The maths and English departments at North Shropshire College pulled out all the stops to celebrate National Pi Day last week.
Staff and students took part in activities to celebrate the irrational number, calculated as the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, and extending into an infinite number of decimal places.
Real pies
From planting circular flower arrangements to playing circle-based sports, the day showed students the importance of maths and its context in day-to-day life.
Freshly made pies were also available at the college’s refectory.
“This has been a wonderful opportunity for students to find out more about the mathematical symbol Pi, and also the importance of maths in everyday life,” said Jo Millington, the curriculum manager for math and English at the college.
The origins of the day lie in the way March 14 is written in the United States, which appears as 3/14 – similar to Pi’s numerical value, which is approximately 3.14159.
The nation’s best training providers, employers and apprentices have been enshrined at the inaugural Annual Apprenticeship Awards at a glitzy gala dinner.
The ceremony, attended by 500 people, was one of the highlights of this year’s AAC conference in Birmingham.
The full slate of winners are listed below, and Shane Mann, the managing director of LSect, the body that runs both FE Week and the awards, was full of praise for everyone who entered.
“I would like to say a huge congratulations to all of our winners,” he said. “Each is a tremendous example of the outstanding work those within the apprenticeship sector contribute. They truly deserve the recognition,” he said.
“We were stunned by the number of applications we received this year and will now commence preparations for the 2019 awards.”
Former skills minister Robert Halfon, who is now chair of the Commons education select committee, took home this year’s ‘Special recognition’ award.
Shane Mann, Robert Halfon, and FE Week editor Nick Linford
“He fully deserves this,” said Mr Mann. “He has been a staunch supporter of apprenticeships before and throughout his time as skills minister, and has continued to fight their corner as chair of the education select committee.”
FE Week and our award partners AELP announced the shortlists in association with CMI in February. The regional winners were announced last month in Parliament.
“The future for apprenticeships is bright and the awards this year and beyond illustrate why apprenticeships have become the country’s flagship skills programme and why other countries are now tapping into UK expertise and experience to build their own programmes,” said AELP boss Mark Dawe.
Outstanding Contribution to the Development of Apprenticeships (individual) – Phil White
Phil White was recognised for years of dedication to apprenticeships culminating in his role in the development of new employer-led training programmes.
He started with United Utilities in 1997 as a mechanical engineer apprentice, and worked his way up to head of learning and development.
The judges recognised that trailblazer apprenticeship standards “for water process technician and utilities engineering technician were only ready for delivery thanks to his unique, sustained input”.
And the outstanding contribution to the development of apprenticeships – an individual prize – goes to … Phil White!! #FEWeekAAC18pic.twitter.com/edK5Kka97R
Promoting Apprenticeships Campaign of the Year – Newcastle and Stafford Colleges Group
NSCG’s application covered both their annual apprenticeships marketing campaign plan and promotion activity for National Apprenticeship Week.
The judges said: “They demonstrated a planned and effectively carried out a campaign, showing how teams had worked together to deliver, providing evidence of apprenticeship achievement above the national average, with data showing high rates of positive outcomes. Their activity covered a range of media, events and recruitment activity.
Outstanding Contribution to the Development of Apprenticeships (employer or provider) – Learning Curve Group
This award went to Learning Curve in recognition of its “all-encompassing” support for the roll-out of the apprenticeship levy from April last year.
Their entry stressed the importance of “investment, insight and innovation”.
“IT demonstrated a partnership relationship with employers to support it with the introduction of the levy, but also continuing those relationships beyond the levy, where apprenticeships were not the right avenue,” the judges said.
Apprenticeship provider of the year – Gen 2
Cumbria-based Gen2, part of the City & Guilds Group, was praised for commitment to apprenticeships across its whole business.
“They provided data that demonstrated the quality of their provision, including through the employer satisfaction survey, which gave high scores, significantly above national average,” the judges said.
“Timely success rates are consistently high and in 2016/17, 94 per cent of apprentice learners had a positive destination outcome.”
Apprentice Employer of the Year – Clarkson Evans
Gloucester’s electrical specialists Clarkson Evans employs over 230 apprentices, which were recognised for being “the lifeblood” of the company.
