Issue 131 | September 2022

EDIT- 30/09/2022 @ 15:15: Due to a formatting error some of the figures in the original article were displayed incorrectly. These have now been corrected. Sorry for any confusion caused.

SUMMER 2022 EXAM RESULTS

This summer, students sat formal exams again and the grades they were awarded were determined by their performance in them. To compensate for the disruption students have faced over the last two years because of the pandemic, a range of adaptations were introduced to make the exams fairer for them. This was because in 2020 and 2021 grades awarded were based on teacher assessment and were much higher than the grades awarded via exams in pre-pandemic years (although grades awarded for vocational and technical qualifications (VTQs) were not significantly higher). Because of the need to address the grade inflation that did occur in 2020 and 2021, Ofqual announced an intention to return to a system of externally moderated exams with pre-pandemic grade profiles as soon as possible. However, for 2022, Ofqual’s aim was to achieve a grade profile that reflected a midway point between the lower grades awarded in the summer of 2019 and the higher grades awarded in the summer of 2021. More information on Ofqual’s strategy for awarding grades in 2022 in England can be found here.

Outcomes for the main 2022 qualifications in England are covered in the sections below, with accompanying links to Department for Education (DfE) and Ofqual websites for those interested in more detailed information. In addition, Ofqual has produced a set of interactive pictorial visualisations of the headline data (called an ‘infographic’), which can be found here.

Headline figures for GCSE results include the following:

• 75.3% of all grades awarded at 4 or above, up from 69.9% in 2019 and down from 79.1% in 2021.
• 27.0% of all grades awarded at 7 or above, up by 5.2% on 2019, and down by 3% on 2021.
• 77.2% of grades in English awarded at 4 or above, up by 6.7% on 2019 and down by 3.7% on 2021.
• 75.1% of grades in maths awarded at 4 and above, up by 3.7% on 2019 and down by 2.7% on 2021.

A detailed analysis of GCSE grades, including a breakdown of results by gender, region and type of school, can be found here, and a GCSE ‘infographic’ can be found here. In addition, FFT Education DataLab, an independent research company, has produced comparative analysis of the main trends in GCSE entries and grades awarded, which can be found here.

Students aged between 17 and 18 in England in full-time education who did not achieve a Grade 4 or above GCSE pass (or equivalent) in maths and English on leaving school were required to resit their exams in these subjects. Headline figures for this summer’s GCSE resit results include the following:

• A 20% contraction in the number of English and maths resit entries this year compared to 2021.
• Grades achieved this year are much lower than in 2021, but also lower than those achieved in 2019.
• 28.4% of entrants achieved a Grade 4 or above in English this year, compared 42.3% in 2021 and 30.3% 2019.
• 20.1% of entrants achieved a Grade 4 or above in maths this year compared to 38.6% in 2021 and 31.4% in 2019.

Headline data for A-Level results includes the following:

• 35.9% of grades were awarded at A* or A, down from 44.3% in 2021, but higher than 25.2% in 2019.
• 62.2% of grades awarded were at B and above, compared with 51.1% in 2019.
• 82.1% of grades awarded were at C and above, compared with 75.5% in 2019.
• 8,570 students achieved three A* grades, down from 12,865 in 2021, but higher than the 7,775 in 2020, and more than triple the 2,785 in 2019.
• 58% of A and A* grades were awarded to private school pupils. This compares to 4% awarded to grammar school pupils, 45% awarded to free school pupils, 35% awarded to academy pupils, and 30.7% awarded to comprehensive school pupils. With regards to post-16 providers 31.9% of sixth form college students obtained A and A* grades, compared to 27.5% for students in tertiary colleges and 16.5% in general FE colleges.

A guide to A-Level and AS-Level results in England, including a breakdown by gender and region, can be found here, and an ‘infographic’ of A-Level results can be found here.

With regards to AS-Level results, this year 25.2% of awards were graded at A compared to 20.1% in 2019. Entries at AS-Level has fluctuated in recent years, making it much more difficult to interpret any changes.

Headline figures for Level 2 and below VTQs:

In the period between March and September, a total of 369,220 Level 2 and below certificates were awarded across 141 VTQ programmes. A guide to 2022 Level 2 and below VTQ results in England can be found here and a VTQ outcomes dashboard can be found here.

