A man who left school without being able to read or write and a woman who went from staying in a care home to studying for the operating theatre are among the 12 winners of the 2019 Festival of Learning awards.

The winners were selected from more than 250 nominations to receive their prize at a ceremony held in London on Tuesday.

They include Marie Smith, the winner of the Learning for Health award: she is a survivor of sexual abuse which caused her to leave school with no qualifications and develop severe depression.

Yet after she was referred to Adult Education Wolverhampton’s Like Minds pottery course by her psychologist, her self-esteem grew and she built up some close friendships.

She is now studying for a degree in glass and ceramics at Wolverhampton University, and aims to become a self-employed artist who works in the community to help others in a similar situation to hers.

Skills minister Anne Milton congratulated the winners, such as Marie, and said she was “thrilled” to see the awards recognise the “achievements of people who are taking the opportunity to change their lives through learning new skills and knowledge”.

“It’s so important we recognise the achievements of those that follow this path and make sure they get the recognition they wholeheartedly deserve,” she added.

Another winner, of the Return to Learning award, is Stuart Ferriss: he struggled with severe dyslexia at school, was sent to the back of the class, and never learned to read or write.

He went on to work as a joiner for many years, but after starting as a caretaker at a local primary school he saw how his lack of literacy was holding him back.

With support from his employer, he enrolled on a dyslexia study skills class run by Oldham Lifelong Learning Service and on a functional skills English course.

Our award winners show just how powerful learning can be

After being made redundant from the school, he was able to secure a job as a caretaker at a local community centre, thanks to his improved literacy skills.

Also gracing the stage will be Diana Omokore, the winner of the Outstanding Individual Award, who was taken into care as a teenager but excelled at school and achieved 10 A*- B grades at GCSE.

Omokore is now studying for a BSc (Hons) in medical science at De Montfort University, alongside working as an NSPCC ambassador, a member of their youth advisory board, and a Childline volunteer.

Stephen Evans, the chief executive of festival organisers Learning and Work Institute, said adult learning “has never been more important”.

The Learning and Work Institute, an organisation dedicated to lifelong learning, has been running the Festival of Learning since 1992.

Evans continued: “Our award winners show just how powerful learning can be and the difference that great tutors and learning providers can make.”

Those great tutors include the winner of the Tutor Award, Fiona Pickett, who did not let losing her hearing get in the way of teaching.

She instead learned to lip-read and has since trained more than 70 tutors in the subject. She is also learning British Sign Language so she can enrol students who were born deaf.

One of the winning providers, President’s Award recipient City Lit, started off in 1919 also teaching lip-reading, but to soldiers whose hearing had been ruined by shelling in the trenches of World War One.

It now has more than 1,000 tutors teaching 5,000 courses every year over a range of different subjects; including languages, visual arts, humanities and music.

The winner of the Project Award is Nurturing Recovery, operated by Bridgwater and Taunton College and North Somerset Council, which has run level 1 practical horticulture courses for people with addictions and mental ill health.

The award summary says the courses “provides a relaxed approach, with micro learning sessions and small team-based tasks complemented with yoga and other relaxation techniques”.

The full list of winners is below:

• Michael Shakil, Patron’s Award
• City Lit, President’s Award
• Seong Chua, English Language Learning Award
• Marie Smith, Learning for Health Award
• Vicky Seagars, New Directions Award
• Emma Searle, Learning for Work Award
• Stuart Ferriss, Return to Learning Award
• Diana Omokore, Outstanding Individual Learner Award
• Peter Shukie, Social Impact Award
• Fiona Pickett, Tutor Award
• Nurturing Recovery, Project Award
• Keoghs, Employer Award

A three-day strike over staff cuts and pay will take place at cash-strapped Bradford College this week – but leaders have said it won’t cause any disruption.

Members of the University and College Union are planning to be on the picket line from Wednesday 3 to Friday 5 July in their campaign against the proposed axing of over 130 jobs.

According to the UCU, staff at the college have also only had a single 1 per cent pay rise in the last 11 years and have seen their pay decline by 25 per cent in real terms over that period.

The union members have already walked out for seven days this year.

But this latest action isn’t expected to be an issue for the college’s operations, as the academic year has ended for the vast majority of students.

“The college will remain open throughout the three-day period and students will not be impacted,” a Bradford College spokesperson said.

“The academic year has already finished for the vast majority of students but they will still be able to access facilities as normal.” 

She added that any industrial action is “regrettable”, but reducing staffing costs is “essential to help secure the college’s long-term future.

“We are still in the process of consulting on the restructure plans and are committed to keeping the number of compulsory redundancies to a minimum.”

UCU regional official Julie Kelley said the union’s members have made it clear that they “are not prepared to pay the price for previous failings by the college”.

