Merger can be the best option to secure a college’s future

When I walked into Strode College to take up my first principalship in 2022, I was acutely aware of the challenging financial landscape that FE colleges operate in, especially small rural colleges.

What I wasn’t prepared for was a historical traineeship sub-contracting issue to be revealed in my first week. We were facing a year-long investigation, culminating in a multi-million-pound deficit and immediately placing us in intervention.

We worked hard to address this, collaborating with the department for education (DfE) and the further education commissioner (FEC) to stabilise cash flow and significantly boost capital investment.

For our stakeholders, we wanted it to be business as usual. Throughout the process, we grew student numbers, improved outcomes and increased local engagement – a testament to our success.

Ultimately though, it became clear that joining forces with another college would be the only way to secure a stable future for our students, staff and community.

Our decision to merge was rooted in our absolute commitment to securing the future of Strode College. So, rather than focus on the word ‘merger’, which felt daunting, we looked on the process as a strategic means to safeguard our fantastic provision. 

Interested colleges were invited to submit an expression of interest, but only one was taken forward. I am confident that the resulting partnership with Bridgwater & Taunton College is the best possible way forward for our whole college community.

Here are some of the lessons we learned along the way.

Embracing change and being transparent

During times of institutional change, staff stability becomes more important than ever. Their dedication drives our students’ success.

So it was critical for us to be open and transparent about the process.  We had frequent and honest conversations with all our stakeholders – including our board, staff and students. We held regular meetings, explained the challenges we were facing and were consistent with our messaging.

This was not just about communicating our merger plan, but about engaging our community in the process and actively listening (and responding) to their concerns.

Commitment to inclusion

Our aim post-merger is not only to preserve our central role for our community but to strengthen it. Listening to our stakeholders’ insights was therefore crucial to making decisions about our future and carrying forward the unique and valued aspects of our college culture.

Reassuring our community  that their support systems would not just continue but would grow stronger in the merged institution (with improved capital funding and access to specialist skills and resources) wasn’t just about what we were saying, but how.

To that end, we ensured our comms were inclusive and genuinely reflective of the care we have for all our members of our community.

Finding the right partner

The key, of course, was to find a like-minded partner with aligned values. We focused on identifying a college with a similar commitment to student success, inclusion and community enrichment.

These shared values gave us reassurance that our priorities would remain intact when we become part of a larger college group. We will retain our culture, vision and ethos in the new group structure, with local accountability via a local governing body.

Better still, each institution will bring complementary strengths to the table. Joining forces with Bridgwater & Taunton College will strengthen FE provision across the region, creating more career-focused progression routes, apprenticeships and other employment opportunities.

This will enable Strode College to invest in pedagogical innovation and further enhance the student experience by expanding our enrichment programmes. This will create more opportunities for personal and academic growth. 

We also have a well-established reputation for high-quality delivery at A Level and Level 3. Combining this expertise with Bridgwater & Taunton College’s strengths (stakeholder partnerships, apprenticeship delivery and national policy engagement) is an exciting prospect for us all. 

Opportunities for growth

For many colleges, a merger may feel like the last-resort option. To other college leaders facing similar situations, I would say this: your resilience will undoubtedly be tested by the process, but it can lead to a stronger future for everyone involved.

Transparency, staff engagement, inclusion and alignment of values are essential to protecting what matters most: the wellbeing of our current students, prospective students, staff and wider community.

The Staffroom: Why you should check your pension without delay

My whole career has been one spectacular downward trajectory. Rather than soaring ever upwards, I have plummeted Icarus-like into the depths more than once – at least in terms of salary. I have done so happily and willingly because the life of an ordinary teacher is where the action is as far as I can see.

I like to think that’s where I’m able to make the most difference, but it has made a difference for me too, one I didn’t think much about at the time.

Recently, a colleague sat next to me in the staffroom with urgency. “’Dave, this might apply to you too,” he said. The sense of discovery in his voice felt like he was sharing some arcane secret, unrolling a tattered treasure map or uttering some long-hidden spell.

Since then, others in our staffroom have found themselves discussing this too. It’s opened a fair few eyes. So allow me to share it with you too.   

