Colleges to march on parliament in funding protest

Up to 3,000 people are expected to march on parliament on Wednesday to demand more funding for colleges.

The march for FE, organised by the University and College Union in partnership with the National Union of Students and the Association of Colleges, is the main event taking place during Colleges Week, from October 15 to 19.

The week of action, led by the AoC, aims to “make a lot more noise” about the funding issues affecting the sector.

The UCU estimates that between 2,000 and 3,000 people will show their support for FE that day, with colleges around the country laying on coaches to get protestors to the march.

Two London colleges are even cancelling classes that day so their teachers and learners can attend.

Matt Waddup, the UCU’s head of policy and campaigns, said that staff, learners and college leaders will “march together on Wednesday because colleges are getting a raw deal on funding”.

“Colleges are increasingly unable to compete with schools and universities to retain staff, and budget cuts have led to fewer local learning opportunities for people to upskill and retrain,” he said.

“We need urgent public investment in our colleges and their staff – without it, we risk squandering the potential of millions of people.”

The march will start out from Waterloo Place at 12.45pm, before heading to a rally in Parliament Square from 1.30pm.

Speakers will include shadow education secretary Angela Rayner, AoC chief executive David Hughes and NUS president Shakira Martin.

New City College is closing its four campuses, at Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Redbridge and Epping Forest, that day, its group principal Gerry McDonald said.

“Staff will be free to lobby, march, write to their MPs and meet with stakeholders to really explain the value of what we do and how much we need the years of underinvestment to end,” he said.

Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College is also understood to be closing for the day.

Emily Chapman, NUS vice president for FE, said the union was working to “make sure all colleges are represented in this crucial week for the future of FE”.

This included working with the AoC to ensure student unions were represented, and with principals to provide coaches to Westminster on the day.

As well as the march on parliament, college leaders, staff and students will lobby MPs that day to plead the case for more funding for FE.

Throughout the week, colleges across the country will be putting on their own events and “inviting the local community to celebrate the impact that colleges have”, an AoC spokesperson said.

Colleges Week was prompted by the Department for Education’s decision to fund a 3.5 per cent pay rise for school teachers while ignoring college lecturers – an announcement that left AoC boss David Hughes “angry” and “frustrated”.

“The issue is we are in a very tight funding financial constraint position with government so we have to make a lot more noise and get a lot more students, staff, parents, employers, stakeholders, partners to advocate for colleges,” he told FE Week last month.

Multi-academy trust backs chair embroiled in 3aaa police probe

An expanding academy trust is backing its chair despite the government referring his giant private training provider to the police following a second investigation.

Peter Marples (pictured), a multi-millionaire businessman who co-founded 3aaa in 2008, joined the Spencer Academies Trust in December 2015 as a trustee and became its chair in the 2016/17 academic year.

He also heads the trust’s resources and remuneration committees.

Since launching in 2011, the trust has grown to sponsoring 12 schools. This month it took on four more and will take on another one next month following a “merger” with the Trent Academies Group.

Mr Marples resigned from his position at 3aaa last month in the midst of a second Education and Skills Funding Agency investigation, but continued to be its joint majority shareholder with co-founder Di McEvoy-Robinson.

The Department for Education has now referred their investigation findings to the police through Action Fraud. 3aaa has since gone into administration after the department pulled its skills contracts – which totalled over £31 million last year.

More than 500 jobs and the future of 4,500 apprentices are at risk.

Despite the scandal, the Spencer Academies Trust appears to be fully supportive of Mr Marples.

“Peter is a highly respected, valued and effective chairman of our trust,” a spokesperson for the trust said. “We do not comment on matters outside of the Trust.”

When asked for comment, the DfE said it was a matter for the trust.

“Appointments to positions within academy trusts are the responsibility of the trusts themselves; academy trusts must make sure they comply with the terms set out in both their funding agreement and the articles of association, both of which consider suitability tests for key personnel,” a spokesperson said.

FE Week made multiple attempts to contact Mr Marples but he did not respond. He has taken down his LinkedIn and Facebook page in the last couple of days.

