Post-16 Update
For all members in FE Colleges, Sixth Forms, Training Providers and
Universities
Summer term 2013
Dear Members,
The current context of the FE sector is that there are changes to almost every
area of work, from the curriculum, funding, student provision,
apprenticeships/traineeships, as well as changes to the governance structure
of the sector with the Education and Training Foundation being established on
1st August (aka FE Guild). In regard to members’ working lives, the impact of
the ETF and the proposal to deregulate qualification standards in a climate of
austerity, is arguably the greatest challenge members will have faced for a
long time. From a recruitment and organisation perspective it could also spell
great difficulty with local variations in pay and job roles becoming greater.
FE Pay
A recommended offer of 0.7% has been sent to reps with result of the
consultation due in on 22nd July. Details of the full offer are on ATL’s website.
Click here.
Deregulation
The impact of deregulation is most likely to be felt in future restructures,
contract change negotiations, and also college aims to reduce staff costs
(which could determine a restructure or contract change).
This is most likely to happen by either:
• changing the duties of lecturers to ‘just’ contact teaching and removing
their other duties. This could result in more contact hours.
• creating new roles that are considered not to need ‘full’ teaching
qualifications, even though they may do ‘some’.
• shaping provision around new duties eg more systematic guided
learning in LRC; online materials (written by lecturers and supported by
‘online tutors’) - this last one has already been proposed in one form.
• instruction to cut staff costs by ‘10%’: facilitating variation of practices
in different departments.
The cuts to departmental spending have been set out in the Spending Review
and FE has been hit with a £260 million cut. This is mostly focused on adult
provision.
Sixth Form Pay Negotiations
There is an ongoing pay stand off with no offer yet on the table for the second
year running and key agreements to be worked through. However, a meeting
on Monday will consider pay for 2013/14. In the recent teaching side letter
(available on ATL’s website here), it states: ‘Against this background, the
teacher unions take the view that an immediate and substantial across-theboard increase in pay for all teachers is necessary. The unions also take the
view that an agreement is needed in the sixth form college sector, with effect
from 1 September 2013 and in line with commitments made during the
negotiations for 2010, which will as a minimum lead to the early restoration of
pay comparability with the pay levels for teachers in schools.’
In addition, ‘the teacher unions hope that it will be possible to agree joint
guidance on the following areas which have been under discussion at joint
secretarial level since the 2012 negotiations:
a) Revised Joint Guidance on Workload and Working Time for Teaching
Staff;
b) Joint guidance on facilities time and;
c) Joint employment procedures covering the areas of discipline (including
procedures covering issues of conduct, capability or ill-health), grievance
and procedures for reorganisation and redundancy (including pay
safeguarding of three years’ duration as for teachers in schools).’
For those working in post-16 training providers there are significant
changes to government funding and modes of delivery. More and more of
adult funding is being directed to employers (Employer Ownership Pilots) and
apprenticeships are also now being co-funded with individuals having access
to student loans. This latter policy shift is causing some consternation with no
loans for higher level or Advanced apprenticeships.
University members
A view from a HE member (thanks to Jayne Whistance)
University members will be aware that ATL does not negotiate nationally on
behalf of members in universities. This leaves ATL to consult locally on issues
that affect members’ interests. As members have access to regional officials
and solicitors who support individual casework it is best for reps to inform HR
of this fact. This is particularly the case if members make up a significant
number in any one department or faculty.
Here are issues that Jayne has raised and reported to FESAG.
Academic staff contracts:
• Sessional or ‘zero-hour’ contracts – In many HEIs in Hampshire, more
than 50% of the teaching staff are Associate Lecturers or on sessional /
‘zero hour’ contracts. Many are working for more than one employer
and travel a long way to work – some staying in B+Bs overnight.
• NFA grading – a strong bias of Senior Lecturers at Grade 8 who are
male, versus females with the same position but at salary Grade 7.
b) Support staff contracts:
• Outsourcing of support staff - this in includes staff supporting disabled
students so this is affecting really vulnerable students and has resulted
in a higher rate of student and parental complaints.
