…bringing you news and comment on developments in FE and skills and Policy Consortium activities
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Consultation responses
New in February 2013 is The Policy Consortium’s response to the Consultation to establish a Guild for the Learning and Skills Sector, carried out by the Guild Development Project Team on behalf of the Association of Colleges, the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, and the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education.
For a copy of our completed consultation response form click here.
Our earlier initial response to the FE Guild Consultation Project was submitted in January 2013:
In our opinion, the Government’s proposal that a ‘guild’ organisation for FE should be established represents an important opportunity for bolstering the sector’s professionalism and self-respect, and enhancing its public image. It is vital that the new body starts off on the right foot at its launch on 1st August 2013, for if it fails to make an impact the same chance is unlikely to be offered again in the foreseeable future.
For a copy of our earlier initial response, click here.
Towards the end of 2012 The Policy Consortium also submiited a formal response to the consultation issued by BIS on Chartered Status for the Further Education Sector: Proposals to Create a Chartered Status Scheme for Further Education Institutions:
The Policy Consortium strongly endorses the BIS goals for the chartered status arrangements – namely to help institutions within the FE sector celebrate their success, build their reputation and status, and gain recognition for what they have achieved within their communities…
However, we do have real concerns with fundamental aspects of the proposals as they currently stand. These concerns relate to the nature of status and how it is earned in the eyes of the public, and the relationship with other pre-existing marks and indicators – both those that are proposed to form part of the criteria for chartered status and those that will sit separately alongside that. We believe these concerns are shared widely amongst governors, senior managers and staff of sector institutions. Unless they can be addressed in the way the scheme is conceived and implemented we fear the outcome could easily be an award that is both confusing to the general public and lacking in meaning and value to the sector.
For a copy of our full response to this consultation, please click here.
December 2012 think-piece
Our new think-piece for December 2012 is Chief Inspector’s annual report graded ‘unsatisfactory’ by Ian Nash, which takes Ofsted’s Chief Inspector to task for distorting the evidence arising from the latest round of inspections of FE colleges.
Reading the headline messages in Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw’s annual report, it is easy to be misled into thinking there are no outstanding colleges in England.
‘For the second year running, Ofsted did not judge a single college to be outstanding for teaching and learning,’ the media release accompanying the Ofsted report suggests. Such statements disregard the fact that under light-touch arrangements only 56 out of 341 colleges were inspected and that visits were skewed towards poorer performers.
For the full think-piece click here.
New think-piece for November
The FE Guild: a sea-change or just another pendulum swing? by Ian Nash queries the rush to have the new guild operational by 1st August 2013.
The accelerated move to create the guild as a single body to set professional standards and codes of behaviour highlights the difficult choices facing FE leaders in a new round of austerity cuts. The question is whether the sector will be left to its own devices and given time to make it work or whether rushed policy reform will lead to accusations of austerity measures implemented too far too fast.
For the full think-piece click here.
UTCs and anti-FE prejudice
A new Viewpoint from Mick Fletcher – You can’t fight snobbery with snobbery – takes to task some of the proponents of University Technical Colleges (UTCs) for their downplaying of the vital role of FE:
Colleges have rolled their sleeves up and helped with the development of UTCs and studio schools because they believe in giving vocational education and the young people who participate in it a higher status. There are many across the country who share that aim. It would be tragic, therefore, if instead of helping to overcome prejudice these new institutions simply serve to perpetuate it in a new and different form.
For the full Viewpoint click here.
The Independent newspaper for Thursday 18th October 2012 carries a feature by Ian Nash on the implications for childcare training of recently announced government plans:
Government’s childcare plan is hitting teething problems
The Government has promised to provide more nursery places for disadvantaged two-year-olds. But is it willing to pay for thousands of extra trained carers?
To read the whole of Ian’s article click here.
The Policy Consortium is delighted to welcome another new member – Liz Walker. Liz has worked in education and skills sectors for thirty years, across all types of providers, government departments and local authorities throughout the UK. We are pleased to add this range and diversity of experience to strengthen further our knowledge and understanding of policy and practice.
