INTELLIGENCE

Issue 2 of 2012-2013 – 27th September 2012

Tendering opportunities and new business Sport England The College has been successful in gaining £210,000 from Sport England to fund two Sport Maker posts at the College: one in the north and one in the south of the city. We are awaiting written confirmation.

Enhanced Renewal Grant 3 The College has applied for an Enhanced Renewal Grant to fund building work at the Nicholls Campus. Notification is due by the end of October 2012.

Apprenticeship Application Support for Young People The Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) on behalf of the National Apprenticeship Service, is making £450,000 funding available to help and engage young people aged 16 – 20, to submit successful quality apprenticeship applications. Independent training organisations and FE Colleges are invited to tender bids to run innovative projects and new approaches to support young people and underrepresented groups. The Apprenticeship Application Support Fund (AASF) will fund eight - ten projects; each project must be of £25,000 or above in value. The College’s application form has now been sent.

Employer Ownership of Skills On 12th September BIS announced the first round of successful bidders for the Employer Ownership Pilot. More successful bidders will be announced in October and a further bidding round will be launched this autumn.

Further information from UKCES can be found here. The BIS press release is here. The outcome of the New Economy £6m bid for Manchester is due in October.

ESF Provision of Prison Radio Project NOMS has invited applications to establish and run a prison radio project to raise awareness of ESF projects among prisoners. It can be administered from one of the 24 prisons which currently runs a prison radio (or equivalent) course (eg Styal). The contract value is £60,000 to £70,000 over 18 months. Our application has now been sent.

Industrial Cleaning Training at HMP Wetherby The College has submitted a tender for provision of industrial cleaning training at HMP Wetherby, worth around £12,000.

Management Training for NHS Leadership Academy We are studying documents for a PQQ to get onto the tendering list for this opportunity. It is issued by Leicestershire and Rutland NHS Procurement Partnership (LRPP) on behalf of the NHS Leadership Academy, who are hosted by University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust. It is for a suite of three accredited blended learning opportunities in management and leadership at three levels of management. The deadline is 10th October 2012.

Big Lottery– Talent Match This is an investment fund aimed at tackling unemployment in 18-24 year olds who are finding it hardest to secure jobs or training opportunities. Greater Manchester is included as a hotspot, and it has been estimated that investment in the region of £9.6M will be available over a five year period starting March 2013 targeted towards support for long-term unemployed 18-24 year olds. GMCVO are leading on pulling the bid together that will include Local Authorities, LEP, Employers, Colleges, etc. Deadline is December 2012.

GMCVO are being supported by Big Lottery and are planning a very wide consultation. They are in the process of establishing a section on their website where people can contribute their thoughts on what's needed, where the gaps are, etc. We have filled in the Expression of Interest form on the GMCVO website and have attended the programme design event. We may wish to link in with the GM Skills and Employment group. We are awaiting the next stage.

Page 1 of 20 Further education and skills news Ministerial reshuffle The Prime Minister’s cabinet reshuffle in early September has implications for Further Education.

At the Business, Innovation and Skills Department (which is the main ministry with which the College works, and under which the SFA operates) Skills Minister John Hayes has been replaced by Matthew Hancock. Hancock, 34, has been (Conservative) MP for West Suffolk since 2010. Before that for five years he was Economic Advisor to George Osborne, while in opposition, and drafted much of Conservative economic policy at that time. Prior to that he was at the Bank of England, specialising in the housing market. He co-wrote (with fellow Tory MP Nadhim Jahawi) “Masters of Nothing”, a critique of the role of human behaviour in the financial crash of 2008. He is a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, which is a lower rank than that of Minister of State, held by Hayes.

At the Ministry of Justice, (which is relevant to the College in terms of offender learning for young people), the Secretary of State Kenneth Clarke has been replaced by Chris Grayling. The Minister that the College dealt with, Crispin Blunt, has retired to the back benches and has been replaced by Jeremy Wright. His full list of duties is  rehabilitation revolution  prisons and probation  youth justice  sentencing policy

Jeremy Wright is also a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State. He served as a member of the Justice Committee and founded the All- Party Parliamentary Group on Dementia in 2007. He was made an Opposition Whip in 2007 and became a Government Whip in 2010. He studied at the Inns of Court School of Law, and was called to the Bar in 1996, specialising in criminal law - both prosecution and defence. He is the (Conservative) MP for Kenilworth and Southam.

Richard Review of Apprenticeships The College responded to the Richard Review of Apprenticeships on 7th September 2012 and also commented on the 157 Group’s response while it was at draft stage. Our comments were taken on board. Both the College submission and the final version of the 157 Group’s submission can be found at the end of this issue of Intelligence.

Commission on Adult Vocational Teaching and Learning (CAVTL) This review, details of which can be found here, is concentrating on issues such as  leadership of teaching and learning  how students contribute to their learning  the distinctiveness of vocational teaching and learning  what generates great teaching and learning  current examples in our colleges of outstanding teaching and learning

The deadline for submitting directly to the review is 26th October. An earlier deadline of 21st September was given to us by 157 Group for contributing to their collective submission, much of which derives from an earlier document “Redefining Successful Colleges” which bears a heavy imprint of The Manchester College. Our contribution this time round took the form of a number of case studies from Offender Learning, an area which might otherwise be largely (and wrongly) overlooked in a collective college response. Our contribution to the 157 Group’s response can be found at the end of this briefing.

Effects of Comprehensive Spending Review 2011 We have contributed to the 157 Group’s collective response to a request from BIS to advise it of the effects on the FE Sector of the 2011 Comprehensive Spending Review.

We made three points in particular  that BIS/SFA should consider taking a more proactive approach to directing funding where there is proven demand (and where that demand cannot currently be satisfied in line with funding allocations) and away from providers who are under- recruiting in those areas  that the collective response on the localism agenda should not avoid suggesting that an FE college’s vigorous and effective local agenda was necessarily incompatible with a vigorous and effective national agenda. Indeed there were many examples (the College’s Offender Learning provision in particular) which demonstrate that the two can be mutually supportive and integrated, given the right approach.  that the collective response on the trend towards subcontracting should not inadvertently give sanction to any possible Government plans to increase the extent to which contracts by-pass the FE sector and are directed towards the private

Page 2 of 20 provider sector

BIS invited the Group to comment in order to give them ammunition in their discussions with the Treasury on future departmental budget allocations. The final version of the Group’s response to BIS will be included in the next issue of Intelligence.

Parental attitudes towards vocational education A study by the Edge foundation suggests that government policy is not keeping up with parental attitudes to vocational education. It can be read here.

