Change is coming – but can the apprenticeship market handle it?

Employers are paying too much for their apprenticeships, according to the Department for Education.

Officials “expected” employers would negotiate prices below the relevant upper limit they set before April last year, and the Institute for Apprenticeships since then.

But instead many employers pay top whack as, apparently, “they do not feel able to negotiate with providers”.

So the DfE says it’s considering “alternative funding band structures”, along with “changes to incentivise negotiation and drive better value for money”.

My heart sinks when I hear major changes may be coming before the new apprenticeship market is properly up and running.

Having said that, where any market is failing, it is important the government steps in and regulates.

But is there enough reliable market intelligence to make changes that don’t simply create a new set of unintended consequences?

There are no easy answers for the DfE, but given we are less than 10 months into the infancy of a completely new market, no knee-jerk reactions either, please.

Nick Linford is editor of FE Week

FE should be front and centre in post-18 education review

Derby College Group’s historic Roundhouse campus was chosen by the Prime Minister’s Office to host the announcement of a major review into post-18 education. Here, DCG’s chief executive Mandie Stravino reacts to the announcement and explains why the involvement of FE is a crucial part of the overall review

When we were approached by the Department for Education and the Prime Minister’s Office to host the announcement, we were surprised, as it is unusual for something of this magnitude to happen at a college.

But I think that it recognises the broad range of high-quality work that the FE sector provides and the positive impact that it has on social mobility across our communities.

The fact that Derby is one of the government’s opportunity areas, which focus on increasing social mobility through improvements in education, made it even more pertinent.

It also raised the profile of the breadth, flexibility and vocational strength of the higher education offer from the FE sector, which is too often invisible to potential learners and the wider outside world.

FE’s specialisms and proven expertise in technical/vocational routes are further expanded at higher education level and should not be underestimated

The reality is that colleges’ HE offers provide incredible technical options and affordable alternatives to people at whatever stage of life, whether they are looking to enter the workplace or progress their careers.

Following the announcement, three of our HE students, who are combining work with studying, had the opportunity to meet the PM. They have come to us from a mixture of employers from SMEs to global engineering companies – all of which are the bedrock of our regional economy.

The students articulated superbly the value they are gaining from the tripartite relationship between the individual, the employer and the college, which has enabled them to benefit from HE while working.

All three are studying qualifications that are relevant to their current jobs and their career aspirations. Their employers recognise the benefit of highly-skilled staff who have the drive and ambition to contribute to their own growth through the skills that they learn.

The broad range of offer through FE effectively enables young people of all abilities – even those who join us at basic entry level – to be inspired and flourish, and to work their way through to degree level work.

The fees we charge make HE accessible, including those young people wanting to stay closer to home, and to those who come to us while employed, who have the added advantage of earning as they learn and not incurring debt as they may have done through going the university route.

Mrs May spoke at length of the need to give the same recognition and value of vocational/technical higher education as academic routes.

FE’s specialisms and proven expertise in technical/vocational routes are further expanded at higher education level and should not be underestimated by this review.

I applaud the fact that the government is prepared to review post-18 education as a whole – whether at college or university – and recognise that, together, the system has something for everyone.

I would also urge the reviewers to include employer feedback, as it is employers who sponsor many students in FE.

We work with around 3,000 local, regional and national employers in a number of ways – including the co-design and co-delivery or our curriculum – whether it’s full-time, part-time or work-based, or an apprenticeship.

By listening to and working alongside employers, we ensure that our curriculum is responsive and relevant to the skills required by businesses and organisations both now and in the future.

Let us hope that the broad scope of this review will take all aspects of higher education into consideration including apprenticeships, access and foundation courses – recognising that all routes are valuable, will provide the skills needed by employers, and give everyone the opportunity to realise their career ambitions.

FE continues to have a vitally important role to play in this debate and, by actively participating in the review, this is an opportunity for the sector to gain the recognition it deserves.

Mandie Stravino is CEO of Derby College Group

What colleges need to know about careers guidance

Colleges have been warned they will lose funding if they don’t meet the Gatsby career benchmarks by 2020. Sir John Holman, who wrote them, explains what steps colleges need to take

Good career guidance has never been more important for college students, with the new technical education routes on their way and apprenticeships growing in status. Good guidance provides support to those navigating this changing landscape, and they’re critical for social mobility too, by helping open students’ eyes to careers they may never have considered.

