Government decides to retain Applied General qualifications

A serious blow has potentially been dealt to plans for a rigid post-16 divide between academic and vocational education, after it emerged the government is retaining Applied General qualifications.

The Department for Education had privately briefed stakeholders on the decision, and confirmed it to FE Week this afternoon.

Retaining AGs, for example BTECs that lead to university in creative industries, will be viewed by many as a blow to the academic and vocational divide at 16 concept, introduced through Lord Sainsbury’s influential review that inspired the subsequent new skills plan last summer.

The apparent change of heart over AGs, which had been widely tipped for the chop, will be welcomed by awarding organisations that provide BTECS.

Rebecca Grayson, OCR head of vocational products, said: “OCR welcomes this latest DfE announcement.

“AG qualifications, such as Cambridge Technicals, give learners the option of a broader post-16 programme of study, equipping them with the relevant knowledge and skills that they need to succeed in higher education and beyond.”

Rod Bristow, president of Pearson in the UK, said: “We are pleased by the support that BTEC and other AG qualifications have received from schools, colleges, universities, employers and Government. 

“BTEC AG qualifications provide a broad but highly applied, career-driven education which delivers skills that will be vital in adapting to the jobs of the future.

“The new BTEC Nationals, designed alongside employers and universities include task-based external assessments, not just exams. In setting higher standards, they will ensure even greater success for BTEC students when they progress to university or into work.

“Around 100,000 students enrol at university every year with a BTEC, and these students are more representative of society than A level so this is a good decision for social mobility. 

“We look forward to working with the government and Ofqual to ensure that all AGs meet high standards. “

When asked about the decision, a DfE spokesperson told FE Week today that its “current position” is to retain the AGs category in official performance tables, but a review this is “ongoing”.

Catherine Sezen, senior policy manager for 14-19 and curriculum at the Association of Colleges, said: “We are delighted that the government has made the decision to retain AGs.

“Qualifications, such as BTECs, meet the needs of a variety of students in subjects such as performing arts and sport.

“They allow for a broader range of study of a particular subject, and these qualifications are vital in improving social mobility and raising young people’s aspirations.

“AoC will continue to work closely with the DfE and Ofqual to ensure that the value of AGs continues to be recognised.

“It’s vital that these qualifications continue to be robust in providing appropriate skills and knowledge.”

It had been anticipated that AGs would be scrapped, as the government moves towards a two-pronged post-16 education landscape – with learners channelled to either academic A-levels or vocational T-levels.

Officially in the Post-16 Skills Plan, unveiled last July in the wake of the Sainsbury Review, AGs are in the academic route – because of their link to university entry.

However, it’s not really that clear cut. Currently the biggest number of students not following an A-Level route is AGs, actual true technical provision is currently very small.

Reflecting on the value of AGs, Association of Employment and Learning Providers boss Mark Dawe said: “You could argue that they are qualifications that develop a range of generic skills in a more vocational context.

“Many rightly argue that many learners need a mixed economy of academic A levels and applied qualifications at school and that they lead to progression for many to university.

“This is the role of the AG, as we see the technical qualifications becoming 900 hour full time programmes in their own right.

“What we must watch out for, however, is that learners are not persuaded that these qualifications are full vocational options and therefore the student can stay at school, when actually they would be better off in an apprenticeship or full time TPE course [T-levels].

“It emphasises once again how vital independent advice and guidance will be to underpin the success of the government’s education and skills reform programme. Without it the whole agenda is likely to fail.”

Why is the NHS London Procurement Partnership charging fees to apprenticeship providers?

The NHS London Procurement Partnership responds to FE Week’s questions about new charges it plans to implement for apprenticeship procurement services.

The LPP response – from which quotes for the news story ‘NHS defends apprenticeship brokerage fees‘ were taken – has been published here in full for the sake of clarity.

NHS London Procurement Partnership

Thank you for forwarding the questions you sent originally to Health Education England. To be clear, the procurement you are referring to is an NHS London Procurement Partnership activity, not a project run jointly with HEE or the Skills Funding Agency. To refer to a ‘no win no fee’ percentage is also to misunderstand what Activity Based Income is, and how public sector frameworks are managed. I hope what follows explains the process more clearly, but if not please do come back to me.