According to the trust’s accounts for 2016/17, 3aaa supplied “apprenticeship services” to the Spencer Academies Trust to the value of £11,600, which was “subject to normal procurement procedure”.

The Trent Academies Group will now operate under the Spencer Academies Trust name following the “merger”, and will be “led by” chief executive Paul West and Mr Marples.

The enlarged group will comprise 18 schools which will teach 17,000 students across Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire.

The trust said that with anticipated future growth, including the construction of new schools, “nearly 20,000 East Midlands’ pupils and students will be educated in the trust by 2020”.

This was the second government investigation into 3aaa. The first, carried out in 2016 by auditing firm KPMG, found dozens of success rate “overclaims”. Despite the findings, the DfE awarded the provider £7 million in growth that year.

In July FE Week revealed that an independent auditor had been called in by the Department for Education to investigate its own funding agency over their contract management of 3aaa.

Concerns raised about the quality of maths centres for excellence

The government has insisted “quality” was a factor in choosing 21 colleges to share £40 million funding as maths centres of excellence after concerns over their achievement rates.

The centres for excellence will test and disseminate new ways to improve the teaching of maths to learners who are resitting maths GCSEs, and will share the cash over five years.

The chosen colleges were revealed last week, but eyebrows have been raised over some pass rates at the selected institutions.

According to the Department for Education’s official data for 2016-17, the average A*-C pass rate for general FE colleges was 24.8 per cent, and 39.4 per cent for sixth-form colleges.

However, four colleges and two sixth-form colleges that have been selected as centres for excellence have pass rates below the average.

 All six had an A*-C pass rate of less than 25 per cent, with Leyton Sixth Form College in east London at the bottom of the table at just 12.8 per cent.

It is followed by Leeds City College on 17.3 per cent, Tameside College on 18.4 per cent and Christ the King Sixth Form College in south London on 19.2 per cent.

Two college groups – Greater Brighton Metropolitan College and Newcastle and Stafford Colleges Group – also came in below average, at 24.2 and 24.3 per cent respectively.

A DfE spokesperson said all colleges picked for the programme “passed the necessary eligibility criteria and were selected based on their leadership qualities, networks in the sector and the quality of their proposed approach”.

FE Week was told the eligibility criteria included the quality of proposed teaching approaches, student support, maths “credibility and capacity”, leadership and networks.

Gill Burbridge, principal of Leyton Sixth Form College, said the A*-C pass rate was so low because they enter all learners for GCSE resits “regardless of their prior achievement”, and pointed to their high progress rates.

“We still have work to do to get more students on higher grades, but that’s part of a national issue and that is what this funding is part of addressing,” she said.

“We are really thrilled to have been given this opportunity. At a time when we are significantly underfunded in terms of base funding, to be able to access some additional funding to work on a priority area like GCSE maths is really good, and a real opportunity for the young people here and in the organisations we work with.”

Louise Turner, director of academic support at Leeds City College, also said their focus was “progression”, and added: “We focus on liberating students from the pressures of believing that only high grades count.”

 Progress scores do not always fully reflect the achievements of learners at FE providers, as those who cannot sit exams are automatically given a negative score.

Paul James, deputy principal for curriculum and quality at New College Swindon, said he was concerned about institutions without strong outcomes getting the badge of “centre for excellence”, and said the sector must “commit to clarity about our own performances”.

“I wonder how long it will be before the successful colleges start branding themselves as centres for excellence for maths in marketing materials,” he said.

“The title is value-laden and has the potential to significantly miscommunicate the institution’s position in respect of the challenges they are facing.

 “Many applicants will rely on word of mouth, local marketing and reputation to make judgements, and in this respect I worry the centre for excellence may mislead.”

Revealed: 37 colleges and providers chosen for first wave of Taking Teaching Further funding

The first colleges to train 80 industry experts as teachers for part of the £5 million Taking Teaching Further scheme have been announced.

The programme seeks to recruit industry specialists and retrain them to work in the post-16 and FE workforce, in an attempt to bring in more “diverse experiences and skills”.

The scheme was unveiled in June, when it was announced that each provider would receive up to £20,000 to train up to five “experienced industry professionals” in a level-five diploma in education and training.

