Research commissioned by the Department for Education has found that employers may already be experiencing work placement ‘fatigue’ – even before the government’s reforms to technical education have kicked in.

The report, published today by the Learning and Work Institute and published this morning, addressed one of the key issues in the development of the new T-level qualifications – the introduction of a one- to three-month work placement for every learner.

“The evidence suggests that further investment will need to be made to increase providers’ capacity to successfully engage employers and boost the number and range of work placements offered to the levels described in the Skills Plan,” the report said.

But it added: “Concerns were raised at the workshops that employers may already experience fatigue as a result of the number of requests they receive from learning providers, and that a more coordinated approach will be necessary to ensure this issue is not exacerbated.”

It comes as Justine Greening addressed business leaders at the British Chambers of Commerce education summit in London today on the government’s plans to reform technical education, as outlined in last year’s Skills Plan.

These included a commitment of £50 million from April 2018 to fund “high quality work placements – a key component of every T-level – to help prepare young people for skilled work”.

This was not new money, but was instead part of the cash previously announced by the Treasury, which would see £500 million annual investment in T-levels from 2022.

The funding is being phased in, with £65 million coming in April 2018 – enough to cover the work placements commitment, with the remaining £15 million being used to “contribute to improvements in further education”.

Concerns have been raised across the sector about the difficulty in securing enough good quality work placements.

A key issue will be how to persuade thousands of businesses around England to offer the work-placements, something which is likely to require financial incentives.

Sufficient availability of local work-placements and travel costs could also be a major barrier for policy makers to overcome.

The LWI’s report was one of two projects commissioned by the DfE to look into work placements.

The institute, in partnership with workforce development body Fair Train, was charged with looking into what effective practice in work placements looks like and how it can be scaled up to the level required by T-levels, as well as identifying any challenges.

As well as calling for extra investment, it also recommended a “nationally mandated set of standards and guidance for implementation, moderation and assessment of work placements”, to ensure “a consistent approach across the country and ensure parity of learning for young people”.

The second project will be delivered by social cohesion charity The Challenge, and will focus on developing model work placement projects, based on research into existing good substantial work placements.

Apprenticeship start rocketed in the months before May when mandatory cash contributions from employers kicked in, the latest Department for Education figures show.

In the first half of the 2016/17 academic year apprenticeship start volumes were similar to the previous year, but between February and April they grew by 52,700 (47%).

FE Week understands the majority of this growth took place in April, a month before the levy reforms began, which for the majority of employers requires mandatory cash contributions  for the first time.

As reported in FE Week, the unofficial estimates put apprenticeships starts in May as very low.

So the figures released today strongly suggest providers and employers rushed to start before apprentices before the new rules and funding regime kicked in.

More to follow.

An “inspirational” refugee student from Salford City College has been crowned ‘BTEC student of the year’ at a prestigious national awards ceremony hosted by Pearson this afternoon.

The stunning Royal Horticultural Halls in London was the setting for the seventh National BTEC Awards, where 22 students, teachers and employers were singled out for excellence, from almost 1,000 applications.

The BBC television presenter and journalist, Steph McGovern, hosted the ceremony and unveiled Maryam Taher (pictured above centre) as the overall winner of the BTEC Student of the Year award.

Maryam – who is originally from Iraq – studies a level three applied science extended diploma course at Salford City College, and was also named ‘BTEC science student of the year’ at today’s event for exemplifying the “spirit of inspiration and dedication”, according to judges.

Her “devotion” to biomedical science took her from her home in war torn Libya in 2011, speaking not a word of English, to Salford, where she learned both a new language and achieved six A* and A grade GCSEs.

From there, she went on to Salford City College and in addition to her studies in December 2015, Maryam was named ‘Heart of Salford young volunteer of the year’ for her work in raising awareness of health issues among non-English speaking communities in her local area.

The panel said that after overcoming many “economic and personal hardships”, Maryam won a scholarship to study biomedical science at the University of York. On graduation, she plans to specialise in haematology, studying, diagnosing and monitoring different blood disorders.

The 21 other awards were presented by education and business leaders, including Peter Jones from BBC TV’s ‘Dragon’s Den’, who presented the award to the ‘business and enterprise student of the year’, Tiffany Boldand.

