A college has complained to Ofsted about a grade three verdict on its 14-to-16 provision, which it claims failed to recognise the special challenges involved with teaching at this age.
South Devon College was rated ‘requires improvement’ for this headline field in a report published last week, in which its overall grade dropped from ‘outstanding’ to ‘good’.
The college confirmed today that it has complained to Ofsted.
“We are extremely disappointed that Ofsted was unable to recognise the innovative curriculum that we offer, the exceptional feedback we receive from parents, and the excellent GCSE results which our pupils achieve,” they said.
“The government’s new Progress 8 score measures the overall progress of pupils between the end of primary school at age 11 and the end of year 11 at age 16. Unfortunately, the report does not recognise either the fantastic progress which our pupils make in the two-year period with us from 14 to 16, or their progress to excellent destinations in A-levels, vocational courses, and grammar school sixth forms.”
It added that full-time 14-to-16 provision is “highly personalised with vocational options beyond what is traditionally offered in many schools”.
Examples of feedback from parents included such statements as “her confidence and grades have grown in huge amounts since joining”, “never did I imagine she could have increased her scores this much”, and “he has made fabulous progress, without a doubt the best decision ever made”.
Progress 8 aims to measure how students have advanced from the end of primary school to key stage four (14 to 16). It first took effect for provider accountability in June 2016.
Ofsted’s report on South Devon College warned that expectations are not always high enough for 14- to 16-year-olds.
“Staff expectations of what learners can achieve in some academic subjects, including English, mathematics and science, are too low,” inspectors wrote.
“Staff are too ready to use learners’ prior difficulties or negative experiences at other schools as a reason for underachievement. Many learners who join the school are of high ability and, even allowing for previous underachievement, are not pushed to achieve their potential.”
There were 150 full-time 14-to-16 learners at the college’s “high school” at the time of inspection, of whom 79 were in year 10 and 71 in year 11. A further 255 were part-time learners, many “electively home educated”.
A spokesperson for the inspectorate would not comment directly on the complaint.
“Ofsted does not confirm or comment on any complaints we receive,” he said. “That said, we take all concerns seriously and consider them as quickly as possible.”
Colleges have been able to teach 14- to 16-year-olds for the past four years, but relatively few do so. The Education and Skills Funding Agency only lists 19 that intend to enrol for that age from October this year.
You can read more on issues surrounding how colleges deliver 14-to-16 provision in a special investigation in the upcoming edition of FEWeek.
NOCN Group has launched a nationwide search for UK organisations that can provide technical and implementation support for skill development in India.
The government-backed “mapping exercise”, overseen by the leading UK awarding and apprenticeship assessment organisation, will identify organisations with the “capacity, ability and willingness to provide technical and implementation support” across the subcontinent.
The selected organisations will operate across the aerospace and aviation, automotive, infrastructure (building, construction and real estate) and renewable energy sectors.
The search was launched at the start of December and will run until the end of January.
“We are delighted to be part of this fantastic, ambitious international drive to meet India’s skills needs,” said Graham Hasting-Evans, the managing director of NOCN.
“Just as with our work in the UK, where we accelerate learning opportunities, this cooperative project will boost local, regional and national economies.”
NOCN is looking for organisations with expertise in training delivery, assessments, training of trainers, training of assessors, curriculum development, training pedagogy, centres of excellence, transnational standards, quality-assurance, and all other areas of sector-specific skills development.
A company spokesperson explained the brief.
“NOCN is delivering a research project on behalf of the UK government, to map UK institutions and organisations working in skills development and which are delivering, or have the capacity to deliver, technical and implementation support for skills development in India, either on their own or in collaboration with Indian institutions,” he said.
“NOCN is conducting the research in a joint venture with PublicCo, L&WI and NOCN India Skills Foundation.”
The project, which also has an international development organisation backing, will support the Indian government’s major Skill India initiative.
NOCN will aim to make contact with leading skills organisations and providers across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to assess their expertise and how they can work in India, and also analyse local markets to identify stakeholders and potential partners on the subcontinent.