In 2013 I was impatient with the criticism of career guidance in English colleges and schools. With colleagues from the University of Derby and backing from the Gatsby Foundation, I carried out an international study, a literature review, a national survey and a costing exercise to delineate what world-class career guidance looks like. This resulted in the eight Gatsby benchmarks.

-A stable careers programme

-Learning from career and labour market information

-Addressing the needs of each student

-Linking curriculum learning to careers

-Encounters with employers and employees

-Experiences of workplaces

-Encounters with further and higher education

-Personal guidance

The benchmarks are undoubtedly challenging to achieve in full; they’ve been crafted using the very best practice we’ve seen across the globe.

To ensure that what we envisaged was achievable, we began a two-year pilot in 2015 which included three FE colleges in north-east England. The results were clear: the benchmarks work. After two years, 88 per cent of the schools and colleges involved in the pilot were reaching six to eight. At the start of the pilot, no school or college managed more than three.

Each of the benchmarks has further detail that enables colleges to measure whether they are meeting it, which you can read in Gatsby’s benchmarks for colleges booklet. In September 2018, the Careers and Enterprise Company will be launching a new, college-focused version of a self-audit tool called ‘compass’, that colleges can use to measure themselves against these standards.

Good guidance provides support to those navigating this changing landscape, and they’re critical for social mobility too

The pilot showed that the same set of benchmarks can be used for both colleges and secondary schools – and it confirmed the value of having a consistent set of measures across both sectors. It also showed us that a careers leader, the senior member of staff accountable for the delivery of a careers strategy, is critical to both schools and colleges.

But the colleges told us the benchmarks needed a few subtle changes to make them completely appropriate for their needs: for example, the original benchmark five asks for an encounter with an employer every year. Colleges told us that with the world of work approaching, it needs to be more frequent than this. We consulted with colleges more widely across the country and as a result we’ve produced a modified set of Gatsby benchmarks for colleges.

The Gatsby benchmarks have been adopted as the organising framework for the Department for Education’s careers strategy, published in late 2017. In February 2018, the DfE published guidance for colleges, which uses the modified set of benchmarks, and it has since requested that every college name a designated careers leader by September 2018.

The Careers and Enterprise Company will also be expanding its support for colleges across all eight benchmarks, building on its successful enterprise coordinator programme.

Judging by our experiences in the north-east, colleges will find it valuable to have a clear, nationally-defined framework to work within. As Vikkie Morton, an assistant principal at Sunderland College, said: “We don’t need telling how important career guidance is for our students – we know that. What the Gatsby benchmarks give us is a clear framework for action. We know what we have to do, and we can measure how well we are doing it.”

Sir John Holman is senior education adviser at the Gatsby Foundation

Education secretary makes first official visit to FE college

The new education secretary encountered dancing robots and learned about cybersecurity during his first official visit to a further education college.

Damian Hinds visited New City College Hackney on February 9 to find out more about digital and tech education, and met students on games design, media and computing courses.
As part of his visit, Mr Hinds was shown how computing students had programmed robots to dance, and watched 2D and 3D animations made by the college’s aspiring games designers.

To round off his trip, the college presented him with a framed print of a Transport for London Elizabeth Line advert, designed by the college’s own graphic design learners, and which are currently displayed in train carriages across London.

“Like Mr Hinds, we are passionate about providing students with the very best opportunities to progress to strong careers and we are encouraged that FE is high on his agenda,” said Gerry

McDonald, principal and CEO of the college group. “We are grateful to the Minister for taking the time to see such a good range of our students’ excellent work, and to hear from them about their studies and ambitions.”

Blackburn College develops eco-friendly ways of fuelling aircraft

Blackburn College is developing more eco-friendly ways of powering aircraft vehicles.

A two-year research project will look at ways of converting wasted heat into power, with the college working in partnership with the National Aerospace Technology Programme, which is funding the research.

