Issue 129 | June 2022

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COLLEGE UNIONS REJECT 2.5% PAY OFFER AND PREPARE TO BALLOT FOR STRIKE ACTION

On 26 May, representatives of the Association of Colleges (AoC) met with representatives from UCU, NEU, UNISON, UNITE and GMB.  The AOC informed union representatives that it was recommending that colleges offer a pay rise of 2.25% for 2022/23. The offer is the highest for a decade, but AoC accepted that it does not match current inflation rates and that low pay in colleges is causing major difficulties in recruiting and retaining FE staff. However, because of the challenges caused by years of cuts, spiralling inflation, increasing energy prices, and increases in national insurance (NI) and pension contributions, there is no guarantee that colleges will be able to afford to pay it. Union negotiators rejected the offer, calling it ‘insulting’. They pointed out that college pay already has fallen by 35% in real terms since 2010 and that FE teachers were now paid around £9,000 a year less than schoolteachers. They restated their claim for a pay rise of 10% on all points with a minimum uplift of £2000 for all college staff and informed the AoC that unless a much-improved offer was made they would ballot members on strike action.

OTHER POTENTIAL STRIKE ACTION

The National Education Union (NEU) and the NAS/UWT have already said that in the absence of a pay offer higher than the current rate of inflation, they will ballot members on taking strike action in the autumn. Students could also face delays in receiving their exam results this summer, as Unison and Unite members at AQA, England’s largest exam board, reject a 3% plus £500 offer and are balloted on taking strike action.

ALMOST HALF OF FE JOBS ADVERTISED ARE PART-TIME OR TERM-TIME ONLY

A report commissioned by the Education and Training Foundation (ETF) entitled ‘FE teacher recruitment and the landscape of FE’ published on 21 June reveals that of 3,430 FE jobs advertised between 21 October and 25 November last year:

  • 45% were advertised as part-time, or term-time only.
  • Of the jobs advertised as full-time, 20% were fixed term or temporary contracts.
  • 49% of all jobs advertised were for teaching jobs and 41% were for non-teaching jobs.
  • The hardest-to-fill vacancies in vocational subjects were in construction, engineering and care.
  • Teachers in maths, English, science and special education needs were also in high demand.
  • Teacher turnover was broadly comparable to that in other industries. 46% of staff who left their job in FE were in the first 3 years of their careers, although 35% moved to another role in the FE sector.
ONS REVIEW COULD SEE COLLEGES BROUGHT BACK INTO THE PUBLIC SECTOR  

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has launched a review of how public expenditure on FE colleges in England is classified within the national accounts. A similar ONS review carried out in 2012 placed them in the private sector and the DfE is said to have used this as a justification for excluding them from eligibility for the extra funding made available to schools, such as exemption from VAT, teacher training and more recently, compensation for the increase in NI and pension contributions. The ONS says it expects to have completed its review by September and it is thought highly likely that colleges will be returned to the public sector, particularly since this was mentioned as a possibility in the Skills for Jobs White Paper (which was the basis for Skills and Post-16 Education Bill Act) as a way of giving the DfE more control of colleges to help ensure that they were meeting the skills needs of local employers. However, there could also be implications arising for the DfE if colleges are returned to the public sector. For example, the DfE could become responsible for debt defaults arising from college insolvencies (a prospect that looks increasingly likely for some colleges, given the paucity of college funding).

LEVEL 3 VTQS SCHEDULED TO BE DEFUNDED AND THE DFE APPEALS PROCESS

On 11 May, the Department for Education (DfE) published a provisional list of 160 Level 3 vocational and technical qualifications (VTQs), including 38 Level 3 BTECs, that are scheduled to be defunded in 2024 on the basis that they duplicate T-Levels. The DfE says that the decision to defund these VTQs has been informed by applying 3 questions to ascertain the extent of the overlap with T-Levels. These are:

  • Does the VTQ support entry to employment in the same specific occupational area as a T-Level?
  • Does the VTQ deliver the same specific occupational competences as a T-Level?
  • Are the qualification outcomes of the VTQ similar to those of a T-Level?

If the answers are ‘yes’, the VTQ will be defunded in 2024, unless:

  • The VTQ is for a highly specific job role.
  • The VTQ needs to be retained because the parallel T-Level is not yet available.

Last month, the DfE published an appeals process for the awarding organisations (AOs) of the VTQs scheduled to be defunded to contest the DfE’s decision. The appeal must be submitted to the DfE by 8 July and the DfE says it has commissioned six ‘expert’ independent assessors to consider the appeals received.

