Ofsted watch: sixth form college plummets after 10-year inspection wait

A sixth form college that hadn’t received an inspection for 10 years sank from ‘outstanding’ to ‘requires improvement’ – in a mixed week for FE Ofsted reports.

Governors at Holy Cross College, in Manchester, were criticised for their failure to recognise the “significance of the decline in standards” at the SFC.

The new report, published on March 15, said “sufficient challenge” has not been provided to senior leaders, who themselves have not “identified the weaknesses in underperforming subjects accurately and have been too slow to implement effective improvement strategies”.

Its previous ‘outstanding’ Ofsted report followed a February 2007 inspection.

The 2,000-learner institution received grade threes this time round, in all but one area – person development, behaviour and welfare.

It was also a bad week for university technical colleges, after Swindon UTC was branded ‘inadequate’ in its first ever Ofsted report, published March 10.

The government’s watchdog hit the UTC with grade fours in almost every category, including effectiveness of leadership and management, quality of teaching, learning and assessment, outcomes for pupils, and 16 to 19 study programmes.

Criticisms included “inadequate achievement of pupils in Years 10 and 11 in mathematics”, leaders making “insufficient use of the wide range of engineering-based industrial partners”, and the failure of senior leaders and governors to deal with “significant weaknesses in the quality of teaching, learning and assessment in order to raise pupils’ achievement”.

The grade four means that more than half of the 20 UTCs visited by Ofsted have now been rated ‘inadequate’ or ‘requires improvement’.

It was however good news for employer and independent learning provider Busy Bees Nurseries Limited, which jumped from ‘good’ to ‘outstanding’ across the board in a report published on March 16.

Inspectors said that since its previous inspection, in October 2012, leaders and managers at Busy Bees have “significantly improved” the quality of teaching, learning and assessment and outcomes during a “very significant growth in learner numbers”.

The provider now has over 1,250 learners compared with just 293 five years ago.

It was less good news for Nottingham City Transport Ltd, another employer provider, who received a grade three in its first inspection.

One way for the provider to improve is by getting managers to ensure all staff provide “suitable support to apprentices to develop their literacy and numeracy skills more effectively”, according to inspectors.

Meanwhile, The College of West Anglia fell from ‘good’ to ‘requires improvement’ in a report published March 14.

The college received grade threes in all areas except for apprenticeships, where they scored a grade one.

Two other colleges – Kensington and Chelsea College and Birmingham Metropolitan College – kept their grade three ratings from previous inspections.

Bolton College on the other hand stepped up from a grade three to a grade two.

Inspectors said leaders, governors and managers have “worked hard” since the last inspection in 2010 to “improve successfully the outcomes for learners and the quality of the provision”.

Amersham and Wycombe College had its second monitoring visit since an ‘inadequate’ rating in July 2016 and was found to be making ”significant progress”.

Lastly, Broadland District Council, an adult and community learning provider in Norwich, went from a grade three to a grade two in a report published March 15.

Inspectors said staff provide “good-quality information, advice and guidance, which ensures that apprentices receive the right support to help them make informed decisions about their next steps”.

 

GFE Colleges Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
Kensington and Chelsea College 31/01/2017 13/03/2017 3 3
Birmingham Metropolitan College 14/02/2017 16/03/2017 3 3
The College of West Anglia 11/01/2017 14/03/2017 3 2
Bolton College 07/02/2017 15/03/2017 2 3
Amersham and Wycombe College 22/02/2017 16/03/2017 M M

 

Sixth Form Colleges Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
Holy Cross College 31/01/2017 15/03/2017 3 1

 

Adult and Community Learning Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
Broadland District Council 24/01/2017 14/03/2017 2 3

 

Employer providers Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
Busy Bees Nurseries Limited 01/02/2017 16/03/2017 1 2
Nottingham City Transport Ltd 14/02/2017 13/03/2017 3 0

 

Other (including UTCs) Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
UTC Swindon 25/01/2017 10/03/2017 4 0

How we’re preparing for the work experience revolution

The government is right to identify work experience as vital to high-quality technical education, but the cost of managing all those placements shouldn’t be underestimated, says Sam Parrett

The FE world – and indeed the wider education sector – welcomed last week’s budget statement, which included a £500 million windfall for technical education reforms.

