Blog posts for author:David Grailey

NCFE spent some time at the Conservative Party Conference this year, seeking insight into the new government’s education and skills reforms. Here’s a round-up of what we found out during the four days of the Conference and what the government will be focusing on. What is immediately striking is the extent to which the decision to leave the European Union is overshadowing all other government discussions and decision-making for the foreseeable future. Prime Minister Theresa May has clarified that Article 50 will be invoked by spring next year – effectively giving a minimum of 2 years for negotiations to leave the EU. This will involve a significant level of negotiation with existing EU members as well as a substantial amount of work removing EU legislation from UK statute (the ‘Great Repeal Act’).

At the beginning of the summer, it would have been inconceivable that the government would be considering bringing back academic selection in schools. Yet here we are in September, with the story attracting news headlines in the national press, all starting with a photo of a document being carried into 10 Downing Street mentioning new grammar schools. The timing of the issue is the most surprising. The new Secretary of State for Education, Justine Greening, had one of the rarest and most useful things in politics; a fresh slate. There could be a real risk to her image with a controversial policy like this, and it seems like a political own goal for the first Education Secretary who was educated at a comprehensive school to be the one to re-introduce academic selection. In fairness to Ms Greening, it’s clear that the driving force behind the policy is the Prime Minister herself.

The first issue, and one we expect clarity on soon, is grammar schools. Supposedly accidently leaked to the media at the beginning of September, the re-introduction of grammar schools is one of many options currently being discussed by government as part of its schools reform, and we anticipate more detail to follow in a subsequent consultation.   It’s possible that the grammar schools issue has been bought into the public eye to detract from other issues the Education Secretary needs to focus on, such as the deployment of the National Funding Formula, the ongoing teacher recruitment shortfall and the introduction of the actions outlined in the Education White Paper, to name but a few. It may also be a concession to the Conservative backbenchers, to appease them in the event of a Brexit deal that does not meet their requirements.

Despite appeals from employer groups such as the Confederation of British Industry, the levy is still on course to start being collected in April 2017, with the introduction of the new provider funding system beginning a month after. This is so that ‘levy paying employers can use funds in their digital account to pay for training from the first month they declare levy payable through the PAYE system’. The biggest news – and of some relief to the approximately 98% of employers in the UK who will be non-levy payers under the new regime – is that these employers will pay 10% of the apprenticeship cost, with the government paying the remaining 90%.

This month saw the publication of both Lord Sainsbury’s Report of the Independent Panel on Technical Education and the accompanying Post-16 Skills Plan. The report and plan will have a significant impact on the awarding sector, and especially on the choice of qualifications available for learners aged 16 and above.  The report states that at 16, learners should be "presented with two choices: the academic or the technical option" in the form of 15 broad occupational routes covering "college-based and employment-based (apprenticeship) education" from Levels 2 to 5.

Last Friday morning, the UK woke up to an uncertain future outside of the European Union after 52% voted to leave in the EU referendum. The result has already had, and will continue to have, a great deal of impact across government, as I’m sure we’ll all have seen in the news over the last few days.

It’s not often that education takes centre stage in British politics, but when it does, you can bet that it’ll capture public opinion. The government had probably not expected that its proposal to force all schools to convert to academies in the Educational Excellence Everywhere white paper would prove to be such a political hot potato. 

Here at NCFE we’re anticipating the forthcoming publication of the skills white paper which will, in part, include the findings of the Sainsbury Review of Technical and Professional Education (TPE).   Although this wasn’t referenced in the Queen’s Speech on 18 May as expected, rumours are that the final recommendations and report will be published at some point later, before the EU referendum Purdah begins on 27 May.

In March the Department for Education (DfE) published the long anticipated ‘stage one’ consultation into the National Funding Formula (NFF) for schools. The DfE believe a change to the way schools are funded will create a“fair, transparent funding system where the amount of funding children attract for their schools is based on need and is consistent across the country”. The consultation essentially proposes a transition so that by 2019-2020 “a pupil would attract the same amount of funding to his or her school no matter where they are in the country”. As the amount each pupil at a school would attract is determined on a national level, there would be less of a role for Local Authorities under these proposals.

The Further Education sector may have avoided additional cuts in the Budget 2016 announcements, but we’re not out of the woods yet. The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) could end full funding for 524 qualifications – around 20% of the total qualifications currently fundable. The SFA held a consultation between 10 and 29 February on removing full funding from a number of qualifications for 19-23 year olds; this was met with criticism from the sector, including the Federation of Awarding Bodies (FAB) because 5 of those working days fell during half term. FAB has complained directly to the SFA, as the timescale made it difficult to garner the required support from colleges and training providers.