I think it would be helpful to give you some background to LPP. LPP is an NHS membership body – we are funded and governed by our members, primarily NHS organisations, but much of our work is now accessible by the wider public sector. (Doing so magnifies the benefit the public sector can realise from our work, as it is no longer limited to our membership.) We are not an independent or commercial entity, and we do not make a profit. Our running costs are covered by membership fees – and since we were set up in 2006, we have saved the NHS and the taxpayer more than £950 million.

Apprenticeship Dynamic Purchasing System

LPP is developing the Apprenticeship Dynamic Purchasing System at the request of HEE and our members. The aim is to give public sector bodies a route to contract with apprenticeship training providers which complies with the EU procurement rules laid down for the public sector. Currently, a public sector organisation sourcing an apprenticeship training provider from the SFA list of providers is not complying with the EU rules.

The new DPS also ensures that apprenticeship training providers used by the public sector provide a service of a suitably high quality. Many stakeholders – including would-be suppliers – have been involved in developing the DPS. HEE has provided valuable insight into, for example, the type of categories of apprenticeship available, and provided guidance on suitable criteria for evaluating would-be providers. The Skills Funding Agency was invited to take part but has not done so. Consequently your query about SFA ‘approval’ or sanctioning the method of managing the DPS is not relevant and neither is it one we can comment on.

Activity Based Income

As you will note from the slide you forwarded to me (pictured left), ABI ‘covers management and further administration by LPP of the overall DPS and associated documentation with surplus being fed back to members’. In other words, once a framework or DPS is established, ABI is used to cover the costs of the ongoing management and running of the framework or DPS for the life of the framework (or DPS). A DPS takes a significant amount of management – by its very nature, it has a continually growing and changing number of suppliers – unlike a framework, providers can apply to join a DPS at any stage during its life. To put this in context, there are several hundred potential providers of apprenticeship training – 1,500 on the current SFA list alone. Any surplus over and above those costs is handed back to LPP members at the end of the financial year based on their use of our frameworks and DPSs.

A management charge is a common way of covering the costs of running a framework or DPS, once it has been established. ABI has different names in different procurement organisations, and may be managed in a variety of ways. Crown Commercial Service, for example, has a Management Charge – like LPP, CCS requires suppliers to provide it with Management Information on a monthly basis. These charges are well established methods of supporting the public sector to manage contracts.  Managing contracts ensures the NHS is getting best value for taxpayers from its contracts with strategically important suppliers, ensures that public money is not misappropriated, and that public sector expenditure is transparent, in line with the procurement regulations.

The slide you have forwarded to me states that ABI must be accounted for in a supplier’s tender to be awarded a place on the framework. This is to ensure that there are no ‘surprise’ extras for public sector organisations – the price proposed by the would-be supplier at the time of tendering must be the price they then charge the public sector for using their service (if they are successful in being awarded a place on the framework and are subsequently commissioned by a public sector body). How the supplier covers the cost of the ABI is up to the supplier. Legally LPP is unable to stipulate to suppliers where the ABI payment comes from or how to manage this cost internally.  The onus is on the supplier. To comply with any SFA rules, suppliers should ensure that the 1% is not taken directly from the levy funds.   

NHS Shared Business Services

You’re right that the Apprenticeship Training Services Framework will run from May 2017 to April 2021. It has been developed to provide NHS – and other public sector – organisations with the means to procure high-quality and compliant services quickly and easily, whilst at the same time offering suppliers access to a significant market and thousands of potential customers.

The 0.95 per cent levy is charged to service providers to cover the up-front investment of establishing an OJEU[Official Journal of the European Community]-compliant framework and the costs associated with the on-going management of the contract. It means that, for example, if a supplier wins a place on the framework, they would pay £95 for every £10,000 they receive in orders.

Exclusive: DfE will scrap forced resits for GCSE English and maths

The government will make a major u-turn over the much-derided condition of funding rule, FE Week can reveal.

From August 2015 all 16 to 18-year-old students with a GCSE grade D have had to study and resit the GCSE as part of the condition of funding, rather than a functional skills qualification at level two. But once this policy has been scrapped, no student will be forced to resit GCSE English and maths.

The latest revelation follows scathing criticism of the policy from Ofsted in December, and publication of a letter from education secretary Justine Greening to Neil Carmichael, chair of the Education Select Committee, advising on changes to the numeric GCSE grading system.

