Are you up to the new standards?
There’s going to be a new set of professional standards for teachers and trainers in Further Education (FE) – 20 ‘inspirational’ standards based on improving teacher practice are being published by the Education and Training Foundation (ETF).
These standards will be referred to by Ofsted in their inspections and in informing their judgements, and aren’t intended to be a prescriptive checklist, but rather ‘to be owned by the teaching workforce…based on the model of the reflective practitioner’.
Is there opportunity for a training package for FE teachers and trainers based on these new standards?
Commissioner claims first scalp
LeSoCo principal Maxine Room has resigned following criticism of the leadership and governance of her college by the FE Commissioner Dr David Collins. This was preceded by a recent Ofsted inspection which rated it as inadequate.
This is included in what Skills and Enterprise Minister Matthew Hancock sees as part of his agenda to raise standards in the sector, stating that he ‘hope[s] publishing the reports of the commissioner will help in two ways. The first is to shed light and transparency on turning around colleges. Where colleges aren’t performing we’ve got to make sure that they’re open and honest about that and take action on behalf of students because this is all about improving standards for learners’.
Providers, ye be warned: the increasing reliance on Ofsted grading comes with an extra level of enforcement from the FE Commissioner, and he’s not afraid to use his powers!
Maths and physics data ‘not enough’ to help uptake
The Association of Colleges (AoC) has warned against the government’s plans to publish information on take-up of A Levels in maths, further maths and physics.
Education Minster Liz Truss announced the measures would help identify ‘science deserts’, where there was a lack of provision geographically - But AoC policy director Joy Mercer said: ‘Accountability measures are not enough to drive the take-up of a subject…this can only be achieved through good careers advice’. She also highlighted that there’s; ‘also a lack of recognition of vocational science at level three, which can also lead to a worthwhile career’.
Could core maths support Liz Truss’s goal, or is the view that maths should be an ‘Academic only’ route? Could these performance measures alone really drive uptake of a particular subject or curriculum area?
Minimum length of flagship traineeships halved
Changes announced this month mean that Traineeships programmes will no longer have to last a minimum of 6 weeks, with delivery now taking as little as 3 weeks if needed. The guidance for the 2014/15 session states that the work placement is expected to last between 100 & 240 hours of the traineeship.
Will this increase take-up of the traineeship scheme, or will it just be seen as further tinkering with an increasingly complex programme?
Welsh sector seeks ‘radical’ solutions after cuts
The FE sector in Wales looks like it's facing further trouble – with the Welsh Government cutting Further Education budgets by 5% in 2014/15, following an existing reduction of £2.5 million already in place.
In light of these cuts, the Welsh deputy Skills Minister Ken Skates warned that the financial climate in Wales would continue to be ‘challenging’, and called for the skills sector to come up with more ‘radical and imaginative solutions’ to make the most of the funding available.