“They demonstrated how they have been extending apprenticeship opportunities, broadening the range of subjects over the last two years,” the judges said.
Their training programme was actively developed “to support business growth”. It provides “exceptional support services” to learners.
Apprenticeship Provider of the Year: Business and Administrative – DBC Training
This provider stood out because of its special efforts to work in partnership with every customer.
“It demonstrated high employer-satisfaction scores, timely achievement rates and high levels of learner satisfaction,” the judges said of Derby-based DBC Training.
It designs all its apprenticeship programmes with the employer, learners and parent or carer in mind, and “continually monitors feedback throughout the programmes”.
Apprenticeship Provider of the Year: Construction – Construction Industry Training Board
CITB was recognised for its unwavering commitment to employers.
It designs its apprenticeships programmes “specifically to enable the construction industry to be as efficient and effective as possible”.
“We are relentless in our efforts to improve learner retention and success rates and have sector leading achievement rates across nations,” it wrote in its entry.
Judges also recognised its “well-developed recruitment and selection strategy for learners”.
Apprenticeship Provider of the Year: Digital – Firebrand Training
The London provider was credited for impressive skills training in support of the UK’s digital sector.
Firebrand is “dedicated to delivering apprenticeship training to small, medium and large enterprises”.
“The provider boasts 87- to 92-per-cent achievement rates for apprenticeship frameworks and a 95-per-cent retention rate for trailblazer apprenticeships, paying testament to high-quality delivery provided throughout the duration of an apprenticeship,” judges said.
Apprenticeship Provider of the Year: Engineering & Manufacturing – Babcock Skills Development & Training
The judges were impressed with Babcock’s “exceptional” success rates and commitment to diversity.
“Success rates are exceptional, 95 per cent timely success for 2016-17, with the bespoke technical solution delivering work-ready year three apprentices to their workplace,” they said.
Impressive dedication to increasing diversity was also demonstrated, while its approach to training is “an extension of the employer’s place of work, inducting the apprentices into a work ready ethos”.
Agriculture students have battled the elements to help more than 400 sheep give birth.
New kid on the flock: One of the new lambs
Monitoring Hartpury College’s flock of a breed known as ‘north-of-England mules’ for 14 hours a day, staff and 140 learners helped to deliver hundreds of lambs, ferrying fresh water to the site after water supplies froze amid plummeting temperatures.
Now the students are monitoring the progress of the newborn lambs, which spent two days in pens with their mothers before entering the outside world.
Lambing season isn’t quite over, and the college’s 200 ‘easy care’ ewes will begin their own efforts over the next six weeks.
“This is always a busy part of the year for us so we’re grateful that we can rely on the students for help,” said Andrew Eastabrook, the college’s farm manager. “It’s a brilliant way for them to learn; getting hands on with most aspects of the lambing process. Our staff have been brilliant as well in dealing with difficult weather conditions.”
It’s all very well the education secretary waxing lyrical about English as a second language, but without proper funding, migrants have no chance, writes Gordon Marsden
Louise Casey wrote “English language is a common denominator and a strong enabler of integration,” in her opportunity and integration review in December 2016.
Damian Hinds recently echoed her, telling the education committee that “improving literacy is vital to improving social mobility”. Yet his government’s treatment of English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) undermines his words.
Funding for ESOL has fallen from £203 million in 2010 to £90 million in 2016 – a real-terms cut of 60 per cent. Already struggling, colleges and other providers have seen their capacity to deliver vital courses slashed.
This is backed up by Refugee Action’s polling of 71 ESOL providers last summer. The majority were concerned that they could not provide enough classes to meet people’s needs, pointing to “chronic underfunding” and, in some cases, refugees facing three-year waits.
This government needs to get moving, and rapidly. It’s over three years since Demos sounded the alarm on ESOL
I’ve met the National Association for Teaching English and Community Languages to Adults (NATECLA), Refugee Action and others over the past year.
It’s clear that social and economic integration is heavily reliant on English skills. Polling published last week by British Future shows strong public backing for the government to provide more support for teaching people to speak English.
The government has also published its belated ‘Integrated communities strategy’.
