Issue 137 | April 2023

INDUSTRIAL ACTION AFFECTING THE EDUCATION SECTOR

Schools:

All four unions representing school teachers and leaders have voted to reject the government’s offer of a £1,000 one-off payment this year and 4.3% increase for staff in 2023/24.

• The National Education Union (NEU) has further strikes planned for 27 April and 2 May and, if necessary, says it will seek a mandate from members for more action in the autumn term.
• The NASUWT will re-ballot members on taking industrial action after missing the 50% turnout of members legally required.
• The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) says it will decide shortly whether to re-run its ballot, which also missed the required 50% turnout threshold.
• The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) has decided to ballot its members on taking industrial action for the first time in its history. No date for this has yet been agreed.

Colleges and universities:

• A ballot of staff by the NEU members in sixth form colleges (SFCs) opened on 13March and closed on 21 April. The resulted was an 89.4% vote in favour of taking industrial action based on a turnout of 53.3%. Strike action will be taken alongside NEU staff in schools on 27 April and 2 May.
• Unlike in the vast majority of schools, college teacher pay is not set nationally. Individual colleges are free to set their own pay for teachers and other staff. The Association of Colleges (AoC) makes an annual recommendation on pay rises, but it is only a recommendation. On 31 March, the University and College Union (UCU), along with other unions representing FE staff in England (GMB, Unison, NEU and Unite), submitted a joint claim to the AoC, along with a warning that if no progress is made they will be taking joint industrial action. The joint claim includes the following:
  • A 15.4% pay increase for college staff in 2023/24. This is comprised of a retail price index (RPI) related increase of 13.4%, plus an additional 2% on all pay points.
  • All colleges to pay the national living wage (currently £10.42 for those aged 23 and above).
  • A national agreement on workload in colleges.
  • A new national contract for FE staff and a new national bargaining framework.

Meanwhile, the AoC is refusing to make any pay recommendation for college staff at all unless ministers provide colleges with more funding. AoC Chief Executive, David Hughes said that this is because ‘colleges simply can’t afford to make an offer that would not be an insult to hard-working staff’.

• University UCU members have already engaged in strike action and have warned that they intend to take further strike action in the future. They have also warned that, from 20 April, they intend to boycott the marking of students’ assignments.

Civil Service:

Civil Service union members, including officials in the Department for Education (DfE) who work for Ofsted and Ofqual, have voted to reject the government’s offer of a 4.5% pay increase for 2023/24 plus an additional 0.5% for lower paid workers, and will be taking industrial action. The civil service unions include:

• The FDA. This was formerly the ‘Association of First Division Civil Servants’. The FDA says that the offer shows that the government ‘does not value’ civil servants, and in response has announced that a ballot for a national strike over pay will be held for the first time in more than 40 years.
• The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union. The PCS voted to strike over pay and conditions earlier this year and has already taken several days of industrial action. Members are currently being re-balloted for a renewed mandate for future industrial action.

REPORT HIGHLIGHTS REAL TERMS FALLS IN FE COLLEGE TEACHER PAY AND HIGH TURNOVER AND EXIT RATES

A new report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IfS) entitled ‘What has happened to college teacher pay in England’ was published on 30 March. Findings in the report include the following:

• If AoC pay offer recommendations made over the period since 2010/11 had actually been awarded, FE college teacher pay will have contracted by 18% in real terms since then. However, this is likely to mask an even larger contraction in FE college teacher pay because colleges are not bound by AoC recommendations, and in various years since 2010/11, most colleges were found to have made pay awards that were below the AoC recommendation.
• Over the same period, schoolteacher pay has contracted in real terms by between 5% and 13%.
• The gap between the median salary of school and FE college teachers has grown over time. In 2010/11, the median salary (at today’s prices) was around £48,000 for a schoolteacher and the median salary for an FE college teacher was £42,500. Actual median pay is now around £41,500 for a schoolteacher and £34,500 for an FE college teacher. This means that between 2010/11 and 2022/23, the median schoolteacher salary fell by 14%, while the median FE college teacher salary fell by 19%.
• In 2010/11, the average starting salary (at today’s prices) for an FE college teacher was around £34,000 compared with £29,500 for a schoolteacher. Since then, starting salaries have decreased by 14% for college teachers and by 5% for schoolteachers. As a result, the actual amount a new FE college teacher earns today is around £29,000 compared with £28,000 for a new schoolteacher. In September, starting salaries for schoolteachers will rise to £30,000, which means that for the first time, new schoolteachers will earn more than new FE college teachers.
• Cuts to post-16 education funding have made it difficult for colleges to allocate money for higher levels of FE teacher remuneration. Between 2010/11 and 2019/20, public spending per student (aged 16–18) in colleges fell by 14%, while spending on college classroom-based adult education almost halved. In addition, cost pressures on colleges were ignored in this year’s spring budget, so any pay awards for 2023/24 will need to be found from already over-stretched college budgets. Against this, schoolteachers received a £1,000 one-off payment this year and will receive a 4.3% pay rise in 2023/24, all of which will be separately funded (although they are taking industrial action for more).
• There is a high rate of staff turnover in FE colleges. Around 25% of FE college teachers leave the profession after one year, compared with 15% of schoolteachers. Three years after beginning teaching, almost half of FE college teachers have left, compared with around a quarter of schoolteachers. Ten years after beginning teaching, less than a quarter of FE college teachers remain in the profession compared with more than 60% of schoolteachers.
• The exit rate (the percentage of staff leaving the profession each year) for FE college staff is also high relative to other public sector occupations. 16% of FE college teachers exit the profession each year, compared with 10% of schoolteachers, 10% across most NHS occupations and 7% in the civil service.