For further details of Liz’s background, click here.
Education Sector Skills Assessment report
In 2011, LSIS took on a number of the responsibilities of the former LLUK (the sector skills body for post-16 education and training). This included contributions to annual assessments of workforce skills and related matters for UKCES. On their instruction to LSIS, the production of an SSA (sector skills assessment) report for 2011 spanned the whole of education for the first time, and not just lifelong learning. In turn, and in response to a request from LSIS, the Policy Consortium reviewed a draft version of the report in January 2012 and offered its collective comments for LSIS to consider. This was well-appreciated – see the reaction from the Head of Research for the LSIS UK Qualifications and Skills team within the ‘scroller’ at the top right of our website’s Home page. You can access the final 2011 Education SSA report, as published by UKCES in August 2012, here.
Maggie Greenwood was quoted in Susan Young’s article about Foundation degrees which appeared in the Guardian’s guide to clearing for 2012: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/aug/16/clearing-foundation-degrees?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487
Peter Davies and Mick Fletcher coordinated the drafting of a submission to the Commission on Adult Vocational Teaching and Learning, jointly with the Centre for Post-14 Research and Innovation, Institute of Education (IoE), University of London. Other Policy Consortium members contributed to the submission. Click here for a copy.
What are your thoughts? Click here to join the discussion.
The Policy Consortium welcomes a new member – Michael Frearson. Michael has almost 20 years’ experience working with schools and in further and higher education and work-based learning, mostly in research, development and evaluation roles. He was formerly Associate Director at leading economic development consultancy SQW, and now combines independent consultancy with his part-time role as Research Leader at RAND Europe, where he leads the development of research and analysis on children, young people, education and skills.
We are delighted to have Michael on board to strengthen the Policy Consortium’s combined experience and expertise.
For full details of Michael’s background, click here.
Peter Davies gave the opening keynote speech at the New Zealand Vocational Education and Training Research Forum 2012.
Ian Nash and Mick Fletcher have both had articles published in FE Week.
Maria Hughes has undertaken a review of British Council-facilitated international partnerships between the UK and overseas providers of vocational education and training. Jenny Rhys was also involved in editing the resulting publication.
For the latest News, click here
For the latest Viewpoints from Policy Consortium members, click here
Each month, the Policy Consortium will bring you a different think-piece on topical developments in FE and skills.
New this month is Lessons from Finland by Andrew Morris, which summarises a recent talk at the House of Commons by Dr Pasi Sahlberg, Director General of the Centre for International Mobility and Cooperation at the Ministry of Education in Helsinki.
“Back in 1970 Finland was not a high-performing country; it ranked well below the OECD average and even further below the UK. But in that same year a huge problem of inequity was identified and understood as the underlying cause of multiple social problems. Reducing it became a political priority.”
”Over the following forty years Finland’s educational performance has risen steadily, exceeding the OECD average during the 1990s and rising subsequently to the top. Over the same period the OECD average itself has gradually risen while the performance of England (and other countries) has actually fallen. The cause is clearly attributed by Sahlberg to Finland’s pursuit of different policies, not simply to better implementation of similar policies. The key policy driver was an attack on inequity itself…”
Click here for the full think-piece, and here for a copy of Dr Sahlberg’s presentation.
What are your thoughts? Click here to join the discussion.
Previously, we have had the following thought-provoking items from Policy Consortium members:
Ian Nash on the Lingfield report on professionalism in FE.
Following David Cameron’s pledge this week to rip-up employment red tape in the name of better delivery, where does this leave the promises, in Lord Lingfield’s interim report on professionalism in FE, to maintain teaching standards in colleges and training organisations?
Click here for the full think-piece.
What are your thoughts? Click here to join the discussion.
Sally Faraday and Carole Overton consider Vocational teaching and training – is there a better route to improving learning?
