15 minute read
INTERVIEW
in picking up the pieces. “Adult education was important anyway but it’s going to be even more important this year,” she says.
“There are two parts to it. One is we have this legacy of adults with poor basic skills, so one in fi ve has literacy issues and they probably have numeracy issues too. Then we will have maybe 2.5 million unemployed by the winter, and it’s no good just looking for jobs. We have to retrain people and put them into jobs for the future, so adult education is going to be even more important going forward.” Since 2011, providers in the sector have been encouraged to target specifi c local issues, she adds, such as high levels of unemployment or working with those with issues around language.
She’s been impressed with how the adult community education sector has responded to the Covid-19 crisis, particularly its ability and willingness to embrace live online learning. “The main issue was to get devices to learners,” she says. “Many centres have done all sorts of things to do that, from approaching charities to putting a call-out in the locality for people to give up old kit and have it refurbished and upgraded.” The sector has been keen to get back up and running, she adds, knowing that those it helps are often escaping diffi cult home lives.
College calling
Adult education hasn’t always been the focus for Pember. After qualifying as a teacher, she left her home town of Pontypridd and ventured to the east end of London in 1977, where she taught textiles at Redbridge Technical College and then moved six years later to Southgate College as deputy head and lecturer.
“At that point I started working on a Manpower Services Commission project, which was all about matching the needs of employers and the actions of colleges in north London,” she says. “That has been with me ever since, based around the idea that our education system should be about getting people a job but also about giving employers what they need. That’s where I got my love of apprenticeships from.”
This “second strand” saw her move into the Education Department of the London Borough of Enfi eld, where she took on
the role of deputy director of education across four colleges, the adult education service, and the youth and careers service. “I felt my key strength was that I was a trained teacher, so when we wanted to bring interventions in I knew how we could operate, because I understood how a college worked and how teachers reacted to certain things,” she says.
She believes she’d still be in that position today had it not been for the 1992 Education Act, which made colleges independent of local authorities. “I really didn’t want to be a schools offi cer,” she says. “I loved the world of FE and at that point I thought I could go back to college.” She returned as the principal of Canterbury College in 1991, where she stayed for nine years, transforming a failing college into a highly successful establishment.
It was there that she took on a project designed to widen participation in education across Kent, which would ultimately land her an OBE in 2000. “Whatever people enrolled, we’d assess their literacy and numeracy skills,” she
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Tortoise! says. “If they had low literacy or numeracy we’d work really hard to ensure they took that as well as their course, so they had a better chance of a job afterwards.”
Skills for Life
The success of this project not only led to the OBE but also saw Pember move into government, working for the Department for Education and Employment, tasked with implementing the Moser Review and developing a plan to boost the literacy and numeracy of millions of adults, resulting in the Skills for Life agenda.
“That was probably one of the highlights of my career because over 14 million people went on one of those literacy and numeracy courses, and it’s made a huge diff erence to getting people to Level 2,” she says. “Much of the legacy is still in operation today and has been embedded in the system, including the National Entitlements, which are written up in statute off ering free literacy and numeracy for adults.” A later project was to drive the fi rst Apprenticeships Review in 2005/6, which paved the way for getting apprenticeships back on the skills agenda.
Pember says she believes the skills she picked up around building an evidence case and convincing people on the back of it have proved invaluable in her current role with HOLEX, which she describes as “gamekeeper turned poacher”. “In a way everything I have done in the past has built up to this role,” she adds.
Away from the day job, Pember is currently a governor of both the University of Bedfordshire and Oakwood Secondary School in Horley, although both are due to come to an end in the near future.
As for the adult education sector, Pember is hopeful its ability to tackle some of the issues that may manifest themselves in a post-Covid-19 landscape will help raise its profi le and allow providers to expand over the next few years. “We just want the adult education sector to support the recovery plan,” she says. “It’s a growing business, even if it is one which shouldn’t be there. If young people were doing better at school, we wouldn’t have to teach numeracy and literacy to adults.”
IT COULD BE AN EXCITING TIME FOR FE IF A SATISFACTORY MODEL IS DEVELOPED WHICH DOES NOT RELY ON LOANS
Changed landscape
The Covid-19 pandemic caused huge disruption to providers when it hit the UK earlier this year. But the longer-term ramifi cations could be just as signifi cant. Elizabeth Holmes investigates
s 2020 unfurled, it became
Aincreasingly clear that this would be a year like no other. By the beginning of March there was serious discussion, not about if schools, colleges and other educational providers would close to help stop the spread of the novel coronavirus, but when.
