How we made virtual reality part of our students’ learning

After a poor Ofsted inspection, Preston’s College worked out how technology could boost student and staff performance, says Steve Smith

Everyone knows what 360-degree footage is – it’s everywhere, from intrepid Go Pro users wrestling great whites to “twerking” on the world’s highest peaks. Our role, as educators, however, is to go beyond entertainment and use technology to create a distinctive learning experience. At Preston’s College we think we have worked out how to do it – on a small budget.

After our last but one Ofsted visit our college dropped to a grade 3. We were criticised for not providing enough formative assessments for our learners and needed to provide more “stretch and challenge” for our more able ones. The college made a variety of improvements and following our last inspection in October last year we became a strong grade 2 college. Our augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) work was definitely part of the picture.

This is the difference I think they have made to our formative assessment.

Reflection and review is more compelling
Learners in performing arts are continually on the move – how can fleeting movements be captured to evaluate how they use their space and interact with each other? By placing a 360-degree camera in the middle of a set of dancers or actors, they can look at the footage and set any angle of view to show how they move through space and relate to one another. They can “freeze-frame” to look at their backs or three-quarter views – any angle that is inaccessible in practice. The clarity and richness of information astonishes and stimulates learners to reach beyond what they thought was possible.

Learners can now create and publish their own AR and VR resources that were almost impossible just two years ago
Our sport tech learners used scanning software to design their own football boots and shirt tops for a group assessment. They could project and rotate their design and show a person wearing their top in 3D. It was just a whole step beyond what they thought was possible, and it stimulated them to explain their products in greater depth, which, in turn, improved their assessment grades.

Students have value-added workplace skills
We have encouraged learners to use 3D scanners and 360-degree cameras to create resources and widen their skill-set to annotate and publish what they make. Imagine the impact on employers when a learner produces e-portfolio evidence using 3D objects and virtual images. With more investment in industrial hand-held scanners, any learner could link their work to CAD CAM and 3D printing. For instance, hairdressing students could design and prototype their own range of styling equipment, or civil engineering learners could convert their architectural structural designs into three-dimensional models.

It’s also re-energised our teaching staff.

Imagine the impact on employers when a learner produces e-portfolio evidence using 3D objects

Expensive resources are better used and shared in new ways
We bought our first mobile 3D scanner for £399 and practised on an expensive plastic model of hair follicles and skin dermis layers, placing the 3D object on a free platform. We used free software to “layer” information on the object to give a fuller explanation of the subject.
We’d seen its potential for teaching in biology but on a professional development day, teachers from hair and beauty said: “that’s fantastic, we can use that!” Another teacher from auto vehicle said: “that’s really useful to show how oil affects the skin and hair and why it’s important to wash your hands correctly”. Thus a model that had spent too much time sitting on a shelf in a classroom ended up reaching across three curriculum areas.

It stimulates teachers to change what they do
We hold our AR and VR resources centrally, although teachers can book them out and use them inside and outside the college. The skill-set is modest so CPD effort is minimal (but we always give help when needed!).

The key to it all
Technology needs to be an answer to a specific problem: in our case how we improved formative assessments and stimulated learners to exceed their personal expectations. Having a clear objective will make it easier to see what difference, if any, AR and VR can make.

How a holistic package of support can improve students’ outcomes

Building welfare support into post-16 provision is crucial to improving retention and achievements, says Tara Bliss-Appleton, who has some tips on how to make the funding work

The Saint Edmunds Society has offered vocational training since 2012 to young people who have struggled in mainstream education, to help them to develop meaningful trade-specific skills that will open doors to further training and employment.

We soon realised, however, that skills training was not enough. Disengagement from mainstream education is often driven by personal circumstances such as permanent exclusion, bullying, family breakdown and sometimes substance misuse. Our students presented with a range of barriers to learning, including anxiety, low income, and limited literacy and numeracy skills.