Raising the participation age From summer 2013, young people will be required to continue in education or training until at least the end of the academic year in which they turn 17 (the end of Year 12 or equivalent). This means young people who started Year 11 in September 2012 will be the first to be affected. From 2015, young people will be required to continue until their 18th birthday.

It is very important to understand that this does not necessarily mean staying in school. Young people will be able to choose how they participate post-16, which could be through  full time education and training with schools/academies, colleges, local authorities and commercial and charitable providers  an apprenticeship  full time employment or volunteering with part-time education or training alongside

From summer 2013 all learning providers, including academies, will be required to inform their local authority if a young person has dropped out of learning. More information can be found here.

ESOL Qualifications Ofqual has begun a consultation on the regulation and use of ESOL qualifications. They are proposing to introduce a new qualification (“ESOL for Life in the UK”) designed to meet Home Office requirements. Full details are available here.

The Skills Show The UK’s biggest skills and careers event, The Skills Show, takes place from 15-17 November at the NEC, Birmingham. It is supported by the SFA and the National Apprenticeship Service. It aims to raise public profile, awareness and recognition of further education, apprenticeships and skills. Details are available here.

Employment and Welfare News Lib Dem Policy Paper “Sustainable Prosperity and Jobs” A new Liberal Democrat policy paper on ‘Sustainable Prosperity and Jobs’ has been published, putting forward a number of proposals on skills and employment. These include  extending Ofsted’s inspection remit to cover wider aspects of employability and life skills  expanding apprenticeships provision on major public infrastructure projects.  extending the right to request flexible working currently available to those with young families to any employee pursuing training or skills development

The paper is available here.

Career learning for all LSIS has updated its free online resource ‘Career learning for all’. It is designed to help staff involved in the organisation or delivery of career development for learners to develop their skills and knowledge. It is available here.

Youth unemployment and skills mismatch A video from OECD describes the skills mismatch and its impact on youth unemployment worldwide. It raises similar issues to those raised in the Tacking Unemployment paper. The video is available at here.

Page 3 of 20 Apprenticeship news New Higher Apprenticeships On 22 August two new Higher Apprenticeships in Project Management (573) and a Higher Apprenticeship in Human Resource Management (574) became available. Both were issued by Skills CFA, the issuing authority for business-related Apprenticeships.

Attracting young people to apprenticeship vacancies SFA’s apprenticeship vacancies team has produced a list of tips on how providers can further promote their apprenticeship vacancies. The document includes ideas about how to publicise and make vacancies more appealing to candidates. Details can be found here.

Conference The College has been informed that there is a conference coming up in the near future that we may be interested in attending.

 27 November – The Future of Apprenticeships

It is being run by Neil Stewart Associates. Places can be booked here.

HE News Widening participation A paper from HEFCE has suggested that FE is more successful at widening participation than HE. You can read the report here.

Conference The College has been informed that there is a conference coming up in the near future that we may be interested in attending.

 11 October – Higher Education in FE Colleges

It is being run by Neil Stewart Associates. Places can be booked here.

Page 4 of 20 Richard Review of Apprenticeships

Submission by The Manchester College

1. Introduction The Manchester College is pleased to contribute to the Richard Review of Apprenticeships. We endorse and support the response of the 157 Group of leading colleges and wish to make these additional and supplementary comments from The Manchester College’s particular perspective.

We understand, and welcome, the fact that this review is not a detailed critique of the present system but essentially a strategic, forward facing process aimed at maximising the benefit of apprenticeships to the individual, employers and the economy as a whole. Our submission is presented in that context and is deliberately focused on what we believe to be the key issues within the parameters set by the Review, namely  What purpose should apprenticeships serve, to individuals and employers, and the wider economy?  What should a good apprenticeship look like?  What role should government play in delivering or enabling this?

The key issues that we will be addressing are Principles  What should be the aims and objectives of apprenticeships?  Who should apprenticeships be for?  What should be the outcomes – for apprentice, employer and wider economy? Content  What should apprenticeships contain in order to be of high quality?  Should content differ between sectors, types of learners and types of employers?  How do we assure that they reflect employers’ needs?  What should be the role of qualifications in apprenticeships. How can we ensure that qualifications are fit for purpose? Delivery  What should be the role of government?  What should be the role of employers?  Who should pay for what? Value for money and boosting access  How can value for money be assured?  How can employer demand and learner demand be boosted?  How can people of all abilities get fair access|?

Page 5 of 20 2. The Manchester College’s involvement in apprenticeships From the very first policy announcements of the new coalition Government, through New Challenges, New Chances and all other policies affecting jobs, training and post 16 education, apprenticeships have featured large and we recognise that they are at the core of Government policy. The College is responding to this on the scale required. We recognise the huge force for good that is inherent in the apprenticeship approach and the substantial contribution that it can make to offering young people an appropriate solution to their developmental needs and employment opportunities. At the same time, we are ever mindful that choice and flexibility remain as important as ever, and that it would not be to the advantage of young people to concentrate on apprenticeships to the detriment of the many other pathways that we can offer and they can benefit from.

We are in the process of increasing the contract value of apprenticeship provision from £1.4m in 2010-2011 to a projected income of £3m in 2012-2013, and are putting as much emphasis on offering apprenticeship opportunities in employment sectors where apprenticeships are not a traditional option as we do to the established areas such as construction and engineering. A key focus of our apprenticeship activity will be the development of Higher Level Apprenticeships, which will provide a vital work-based progression route to higher levels of study for employed learners. Access to apprenticeship programmes will be a priority for growth, and we will particularly direct this towards people who are not in employment, education or training (NEET), both in the 16-18 years bracket and those 25 and over.

Within apprenticeships themselves, areas for development at levels 2-4 include  Hospitality, Spa Therapy, Sport and Recreation  Community Housing, Property Lettings, Sale of Residential Property, Facilities Management  Transport and Logistics, Bus and Coach Driving, Body and Paint  Health and Social Care, Pharmacy  Waste and Energy Management  Business Improvement Techniques

Full details of the apprenticeship opportunities currently available at The Manchester College are attached.

