Issue 111 | November 2020

DFE PUBLISHES LOCKDOWN GUIDANCE FOR COLLEGES IN ENGLAND

On 5 November, the Department for Education (DfE) published guidance for colleges on the second Coronavirus lockdown in England. This was updated on 12 November. The lockdown will be lifted on 2 December, after which date a ‘more rigorous’ three tier system of restrictions will be reintroduced based on the rate of infections in each area (see ‘Winter Plan’ link below). Colleges will be expected to stay open no matter what tier area they are located in and the restrictions listed in the 12 November guidance are expected to remain largely in place. The guidance includes the following:

• Colleges should continue to seek to deliver at least 50% of education on-site for students aged 16-19. They should also maintain on-site provision for vulnerable learners, children of key workers and those learners without access to devices and/or connectivity at home. If there are operational constraints that necessitate a greater proportion of online teaching, or if colleges have had public health advice to wholly move to remote teaching, colleges should notify their ESFA territorial team.
• Adult students should be taught remotely unless it is not possible to do so (e.g. if students need access to specialist equipment or cannot access remote delivery at home).
• Students and staff who are extremely clinically vulnerable, should not attend college. Staff should work from home and colleges should organise remote study arrangements for students.
• Students and staff who have underlying health conditions but are not extremely clinically vulnerable, or who live with a person who is extremely clinically vulnerable, can still attend college.
• Classrooms and workshops should be kept as well ventilated as possible (e.g. windows left open).
• Students and staff shouldwear face coverings outside of classrooms, in corridors or other communal areas where social distancing cannot easily be maintained.
• Younger students on residential programmes should only travel between home and educational accommodation when absolutely necessary. Adults on residential programmes should remain in their educational accommodation and not move between home and college during term time.
• Sport that is part of an education programme can continue, outdoors if possible.
• Apprenticeships and other training in the workplace should continue where employers remain open

Private sector gyms, leisure centres and personal care facilities (e.g. hairdressers) will be able to remain open from 2 December no matter what tier they are located in. However, it is at present unclear if college facilities such as hair salons, restaurants and gyms, will be open to the general public. A copy of the 12 November updated DfE Coronavirus guidance for colleges in England can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-further-education-provision/what-fe-colleges-and-providers-will-need-to-do-from-the-start-of-the-2020-autumn-term

A copy of the ‘Winter Plan’ setting out post-lockdown tier arrangements and the restrictions associated them was published on 23 November and can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-winter-plan

GOVERNMENT EXTENDS JOB RETENTION SCHEME TO NEXT MARCH

On 5 November Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme will be extended until 31 March 2021 and that employers can continue to claim 80% of the wages of staff furloughed. When an organisation, such as a college, is largely publicly funded, the government expects that it will not use the scheme. However, a college may be able to claim in respect of staff wholly involved in generating commercial income. More information is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/extension-to-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme/extension-of-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme

2020/21 COMPREHENSIVE SPENDING REVIEW

On 25 November, the Chancellor presented the 2020/21 Comprehensive Spending Review (CPR) to the UK Parliament. Typically, a CPR would cover a 3 or 4 year period, but this review covers 2020/21 only. The CPR contains proposals costing £4.6 billion to aid economic recovery by creating and protecting ‘hundreds of thousands of jobs’. (The Office for Budget Responsibility says that it expects unemployment to rise to 7.5% by the second quarter of 2021, the equivalent of 2.6 million people). This money will be in addition to the £200 billion already committed to fund the wages of nearly 10 million furloughed employees and to provide grants for self-employed workers. The new or confirmed measures that will impact on education and training include the following:

• £1.6 billion for the Kickstart Scheme to provide young people with work placements.
• £138 million to help fund the new Lifetime Skills Guarantee initiative plus a further £127 million for other skills training (including traineeships and sector-based work academies). This funding will come from the £2.5 billion Skills Fund announced in July as part of the government’s ‘Plan for Jobs’.
• £1.5 billion capital spending for improving FE college buildings.
• An extension to 31 March 2021 of the arrangement whereby firms that take on new young apprentices aged 16 to 24 will receive £2,000 (in addition to the existing £1,000 incentive to hire apprentices aged 16-18) and any firm that hires new apprentices aged 25 and over will be paid £1,500.
• A £2.2 billion increase in the schools’ budget.
• £162 million in 2021/22 to support the rollout of wave 2 and 3 T-Levels plus £72 million to support the commitment to build 20 Institutes of Technology (IoTs).
• £83 million in 2021/22 for colleges and other post-16 providers to accommodate the expected large demographic increase in the number of 16-19-year-olds.