• Reduction in admin staff – this has led to a higher workload for
academics. It also makes the procedure of phoning-in sick long-winded
as often there is no one person or team centrally responsible.
• Very short term contracts - frequently renewed on a 2 – 6 month basis.
c) General contractual issues:
• Discrepancy between holiday and sick pay when comparing support and
teaching staff within the same institution.’
Workplace issues
Worcester College of Technology is currently going through a number of
changes that are detrimental to ATL members. ATL is campaigning against
the changes and seeking a new rep in the process.
Barnfield College is seeking to make large scale redundancies and shift its
provision.
Newcastle College is also making a large number of staff redundant.
Part time/fractional post entitlement
The ‘four year rule’ which is often referred to when staff on fixed term
contracts claim that their post is deserving of being made permanent is found
in the Joint Agreement on Guidelines for the Employment of Fixed-Term
Employees in Further Education College. It states:
'Corporations should always seek to avoid using fixed-term contracts other
than where appropriate and necessary. However, in the event that an
employee does reach four years service on consecutive fixed-term contracts,
their employment shall become permanent if the requirements of Regulation
8 of the Fixed Term (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations
2002 are met, unless as per Regulation 8, the further use of a fixed term
contract is justified on objective grounds.'
The right extends to the terms and conditions that employees were working to
at the time of their last contract. In short, those term and conditions become
permanent rather than temporary.
AoC withdrawal from the sick pay agreement: the ongoing impact
A number of colleges (Somerset, Exeter, Stanmore) are breaking away from
the nationally agreed sick leave which is a real disappointment. Negotiations
and consultations between Cornwall College and the unions have moved away
from changing the sick pay policy which is good news.
National Official Visit to Cambridge Regional College AGM
It was great to see that ATL’s largest workplace membership has formed a
committee to take the sub-branch forward. At the AGM members’ concerns
and points raised were very insightful and motivated by wishing to do a
professional job. Full praise must go to the lead reps Wendy Wilderspin and
Wally Valentine for ensuring that members’ best interests are clearly
articulated and heard by the college.
Sixth Form Campaign
Lead member for Sixth Forms, Simon Holland, has developed a campaign
letter to be sent to MPs. His was sent on to David Laws and he received a
fulsome reply, most notably that Sixth Forms were now considered
‘privatised’ (under the Office for National Statistics) The detailed and
defensive reply has given further proof of the discomfort around Sixth Forms
for the coalition government. There will be an article in Report on these
issues.
FE Reps Training, 3rd and 4th July, Wortley Hall, Nr Sheffield.
This was a highly successful and well run training event with overall
coordination by Simon Crisford, Learning and Development Officer. Sessions
were held around the evening meal on the first day and promoted a lot of
debate around ‘the practitioner voice’ which FESAG will now take up and
develop. The following day saw Dave Smith, TUC tutor, work expertly through
an understanding and introduction to college accounts. The training was very
well received by reps and as the first residential for FE reps may be a sign of
things to come!
‘I really enjoyed the training yesterday. I found the analysis of the company
accounts in the afternoon heavy going though and I’m going to have a few
sessions with our accountancy teachers for some extra insight’.
‘I found the discussion on what should constitute a professional FE teacher to
be very interesting and I’m going to ask our members to think about this too
and send any opinions they have to Norman’.
‘The information gained from the Tutor and Senior Regional Organiser on the
course has given me the confidence to meet with management and represent
ATL members within my college’.
FE Learning and Development Events
These events are based around Functional Skills strategies and operational
implementation. The programme is the one devised at Oldham College and
built by Mary Hastings and Rebecca Poorhardy (ULRs at Oldham College).