It finally recognised that integrating refugees is a good objective, and it talked the talk on language learning being vital for any community strategy. But it did not walk the walk on the additional funding that’s so desperately need after seven years of cuts. As Refugee Action pointed out “none of the £50 million highlighted in the government’s press release appears to be for ESOL”.
Just like other recent strategies, including the extremely delayed ‘Careers strategy’, there’s a jumble of ideas, but no actual money to make them work.
NATECLA believes the “focus on informal community learning and improving guidance to available provision does not go far enough to address the needs of learners”. Instead, “it is sustained and accredited English language learning that will enable them to gain qualifications, find jobs that match their skills, communicate with their neighbours and participate in society”.
Add in Brexit, which increasingly looks we will have to rely more on a smaller pool workers than we have done for decades, and it becomes absolutely clear that a skills system fit for our future must include a maximum competence in the English language for everyone living in the UK.
Not just in London, where over half of the country’s ESOL provision is delivered, but also in other major cities, we need to start thinking about how we use the skills of the many EU citizens who will remain here after Brexit. Many are young and adaptable, as indeed are other migrants from outside UK who have settled here – but as they age they will need strategies to renew those skills too.
Nor should we neglect the challenges in smaller towns and rural areas, which have either seen a recent influx of migrants or have long-standing ethnic communities in which older people – particularly women – have sometimes felt frozen out of integration due to poor English. It often hampers integration and their prospects of getting work that might contribute to their family’s budget.
Yet as we prepare for these post-Brexit challenges, ESOL funding has been whittled away, inevitably depleting the cohorts of dedicated teachers.
This government needs to get moving, and rapidly. It’s over three years since Demos sounded the alarm on ESOL. Lifelong learning groups have long asked to have the cuts reversed to unlock migrant capabilities.
It’s no good the education secretary waxing lyrical on ESOL and on social mobility if they don’t provide, either from their own resources or by lobbying the Treasury and other departments, the hard cash to go with it.
The chair of the Commons education select committee has urged the government to “deliver” on its election promise to cut travel costs for apprentices.
Robert Halfon made the call in his speech on the final morning of FE Week’s Annual Apprenticeships Conference in Birmingham.
“In its manifesto the government pledged to help apprentices with transport costs – it must deliver on this,” he said.
“That is why our committee challenged the education secretary on this when he appeared before us this week,” Mr Halfon said.
The former skills minister, who was elected chair of the influential House of Commons education select committee following last year’s general election, used his speech to outline the five rungs that would help “more people climb the ladder of opportunity that apprenticeships offer”.
The first rung, he said, was social justice, “because for many people an apprenticeship is not simply a job, not simply training – it’s a chance for them to build a better life”.
Delivering on the travel pledge was just one way that social justice could be achieved through apprenticeships, Mr Halfon said.
Other proposals put forward included calls for a specific social justice fund for disadvantaged apprentices, and for the government to “commission a social impact study into how the benefit system helps or hinders people becoming apprentices”.
To ensure that “everybody knows about” apprenticeship opportunities the second run on Mr Halfon’s ladder of opportunity was “high-quality careers advice”.
The current system is “still far too complex and confusing”.
Instead, he urged the government to create a “unified national careers and skills service” and to deliver on its election promise for a “UCAS-style system for FE and skills”.
The third rung on the ladder, Mr Halfon said, was the government’s three million target – which he said he supported “because it concentrates the minds of the treasury”.
“But these starts must be high quality,” he said.
Mr Halfon said he was “particularly concerned about subcontracting”, and welcomed a pledge made yesterday by Ofsted chief inspector Amanda Spielman for the education watchdog to crack down on providers that subcontract purely for the money without taking responsibility for the quality.
Progression was the fourth rung on the ladder, Mr Halfon argued.
Research had shown that too many people were “getting stuck” at level two.
“Instead there should be an expectation that people keep learning and keep moving from level to level: increasing their skills and deepening their knowledge year after year,” Mr Halfon said.
Degree apprenticeships were “an incredibly important part” of enabling people to “keep climbing the ladder of opportunity”.
He urged the government to “incentivise” the growth of degree apprenticeships, and to do more to promote them.
The final rung on the ladder, Mr Halfon said, was job security.
