Government ignoring apprentices in mental health plans

Apprentices have been ignored in the government’s plans to improve support for learners with mental ill-health, according to a critical report from two influential committees of MPs.

The education and social care select committees were full of criticism for proposals laid out in December in a green paper on beefing up mental health provision for young people, which does not mention apprenticeships once.

“The government should take action to ensure that apprentices also have access to mental health provision under the green paper’s proposals,” said the committees’ report, which has been published today.

The criticism didn’t stop there. The chair of the education committee Robert Halfon wants to know how plans for a “designated senior lead for mental health” will work in practice.

Resources are already stretched, he pointed out with backing from the Association of Colleges, which wants a review of 16-to-19 funding “which recognises the additional costs of supporting large numbers of those with mental health needs”.

“The green paper wants schools and colleges to deliver the ‘designated senior lead’ role from within their own ranks,” Mr Halfon said. “This will only make worse the pressures of the existing high-accountability system, combined with a stretched teaching workforce.

Robert Halfon

“Staff need support within their school or college to ensure that their role is balanced with their normal duties.”

FE Week reported more than a year ago that a pledge made by the prime minister to roll mental health training out for staff working with young people would not cover the FE sector, at least in the short-term.

In an update, a spokesperson stressed that “£300 million of additional funding that will also provide significant additional resources for all schools”, but they did not mention extra cash for FE.

The select committees also warned in their report that the government had failed to recognise how “schools and colleges offer different environments and different challenges for implementing the green paper’s proposals”.

The government “often referred to schools and colleges interchangeably”, and did not “adequately recognise” the substantial differences between the two.

“We recommend the government utilise the potential of a further education sectoral approach in implementation alongside other approaches,” the MPs wrote.

David Hughes, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, welcomed the “opportunity to get involved” in the planning process, and asked for a review of 16-to-19 funding “which recognises the additional costs of supporting large numbers of those with mental health needs”.

David Hughes

“As the report outlines, it is very difficult for colleges currently to find adequate resources to support young people and help build their resilience,” he added.

“Post-16 education is funded significantly less per student than 11-to-16 schools or universities, and colleges have a higher proportion of students from disadvantaged backgrounds who, as the report indicates, are more likely to develop mental health challenges.” 

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, claimed the “confirms ASCL’s concerns”.

“The government’s green paper fails to address the critical problem facing schools and colleges, which is the fact that real-terms funding cuts are forcing them to cut back on existing counselling and support services at exactly the time that mental health issues are rising,” he continued. “The proposal for a designated senior lead for mental health in every school doesn’t address this problem, and may actually add to workload.”

The government spokesperson did not address FE funding concerns, but mentioned trials for apprenticeships.

“We will trial a number of approaches to improve mental health intervention, including how apprentices and other young people aged 16-to-18 in work-based learning can access the new mental health support teams,” they said.

In the green paper, the government said it would “incentivise every school and college to identify a designated senior lead for mental health to oversee the approach to mental health and wellbeing”.

“All children and young people’s mental health services should identify a link for schools and colleges,” it added. “This link will provide rapid advice, consultation and signposting.”

It also pledged to fund new mental health support teams, supervised by NHS children and young people’s mental health staff, to provide specific extra capacity for early intervention and ongoing help.

“Their work will be managed jointly by schools, colleges and the NHS,” it said.

 

Movers and Shakers: Edition 244

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

Ann Turner, Interim principal, Moulton College                                                
Start date: April 2018
Previous job: Principal, Myerscough College                                           
Interesting fact: As a six-year-old, Ann was pinned in the corner of a farmyard by a vicious flock of geese – not a good start for the future principal of a land-based college.

Martin Rosner, Chair, Epping Forest College                                                       
Start date: March 2018
Previous job: Director, Martin Rosner Associates (ongoing)                 
Interesting fact: In his spare time, Martin enjoys building Lego Star Wars models.

Peter Lawrence, Commercial director, ITS Group                                               
Start date: April 2018
Previous job: Head of business development, Barnsley College             
Interesting fact: Peter’s goal is to visit every country in the world. He’s managed 52 so far.