3. Principles 3.1 The aims and objectives of apprenticeships In forming a sensible long-term view of apprenticeships, and in devising their aims and objectives, one could do no better than to refer to their historical basis. Apprenticeships were a hugely successful invention of employers, and groupings of employers, designed to safeguard the future of their trades and industries in terms of skill level, standards of product/service and succession planning. These are the prime purposes of apprenticeships. Apprenticeships should therefore be clearly based on aims and objectives centred on  the development of sector and job-specific skills  the development of personal and behavioural skills that will support a young person into and throughout their working life  the need for employers to plan succession and future-proof their businesses, organisations, trades and professions

These may seem obvious and simplistic, but the origins of apprenticeships and the purpose they should serve can become lost in the debate on their future which, paradoxically and often unhelpfully, is more often conducted by the educational and Governmental parties involved rather than employers and employees themselves. The decision by the Government to place apprenticeships at the heart of their skills policy was, understandably, driven at least in part by the fact that the name – the brand – was and (despite some setbacks) still is almost universally understood and well regarded among the general public as well as among employers. The danger is to believe, or to act as if, keeping the name is sufficient to ensure integrity and success regardless of any fundamental changes in the reality of the product. A theme running through this submission is that only by positioning apprenticeships in line with their origins as an employer-owned, employer-led initiative will they truly fulfill their potential, maintain their reputation and provide apprentices with the self-esteem and social esteem historically associated with the name.

Whatever aims and objective set the future course for apprenticeships they must be devised and owned primarily by employers – both those that are already proactively supportive of apprenticeships and those that are less so (or that assume that apprenticeships are simply another name for yet another Government skills and funding initiative). They must be, more than anything else, an employer-steered pathway for the necessary acquisition of current and future occupational skills and organizational/sector succession planning and future proofing. The content, approach, funding and marketing of apprenticeships must be, and be seen to be, separate from  attempts by Government and/or further education to tackle key and functional skill deficiencies in school leavers Page 6 of 20  attempts to apply a fix to globally identified skills deficiencies by the channeling of financial incentives in particular directions

They must be seen to be intimately linked to high-quality long-term jobs and progression, and to the young person’s acquisition of such employment through effort, skill and commitment, amply supported by employer and educational institution alike.

For the future, any aspect of apprenticeships’ public persona that smacks of Government sponsorship or ownership, or of the educational establishment leading the way, will be fatal to the success of apprenticeships and will serve nobody’s interests, least of all employers themselves.

3.2 Who should apprenticeships be for? Apprenticeships should be primarily for young people between the ages of 16 and 25. For older groups other initiatives, equally important, are required. This is not to underestimate apprenticeships’ great potential to enculture, both young person and employer into the habit of lifelong learning. No occupational sector should necessarily be considered inappropriate for apprenticeships, but the further away a sector is from those in which apprenticeships were traditionally prevalent, the more care and thought needs to be given by employer and educational organisations to their content in order to maintain the essence of their quality and purposefulness. Again, this must be led by employers if apprenticeships in some sectors are not to be diluted into merely a re-branded means of channeling funding for skills, and so tarnish the brand as a whole. Apprenticeships in other countries, for example Germany, appear to have these qualities and are seen by society at large as a high quality, employer-led input to economic well-being that complements academic study and more often than not dovetails with it very effectively.

3.3 What should be the outcomes – for apprentice, employer and wider economy? The key outcomes have been mentioned in 3.1, namely  sector and job-specific skill acquisition  the personal and behavioural skills that will support a young person into and throughout their working life  succession planning, long term quality assurance and future-proofing of organisations, trades and professions

Apprenticeships always were, and can be again, a source of career-long pride and self-esteem based on the passing of skills from generation to generation, allied to the acquisition of new skills as technology and processes develop. Employers must see them as a necessary, ongoing, permanent investment in their future and the future of the sector to which they belong, regardless of policy changes within the lifespan of a Government and of changes of Government. Attempts to allow and encourage employers to shape content and curriculum must be re-doubled; there has been no lack of effort and flexibility in the FE sector. There are many exemplary employers, and they should be used to set the standard for employers as a whole. Apprenticeships can also play a legitimate role as a vehicle for progression and the development of higher level skills.

4. Content

4.1 What should apprenticeships contain in order to be of high quality? Complete employer commitment must be at the core, as must on-the-job mentoring and coaching. There must be clear career progression pathways, integrated behavioural skills development and transferability of those behavioural skills. There must be clear links across all components of the framework, for example on and off-the-job learning. Effective review of learner progress by all stakeholders is essential.

4.2 Should content differ between sectors, types of learners and types of employers? Yes, and there is a case for content to differ also between sub-sectors and even between employers, so long as the key principles referred to earlier are upheld and so long as core knowledge and common behavioural/employability skills are always present. A framework to uphold integrity and consistency that is transparent will provide sufficient flexibility to effect this. Original apprenticeships were bottom-up initiatives, not Government-led, and as a result were entirely fit for purpose. Commonality and consistency grew organically, and these principles still have a role to play today. However, concentration on this issue should not be at the expense of grass-roots fitness for purpose.

4.3 How do we assure that they reflect employers’ needs?

Page 7 of 20 The question of how employers’ needs can be reflected in initiatives, schemes and qualifications has been raised repeatedly in a multitude of inquiries and pieces of research linked to skills and economic revival in recent years. The answer is simple and always the same: employers need to take ownership and take a lead. Further education is neither the problem nor the solution to this conundrum. Initiatives such as Centres of Vocational Excellence and the Training Quality Standard were the most recent manifestations of Government’s answer to this perennial question, and they were enthusiastically embraced by not only the FE sector but also the wider private and public vocational skills education sectors. However, while the processes that were implicit in CoVEs and TQS did occasionally add value to educational institutions it is our strongly held view that an expectation in those institutions that added value would be forthcoming was not the prime motive for gaining these kite marks. The prime motive was competition: no organization could afford to let its competitors have a badge of office that it did not have itself.

After a huge amount of work and not inconsiderable expense, in return for which educational institutions gained some fairly marginal gains in the standards of professional practice, those initiatives, like so many of their predecessors, are now are history. This kind of foray into attempts to incentivise the educational sector to respond to employer needs is as expensive as it is ephemeral and as ineffective as it is mis-directed. Empirical evidence from independent sources (Ofsted included) continually shows that the days in which further education existed in an introverted bubble are dead and gone. The sector has made huge strides in engaging with employers, offering flexibility, redesigning curricula, designing bespoke provision (accredited or non- accredited), delivering 52 weeks a year in locations chosen by employers, creating partnerships, equipping itself with state-of- the-art industry-standard facilities and generally doing everything within its powers to give employers what they want, even when, as some Sector Skills Council research reports show, employers often do not know what they want. When employers are offered the opportunity to take the helm and direct matters, many forward thinking ones take that opportunity, but many (and by no means always SMEs) do not. If provision in apprenticeships does not yet accurately reflect employer need, then Government should stop blaming itself, funding mechanisms, the educational sector or anyone else and start to address the deficiencies that exist in some employers in terms of the willingness to take responsibility for the hard work required to create the workforce they need for their future. There is no shortage of mechanisms for them to do this: chambers of commerce, LEPs, SSCs, professional bodies and many more.

