New children and families minister must continue to implement SEND reforms

With Edward Timpson a shock casualty of the election, we can’t let his SEND overhaul drop off the agenda, says Clare Howard

Edward Timpson, the minister overseeing a complete overhaul of the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) system, lost his seat at the election. Widely respected for his dedication and passion, he will a hard act to follow.

It remains to be seen how a new minister will affect the future policy, but what lessons can those working to implement the SEND reforms learn from the election itself?

1. Negative campaigning doesn’t work

Those that ran the Remain campaign during the EU referendum admitted their biggest mistake was to focus on the negative consequences of Brexit.

But Theresa May’s general election campaign made the same mistake, and voters – especially the young – ignored the screaming headlines.

Those of us implementing reforms must take heed. Dame Christine Lenehan and the team working on the review of independent specialist schools and colleges have already indicated there is too much criticism and negativity from all sides, and more should be done to focus on common ground, to produce the outcomes we are all working towards.

2. Leaders need to be inclusive, approachable and visible

One of the many talking points of the campaign was Ms May’s leadership style: the repetition of “I” rather than “we”, the no-show in the debate, the closed inner circle, and the lack of consultation with cabinet ministers on key policy lines. Contrast Jeremy Corbyn’s open rallies and straight-talking leadership style, which caused even his fiercest critics inside the Labour Party, who believed him to be unelectable, to eat humble pie by the end of the campaign.

With a disparate and uncoordinated SEND system involving 150 LAs handling high-needs budgets, mainstream and specialist FE providers barely coping with increased administrative costs and reduced budgets, increasingly frustrated parent and community groups, and around 25,000 FE students in the middle of it all, the question is: do we have the leaders across the system with the skills to bring people together, inspire and motivate?

3. Confidence can become a weakness

There’s a fine line between confidence and arrogance. Ms May displayed both during the course of the campaign, and the electorate refused to be told what to do.

Let’s make sure we do not fall into the trap of repeating mantras and soundbites from the SEND code of practice, without clear action. The latest SEND data shows that there is a long way to go before the system is truly person-centred, transparent, easy to navigate, and efficient.

4. Beware assumption and echo chambers

With social media now the main source of information for many, we are all guilty of confirmation bias: surrounding ourselves with views, memes, articles and videos we agree with, and ignoring contrary evidence.

There are too many assumptions and false perceptions driving SEND policy, particularly relating to post-19 provision, and these need to be challenged.

5. Don’t mess with the young, the old or the vulnerable

Whether the issue was school budgets, student fees, FE and skills, the dementia tax or the future of the NHS, the Conservatives underestimated the capacity of people to register a protest. For SEND policy and funding, now could be the time to work out a new approach to joining up health, education and social care budgets so that post-16 and post-19 students can receive integrated programmes that result in savings in the longer term.

6. Protect core values

Any reflections on the campaign cannot ignore the atrocities in Manchester and London. The response of everyone involved demonstrated courage, unity, and determination not to allow these events to interrupt the democratic process.

The young people we work with demonstrate a similar unbreakable sprit, and whoever takes over from Edward Timpson must show courage of convictions, work hard to protect the principles of the Act, and finally achieve the vision that he set out.

 

Clare Howard is CEO of Natspec

Small sixth forms are no longer viable

The highest standards can be found at large, specialist sixth-form centres, claims Bill Watkin

This year has been an important one for specialist sixth form colleges: the first new A-levels and BTECs are in place, area reviews are at an end, the first academy conversions, and a growing sector as new sixth form specialists have opened. Next year promises to bring just as many challenges, and opportunities.

In its election manifesto, the Conservative Party adopted the second recommendation in our election manifesto and committed to a major review of funding across tertiary education. This acknowledgement, that funding for post-16 students is inadequate, is a welcome development. The danger is that a future government, focused on its industrial strategy and the skills agenda, will concentrate on technical education and apprenticeships, and will overlook the academic and applied pathways that lead to universities and beyond. If we are to remain globally competitive, and if the industrial strategy is to work, we will also need students with A-levels and degrees. This, then, is the top priority for sixth-form education: sufficient funding levels for the sector.

Colleges must balance high standards with viable numbers

At the start of the new year, as the impact of the first wave of reformed GCSEs, A-levels and BTECs is felt, schools and colleges will try to make sense of students’ grades in new linear qualifications while busily preparing for the second wave of subjects coming on stream in September 2018. Working out what entry-level requirements make sense, how to set targets and show in-year progress are what’s preoccupying teachers. With this in mind, sixth-form colleges will come together to develop a national framework that can be adopted, or adapted, across the country.

