eBulletin to members – 1 April 2014
Dear Members
As time progresses towards next year’s election, the profile of the skills system, and the role of Colleges
within it, continues to increase, along with our opportunities to influence its future shape. The
Government last week published its full response to last year’s consultation on 16-19 accountability, and
outlined new ‘headline measures’ at both level 2 and 3 which will come into force from 2016. These
measures will apply to both Colleges and school sixth forms, which is a welcome development, and they
focus on progress more than attainment. But issues remain – such as how they may apply to training
providers in the future, and whether they will still unfairly reflect on Colleges the performance of sixth
forms where students have dropped out after poor guidance at 16. Our response (at
http://www.157group.co.uk/news/157-group-comments-government-response-16-19-accountabilityconsultation) reflects this, and you can read the full detail at
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/16-to-19-accountability-consultation.
We were asked to attend a second roundtable on the future shape of Traineeship programmes last
week, and we continue to push for the programme to be flexible and for providers to be able to respond
properly to learner needs. There are increasing calls for Colleges to take on more of a leading role in
efforts to deal with youth unemployment. It is interesting to note a slightly more positive tone about the
work of Colleges in much Government documentation over recent weeks, and we continue to urge
policymakers to take a systemic view of issues for 14-24 year-olds, with Colleges playing a full part in
this. We were able to highlight the huge anomalies and difficulties with the proposed cut to funding for 18
year-olds in a frank meeting with the National Audit Office, who are carrying out a full review of DfE
policy in the post-16 arena, and we are confident they will ask for further assistance as they offer a
critique of the current approach.
Four high-profile Labour MPs joined senior employer and LEP representatives at a lunch hosted jointly
by us, AoC and NIACE in parliament last week. The lunch saw a very intelligent discussion about the
misperceptions around College-employer relationships and the distance that some areas still need to go
to ensure genuine responsiveness. We plan to take this work forward through further joint events during
party conference season in the autumn, and are pleased to have engaged leading employers in a joint
debate. Our own leading-edge work on employer relationships over the coming months will help to raise
the profile of the great work many of you are doing. I thank those of you who are hosting roundtables as
part of our Sevenhills employer advocacy project and am very much looking forward to the development
of our own Employer Charter and Future Talent campaign.
While the Budget did not contain much of direct relevance to Colleges (save the expected
announcement of an increase in Apprenticeship grants to employers), it has been an important two
weeks for funding more generally. Both the SFA and HEFCE have finally published their allocations for
2014-15, and it would be helpful to hear from you if you are expecting to have to make major changes to
either your adult or HE provision as a result of these. We are adopting a stance of arguing on the basis
of moral principle against further cuts (for example at http://feweek.co.uk/2014/03/21/less-adult-moneysignals-a-moral-future/) and real-world examples will only strengthen our case.
I attach to this eBulletin for your information a response from the Deputy Prime Minister to the letter
regarding adult funding cuts that we sent to him in January. Hidden in the Budget documentation was an
indication that the BIS budget will be reduced by a further £600m in 2015-16, so we will need to continue
to press the case that FE has taken its fair share of the cuts already if we are to influence the decisions
of the next government.
Meanwhile, also attached to this eBulletin are details of the next round of bidding for the Employer
Ownership of Skills pilots. You will see that BIS are especially keen this time to find projects in the areas
of engineering and technology, and especially automotive engineering. Ministers continue to say that
these pilot schemes are ‘very successful’, but we are pressing hard for some concrete evidence of this,
as no formal evaluation of round 1 or round 2 has yet been published. However, it is clear that this is a
direction of travel in terms of funding for all political parties, so I would urge those of you with strengths
and good employer links in these areas to engage with round 3, as a high College profile within the
projects can only be positive for the future.
Relatively quietly last week, BIS launched its strategy for delivering excellence within the FE workforce,
which you can read at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/further-education-workforce-strategy.
