All you need to know about Maths and English in the post 16- vocational sector.
Monday, 21 December 2015
Thursday, 17 December 2015
Great ideas to make English and maths better in post-16
Results taken from the 2016 English and maths survey due to be published next month. Just look at how much support there is for Functional Skills in schools and indeed in higher apprenticeships at level 3. nether of these things happen now, maybe they should.
Friday, 4 December 2015
Newsletter editions 207
This week we have analysis of the Ofsted Annual Report
related to maths and English in the Post-16 sector with links to some very interesting
articles published on the subject and a related article by an FE Expert, Graham
Taylor of New College Swindon.
The ETF have also announced their timetable for the
Functional Skills Reform Programme and the key objectives of the first stage
that is due to be complete by August 2016.
And one final plea to ask you to HAVE YOUR SAY will be
published early in the new year so please, if you can spare 10 minutes, click
the link to have your say.
Plus did you know that ForSkills customers are fully
licenced to freely copy and use the new paper based screeners. Or everyone can buy them for just 30p each
for a full colour 4 page A4 booklet - see below for more info.
As always, feel free to contact Jonathan Wells, the editor
of this newsletter on 0191 3055045 or jonathan@forskills.co.uk
Ofsted Annual Report - Post-16 maths and English
Ofsted published its’ annual review this week
The key parts of the report for the Post-16 sector are pages
49 - 48 (FE) and 67 - 72 (Adult Learning) although i also found some
interesting comments about Secondary education too.
Starting with Secondary - page 48 reports on "Skills
for Employment" and this page doesn't make good reading for schools with
employers and indeed parents still concerned that young people don't have the
basic skills, attitudes and behaviours required for work - surely encouraging
schools to teach Functional Skills from age 15 would be a step forward here?
Within the sector, the report draws attention to the issues
surrounding GCSE re-sits of maths and English in FE Colleges. Bearing in mind
it was a different era with a different focus, the report states that of those
students who failed to pass GCSE A*-C at KS4 in 2011/12, only 7% then went on
to do so in English when they attended an FE College by 2013/14 and just 4% achieved
maths.
[FE Week did an excellent
job](http://feweek.co.uk/2015/12/01/fe-and-skills-sector-reacts-to-ofsted-201415-annual-report/)
of summarising the key points of the Ofsted report for the sector and in this
week's edition, FE Week has a [double page feature](http://feweek.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Edition-157-proof-FINAL.pdf)
on Maths and English.
ETF consultation on Functional Skills
The long awaited Functional Skills reform programme will
start on January 14th and end on April 7th with the first stage of the programme
completed by August 2016.
The first stage of the Reform Programme will result in an
updated set of National Adult Literacy and Numeracy Standards and a report with
policy recommendations for Ministers. This will include:
1. what
levels of Functional Skills are needed for life and work;
2. the
breadth of skills that the new qualifications should include; and
3. the number
of guided learning hours needed to successfully
achieve Functional Skills for learners
on technical and professional programmes of study, including Apprenticeships.
[Full details here.](http://www.et-foundation.co.uk/news/foundation-announces-first-stage-of-functional-skills-reform-programme/)
Is 35% good enough?
[An expert piece in FE
Week](http://feweek.co.uk/2015/11/30/the-principals-office-english-and-maths-challenge/),
written by Graham Taylor, the Principal and CEO of New College Swindon.
The article looks at English and maths re-sits in the
College sector.
Friday, 27 November 2015
Spending Review - analysis and comment
Spending review - analysis and
comment
Let's start with the
levy which it seems is genuinely welcomed by most in the sector.
It will affect only larger companies with more than 100-150
employees and a payroll cost of more than £3m per year so almost all colleges
and many larger training providers will face this additional cost. But it can be drawn down by businesses of all
sizes and this should stimulate the take-up of apprentices in the SME sector.
In England, It should generate £2.5bn of revenue in the
sector which is a large increase on current spending levels of about £1.5bn and
supports Nick Boles steering at the AoC last week that Apprenticeships is where
the budget is.
