Movers and Shakers: Edition 231

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

Mike Welsh, Principal and CEO, East Riding College

Start date: January 2018
Previous job: Deputy principal, College of North West London
Interesting fact: Mike is a keen organic gardener, has an allotment, and keeps bees and chickens. He enjoys cooking this produce for friends and family.

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Chris Jones, Interim CEO, Bradford College

Start date: January 2018
Previous job: FE adviser, the Department for Education
Interesting fact: Chris is currently learning to juggle.

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Joy Kettyle, Principal and CEO, Waltham Forest College

Start date: March 2018
Previous job: Vice-principal for curriculum and quality, Gloucestershire College
Interesting fact: Joy took up golf over a year ago, but says the squirrels still dive for cover when she’s on the course.

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Sanjeev Ohri, Chief officer for business development and Dudley College worldwide, Dudley College

Start date: December 2017
Previous job: Vice-principal international and business development, Dudley College
Interesting fact: Sanjeev has an obsession with fashion, and has over 18 wardrobes housing 86 suits, and hundreds of ties, shirts and shoes.

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Caireen Mitchell, Principal and CEO, Croydon College

Start date: April 2018
Previous job: Group director of planning and performance, Capital City Colleges Group
Interesting fact: Caireen is a cycling enthusiast (her mother has banned her from talking about it) and will compete in this year’s Mallorca 312 event.

 

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

Non-levy procurement process was a lottery

The government’s non-levy procurement process wasn’t a fair competition because providers weren’t given all the information in advance, writes Patrik Knowles

Last December 7 was going to be a critical day across the sector, as providers found out the results of the long-awaited procurement exercise for “apprenticeship training to employers not using the digital account”, more commonly understood as “those employers who do not pay the apprenticeship levy”.

The results varied between providers: some celebrated success, some commiserated and others simply felt indifferent. The one thing the vast majority of us had in common, however, was a feeling of perplexity about the process the ESFA adopted, in particular its pro-rata methodology to calculate allocations for providers.

In the ESFA’s defence, we understand that it will not have known the calculation for this pro-rata methodology until it had received all of the tendered allocations within a specific region, but this lack of clarity only left everyone second-guessing.

Was this procurement exercise about quality or more about money?

As a ‘good’ provider ourselves, delivering apprenticeships to a wide range of employers large and small for over 20 years, we were disappointed to learn that we had not been successful. Passing the compliance and qualitative section of the tender was a great achievement, and we even scored maximum marks on one of the sections, but it came down to the pro-rata methodology, which subsequently reduced our allocation below the £200,000 threshold.

The invitation to tender document, paragraph 6.5 states: “The approach seeks to balance how the agency provides opportunity for growth, ensures stability of provision and encourages potential providers to submit realistic and deliverable proposals within the amount of funding available for award, taking into account factors such as non-levy historic delivery and experience in delivering all aspects of a contracted service.”

Like many other providers, we tendered for an allocation which was not only above the threshold but also one which was both realistic and deliverable as per the above, thereby ensuring we didn’t risk tendering for too much funding than we could deliver, an approach many would understand.

Furthermore, the ESFA made it clear that it was seeking to maintain stability of quality provision while recognising that the procurement would be a competitive exercise. Although this is an approach many of us would agree with, was this procurement exercise about quality or more about money?

Many high-quality providers with good track records, who passed the compliance and qualitative questions, were not awarded a tender based on the allocation they submitted because of a system likened to a lottery, which varied from region to region.

The vast majority would agree that the process lacked transparency

The vast majority would agree that the process lacked transparency. Had providers known the figures which would be used to make up the pro-rata calculation, everyone would of course have increased the allocation tendered for, including many successful providers which received a significant reduction in their original allocation.

The positive news that some providers have successfully appealed on the basis that their qualitative statements didn’t meet the required threshold mark also poses another question: if the ESFA has been able to revisit these tenders and overturn its original decision, does that mean there is the potential that the pro-rata methodology may have been calculated incorrectly?

A procurement exercise of this magnitude is always going to be a challenge for any government department, after all it is difficult to please everyone and you will always get winners and losers, but the sector’s passion for delivering quality apprenticeships will always lead us to ask whether some of those who missed out actually shouldn’t have.

Finally, I’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate those providers who were successful, wish those who are appealing their decisions the best of luck and acknowledge that, through our passion and dedication, we as a sector will all continue to work with the ESFA in delivering the quality, much-needed services to support the government in its ambitions on education and skills.