Dan Shelley, Executive director for strategic partnerships & engagement,
East Sussex College Group                                                                                       
Start date: March 2018
Previous job:Vice-principal, Sussex Coast College Hastings                 
Interesting fact: Dan has run three marathons with his dad and hopes to make it four in 2019 to celebrate his dad’s 70th birthday.

James Sharpe, Principal, Sussex Coast College and University Centre         
Start date: March 2018                                                                                       
Previous job: Vice-principal, Sussex Coast College Hastings                 
Interesting fact: To relax, Jim enjoys surfing the warm, tropical waters of Hastings.

 

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

Robert Halfon questions key principle behind new T-levels

The former skills minister has appeared to question the whole design principle behind the government’s plan for prestigious new T-levels.

Speaking in Westminster Hall this afternoon, Robert Halfon said that while there should be a “rocket booster” attached to the new technical qualifications, he is unsure about forcing 16-year-olds to choose between wholly academic and technical routes.

“I have no doubt that T-levels can provide fantastic opportunities for young people to prepare for a successful career and I am impatient to see these on the ground making a tangible impact on their lives,” he told his successor Anne Milton.

“I would encourage the skills minister to learn from some of our most prestigious apprenticeship employers and attach a rocket booster to the programme.

Anne Milton

“But I do wonder if there is there really a need at age 16 for young people to choose between a wholly academic and a wholly technical route. Might many young people benefit from a more blended opportunity?”

In response, Ms Milton said: “As he [Mr Halfon] rightly says, we must be careful not to draw a sharp distinction between technical and academic education so that you have to make a choice and go one way or the other.

“They have got to be interwoven.”

Mr Halfon, who is now the chair of the education select committee, also used his speech to warn Ms Milton that she will have her work cut out to ensure the skills strategy is implemented properly, considering that the economy is changing rapidly.

“Driverless vehicles will automate road haulage and taxi operations, artificial intelligence will power medical diagnosis and 3D printing will be used to construct bridges and houses,” he said.

“Our skills strategy not only needs to address the skills shortages in our economy, but to create our most resilient and adaptable generation of young people. They will need to be able to turn their hand to new careers and demonstrate those human skills, like creativity, that robots cannot master.”

Mr Halfon wants to see apprenticeships go from “strength to strength”, but worries that “we may be stretching the definition too far”.

“While most people think of apprenticeships as helping young people to achieve full competency in their future career, the figures show that in the 2016/17 academic year, 260,000 of the 491,000 apprenticeship starts were at level two, while 229,000 of those starts were for individuals ages 25 and above,” he said.

“It is essential that apprenticeships continue to focus first and foremost on preparing young people for skilled jobs – otherwise we weaken one of the key rungs on the ladder of opportunity.”

He believes the continuing expansion of degree apprenticeships will play a “pivotal role in this”.

You can re-watch the debate here: https://www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/fbfe6f93-459c-4370-8b93-0fc8432e5ccd.

Studio schools to cut ties with FE colleges

The controversial studio schools programme has announced a dramatic shift in focus after the tally of those closed or due to do so rose to 24.

Studio schools, small 14-to-19 technical institutions which are seen by many as unwelcome competition to more established general FE and sixth-form colleges, will now be incorporated into multi-academy trusts, rather than running as standalone schools usually with backing from the FE sector.

The model has been fraught with recruitment problems from the outset. Twenty of the schools have already closed, and last week, two more on the Isle of Wight and in Plymouth said they’d follow suit over the summer.

The government is looking at existing studio schools and what we can learn from them

The state-of-the-art Plymouth Studio School cost £4.2 million to build and only opened in 2015. The £2.4 million Isle of Wight Studio School has been open since September 2014.

Manchester Creative Studio will also close in August, and Rye Studio School will become a sixth-form, taking the total number of closures to 24 and leaving just 30 open. Furthermore, four studio schools slated to open never went ahead, and Department for Education records show that none are currently in the pipeline.

The Studio Schools Trust – a company set up to support and promote the institutions – has also closed following funding problems caused by “uncertainty and delays”. The Studio Schools

Network, a new company, was set up to replace the trust last August, but has yet even to establish a working website.

The change in direction is not unexpected. Meeting records released by the DfE in June last year revealed academies minister Lord Nash met with the Studio Schools Trust in March 2017 to “review the concept of studio schools”.