PRIME MINISTER RESURRECTS AMBITIONS FOR COMPULSORY STUDY OF MATHS TO AGE 18

In a policy speech he made on 4 January, the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that he wanted all students in England to study some form of maths (not necessarily at A-Level) up to the age of 18. On 17 April, speaking at an academy in north London, Mr Sunak restated his commitment to this, saying that the subject is ‘as essential as reading’, and that it was necessary to tackle an ‘anti-maths mindset’ where poor performance in maths was seen as ‘socially acceptable’. He went on to say that the UK is one of the least numerate countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and that failure to drive up standards in maths is harming the economy. Measures proposed to help achieve an improvement in maths standards include the following:

• The DfE has announced the formation of an ‘expert group’ to help devise the curriculum content of the maths that students should study, and to provide advice to the Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Education in England on whether there should be a new maths qualification for 16-18-year-olds. The terms of reference for the group can be found here. The group is expected to deliver recommendations on this in July and the DfE says it will establish a timescale for delivering the group’s recommendations later in the year.
• On 17 April, the Education Secretary for England, Gillian Keegan announced that an extra £6,000 bursary for up to 355 new FE teachers in ‘hardest to fill’ subjects would be provided through the ‘Taking Teaching Further’ programme. In addition to maths, these ‘hard to fill’ subjects include IT, construction, and engineering and manufacturing. Each new FE teacher in these subjects will receive a £3,000 payment in the first year of the programme, followed by a further £3,000 payment in the second year. This payment is in addition to the ‘Taking Teaching Further’ support package (which covers the cost of a teaching qualification, as well as providing a reduced teaching timetable and mentoring support). It is also in addition to the increase in FE teacher training bursaries in 2023/24 announced by the DfE on 7 March, which increases the bursary for those taking initial teacher education (ITE) programmes in maths (and other ‘hard to fill’ subjects) from £26,000 to £29,000.
• The DfE has announced that additional Maths Hubs will be established. There are currently 40 Maths Hubs run by the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM) which support teachers from schools and colleges with professional development in teaching the subject.
• The DfE has also asked the NCETM to establish intensive Maths Hubs support for staff teaching 16- 19-year-olds who are resitting maths GCSE or maths functional skills qualifications, although as yet there are no details from the DfE of any additional funding for this.

DFE CHANGES ADVANCED MATHS PREMIUM FUNDING ALLOCATIONS LEAVING SOME PROVIDERS WORSE OFF

The Advanced Maths Premium is paid to colleges, sixth forms and other providers that deliver Level 3 maths courses to 16-19-year-olds (for example, AS levels, A-Levels and core maths). The aim of the funding is to encourage providers to deliver more maths provision for this age group. In an update published on 23 February, the DfE announced that the way Advanced Maths Premium funding is allocated to post-16 providers will change in 2023/24. Section 4 of the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) update published on 9 April clarifies that the changes will mean that some post-16 providers will not receive as much Advanced Maths Premium funding as they have done in previous years. To provide temporary relief for the post-16 providers affected and to help them maintain their current levels of maths provision, the ESFA has confirmed that those post-16 providers that will lose £20,000 or more, will, for one year only, receive an uplift in their Advanced Maths Premium funding in 2023/24 that will take their allocation up to the same amount they received this year. It is uncertain whether this relief will be provided in future years.

Meanwhile, an analysis carried out by the AoC found that of the £56.7 million Advanced Maths Premium funding paid out over the last four years, 86% went to schools and just 14% went to colleges, despite around 25% of Level 3 maths entries coming from colleges.