“The aim should be to help everyone in this country, no matter their background, gain the skills that will get them a good, secure job,” he said.
“That is what this is all about – an apprenticeships and skills nation of rising productivity with social justice for all. A ladder of opportunity not just for individuals but for the whole country.”
Over 80 women from colleges around the country came together on International Women’s Day to network and develop their leadership capabilities, reports Samantha King
To incubate strategic leaders within an organisation, it’s necessary to push power downwards, share more information, allow people to try their hand at decision-making and make it safe to fail, according to keynote speaker Jessica Leitch, the principal and joint head of design at Adaptive Lab.
The most common reason for leaving an organisation is one’s manager, and Ms Leitch advised organisations to create alternative routes for employees to submit innovative ideas that might circumnavigate their line manager.
Jessica Leitch
The audience of women in FE were gathered at London’s Morley College – founded in 1889 as the first institution of its kind to admit both men and women on an equal footing – for the annual Women’s Leadership Network conference, where they were welcomed by college principal Andrew Gower and WLN’s director of operations Kathryn James.
FE Week’s very own head of digital, Cath Murray, gave attendees advice on using social media to boost their professional profile, and coached some delegates through setting up a Twitter profile and penning their first ever tweets, using the conference hashtag #WLNFE2018.
A workshop on flexible working, led by Helen Wright, the founder of flexible working agency 9-2-3 Jobs, invited delegates to brainstorm ideas of how FE could be more accommodating of those who work part-time – whether due to caring responsibilities or personal choice.
Sally Dicketts, the chief executive of Activate Learning, suggested shifting the focus from the “unimaginative” approach of measuring time spent in the office each week, to monitoring outcomes instead.
“We have to be really clear as managers about what outcomes we expect at the end of the month,” she said.
Dr Carole Edmond, a researcher in female attainment, advised delegates to stay “in touch with the big picture” and know what’s going on both inside one’s organisation and in the sector at large.
“If we work head-down, bum up, we’ll miss opportunities for career advancement,” she quipped.
Speaking after the event, delegate Jas Sondhi, the director for learner experience at Westminster Kingsway College, said: “We want to make a difference and believe we can lead change, however this can only be achieved by having a strong voice that’s heard by all – the conference reinforced this again and again.”
The WLN is encouraging women across FE to fill in their survey, which aims to gather views on the future of the network.
The register of apprenticeship training providers will not open again until September – nearly a year after the last window closed, the government has revealed.
The register has been under review since November, but Rory Kennedy, the Department for Education’s director of apprenticeships, admitted to general surprise at FE Week’s Annual Apprenticeship Conference that it was still in its “early stages”.
“We expect to complete the review in the summer and the register will open again in September,” he told delegates. “The work in that review is still in its early stages.”
He admitted he was “very hesitant” to give a “flavour” of some of the outcomes of the review, though he said the DfE would “welcome views on” whether the window approach is the “right one” or “should we be talking about a rolling approval basis”.
This is nevertheless the first indication of when new applications can be made; officials have been silent since the last window in October, even though 13 organisations were unexpectedly added earlier this month.
Calling it an implementation blip might be a bit too blasé
These newcomers bring the total number of providers on the register to 2,588 – 2,197 of which are eligible for an Ofsted visit – a volume that chief inspector Amanda Spielman admitted said she is “worried” about.
Mr Kennedy told AAC that the new register was created to put “quality at the core of the system”.
However, RoATP has been controversial since its launch: many established providers failed to make it onto the approved list the first time round, including every single one of Birmingham’s colleges.
Amongst the successful providers, however, were three new companies with no track record on government apprenticeships, all run by one man from a rented office in Cheshire. Another admitted training academy had ceased trading by the time the register was published.
Mr Kennedy is confident the government will meet its target for three million apprenticeships starts by 2020.
Kirsty Wark, who hosted AAC, asked him about the ongoing drop in starts this year, and whether it was down to an “implementation blip”.
“Calling it an implementation blip might be a bit too blasé,” Mr Kennedy said. “We are concerned about it but we remain confident. I don’t think there is a fundamental issue with the way apprenticeship reforms have been implemented but what I would accept is that we need to balance that commitment with longer term measures.