4.4 What should be the role of qualifications in apprenticeships. How can we ensure that qualifications are fit for purpose? The point about employers in 4.3 is key here too.

They key role of qualifications must be to provide a broad and overall recognition of achievement to a set standard and thus a support for apprentices’ entry to and progression in the workplace. Credibility, desirability and portability are crucial.

Additionally, a debate ought to be commenced into the way in which full apprenticeships are incrementally certificated and can thus be disaggregated. Empirical evidence shows that many apprentices fail to complete full frameworks because they reach a point where they possess both the skills and the certification to prove to themselves and employers that they are fit to employ, and so fail to complete, for example, functional skills elements of the framework. The 157 Group has flagged up this phenomenon and we believe that it is deserving of closer research and inquiry.

Employer input, employment experience, mentoring and work-integration must take precedence. Qualifications are open to employer influence but are often left entirely, and wrongly, to educational and accrediting bodies.

5. Delivery 5.1 What should be the role of government? The key roles for Government should be quality assurance and, in the background, funding. Sector Skills Councils have an important role to play in the former. We suggest that some consideration should be given to grant-levy approaches, with the caveat that they should not lead to the bureaucracy associated with the Industrial Training Boards abolished and replaced by industry-sponsored initiatives in the early 1980s. Government can also play the role of catalyst for change, facilitating regional and national dialogue between employers and the education sector, complementing the myriad links that exist at the local level.

Page 8 of 20 5.2 What should be the role of employers? This has been dealt with at length already. They have the most key role of all in the selection of training, support, mentoring, monitoring, instilling a sense of belonging and ambition, providing a stimulating working environment and job progression. For those under 25 it is entirely reasonable for employers to contribute significantly to the cost of programmes

Again, grant-levy should not be dismissed without investigation and debate. There is too much of a dependency culture in employers when it comes to the skills of the young workforce and whose responsibility it is to ensure these. Employers may well have a valid point about the literacy and numeracy skills of some school-leavers at 16 (which the FE sector is addressing more vigorously than any other educational sector), but the notion that it is the employer’s responsibility to take ownership and shape apprentices is the prerequisite of any successful long-term improvement in the national workforce’s skill level.

5.3 Who should pay for what? We support the 157 Group’s tripartite approach and criticism of the current funding complexity, with the supplementary comments that  apprenticeships are employers’ investment in their future, and this fact should set the framework for funding  apprentices, working for a lower wage for a while and very much members of the tax paying community, have already paid their share, to a large extent

The apprentice’s investment is effort, care, willingness to learn and good standards of behaviour.

6. Value for money and boosting access 6.1 How can value for money be assured? This again rests on full employer involvement, the development of effective delivery models and the sharing of good practice within and across sectors. The value for money system established must be based squarely on measuring impact in the workplace, by whatever measures are suitable for each workplace, and a key factor in that equation is the cost/benefit difference between training an apprentice and employing a “work-ready” employee from outside the industry.

Quite apart from the cases of professional malpractice that have made headlines and lessened the positive impact of apprenticeships so far, a close examination should take place into the value that is added by some private sector organisations involved in apprenticeships which sometimes play neither the role of employer nor educational provider. We support the 157 Group view that the Government would do well to ensure that funding flows only through well-regulated, not-for-profit providers in order to ensure the all-important parity of esteem that apprenticeships deserve. Further Education has a role to play here, The Manchester College included. The FE sector needs to follow examples of best practice and take on more of this role itself.

Tracking of outcomes is also crucial: an apprenticeship’s value for money should ultimately be judged by the difference it makes to an individual’s working life, and the cumulative added value to employer and trade/profession.

6.2 How can employer demand and learner demand be boosted? If, as we believe, the key lies with employers and that the purpose of apprenticeships is as stated earlier, then an effort needs to be made by all parties to enthuse employers and to ensure their widespread and enthusiastic support, ownership and leadership. The bad press that some apprenticeships have gained is not helpful, but we need to go much further than simply countering this: examples backed up with hard data need to be collected to show the substantial added value that can be gained for employers and apprentices by the instituting and maintaining of a well-thought out apprenticeship policy. Close monitoring should take place of the ATA model, which has recently passed the NAS quality assurance process. This model’s flexibility for SMEs may well offer a model for wider development in future.

Growth in the economy, which is proving very illusive, will clearly also help.

We would also urge consideration of the caveat referred to in the 157 Group and echoed in the introduction to our submission: apprenticeships are very important, but just one of many routes open to young people. Very high quality provision of all kinds, catering to the needs of all kinds of people, already exists within colleges. Government investment in and support of proper advice and guidance services – taking into account individual learning style and needs - is essential before any targeted “push” takes place on boosting apprenticeship numbers.

6.3 How can people of all abilities get fair access?

Page 9 of 20 This is an important point but it is not, in our experience, a key deficiency in the current system. Fair access for all can and must be assured through pre-assessment, appropriate levels of entry, progression pathways and well thought-out pre-apprenticeship programmes led by educational providers but with employer input. Such entry programmes are vital, but should not detract from the centrality of work experience and of employer leadership in apprenticeships proper.

