Why do governments keep letting colleges down?

Why do governments have a blind spot on colleges? The last government banged on endlessly about a skills revolution. At one point, several education secretaries ago, I recall Gavin Williamson promising to “super-charge” further education with the aim of overtaking Germany. Whatever that means.

And yet what they actually did from 2010 was allocate such a miserably low funding rate to colleges that the pay of college teachers fell further behind that of school teachers and an insolvency regime was introduced for colleges that went bust. 

It is hard to imagine a less effective way of bringing about a skills revolution. The lack of investment in the college sector is one of the reasons why it has been so difficult to secure economic growth over the past 15 years. Things could and should have been different had we invested in developing the nation’s skills base.

Now we have a new government which is looking to set a different tone with the launch of … a new quango. Called Skills England it will bring together government, businesses, colleges etc to provide “strategic oversight of the post-16 skills system.”

Unfortunately, at the same time, the government has made two decisions which have left colleges feeling that they continue to be the poor relations.

First, was the fudge over the supposed “pause and review” of the previous government’s controversial plans to defund applied general qualifications, such as BTECs. This should have given colleges assurance that they could offer these qualifications in their prospectuses for next year while the review takes place.

However, Bridget Phillipson, apparently under pressure from former prime minister Gordon Brown and Lord Sainsbury, decided the “pause” would only apply to qualifications being defunded this year and not next year – leaving colleges and students with no idea whether or not these qualifications will still be available.

Bridget Phillipson

These are the self-same students who have been through the Covid pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis and now face the uncertainty of not knowing whether the course they may want to take will still exist in a year’s time. 

This was then compounded by the school teachers’ pay announcement being soured by the lack of a funding allocation to colleges to enable them to match the award for their staff. This, of course, means that college teacher pay is likely to fall even further behind that of school teachers, making recruitment and retention yet more difficult, and rendering the goals of the new skills agency a great deal harder to achieve.

It might be that the government addresses this issue in the autumn budget and that in a few months’ time we’ll be applauding the sort of investment in skills education that is so clearly required as part of any plan for sustainable economic growth, as well as improving the life chances of students who are often from disadvantaged backgrounds.

However, it isn’t a great start, and feels like a failure on the part of the government to understand the extent to which the FE sector feels bruised, battered and undervalued.

I can’t help feeling that governments – of whatever hue – have a blind spot about colleges because, by and large, the people who make up governments don’t go to them. They tend instead to have gone down a glittering academic route, often products of Oxbridge, which is about as far away from life in a FE college as it is possible to imagine.

That’s the way that our country works. Academic superstars are the elite, progressing to the top jobs and top salaries, gracing our television screens and standing up in the House of Commons making important speeches. It was ever thus.

But it cannot continue to be like this if we are to make this a fairer and more equitable society in which skills are genuinely valued in the same way as A-level grades and university degrees, and it is only the government that can bring about that change.

Colleges need to be treated as a jewel in the crown of the education system, rather than as some sort of after-thought. This is the only way that a skills revolution will happen.

Leeds FE ‘capacity crisis’ risks leaving poorest behind

A shortage of FE places in Leeds means some of the city’s poorest young people risk being left behind as colleges struggle with a “capacity crisis” caused by rising demand. 

Last month the city’s MP Alex Sobel questioned the government over the shortage, prompting two local college leaders to speak out about rising waiting lists and shortages of teaching space and staff.  

Colin Booth, chief executive officer of Luminate, which runs Leeds City College and Leeds Sixth Form College, told FE Week there is a “capacity crisis” for almost all courses except A-levels. 

The northern city is facing a “perfect storm” of a lack of strategic planning, growing numbers of 16- to 18-year-olds, and a shortage of space for levels 1, 2 and technical education teaching that will most severely impact the poorest, he added. 

Both Booth and Leeds College of Building (LCB) principal and CEO Nikki Davis said their colleges are trying to expand rapidly to meet the demand of a growing post-16 population and avoid waiting lists.

The capacity crisis will add to existing sector concerns such as shrinking budgets for 16 to 18 education and a growing pay gap between FE and school teachers.