NEW TEACHING PROGRAMME IMPROVES PERFORMANCE IN MATHS GCSE RE-SITS

Research carried out by the Centre for Research in Mathematics Education (CRME) at the University of Nottingham on behalf of the Education and Training Foundation’s (ETF) Centres for Excellence in Maths (CfEM) programme, found that a new teaching approach for post-16 students re-sitting their maths GCSEs resulted in a measured improvement in their exam scores, and particularly benefited learners from deprived backgrounds. The research was carried out in 147 college sites across England during the 2021/22 academic year and involved 7,453 students. The ‘randomised controlled trial’ (in which participants were randomly allocated to a group to be studied) investigated two levels of intervention. These were:

• A ‘partial intervention’ that involved teachers working with lesson resources that exemplifiedCfEM’s five key principles of Teaching for Mastery in FE.  The research found that students which had experienced the ‘partial intervention’ gained the equivalent of one month of learning.
• A ‘full intervention’ that additionally included a ‘lesson study’ programme. This involved teachers observing lessons to experience them from the students perspective, and then discussing what they had seen with other teachers afterwards. The research found that students which had experienced ‘full intervention’ gained the equivalent of two additional months of learning and that those from deprived backgrounds (as measured by uptake of Free School Meals) were found to have benefitted the most.

The research also found that students which had not experienced either form of intervention had no discernible increase in ‘learning months’ gained. The study was supported by DfE funding, and full details of the research findings are available via the Centres for Excellence in Maths page of the ETF website.

DFE PUBLISHES CONTRACT TENDER FOR INCREASING T-LEVEL INDUSTRIAL PLACEMENTS

On 11 April, the DfE published a tender for a two-year contract worth £1 million to help increase the number of new T-Level employer placements. The successful contractor will be required to:

• Engage with employers to ‘develop their knowledge and understanding of T-Levels’.
• Help employers to ‘plan and prepare to deliver high-quality industry placements’.
• Produce ‘support and guidance materials tailored to different size employers’.
• Report back to the DfE on ‘patterns of employment and workplace training’.

The £1 million contract funding is in addition to the £12 million provided through the Employer Support Fund announced by the DfE in updated guidance published on 28 March. This is intended to support employers to offer placements by paying for costs such as staff training, equipment, or set-up expenses.

DFE PUBLISHES CONTRACT TENDER TO HELP SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES DEVELOP CLIMATE CHANGE ACTION PLANS

On 21 April last year, the DfE published a policy document entitled ‘Sustainability and Climate Change: A strategy for the education and children’s services systems’. The document was also applicable to the FE and HE sectors and is intended to help with the government’s drive to achieve net zero carbon emissions. It is unclear as to the level of progress made since then, and on 20 April this year, the DfE published an early notice of a tender for £3.9 million two-year contract to help schools, colleges and other education providers to develop their own climate action plans and help to implement the strategy outlined in the DfE policy document. School and college plans are expected to cover decarbonisation and energy efficiency, biodiversity and green infrastructure, as well as climate education and green skills and careers. The contractor will also be required to provide advice to ‘sustainability leads’ in schools and colleges and to establish regional ‘sustainability hubs’ to help ‘facilitate peer-to-peer learning in education settings’.

DFE PUBLISHES COLLEGE FE CAPITAL TRANSFORMATION PROGRAMME ALLOCATIONS

On 28 March, the DfE published details of the 146 colleges that have secured a share of the latest £286 million allocation from the £1.5 billion FE Capital Transformation Programme, which was pledged in the March 2020 budget. The funding is intended to be used for new college buildings and upgrades to existing buildings. 71 colleges received more than £1 million. Some of these colleges (whose premises were deemed most in need of renovation), were allocated more than £10 million, which they will receive in two instalments, the first being in the 2023/24 financial year and the second in the 2024/25 financial year. Against this, 8 colleges received less than £10,000, while 35 colleges received no allocation at all.

The FE Capital Transformation Fund is one of a number of capital investment programmes aimed at improving the quality of post-16 education premises. Others include the £300 million for Institutes of Technology (IoTs), £150 million in capital funding following reclassification of FE into the public sector, £140 million for the Post-16 Capacity Fund, and ever-increasing amounts in the T-Level capital funding.

DFE PUBLISHES GUIDANCE ON COLLEGE CAPITAL LOAN FUNDING

Last November, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reclassified FE colleges from being private sector to being public sector. Changes in the associated funding rules constrained colleges’ ability to borrow from commercial banks, because it was deemed that borrowing from the government would be cheaper and better value for money. Unfortunately, there was no system in place for colleges to borrow from the government for capital projects and, as a result, many college building projects had to be moth-balled. The DfE subsequently announced its intention to establish a new capital loan funding scheme and, on 25 April, published guidance for general FE colleges, sixth form colleges and designated institutions on how to access DfE capital loans from the scheme. The DfE guidance says that:

• Colleges can apply for DfE loan funding for capital schemes that will improve the college estate or support the delivery of high-quality further education. DfE loans can also be used to match fund other capital schemes, such as T-Level capital funding, Post-16 Capacity Funding, the FE Capital Transformation fund, Institutes of Technology (IoTs) and Strategic Priorities Grants from the Office for Students (OfS).
• Applications for loans will be considered on a case-by-case basis, but for projects to be eligible for loan funding, they must be either already underway or in the advanced stages of planning. They must also have a funding shortfall as a direct result of constraints on commercial borrowing arising from the reclassification of colleges as public sector. In addition, colleges must provide evidence of their original intent to borrow commercially prior to their public sector reclassification, along with evidence of intended amounts of commercial borrowing planned prior to the reclassification.
• Projects not related to the provision of further education or training are deemed to be ineligible for loan funding, as are ineligible costs, such as rent, service charges, internal staff salaries and routine maintenance costs. However, student residential facilities are deemed eligible.
• There is no limit on the number of applications a college can make, nor has a cap been set on the amount that can be borrowed. Colleges have until 31 May to submit applications for loan funding. The funding will be made available to successful applicants between June 1 2023, and March 31 2025.
• Loan interest rates will be charged at the Public Works Loan Board (PWLB) new loan fixed rate (which is currently 5.15%).