I well understand that pensions are a field into which even wizened teachers fear to tread. I am no financial advisor and my money nous would make a piggybank blush. It’s a complicated field and my grasp of it is shallow.

The contribution goes out at source, I long imagined, so I can just ignore it and it will all work out fine in the end. As the end approaches (for my work life, if not my life’s work), I realise the 27 years I’ve spent thinking like that might not have been wise.

You know all those messages you get telling you to check your pension statement? I am now learning that maybe you actually should. 

If you are as long in the tooth and lengthy in service as I am, your pension will be split into two parts and two pots.

There is the newer system based on a career-average calculation. It’s a pretty simple system. At the most basic level, the more you pay in, the more you get out. You just need to remember that you can pay more in if you can afford it.

The older pot, on the other hand, is based on a final-salary scheme. This is where you might well have problems if you have had a topsy-turvy career like mine. 

Not doing this could cost you tens of thousands of pounds

The final-salary scheme, probably the more lucrative of your two pension pots if you’re of my advanced age, takes for its calculations an average from the best three years of salary you have had over the past ten. 

But what happens if your best three years were more than ten years ago, say if you decided to step down from management for a final quiet decade?

Simple. You lose the higher three years. The old salary falls off the tail of your relevant period and no longer counts. In terms of your pension, it might as well have never happened.

Your lower later salary becomes the one that will be used instead, which could cost you tens of thousands of pounds. Do I have your attention now?

What if I told you there is a way to save those higher-paid years if you act quickly enough?

All you have to do is opt out of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme for a single month. Doing so will lock in the higher three-year salary so long as those three years fell within the decade before you opted out.

They will then be used for a hypothetical calculation of your final salary, even if you keep on teaching for another ten years. You lose a single month’s contribution but gain tens of thousands in pension.

In other words, you pay less and gain more. That’s a bargain. It’s also a no-brainer. You’ve earned it, so ensure it’s locked in.

I don’t know if I’ve managed to make pensions exciting. If I’ve encouraged you to check your pension statement, that’s enough.

If not exciting exactly, there is someone who can make pensions accessible. David Fountain is the teacher- expert on all this. Visit his website, and if you’re on Facebook, join his ‘Teacher Pensions – Teacher to Teacher (UK)’ private group.

Trust me, future you will thank you. You’re welcome.

More than a number: why our exam grade fixation needs to change

Post-16 education isn’t all about getting those ‘magic’ exam pass grades. For many learners, the immediate challenge is to simply make progress.

More than 330,000 students resat either their English or maths GCSE this year. Of these, only 20.9 per cent and 17.4 per cent respectively achieved the grade 4 pass mark or above at the second attempt.

That means hundreds of thousands of teenagers are, once again, taking their next vital step towards work or further studies without one, or both, of these core subjects.

And that is where nation’s colleges have a vital role to play.

While the media’s attention remains on higher-achieving students, much of our work involves welcoming learners who have few or no qualifications and, often, a range of other challenges.

Many have had their confidence shaken by a system that’s told them they’ve ‘failed’ for not hitting that grade 4 target – a target Professor Becky Francis, addressing the Association of Colleges annual conference, described as “a relatively random indicator”.

Different starting points

One of our first and most important tasks is to let them know that we certainly don’t regard them as failures and we do things differently here. We can help them set realistic goals and draw up action plans so they can reach them.

In doing this, we must avoid the kind of discussions that can put a student’s defences up. ‘You haven’t got your maths so you can’t get into Level 3 bricklaying’ is defeatist, triggering and unhelpful.

Focusing instead on what can be done and how we can help them get there, we begin to appreciate that the definition of success changes for each individual.

Achievement is about personal progress, and many of our young people have to overcome obstacles ranging from family trauma to financial disadvantage to academic hurdles. Any step closer to ‘the norm’ in terms of outcomes, no matter how small, is cause for celebration and fostering self-belief.

Clearly, a central part of further education’s role is to equip our students with the skills – vocational, essential and personal – they need to succeed.

