Ofsted will keep its four-point grading system – for now

Ofsted will stick to its current four-point grading system in its new inspection framework – putting an end to rumours that it would opt for a simpler pass-or-fail system.

Instead, the status quo will remain in its 2019 framework, its chief inspector announced in a speech at the Festival of Education at Wellington College.

Options will be kept “under review” looking further ahead, Amanda Spielman said.

She is working with the Department for Education to “see the removal of the ‘outstanding’ exemption”, which currently allows education providers to go more than a decade without inspection.

We’ve concluded that it is right to maintain the current grading system in the new framework

Before her appointment in 2016, Ms Spielman (pictured) said she was uncomfortable about some of the effects on the education system of the ‘outstanding’ grade, and claimed Ofsted under her watch would have “discussions” about scrapping it.

Rumours have been flying around in recent months that all four of the grades used by Ofsted – ‘outstanding’, ‘good’, ‘requires improvement’ and ‘inadequate’ – might all be on borrowed time.

“I know that there are some who would like Ofsted to abandon grades altogether or to move to a pass/fail model,” Ms Spielman told the audience.

“For me, that is a decision which must squarely be decided on the basis of whether the current grading system meets our mission of being a force for improvement.

“We will keep this under regular review. But we’ve concluded, on balance, that it is right to maintain the current grading system in the new framework and that is the basis of the discussion I’m having with ministers now as we engage with them on the new framework as a whole.

“First, our teacher polling conducted by YouGov indicates that the profession prefers a four-point grading system to a pass/fail one.

“Many teachers have told us directly that a pass/fail would make the system even more high-stakes – it would de facto turn ‘requires improvement’ into a ‘fail’.

“Secondly, parents tell us that they want to keep the current grading system. They like the clarity of four grades in helping them to make informed choices.”

Ms Spielman said that when it comes to the ‘outstanding’ grade in particular, a number of education leaders have “persuasively lobbied me, and others, to keep it”.

I would like to see the removal of the ‘outstanding’ exemption

By losing ‘outstanding’, they said, “we’d send the wrong message about aspiration and excellence in the system”.

There have been strong demands for changes to Ofsted’s ‘outstanding’ exemption for years. They started when FE Week revealed in November 2016 that two colleges in England had both gone more than 10 years without a full inspection.

Our sister paper FE Week then revealed in 2017 that more than 100 schools had similarly been left alone for over a decade – a number which has now risen to nearly 300.

The exemption was introduced by Michael Gove in 2011 as a way to devote more of inspectors’ time to failing institutions and “free” top-rated providers from the burden of Ofsted.

But Ms Spielman is on a mission to scrap it.

“If we are to keep the grading system, I have to be sure that people can have confidence in grades,” she said. “That is why I would like to see the removal of the ‘outstanding’ exemption.

“There is no doubt that the long gap since inspection has undermined parental confidence. From our perspective, it also means our inspectors are getting to see fewer examples of ‘outstanding’ practice.”

She was however “pleased to say” that Ofsted is “engaging constructively” with the DfE on this issue and “hopes to say more in the future”.

Ex-schools minister proposes DfE shake-up to stop schools and HE favouritism

Education ministers’ portfolios need a major shake-up if the historic favouritism shown to schools and universities is to change, according to a former schools minister.

David Laws, who served as schools minister under Michael Gove and Nicky Morgan between 2012 and 2015, believes the current approach is “corrosive of good policy”.

In an exclusive interview with FE Week, the man who now chairs the Education Policy Institute wants ministers to be responsible for individual policy areas such as curriculum development and capital funding across the education spectrum, rather than for specific areas and age groups.

There should then be a separate minister to oversee post-18 education, which would “join up” FE and HE.

There is strong logic in things being joined up throughout a student’s journey

Mr Laws believes this would give FE “enhanced clout and ministerial focus” and stop the DfE giving more esteem to universities.

“There is strong logic in things being joined up throughout a student’s journey so that the same curriculum and accountability system is being developed as you come into education to right through it,” he said.

“That doesn’t happen in the DfE because they are responsible for age phases. We also have a situation where for historic reasons schools and HE are seen to be the exciting and interesting thing.”

As a consequence of this “unfairness”, ministers who are selected for those jobs often have more “profile and rank” than those covering FE.

The education secretary regularly gives more support to schools and HE as a result.

Under its current structure, the DfE is overseen by one education secretary, who then has a minister for schools, one for FE, another for HE, and another for the early years.

Mr Laws believes this drives unhealthy competition between the FE and HE ministers, creating “bad outcomes and missed opportunities” and a “much underfunded FE sector”.