The Manchester College 7th September 2012

Page 10 of 20 Submission from the 157 Group to the Richard Review of Apprenticeships, further to the Call for Evidence of June 2012 The 157 Group is a membership organisation that represents 27 large, successful and regionally influential Further Education colleges in England. Committed to excellence and achieving success for the sector, all our members are key strategic leaders in their locality who take seriously the roles of leading policy development, and improving the quality and reputation of further education. Many are leading providers of Apprenticeships in their areas. The timing of this Review is especially apposite, given the Commission on Adult Vocational Teaching and Learning which is about to start considering evidence. The place of Apprenticeships within the whole vocational skills sector must be considered, and, crucially, the ways in which learners are guided into the most appropriate routes is very important. Apprenticeships represent one of the clearest examples of vocational teaching and learning at its best and many of the features described here, and in the Review, will apply equally to other provision. Following consultation with member Colleges, the 157 Group is pleased to offer responses to the questions posed in the Call for Evidence. 1. Principles 1.1 What should the aims and objectives of Apprenticeships be? Apprenticeships offer a work-based route for those wishing to undertake qualifications and training. The aim is to allow individuals to pursue their career choices and gain nationally recognised, relevant qualifications alongside practical experience in the workplace. The Apprenticeship route supports those of all abilities for whom ‘place of learning’ based study is not an ideal option and gives a direct pathway into a specific industry or career whilst ensuring the student has all of the skills required to succeed in permanent employment following the completion of the Apprenticeship journey. In addition, concerns about the high cost and value for money of HE tuition fees may result in people seeking alternatives, such as Higher Level Apprenticeships. Employers too may look more to this route to recruit. They should provide high quality training which is directly relevant to a specific career or progression, and the opportunity to experience real paid employment at the same time. The outcome for every individual should be an offer of permanent employment along with a qualification which is portable and has recognisable currency nationwide. The commitment to permanent employment, although clearly with some conditions attached, will go a long way towards ensuring employer ownership of the success of the programme for each individual. The aims of Apprenticeships are generally broader than pure academic routes, adding vital employability skills that can ease transition to the workplace, although there are many other, equally high quality and vocationally relevant routes, such as those offered full-time by many FE Colleges which have similar objectives. This is not about ability or level but about type of learning, as the Apprenticeship model can be right for leavers of all abilities. They offer a real opportunity for individual employers to shape the curriculum on offer in a way that means that individuals will emerge equipped with the skills and attributes that precisely that employer wants. As such, it is not an unreasonable aspiration to suggest that Apprenticeship curricula can, and should, be more genuinely co-created, with the aim of also engaging more employers with the learning and skills system. FE Foundation Degrees offer an excellent model for this. Finally, Apprenticeships are well, though not uniquely, placed to deliver a much broader curriculum with two aims. First, they should inculcate a ‘craft’ mentality, that is, a sense of ‘belonging’ to a particular profession and a desire to see it ‘carried on’. Second, they should turn out active and engaged citizens, with experience of the workplace that means they have a greater understanding of life itself and the skills to make their own informed choices about their career. It is worth making a point or two about language. The word ‘Apprenticeship’ can imply inexperience and potentially troublesome. Similarly, it is tempting to assume that Apprenticeships are for those who are less academically able. We would advocate a shift in language and perception, as Apprenticeships may represent the right route for many who are able and, indeed, have experience. The ‘craftsperson’ idea may go some way towards changing this usage. It is equally important to ensure that the Apprenticeship brand represents something distinct. There is a tendency to use the term as a catch-all phrase for work-based learning in general, which risks devaluing the key elements of an Apprenticeship as we have described them. It is widely reported by Colleges that the historical usage of the term Apprenticeship leads to much respect among employers. 1.2 Who should Apprenticeships be for?

Page 11 of 20 Apprenticeships provide an opportunity for people to embark on a career in a chosen sector to enter the workforce in their chosen sector at a level appropriate to their ability and experience. Appropriate for people who want to move directly into the work environment, they should also be for those looking for a change in career. Apprenticeships can be appropriate for people who are currently employed but whose jobs have changed significantly and/or the current skills sets are no longer appropriate. An Apprenticeship should provide the opportunity for employers to support new or existing staff with the skills to develop into valuable members of the workforce with all of the skills required to succeed. Apprenticeships can play a crucial role in developing the work-ready force of young people that Professor Wolf describes in her report1. What is key is that there should be some form of Apprenticeship provision for learners at all levels – while the true ‘craftsperson’ may only emerge at level 2 and above, those operating at lower levels of attainment must be able to see that this is a route with possibilities for them. In short, Apprenticeships should be for  new entrants to a profession  upskillers  those changing career at all ages and abilities. The importance, recognition and availability of pre-Apprenticeship programmes must not be overlooked, in order to ensure that all those who can benefit from Apprenticeships are in a position to be able to do so, and we will talk more about this later. Information, Advice and Guidance is essential in ensuring that those who enter Apprenticeships are those for whom the mode of learning they embody will be right. This may be a young person with a poor experience of traditional schooling who is adjudged to have the potential to learn more effectively ‘on the job’. It may equally be someone with very advanced skills and self-awareness, who knows exactly what they want to do and wants to do it in a real workplace immediately. This person may be said to have a ‘calling’ for a certain profession. Independent IAG is therefore essential, provided by people fully informed about the Apprenticeship pathway. 1.3 What outcomes should Apprenticeships aim to deliver – for individuals, for employers, and for the wider economy? Individuals should gain recognised qualifications which are relevant and valuable in the workplace, extensive practical experience in their chosen sector and of the all aspect of working life. This should give them a base to move on to permanent employment with confidence that they have attained a set of skills which will be valued by employers and a framework for their career progression. An important element for the individual is that many of the skills learned in an Apprenticeship will be transferable to a different profession – it should be remembered therefore that this broader content is vital, especially as we live in an age where people will not have just one career for their whole life. Employers should expect to see individuals with the skills they require in relevant areas, who can be employed without the need for additional training or ‘moulding’. This will only come about if employers are truly involved in planning the content of Apprenticeship programmes. These individuals will be highly ambitious and clear about their responsibilities not just to their chosen profession but to society as a whole. Importantly, employers should expect to have to invest in this training as part of their corporate social responsibility, as is the case in Germany2. Bright, aspirational Apprentices may also provide a future managerial workforce for an employer, but it is important that this aspect is not emphasised at the expense of Apprenticeships being an option open for all. Apprenticeships should turn out a ‘next generation’ of professional craftspeople, leaders and entrepreneurs for the benefit of the wider economy and enable people to progress into Higher Education, should they wish. They should allow for sustainable employment in local areas, but also ensure that qualified apprentices have the skills needed to benefit not just the local area but the country as a whole. They should, finally, produce informed and active citizens. 2. Content 2.1 What should the defining features of a high quality Apprenticeship be? What should a high quality Apprenticeship involve or contain? A high quality Apprenticeship should be about gaining real work and life experience while learning both the skills needed to perform well in a profession and gaining a broader sense of what it means to be a part of that profession. The training and monitoring of progress should be carried out jointly by providers of training and employers as a genuine partnership. The skills developed should be both practical and transferable – including those that a young person will need when transferring to a different career or profession later in life. Crucially, there must be a focus on functional literacy and numeracy skills for those who need it, as well as training in broader employability skills.