This is something Keighley College has been doing for its industrial heartland community for 200 years. No “relatively random” target should distract from any part of that effort.

No diploma for kindness

Understanding the mindset of our students and helping, where necessary, to challenge or change it is just as important as their qualifications.

Unfortunately, due to the stringent demands of the timetable, this is a task we have to try to squeeze in where we can, when what it deserves is substantial, dedicated effort.

Statistically, the cohort of learners we serve tend to have an increased need for a more personalised approach. Sadly, the funding model only supports flexibility through additional arrangements at the time of sitting exams, no as a normal way of working throughout the year.

More flexible funding would help, but creating a truly inclusive environment also requires a huge effort to address mindset and the anxiety tied to “failing” in these subjects. 

Imagine, instead, a college that had the courage (and freedom) to say to students at the start of each academic year: ‘Until October half term, your induction will focus on mindset and calming mechanisms – not just what you’re learning, but why and how’.

By half term, we would have created such an inclusive culture that learning might accelerate out of that in a completely different way, and one that might actually lead to improved achievement rates.

But there’s no funding or accreditation for mindfulness or self-regulation, so they are effectively treated as luxuries.

We are trying to get our learners, especially those who may have suffered some setbacks, to find themselves again and tune in to the best version of themselves. But the system we operate in is far too transactional to allow us enough space to do that.

Like so many colleges, we will continue to do all we can within our constraints to create that supportive platform for all our students.

As the saying goes, perfection should not be the enemy of good. It would be handy if policy wasn’t its enemy either.

Dismay and delay as OfS wrecks higher ed plans

A shock move by the higher education regulator to close its register and put applications for degree awarding powers on ice has forced “disappointed” colleges and training providers to delay courses.

The move could also be illegal, according to a senior education lawyer, with one HE representative body taking advice about a judicial review.

The Office for Students (OfS) announced on Monday it had closed its register to new higher education providers for the first time so its staff could prioritise “severe pressures” facing universities.

It also paused granting any more institutions degree awarding powers. These changes will be in effect until August 2025.

The move has left colleges and training providers unable to introduce new higher education provision in key sectors like health, engineering and hospitality.

There are 18 providers whose applications to join the OfS register are in the early stages and have now been paused. And there are 20 providers hoping for degree awarding powers.

Degree awarding power applications for a further 17 providers that are already in progress will continue.

Stifling economic growth

Waltham Forest College is one of the colleges affected by the closure of the register.

Its “carefully planned” HE courses in partnership with local NHS Trusts are now in limbo, despite the skills they’d deliver being flagged as priorities in the London Growth Plan.

Principal Janet Gardner told FE Week the register closure follows “a lot of investment” in developing the new provision.

“Specialist staff have been employed, equipment purchased, new quality structures with committees, space has been refurbished. This was a long process to ensure we were ready before we registered,” she said.

“So for us, this is disappointing. We would like the OfS to reconsider their decision. Any delay has a knock-on effect on what we’re able to offer current and future students.”

Apprenticeship provider HIT Training had rallied employers to commit “350 places” for their planned level 6 degree programme for the hospitality sector.

Mike Worley

Managing director Mike Worley told FE Week the course would have “attracted talent to a sector that is crying out for bright and hardworking people but currently unable to compete with sectors offering degree apprenticeships”.

He added: “Using OfS resources to support failing HE providers at the detriment of bringing innovative, financially stable providers into the market will stifle the skills and growth the Labour government is seeking to achieve.”

Derwentside College principal and chief executive Chris Todd said closing the register delays his plans to introduce and expand higher-level diploma courses in engineering, which has “strong demand”.

Despite the outcry, the government appears to have backed the OfS.

A DfE spokesperson said: “The dire economic situation we inherited emphasises the importance of putting universities on a firmer financial footing, so they can deliver more opportunity for students and growth for our economy.

“The Office for Students is rightly refocusing their efforts on monitoring financial sustainability to help create a secure future for our world-leading universities.”

‘Legally questionable’

This unprecedented step follows new analysis of higher education providers’ financial and student recruitment projections indicating that up to 72 per cent could be in deficit in 2025-26. 

