Issue 121 | October 2021

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THE AUTUMN BUDGET, THE 2022/3-2024/5 SPENDING REVIEW AND FE

On 27 October, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, presented his Autumn Budget and Spending Review for the period from 2022/3 to 2024/5 to parliament. A £3.8 billion package of support for FE and Skills in England was announced, which is more than double the amount of extra funding the government has made available over the last two spending reviews. The main elements of this include the following:

  • A £1.6 billion increase in 16-19 funding (which is a real-terms increase of 28% in 16-19 funding compared with that in 2019/20). Part of the increase will be used to fund the additional teaching hours required for T-Levels and to fund the rapidly increasing numbers of 16-19-year-olds in colleges.
  • £554 million for the National Skills Fund to quadruple the number of places in Skills Bootcamps, to expand the Level 3 adult offer and to fund 24,000 more traineeships per year.
  • £200 million extra for the apprenticeship programme, increasing the apprenticeships budget to £2.7 billion by 2024/5. Part of this will be used to support more small businesses to hire new apprentices.

More capital investment was also announced (although some of the details of this were announced in previous months), which include:

  • £1.5 billion for improvements to the condition of college buildings and to provide more specialist equipment and facilities, including that required for the delivery of T-Levels.
  • £300 million to increase the number of Institutes of Technology to 20.

The Chancellor also announced:

  • £560 million for a new scheme called ‘Multiply’ to help improve the numeracy skills of up to 500,000 adults who do not have at least a GCSE grade C/4 or equivalent in maths. This scheme is applicable across the whole of the UK and consists of free ‘bite size’ flexible courses and online personal tutorials. The programme will be funded through the new UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which has replaced EU Structural Funds.
  • £2.6 billion to provide additional school and college places for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
  • £1.8 billion for post-Covid education recovery (in addition to the £3.1 billion already announced). Of this, £800 million will provide extra help for 16-19-year-olds.
  • A lifting of the current freeze on public sector pay increases introduced last November (other than for NHS staff and workers earning below £24,000). Which is not the same thing as saying FE staff will receive any increase in pay.
  • An increase in the hourly national minimum wage from next April, as follows:
    • From £8.91 to £9.50 for those aged 23 and over
    • From £8.36 to £9.18 for those aged 21 and 22
    • From £6.56 to £6.83 for those aged 18,19 and 20
    • From £4.62 to £4.81 for those aged 16 and 17.

A copy of the Chancellor’s Autumn Budget and Spending Review speech can be found here, and a copy of the 192 page the ‘Red Book’, which provides the Chancellor’s spending proposals in considerable detail, can be found here.

MINISTERIAL RESPONSIBILITIES FOR HE, FE AND SKILLS IN ENGLAND ARE ANNOUNCED

Following the reshuffle of ministerial responsibilities last month, the DfE has published details of the demarcation of responsibilities between the Minister for Higher and Further Education, Michelle Donelan (who now attends Cabinet meetings) and the new Minister for Skills, Alex Burghart.

Ms Donelan assumes responsibility for:

  • Strategy for all post-16 education
  • Higher technical education (Levels 4 and 5)
  • FE funding and accountability
  • Lifelong learning entitlement
  • Institutes of Technology (IoTs) and National Colleges
  • Universities and higher education reform
  • Higher education quality
  • Student finance, including oversight of the Student Loans Company (SLC)

Mr Burghart assumes responsibility for:

  • FE providers
  • T-Levels and the review of qualifications at Level 3 and below
  • Apprenticeships, including pre-apprenticeships and traineeships
  • Adult education, including the National Skills Fund and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund
  • Skills Accelerators and Industry Training Boards
  • Careers education, information and guidance including the Careers and Enterprise Company (CEC)
  • Reducing the number of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET)
  • Student experience and widening participation in higher education
  • International education strategy, including education exports and international students.
LORDS DEBATE SKILLS AND POST-16 EDUCATION BILL

In May, the government introduced its Skills and Post-16 Education Bill. It was agreed that the Bill would pass through the House of Lords for debate first, where the Conservative Party does not hold a majority. (Of the 788 members, 262 are Conservative peers). Debates on the Bill were held on October 12 and October 18. The Association of Colleges (AoC) has published a useful summary of the key issues discussed, which can be found here . 52 amendments to the Bill were proposed and a copy of the revised Bill incorporating the amendments proposed can be found here. These included some of the government’s own amendments to the bill, which are listed below:

  • A new requirement for Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs) to include the training required for jobs that contribute to carbon net-zero, climate change and biodiversity targets.
  • The criminalisation of unscrupulous ‘essay mills’, offering to provide students with essays for money. This is a problem usually found in universities but can sometimes emerge in FE colleges as well. The Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) has estimated that there are around 1,000 essay mills in operation and an ongoing survey of more than 50,000 students carried out since 2014 by Swansea University, found that around one in seven admitted to using them. Surprisingly, essay mills are at present legal in the UK, but the government amendment will make it a criminal offence to provide, arrange or advertise these services to any student taking a qualification at any institution in England providing post-16 education, for financial gain.
  • Changing current legislation to provide sixth form colleges (SFCs) with a religious faith designation the option of becoming a 16-19 academy (and to allow more faith school providers to open 16-19 academies with a religious character). Thus far, 28 SFCs have converted to academy status, and in doing so are now able to take advantage of benefits such as of not having to pay VAT. However, 14 SFCs which are Catholic-run have beenunable to do so, since at present, if they convert they would lose legal protections in areas such as the curriculum content, acts of worship and governance.

The government’s amendments were accepted by the Lords without a vote, but peers were also successful in passing several of their own amendments. These included the following:

  • LSIPs to be developed in partnership with FE providers, local authorities and combined authorities.
  • Secondary schools to allow pupils to learn about post-16 vocational and technical options from FE education and training providers. This amendment refers to an earlier amendment to the Technical and Further Education Act 2017, which stipulated that schools were required by law to allow colleges and
  • training providers access to pupils in years 8-13 to discuss non-academic routes post-16 (such as apprenticeships, T-Levels, traineeships and other vocational options). This is referred to as the Baker Clause (named for Lord Kenneth Baker, a former Education Secretary). However, since the act became law, this requirement has been largely ignored by schools. This new amendment (also moved by Lord Baker) is for pupils to receive at least two mandatory visits from technical education providers over the course of their secondary education. Failure of schools to facilitate this would place them in breach of their statutory obligations and would invoke more robust legal sanctions against them.
  • Public funding for BTECs and other applied general qualifications that might compete with T-Levels, to continue for 4 years.
  • Two-thirds of apprenticeship funding to be spent on Level 2 and 3 apprenticeships for under-25s.
  • Relaxation of the benefit rules that prevent adults seeking full-time education and training opportunities without loss of benefits. The government currently already allows those in receipt of Universal Credit (8 million people as at 12 October) to undertake full-time skills training for up to 16 weeks without losing their benefits, and on 20 October it was announced that the current concession will be extended to April 2022.
  • Special educational needs training to be included within all FE teacher training programmes.

The Bill completed its passage through the Lords on 25 October and passed to the House of Commons for its final stage before enactment into statute law. The Conservative Party holds a majority of 80 in the Commons and can therefore overturn amendments passed in the Lords if they so choose.

THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY CONFERENCE AND FE

The 2021 Conservative Party Annual Conference took place in Manchester on 3,4 and 5 October. It is usual for FE to be given very little, if any, coverage at political party conferences, but given the media attention currently being given to skills and workforce shortages, at this conference FE did receive attention. Examples of this include the following:

HE developments were also covered at the conference and, Nick Hillman, Chief Executive of the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) has produced a useful summary of issues pertinent to the HE sector which can be found here.

GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCES £500 MILLION EXPANSION OF THE PLAN FOR JOBS SCHEME

On 4 October, during the Conservative Party Conference, the government announced that a further £500 million would be made available for its ‘Plan for Jobs’ scheme launched earlier this year. The government says that the scheme is intended to ‘…support hundreds of thousands of people into jobs’. Measures funded under the scheme include:

  • Helping unemployed people over the age of 50 back into work. Older workers will be provided with information and guidance to support them to plan for returning to, and remaining in, work.
  • Providing support for those coming off furlough and on Universal Credit through the Job Finding Support (JFS) scheme, which provides online, tailored, one-to-one support for people unemployed for less than 3 months, including recruitment advice, support with CVs, and mock interviews.
  • Extending the Job Entry Targeted Support Scheme (JETS) to September 2022; this scheme provides tailored support for people who have been unemployed for over three months.
  • Extending existing schemes targeting young people into next year. More young people aged 16-24 and on Universal Credit will be able to benefit from the Kickstart Scheme, which is being extended to March 2022.
  • Extending the National Youth Offer to 2025 and expanding eligibility to include 16 and 17-year-olds in addition to 18–24-year-olds. This will provide additional support to unemployed young people on Universal Credit who are searching for work.
  • Extending the £3000 incentive payment for every apprentice a business hires up until 31 January 2022.