Other employment support packages include the following:

• £2.9 billion for a new ‘Restart’ scheme to help unemployed people with their job searches over the next three years offering regular, intensive job-hunting support and training for people who have been out of work for more than a year.
• £1.4 billion to expand the capacity of Job Centre Plus offices around the country to cater for the expected surge in jobseekers caused by the latest pandemic lockdown.
• A new infrastructure bank to be based in the north of England that will work with the private sector to finance major new infrastructure projects.
• A £4 billion ‘Levelling Up Fund’ to allow communities to bid for cash for infrastructure projects. A further £2 billion will be spent on transport infrastructure.

The Chancellor also announced that from April 2021 the National Minimum Wage (NMW) will increase to £8.91 an hour (a 2.2% increase) and extended to those aged 23 and over. The NMW for apprentices will increase from £4.15 to £4.30 per hour. There will also be an increase in pay for front line NHS staff. There will be no pay rise for other public sector workers (including teachers) other than for the 2.1 million public sector workers earning below the median wage of £24,000, who will receive a pay rise of at least £250. There will also be a cut in the overseas aid budget from 0.7% of GDP to 0.5%. A copy of the Chancellor’s speech can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/spending-review-2020-speech

The detailed Spending Review document containing financial and economic data can be found at:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/938052/SR20_Web_Accessible.pdf

KICKSTART SCHEME COMMENCES

The £1.6 billion Kickstart Scheme has been created with the aim of helping to alleviate the disproportionate effect of the pandemic on young people in terms of job losses and reduced training opportunities. Under the scheme, large employers are encouraged to provide high-quality six month placements for a minimum of 30 unemployed young people aged 16-24. Young people participating in the scheme will be paid the

minimum wage for their age for up to 25 hours per week and employers will be paid £1,500 per placement to help with training and administrative costs. In addition, more than 500 Kickstart ‘Gateways’ have been established to act on behalf of smaller employers offering 29 or fewer placements that will batch together employer applications and submit them to the Department for Work and Pensions on their behalf. Recruitment to the scheme started this month (November) and already more than 19,000 placements have been created by employers in a range of occupational areas. Many colleges are being subcontracted to help deliver the training component for Kickstart employers. More information is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/kickstart-scheme

LESS THAN A THIRD OF LEVEL 3 QUALIFICATIONS LIKELY TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR LIFETIME SKILLS GUARANTEE FUNDING

In September this year, the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson announced a new ‘Lifetime Skills Guarantee’. Under the guarantee, from next April, adults without a full Level 3 qualification can take a free fully funded college course to help them to acquire one. The money to pay for this will be met from the new £2.5 billion National Skills Fund announced in July. However, a caveat is attached to the entitlement in that the Level 3 courses studied must be ‘valued by employers’ and have the potential to help those studying on them to get better jobs with higher wages. The ESFA has been tasked with identifying which of around 1,200 full Level 3 qualifications currently available are ‘sufficiently valuable’ to employers to be eligible for funding. It is understood that thus far Level 3 qualifications in around 30 of the current 50 occupational sector areas have been deemed as not being of sufficient value’ to 8employers. These include areas such as travel and tourism, business and administration, legal services, marketing and sales, media, and performing arts. Access to HE qualifications have also been deemed ineligible since students can get their loans for these courses written off if they go on to complete a degree. As a result, it is expected that fewer than 400 Level 3 qualifications will be eligible to be funded under the scheme. More information is available at at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/major-expansion-of-post-18-education-and-training-to-level-up-and-prepare-workers-for-post-covid-economy

RAPID MASS CORONAVIRUS TESTING IN EDUCATION SETTINGS TO BE INTRODUCED

Over the period between 10-16 November, students and staff at the City of Liverpool College were tested up to once a day using the new rapid lateral flow tests. This was a pilot for plans for further mass testing in other education settings across the country, beginning in tier 3 areas. The Army was deployed to staff the test site. It appears that other than for age, teachers will not be a priority group for vaccinations. See below:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/more-rapid-covid-19-tests-to-be-rolled-out-across-england

MUCH OF THE COST OF THE LARGE INCREASE IN GCSE ENGLISH AND MATHS RE-SITS MUST BE MET BY COLLEGES

A survey carried out by the Association of Colleges (AoC) has revealed that the number of students required to re-sit GCSE English and mathematics exams in colleges this autumn has increased by 53% compared to last year. Many colleges have had to deal with more than twice their usual November entries, and around 20 colleges have needed to organise examinations for groups of 500 or more. In addition, most colleges have had to hire more space and more invigilation and administrative staff to support these exams. However, because funding under the DfE support scheme (see link below) specifically excludes students with a Grade 3, a significant proportion of the additional cost of this has had to be met from within existing college budgets. More information is available at:
https://www.aoc.co.uk/news/colleges-grapple-exam-costs-gcse-resit-students-excluded-government’s-support