The Studio Schools Network told FE Week it would be “leading the movement into maturity” by moving away from working with FE colleges to focus on partnerships with multi-academy trusts.

Studio schools were introduced in 2010, designed to provide practical workplace skills for 14- to 19-year-olds alongside academic and vocational study, but many struggled due to low pupil numbers and poor Ofsted ratings.

A spokesperson for the DfE insisted that studio schools “remain popular and are providing their pupils with a good mix of academic and vocational education, alongside the skills valued most by employers”.

The government is “looking at existing studio schools and what we can learn from them”, and will “not hesitate to take swift and decisive action” against underperforming schools.

Government records show more than £50 million in capital funding has so far been spent on opening studio schools, though the data only covers 27 of those currently open, so the actual figure is likely to be much more.

Langley College students meet Pixar co-founder in VR

Gaming and IT students came face-to-face with the co-founder of Pixar during a lesson with a difference, reports Samantha King.

The group of students from Langley College, part of the Windsor Forest Colleges Group, wore virtual reality headsets and were transported into a virtual classroom, where they met the Oscar-winning animator Loren Carpenter, beaming in live from the United States.

Loren Carpenter in the virtual lecture hall

He talked to learners about his experiences working at Lucasfilm and Pixar, as well as upcoming projects he has in the pipeline.

“Through virtual reality, we can create a fabulous distributed classroom where anyone in the world with the internet can access a classroom and teaching,” he explained. “Students can experience what it is like at the top of Everest, or get inside a locomotive to see how it works up close.”

The exchange was facilitated using ENGAGE, a free platform that allows schools, colleges, universities and businesses to create a virtual classroom and bring together teachers and learners anywhere in the world.

Observing the session were educators from local schools and colleges, who were invited to see the technology in action by the event’s organiser, Christian Long, a gaming tutor at the Windsor Forest College Group.

“Like a drill in a carpentry workshop VR should be there being used every single day, rather than just showing it off as a nice little toy you might get out for Ofsted because it’ll look good,” Mr Long said.

“It is said we only retain 30 per cent of what we hear, but 90 per cent of what we experience. It’s why we can often remember our childhood holidays vividly, but not many of our school lessons. VR is an incredibly powerful tool for engaging students and helping them experience what they learn, so the lesson is never lost.”

Ofsted watch: Ambulance trust fares well in early monitoring visit

The first employer provider to have received an apprenticeship early monitoring visit resulted in a positive report, in this week’s Ofsted watch.

North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust was found to be making reasonable progress in all three theme areas, in a report published May 1 and based on an inspection on April 12.

The monitoring visit was undertaken as part of a series of monitoring visits that are taking place with a sample of new apprenticeship training providers directly funded through the apprenticeship levy.

Senior leaders at the trust were found to have “clear workforce strategy and operational plan” to ensure that apprentices “receive good-quality education and training to enable them to perform their job roles to a high standard”.

Apprentice recruitment was found to be “rigorous”, with all of those recruited from May 2017 still on the apprenticeship.

Most apprentices “make good progress” and “achieve the targets set for them”, the report said.

But inspectors noted: “Managers do not take apprentices’ prior learning and achievements into account when planning for individual learning needs”.

It was ‘good’ news for independent learning provider ALM Training Services Limited this week, as it received grade two across the board – up from its previous grade three.

But the report, published May 1, was based on an inspection carried out in March of just 12 learners.

Most of those, who were all on 16 to 19 study programmes, made “good progress in developing their knowledge and skills” and “achieve qualifications that prepare them well for purposeful employment”.

“Staff provide highly effective support for the many learners with challenging backgrounds; as a result these learners often excel,” the report said.

Leaders and managers were praised for having made good progress in “rectifying almost all the weaknesses” found at the previous inspection.

But they were also found to have failed to ensure that the “most able learners” were provided with work experience “early enough in their programme so as to enhance their industry-specific skills”.

Central Training Academy Limited saw its previous ‘good’ rating fall to ‘requires improvement’ in a report published May 1 and based on an inspection in late February.

“Too many” subcontractors for the independent learning provider had “underperformed over time” due to “quality assurance arrangements” that “lack rigour”.