1 https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/The%20Wolf%20Report.pdf, esp page 33 2 See http://www.nber.org/chapters/c8777.pdf, esp pp 66-67 Page 12 of 20 The content must be defined locally but recognisable nationally, and include well-defined progression and career pathway plans. Individuals should be expected to commit to their own professional development and engage in the monitoring of their own learning while on the programme. Individual mentoring must be included, alongside an induction into the professional community of the specific industry being trained for. This may be seen to be the ‘defining feature’ – that, unlike in other provision, you have access to a personal ‘coach’ well qualified to mentor you in all aspects of the profession and life you are embarking upon. So, the key features in summary must be  technical knowledge and certification  work experience  development of broader employability and citizenship skills  individual mentoring. 2.2 Should this differ for different sectors, types of learners or types of employers? Core knowledge and skills will clearly differ across these groups, and the level of these should be determined at the curriculum planning stage. It is a central argument of our submission that Colleges and providers should be enabled to determine exact content locally and in true partnership with individual employers but there should be a framework to ensure parity of esteem. The core must include literacy, numeracy, skills of employability (such as how to read your payslip and how to progress to another job), broader citizenship skills and some mentoring around the ‘ways’ of a particular industry. Of key importance is the notion that ‘stretched’ attainment will look the same whatever profession is under consideration. 2.3 How can we ensure the training offered really reflects employers’ needs? The simple answer is to ensure that employers are involved in the planning and selection of frameworks and units individual to each Apprenticeship vacancy – which may be easier in the localised model we describe here. There are examples from northern Europe of social partnerships doing this with employers and unions3. Employers must also have continued input in the practical training mentoring of the student, working closely with the provider to ensure that the skills and training gained are relevant to the present role and also valuable in future positions within the profession. A possibility would be to work through bodies such as LEPs to establish dialogue between providers and employers so that there is a common understanding of needs – employer needs must be balanced with educational needs. The core framework described above would help to ensure that neither provider nor employer could sidestep the inclusion of any element they did not like. As the framework and operation of City Deals takes greater shape, it is likely that these, too, will provide a forum for greater employer involvement. An important responsibility will be the need to reflect the current and future needs of a sector as a whole if the qualification is to be truly transportable. Modelling around future job markets must be taken into account, perhaps using data from Sector Skills Councils, the Federation of Small Businesses and local agencies such as JCP, Trades Unions, in the guidance for individual providers. 2.4 What role should qualifications play in an Apprenticeship, and how can we ensure these qualifications are fit for purpose? Qualifications should be recognisable as achievement of a set standard and support students application and progression in the workplace. They represent the attainment of educational standards, the completion of extensive practical training and experience along with a broad understanding of wider skills. They are important for the individual and should be portable, highly desirable and industry credible. It is probably unnecessary to disaggregate the elements of an Apprenticeship into different qualifications – the framework itself should be recognisable and good enough. Only programmes which demonstrate a successful progression of the majority of learners should be allowed to continue. The quality assurance of both the qualifications and of the learning is a matter for some industry scrutiny, perhaps through Sector Skills Councils, or other professional bodies. The qualifications should be kept under regular review by these bodies in order to ensure they are fit for purpose. Such review must, of course, take genuine account of the voices of both employers and learners when establishing the relevance of a qualification or programme. The design of qualifications could and should be done at a local level, to involve those who both deliver and receive the training. 3. Delivery 3.1 What should government’s role be with regard to Apprenticeships? Government should provide a framework (perhaps via Sector Skills Councils) which can be developed, adapted and possibly even accredited at a local level. There is a quality assurance role for government at a national level – perhaps by sampling a series of inspection reports and progression records.

3 See http://www.nber.org/chapters/c8777.pdf, esp pp 66-67 Page 13 of 20 Government clearly retains a role in funding, but should be careful to quality assure provision before allocating ongoing funding to it. Finally the government, at a national and local level, can play a crucial role in enabling the discussions between Colleges and employers that will result in a meaningful curriculum to take place. 3.2 What should employers’ role be? Employers should support the delivery of Apprenticeships by working closely with the provider to ensure the best journey possible. This should involve selection of training, support and monitoring of learners, the provision of an appropriately trained mentor and of a positive stimulating environment with wide range of experiences. They should engage with providers to determine content and then commit to engaging Apprenticeships and to delivering all the aspects of the curriculum described above in a joint way with the provider. With individual Apprentices, employers should instil a sense of ambition and stretch and a sense of what it means to be a part of a profession, and commit to regular monitoring and review with both the learner and the provider. An employer must also act as a role model. For those under 25, it is reasonable to expect employers to contribute to the cost of the programme, thus valuing the quality and skills provision of Apprenticeships. Clear guidance and monitoring is needed to ensure equality of costs within geographic areas. At a strategic national level, employers and their representative bodies should commit to understanding, recognising and using the frameworks. We advocate joint curriculum design as a means to promoting the employer partnership with sector providers. We do not believe the Apprenticeships are a commodity that can be ‘bought’ via vouchers or any other means, nor do we feel it appropriate that employers should dictate alone the content of the programmes available. The best solution has to be a partnership where pedagogical experience and knowledge can marry with the needs and capabilities of employers themselves. 3.3 Who should pay for what? We would suggest a tripartite approach.  The government should pay to ensure that quality is high and outcomes lead to more highly skilled workforce for all 16- 18s and those 19-25 year-olds for whom an Apprenticeship is the first chance to enter employment. Central support should be based on individual need, but is vital in supporting Apprenticeships to reduce unemployment.  Employers should pay a proportion for those over 18 if that training will add value to the business, thus valuing the quality and skills provision of Apprenticeships. Individuals should pay if they are satisfied that the Apprenticeship will lead to sustained and progressive work – although, in a way, by becoming an Apprentice and working for lower wages for a while, the individual has already, to a certain extent, paid None of the above should be expected to pick up the cost of remedial work non English and maths, which should have been addressed during compulsory years. What would help both providers and employers would be a single funding routes. Currently if five potential Apprentices happen to be of different ages, a provider needs to consider:  participation funding, and based on age if a course fee is applicable  access to the Apprenticeship AGE grant  access to the Work Programme funding  access to the Youth Contract funding.

This complex situation does not help to make it easy to recruit Apprentices. Work Programme and Youth Contract funding could be routed through the FE sector and paid on the same results straight from the SFA.

4. Delivering value for money and boosting access 4.1 How can we ensure value for money for government investment in Apprenticeships? The key here has to be in quality assurance mechanisms. The government would do well to ensure that funding flows only through well-regulated not-for-profit providers in order to ensure the parity of esteem and quality of curriculum and delivery we have described. Engagement only with providers who have a proven track record of quality and deliverable outcomes for learners will be key. There should be some central element of provision planning – and funding should be directed at those areas where a well identified skills need exists.