“Strike action is a last resort, but staff at Bradford face attacks on their jobs and real-terms pay cuts and they say enough is enough,” she added.

“Other colleges have shown what can be achieved when they engage seriously with us on pay and jobs and if Bradford wants to avoid serious disruption then it needs to urgently work with us to address the concerns of its staff.”

As revealed by FE Week last month, officials from the Department for Education forced a major bank – Lloyds – to halve a £40 million unsecured loan after threatening to put Bradford College into insolvency earlier this year.

The details of the last-minute deal, struck at the end of March just before the DfE’s “restructuring facility” closed, are secretive and complex but the college said it was “grateful” to both the department and bank for being kept afloat as it tries to find a further £3.5 million in savings.

A financial adviser to the college sector told this newspaper they understand the gift by the bank to be the first such significant debt write-off for a college.

Ten more new 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 July, which shows 41 providers are currently banned from taking on apprentices.

The ten new providers on the list are: Arriva London North; Ashley Community & Housing; EQV (UK); Gloucestershire Enterprise Limited; Manatec; Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust; Prospects Training International; The Teaching and Learning Group; Took Us A Long Time; and WDR.

Arriva London North was criticised because its leaders “lack the expertise to provide successful apprenticeship provision”, according to Ofsted, and its managers have not provided any teaching or learning in maths and English for a large majority of apprentices, of whom there are 68 in total, who need functional skills qualifications, since September 2017.

Leaders and managers at Ashley Community & Housing were criticised for implementing improvements that have been identified in formal quality reviews too slowly.

Their board members were aware of the improvements the provider, which has 14 apprentices, needed to make, but did not challenge leaders and managers about the pace of implementation.

Apprenticeship programmes at EQV, which are being delivered to 106 learners, are “poorly planned”, inspectors wrote in their report. Leaders have focused more on getting apprentices management qualifications than their apprenticeship.

Too many learners at Gloucestershire Enterprise Limited, which has 176 apprentices, are not expected to complete their qualification in the planned time frame, because systems to monitor their progress have been implemented too slowly, according to Ofsted.

Most of the approximately 550 apprentices at Manatec are not aware they have an entitlement to off-the-job training, and almost all of them complete their training in their own time.

The watchdog found at Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, which has 70 apprentices, that too many learners have passed their planned end date; and a few were not clear what apprenticeship they were on, or when they were meant to finish, as previously reported by FE Week.

Ofsted found that trainers at Prospects Training International do not collect detailed, and in many cases, accurate, information about the existing knowledge, skills and experience of the provider’s 1,017 apprentices at the start of their programme.

A minority of business administration apprentices at The Teaching and Learning Group, which has 19 apprentices overall, have submitted very little, or no work, inspectors found.

A provider to 58 apprentices, Took Us A Long Time, a subsidiary of restaurant operator Tasty Plc, recruited apprentices from the company’s staff who already have experience of serving or preparing food within a commercial environment and to commercial standards.

This meant too many learners were placed on programmes from which they did not develop substantial new skills and knowledge, Ofsted said.

Lastly, WDR has not made sure potential apprentices and their line managers fully understand the requirements and components of an apprenticeship.

One group of team-leading apprentices were given no choice by their employer about participating in the programme; which meant high numbers of WDR’s 91 apprentices have left the programme early.

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.

Mitre Group has been released from its ban after receiving a grade two report from Ofsted.

GTG Training, after been rated as ‘requires improvement’, has also been permitted to recruit new starts.

Develop-U was given a grade three rating by Ofsted in April, but is still on the ESFA’s list of suspended providers.

 

Click on the image below to enlarge the list of 41 providers which have been suspended:

It’s been a dire week for general FE and specialist colleges, after Ofsted handed two of the former grade three ratings, and two ‘inadequate’ ratings to the latter.

Private providers fared better, after nine scored well in their monitoring visits. But there was one bad apple which was hit with a grade four.

Peterborough Regional College scored its second consecutive grade three this week, with inspectors reporting: “Too few learners and apprentices achieve their qualifications because leaders and managers have not focused sufficiently on supporting learners who are at risk of failing.”

Lambeth College trumped Peterborough’s record though, by achieving its fourth consecutive ‘requires improvement’ grade.

Priory College Swindon, a specialist college which is run by the Priory Group – a famous private hospital that has treated the likes of Kate Moss and Robbie Williams – was given a double-whammy grade four, for both its educational and residential provision.

Independent training providers received better judgements: Merit Skills Ltd, with its 110 apprentices, made ‘significant progress’ in one area, and ‘reasonable’ in two others.

Leaders were praised for effectively using their industry knowledge to provide apprentices for skills shortages.