Details of the current level of DfE financial support for extra exam, invigilator and site costs can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/responsibility-for-autumn-gcse-as-and-a-level-exam-series/dfe-exam-support-service-autumn-exam-fees-sites-and-invigilators

INCREASE IN FE FUNDING WILL NOT COVER THE INCREASE IN 16-19 STUDENTS AND LOSS OF OTHER INCOME

Earlier this month the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IfS) published its ‘2020 Annual Report on Education Spending in England’. In the report, the IfS says that since 2010/11, FE colleges and sixth forms have been subject to the largest cuts in funding of any education sector, and that funding per student has fallen by 12% in real terms. The IfS says it recognises that the additional £400 million being provided by the government for FE in England in this year was intended to increase annual per student funding for full-time 16-19-year-olds to £4,188, and that there will also be a £400 ‘High Value Courses Premium’ (HVCP) uplift for that age group in subjects such as engineering, manufacturing technologies and construction. However, a combination of an increasing 16-19 population, the reduction in the availability of alternative training and employment opportunities for young people and the ‘unusually high’ GCSE results this summer, has resulted in a significant increase in 16-19 students attending colleges. This, in turn, is likely to have resulted in a further real-term reduction in funding per student this year because funding allocations to colleges are ‘lagged’ and based on student numbers recruited the previous year, and although colleges can apply for in-year growth, the IfS says that this is subject to affordability and is not designed to address significant sector-wide growth. At the same time, colleges have had to spend more on measures to help keep students and staff Covid-safe, leaving them facing significant funding shortfalls and heightened uncertainty about their future viability. The IfS report is available at:
https://ifs.org.uk/uploads/R182-2020-annual-report-on-education-spending-in-England.pdf

CURRENT FUNDING RATE FOR ADULT STUDENTS MAKES IT IMPOSSIBLE NOT TO RUN COURSES AT A LOSS

The AoC has published a report which says that the new National Skills Fund will not achieve its objectives unless more money is provided for FE in general and 19+ provision in particular. Funding for adult skills programmes have been cut by 40% over the last decade and the research argues that the current level of funding meant that adult courses were not viable even at the maximum class size and that no adult courses could generate the necessary contribution to overheads needed to avoid a loss. The report is available at:
https://www.aoc.co.uk/system/files/AoC%20Adult%20Programme%20Costs%20and%20Rates%20Research%20FINAL%20Nov.pdf

JISC REPORT HIGHLIGHTS THE KEY CHALLENGES IN DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE BEING FACED BY COLLEGES

Research carried out by Jisc based on data collected from more than 100 colleges since 2016 highlights the long-term under-investment in IT infrastructure and staffing. Key findings include the following:

• Lack of funding has led to out-of-date IT infrastructure systems continuing to be used.
• College IT support teams have reduced in size as IT staff who leave are not replaced. The average IT support staff to IT user’s ratio now stands at 1 member of IT support staff for every 814 users.
• Only a small minority of FEcolleges have a reliable internet connection. This is a particular concern given the increased use of cloud hosted ‘software as a service’ (SaaS) applications.
• Lack of capital funding means that servers and storage provision are out of date. Server reliability is often compromised, and capacity is constrained. The age of some systems means they do not include adequate offline backup resources leaving colleges at risk from cyber security threats.
• The majority of colleges undertake Microsoft operating system patch management, but other third-party software management is often not as rigorously enforced. For example, mobile phones are rarely managed by mobile device management (MDM) systems, which can compromise data protection.
• Most colleges do not yet have cyber security certifications in place.

A copy of the Jisc report can be found at:
https://repository.jisc.ac.uk/8096/1/it-infrastructure-reviews-key-findings.pdf

DISADVANTAGED COLLEGE STUDENTS HAVE INSUFFICIENT ACCESS TO THE TECHNOLOGY NEEDED TO LEARN AT HOME

A report released by the AoC on 13 November says that as many as 100,000 disadvantaged students do not have a suitable device to learn on at home or homes with access to the internet. Disadvantaged students in colleges have been excluded from government laptop scheme because it is restricted to under-16s and the government’s 16-19 Bursary Fund has been only sufficient to provide equipment for around half of the students who need it. As a result the AoC is calling for more funding to enable all disadvantaged students to access remote and blended learning. More information is available at:
https://www.aoc.co.uk/news/100000-college-students-still-without-suitable-device-learning

OFSTED WILL ONLY UNDERTAKE FE COLLEGE VISITS REMOTELY THIS TERM

On 2 November, Ofsted used Twitter to announce that the programme of autumn visits to colleges will now be done remotely. Inspectors will only carry out site visits ‘…in response to urgent issues’. See link below:
https://twitter.com/ofstednews/status/1323324910442348546