Headline data for Level 3 BTEC and other Level 3 VTQs:

The DfE now focuses on outcomes for those VTQs that are ‘Performance Table Qualifications’ (PTQs) which, as the name suggests, are the VTQs that are published in national league tables. These include BTECs, Applied Generals, Technical Awards, Technical Certificates and Tech Levels. In the period since March, around 240,000 Level 3 certificates were awarded across 270 Level 3 PTQ programmes. Around 30,000 of these were awarded at the top grades (eg Distinction). A guide to 2022 Level 3 PTQ results in England can be found here, and an interactive dashboard showing grade distributions can be found here.

Headline figures for T-Level results

This year saw the first set of results for T-Level qualifications. These are meant to be equivalent to three A-Levels. The Level 3 two-year courses were launched in September 2020 in three subjects: Education and Childcare; Design, Surveying and Planning for Construction; and Digital Production, Design and Development, and were delivered by 44 schools and colleges. T-Level courses involve a mix of core learning and occupational subject specialisms both of which are delivered via classroom learning and practical knowledge, and skills delivered through industry placements. The grades successful students can be awarded are ‘Pass’, ‘Merit’, ‘Distinction’ or ‘Distinction*’. Around 10% of the cohort of T-Level students who started their course dropped out, but the overall pass rate for the 1,029 who completed was 92.2% Of these:

• 34.6% were awarded ‘Distinction’ and ‘Distinction*’ grades
• 39.8% were awarded a ‘Merit’ grade
• 17.8% were awarded a ‘Pass’ grade.

Of the remaining 7.8% of students:

• 7.4% successfully achieved at least one component of their T-Level course but not all three. These students will receive a ‘Statement of Achievement’ listing the components and grades they have achieved, but not an overall grade.
• The other 0.4% are ‘unclassified’ because although they may have attempted at least one of the three T-Level components, they have not as yet successfully completed any of them.

A detailed analysis of the first T-Level results can be found here. Meanwhile, the University and College Admissions Service (UCAS) says that 71% of T-Level students who applied for a place at university have obtained one.

Comparisons with exam performance in other years is very difficult

Because the approach to grading this year is different, meaningful comparison between student performance this year and in previous years is almost impossible. Also, this year’s exams process has not been without its difficulties. For example, a significant number of students were left waiting for their BTEC Level 2 and 3, and Cambridge Technicals results (in some cases for several weeks). The reason for the delays were not entirely explained by the exam boards responsible for issuing them (Pearson and OCR), and Ofqual has now formally asked schools and colleges to submit evidence of the impact of the delays, for example, if a student was prevented from being able to take up a university place. The outcome of Qfqual’s inquiry could result in Pearson and OCR facing regulatory action. Pearson is already facing the prospect of a £1.3 million fine in respect of re-mark issues. Another example comes in the form of the first-year exam results for T-Level Health and Science students, which had to be regraded after Ofqual found that exam papers set did not adequately reflect the course content.

MINISTERIAL CHANGES AT THE DFE

Following the resignation of Boris Johnson as Prime Minister and his replacement by Liz Truss, a number of ministerial changes have been made at the DfE. These are as follows:

Kit Malthouse has been appointed Education Secretary for England. Mr Malthouse is the ninth Education Secretary to be appointed since 2010 and the fourth to be appointed since July, his immediate predecessors being Nadhim Zahawi, Michelle Donelan (who lasted just 36 hours) and James Cleverly.

Andrea Jenkyns has been re-appointed as Education Minister with responsibility for Skills, Further and Higher Education

Kelly Tolhurst has been appointed as Education Minister, with specific duties to be confirmed.

Jonathan Gullis has been appointed as Education Minister, also with specific duties to be confirmed.

A full list of all new Ministerial appointments can be found here.

COLLEGES TO HAVE ENERGY COSTS CAPPED FOR SIX MONTHS AND POSSIBLY FOR LONGER

The current energy crisis has meant that colleges were left facing a 400% increase in their energy costs this winter. However, the new Prime Minister, Liz Truss, has pledged that from 1 October, the average energy usage of a typical home will not cost any more than £2,500 per year for the next two years, while businesses, charities and public sector organisations will be protected by an equivalent price cap for six months. The government says that this will be reviewed after 3 months and could be extended beyond the initial 6-month period for ‘vulnerable non domestic users’, including those with fixed contracts taken out on or after 1 April this year. A copy of the government’s plans for ameliorating energy costs this winter can be found here.