Page 14 of 20 Tracking of outcomes will ensure that true quality is maintained – an Apprenticeship should be judged not on whether or not someone finishes or gains a qualification but on whether it actually makes a difference to their working life over a period of time. There is room for some genuine brokerage of Apprenticeship places, which is not provided by NAS at the moment. Indeed, Colleges report that the visibility and reputation of NAS could be strengthened, perhaps by a review of its functions. We would also reiterate the importance of support for better Information, Advice and Guidance services for all, but especially through schools. 4.2 How can we boost employer and learner demand for Apprenticeships? We must not assume that an Apprenticeship is the right route for everyone entering a given profession – very high quality provision exists in Colleges with excellent real Work Environment facilities, and this provision will be right for a great many people. A greater understanding of what an Apprenticeship is about is key – and investment in effective IAG services where the learning style and outcomes can be properly explored is a must before any talk of expansion and increased demand is generated. One of the current problems is a mismatch between the expectations of a training provider when enrolling (guided largely by whether or not an individual is likely to complete the qualification) and those of an employer (who is more interested in an individual’s work-readiness). These expectations need to be brought together to ensure ongoing fair access to the programmes for all. It is likely, though, that some increase in take up should be sought, especially among young learners, many of whom are currently choosing a NEET pathway. Similarly, there is evidence from Colleges that more able learners more suited to an Apprenticeship route could be better enabled to access the programmes earlier instead, as many do, of embarking upon inappropriate A level courses. Employer demand will flow from a growth in the economy more generally, but also through the local engagement we have described, whereby they co-create the curriculum and have a greater investment in it therefore. We can actively increase demand by engaging with employers and educating them on all aspects of Apprenticeships and their benefits, and by continuing to offer Apprenticeships as a valuable alternative to the traditional routes as well as actively promoting them alongside current provision. At least one College has reported an event held with local employers specifically to dispel myths and answer questions about the obligations of having an Apprentice. The results of the day were not only increased availability of places, but employers expressing genuine shock that their perceptions of an Apprenticeship programme were awry. This indicates that much more needs to be done to inform employers about Apprenticeships. We fully support the recommendation of the Holt Review, therefore, that communication to SMEs be enhanced and improved. The current cap on support for employers with more than 250 employees is unhelpful and, in many cases reported by Colleges, actively prevents larger employers from engaging with the Apprenticeship programme at all. Individuals need to know that an Apprenticeship will boost their long-term job prospects and so information about how provision is planned and details of progression outcomes will be helpful here. An ATA model which has passed the quality assurance process from NAS, and is therefore on the National Register is a great way to boost Apprentice numbers. It offers flexibility into the SME market, a key priority for NAS, and in particular to those employers with less than 50 staff. More resource needs to be devoted to promoting examples of where and how ATAs are working and then facilitating the establishment of more of them.

The Holt Review presents some fairly incontrovertible evidence that there is a need to increase demand amongst SMEs at least. SMEs have particular training needs which need to be addressed flexibly. Holt identifies lack of awareness amongst SMEs as one of the three main barriers to their engaging with apprenticeships and also talks about poor IAG in schools in relation to the apprenticeship route, as a key contributor to this. ‘Apprenticeships as a career path are not given a high profile in schools and SMEs are often put off apprenticeships by a lack of coherent and consistent information. This is compounded by the fact that SMEs, more than large businesses depend on responsive training providers and do not always receive a good service’. We emphasise here too the need to improve IAG in schools in relation to the apprenticeship route – not purely to boost learner demand, but fundamentally, to ensure that young people are making properly informed choices about their post-16 progression route.

4.3 How can we ensure that learners of all abilities get fair access to Apprenticeships?

Page 15 of 20 Potential apprentices are assessed on their academic ability and placed onto the correct level of learning for them. Those who are not yet at a level to be able to move into an Apprenticeship, who require pre Apprenticeship training, functional skills support or other support are supported to begin at the level suitable for them and progress in college until they have attained the skills or education needed. This can be achieved by enabling flexibility in curriculum design within Colleges for pre-Apprenticeship programmes, and funding appropriate accreditation for this. Again, we would recommend that such programmes are developed in collaboration with employers themselves. Pre-Apprenticeship programmes must also have national recognition so that they can have currency and portability and, most importantly, command respect when a learner goes to find an Apprenticeship placement. Employment law already prohibits discrimination, and so good pre-Apprenticeship programmes in colleges can ensure that individuals get an equal chance to compete. Employers should be encouraged to consider all applications and students’ applications supported by schools and Colleges with tutor feedback regarding personal skills and attributes to encourage the consideration of all applicants regardless of recognised qualifications. It is currently the case that many employers will prefer older Apprentices, whom they perceive as being more ‘work-ready’. Providers will often favour younger learners, and this is another mismatch which co-creation of the curriculum could overcome. We must not overlook also that learners will be helped to access Apprenticeships if the overall balance of vocational education available is right locally and nationally. To achieve this, we will need to develop a much more sophisticated understanding of the skill and attainment levels of all young people in a meaningful way (ie not just related to 5 or more GCSEs).

The 157 Group September 2012

Page 16 of 20 Examples from The Manchester College supporting the 157 Group’s CAVTL submission

1. An example of a college  investing in teaching skills to suit highly specialised environments with positive, measurable results  integrating the skills of these people within an overall approach to employability

This example could be used to support 157 Group’s submission under  What is great teaching and learning: your bullet point 2  The role of leadership: your final bullet point An example of this in action comes from The Manchester College, which is the largest deliverer of Offender Learning in the country, currently covering the prisons and young offender institutions of  the North West of England  The North East of England  Yorkshire and the Humber  Kent and Sussex

The Manchester College has made significant and continued investment in managers and staff to ensure that they have the skills, knowledge and understanding to deliver high quality vocational training in these custodial settings. This investment has been recognised by Ofsted who identified that “Managers have taken time to understand the specific needs of learners in custodial settings and the challenges in delivering this provision” TMC Ofsted May 2011.

Key to this strategy is the Effective Leader course aimed at equipping managers with strategies to operate effectively in a unique environment. Feedback from those attending has been very positive.

The College recognises that prisoners who subsequently gain employment make a positive contribution to their community, local economy and in doing so reduce the risk of their re-offending. Accordingly, the College has worked collaboratively with partners to develop an employability and vocational learning offer which responds to labour market needs and addresses specialist skills shortages. From August 2009 to July 2012 the College, working across five regions, delivered 215,595 employability and vocational learning aims with year-on-year improvements in the volume of achievements.

This increased focus on employability and vocational learning is aligned to the Department for Business Innovation and Skills’ paper ‘Breaking the Cycle, Making Prisons Work: Skills For Rehabilitation’. Transferability of learning aims has been key to curriculum design and planning ensuring continuity of learning, and this was recognised by Ofsted during an inspection at Durham Oct 2011, "Inspectors are impressed by seamlessness of provision".