Meanwhile FE commissioner Richard Atkins presented the award of ‘college of the year’ to Bishop Burton College.

The college, based in Hull, is a specialist land-based and sports college with “impressive” student destination data. For the last academic year, 97 per cent of students went into employment or a higher level of study within six months of completing their course.

Pearson judges said Bishop Burton actively promotes BTEC as a pathway to parents and students, and that progression from one BTEC level to another is also heavily promoted through events such as the college’s annual progression week.

Its links with local businesses are “superb” and every single BTEC course includes a period of work placement with an industry-relevant organisation, judges added.

Rod Bristow, the president of Pearson in the UK, said: “BTEC provides a proven pathway, not just to a job, but to a career – whether that be directly, or via university. BTEC combines knowing with doing, practical with academic. It is the most highly regarded career-focused qualification in the world.

“The fantastic winners being celebrating at today’s ceremony exemplify the dedicated students across the country who have been helped to make progress in their lives and careers through BTEC and I am delighted to congratulate them on their well-earned success.”

Ms McGovern said it was an “honour” to host this year’s National BTEC Awards.

“I know from personal experience how BTEC, with its mix of academic and practical learning, helps all kinds of young people to engage with the subjects that they feel passionate about in a way that works for them.

“I salute all of today’s winners and entrants for the dedication and talent they have shown and wish them and all BTEC students, every success in the future.”

Main image: From left: BTEC awards host Steph McGovern, overall winner Maryam Taher, and last year’s overall winner Owen Woods

See table below for all of today’s winners

The major recent reforms to the UK’s apprenticeship system are still at a very early stage, so the talk by Keith Smith, one of the country’s top skills civil servants, to the Association of Employment Learning Providers’ annual conference was eagerly anticipated to say the least.

And while the director of funding and programmes at the Education and Skills Funding Agency might not have been able to answer the single burning question of the conference – what is happening with the adult education budget tender – he did give updates on many other issues, including new providers, non-compliant delivery models and the ESFA’s mystery shop.

Checks and balances for new, untested providers

Simply getting on the apprenticeship register is not “the end of the story” for untested providers, Mr Smith said, as he outlined the steps the Education and Skills Funding Agency was taking to ensure they were up to scratch.

More than 2,200 providers are now on the register, which represents “a big increase from what we had before”, he said.

He acknowledged that “often people are concerned” about such large number of untested providers – and stressed that getting onto the register was merely “the first hurdle”.

All new providers must now attend mandatory training, and the penalty for non-attendance is removal from the register.

“So it’s not ‘come along if you fancy it’. If you don’t come, you’re no longer there in that delivery space,” he said.

The next stage was a one-to-one visit to new providers.

“I hear lots of stories about people being worried about some of these new providers working out of their shed in their back garden or out of the living room of a property,” he said.

These visits were designed to “look at these organisations and to test the things that they told us when they applied to the register – do they have all the things in place to back that up?”

Any that didn’t would be removed from the register – and promptly.

“There won’t be a big long process. It’ll be very clearly understood what our requirements are,” he stressed.

The final stage in the process would start in September, and involves risk-profiling all the new providers.

Any that are deemed to be “medium- to high-risk providers” will receive an audit visit, he added, “and then we can see how they’re performing”.

“These are important steps for us to make sure we support you going through the process of delivering a good-quality experience but importantly to show that the process isn’t being compromised.”

Consequences for non-compliant delivery models

Providers using delivery models that are “contrary to the spirit” of the apprenticeship reforms – such as using employers as subcontractors “to recoup costs” – will face consequences, Mr Smith warned.

The ESFA is “starting to get increasingly concerned about some of the delivery models that we’re hearing about,” he admitted.

“What we don’t want to see is any provider trying to make an interpretation of what we’re trying to do in the wrong way, which just means that model becomes noncompliant.”

Where a delivery model is non-compliant, he warned, “we will intervene – and ultimately that’s going to mean that providers are removed not just from the register but potentially there’ll be some wider consequences for them as well”.

Using employers as subcontractors “seems to be a bit of a theme at the moment”, he said.