It is largely a summary of the work of the Education and Training Foundation, which we are aware of, but
it does provide a useful overview of the Government position on a number of issues relating to
professionalism, and it contains, for the first time, a lengthy section highlighting the strengths of the FE
sector, as viewed by BIS. We have engaged with the lead official following this publication and will, of
course, continue to play our full part in this area of work.
I am pleased that the new Director of ‘Closing The Gap’ at DfE, Juliet Chua, has asked specifically to be
able to visit 157 Group Colleges as she settles into her role. Thank you to those of you who are working
with Sandra to make this happen over the coming months. We know you will be able to showcase some
excellent work. We did score a minor win with DfE last week, after they published their research priorities
for the coming year and did not mention FE once within thirteen different documents. Thanks to pressure
from Newham College, in collaboration with 157, they have now agreed to review this and are intending
to publish research priorities for FE very shortly!
One of the most noticeable aspects of the response to the 16-19 accountability consultation was the
relatively low number of submissions the consultation received from Colleges and Principals. Almost
30% of respondents were actually from Higher Education, and we are keen to redress the balance over
the coming months. It would be very positive to back up 157 Group submissions with individual College
responses, and we will be happy to support you to engage directly. Do contact Andy
(andy.gannon@157group.co.uk) for help with this – especially at the moment with the consultation on
Apprenticeship funding and the Enterprise review, which is detailed below.
I am sure you are aware now that LeSoCo has resigned its membership of the 157 Group, which was
covered in FE Week last week. It was good that FE Week gave me the opportunity simultaneously to set
out afresh our case for a review of the approach to grading the performance of Colleges, both within and
beyond the work of Ofsted. You can read this at http://feweek.co.uk/2014/03/28/promoting-the-debateon-what-a-successful-college-looks-like/, and this issue continues to be a very important one with us in
discussions with both policymakers and with Ofsted themselves.
Congratulations are due to Jette Burford and the team at St Helens College, who successfully achieved
a ‘Good’ rating in their own recent Ofsted inspection, and I am also pleased to say that Birmingham
Metropolitan College has appointed a successor to Dame Christine Braddock as Chief Executive.
Andrew Cleaves will move from his current position as a senior executive at National Express to take up
the post in May, and I look forward to welcoming him to future meetings. Birmingham Met was also the
second 157 Group College in a month to play host to the Duke of York recently, as he opened the new
campus at the city’s Harborne Academy. Do let me know if he is planning to visit anyone else!
We are doing some great work as part of our projects at the moment – the Leadership Conversation is
spawning extremely intelligent debate and content, which we will be publishing in the summer, and the
results of our work with Ofsted on the governance of teaching and learning will be published over the
Easter break. Our partners at City & Guilds have also uploaded a very exciting video from last month’s
‘Think Out Loud’ event, which focused on the possibilities for new technology in teaching and learning –
at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pG1gClhKBZU&feature=player_embedded&app=desktop. Our
reputation not only as key policy influencers but also thought leaders in pedagogic practice grows
stronger and stronger.
It has been a while since we shared an inspirational video, but this TED talk from last year echoes the
messages from our own Great Teaching and Learning publication that teachers should think about
relationships above content. Do take a few minutes to look at it – at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFnMTHhKdkw.
I shall be on leave from 7 to 21 April, but Christine and Sandra are available in my absence should you
need them. Before I go, I will be attending our regular meeting with Matthew Hancock MP, and a
symposium on teaching and learning with City & Guilds. Others in the team will, in the next two weeks,
be meeting with the Centre for Social Justice, Policy Exchange, the RSA and the Sixth Form Colleges
Association to further our policy links. As well as attending the Ministerial 16+ Advisory Group and
project steering groups for the development of Apprenticeships and Traineeships, they will also be
facilitating meetings of our own Networks in MIS, HR, Technology and Innovation and Teaching and
Learning.
There will be an Action Request next week, but we will then take a short break for Easter before
returning with the next eBulletin on Tuesday 29 April.
Warmest wishes,
Lynne
Current policy engagement – action requested