OFSTED REPORT ON FINDINGS OF PROVIDER RESPONSES TO CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

On 10 November Ofsted published its second report on the effects of Covid-19 on college provision. Ofsted says that the visits were not intended to be ‘judgmental’ and will not result in an inspection grade. Instead, says Ofsted, they were for inspectors to learn how providers were coping with the challenges they faced as a result of the pandemic. Ofsted says that managers at the 36 providers they visited said that they found the visits ‘helpful and constructive’. One of the main findings listed in the report was that managers felt under increasing financial pressure because of:

• The additional costs related to moving to remote learning and remote assessment, providing additional IT equipment and enhancing internet and Wi-Fi capabilities.
• The costs of ensuring that sites are Covid-secure and keeping students safe (e.g. the costs of increased cleaning and providing hand sanitiser).
• The costs of additional pastoral support (including providing mental health support for students) and increased bursary requests from learners.
• The costs of responding to the needs Covid-19 testing and providing information to local authorities.
• Insufficient funding to meet the exceptional increase in student numbers this year.
• Having to pay money back to the ESFA when apprentices were furloughed.

A copy of the section of the Ofsted report specifically relating to the FE sector can be found at:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/933434/FES_COVID-19_briefing_October_2020.pdf

OFQUAL ADVISES THAT 2021 EXAMS IN ENGLAND SHOULD GO AHEAD

All major summer exams next year in England will go ahead, although they will be delayed by three weeks to give schools and colleges extra time to prepare. Ofqual has advised the government that exams should go ahead since ‘…trying to assign grades on the basis of anything other than a properly moderated formal test or exam is very difficult’. Ofqual also says that teacher assessed grades are often biased against bright students from disadvantaged and some ethnic backgrounds. However, critics say that neither Ofqual nor the government has yet set out any credible alternative to exams should the pandemic continue. In response, Ofqual says that it is consulting with exam boards on plans to mitigate the possibility of further Covid-related disruption, which are expected to be announced before Christmas.

OFQUAL SAYS EXAM GRADES IN ENGLAND IN 2021 (AND BEYOND) MAY NEED TO BE ‘MORE GENEROUS’

As a result of the angry reaction of schools, parents, and students from across the whole of the UK, the standardised GCSE and A-Level grades awarded this summer were abandoned and replaced by teacher assessed grades. This resulted significant grade inflation. For example, in England, A-Level grades, on average, were 12% higher and GCSE grades were 9% higher than in 2019. Because of this, Ofqual has already said that it will be necessary for grades awarded in this autumn’s GCSE and A-Level resits to take into account the more generous grades awarded in the summer. Ofqual has now gone further and, in a letter sent on 5 November to Gavin Williamson, the Education Secretary for England, Dame Glenys Stacey, the interim Ofqual Chief Regulator said that to be fair to students who have missed so much learning, GCSE and A-Level grades awarded in 2021 and ‘probably beyond’ will also need to be more ‘generous’. A copy of Dame Glenys’s letter to Mr Williamson can be found at:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/932961/2020.11.05_Response_to_Secretary_of_State.pdf

SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES COULD BE TOLD IN ADVANCE WHICH SUBJECTS AREAS WILL BE COVERED IN 2021 EXAMS

According to an article published in the Daily Telegraph on 18 November, Ofqual is proposing that one way of mitigating the disruption students have faced during the pandemic is to allow exam boards to tell schools and colleges which subject areas will be covered in next year’s GCSE and A-level papers to enable students and teachers to concentrate on those areas rather than attempting to cover the entire curriculum. The Telegraph says that school and college representatives have been briefed on this and they have welcomed the plans, with the caveat that ‘…they did not go far enough to address the amount of classroom time lost’. The Telegraph says that further details of the plan will be ‘…unveiled in the coming weeks’. See:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/11/18/exclusive-students-told-advance-topics-will-appear-2021-exams/

EPI PUBLISHES REPORT ON PROPOSALS FOR 2021 EXAMS

On 12 November, the Education Policy Institute (EPI) published its own recommendations for how the government should proceed with examinations next year, along with proposals for contingency planning should the pandemic continue. The EPI prefaces its report by agreeing with Ofqual’s position that exams should be held next year, saying that ‘… teachers are not immune from societal stereotypes which could influence their judgements of young people’. The EPI’s recommendations to the government on organising the summer 2021 exams include the following:

• Greater ‘optionality’ in exam papers so that pupils have a better chance of answering questions on the content they have covered.
• Multiple papers covering a single subject spaced out as much as possible during the exam period.This, says the EPI, would ensures that if a pupil misses an exam, they will have another one to fall back on.
• Allow for grade inflation.Given that the 2021 cohort will have experienced significant lost learning time and will be competing with the 2020 cohort for jobs and places in further and higher education, pupils’ grades should be allowed some inflation.