How bad is the problem? 

When Sobel submitted a Parliamentary question asking for an estimate of how many young people risk missing out on an FE or training place in Leeds, education minister Janet Daby would only answer that the DfE is “working closely” with Leeds City Council and local providers.

But several courses at Luminate have had waiting lists since May this year, despite the additional places it has created, FE Week understands. 

Leeds City College leased “short-term extra space” in September 2023, enabling it to grow its 16-18 student numbers by 650, to a total of 7,400. 

The college is also considering taking on extra space to boost capacity by another 400 this September as a further “short-term sticking plaster”.

Booth said: “This will take Leeds City College to being full to beyond reasonable capacity for 2024-25 with several hundred students in leased and temporary accommodation.” 

However, this may not be enough as 16- 18-year-old population levels are expected to continue rising until at least 2028, Office of National Statistics projections suggest. 

Booth suggested that the DfE should redirect “unused” allocations from its post-16 capacity capital fund, FE capital transformation fund and levelling up fund to Leeds and other cities where there is a “clear need” for capacity in FE. 

Leeds City College (Photo: Steven Craven)

Deprived young people most impacted 

The shortage of FE places for vocational courses is most likely to impact young people from deprived areas, local authority data suggests.

According to a recent Leeds City Council report on children and young people, 35 per cent of 16-year-olds did not achieve qualifications required for them to progress to level 3, but only 26 per cent of local post-16 provision was for level 1 and 2 in 2022 and 2023. 

This rate is higher in more deprived areas of the city, with rates of pupils not achieving grade 9-4 in English and math as high as 49 per cent. 

Numbers of young people classed as not in education, employment or training (NEET) grew by 15 per cent to 800 in the year up to 2023/24, it also revealed. 

The report said the council has submitted an analysis to the Department for Education (DfE) which shows a “post-16 provision deficit”. 

“If the city is not able to significantly increase capacity in post-16 education at level 1, level 2 and for technical education, there will be growing numbers of young people who are not in education, employment or training in Leeds,” Booth warned.

“This will have the greatest negative impact on the most economically deprived areas of the city.” 

He pointed out that while more than 60 per cent of young people do not get the GCSE grades to start A-levels, only 3 per cent secure apprenticeships. 

Specialist teaching space shortage 

Nikki Davis

Davis agreed that there is “absolutely a crisis” for young people looking for a college place in Leeds, based on her experience at LCB. 

The college, which has more than 4,300 students and apprentices, has waiting lists of about 300 students, predominantly for electrical, bricklaying and multi-skills. 

On top of difficulties hiring staff and paying for materials, teaching space is a “major issue” at LCB, Davis said. 

She added: “At the College, we are in the process of trying to create more space to accommodate level 1 and level 2 students across all of our provision. 

“We have had to repurpose space, from one area of construction to another, such as converting classrooms to bricklaying workshops. 

“In addition to this, we are recruiting additional teaching staff, which has always been very difficult against a buoyant construction market and salaries for FE staff.

“Leeds College of Building will do what it can to support and teach young people across Leeds, but this requires quick and decisive action from the Department for Education to address the lack of physical capacity in Leeds.”

Who’s responsible?

A rise in 16–18-year-olds is a well-known national issue, but no single organisation seems to have responsibility for planning ahead in cities like Leeds.

This appears to be split between providers such as colleges, local and mayoral authorities, and the DfE. 

Colin Booth

Julian Gravatt, deputy chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said “pretty much all the responsibility” for managing student demand has been left to individual institutions, such as Luminate. 

Luminate chief executive Booth accused the DfE of not “checking the data centrally” and called the split responsibility for planning a “fundamental failure of policy and systems” that needs a long-term solution. 

A DfE spokesperson denied suggestions that it doesn’t keep data to track demand, arguing it “closely” monitors capacity in all education sectors, although they refused to explain how they do so. 

They added: “We will work closely with the local authority and providers in the area to ensure that all 16- to 18-year-olds have the opportunity to receive funded education.” 