DFE PUBLISHES UPDATED GUIDANCE ON APPROVALS PROCESS FOR RETAINING LEVEL 2 QUALIFICATION FUNDING

The DfE is pressing ahead with plans to reform and simplify the vocational qualifications system in England. This will involve thousands of existing courses for 16-19-year-olds leading to Level 3 qualifications and below having their public funding removed. On 23 March, the DfE published the updated final list of 16-19 Level 3 qualifications that will have their public funding withdrawn from August 2025 because they duplicate or overlap with T-Levels, or have low or no enrolments.

The approvals process to retain public funding for a 16-19 Level 2 qualification is similar to the one used for Level 3 qualifications. (GCSEs and English and maths functional skills qualifications are not in scope of this approval process). An existing Level 2 qualification that an Awarding Organisation (AO) wants to retain public funding for must pass a number of tests set by Ofqual and the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE). AOs will be expected to provide evidence of sufficient demand for the qualification from employers and students. IfATE says it will only approve the retention of public funding for Level 2 qualifications if they meet employer-defined occupational standards. Although Ofqual and IfATE may approve a qualification for continued funding, the DfE will make the final decision on this.

The first reformed Level 2 qualifications were scheduled to be on offer from September 2024, but the DfE delayed this for a year following a consultation held last year. On 20 April, the DfE published updated guidance on the Level 2 approvals process for continued funding. The guidance says that AOs should submit their case for retaining public funding from September 2025 for Level 2 qualifications in Construction and the Built environment, Education and Early Years, Engineering and Manufacturing and Health and Science, and that the approvals process for retaining public funding from September 2026 for the remaining Level 2 qualifications in other occupational areas will be published this autumn. The guidance says the approvals process for retaining public funding for qualifications at Level 1 and below will be published in due course and in time for them to be offered from 2027.

NATIONAL COLLEGE FOR ADVANCED TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURE TO CLOSE

Following a two-month consultation, it has been agreed that the National College for Advanced Transport and Infrastructure will cease operations on 31 July. The main reason for the closure is the inability of the college to recruit sufficient student numbers and the financial implications that flow from this. The college currently has 170 students and apprentices and 42 staff. Students and apprentices that will not have completed their programme by the end of July will be transferred to other providers, but the 42 college staff will lose their jobs. It has been agreed that college premises, based in Doncaster and Birmingham, will be retained an asset for the FE sector and the rail industry but the nature of their use is still to be determined.

DFE PUBLISHES LATEST DATA ON APPRENTICESHIPS

On 13 April, the DfE published data on apprenticeships and traineeships in the full 2021/22 academic year and in the period to January in the 2022/23 academic year. The data on apprenticeship starts in the 2022/23 academic year to this January shows that:

• Total apprenticeship starts were down by 4.1% to 195,600 compared to 203,990 reported for the same period in the previous year. Under 19s accounted for 28.4% of the starts (55,580).
• Advanced apprenticeships accounted for 43.3% of starts (84,650) whilst higher apprenticeships accounted for 32% of starts (64,890).
• Higher apprenticeship starts increased by 7.1% to 64,890 compared to 60,570 in the same period last year. Starts at Level 6 and 7 increased by 11.1% to 30,710. There were 27,630 Level 6 and 7 starts in the same period last year (13.5% of starts in the same period).

The DfE data also provides an analysis of apprenticeship achievement rates for the full 2021/22 academic year, which reveals that:

• The overall achievement rate for apprenticeships in 2020/21 fell to 53.4%. This is a deterioration of 4.3% on 2020/21. The achievement rate in 2021/22 was also 11% lower than pre-pandemic apprenticeship achievement rates in 2018/19.
• There were 263,550 apprenticeship leavers, which was around 12,000 less than the year before. Of these, 85% were on the new apprenticeship standards programmes. The remainder were on apprenticeship frameworks, which are being phased out.
• The achievement rate for apprentices on the new standards programme was 51.4%, down 0.4% on the year before, and for apprentices on frameworks the rate was 64.9%, down 4% on the year before.
• The achievement rates for 309 (29%) apprenticeship training providers fell below 52% placing them in the ‘at risk’ category of the government’s apprenticeship accountability framework.
• The achievement rates of 267 (25%) of apprenticeship providers were between 52% and 62%, placing them in the ‘needs improvement’ category of the government’s apprenticeship accountability framework.