Of course, not everyone is pleased, the CBI http://news.cbi.org.uk/news/response-to-autumn-_statement
(that represents many large employers) says
“With the levy set at 0.5%, even
those businesses most committed to training and development won't be able to
recoup their outlay, and it looks like an additional payroll tax.”
"Good news"
for the Adult Skills Budget. Despite lots of rumours beforehand, the core
ASB will be protected at £1.5bn but £360m of savings will be made from
locally-led Area Reviews, along with a possible restructure of funding systems
(EFA, SFA) and other departments such as UKCES.
Something similar to the Area Reviews has already been implemented in
Scotland and Northern Ireland where larger regional colleges have now been
established.
Advanced Learning
Loans are being extended. _“The
government will expand tuition fee loans to 19 to 23-year-olds at levels three
and four, and 19+ year-olds at levels five and six”._ Will this be additional
or replacement funding in the ASB though?
Sixth Form Colleges
can benefit from similar treatment of VAT to schools if they become
Academies. The Government also announced
they will create 5 National Colleges and will support a new network of
Institutes of Technology across the country.
FEWeek carried an excellent article http://feweek.co.uk/2015/11/25/much-feared-budget-looks-positive-for-adult-skills-budget-but-what-could-the-new-19-plus-fe-loans-mean/ with the full statement also available here https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/479749/52229_Blue_Book_PU1865_Web_Accessible.pdf
The reference areas for the sector are paragraphs 1.170 to
1.179 and 2.80 - found on pages 45 and 46.
Jonathan Wells - ForSkills and Guroo Functional Skills
Friday, 20 November 2015
Major funding changes coming
Major
funding changes coming
At the AOC conference earlier this week, Nick Boles spoke
about funding and apprenticeships. Whilst everyone (not just this sector), is
awaiting news from next week's spending review, a few things became very clear.
Overall budgets are going down - but by how much is still
speculation.
Currently, the Government is spending £1.5bn on
Apprenticeships, Colleges get around 35% of this total. Nick Boles made it clear that this budget
will increase over the next 4 years as the Government closes in on the 3m
Apprenticeship starts.
The Minister made it clear to the AOC audience that he was
expecting Colleges to increase their share of this budget and reduce reliance
on sub-contracting. So with overall budgets going down, but Apprenticeship
funding protected, budgets in other areas will come under major pressure.
The Minister also said that the way that funding is
distributed will also change. By 2020,
the SFA and EFA will not be the key funding source, instead employers, the
apprenticeship levy and vouchers will be the source on Apprenticeship funding -
this represents a very significant change over the coming years.
Friday, 6 November 2015
Survey
Every year, we survey the
thoughts of the post-16 community about English and Maths. The survey is
open now with results expected to be published in the new year.
If you are involved in
supporting or teaching learners in Apprenticeships or Traineeships, please have
your say, the survey is 20 questions long, and apart from the basics, you can
skip the questions where you have no interest or experience. Above all,
your thoughts and opinions will influence how English and maths is delivered in
the post-16 sector.
Apprenticeship Mix
Changing the
Apprenticeship Mix
Everyone will have heard about the Government's apprenticeships target of 3 million new starts.
FE Week are asking the question whether the Government's drive towards these numbers will have a big change in
the FE sector. It's a very fair point,
there is a significant difference between the delivery and therefore funding of
full time study programmes compared to mainly employer based Apprenticeships
and so far, the numbers of 17 year olds on Apprenticeship programmes is low.
A little bit of digging into the recently published SFA stats https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fe-data-library-apprenticeships reveals some interesting stats based on the 2014/15 year just completed.
- Almost 60% of Apprenticeship starts are at level 2, just 4% are at level 4 or above.
- The most popular sectors are Business, Health and Care, Retail and Engineering making up 90% of all starts.
- 25% of starts are by those aged 16-18, 32% are 19-24 and the largest sector is the 25+ age group with 43% of starts.
Perhaps these statistics do show that the Government sees
the growth in the 16-18 sector as being the biggest opportunity?
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