2. An example of a college using innovative learner involvement activities An example of this in action comes from The Manchester College, which is the largest deliverer of Offender Learning in the country, currently covering the prisons and young offender institutions of  the North West of England  The North East of England  Yorkshire and the Humber  Kent and Sussex

The College has worked in partnership to develop peer mentoring schemes which recognise the value of prisoners who  demonstrate a high level of skill, empathy and application  have worked in a given sector of employment and have recent industrial experience Page 17 of 20 Peer mentors are deployed throughout the College’s offender learning provision to support learners with technical and generic work skills development. This approach utilises the skills of prisoners to support learning, providing intensive support and positive role models. Peer mentors work across curriculum areas, and inspections have identified this as an emerging strength both in the promotion of the benefits of learning and the impact on learners.

Report by Ofsted on Deerbolt Young Offenders Institution June 2011 "Highly effective use of volunteers and peer mentors to provide literacy and numeracy support"

3. An example of a college’s flexibility of response to individual needs An example of this in action comes from The Manchester College, which is the largest deliverer of Offender Learning in the country, currently covering the prisons and young offender institutions of  the North West of England  The North East of England  Yorkshire and the Humber  Kent and Sussex

The College provides flexible and responsive employability and vocational provision designed to meet the complex resettlement needs of prisoners. The delivery model and strategies to engage prisoners have developed to meet local needs and their success is recognised by Ofsted who identified that, “Managers in offender learning provision use their considerable expertise to support developments” (Ofsted May 2011).

The vast majority of employability and vocational provision is roll-on roll-off and runs over 52 weeks per year dependent upon prison closures and shutdowns. This model  ensures that learners have the opportunity to access learning as and when vacancies arise  enables the development of peer support skills, with higher level learners supporting those new to the course to help overcome barriers such as confidence, literacy and numeracy  in doing so helps prisoners to make a positive contribution to their local community

4. An example of a college’s complex and multi-dimensional relationships with employers and the world of work

The Manchester College works with professional bodies and SSCs, and directly with over 3,000 employers including DHL, Debenhams, Fujitsu, Aldi, Jaguar Landrover, Laing O’Rourke and Holiday Inn. These relationships are not simply ones of provider-customer, but are multi-dimensional and include the exchange of ideas, facilities, equipment, personnel and approaches to learning. This ensures relevance of the curriculum offer and provides progression into apprenticeships/employment.

As the country’s largest provider of offender learning, the College pays particular attention to addressing broader employability and resettlement needs. Complemetary arrangements are in place with organisations such as The Prince’s Trust, SOVA (a charity that works in communities to help people steer clear of crime), and Probation Trusts to provide holisitic support. There has been significant investment in engagment with employers, Probation Trusts and key partners such as SOVA and Voluntary Councils, which have recently placed over 1,000 offenders into jobs. The work with the Holiday Inn ‘Commis Chef’ programme delivered training to over 300 learners and supported 45 people into employment.

The role of College Offender Learning managers and staff in supporting the wider resettlement needs of prisoners was recognised, for example, at Northallerton in January 2011, where Ofsted identified that there was "Good partnership working with subcontractors and employers to support resettlement".

Page 18 of 20 5. Examples of a college acting as the catalyst that brings together ex-offenders and the world of work in initiatives from which everyone benefits

Examples of this in action come from The Manchester College, which is the largest deliverer of Offender Learning in the country, currently covering the prisons and young offender institutions of  the North West of England  The North East of England  Yorkshire and the Humber  Kent and Sussex

Seddon Ltd. Working with ex-offenders is proving to be a positive experience for one construction company, based in Staffordshire. Seddon Ltd began working with ex-offenders as part of an initiative by the company to rehabilitate offenders and help tackle re-offending. It offers a four-week intensive painting and decorating project which delivers accredited certificated courses in manual handling, asbestos awareness, fire safety and ladder, scaffold and tower training.

The course is delivered as part of the European Social Fund project, OnTrak – a regional programme managed by the National Offender Management Service and The Manchester College. It provides offenders with a way to learn some essential practical skills and theory in painting and decorating to get them back on track and well on the way to turning their life around. At the end of the course, they are awarded with a training certificate which can help them to gain employment within the construction industry.

During one four-week course, the participants were involved with helping to repaint a property owned by Seddon Estates, providing them with the opportunity to get a real feel for working life in the industry. The painting and decorating projects are hugely successful and, as a result, Seddons has recently employed one-ex offender from the course. Project manager, Helena Shone, from Seddons said: “Having a criminal record shouldn’t be the only reason to deny someone a job. Many of the participants we have met are incredibly hard working and really want to make a better life for themselves. We believe that even though they may have made mistakes, they deserve the chance to right their wrongs. “Our experience of working with ex-offenders has been a positive one and we have recently employed one of the participants from the project and another one has recently been employed by a demolition company as a result of the training he received from us.”

Seddon Property Services Ltd is one of the UK’s largest painting contractors and provides a range of painting, decorating and maintenance services to companies within a range of sectors across education, housing, leisure and retail. Helena adds: “When given the chance, we believe that most offenders want that second opportunity to get themselves back into work. We are glad that we are able to offer them this possibility and give them the support and encouragement to achieve it.”

Catering examples – HMP Northumberland Catering in prisons provides learners with a demanding and up-to-date industrial environment to learn the skills to gain employment on release. The scale is impressive with some prisons providing in excess of 1,200 meals three times a day, delivered and served within tight deadlines and to strict health and safety guidelines.

The Manchester College has a number of specialist courses throughout its offender learning provision, from the Bakery at HMP Lindholme in Yorkshire to the Coffee Shop at HMP Ford in Sussex. The example we have chosen, HMP Northumberland, represents the breadth of offer.

For the last decade, working Monday to Friday, offenders have been making and serving up quality food in one of the several catering facilities in HMP Northumberland. Prisoners acquire their skills in the on-site training kitchens, producing meals for the Prison bistros, which provides the real work experience required to allow them to achieve vocational qualifications. Run as a commercial operations, the bistros provide a value –for-money service for staff, with a menu that includes dishes ranging from freshly made sandwiches to three-course lunches.

The benefits run deep  the experience of working in the kitchens increases prisoners’ self-confidence and motivation  they become encultured into a rigorous work ethic  they gain vocational and business skills

It is a life-changing opportunity which will give them a chance to be a valuable part of society on release. A

Page 19 of 20 beneficiary of the course said, “During my time on the catering course I have gained confidence in preparing and cooking food from scratch. I have developed a range of techniques and achieved qualifications which I hope will help me gain employment in the future. I really enjoyed the practical side of the course, like designing and producing my own dishes and will also use what I’ve learned to cook for my family when I get out”.

6. Example of innovative use of technology in teaching and learning, and the impact it has had

See Appendix: The Manchester College’s Pedagogy Project, as reported in The Virtual Campus News: summer edition 2012 page 9.

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