PROGRESSION FROM T-LEVEL TRANSITION PROGRAMMES

The T-Level Transition Programme (TLTP) is a one-year post-GCSE preparatory course for students who want to take a full T-Level but are not quite ready to cope with the demands of a Level 3 course. The TLTP was launched in September 2020 in parallel with the launch of the first T-Levels. The DfE says that 847 students enrolled on the first TLTP courses in 32 colleges. However, of the students who completed their course in June 2021, only 118 (or 14%) progressed to a full T-Level in September (although another 277 students progressed to an alternative Level 3 course, such as a BTEC or a Level 3 apprenticeship). Research carried out by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) on behalf of the DfE published last month has identified several possible reasons for the relatively low TLTP to T-Level progression rate. These include the following:

  • Progression from the first year of the TLTP is likely to have been affected by the pandemic.
  • There was (at the time) a requirement for TLTP students to have obtained a Level 4 GCSE, or a Level 2 Functional Skills award in maths and English before being allowed to progress to a full T-Level. This requirement was removed by the DfE in November 2021 and T-Level students are now only required to be ‘working towards’ obtaining Level 2 maths and English qualifications.
  • Many TLTP students opted to progress to more practical courses with less focus on exams.
  • As part of the TLTP, students are expected to undertake work placements to prepare them for the 45-day minimum industry placement element of a full T-Level. Because of the pandemic, very few students were able to secure placements, and this may have put them off applying to take a T-Level course.

Despite the low TLTP progression rates, the AoC reports that as of October 2021, there were 3,550 students enrolled on TLTPs in 67 colleges.

DFE TO RESUME PUBLICATION OF KEY STAGE 4 AND 16-18 PERFORMANCE DATA

Despite the objections of school and college leaders, last July the DfE announced its intention to resume the publication of Key Stage 4 and post-16  performance data in 2021/22. (The data for 2019/20 and 2020/21 was not published because of the pandemic). In advance of the publication of the data this year, on June 22 the DfE published updated guidance on how the 2021/22 data will be calculated. The DfE has also advised users that conclusions on the performance of individual schools and colleges should not be drawn without first considering how they were impacted by the pandemic.

DFE TO RESUME PUBLICATION OF QUALIFICATION ACHIEVEMENT RATE (QAR) DATA

Along with Key Stage 4 and other post-16 provider performance data, the DfE has also announced that 2020/21 QAR data at provider level will be published this year. QARs measure the proportion of a provider’s learners who successfully completed their publicly funded programmes of learning (16-18 study programmes, apprenticeships, traineeships, or 19+ education and training) in an academic year. Provisional QARs are usually published at provider level the following January, with the final data published in March. In advance of the publication of the data this year, on 9 June the DfE published a suite of updated guidance notes, which can be found via the links below:

FE CHOICES LEARNER SATISFACTION SURVEY TO BE REPLACED

The DfE collects data on learner satisfaction with publicly funded FE provision and then publishes it on the FE Choices website. The data has been collected since 2014/15 but the collection was paused in 2019/20 because of the pandemic. (A similar survey is carried out to collect data on employer satisfaction). On 13 June, the DfE announced that the FE Choices Learner Satisfaction survey would not be carried out again in its current form. In July last year, the DfE launched a consultation called ‘Skills for Jobs: a new further education funding and accountability system’ which invited responses to proposals made on how learner satisfaction data should be collected. The consultation closed in October, but any analysis of responses received has not yet been released by the DfE, so it remains unclear how learner feedback will be gathered this year. It is thought that the new ‘performance dashboard’ proposed in the consultation will be introduced, which will include data on students’ experience of their course and how well their provider is meeting local skills needs.

ESFA PUBLISHES DRAFT APPRENTICESHIP FUNDING RULES FOR 2022/23

On 27 May, the ESFA published draft apprenticeship funding rules for 2022/23 scheduled to come into effect on 1 August. Providers were given until 24 June to submit their comments on the proposed changes in the funding rules. The proposed changes include the following:

  • The minimum 20% off-the-job training hours requirement for apprenticeship programmes has been ended and will no longer be linked to the apprentice’s total working hours. The ESFA says that instead, the number of off-the-job hours should be guided by the apprentice’s initial assessment, but subject to a minimum baseline figure equivalent to six hours per week.
  • Apprentices starting a Level 2 apprenticeship without Level 1 qualification in English and maths will no longer need to achieve a Level 2 English and Maths qualification to complete their apprenticeship.
  • Initial assessment will be deemed to be an ‘eligible cost’ that can be recovered from the ESFA. However, certain exam and other assessment re-take costs may be deemed ineligible for recovery.
  • There will be a ‘more formulaic’ approach to measuring prior learning (the skills and knowledge gained by learners before starting their apprenticeship). This, says the ESFA, is to help ensure that training providers are not paid to teach an apprentice something that they already know. The draft funding rules document gives examples of how this new approach will be applied in practice.
  • Where an apprentice withdraws from their programme, or they have made insufficient progress towards their training plan, the ESFA warns that it may recover funds. By ‘insufficient progress’ the ESFA means where an apprentice is more than four weeks behind on the planned delivery of training and the training has not been re-planned. The aim is to ensure that providers are not paid for training they have not delivered. Providers claim that the four-week rule is inflexible and does not allow for situations where, for example, apprentices are required by their to work continuously for a period, such as in the hospitality and care sectors where there may busy spikes throughout the year.
DFE PUBLISHES 2020/21 EMPLOYER AND APPRENTICESHIP EVALUATION SURVEYS

On 6 June, the DfE published its Employer and Apprentice Evaluation Surveys for 2020/21.

The employer survey involved telephone interviews with 4085 employers. Findings included the following:

  • Employer satisfaction was high. 85% of employers were satisfied overall.
  • 7% of employers were dissatisfied overall. Smaller employers were most likely to be dissatisfied
  • Employer satisfaction varied widely by subject area. It was highest within Education and Leisure (92% satisfied), and lowest in Construction (73%).
  • Employers who had used training providers for learning and/or assessment were largely satisfied with the quality of initial assessment (82%), the quality of learning they delivered (79%) and the flexibility they offered to meet employers’ needs (78%).
  • Most employers (85%) would recommend apprenticeships to other employers.
  • Employers experienced a wide range of benefits as a result of employing and training apprentices. The most common benefits mentioned were the development of skills relevant to their organisation (85%) and increased productivity (78%). Employers who placed existing employees on apprenticeships, particularly at Level 4 and above, reported benefits such as improved staff retention (76%).
  • To help address the fall in recruitment of apprentices during the pandemic the government provided a financial incentive of £3,000 for each new apprentice taken on (excluding existing staff). However, 69% of employers said the incentive had little or no impact because they had no work for more apprentices.

The apprentice learner survey involved interviews with 5,122 apprentices who were still on, or had recently completed their apprenticeship. Following ministerial concerns about the high levels of dropout for apprentices on the new standards, a new section on the reasons for non-completion was included in the 2020/21 evaluation. Although the apprentice dropout rate fell to 47% in 2020/21 (from 53% in 2019/20), the DfE consider this is still too high. This section was based on responses from 541 apprentices who did not compete their programme (although 83% of the non-completers had obtained work immediately or shortly after leaving their apprenticeship). Reasons given for dropping out were multiple and complex, and included:

  • Lack of support from the training provider, college or tutor (48%)
  • Badly run or poorly organised programme (41%)
  • Was made redundant, or fired (11%)
  • Had personal or domestic issues (11%)
  • Had a bad relationship with employer (10%)
  • Had mental health issues (9%)
  • Underwent a job or career change (9%)
  • No longer wanted to work in the occupational area (7%)
  • Had caring responsibilities (6%)
  • Pay was too low (2%)

The apprentice learner survey also found that:

  • The average duration of apprenticeships in 2020/21 was 22 months. This was a continuation of the trend towards longer apprenticeships over recent years, reflecting the general shift towards higher level apprenticeships.
  • 54% of apprentices reported receiving at least 20% of off-the-job training, but this potentially means that the off-the-job training of the other 46% was non-compliant.
  • 71% of apprentices said they were given information on End Point Assessments (EPAs) by their training provider. However, 9% of apprentices said they did not know what an EPA was.
ESFA INTRODUCES NEW SYSTEM FOR GATHERING LEARNER SATISFACTION FEEDBACK

For 2022/23, the ESFA has introduced a new ‘My Apprenticeship’ account to enable apprentices to give anonymous feedback on their training provider. Apprentices will be asked to agree or disagree with 12 questions and will then be asked to rate their training overall with one to four stars, these being ‘very poor’ (1 star), ‘poor’ (2 stars), ‘good’ (3 stars) or ‘excellent’ (4 stars). Apprentices’ feedback is then aggregated to generate the provider’s overall star rating, which is published on the training provider’s ‘Find Apprenticeship Training’ webpage. The ESFA says that in future, a ‘poor’ rating will trigger intervention under the ESFA’s new Accountability Framework that came into effect in April. Providers rated as ‘poor’ will be designated as ‘requires improvement’ and will be subject to enhanced monitoring and required to produce improvement plans. Ofsted has also confirmed that it will use apprentice feedback to help inform inspection judgements.