The last 2 bullet points mean that in 2021/22, 54% of training providers fell within in scope for some form of ESFA intervention, from ‘management conversations’ and enhanced performance monitoring, through to new contract conditions and ultimately, contract termination. This has prompted the Minister for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education in England, Robert Halfon, to write a letter to apprenticeship providers pointing out the need for improvement in apprenticeship outcomes and referring to a range of government initiatives aimed at improving the quality of provision. These initiatives include the ETF Apprenticeship Workforce Development programme and proposals listed in the IfATE consultation on mandatory qualifications and End Point Assessments (EPAs).

RESTRICTIONS ON SMALL BUSINESSES RECRUITING MORE THAN 10 APPRENTICESHIP STARTS IS ABOLISHED

In a section of the letter referred to above, Mr Halfon turned his attention to small businesses that were exempt from paying the apprenticeship levy and that wanted to offer more apprenticeships but were restricted to a maximum of 10 starts. The letter notified them that from this month (3 April to be precise) they will no longer be limited to a maximum of 10 apprenticeship starts and that they will be able to recruit ‘as many high-quality apprentices as their business needs’.

OFS TO ALLOCATE £40 MILLION TO SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT OF MORE DEGREE APPRENTICESHIPS

On 30 March, the Education Secretary for England, Gillian Keegan, wrote to the Office for Students (OfS) outlining the government’s strategic priorities for the expenditure of the £1.4 billion grant given to the OfS for the 2023/24 financial year. One of the government’s strategic priorities is the expansion of degree apprenticeships and the OfS has been required to allocate £40 million for this over the 2023/24 and 2024/24 academic years. This follows on from £8 million given this year (2022/23) to the OfS to encourage HE providers to grow and develop degree apprenticeship programmes at Level 6 and 7. However, this funding was restricted to the 102 universities and colleges that were already offering degree apprenticeships. HE providers that wanted to offer degree apprenticeships but were not yet doing so were deemed ineligible to receive any of this funding. In her letter, Ms Keegan said that the OfS should provide support for the HE providers with ‘the greatest potential to diversify growth at level 6’ but also confirmed that the funding could be used to support HE providers looking to deliver degree apprenticeships for the first time. Ms Keegan also said that providers must ‘demonstrate strong progress’ in order to continue to receive the funding throughout the two-year period. Level 6 and 7 apprenticeships now account for around 15% of all apprenticeships.

This year, a further £8 million was provided to the OfS to encourage greater provision of Level 4 and 5 higher technical qualifications (HTQs). In her 30 March letter, Ms Keegan specified that it was a strategic priority for the OfS to spend £16 million of its 2023/24 grant funding on the further development of HTQs.

STUDENT COMPLAINTS ABOUT UNIVERSITY COURSES IN ENGLAND & WALES AT RECORD HIGH

On 20 April, the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA) published its 2022 Annual Report. The report says that in 2021/22, the number of student complaints about university courses in England and Wales reached a record high for the fourth year running. The report says that the OIA received 2,850 complaints from students on courses in universities and other HE providers, which was 3% higher than the number received in 2020/21. 38% of the complaints related to academic appeals, an increase from 29% in 2020/21. Complaints about teaching and student services also made up 38% of total complaints, which was down from 45% in 2020/21. Following consideration of the complaints, the OIA awarded students £1,050,114 in compensation. A spokesperson for Universities UK (UUK), which represents 140 universities across the UK, said that the period covered by the OIA report, and the comparisons made in it had been severely impacted by the pandemic.

UKVI AND INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

The role of the  UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) service is to manage applications for UK visas from foreign nationals seeking to visit, study or work in the UK, or for family reunification, and manages appeals from those who have been denied visas. UKVI also deals with applications from UK businesses and educational institutions seeking to become sponsors for foreign nationals.  Speaking at the Professionals in International Education (PIE) Europe event held in London on 19 and 20 March, Oliver Rae, the UKVI Deputy Director with responsibility for international student operations, said that the majority of international student applications for visas to study in UK HE institutions were legitimate and valid, however:

• UKVI had recently seen a rise in student visa risk factors, such as fraudulent documents and issues surrounding English proficiency. In particular, there had been an increase in the volume of forged educational certificates and bank statements provided by students seeking UK study visas. Mr Rae also said that UKVI is working with sponsors to help them identify fraudulent documents.
• Some study visa applicants encountered at the visa application stage, or at the border upon arrival to the UK, were found not to have the level of proficiency in English they had claimed, and which is required under the current immigration rules.
• UKVI has seen an increase in the number of international students arriving and being issued with a Confirmation of Acceptance for Study (CAS) and a study visa, but who then apply for asylum in the UK almost immediately after their arrival. This, said Mr Rae, suggested that they were not genuine students, but were trying to use the student route as a means of circumventing UK immigration rules.
• UKVI was concerned about the risk to universities of using private sector contractors to increase their recruitment of international students. In particular, UKVI advised care when outsourcing admissions processing to agents (or sub-agents) in students’ home countries. In the UK, universities are legally required toprovide details to the Home Office of any third parties that have helped them with international student recruitment. Failure to do so may result in legal action being taken against them.