“When I was in the DfE I was responsible for all capital funding. We had a very good schools budget for capital in this time but basically nothing for early-years education and considerably less per head for post-16 and FE,” he continued.

FE would come out of it with enhanced clout and enhanced ministerial focus

“We also had one protected regime for funding in schools up to the age of 16, but bizarrely not beyond the age of 16. I think some of these anomalies would be less likely if the whole thing was under one minister.”

His solution involves “the ministerial responsibilities underneath the education secretary being based on subjects and age rather than simply phases”.

“A curriculum and assessment minister should reach from age three to 18; another should be dedicated to accountability through that range, and a minister should look after revenue and capital funding so you don’t privilege one setting against another.”

But “given the scale of the job” it doesn’t make sense to continue that age range beyond compulsory education at 18.

“If we are ever to break down the divide between FE and the rest of the education system in terms of funding and status, then having one minister responsible, and viewing these as simply respectable education routes and not split up, is something I think is long overdue,” he said.

“I think FE would come out of it with enhanced clout and enhanced ministerial focus even though some parts of the college sector would find themselves having ministerial oversight from a different person up to the age of 18 and then post-18.”

Movers and Shakers: Edition 249

Your weekly guide to who’s new and who’s leaving

 

Mandeep Gill, Principal, Newham Sixth-Form College

Start date: August 2018

Previous job: Vice-principal, Suffolk New College

Interesting fact: Mandeep has been in love for a lifetime: he met his wife when he was just five years old.

Eddie Playfair, Senior policy manager, the Association of Colleges

Start date: September 2018

Previous job: Principal, Newham Sixth-Form College

Interesting fact: Eddie is an avid music lover, and plays the clarinet and piano.

Dawn Whitemore, Principal, Brooksby Melton College

Start date: May 2018

Previous job: Principal, New College Nottingham

Interesting fact: Dawn’s leadership approach ensures that the learner experience is always at the heart of decision-making.

Ashley Barnes, Deputy CEO, Vocational Training Charitable Trust (VTCT)

Start date: May 2018

Previous job: Chief academic officer, VTCT

Interesting fact: Ashley is also a chartered and state registered physiotherapist.

Carina Fagan, Chief academic officer, Vocational Training Charitable Trust (VTCT)

Start date: May 2018

Previous job: Executive director of awarding, VTCT

Interesting fact: Colin Farrell was Carina’s line dancing teacher in school.

 

 

If you want to let us know of any new faces at the top of your college, training provider or awarding organisation please let us know by emailing news@feweek.co.uk

Here’s how English skills policy needs to change

The CBI believes the government is on the wrong track with its current skills system. Neil Carberry sets out the ways in which he would change things

People are fond of maligning English skills policy, but there is no truth in the idea that it is lacking. It can’t be – a new one arrives every two years without fail. It is in the delivery of a skills system where we stumble, as each new approach takes us back to the beginning.

We can all understand the political attraction of creating new courses and counting new students as success. But a successful national system needs to be sustainable and flexible enough to meet the needs of different learners and local economies over time.

As I leave the CBI, it remains my hope that the current reforms – the levy, new standards, T-levels and the national retraining scheme – can break this cycle, but something must change. Month-on-month falls in apprentice starts are bad news, but it would be worse if we had to begin again.

The answer is a different approach from the government, an acknowledgement that we are dealing with a skills market in which people have choices – and need help to make good ones.

In a global economy, learners and companies have a great deal of choice as the skills market is growing all the time, yet policies are too often designed without an understanding of these options and their likely outcomes.

It is no accident that, over the past year, every design failure in the levy that had been pointed out before it went live has come to pass. It gives business leaders no joy to say: “I told you so.”

Instead of a top-down system, the government must be more a regulator more than a deliverer, with the industrial strategy as a blueprint. Businesses and providers can then take the lead on delivery. At the moment, this isn’t happening.

A reformed levy will only work with a new culture of skills investment

So what does good look like?

First, the government should reach out further and encourage more firms to take an active role in skills provision. We need many more companies to step up.

Second, the DfE and its agencies should focus on economic and consumer regulation, not state-provided public services. This would focus on regulating markets and consumer protection in what gets delivered – not specifying provision.

The good news is that we have already seen flashes of this. The apprenticeship reform programme and the creation of the Institute for Apprenticeships could be revolutionary: when employers are given choice to buy quality, they do.

There is much still to tackle. We all need to recognise that businesses and learners, rather than the government, are now the customers. Too little time is spent thinking about what drives consumers and providers – and not enough about effective delivery. There is a lot more for the IfA to do.