Students from across the college’s engineering, electrics, plumbing and art and design courses at both FE and HE level will be involved, assisting with designing and making a prototype thermo-electric power source.

“Work on the thermo-electric prototype, fabrication and design will involve students across a number of disciplines,” said Nicola Clayton, the college’s director of business development and external engagement. “This project offers a fantastic collaboration between education and industry which will provide students with knowledge and experience of cutting edge technologies.”

“Current energy technologies for aircraft are constrained to batteries, which are expensive and can pose fire risks,” added the project’s lead, Stavros Kindylides, the managing director of EU Eco Technologies. “Our project aims to replace battery technology, improve the environmental impacts of air travel and create more hybrid-electric aircraft.”

Other project partners include Cranfield University, Innovation Works and Systems, BAE Systems, HIVE Business Network and the Northwest Aerospace Alliance.

Suffolk charity shops taken over by students for a week to boost takings

Six charity shops in Suffolk will be taken over by college students in an effort to increase their takings.

Level three business and retail learners studying at West Suffolk College will occupy the shops from February 26 to March 2, using their business, visual merchandising and social media skills to encourage more people to visit.

The teams have already scoped out their stores and made plans for the shop-floor layout and window displays.

The students will be working in local branches of EACH, Suffolk Age UK, St Nicholas Hospice Care, Barnado’s, Cancer Research UK and the Salvation Army during the project, and will compete amongst themselves to see which of the six groups raises the most for their shop.

“We may be a charity shop, but we work just the same as mainstream retail to achieve targets and budgets,” said Bev Pepper, store manager of Barnardo’s in St Johns Street. “This will give the students an eye opener to how we work to raise money for our amazing children’s’ services and beyond.”

College wellbeing scheme has students thanking their former teachers

Learners have been sending thank-you cards to their favourite former high school teachers, as part of a college’s mental health and wellbeing programme.

Students at Birkenhead Sixth-Form College have been writing to their old teachers at secondary schools across the Wirral to thank them for their support and share their own achievements post-16.

The cards were sent as part of the college’s BePART (Be Positive, Ambitious, Resilient, Thoughtful) programme, a course devised by psychologists within the staff, which encourages healthy eating habits, teaches relaxation techniques and boosts students’ overall wellbeing.

“Showing gratitude has been proven to make a significant impact on a person’s outlook on life, and such a simple thing can go a long way,” said Mike Kilbride, the college principal. “It’s such a show of appreciation for the entire teaching profession and proves that what we all do, day-in and day-out, matters so much to the next generation.”

One student got in touch with their former English teacher at Woodchurch High School to say: “I believe everyone has a teacher who they always remember because of the impact they had on them. You are that teacher to me. Thank you for everything.”

Environmental charity invests in student activism

Eleven colleges are offering their students the chance to train as activists as part of a programme run by the National Union of Students and Friends of the Earth, reports Samantha King.

Operating in colleges in the east Midlands, Bristol, London and south Wales, the My World, My Home project gives learners the chance to gain the OCNLR level three award in community campaigning, and make a positive environmental change at their college through planning and executing their own campaigns over the course of six months.

“Working with young people is absolutely crucial – they’re the future of the environmental movement, and it’s a really great opportunity for them to develop new skills,” said Laura McFarlane-Shopes, community activism coordinator at Friends of the Earth, a major environmental charity.

“They’re learning the essential campaigning training, and making a really big impact on their local areas. I think equally the project has a huge effect on their confidence and their ability to manage projects. It’s a project management course in some ways.”

So far on the programme, participating learners have strived for a plastic-free college and campaigned for a more frequent bus service to and from their college, by taking 72 Double Decker chocolate bars with messages written on them to their bus operator, which agreed to meet them.

The initiative has received £999,074 funding from the National Lottery’s Big Lottery Fund which will enable it to reach 160 college learners at Richmond Upon Thames College, Newham Sixth Form, Newham College, City and Islington College, Nottingham College, Derby College, West Notts College, City of Bristol College, Bridgend College, Gwent College and Coleg y Cymoedd.

The funding, which is delivered through the Our Bright Future programme, provides for weekly meetings with Friends of the Earth, and one-to-one sessions every fortnight.