NOCN is conducting the research during December and January when it will contact potential partner organisations.
At the end of January, there will be events in Indian cities to showcase and promote India-UK partnership potential, followed by the final report to be presented to the UK and India governments.
“We believe NOCN’s wealth of expertise, strong network and partnerships make us well placed to contribute to a wholly worthwhile programme that will bring huge opportunities to UK training providers and other agencies in the learning and development field,” added Mr Hasting-Evans.
“The Indian skills development market is forecast to grow almost 10 times from the current estimate of $2.5 billion to over $20 billion by 2018.”
Anyone interested should contact Stephen Ram Kissun, head of international business development at NOCN Group.
A prankster has caused confusion by setting up a fake Twitter account for a college and claiming it had closed for the day because of the freezing conditions.
The message was posted three hours ago from an account titled North Warwickshire & Hinckley College, with the handle @HinkleyNorth, saying that all “campuses are closed today due to icy roads and possible health and safety issues”.
All North Warwickshire and Hinckley College campuses are closed today Tuesday the 12th of December due to icy roads and possible health and safety issues (keep checking for any updates using the box or/ social Media’s)
— North. Warwickshire & Hinckley College (@HinckleyNorth) December 12, 2017
The college at first responded with posting before 9am from its official Twitter account, insisting that “this is a fake account and that North Warwickshire & Hinckley College is open at all sites to staff and students today”.
Please be advised that this is a fake account and that North Warwickshire & Hinckley College is open at all sites to staff and students today (12 Dec). Please follow @nwhcnews for official information https://t.co/Jf6zBUi2nm
The confusion mounted, though, when NWHC tweeted later in the morning to say it had decided to close its sites after all, “due to the continuing adverse weather conditions”.
“The safety of our staff and students is paramount and we apologise for any inconvenience caused. We will re-open 13 Dec,” the tweet said.
A spokesperson for the college explained further.
“This morning, we started to receive reports that a fake Twitter account has been set up announcing that North Warwickshire and Hinckley College would be closed all day. We retweeted that this was a fake twitter account and that the sites were actually open.”
But she added that the decision was then taken to close all of its campuses due to “the health and safety issues” that the weather posed to staff and students.
A total of 714 training providers have won contracts in the £650 million non-levy tender – nearly a third of which did not have an apprenticeships allocation last year.
It reveals that 714 providers have been handed contracts for the period between January 2018 and March 2019.
Although the document does not state the value of the contracts for individual providers, FE Week checked the ESFA’s allocations spreadsheet for 2016/17 and was able to filter which of them did not previously have an apprenticeships allocation.
This revealed that 227 (32 per cent) of the 714 are on their first apprenticeships contract.
A Department for Education spokesperson said it was unable to comment on exactly how many providers applied in the non-levy tender as it was still a “live procurement”.
Results for the £650 million procurement, for which apprenticeships minister Anne Milton has already apologised after its aborted first attempt and delays to the second, were finally released last Thursday (December 7) by the ESFA.
Our analysis shows that London has been worst hit; providers from the capital have generally only received a third of what they applied for.
At the other end of the spectrum, providers in the east of England came out on top, and were awarded nearly two thirds of the values of their bids. These variations came about as the ESFA attempted to manage demand across the country.
You can fill in FE Week’s survey telling us about your experience here.
A survey of civil servants working at the education watchdog shows a surge in approval of Ofsted’s leadership and ability to manage change this year.
The 2017 civil service people survey has offered the first glimpse into life at the inspectorate under Amanda Spielman, who took over as chief inspector from Sir Michael Wilshaw in January.
Overall, 63 per cent of staff had something positive to say about the organisation’s leadership and change management, up six percentage points on last year.
The biggest rise is in the proportion of staff who feel the watchdog’s top leaders have a “clear vision” for the future of Ofsted, up to 70 per cent this year, a 13-point increase.
There have also been rises in the proportion of staff who feel change is managed well at Ofsted (up eight percentage points to 51 per cent) and those who have confidence in the decisions made by senior managers (up seven percentage points to 70 per cent).
