“They are both going to sit side by side.”
Lastly, the promised £1.8 billion won’t come in until April 2021 – why the delay?
“We’re making sure this is a commitment over the parliament, so it is over a five-year period. I will be working very closely with colleges to ensure that they have got the right types of plans and I’m not sure if you recall but Labour got themselves into a bit of a mess on this, didn’t they?
“There has been a fright history on capital projects with some colleges that have not always delivered [the Labour government shelved a major FE college capital programme in 2009. Seventy nine capital project applications had been approved in principle but only 22 subsequently received final approval].
“What we want to do is make sure the plans coming forward are right – we want to make sure the colleges that are applying to this capital fund are in a position to be able to manage it properly and they’re in a position to be able to deliver the very best for their students. That is what this is aimed at.
“The ability to switch on a capital project literally overnight is not really that viable. We’re going to be expecting real thought going into these plans because it’s not an infinite amount of money, it’s a substantial amount of money and we want to make sure it is well spent.”
A dog that helps students struggling with mental-health issues has won praise from Ofsted inspectors.
Bexhill College in East Sussex was commended in a short inspection report published on Monday because students “benefit from the calming influence” of Harry the therapy dog.
The inspectors said: “Because of his presence students are less anxious before examinations and, for some, they gain confidence by walking him around the campus.”
The use of therapy dogs is a growing trend in further education colleges.
FE Week has found at least 28 that have recruited their own dog and many spend thousands of pounds on the therapeutic service. Some animal charities have warned against the practice, however, claiming it can be “extremely stressful” for most dogs.
While there is a lack of research in the UK, studies in the US claim to have shown that the dogs can reduce stress and increase energy levels for students.
One college that this newspaper spoke to bought a puppy for £1,600 and pays for its annual costs, but most use staff or student volunteers who bring in their own pets. Others receive visits from external organisations, such as Therapy Dogs Nationwide.
Students are less anxious before exams because of his presence
FE Week spoke to five of the colleges to find out more.
Shooters Hill Sixth-Form College, based in Greenwich, south-east London, improved from a grade three to a two in a full inspection published on 13 November, in which inspectors said students “really value the comfort they gain from a therapy dog [Findlay] when they are worried or anxious”.
Findlay the labradoodle meets reluctant students at the college gates, goes on timetabled walks for those struggling with anxiety issues and even acts as a “life model” in art classes.
The college’s principal, Jan Atkinson, said Ofsted was “very complimentary” about Findlay, who comes in four days a week.
The college learns “a lot” about students with anxiety who “tell us what they may not [otherwise]” during their time with the labradoodle.
Atkinson said other students ask to see Findlay if they are upset. “It is all about personal development and wellbeing of the staff and students,” she added.
The college used Pets As Therapy (PAT), a national charity which organises volunteers, to get Findlay accreditation as an official therapy dog. His owner is Atkinson’s personal assistant and offers his services for free “because she sees the benefit”.
Atkinson’s tips for introducing a pet include bringing in a “really placid dog” who is “very socialised” although she acknowledged that some students have a phobia of dogs.
Jeffrey of Leeds City College
Leeds City College spent around £1,600 on Jeffrey, a cockapoo, who will be two next week. He is cared for outside of opening hours by Emma Langford, the college’s deputy head of childcare and public services, who estimates that his annual costs, including insurance, vet bills and food, total around £1,000. These are covered by the college.
Jeffrey is awaiting an assessment with PAT to become a registered therapy dog. The college then hopes to use him to make links with other institutions, such as Leeds Beckett University.
Langford explained that the cockapoo has some timetabled sessions where he sits next to certain students if they lack focus.
A group studying maths, for example, who “lacked confidence”, requested his presence. The students are “all attending [more regularly] now” and said “he makes us stay calm and listen”.
I think every school and every college should have one
Langford said the dog also “brightens the day up” for staff and, if they are having a challenging day, Jeffrey can help by visiting the staffroom.