FE colleges are not at present defined by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) as being in the public sector, although this is currently under review. On 7 September, the Association of Colleges (AoC) sent a letter sent to Kwasi Kwarteng, who was at that time Secretary of State at the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy. (He is now the Chancellor of the Exchequer). The letter, which was also signed by 189 college principals, said that many colleges would be face insolvency without financial help with escalating energy bills. It has subsequently been confirmed that FE colleges will be covered by the sixth-month energy price cap for the public sector. This means that, for example, a typical college using 10 megawatt hours of electricity and 22 megawatt hours of gas a month that would otherwise have faced paying around £10,000 per month for their energy will now be faced with a still higher, but more manageable £6,000 per month. The move has been welcomed by college leaders, but they are currently uncertain whether they will be eligible for continued support beyond next April. A copy of the AoC letter can be found here. Interestingly, one college has announced its intention to move to a 4-day week to help reduce heating costs. More colleges could follow.

NATIONAL INSURANCE INCREASE REVERSED

Further financial relief for colleges came on 23 September when Kwasi Kwarteng, in his new role as Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced that the 1.25% increase in national insurance (NI) contributions which came into force in April, will be reversed on 6 November. Colleges were told they were not eligible to take advantage of a scheme which compensated schools and other public sector organisations from the increase in NI and faced having to meet the additional cost from their existing budgets. This was estimated to be to around £15 million a year that colleges would otherwise have had to pay.

OFSTED PUBLISHES UPDATES TO ITS 2022/23 INSPECTION GUIDANCE

On 1 September, Ofsted published several updates to its inspection guidance for the 2022/23 academic year. These include the following:

• The update to the Ofsted inspection deferrals policy says that there are now only limited circumstances when requests from schools and colleges for inspection deferrals will be accepted and that disruption caused by Covid is not one of them.
• The update to the Ofsted Code of Conduct says inspectors will explain their expectations in respect of conduct by school and college staff during inspections. They will also explain to school and college staff the conduct they can expect from the inspection team. The updated guidance says that if providers have any concerns that the inspection team has not acted in accordance with the code, they should raise them with Ofsted as soon as possible in order to resolve issues before the inspection or visit is completed. With reference to providers, the lead inspector will remind them that they must have met code of conduct expectations. For example, providers should not withhold or conceal evidence or provide false, misleading, inaccurate, or incomplete information. The update also says that providers should make inspectors aware of location of CCTV cameras in their premises and ensure that a private room without CCTV cameras is made for available for inspectors to talk about inspection evidence and hold confidential discussions.
• Previous guidance says that providers must have appropriate filters and monitoring systems in place to protect young people from online harm and cyber security risks emanating from their IT systems. In the update to the Safeguarding policy, Ofsted says inspectors will now also look for evidence that managers and governors are doing ‘all that they reasonably can’ to limit exposure to online risks from the school or college’s IT system. Ofsted also says that inspectors will monitor steps taken by staff to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students from harassment, and to provide them with safe spaces and a designated member of staff with whom they can discuss their concerns.

DESIGNATED EMPLOYER REPRESENTATIVE BODIES (ERBS) ANNOUNCED

On 5 September, the DfE published a list of 37 designated employer representative bodies (ERBs) that will assume lead responsibility for producing Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs) in England. This was legislated for in the Skills and Post-16 Education Act 2022. LSIPs are expected to identify and set out the changes required to improve skills and address skills shortages in the ERB’s local area. ERBs will also assume responsibility for producing reports on the progress being made against their LSIP’s objectives.

The full list of designated ERBs organised by region and area (of which 31 of the 37 are local Chambers of Commerce) can be found here. Cheshire and Warrington is the only area that does not yet have a designated ERB since no suitable organisation to fulfil the role could be found in the first round of bids.

The government has allocated a total of £20.9 million for ERBs over the next 3 years. Each ERB is expected to receive around £550,000 (which includes a £50,000 start-up payment) to develop, implement and review their LSIPs. As a condition of their grant funding, ERBs are required to submit regular reports that will enable their performance in improving skills and addressing skills shortages to be monitored. On 1 September, the DfE published its Terms and Conditions of ERB Designation which, amongst other things, requires every ERB to publish and maintain a conflict of interest policy and must immediately notify the DfE if any conflict of interest has occurred, or is perceived to have occurred. ERBs have until 31 May 2023 to submit their LSIPs for approval by the Secretary of State

DFE ANNOUNCES FURTHER ALLOCATIONS FROM THE STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT FUND 

On 1 September, the DfE announced that in 2022/23, providers across the areas and regions of England will receive a further £95.9 million in capital and revenue funding from the second round of the Strategic Development Fund. The funding is intended to help providers upgrade their training facilities and reshape their skills provision to meet the requirements of their area’s LSIP.