Since then, Covid-19 has challenged us all, not least those in further education. By 23 March, many educational establishments had closed and life for teachers changed dramatically. Lessons were no longer face-to-face but delivered online or virtually where possible; an immense challenge for practical subjects and students (and staff ) who did not have access to reliable tech equipment and internet connections at home.
The impact of this on FE may continue to be felt well into the future. Professor emeritus at Oxford University Ewart Keep, who holds the chair in education,
training and skills at the Department of Education at Oxford University, £2bn described the current situation as a “potentially exciting says: “The cost of The amount of money pledged opportunity to deep cleaning alone to create more jobs for young look at more is high. I worry people under the Kickstart eff ective and varied that the FE sector programme ways of delivering will struggle with education and the government’s other activities”. expectations. There will be a lot She goes on to suggest that prisons of online learning and practical could support the reopening of learning will have to take place education delivery through peer in small groups. There are cost support, for example self-study implications to this, and fi nances groups for distance learning, reading will be under strain.” groups and mentoring. Cooney also
Professor of educational points to the value of in-cell and selfphilosophy and policy at King’s study supplementing face-to-face College London Chris Winch is education. Using larger spaces such more positive. “This is a tough time as gyms, libraries and worship spaces for FE,” he says. “But politically may also help with the necessary the shift seems to be back towards social distancing. FE with the recent abandonment Adult and community education of the target of 50 per cent of is also having to face up to the young people in England going to challenges of Covid-19. Sue Pember, university. It could be an exciting director of policy and external time for FE if a satisfactory model relations at HOLEX, believes is developed which does not rely the pandemic could help to push on loans. We have a build-up of the concept of a national lifelong graduate under-employment which learning programme, which can help suggests that the current pressure match up the needs of employers on young people to go to university with people seeking new skills. may not be in the best interests of “We’re one of the few countries all those that do.” that haven’t got a strategy,” she Lasting legacy to understand what artifi cial Like many in the FE sector, Harlow intelligence is doing and what College principal Karen Spencer the digital world requires, and to is thinking about the lasting prepare people for that.” consequences of Covid-19. “It’s points out. “For example, we need too early to say how the pandemic Virtual learning will impact on our use of physical When Covid-19 struck, there was space,” she says. “At present, space an immediate need for virtual is at a premium... I would like to learning to be running eff ectively. see an adaption of spaces moving Yet providers are at diff erent stages from ‘traditional’ classroom spaces of their digital and virtual journeys, to ‘industry quality’ spaces that which means practice varies across maximise the use of professional FE. “We began our digital strategy equipment and resources. six years ago and have worked hard However, this is costly and requires to embed technology as another tool signifi cant fi nancial investment.” in a teacher’s toolkit,” says Spencer.
Other parts of the FE sector are “This made moving into an online also starting to assess the longerteaching experience simpler, as we term impact. In an article on the had a fl ipped approach to learning Prisoners’ Education Trust website, as a core part of our teaching and its head of policy Francesca Cooney learning strategy already.”
REFLECTIONS ON COVID-19
Covid-19 is forcing us to look at how we deliver education and training. It is a disruption that demands our attention. We also have to look at the physical, infrastructural elements of education.
Perhaps this will encourage us to look at what has worked best in the past – the heyday of FE when we had youth workers who linked into the curriculum. Learning happened through informal conversations in the corridors then, but now the burden of that is on the teacher.
I wonder if the big shock to the system hasn’t yet happened. We are planning for what the ‘new normal’ will look like but in the knowledge that our preparations are going to change. We have delivered online staff development and held online awards. We also do Q&A sessions for teachers so that we remain in dialogue about their needs. We explore students’ needs and whether we can effectively deliver that outside the classroom to ensure students remain engaged and not disadvantaged.
My view of the Covid-19 legacy is that this is one of the greatest opportunities the education sector has had to do something different since the 1950s. We need a sector-led approach so that we can balance policy and grassroots change. We need to learn fast and fail fast. How do we plan our resources and how do we deploy our staff? We cannot continue with this 24/7 contact time.
However, not all learning can be delivered online. “We have many students in practical disciplines – construction, electrical installation, engineering, professional cookery, and hair and beauty – who require access to specialist facilities and resources,” she points out.
There are also considerations of learners with SEND; something that will impact on all providers in the FE space. “Our students with SEND have responded positively, on the whole, to learning from home,” says Spencer. “However, when we have probed this, they and their parents have often stated this is because they feel safer at home. We risk a whole group of people being disenfranchised from society without careful thought on how to tackle this issue.”
The impact on staff is also something all providers will need to consider, as more education is delivered virtually. “We talk about blended learning but we haven’t really talked about blended work/ life balance,” says Palvinder Singh, deputy principal at Kidderminster College. “In the current climate, teachers are almost always on-call.