The OfS said small, medium and specialist providers are more likely to be struggling the most financially and it is these types of providers that would typically be seeking registration and/or degree-awarding powers from the regulator.

Providers with existing time-limited degree awarding powers that lapse during the pause will have them extended, an OfS spokesperson told FE Week.

A body representing independent higher education providers accused the OfS of directly jeopardising the financial sustainability of existing providers and “prioritising one set of students’ interests over another”.

Alex Proudfoot, chief executive of Independent Higher Education, said: “What is perhaps most worrying of all is that the OfS board seems to believe they can simply disapply their core statutory duties as determined by parliament, whenever it suits them. This is troubling as a precedent.”

FE Week understands the body is consulting lawyers on possible options, including a judicial review.

Writing in FE Week, senior education lawyer Smita Jamdar said “the legality is questionable.”

She added: “The Higher Education and Research Act states the OfS ‘must’ register an institution if certain conditions are met, one of which is that the application is made in the manner specified by the OfS.”

The OfS has issued a notice to state that, for now, its “specified manner” means “not in the period between November 26, 2024 and August 1, 2025”.

Jamdar added: “The OfS has used its power to specify a manner of application to impose a moratorium on submissions for 10 months, which may be extended. If its approach is correct, it could pause its duty to register indefinitely, which would completely undermine the mandatory nature of the duty.”

Harry Potter and the education policymakers’ mistake

Every other Christmas, as I re-watch the Harry Potter movies, I dust off my unpopular opinion of how the series should have ended differently. (Spoilers ahead.)

I am a fanboy of screenwriting-guru Robert McKee. “The finest writing not only reveals true character,” he says in Story, “but arcs or changes that inner nature.”

This is why I think Harry Potter should have stayed dead, leaving Neville Longbottom to take down Voldemort in the finale. Harry doesn’t really change. He’s ‘The Boy Who Lived’ from page one. His sacrifice to raise others up would have been much more meaningful.

Neville, on the other hand, is a character with a fantastic story arc. First seen being reprimanded by his gran for losing his toad “again”, by the showdown in the seventh book, he has grown into the hero who is first to charge Voldemort, with no protection from plot-armour prophecies.

The tedious expectation that Potter will always be the hero who saves the day has a lot in common with the way schools are looked to as the solution for, well, everything.

It is particularly apparent in the debate around English and maths, where the entire, brief “solutions” paragraph in the Association of College’s policy paper English and Maths: Towards 100% Success’ argues that it “has to start pre-16”.

That paper was published the day before the general election, so it is little wonder that the new government has since consistently focused on schools while sidelining FE on issues of teacher pay, VAT, and the level 3 pause and review.

Meanwhile, like Neville, colleges have undergone a dramatic and inspiring character arc, rising as unexpected heroes of English and maths. There has been a 94-per cent improvement in the achievement of these subjects through post-16 in the decade since the resit policy was introduced.

In fact, it is the only policy area in education where the disadvantage gap is actually closing. FE teachers’ enthusiasm for research has built a wide range of evidence, from the impact of mastery pedagogy on GCSE scores to the power of empathy, to the wellbeing opportunities resits can provide.

Colleges have undergone an inspiring character arc

By 2019, the last year before Covid caused accountability measures to be paused, the top 20 FE colleges were averaging strong progress scores in English and maths. Those same colleges, when the resits policy was introduced just a few years before, were averaging negative headline measures.

To put it bluntly, when they started out they were making students worse at English and maths. They were toadless.

How they changed that was by supporting their staff and believing in their students. A Dumbledore’s Army of resit teachers got their heads down into research about gillyweed, had the courage to stand up to the friends who needed convincing, and pulled something extraordinary out of a hat, turning the toughest but most important policy in education into a success.

You might think I’m stretching the applicability of Potter too far. Possibly, but it’s Christmas so indulge me.

Voldemort wanted to purge Hogwarts of ‘mudbloods’ and the weak and the vulnerable. We need to be absolutely clear that those at risk if we ease up on resits are the economically disadvantaged, and Gypsy, and Roma, and Black, and SEND students.

