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DfE in firing line with former skills minister for ‘misrepresentation’ and ‘discourtesy’

Chair of the education select committee Robert Halfon has accused the Department for Education of misrepresentation and discourtesy.

Yesterday afternoon the DfE published a blog, aimed at journalists, that claimed the former skills minister gave inaccurate apprenticeship figures in an interview with the BBC Today programme that morning.

Mr Halfon says this clearly misrepresented what he said, and the DfE didn’t “have the decency to check with me first”.

The DfE spent most of today deciding whether to respond, finally concluding they had “nothing to add” so would be declining to comment or amend the blog.

The dispute centres around Mr Halfon saying in the BBC interview: “the number of starts are declining, particularly in the 19-24 age bracket,” without specifying over what period.

The DfE jumped to the conclusion that this warranted a rebuttal in their media blog, because in the past year the starts for those aged 25 had fallen even further than those aged 19-24.

Mr Halfon later explained to FE Week that his remarks referred to a statement in the July 2018 House of Commons briefing paper on apprenticeship statistics, which said that “starts for those aged between 19 and 24 fell to its lowest level since 2009/10”.

“The DfE has clearly misrepresented what I said by jumping to the conclusion I was referring to changes in the previous year,” he told FE Week.

“I would hope next time the DfE would have the decency to check with me first, before they put out this kind of nonsense.”

He added: “And I hope that the permanent secretary will ensure this rebuttal blog is amended accordingly.”

FE Week has checked the official figures and the DfE is correct concerning the past year, but Mr Halfon is also correct.

His remarks relate to final figures for 2016/17, which showed that starts for 19 to 24-year-olds had fallen to their lowest level since 2009/10.

“As a former skills minister and now chair of the education select committee I’ve never made a secret of the fact that I’m supportive of the levy reforms, but have always tried to be constructive in offering suggestions for improvement,” Mr Halfon told FE Week.

The DfE’s response to his remarks was “not a very constructive way of proceeding”, he said.

The spat comes just days after the government refused to back its own manifesto commitment to 3m apprenticeship starts by mid-2020.

A spokesperson for the prime minister is reported to have dodged the question three times during a Downing Street lobby briefing on Monday morning, and the DfE subsequently declined to comment on the matter.

The target is slipping further out of reach, with FE Week analysis of the latest start figures showing them to be 414,300 or 23 per cent down on where they need to be to hit the target.

UCU launches national ballot for fresh college strike action over pay claim

The University and College Union has begun balloting its members for strike action, after colleges failed to meet their demands over this year’s pay claim.

College staff were left bitterly disappointed in July when the AoC said it was unable to recommend a salary increase of five per cent, and was instead only able to propose a “substantial pay package” over two years dependent on government funding.

The UCU described the proposal as “bizarre” and warned that an immediate solution was needed if colleges wanted to avoid strikes in the autumn.

No such action has been forthcoming and the government has outright refused to provide the funds needed to increase staff pay – even though it was able to increase school teacher pay by 3.5 per cent.

“Our pay ballot opens this week because staff are fed up with excuses from colleges and government to hold down their pay,” said a UCU spokesperson today.

“Colleges would have been foolish to rely solely on a plea to government to meet staff pay expectations and must now find the money from elsewhere.”

He added that it is “disappointing” that the government is refusing to back FE and its staff by providing extra funds for a “deserved” pay increase.

“We will continue to work with the sector to lobby for fairer funding,” the spokesperson said.

“However, this does not let colleges off the hook when it comes to staff pay.”

The ballot closes on October 19 and industrial action, if voted for, is likely to take place later that month.

Responding to the ballots, AoC boss David Hughes said: “This confirms the risk which I have made very clear to DfE of possible actions in this academic year, with the impact that has on students, morale and confidence.”

There is a huge discrepancy between average college and school teacher pay – £30,000 compared with £37,000 respectively.

Mr Hughes told FE Week he has “every sympathy” with college staff who are not being paid as much as they think they should be paid.

“I can understand if they are angry that makes people despondent and they have the right to take strike action,” he said.

“I’d rather they didn’t have to, we need to think about the impact on students.”

But he added that in a “political world” strike action is “the only step workers believe they can take and sometimes it works”.

“I don’t think this is the last step staff can do now,” he said.

“Quite often strike action will impact directly on the students staff are committed to supporting. It can damage the student experience.”

