The controversial GCSE English and maths resits policy would be scrapped under a Labour government, Angela Rayner is expected to announce.

The shadow education secretary will tell the Association of Colleges conference this afternoon that her party’s National Education Service would “reform” FE.

As part of a “series” of changes, she’ll tell delegates that Labour would ensure the boards of the Institute for Apprenticeships and Office for Students have an FE student placed on them.

The IfA would also be required to report to Parliament “on the quality of completed apprenticeships”.

Today’s announcements appear to be the first bit of detail about the NES’ FE policy, after Ms Rayner was criticised for falling short of revealing any during her Labour party conference speech in September.

However, she refused today to be questioned on her plans for other areas of interest including apprenticeships, T-levels, or bringing colleges back under local authority control, an idea which Jeremy Corbyn floated in an interview with FE Week at last year’s AoC conference.

“We won’t just make sure that FE has a voice. We will also listen,” Ms Rayner is expected say today.

“Recently, bodies from across the sector, including the Association of Colleges, have raised concerns about students in both the 16-18 and 19-25 age ranges who are being forced to re-sit English and Maths GCSEs over and over again due to ESFA funding requirements, even where other equivalent qualifications are available.

“So I can announce today that we have listened and we have heard. A Labour government would end that requirement.”

The move would include the opportunity for students to “pursue other courses that enables them to attain level 2 qualifications in English and Maths, such as functional skills”.

The current condition of funding rule, introduced in 2014, means that all students without at least a grade 4 – or a C, under the old alphabetical grading system – in English or maths must continue to study these subjects as part of their study programme.

Those with a grade 3, or D in the old system, must resit the GCSE exam rather than an alternative.

The requirement remains in place until the young person has completed 16 to 19 education, or achieved at least a grade 4.

A Labour spokesperson said the current system is “failing to improve grades for many students while creating serious issues for further and adult education which have faced real terms funding cuts of over £3 billion since 2010”.

Many FE representative bodies have asked the government to review the resits policy, mainly because of the sector’s tight resources due to the increasing number of students required to retake the qualifications, and they find that resitting a GCSE over and over again demotivates learners.

According to data released by the Department for Education in October, the number of people aged 17 or above who took maths GCSE last year fell by 7,000 to 160,519. Of those, just 22.6 per cent achieved at least a grade 4 – considered to be a pass – down from 25.4 per cent the year before.

Meanwhile, 148,894 people of the same age took English GCSE last year – up from 135,888 last year. Of those, 33 per cent achieved at least a grade 4, up from 31.1. per cent the year before.

Commenting on Labour’s announcements, Julian Gravatt, deputy chief executive of the AoC, said: “We welcome Labour’s package of proposals, which will make a real difference to the education and skills training of millions of people across the country each year.

“We particularly welcome their position on English and maths GCSE retakes. It’s vital that every young person leaves education with strong foundations in these subjects – they are the basis for success in work and in life.

“Colleges have long called for flexibility in how to support learners to achieve this. A one-size fits all approach has not worked and does not work. Colleges know their students and what works best for them.”

The skills minister has told college leaders that they need to use their money and resources “wisely” before making the case for more funding to the Treasury.

Addressing the Association of Colleges conference in Birmingham today, Anne Milton (pictured) said that “all too often I sign off on requests for emergency financial support” and there are too many colleges in “severe financial constraints that could have been avoided with good leadership”.

Repeating what she told FE Week readers in her monthly column two weeks ago, she delegates: “A one-off campaign is not enough on its own, you must get your leadership and governance right and use your money wisely.

“You must make good use of the money available and good use of the resources we put your way. Then, and only then can I and you make the case for additional.”

Ms Milton’s comments follow a spate of resignations from college leaders. Eight have stepped aside in eight weeks, and the majority left their colleges in very poor financial positions.

Some were the best paid in the country, with salaries topping £200,000.

“In this day and age robust financial management and leadership is the route to successful colleges,” the minister told today’s AoC conference.