They have the lowest prior attainment at 16 only through lack of opportunity. It is their right to catch up that is protected by the policy.

We know from the department for education’s embarrassing backpedalling on the condition of funding last week that civil servants would be content negotiating Voldemort’s purge down to 2.5 per cent.

“We must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy,” Dumbledore might have counselled them.

I will hold onto my hope for the underdogs to be given the moment that Neville was denied; FE, and the students continuing with English and maths in 16-19, triumphantly taking us from the current 78 per cent achievement rate to the heights of 90 per cent or beyond.

The curriculum and assessment review provides an opening for DfE’s redemptive character arc too, perhaps mirroring Dumbledore’s own regretful reflection on his sorting hat: “Sometimes we sort too soon.”

Please stop cutting off opportunities at 16.

The implications of a pause in OfS regulatory functions  

The announcement that the Office for Students’ (OfS) is pausing some aspects of its regulatory functions to focus on financial sustainability among registered providers raises immediate and longer-term problems.

It immediately affects those wishing to register with the OfS or applying for degree-awarding powers (DAPs) or university title (including some that are in progress). It also has implications for the future of regulation of higher education more widely.

The legality of this decision is questionable in the first place. The higher education and research act states that the OfS “must” register an institution if certain conditions are met, one of which is that the application is made in the manner specified by the OfS.

The OfS has used its power to specify a manner of application to impose a moratorium on submissions for 10 months, which may be extended. If their approach is correct, it could pause its duty to register indefinitely, which would completely undermine the mandatory nature of the duty.

But it cannot have been the intention of parliament that the regulator could “specify the manner” of application in this way, particularly in relation to those who have already applied.

The powers to authorise DAPs and university title are discretionary rather than mandatory duties, but other cases of a blanket refusal to exercise a discretionary power (even temporarily) have been found unlawful.

Colleges who are applying for DAPs or seeking to have their DAPs extended or varied could challenge the pause.

Preparing for such applications is time-consuming and costly. Business plans are based on securing or varying these at particular points in time. A delay will inevitably result in wasted expense and, in some cases, push affected providers towards financial difficulties.

This primarily affects those who are directly impacted, but the registered sector as a whole would benefit from confidence in the lawfulness of the regulator’s actions.

There are wider implications too.

First, it does not exactly inspire confidence in registered providers as a group that the regulator has declared itself unable to carry out its statutory duties and functions because it is overwhelmed by its work in managing financial risks.

There needs to be an urgent and strategic review

Second, the public accounts committee considered the risks associated with fraud through franchised providers earlier this year. One of its recommendations was requiring such providers to register with the OfS as a means of safeguarding student and taxpayer interests.

It appears that this important recommendation cannot now be pursued until at least August 2025, leaving students affected by fraud and financial instability unprotected. And if the OfS can switch off its registration duties at will, it may not be a viable option at all.

Third, the OfS currently has several, possibly dozens, of open investigations into concerns about quality and standards and other matters, some of them affecting colleges. Some of these have been open for over two years.

It is difficult to see how it can direct appropriate resources to these given how all-encompassing its work on financial sustainability appears to be, although it has said other strands of work are unaffected.

Meanwhile, the OfS continues to amass additional responsibilities: lifelong learning, harassment and sexual misconduct and, if or when it is implemented, extensive duties under the higher education freedom of speech act 2023.

Given this new development, there is little to inspire confidence in its ability to do all of these things well.

There needs to be an urgent and strategic review of whether this regulatory system can withstand all the pressure it is asked to bear.

The final question is what exactly the OfS is doing to address the financial challenges facing the sector.

Its focus seems to be on reacting to individual providers in financial distress.  Given that it predicts nearly three-quarters will be in difficulty, it should review how it could be more proactive in helping the sector as a whole.

Generally, reducing the regulatory burden would help, but there are three specific areas where the OfS could be most impactful:

  1. Guide and support governing bodies in overseeing effective responses to financial challenges.
  2. Provide clear and realistic guidance on how it will assess quality and standards and consumer protection conditions when providers are rapidly responding to financial difficulties.
  3. Review and radically improve or replace its student protection regime. We’ve known since 2019 that many plans were not of good quality, and its own processes for approving revisions are slow and cumbersome.