UCU wrote to skills minister Anne Milton in July setting out the case for extra funding, claiming FE has reached “a crisis point on pay”.

Trade unions also wrote to the AoC in May to spell out exactly why they resubmitted a claim for a raise of five per cent for 2018/19.

The unions want a guaranteed minimum increase of £1,500 for the lowest-paid staff where a five-per-cent rise is lower than £1,500.

Last year’s 1 per cent pay offer sparked a wave of industrial action among disgruntled college staff.

Manchester College learner “excited about the future” after passing GCSEs on fifth attempt

A 19-year-old learner at The Manchester College is full of excitement for the future, having finally passed his English and maths GCSEs after five attempts.

Jaycy Okpeahior [pictured above] spoke to FE Week of his determination to make the grade in these core subjects – without which he would not be able to progress to university.

“It feels so good to finally pass! It’s such a satisfying feeling and it means I never have to take a maths exam ever again,” he said.

“I was determined to get my pass and to get them out of the way. The University of Salford, and in fact every university course I looked at, insisted that I have those passes to be accepted onto the course, so my career was dependant on these results.”

Jaycy, who moved to Manchester from Spain at the age of 15, sat the exams for the first time at secondary school but failed both.

He then went on to resit both four times while studying a level three diploma in business venture with entrepreneurship and marketing at The Manchester College – missing out by a single point on one attempt.

Jaycy finally achieved his goal this morning, with a grade four in maths and a grade five in English.

“I’m so excited about the future now,” he said.

Another learner at The Manchester College is also celebrating success in her maths GCSE resit today, having achieved a grade four.

Siena Gooderham, 17, was caught up in the tragic attack at the Manchester Arena in May last year, which happened the night before she sat her maths exam for the first time.

She ended up getting a grade three, missing out on the all-important grade four by just a few points.

“I’d suffered from anxiety before, but after the arena attack it got much worse,” she said.

She attributed her success second time around to the support she received from her college maths tutor Jaqueline Chrystie-Lowe.

“She has given everyone time to understand the topic, and also practised a lot of revision techniques with us. All of this meant that I wasn’t panicking at all when it came to the actual exam,” Siena said.

She will now move onto the second year of her level three extended diploma in creative media production (film and broadcast).

“With every time you have to resit an exam, it chips away at a student’s confidence,” said Ms Chrystie-Lowe.

“But my advice to them is to get the pass and then it is done.”

Jaycy and Siena were among more than 36,000 people aged 17 or above in England to have passed GCSE maths today, many of whom would also have been resitting the exam.

According to figures published by the Joint Council for Qualifications, 160,519 older learners in England sat GCSE maths this year, of whom 22.6 per cent achieved at least a grade four.

Meanwhile, 33 per cent of the 148,894 learners in England aged 17 or above who sat GCSE English scored at least a four.

The condition of funding rule, introduced in 2013, 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 policy has proved contentious – with many calling for it to be scrapped.

These include Association of Employment and Learning Providers boss Mark Dawe, who reiterated the demand following today’s results.

“We shouldn’t be subjecting tens of thousands of vulnerable young people to multiple failure and demotivating them for another couple of years, so it’s time for the Secretary of State to draw a line through this failed policy,” he said.

And his counterpart at the Association of Colleges, David Hughes said: “After five years of putting students through GCSE resits, colleges can confirm that the policy does not work and is an obstacle to the ambition that we all share for students.”

IfA refuses to reveal funding band review recommendations

The Institute for Apprenticeships will not publicly reveal the recommendations from its funding band review – despite sharing them with the employer groups involved.

A number of those employer groups have come forward with the outcomes, and FE Week has reported on six of them.

But despite repeated requests for the full list, the IfA has refused, insisting that it would be “premature” to share it.

The information “is not final” and could be subject to change, an IfA spokesperson told FE Week.

“What we’re not choosing to do at this moment in time is to share those recommendations, should there be a change as a result of the Department for Education, or as a result of any appeal that goes through,” she said.

“We’re in a period where we have to wait for the final decision, which will be made by the DfE. At that stage we’ll be happy to publish that on our website.”

The institute’s “priority” at the moment is to communicate with the employer groups behind the standards, rather than with the “wider public”.

