Levy launch overshadowed by horror story

On the eve of the apprenticeship reforms being implemented the government might have expected the sector to be apprehensive, but excited.

Yet the ESFA clearly bit off more than it could chew when tendering for non-levy allocations.

The tender pause and subcontracting rule extension presented a welcome offer of stability until December.

Any pretence of stability is now in tatters, as providers receive allocations, which they claim force them to dump their subcontractors.

Nobody predicted this horror story about cuts to allocations, nor a failed 11th hour attempt at stability.

The government can choose to ignore providers going bust, as their MPs seek re-election.

But after 8 June the new government will have to cope with a lot of angry small employers being turned away by apprenticeship providers.

It’s one thing to put employers in the driving seat, but without fuel nobody is going anywhere.

 

Ofsted accused of hiding huge gaps between inspections

Ofsted has been forced to deny that it removed inspection dates from its new promotional logos due to the length of gaps between inspections.

The inspection watchdog recently released new logos that schools, colleges and providers are entitled to use in their own promotional materials if they receive ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ ratings.

The decision to omit dates did not go unnoticed, however.

“The question why Ofsted has taken the dates off must be asked,” said Mary Bousted, the general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, who pointed out increasing that schools and colleges deemed ‘outstanding’ can wait for more than a decade for another inspection.

“It could be because the date between inspections is an embarrassment. If I were Ofsted I wouldn’t want to be advertising the length of time between inspections.

“I don’t think is an effective way to run an accountability system.”

The inspectorate unveiled two new logos for providers during the Easter break. Its decision to design one for those rated ‘good’ amounts to an embarrassing U-turn following sector anger last September, when Ofsted threatened legal action against providers using its logo to promote their grade two ratings.

This wasn’t officially allowed at the time, but many providers had used unofficial logos in their materials without repercussion for years.

Ofsted also redesigned its logo for ‘outstanding’ providers – which the best institutions have long been allowed to use.

However, inspection dates, which had appeared on previous ‘outstanding’ logos, have conspicuously disappeared.

A spokesperson for Ofsted wouldn’t comment on whether the introduction of a ‘good’ logo amounted to a U-turn, but did acknowledge that FE Week’s reporting had played a part.

“We decided the time was right for a review of our logo policy, taking into account all the feedback we have received from providers, which in some cases was brought to our attention by the press,” they said.

We revealed last summer that in one letter received by an unnamed training provider, Ofsted said it would bring legal action to bear if its logo was not removed from all promotional materials within 14 days.

Although obscure policy guidance which has been in place since the year 2000 clearly states that “we do not issue a ‘good’ logo”, many providers graded ‘good’ over the years had used modified versions of the logo in their materials.

The move was welcomed by Mark Dawe, the chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, who described it as a “very positive step”.

Ofsted was recently also criticised for allowing huge time gaps between inspections, as we reported last November, when we found that two colleges in England had gone more than a decade without a full inspection – after they had received ‘outstanding’ ratings.

More providers have since passed the 10-year mark – as you can see in table below – bringing the total to seven, with more imminent.

When two formerly ‘outstanding’ colleges, Bury College and Holy Cross College in Manchester, were revisited earlier this year after 10 years without inspection, both crashed two grades, and were rated ‘requires improvement’.

 

National College for Onshore Oil and Gas opening delayed

Plans to launch a National College for Onshore Oil and Gas later this year have stalled while the industry “develops further”, FE Week can reveal.

Last May, the government committed nearly £80 million to the creation of five new national colleges across the country, each focusing on a different type of “high-tech training” in “industries crucial to economic growth”, with oil and gas identified as one of the sectors.

The NCOOG was set to receive £5.6 million, but FE Week has now learned it is struggling to get off the ground and will not open for training in September as planned.

Alarm bells first sounded when the college failed to appear on the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers in March, and representatives have admitted in response that “with the industry still developing and its requirements for skills becoming clearer, NCOOG has not yet been launched”.

“The NCOOG will make a formal announcement ahead of its official opening, at this stage it is not expected to be in September,” said a spokesman.