Around 100 members and non-members attended a conference at Doncaster
College, 8th July, and around 80 members and non-members at Derby College
on 9th July. George Trow introduced the Doncaster event and did a great job
of showing how ATL had established itself as a support for members and a
progressive voice in the sector.
At Derby, Katie Stafford introduced the college’s CPD week with due focus on
ATL’s contributions around Functional Skills workshops and Behaviour
Management (Lisa Merrill) which were very well received. Judith Swift from
the TUC gave a strategic overview of functional skills and set us up perfectly
for the day.
If you would like to be considered to host such an event (or similar CPD
event) please contact Laura Boyd ([email protected]). While we cannot meet
every request we can meet some and it would be helpful to know what the
level of interest is and in what sorts of developmental areas you feel CPD is
needed.
FE National Project Proposal
ATL is supporting the growth opportunities and recruitment trends in the
post-16 sector by proposing a national FE project that will begin next term.
Laura Boyd will be leading the project.
Post-16 Policy
The Education and Training Foundation (FE Guild)
BIS has confirmed funding of £18.8m for August to April next year, and the
same figure again for 2014-15, to run the new FE Guild which has now been
re-named the Education and Training Foundation. The implementation plan
for the Education and Training Foundation has been approved and will enable
initial operation to start by the end of August 2013. Sir Geoff Hall has been
appointed as interim Chief Executive, starting immediately.
Its initial focus will be on teaching and learning staff and those directly
supporting learner outcomes and experience but it is expected that in the
future it will encompass everyone working in the sector.
The link to our response to the consultation to establish a Guild for the
learning and skills sector is here.
FE Commissioner
ATL has concerns over the role of a new ‘FE Commissioner’ announced by the
government in April. The government’s new strategy, Rigour and
Responsiveness in Skills will also mean FE colleges deemed to be
underperforming could be put into ‘administered college’ status, and the FE
commissioner would advise on how to improve colleges considered
‘inadequate’.
Serious questions remain about the role, including whether this will clash with
the remit and powers of Ofsted, and on how accountable to Parliament the
Commissioner will be. We are concerned that having disestablished LSIS and
reduced the remit of the SFA, the government appears to be reinventing the
wheel with the added complication of introducing this new roving role, which
does not sit in any particular agency or department.
We have also expressed concerns about the recruitment strategy for the
Commissioner. In an article in FE Week, ATL said that the invitation to bid
through a request for quotation and the requirement to be registered on the
framework will prejudice applications from anyone in FE who hasn’t already
set up a limited company — which is ridiculous, given the nature of the role.
The framework was established to save money and to ensure that consultants
were not working regularly enough for the taxman to consider them full-time
employees. Even if FE staff have formed a limited company, it will still take a
few days to fast-track their application to join the framework. This means
college leaders will be at a disadvantage, compared with the many national
leaders of education, etc, who are already registered and ready to respond to
the request to quote.
The link to the full article in FE Week is here Commissioner Specification
‘prejudices’ FE hopefuls.
Consultation on the Removal of Speaking and Listening Assessment
from GCSE English and GCSE English Language
Ofqual are currently consulting on GCSE English and GCSE English language.
It wants to make changes to the way in which the speaking and listening
(S&L) component of the qualification contributes to a student's overall result,
and the way in which achievement in S&L is reported. They are proposing that
performance in S&L will no longer contribute to the overall mark and grade
achieved by a student, instead, results will be calculated from the other
component parts of the qualification.
If these proposals are implemented, then from 2014 students would achieve
GCSE grades calculated without reference to their S&L performance. S&L
skills would continue to be assessed as they are now, but students'
performance in S&L would be assessed and reported separately – and would
be shown as an endorsement on students' GCSE certificates.
I am currently drafting our response and would be interested in hearing from
you, or you can respond to the consultation directly here. Thanks to those
who have already responded to my survey.