Jeffrey has his own Instagram account which is used to deliver messages, such as revision reminders, to his 1,100 followers. A photo of Jeffrey with Gavin Williamson was posted on 6 September when the education secretary visited the college’s Quarry Hill campus.
Langford said: “The first year was very demanding, with challenges in making sure he went outside every hour.” She recommends having “a rota and maybe a base where it is accessible to go outside”.
Kingston Maurward College may have been one of the colleges to start the practice. Nicky Porter, the assistant principal, told FE Week that she started bringing in her own dog, Fred, when she began work at the college in Dorset around 20 years ago.
The land-based college now has a “dogs on campus” policy, with staff allowed to bring their pets into work once checks have been made.
“We are always very clear with students, if they are not comfortable, to tell us,” Porter said. She estimated that about ten dogs regularly visit the college.
Animal welfare has to be taken into account
Students in Kingston Maurward’s animal science building may be given a time-out card if they are feeling anxious, stressed or worried. They then spend five minutes with Ernie, the principal’s black labrador.
When students return “they are completely different” and praise the practice in course reviews and self-assessments.
Hector, a border collie, is the college’s only registered therapy dog. He is owned by the library support assistant, who has never asked for a contribution for the costs, although Porter said it was “definitely something we would do”.
The assistant principal recommended the adoption of therapy dogs by other colleges “especially with the rise in concern in mental-health issues for students. [Therapy dogs] are almost another side to your student’s welfare team.”
Hector from Kingston Maurward College
Dotty, a seven-month-old labradoodle spends every day at Bath College’s special educational needs and disability centre. Students with social, emotional and learning difficulties “need to think about her needs as well as their own, the importance of listening to each other and sequencing instructions”, according to Caroline Pack, Dotty’s owner and a college lecturer.
However, the college has to be careful with one student who gets “very nervous” in the labradoodle’s presence.
Pack said: “The main benefit of taking her in is getting the students interacting with her and each other. I think every school and every college should have one.”
At Barton Peveril sixth-form college in Hampshire, Barney, an eight-year-old chocolate Labrador, has been going in once a fortnight since May. Her owner, Shelley Hughes, is the college’s nurse.
Barney has acted as an “ice-breaker” for students who need additional support but might not usually come forward.
Matthew Robinson, National Volunteer and Events Manager at Pets As Therapy, which has 6,000 volunteers who use their own pets to visit locations including hospitals, said there was “an incredible amount of demand for the service which we just can’t meet at the moment”.
PAT volunteers must pay an annual subscription fee of £19, which covers them under the charity’s insurance. The registration process involves submitting proof of vaccinations, two independent referees and an assessment of the owner and dog together as a team by a trained assessor – who checks that the pet is happy being cuddled.
Main benefit is getting the students interacting with her and each other
“Dogs generally enjoy the interactions,” Robinson said. “Animal welfare has to be taken into account.”
But animal charities are not so keen. The RSPCA discourages education establishments from keeping and looking after animals, adding: “Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for pets intended to live at a school to require rehoming.”
The Dog’s Trust “strongly advises against” introducing a dog to an education environment as it can be “extremely stressful” for most of them.
While Robinson said he had not heard any “horror stories”, if there are reports of a dog snapping or getting worked up, their visits stop and a reassessment is arranged.
Therapy dogs have become increasingly popular in the US over the past decade, according to a 2017 study by Troy University, based in Alabama.
And research in 2018 by the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Canada found “remarkable” results as participants reported significant reductions in stress as well as increased happiness and energy immediately following a drop-in therapy dog session.
Stanley Coren, study co-author and professor emeritus of psychology at UBC, said: “We found that, even 10 hours later, students still reported slightly less negative emotion, feeling more supported, and feeling less stressed.”
Former education secretary Damian Hinds has previously admitted that he “had not realised the incidence” of wellbeing dogs in education providers until he visited classrooms. He said it was a “great thing” for learners and “can be really uplifting”.
The idea is not just restricted to domestic pets. In Florida, Bubba, a therapy alligator weighing almost 14 stone, visited a school for children with autism.