The population bulge has not yet reached the 16-to-19 age group and competition to attract new students is as strong as ever. Colleges must balance the need to maintain high standards with the need to recruit viable numbers – not easy when there is uncertainty about what the new GCSE grades tell us about students’ ability and their suitability for advanced study. The lack of strategic planning is leading to a glut of sixth-form provision in some areas and a shortage in others. The government’s decision to involve 16-to-19 specialists in headteacher board discussions is a welcome development and should go a long way to ensuring a more joined-up approach.

Teacher recruitment is increasingly a worry, and colleges are exploring the part they can play in attracting new recruits to the profession. There is the possibility of a gap year placement scheme to give young people an opportunity to experience working life in a college environment, and colleges can help to develop and lead the apprenticeship pathway into teaching.

As we move from a Local Authority model to a network of multi-academy trusts, and as the self-improving system gains traction, system leadership is becoming an increasingly important consideration for sixth-form colleges, the majority of which are strong, secure, well-run and successful organisations that have a great deal to offer. Several are already involved in academy sponsorship, others are drawing up plans to form or join MATs, or open satellite 16-to-19 free schools, and more and more are in teaching school alliances. The government wants a maths specialist school in every major city and sixth-form colleges are well-placed to support this policy and make it happen.

Small sixth forms are no longer viable, and we need more school places for 11-16 year-olds. Now is the time to reduce the number of unsustainable school sixth forms and expand the number of large specialist sixth-form centres, with their broad curriculum, their specialist expertise, their rich programme of extra-curricular activities, their trained mental health, careers guidance, UCAS and pastoral support experts.

It looks like being another busy and exciting year ahead.

 

Bill Watkin is chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association

FE deserves a seat at the Brexit table

We still don’t know what Brexit will look like, but as FE has so much skin in the game, it deserves a say in talks

This week marks one year since the referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union, a toxic time in our political and democratic history.

Perhaps the divisions are still too raw to reflect properly on those months of bitter editorials, divisive tactics and empty slogans. It’s not been the year of healing we needed, so it’s no wonder that current chatter about another general election – should the Conservative minority government arrangements fail – is ironically uniting the country in a sense of collective despair.

As with the endless occasions I’ve signed an email on my iPhone with ‘Shame’, pundits and public alike can no longer rely on predictive politics.

While there is something quietly satisfying about the voices of the unheard changing an outcome predicted by ‘experts’ – and young people in particular if early analysis of turnout is to be believed – the involvement of more and different groups of people in the political process can, and should, result in a noticeable change of discourse.

With the right case and the right ideas, FE can be a formidable voice

It was fantastic to see so many colleges doing their bit, but let’s not pretend that the only reason young people turned out and voted was the promise of free tuition fees, as if they haven’t noticed the impacts of austerity on their local youth services, their schools and their colleges, or the broken housing market, the impact of benefit cuts on their families and an overstretched NHS. Let’s resist the commentators belittling and patronising the youth vote as reacting to promises of sweets and freebies, and instead do a better job at analysing policy impacts on future generations.

The new government, however it’s formed and however long it lasts, can start to do that in the way in conducts itself as it starts Brexit negotiations with the European Union this week, and in planning for Britain’s role as an independent nation trading with the world. Further education, as a sector, has interests here and should be mounting its case for a seat at the table. With the right case and the right ideas, FE can be a formidable voice and must have the confidence to speak up alongside powerful business and university lobbies.

Here are three interlinked areas where I believe there can be better policy in which FE isn’t a passive player.

Firstly, domestic skills policy. Even if we hadn’t had a referendum and weren’t leaving the EU, the UK has major and sometimes debilitating skills challenges which aren’t going away; the need for accessible training opportunities to gain and progress in work or to change jobs in every corner of the country, to stay in good work longer as our population ages, and to adapt to rising changes in the way we work as more people become self-employed or are in insecure work – all of this matters just as much as it did before.

Results of a survey shortly after the election from the Institute for Directors showed that education, skills and training should be the second highest priority policy area for the new Government, after developing a trade agreement with the EU.

Secondly, FE’s future relationship with the EU: what sort of relationship do we want? I’ve heard anecdotally from many sector leaders about the various opportunities and challenges different forms of Brexit could present for the sector but I’ve seen comparatively little, relative to universities for example, of proactive ideas from people at Number 10 and the Department for Exiting the European Union to properly represent what the sector wants.

Finally, for now, is the sector’s longer-term role and responsibilities in Britain’s international trade. There’s much talk of trade deals at the moment, both within the EU, the Commonwealth and the rest of the world. Trade deals are not just about tariffs and goods; they are also about services, like education and training, and movement of people, including international students. We all want FE, as well as our universities, to be prime reasons why counties and businesses globally invest in Britain, and now is the time to demand a seat at the table.