Updated information guidance for employers and providers on the expanded Plan for Jobs scheme was published on 12 October and can be found here.

EXAMS IN 2022

Following a public consultation, the DfE and Ofqual have published details of their proposals for exams in 2022. These include the following:

  • Plans for adaptations: The two bodies have published plans for adaptations to next year’s exams to ensure fairness in the wake of the impact of the pandemic on students’ learning. For example, students taking GCSE and A-Level exams in England next year will be given advance notice on the focus of exam papers and will also be offered exam aids and a choice of topics in some exams.
  • Approach to grading: Ofqual has set out its approach to grading GCSEs and A-Levels. Exam boards will be required to use a range of qualitative and quantitative evidence so that grade boundaries are set in a way that is as fair as possible for all students. Senior examiners will review results for every subject before they are issued. Following the last two years which saw an overall higher proportion of students receiving top grades compared to pre-pandemic years, 2022 will be a transition year to reflect the recovery period, with grade boundaries set by exam boards reflecting a midway point between 2021 and 2019. This means that more students will get higher grades in 2022 than before the pandemic. Ofqual says that it expects the post-pandemic grade profile to return to ‘normal’ by 2023 (and good luck to them with that, one observer was heard to say).
  • Results days: This year, results days were earlier and published in the same week, two days apart. But these too are going back to ‘normal’ and next year A-Level results day will be 18 August and GCSE results day will be the following week, on 25 August.
  • VTQ arrangements: Assessment arrangements for vocational and technical qualifications (VTQs) have already been published. Academic students saw far greater increases in their grades in both 2020 and 2021 than VTQ students. To help ensure that VTQ students are not disadvantaged compared with their GCSE and A-Level counterparts, for example, when applying for a place at university or to progressing to a higher level of study, Ofqual says that VTQ awarding organisations (AOs) should take account of the assessment approach for GCSEs and A-Levels when setting standards in their own qualifications.
  • Contingency arrangements: On 30 September Ofqual published a two-week consultation on its ‘Plan B’ proposals, should exams need to be cancelled again in 2022 due to Covid. The consultation ended on 13 October, but at the time of writing no response to the consultation has yet been published. The proposals in the consultation include the following:
  • Ofqual recognises that if the pandemic continues into 2022, regional differences in the impact could potentially make it easier or harder for exams to take place in certain parts of the country than in others. Nevertheless, there will be a whole nation approach in dealing with exam cancellation and in the approach taken to awarding grades for the same qualifications.
  • The DfE will review its guidance and consider whether to put in place an Exams Support Service (as used in the 2020 and 2021 autumn series) to support centres with access to venues and invigilators.
  • Students should continue to prepare for their exams next summer, but if exams are cancelled teacher assessed grades (TAGs) will be used again. Some changes will be made to the 2021 system in order to reduce the higher workload for teachers.
  • Colleges will need to start collecting students’ work as evidence from after the October half-term and continue to do so throughout the year.
  • Ofqual will provide further guidance on how internal tests, exams and other assessments will be run.
  • Students should be told before they take assessments if their performance in the assessment might be used to inform their TAGs if exams were cancelled. They should also be given information about content of any test, exam or other assessment they are given, but should not be told the specific questions. Students can be provided with marks and feedback, but teachers must not determine a TAG unless exams are cancelled, nor tell their students what their TAG is.
  • The first cohort of T-Level students are due to complete their qualifications in 2022. If planned exams and other assessments are not able to go ahead, TAGs will be used. However, practical competence assessments can be delayed under contingency arrangements.
  • Students who miss one or more exams in a subject will still be able to get a grade through the special consideration process so long as they have completed the assessment for at least one component of the qualifications.
  • Because exam boards provided past papers and test materials in 2021, further material will not be provided in 2022.
  • The quality assurance and appeals processes will be largely similar to the 2021 process.
  • Teachers should use 2019 standards as the basis for predicting students’ grades for the University and Colleges’ Admissions Service (UCAS), but if a student is likely to be on the borderline between two grades, they should predict the higher one. The UCAS guidance says that predicted grades should be aspirational, but achievable, and that teachers should ‘…consider the risks of inflating predicted grades as well as the risks of suppressing them’.
  • Autumn 2021 Exams: Autumn 2021 A-Level exams will be held in November, along with the usual re-sits for GCSE English language and maths. These are intended for students who want to improve on their on their summer grades or for those who had planned to enter in summer but were unable to obtain a TAG. Exam boards will seek to align autumn 2021 grading with summer 2021. This was the approach used in autumn 2020, when grading was aligned to summer 2020.