Consultation on the method used to allocate the discretionary
element of the 16-19 Bursary Fund to providers
The Government has decided to introduce a new allocation method from
2014/15, because they believe that the current method used to allocate
discretionary bursary funding to providers, (based on data from 2009/10) is
becoming out of date. The proposed approach is to use the number of
students previously eligible for the Pupil Premium to estimate
disadvantage. Government also plans to attach an extra weight to
disadvantaged students who live in rural areas to reflect the higher transport
costs incurred by those students.
We need your views. I am currently drafting our response and would be
interested in hearing from you, or you can respond to the consultation directly
here.
Consultation on Government proposals to reform
qualifications for 16-19 year olds
ATL responded to the consultation – our response is here.
vocational
Essentially we believe that:
• the vision of a completely unified qualifications package for young
people that holds both academic and vocational skills in high esteem
should be the aspiration for the sector;
• the Government’s plan to report different qualifications separately is
worrying. Labelling some vocational qualifications ‘applied general’ and
others ‘occupational’ risks creating an unjustified hierarchy that could
potentially promote a culture of low expectations for young people;
•
•
•
all 16-19 year-olds need vocational skills irrespective of what subjects
they are studying, young people need the option of being able to study
both vocational and academic subjects as part of a unified curriculum;
there should be a single set of characteristics and expectations that
define high quality vocational provision, whether the principal purpose of
the qualification is to support progression to the workplace or to further
study, or offers the opportunity to take either path;
there is little evidence to support these proposals.
The Future of Apprenticeships in England: Next steps from the
Richard Review of Apprenticeships
In our response to the consultation, ATL welcomed that Richard has identified
the apprentice, the employer and government as the three parties to an
Apprenticeship. However, we feel it is unfortunate that government has taken
the decision to effectively charge apprentices to take part in an
Apprenticeship. The 24+ advanced learning loans policy, as mentioned in our
response to Q.23 is particularly problematic in the context of our changing
labour market and modern economy.
We also said that it is crucial that government and employers address the pay
and exploitation of some young apprentices. Currently one in five does not
receive the statutory minimum wage and some find themselves on substandard schemes where employers simply use them as a cheap source of
labour. We argued that his must be stopped and robust action taken against
employers who break the law. The link to our full response is here.
Traineeships
The link to our full response to the Traineeships consultation is here. In our
response, ATL’s main points were that:
• the stated primary objective of getting young people into work is crucial;
• there is clearly a need for programmes for young people who do not
wish to take an academic course and are not yet ready for a full
apprenticeship;
• the emphasis on flexibility is right. Programmes must meet all the
learners’ needs and there must also be structured learning
opportunities;
• it is crucial that there is an emphasis on equality and diversity within
Traineeships, particularly if one of the main aims of Traineeships is to
facilitate progression onto an Apprenticeship;
• the prospect of work is a major motivator. Work placements are
essential for trainees therefore employer engagement is crucial;
• it is useful to build on what is working well in this area and many further
education (FE) colleges are running programmes for the target audience
for Traineeships. Also FE colleges have good links with local employers;
• the amount of funding available for additional learning support required
by trainees on the programme is of concern. The budget allocated to the
Study Programmes may not be sufficient to cover these learning needs.
National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) - Big fall in
the number of young people in learning
We recently responded to the latest findings of the annual NIACE adult
participation in learning survey for 2013. ATL said that the results are
worrying and the fall in the number of young people who are taking part in, or
considering learning paints a bleak picture for the future. It is of particular
concern that there has been a substantial fall (9 percentage points, from 88
to 79 per cent) in the number of young adults aged 17 – 19 participating in
learning.
We said that the abolition of the EMA has made it harder for less
advantaged young people to succeed and has done nothing to help the one
million plus 16–14 year olds currently out of work. Now the impact of this
damaging policy is evident, and the introduction from September of loans for
students aged over 24, means that potentially a further 100,000 young adults
will be denied further training. Research has also shown that the over 40s will
be the most disadvantaged by this change to funding.