Recommendations for alternatives to summer 2021 exams, should they be cancelled, include the following:

• Introduce benchmarking assessments to provide ‘contingency grades’. These would replace existing mock exams and take place in the spring term.They would be set by the exam boards with an accompanying marking scheme, thereby providing greater consistency than traditional mocks.
• Conduct further research on the impact of using teacher assessed grades on pupil outcomes, particularly for the most disadvantaged.The 2020 exam results present an opportunity for research into teacher bias, and the impact of predicted grades on grade inflation.

Recommendations to support pupils who have lost learning time include the following:

• Provide additional catch up funding for disadvantaged pupils this year.Pupil Premium for pupils currently in years 1, 7 and 11 and the disadvantage weighting for those in year 13 should be doubled.
• Use the £143 million under-allocation from the National Tutoring Programme (NTP) to further subsidise tuition so that schools only contribute 10% rather than 25%.Given that schools may find it difficult to provide 25% from their own funding for the cost of tuition, the £143 million could be used to lower the cost, enabling more pupils to access the NTP.
• Make greater use of ‘contextualised admissions’. Colleges and universities should place more weight on the impact of the pandemic when making decisions on admission to courses.
• Provide catch up support for the 2021 cohort.Additional funding should be made available to support catch up for students in their first year at college or university.

A copy of the EPI report can be found at:
https://epi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/EPI_position-2021exams.pdf

EDUCATION COMMITTEE RAISES CONCERNS ABOUT OFQUAL, THE DFE AND 2021 EXAMS

On 11 November, Robert Halfon, the Chair of the House of Commons Education Select Committee, wrote to Gavin Williamson, the Secretary of State for Education in England, outlining the Committee’s concerns about exams in 2020 and its recommendations for exams in 2021. These include the following:

• Independence of Ofqual: Ofqual recognised the problems with the model of awarding grades yet failed to raise concerns about its fairness with the DfE.
• Accountability and scrutiny: Ofqual should have published its grade standardisation model and alternative models for proper scrutiny from external experts. Ofqual should also have carried out a meaningful mock run of this year’s centre assessed grades, once they were in, to highlight problems.
• Exams 2021: Exams must go ahead in 2021 but robust contingency planning should be put in place as soon as possible to ensure this can happen. There should be careful consideration on whether to continue examining the full curriculum.
• There must be a level playing field for exams for those who have missed the most learning and those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Catch-up funding and pupil premium should be used to help left behind groups.
• Grade inflation: There will need to be urgent consideration of what approach should be taken in light of the grade inflation that has occurred this August and how standards can be maintained.

Details of the Education Select Committee’s findings are available at:
https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/3401/documents/32495/default/

A copy of Mr Halfon’s letter to Mr Williamson can be found at:
https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/203/education-committee/news/123514/education-committee-writes-to-secretary-of-state-on-cancellation-of-summer-exams-and-2021-series/

DFE PUBLISHES RESEARCH REPORTS AND DATA ON VTQS AT LEVEL 3 AND BELOW IN ENGLAND

On 10 November, the DfE published research reports and data on vocational and technical qualifications (VTQs) at Level 3 and below for the 2018/19 academic year. One report covers contextual information on enrolments and students, the other with covers students’ pathways through post-16 education and their transitions into work. The contextual information report can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/qualifications-at-level-3-and-below-contextual-information

The report on post-16 pathways and transitions to work can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/post-16-pathways-at-level-3-and-below

DFE CALLS FOR EVIDENCE ON VTQS IN ENGLAND AT LEVEL 2 AND BELOW

The DfE has already begun the process of removing funding from qualifications that directly compete with T-Levels as part of its plans to rationalise qualifications at Level 3 (excluding A-Levels) and is now focusing its attention on rationalising around 8,000 VTQs at Level 2 and below (excluding GCSEs). Many of these, says the DfE, have little or no demand while others do not provide effective progression routes to FE or employment. In support of this, data published by the DfE (see above) has revealed that 60% of 16 year olds who study a classroom-based Level 2 course do not move on to study at Level 3 the following year and that 37% of students who leave with a Level 2 qualification find hard to get a job compared to 14% of

students who leave with a Level 3 qualification. To help the government decide which VTQs at Level 2 and below should be retained, the DfE has issued a call for evidence on which qualifications provide the best support for people to progress into further study or employment. A copy can be found at:
https://consult.education.gov.uk/post-16-qualifications-review-team/level-2-and-below-call-for-evidence/

FINAL REPORT OF THE COMMISSION ON THE ‘COLLEGE OF THE FUTURE’ IS PUBLISHED

The Independent Commission on the College of the Future was established in March 2019 by the ‘Four Nations College Alliance’ (a group of college leaders, representative bodies and officials from across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). Members of the Commission were tasked with finding an answer to the question: ‘What do we want and need from colleges from 2030 onwards and how do we get there?’ The Commission has now published its UK wide report, which describes a vision for the UK FE sector in 2030 and makes recommendations on how to realise this vision. These are as follows:

• Develop national strategies for education and skills to support economic growth, industrial change and lifelong learning: All four UK governments should produce a 10-year strategy for education and training that enables all individuals to continue to learn, train and reskill.
• Provide stable funding and accountability frameworks for colleges: There should be three-year block grant funding settlements aligned to the agreed local network strategies.
• A strategic relationship with governments and simplified processes: There should bea single post-16 education oversight and funding body within each nation. Oversight systems across the four nations should be simplified, and the ‘pointless competition’ between colleges and with other education providers should be addressed.
• Develop provider networks to meet local priorities across the tertiary education system and compel colleges to join them: Governments should place a legal duty on colleges to collaborate with universities, schools, independent training providers and adult community learning providers to identify and deliver provision that meets local and regional needs in line with the national strategy.
• Colleges to be anchor institutions within the wider local and regional ecosystem: Colleges must have a recognised role as key anchor institutions in the local community, supporting wider community action and services, as well as providing education and learning.
• A new strategic partnership with employers: Colleges should developclose strategic partnerships with employers to ensure that the new national and network strategies meet the needs of employers as well as the needs of individuals and their communities.
• A new support service to employers: Colleges should establish and provide accommodation for employer hubs that are appropriate to local labour market needs and priorities and should coordinate with local and regional partners in opening these facilities.
• A statutory entitlement to study or train up to Level 3 in England, Northern Ireland and Wales, and Level 5 in Scotland. Maintenance support in grants and loans for FE, HE or advanced skills training should be available to all and at any age. Unemployed people should not lose their welfare benefits if they use their entitlement to reskill/retrain full-time in areas where there are job opportunities and skills shortages. A skills guarantee should provide this training free at all levels.
• Diverse and representative leadership: Data should be collected oncollege leaders and governors by race, gender, sexuality and disability. This must be used to identify gaps in diversity and to develop targeted recruitment from under-represented groups.

A copy of the UK wide ‘College of the Future Report’ is available at:
https://www.collegecommission.co.uk/final-report-uk

THE ENGLISH COLLEGE OF THE FUTURE

Reports have also been produced for each of the four nations covering specific recommendations relevant to their individual circumstances. With reference to England the report is, as you might expect, entitled ‘The English College of the Future’. This report says that:

• New legislation should be introduced to force all colleges to become part of collaborative networks, with similar accountability structures to those of multi-academy trusts. Networks would develop their own strategies to meet each area’s skills priorities based on the needs of employers, elected mayors and local government. Funding should be at network level rather than individual college level. Colleges should only be given funding if there is ‘alignment of institutional and network and strategies.
• A chair for each network should be appointed who would act as the single point of contact with the DfE and funding bodies, with a role similar to Regional Schools Commissioners, which act on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education to manage academies. College governors should be given an explicit duty’ to go beyond individual colleges to ensure that each institutional strategy is aligned with an overarching strategy for the network of colleges within their relevant economic geography.
• There should be a ‘three-wave approach’ to introducing the networks that would start with existing college groups, then those colleges who volunteer to join a network and then a final wave (that might require colleges being compelled to join a network) with the process to be completed by 2023/24. The DfE should develop ‘a map of appropriate geographies across England’ for the networks to operate in.
• There should be a single post-16 education oversight and funding body which, in England, would involve merging the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) and the Office for Students (OfS).

A copy of ‘The English College of the Future’ can be found at:
https://www.collegecommission.co.uk/england-final-report

GAVIN WILLIAMSON’S SPEECH TO AOC FE SUMMIT

An interactive two-day online ‘FE summit’ organised by the AoC was held on 17 and 18 November. On 18 November, the Education Secretary for England, Gavin Williamson, delivered an online speech in which he said that he wanted ‘…FE and HE to be thought of as two sides of the same coin, with both as highly regarded and as well-resourced as the other’. However, he also warned that there were far too many courses leading to qualifications for jobs that didn’t exist and made reference to the imminent FE White Paper saying that it would contain proposals for a wholesale re-balancing of academic and technical education with a stronger alignment with what the economy needs. Mr Williamson can be seen and heard delivering his speech at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdnDVhT3KBY

EQA FOR EPA OF APPRENTICESHIP STANDARDS TRANSFERRED FROM IFATE TO OFQUAL AND THE OFS

Earlier this month the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) began the first stage in the wholesale transfer of responsibility to Ofqual for the external quality assurance (EQA) of end point assessment (EPA) of non-degree apprenticeships. Prior to this change, along with Ofqual, around 20 employer bodies and IfATE itself carried out this function. The first stage in the transfer involves 68 apprenticeship standards, with a further 54 standards from January 2021. The remaining standards will be transferred next summer. IfATE also initiated the transfer of its EQA responsibilities for integrated degree apprenticeships to the Office for Students (OfS). IfATE will retain oversight of the framework for EQA for all apprenticeships, which Ofqual and the OfS will operate within. More information can be found at:
https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/quality/external-quality-assurance/