The letter revealed very little new, but FE Week has been told by multiple sources that the current policy to force some students to resit GCSEs will be scrapped – so all students can study functional skills, as was the case before 2015. Although not mentioned in the letter, this will be confirmed in the funding guidance for 2017/18, due for publication shortly.

It comes just a few weeks after the government finally confirmed another u-turn on the requirements for early years educator apprenticeships. Currently early years learners must achieve at least a grade C in English and maths GCSE to pass the level three course, but FE Week reported in early March that from April this will be broadened to include functional skills.

Reflecting on the latest news of an end to forced GCSE resits, Association of Employment and Learning Providers boss Mark Dawe told FE Week: “If there is going to be a U-turn on this, then we welcome it.”

He added: “The new chief inspector for Ofsted has quite rightly joined many stakeholders in the FE and skills sector and employers, in raising the possibility of the policy being abandoned altogether, and we feel that Ms Greening could have responded to this challenge more positively [in the letter].

“Young people without good grades should be encouraged to carry on learning the core subjects, but with the option of doing so via functional skills.”

Ofsted was highly critical of forced resits in its 2016 annual report published in December, as reported in FE Week.

It said: “While the policy’s intention to improve literacy and numeracy levels is well intentioned, the implementation of the policy is not having the desired impact in practice.

“Inspection evidence shows that, for some students, having to retake their GCSE can be demotivating and that attendance at these lessons is lower.

“For many students, an alternative level two qualification may be a more appropriate means of improving their English and mathematics and ensuring that they are ready for work.”

Commenting today on Ms Greening’s letter, Catherine Sezen, senior policy manager at the Association of Colleges, said it was useful to “finally have clarity” over the new GCSE grading.

“This will give guidance to colleges on entry requirements and GCSE resit policy and to universities and employers for their entry and job role requirements,” she said.

Ms Greening said in the letter that “under the new system, a grade four and above will be equivalent to a C and above.

“Where employers, FE providers and universities currently accept a grade C we would expect them to continue recognising a grade four.”

She previously gave strong hints about a change of heart towards the English and maths resit policy, at last November’s AoC conference (pictured).

As reported in FE Week, she told delegates that students must not be spending “time running upwards against a brick wall that they’re not going to get over.”

Apprenticeships and skills minister Robert Halfon also conceded to delegates that GCSEs are not always the best option for FE students.

“It is clear that we need a credible, high-quality option for students for whom GCSEs are not appropriate or achievable,” Mr Halfon said.

“This is why we are reforming Functional Skills to make sure that they are genuinely relevant to employers, and consequently have credibility and prestige in the jobs market.”

Ofqual should not have double standards

One thing an assessment regulator should definitely not have is double standards; it undermines the core of their existence.

We’ve just emerged from a lively FE week Annual Apprenticeship Conference with much debate and concern about the disruption that the current process will cause without providing any significant benefit to the employer, learner, quality or apprenticeship numbers.

The thing that rocked me the most at AAC was the attitude of Ofqual. If the statements made by the Chief Regulator are the genuine views of the Ofqual, then I am very disappointed.

The thing that rocked me the most at AAC was the attitude of Ofqual

I am hoping it was just a misunderstanding of the issues. However I started to doubt it when reading an interview with the Chief Regulator on Friday in which there was no mention of anything other than academic qualifications. She talks about not really knowing about the 2012 English GCSE crisis until being in the role. Having lived through it and sat in front of four select committees, I have the scars of the assessment sector being challenged. 

There are two areas of concern I have and when I reflect on my experience at OCR during the development of GCSE and A-Levels, I start to wonder whether we are witnessing yet another shocking example, and possibly the worst, of “it won’t matter about those kids – they are just doing vocational qualifications”.

Most shockingly, was the Chief Regulator’s statement at the FE Week conference that the lack of an assessor in place to carry out the final apprenticeship exams wasn’t an issue. She said, “No, I don’t think the DfE is irresponsible”. I am stunned. At what point has the qualifications regulator decided that it is fine to start teaching and training against a curriculum without any idea what the assessment is going to be? While I can list one hundred reasons why this is wrong for an assessment viewpoint, let’s just think about the trainers, teachers and students.

I cannot begin to describe the hoops the exam boards were made to jump through when developing the new A-Level assessments. As well as input into the curriculum and the related assessment – assessment is needed that actually does validly and reliably assess the curriculum – there was a requirement to submit Sample Assessment Material.