They also claimed that responsibility for strategic planning of 16-19 education lies with local authorities such as Leeds, although Gravatt countered that this is only “theoretically” the case. 

The DfE does not publish annual estimates of post-16 student numbers in the same way as its national nursery, primary and secondary pupil projections.

However, it collects local data, controls “all of the funding” and has “extensive intervention powers,” Gravatt said. 

On projecting capacity needs, he pointed out that 16-18 education course numbers have “always been difficult” as people move and migrate, course options have grown and GCSE grades are only released shortly before the new academic year – leaving colleges “scrambling”. 

A Leeds City Council spokesperson said it continues to “monitor and respond” to demand for FE places in partnership with “strong and vibrant” post-16 education providers in the city.

“There has been limited funding available to the local authority to support this growth and the rising demand for entry-level, level 1 and level 2 courses despite national funding arrangements, has created additional challenges.

“However, we are working proactively across our post-16 provider forum to identify effective and creative opportunities for expansion.” 

Regardless of who should be ultimately responsible, Luminate’s chief executive is clear that capital funding for extra space is “the only solution available” to meet demand in Leeds.

Beauty and the best: Hair and beauty provider graded ‘outstanding’ across the board

An Essex-based training company specialising in hairdressing and beauty therapy courses has been upgraded from ‘good’ to ‘outstanding’ by education inspectors. 

Ofsted visited Debut Training in June for the first time in five years to inspect the quality of training on offer to just over 200 learners and apprentices at the provider’s five academies. 

They judged the provider ‘outstanding’, the top grade possible, for all areas including the quality of education, leadership and management and personal development, up from a stack of ‘good’ grades last time.

Managing director Carla Hales told FE Week the inspection was “intense” but she was “thrilled with the result.”

“Everything we do is based around what we call our ‘training for purpose’ programme. So everything we do has a reason why we do it, whether that be to change learners’ lives, change their progression opportunities and make sure they excel to a high standard so they are career ready when they walk out the door,” Hales said.

Inspectors said learners and apprentices had an “exceptional understanding” of additional topics alongside their courses, such as business, finance, literacy and numeracy, environmental sustainability and citizenship. 

For example, hairdressing apprentices are taught to adapt the way they talk to customers with a hearing impairment and beauty therapy apprentices know not to provide Muslim clients with refreshments during Ramadan. 

“This helps apprentices develop empathy and understanding for people from all walks of life,” the inspection report said, highlighting how many learners progress to self-employment in the industries.  

Most adult learners study the level 3 nail technology and beauty therapy courses, although learners also have access to level 4 courses in advanced beauty therapy and aesthetic practice.

Apprentices meanwhile train towards level 2 standards in hair professional and beauty therapy. At the time of the inspection, nearly two-thirds of apprentices were under 19 years of age. 

Tutors at Debut Training regularly inform learners about local safety risks, such as how to stay safe at night, drink spiking and the dangers of domestic violence during sporting events. Inspectors said learners also understood safety risks in the workplace, such as “working in proximity alone with clients.”

Managers at the training provider “role model extremely good business practice” and “have a forensic understanding of the sector” which Ofsted said helped learners’ skills and professional behaviours. 

“Managers role model the high levels of support for staff that tutors in turn provide to learners and apprentices,” the report said. 

Hales added: “This was a whole team collective effort, this wasn’t me. They work way over and above to help us achieve. Without them there’s no way we would have got this grade.”

Inspectors heaped praise on tutors’ use and value of English and maths in their teaching. For example in hairdressing, maths skills are developed when covering cutting angles and mixing tints. 

“Tutors use hairdressing and beauty-related examples extremely effectively. Apprentices who struggled at school increase their confidence significantly in English and mathematics,” the report said.

Three prompts to kickstart FE’s response to the far right riots

The far right violence of the last few days has impacted our young people and the communities we are part of in multiple ways, and although the riots may die down soon, the explicit racism and Islamophobia will continue. When term starts, the problem won’t be gone.

Working in a small youth charity in Greater Manchester, the last few days have been heavy. The team has checked in on our young people, checked in on each other, dispelled misinformation, coached people through tough conversations and tried as hard as we can to make our delivery safe.