“Some providers want to get employers involved, making them subcontractors, getting them below the £100,000 radar and trying to get money back to the employer for stuff they do already,” he said.

“That’s just contrary to everything we’re trying to achieve here.”

Mr Dawe asked him to clarify what was and wasn’t permitted – as the funding rules do allow providers to subcontract to employers.

“You’re absolutely right, we want employers to have a place in the system where they can be engaged and they can be supported in delivery, that’s what we want,” he replied.

“What we don’t want to see is specifically where employers are being brought into the system, in essence to recoup costs that they would generally incur themselves anyway.

“It’s really important – my plea to all of you in the room – if you’ve got questions or uncertainties about a particular model you’re trying to get off the ground, please come and speak to us about that,” he urged.

The ESFA’s controversial mystery shopper ruse

The revelation that the Education and Skills Funding Agency had been “mystery shopping” apprenticeship providers has left some feeling “a bit hurt” – but Mr Smith insisted the agency wasn’t doing it to catch them out.

He admitted that staff at the agency had phoned a number of providers posing as employers, to check “how well we think the service reforms are coming through”.

“We think this is really important to test how the reforms are going down and to understand what is happening in the marketplace,” he explained.

Among the “very, very early impressions” emerging from the research – one which was likely to have riled providers – was the finding that “colleges are a little bit better at talking to employers about other needs and other requirements”.

He claimed that this was “in some ways understandable because some of those have other budgets other than apprenticeships”.

Other “key messages” included the finding providers were not doing “enough tailoring of the advice that’s being given to employers”, and not focusing on employers’ needs “strongly enough”.

Providers were also not doing “enough general promotion of apprenticeships and what employers can expect”, which Mr Smith said was important “to get employers wanting to invest in more apprenticeship activity”.

When Mark Dawe challenged him on the mystery shop, he explained that it was “not about trying to pull providers up for not doing the right things”.

“I talked about some of the things that you can reflect on, but I’m not saying to you ‘those are things that everybody’s got to do better’ because it’s bad,” he said.

“We’re doing it to see if the users of our services are getting access to the right information,” he said.

“We really do care that we’re doing enough to support you.”

Education secretary Justine Greening will today plead with businesses to help develop and deliver T-Levels, as part of an overhaul of vocational education from aged 16.

Speaking to business leaders at the British Chambers of Commerce Education summit in London, Ms Greening is expected to tell the audience: “I want to create an army of skilled young people for British business. But I need your help. Government can’t do it alone.

“Because that’s what we need, never more than now. A skills revolution for Brexit Britain. That’s the real strategy on migration.

“Great companies need great people. And my department has a mission to give our young people the very best start – to become those great people.”

In March, the Treasury announced a £500m annual investment in T-Levels, to increase teaching time for 16 to 18-year-olds by a third and include up to three months of work-placements.

However, as FE Week reported at the time, T-Levels won’t start to be taught until at least September 2019 and won’t be fully-rolled out until 2022.

So the £500m annual investment will begin in 2022 and prior to that it is being phased in, with the first installment of £65m coming in April 2018, more than a year before any of the new courses are taught.

This should not be seen as additional or new funding, something the Department for Education accept, as it was first announced in the Budget in March (image below).

The DfE has today said that of the £65 million, £50 million will be “spent on high quality work placements” with the remaining £15 million used to “contribute to improvements in further education”.

But when FE Week asked for detail on how this £65m would all be spent, or who would receive the funding, the DfE were unable to say. 

The DfE is desperate for help from firms to not only develop the content for the T-Levels within up to 15 vocational routes, but to also deliver the “substantial work-placements” from between one and three months (140 and 460 hours).

A key issue will be how to persuade thousands of businesses around England to offer the work-placements, something which is likely to require financial incentives.

Sufficient availability of local work-placements and travel costs could also be a major barrier for policy makers to overcome.

The DfE has already begun research into work-placements, with projects delivered by the Learning and Work Institute (see here) and The Challenge (see here).

In addition, Ms Greening will announce the current FE commissioner – Richard Atkins – will take on responsibility for sixth form colleges as well as general FE colleges.