“At this stage, who we need to be communicating with is the Trailblazers. And that’s what we’re doing. We’re giving them time to review our recommendations and come back to us,” she said.

“It’s not that we’re trying to hide anything – it’s the complete opposite,” she insisted.

“We’ve told everybody what’s happening, but it’s now time for us to give the Trailblazers those 10 days in which they can appeal the process if they want to.”

The funding band review was launched in May by the IfA at the request of the DfE.

Its aim is to “help make sure that employers can access high quality apprenticeships and that funding bands represent good value for money for employers and government”.

Any recommendations from the review, which covers 31 standards, including some of the most popular, are subject to possible appear by the employer group followed by final sign-off by the education secretary, Damian Hinds.

FE Week has so far reported on the outcomes of six of the reviews, all of which have resulted in a recommendation to lower the funding band.

The level six chartered manager degree apprenticeship is facing the largest cut, from £27,000 to £22,000.

The level two hair professional standard is facing a 22 per cent reduction, from £9,000 to £7,000, as is the level five operations/ departmental manager.

The level two retailer standard is set to be reduced by £1,000, or 20 per cent, from £5,000 to £4,000.

Meanwhile the level three team leader/ supervisor and level two customer service practitioner standards are both facing £500 cuts – from £5,000 to £4,500 for the former, and from £4,000 to £3,500 for the latter.

Writing exclusively for FE Week, Sir Gerry Berragan, the IfA’s chief executive, said that some of the reviews had resulted in a recommendation that the band “stay the same, some increase, and some decrease”, he said.

FE Week has asked for a breakdown of the number of reviews that have so far resulted in a recommendation for the funding band to stay the same, increase or to decrease, but has not yet received an answer.

GCSE resits 2018: maths results are down but English is up

Less than a quarter of the older students resitting their maths GCSEs in England achieved at least a grade 4 this year – a fall of almost three per cent from last year.

The picture for English in England is better, though: 33 per cent of those aged 17 or above taking the exam this year passed, up 1.9 per cent on last year’s pass rate.

According to official data released this morning, the number of people aged 17 or above who took maths GCSE this 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 last year.

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

“English and maths is a challenge for colleges,” said David Hughes, chief executive of the Association of Colleges.

“Colleges will continue to face the English and maths challenge while the Government insists on all 16- to 18-year-old students who haven’t achieved a grade 4 at GCSE resitting the exam.

“After five years of putting students through GCSE resits, colleges can confirm that the policy does not work and is an obstacle to the ambition that we all share for students.

“English and maths are crucial skills but teachers should be able to use professional judgement to decide on the most appropriate qualification for everyone,” he said.

The condition of funding rule 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.

Mark Dawe, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, said that the latest results “underline what a disgraceful policy this has become”.

“Rather than canning the 3 million apprenticeship target, the government should be dropping damaging policies like resits and allow students to actually learn relevant maths and English through functional skills.

GCSE English resits: 2018 results

Here are the 2018 GCSE English results for all students in the UK, aged 17 and over, and the trends in grades and number of entries since 2014.

GCSE grades, English language, age 17+ (2014-2018)

GCSE entries, English language, age 17+ (2014-2018)

GCSE grades, English literature, age 17+ (2014-2018)

GCSE entries, English literature, age 17+ (2014-2018)

Here are the GCSE maths resit results for 2018.

Thanks to Education Datalab for preparing the graphs

Shell-shocked: Four giant tortoises stolen from college

UPDATE: Two of the four missing tortoises have been found. Geoffrey and Blastoise were located in the village of Lytchett Matravers, around 18 miles from the college, Dorset police announced on Sunday.

Ms Hassall told FE Week the college was “very relieved” to have the pair back. They’re both off to the vets today as they’re “not 100 per cent” following their ordeal. Geoffrey has damage to his shell “and is quite snotty”, while Blastoise is “very quiet and not her usual self”, she said.

“Sadly no news on the other two so we are asking everyone to still keep their eyes and ears open”, Ms Hassall said.

The theft of four beloved giant tortoises has left a “massive hole” at a land-based college – although it remains hopeful it will see them again.

The quartet vanished on Wednesday night from Kingston Maurward College in Dorset, after thieves broke into the secure shed where they lived.

Sarah Hassall, head of the animal welfare and science department at the college, told FE Week how important the four had been to the college and to learners.

“Students at all levels can really get something from working with them,” she said.