These were the most scrutinised of all the documentation before regulatory approval was granted. The SAMs demonstrated how the assessment would appropriately test skills, knowledge and behaviour as defined in all apprenticeship standards. The regulator wanted to ensure that the assessment didn’t narrow the curriculum, be in anyway predictable and avoid teaching to the test. But most importantly the SAMs helped the teacher and the pupil understand the expectations of the assessment and what the learning needed to enable the student to do.

In addition there was an absolute requirement, not always met, that approved curriculum, assessment and SAMs were available ideally a year in advance of first teaching so that the teacher could properly prepare before delivering the new curriculum. Look at the current outcry that the Maths A-Level assessment is not ready six months before first teaching!

But where are we with the new apprenticeship standards? They are actually being taught, many without an end-point assessment organisation and the majority without a completed end-point assessment, let alone sample materials. No wonder 50% of the population feels forgotten, neglected, and second-class when it comes to education and training.

Where’s the government’s parity of treatment?

Secondly, take technical and professional education and the idea of a single exam board for each of the 15 routes. While I accept this issue does divide opinion across all exams, let’s at least reflect on the Regulator’s advice to the Secretary of State when this was proposed for academic qualifications. The very clear advice was that the redevelopment of the curriculum and the assessment – as well as changing the market to a single board per subject – posed too much risk to the system and could seriously damage the education and assessment of our young people. This is without changing the funding and the provider base. Even Michael Gove accepted this advice.

Indeed what it also led to was the government’s ability to draw on the expertise of all the exam boards and to benefit from robust and valuable discussions about the curriculum and content with all parties agreeing on a final single curriculum and assessment. This led to tight common standards for all the exams no matter which exam board chose to deliver them.

A few years down the line, and the exact same thing is being proposed, but this time for technical and vocational education. The government is in danger of losing access to a depth of expertise as it drags the exam boards into a competitive tendering situation – expertise which is sorely needed across the board.  The only conclusion I can draw is that either Ofqual forgot to look at their previous advice or they think it is okay to experiment on the vocational kids. It won’t matter if it is messed up, but where’s the government’s parity of treatment when it comes to these decisions?

At the AELP conference last year Susan Pember described the situation as diabolical – she repeated it again last week. I will add: disgraceful double standards.

 

Mark Dawe is CEO of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers

Whole FE sector backs #SaveOurAdultEducation campaign

A who’s who of major FE organisations have thrown their support behind FE Week’s #SaveOurAdultEducation campaign.

Big names on the list include the Association of Colleges, the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, Learning and Work Institute, and HOLEX.

The Labour party also added its backing, while the leader of the Liberal Democrats Tim Farron confirmed his support with a personal comment.

The campaign also has the official support of the National Union of Students, the University and College Union, the public service union UNISON, the Public and Commercial Services Union, and the Association of School and College Leaders.

#SaveOurAdultEducation was launched in February at parliament and has three simple demands.

First, we want the government to consult on a proper adult education strategy, one which won’t disappear under the political weight of apprenticeships and devolution.

It’s vitally important the DfE takes the lead and works with other government departments to secure a joint position on lifelong learning

Sue Pember, the country’s former top skills civil servant who now leads HOLEX, said: “We are fully behind this campaign.

“It’s vitally important the Department for Education takes the lead and works with other government departments to secure a joint position on lifelong learning.”

Shakira Martin, the NUS vice-president for FE, said: “Adult education is such an important part of FE.

“It desperately requires a comprehensive strategy that puts the needs of learners at its core.”

Stephen Evans, chief executive of Learning and Work Institute added: “Adult learning is a crucial driver of both economic growth and social mobility. We need a step change so that everyone can access the learning and skills they need. That must start with a clear cross-government approach to lifelong learning. And it must be backed by increased investment and new ways of engaging employers and individuals in learning.”

The second demand is for the widespread introduction of FE maintenance grant loans for adult learners, to make retraining easier for older people by covering living costs while studying.

AELP boss Mark Dawe said: “Brexit means adult learning is now an economic imperative.

“There should be a coherent adult education strategy and it is why the latest proposals for FE maintenance loans should just be a first step to making them more widely available.”

The March budget finally confirmed that maintenance loans would be available to certain learners, a year after the government first consulted on the issue.