Patrik Knowles is managing director of HYA Training 

Carillion and the employer-provider problem

The collapse of Carillion is a sombre reminder that apprentices must, by law, be employees.

The government expects that when an apprentice loses their job, their college or training provider will support them to find work elsewhere to finish the course.

In fact, the funding rules permit a “break in learning” for a limited period for exactly this reason.

But, what’s different here is that Carillion was both the employer and the training provider holding the ESFA contract, in an arrangement known as an “employer provider”.

Carillion’s collapse means the apprentices are not only out of work, but their training provider no longer exists to help.

It’s reassuring to hear that on this occasion the CITB and some colleges are stepping in to help the apprentices find relevant employment.

But without the national media attention and pressure on government would the support be so readily forthcoming?

The government drive under the apprenticeship levy reforms has been to dramatically increase the number of employer providers (there are over 200 on the register of apprenticeship training providers).

How many more could fold so unexpectedly, leaving apprentices out of work AND without a training provider to support them?

Prisons careers advice contracts ‘termination’ fears

Contracts to provide careers advice to prisoners appear to have been terminated without any replacement, according to a pressure group, which is demanding answers from the new prisons minister.

Professor Tom Schuller, the chair of the Prisoner Learning Alliance, has written to Rory Stewart today, claiming that changes will mean that “the current service to prisoners will simply stop” from April 1 without “any clear alternative” until the autumn at least.

“We have been informed that the Education and Skills Funding Agency has written to providers of the National Careers Service to terminate that part of their contracts relating to careers advice for prisoners in custody from April 1, 2018,” he wrote in the letter.

Neither the ESFA nor the Ministry of Justice were able to comment ahead of publication on the issue.

However, the PLA is convinced that the prisoner career advice service is being stopped, after it received complaints from members and saw correspondence from the National Careers Service, which FE Week has already seen.

“I understand that the ESFA has happily extended the rest of the NCS contracts in so far as they relate to careers advice in the community until the autumn, while a procurement for the replacement service is carried out; the prison part of the contract is the one part being terminated,” the PLA chair said.

He is aware that the MoJ is working on plans to provide “replacement services for information, advice and guidance services”, but he fears these “cannot be in place until the autumn at the earliest”.

The effect of this decision, he warned, would be to force current NCS providers to make hundreds of staff currently delivering careers advice in prisons redundant.

The PLA admits there are weaknesses in how the current NCS contract operates in prisons: “it is essentially designed for clients in the community and does not address needs in prisons very effectively”.

“But despite the constrictions of the formal contact, many NCS staff deliver much-needed and highly valued service to prisoners to assist them with their rehabilitation so that they can gain employment and lead constructive law-abiding lives on release,” the letter added.

Prof Schuller concluded by asking the minister, who has only been in place since January 9, to “urgently clarify” the rationale for this decision, and “how much needed careers advice and support will be provided to prisoners once the contracts terminate and any alternative is ready to be put in place”.

Former chair of the National Careers Service Dr Deirdre Hughes also made her concerns clear. “FE providers and careers advisers working with this group now face uncertainty and, in some cases, possible staff redundancies,” she said. “This disjointed policy between government offices needs to be revisited as a matter of urgency.”

 

Update at 2.11pm on January 18: A Ministry of Justice Spokesperson said: “We are committed to providing education and training to deliver more effective rehabilitation to address the needs of offenders. The Education Skills Funding Agency National Careers Service contract for services in custody ends in March 2018.”

Milton attempts to reassure SFCs’ cash concerns

Funding concerns will be acknowledged in a speech from the skills minister, who is to assure delegates at the Sixth Form Colleges Association conference that she will always fight their corner.

Anne Milton will attempt to strike a reassuring tone when she addresses the conference in London this morning.

“I am determined to see the sixth-form sector get the recognition it deserves,” she will say. “I will always be your advocate in government. The work that you and your colleagues do to transform the lives of young people is so important for them and for the country. You change lives.”

She will also repeatedly refer to funding, which is a touchy subject among members after the Department for Education last week ruled out increasing funding for 16- to 18-year-olds next year.

This flew in the face of the Support Our Sixth Formers campaign, back by the SFCA and FE Week, which has been warning the sector is at “tipping point”.