“When the industry develops further the national college will establish a website.”

Commenting directly on the NCOOG’s absence from RoATP, the college’s spokesman told FE Week that while it did not take part in the initial round of applications, it would “make a submission” once it is “fully established”.

NCOOG’s administrative headquarters are at Blackpool and the Fylde College, and principal Bev Robinson has been a director of the national college since 2014. She receives no remuneration for this additional role.

A spokesperson for Blackpool and the Fylde told FE Week: “The national college has yet to be launched. However, the capability already exists to support the current training needs of the sector as required.”

Graeme Wood, project and development manager at Redcar and Cleveland, added NCOOG was busy developing training courses and standards “to support the growing market need in collaboration with recognised industry specialists”.

Highbury College was unable to respond by the time of going to press.

Corin Taylor, a senior adviser for United Kingdom Onshore Oil and Gas, a national representative body for the industry which has also been overseeing development of NCOOG, claimed the delay was not entirely unexpected. “It has always been our intention to cement the foundations of the NCOOG ahead of offering training,” he said.

The hold-up was welcomed by Hannah Walters, a representative of the anti-fracking organisation Frack Off.

“It comes as no surprise that NCOOG has been delayed. Fracking is highly speculative in the UK and even at production, it will destroy more jobs than it creates,” she said.

“This delay in the opening of the NCOOG is symptomatic of the industries failure to gain a social licence to operate in the UK.”

Only two national colleges have made it onto the RoATP so far: Ada, the National College for Digital Skills, which launched last September, and the National College for High Speed Rail, which is making strong progress ahead of its launch in September.

A spokesperson for the National College for Nuclear told FE Week that it was “on schedule” to open “during the last quarter of 2017”, but that it wouldn’t apply to the register as it intends to contract out apprenticeship training to other providers rather than delivering it directly.

The National College for the Creative Industries, which also opened in September 2016, applied to RoATP in March, but was rejected on what it claimed was a “technicality” in its application.

 

‘Golden hello’ maths teacher recruitment drive flops

A major government scheme that aimed to recruit more than 500 specialist maths teachers at colleges has accepted just 13 participants in its first year, FE Week can reveal.

Former skills minister Matthew Hancock announced in February 2014 that up to £20 million would be made available to encourage the “brightest and the best” to teach maths in FE.

This involved two key recruitment schemes, including a golden hello – which would award a bonus of £7,500 to graduates who taught maths in FE, provided they had been working at a college for two years.

The government said at the time that this bonus could even rise to £10,000 if the teacher trained and supported learners with special educational needs.

Officials expected this incentive would draw hundreds of new specialist maths teachers into FE by September 2015.

However, just 13 teachers were recruited in its first year, with payments totalling £97,500 in 2016/17, a Freedom of Information request by FE Week has revealed.

The campaign’s measly results have been lambasted by experts, who are urging the government to stop with “short-term” monetary fixes and create long-term quality strategies to boost teacher recruitment numbers.

Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the initiative had two lessons for the government.

“First, it is a reminder of how few maths teachers are actually out there,” he told FE Week. “Secondly, it shows once again that short-term monetary fixes do little to help a burgeoning recruitment crisis.

“What college leaders are entitled to is a government recruitment and retention strategy that brings high-quality graduates into all parts of the sectors and then encourages them to stay.”

Anne Haworth, chair of the Association of Teachers of Mathematics, said it was good that the government had tried to act on the shortage of maths teachers in FE, but was disappointed that the scheme has had such little take-up.

She also questioned how well the scheme was publicised, and admitted that she had never heard of it even though she has worked closely with many FE providers for years.

David Miles of the Mathematical Association added that his organisation was “worried” by the small-scale response to the scheme since it “suggests thousands of young people still lack access to the most knowledgeable and effective teachers of mathematics”.

The other part of the drive was a recruitment incentive scheme open both to colleges and private training providers.

Participating providers would receive a bonus payment of £20,000 if they recruited a specialist graduate maths teacher, or £30,000 for those who shared their “teaching expertise” with nearby institutions.