This first round will focus on “priority sectors”, including T-levels in the fields of education and childcare, digital and construction, as well as engineering and manufacturing and other STEM subjects.

On Friday, skills minister Anne Milton revealed the initial 23 providers who will take part in the programme and recruit 80 “expert” teachers, comprising 20 colleges, a county council and two independent learning providers.

Also announced were 20 providers who will split £900,000 in funding to run “innovative projects”, exploring how industry and FE can work together.

Some lucky institutions appear on both lists, and will be receiving money for both training industry experts and creating innovative projects, including Calderdale College, East Kent College, Northampton College, Petroc College, Walsall College and the Learning Skills Partnership.

“We are transforming technical education in this country with the introduction of new T-levels,” Ms Milton said. “We want staff with industry skills to pass on their expertise to the next generation.

“I’m thrilled that we have a chance to bring industry to colleges and it will be exciting to see the differences they can make to their colleges and the students they teach.”

David Russell, chief executive of the Education and Training Foundation, which is managing the programme, said it will “add significant impetus to the recruitment of world-class teachers and trainers into FE”.

“Those who have been successful in this first tranche will set a new benchmark for bringing in talent and expertise to improve technical teaching and support the development of our brilliant FE workforce.”

The next round of the Taking Teaching Further programme will open for applications in December. 

The providers hosting the first TTF teachers 

Blackpool and the Fylde College 

Bridgewater and Taunton College

Buckinghamshire College Group 

Calderdale College

Capital City College Group 

City College Norwich 

City College Plymouth 

East Kent College 

Grimsby Institute 

Kirklees College 

Lakes College

Learning Skills Partnership 

Leicester College 

Northampton College 

Northumberland County Council 

Oldham College 

Petroc College 

Reaseheath College 

St Helens Chamber

Tameside College 

Walsall College

West Suffolk College

 

Providers to run first projects

Abingdon and Witney College

Bath College

Blackburn College

Bournemouth and Poole College

Calderdale College

DN Colleges Group 

East Kent College

Genius Solutions 

Greater Manchester Learning Provider Network 

Harlow College

Learning Skills Partnership 

London South East Colleges

North Kent College

Northampton College

Petroc College

Sandwell College

The Consortium of Vocational and Educational Trainers

The Isle of Wight College 

Walsall College 

Weston College

 

 

 

Government needs to improve access to apprenticeships

This week the education select committee published a wide-ranging report on the government’s apprenticeship record. It highlighted failings in apprenticeship policy, process and delivery that we, along with sector bodies, have articulated for months – often in this newspaper. But what needs highlighting from this report is the importance not just of the apprenticeship but of the apprentice.

This is a priority that’s long overdue for this government. What is the point of the skills minister waxing lyrical about our young people’s success in world skills competitions if her department takes little notice of young apprentices? My Labour colleagues and I have repeatedly held the government to account for failing to utilise the Panel of Apprentices.

The select committee touched on the government’s consistent failure to support underrepresented groups adequately. That is why we have long-standing pledges to set targets to increase apprenticeships for people with disabilities, care leavers and veterans, and ensure greater representation of women, BAME, LGBT and people with disabilities – and tried to get them included in the Institute for Apprenticeships’ priorities when it was set up.

Improving access and participation are fine words, but how do we give them sharp edges? The report references witnesses, as diverse as the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and Central YMCA, on what might be done by way of pre-apprenticeship support – establishing an apprenticeship access fund is one possibility.

That could be a useful start, but what’s equally important is encouraging young people to see the potential for their futures at a much earlier age. I have been saying we need to be engaging young people as early as nine and 10 in school about the options available via apprenticeships. That also needs hard wiring into careers advice, to go beyond the Baker clause into a more sustained holistic strategy, giving young people a taster of the variety and excitement that the apprentice route can offer.

Here again, utilising the talents of the IfA apprentices panel, alongside the National Society of Apprentices, the Industry Apprentice Council and the expanding WorldSkills champions programme, is the right way to cut through and promote the social mobility we need. In the world of the 2020s, where bespoke skills and enabling ones will have to combine in people’s lives with more traditional qualifications, that sort of early exposure will be critical.