One example is price-setting. Provision that costs £1,300 outside an apprenticeship should not cost £9,000 inside it. Pace of delivery and quality control are not yet strong enough. And we still lack a provider strategy that will help the supply side support the good and rigorously challenge the bad.

Businesses need to step up. The levy is poorly designed, but it is too easily written off as a government tax grab. If firms believe that skills and apprenticeships matter – as almost every CBI member does – then the government should take a more strategic approach, empowering employers and providers, to create new space for firms to innovate in their provision.

A reformed levy will only work if there is a new culture of skills investment in England. I remain convinced that we are not far from a system that could stick around for many years, but making it happen will require firms to step up and providers to change.

And it will be driven on the ground rather than Whitehall. That’s why the CBI is so focused on supporting collaborative work as we make the levy more flexible. If the government wants to see real change, that’s what it needs to enable: work with us in business to get these latest reforms right.   

It’s time to let FE providers award their own degrees

Only nine colleges currently have the power to award degrees. Stephen Howlett believes this needs to the change for the good of the learners

Rarely does a week pass without a story appearing in the media about the skills crisis facing industry in the UK.

A recent report from the Lords’ economic affairs committee highlighted the fact that that we have “too many biology and history graduates” and not enough people with “technician-level STEM skills”.

I completely agree that we need more focus on skills in our education system – but I’m an advocate of higher education and don’t believe the two are mutually exclusive. It’s encouraging, for example, to see more and more companies are recognising the value of degree apprenticeships.

The skills crisis won’t be solved by encouraging young people to scrap their university plans. Higher-level skills and learning are crucial to a successful economy, and indeed to social mobility.

So rather than discouraging young people from university and degrees, we need to focus on making sure our higher education provision is accessible, relevant and meets the needs of businesses. There is no doubt that FE colleges offering HE provision are in the very best position to do this.

With strong employer links and a focus on work placements, colleges tend to offer a more practical approach to learning – while equipping their students with the specific higher-level knowledge associated with a degree. There are often more flexible study options on offer at colleges, with part-time and fast-track degrees available, making HE learning more accessible to many more.

It opens up many more progression opportunities for young people

And it is for this reason that I believe more “HE-within-FE” providers should be striving to earn degree-awarding powers. Most colleges depend on their relationships with local universities to administer and award the actual degrees. Apart from not being particularly cost effective, this set-up can fail to recognise and celebrate the high quality of HE provision at the college itself.

Being able to award degrees undoubtedly validates the quality of an organisation’s HE provision. From quality assurance to raising the college’s profile, it’s an important reputational marker.

A student who has studied the majority of their degree at a college, but who graduates at a nearby university, might lose their relationship with the college. They will identify as a graduate from their university as opposed to the very institution that has worked with them for three or more years.

The needs of employers must not be forgotten either. Devolution will change the way educators respond to skills needs in a particular region – there will no longer be a one-size-fits-all solution.

Educators need flexibility. With its own degree-awarding powers, an FE college will be able to adjust, amend and create new courses to meet the requirements of local and national businesses. When relying on a partner university, such validation can be time-consuming with the need to meet two sets of objectives.

Of course, excellent partnerships with other educational institutions will remain vitally important. I myself witness first-hand the very many benefits that come from good working relationships between schools, colleges and universities. It opens up many more progression opportunities for young people, fitting with individual requirements and aspirations. This should and would not need to change if a college were permitted to award its own degrees.

Currently just nine colleges in the country have degree-awarding powers – seven at foundation level and only two with full-taught degree status. This doesn’t reflect or recognise the high quality of HE provision that is offered at so many others, which are making higher-level learning so much more accessible to local communities.

Education is key to social mobility, and FE colleges are on the forefront. The outstanding job they are doing to support this (in what is a pretty hostile environment) should be recognised celebrated.

Gaining these awarding powers is not easy and takes years. However, I have no doubt that by doing this, FE colleges would be able to strengthen and expand successful HE provision.

Grade three Ofsted ratings confirmed for NCG and Intraining

The nation’s largest college group and its troubled private training provider have officially been downgraded to ‘requires improvement’, after Ofsted published inspection reports on the pair this morning.

FE Week revealed last week that NCG and Intraining were expected to receive poor ratings – down from their previous ‘good’ overall, following serious concerns about their achievement rates and management.

Ofsted noted some ‘good’ provision at the group. However, its chief executive has since hit back and claimed the current inspection framework is “no longer fit for purpose when inspecting college groups”.