Our response was to build a strong welfare team, under the theory that a holistic package of support can improve learning and life outcomes. I’m a level 2 social worker with 14 years’ experience working across frontline crisis and therapeutic intervention teams, and I now manage a welfare team of seven with multiple specialisms in special educational needs, advocacy, mentoring and behaviour support.

The central focus of our welfare support team has been to work in partnership with students, parents and all professionals within an individual’s support network – from the NHS wellbeing service to children’s services or supported housing in the voluntary sector – to design a student support plan around short and long-term career goals.

We all know this kind of support for vulnerable learners is desirable, but the key question is, how do you make it work in practice? And how do you fund it?

Many students are restricted by their postcode or trade

The simple answer from an FE perspective is to pay careful attention to how support is allocated on an individual learning record and not just go through the motion of adding “x hours” in tutorial and enrichment support without the intent to deliver. It is best practice to allocate each student a link welfare worker, but have them get to know the entire team. Face to face contact – rather than an electronic survey to monitor support needs – is essential, and contributes to confidence, retention and achievement.

Some of our funding comes from schools commissioning us for alternative provision. For the post-16 study programme, additional learning support funding is allocated from our prime Education and Skills Funding Agency provider and local authority high needs top-up funding (where support funding is more than £6,000), which is agreed at the local authority SEN panel.

Further funding is allocated to projects from charitable trusts, European Social Fund short courses and employers such as Pentaco Construction and Taylor Wimpey, who see investment in young people and support services as part of their corporate social responsibility.

When the welfare team concept was first introduced to St-Eds, I was fortunate that a grant was awarded from a local charitable trust to fund my post for 18 months in 2014.

For students accessing our 16-19 study programme, specific time is allocated to each enrichment and support aim displayed on their individual learning plan (ILP), in addition to our flexible “drop in” support service.

Our growth in post-16 numbers from 20 in 2014-15 to 96 in 2017-18 reflects the impact the welfare team has had on our retention strategy. In the past academic year, 96 per cent of service users reported that the welfare support they received had a positive impact on their experience, motivation and overall achievement.

Spending for each full-time equivalent 16-19 student (eg, sixth-form colleges and general FE colleges) has fallen significantly from £6,208 in 2010-11 to £5,698 in 2017-18. It appears the gap in tutorial and enrichment support stemmed from the cuts in entitlement funding used to fund tutorial and positive enrichment activities for all students between 2010-11 and 2012-13. With less funding, many students who receive disadvantage and sector skills uplifts are often restricted by the postcode they live in or vocational trade they choose. For example, construction students receive a 20 per cent sector skills uplift whereas students on a horticulture and forestry course could receive up to 75 per cent.

What needs to change at policy level is the amount of funding uplift available for all young people with additional support needs, not just those with the right postcode or sector skill, or those eligible for top-up funding through their education health care plan.

Greater London Authority pulls part of European Social Fund tender a week before submissions close

The Greater London Authority has pulled part of the tender for a £60 million European Social Fund contract – a week before the submissions window was due to close.

Bidders received correspondence this morning informing them the GLA is withdrawing lot two of the European Social Fund from competition with immediate effect.

The tender for the contract was published on December 20 and was closing for submissions on February 22, with bidders expecting to deliver from August 1, 2019.

The withdrawal applies to both sub lot 2a, which would have concerned getting unemployed parents back into work; and sub lot 2b, which would have supported parents in low-paid work to progress in their careers.

The combined value of these is £6.5 million of the total £60 million tender.

The letter to bidders reads: “We are very sorry for the decision as we are aware you would have spent time and effort on preparing your bids,” which will come as small comfort to providers, some of whom have spent thousands on their bid.

The GLA said it expects to be procuring lot two towards the end of April.

It is believed the pulling of lot two is due to technical documentation errors which needed to be corrected.

The GLA has said a further opportunity to tender for these services will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union at a later date.

The GLA has been a commissioner for the delivery of European Social Fund programmes since being granted co-financing organisation status in March 2016.

Following which, it took on responsibility for the ESF programmes that had previously been delivered by London Development Agency.

(Picture: Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, who leads the GLA.)