New ‘Voxbridge’ colleges proposed for the North of England

The new Education Secretary for England, Kit Malthouse, has been asked to prepare plans for two new high-tech colleges in the north of England with a ‘high-skilled, economic development corridor’ running between them. The new colleges were the brainchild of Jake Berry MP, when he was Chair of the Northern Research Group of Conservative MPs, but who is now Conservative Party Chair. The proposal was adopted by Liz Truss, the new Prime Minister, during her leadership campaign. The new colleges have been dubbed ‘Voxbridge’ because the intention is that that they will be the ‘vocational equivalents of Oxford and Cambridge’. The proposals for the ‘Voxbridge colleges’ join the government’s other initiatives and ideas for new colleges, including elite sixth form colleges (‘to rival Eton’), National Colleges, Institutes of Technology and University Technical Colleges, prompting some observers to argue that the only educational institutions the government seems unwilling to spend money on are existing FE colleges.

FIRM TO ESTABLISH A GOVERNOR RECRUITMENT SERVICE FOR COLLEGE BOARDS  

In May, the DfE invited bids to establish a governor recruitment service for college boards in England. The new service will replace the ‘Inspiring FE Governance’ service provided by the Education and Training Foundation (ETF). The successful bidder was Peridot Partners Ltd, which describes itself as a firm that provides ‘executive search, trustee recruitment and board development services’. The DfE has awarded the company a contract worth £458,000 to establish the service. The contract commences this month (September), and by the end of 2024/25, Peridot is required to have found at least 137 diverse individuals (at least half of whom must be women and at least 30% from black, Asian and other ethnic minority backgrounds) to join college boards that are experiencing difficulty in recruiting board chairs, committee chairs or in filling skills gaps in the membership of the board. The new service will be made available free of charge for those colleges identified as ‘struggling’ by the DfE’s regional teams and the FE Commissioner as part of a of the updated package of support published by DfE at the end of August. Other colleges can apply for help in recruiting governors through the new service but may be expected to pay for it.

NEW DIPLOMA IN TEACHING (FURTHER EDUCATION AND SKILLS) IS LAUNCHED

Following the publication of the 2021 White Paper ‘Skills for Jobs’ which set out the Government’s intention to improve initial teacher education and support the redevelopment of FE initial teacher training qualifications, on 26 September the ETF published the guidance framework for the new Diploma in Teaching (Further Education and Skills). The new qualification replaces the current Diploma in Education and Training, the public funding for which is being withdrawn. The new framework is based on the occupational standards for Learning and Skills Teachers published in 2021, and in August this year the DfE confirmed that qualifications created under the new framework (including those at levels 6 and 7) will be eligible to receive public funding from 2024/25 onwards.

The new framework has been developed on behalf of and approved by the ETF Initial Teacher Education (ITE) Forum, the membership of which includes employer bodies (AOs), awarding bodies, providers, the ESFA, Ofqual, the DfE and the Gatsby Foundation. The framework provides guidance to AOs on developing the qualification, and sets out an overall structure, including recommended guided learning hours, teaching practice and assessed observation requirements. The qualification will be made available for those teaching or intending to teach in the FE and Skills sector from September 2024 onwards. More information on the new qualification can be found on the FE Advice website.

DFE PUBLISHES REVISED PROGRAMME COST WEIGHTINGS FOR 2022/23

The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) uses a separate funding formula for delivering courses for 16-19-year-olds and those aged 19 and over, but both use programme cost weightings (PCWs) as a method of providing funding uplifts for subjects that cost more to deliver (for example, practical subjects such as engineering and construction). Last year, the DfE circulated an online survey to all colleges, schools and other providers, the purpose of which was to seek their views on the existing PCWs and premium rates used to support the delivery of high-cost provision. The survey also collected data about class size restrictions for workshop and other practical lessons, and the additional materials and equipment costs incurred in delivering them.  A report of the interim findings of the survey was published by the DfE earlier this month (September), a copy of which can be found here. Based on the interim findings, the DfE has increased the cost weightings for 16-19 and 19+ funded provision in 2022/23, the details of which (along with provider responses to the survey) can be found in the report’s various annexes.