Establishing an apprenticeship access fund is one possibility

Traineeships, or pre-apprentice training, remains the great potential lever to expand that social mobility by getting more young people to the starting line for top-quality apprenticeships. Since traineeships were announced, the government has failed miserably to put the incentives, the marketing or the resources into them, and to remove the barriers in regulations between the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Education that stymie them for many young people. It is good to see the committee and its witnesses, including the EEF (the manufacturers’ organisation), raising these issues again.

The report mentions the Care to Learn scheme, which gives financial support to parents under the ages of 20 who are their child’s primary carer. But what about the same cohort of people who are the primary carers for a parent or sibling? This is a huge, under-recognised issue – in my own constituency in Blackpool we have nearly a thousand teenage carers, some of whom I met recently, in that category. Don’t they deserve a chance to be supported to get on the apprenticeship ladder, to be recognised for their service as carers with aspirations too?

We also need a far stronger definition of what role there is for post-24 apprenticeships in the daunting task of retraining and reskilling millions of adults. Why can’t the money, lost in poor take- up of the government’s failing advanced-learning loans policy, stay in the DfE to fund and support some of the initiatives talked about here? Labour’s new National Education Service, along with our lifelong learning commission, will be focusing sharply on this.

Colleges Week should be a celebration with three messages for the chancellor

Having spent more than seven happy years working for a large college in South East London I have seen first-hand the vital role they play in the education ecosystem.

So the Association of Colleges is to be applauded for rallying the further education sector at short notice to celebrate the work of colleges.

It was a brave decision to announce the plan for a whole week of activities with just a month’s notice, but coming days before the budget the timing is critical.

The message to the Chancellor and everyone around him should be three-fold:

Firstly, look at the amazing things colleges do in their communities to enhance the lives of young people and adults.

Secondly, the government’s own researchers consistently find that investing in colleges is good for businesses and the economy.

Thirdly, leaving funding rates unchanged since 2013, as costs continue to rise, simply reduces the impact of the two points above.

So the solution is simple and fair: Increase the funding rates.

So Colleges Week should be a big celebration, treading that fine line between showing off and highlighting the consequences of cuts.

It should not be angry, ugly or moany.

And calling it Colleges Week, focusing exclusively on colleges, is not to diminish the role of other FE sector providers, including local authority adult education services as well as private, third sector and not-for-profit providers.

Diversity of provider type is a strength in the further education sector.

Colleges play a unique role as large education institutions rooted in their communities, delivering the widest range of courses to the most diverse cohorts of learners.

Writing this week in FE Week, the Skills Minister rightly says: “this is a chance to celebrate the role colleges play in the country’s education system and the fantastic work that they do.”

So let’s all get behind Colleges Week, and encourage everyone we know to contact their local MP and get on social media to share stories about colleges that have made a positive difference to their lives.

FE Week will be producing a special Colleges Week supplement, in partnership with NOCN, so be sure to send pictures and stories to news@feweek.co.uk

Can UTCs fit in the technical education jigsaw?

The government should think again on UTCs, and consider moving admissions to 16, says Gerard Dominguez-Reig

Technical education is prone to continual fiddling by recent governments. In the last few years we’ve seen the roll out of T-levels, significant reforms to apprenticeships, and the area reviews of further education colleges.

Emanating from government’s post-16 skills plan, these reforms come with grand ambitions: to improve the quality of training, enable progression to higher levels of education, and boost social mobility among technical-oriented students.

But how do university technical colleges fit into this new post-16 landscape, especially considering that they are 14-19 institutions?

A new report published today by the Education Policy Institute seeks to address this question. With entries at 14 struggling and key stage 4 provision not up to standard, we argue that the government should think again on UTCs, and consider moving admissions to 16.

What evidence is leading us to make these proposals?

Firstly, recruitment. UTCs are failing to draw in enough Year 10 students. Eight UTCs have closed due to low numbers, with another closure expected next year. Many are simply struggling to convince students and their families of the benefits of switching school at 14.