Noticeably absent from the DfE press release was any reference to plans to invest £170 million capital funding to establish Institutes of Technology.

The government first announced plans for the institutes in July 2015, then again in its post-16 skills plan in July 2016, and then announced the £170 million capital fund in January of this year.

Since then only a leaked document has provided clues, followed by a mention in the Conservative manifesto but in a move that confused many in the sector, it referred to the work of universities.

However, in response to a written parliamentary question from Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner this week, Skills Minister Anne Milton said: “As part of our Industrial Strategy, we will launch a call for proposals to establish new Institutes of Technology later this year. The number of new institutions we approve will depend on the quality and number of bids we receive.”

Former skills minister, Robert Halfon, is to stand for election to chair the House of Commons Select Committee for education, FE Week can reveal.

Mr Halfon was reelected in May to his constituency of Harlow, but returned to the backbenches in a reshuffle after just under a year as minister for apprenticeships and skills.

The role of chair of the Education Committee is only open to Conservative MPs and others thought to be canvasing support in order to run for election include Tim Loughton, Dan Poulter and Stephen McPartland.

Final nomination are due in tomorrow with the election likely to be concluded on 12 July.

Hear from Mr Halfon on why he is standing for election in the next edition of FE Week.

Hundreds of learners on loans-funded courses are facing an uncertain future after their training provider received the lowest Ofsted rating.

Health and Fitness Education Ltd, in Lancashire, received an ‘inadequate’ across the board in a report published June 27.

It delivers training in health and fitness through government-funded advanced learner loans, and had around 225 learners taking courses at level three and four at the time of its inspection last month.

The rules are fairly clear: where a private provider under contract with the Education and Skills Funding Agency is rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted, the government usually terminates their contract with a three-month notice period.

But the Department for Education confirmed to FE Week that while it was aware of HFE’s report, it hadn’t made a definite decision as to whether it would withdraw funding, and would provide an update shortly.

Lee Cain, the managing director of HFE, remained upbeat – saying the advanced learner loan provision only represented a “small portion of our turnover” and the company was in “great financial shape”.

HFE recorded £499,409 shareholders’ funds in 2016, according to the company’s most up-to-date accounts with Companies House.

“As such we will not be going bust or cutting any jobs, irrespective of what action the ESFA decides to take,” Mr Cain told FE Week.

“I can’t speculate on what will happen in the future, but even if the ESFA did withdraw the funding, we’ve made a commitment to these students and we will support them until the end of their qualification.”

We’ve made a commitment to these students and we will support them until the end of their qualification

HFE’s contract amounted to £248,538 for advanced learner loans in March this year.

In previous occasions in similar circumstances, for example with the Darlington-based provider Focus Training & Development Ltd, the withdrawal of government contracts has caused providers to go bust.

Students on advance learner loans courses are then left with hefty loans debt but no qualifications to show for it as their training cannot be completed.

The HFE case follows an FE Week campaign to help students left with huge loan debts and no qualifications when their providers go bust.

We have been demanding government action on the issue since January, as part of #SaveOurAdultEducation, when we discovered cases like this for hundreds of learners at John Frank Training, Edudo Ltd and Focus Training & Development Ltd.

In April, after months of sustained pressure, the government said it would defer repayments for learners in such circumstances for one year – a partial victory in our drive for loans justice.

However, we are still campaigning on behalf of the learners for their debt to be entirely written off.

In HFE’s case, the provider has pledged to continue to deliver the training for its affected loans learners, until their qualifications are achieved, even if the government funding is pulled.

The DfE said that in circumstances where funding is pulled, it is the department’s priority to help affected learners as soon as possible.

In this week’s damning Ofsted report, inspectors said almost half of learners at HFE “do not achieve their qualifications” and of those learners who are successful, “too few” achieve their qualifications within the planned timescales.

Directors are also “not sufficiently knowledgeable” about the requirements of delivering public-funded qualifications, according to the watchdog.

Mr Cain said he was “naturally disappointed” with the outcome of the inspection and there have been some “key lessons learned” from the process.

“It was our first Ofsted inspection and this is the first time we’ve held a direct contract,” he admitted.