Rarely the recipients of such a gift, all of us in FE have been eagerly studying the proposals to find out what it may really mean for us and our students.

The introduction of T-levels with 15 career-focused pathways is central to the reforms, which will consolidate thousands of vocational qualifications.

So far, so good. I am fully supportive of any initiative which aims to raise parity of esteem between academic and technical education, and I very much hope this will move things in the right direction.

Next year we’ll have to triple our work experience coordinators

But what will affect colleges, learning providers and businesses even more significantly are the proposals relating to work experience. Quite rightly, it is flagged as being crucial to all vocational education programmes, and it’s a vital theme in the new technical education reforms.

All 16- to 19-year-olds working on a new T-level programme will see their study hours increased by 50 per cent to around 900 hours a year, and will be required to do a three-month work placement as part of their course.

This is a significant undertaking for employers and colleges, particularly at a time when many businesses are already taking on more young people in the form of apprentices and trainees.

FE is generally much better than schools at providing more industry-led learning experiences. Many colleges having excellent links with employers, realistic learning environments and facilities, and teaching staff who are experts in their vocational field.

Good careers advice can help young people identify where their passion lies, and is the best way to reach their career goal.

But ultimately, if the government is going to realise its ambitious vision for work experience, we need to see real collaboration between employers and schools/colleges.

Not only must we ensure placements are worthwhile for young people, we need to make sure that employers also benefit in the short term as well as the long term. Having an extra pair of hands can be a hindrance if a student is uninterested and lacking in basic communication skills, but a keen, enthusiastic and motivated student can be a real asset to any business.

It also needs to be made easier for businesses to manage their placements and create strategies to ensure the young person gets a meaningful experience, for example: careful monitoring, mutually-agreed objectives and documented outcomes. Employers need to see that the time they are putting in will result in a skilled pipeline of talent further down the line.

What shouldn’t be underestimated is the cost of planning, organising, monitoring and managing placements

At my college, we are already preparing for the work experience revolution by setting up an employment and skills board, with 11 subgroups covering each industry area. The aim of these groups is to ensure that employers have direct input into the curriculum development, which in turn provides them with reassurance that our students will be equipped with the necessary skills.

Establishing a relationship with a diverse range of employers is not only helping us shape our study programmes effectively, but will also give these businesses an insight into the importance of providing young people with work-related experience.

The government is absolutely right to identify work experience as important. However, what shouldn’t be underestimated is the cost of planning, organising, monitoring and managing placements for, in our case, around 4,500 students.

Last year we had to triple the numbers of our maths and English teachers, next year we’ll have to do the same with our work experience coordinators!

This is no easy task for an already squeezed FE sector – and I can’t help feeling that the £500 million may be a drop in the ocean.

However, I do firmly believe that working collaboratively with employers will move things in the right direction – for both students and our economy.

 

Sam Parrett is principal and CEO of London South East Colleges

Institute for Apprenticeships most popular for external quality assurance

The Institute for Apprenticeships is the most popular choice for external quality assurance for apprenticeship standards – even though it was only set up as a “last resort” option for this sort of thing.

Of the 162 apprenticeship standards currently approved for delivery, 26 have chosen the IfA as their EQA route, compared with just 15 that have gone with the government’s official qualifications regulator Ofqual.

The Quality Assurance Agency, which generally deals with higher education qualifications, is also available, but has been named for quality assurance with just three standards.

A further 58 still have no confirmed choice of EQA provider, while the remaining standards have selected professional bodies or employer-led approaches.

An Ofqual spokesperson said that in the new apprenticeship landscape it was “inevitable” for trailblazers to reach “different conclusions regarding their preferred EQA provider”.

The IfA has said that it considers itself to be ‘the EQA of last resort’

He said: “The IfA has said that it considers itself to be ‘the EQA of last resort’. In this evolving landscape trailblazers may change their initial preferences.”

However, he defended Ofqual’s credentials, saying: “We start from a base of having renowned assessment expertise, regulatory tools and a tried and tested framework.

“This means that we are in a great position to provide EQA and can draw upon our statutory powers to impose rules, set gateway criteria, undertake audits, investigate, impose sanctions and compel action.”