New research into effective teaching/training and learning suggests that differences between ways of promoting academic and vocational learning are exaggerated and that the same good practice characteristics are to be found in both.
Click here for the full thinkpiece
What are your thoughts? Click here to join the discussion.
Ian Nash looks at the ‘State of confusion’ – the world of FE as seen by the media
“Everyone knows what a further education college is. Or do they? When 1,000 members of the public were asked which colleges on a given list were FE, they were very confident. And yet three-quarters (75%) got it wrong. While many people may not have the foggiest what an FE college is, it doesn’t stop the media and many of the general public slagging them off as low-standard, poor quality and a waste of time.”
Click here for the full thinkpiece.
What are your thoughts? Click here to join the discussion.
Nick Warren considers ‘More plumbing, less pilates’ – The effects of ‘Mickey Mouse course’ accusations on the public reputation of FE/HE.
“‘Mickey Mouse courses’ at universities and in FE are the stuff of Daily Mail legend and are accusations recklessly bandied about by politicians who should know better. But why don’t they know better? And how is the public reputation of FE/HE affected by such claims?”
Click here for the full thinkpiece.
What are your thoughts? Click here to join the discussion.
Peter Davies, Mick Fletcher and Maggie Greenwood look at HE in FE colleges under the new fees regime – a cloud with a silver lining?
“The arrangements that are being put in place by the Coalition Governmentfor the 2012-13 intake of students represent the most radical change in HE funding for many years. The authors believe that these widely contested reforms offer substantial opportunities for further education colleges that are significant providers of HEFCE-funded higher education, and their students. However, there are also considerable threats if these opportunities are ignored or pursued insensitively.”
Click here for the full HE in FE think-piece.
What are your thoughts? Click here to get involved in the discussion.
Ian Nash asks Big Society or Big Business? Is there a future for the voluntary sector?.
“Thousands of charities, voluntary organisations and small private bodies dependent on state funding are being forced to lower their ambitions or close down, undermining the Prime Minister David Cameron’s plans for the volunteer-driven Big Society.
The evidence from inquiries by the Policy Consortium suggests three main causes:
• Cuts – draconian cuts are being imposed by cash-strapped local authorities facing 28% cuts from central government over four years;
• Central government schemes and minimum contract levels currently at £500,000 exclude smaller organisations;
• Colleges and other providers are delaying plans for tendering and bidding for work because of delays in the clarification and introduction of new funding arrangements.”
Click here for Ian’s full article.
What are your thoughts? Click here to get involved in the discussion.
Mike Cooper considers Emerging from the Inspection pit .
“What difference would it make if we ditched Ofsted? To providers and the sector? To the nation and its learners? As we look around in the age of austerity for inessential services to trim or even scrap, the question is being asked more and more. Do we need the service any longer? Haven’t we become mature enough and learned enough about educational improvement since the creation of Ofsted simply to do without it?”
Click here for Mike’s full article.
What are your thoughts? Click here to get involved in the discussion.
Mick Fletcher considers Unanswered questions on the Wolf Report – the review of vocational qualifications 14-19 commissioned by the DfE.
“The Wolf Report on vocational education for 14-19 year olds could prove to be one of those rare documents that marks a real turning of the tide – the point at which one educational orthodoxy starts to crumble and another begins to take shape…
…there is a risk that BIS ministers will be persuaded that what makes sense for young people and for those who enter higher education is for some reason not appropriate for adult FE. This would be a serious missed opportunity.”
Click here for Mick’s full report
Andrew Morris looks at Science as one of the Arts.
“An experiment in informal science education could have profound implications not only for adult education but also for the school curriculum and pedagogy and for promoting the public understanding of science…
To develop an adult population conversant with scientific ideas will require changes in many areas – alterations to the curriculum, the training of teachers, the guidance and assessment of learners. Such changes require a radical readjustment in how we conceive science and whom we think it is for – a cultural shift is needed that involves us all.”
Click here for Andrew’s report