INCREASE IN COVID CASES SEES MANY COLLEGES REINTRODUCE RESTRICTIONS

The rollout of vaccines to 16 and 17-year-olds began in August, before schools and colleges went back, but the autumn term had restarted for three weeks in England by the time the rollout of vaccines to 12-15-year-olds had begun. Data released by the REACT-1 study suggests that it is infection rates amongst younger age groups that is causing the recent surge in Covid cases. Health experts have expressed concern that vaccines are being rolled out in schools and colleges too slowly, risking the welfare of other children and older adults they may infect. In England, only around 20% of 12 to-15-year-olds and 30% of 16 to-17-year-olds have as yet been vaccinated, leaving England lagging behind many European countries. Concerns are also being expressed at the apparent high degree of vaccine hesitancy amongst younger age groups.

In response to the surge in infection rates many colleges are now reintroducing (or are being asked by their local authority to reintroduce) Covid restrictions. These restrictions have included such things as:

  • Cancelling open days and freshers’ events.
  • Asking students and staff to resume wearing masks.
  • Restricting non-essential travel by students and staff between college campuses.
  • Reintroducing social distancing arrangements.
  • Setting up vaccination centres on campus.
  • Creating ‘learning bubbles’ where possible and appropriate to do so.
  • Refining their own contingency frameworks to enable colleges to rapidly react to any change in the DfE operational guidance for colleges, such as moving to hybrid or remote teaching.

Meanwhile, in the wake of the current surge in infections and hospitalisations, the government is being urged to implement the restrictions in its ‘Plan B’ (which includes such things as mandatory face coverings, social distancing, encouraging home working where appropriate and introducing vaccine passports as a condition of entrance to some venues, but does not include any further full or partial lockdowns).

Against this, at the time of writing, infection rates seem to be coming down. And a model produced the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine that was published on 13 October is predicting a rapid decrease in infections. Models produced by Imperial College London and University of Warwick also suggest that some degree of decrease in infections is ‘…the most realistic scenario’.

FIGHT TO SAVE BTECS GATHERS PACE

Following consultation, the Department for Education (DfE) has confirmed its plans to rationalise Level 3 qualifications for 16-18-year-olds down to just three routes, these being T-Levels, A-levels and apprenticeships. As part of this strategy, the DfE has also announced that from the autumn of 2023, public funding will no longer be available for courses and qualifications that overlap with T-Levels. These qualifications include the vast majority of BTECs and many other vocational qualifications.

In an attempt to reverse this decision, a group called ‘Protect Student Choice’ has been formed to campaign for the continuation of public funding for BTECs. The group is comprised of a coalition of 21 organisations which include the Association of Colleges (AoC), the Sixth Form Colleges Association (SFCA), the University and Colleges Union (UCU), the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), the National Education Union (NEU) and the Baker-Dearing Trust.

Mention has already been made above of the amendment to the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill passed by the House of Lords that (if not overturned in the Commons) would see public funding for BTECs and other applied general qualifications remain in place for a minimum of 4 years. And more recently, a cross-party group of 118 MPs and Lords has written a letter to the new Education Secretary for England, Nadhim Zahawi, urging him to reconsider the proposals to withdraw public funding from BTECs. In the letter, the signatories say that they welcome the introduction of T-Levels, but believe it is not necessary to abolish BTECs to make T-Levels a success. They also warn that that defunding BTECs will hit disadvantaged students the hardest and lead to many taking courses that do not meet their needs or dropping out of education altogether.

To add to the pressure, on 14 October, the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Youth Employment launched an inquiry into the government’s decision to defund BTECs and other Level 3 qualifications that overlap with T Levels. Members of the committee say they will be analysing the impact of the decision ‘…on the choices available to young people and what it will mean for their employment prospects’, and in doing so will consider stakeholder responses to the following questions:

  • What impact will the removal of funding for some post-16 vocational qualifications have?
    • Which students will benefit from the changes?
    • Are there groups that will be left out/left behind?
    • Is there enough planned provision to support Level 1 and Level 2 learners?
    • Are there any fiscal implications of the proposed changes?
    • How will employers be impacted?
    • Can existing provision for careers advice and guidance support the proposed changes?
  • Will the government’s proposed ambition for T-Levels, Apprenticeships and A-Levels support the needs of young people and employers in the future economy?
  • What are the likely impacts on youth employment should these proposed changes take place?

