Does Skills England have what it takes to close the skills gap?

We have been told that the Department for Education/Skills England are in listening mode, so now is the time for Awarding Organisations/EPAOs, providers, employers and more importantly apprentices to come together and collaboratively and meaningfully voice all that is good and all that is needed to make apprenticeships stronger and not seen as second-class qualifications. 

I am continually reminded by people that I stood on a stage and called for collaboration 8 years ago.  At that time end point assessment had just been launched and we started to get relevant parties around the table to openly discuss the issues and not think in isolation, to separate their own priorities from the wider agenda and betterment of the education system.

This has sadly been lost over the years with more barriers and bureaucracy added and as a result there are far too many bodies and organisations prioritising their own agenda to influence decisions.  My worry is this becomes even more widespread, and we lose all perspective on addressing the bigger issues.

During a time when there are many plans and changes being discussed by a new government, there has never been a more important time for collaborative conversations. 

The skills gap will not close if we are all pulling in different directions

The skills gap will not close if we are all pulling in different directions.  If everyone is aligned there will be greater outputs.  More energy can be put into agreed goals and less resource and cost will be incurred. 

Can Skills England achieve this?  Time will tell.  However, the education system is the responsibility of us all to work together to get the best possible outcomes for the learners (no matter what programme of learning they are on).

Positive steps – but more needs to change

We have just seen Post Apprenticeships Recognition Scheme (PARS) launched. This needs to be communicated to all employers and not lost in the ether as this could be another positive step forward as we have also seen with the recognition of UCAS points. 

The Chancellor’s first budget takes place on 30^th October, and this might give more insight as to the direction of travel.  Prior to the election there was mention of 50/50 split of Levy and skills.  This has since changed in many ongoing conversations and statements.  What the Growth and Skills Levy looks like is still to be determined, but let’s hope we have sufficient lead in time for everyone to implement accordingly and not an overnight ruling that could go horribly wrong. 

Currently apprenticeships are the only funded option, therefore, some employers and providers have tried to utilise the Levy to fund missing skills within the workplace into an apprenticeship. Some employers and providers still require education as to what an apprenticeship is and how to prepare for end point assessment.  This is one of the reasons success rates and QAR data remain low.

A second area that I believe has affected success rate and QAR data is the removal of achievement payments and the approach to pay on completion.  This has removed the incentive for some providers to properly prepare the apprentice for EPA, knowing that as soon as the apprentice completes EPA the payment will be awarded despite the outcome of the apprenticeship.

Functional Skills is another significant area that affects completions.  What more can be done? When an ICT apprentice who can demonstrate binary, IP addressing, coding and logic, the use of algorithms all mathematical applications relevant to their working practices be allowed to fail their apprenticeships because they could not pass FS Maths.  If you ask an employer, they will state that business application far out ways Functional Skills.  Yet the apprentice will be deemed as a failure as they could not complete end point assessment.

Repeating past mistakes

We have seen the latest announcements to try and support maths and English with the changes to funding rules and allowance of the flexibility to achieve Entry Level 3 functional skills.  However, we are already experiencing providers asking what evidence end point assessment organisations need to support this as they have been given no guidance at all. 

Although employer engagement has significantly improved over the past 5 years (assisted by the Levy), employer groups continue to struggle to attract and engage SMEs when writing or updating apprenticeship standards.  Too often we have heard that SMEs have disengaged from apprenticeships because of the bureaucracy and complexity and that they are not listened to.  More needs to be done to engage with these businesses as they are as important as the large employers.

Employers are calling for more partnerships, collaboration and understanding, especially SMEs who are missing out on so many opportunities.  The partnership we have with our providers/employers to discuss their concerns and their understanding of end point assessment ensures a better experience for the employer and apprentice when entering assessment and increases the chances of completion.  A far wider collaborative approach needs to be applied to engage the SME membership to fully engage in apprenticeships. 

Is DfE planning to change the things that work well?

The introduction of independently assessed (end point assessment) apprenticeships, by experts, at the end of the programme as opposed to the system where providers were permitted to “mark their own homework”, I believe has been a significant improvement and is valued by employers when done correctly.  Why are DfE trying to change something that is not broken and is working well?  It is not end point assessment that prevents apprentices completing their apprenticeship.  We need to remove the other blockers.  IfATE have worked hard to try and address some of these issues (although there is still lots more to do) to try and bring more consistency across assessment plans – let’s hope all this work is not lost going forward.

The question remains, can and do Skills England want to co-ordinate and collaborate with all parties to address the skills system and open up opportunities for everyone to engage?  There is very limited information being given as to their role, and the government seems to be reluctant to make any announcements right now.  Now is the time for Skills England to collaborate, not to add further bureaucracy and complexity to the system, and explain how Ofqual and Skills England will work together.  We need them to be approachable and willing to listen, to bring all parties together. No matter how the Government shapes these organisations, the opportunity is there for them to collaborate and not jostle for power and argue amongst themselves.

By John Pritchard, Head of EPA, 1st for EPA