Inspectors observed that NCG’s “leaders’ and managers’ actions do not bring about rapid enough improvement to rectify weaknesses in, for example, learners’ attendance, the quality of training on apprenticeships and the quality of teaching, learning and assessment on too much of the study programme provision”.

Inspectors noted that in the last 18 months, “executive leaders” have spent a “substantial amount of their time on due diligence for the mergers with Carlisle College and Lewisham Southwark College, as well as reviewing other merger requests”.

Governors are now “clear that there needs to be a period of consolidation on what the group offers in order to reach their ambition of being a group of consistently high-performing divisions”.

At Intraining, which is currently cutting staff numbers owing to financial trouble, inspectors found that the NCG board “does not provide managers with sufficient challenge on the underperformance of apprenticeships”.

The group has extremely low achievement rates. In 2016/17, the combined overall apprenticeship achievement rate for NCG’s colleges was just 55.6 per cent, while Intraining’s was 58 per cent.

Both are around 10 points lower than the national average of 67.7 per cent, and lower than the minimum threshold of 62 per cent, according to the latest government data.

Ofsted recognised this: “Leaders and managers have not been successful enough in rectifying many of the weaknesses in learners’ outcomes. Too many learners are not achieving their potential, particularly in English and mathematics.”

Too many apprentices make “slow progress, and as a result do not complete their apprenticeship within their planned timescale”.

And for apprentices due to complete their training in the current academic year, in-year performance records show the proportion to be “higher”, but “it still requires improvement”.

Ofsted added that across the group, achievement rates on study programmes “vary too much and, in too many cases, are not high enough”.

However, senior leaders at NCG are “fully aware of the weaknesses in apprenticeship provision” and since September 2017, they have placed a “strong emphasis on improving the quality of apprenticeships and, in most divisions, new leaders have been appointed”.

There was ‘good’ provision found at NCG. The group was given grade three ratings in six of the eight headline fields – but grade twos for adult learning programmes and provision for high-needs learners.

The college provides courses for over 8,800 adult learners, for whom the quality of teaching, learning and assessment is “consistently good, and this is reflected in the positive outcomes for learners in achieving their qualifications”.

The quality of provision for learners with high needs is “good; teachers are skilled at supporting learners to gain the skills and confidence to prepare them for their next steps”.

Ofsted noted that the NCG governance arrangements are being reformed under new chair and former ESFA boss Peter Lauener, but currently governors “do not always provide sufficiently effective support or challenge to senior leaders across the group”.

As a result of its official grade three, NCG is now expected to be dropped from the government’s final bidding round for Institutes of Technology.

NCG is comprised of Newcastle College, Newcastle Sixth Form College, West Lancashire College, Carlisle College, Kidderminster College and Lewisham Southwark College. It also has two private training providers in Rathbone Training and Intraining.

The group’s chief executive Joe Docherty said there is “no getting away from the fact that these are very disappointing results” but a “single inspection grade across the six NCG colleges masks stronger performance in some areas and weaker performance in others”.  

He added that NCG has “pioneered the college group model, and the current Ofsted inspection framework for FE is no longer fit for purpose when inspecting college groups”.

“We need greater transparency when college groups are inspected and we’re pleased to be making the case to Ofsted for college-level inspections.”

NCG will introduce a new college “campus identifier” field into individualised learner records from 2018/19. It hopes this will pave the way for campus-level Ofsted inspections.

Is the government about to scrap apprenticeship fees to woo back employers?

The 10-per-cent fee that small businesses must pay when they take on apprentices could be scrapped, according to the AELP.

Its boss Mark Dawe revealed that the skills minister is having “ongoing conversations about a change in policy” regarding the co-investment rule, in an exclusive interview with FE Week ahead of his association’s national conference next week.

Anne Milton has since said it is an issue she is seriously looking at, but wouldn’t be drawn on whether there would be any immediate announcement.

Mark Dawe

“Our big ask is for the minister to make the announcement that the 10-per-cent contribution requirement is to be removed for non-levy-payers or levy-payers who go over their levy if they are delivering level two and three apprenticeships to the under 25s,” Mr Dawe said.

“We made a proposition for a transition period to try it out until April. I don’t know if the minister will be able to do it this quickly but I know there are ongoing conversations about it, I’m just not sure if they’ll be able to announce it on Monday.

“If the minister announced that [at the AELP conference] then she would get a standing ovation and we could probably close the conference.”

The apprenticeship levy is paid by employers with an annual payroll of £3 million or more, who can then spend their contributions on apprenticeship training.

Smaller employers can also access the funds generated through the levy, although they must pay 10 per cent towards the cost of the training.