The proportion of staff who felt that when changes are made at the watchdog, they are made for the better, is also up seven percentage points, to 45 per cent this year.
Today’s survey results also show significant rises in other areas. For example, 82 per cent of staff said they had the tools to do their job effectively this year, up five percentage points on last year.
Three quarters of employees also reported feeling proud when telling others they are part of Ofsted, up five percentage points on 2016. The proportion of staff who would recommend Ofsted as “a great place to work”, also rose by five percentage points to 63 per cent this year.
An ‘outstanding’ training provider is facing a significant challenge to survive after it was only awarded a fraction of the funding it said it needed from the non-levy tender debacle.
Haddon Training, a private provider based in Wiltshire, has been delivering work-based training in equine, animal care and business services for over 20 years, but will now have to look outside of direct ESFA funding to keep its doors open.
It needed £2.4 million from the government to train apprentices with small employers between January 2018 and March 2019, but said it had been capped at £1.5 million because its historic apprenticeship starts delivery was at or below that amount for 2015/16.
The provider was forced to tender for that £1.5 million, but was awarded just £832,000 – two thirds less than the £2.4 million it originally required.
As a result, it is at a “significant risk”, according to David Grant, the chief operating officer for the firm that usually teaches around 650 apprentices every year.
“We have run this through our budgets, and by July 2018 our number of apprentices will drop from 650 to 160,” he told FE Week.
“We will make a loss of £243,000 this year and unless we can find another source of income, will most likely close.”
Mr Grant said Haddon Training was already struggling after funding for frameworks for their largest programme, equine, was reduced by half in May, even though there were “no new apprenticeship standards to move to”.
Seven months on, the standards for equine are still not live and they look unlikely to be available until next May.
“This has naturally had a significant impact on our finances and as a small provider, cash flow. We have however survived the storm,” he said.
Chris Hewlett
But he fears this non-levy allocation could be a funding cut too far.
“I do not understand the ESFA’s or governments logic,” said managing director Chris Hewlett.
“We work in a sector where there are no levy-paying employers, we enrol 540 16- to 18-year-olds every year, a priority age group, and are a high-quality, grade one training provider.
“Why does the government not value small, quality training providers and want to make our lives so very difficult and push us towards administration? Surely we are contributing to the government’s target of three million apprenticeship starts?” he asked in exasperation.
A Department for Education spokesperson said it was unable to comment on the non-levy tender as it was still a “live procurement”.
Haddon Training will not be the only provider to be hit hard by the outcome of the process.
Our analysis shows that London has been worst hit; providers from the capital have generally only received a third of what they applied for.
At the other end of the spectrum, providers in the east of England came out on top, and were awarded nearly two thirds of the values of their bids. These variations came about as the ESFA attempted to manage demand across the country.
You can fill in FE Week’s survey telling us about your experience here.
The chief executive of the Hart Learning Group has stepped down after three years in charge, it has been announced.
Matt Hamnett was appointed head of Hart Learning, which describes itself as a “charitable organisation with a mission to create social and economic value through learning”, in March 2015.
The group includes North Hertfordshire College and The Hart Schools Trust, which encompasses the Thomas Alleyne Academy secondary school and the Roebuck Academy primary school in Stevenage.
Two studio schools run by the trust, the Da Vinci School of Creative Enterprise in Letchworth Garden City and the Da Vinci School of Science and Engineering in Stevenage, closed this summer.
Hart Learning paid tribute to Hamnett’s “three transformational years at the helm” when it announced he had stepped down today, including adopting an “ambitious five-year strategy” and creating the emerging talent business Hart Learning and Development, which has recently signed major apprenticeship deals with companies including Co-op, World Pay, Pay Point and Avnet.
Hamnett described his time as chief executive as a “genuine privilege” and said he had “learnt a great deal from a wonderful set of colleagues and students”.
He added: “I’d like to thank them for their hard work and good humour as I wish them well for a future which I know will be very bright.
“For my part, I plan to take a break and smell the roses before deciding on my next adventure.”
