FE White paper
Raising Skills, Improving Life Chances
Learner-led
Employer-led
And Demand-led*
*Well DfES' anyway…
I mentioned in the last SLIM-Comment (on the Budget) that the Chancellor couldn’t help but hold a surprise up his sleeve for the DfES with the revelation of a new Level 3 entitlement for all 19-25 year olds studying advance level courses from 2007/8 – so you have to feel for the Civil Servants required to get out the tippex and quickly amend this, the new Further Education (FE) White Paper.
The White Paper is bound to have very major repercussions on the structure and priorities for FE. Ministers are already expecting fees for the cost of evening classes to double for more than two million people (with leaders of FE Colleges estimating that one million places will be lost overall). The rationale being that night courses should not be the preserve of the 'middle classes' keen on self-improvement. Instead, they consider that taxpayers' money would be better spent improving the skills of adults and young people who have left school with few or no qualifications. As the Government puts it:
"The purpose of this White Paper is to set out the reforms that are needed to equip learners with high-quality skills for productive, sustainable employment and personal fulfilment; and this will ensure that employers have the right skills for their business to succeed in a competitive global economy. Taken together, they will enable the system to achieve its full potential as the powerhouse of economic growth and social mobility." … Big words… so let’s see how they are going to make it happen …
Andy Dean
NB - Thanks to the Times, Guardian, LSC and SSDA (and, of course, the miracle of the Microsoft Word cut-and-paste function)… for some of what is below.
NEWS FOCUS in this edition
The White Paper
In last week's budget, Gordon Brown announced £500m of capital investment in FE colleges and an annual budget worth £7bn by 2008. He said FE colleges had been neglected in the past, but must be "at the forefront of future skills".
Mr Brown has also asked Lord Leitch, who is chairing a review of the UK's long-term skills requirements, to report specifically on how skills and employment policies can complement each other more effectively in supporting better employment and greater progression in work. The DfES said there was a "major chasm" between the training courses on offer and the skills that Britain needs for economic and social success.
The white paper focuses on measures to tackle four factors that Ruth Kelly identified as major brakes on the UK economy. These include staying-on rates in training and education after 16, with the UK ranking just 24th out of 29 developed nations; adult skills, on which the UK is ranked 17th out of 30 countries - lagging behind France and Germany; inconsistency in FE provision; and a failure by FE colleges to meet the needs of employers and learners.
Many employers say that they are unable to fill jobs because they simply can't find the staff with the right skills. And there are too few second chances for those who haven't achieved at school to gain skills that can help them into long-term, skilled employment.
The reforms build on the public service reform principles that the Government has adopted in other sectors, many of the recommendations from the Foster review of the future role of FE Colleges and the actions being taken forward through the Learning and Skills Council's (LSC) Agenda for Change Programme. Here are some highlights:
The White Paper:
·
Sets out a comprehensive programme of change that will transform FE, aiming
to fulfil its potential as a powerhouse of economic prosperity and social mobility.
· Builds on the LSC's Agenda for Change Programme and Sir Andrew Foster's
Review of the Future Role of the Further Education Colleges.
· Acknowledges the good progress made to date, with excellent colleges
and training providers, and rising success rates.
Summary of New Developments
· A new economic mission for FE - its central purpose
now being to equip young people and adults with the skills for a productive
and rewarding life.
· Employment in a modern economy. Learners and employers will have a greater
say in the provision of education and training, including more choice and the
means to make the most of these opportunities. Providers will be challenged to
demonstrate responsiveness to employer and learner needs.
· The new entitlement to free tuition to a level 3 qualification for all
those aged 19-25.
· Increased resources for Train to Gain.
· New learner skills accounts will be piloted in two areas for Level 3
programmes.
· Financial support for learners through the Adult Learning Grant.
· Programmes to tackle some of the issues facing Women in Work - as identified
by the Women and Work Commission.
· New freedoms for high performing colleges coupled with tougher and speedier
interventions to combat poor performance with new powers for the LSC to intervene
and even close Colleges.
· Increased opportunities for new providers to enter the system
· New providers and existing good providers will be able to compete openly
for new and existing learning programmes.
· More Higher Education delivered in FE system - making Higher Education
more accessible to learners of all backgrounds.
· A fairer playing field for capital funding available to schools and
colleges.
· Capital will be allocated to support the policy of specialisation, particularly
to develop National Skills Academies, CoVEs and sectoral networks. Providers
will be encouraged to specialise in order to supply world-class services with
world class facilities. Over time it is likely that all providers will develop
distinctive specialist excellence.
The LSC's thoughts…
The LSC welcomed the Further Education Reform White Paper as a significant step towards driving up the economic prosperity for this country. Chris Banks, Chairman of the LSC, said:
“The White Paper heralds the start of a new era for Further Education… This White Paper will help us all accelerate progress by allowing the expansion of excellent provision, encouraging new providers into the market and reducing poor provision, thereby providing greater choice and higher standards of learning for learners and employers.
Mark Haysom, Chief Executive of the LSC, said:
"Further Education changes lives. This White Paper takes on board the principles of the LSC's agenda for change and heralds a real shift in the way FE is delivered. It provides a focus for the learning and skills sector as well as engagement with learners and employers. It will open up the market and allow excellent provision to be rewarded and poor provision to be cut out. This is good news for individuals and employers, for communities and the economy.