GRADUATING FROM A PRESTIGIOUS UNIVERSITY DOES NOT ALWAYS GUARANTEE A HIGHER SALARY

The cost of attending a university in England means that the average graduate finishes their studies around £45,000 in debt. They are required to start paying this off once their salary exceeds £27,295, so a university’s record in producing high-earning graduates has become increasingly important. The most prestigious universities are members of the Russell Group. However, jobs website Adzuna has analysed more than 120,000 CVs and the jobs subsequently obtained by graduates five years after graduation, and their research suggests that a degree from a Russell Group university does not necessarily a lead to a higher salary. In fact, says Adzuna, many Russell Group university graduates were found to have only just reached an annual salary of £30,000 five years after graduating. For example, five years after graduating, Sheffield University graduates could expect to earn on average a salary of £30,651, followed by Liverpool (£31,143), and Birmingham (£31,450). Against this, several universities not in the Russell Group were ranked higher in terms of average salaries. These included Bath (£35,577) and Leicester (£34,027).

DEVOLUTION, EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have had their own devolved governments since 1999 (although the Northern Ireland Assembly is currently suspended). England does not have its own devolved government and is governed directly by the UK government in Westminster. In addition to having their own devolved governments, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland also have constituencies that return MPs to the UK parliament in Westminster. For example, Scotland elects 202 people to be Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) in Holyrood, but also elects 59 MPs that sit in the UK parliament in Westminster. This means that MPs from the devolved UK countries can vote on issues that affect England, but MPs from English constituencies are not allowed to vote on issues that are the concern of the devolved governments. This perceived anomaly is often referred to as the ‘West Lothian question’.

Devolved governments are not allowed to develop their own policies in areas such as defence, foreign aid and immigration, which remain the responsibility of the UK government in Westminster. However, the UK devolved governments are allowed to raise certain tax revenue (including income tax in Scotland) and spend UK government funding allocations (supplemented by Barnett Formula additional allocations) in areas such as health, education and transport, according to their own priorities. Devolved governments can also organise and structure the provision of the public services they are responsible for as they see fit. Differences in public spending in different UK countries arising from devolution have led some cynics to describe the UK as the ‘Disunited Kingdom’. Some examples of these differences in respect of education and training in different UK countries are given below:

Spending on schools

A report published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IfS) published on 21 entitled ‘How does school spending differ across the UK’ was published on 21 April. As the title suggests, the report compares the level of school spending per pupil across the four nations of the UK, and says that:

• In the most recent year (2022/23), school spending per pupil in Scotland exceeded £8,500. This is more than 18% (or £1,300) higher than the level of spending in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, which are all around £7,200 per pupil. School spending per pupil in Scotland was already 6% higher than in England in 2010/11 and since then, the spending gap with the rest of the UK has grown significantly.
• Pupil numbers have grown by 13% in England since 2009/10 and by 8% in Northern Ireland since 2011/12. This has meant that large rises in total spending were needed in England (12%) and Northern Ireland (10%) just to keep pace with rising pupil numbers. In Scotland, pupil numbers have only grown by 2% since 2009/10 and policymakers in Scotland have taken advantage of relatively low growth in pupil numbers to deliver the large real terms increase in spending per pupil. In England and Northern Ireland, rapid rises in pupil numbers, means there has been no real increase in spending per pupil. In Wales, pupil numbers have barely changed at all since 2009/10, but policymakers have not used this as an opportunity to increase real term spending per pupil.

Spending on further education

• Tuition is free for Scottish students on full-time FE courses, irrespective of age. Students on part-time FE courses aged 19 or over may be required to pay fees, although courses are free for those on benefits, on a low income, are disabled, or are in care or care leavers. Students that are required to pay fees can get up to £200 in financial support towards their fees via an Individual Training Account (ITA). See here for more details.
• Tuition is free for Welsh students on full-time FE courses irrespective of age. Welsh students who are aged 19 and over on full-time FE courses could also qualify for a Welsh Government Learning Grant of up to £1,500 to help with their maintenance costs. Students aged 19 and over on part-time FE courses could be required to pay a fee. However, depending on their personal circumstances, they could get financial support of up to £750 via a Welsh Government Learning Grant. See here for more details.
• There are no tuition fees for Northern Irish students aged 16-18 on full and part-time FE courses, including apprenticeships. Students aged 19 and over could be required to pay fees, depending on their personal circumstances. For those that are required to pay fees, professional career development loans and grants are available to help cover these costs. See here for more details.
• There are no tuition fees for English students aged 16-18 on full-time FE courses. Students aged 19 and over are normally required to pay fees for FE courses but can apply for Advanced Learner Loans to help pay them, There are also a plethora of free government training schemes, such as Free Courses for Jobs, and Skills Bootcamps for adults who are unemployed, or who are employed in low wage jobs and are seeking to reskill.