“Yes, we will always return to the question of funding in the longer term and will want to continue to talk to the sector about how to secure the high-quality education all our young people need, but to do this in an sustainable and affordable way,” Ms Milton will say.

The funding rate for 16- to 18-year-olds has remained unchanged for six years, and even Amanda Spielman, Ofsted’s chief inspector, warned during her speech at the launch of the Ofsted annual report in December that the “sector will continue to struggle” without an increase.

Ms Milton will refer to the issue again in her closing remarks.

“As ministers we are fortunate to have very helpful officials who draft us our speeches,” she will say.

“And like many draft speeches, I read the conclusion ended with the words that ‘this is a hugely exciting and challenging time’. What does that mean? It is possibly political speak for the fact that the challenge is money.

“But I guess it is exciting too. Exciting because with the government focus on social mobility we have a choice to change people’s lives.”

Ms Milton will also refer to efforts to “harness capacity” through “collaboration”, rather than “relying on competition to achieve improvement”.

“We have recently recruited the first of our new cohort of national leaders and I am pleased that this includes Peter McGee”, principal of the ‘outstanding’ St John Rigby Sixth Form College in Wigan, she will add. “He will work to help improvement in colleges”.

The national leaders will work under FE commissioner Richard Atkins to support struggling colleges.

“Our members will be pleased to hear the minister pledge to be our advocate in government, and we hope that she will continue to do everything she can to ensure sixth form colleges can continue to act as engines of social mobility,” said Bill Watkins, chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association.

“Young people from all backgrounds benefit from the kind of environment the sixth-form colleges provide: one where rigorous academic standards are expected, where it is safe to love learning, where everyone has access to individualised pastoral care and support, and where there is a fantastic array of extra opportunities and experiences outside the classroom.”

FE sector steps in to help stranded Carillion apprentices

FE providers are rallying to help more than 1,000 apprentices affected by the collapse of the outsourcing giant Carillion, but many more places are needed to ensure everyone’s qualifications are saved.

The UK’s largest employer of construction apprentices went into liquidation on Monday, leaving the future of around 1,400 trainees, mostly 16- to 18-year-olds, uncertain.

Since then, the Construction Industry Training Board has asked all former Carillion apprentices to get in touch so it can help them continue their training – and for employers to come forward to take them on.

FE providers have now started offering support by opening their doors to those affected.

“We take our responsibility to our local community seriously and we’re working with CITB, our local authority partners, and directly with students and apprentices who have had their learning disrupted,” said Simon Cook, principal of Mid-Kent College, which ended a subcontracting arrangement with Carillion in June last year.

“Our priority at this stage is to identify the needs of those students, and the most appropriate and effective ways we can support them.”

BMet College also stopped working with Carillion last year but has offered similar aid.

Our priority is to identify the needs of those students, and the most appropriate and effective ways we can support them

“As we have a longstanding partnership with the CITB, we are engaged with them to see if there is any way that those apprentices without a training provider may still complete their qualifications,” a spokesperson told FE Week.

Middlesbrough College added that it is currently working with one Carillion apprentice to “find an alternative apprenticeship position”.

Merseyside and Cheshire have the largest number (235) of Carillion apprentices to place. All of those trainees were invited to an event run by the CITB today at Hugh Baird College in Liverpool.

“We are very keen to support the apprentices and ensure that they can continue their education,” said Vicky Edwards, assistant principal at Hugh Baird College.

“Thanks to our longstanding partnership with CITB and extensive links with employers across the region, we are confident that we can work together to help place as many apprentices as possible.”

Apprentices left anxious about their futures need all the support and advice they can get, according to Liz Green, the mother of one former Carillion trainee, who she says has been “kept in the dark” since the beginning of the week.

Her son, Alex, had six months left of his level two construction apprenticeship before he was told about the collapse on Monday when he got home from his placement in Birmingham.

The 19-year-old was contacted the next day and told he would be paid as normal until the end of the month, but since then communication has been sparse, and he now fears he’ll end up with no qualification.

“I think it’s disgraceful,” Ms Green told FE Week. “The whole situation is a mess and has been handled badly from the start.

“The staff and apprentices have been kept in the dark. The managers of Carillion obviously knew what was ahead and yet they still carried on.

“They offered apprenticeships to school leavers as recently as August and September. I can only hope that someone steps in to protect the services they provide.”

Carillion was the second biggest construction firm in the UK.

Its apprentices learned at its training division, Carillion Training Services, primarily in bricklaying, carpentry and joinery.