DFE PRESSES AHEAD WITH ITS FE EDUCATION FUNDING AND ACCOUNTABILITY REFORMS

In July last year, the DfE published a consultation on proposals for the reform of FE Funding and Accountability in England, the vast majority of which are in respect of provision for adults. Based on the responses to the consultation, the DfE has announced its intention to implement most of the proposals consulted on. These will begin to be rolled out in the 2022/23 academic year, with the more complex funding reforms being rolled out in 2023/4 (and possibly beyond). The DfE has also released a more detailed second stage consultation on the implementation process and timescale. The consultation closes on 12 October and FE sector stakeholders are asked for their views on the following proposals:

• The Adult Education Budget (AEB) will be renamed the ‘Skills Fund’.
• Starting in 2023/24, colleges (and other providers) will receive a combined funding allocation from the Skills Fund for funding for Adult Community Learning (ACL) and the Free Courses for Jobs (FCFJ) scheme. However, Skills Bootcamps and other specific adult training schemes will continue to be funded separately from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
• After the next Spending Review, the Strategic Development Fund, the College Collaboration Fund, the Higher Technical Education Growth Fund and the FE Professional Development Grant will be consolidated into a single ‘Development Fund’.
• In return for funding, colleges will be required to sign new ‘Accountability Agreements’ which, says the DfE, will be ‘significantly shorter’ than current funding agreements. As a part of the Accountability Agreement process, colleges will be required to set themselves ‘outcome targets’ and specify how they will shape their provision to meet local needs. The new Accountability Agreements will specify the national priorities that their Skills Fund allocation is intended be spent on, along with rules for ring-fenced provision, the development of new courses and rules for non-qualification provision.
• With regards to non-qualification provision, the DfE is proposing that to be eligible for funding, it must achieve at least one of three objectives. These are ‘achieving employment’, ‘progression to further learning that brings learners close to employment’, and ‘helping learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities to access independent living’. ACL providers, including local authorities and Holex have called on the DfE to scrap these proposals. They argue that limiting course outcomes to just the acquisition of a job or progression to further study fails to recognise for the wider benefits of adult education courses for those who need help with other ‘life issues’, and that the proposals will have an adverse effect on up to 300,000 vulnerable learners.
• Funding allocations based on historic performance will be replaced by a ‘needs-based funding formula’ scheduled to be introduced over the next Spending Review. For 2022/23, courses for adults will be located in sector subject area (SSA) categories and placed in one of five funding bands. These are ‘base’, ‘low’, ‘middle’, ‘high’ and ‘specialist’. No SSA will be moved to a lower funding band. There will be a set hourly funding rate for each band which will be informed by an analysis of skills needs and delivery costs. From 2023/24, a higher funding premium will be attached to courses for in-demand skills and those that are more expensive to staff and deliver. (See the section above on revised PCWs for more details). The current funding model will not change until the new funding bands have been established. Once they are in place, the current cycle of annual allocation and reconciliation will end and be replaced by multi-year allocations. For 2023/24 and 2024/25, Skills Fund allocations will be based on 2022/23 allocations unless there is evidence of a significant shortfall or over-delivery.
• A new data collection system will be introduced that will eliminate need for regular ILR returns. No timescale has as yet been attached to this proposal.
• A new FE performance dashboard will be introduced in 2023/24 containing a range of new performance measures which will complement, rather than replace, existing measures such as National Achievement Rate Tables (NARTs) and other outcome measures. The dashboard will not include the provider’s ESFA financial health grade because doing so could negatively impact on learner enrolment and employer engagement, making a provider’s financial position even worse.
• The current AEB is in the process of being devolved to Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs) which have taken over the ESFA’s responsibility for commissioning adult education provision from providers. This is part of the government’s ‘Levelling Up’ However, concerns have been expressed about the inconsistencies in the funding and quality assurance approaches that are being applied by different MCAs. To minimise these inconsistencies, the DfE is proposing that a national funding model should be developed and that this should be used by all MCAs when developing and designing provision supported by the Skills Fund. This proposal seems not to have gone down well with the MCAs, which not only want to retain flexibility in the way they administer the AEB and commission provision in their own areas, but also want to assume control of funding streams for other provision, such as Skills Bootcamps, Free Courses for Jobs, apprenticeships and 16-24 traineeships, arguing that it is they who know best what type of provision is needed in their areas.

ESFA SEEKS PROVIDER VIEWS ON THE PROCESS FOR ALLOCATING NON-DEVOLVED DIRECT AEB CONTRACTS

The annual AEB budget currently stands at about £1.5 billion, of which about £786 million (60%) has been devolved to MCAs. The rest is allocated directly to providers on the basis of bids for contracts. Following criticism of last year’s non-devolved AEB procurement process (which resulted in significant delays to contracts being awarded), the ESFA has sought the views of providers on the design of this year’s procurement process. The ESFA also intends to hold a number of online ‘market engagement’ events scheduled for later this month (September) ahead of the launch of the invitation to tender for non-devolved AEB provision. This is expected to commence later year for contracts that will start from August 2023.

