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This month we’ve been hearing a lot about skills devolution. First, we got clarity from the Greater London Authority (GLA) about their Adult Education Budget (AEB) plans from 2019/20. ‘Skills for Londoners, A skills and Adult Education Strategy for London’ sets out 3 main priorities that the Mayor’s office has identified for their approximately £311 million AEB they’re set to be allocated.

The much-awaited T Level consultation response arrived over the late May bank holiday weekend and, after months of silence on the issue, we now have a clearer idea of the policy and how and when it will be implemented. The development of T Level policy has been an unusual process, and a ministerial direction to stick to a 2020 implementation of the first routes was the latest extraordinary twist. Jonathan Slater, the Department for Education (DfE) Permanent Secretary, wrote to Damian Green to request a delay to T Level implementation. The fact that the Education Secretary insisted on sticking to the timeline for implementation is now a matter of public record, and the pressure for the first 3 routes to succeed is greater than ever.

It’s been an extremely busy couple of weeks for the NCFE Schools team culminating in us successfully resubmitting our combined Level 1 /2 Tech Awards to the DfE for consideration of inclusion into the 2020 Performance Tables. As we await the results of the third round of submissions to the Department for Education (DfE), I must admit that there is a feeling of déjà vu - we’ve been here before, however, this time, we won’t be given the opportunity again. After the submission windows close and the appeals are over, the DfE are sticking to their word and the submission process for technical qualifications will close to new entries for, at least, the next 2 years. So it would be fair to say the stakes are a bit higher but there’s nothing like a bit of pressure to ignite the desire to deliver for you and your learners!

We’re delighted to announce that Joe Armstrong, a learner at North Chadderton School, has been highly commended in our V Cert Aspiration Awards. Joe was nominated by his teacher, Amanda Marsh, who felt that Joe should be recognised for his commitment to his school work, even though he was having a tough time outside of school due to health problems. Joe was often in an out of hospital and whilst this might see other learners fall behind, Joe is driven by his desire to one day be his own boss.

We’re delighted to announce that Nicholas Earl-Phillipps, a learner at Bitterne Park School has been highly commended in our V Cert Aspiration Awards. Nicholas has autism and an Education Health and Care Plan. Having been told by care and educational professionals at age 5 that Nicholas would probably never receive any formal education, his mother has seen Nicholas go on to achieve great things at his mainstream school, including achieving an NCFE V Cert in Food and Cookery.

We’re delighted to announce that Farnborough Academy in Nottingham have been highly commended as part of our V Cert Aspiration Awards. The academy deliver a range of NCFE qualifications, including Food and Cookery, Creative Craft, Health and Fitness and Performance Skills, and were awarded the commendation for going above and beyond to help pupils exceed even their own expectations..

2018 marked our first V Cert Aspiration Awards, recognising achievements by pupils with big aspirations. The scheme was launched to recognise learners who are using V Certs to help them reach their goals and make positive improvements to their life.

A great deal of attention has rightly been focussed on the long-awaited government response to the T Level consultation issued in November 2017. Much less notice has been taken of another document, also published by DfE in May and snappily titled ‘Post-16 education: highest level of achievement by age 25 (England)’. Yet this latter document contains much that is relevant to a technical education strategy and critically suggests that much of the focus of the current debate may be misdirected. It’s important to be clear that a technical education strategy should be about the development of technicians, not about boosting the numbers doing STEM subjects.   It’s an important distinction, though one that government refuses to make, which only makes implementation more confused.  The need for a strategy focussed on technician level occupations however was clearly laid out in the initial Sainsbury review and is backed up by figures from the report on achievement by age 25.  To quote that report directly,  “Just 4 per cent of the cohort achieved their highest qualification at level 4 or level 5, compared with 26 per cent for level 3 and 27 per cent for level 6”.

4 years ago, I left my second high school with no qualifications, a lack of direction and no ambition. Fast track 4 years later to May 2018, I’m now the Founding Investor and Director of Weeduu.co and YourCode Recruitment Group. The last few years have been interesting for me, and now understanding the various routes within education and how some students in the mainstream system can be neglected, I realise how lucky I was to not get caught up in the net. In September 2014 I decided that I needed to pursue a different route within education and scoured the market for alternative options to a 9-3 secondary school which really wasn’t working for me. After a couple of weeks of submitting application forms for educational institutes across the country, I found out about the ‘Apprenticeship Academy 14+’ at Leeds City College, an alternative vocational learning environment for students who would usually be in Years 10 and 11.