“It’s a deliberately intensive programme, working with a small number of students,” said Ms McFarlane-Shopes. “It is quite a rare opportunity as many funders do want big numbers, but Our Bright Future seems to really appreciate that it takes real time and investment to train and coach young people at this stage in their campaigning journey to achieve this kind of personal and environmental transformation.”

The NUS and Friends of the Earth are hoping to extend the project to more colleges in the near future, and are encouraging interested colleges to get in touch with either organisation.

“It’s incredible being able to bring together young people who might not ever come across environmental movement or environmental campaigning, and be able to provide a programme that’s really useful for them in a really practical sense for university or employment,” Ms McFarlane-Shopes added.

 

Why we should aspire to China’s approach to skills

As he prepares for the long road to WorldSkills 2021 in Shanghai, Dr Neil Bentley is ever more convinced that the skills future lies with China

It was great to hear the prime minister this week talking about the importance of high-quality technical training and international trade as a means of boosting economic growth.

The link between skills and trade is a key focus for us at WorldSkills UK, and in her speech at Derby College this week, launching a review into the funding of post-18 education in England, Theresa May demonstrated that she grasps the main issue that has held back the advancement of apprenticeships and technical training for too long: a lack of prestige.

Parents naturally want what’s best for their children and we  shouldn’t be surprised if over two decades’ worth of education policies, pushing the university route as the marker for success, have left parents with the perception that their children need a degree to get on in life.

However, the speech and recent public policy developments point to a changing landscape. 

All this demonstrates that we now recognise the need for academic and technical routes to be seen as equally valid.

In the WorldSkills global benchmark, China is number one

This is a welcome and vital shift in public policies as we face up to and get a grip on how to fill growing technical skills gaps across the economy identified in the UK industrial strategy.

The trick to enhancing prestige further will be to create more high-quality technical training aligned with business needs, boosted by trade and inward investment partnerships. And the UK can’t afford to stand still: technology is changing what we do at such a fast pace and, as the PM recognised, the worlds of AI, biotech and data science are real and evolving.

If we don’t evolve with them, we will be left behind. Evolving means having an army of confident, highly-skilled young people who are ready to be able to take advantage of the new opportunities around them. It means not just more apprentices but a new understanding of what technical skills are, why they are important and how they can allow us to compete globally as a nation.

That’s why, in her speech, the PM also spoke of a self-confident, outward-looking nation that seizes opportunities to trade.

This comes hot on the heels of her trade mission to China a few weeks ago. And as it happens, I was in China at the same time at the WorldSkills global leaders forum in Shanghai, helping prepare the ground for WorldSkills Shanghai 2021, when the Chinese will host the skills Olympics.

In the WorldSkills global benchmark, China is number one because at the most recent event in Abu Dhabi, they walked away with 15 gold medals to top the medal table across a raft of advanced skills that power their economy.

The fact the competition is taking place in China means that all nations will raise their games to show what they can do

I am incredibly proud of Team UK’s top 10 finish in the same competition, but the fact that China’s haul of golds exceeded our gold, silver and bronze medals combined demonstrates both the skills gaps we face and the level to which we should be aspiring.

During my time in China, talking with my peers from across the world about the opportunities presented by Shanghai 2021, I was convinced that we need to work more closely with the Chinese to develop skills around areas of mutual economic interest in relation to trade and investment, such as financial services, digital manufacturing and green tech. And we also need to learn about how they produce their world-class skills.

By grasping this opportunity, WordSkills Shanghai 2021 could not only be an important milestone in our international trade relationship, but our chance to demonstrate the high quality of British skills and the viability of investing across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

By competing to the world’s highest standards in apprenticeships and technical skills in the world’s most technically skilled nation, Team UK can help bring new investment to our shores. 

I’m convinced that the fact the competition is taking place in China means that all nations will raise their games to show what they can do.

We need to step up too and start preparing for what we can achieve on this global stage and in doing so, support the prime minister’s ambitions to help challenge outdated assumptions about apprenticeships and technical training, boost our economic growth and help more and more young people get the best start in work and life.

Dr Neil Bentley is chief executive of WorldSkills UK