The chancellor Philip Hammond said maintenance loans would be available “for those undertaking higher-level technical qualifications at the new institutes of technology and national colleges”, set to be introduced in 2019/20.

The AoC chief executive David Hughes backed the campaign, adding: “Access to adult learning now needs a renewed focus.

“When the UK leaves the EU, it will be vital to the economy that adults are able to train and retrain to tackle the skills gaps. However, many are deterred from studying due to the cost of undertaking a course.”

Shadow skills minister Gordon Marsden said: “#SaveOurAdultEducation is crucial to highlight years of neglect in adult education. Simply focusing on 16- to 19-year-olds won’t deliver what we need.”

According to government figures, there are around 1.5 million fewer adults aged 19 or over participating in FE than there were a decade ago, when the figure stood at 3.75 million.

Mr Farron said: “This is a hugely important campaign. We want to see the best education and employment opportunities for all. This must include being able to access high quality education at any age.”

We want to see the best education and employment opportunities for all. This must include accessing high quality education at any age

“The government must come up with a proper well resourced plan for the future of adult education before it disappears entirely,” said UNISON’s head of education Jon Richards.

University and College Union general secretary Sally Hunt said: “If the government really wants to put skills at the heart of its industrial strategy, adults must be able to learn throughout their lives.”

The government’s industrial strategy green paper, unveiled in January, committed to exploring “ambitious new approaches to encouraging lifelong learning”.

Malcolm Trobe, interim general secretary of the ASCL, said: “This excellent campaign identifies three key measures which would make lifelong learning considerably more secure and accessible.”

The third demand is to get advanced learning loans debt written off where adult learners are unable to complete courses if training providers go bust.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “This is an important campaign, we must continue to fight for adult education to be afforded the status it deserves.”

Training providers spend thousands on consultants to get on new apprenticeship register

Consultants are raking in thousands of pounds writing bids for training providers desperate to make it onto the new register at the second time of asking.

Numerous major apprenticeships providers, including at least 21 colleges with a combined current allocation of £44 million, found themselves left off the register of apprenticeship training providers when it was published on March 14.

Such was the outcry, the Skills Funding Agency has agreed to a second round of applications, to close on April 7.

In total, the SFA approved 1,708 bodies, from a total of 2,327 applications. Since then, a number of third-party organisations have emerged, claiming a high success rate at helping providers write bids, and charging high fees for their second-chance services.

East Essex Vocational Training, an established education management company, boasted of a 99 per cent success rate on its RoATP applications in its March 19 newsletter.

We’ve heard back from about 100 cases we helped, and 99 per cent of those were successful

“The work required for RoATP differed – some providers just wanted us to check through their bid,” said managing director Steve Lawrence. “Others asked us to write the basis of their bid and finished it themselves, and we did the whole thing for others.”

He told FE Week that the cost of the service “varied from as low as £150 to £1,800 depending on the amount of time it took”.

He added: “We’ve heard back from about 100 cases we helped, and 99 per cent of those were successful.”

In October, the Yorkshire-based Education and Skills Consultancy sold its services with a message on its website, that warned: “If you want to continue to deliver after May 2017, you need to get on RoATP. We’ll be supporting organisations through the application process”.

Its managing director James Hart told FE Week that his company’s bid writers worked on around 40 applications during the window for RoATP entries from October 24 and November 25, claiming that only two had failed.

Mr Hart said the flat rate charged for applications was £1,000 plus VAT, although “there might be additional costs”.

He suggested that, particularly for smaller training providers, his experience could be useful.

“Over the last five years, the SFA hasn’t asked them to put pen to paper on a tender, and now all of a sudden they are expecting them to have the capability and capacity themselves to write something that they never had experience of doing,” he said.

Sally-Ann Baker, managing director of London-based Bidright UK, said she found it “incredible” how many “silly mistakes” providers had made with applications.

Her company was approached by 25 to 30 providers on RoATP and took on 12 cases, all of which were successful. Its fixed rate is £2,000 plus VAT.

Laura Shepherd, senior consultant at Yorkshire-based Carley Consult, said her firm worked with nine providers, eight of which made it onto RoATP.

“We work on a rate of £495 a day, but it would depend on if we know the provider or not,” she said. “It ranged between a couple of days and a week.”