CAP ON SME APPRENTICESHIP STARTS IS LIFTED

Many non-levy paying small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) have reported that they have had to turn away apprentices away because of the 10-start limit. To address this, on 1 June the ESFA announced that  SMEs can now start up to 10 new apprentices at a time, regardless of the number they currently employ. Further information on this rule change is provided in section 8 of the June ESFA update.

DFE TO PROVIDE MORE CASH TO INCENTIVISE INCREASE IN DEGREE APPRENTICESHIPS

Earlier this month, the DfE announced that the Office for Students (OfS) will be given an extra £8 million in 2022/23 to help incentivise universities increase the numbers of degree apprentices they recruit. Universities have welcomed the additional funding but warned the DfE that raising awareness of degree apprenticeships among prospective learners and employers will have to be accompanied by an increase in funding to provide the additional capacity needed to accommodate the additional apprentices. The DfE also announced that it will provide the OfS with an additional £8 million in 2022/23 to encourage universities and other HE providers to develop and offer more Level 4 and 5 VTQs for other advanced apprenticeships.

DFE PUBLISHES TENDER FOR LEVELLING UP APPRENTICESHIPS IN THE NORTH

On 30 May, the DfE published a tender entitled ‘Engaging SMEs in the Labour Market’. The tender is for a contract worth £2.25 million to recruit brokers to help SMEs in the North East, North West and Humber regions to recruit more apprentices as part of the government’s ‘levelling up’ agenda. These regions were chosen because they have a ‘high prevalence of deprived and low skilled areas’. Brokers will be expected to find ‘new and innovative ways’ to encourage and help SMEs to provide apprenticeships, and in particular apprenticeships for young people from under-represented groups including those with special needs, minority ethnic groups, and those who have been in care. The new approaches they develop will be first tested in a two-year pathfinder project in the digital, manufacturing, adult social care and construction sectors. Brokers are also required to help SMEs to identify an appropriate training provider, and to help them register with the Digital Apprenticeship Service (DAS) and the ‘Recruit an Apprentice’ service (RAA). They are also expected to help SMEs to understand how to use levy transfer funding.

ESFA INCREASES PAYMENT THRESHOLD FOR OVER DELIVERY ON AEB CONTRACTS TO 110%

On 22 June, the ESFA announced that for 2021/22 only, providers will be paid for over-delivery on their national Adult Education Budget (AEB) contracts for up to 110% of the contract value, which is an increase on the 103% threshold in 2020/21. The ESFA says that the increase is in recognition of providers’ efforts to maintain delivery during the pandemic and for taking on additional eligible learners recently resettled in the UK from Ukraine, Afghanistan and Hong Kong. However, the ESFA has also announced that the threshold for under-delivery has increased to 97%, up from 68% in 2019/20 and 90% in 2020/21 which were lowered in those years in response to the impact of lockdowns. This means that additional payments for over-delivery are likely to be made from funds recovered from providers that under-deliver. The new threshold rates apply only to national AEB contracts controlled by directly by the ESFA. This accounts for only around half of AEB funding, with the rest devolved to, and administered by, the nine mayoral combined authorities and the Greater London Authority, which will decide on the thresholds in their areas.

NEW ESFA CHIEF EXECUTIVE APPOINTED

David Withey has been appointed as the new Chief Executive of the ESFA. Mr Withey is currently the chief operating officer of the New South Wales Department of Education in Australia and will take up the post in mid-August. He replaces John Edwards who has been interim Chief Executive since Autumn 2021.

SKILLS AND PRODUCTIVITY BOARD PUBLISHES SUITE OF REPORTS AND IS THEN WOUND UP

The Skills and Productivity Board (SPB) was set up in October 2020 to advise the DfE on how courses and qualifications should be aligned with employers’ skills needs. Not much was heard from the SPB, but a bit like waiting for a bus, on 25 May, five research reports turned all at once shortly after which, the SPB was wound up. The five reports cover the following areas:

  • Review of Skills Taxonomies: The SPB commissioned research from the consultancy firm Frontier Economics to assess the usefulness of ‘skills taxonomies’ as a framework to measure the match between local employer demand for skills, the shortfall of these skills in the existing local workforce and the extent to which the courses by local offered providers were helping to fill the gap.
  • Left behind localities/ Levelling up: The report explores how government levelling up strategies (for example, work programmes) need to be tailored to meet the skills needs in different localities. The report also draws particular attention to inadequate careers advice for young people and adults.
  • Would additional investment in skills benefit areas of the country that are poorer performing economically? : The research analyses the outcomes of previous investment in skills in economically poorer areas and found that there were very high returns, both in terms of employment and earnings, particularly for those obtaining qualifications as a result of the investment. However, the research also concluded that investment in skills alone is unlikely to be sufficient to ‘level up’ these poorer areas.
  • Opportunities and challenges for improving labour market information on skills: The report identifies key gaps in local labour market information and the improvements required to remedy this. The report says that the availability of data on ‘skills demand’ and ‘skill stocks’ at a local level is particularly poor and that improving this should be a DfE priority.
  • Understanding future and current skills needs: The report provides an overview of the SPB’s work in documenting the current and future skills needs of the economy. It identifies a set of ‘core transferable skills’ that are in high demand across many occupations and are likely to continue to being so in the future. The report also lists the skills that are becoming of increasing importance in the economy.
UNIT FOR FUTURE SKILLS PUBLISHES A SUITE OF DATA ‘DASHBOARDS’

After working in tandem with the SPB for a while, the Unit for Future Skills (UfFS) assumed the SPB’s role and function. The Unit has been busy and on 25 May published four data dashboards covering the type of employment people undertake on completing their education and/or training. The dashboards are, to say the least, complex and it will be interesting to see the extent to which they are actually used. They are as follows:

IFS REPORT SAYS CUTS IN ADULT EDUCATION FUNDING UNDERMINE THE GOVERNMENT’S LEVELLING UP AGENDA

A report published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IfS) on 13 June entitled ‘Adult Education: The past, present and future’, says that:

  • The extra £900 million promised in last November’s spending review will only partially reverses the 38% cut in overall spending on adult education and apprenticeships since 2011, and that this will make it harder for the government to achieve its aim to level up skills in the poorer areas of the country.
  • The number of adults taking more basic qualifications has fallen steeply since 2011. In that year here were more than 3 million adult learners studying for qualifications at Level 2 and below, but by 2021 this number had been halved. There were also one third fewer adults taking Level 3 qualifications partly because of public funding for these courses being replaced by 19+ advanced learning loans.
  • Government projects to help adults with few qualifications (such as Skills Bootcamps and the ‘Multiply’ numeracy programme) are unlikely to lead to formal qualifications for those participating on them.
  • The new Lifelong Loan Entitlement being introduced by the government to extend the existing HE loan funding system to FE courses is ‘unnecessarily restrictive’ and risks making the government’s aim to help people to retrain later in life more difficult to achieve.
  • The numbers of adults starting apprenticeships has fallen steeply. After 2010, the number of adults starting apprentices increased to around 400,000 per year but after the introduction of the apprenticeship levy in April 2017 this fell to around 250,000 per year.
  • There has been a change in the level of apprenticeships taken by adults. There were around 200,000 adult intermediate apprenticeship starts in 2010/11 but this fell to fewer than 50,000 by 2020/21. This contraction has been partially replaced by an increase in the number of adults starting advanced and higher-level apprenticeships.
GOVERNMENT INCREASES IN SKILLS FUNDING WILL BE ERADICATED BY INCREASED INFLATION

Research carried out by the Learning and Work Institute (LWI) published on 17 June says that the current level of inflation will wipe out around £850 million of the government’s skills funding increases over the next three years. As a result, up to 250,000 adult learning places could be lost as colleges and training providers face increased staff shortages and must cut course provision.

LEGAL OBLIGATION TO ALLOW VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING PROVIDERS INTO SCHOOLS IS STRENGTHENED

The Skills and Post-16 Education Act 2022 imposes a strengthened legal duty on secondary schools to provide pupils up to the age of 16 with at least six ‘encounters’ with providers of publicly funded technical education qualifications and/or apprenticeships. The strengthened legal requirement comes into force next January and schools will have from September to put the necessary arrangements in place. On 20 June, the DfE published a consultation setting out in more detail on how the new legal duty will be enforced. The DfE is proposing that if initial sanctions against schools for non-compliance prove ineffective the Secretary of State for Education will issue directions that are enforceable through a court order.

EIGHT MORE COLLEGES ALLOCATED A SHARE OF THE DFE’S POST-16 CAPACITY FUND

The Post-16 Capacity fund was launched in 2020 to help colleges accommodate the rapidly rising number of 16-18-year-olds. £83 million was allocated to 39 colleges in 2020/21 and earlier this month DfE announced that a further 8 FE and sixth form colleges will receive a share of an extra £8.6 million from the fund. The DfE says that details of a further bidding round will be announced shortly.