At RECLAIM we work with working-class young people. Not hard to reach, not deprived, not young people on a social mobility journey. Our programmes are designed to build solidarity, power and community, centering the understanding that a working-class identity is intersectional, it is valued and it’s something to be proud of.

We run programmes that explore gender justice, belonging and the impact of austerity in communities. We partner with brilliant organisations like Muslim Northern Women to work with young people exploring the intersections of Islamophobia and class, and we provide intergenerational mentorship so working-class young people can build their support networks.

Like FE providers, our provision is embedded in our communities. We know racism and Islamophobia are deeply rooted in every aspect of our society, and that it trickles down from the top. We also know that we need a long-term community approach if we’re going to challenge the rise of far-right violence on our streets. There are no quick fixes.

There are many parallels between community youth programmes and FE provision, most notably who we exist to serve. If we want to root out the far right, we must build strength in our communities, and we must learn from each other about what works.

To that end, here are some prompts that I hope will kickstart dialogue about the work we need to start doing now of building on the long legacy of anti-racism and anti-Islamophobia organising in our localities.

Precise language and targeted support

Our young people are able to easily name what they’re seeing and experiencing as racism and Islamophobia. They’re going to need you to name it too and not brush it off as ‘mindless thuggery’.

Students and staff will be carrying the scars of the past few days. Ensure you’ve got the right provision in place, such as culturally sensitive therapy and trauma-informed counsellors as part of your wellbeing and safeguarding offer.

There will need to be space for hard conversations that are held in safe and non-punitive ways. If you’re anxious about how to hold those conversations, get paid support from youth and community organisations in your local area who do this every day.

You might be doing great work with government-funded youth social action programmes, but be realistic about the remit of this work and whether you need extra capacity from youth organisations doing detached or specialist youth work.

Safe spaces and self-defence

Government will likely announce quick fixes to curb the current far-right violence. More punitive policing, more curtailing of civil liberties, more Prevent measures. These approaches only serve to kick the can down the road. They will also disproportionately affect working-class Black youth. How can our spaces offer collective safety and accountability rather than surveillance?

I’ve written before about community self-defence. Over the past 14 years, we’ve seen youth centres and places where young people come together decimated; don’t underestimate your role in filling this vacuum left by austerity.

From learner voice to learner leadership

Finally, the problem with youth voice is that it often sees ‘voice’ and participation as the outcome rather than part of a process.

If your learner voice strategy extends as far as mirroring our flawed political system but doesn’t provide students with critical thinking skills, autonomy, space to organise and the messy, bold joy that comes from youth campaigning, you’re not enabling the community builders and social leaders of the future.

And we really need those people.

UCU staff threaten ‘last resort’ indefinite strike action

Workers at the trade union representing college and university teachers will walk out indefinitely next month unless their dispute over workplace racism and alleged breaches of collective agreements is resolved.

Unite the union said its 200 members working for UCU will take “last resort” continuing strike action from September 9 in what is a significant escalation in a dispute now it its fifth month.

This would be latest in a series of industrial actions taken by UCU staff against its employer in recent months.

The union originally planned to walk out from September 2, but have since pushed back the date to accommodate a further ACAS meeting with UCU.

“It clearly wouldn’t be fair to ask our members to walk out just before an opportunity to reach a resolution,” the Unite branch said.

A walkout disrupted UCU’s annual congress earlier this year, and staff are currently running an overtime ban and are ‘working to rule’ which means sticking to their job descriptions and contractual working hours.

Unite regional officer, Rose Keeping, accused UCU of refusing to “meaningfully negotiate” during the dispute.

“Industrial action one this scale is a last resort but our members have been pushed to breaking point by our employer’s failure to meaningfully negotiate on the serious issues in dispute,” she said.

“We are faced with a trade union employer who refuses to negotiate with its staff union.”

In response, a UCU spokesperson said accusations from Unite are “unfair and untrue” and criticised them for announcing action before a planned ACAS talks between the two unions next week.