The inquiry will run until January 2022, with the first meetings scheduled for November 23 and 26 and at which, FE staff, students, employers and other stakeholders will be giving evidence to committee members.

WAVE 4 T-LEVEL AWARDING ORGANISATIONS ANNOUNCED

Following a procurement exercise conducted by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE), the awarding organisations (AOs) chosen to administer the assessment and examination process for the fourth wave of T-Levels commencing in 2023 have been announced. These are as follows:

COLLEGES IN ENGLAND FACING LARGE IN-YEAR COST INCREASES

Colleges in England face large increases in costs this year which will subsequently reduce the amount they are able to spend on teaching and learning. The increased costs include the following:

  • In April, the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) announced an in-year change to the post-16 audit code of practice for 2020/21 which requires college external auditors to conduct a funding audit before signing off on the college’s annual college financial statements, rather than using the ESFA’s own funding statements to check the accuracy of the college’s funding claims. The AoC estimates that colleges are now collectively facing an increase of around £2 million in the cost of their external audits, since most audit firms say that they will be charging colleges for the additional work involved.
  • In September, the government announced that both employers and employees will face an increase of 1.25% in their National Insurance (NI) contributions from next April. This is expected to raise around £12 billion to support extra spending on health and social care provision. £2.2 billion of this will be allocated to the other UK nations and £1.8 billion will be used to compensate government departments and other public sector employers in England (including schools) for the cost of the increase in employer NI contributions. However, the Treasury has confirmed that college employers will not be eligible for compensation. This is because colleges are technically classified as private sector organisations by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), leaving colleges in England collectively facing an increase of around £30 million a year in their collective employer NI contributions.
  • Colleges have already had to spend more on heating as a result of having to keep classrooms, workshops and other communal areas well ventilated. However, the position has now significantly worsened as a result of the huge increase in gas and other energy costs, which the AoC estimates will leave colleges collectively facing a year-on-year increase in their energy bills of around £20 million.
GROWTH IN 16-18-YEAR-OLD NUMBERS HAS SERIOUS IMPLICATIONS FOR FE PLANNING AND FUNDING

The UK population is growing rapidly, driven in part by a surge in the numbers of young people. ONS data published on 21 October predicts that UK population will increase to in excess of 70 million by the end of the decade, with England’s population projected to grow more quickly than the other UK nations and the UK’s population as a whole growing at a faster rate than the rest of Europe. The ONS says that 27% of the predicted growth over this period is likely to result from more births than deaths, with the remaining 73% coming from more net migration. This has significant implications for FE planning and funding. Using ONS data, the AoC predicts that just in colleges in England there will be 90,000 more students aged 16-18 by the end of the three years covered by 2021/22- 2024/25 spending review, and a further 100,000 by the end of the decade. To this can be added the likely increase in numbers in school sixth forms and on 16-18 apprenticeship programmes over the period, all of which will require substantial additional public funding.

ETF CONSIDERS USING A ‘REDUNDANCY TO WORK’ PROGRAMME TO RECRUIT FE TEACHERS

The Education and Training Foundation (ETF) is considering addressing the crisis in FE teacher recruitment and retention by introducing a ‘Redundancy to Work’ programme targeted at recruiting unemployed but highly skilled professionals. Given current labour shortages across the economy, you might be forgiven asking why a highly skilled professional would be unemployed, or even if they were, why they would be attracted to a teaching job in a college that is likely to pay an average salary that is now almost £10,000 a year less than a teaching job in a school. Nevertheless, on 29 September, the ETF published a tender (which closed on 18 October) for a supplier to conduct research into programmes that help the out-of-work into employment sectors, and to see if a similar approach would work for FE. Addressing the teacher shortage in FE by paying a higher salary does not seem to be part of the brief.

NEW FE RESEARCH PROGRAMME LAUNCHED

The AoC and NCFE have agreed to fund FE staff to take a masters’ degree or doctorate to help to provide more research into areas of further education where none currently exists. In the first instance 10 FE staff will be selected to take part in the programme, which is called ‘Research Further’. The AoC has also announced the establishment of a new research unit to coordinate, commission and utilise high quality research to support post-16 teaching practice and policy development.