Liz Maudslay, policy manager for learners with learning difficulties at the Association of Colleges, acknowledged that some institutions were introducing dog therapy with “successful outcomes, particularly for those who experience anxiety and depression”.
She added: “It is completely up to individuals if they want to take part in this kind of therapy and colleges always prioritise the health and safety of their staff and students.”
It has been a poor week for FE, with one independent provider being declared ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted and seven receiving at least one ‘insufficient progress’ rating in monitoring reports.
WDR Limited, a commercial training organisation that has been operating for 49 years, was given a grade four after a full inspection.
The provider, which had been found to be making ‘insufficient progress’ in all three areas in its early monitoring visit before receiving ‘reasonable progress’ in a subsequent one, had 29 apprentices at the time of this inspection.
Inspectors found most apprentices on the level 3 team leader and the level 4 data analysis standards “do not develop the knowledge, skills and behaviours needed to progress in their careers”.
The report also said that most coaches were “unable” to provide the technical support many apprentices needed and “high-quality” careers advice and guidance was also not offered.
While leaders “acted decisively to establish a governance committee” and met to improve safeguarding and the improve quality of education after the previous visits, the education watchdog claimed it is “too early” to judge the effectiveness of the actions.
Two other independent learning providers got three insufficient progress grades in their early monitoring visits this week.
Aspects Care Limited (ACL) and Keystone Training Ltd now face being prevented from taking on new apprenticeship starts under ESFA rules.
ACL currently has 81 apprentices who are on adult and health care worker programmes but the inspectorate found they have a “poor learning experience” and “have difficulty in attending their training sessions due to their workload”.
However, the report also said “a small minority of assessors are flexible and persistent in accommodating apprentices who have disengaged from their programme”.
Consultancy company Keystone Training Ltd had 114 apprentices but the Ofsted report said leaders “have not implemented a programme that satisfies the principles and requirements of apprenticeships” or “developed an effective culture of safeguarding”.
Moreover, independent learning provider Rapid Improvement Limited was found to be making “insufficient progress” in two out of three assessed themes while Amdas Consultancy Limited also received one “insufficient progress” grade in its second monitoring visit.
Two independent learning providers, Interlearn Limited and Watertrain Limited, were awarded one “insufficient progress” grade in monitoring visits after previously being found to ‘require improvement’ in full inspections.
Livability Nash College, an independent specialist college, got two ‘insufficient progress’ grades in a monitoring visit, after a previous monitoring visit and receiving a grade four in January.
However, in more positive news for the FE sector, two independent learning providers received two ‘significant progress’ grades out of three from Ofsted this week.
Capella Associates Ltd received the judgement after an early monitoring visit while LD Training Services Limited made the improvements in a monitoring visit after a grade three at the start of the year.
In addition, Ofsted found SCCU Ltd to be ‘good’ in its first full inspection. Inspectors said apprentices receive “good teaching from experienced and caring staff, which motivates them to achieve”.
Bexhill College, a Sixth Form College, maintained its grade two, as did general FE college Petroc. Its report reserved praise for its therapy dog, Harry.
The inspectorate found Barnet and Southgate College, another general FE college, to have made ‘significant progress’ in two areas out of three assessed areas in a monitoring visit after a previous grade three in a full inspection in January. It received ‘reasonable progress’ in the other theme.
St George’s Hospital Medical School, a higher education institution which provides apprenticeship programmes at level 5 in nursing associates and healthcare practitioner standards, made ‘significant progress’ in every area following an early monitoring visit.
“Leaders and managers at St George’s have established a strong and successful vision to provide high-quality healthcare education for new entrants to nursing,” Ofsted said.
Every employer provider the education watchdog reported on this week received ‘reasonable progress’ grades across the board in monitoring visits.
One of these, Boots Opticians Professional Services Limited, did so after being found to ‘require improvement’ in a full inspection last year.
The others, who received the grades following an early monitoring report, were: Extel Limited, Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Virgin Active Limited.
Three independent learning providers also received ‘reasonable progress’ across the board.
These were: Excel Training Limited, Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Lighthouse (Training and Development) Ltd.