As more of the AEB is devolved to the MCAs, the proportion of non-devolved AEB funding available for the ESFA to allocate directly to providers will diminish, and providers will become increasingly reliant on securing contracts for provision from the MCAs. The number of providers being allocated direct AEB contracts has already fallen by 60% since 2017.

EDUCATION UNIONS PREPARE FOR STRIKE ACTION AND LAUNCH JUDICIAL REVIEW AGAINST NEW LEGISLATION

Thirteen unions with education sector members (Unite, USDAW, BFAWU, UCU, RMT, ASLEF, FDA, NEU, PCS, POA, NUJ, BALPA, and the GMB), have commissioned Thomsons Solicitors to send a pre-action judicial review letter to the government. The letter says that the recent legislation introduced by the government to allow agency workers to cover for striking staff violates Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), is in breach of the EU/UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement which commits the UK to respect internationally recognised labour standards, and violates fundamental trade union rights, including the right to strike. The letter also says that the government has failed to discharge its obligation to consult the unions as required by the Employment Agencies Act 1973. The NAS/UWT and Unison have already lodged their own judicial reviews. In response, the government has said that the new legislation is necessary to maintain ‘crucial public services most impacted by industrial action’. Meanwhile, the University and College Union (UCU) says that almost 30 colleges will be taking strike action in protest against below inflation pay offers.

APPRENTICESHIP PROVIDER ‘MULTIVERSE’ IS GRANTED DEGREE AWARDING POWERS.

Multiverse has become the only independent training provider in England to be granted degree awarding powers by the Office for Students (OfS), the government’s HE regulator. This means that the company (that has been graded as ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted) can offer and award its own debt-free degrees to apprentices. However, Multiverse is required to work in partnership with a college or university that also has degree awarding powers to provide quality assurance services for Multiverse’s provision. The Chief Executive, co-founder and part owner of Multiverse is Euan Blair, son of the former UK prime minister Tony Blair, and even though the recurrent revenue stream for Multiverse comes almost entirely from publicly-funded apprenticeships, his shares in Multiverse make him not only richer than Croesus, but even wealthier (at least on paper) than his dad. The first of Multiverse degree apprentices will enrol on their courses this month (September) and will undertake placements in various high-profile companies, such as Rolls Royce, KPMG and CitiBank.

IFS PUBLISHES REPORT IDENTIFYING LACK OF PROGRESS IN ADDRESSING EDUCATIONAL INEQUALITIES

At the end of August, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) published a report entitled ‘Education Inequalities’, a copy of which can be found here. The report covers the whole of the school and education system in England but with reference to the FE sector, the report says:

• For those looking to take vocational qualifications rather than follow the academic GCSE-A Level-university route, the proliferation of vocational qualifications, many of which duplicate each other, and the lack of sufficient information about them, makes the vocational pathway far more difficult for prospective students to navigate. (To be fair, the government is attempting to reform and rationalise vocational qualifications by reducing the numbers available and simplifying vocational progression routes. However, this has met with some resistance, particularly from those exam boards whose vocational qualifications are at risk of being defunded).
• Over the last decade, there has been a significant contraction in public spending on adult education and training. Real-terms spending in 2019/20 was nearly 50% lower than 2009/10, and two thirds lower than 2003/04. As a consequence of this, the number of adult learners is now half what it was in 2009/10.
• Adult students wishing to study advanced VTQs often find it difficult to access funding. While HE students can access loans that cover both tuition fees and maintenance, adult FE learners have to apply for advanced learner loans which can be used to pay for their tuition fees, but not to provide maintenance support. Also, they are not available at all for those adults wanting to reskill by taking a VTQ which is at an equivalent or lower level to a qualification they already hold. As a result, says the IfS, there is a ‘dearth of second chances and lifelong learning opportunities which limits the scope for existing educational gaps to be closed’.