We recognise we can improve how we work with employers

In the wake of the recent CBI report that criticised some of the work of the Institute for Apprenticeships, Sir Gerry Berragan says he recognises that there are improvements to be made

The Institute for Apprentices has welcomed the Confederation of British Industry’s recent report Getting Apprenticeships Right. It reiterated our central role in driving quality in apprenticeships and T-levels. We welcomed many of its recommendations, particularly those that highlighted the role of employers leading the development of standards to plug the skills gaps in our workforce.

The institute is an employer-led organisation and how we engage our core stakeholders – particularly employers – is a key element of how we function. One of the main themes of the report was a need for the institute to engage more closely with employers over funding decisions. This is not new feedback. As we are in regular contact with employers, we understand their desire for greater transparency on funding decisions. As a result, we have launched a review into how we engage employers and how we might be more transparent about our funding band process.

Our funding band recommendations are about balancing the cost of delivering high-quality apprenticeships with ensuring value for money for the taxpayer. The purpose of the review is to ensure employers better understand how those decisions are made and where in the process they can have most influence. We will welcome feedback from employers, training providers and awarding organisations in support of this review through the consultation phase.

The report also suggested that the institute could be faster at approving standards. We launched our Faster and Better programme in February last year with the aim of working more closely with employers to refine our processes so that standards could be identified, developed and approved more quickly and effectively.

We are learning, growing and taking on new responsibilities

This programme has already demonstrated success as we approach the publication of our 400th standard. We are now looking to a second wave of improvements and to having 500 approved standards before the end of this year – and I am confident that we will achieve this. We will seek to achieve similar pace and momentum in developing T-levels.
I was gratified that the CBI report noted that employers largely had positive relationships with our staff, particularly our relationship managers (RM) who work with employers throughout this process. But the report highlighted that some of our staff lacked commercial awareness, which can put a strain on this relationship.

We have already taken action on this and have committed to developing the commercial expertise of our RMs. It is possible for them to build considerable knowledge and insight over time across a caseload of often up to 40 or 50 different occupations.

We are still a relatively new organisation, learning, growing and taking on new responsibilities. Reports such as the one published by the CBI are essential to hear, understand and respond to employers’ perspectives. We recognise that we can improve how we work with employers, as well as streamlining our processes and improving transparency. This is a journey of continuous improvement that has no end; we will always strive to review and improve.

The clear message from employers is they value the institute and the work we do. The CBI report recognises the integral and long-term role the institute has at the heart of technical education and wants to see more. I am confident that we can deliver the reforms needed in technical education to support learners today and in the future. We are very grateful for the continued support of employers and conscious of the significance of the work we are doing collectively to address the nation’s productivity challenge.

Universities voice concern at lack of assessment organisation for nursing apprentices

There is “serious concern” among universities that the government has still not found an organisation to assess over 1,000 nursing apprentices who have six months left on their course.

New FE Week analysis shows there are currently 17 apprenticeship standards ready for delivery with no end-point assessment organisation (EPAO) in place.

Of these, nine have had people start on them.

The current lack of end-point assessment organisations is problematic and this is of concern to us

The most concern surrounds the level five nursing associate standard, which had 1,417 starts in 2017/18 and 820 in the first quarter of 2018/19.

The typical duration for the programme is 24 months – meaning the first cohort of apprentices on this standard should complete their course by August.

“We recognise the current lack of end-point assessment organisations is problematic and this is of concern to us,” said Denise Baker, head of the school of allied health and social care at the University of Derby, which had the most, 130, starts on the nursing associate standard in 2017.

She added: “There is an even greater issue surrounding the incentives for nursing associate apprentices to undertake end-point assessments as, following the successful completion of their foundation degree, it confers eligibility to apply for registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council, which gives them the accreditation they need.

“This reflects the growing concern amongst education providers about the end-point assessment process for pre-registration qualifications, and the associated risks this brings to education providers and employers alike.”

A spokesperson for the University of Central Lancashire said the lack of end-point assessment organisation for the nursing associate apprenticeship is a “serious concern for the university as we wish to ensure apprentice completion and, where relevant, the appropriate professional qualification or license to practice”.