Spending on higher education

• Scottish university tuition fees are paid on behalf Scottish students by the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS). Depending on parental income, Scottish students can receive a maximum grant of £2,000 per year towards their maintenance costs, which can be topped up via a loan from the SAAS to a maximum of £9,000 per year. Most Scottish degrees are of 4 year’s duration. See here for more details.
• Universities in Wales charge Welsh students £9,000 per year in tuition fees, for which they can take out loans. Depending on parental income and where they choose to study, Welsh students can get maintenance grants of up to £10,124 per year, which can be topped up to a maximum of £11,270 by taking out a maintenance loan. See here for more details.
• Universities in Northern Ireland charge students from Northern Ireland £4,710 per year in fees, for which they can take out loans. They can take out tuition loans of up to £9,250 a year if, for example, they choose to study at an English university. Depending on parental income and where they choose to study, students can get maintenance grants of up to £3,475 per year, which can be topped up to a maximum of £10,852 by taking out a maintenance loan. See here for more
• Universities in England charge £9,250 a year in tuition fees to English students (and students from other UK countries). There are no grants for students. Instead, they are required to obtain loans from the Student Loans Company to cover their tuition fees and means tested loans to cover their maintenance. See here for more details.

Financial support for students from low-income families and other young people

• The Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) was abolished in England with effect from September 2011. The EMA was worth £30 per week to sixth form and FE college students aged 16-19 from low-income households but was replaced with a 16-19 bursary scheme. UK government spending on the bursary scheme in England was subsequently found to be worth less than one third of the level of previous spending on EMAs. The EMA was retained in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland but has remained at the £30 per week level. However, the Welsh Government has recently announced that the EMA will be increased to £40 per week for Welsh students with effect from the summer term.
• The Welsh government has also introduced a two-year universal basic income (UBI) pilot scheme which pays £1,600 a month (£19,200 per year) to young people who, on reaching their 18^th birthday, leave the care system. The pilot has been running from 1 July 2022 and was due to end on 30 June this year but is likely to be extended beyond this date. The scheme has recently become the subject of political controversy because the Welsh government has extended access to the scheme to vulnerable young asylum seekers in Wales but says that they should also still be eligible to receive free legal aid to support their asylum claim. However, the UK government has opposed this this and says that young asylum seekers who are in receipt of UBI from the Welsh government must pay for their own legal aid.

Inspection and regulation of education and training

• Inspection of schools and colleges in Scotland is the responsibility of Education Scotland. The system of inspections is reminiscent of that in England in pre-Ofsted years and involves His Majesty’s Inspectors (HMIs) visiting schools and colleges in Scotland every 6 to 7 years. Scotland has its own system of National Qualifications (SNCs) to age 16 and Scottish Highers at 17+. Scotland also has its own Vocational Qualifications (SVQs), All Scottish qualifications are regulated by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA). SNCs range from National 1 (N1) to 5 (N5). For examples of equivalence with qualifications in England, the Scottish equivalent of GCSEs in England is N5. The equivalent of A-Levels in England are Scottish Highers.
• The qualification system in Wales broadly reflects that of England. The Welsh qualifications regulatory body is called Qualifications Wales. The body with responsibility for inspecting schools and colleges in Wales is called Estyn. Estyn ceased awarding inspection grades in early 2022 and has announced that it will be making further revisions to school and college inspections from September 2024 to help them become ‘more manageable’ for providers.
• Inspection of education and training providers in Northern Ireland is carried out every 3 years by the Education and Training Inspectorate Northern Ireland (ETINI). The qualifications system broadly reflects that of England. The qualifications regulatory body in Northern Ireland is the Council for Curriculum, Quality and Assessment (CCEA).
• The qualifications regulatory body in England is the Office for Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual). Responsibility for inspecting education and training providers at least every 4 years lies with the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted). Concerns are regularly expressed that the current inspection process in England is too stressful and could have a serious effect on the mental health of school and college teachers and leaders. (A primary school head teacher recently committed suicide in the wake of receiving an Ofsted inspection report that downgraded her school from outstanding to inadequate). In response, Ofsted has said it will consider revisions to the current Education Inspection Framework (EIF), such as how it deals with complaints, but has currently ruled out abandoning inspection grades. Ofsted has also refused union demands to suspend inspections while revisions to the EIF are being considered.