DFE ANNOUNCES THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A NEW NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TEACHING

On 26 May, the DfE announced that £184 million would be made available to create a new National Institute of Teaching (NIoT). The NIoT is predominantly schools focused. From this September, the NIoT will assume overall authority for the delivery of Initial Teacher Training (ITT), a new revised suite of National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) and the National Leaders of Education (NLE) programmes. The NiOT will be run by the ‘School Led Development Trust’ (SLDT), which is comprised of the Harris Federation, Outwood Grange Academies Trust, Oasis Community Learning and Star Academies. It will be led by ‘expert teacher educators’ and NIoT programmes will be delivered through regional ‘Associate Colleges’. These are school groups with a strong track record in teacher education. The DfE says that the NIoT will eventually be granted degree awarding powers, thereby enabling outstanding teaching and leadership to be combined with higher level academic qualifications. The NIoT will also carry out research, which will be made available for free to all teacher training providers.

NATIONAL TUTORING PROGRAMME BOOSTED BY A FURTHER £1 BILLION IN RECOVERY PREMIUM FUNDING

The National Tutoring Programme (NTP) provides support for school pupils in England whose learning has been most disrupted by the pandemic. In the 2020/21 academic year, NTP funding was allocated directly to schools with the programme being delivered either directly by schools staff or through external delivery partners. On 26 May, the DfE announced that a further £1 billion in ‘Recovery Premium’ funding would be made available from this September. This is in addition to NYP funding and will bring total recovery funding for schools up to £5 billion. It means that pandemic recovery support funding for a typical school will be increased by a further £60,000 (or £276 per pupil), with pupils in special units in these schools attracting double this funding rate. On 7 June, the DfE published indicative data which gives examples of the methodology used to determine how the ‘Recovery Premium’ will be allocated to individual schools.

REPORT OF THE TIMES EDUCATION COMMISSION ON THE FUTURE OF EDUCATION IN BRITAIN

The Times Education Commission was established in May 2021 to examine education in Britain, from early years to lifelong learning, and taking into consideration declining social mobility, new technology, the changing nature of work and the impact of the pandemic. The Commission was also tasked with making recommendations for reform in the following areas:

  • The purpose of education
  • Social mobility
  • The curriculum
  • Teaching and pedagogy
  • Exams and assessment
  • Education in the community
  • Mental health and wellbeing
  • The potential for the use artificial intelligence (AI) in learning
  • Exclusion, alternative provision, and special educational needs
  • Further education, higher education, apprenticeships, and other forms of skills training.

On 16 June, the Commission published its  final report, entitled ‘Bringing out the best: How to transform education and unleash the potential of every child’. Much of the statistical data in the report was provided by YouGov. The report says that:

  • The current education system fails on all levels, from giving young people the intellectual tools they need as adults, to providing employers with the skills they need.
  • The curriculum is too rigid and inflexible and is imposed from above, with no room for regional variation and takes little account of employers’ needs.  For example, 75% of companies surveyed by YouGov said they had to give their employees extra training in basic skills.
  • Preschool education is crucial but overlooked. Primary school teachers say that almost 50% of children in reception classes are not ‘school ready’.
  • No other developed country’s teenagers sit as many high-stake tests. This focus on academic attainment has unbalanced the system. 65% of parents surveyed think the education system places too much emphasis on tests and qualifications. 70% of businesses surveyed believe that the current UK secondary education system focuses too much on grades.
  • 59% of parents with school-aged children surveyed think the education system badly prepares children and young people for life. 60% think it prepares them badly for work. Only 4% of parents surveyed think a university degree prepares young people better than an apprenticeship.
  • Teachers are leaving the profession because they feel overworked and undervalued. 46% of teachers and 40% of senior leaders surveyed reported experiencing anxiety. Another 28% of teachers and 19% of senior leaders said they had experienced acute stress.
  • Teachers say that Ofsted, which is supposed to support them, adds to their stress.
  • The pandemic lockdowns helped to illustrate how the digital revolution could transform learning.
  • The 2021 Children Society’s Annual Survey found that children’s wellbeing has been falling since 2009 and that more than 300,000 10-15 years-olds in the UK are unhappy with their lives.
  • About 1.4 million state pupils are judged to have special educational needs, but 68% of parents surveyed whose children needed the greatest support, said their child’s needs were not met, particularly during the pandemic.
  • Much more could be done to make FE and HE fully accessible to everyone.