 

Shane Chowen is head of policy and public affairs at the Learning and Work Institute

Dementia sufferers and their carers get pampered

Derby College has organised a free coffee and pampering event for people living with dementia, and for their carers.

Hosted at the college’s Engine Shed restaurant, guests were served tea and cakes made by catering and hospitality students.

Attendees also had mini beauty treatments, courtesy of students working in the college’s on-site salon.

The two-hour event was part of the college’s continued work to be recognised as a dementia-friendly institution by the Dementia Action Alliance.

Derby College’s director of funding development, Helen Stevenson, explained: “As members of the Derbyshire Dementia Action Alliance we have three dementia champions who are trained by the Alzheimer’s Society. They are now sharing this knowledge with staff and students under the Dementia Friends programme.

“The event was an informal way for people living with the disorder and their carers to make new friends and enjoy a relaxed afternoon of refreshments and mini beauty treatments.”

Elaine and Peter, a married couple living with dementia, said they had “a lovely afternoon”, and Peter said he enjoyed his first-ever hand massage.

David Hughes tackles three peaks challenge for charity

The CEO of the Association of Colleges, David Hughes, has hiked and cycled the three peaks of Scotland, England and Wales to raise money for his son to help communities in Tanzania.

Over seven days, Mr Hughes and his son Oscar tackled Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon, hiking a total of 23 miles and cycling a further 609.

The trip raised the £1,500 needed for Oscar to undertake a National Citizen Service programme hosted by the humanitarian charity Raleigh International.

The programme will involve working with a team in Tanzania to support enterprise, health, and sanitation community projects in a remote village.

“We wanted to raise money, but lots of people run marathons and cycle. We wanted to do something a bit more interesting,” said Mr Hughes senior.

“I did wonder on the third morning whether my aching legs would prevent me from completing it, but they ached less and less each day after that.

“I would definitely do another challenge like this if my son or one of my other children were up for it,” he added. “It’s all-consuming, so it helps you switch off from work and really relax.”

Aspiring developers showcase their games at international video game show

A team of students from Cambridge Regional College unveiled their own games at the biggest video game show in the calendar in Los Angeles this week.

A total of 38 students on the college’s BTEC level three games development course exhibited at the E3 expo, alongside all the biggest names in the gaming industry.

The students promoted seven puzzle, adventure and racing games for console, iOS and Android – made as part of their course – under the college’s student-run gaming company Rizing Games.

“We are the only college worldwide to run a commercial educational development and publishing studio like this, and we are the first college to do console releases, supported by PlayStation First,” said course leader Michael Warburton.

“We have built up worldwide awareness through exhibiting at E3 and mixing with some of the biggest companies in the industry. It is fantastic for the students, who put a lot of work into marketing their games as well as creating them.”

It is now the fourth year students have exhibited at the expo, with this year’s cohort the largest number to attend.

National charity pilots deaf apprenticeship programme

The National Deaf Children’s Society is taking on deaf apprentices for the first time in an effort to open up more apprenticeship opportunities for those with impaired hearing, reports Samantha King

It will be the first time the charity has run an apprenticeship programme of any kind, taking on three level three youth work apprentices and one level two business administration apprentice – and crucially, all applicants are deaf.

The Birmingham apprenticeship was advertised to deaf 18- to 25-year-olds, with an occupational requirement to become a role model to other deaf young people, and has received applicants from as far away as Cardiff.

One of the applicants for the youth work apprenticeship, 18-year-old Francesca Lanfranchi from Nottingham, cited a lack of confidence as one of the biggest barriers to deaf young people seeking employment.

These apprentices will showcase to employers up and down the country what a brilliant contribution they can make to an organisation

“This apprenticeship programme is definitely a really positive step,” she said.

“By sharing positive stories of apprentices taken on through this programme, it will show other deaf young people what can be achieved and hopefully give them the self-belief to take on similar opportunities.”

Over the next five years, the NDCS will use its experience with the new crop of apprentices – who will begin with the charity in July and August – to develop training resources and guidance for other employers looking to take on a deaf apprentice.

There is also an employer conference in the pipeline for 2018, which will highlight good practice and how to make adjustments in the workplace for deaf employees.

Rachel Perrin, head of youth development and partnerships at NDCS said: “The levy has provided a starting point for this apprenticeship scheme.

“In the last few years our policy and campaigns team have been campaigning for equal access to apprenticeships nationally. Just earlier this year British Sign Language was agreed as an equivalent to level two in English as a requirement to apprenticeships programmes.”

Rathbone Training, a youth charity that assists young people in accessing employment and training, helped with the apprentice recruitment process, and supported the society in making adjustments for candidates’ deafness.