Investigation: Driven to despair by council SEND transport mess

When a taxi driver abandoned blind student Thomas* in a town centre, police were forced to rescue him and take him to college.

Thomas, who was 19 at the time, has a learning disability so is unable to use a cane to navigate streets on his own.

College principals say such negligence isn’t uncommon – other incidents include cab drivers leaving disabled students in cars as they go shopping.

And it’s part of a wider issue of poor council transport provision which means some students have college places but can’t get to lessons.

Josie Grainger-Francova, principal of RSBC Dorton College where Thomas attends, said Bromley London Borough Council finally accepted the taxi incident was a safety breach when she confronted them.

She said: “It was an external safeguarding issue because it was not the first time he’d been left on his own.

“We are responsible for what happens to that student when we deliver them to the taxi. It is then the taxi firm’s responsibility to keep that young person safe and I feel that’s not always happening.”

A Natspec survey of 66 specialist colleges found four in 10 believed council-arranged transport was unsafe.

Meanwhile, 59 per cent said fewer learners had transport this year because provision was so poor, and 65 per cent said transport issues had resulted in delayed starts to students’ education – with the East of England and North West worst affected.

FE Week heard of a college in Birmingham where 70 of its vulnerable students suffered a delayed start to their education in September due to issues arranging transport.

The Natspec poll also uncovered safety concerns including “inappropriate groupings” and “overly crowded conditions” in shared buses.

Delays and dropouts

RSBC Dorton College, a small specialist institution in Orpington, Kent, for visually impaired learners, has 26 students who live across 11 local authority areas. They attend two days a week to develop independence skills, then three days at partnership FE colleges closer to their homes.

Grainger-Francova said one of her students initially lost their place at a partnership college because the council hadn’t confirmed transport with the family, causing the college to get involved.

“I went to the CEO of the local authority, and the next day, transport was in place and we got the student back into the partner college,” she said.

“In the last few years, we’ve had students who haven’t come to us for weeks, if not months, because their transport was not in place, despite having their placement funded.”

In Birmingham, Queen Alexandra College serves 408 learners from 17 local authorities, most of which are in the West Midlands.

Deputy principal Jan Gormley told FE Week that 17 per cent of them suffered a delayed start this academic year, with some families still in limbo now. Two students have dropped out due to transport issues.

Birmingham City Council, which fell into bankruptcy last year, asked families in spring to contribute more for SEND transport, raising fees on parents by one-third to £1,028, while reducing routine taxi provision.

The council also pays 45p per mile to families as part of its personal transport budget, excluding the first three miles of each journey. Its 2024/25 transport policy states “payments may be withheld if the student is not attending school/college regularly and feedback may be sought from the establishment”.

Families forking out

FE Week spoke to parents about delays to their applications for travel assistance.

Charlotte* said her 17-year-old autistic daughter started at Portland College in Mansfield, Notts, one week late and only got taxi provision two weeks ago – almost three months after the start of the academic year.

She applied for transport assistance online in June but Charlotte said Derbyshire County Council took three months to change the name of her daughter’s college in her education, health and care (EHC) plan after her initial college choice rejected her.

She added: “I’m losing hundreds of pounds because it took them so long. I’ve had to use my own annual leave.

“[I pay] £151 a month in council tax for a two-bedroom house, I would expect a better level of service. The provision is diabolical.”

Derbyshire County Council said: “We acknowledge we had some issues providing transport for some students at the start of this academic year, for which we have apologised to the families involved.

“Almost all students have now been allocated transport, but for a few cases we are still endeavouring to source appropriate transport for them. We are in touch with these families and keeping them updated and would like to again offer our apologies.”

The council approved 76 per cent of the 572 transport assistance applications this year.

While Derbyshire has not changed its policy, it has forecasted a £1.6 million overspend in FE high-needs spending.

‘Disregard for students?’

Though councils are not legally obligated to provide transport to over-16s, Department for Education statutory guidance issued in April noted local authorities should “pay particular attention” to SEND learners as they are “significantly less likely” to participate in education, employment or training.