Don’t miss our interview with Sue Pember on page 14
Wellbeing will be short-lived unless we can give staff a mentally and physically safe way of working.”
Youth unemployment
The issue that is perhaps most pressing, and that many predict could defi ne the next fi ve years, is youth unemployment. Professor Keep points out that there is research which shows that the youth labour market has changed. “The Department for Education FE white paper, due this Autumn, could signal another round of changes at a time when the FE sector is experiencing signifi cant strain,” he says. “Things felt unsure before the pandemic hit and now there is even greater uncertainty.”
While some young people have evidently thrived through the lockdown, life was made harder for others. “In a tough job market,” Keep explains, “unemployed graduates will get the jobs. The message from the 1980s is that youth unemployment will last. This is an issue facing us potentially for years. Covid-19 and Brexit will both hit labour markets. No jobs for students could drive a coach and horses through our ability to attract and retain students in FE who need to work while they study.”
For Professor Winch, there are signs that young people have been identifi ed as a political priority. “There is a huge risk of youth unemployment and that can have scarring eff ects that young people carry with them throughout life,” he says.
“There are signs the Government recognises this and it is important that the progress of apprenticeships, training and work experience initiatives is monitored closely. It is imperative to invest in training. Employers will have to play their part. The review of qualifi cations should keep in mind the fact that there is a danger of having endpoint assessments that do not take account of the integration of knowledge and practice.”
New initiatives
In July, chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a £2 billion ‘Kickstart scheme’ to create more jobs for young people, as part of a package to try to prevent mass unemployment.
But Professor Winch worries that short-term measures could detract from wider eff orts to transform the FE sector. “New schemes such as Kickstart were announced very quickly,” he says. “There is a danger that innovations like T Levels will be swamped by new initiatives.”
Yet it is not just young people who will need attention, points out Pember. “It’s not just 19-25-yearolds; there are also the 50-year-olds at risk of being made redundant,” she adds. “What we’re saying to Government, and particularly the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Education, is this is an opportunity to really retrain people. Let them continue to claim Universal Credit or introduce a maintenance award and let them do something that will be a really useful qualifi cation that will serve them for the long term.”
The recent Government announcements around investment in education and training to bring about social and economic renewal have largely been welcomed by third sector education providers, but there are concerns about how this will play out in reality.
“A lot of people are worried that the Government will try to reinvent a new supply chain, just funding large organisations or corporations, rather than the organisations already delivering services in the community,” says Stephen Jeff ery, CEO of the London Learning Consortium, a third sector provider. “The Government needs to think hard about resourcing a sector that has been underfunded for a number of years, in a way that enables people to get back into work and upskilled.
ELIZABETH HOLMES is a freelance author specialising in the education sector
harities and other
Cvoluntary organisations make a huge contribution to the FE sector. Some are education providers in their own right, while others provide services that enable colleges and other institutions to function or to deliver certain courses.
Others pay fees or fund resources for students with specifi c requirements; or from particular communities; or who have been directly or indirectly aff ected by problems such as poverty, drug abuse, illness or disability. As Stephen Jeff ery, CEO of the London Learning Consortium (LLC) – a community interest company that delivers skills and education programmes – puts it: “Third sector organisations play a critical role in delivering education for some of those who need it most.”
The National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) has tried to split the UK’s 160,000 or so registered charities and voluntary organisations into sub-sectors based on activity, with the caveat that while some are entirely dedicated to education-related causes, for others, education is just one of many diff erent charitable activities.
Its most recent statistics, for 2017/18, show 7,421 organisations in the ‘education’ category, although clearly not all of these will be supporting FE. But it also lists 12,552 grant-making
foundations, some of which will be supporting FE-related causes and The Refugee Support Network supports around 500 young refugees and asylum seekers every year charities. Some of the organisations listed in the ‘culture and recreation’ sector (24,024) and some of the 11,757 parent-teacher associations will also be Third sector making some contribution to post-16 education institutions and causes. organisations play a This huge range of diff erent organisations includes some of the UK’s larger, well-known charities, but most pivotal role in helping deliver further education are small and are often communitybased. The NCVO’s classifi es 53 per cent of charities/voluntary organisations to those who may otherwise be cut off. in the ‘education’ sector as ‘micro’ organisations, with a further 28 per cent described as ‘small’. But the sector faces a number of challenges, Coping with Covid by David Adams Vital support Jeff rey says that about half of the smaller organisations LLC works with had to cease operations during lockdown. “About half carried on and some saw some growth in demand,” he says. “But for many it was easier to shut up than to carry on.”