With reference to the schools sector, the study says that:

• The pandemic has significantly worsened overall educational outcomes as well as widening inequalities. Children from more disadvantaged background have fallen twice as far behind as the average child. Because they had less access to resources to learn at home, children from poorer backgrounds were less likely to be able to access online classes during the first lockdown, and more likely to be absent more frequently and for longer than their better-off peers.
• Inequalities by family background emerge well before school starts. These inequalities persist throughout primary school and continue through secondary school. 40% of disadvantaged pupils go on to achieve good GCSEs in English and maths compared with 60% of pupils from better-off backgrounds. Less than 15% of pupils with fewer than 5 good GCSEs achieved a Level 3 qualification by the age of 19.
• The relationship between family background and attainment is not limited to the poorest pupils. The report says ‘At every step up the family income distribution, educational performance improves’.For example, while fewer than 5% of those in the poorest families earned at least one A or A* grade at A-Level, over a third of pupils from the richest 10% of families earned at least one of the top grades.

The report also says that:

• Girls are around 10% more likely than boys to reach attainment benchmarks at various stages of the education system. In addition, the number of women completing degrees has exceeded the number of men doing so since the 1990s. However, women’s outperformance in the education system has not led to outperformance with regards to their position in the labour market or in their earnings.
• Children from ethnic minority backgrounds typically start out behind their white peers but make much faster progress later. By age 19, all major ethnic groups are more likely than white pupils to have achieved A-Levels or equivalent qualifications. By age 26, white British pupils are the least likely to hold a degree and are the most likely to have ceased their education at GCSE or below.
• Educational attainment in London outstrips that in much of the rest of England. All local authorities in London perform above the national average.

The report’s general conclusion is that the existing gap in the level of educational achievement of both young people and adults from different ends of the socio-economic spectrum is widening rather than narrowing and that educational inequalities have significant economic and social consequences. The report also makes a number of recommendations for the government, most of which (such as increasing FE funding) are unlikely to be acted on.

DFE ANNOUNCES NEW GRANTS TO IMPROVE ATTAINMENT IN SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) describes itself as ‘an independent charity dedicated to breaking the link between family income and educational achievement by supporting schools, colleges and early years providers to improve teaching and learning’. On 2 September, the DfE announced that the EEF had been awarded a grant of £137 million to enable it to ‘continue its work in developing and supporting outstanding teaching…, for at least another decade’ and to support the government’s teacher training reforms.

The DfE has also announced that a further £66 million is to be made available from the next phase of the Evaluation Accelerator Fund to increase access to high-quality literacy and numeracy programmes in schools and colleges over the next three academic years. Of the £66 million being made available, £21 million will be used to support English Hubs and Maths Hubs in schools and colleges. This forms part of the government’s commitment to ensuring that any child who falls behind in maths or English will get the support they need to catch up. £41.5 million will go to the EEF to further facilitate its work in identifying which of the government’s various programmes to improve education attainment are the most effective and why. The remainder of the funding will be used to scale-up existing programmes, to support schools with implementation and to evaluate the Accelerator Fund programme.

YOUTH VOICE CENSUS REPORT SAYS THAT YOUNG PEOPLE ARE IN AN ESCALATING STATE OF MENTAL CRISIS

Youth Employment UK has published its Youth Voice Census 2022, which is its sixth annual survey. 4,000 children and young adults aged between 11 and 30 took part in the survey, with more than half saying that they were suffering from anxiety and poor mental health. Key findings in the report include the following:

• 28.5% said that they were experiencing ‘social, emotional and mental health challenges’.
• 51% thought their anxiety was the biggest barrier to them getting a job.
• 31.2% who were in work were struggling with their wellbeing.
• 55% of apprentices said that their school, college or sixth form did not help them with their apprenticeship application process.
• Only 28.7% thought that employers were supportive of hiring young people.
• 18.9% of young people required to work from home said they did not have the space to do so.
• Young people with protected characteristics, such as carers and care leavers were 20% more likely to feel ‘very unsafe’ in their local area.
• Only 24% of young people with English as a second language said they felt safe where they lived
• Black, Black African, Black British or Caribbean respondents were over 3 times more likely to say they did not feel welcome in their secondary school.

UCAS CEO CALLS ON UNIVERSITY VICE CHANCELLORS TO DIVERSIFY THEIR RECRUITMENT OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

Clare Marchant, the Chief Executive of the UCAS has called on Universities UK (UUK), which represents university vice chancellors, and the British Council to be more diverse in respect of the countries from which they recruit international students from.

Ms Marchant said that UCAS data showed a 3% average increase in applications from international students this year (with a higher percentage increase in most ‘elite’ UK universities) and that last year Russel Group universities recruited an average of 23% of their students from abroad with some recruiting almost half their students from abroad. She went on to say that although this was ‘a positive picture’, a large proportion of international students recruited by UK universities were from China and India, (with India now overtaking China as the largest nationality being issued UK sponsored study visas). She went on to say that over the next five years, university vice chancellors should consider recruiting more students from other countries, such as Nigeria and Vietnam in order to secure ‘more balance’ in the UK international student population.