He added that Ofqual is also “exploring how we can work in partnership with employers and professional bodies as providers of the EQA role”.

Speaking during a webinar on January 6, Peter Lauener, the shadow chief executive of the IfA, told FE Week’s editor Nick Linford that the IfA did not have “the resource to do the quality assurance role directly”.

He also insisted it would be acceptable for the Institute to charge for EQA because “the principle of a regulator charging bodies in the industry for regulation is not uncommon at all”.

In contrast, an Ofqual spokesperson told FE Week: “We don’t charge and do not intend to introduce charges for our external quality assurance role.”

Furthermore, while Ofqual, QAA and other professional or sector bodies which Trailblazer groups may set up to tackle EQA will be overseen by the IfA, the Institute itself will not have an organisation regulating its delivery of this role.

FE Week understands that the IfA has yet to tender for its EQA work, despite plans to start procurement in February.

And last month the Department for Education ran a consultation on the draft operational plan for the IfA, which invited feedback on quality assurance and other functions, and closed on February 27.

The principle of a regulator charging bodies in the industry for regulation is not uncommon at all

In its own response to the operational plan, Ofqual branded the “responsibilities and accountabilities” in the current apprenticeships system “blurred”, labelling it “crucial” to make the landscape “clear and easy to navigate”.

FE Week asked both the IfA and DfE to comment this week on whether they were now rethinking the IfA’s role in the process, and what would be happening with the EQA tender. They declined to comment.

Terry Fennell, chief executive and responsible officer at specialist awarding organisation FDQ, told FE Week that having four different EQA options is “extremely worrying for awarding organisations”.

He said: “We are used to one set of rules set out by Ofqual for qualifications and to this end all AOs are in the same game with the same expectations.

“When it comes to end-point assessments there are three new EQA bodies in the market and each is likely to have a different approach.

“Importantly it’s not clear who will police the EQA bodies so there is likely to be dispute and huge conflicts of interest.”

Level the playing field for colleges vs schools

Do colleges feel picked on? You bet. Funding cuts over the last 10 years and the difficulties in dealing with less money, annual redundancy rounds and adapting to a declining market have led to us being put under the cosh by government and Ofsted in a number of ways, some unfairly.

There isn’t a level playing field. Colleges need be treated in the same way as other providers, such as academies, school sixth forms and UTCs. Here’s what needs to change:

VAT

FE colleges pay it… others don’t. If we demerged our 16-18 work and set up an academy, we’d save £350,000 a year in VAT.

Let’s have one system, or let everyone use the other, to even things out, even though there’s a good chance that Spreadsheet Phil might prefer that all institutions pay.

New buildings

Colleges, or at least the financially viable ones, contribute to capital expenditure. In our case we have self-funded new build and the most we have ever received from the government is a 25 per cent contribution. The benefit of this approach is that it does make you think long and hard as to what you really need and why.

But school sixth forms and UTCs get 100 per cent capital funding. The taxpayer pays for the lot. No wonder there’s excess capacity of bricks and mortar for 16-18 provision, the average class size in school sixth forms is around seven – according to DfE data – and UTCs are on average working at only 50 per cent capacity. This is not an efficient use of scarce educational resources.

FE has been the Cinderella sector far too long

Area reviews

The heroic assumption with area reviews is that merging will cure all financial ills. We know that this doesn’t always follow: colleges large and small have got into financial difficulties.

But if big is beautiful, then surely UTCs and school sixth forms should be subjected to the same scrutiny?

There are over 1,200 school sixth forms and UTCs in this country each with less than 100 learners – a concern in terms of value for money/efficiency, never mind quality and breadth of the learner experience.

Quality

The DfE should publish 16-18 achievement rates for all providers, including drop-out rates as well as year-end successes – it’s the only way of assessing overall quality. The performance tables do not show drop-outs from subjects or institutions, except indirectly in the progress measures for English and maths, because a score of -1 is assigned for a drop-out or a no-show at an exam.

On a positive note, here’s what looks like it might be changing:

Access to schools

Colleges struggle to get access to schools so we have to rely on expensive, above-the-line advertising to get our message across. From a freedom-of-choice perspective this is unfair.