POLICY EXCHANGE PUBLISHES CRITICAL REPORT ON GENDER AND SAFEGUARDING IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

On 30 March, the Policy Exchange published a new report entitled ‘Asleep at the wheel: An examination of Gender and Safeguarding in schools’. The report’s foreword is written by Rosie Duffield MP (Lab), and politicians endorsing the content of the report include Nadhim Zahawi MP (Con) former Secretary of State for Education in England, Baroness Estelle Morris (Lab), former Secretary of State for Education in England, Robin Walker MP (Con), Chair of the House of Commons Education Select Committee, Baroness Dianne Hayter (Lab), former Shadow Spokesperson on Equalities and Women’s Issues, and Mark Jenkinson MP (Con), Member of the Women and Equalities Select Committee.

The research that underpins the report is based on random selection of over 300 maintained secondary schools and academies in England. The report says that ‘A fundamental component of how schools discharge their duties is through safeguarding’, but goes on to say, ‘Our research reveals there to be a safeguarding blind spot when it comes to the issue of sex and gender’ and goes on to claim that ‘many secondary schools are neglecting their safeguarding responsibilities and principles in favour of a set of contested beliefs, in ways that risk jeopardising child wellbeing and safety’. The report adds ‘In doing so, these schools are compromising both the law and statutory safeguarding guidance’. The report also says that ‘many schools are disregarding published guidance in the teaching of the Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) teaching curriculum, and their legal requirements to remain politically impartial’. Of particular significance, the report says, is that ‘a substantial percentage of schools are disregarding basic safeguarding protocol regarding gender-distressed children and their peers’. The research findings that underpin these assertions include the following:

• Only 28% of secondary schools inform parents when a child discloses feelings of gender distress.
• 33% of secondary schools said that they would not automatically inform their designated safeguarding lead or a medical practitioner when a child disclosed gender distress.
• 40% of secondary schools operate policies of gender self-identification.
• 28% of secondary schools were not maintaining single sex toilets and 19% were not maintaining single-sex changing rooms.
• 69% of secondary schools require other children to affirm a gender-distressed child’s new identity.
• With regard to the teaching of RSHE:
  • 72% of schools were teaching pupils that people may have a gender identity that is different from their biological sex.
  • 25% were teaching pupils that some children ‘may be born in the wrong body.’
  • 30% are teaching pupils that a person who self-identifies as a man or a woman should be treated as a man or woman in all circumstances.

The report says that ‘the number of children presenting with gender distress has increased dramatically over the last five years’ and claims that this is partly because of ‘extreme ideological ideas that are being promoted in schools’, and partly because certain external organisations with vested interests are ‘encouraging schools to compromise safeguarding principles and the rights of other pupils under the guise of noble aims such as equality, anti-bullying, and LGBT inclusion’.

The report concludes by saying that ‘gender distress is a complex condition that requires thoughtful judgement’ but claims that ‘Teachers do not have the expertise or authority to make these judgements, and school is not the setting in which these complexities can be resolved’.

DFE PUBLISHES STATEMENT ON THE BENEFITS AND RISKS OF GENERATIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)

Last month, the DfE published a departmental statement entitled ‘Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Education’. In the statement, the DfE addresses the potential benefits and risks of using AI in education settings and sets out the stance of the department amid fears about the use of artificial intelligence software, such as ChatGPT (which is trained to follow an instruction in a prompt and provide a detailed response). The DfE said generative AI has the potential to reduce workload and free up teachers’ time, but that schools and colleges needed to re-assess their approach to homework and forms of unsupervised study in order to take account of the availability of generative AI software to students. Schools and colleges also needed to review and strengthen their cyber security systems, since AI could increase the sophistication of cyber-attacks. The DfE added that AI tools should not be used to process personal data in order to help ensure that students are protected from harmful online content. The DfE says that it intends to engage experts to ‘identify and share best practice in using generative AI’.

The Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), which represents awarding organisations, has also published guidance for exam centres on avoiding cheating and protecting the integrity of qualifications. Meanwhile, many universities have placed a complete ban the use of AI software by students in their coursework and exams.

AND FINALLY…

A college lecturer was teaching an English language class and was discussing with the students the correct use of metaphors in their written assignments. The lecturer told the students that metaphors could, for example, be used to enhance explanations or to help explain complex concepts. However, it was very important that they should not mix their metaphors since this could have the opposite effect and cause confusion. One of the lecturer’s students asked him if could give any advice on rules or grammatical checks that could help avoid inadvertently mixing her metaphors.

In response, the lecturer said, ‘Well, you might not be the smartest pencil in the forest, but it’s not rocket surgery. Just keep the midnight oil burning at both ends, and after a while you’ll find that it’s as easy as falling off a piece of cake. First, get all your ducks on the same page, but be sure to watch what you actually write with a fine-tooth comb. Then check what you have written, and check again, until the cows turn blue. Don’t worry if you make a mistake. You can’t make an omelette without breaking stride, and you can always burn that bridge when you come to it. So, concentrate. Keep your door closed and your enemies closer, and never take the moral high horse. And finally, remember that if the metaphor fits you can walk a mile in it’.

Alan Birks – April 2023

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