But not all universities are worried about the lack of EPAO, yet.

“The Nursing and Midwifery Council have set the regulatory standards for this programme and we are awaiting the ratification and final agreement on the apprenticeship standard regarding end-point assessment,” said a University of Bolton spokesperson.

“Once confirmed we are confident that providers will come forward as EPAOs.

“We do have large numbers of students but are confidently preparing the students.”

The Nursing and Midwifery Council told FE Week it has “no role in the apprenticeship, specifically, in securing an EPAO”.

A spokesperson for the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education, claimed that for all standards that currently have no EPAO, including the nursing associate, “we or ESFA are engaged with an organisation who has declared an intention to become the EPAO for the standard”.

He added: “We work with the ESFA and trailblazers to ensure that there is appropriate coverage of end-point assessment organisations across all standards.”

The Department for Education said: “It is a priority for us to make sure that an end-point assessment organisation is available to every apprentice when they are ready to undertake one.”

This is sad for the individual and it is not helping secure a premier brand image for apprenticeships

In 2016 Dr Sue Pember, a former top skills civil servant and now director of adult and community learning group Holex, said it was “morally wrong to start an apprentice on a programme when you don’t know how they are going to be tested at the end”.

“I am still concerned, if anything more so,” she told FE Week after being shown the situation for nursing associate apprenticeships.

“I have heard sad stories from apprentices who feel they can’t look for a new job or even apply for promotion because they haven’t had it confirmed they have met the standards.

“This is sad for the individual and it is not helping secure a premier brand image for apprenticeships.”

In April last year FE Week was first to expose the end-point assessment crisis. We found nine would-be dental practice managers, who began their apprenticeship with Barnet and Southgate College in November 2015 and should have completed the programme in May 2017, still couldn’t be tested because the assessment plan was unworkable.

This newspaper also found the shocking example of a blameless apprentice on a level two large goods vehicle driving standard, who missed out on a pay rise because there was no EPA ready for him.

Despite FE Week’s findings, the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education rejected concerns about apprentices being unable to graduate – accusing people who raised them as simply “inflammatory”.

John Ruskin College commended by FE Commissioner’s report

A sixth-form college that has fallen into trouble in recent years has been commended by the FE commissioner for turning itself around before a merger.

Richard Atkins’ team visited John Ruskin College in October after it emerged its financial health had declined rapidly, and it had dropped two Ofsted grades to ‘requires improvement’ in 2017.

The London-based college appears to have worked tirelessly to get back into shape, and the FE commissioner praised leaders for doing “well to maintain healthy cash balances and manage down external debt”.

The college has also tackled shortcomings in the quality of provision, according to the FE commissioner’s report.

A quality improvement board has been established and meets every term, and there is now “scrupulous tracking and monitoring of learners at risk of underachieving”.

The governors that the commissioner’s team met were said to be focused on the challenges facing the college in terms of both quality, finance and the wider FE landscape.

As a result, there was an 11.1 per cent increase in overall achievement rates between 2016/17 and 2017/18 at John Ruskin.

Apprenticeship provision has also improved, with overall achievement at 78.5 per cent, almost 10 per cent above the national average.

Outcomes in GCSE English and maths increased to 93.1 per cent in 2017/18, a 16 per cent increase on the previous year.

“There is clear evidence that the actions they’ve taken are having a positive impact on the quality of provision and on student outcomes,” the report said.

It added that students “demonstrated a strong sense of ambition and cited an extensive range of opportunities for engagement and student voice with enthusiasm”.

Governors are also “optimistic” about the prospects of the merger to improve student numbers and expand the range of curriculum on offer.

The college merged with East Surrey College on February 1 to form Orbital South Colleges.

The commissioner’s report said that, given both colleges’ “strong balance sheets”, the Department for Education’s transactions unit concluded that “no restructuring funds should be necessary to support the merger”.