Lord Baker’s amendment to the Technical and Further Education Bill (which has already become immortalised as the ‘Baker clause’) theoretically means schools will have to allow a “range of education and training providers” access to pupils aged between 13 and 18, to promote technical education qualifications or apprenticeships.

This should be for all provision, including ‘academic’ and hybrid (a mix of academic with vocational) routes. It’s high time this change happened.

T-levels

Funding for primary and secondary education has risen rapidly in the last 25 years, and universities can raise income by levying tuition fees. But there’s been no such rise for FE.

So the budget announcement on T-levels – which seem to be a resurrection of Ed Balls’ 14 routes to stardom (now 15) – provides a welcome boost in funding to vocational education.

The chancellor has promised an additional £500 million a year by 2022 – a 19 per cent increase. This goes some way to restoring the cuts to maximum annual funded hours, now down to 540 and 450 respectively for 17 and 18-year-olds.

I hope the extra funding will flow to broader educational needs including the generic skills of English, maths and IT. If so, this might just be the longer term solution to increased productivity that the chancellor wants.

These two developments suggest government seems (at last!) to understand that further education is vital to the future of the UK’s economy.

Let’s hope they follow up these positive announcements by addressing the remaining inequalities. FE has been the Cinderella sector far too long.

 

Graham Taylor is principal and chief executive at New College Swindon

Don’t forget work experience in the apprenticeships frenzy

Of course there will be teething troubles as the levy kicks in, but current developments in the apprenticeships arena – the most significant overhaul of the system for more than 30 years – have to be warmly welcomed. Anything that significantly enhances employability, work readiness and job prospects must be good.

Many of today’s senior industry leaders will say that they owe it all to what they learned as an apprentice. Apprenticeships are already in the DNA of industries like engineering, but one of the most positive outcomes of these new initiatives will be their becoming the norm in all industries, professions and sectors.

But – and there’s always a but – there are dangers of which we must be aware.

Sir Dominic Cadbury’s line, that “there is no such thing as a career path; there is only crazy paving and you have to lay it yourself”, so effectively encapsulates what has happened to the pattern of working life in recent decades. People are forced to navigate an extremely complex and confusing path which, almost invariably, has no clear signposts.

Work experience is important to successful navigation, whether it’s paid or unpaid. Apprenticeships are a powerful and influential form of work experience, but they are not the only one.

Getting it right is a win-win-win

My first concern is that, in all the frenzy currently surrounding apprenticeships, and the resources their implementation will demand, other types of work experience will get less attention than they merit. Placements (from the traditional five days for year 10 students to the incoming three-month placements for 16- to 19-year-olds in technical education), traineeships, internships and volunteering that leads to employment are all immensely important.

Traineeships have an especially key role to play as a lead-in, pre-apprenticeship programme. One could consider placements, internships and volunteering as being primarily about “soft skills” and getting to understand the working environment – whereas traineeships can be considered more “sleeves-rolled-up” preparation for a job in a specific sector.

Unemployed young people who have little or no work experience and who have not yet achieved a full level three qualification are going to find the job hunt especially hard. They’re also unlikely to be ready to fully capitalise on an apprenticeship. Traineeships help to bridge that experience and skills gap, as well as adding capacity to employers, and to send the learners on the path to employment or an apprenticeship.

Work experience that begins as early as possible (and I’d like to see it start with 11-year-olds) and continues throughout a young person’s educational and personal development, taking some people right through to a degree apprenticeship, is a hugely powerful navigational tool for those learners on careers’ crazy paving.

For employers, it represents a genuine talent pipeline that has significant bottom-line benefits, alongside CSR merits. These range from cutting recruitment costs to providing invaluable management experience and raising both the morale and productivity of an existing workforce.

Getting it right is a win-win-win for learner, employer and learning provider – and ultimately for our economy and society.

Work experience is a hugely powerful navigational tool for those learners on careers’ crazy paving

But it is pointless if the work experience, in whatever form, is not undertaken by all parties at the highest possible quality. And that’s my other concern.

In focusing on meeting numerical targets and ensuring that levy contributions are fully used, there’s a risk of corners being cut and apprenticeships not being carried out thoroughly enough. The new standards, if devised correctly, will be an invaluable guide to getting it right, but success will be absolutely dependent on everyone involved being committed to quality.