The report’s recommendations have been endorsed by business and education leaders, along with 12 former Secretaries of State for Education, the current Education Secretary and two former Prime Ministers. The recommendations say that the following measures are needed:

  • A British Baccalaureate,offering both academic and vocational qualifications at age 18, with parity in funding per student in both routes, and a slimmed-down set of exams at age 16.
  • An ‘electives premium’, for schools to be spent on activities such as drama, music, dance and sport.
  • A new cadre of Career Academies which would be elite vocational and technical sixth forms mirroring the elite academic sixth forms that are being established.
  • A significant boost to early years funding,targeted at the most vulnerable children.
  • Undergraduate tutors,earning credits towards their degrees by helping pupils who fall behind to catch up.
  • A laptop or tablet for every child,and a greater use of artificial intelligence in schools, colleges, and universities to personalise learning, reduce teacher workload and prepare young people for employment.
  • Wellbeing should be placed at the heart of education, with a counsellor in every school and an annual wellbeing survey of pupils.
  • Enhancing the status and appeal of teaching, with better career development, revalidation every five years, consultant teachers to support new and newly promoted teachers and more teaching apprenticeships.
  • A reformed Ofsted,that works collaboratively with schools and colleges to secure sustained improvement.
  • Better training for teachers to identify children with special educational needs, a greater focus on inclusion and a legal duty on schools to remain accountable for the pupils they exclude.
  • Improved pay and conditions for staff in the FE sector.
  • New university campuses in 50 HE ‘cold spots’,including satellite centres in FE colleges and a transferable credit system between universities and colleges.
  • A 15-year strategy for education, drawn up in consultation with business leaders, scientists, local mayors, civic leaders and cultural figures, putting educational improvement above short-term party politics.
OFQUAL CHIEF REGULATOR WARNS THAT A-LEVEL RESULTS THIS YEAR WILL BE LOWER THAN LAST YEAR

Speaking at the Confederation of School Trusts’ annual conference on 17 June, Dr Jo Saxton, the Ofqual Chief Regulator, warned that, as exam boards make the transition back to pre-pandemic arrangements, A-Level grades awarded this year are likely to be higher than those awarded in 2019 (the last year when grades were determined by exams) but will be lower than last year. UCAS predicts that as a result of the switch back to exams there will be around 60,000 fewer top A-Level grades this summer and that 20% of students will fail to obtain a place at their preferred choice of university.

THE INTEREST RATE ON STUDENT LOANS IN ENGLAND TO BE CAPPED AT 7.3%

The interest rate charged on loans for university fees in England is calculated by adding 3% to the retail price index (RPI) measure of inflation. The IfS calculated that, as a result of the current increase in inflationary pressure, by this September, the interest rate on student loan repayments would rise from the current 4.5% to 12%. However, the government has now capped the maximum interest rate at 7.3%. The IfS says that for many students the higher rate will have very little on their total loan repayments. This is because only 25% of students are expected to repay their loans in full. For students starting degree courses in 2023, loan interest rates will be linked to RPI without the 3% uplift. Although the rate will be lower, the period after which outstanding loan debts are written off will be extended from 30 to 40 years, which means that the proportion of students expected to repay their loans in full will rise from 25% to 50%.

HE TUITION FEES IN ENGLAND RESULT IN MORE HE MONEY IN THE DEVOLVED UK NATIONS

An unintended consequence of students being charged university tuition fees in England is that it has resulted in more money for HE in Scotland (where university tuition is free), and in Wales and Northern Ireland (where HE tuition fees are much lower). When student loans in England were first introduced, the government assumed that most loan debt would eventually be repaid. Loan debt could therefore be classified as an asset and not as public expenditure. However, when it became clear that only 25% of the loans were expected to be repaid in full, the ONS insisted that loans that would never be repaid should treated as public expenditure. This has had the effect of increasing the level of public expenditure in England. However, any increase in public expenditure in England triggers ‘Barnett Consequentials’ which will require extra-pro rata funding allocations to be made to the devolved UK nations. This means that, for example, the Scottish Government will be able to use the extra money to provide even more free stuff for the Scottish people. Meanwhile, according to the IfS, the people of Scotland already receive 30% more per head in public funding than the people of England.

IFS REPORT SAYS MAINTENANCE SUPPORT FOR STUDENTS IN ENGLAND IS AT A 7-YEAR LOW

In 2016, HE maintenance grants for students in England were replaced by maintenance loans. The amount that eligible students can borrow depends on their personal circumstances. The debt incurred from their maintenance loans is added to the debt from their tuition fee loans, to be repaid after graduation, when (or if) they achieve the earnings threshold for repayments (currently £27,295). On 15 June, the IfS published a report which says that students from the poorest families living away from home during term time and studying outside London will be able to borrow £9,706 in the 2022/23 academic year. In real terms, this will be the lowest level of maintenance loan entitlement in seven years. The report also says that the maximum maintenance loan entitlement will be £1,000 less than the earnings of a 22-year-old working in a job that paid the National Minimum Wage. Meanwhile, in other UK nations HE students from poorer backgrounds can get maintenance grants (and just for good measure, FE students from poorer backgrounds in the other UK nations can get an Education Maintenance Allowance, which were abolished in England in 2010).