In a letter to John Ruskin College’s chair of corporation, Alec Stow, skills minister Anne Milton said: “I welcome the positive work the college has already undertaken to prepare for the planned merger with East Surrey College.”

A spokesperson for the college group said: “The merger generates a wealth of opportunity for us to grow and achieve together.

“It presents excellent opportunities for both colleges and we are already seeing growth potential.”

Furthermore, the college has confirmed that the commissioner’s recommendations – actions to improve budgetary control and to progress the merger with East Surrey College – are either complete or under way.

Despite the positives, the college is expected to run a deficit of 15 per cent of turnover in 2018/19.

The commissioner’s intervention was triggered after its financial health declined from ‘outstanding’ in 2015/16 to ‘satisfactory’ in 2017/18.

The London-based college’s 16-19 learner numbers have fallen “rapidly”, by 12 per cent, since 2016/17, with a further decline in 2017/18; and Ofsted had downgraded it from grade one in 2013 to grade three in 2017.

The college had become dependent on delivering apprenticeships for small businesses, but this came to a halt last year after it failed to secure a non-levy allocation for starts post-March 2018.

Its deficit increased by 1,756 per cent between 2016/17 and 2017/18, rising from £26,629 to £494,234.

In his report, the commissioner warned the college still faces “significant” financial challenges.

“Governors and senior leaders rightly recognise the need for structural change as a result of the significant decline in turnover, substantial operating losses and the gradual erosion of cash reserves.”

Government agency in quick search for ‘interim’ arrangements to avoid gap in apprenticeship quality assurance

The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) has been forced into hastily finding “interim” arrangements for its apprenticeship external quality assurance service for April.

Open Awards has held the contract to monitor end-point assessment organisations on the institute’s behalf since August 2017, but this deal comes to an end in March. 

A procurement was launched at the end of January for a new organisation to take on the job, which would run until March 2021. 

However, tender documents, seen by FE Week, show that “service commencement” will not be until May 2019. 

FE Week asked the institute what this meant for the month of April, and a spokesperson confirmed that external quality assurance “will continue during April”. 

However, it has had to come up with “interim arrangements” for the month, which haven’t been finalised yet. 

This is likely to cause some concern, considering that the institute is the nominated EQA provider for 191, or 55 per cent, of 345 approved standards. 

Under its contract with Open Awards, the IfATE, like Ofqual, doesn’t charge end-point assessment organisations (EPAOs) for the quality assurance service. 

But this will change when its new contract comes into play.

Tender documents for the institute’s new contract state that “legislation allows the institute to charge EPAOs a fee per apprentice that undertakes an end-point assessment and it is these fees that will pay for the EQA service”. 

They add: “The institute’s budget is limited and we are seeking to work with a supplier who will deliver a high-quality service at a price that offers strong value for money.” 

The bidding organisation is asked to “confirm what price they would charge per end-point assessment”, and would receive a minimum payment of £20,000 a month for the duration of the contract. 

The winning bidder can therefore expect to earn at least half a million pounds over the two-year contract period. 

A spokesperson for the institute said EQA is to be delivered on a “cost-recovery basis and not for profit” and this has “been made clear to potential bidders”. 

Mark Dawe, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, has labelled charging for EQA as the “biggest mistake yet”.

The ESFA sets a funding band for each apprenticeship standard, which is usually the value given to providers to deliver the training. 

Up to 20 per cent of the total funding is available to fund the end-point assessment. The EQA cost is paid by the end-point assessment organisation and is factored into the EPA price. 

There are currently 18 approved external quality assurance bodies that monitor end-point assessment organisations, to ensure the process is “fair, consistent and robust”. 

FE Week revealed the “ridiculous variability” in approved external quality assurance charges last week, which were criticised by sector leaders for ranging from a free service to £179 per apprentice. 

Tom Bewick, chief executive of the Federation of Awarding Bodies, representing many of the 199 currently approved EPAOs, said: “These practices run the risk of bringing the entire reforms into disrepute.” 

The closing dates for bids to IfATE’s tender is February 26.