Their disappearance had “left a massive hole” at the college but “we’re hopeful we’ll see them again”.

Three of the missing tortoises, called Squirtle, Wartotle and Blastoise, are female and aged 11, while the fourth is a 24-year-old male called Geoffrey (pictured above).

All four are around 40 to 50cm long, and 30cm wide, and are microchipped.

According to Dorset police, thieves entered the rear entrance of the college on foot overnight on August 22 and broke into the tortoises’ shed.

They then used wheelbarrows belonging to the college to transport the animals to a vehicle before driving off.

The four animals had been with the college for nine years, and their size means they will be difficult to replace, Ms Hassall said.

“They’ve all got their own personalities, and the students really engage with them,” she told FE Week.

Students on animal welfare and science courses at all levels worked with the four to learn a range of different aspects of animal care – including weighing, measurements, bathing and temperature gradients.

Geoffrey’s respiratory ailment meant students were also learning how to care for his illness, Ms Hassall said.

Not all the college’s students were aware of the theft yet, but those that were “really upset” and “shocked”, she said.

Police Constable Chris Stephens, of Dorchester police, said: “I am appealing to anyone who witnessed anything suspicious overnight in the area to please come forward.

“If you have any information that could assist with the investigation or have seen tortoises for sale in suspicious circumstances, please contact Dorset Police urgently.

“We are desperate to reunite them with the college to ensure they are appropriately cared for.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact Dorset Police at www.dorset.police.uk, via email 101@dorset.pnn.police.uk or by calling 101, quoting occurrence number 55180136179. Alternatively, contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or via www.crimestoppers-uk.org

Bailout-backed university takeover of college finally given official approval

A cash-strapped London college’s merger with a nearby university has finally been given the official stamp of approval.

Lambeth College will join forces with London South Bank University by January 2019, the university has announced.

The on-off partnership, first announced more than 18 months ago, will be backed by almost £30 million in government bailout funding.

Monica Box, the college’s chief executive and Fiona Morey, its principal-designate, said the move was “great news for our students and staff as it will help us build upon our position as the ‘careers college’ of choice for the local community”.

“LSBU’s mission is to transform lives, businesses and communities through the power of education,” said Professor David Phoenix, LSBU’s vice chancellor.

“By partnering with Lambeth College we will be able to create clear routes from college, to university and into successful careers.”

The merger has been signed off by skills minister Anne Milton, but is still subject to parliamentary approval and contract agreement, LSBU said today.

The partnership between the two was first announced in December 2016, and had originally been set to go through by July 2017.

But in June last year FE Week reported that the college was preparing to handover wide-ranging control of how it was run to the university, ahead of a formal merger – plans that subsequently did not go ahead.

And in January this year it emerged that the merger plans had hit the buffers, and that the college was in the market for a new partner.

However, following an FE commissioner-led structure and prospects appraisal, Lambeth reverted to the original plan and announced in March that it would merge with LSBU after all.

According to the college’s accounts, published in December 2017, the original plans had been delayed “with submissions of further financial and strategic plans to the Education and Skills Funding Agency and the minister of state”.

The same document also revealed that the college was depending on government bailouts to keep it afloat.

It has been in severe financial difficulties since 2016 when a “significant deterioration” in its cashflow prompted an intervention by the former FE commissioner, Sir David Collins.

His report, based on a visit that September, found problems with the college’s finances that were so severe it was “no longer sustainable” unless it merged.

According to the college’s accounts it had received £8 million in exceptional financial support, and was expecting to receive funding from the “restructuring facility of around £25 million in early 2018”.

The sum the college is requesting from the fund has now increased to £29 million, according to minutes from the college’s governing board meeting on May 24.

The link-up between Lambeth and LSBU will be the second college-university merger to go through since 2012.

Bolton College and the University of Bolton merged on August 1 using an innovative model, proposed by the DfE, through which the college has retained its own principal and governing board, giving it greater protection than it would through a traditional merger model.

GCSE maths resits: 2018 results

Here are the 2018 GCSE maths results for all students in the UK, aged 17 and over, and the trends in grades and number of entries since 2014.

GCSE grades, maths, age 17+ (2014-2018)

GCSE entries, maths, age 17+ (2014-2018)

Here are the GCSE English resit results for 2018.

Thanks to Education Datalab for preparing the graphs.