NO REQUIREMENT FOR COMBINED AUTHORITIES TO PUBLISH SUBCONTRACTING DETAILS INCREASES FRAUD RISK

In an attempt to address the concerns of politicians and others about the risk of fraud and other malpractice associated with subcontracting, the ESFA has instituted a number of reforms, including publishing a list of ‘declared’ subcontractors to which those providers holding an ESFA contract who wish to subcontract some (or in some cases all) of their contracted provision to another provider, are referred. This is intended to improve transparency and to help with the due diligence process in respect of subcontracting. However, since 2019, Adult Education Budget (AEB) funding has been devolved from the ESFA to the mayoral combined authorities, which also now control the contracting and subcontracting of publicly funded provision in their regions. Eight of the ten combined authorities do not publish subcontracting information, or details of subcontractors and the amount of public funding involved. An example of this is London, which now controls an annual AEB of £323 million but which does not publish any details of the volume or value of subcontracting taking place within its combined authority region.

IFATE GIVES MORE TIME TO EPAOS TO OBTAIN OFQUAL RECOGNITION

IfATE is developing an External Quality Assurance (EQA) system that will see EQA delivered either by Ofqual or, for integrated degree apprenticeships, by the Office for Students (OfS).  With reference to EQA delivered by Ofqual, IfATE has now given End Point Assessment Organisations (EPAOs) more time to obtain Ofqual recognition. EPAOs whose most recent application to Ofqual was unsuccessful and who had their feedback meeting by 18 October, are now able to resubmit a revised application by no later than 29 November 2021. If this revised application is unsuccessful, EPAOs will be allowed resubmit a further revised, but final application by no later than 7 January 2021. If EPAOs have not successfully achieved Ofqual recognition within these agreed timelines, the ESFA will begin the process of removing them from the Register of End Point Assessment Organisations. The ESFA says it will contact those organisations to explain the process of removal, which will be focussed on ensuring minimum disruption to apprentices and their employers. Removal of EPAOs from the register will not begin prior to 16 December 2021.

DFE PUBLISHES UPDATED PROVISIONAL APPRENTICESHIP DATA

On 7 October, the DfE published provisional  data on apprenticeships for the period between August 2020 and April 2021. There were 319,400 starts in this period compared with 319,000 in the same period in 2019/20. This is an increase of just 0.1% but is considerably lower than the 389,000 starts in 2018/19. The data also shows that in 2020/21 the number of 16-18-year-olds starts fell by 15%, as did the number of starts at Level 2. However, the number of starts for people aged 25+ increased by 8% with the number of starts at Level 4 and above increasing by 21%. Final data on 2020/21 apprenticeship numbers will be published in November.

SOCIAL MOBILITY COMMISSION PUBLISHES TOOLKIT TO HELP EMPLOYERS IMPROVE APPRENTICESHIP DIVERSITY

On 14 October, the Social Mobility Commission published an 82 page report and toolkit for employers and providers to help increase the diversity of the apprenticeship workforce which, says the report, is ‘overwhelmingly white’. Aspects of the current level of diversity in apprenticeships include the following:

  • Ethnicity: Ethnicity information on apprenticeship starts included in the DfE data published on 7 October (see above) shows that black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) apprentices made up 14.2% of the starts between August 2020 and April 2021. The 2011 Census revealed that 14% of the UK population was BAME. However, data on the total number of apprenticeships in 2018/19 (the latest data available) showed that in that year 11.8% of apprentices were BAME and it is expected that the 2021 Census, when published, will show that the proportion of the UK population that is BAME is now much higher than it was in 2011 and will also be more skewed to younger age groups. For example, updated DfE data published on 7 October shows that in England 6% of pupils across all school types were from minority ethnic backgrounds. Analysts therefore argue that is still work to do to improve the balance of representation in apprenticeship programmes, and in other areas of work.
  • Gender: The 7 October apprenticeship data showed that female apprentices made up 52.9% of starts between August 2020 and April 2021, but the numbers of females in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) apprenticeships remain at very low levels.
  • Disability: There are around 14 million people (around 20%) in the UK with a disability. Apprentices declaring a learner learning difficulty and/or disability (LLDD) account for 12.1% of the starts between the two dates.
COLLEGE PRINCIPAL APPOINTED DEPUTY CHAIR OF THE GOVERNMENT’S SOCIAL MOBILITY COMMISSION

Alun Francis, the principal of Oldham College, has been appointed as the new Deputy Chair of the Social Mobility Commission. He will be working with the new Chair, who is Katharine Birbalsingh, the headteacher of the Michaela free school in north London. Both appointments were made earlier this month.