Enterprise consultation
Attached to this Action Request is a short progress report from Lord Young’s review of Enterprise
Education. The review is now seeking input from Colleges on the key themes identified. If you
have any contributions to make, please email them to Christine
(Christine.doubleday@157group.co.uk) by Friday 4 April.

Labour Party consultation on education policy
Following the publication of the final report from the Skills Task Force, which set out plans for a
national baccalaureate at levels 2 and 3 (to include personal development and an extended
project alongside traditional qualifications and English and Maths), for withholding some funding
from schools judged not to be delivering on high quality IAG and for a more balanced
accountability system, the Labour Party is seeing views on its proposals. The 157 Group will be
submitting a response and we are keen to hear your views. You can read the Task Force reports
at http://www.yourbritain.org.uk/agenda-2015/policy-review/skills-taskforce-1 and the consultation
document at http://www.yourbritain.org.uk/education-and-children-policy-consultation. Please
send your input to Andy (andy.gannon@157group..co.uk) by Friday 25 April.

Women into Technology and Engineering
BIS is working with Number 10 and DfE to organise a partnership-led campaign of activity aimed
at increasing the number of women in technology and engineering careers, or studying the
subjects which lead to those careers. The 157 Group is keen to support this activity, by engaging
with a proposed Compact, which will be backed up by pledges from companies and organisations
across a range of sectors setting out what they will do to address this issue. It would be helpful to
know of particular schemes you have in place in this area – please let Andy
(andy.gannon@157group.co.uk) know if you have details of initiatives to contribute to this high
profile campaign.
Policy and research updates

The Move to Improve 2 – new Skills Commission report
The Skills Commission has published a follow-up report to last year’s The Move To Improve. The
report features 13 contributions from colleges across England and depicts the improvement
journeys and systems deployed to raise standards and seek continual improvements in provision.
Whilst the case studies feature a wide range of colleges, clear themes emerge throughout, most
notably around strong leadership, clear accountability and focusing on creating the best
conditions for improved teaching and learning. You can access the report, which features
Birmingham Metropolitan and Hull College, at http://www.policyconnect.org.uk/sc/research/moveimprove-2.

The Skills Mismatch – New Edge Foundation Report
A new Edge Foundation report entitled The Skills Mismatch focuses on the disconnect between
the education system and the needs of the British economy. The report demonstrates how this
‘dysfunction’ operates at all levels from schools through to further education colleges and
universities and suggests that radical changes are needed. You can read the report at
http://www.edge.co.uk/news/2014/march/the-skills-mismatch.

Student numbers fall in Scottish Colleges
A controversial change in Scottish government policy to prioritise full-time courses for teenagers
as part of moves to tackle youth unemployment has seen a sharp reduction in the number of
students accessing part-time courses. You can read more at
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/education/college-student-numbers-slump-after-focus-onfull-time-study.23759249.

Traineeship Staff Support projects announced by AELP
Fourteen successful lead bidders will be meeting in Birmingham today to kick-off the start of the
AELP Traineeships Staff Support Programme (TSSP). The programme, commissioned by The
Education and Training Foundation and supported by AOC, 157 Group, HOLEX, NIACE and the
Spirit Pub Company will see the design and delivery of innovative and high quality professional
development support, resources and materials which can be accessed by, and will benefit, the
wider education and training workforce in order to improve outcomes from traineeship
programmes for learners and employers. You can read more in the attached press release.
Other opportunities

Enterprising teachers
The Entrepreneurial Education Group (TEEG) is working in partnership with Ealing Hammersmith
& West London College to run a training programme in entrepreneurship for teachers. Entitled
Enterprising Teachers, this ETF funded programme is looking for an experienced colleague to
work with the project team, advise on progress and report on the project outcomes. The
commitment required will not be overwhelming and will continue over a 3 month period
commencing April and ending 30 June 2014. The range of activities will include a meeting with
the team in April to discuss course content, aims, objectives and how impact will be measured,
attendance at some sessions during the two-day course in June to monitor progress against
target and the writing of a report for the ETF to assess the programme’s effectiveness. Contact
Adam Fahey at adamf@gspace.wlc.ac.uk or on 07775 410675 if you would like to be a part of
this exciting project.

FE Week’s Great FE & Skills Survey of 2014
The state-of-the-nation survey, which is a joint project between the Policy Consortium and FE
Week, aims to provide a detailed picture of shifting attitudes and responses to changes in
government policy and practice. The results of the initial survey will feature in edition 100 of FE
Week. The survey is wide-ranging. It embraces governance, money, resources, learners,
curriculum, CPD and much more. To complete the survey please visit
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PCFEWeek.

Have a Go funding available for VQ Day
As you start pulling together your VQ Day plans, once again the Edge Foundation will be
providing funding for schools, colleges and learning providers to stage a ‘Have a Go’. Through
their premier sponsorship of The Skills Show, which inspires young people about vocational
education, skills and careers through a series of interactive events, you can apply for up to £500
to help make your VQ Day celebrations even bigger. Following VQ Day, the most impressive
‘Have a Go’ experiences will be given up to £4000 to repeat their activity at The Skills Show at
the NEC in Birmingham in November. Head to http://www.vqday.org.uk/get-involved for the
guidelines and expenses form. VQ Day is on 4 June and nominations for the VQ awards are
open until 2 May.
Best wishes
Andy Gannon