North Hertfordshire College principal Kit Davies has taken over as interim CEO before a permanent replacement is found next year.
He said working with Hamnett had been a “real, different and development experience for all of us” and said Hamnett “leads differently to anyone I’ve ever worked with in the sector.”
He added: “We’ll miss his leadership, his sporting metaphors and his unique approach to staff communications. We will also, absolutely, maintain the trajectory of improvement we’ve established under his leadership.”
Acting chair of the group board of governors, Lynne Ceeney, paid tribute to Hamnett’s “passion, imagination and ability to engage colleagues in pursuit of excellence”.
She added: “We wish Matt the very best for the future – whatever he decides to do next”.
Apprenticeship providers in London are the biggest losers from the results of the much anticipated non-levy tender, after FE Week analysis revealed they were only awarded a third of their bid.
The ESFA last night informed providers of how much funding for apprenticeships with small employers they will receive from January 2018 to March 2019.
In the results letter sent out, the agency detailed how it decided the values each provider would receive.
“As set out in paragraph 6 of Attachment 2 of the ITT (Evaluation Guidance and Scoring Matrix), the awards for each individual budget were set through a pro rata process: for each of the 18 budgets, the Agency divided the total budget available by the total value of successful tenders to generate a pro rata percentage,” it said.
“The pro rata percentages were then applied to the value of the successful tenders in the respective budget groupings. The value of the pro rata awards at individual Potential Provider level was then combined to form a total contract award. (Any pro rata percentage that exceeded 100 per cent, was capped at 100 per cent so that resulting awards did not exceed tender values).”
The 18 budget groupings were made up on England’s nine regions, and then two different age ranges– 16 to 18 and 19 and over.
FE Week launched a survey immediately after the results release, and providers have been telling us their outcomes ever since. From this, we have been able to work out the proportion of non-levy funding awarded by age and region (see table above).
We will run out of non-levy funding by April and learners will suffer as a consequence
Our analysis shows that London has been worse hit; providers from the capital have only received a third of what they applied for.
At the other end, providers in the east of England came out on top after being awarded nearly two thirds of their bids. The variations came about as the ESFA attempted to manage demand across the country.
The second biggest losing region was the west midlands, followed by the south east.
London apprenticeship providers have been expressing their disappointment.
“As a successful college provider which has increased its apprenticeship delivery substantially over the past two years, delivering in a highly deprived part of London, this is an extremely low award,” Stewart Cross, director of information and integration at the College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London, told FE Week.
His college bid for £1.5 million but was only awarded £569,413.
“About 90 per cent of our current delivery, like many in London, is to non-levy payers,” Mr Cross added. “We will run out of non-levy funding by April at our current rate and SMEs and learners in Tottenham and Enfield will suffer as a consequence.”
Others, who failed to get a single penny in the tender, were even more annoyed.
North East Employment & Training Agency Ltd, a provider which has been running for 30 years and is rated ‘good’ by Ofsted, bid for just over £300,000, a tender which was “realistic based on our current levels of delivery”, according to its managing director Stephen Briganti.
He told FE Week his tender was successful but the pro rata awarding process saw any potential award fall below the £200,000 minimum requirement and the “end result of this is that we are being offered nothing”.
“To find out we have then been made unsuccessful based on a pro rata calculation taking us below the minimum threshold is devastating news,” he said.
“Had we been greedy/unrealistic in our request, we may well have received an allocation in line with our actual request.”
Some providers were just relieved to get any award considering the “year we’ve [FE] all had”.
After receiving £595,559, even though he bid for £1,044,500, Malcolm Armstrong, the managing director of Access Training Limited, based in the north east, told FE Week: “Not sure how I feel. After the year we’ve all had, anything could have happened. So, I am relieved we’ve got a contract, but disappointed in the allocation.
“Holding on to the fact that it is an ‘initial allocation’. We already had two growth cases approved so hopefully we’ll get increases through the year.”
With more and more councils introducing travel charges that deter learners from further education, the government has ignored the AoC’s appeal for a review of transport arrangements for post-16 learners with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND). FE Week investigates how widespread these charges really are, and considers their impact.