OFS LAUNCHES INVESTIGATIONS INTO POOR QUALITY HE COURSES

On 26 May, the OfS announced the launch of a number of investigations into poor quality degree courses. The investigations will look specifically at Business and Management courses at eight universities and colleges. The OfS says the investigations will be carried by a team of ‘experience academics’ who will examine whether the courses meet the new OfS quality standards that came into effect on 1 May. The team will also examine the extent to which online learning has replaced face to face teaching to the detriment of students’ overall university experience.

UNIVERSITIES ARE TOO DEPENDENT ON INTERNATIONAL STUDENT FEES – PAC REPORT

On 15 June, the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) published a report on the ‘Financial sustainability of the HE sector in England’. The report says that many HE providers are now heavily reliant on income from overseas students’ fees and that this leaves them exposed to financial risks. For example, during the pandemic, the financial impact of loss of overseas student fees was only mitigated by the additional financial assistance provided by the government, and the fact that large-scale tuition fee refunds were not requested by students, which means that the situation could have been much worse.

The PAC report also says that:

  • Protection for students from decisions made by HE institutions to close campuses or courses as a result of financial pressures is not strong enough.
  • The DfE has failed to adequately assess the current and future financial impacts of thesubstantial grade inflation that resulted from teacher assessed grades (TAGs) replacing A-Level exams during the pandemic. Amongst other things, this resulted in more students taking up places at higher-tariff universities, leaving many medium and low-tariff HE providers undersubscribed.
  • The DfE is not effectively holding the Office for Students to account. For example, some universities are refusing to return to face-to-face teaching, and the OfS is particularly concerned that student satisfaction, especially regarding value for money has deteriorated significantly.
INCREASE IN INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS  

Rather than the contraction in international students that was predicted to happen post-Brexit, a report published jointly by the DfE and the Department for International Trade published on 26 May reveals that the number of international students on undergraduate and post-graduate courses in the UK has now increased to more than 605,000. In addition, a report published by the University and College Admissions Service (UCAS) on 26 May, forecasts that on the basis of current growth rates, over the next five years the number of international students at UK universities will have increased by almost 50%. UCAS says that securing a job in the UK on graduation, rather than in their home nation, is one of the main reasons students have for choosing a UK university for their studies.

The recent surge in overseas students has contributed to more than one million foreign nationals given work, study or family visas in the year to March 2022, a new record for a single 12-month period. Data published by the Home Office on 26 May reveals that over that year, 466,611 study visas were granted to applicants and their dependents, 58% more than in the year ending March 2020. Also, 277,069 work-related visas were granted, 50% more than in the year ending March 2020.

NEW UK WORK VISA ARRANGEMENTS FOR INTERNATIONAL UNDERGRADUATES AND GRADUATES

An analysis published by the ONS last November on the destinations of non-EU international students after completing of their courses, reveals that an average of around 4 in 10 will remain in the UK, with most obtaining further work or study visas. On 1 July last year, the government announced the ‘Graduate Route’, which is a further relaxation of rules for foreign students graduating from UK universities, all of whom are now eligible to stay and work in Britain for 2 years, rather than having to leave immediately after being awarded their degrees. And last month, on 30 May, the Home Office launched a new work visa scheme for overseas graduates from the world’s top 50 universities (defined as those listed in either the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, the QS World University Rankings or the Academic Ranking of World Universities). The new visa scheme is part of the government’s points-based immigration scheme and successful international applicants with a bachelor’s or master’s degree (and their dependents) will be eligible for a two-year work visa. Those who hold PhDs (and their dependents) will be eligible for a three-year work visa. When their visas expire they will be eligible to apply for further long-term work visas.

Reaction to the relaxation in immigration rules for international graduates has been mixed. Some have welcomed it, saying that it allows the UK to recruit and retain the best talent from around the world. Others say the government is ‘poaching’ talented people away from countries that can often ill afford to lose them. Some have expressed concerns about the impact on work opportunities for UK graduates.

WORLDSKILLS EUROPEAN COMPETITION TO BE HELD IN GDANSK

The WorldSkills Board has announced that Gdańsk in Poland will be the host city for the 2023 Euroskills competition. The competition was originally scheduled to take place in St Petersburg, Russia. However, Russia and Belarus were suspended from the competition following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

AND FINALLY…

Below are examples of some unsuccessful UK plumbing entries in previous WorldSkills competitions. (Thanks to Greg Smith, former principal of Gloucestershire College of Arts and Technology for this).

Alan Birks – June 2022

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