“We need to articulate them to better reflect the programme. The number of people starting apprenticeships shouldn’t be the programme’s only measure of success.”
He also told delegates that the apprenticeship reform programme would only succeed through a “real collaborative effort”.
“It requires all of us: government, employers, apprentices, awarding bodies, providers, and colleges to keep remembering what we’re working towards,” he said.
“We’re working for a new system where apprenticeships will provide high-quality skills, technical experience, industry know-how, and transferable skills that give employers and apprentices and indeed our country a real competitive advantage.
“Our pipeline of talent will lift growth and improve social mobility by creating more opportunities for people in all communities regardless of their background.”
Labour’s proposed National Education Service would look at devolving apprenticeships and other skills funding, and not just the adult education budget, the shadow skills minister has said.
Gordon Marsden told the AAC that full devolution of FE is “the way forward in terms of community growth and cohesion”, in his keynote speech on the second day of the conference.
“Tentative progress in the devolution of adult skills funding is here now – but we need a much bigger debate about the devolution of broader apprenticeship and skills funding,” he said.
Apprenticeships as a natural fit to supply – and demand – not an arbitrary figure dreamt up for a press release
“Place and sector are always critical factors in supply and demand, and the creative tension between them is often best explored and resolved in these places and sectors, not just in Whitehall.”
Speaking to FE Week after his speech, Mr Marsden said the “reality” is that if “you want a proper economic plan across an area, just looking at devolving the adult skills budget and not to consider the broader issue around apprenticeships is pretty daft in the medium to long term”.
He added that devolution is also about changing “culture” so that people actually working on these issues can do so “collaboratively locally” rather than “simply being the sort of slightly hapless instruments of a Willy Wonka chocolate factory that is proceeding down Whitehall”.
Labour’s planned NES, he said, would “turbocharge collaboration between employers, providers and other stakeholders – FE and HE – in the local economies and travel to work areas where they operate”.
“That demands an ever-giving virtuous circle of co-operation not the traditional top down micro management of Whitehall,” he continued.
“Government is an enabler not dictator. Apprenticeships as a natural fit to supply – and demand – not an arbitrary figure dreamt up for a press release.”
The director of the National Apprenticeships Service has mounted a strident defence of the controversial 20-per-cent off-the-job training requirement.
“The 20 per cent remains, absolutely,” declared Sue Husband (pictured) in response to a barrage of questions from presenter Kirsty Wark and members of the audience at FE Week’s Annual Apprenticeships Conference.
But she promised the government would “listen to what’s working, what the challenges are and continue to review how the reforms are working”.
Ms Husband recognised that “a lot of ambitious apprentices will choose to do extra work outside of their work time” but that they shouldn’t be expected to do so.
“I think they need that support within the workplace,” she said.
The NAS director stepped in as a last-minute replacement for the skills minister Anne Milton due to illness. Her wide-ranging speech touched on many aspects of the reform programme.
These included National Apprenticeship Week, the benefits of apprenticeships to employers and individuals, the introduction of the levy, and measures designed to increase apprentice recruitment in small- and medium-sized enterprises.
Emily Chapman
The 20-per-cent rule was a burning topic at this year’s conference, following an FE Week survey earlier this month in which it emerged as what the sector considers as the single biggest barrier to apprenticeship recruitment.
In his keynote address on the first day of the conference, Mark Dawe, the boss of the Association of Employment Learning Providers, said that out-of-hours learning should count towards the requirement.
If an apprentice is keen to study out of hours, and the employer and provider both agree to it, “why are we stopping them from doing that if they’re getting the knowledge skills and behaviour they need to get the apprenticeship?” he asked.
Speaking exclusively to FE Week, AoC’s chief executive David Hughes said the rule is “essential” and “a good place to be at the moment”.
However, he disagreed with his AELP counterpart on out-of-hours training.
“I worry it could be pushed on some of the more vulnerable apprentices, perhaps at level two where they don’t know any better,” he said.
Emily Chapman, the National Union for Students’ vice-president for FE, said she was a “big fan” of the 20-per-cent rule – as are apprentices, she said.
“It allows time for education to be thoughtful, apprentice-centred and relevant”, she said.