“UCU are stunned to find out via social media that Unite UCU plan to call what amounts to an all out strike from September 2nd,” they added.

“We have a further meeting scheduled with ACAS on August 12 so to put out a call and announce this action prior to even attending those negotiations demonstrates a lack of integrity and sincerity.”

The dispute officially began following complaints of “institutional failings” at UCU over how Black staff are treated, with Unite alleging Black staff were more likely to face “punitive action” in internal procedures.

Before that, UCU workers were already engaged in disputes over pay, hybrid working and workplace health and safety.

Unite also accused UCU of repeatedly breaching its agreements with the staff union, such as recognising a separate staff union by senior leaders – which Unite says breaches their recognition as the sole union for UCU workers.

And Unite now claim that UCU staff are being subjected to a pay freeze, alleging that UCU is refusing to respond to a staff pay claim from April despite the new pay year starting on August 1.

UCU said it will “continue to table fair proposals covering an independent assessment and review of UCU’s organisational culture, starting negotiations for a draft gender identity policy, and for a hybrid working policy.

“We are increasingly concerned about an unwillingness from Unite UCU to reach an entirely reasonable phased agreement for staff to return to hybrid working – something most unions and most workers have been doing for years now following the pandemic.

“Despite this, we cannot and will not give up on trying to achieve a positive outcome because we know our staff need and deserve a speedy resolution.”

This article was updated on August 22 to reflect the revised strike action date.

Moulton College exits financial intervention after seven years

A Northamptonshire land-based college is celebrating coming out of FE Commissioner intervention after seven years thanks to increasing student numbers, asset sales and a £13 million government loan.

Moulton College, which has more than 3,000 students and 450 hectares of land, had been under intervention from the FE Commissioner since 2017.

This was due to spiralling cost pressures and knock backs including a commercial loan of more than £20 million, declining learner numbers, two consecutive ‘inadequate’ Ofsted judgements and being taken off the apprenticeship register.

Today the college announced it is entering ‘post-intervention management support’ after restoring its financial health from growing learner numbers and raising its Ofsted grade to ‘good’ in 2021.

However despite repeated requests in recent months, no one from the college was been available for an interview with FE Week.

According to a press release, the intervention was withdrawn after a meeting with the Further Education Commissioner (FEC) last month.

The Department for Education quietly confirmed the withdrawal notice on its website this week without explanation.

In a written statement, chief operating officer Alicia Bruce said: “Moulton College has made great strides over the past few years to address the issues identified by the FE Commissioner (FEC) and Education and Skills Funding Agency (EFSA).

“We’re delighted that these efforts have been recognised with the withdrawal of the notice.”

Chair of the board of governors David McVean added: “By focusing on the quality of our education and the student experience, as well as prudent sales of non-essential assets, we have created a turnaround that very few thought possible.

“We are incredibly thankful to our former Principal and CEO, Corrie Harris, and her senior team, who led the College out of intervention and has built a secure foundation for her successor as CEO, Oliver Symons.

“Moulton College has an extremely bright future, and we are looking forward to the new opportunities that lie ahead for our students.”

Moulton had the longest running intervention at the time of its withdrawal, with Brooklands College holding the next longest at five years.

According to the FE Commissioner’s most recent investigation report in 2019, Moulton’s “exceptionally high” debt levels, understood to have peaked at more than £21 million, funded facilities that made it “one of the best specialist college estates in the country”.

In the same year the college had reduced its debt slightly to £18 million, but faced a deficit of £4 million on an annual income of £21.5 million.

Its financial recovery is understood to have involved selling several unspecified “surplus” asset sales worth more than £4 million.

According to the college’s board minutes, the government agreed to take on the remaining £13 million commercial loan that the college had with Santander UK after “extensive” negotiations.

The previous year, an FE Commissioner-recommended merger with Abingdon and Witney College collapsed due to concerns about a bond Moulton College had entered into as part of its “operation” in Saudi Arabia.

How we’re working to stem shortages in STEM industries

The Labour government has made economic growth its top priority. To drive this, it will need to address skills shortages in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) sector which are holding us back to the tune of £1.5bn per year.