The staff and apprentices have been kept in the dark

The provider held a £6.5 million ESFA contract last year and was rated ‘requires improvement’ by Ofsted in December 2016.

The CITB said it has worked with the ESFA to ensure funding is available so that it can “continue to support the training for Carillion apprentices”. 

A spokesperson added that it has attempted to contact all 1,400 apprentices, but that not everyone has been reached. It hopes to start placing the first apprentices with new employers as early as next week.

Meanwhile, political screws are turning on new the education secretary Damian Hinds to provide clear information on how the government will safeguard the apprentices.

The chair of the education select committee, Robert Halfon, wrote to him yesterday asking for an “assessment” of how many apprentices may be affected through the longer Carillion supply chain.

“The committee understands that the ESFA is working closely with the CITB and hope that this will result in no learner losing out through no fault of their own,” he wrote.

Shadow skills minister Gordon Marsden has also written to Anne Milton, asking the skills and apprenticeships minister what she is doing to “assess the potential hit that the skills sector could suffer as a result and what contingencies are you putting in place for this?” You can read his full letter here.

A Department for Education spokesperson told FE Week on Monday that it has “taken steps to protect learners by transferring the training of Carillion apprentices to the CITB”.

The CITB is hosting free support events on January 18 and 19 for any Carillion apprentices in need of face-to-face advice.

They can contact CITB on carillion.apprenticeshipsupport@citb.co.uk or 0344 994 4010.

Office for Students board must have FE representation

The OfS board has no FE representation – as the DfE recently admitted to MPs. Emily Chapman wants this remedied (and at the IfA) right now.

Further education is a central component of the higher education sector in this country, but it seems this government is hell-bent on ignoring this truth at every turn.

With 218 colleges providing undergraduate and postgraduate courses in the UK, the vast majority teaching foundation degrees, and one in 10 people studying HE in an FE environment, it is astounding that the government’s controversial new university regulator, the Office for Students, has no dedicated FE representation on its board.

This adds insult to injury next to the chaotic and inappropriate appointment of Toby Young

Students experience post-16 education in very different ways, and part of the OfS’ remit is to analyse this experience at a national level. With so many students studying HE in a college, the body has a clear knowledge gap: no-one can speak on their behalf on the current board. We already struggle to measure how these particular students experience their education, and without FE representation on the board we risk exacerbating these existing problems.

Since the OfS’ inception, the NUS has argued that the one seat on the board reserved for the “student experience” was not good enough. Our president, Shakira Martin, is a welcome member of the student panel appointed to advise the OfS. However she is the only one who appears to be a former FE college learner. This is simply not good enough.

Not only this, the board proper has failed to appoint any of the applicants interviewed for the student representative position, and have instead made do with a one-year appointment from the student panel. This adds insult to injury next to the frankly chaotic and inappropriate appointment of Toby Young.

READ MORE: Top DfE official admits FE not represented on Office of Students board

If the government wants to actually progress on its commitment to widening participation and equal access to university, it must show its understanding of the central role colleges play. Underrepresented groups benefit when the role FE plays in access to HE is accurately examined.

Any further commitment the government makes to widening participation in HE must provide more financial support and policy attention to FE colleges. This is the only way to truly boost social mobility. If the OfS fails to consider the state of FE, postgraduate numbers will continue to decline, dropout rates will increase and underrepresented groups will continue to be failed by a system that promises something it is ill-equipped to deliver. 

Being denied representation at the highest level is no new thing. In 2016 something similar happened in relation to apprentices and the body that was set up to ensure the “high-quality of apprenticeships in England”: the Institute for Apprenticeships.

Shakira, who was VP for FE at the time, demanded two full seats on the board of the IfA. Instead, an apprentice panel was set up “to report directly to the board”, but no representation was appointed to the board itself. The then-minister had no satisfactory answer to this.

Toby Young

Learners and trainees have a huge role to play when it comes to understanding the quality of an apprenticeship, and arguments like “they wouldn’t have enough experience or be able to deal with governance responsibility” are frankly undermining and patronising. In fact learners have a wealth of experience and are the only ones who know what it is truly like to go through the working/learning aspect of their studies, and the application process.

In the same way that there is a diversity of experiences in HE, apprentices face a host of different challenges across the specialisms. Learners’ and apprentices’ voices go hand-in-hand, and with a new leadership team at the Department for Education we have a real opportunity to change who is listened to at the highest level. Damian Hinds and Sam Gyimah have a task on their hands, but a good place to start is finding adequate representation for FE students at both the Institute for Apprentices and the Office for Students.