A spokesperson for the charity, Rob Tickle, said: “We worked with NDCS to design a recruitment process enabling candidates to deliver a presentation in their preferred method of communication – be it British Sign Language, or spoken and interpreted.”

A candidate at the recruitment session

Tutors from Rathbone Training will also be delivering the training to the apprentices as part of their qualification.

“We think it’s important that organisations running apprenticeship programmes recognise the incredible value of a deaf apprentice,” Perrin added.

“What better way to advocate for and showcase the fantastic contribution that deaf young people can make, than by setting up our own apprenticeship programme internally.

“These apprentices will showcase to employers up and down the country what a brilliant contribution they can make to an organisation, and break down any misconceptions they might have.

 “Deaf young people can do anything other young people can do if given the right support.”

The NDCS currently has two resources available on its website for employers and apprenticeship providers wanting to know more about taking on deaf apprentices: ‘Breaking the sound barrier’ and ‘Supporting the Achievement of Deaf Young People on Apprenticeships 2017’.

Judge and principal blast college nepotism scandal

A senior manager at the country’s biggest college group was somehow permitted to interview and appoint her own husband to another top post, in a situation that a judge described as being “quite extraordinary”.

Deni Chambers, the director of creative and digital industries at NCG, formed a panel with just one other colleague to award her partner Simon Chambers the job of head of art and design at Newcastle College last year.

At an employment tribunal in North Shields in February, judge A M Buchanan said: “I find it quite extraordinary that an organisation of the size of the respondent dealing with a redundancy process should ever contemplate allowing a spouse to sit on an appointment panel where her spouse was an applicant whether the spouse was the only candidate for the post or not.”

Even Joe Docherty, NCG’s own chief executive, blasted his own organisation for the appointment, saying: “As soon as I was made aware of this situation actions were taken to ensure it cannot happen again.”

The judge said that it had been “equally extraordinary” that Ms Chambers and her colleague, the group’s HR chief Lynne Griffin, had tried “to argue that there was nothing wrong in that process”, demonstrating “at best remarkable naivety”.

Mr Docherty told FE Week that “the idea of a candidate for a job anywhere in NCG being interviewed by their spouse is totally unacceptable to me” and that the state of affairs “goes against all our values, especially our drive to increase openness, honesty and accountability in our everyday actions”.

The tribunal – which was first reported on in Private Eye magazine – was brought about by Pitra McNeill, a former operations manager at Newcastle College, who had worked there for just over three years.

Ms McNeill was told that her post would be discontinued in July 2014, and was then appointed as section manager for adult and community learning, despite neither applying nor interviewing for the role.

Although she “carried out her duties efficiently”, a restructure of the college took place in 2016 and Ms McNeill was forced to reapply for employment, putting in applications for six different positions.

According to the tribunal’s decision, she had concerns that “the interviewing and appointment process within the college was not open and transparent but enabled interviewers to appoint favoured candidates and in some cases their family and friends”.

After a complex process of applications and interviews, during which she raised her concerns via a “confidential whistleblowing request” with HR, Ms McNeill was told she was to leave the organisation last July and receive a redundancy payment.

She appealed this decision by letter, referring to the appointment of Mr Chambers by his wife, and stating that NCG, which encompasses five colleges and two national training providers, had not made “a reasonable attempt at finding suitable alternative work” for her.

She was interviewed again, but she remained unsuccessful and turned to the employment tribunal.

The judge concluded that “no reasonable employer of the size and administrative resources of the respondent [NCG] would have acted as the respondent did in respect of the search for alternative employment”, adding that the group had “failed to make every effort to find such employment and breached its own policy”.

He decided that although Ms McNeill had not been dismissed specifically due to her whistleblowing on the dodgy appointment, “the claim of ordinary unfair dismissal is well founded and the claimant is entitled to a remedy”.

FE Week understands that further college redundancies were discussed with staff on our press day, but NCG would neither confirm this nor deny it.

Stick insect has a royal encounter at agricultural show

A stick insect from Chichester College met the Duchess of Cornwall at the recent South of England Show.

The annual event, which celebrates British agriculture and the countryside, was hosted by the Duchess this year, while the college had its own stall to showcase the work of staff and students to visitors.

The stick insect, brought along by animal care students for guests to interact with, attracted the Duchess as she went around the site meeting stallholders.

As well as handling the insect, the Duchess also received a handmade copper rose as a gift from the college’s forge, which had been made by two blacksmithing students that morning.

College principal Shelagh Legrave OBE said: “Her Royal Highness was very interested in all that we have to offer at Brinsbury [part of Chichester College], particularly the ducks and insects. It was a lovely surprise for us to meet the Duchess and a pleasure to speak to her.”

This year marked the 50th anniversary of the show, which is held in West Sussex.