There was no mandatory charge before May last year, simply an assumed contribution for apprentices aged 19 and over.

Since last May, only 16- to 18-year-olds at employers with fewer than 50 staff are fully funded and therefore free to train.

The AELP has been heavily campaigning to remove the 10-per-cent rule as it believes it puts SMEs off apprenticeships, and is the reason why starts have fallen so much since the introduction of the levy.

Latest figures show that starts for March were down 52 per cent compared with the same period in 2017.

“That is where the numbers are being really hit – the lower levels for young people and in the SME market,” Mr Dawe said.

Ms Milton later admitted to FE Week that she is “keeping an open mind” on the policy.

Anne Milton

However, she is “not having any conversations with the Treasury” at this stage.

“I’m working with businesses to find out what particular problems they have and a lot of it is around the understanding of what they can and can’t do,” she told FE Week. “That would apply to non-levy payers and small businesses.

“I think a lot of them don’t realise that we will pay 90 per cent of the training or maybe 100 per cent in certain circumstances.

“I am mindful that we need to make it work for small businesses and how much impact that 10-per-cent contribution has. I make no promises but we are monitoring everything.”

Ms Milton added that she is organising a roundtable event with SMEs to “find out exactly what is going on” with their experience of apprenticeships.

The 10-per-cent contribution rule is expected to be a hot topic at the AELP national conference, taking place in west London next week from June 25 to 26.

FE Week is media partner and will be live tweeting from @feweek throughout, as well as producing a supplement sponsored by NCFE with coverage from the first day.

ESFA given ‘vote of confidence’ in managing apprenticeship and T-level reforms

The ESFA will manage the reforms to apprenticeships and T-levels from this September, in a “vote of confidence” from the Department for Education.

The DfE’s staff covering apprenticeships and professional and technical education will move into the funding agency at the start of the month, it was announced today.

“I am delighted to welcome colleagues from apprenticeships and technical education reform teams into the ESFA,” said Eileen Milner (pictured above), the ESFA’s chief executive.

“This move brings together work on policy development and delivery under one umbrella to better align and coordinate delivery for our customers.”

Absorbing staff with “different professional specialisms” will “enrich the agency, ensuring genuine end-to-end delivery”.

Taking full responsibility for development and delivery of two of government’s “top priority” programmes is a “huge vote of confidence in the ESFA and an exciting challenge for all of us”, she added.

The DfE said there will be a transition period with staff changes taking effect on September 2, 2018, and noted that there would be no job losses.

How to apply for T-level teacher training funds

Details of how providers can ask for money to train industry experts who will teach the first T-levels have been revealed by the Education and Training Foundation.

A £5 million pot, managed by the ETF on behalf of the Department for Education, was unveiled this morning by skills minister Anne Milton.

Up to £20,000 per provider, to train up to five “experienced industry professionals” in a level five diploma in education and training, is on offer.

The deadline for applications is July 27.

An ETF spokesperson said the focus was on “priority sectors, including the first T-level routes”.

These key sectors include digital, construction, and education and childcare – the first T-level pathways planned for rollout from 2020.

The other key government priority area, engineering and manufacturing, is the fourth sector covered.

The cash will provide funding for the full cost of up to five trainee teachers per organisation or consortium “taking a level five diploma in education and training over two years” and “funded up to a maximum of £4,000 per trainee”.

This will cover costs of teacher training, while additional funding will be available for support and mentoring.

Candidates must be industry professionals, defined as an “individual who has worked for a minimum of three years in their area of vocation and is, at the time of applying, still working in that same industry, or has been within the past 18 months”.

They must not yet hold a “substantive” teaching qualification.

The aim is to support up to 50 industry experts to become FE teachers in 2018-19 and 100 more in 2019-20.

An ETF spokesperson said the programme, called Taking Teaching Further, will “initially run for two years to test how best to encourage and support experienced industry professionals from key sectors into FE teaching, full- or part-time, and to support an ongoing exchange between FE and industry so students can gain the knowledge and skills that employers need”.

The programme is open to all FE providers, including general and specialist colleges, independent training providers, employer-providers, third-sector training providers, local authority providers, and adult and community learning providers.

A second strand will provide support for 40 “innovative” projects that help develop better local partnerships between industry and providers – including secondments funded for industry experts to teach and provide mentoring, and FE teachers to work in industry.

Applications must be submitted to Takingteachingfurther@etfoundation.co.uk and received by 12 noon on July 27.

The application form can be downloaded as a separate document here: http://www.et-foundation.co.uk/takingteachingfurther