BPP University has had a tremendous turnaround, achieving a grade two mere months after it was suspended from new starts.

The report says the provider’s leaders, managers and governors have made “rapid improvements” and rectified the majority of weaknesses from the last monitoring visit, which found it had made ‘insufficient progress’ in two areas.

Leaders were praised for designing a “highly appropriate curriculum”, where the apprenticeship programmes on offer “meet the specialist needs of their employers”.

Think Employment Ltd made ‘reasonable progress’ in four areas, having introduced “high expectations” for its eight apprentices’ attendance and behaviour.

Antrec Limited, which trains 33 adult learners, have used their funding proactively to recruit hard-to-reach and low-skilled learners, scoring three ‘reasonable progress’ ratings.

Liral Veget Training and Recruitment Limited, which has 70 adult learners, was found to have made the same progress in all areas, due to “positive, emerging” partnerships with agencies like JobCentre Plus and a local authority.

CERT Ltd, which has nine apprentices, had the same results because its apprentices follow personalised programmes and value both small class sizes and the effectiveness of the teaching.

All Inclusive Advice and Training also received three ‘reasonable progress’ ratings for its provision to one apprentice on a level 2 framework.

“The current apprentice,” inspectors wrote, “developed a better understanding of creating journals by receiving training at the provider and at work in the same week.”

AWC Training has become much more involved in determining the type and level of programme apprentices should follow over the past year; and has been awarded three ‘reasonable progress’ ratings.

Standguide Limited received the same, as its 23 adult learners develop a deeper understanding of behaviours and expectations from their tutors linking discussions with employment and job opportunities.

Letting down the sidewas Can Training, which has 150 apprentices and 27 adult learners and received an ‘inadequate’ in its very first inspection.

This means it will likely face a three-month termination of its funding contract.

“Leaders and managers do not ensure that the principles and requirements of an apprenticeship are met,” Ofsted put bluntly.

The University of Salford, which has 249 higher-level apprentices, was graded as ‘good’ in its first Ofsted inspection.

The inspectorate said leaders evaluate provision “stringently”, and their self-assessment report is accurate and evidence-based.

The University of Gloucestershire made ‘reasonable progress’ in all three areas of a monitoring visit. Its 61 apprentices develop “substantial” new knowledge and skills early on.

Employer provider Medivet, with 153 apprentices, is likely to be suspended from new starts, after it made ‘insufficient progress’ in ensuring there are effective safeguarding measures in place.

“Leaders and managers do not ensure teachers and training staff maintain high professional standards and follow routine health and safety procedures,” according to the report.

The Chief Constable of Thames Valley fared better, scoring three ‘reasonable progress’ grades for its “strong” governance arrangements and for checking its 156 apprentices’ progress against their starting points.

Kingston Upon Hull City Council scored four ‘reasonable progress’ grades, following a grade three report in October.

Specialist college Chatsworth Futures Limited, which provides to 12 learners with education, health and care plans, was the subject of a monitoring visit to set priorities for improvement.

These included ensuring health and safety remain a high priority. Ofsted said it was making good progress.

Independent Learning Providers	Inspected	Published	Grade	Previous grade
Can Training	20/05/2019	25/06/2019	4	N/A
Think Employment Limited	29/05/2019	26/06/2019	M	N/A
Antrec Limited	29/05/2019	26/06/2019	M	N/A
Liral Veget Training and Recruitment Limited	30/05/2019	25/06/2019	M	N/A
BPP University Ltd	20/05/2019	26/06/2019	2	M
Merit Skills Ltd	21/05/2019	25/06/2019	M	N/A
CERT Ltd	14/05/2019	25/06/2019	M	N/A
All Inclusive Advice and Training	31/05/2019	27/06/2019	M	N/A
AWC Training	06/06/2019	24/06/2019	M	N/A
Standguide Limited	29/09/2019	25/06/2019	M	N/A

 

Adult and Community Learning	Inspected	Published	Grade	Previous grade
Kingston Upon Hull City Council	12/05/2019	27/06/2019	M	3

 

Employer providers	Inspected	Published	Grade	Previous grade
The Chief Constable of Thames Valley	12/06/2019	26/06/2019	M	N/A
Medivet	22/05/2019	24/06/2019	M	3

 

Other (including UTCs)	Inspected	Published	Grade	Previous grade
University of Salford	14/05/2019	26/06/2019	2	N/A
University of Gloucestershire	31/05/2019	28/06/2019	M	N/A

 

Specialist colleges	Inspected	Published	Grade	Previous grade
Chatsworth Futures Limited	13/05/2019	24/05/2019	M	3
Priory College Swindon	22/05/2019	27/06/2019	4	2