Two thirds of county councils are charging post-16 SEND learners for transport to and from their lessons, FE Week has discovered.
The Association of Colleges first requested a review of their transport arrangements last February, after FE Week reported on new charges instituted by certain councils in the north-east of England.
No review has been forthcoming, however, as the government insists statutory responsibility for transport for 16- to 19 -year-olds rests with local authorities, as it does for those with SEND up to the age of 25 who started a course before they turned 19.
It does expect councils to make “reasonable decisions” about how much, if anything, they charge.
Clare Howard
This begs the question: is anyone listening? FE Week set out to establish a national picture, and we found that SEND learners are charged for transport by 19 of the 27 county councils in England.
The amount they charge varies widely depending on the region, but some students are left with bills of almost £1,500 a year.
A spokesperson for Natspec, the membership association for organisations which offer SEND provision said that “transport is an issue for some students, resulting in a few not taking up their college place because they are not funded to attend”.
An increasing number of local authorities are trying to save money by offering day places to SEND students rather than residential places, she said, meaning some learners now face expensive journeys of more than 90 minutes each way – which causes them “stress and anxiety”.
“We know that budgets are tight and that local authorities aren’t necessarily breaking the law, as the rules are different for post-16 transport compared with school-aged children,” admitted Natspec’s chief executive, Clare Howard.
“But it is disappointing that budgets are not viewed longer-term as it can be a false economy.”
Eight of the 19 councils we identified have introduced charges since 2014. Two of them, Dorset and Suffolk, began charging this year, while Surrey and Somerset introduced transport charges in September 2016, and Hertfordshire and East Sussex in September 2015.
Only three had charges before 2010: Warwickshire (2004), Staffordshire (2007) and Lincolnshire (2008).
Liz Maudslay
“Students with SEND can often have to travel quite long distances in order to join the most appropriate study programme,” said Liz Maudsley, a senior policy manager at the Association of Colleges.
“It is a concern if any local authority charged unreasonable costs and thus prevented a student following the most appropriate course of study.”
In terms of impact on participation in FE and skills, the most recent government data shows that the total number of students with learning difficulties and other disabilities fell from 628,970 in 2013/14 to 606,600 in 2015/16.
The National Autistic Society’s policy and parliamentary officer, Catriona Moore, described our findings as “worrying”, as many young people on the autistic spectrum may only be able to attend appropriate providers if specific transport arrangements can be arranged and paid for.
“As part of local planning, councils need to look carefully at the needs of their local population of learners with special educational needs and disabilities and establish a clear plan, including funded transport wherever necessary for young people who are unable to make their own way to school or college because of autism or another disability,” she said.
The Department for Education reiterated that “the legal responsibility for transport to education and training for 16- to 19-year-olds rests with local authorities”.
A spokesperson said colleges were able to subsidise learners’ travel costs, if they dip into 16-to-19 bursary funding available “to support disadvantaged young people who need most help with education and training costs”.
Click to enlarge
Hertfordshire charges some learners over £1,400 a year
The most expensive travel assistance can be found in Hertfordshire, where the county council demands a contribution of up to £1,411 a year depending on miles travelled and days attending.
A spokesperson said the figure was approximately 20 per cent of the average cost for travel across the county, and would be charged to learners travelling between five and seven miles and attending five days a week.
Also among the top five approached by FE Week for comment, Essex county council ranked second, charging SEND learners £900 a year, albeit with a 50-per-cent discount available to those on low incomes.
A spokesperson said the charge was introduced “in the light of unprecedented financial challenges” and reflects the average cost of providing contracted or public transport to post-16 students.
“The reality is transport for students with SEND actually costs significantly more than the amount charged, so the council considers its approach to be reasonable,” he said.
Warwickshire county council has been charging post-16 SEND learners for transport since 2004 and this year the cost reached £765, with a 50-per-cent discount available for families on low incomes. “The price quoted is in line with our mainstream post-16 charges,” said a representative. “There are no plans to consult on changing these prices.”