So, as the apprenticeships momentum gathers pace, let’s not overlook other forms of work experience, which are vital elements, both in learners’ pathways and employers’ talent pipelines and, above all, let’s not jeopardise quality as we strive for quantity.

 

Rod Natkiel will be running a workshop called ‘Creating a talent pipeline for the future’ at AAC2017

College steps in as sponsor to save 103-year-old local carnival

A Hampshire college has saved a historic local carnival from cancellation by stepping in as the official sponsor.

After concerns the 103-year-old Totton and Eling carnival would be cancelled due to lack of funds, Totton College offered up financial support to keep it afloat following discussions with carnival organisers.

Not only will the college now fund the event, but students on the BTEC public services courses will act as stewards on the day.

Derek Headrige, the college’s campus principal, said: “The carnival is close to the hearts of many residents here in Totton which is why it is so important to us that it goes ahead. It is a longstanding tradition and is always well attended.

“It is a really upbeat and positive event that brings the whole community together and we are delighted to be providing our support this year to make it happen.”

The theme of the carnival – which takes place on June 10 – is ‘animals’, and there are around 16 floats expected on the day.

 

Main image: A float from last year’s Totton carnival 

Rare passenger plane is backdrop for student horror film

A group of media students from East Durham College have used a rare passenger plane as the location for several of their horror film projects.

The 14 students, all studying their technical level three diploma in media, paid a visit to the last complete Hawker Siddeley Trident 1C passenger plane left in the world, and used it as the backdrop for their shoot.

The former BA aircraft was moved from Heathrow airport to Durham Tees Valley in 1983 when it left service, before it was brought to its current home at the North East Land, Sea and Air Museum in 2011.

Amanda Gregory, the head of department said: “They are each making a horror film, and working on a green screen was distracting from what was happening later in the film. Having explored different effects, they decided to do it in a real environment.

“This is the only plane of its kind still in existence and the footage was incredible.”

The final results will be seen when the films – covering every aspect of the genre from monster movies to zombies – are completed as part of the course.

 

Main image: Media students with the Hawker Siddeley HS.121 Trident 1C aircraft

I wouldn’t ‘trust’ the new Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers

Many of the colleges and training providers that failed to get on the apprenticeship provider register are red-faced.

Not just angry but embarrassed, given some simply failed to comprehensively answer the questions in the tender document.

The SFA is sticking to its guns, but I suspect a quick reapplication will result in this being a temporary setback.

A much bigger concern should be whether this new register contains only what the DfE press release described as “top-quality training providers”.

Robert Halfon, the apprenticeships minister, when unveiling the register, also said: “We are giving employers the confidence to do business with high-quality training providers.”

And we’ve since received press releases from jubilant firms claiming they have been given what they call “government trusted training provider status”.

But, to my surprise, it turns out companies with little or no trading history have successfully found their way onto the register.

These new firms probably wrote beautiful apprenticeship plans in their application, but in the real world employers get confidence from experience.

The SFA said they would set the entry bar high, but as exposed in the pages of FE Week, this has proven not to be the case.

So employers will still need to do their own due diligence when picking a provider, posing the question: why bother with a register at all?

Autocar’s car industry awards for women open up to apprentices

An annual event identifying and promoting women in the car industry will, for the first time, have a category for apprentices.

Every ear, Autocar’s annual Great British Women in the Car Industry looks for the most promising women working in UK automotive industry, and celebrates the top 100 at an annual awards ceremony.

This year, winners will also be picked in the new apprentices category, alongside those in the existing categories of vehicle development, manufacturing, purchasing, retail, marketing, communications, design, motorsport and executive.

Candidates must be nominated by friends, colleagues or their employers, with judges taking into account the influence or potential future influence each individual has when making their decision.

Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said: “We need to attract the most talented people to enter the workplace. We want to highlight successful women who’ve made a difference in UK automotive and to provide inspiration for many others considering their future careers.”

To submit a nomination, please email jim.holder@haymarket.com, Autocar’s editorial director, with the name of the nominee, their CV and a paragraph on why they deserve to be there by April 3. There is no limit to the number of nominations that can be made.

The winners will be announced on June 21