Mark Dale, principal of Portland College which supports over 200 SEND learners across five local authority areas, said young people were already falling through the cracks – one has dropped out since September and seven suffered delayed starts.

He said: “There is a danger they will be effectively blocked from taking up an education placement.”

But he did not believe councils are intentionally causing delays, and said it was a “rational response to the situation they find themselves in”.

Gormley disagreed, and said: “[Local authorities] understand enough to commission the provision so perhaps it’s a disregard for students’ wellbeing and their safety and their equal access to the provision that they’ve commissioned.”

Nottingham City Council and Birmingham City Council were approached for comment.

Clare Howard, chief executive of Natspec, said the answer was beefed up statutory regulation.

She added: “We recognise that local authorities are in a very difficult financial position, and anything that is not a statutory service is vulnerable to cuts. That is why we would like to see transport for 16-25 year olds with an EHCP given parity with [transport] provided for children of compulsory school age, and brought into the same statutory framework.

“We’d also like to see decisions about transport support being made – at least in principle – at the same time as a provider is named in an EHCP.

“There is little point in identifying the provider best able to meet a young person’s needs if the means by which to access that provision is denied them.”

*Names have been changed to protect identities

Apprenticeship quality ‘improving’, says Ofsted chief inspector

The quality of apprenticeships is “improving”, Ofsted’s new chief inspector has said in his first annual report.

Sir Martyn Oliver published a “slimmed down” version of the watchdog’s usual stocktake of education performance this morning.

He opted to ditch analysis of aggregated grading judgments and instead shared a series of “observations” in light of the government’s plan to remove overall effectiveness grades – which has already happened for schools and is set to happen for FE in September 2025.

Ofsted is expected to launch a consultation on a reformed inspection framework and the introduction of new report card-style reports in January.

Today’s insights from Oliver for FE and skills are light on detail but cover apprenticeships, teacher training, SEND, and prisons.

Apprenticeships ‘improving’

Last year’s annual report from the watchdog said apprenticeships were the “poorest performing provision type” for FE.

Oliver claims there has been improvement over the past 12 months. His report said: “The number of apprentices has declined over time, but the quality of apprenticeships is improving. High-quality and well-planned apprenticeships, which match the needs of the local economy and provide a viable pathway into work, will hopefully translate into growth in the sector.”

Official statistics published separately by Ofsted earlier this week back up his claim.

As of August 31, there were 1,314 providers delivering apprenticeships. Ofsted has data on 94 per cent of them, either from a full inspection (1,126) or a new provider monitoring visit (115). That means there are 73 apprenticeship providers without any Ofsted judgment.

Of the 1,241 providers that have a judgment on their apprenticeship provision, 81 per cent were judged good or outstanding for apprenticeships at their most recent full inspection or were judged to be making at least reasonable progress at their new provider monitoring visit.

This is 5 percentage points higher than this point in 2023.

When we look at full inspections only, 73 per cent of apprenticeship grades were ‘good’ (66 per cent) or ‘outstanding’ (7 per cent) in 2023/24.

This is a significant increase from 2022/23 when 61 per cent of apprenticeship grades awarded were ‘good’ or better, and 2021/22 when it was 51 per cent.

A total of 152 new provider monitoring visits took place in 2023/24, the lowest number in five years. Last year, 89 per cent of new providers visited were found to be making ‘reasonable progress’ in all themes. 

This mirrors results for new providers in 2022/23. Ten per cent visited last year were ‘insufficient’ in at least one theme and just 1 per cent (2 providers) were ‘insufficient’ in all themes.

Teacher training also looks better

Last year, Ofsted reported that initial teacher education (ITE) provision for further education trainees “remains the poorest performing age phase” of teacher training.

But Oliver said today that Ofsted has “seen substantial improvements in the quality of ITE for FE and skills since 2020, which bodes well for the future of the sector”.

He added: “For example, trainees in the best mathematics courses prepare to teach maths to learners at entry level up to degree apprenticeships. They learn how to teach the principles of maths appropriately in a variety of courses, from beauty therapy to software design.”