Colleges and higher education institutions like ours clearly play a vital role in addressing this problem – but not just through teaching the technical skills our learners need to succeed.

Analysing employer reports about recruitment in STEM fields, what comes over loud and clear is that while many of students have the knowledge needed for the job, they don’t have the necessary and equally vital behaviours.

So looking through a number of documents that mapped out the key characteristics that STEM employers were looking for, we whittled them down to create what we have called STEM 7.

These are the attitudes and behaviours that underpin not just the science and tech industries but all kinds of jobs, from pastry chefs to fashion designers.

A skillset that transcends boundaries

STEM 7 consists of: creative thinking, problem-solving, communication, collaborative working, intellectual curiosity, flexibility and data-driven decision making.

Just about all of these skills are relevant regardless of the subject or sector. Today, everyone has to use digital technology and maths in one way or another. And if you think of the design approach and problem-solving inherent to engineering, most jobs require creativity too.

Our challenge as educators is to ensure our curriculum provides opportunities for students to step out of their comfort zones and take on tasks in some of those STEM 7 areas they may struggle with.

Engineers, for example, are known for having many important qualities including problem-solving and, through their design approach, creativity. But they are not traditionally renowned for their collaborative approach or communication skills, both of which are  invaluable in the workplace.

That’s something our approach can help students with before they join the world of work. It stretches and develops them to ensure they have some of those transferable skills that businesses of all types really value.

And we know it’s working. We included some of our partner employers in the first discussions about our STEM 7 strategy to make sure they were on board, and they’ve been nothing but supportive.

Opening minds

Introducing this concept has meant challenging both ourselves and our students to broaden how we think about STEM.

As someone with a science background, I feel strongly that many people tend to fear science and the STEM subjects. But that’s something we can and will change, because it’s all around us in everything we do daily. 

One key way of doing so is through revising how we teach and moving away from the thoroughly unhelpful old perspective that saw technical and artistic courses as being entirely separate.

Thankfully, there is increasing awareness that both disciplines depend on each other and share many underlying principles, not least when it comes to creativity and intellectual curiosity.

The shorthand for this perspective is STEAM (STEM plus the Arts) and Computer Game Design and Development is a classic example of STEAM in action. We teach the subject at Leeds City College as part of the very broad offering from our School of Creative Arts, and it is the epitome of a field where technical know-how and creativity are equally important.

An immersive approach

Combined with this more open-minded perspective on what actually constitutes a STEM topic is the need to exploit emerging immersive technologies like AI and VR.

Such tools can offer great benefits to our students and the industries they want to enter. If you are studying healthcare, for example, you really want to learn on a hospital ward. We can offer that; indeed, it will be one of the many new facilities that Harrogate College will provide following its £22 million rebuild.

What VR offers is a plethora additional options. In this case, it allows you to change ward layouts, patient scenarios and more so that students are exposed to a wider set of challenges and leave college with a deeper understanding of what their jobs will entail.

We are already successfully using VR in welding at Keighley College. Meanwhile, across our group emerging technologies are helping us enhance the teaching of everything from science to electric vehicle infrastructure.

By combining these high-tech teaching aids with a STEM 7 approach, which also delivers those in-demand ‘softer skills’, we will start to plug those STEM-shaped holes in the country’s economy.

Early years provider buzzing after ‘outstanding’ first inspection

A nursery and apprentice training provider has been rated ‘outstanding’ in all areas following its first full inspection.

Bright Bees Nursery, which trades as Scope Early Years, has three nurseries in Leicester and trains about 120 apprentices in the early years and pharmaceutical sectors.

In its first full inspection since the training arm was launched in 2020, Ofsted inspectors found apprentices studying “very well-planned and taught” curriculums taught by “highly qualified” experts.

They said apprentices consistently gain “high levels” of new knowledge and skills after often commencing their courses from “very low starting points and with considerable personal challenges”.

According to the report published today, apprentices were “highly motivated” by their studies, with some undergoing a “transformative” experience.

“They grow to believe in themselves as successful learners and professionals when previously they had lacked this self-belief,” the report said.