JISC AFFILIATES WITH THE BLACK FURTHER EDUCATION LEADERSHIP GROUP (BFELG)

On 15 October a spokesperson for the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) announced its formal affiliation with the BFELG and said that JISC had aligned its own mission with that of the BFELG to eradicate systemic racism in further education. BFELG works with key stakeholders to place anti-racism at the heart of further education, with the long-term mission of eradicating all forms of racism, creating an anti-racist culture at the core of further education for both employees and students. BFELG will now be working with JISC to implement aspects of the BFELG 10-point plan.

DFE PUBLISHES PREVENT SELF-ASSESSMENT TOOL FOR COLLEGES

On 14 October, the DfE published a self-assessment tool to assist colleges and other FE providers in England to review their Prevent responsibilities and to help them understand how well embedded their policies and practices are. A copy of the self-assessment tool can be found here.

BURSARIES FOR TRAINEE SCHOOL TEACHERS IN SHORTAGE SUBJECTS SCRAPPED LAST YEAR TO BE REINSTATED

Applications for teacher training places have increased dramatically in the wake of the Covid pandemic. To encourage further recruitment of school teachers in England, particularly in shortage subjects (such as chemistry, computing, maths, physics, biology, classics and languages), on 12 October the DfE announced that for 2022/23, it is reinstating, in full or in part, the bursaries of up to £26,000 that were reduced or scrapped altogether last year. In 2021/22, bursaries for new teachers of chemistry, computing, maths and physics were reduced to £24,000, for languages bursaries were reduced to £10,000, for biology bursaries were reduced to £7,000 and bursaries for geography, design and technology, English, art and design, business studies, history, music and religious education were scrapped altogether. Details of the new bursary figures being introduced in 2022/23 (worth a total of £120 million can be found here). This is in addition to the new £3,000 premium for maths and science teachers and the minimum £30,000 starting salary for new teachers announced by the Prime Minister in his speech to the recent Conservative Party Conference, both of which will be introduced from September 2022.

NEW PAC REPORT CRITICISES THE GOVERNMENT’S NEW FUNDING FORMULA FOR SCHOOLS

On 22 October, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC)  published a report on the new national funding formula introduced in 2018/19. The report says that the DfE ‘…failed to take enough account of the impact of its decisions on individual schools and their pupils’ when it announced changes to the school funding system in England and goes on to say that this fell ‘…disproportionately on deprived local areas and schools’. The PAC report also says that the change has resulted in a cut in average per-pupil funding of 1.2% for the most deprived fifth of schools but has increased average per-pupil funding by 2.9% for the least deprived fifth of schools. The report also says that changes to pupil premium funding have meant that schools have collectively lost out on around £90 million in funding to support disadvantaged children.

NEW SHORT AND MODULAR STEM COURSES TO BE OFFERED BY IOTS

On 13 October, the government announced that £6.4 million is to be allocated from the National Skills Fund (NSF) to enable Institutes of Technology (IoTs) to offer new free short technical skills courses. 65 short and modular courses in STEM subjects will be on offer for people aged 19 and over in employment to help them rapidly upskill or retrain. The courses will comprise a combination of face-to-face tuition and online study and will be of between 50 and 138 hours in duration. There are currently 12 IoTs, but only 10 will take part in the pilot meaning that the North West or East regions will not as yet be covered. To address this, the DfE has published a tender for interested parties to open a further eight further IoTs in order to ensure that every area of England is covered. The outcome of the tender is expected to be announced in December.

COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES ALLOCATED SHARE OF HIGHER TECHNICAL EDUCATION GROWTH FUND

The DfE has announced that more than 100 FE and HE providers have been allocated a share of the £18 million Higher Technical Education Growth Fund to enable them to invest in equipment and to improve their links with local businesses.

OFS REPORTS ON THE PRACTICE OF IGNORING POOR SPELLING AND GRAMMAR IN ASSESSING STUDENTS’ WORK

Some universities have developed degree grading systems within which proficiency in written English is not considered. The universities doing so argue that this helps promote ‘inclusivity’, particularly for ethnic minority students for whom English may be a second language, and for students from disadvantaged backgrounds or who went to underperforming schools. Following negative media coverage and concerns expressed by education ministers, the OfS conducted a review which involved visiting a sample of universities that had adopted this practice. The OfS found that many were citing the 2010 Equality Act as a reason for disregarding poor written English, saying deducting marks for spelling and grammar could violate the rights of those whose first language is not English. Others said that students should not be penalised for poor English if their written work ‘…did not detract from the meaning’.