Run by the Education and Training Foundation, this scheme proved more popular and a total of 220 financial awards were made from February 2014 to February 2016.

Of these 220, 165 were sums of £20,000, with 55 awards of £30,000.

A total of 280 teachers were recruited through this programme.

Added to the 13 from the golden hello, the government recruited 293 specialist maths teachers as a result of the two schemes – 207 short of its expected total of 500.

Ms Haworth said: “This is not the first such scheme to fail. Maybe what we need to be looking for, rather than incentives which tend to have a short life, is to make teaching more attractive generally to graduates and others.”

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We want to encourage the best and brightest into teaching, and we are continuing to offer generous financial incentives to the best graduates who want to teach maths and English in the FE sector.”

Crisis deepens as learners drop at two thirds of UTCs

Learner numbers have dropped at around two thirds of established university technical colleges this academic year, an FE Week investigation has found.

We submitted freedom of information requests to the 26 UTCs that opened in 2014 or before, asking for their 2016/17 student numbers.

FE Week analysis of their responses (see the full breakdown in the table below) showed student numbers had fallen this academic year at 13 of the 20 UTCs that provided data. Further to this, 11 (55 per cent) revealed they are still at less than half capacity.

The findings will heap pressure on ministers to scrap the controversial project, driven by Lord Baker (pictured above), just two years after the Conservative Party pledged to establish a UTC “within reach of every English city” in its 2015 general election manifesto.

Lincoln UTC experienced the biggest drop in student numbers, falling from 302 in 2015/16 to 214 this year, a drop of 29 per cent.

Its principal Paul Batterbury said the decline was a result of the local council cutting free transport for students who attended the college – many of whom live outside the catchment area – this year.

Sir Charles Kao UTC, in Essex, experienced the second largest drop in students, from 177 to 142, a fall of 20 per cent.

In third was Leigh UTC, which saw numbers dip from 230 to 191, while Elstree UTC in Borehamwood fell from 413 to 341. Both experienced a decrease of 17 per cent.

Sir Charles Kao, Leigh, and Elstree UTC were unable to comment before FE Week went to press.

Energy Coast UTC, which received a financial notice to improve last month for outsourcing its teaching at a cost not deemed “value for money”, had a 15 per cent drop from 306 students last year to 260.

Its principal Cherry Tingle said reasons for the fall included concerns from parents that the UTC had three interim principals last year, until she joined permanently last September.

UTC Plymouth was found to be the emptiest of the colleges, operating at just 24 per cent of capacity.

Next was Buckinghamshire UTC, which has just 148 students on roll despite a capacity of 600 (25 per cent).

Neither college would comment.

Malcolm Trobe, the deputy general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the UTC project needed more strategic thinking.

“UTCs and the curriculum they offer need to be part of an overarching area wide strategic plan for student places,” he told FE Week.

“This would involve secondary schools, sixth form colleges, and FE colleges. The whole provision needs to be thought out strategically to ensure that youngsters within a region have access to the full range of curriculum possibilities.”

Even Michael Gove, the former education secretary and a key architect of the UTC programme, admitted earlier this year that “evidence has accumulated” that the experiment with 14-to-19 technical institutions had failed.

Seven UTCS have closed, or announced plans for closure, amid dwindling pupil numbers.

Around £10 million was spent on establishing each of them.

Sixty per cent of UTCs visited by Ofsted have meanwhile been given ‘inadequate’ or ‘requires improvement’ ratings.

A spokesperson for the Baker Dearing Educational Trust, which holds responsibility for overseeing UTCs, admitted it is “taking longer to fill UTCs than we would like”.

“Recruitment for most schools is improving steadily each year as the programme becomes more established,” she said. “It is indeed challenging for UTCs to recruit at 14, as the concept of transfer at this age is not what parents are used to.”

The six UTCs that were unable to respond to our FOIs before publication were Daventry, Liverpool Life Sciences, The Greater Manchester Sustainable Engineering, Tottenham, Lancashire, and Bolton.

 

Why the delay for Learndirect inspection report?

Ofsted’s eagerly awaited inspection report on the nation’s largest FE provider has been delayed by six weeks, with the “silence period” before the election given as the reason.