Inclusion focus vital for SEND learners

Oliver said putting a “focus” on inclusion is becoming “ever more important as the number of children with SEND continues to increase”.

His report added: “As young people with SEND move into FE and skills provision, they continue to need support to access good opportunities that will help them into employment. Where this works well, learners can take advantage of good partnership working with local employers to develop their independence, employability and communication skills. A good experience at college, for example, can really help develop the confidence and self-esteem of young people with high needs.

“Overall, though, we know that young people with SEND are less likely than their peers to be in education, employment or training. It’s particularly important that these young people receive effective and impartial careers guidance at an appropriate time to highlight the different avenues open to them.”

‘A very good time to improve prison education’

Ofsted’s stats show that as of August 31, 2024, there were 116 prisons and youth offender institutions (YOI) with an inspection grade. Just 18 per cent were judged ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’. This is a decrease of 9 percentage points compared with 2023 and a fall of 18 percentage points compared with 2022. 

The overall proportion of prisons and YOIs judged ‘inadequate’ at their most recent inspection was 42 per cent.

Oliver pointed out that Ofsted recently published a joint report with His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons”, which highlighted “10 years of decline in the education received by children in YOIs, and added: “Adult prisoners fare no better; prison education remains weak, almost without exception.”

The chief inspector’s report said: “There is intense pressure on places in prisons and YOIs, with policymakers facing unpalatable choices around how that pressure can be relieved in the short term. We know that reoffending rates are high. We know that education has a transformative effect. 

“Now would be a very good time to improve prison and YOI education to help reduce reoffending, ease the pressure on prisons and help more convicted children and adults turn their lives around.”

MPs plea for BTEC reprieve ahead of crunch review

An influential committee of MPs has urged ministers not to defund courses that rival T Levels, like BTECs, days before the government is expected to publish the outcome of its long-awaited level 3 review. 

The new House of Commons education committee has told the Department for Education “students should not be faced with the binary choice of A-levels or T Levels” following a last-minute evidence session yesterday.

In a letter to education secretary Bridget Phillipson and skills minister Jacqui Smith today, committee chair Helen Hayes (pictured) said: “It is clear that if post-16 education only offered A-levels or T Levels there would not be a sufficient and appropriate range of options for students with different abilities and prior attainment.

“Alternative forms of level 3 qualifications, including applied general qualifications and tech level qualifications, must remain a long-term option, to enable students who either do not wish to, or are not able to, study A-levels or T Levels to continue their education at level 3.”

The government is expected to announce the outcome of its review of level 3 qualifications, launched in July, next week.

Sector leaders hope the review will reverse the policy of the previous government to defund qualifications, like BTECs and applied general qualifications (AGQs), that rival T Levels in 2025. 

Writing for FE Week in September, skills minister Jacqui Smith said she “recognised that we need to retain other qualifications alongside T Levels and A-levels”.

Smith added: “Where the review identifies the balance of learner and employer needs within a sector requires level 3 qualifications other than T Levels or A-levels, we will maintain the relevant qualifications. This may well be in areas that overlap with T Levels, which is a change from the approach taken by the last government.” 

While the review was broadly welcomed, the government’s decision not to commit to a multi-year pause of defunding drew criticism for leaving colleges in the lurch over what courses will be available for incoming students in 2025.

The committee’s letter follows an evidence session in the House of Commons yesterday where college leaders and education think tank representatives were quizzed on level 3 qualifications reform.

Hayes said: “We heard compelling evidence of the importance of the availability of these qualifications in providing much needed flexibility and accessibility for all students, particularly those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

“We hope ministers will listen to the evidence and retain popular, high-quality AGQs and BTEC qualifications which provide vital routes to success for many young people alongside A-levels and T Levels.”

Yesterday’s evidence session included James Kewin, deputy chief executive at the Sixth Form Colleges Association, Cath Sezen, director of education policy at the Association of Colleges, Ruth Perry, senior policy manager at Natspec and Simon Cook, principal of MidKent College who was representing the Association of School and College Leaders.