Inspectors praised assessors for their level of knowledge, “consistently demanding” teaching plans and “well-considered, probing discussions”.

They also commended the training provider’s special needs support, careers advice and broader personal development.

Leaders and management are “exceptional” in their support and work “decisively” when they identify issues, inspectors added.

Managing director of Scope Early Years Farah Farooq told FE Week the inspection was “tough”.

She added: “We are very proud of what we have achieved in early years and always put our learners at the heart of what we do.”

Attainment figures are meaningless for colleges. We should ditch them

For GCSE resits, the upcoming results day should be about celebrating students’ progress. Instead, it will be hijacked by those talking about college- or system-level attainment percentages.

For years now, post-16 English and maths teachers have been demoralised listening to lobbyists erroneously applying the word ‘fail’ to level 1 achievement (GCSE grades 1-3 are level 1 passes).

Given that grade 4+ is level 2, talking about it at a system level is important. Knowing that 78 per cent of our young people now achieve level 2 English and maths by age 19 means we can rightly praise the FE sector for transforming lives.

However, talking about ‘attainment’ of individual colleges or students or exam sittings is dumb. That’s why it’s not a government accountability measure. The headline measure for resits is progress by 18 (should be 19) and it’s been paused since 2020 anyway.

Attainment percentages from individual exam sittings are not a meaningful measure because they don’t include all the learners in scope.

That is a good thing; it means colleges have the freedom to use them as formative exam practice for their students, as most will need at least two years’ study, including opportunities to trial-run sitting assessments at a scale nobody experiences in school.

More importantly, attainment is a dangerously manipulatable measure. It’s easy to get 100 per cent if you’re unscrupulous.

There’s one more year of the 5 per cent ‘tolerance’, allowing students who still need to resit to be left unsupported with no funding penalty. ESFA calculates the 5 per cent based on overall study-programme numbers, not those in scope for Condition of Funding (CoF). This means larger colleges can simply not enrol hundreds of their lowest prior attainers for English or maths.

For sixth forms with small numbers of resit students, CoF basically doesn’t apply. But they already know that. And Ofsted is blind to it, perversely rewarding exploitation of this loophole. (It affects over 20,000 of the most disadvantaged students every year.)

Attainment is a dangerously manipulatable measure

Learners with EHCPs can be exempted too, disappearing altogether. So there’s not even any published data for FE Week to see when an Ofsted ‘outstanding’ provider is doing this for 98 per cent of their EHCP students.

Instead of extra support, those learners get nothing at all. There is no public data on numbers of exemptions, but I estimate tens of thousands, likely overlapping with disadvantage.

It’s also common practice to enter students who already achieved grade 4, usually because they want a 5 for uni. Even students regressing from a 5 to a 4 still count positively on attainment. Again, no published data, but I think there are somewhere around 25,000 of these.

Then there are those lost souls withdrawn before census day. Each year, some 30,000 students – disproportionately from low-income backgrounds – are withdrawn from post-16 by day 42.

All of that ought to get the attainment figures flying high, but there’s room to go further. After all, this isn’t a real measure.

There are no checks that a percentage is based on those who were in scope, and Ofsted will credulously accept anything. So, don’t enter any student you aren’t absolutely certain will walk a 4. Boom! 100 per cent 4+ on results day.

We’ve had four years with no DfE drivers to affect how we define success in resits; only our own values.

Those obstinately talking about ‘failure’ are damaging the morale of frontline teachers and the wellbeing of our young people. More than that, they validate the few bad apple providers exploiting rules to block tens of thousands of disadvantaged students from their opportunity to catch up.

Yet in spite of all of that, something miraculous is happening in FE. Thankfully, the quiet majority of colleges give learners enough time with fantastic teachers and the word ‘failure’ isn’t in their vocabulary.

As a result of their efforts, disadvantaged students are closing the gap with non-disadvantaged in 16-19 English and maths.

That is the only meaningful attainment measure, and it is the cumulative result of most colleges’ yearly focus on progress. 

So, this results day, let’s follow their lead in making all their students count by celebrating progress – not attainment!