Learndirect was visited by the education watchdog a month ago, and speculation has been mounting over the grade it will receive.

However, in an unusual move Ofsted told FE Week on April 27 that it would be withholding the report for another six weeks until the general election is over.

“Ofsted, like other government departments, is subject to certain limitations on activity during election silence periods under guidance set out by the Cabinet Office,” said a spokesperson.

“In line with the guidance, we will not publish the inspection report at this time because of the provider’s significance as a national provider of FE training.”

He confirmed Ofsted had “inspected this learning provider in late March 2017” and planned “to publish the inspection report after the general election on June 8”.

The delay will mean around a 10-week gap between the Sheffield-based provider’s inspection and the announcement of its new Ofsted rating.

The usual time period between the end of an inspection and publication of the resulting report is generally four to six weeks, meaning the treatment of Learndirect is highly irregular.

The provider itself blamed data issues for the hold-up, apparently contradicting Ofsted’s explanation that election purdah was behind the hold-up.

A spokesperson told FE Week that the delay was to allow more time for the provider to hand over relevant data due to its size.

“We have recently been inspected and due to the scope of Learndirect’s provision we are still providing Ofsted with data,” she said.

“While this process continues, we have received notification from Ofsted that our report will not be published for at least the next six weeks.”

When FE Week challenged Ofsted to explain the contradiction between its account of the delay and that provided by Learndirect, we were told to take it up with the provider.

A spokesperson did however admit that some exchange of data was still taking place, because the average period of “26 working days” between inspection and publication had been disrupted by the Easter holidays.

Learndirect has hit the headlines a number of times in recent years, chiefly due to the size of its topslices – a process in which lead providers retain government funding as management fees, before paying a subcontractor to do the training for the remaining sum.

It retained almost £20 million in management fees from its 64 subcontractors in 2015/16 – amounting to 36 per cent of the £55.3 million it received in funding from the Skills Funding Agency.

Learndirect was awarded the largest adult education budget in the country from the SFA for 2016/17 (£60,199,994), and had the second largest allocations for both adult apprenticeships and advanced learning loans (£30,868,330 and £5,116,184).

It also came out on top this February in the race to win European Social Fund contracts, securing 26 deals worth almost £49.5 million, according to FE Week analysis.

Ofsted watch: Concern over weak governance at Manchester provider

Concerns over governance were raised in the first ever Ofsted report on Manchester-based Impact College, an independent training provider given a ‘requires improvement’ rating.

That report, published April 26 and based on an inspection in mid-March, found that governance was “weak” and the “self-assessment process is not rigorous enough”.

It noted that learners’ starting points were not “clearly identified and used to plan individual learning”, nor did tutors “routinely set targets” to develop learners’ skills.

“Too much assignment work is not written in the learners’ own words; when learners use their own words, the standard is much lower,” it also found.

A mostly quiet week for FE, also included a damning report into Bolton University Technical College, which has finally seen the official light of day more than three weeks after the 14 to 19 technical institution published it on its own website.

No full inspection reports for general FE colleges were published, and just one for a sixth form college.

Christ the King SFC in south London held onto its grade two rating, in a report published April 26, based on an inspection in early March.

A “very high proportion” of A-level learners achieved their qualifications and progressed onto higher education, thanks to the “teachers’ passion for their subject” which “motivates learners to work hard and succeed”.

Leaders and staff were praised for having “high ambitions” for learners, and for preparing them “exceptionally well for life in a cosmopolitan society”.

“High-quality careers guidance ensures that learners make well-informed decisions about their future careers,” the report noted.

Adult and community learning provider Roots and Shoots also retained its grade two, in a report published today (April 28) and based on an early March inspection.

Leaders at the London-based provider, which specialises in vocational training for disadvantaged young people, were praised for having “high aspirations” for learners and for creating a “positive and caring culture where learning takes place in a respectful, safe and purposeful environment”.

The “majority” of learners make “good progress”, thanks to the support they receive to “help them to overcome the significant barriers to learning that they face”.