“I would like to see a positive vision for FE. I want colleges to stand on their own ground and be proud of the incredible results they achieve.

“My ask of you is to help me to help you.”

Speaking to the media after her speech, Ms Milton said: “Anywhere in the public sector good places have good leadership.

“We need to up the game because I need to demonstrate a college sector that is performing well.”

Asked if she had told FE Commissioner Richard Atkins to clampdown on poor leadership, she added: “The FE Commissioner’s team is a resource that can help troubled colleges.

“Colleges are independent institutions so you can’t force anybody out but if colleges aren’t performing well and you’re the person in charge you probably need to reconsider your position, nobody needs to say it.”

And asked if she thought that high-paid leaders shouldn’t jump ship when their college gets in trouble, Ms Milton said: “That is a judgement call depending on the circumstances.

“Sometimes it is better if they go and sometimes it is better if they stay, you can’t generalise. But they are big bucks.”

The names of the first six national leaders of governance have been revealed by the Department for Education.

The roles, which pay £300 a day for an estimated 50 days’ work a year, have been established to provide mentoring and support to governors at colleges identified as needing extra help.

Serving governors or clerks from colleges that have been rated ‘outstanding’ or ‘good’ by Ofsted were eligible to apply for the roles, which will focus on working with colleges rated grade three or four that have been identified as needing governance support.

Speaking about the announcement, skills minister Anne Milton said the six selected to be national leaders of governance (NLGs) “are exceptional leaders who will up their peers to develop at this pivotal time, strengthening the sector in the process.”

FE Commissioner Richard Atkins said: “I’m delighted to have this new small team of talented and experienced governors and clerks who will be sharing their expertise and supporting colleges to raise the standard of governance.”

The first six NLGs are:

• Andrew Baird, governor at East Surrey College
• Shirley Collier, governor at York College
• Heather Cross, clerk at Bath College and Wiltshire College
• Carole Drury, clerk at Kendal College
• Paula Heaney, governor at Long Road Sixth Form College
• Simon Perryman, governor at Barnsley College

A previous NLG programme was run until March this year by the Association of Colleges, on behalf of the Education and Training Foundation.

Speaking to FE Week in June, when the application window opened, FE commissioner Richard Atkins said the programme had been brought back into the Department for Education “because we want to link the smaller number of NLGs to colleges that require or are asking us for specific help”.

“We know governors need development,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to working with a group of experienced governors, who might be chairs, governors, or clerks, and deploying them to colleges that would benefit from that kind of focused support.”

High street giant Boots has been hit with a third ‘requires improvement’ rating in a row by Ofsted.

Inspectors who visited the employer provider in early October to monitor its apprenticeship provision criticised it for not learning lessons quickly enough from previous poor inspections in June 2015 and then again in June 2017.

However, the company has protested that the changes it has implemented were not given enough time to develop for the education watchdog to see their impact.

The quality of teaching, learning and assessment at Boots was singled out for a lack of progress, with Ofsted highlighting that assessors “do not have the necessary skills to support apprentices well with all aspects of their learning”.

Governors were equally criticised for not being “sufficiently knowledgeable about apprenticeships to challenge leaders and managers to deliver a high-quality programme”.

Staff “do not fully identify apprentices’ starting points nor use this information to ensure that their learning programme enables them to achieve to their potential”, while managers have “not developed an effective English and mathematics strategy”.

Boots, the UK’s “largest” pharmacy-led health and beauty retailer with around 2,500 stores, trains around 100 of its own apprentices every year.

A third ‘requires improvement’ rating in a row will raise questions as to why the provider has not been rated ‘inadequate’, considering it has continued to deliver poor training for an extended period of time despite Ofsted warnings.

However, yesterday’s report shows that while delivery is still not ‘good’, it is on its way to getting there.

“The management of the programme has been strengthened since the previous inspection, and quality compliance has been re-established,” inspectors noted.