And leaders’ actions “to improve the quality of the provision are not robust,” the report said.

“Too much provision” was “not good enough”, which meant that “too many apprentices make slow progress”, it noted.

However, “the majority of learners enrolled on study programmes and adult courses develop good knowledge, understanding and skills and make effective progress”.

Medway UTC was slammed by inspectors in a report, published May 4 and based on an inspection in March, that branded the 14 to 19 technical school ‘inadequate’ across the board.

Governors were found to have “abrogated” their responsibilities, and they, along with school leaders, had not “demonstrated that they have the capacity needed to secure the improvements needed”.

There was a “culture of low expectation across the UTC”, inspectors found.

The only college to have had an Ofsted report published this week was Writtle University College, which held onto its ‘good’ rating following a short inspection.

No adult and community learning providers had inspection reports published this week.

 

Independent Learning Providers Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
ALM Training Services Ltd 21/03/2018 01/05/2018 2 3
Central Training Academy Ltd 20/02/2018 01/05/2018 3 2

 

Employer providers Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust 12/04/2018 01/05/2018 Monitoring Monitoring

 

Other (including UTCs) Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
Medway UTC 06/03/2018 04/05/2018 4 –

 

Short inspections (remains grade 2) Inspected Published
Writtle University College  13/03/2018 01/05/2018

Leicester city council in row over ‘brokerage-style’ levy deal

Leicester city council is the latest public body accused of diverting apprenticeship levy funding away from frontline learning via a brokerage-style deal with a third party.

It awarded a contract to a firm known as Salad Skills last October, to operate as a “quality-assurance partner”.

This role involves identifying suitable providers to train the council’s levy-funded apprentices, and monitoring how they get on.

However, one provider involved with the council has claimed that the resulting progress reports are duplication of work that training organisations should already cover.

FE Week’s source is dismayed that the council is not paying Salad Skills for brokerage-style work, given that the firm is taking a cut of levy cash in exchange for vetting providers.

The cost is instead passed onto providers at the other end of the chain, which are being asked to hand Salad Skills up to 10 per cent of their payment for delivering the training after “negotiating” a fee.

“Salad Skills is contracted to provide ‘quality assurance’, which isn’t in the ESFA’s list of ineligible costs, so is technically allowable,” said a spokesperson for the disgruntled provider, which wants to remain anonymous.

We feel that the fee they are asking to carry out these services would be diverting ESFA funding away from delivery

“However, we feel that the fee they are asking to carry out these services would be diverting ESFA funding away from delivery,” she said.

Salad Skills has a contract, secured through an open procurement process, to run until September 2019.

An advert on the government’s Contracts Finder website indicated that the total amount of levy funding involved is £16 million, so Salad Skills could in theory earn £1.6 million.

A council spokesperson insisted the advert is misleading.

“As it stands, our annual levy contributions from October 2017 to October 2018 are predicted to be approximately £1.2 million,” he explained.

If replicated over the second year of the contract, “the maximum amount that Salad Skills could earn would be £240,000”.

The situation has been likened to controversial subcontracting arrangements that are increasingly frowned upon elsewhere in the sector.

This usually sees lead providers skim off a hefty cut of up to 40 per cent of their total funding allocation in exchange for providing “management” services to subcontractors which deliver the actual training.

The case in Leicester is a little more unusual, given that Salad Skills is operating on the employer’s behalf.

Other brokerage schemes have seen providers obliged to pay fees to the civil service, various NHS trusts and Nottingham city council in order to win and maintain levy-funded contracts.

Funding rules were supposed to have changed last year to prevent brokerage. They state that “funds in an employer’s digital account or government-employer co-investment must not be used for specific services not related to the delivery and administration of the apprenticeship”.

Both Salad Skills and the council denied that this covered their particular arrangement.

“We’re neither a broker nor charge commission fees, and our quality-assurance, learner progress reviews and administration processes are in accordance with the council’s contract and ESFA guidelines which stipulate can be bought in from a third party,” said the company’s managing director Sarah Cripps.

“We don’t select the training providers, but identify those that offer the required apprenticeship frameworks and standards and meet the council’s due diligence criteria.”

Its monthly progress reviews include feedback from learners on their tutors and covering how they are progressing.