DfE confirms ban on recruitment of apprentices at BPP University months after Ofsted warning

The government has finally confirmed that a huge private university has been stopped from recruiting new starts months after an Ofsted monitoring visit warned it was making insufficient progress’ in its apprenticeship provision.

Managers at BPP University faced criticism for being “too reliant on subjective information from assessors on the progress of their apprentices, which at times misrepresents the slow progress that apprentices make” in a report published on October 31.

The university, which has around 15,000 students studying law, business and technology, nursing and health, received two ‘insufficient’ ratings from Ofsted during the inspection of its level two to five provision.

Despite this, it is the only provider to receive an ‘insufficient’ rating that has not been listed as temporarily banned from recruiting new starts on the register of apprenticeship providers, prompting concerns that it was receiving special treatment.

However, the Department for Education has now confirmed BPP University is no longer advertising apprenticeship vacancies for courses at level five or below, and said it had not appeared on the official pause list because it also offers level six and seven training, which are not inspected by Ofsted and so not affected by any ban.

The DfE said that if they were included on this pause list then it would wrongly appear to employers that they were unable to recruit apprentices at any level, as it is still free to recruit apprentices at level six and seven.

These higher levels are regulated by the Office for Students, but the OfS did not respond before going to print on whether it would be monitoring BPP University’s degree-level provision
following Ofsted’s findings.

BPP University is part of the global BPP Professional Education Group.

BPP appears on the register of apprenticeship training providers four times, as BPP University, BPP Holdings, BPP Professional Education and BPP Actuarial Education.

Like BPP University, both BPP Professional Education and BPP Actuarial Education are new apprenticeship providers and in line for a monitoring visit. However, no inspection reports have been published for either, and Ofsted would not comment on if or when these would take place.

BPP can continue to recruit apprentices at levels two to five through these other branches, and it is not clear if it can switch BPP University’s allocation of apprenticeships to one of its other providers.

BPP refused to comment or confirm any ban when approached by FE Week.

This week, six more providers were banned from recruiting new apprentices after receiving ‘insufficient’ ratings.

There are currently 23 providers on the barred list, not including BPP University, while four have been fully removed from the register of apprenticeship training providers.

Macclesfield College handed financial health notice to improve

The Education and Skills Funding Agency has handed a financial health notice to improve to Macclesfield College.

It follows an assessment of the college by the FE Commissioner in November and the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) grading the college’s financial health as ‘inadequate’.

The notice, dated 14 January, instructed Macclesfield College to prepare a draft financial recovery plan to be shared with the ESFA by today (Friday 15 February).

The final plan, including a strategy for managing the college’s reliance on subcontracted delivery and actions to implement savings, must be submitted to the ESFA by 8 March.

The college also has to submit monthly management accounts for the ESFA to review on the 25th of each month and the agency may observe governor meetings until it is satisfied there is sufficient oversight of the financial position.

Further action could be taken, the ESFA has warned, if “the college fails to take the necessary actions, in whole or part, within the timescales set out, or if evidence of progress is not appropriate or not available”.

The college principal, Rachel Kay, said: “The college has had a strong financial record over the past three years, and has been graded officially ‘good by Ofsted, as stated in their inspection report in November 2017.

“Like many other colleges, the demographic decline in 16-18 year-olds has impacted on the enrolment numbers over the past two years.

“The college has worked hard to make efficiencies and to continue on its academic journey to be an ‘outstanding’ college.

“The college’s financial health is forecast to be ‘good’ at the end of this academic year and moving forward into 2019/20 and beyond.”

To have the notice lifted, the college must improve, financially, from the ‘inadequate’ rating in 2017/18 (calculated by scoring its profitability, solvency and total debt as a percentage of reserves and debt) to ‘satisfactory’.

The college must maintain a ‘satisfactory’ rating through 2018/19, up to 2019/20.

And even then, the ESFA will look at whether, beyond 2019/20, there is a significant risk of decline in the college’s financial health.

  • Easton & Otley College has been placed in administered status today by the ESFA, following its second grade 4 Ofsted report in a row.