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As we enter a new academic year, it’s worth reflecting on this year’s GCSE results and what they mean for technical and vocational education.  Newspapers reported a decline in overall outcomes; it was the biggest year-on-year drop since GCSEs began in 1988. There are a number of reasons for this.

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.

“We will need to move towards fewer, often larger, more resilient and efficient providers.” That was very much the message that has underpinned the area based review process. And for very good reasons, the FE college sector needs to reform to meet the demands of public policy changes, the challenges of reducing budgets, increased localism, and changes in the markets for education and training. The area based review process is supposed to deliver benefits for the key stakeholders in education and training, including learners, employers, the wider community, taxpayers and also for the colleges that undertake the process. It should lead to a more rational, objective and collaborative approach to planning post-16 provision in an area that would avoid wasteful duplication and create more demand-led, flexible and responsive curricula to meet educational and employer needs, eg to increase the number of apprenticeships. It would strengthen the regional reputation of colleges and also create a clearer and well understood brand for FE.

With apprenticeships in England set to change as a result of government reform, groups of professional bodies from different sectors are working together to design new employer-led Trailblazer apprenticeships, which will replace the SASE frameworks in a phrased process taking place over the next three years.                           We welcome the move to increase the quality of apprenticeships, and we want to make sure that we support both employers and training providers through this transition.

The National Audit Office has released a report that exposes a major flaw in the government’s plan to increase the number of apprenticeships. The government has failed to outline how more apprenticeships will lead to increased productivity. Of course, this should come as no surprise. Many in the sector have been expressing this concern for some time now. I’ve used speaking engagements at a number of conferences to express my own concerns earlier in the year. NCFE’s response to the BIS Select Committee inquiry call for evidence in March included this comment:  

This month, Alzheimer’s disease is being highlighted with the fifth World Alzheimer’s Month, an international campaign to raise awareness and challenge stigma. Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of dementia – a progressive, degenerative brain syndrome that affects memory, thinking, behaviour and emotion. 46 million people globally are living with dementia – 500,000 of those are in the UK – and this number is expected to increase to 131.5 million by 2050. Other types of dementia include vascular dementia and mixed dementia, and the chief executive of Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) called dementia the ‘most significant’ health crisis of the 21st century. ADI figures show that someone in the world develops the disease every three seconds.

It has been revealed that proposed funding for 16-18 year-old apprentices will mean current rates to colleges and training providers being cut by around 30%, and providers in deprived areas of London will find that their funding rates may have been cut by over half in some cases. In my opinion, this is likely to cause further damage to the apprenticeship brand in London, which we know is a problem. Our recent research with Reed in Partnership found that people in the capital are 40% less likely than the English average to want their children to pursue an apprenticeship.

Today, the nervous wait is over for those collecting their GCSE results. This year, GCSE results have fallen across the board. The proportion of learners gaining a C or above dropped by an unprecedented 2.1 percentage points (down to 66.9% for A*-C grades), including a sharp decline in those gaining a C or above in English.

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%.

It’s been a summer of huge change. The EU referendum result in June was the catalyst, resulting in a new Prime Minister, a major cabinet reshuffle and significant changes to government structure. Here’s a round-up of who’s who in the new cabinet. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is no more, and has been replaced by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. This means that responsibilities for skills and higher education now fall under the remit of the Department for Education, and we have come full circle, as many veterans of the sector will recognise.