In addition: “All learners benefit from good opportunities to extend the skills and knowledge needed for employment through a good range of work experience placements.”

As previously reported by FE Week, Bolton UTC was awarded the lowest possible grade in all areas, following an inspection at the end of February.

The report, which was published on the UTC’s website on April 4 and by Ofsted on April 25, slammed the 14 to 19 technical institution for “poor teaching” and placing pupils on “inappropriate courses”.

As a result the original cohort of pupils “express considerable disappointment with the promises that the college made to them and the reality of what they received”.

The report also noted that: “The relationship between leaders at the highest level in the college began to break down early last year, causing them to be distracted from their core role of college improvement.”

Askham Bryan College, independent training provider Consortia Training Limited and adult and community learning provider Kirkdale Industrial Training Services Limited all kept their ‘good’ ratings following short inspections.

Sixth Form Colleges Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
Christ the King Sixth Form College 07/03/2017 26/04/2017 2 2

 

Independent Learning Providers Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
Impact College 15/03/2017 26/04/2017 3 –

 

Adult and Community Learning Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
Roots and Shoots 07/03/2017 28/04/2017 2 2

 

Other (including UTCs) Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
Bolton UTC 28/02/2017 25/04/2017 4 –

 

Short inspections (remains grade 2) Inspected Published
Askham Bryan College 15/03/2017 25/04/2017
Consortia Training Limited 30/03/2017 27/04/2017
Kirkdale Industrial Training Services Limited 16/03/2017 24/04/2017

South-east triumphant at AoC sport championships

There was a shock result at last weekend’s 39th AoC Sport National Championships after the south-east claimed the coveted Wilkinson Sword for the first time in seven years.

The team (pictured above) – who were runners-up in 2016 – wrestled the title off their local rivals the south-west, reigning champions for three years in a row, finishing a whopping 22 points clear.

The sought-after Wilkinson Sword is awarded to the region that accumulates the most points across individual sports over the national championships weekend.

Around 1,650 college students from 10 regions across England and Wales competed in this year’s event in Nottingham, which is described as the “pinnacle of the college sporting calendar”.

FE Week reported live on all of the drama from the 13 sports on show, including football, table tennis, netball, basketball, rugby and hockey.

Helping the south-east to top spot was the men’s team captain Mahamed Mahamed,from Itchen Sixth Form College, who won gold in the men’s cross-country for the third successive year.

He then claimed a second gold as he led the way for his region in the cross-country team event, again pipping the south-west into second place.

The Itchen SFC women’s basketball team also claimed gold for the south-east, while the region’s men’s golf and tennis teams also won their competitions.

On claiming the Wilkinson Sword, southeast men’s hockey player Conor Baverstock from Peter Symonds College, who won a silver medal, told FE Week: “We didn’t expect it, it’s always the south-west.

“We came here pretty confident, but the standard is so much better than last year.”

The bronze medal position was contested by another set of local rivals, the west midlands and the east midlands.

The west came out on top, with outstanding performances from Newcastle-under-Lyme College in the men’s volleyball, who snatched and-grabbed a last-second winning point against Middlesbrough College, representing the north-east, to claim gold.

Daniel Wells, from Lincoln College, also impressed by emphatically taking gold for the east midlands in the men’s squash.

But his victory didn’t come easily, as the north-east’s Oliver Walls, from Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College, put up a fierce fight in the final.

Being played in one of only four all-glass squash courts in the country at the University of Nottingham’s David Ross Sports Village, Oliver took the first set of the match much to the frustration of Daniel, who furiously smashed and broke his racket on the floor in anger at his early performance.

After clearing his head Daniel approached the second set with much more grace and eventually came out on top. The south-east won the Wilkinson Sword for the first time in 2008 – 27 years after the national championships launched in 1979.

But the region went on to win it for four years in a row after, until 2012, when the south-west claimed dominance.

Pip Stewart, a south-east women’s hockey player from Peter Symonds College, who won a bronze medal, said winning the Wilkinson Sword back from their neighbours was an achievement she will “never forget”.

Following tradition, a lively opening ceremony kicked the national championships weekend off on April 21.