“Our successes to date include the highest ever learner retention rates for the council, tracking at just over 98 per cent,” she added.

The council claimed that its contract with Salad Skills covers mostly level two and three apprenticeships, including with local authority maintained schools.

“All procurement decisions regarding learning providers are made by the council, after due diligence by Salad Skills,” a spokesperson said.

“Our partnership is the most cost-effective way of running our apprenticeship programme – saving the council an estimated £50,000 to £75,000 per year.”

Large public sector employers have been obliged to pay the levy for the past year. Their payments flow into an account from which they are expected to draw in order to train apprentices.

The ESFA refused to say whether Leicester City Council is breaking funding rules with its arrangement.

Public services student leads project to help Birmingham’s homeless population

A public services student is leading a new project to help Birmingham’s homeless population.

Nineteen-year-old Luca Buratti, a student at Stratford-upon-Avon College, has taken on the role of project leader in a scheme to turn a double-decker bus into a mobile shelter for rough sleepers.

The project is being run by the Rotary Club of Birmingham Breakfast, and Luca has been awarded membership of the group for his commitment to community projects and frequent charity work, including organising fundraisers for the Alzheimer’s Society, Blood Bikes and Warwickshire Hearts.

So far in his role as project leader, he has been responsible for securing the bus and liaising with the local council for permission to run the scheme.

“This is a fantastic project that will really reduce the problem of homelessness in Birmingham,” he said. 

“Luca certainly personifies all the best qualities we hope to encourage in our students. We are tremendously proud of him for what he has achieved and for his public-spirited attitude in general,” added Aimee Clayden, the college’s public service lecturer.

Governors ‘abrogated’ responsibilities at inadequate Medway UTC

The governors of a university technical college have been slammed for “abrogating” their responsibilities, in yet another damning Ofsted report into one of the 14-to-19 schools.

Medway UTC was branded ‘inadequate’ across the board in a report published this morning and based on an inspection in early March.

The verdict, which comes in the same week that former chancellor and UTC architect George Osborne said the 14 start age hadn’t worked, means that half of all currently open UTCs that have been inspected are now rated at either grade three or four.

“Until very recently, governors have abrogated their responsibility for maintaining a high standard of education in the school,” the report said.

Governors and leaders at the school, which opened in 2015, had not “demonstrated that they have the capacity needed to secure the improvements needed”, and had “failed to support staff at all levels to do their jobs”.

There was a “culture of low expectation across the UTC”.

The sixth-form curriculum was “too narrow” and “does not meet requirements”, with a “lack of suitable and relevant non-qualification activities” to support students with their “chosen study programmes”.

A-level outcomes in 2017 were “poor”, and students’ progress was “significantly below the national average”. Current student progress remained ‘inadequate’.

“Students had been accepted on to courses without having previously obtained suitable skills or levels of understanding,” the report said.

Communication and partnerships with local employers was found to be “variable”, with some parents and students expressing “disappointment” at work experience placements.

But inspectors also noted that, following a recent change in leadership, “senior leaders and governors rightly recognise that the current provision is inadequate and pupils underachieve significantly”.

Paul Cottam, who took over as interim principal at Medway in January, said he was pleased that inspectors had recognised the improvements the school had already made.

“We are clearly not there yet and more needs to be done to ensure that Medway UTC is a good school which offers the very best learning experience and outcomes for its students,” he said.

The school is in “advanced talks” with Howard Academy Trust about joining the multi-academy trust, he added.

Medway is the latest in a series of UTCs to have hit troubled times.

It’s the sixth of the specialist technical education providers currently open to be rated ‘inadequate’, and it now means that 13 of the 26 existing UTCs that have been inspected are rated either grade three or four.

A further eight UTCs have so far closed, largely due to recruitment issues – six of which were grade three or four at the time they shut their doors.

Speaking at a Commons education committee hearing on Wednesday, Mr Osborne, who was involved in the inception of the project, said the model “clearly hasn’t worked” and “if I was back at the Treasury I would be looking at that”.

“There was a question mark at starting it at 14,” he told MPs. “There is an argument that I was digging into before I left office that moving school at 14 is not always the easiest thing and people are reluctant.”