“Since the previous inspection, leaders and managers have critically reviewed the programme and improved apprentices’ learning experience.”

They also said that the proportion of apprentices who achieve within the planned time has “greatly improved; a very high proportion of pharmacy apprentices achieve their qualification”.

Inspectors added that apprentices “benefit from very effective coaching in the workplace that helps them to develop vocational practical skills of a high standard” and “demonstrate highly professional behaviours and attitudes in the workplace”.

A Boots spokesperson said that while the company is “disappointed” with the ‘requires improvement’ grade, it is “pleased that Ofsted has recognised the distance travelled since the last inspection”.

“Over the last 12 months, Boots has reviewed its apprenticeship strategy, invested in its provision and implemented significant changes,” he told FE Week.

He added that for “many of the changes” that have been implemented it was “simply too early for Ofsted to see the impact and we are confident that we will be able to demonstrate this in the coming months”.

According to the Ofsted handbook for FE and skills, a provider judged to require improvement will “normally have a full re-inspection within 12 to 24 months of its previous inspection”.

It adds that these providers “will be subject to a monitoring visit before the full re-inspection”.

Schools with sixth forms have been exposed as failing to provide students the same level of careers advice as schools without sixth forms, with experts concerned competition for pupils amid stagnating funding is fuelling the situation.

Exclusive analysis for FE Week shows schools with sixth forms are 16 percentage points less likely to give students information about other further-education or higher-education providers.

They are also 20 percentage points less likely to offer personal careers guidance to pupils than those without sixth forms, the Careers & Enterprise Company analysis found.

It is not the first time schools with sixth forms have been called out for restricting careers information for their students – however, the new data is the most wide-ranging to date.

Bill Watkin, chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association, said the government must increase the funding rate for 16 to 18-year-old learners, which is frozen at £4,000 per pupil, so sixth forms aren’t desperate to keep their pupils.

He added that competition for pupils is “not a situation that is going to lend itself to impartial advice and guidance”.

Colleges report schools with sixth forms being “reluctant to allow them to address their students at open evenings”, Mr Watkin added.

The education select committee warned five years ago that schools with sixth forms were “putting their interests ahead of their pupils” by restricting their access to other education providers to fill their own post-16 places.

Now the CEC has collected data from 2,937 schools and 355 further-education institutions for its 2018 State of the Nation report to see if they meet the eight Gatsby benchmarks, which are markers of excellence in careers advice.

Analysis seen exclusively by FE Week reveals a higher proportion of schools without a sixth form met every benchmark than schools with a sixth form.

The difference was especially pronounced for the seventh benchmark, which measures students’ “encounters with further and higher education”.

Only 46 per cent of schools with a sixth form met this benchmark, compared with 62 per cent of schools without.

The gap was even wider for the eighth benchmark on “personal guidance” – only 53 per cent of schools with a sixth form met this, compared with 73 per cent of schools without.

It comes despite schools being required under the Technical and Further Education Act to follow the Baker clause, which states schools must allow training providers and colleges to offer year 8-to-13 pupils non-academic routes.

Further analysis on the seventh benchmark showed only 45 per cent of schools with a sixth form gave students “meaningful encounters with further-education colleges”, compared with 78 per cent of those without sixth forms.

However Kevin Gilmartin, post-16 and colleges specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders, warned the benchmarks don’t always measure “informal advice” offered by schools with sixth forms.

The CEC report also found the best-performing areas for the Gatsby benchmarks were in deprived communities including Hull, the Isle of Wight and Norfolk and Suffolk coasts, possibly because they “prioritise careers support” to improve social mobility.

Overall, schools and colleges are achieving 2.13 of the eight Gatsby benchmarks compared with 1.87 last year. Meanwhile, the proportion of schools and colleges not achieving any benchmarks has fallen from 20.6 per cent to 18 per cent.

But only 21 schools and colleges are achieving all Gatsby benchmarks, added the CEC.