ATL has campaigned against student loans in FE and has called on the
government to reconsider the withdrawal of the EMA. We now call on the
government to stop any further cuts to adult FE in order to limit the
damage that they have already caused to this vital sector which provides
crucial education and training for so many young people and adults.
Labour Party - One Nation Skills Taskforce Interim Report - Driving up
standards in FE colleges
ATL responded recently to Labour’s interim report. We welcomed that the
Labour Party has recognised the damaging divide between vocational and
academic education in this country, and said that we wished the coalition
government would do the same, rather than making 16 year olds choose
between academic and occupational qualifications, as its plans to reform
vocational qualifications at level 3 will do.
The One Nation Skills Taskforce Interim Report rightly highlights that
achieving any significant improvement in skills is dependent on having both
high quality education in colleges and high quality training provided by
employers. We agreed with Labour that it is important for FE lecturers to
spend time each year gaining first-hand experience in the workplace, as this
would enable them to update their vocational skills and bring industry
standards into colleges. The link to Labour’s report is here.
FE Teacher Trainer Employer Guidance
LSIS has now developed and published the generic initial teaching and
specialist qualifications guidance for awarding organisations and HE providers
developing qualifications for teaching and supporting learning in the FE and
skills sector. The link to the LSIS website is here for information and there are
further links below:
• Qualifications for teaching and supporting learning in the FE
sector in England
• Generic teaching qualifications
• Specialist teaching qualifications - English: Literacy, English: ESOL,
English: Literacy and ESOL, mathematics: numeracy, teaching
disabled learners
• Learning support
NUS FE 24+ campaign against fees in FE
ATL has joined with NUS, UCU and Unison in the campaign to say no to FE
loans. The link to our campaign page is here.
In June two parallel GCSE Reform consultations were released. ATL will be
responding and we have surveyed members to inform that response, however
if you have the time to do an individual response, that would help to get our
message across. The links to the two consultations are below:
1. Ofqual consultation about the regulatory aspects of proposed changes to
GCSEs taken by students in England. The deadline is 3rd September
2013. Click here for details.
2. DfE consultation on curriculum content reflecting the proposed new
National Curriculum. The deadline is 20 August 2013. Click here for
details.
Recent ATL (FE and assessment) consultation responses (hyperlinks):
Consultation on the method used to allocate the discretionary element of the
16-19 Bursary Fund to providers
Consultation the Removal of Speaking and Listening Assessment from GCSE
English and GCSE English Language - Response from the Association of
Teachers and Lecturers – June 2013
The Future of Apprenticeships in England: Next steps from the Richard Review
Government proposals to reform vocational qualifications for 16-19 year olds
Consultation to establish a guild for the learning and skills sector
Traineeships - Supporting young people
Apprenticeships and other sustained jobs
to
develop
the
skills
for
Useful links
•
Ofqal open letter regarding GCSE, A level reforms and resit policies. See
here.
•
Article on future of skills policy and funding here. This is a very
interesting article by Ewart Keep and Ken Mayhew of the SKOPE group
(The Centre on Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance) on
the broad implications of the spending review on post-16 provision.
‘The implications of the June 26 public spending review for education
and training (E&T) are still not widely understood. It is not simply that
it presages major reductions in some areas of post-19 E&T activity,
more fundamentally it may mark the beginning of the end of an entire
era in skills policy...’
•
The new performance measures for schools and colleges in regard to
GCSES, Study Programme English and Maths, A levels, and Vocational
Qualifications. See here.
No Success without Succession!
Rep Appointment / Election
ATL rules stipulate that incumbent reps should inform their members that they
wish to continue in their role for the next academic year.
If another member puts themselves forward for the role, then an election may
need to be conducted - read further guidance on the appointment/election
process here or contact your branch secretary.
And if no one else puts themselves forward, could you please confirm your
appointment by emailing the ATL membership department.
If you are in a workplace without a rep and you want an ATL voice why not go
for it?
Any questions or further details contact National Official for Post-16 education
([email protected]).