Three times more than the national average go on to an apprenticeship

UTCs’ key stage 4 performance is also poor. Whichever measure you judge UTCs against, they fare worse than other institutions. With the government’s performance measure (Progress 8) also looking at student progress before they join a UTC, we have therefore looked at progress made by students during their time in a UTC alone. Here, they still make three quarters of a grade less progress during key stage 4 than other students.

Of equal concern is the alarming finding that more than half of students are leaving UTCs by the time they get to age 16. With so few remaining after their first two years, clearly there are big question marks around whether students are benefiting from 14-19 education.

It’s not all bad news, however. Technical provision at UTCs improves after the age of 16, and although students have worse outcomes for level 3 academic qualifications, the picture is slightly rosier for technical and vocational qualifications. Indeed, UTC students outperform those at FE colleges, which might otherwise be their alternative place of study.

In their current form UTCs are not fully delivering for young people

A large portion of students also go on to do an apprenticeship, with one in five leavers doing an apprenticeship after the age of 18; three times more than the national average. This suggests that UTCs are successfully linking school and work, with the strong relationships UTCs have with employers bearing fruit.

The poor performance we see between 14 and 16 however, strongly suggests that in their current form UTCs are not fully delivering for young people. It would be wise to put any expansions on hold until the programme is reviewed.

With a new admission age, UTCs could become flagship level 3 technical institutions, offering existing high-quality technical qualifications and T-levels as they are phased in, catered to the needs of the local economy. This should allow them to offer students good progression routes into higher levels of education and skills in Institutes of Technology, National Colleges, and other providers.

A reformed destinations measure is required

Given that UTCs were set up to provide employers with the skills they need, a reformed destinations measure is also required which takes into account the characteristics of students, and therefore shows the impact of UTCs on students after they leave.

The government has rightly taken steps to reform our complex technical education system by focusing on clarity, quality, and equity. But UTC students should benefit from its reform agenda too. Our research points to some possible improvements that can be made to this underperforming institution.

Major subcontractor heavily criticised in ‘insufficient’ Ofsted monitoring visit report

A major subcontractor has been heavily criticised in a new apprenticeship provider Ofsted monitoring visit report that found it to be making ‘insufficient progress’ in all areas under review.

Cumbria-based NC Training started delivering levy-funded apprenticeships in July 2017, but also held eight subcontracts worth £1.6 million last year.

The verdict means it can expect to be barred from taking on new apprentices – and it could face losing its place on the register of apprenticeship training providers, according to Education and Skills Funding Agency rules.

NC Training’s managing director Nicola Cassley told FE Week she was “deeply disheartened by the comments made” but did not indicate whether she felt they were fair.

“We would like to focus on the future, which means providing our stakeholders with the best possible training and ensuring we receive a good grading at our full inspection.”

“Leaders and managers are not complying with the levy-funded apprenticeship requirements,” the report said.

Apprentices were not being recruited to programmes that “help them to develop new knowledge, skills and behaviours, or support their career advancement”.

“Too many apprentices reported to inspectors that they had been in their job roles for a number of years and that they were not learning anything new,” the report said.

Some were found to be “completing a second apprenticeship at a lower level than the first”.

Most apprentices – “particularly the most able” – were making “slow progress”, the report said.

Many were not receiving their full entitlement to off-the-job training, and “in a few instances” did not even know what it was.

Safeguarding at the provider was “not sufficiently effective”.

A “very newly appointed” safeguarding officer had “recognised quickly the need to implement more robust safeguarding arrangements” but had not yet had time to put these into place.

NC Training, founded in 2016, held subcontractors with eight prime providers in 2017/18, according to the ESFA’s most recent listed of declared subcontractors.

These were worth a combined total of £1.6 million, with the largest – for £488,091 – with college group NCG.

The ESFA confirmed in August that Ofsted would have the final say over poor-performing apprenticeship providers, following confusion over which agency was accountable for quality.

A provider found to be making ‘insufficient progress’ in one or more themes under review would be barred from taking on any new apprentices, until they have been rated at least ‘requires improvement’ following a full inspection.

Ofsted later clarified that this would take place within a year of the monitoring visit.

However, if monitoring visit uncovers concerns about safeguarding, the ESFA “reserves the right to remove an organisation from the register” – although this is only in cases where the inspectorate has “identified a significant risk to apprentices”.