Surrey county council has been charging students £3.68 a day (£699 a year) for transport since 2016, but did not offer a comment when contacted by FE Week.
In Somerset the cost has risen from £335 when it was introduced in 2016 to £675 this year. According to the council’s SEND travel assistance policy, the cost will rise again next year until it is the same cost as an annual “Love the Bus” ticket.
Two councils introduced charges for the first time this year: Dorset, where learners face costs of £640 (50 per cent off for low incomes), and Suffolk, where the charge is £630 but will increase by £30 each year.
A spokesperson for the Dorset local authority said: “The decision was taken to ensure that transport provision for all pupils is fair and equitable.”
Suffolk county council said on average the council still subsidies each SEND learner by £5,293 a year.
Map showing where councils are charging SEND learners for transport across England (figures taken from table above)
Charges in cities across the country can also be high
Transport charges levied on SEND learners in some English cities can also amount to well over a thousand pounds a year, where they are not covered by county councils.
FE Week contacted a sample of metropolitan district councils in Greater Manchester and Merseyside, and discovered that there can be a huge disparity in charges in areas close to each other.
For example, Liverpool city council does not charge for post-16 SEND transport, but nearby Knowsley council first introduced charges in 2014. Students are required to pay £3 a journey (£6 a day) which, over 38 academic weeks can add up to as much as £1,140 for learners who study five days a week.
Also in Merseyside, St Helen’s council consulted on whether to introduce charges this year; the outcome is still pending.
In Greater Manchester, Trafford council provides travel assistance for adult learners with needs for free, but charges learners aged 16 to 19 £200 per term (£600 a year) with a 50-per-cent discount available for those on low incomes. The council rejected proposals to raise the costs to £750 in April this year.
Both Stockport and Rochdale councils introduced a charge of £510 this year, and Bury and Salford are consulting on whether to introduce one next year, but in Oldham and Wigan post-16 SEND transport is still provided for free.
Salford city council’s executive support member for education and learning, councillor John Walsh, said the council had lost 47 per cent of its central government funding since 2010 and needed to make another £11.8 million of cuts this year.
“We are having to look at all services to make those savings,” he said.
We also contacted eight London borough councils, none of which charge for post-16 SEND transport.
“We believe everyone should have a right to access further education and do our best support families where necessary,” said a representative for Barking and Dagenham council.
Local government ombudsman warnings
The local government ombudsman has warned that councils are not doing enough to ensure special needs learners get the help they need.
New Education Health and Care Plans (EHCP) were introduced in 2014 as a way of providing more holistic and efficient SEND support for learners up to the age of 25. They covers, for example, transport, as well as health and social care.
However, the ombudsman reported in October that the first 100 investigations have shown that, far from making the system easier for learners and their families to negotiate, some are facing a “disproportionate burden” to get the help they are entitled to.
The ombudsman warned some students are missing out on places in colleges and schools, and are “ultimately failing to reach their potential” due to the long delays involved in the process, which is not supposed to take longer than 20 weeks.
Complaints about the system have doubled in the last two years, from 109 in 2015/16 to 217 in 2016/17, with the number expected to rise further. Investigators have upheld nearly 80 per cent of complaints received compared with the ombudsman’s average of 53 per cent.
NUS says findings ‘particularly’ worrying
The National Union of Students is campaigning for free or subsidised travel for FE learners to tackle the “huge problem” of poor transport for students.
The NUS’ vice-president for further education, Emily Chapman, said our findings demonstrate the scale of problems she hopes to address through the union’s “My FE Journey” campaign.
“It is particularly worrying to see councils introducing transport costs for student with special educational needs and disabilities, local authorities should be providing vital services like this,” she said.
“Our campaign will lobby for subsidised or free travel for post-16 learners and apprentices ensuring everybody can access and succeed in education and transport to and from their place of learning is no longer a barrier.”
The NUS campaign follows a Conservative Party commitment to cutting travel costs for apprentices in their election manifesto, but there has been no evidence the policy is near to being implemented half a year on.