Biohazard cleaning lecturer awarded medal for excellence for his quirky teaching methods

A biohazard cleaning lecturer has been awarded a medal for excellence from the qualification board City and Guilds.

Stuart Wilson, a tutor at Accrington and Rossendale College, received the award for his innovative teaching methods, which include creating realistic crime scenes using Nutella, tomato sauce and even tinned vegetable soup.

He was recommended for the award following positive feedback left by former students, many of whom have gone on to work for private specialised cleaning companies or set up their own businesses.

Stuart has been teaching at the college for 18 years, running courses on biohazards, crime scene and trauma cleaning, having previously worked for local authorities and the police service in north-west England.

The award is only given to outstanding trainers and tutors, and Mr Wilson said: “It’s an honour to be recognised in this way for something I do every day as my job.

“I really enjoy making my lessons as interactive and engaging as possible and the fact that this important career path is being highlighted can only be a good thing. It’s a dirty job, but somebody’s got to do it.”

 

Main photo: Spick and span: Stuart Wilson in his lab

FEATURE: College puts on all-wheelchair production of Chicago to raise disability awareness

A college’s musical theatre department will put on a unique version of Chicago in order to raise awareness of disability in the arts. Samantha King reports

Inspired by Kieron Hoult, a 17-year-old musical theatre student and wheelchair user, staff and students at Stratford-upon-Avon College wanted to give the classic musical a twist by putting the whole cast in wheelchairs.

Dubbed Chaircago, the department hopes the performance will show youngsters with mobility issues that they can still pursue a career in musical theatre.

Kieron is the first ever wheelchair user to enrol on the college’s musical theatre course – after being turned away by a number of other institutions – and this is the first time wheelchairs have been incorporated into one of its productions.

Alex Dengate, a lecturer in musical theatre, said: “Kieron originally auditioned at other colleges in the area and was simply turned away. He’s got a great singing voice and he can act; his only restriction is his mobility. We thought we had to give him a crack at this.”

Kieron has also taken on the job of movement director during rehearsals, teaching fellow performers how to turn, stop quickly and perform tricks like wheelies.

“A few years ago, I was told that I was unable to study GCSE drama when I was at school, so it’s really important to me to prove that this can be done and show that there is a key role for people with disabilities in the arts,” he said.

“The rehearsal period has been challenging and we’ve had a few on-stage collisions, as the other performers are still getting used to moving in wheelchairs.”

The production has received sponsorship from the Red Cross, which is lending the college 22 wheelchairs for performers to use, and representatives from the charity were in attendance at the show’s opening night.

Nadia Jambawai, mobility aid coordinator at the charity, said: “Until people experience an injury that affects their mobility, they just don’t realise how challenging it can be. The students should be applauded for their wish to raise awareness in such a positive way.”

Kieron Hoult, centre

Mr Dengate is keen that other people with mobility issues are not deterred from studying musical theatre at the college in the future. 

“I hope other wheelchair users in our catchment and community area see this and think we can do this, other than thinking their options are restricted,” he said.

“It was really heartwarming to see Kieron engage. Normally he’s used to being the only guy in the room in a wheelchair, but now when he comes to college you don’t even spot him, because everyone’s in a wheelchair.”

The show ran for two days, on March 22 and 23.

 

Main photo: The show must roll on: The cast of Chaircago

Training provider receives top accolade for their investment in employees

The Learning Curve Group has joined the 13 per cent of organisations in the UK to be awarded the Investors in People gold standard award.

The accreditation recognises organisations with good people management and provides resources for businesses to innovate, improve and expand, with a focus on their staff.

As part of the award application process, LCG employees met with assessors to discuss their job satisfaction, and the company had to demonstrate opportunities for staff progression.

One key area that helped LCG achieve the accolade was a manager’s scheme for employees, where employees identified as having potential receive extra training for managerial and directorial positions, regardless of their current level.

Founded in 2004, county Durham-based LCG is a provider of training and work-based learning, with a portfolio including apprenticeships, distance learning qualifications, vocational training and recruitment.

Working directly with over 50,000 learners and 4,000 businesses per year, LCG have now grown to over 270 employees and 400 associates across their nine centres.

Gail Crossman, director of performance and development at the company said: “People were cheering when we received the award. Staff really wanted to show the assessors that Learning Curve was a great place to work.”

 

Main photo: Brenda McLeish Learning Curve CEO celebrates IIP Gold award with employees