Ms Marchant also predicted that total applications to UK universities will rise to one million by 2030, with this expansion being driven mainly by the demographic increase in 18-year-olds across the UK and increasing international demand.

With reference to the latter, critics say that the main driver for universities increasing their international recruitment is not to promote diversity, but to take advantage of the fact that international students pay around three times the fees paid by home students. Others have questioned whether recruiting more international students is taking university places away from home students. For example, Professor Alan Smithers, Director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at Buckingham University, said: ‘It’s good that our universities take students from all around the world. But there is always the risk that this benefit will outweigh the importance of developing British talent’. Against this, those in support of increasing the recruitment of international students point out that the government’s new Graduate Visa scheme allows foreign students who graduate from UK universities (along with their families) to continue to remain and work in the UK for at least 2 years after graduation, with the possibility of a permanent right to remain thereafter.

THE UNIVERSITY ENTRY RATE FOR SCHOOL AND COLLEGE LEAVERS FALLS FOR THE FIRST TIME IN A DECADE

Statistics published by Data HE show that the proportion of school and college leavers from England, Wales and Northern Ireland (Scotland is excluded from the analysis) progressing to university has fallen for the first time in a decade. The data shows that the entry rate for this year was 37.4%, down from 38.2% last year. This is supported by clearing data from UCAS which shows that as of 15 September, 41,240 18-year-olds from England, Wales and Northern Ireland who had applied for a university place were not holding an offer of a place, This is a 35.9% increase in the number of unplaced applicants compared with the same point in time last year, when 30,350 applicants did not hold the offer of a place. A number of explanations have been given for this, which include the following:

• The 18-year-old population has grown significantly over the last few years and is expected to grow further in the future. This has resulted in more competition for university places.
• The number of applicants for university places has increased every year since 2018, but the rate of increase has itself has increased in recent years with 18% more applications for university places from 18-year-olds in England, Wales and Northern Ireland this year than in 2019. This has also increased competition for university places.
• Many of those without places are likely to be young people who will have been hit hard by the effects of the pandemic which has caused severe disruption to their education over the past two years, and the grades they achieved were lower as a result. Also, the re-introduction of exams this year has resulted in A-Level grades achieved being lower this year than the teacher assessed grades awarded in the last two years. All of this means that fewer students will have obtained the grades required by universities in order to take up a place.
• Universities may be restricting the number of places offered to UK students to maximise their income by offering more places to higher fee-paying international students.

DFE ANNOUNCES A CUT IN STUDENT LOAN INTEREST RATES IN ENGLAND

Earlier this month, the DfE announced that student loan interest rates in England will be cut for a second time to protect students from rising inflation. The first cut was announced in June when student loan interest rates were reduced from 12% to 7.3% and this month it was announced that interest rates will be cut to 6.3%. The rate cut means that, for example, a student with a loan balance of £45,000 would see the accumulation of interest on their loans reduce by around £210 per month, compared to 12% interest rates.

AND FINALLY…

This story follows on from that in the July newsletter about a group of ESOL students struggling with the complexities of the English language. In their next class they were discussing the problems of phonetics and spelling with their teacher. One of them said, ‘But if…

‘GH’ can be pronounced ‘P’, as in ‘hiccough’, ‘OUGH’ can be pronounced ‘O’, as in ‘dough’, ‘PHTH’ can be pronounced ‘T’, as in ‘phthisis’, ‘EIGH’ can be pronounced ‘A’, as in ‘neighbour’, ‘TTE’ can be pronounced ‘T’, as in ‘gazette’ and ‘EAU’ can be pronounced ‘O’, as in ‘plateau’

…surely the correct way to spell ‘potato’ should be ‘GHOUGHPHTHEIGHTTEEAU’?

The teacher tried to explain why it wasn’t the correct way but failed in her attempt to do so. After the class had finished, the student sent a text to his friend which said, ‘Well, we are all still very confused about the many differences between how a word sounds in English and how it is spelt. But our teacher says that we won’t have to worry too much about this in the future because something called “autocorrect” will ensure that a word is spelt correctly. And for that I am eternally grapefruit’.

(As an aside to this story: Q. Which is grammatically correct- ‘spelled’ or ‘spelt’? A. Both are correct).

Alan Birks – September 2022

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