UNIVERSITIES THAT DELIVER APPRENTICESHIPS WILL BE SUBJECT TO ESFA FUNDING AUDITS FROM APRIL 2021

In April 2021, Ofsted will assume new powers to inspect degree apprenticeships. In the same month, the ESFA will assume responsibility for funding and individual learner record (ILR) audits of universities in England that offer apprenticeships. An invitation to tender for a £51 million contract has now been advertised for audit firms to help with the expansion of ESFA funding audit work into the HE sector.

IFATE ANNOUNCES CONTINUATION OF EPA ‘FLEXIBILITIES’ INTRODUCED IN MARCH 2020 UNTIL JANUARY 2021

Face-to-face contact between apprentices and their EPA assessor has not always been possible during the current pandemic because of travel and social distancing restrictions. In March 2020, IfATE announced ‘flexibilities’ in the way in which EPAs could be carried out, such as by using technology to conduct observations and the rescheduling of written tests. Earlier this month, IfATE announced that these flexibilities would be extended until at least January 2021. Further information can be found at:
https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/covid-19/recent-announcements/list-of-standards-with-temporary-discretions-or-flexibilities/

UNIVERSITIES IN ENGLAND LIKELY TO OFFER DEGREE PLACES AFTER EXAM GRADES ARE AWARDED

In England, universities currently offer places to students ahead of their exam results being known and are based on grades predicted by their teachers instead. However, UCAS data for 2019 shows that almost 80% of 18-year-olds in the UK who were accepted to university with at least 3 A-Levels had their grades over-predicted by their teachers, whereas 8% were under-predicted. In addition, numerous research studies show that students from working class backgrounds, and some ethnic groups, are most likely to be predicted lower grades than they actually achieve. Apart from this, the current admissions system, with no cap on student numbers recruited and tuition fees paid up front by the government, has resulted in questionable practices being developed by universities, such as the use of ‘conditional unconditional offers’ and the provision of incentives, such as laptops or cashback on fees. Because of this, the Education Secretary for England, Gavin Williamson, has announced a consultation on a proposal to move to a post-qualification admissions (PQA) system in which students will be offered places after their exam results are known. The proposal is supported by UCAS, the main university, college and school-teacher unions and bodies representing vice chancellors and school and college leaders. However, it is thought likely that any change could not be introduced until at least 2023/24. More information is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-plans-for-post-qualification-university-admissions

OFS SAYS THAT DEGREE GRADE INFLATION ‘REMAINS A SIGNIFICANT AND PRESSING ISSUE’

On 19 November, the OfS published a report on the year-on-year increase in the proportion of first class honours degrees being awarded by universities in England. The report says that the rapid increase in students receiving first class honours degrees over the last decade cannot fully be explained by differences in student attainment. In 2018/19, 29.5% of graduates were awarded a first class honours degree, an increase of 0.4% on 2017/18. This compares to 2010/11, when 15.7% were awarded firsts. Also, those students entering university with A-Level (or equivalent) grades below DDD were four times more likely to receive a first-class degree in 2018/19 as their counterparts in 2010/11. Almost three quarters of a vastly increased number of university students now graduate with first or upper second class honours degrees. The report (a copy of which can be found at the link below) concludes that grade inflation remains a significant issue in English HE.
https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/publications/analysis-of-degree-classifications-over-time-changes-in-graduate-attainment-from-2010-11-to-2018-19/

OFS CONSULTS ON PROPOSALS TO RAISE HE QUALITY AND STANDARDS

On 17 November, the Office for Students (OfS) launched a consultation on proposals to raise standards including, amongst other things, an evaluation of the extent to which courses offered actually lead to graduate level employment or help graduates progress to post graduate study. The consultation also includes proposals for action to be taken if standards slip in particular subjects or for different groups of students. Following consideration of responses to the consultation, the OfS will set ‘…new and more challenging, regulatory requirements for student outcomes’. The consultation document can be found at:
https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/media/7bc6b90d-95c6-40e5-a4c6-a485a08e4d9f/consultation-on-quality-final-for-web.pdf

NEW BOARD MEMBERS FOR THE SKILLS AND PRODUCTIVITY BOARD ANNOUNCED

The government has established a new Skills and Productivity Board (SPB), which is intended to provide independent advice to ministers on matters relating to skills and ‘…how to make sure that the courses and qualifications on offer are aligned to the needs of employers’. As mentioned in last month’s newsletter, Stephen van Rooyen (Executive Vice President of Sky) has been appointed as the Chair of the SPB and this month the remaining six board members were appointed. These are:

• Arun Advani (Assistant Professor, University of Warwick and Fellow at the Institute of Fiscal Studies)
• Claire Crawford (Reader in Economics, University of Birmingham)
• Andrew Dickerson (Professor of Economics, University of Sheffield)
• Ewart Keep (Emeritus Professor in Education, Oxford University)
• Grace Lordan (Associate Professor at the London School of Economics)
• Sir Christopher Pissarides (Regius Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics)

This membership guarantees a profound understanding of Further Education… The board is supported by a secretariat of senior DfE officials. More information can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/skills-and-productivity-board

BLACK FE LEADERSHIP GROUP SENDS OPEN LETTER TO PRIME MINISTER

The 2018/19 Staff Individualised Record (SIR) returns show that just 8.7% of senior leaders identify as BAME (3.5% Asian, 2% black and 2.6% mixed ethnicity and 1.6% other minority ethnic), and only 6% of principals identify as BAME. Earlier this year, the newly formed Black Further Education Leadership Group (BFELG) sent an open letter to the Prime Minister Boris Johnson, with copies to DfE ministers and various FE funding and regulatory bodies calling for institutional racism in FE and elsewhere to be addressed. The letter also included recommendations for FE policy makers, which include:

• A revision of FE curricula and qualifications to reflect contemporary British values, incorporating colonial history and its influence on society and thecontributions made by black people to society.
• Professional development and leadership programmes to include the consideration of racial equality. Anti-racist pedagogy to be included in all teacher training programmes.
• Colleges to publish annual student performance, staff, and governor profile data by ethnicity, including actions to address identified gaps.
• Regulatory and funding bodies to publish workforce, leadership, and governance profile data by ethnicity, including actions to address gaps.
• Sectoral committees, boards or advisory groups established to address racism and inequalities to be led by and made up of those with real insight of these issues, or expertise in these areas.
• College recruitment processes, including the deployment of recruitment companies, to proactively address imbalances in the diversity of leadership at all levels.
• Ofsted to publish effectiveness of providers in promoting race equality in inspection reports.
• The FE Commissioner’s annual report, diagnostic assessments, and reviews to include data on BAME managers and governors against the college student populations and local demographics.
• FE regulatory bodies and unions to collaborate with colleges to design and implement a common framework for the advancement of racial literacy and justice across all modes of learning.
• All organisations with an investment in FE (whether statutory, regulatory, representative, or commercial) to ensure fair and positive treatment of BAME students, staff and

Members of the BFELG include senior BAME leaders in FE, and others who have an interest in FE. More information and a copy of the BFELG letter can be found in a comprehensive FE News article at:
https://www.fenews.co.uk/fevoices/52439-addressing-systemic-racism-in-further-education

VODAFONE EXCLUDES COLLEGE STUDENTS FROM FREE SIM CARD SCHEME

On 18 November, Vodafone announced that it would give free SIMs with 30GB of data to 250,000 primary and secondary school pupils who were finding it difficult to access education from home. However, disadvantaged FE college students have been excluded from the scheme.
https://newscentre.vodafone.co.uk/press-release/free-sim-cards-for-250000-school-children-online-learning/

MORRISON’S U-TURN ON DECISION TO EXCLUDE COLLEGE STAFF FROM DISCOUNT SCHEME

Earlier this month, Morrison’s announced that in the period until after Christmas, all teaching and support staff in schools would be eligible to receive 10% off the cost of their shopping as a ‘thank you’ for their efforts during the Covid-19 crisis. Initially, staff in FE and sixth-form colleges were not eligible for the discount but following complaints of unfairness, Morrison’s now says that the discount is available for teaching and support staff in colleges, provided they are employed directly by the college. Details of the availability of the discount are available at:
https://my.morrisons.com/discounts

AND FINALLY…

Gavin Williamson, Gillian Keegan and Vicky Ford were having dinner in one of the heavily subsidised members’ only restaurants in the House of Commons. They were discussing a number of issues including the extension of free school meals for disadvantaged children during school holiday periods in 2021, and what they considered to be the poor standard of numeracy displayed by pupils and students in English schools and colleges. At the end of the four-course meal, the waiter brought them the bill which came to £25. They each gave the waiter a £10 note, making £30 in total. The waiter took the notes and brought back five £1 coins as change. They each took one of the £1 coins and gave the waiter the remaining £2 as a tip. Later, whilst having a nightcap in one of the members’ bars, they reflected on the fact that they had each paid £9 (£10 less the £1 they took back in change), making a total for all three of £27. The waiter was given £2 as a tip, making a final total of £29. The following morning, the three of them were locked in their offices with their SPADS (special advisors), trying to work out what had happened to the remaining £1.

Alan Birks – November 2020

As usual, the views and opinions expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily those held by Click.
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