On 7 October, the OfS released a report of its findings, conclusions and recommendations. In the report, the OfS says that some aspects of the practice gave rise to ‘regulatory concerns’ and that it has now warned universities that they should not disregard poor spelling, punctuation and grammar when marking exams and assessments and arriving at grades. This, says the OfS, is because the practice ‘…could lead to students getting higher marks than they otherwise would, which in turn may contribute to unexplained grade inflation’. The OfS went on to say that it was ‘…not possible to analyse and explore complex theories and arguments without being able to write well’, and that universities should recognise this in the way they grade their students’. The OfS also said that expecting less from certain groups of students was ‘patronising’ and risked placing them at a disadvantage in the labour market, adding that the practice threatened to both undermine standards and public confidence in the value of a degree. The OfS says that from October 2022, it will impose fines and other sanctions on universities and colleges where their

approach to assessment ‘lacks sufficient rigour’. Responding to the report, Hillary Gyebi-Ababio, the National Union of Students (NUS) Vice President said, ‘Education is so much broader than just spelling and grammar’, and that there was a need to ‘… accept that our examination system needs fundamental transformation’.

GOVERNMENT CONSIDERS LOWERING EARNINGS THRESHOLDS FOR STUDENT LOAN REPAYMENTS IN ENGLAND

The government is said to be considering recommendations set out in the 2019 Augar Review, one of which said deductions for student loan repayments in England should be applied once an individual earns £23,000 rather than the current rate of £27,295. Currently only around 25% of graduates will fully repay their student loans and this, combined with questions raised about uncapped undergraduate recruitment numbers, degree grade inflation, the quality of some degrees, the employment  prospects of some students following graduation and the exponential increase in taxpayer funded outstanding loan debt is thought to be making the current student loans system in England unviable.

One of the arguments made for lowering the earnings threshold is that some prospective degree students might consider more carefully their decision to study for a degree against the likelihood of securing graduate level employment and the financial obligations they would be taking on. But many MPs from all parties are opposed to the proposal because, they say, it will result in students from poorer backgrounds regarding university as unaffordable, adding that it would entrench equality gaps in education even further and would undermine the government’s levelling up agenda. Other MPs argue that the government should take steps to ensure that universities are providing high quality degrees that are value for money before considering lowering the repayment threshold.

CALL FOR SHARIA-COMPLIANT STUDENT LOAN FUNDING FOR MUSLIM STUDENTS

Student loans have been subject to interest rates dependent on inflation and income since 2012. However, paying interest on loans is considered impermissible in Islam, making it difficult for many British Muslims to pursue higher education without comprising their religious beliefs. A proposal to address this was put forward by government officials and Islamic financial advisors in 2014 but was not implemented. An interim study released by Muslim Census on 11 October revealed that since 2012, because of the lack of Sharia-compliant finance, almost 100,000 Muslim students have not attended university or have had to self-fund their studies. To help address this, Stephen Timms MP, Lord John Sharkey and various Muslim charities and organisations have come together to call on the Prime Minister to honour earlier promises to provide Sharia-compliant loan finance for Muslim students, and to do so by no later than September 2022. In response, Michelle Donelan, the Minister for Higher and Further Education in England Universities said that she hoped to provide an update on alternative student finance for Muslim students in November as part of the Post-18 Review of Education and Funding.

AND FINALLY…

Ofsted inspections recommenced at the start of the Autumn term and a college had been notified that it had been scheduled for a full onsite inspection the following week. The principal hastily arranged a meeting to let staff know this and went through the areas likely to be inspected and what inspectors would be expecting to see when they carried out their observations. The principal knew from her own observations that there was a problem with student punctuality, and she impressed on teaching staff the need to make their students aware that it was vitally important for them to be in their classes on time. The teaching staff duly told their students this and were encouraged to see that they were complying. However, in one class the teacher was both disappointed and angry when one of his students turned up 20 minutes late. The teacher asked the student where he had been. The student replied that he had gone to give blood at the local blood donation centre but had been delayed there because he had experienced a lot of difficulty with one of the nurses. The teacher mellowed when he learned that the student had gone to give blood but impressed on the student that if he went to give blood again on a college day, to arrange it so that he could get to his classes on time. ‘You needn’t worry about that’ said the student, ‘I’m never donating blood ever again’. ‘That’s a shame.’ said the teacher, ‘What was the problem?’. ‘Well,’ replied the student, ‘the nurse seemed really agitated and kept asking me stupid questions, such as “Who’s blood is this? Where did you get it from? Why is it in a bucket?”

Alan Birks – October 2021

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