Emily Chapman is VP of further education at the National Union of Students

Top DfE official admits FE not represented on Office of Students board

FE has “no representation” on the board of the new higher education regulator, a leading figure at the Department for Education has admitted.

The DfE’s permanent secretary, Jonathan Slater, told a public accounts committee hearing on Monday that it was “correct” to say that the further education sector was not represented on the board of the Office for Students.

Mr Slater said there had been “quite a lively debate” in Parliament over whether certain positions should be reserved for certain representations, adding: “We have overseen the process of appointing it in accordance with what Parliament agreed in the act, which wasn’t a specific representation from that sector.”

However, he would not be drawn on whether representatives from FE should have been included on the board, but claimed the conclusion had been for people to be appointed based on their job description and “that is what ministers did”.

Mr Slater’s admission directly contradicts the claims of ex-universities minister Jo Johnson, who said FE was represented on the board through Monisha Shah, the chair of Kent arts college Rose Bruford College, during a parliamentary debate on January 8.

However, despite the DfE’s insistence that the college is an FE body, FE Week established that Rose Bruford is officially classified as a higher education institution and receives no FE funding.

A student panel appointed to advise the Office for Students appears to feature only one former FE college learner, the president of the National Union of Students, Shakira Martin, who was once president of the student union at Lewisham Southwark College.

The NUS’ vice-president for further education, Emily Chapman, warned that the government is “hell-bent on ignoring” how central FE is to the HE sector, and said it was “astounding” that there was no dedicated FE representation on the board.

READ MORE: Office for Students board must have FE representation

She added that greater understanding of the role colleges play in widening participation to universities was vital for boosting social mobility.

“If the Office for Students fails to consider the state of FE, postgraduate numbers will continue to decline, dropout rates will increase and under-represented groups will continue to be failed by a system that promises something it is ill-equipped to deliver,” she warned.

A spokesperson for the DfE said: “Candidates were chosen to ensure there is balance of experience and skills on the board. Each appointment will be vital to the role of the new higher education regulator and we remain confident it will deliver for students.”

She added that the process to recruit a board member to replace Toby Young, who resigned last week, would commence “in due course”. 

 

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Professor Alison Wolf recommended that all young people should be able to gain real experience and knowledge of the workplace

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NCFE Study Programmes explained

NCFE Study Programmes aim to maximise learner progression to the next stage of education, employment or an apprenticeship. There are various pathways that NCFE can offer from substantial qualifications at level 2 and level 3, to Functional Skills and additional qualifications at level 1, which all contribute to a well-rounded programme of study.

NCFE Applied Generals are level 3 qualifications aimed at post-16 learners who wish to continue their education through applied learning. These qualifications are included in the performance tables for technical and vocational qualifications and don’t require work placements/employer involvement in the delivery of the qualification. They are assessed through a mixture of internal and external assessment.

NCFE Tech Certs and Tech Levels are level 2 and 3 qualifications aimed at post-16 learners to equip them with the knowledge and skills they need for skilled employment or further technical study. Tech Certs and Tech Levels do have elements of work placement, which allow learners to apply knowledge in real work environments.

Substantial qualifications are level 2 and 3 qualifications aimed at post-16 learners to develop their knowledge and skills in their chosen vocational area. These qualifications are assessed through a portfolio of evidence with no external assessment and may be suitable for a variety of learners including those who do not perform at their best under exam conditions.

Maths and English are an important component of the study programme and learners are expected to hold at least a GCSE in Maths and English (grade 4 or grade C). Learners who have achieved a grade 2 or below, or grade E or below, are able to study an alternative qualification such as Functional Skills. Learners could increase their chances of success in achieving Maths or English by studying Functional Skills, as these focus on developing practical skills and applying them to real life situations.  

NCFE also offers a range of employability and smaller qualifications to help learners succeed in their chosen career. From CV writing and developing enterprise skills, to health and safety and substance misuse awareness, they develop learners’ transferrable skills, improve confidence and help to support progression and employment outcomes.

A package of resources to complement study programmes

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These resources combined with work experience, which is another key principle of the 16-19 study programme, aim to give young people the opportunity to develop their career choices and improve those critical employability skills needed for real working conditions.

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