Jordan Jarrett-Bryan, a former Paralympic basketball player who is now a TV sports reporter, was the evening’s compere and got the competitors hyped up for the competitions with tales of his sporting experience and competitions to see which region could make the loudest noise.

Loughborough Gymnastics Club then had spectators on the edge of their seats with a daring but perfectly executed routine.

Each of the 10 competing regions then presented their personalised flags, followed by the reading of the AoC Sport National Championships oaths, before AoC Sport chair Mark White officially declared the games open.

Three fierce days of competitive sport then got underway across the University of Nottingham’s brand new £40 million David Ross Sports Village, as well as at Trent Bridge, Nottingham Wildcats Arena, Morley Hayes Golf Club, and Nottingham Tennis Centre.

A closing ceremony, with presentation of the Wilkinson Sword, finished proceedings off on the Sunday.

Mr White told FE Week afterwards: “We’ve had a marvellous weekend. I’ve spent three days watching real enthusiasm and excellence in the students from colleges, who have competed with such passion and such talent. I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.”

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Team UK selected for WorldSkills 2017 in Abu Dhabi

Apprentices from Toyota, Airbus and Topshop are among 32 of the country’s elite learners who have been selected to represent the UK and go for gold at WorldSkills Abu Dhabi later this year.

The team [see below] will fly to the Middle East in October to compete against young people from 76 countries, in more than 50 different skills, ranging from aircraft maintenance and mechanical engineering, through to restaurant service and cyber security.

Those chosen for Team UK – and those who haven’t – have gone through a two-year qualification battle with the best this country has to offer in each discipline, giving up most of their weekends and evenings to hone their skills.

They’ve excelled at regional heats, a national final, the European finals, and last month jumped the final hurdle, facing the most testing international standards at a team selection showdown in Manchester.

“I said I wouldn’t cry if I made Team UK but I couldn’t help it,” said Jordan Charters, after he was told he had been chosen to represent the UK in painting and decorating. “All the hard work that I put in has paid off. It has made it worthwhile.”

While 32 members of Team UK have already been announced, two more will join them in June when the cooking and car painting competitors are selected.

All 34 will then undergo a rigorous regime of Olympic-style training in preparation for the most intense week of competition imaginable, at an event dubbed the “Olympics of skills”.

Of the team going to compete in Abu Dhabi, 13 represented the UK at EuroSkills Gothenburg in December last year, where the team brought home two golds, one silver, two bronzes and eight medallions of excellence.

Among them was plumbing and heating competitor Daniel Martins. He said he was “over the moon” to be chosen to fly to Abu Dhabi, an experience which he expects to be “unbelievable”.

At the last WorldSkills in Sao Paulo in 2015, Team UK finished overall seventh in the medal table, ahead of favourites France and Germany – bringing home three golds, four silvers, two bronzes and 23 medallions of excellence.

Skills and apprenticeships minister Robert Halfon told FE Week: “It is an absolute delight to have a great WorldSkills Team UK heading out to Abu Dhabi. I am also thrilled that that we have all of the nations from the UK represented in the team, and I have no doubt they will do tremendously well and I wish them every possible good luck. This is a wonderful day for skills in our country.”

Abu Dhabi: The Olympics of skills

This year’s global event will be the first time that a Middle Eastern country will host WorldSkills, although Abu Dhabi itself is no stranger to skills competitions.

The 44th WorldSkills will be held in the Adnec, the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, a venue that has hosted both the Emirates skills competition and the Gulf Cooperation Council regional skills competition.

It is one of the largest exhibition centres in the Middle East, at 133,000 square metres, or the size of around 20 football pitches.

The event will take place between October 14 and 19, when temperatures can hit 43 degrees centigrade (in England the temperature will be a milder 12 degrees).

But the heat isn’t going to be a problem for any competitors from colder countries, according to Simon Bartley, the president of WorldSkills International.

Mr Bartley previously told FE Week: “I’ve visited the venue in the middle of summer, winter, spring and autumn and I can tell you that the centre where the competition is being held is fully air conditioned. It will be perfectly fit for running a competition.”