Blog Archives: November 2015

Ahead of the 2015 Spending Review and Autumn Statement, we’re predicting that the further education sector will continue to be negatively impacted as a result of the announcements due to be made by the Chancellor today. Following the announcement of and extensive discussion around the Apprenticeship levy, it is expected that the levy rate will be announced this afternoon.

Chancellor George Osborne today delivered the Autumn Statement, which he combined with the government’s Comprehensive Spending Review, to announce each governmental department’s spending limit for the next four years. We, as well as many in the sector, were braced for up to a 40% cut in the Adult Skills Budget (ASB), as this has often been the first area in education to see large reductions in spending when the government is looking to save costs.

Skills Minister Nick Boles has recently announced that the government will be making “ground breaking changes to technical and professional education.” Many believe the upcoming changes are a continuation of the reforms brought on by the 2011 Wolf report, which sought to remove “3000 worthless courses”. The aim is understood to be to simplify the vocational education system and bring its reputation in line with university and higher education.

We were encouraged to see the recent Policy Exchange report that calls for the government to divert up to half a billion pounds from universities into Further Education. The report, entitled Higher, Further, Faster, More argues that universities are sitting on “significant funding reserves” and that too much public spending is dedicated to Higher Education, to the detriment of the Further Education sector. The paper outlines the importance of further education and the need for “a diverse and thriving post-secondary education infrastructure” alongside our “world leading” higher education system. It argues that in order to meet its target of 3 million Apprenticeships by 2020, the government must ensure the further education sector is receiving adequate funds. The report proposes that universities should at least “partially fund themselves” due to their large income streams.

New research has shown that teachers work more unpaid overtime, and suffer more workload-based stress than any other profession. The Trade Union Congress (TUC) found that in secondary schools, 57.5% of teaching staff worked unpaid overtime, averaging 12.5 hours per week. The figures are similar for primary school teachers, as 61.4% worked overtime for an average of 12.9 hours a week.

The government has recently announced it intends to scrap GCSE and A Level qualifications in ICT. Schools Minister Nick Gibb is believed to have summoned the British Computing Society (BCS) to fight to save the qualifications, before taking his final decision.

This week saw the start of National Anti-Bullying Week. Running from 16-20 November 2015. The Anti Bullying Alliance have organised the event with the theme ‘Make a Noise about Bullying’ and the #antibullyingweek social media hashtag. The organisation has partnered with Barclays and is seeking to achieve a number of aims including empowering children and young people to make a noise about bullying – whether it is happening to them or to someone else. The Alliance is also seeking to help parents have conversations with their children to prevent it and to help those children worried about bullying.

NCFE CareerPlug charity wristbands are a handy resource for learners filled with employability resources to help kick start their career. And they’ve recently been modelled by none other than Hollywood superstar George Clooney! Mr Clooney was attending the Scottish Business Awards 2015 as a guest speaker along with top comedian and TV presenter Rob Brydon, who was also pictured with the CareerPlugs.

The Apprenticeship levy was announced in Chancellor George Osborne’s summer budget, and was very much seen as a surprise announcement. It will be a hypothecated fund, which means that funds raised by the levy can only be spent on Apprenticeships – this is rare as governments usually like to be able to move money around between budgets. The levy is due to start in 2017. This is a very ambitious timeframe for implementation, and it remains to be seen whether the government will be able to set up a system for collecting and allocating the funds by then.