TES 10 Oct

‘Dramatic changes’ lie ahead with Progress 8 (p6) – The forthcoming changes to school performance tables could lead to ‘hundreds’ of schools facing government intervention.

Research by the Fischer Family Trust has measured schools performance in 2013 against the new ‘Progress 8’ target (which measures schools students’ progress across a broader range of 8 subjects); under this regime 325 schools would fail to meet the new minimum standards.

This would lead to schools that’ve never had difficulty meeting the minimum ‘floor standards’ will be well below the standard. Particularly challenging will be the change that ‘limits the number of vocational qualifications that qualify and reduces their equivalence from Multiple GCSEs to just one each’. Russell Hobby, General Secretary for the NAHT head teachers’ union said ‘a lot of schools are going to find that some of their old assumptions about what worked and what propelled them up the league tables are going to change quite dramatically’.

FE Week 17 Oct

Reform warning as apprenticeships plummet (p1) - the number of people starting an Apprenticeship has fallen by 13% from 2012-13 to the 2013-14 session, according to latest figures by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).

Within this ‘the number of 16 to 18-year-olds starting apprenticeships rose 5 per cent to 117,800 since last year, the number of 19 to 24-year-olds fell 3 per cent to 156,900. And the number of 25 + apprenticeships — the largest apprentice age group — tumbled from 222,200 to 157,700, a drop of 29 per cent.’

The Skills Minister Nick Boles has highlighted the now withdrawn policy of FE loans for apprentices as behind the decline, and looked forward to 25+ numbers ‘bouncing back’.

Stewart Segal of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) stated that the ‘mixed news underlines why we need to get the [forthcoming] funding reforms right.’

Skills Minister admits to ‘nerves’ over making employers cough up for apprenticeships (p10) – Skills minister Nick Boles has admitted he’s ‘nervous’ about proposed employer cash contributions toward apprenticeship training. In a speech to the AELP conference he stated: ‘I am nervous, I think, about the effect, particularly on all those employers which do not currently do apprenticeships, I am nervous about the idea of an obligation to put in cash.’

He also added that the Prime Minister’s target of creating 3 million apprenticeships by 2020 had made his ‘stomach turn’. Apprenticeships are, in his view, one the 3 ‘profound responsibilities toward young people’; that jobs demand a certain level of Literacy and Numeracy, that young people are stretched and challenged by qualifications and that they’ve adequate careers advice and guidance.

QCF ‘needs fixing, not ditching’ (p2) – Ofqual’s plans to ‘scrap’ the Qualification and Credit Framework (QCF) have come under fire from the Federation of Awarding Bodies (FAB) after Ofqual chief Glenys Stacey said the QCF had been ‘found wanting’.

FAB Chief Executive Stephen Wright raised his concern that the ‘QCF is not perfect, but need fixing, not completely ditching’ – as the implication seemed to be from Stacey’s speech that the QCF was to be written off.

Academies Week 24 Oct

GCSE grade appeal up 56% (p3) - data published by Ofqual has shown that the number of appeals about GCSE results this year has ‘increased notably’. Of these 18 .8% have led to grade changes, compared with 17.7% in the previous year.

This has been seen as an indication of the impact of changes brought in by the Coalition government, chiefly driven by former Education Secretary Michael Gove. Ofqual said of the results ‘the quality of marking is generally good, but could be improved’. Dr Mary Bousted, General Secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers stated that this showed ‘not only are schools losing faith in the exam system, but so too are employers’.

TES 24 Oct

Popularity of vocational routes get parental boost (p45) – Research by vocational education charity the Edge Foundation has found that parents want to see more practical teaching in schools, and that they support the idea of Technical Degrees (which would combine academic and vocational study).

The Edge Foundation polled 1,000 parents of teenagers to gauge their view on vocational education, and more than 75% stated their support for a baccalaureate style certification at 18, which would sum up their vocational and academic achievements. The survey also showed that parent’s knowledge of vocational education is improving, with a greater recognition of ‘NVQs’ and apprenticeships.

FE Week 3 Nov

The end of the SFA? (p1, 6) – FE week focuses on the news announced this week that the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) has a new Chief Executive, Peter Lauener who also happens to be the head of the Education Funding Agency too.

According to FE Week, this has bought the future of the Skills Funding Agency into question. The government has denied that the appointment means they’re going to merge the 2 departments, but that hasn’t stopped speculation that this will lead to the 2 funding bodies working more closely together, or becoming one overall funding agency.

Dr Lynne Sedgmore, Executive Director of the 157 Group, said: ‘having one Chief Executive for both agencies will surely help bring about the consistency of approach for which many in FE have long argued. While we recognise the announcement does not indicate a merging of the agencies, we welcome the signal it most certainly gives that funding for our whole education system must be looked at in the round and through the same lens.’

David Hughes, chief executive of the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE): ‘This signals a more joined-up approach to learning and skills from the government, something we called for in our general election manifesto in June. Bringing together the leadership of the EFA and SFA is a significant step in the right direction.’

This joined up approach makes a lot of sense and I would hope this would to lead to saving of money, reduction in bureaucracy and an end to the confusion of having different funding methodologies for different ages.

Colleges tell MPS of apprenticeship funding reform fears (p8) – the Education Select Committee will begin its inquiry into traineeships and apprenticeships on Wednesday 5 November, and in submitting their evidence to the panel, several Colleges have raised concerns over the Apprenticeship Funding reforms currently being worked up.

This follows announcements of the Government’s intention to route apprenticeship funding through the taxation system to employers rather than handling the money.

A lot of colleges are seeing this plan as overly bureaucratic, and by giving the money to employers to negotiate the best price, it puts the quality of the apprenticeship programme at risk, and worse, may risk employers seeing apprentices as ‘ a cheap source of labour.’

The inquiry starts next week - Witnesses include David Massey from the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, City& Guilds managing director Kirstie Donnelly and Edge Foundation policy and research director David Harbourne.

Morgan’s funding rate assurance leads to long-term security plea (p2) - Education Secretary Nicky Morgan has confirmed that there are no plans to cut the funding rate for 18 year olds in the 2015-16 funding year, after it was cut by 17.5% for the (current) 14-15 funding year. However, she also confirmed that ‘we can’t confirm the base rate of funding [for 16-18 year olds] until we know how many places we’re going to fund and we won’t know that until January’.

This has fuelled speculation that it may be cut to pay for provide funding elsewhere, especially with increasing pressure on colleges, with Julian Gravatt of the Association of Colleges saying ‘big issues remain, including the lack of protective ring-fence for funding the education of 16 to 18-year-olds and the additional pension and national insurance costs heading towards colleges’.