FE Commissioner report reveals ‘cash crisis’ and falling achievement at Northumberland College

Northumberland College has undergone a “cash flow crisis” and could see its finances plummet further, according to an intervention report from the FE Commissioner.

The report, published today, also revealed declining learner recruitment, inadequate apprenticeship delivery, low achievement and “last minute negotiations” to defer loan repayments at the college, and warned that it may yet need to request exceptional financial support.

“After several years of growth, the college faces a substantial shortfall in income for 2017-18, which is forecast to fall short of the budget target,” it said.

“Inflationary pressures coupled with a drop in 16 to 19 classroom-based funding next academic year present a major challenge to get the budget back into balance by 2018-19 and generate sufficient cash to service the college’s debt.

“The best-case scenario for the college’s financial health is to remain satisfactory in 2017-18 and 2018-19. There is real prospect that financial health will fall to inadequate in 2017-18.”

Although the report acknowledged the “significant progress” made by the new and largely interim senior team at the college, after new principal Ian Clinton took up his position in April, it heavily criticised the previous leadership for a “major failing in financial management and oversight” and not “formally or sufficiently” challenging funding deficiencies.

This includes “wholly unrealistic targets” for new levy apprenticeships, “over-optimistic” income targets and a lack of oversight about new educational and commercial initiatives including a career college, recruitment agency, MOT and service centre and leisure learning courses, which it said “compounded an already declining financial position”.

“The college failed to identify a looming cash shortfall until January 2018, which resulted in last minute negotiations with the local authority to defer contractual repayments of loan principal and interest,” it added.

“It is not possible at this stage to rule out a requirement by the college for exceptional financial support, particularly if income forecasts fall short, cost arising from the staff restructure escalate or the college is unable to agree terms with the council and Barclays.”

The report warned that income is set to decline even further at the college in 2018-19, and the best it can hope for is to break-even. In July, the Northumberland Chronicle reported that more than 40 staff had taken voluntary redundancy after the college reduced the number of courses on offer.  

The commissioner’s report also noted that the quality of provision at Northumberland College, which is rated ‘good’ by Ofsted, has been “deteriorating” over the past few years, and it is now in a position where “approximately 50 per cent of apprenticeship provision falls below minimum standards.”

The college was said to have “largely ‘rolled over’ the previous year’s curriculum” each year, and the average size of its classes is just 10 learners. One level three engineering class had just one learner.

Money issues were identified as stemming from a shortfall in the adult education budget, apprenticeships, the European Social Fund and trading activities.

Clinton said: “Since 2017-18, the college has set out and implemented a clear strategic vision that delivers significant changes in terms of much improved leadership, quality standards, curriculum, organisational structure and local employer relations. These rigorous and highly positive changes were borne out of historical, less favourable findings, some dating back to 2015, and it is these details that are included in the recent Commissioner’s report to which the news article refers.

“It is a reflection of the past, certainly not the present, nor the future as Northumberland College is 100% committed to providing the very highest standards of learning to our students. We have undertaken a major strategic overhaul in the last year alone and whilst robust in places, the changes, in the short-term, have had an effective and extremely positive impact on learners, staff, the community and local employers. 

“This year’s students have got off to the very best start and have improved at all levels and ages in 2017-18 compared with 2016-17. Our Ofsted rating continues to be good and the likely deficit of £2.5m-£2.7m at the time of the FE Commissioners visit has, subject to an external audit later in the year, been reduced to £1.4m. These achievements are testament to the hard work and exceptional commitment of our staff and governors, and allows us to continue providing the best possible teaching standards, modern facilities and industry-driven curriculum provision to our learners.”

Northumberland College was placed in early intervention by the Education and Skills Funding Agency following an assessment of the college’s financial plan in July 2017. The report follows a diagnostic assessment visit to the college in April 2018 and a formal intervention assessment on July 18, and was sent to the college last month.

The report recommended that Northumberland considered the case for a merger, and told it to improve financial forecasts and quality assurance of apprenticeships. In September, it was announced that Northumberland College and Sunderland College would formally merge by March 2019.