Blog posts for author:Esme Winch

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!

Rob Halfon is a busy man. It’s been less than a year since his nomination and election as Chair of the Education Select Committee, and during this time year he’s launched 12 separate inquiries into various aspects of the Department for Education’s workload. The latest call for evidence is looking at Schools and college funding. This an opportunity for the sector to feedback your experience of the introduction of the national funding formula for schools, as well as the current spending review process, the mechanism by which government currently sets funding levels for schools.

Following the publication of the Education and Policy Institute’s report on schools funding, it was reassuring that this report, once again, allowed this issue to become a focus of the media. We know that this is a seemingly perennial issue in schools, but it has been bought into particularly sharp focus of late. The report highlights that ‘two thirds of local authority maintained secondary school spent more than their income in 2016-17’ – with 40 per cent of local authority schools having declining balances for at least the past 2 years.

Having eagerly awaited the latest version of the Adult Education Budget (AEB) Funding rules, we were delighted to see them published before the Easter break. More importantly, we were pleased to see that the rules remain largely unchanged. There appears to be some minor amendments, rather than significant wholesale changes.

I’m delighted to share the positive news that our new model for combined level V Cert qualifications has been received extremely well by the Department for Education (DfE). In their latest update to the published list of approved qualifications, our redeveloped Health and Fitness qualification is the first V Cert of this kind to appear on the list for the 2020 performance tables. This news gives us further confidence in this new model and the next round of submissions. We’ve laid out our 2020 vision and our plan of action for 2020 in previous communications, and whilst the DfE may have adjusted the timescales and the benchmarks, our plan to implement a new model for V Certs has remained consistent.

Last week, NCFE and Campaign for Learning were delighted to publish our second white paper of 2018 entitled ‘Shaping the new National Retraining Scheme’. Written by Dr Susan Pember, the paper assesses the current and emerging needs a National Retraining Scheme should address. These include longer working lives, rising automation, and the potential retraining needs of millions of atypical workers, especially the 15% of adults who are self-employed. As Sue has identified, the National Retraining Scheme is an important innovation from the government which promises to ensure we maximise the skills and opportunities of our increasingly longer working adult skills base. We’ve started to see progress being made on the scoping around the scheme, and Sue’s paper should be essential reading for all parties engaging in this process. The paper sets out the level of the challenge ahead, as well as 10 recommendations to build a quality programme that will support all adults to their intended destination, regardless of their starting point.

At the end of January, NCFE and Campaign for Learning were delighted to publish our latest policy whitepaper, Mending the gap: are the needs of 16-18 year olds being met? Written by John Widdowson, Principal of New College Durham, the paper explores whether raising the participation age has worked, and makes a number of recommendations that could be taken to strengthen the policy. The paper acknowledges some success in lowering the numbers of young people not in employment, education or training (NEET), but shines a light on a significant number of young people not participating up to age 18. For some people, the transition form school into further learning is a difficult one, and more could be done to support them.

Following the New Year’s reshuffle, and Justine Greening’s resignation, we have a new Secretary of State for Education, Damian Hinds MP. An appointment from the Department for Work and Pensions, Damian has written in the past on Social Mobility, which has been a key driver of Theresa May’s policy agenda. His writing has previously focused on the importance of early years foundation stage, entitlement to free childcare and the EBacc as drivers of pupil excellence and social mobility. He has spoken in debates of a government ‘committed to encouraging young people to be in education, training or employment and giving them the chance to progress and achieve, stating that this ‘is critical if we are to improve productivity, promote intergenerational fairness, and tackle poverty and disadvantage.’ Damian Hinds attended St Ambrose College, a Catholic boy’s grammar school. Whether or not this will influence his position on both grammar schools and policies which affect faith schools, will remain to be seen. He is also a strong supporter of the free schools programme. 

As you’ll be aware, we’ve been waiting for further information from the Department for Education (DfE) regarding technical guidance and the submission windows for qualifications in the 2020 performance tables. We’re committed to transparency and honesty and, in light of new information, we’d like to share with you our plans to get ready for 2020. What the DfE have said