"It would be easy to assume that the White Paper
is changing Further Education because something isn’t working. But nothing
could be further from the truth. There are more people in learning than ever
before – some 1.5 million of 16-18 year olds; more achieving than ever
before as the LSC expects to exceed its current target one year early for the
number of 19 year olds achieving Level 2. We’ve got more young people
starting apprenticeships beating our target of 175,000. Further Education and
those who provide it are perhaps one of this nation’s best-kept secrets.
The LSC will play a major role in delivering the White Paper which will help
make the most of the talents and skills of people up and down the land."
Association of Colleges’ Response
The Association of Colleges welcomed the reforms but said the package would not deliver the "urgent transformation of the existing skills stock" that Britain needed. John Brennan, the association's Chief Executive, said:
"Government should be much bolder in requiring employers to take their responsibilities seriously, and much more helpful to individuals. These will aim to recruit exceptional talent from business and other sectors into further education, to open up opportunities in industry for teachers and lecturers and to retain and recruit the best staff."
Mr Brennan said the government needed to trust colleges
and respond strategically to the needs of employers and the community, rather
than force colleges to cut training opportunities for adults and that the government
should be moving urgently to shift much of the £500m currently spent
on bureaucracy onto the frontline.
NATFHE
Barry Lovejoy, from the college lecturers' union NATFHE, said the white paper contained good initiatives that should help further education to improve skills.
"But at the same time, we're getting reports of financial insecurity in colleges, leading to more redundancies and persistent low pay," he said. "We don't agree that FE is ripe for private organisations to make a quick buck. It has been shown that where problems of quality are identified, they can be turned around very quickly. Overall, it's difficult to see how colleges will be able to rise to the government's skills challenge when their workforce is demoralised by job insecurity, the spectre of private takeover, and the ever-increasing pay gap between college lecturers and schoolteachers."
Sector Skills Development Agency (SSDA)
“Whilst the White Paper is a significant improvement than earlier drafts, the SSDA would like to have seen greater recognition given to sectors and would urge the Government for greater articulation on how Sector Skills Councils will help ensure the employer voice for the whole sector is known, articulated and influential in the planning and delivery of skills provision.”
TUC
Brendan Barber, the general secretary of the TUC, has added:
"This white paper is a welcome boost for employees who want to advance their careers through improved skills and training. And it quite rightly puts colleges at the centre of a strategy for economic growth, and it still maintains their crucial social role."
SLIM Comments
The record of FE colleges since 1997 looks good on paper.
The number attending has increased by half to six million. Investment in colleges
is up by 48 per cent. But it is the wider view that causes concern.
· More than a third of working-age adults lack a basic school-leaving
qualification.
· One in six lacks the literacy skills expected of an eleven-year-old.
· Britain ranks 24th out of 29 developed nations regarding the proportion
of young people remaining in school or training post-16.
One of the key points in Sir Andrew Foster's report was the need for the further education sector to have a much clearer sense of purpose. The sector needs to be confident in its identity as a key agent in meeting the economic and social challenges that we currently face. The reforms should encourage more focus on specialism and more effective engagement with employers and learners.
We do have some concerns:
· For regions like the South West, more should be done to reverse current
cut backs in training opportunities for the older workers, who will be critical
to the economy over the next decade, and perhaps;
· Government should be much bolder in requiring employers to take their
responsibilities seriously, and much more helpful to individuals.
Increasing employers’ involvement and contributions to training has and
will be a key stumbling block. The Association of Colleges puts it thus:
"The total investment in training undertaken off employer premises is a miserly £205 per employee per year, a national total of £2.9 billion - only a fraction of what the taxpayer spends on skills development. And most of that is spend is to meet statutory requirement, for example on health and safety."
It is welcome that for the first time, 19 to 25-year-olds will have the same rights to free education as 16 to 19-year-olds and that there is greater financial support for adults (over the age of 19) on low incomes studying for level two (GCSE level) or level three (two A-levels or equivalent) qualifications.
The attempts to narrow the gender pay gap with more specialist training and better career advice for women with low skills is supported. Whilst the money to help 5,000 women - particularly those who want to return to work after having children - into higher paying work sectors where they are often under-represented is, again, positive.
That FE colleges should replace the "pleasure and leisure" approach with a “core economic mission” — is probably strategically correct. There are areas, though, in which it could be improved. Focusing too narrowly on 19 to 25-year-olds will exclude many deserving of help. In particular, the older workers (typically defined now as either 45+ or 50+) looking to improve themselves will face a doubling of fees. Ministers could also consider giving the private sector a bigger role. In broader terms, the raising of the school leaving age from 16 may be a legitimate subject for debate. As The Times puts it "The loss of some courses and higher charges for others may reduce the pleasure but will ensure that fewer young people are condemned to a lifetime of enforced leisure."
When you think that "Colleges and other providers are uniquely positioned not only to drive up skills and productivity, but also to improve people's prosperity and, therefore, social mobility" – HE and Lifelong Learning Minister, Bill Rammell, it is curious that they have been left pretty much untouched for the last 10 years… or is this just a recognition of the difficulties involved in reform, an in particular the shift towards empowering employers and employees. Will successful reform be dependant upon the successes of the CoVEs and new somewhat unproven Academies?
The deadline for responses to Government is the 19th June.
You can do this via the website at:
www.dfes.gov.uk/consultations/conDetails.cfm?consultationId=1397
The White Paper itself is at:
http://www.dfes.gov.uk/publications/furthereducation/
More thoughts and reaction:
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