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Welcome to the first issue of NFEC News, your new
monthly update on NFEC news and views.
This e-bulletin is just one sign of big changes under way to
make NFEC an even more effective force for constructive change
in post-16 and 14-16 learning in engineering and technology. |
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NFEC is mobilising to force the pace of change at
LSC and Government level on staffing, and is to head a campaign
on behalf of engineering and technology providers.
The first step in our campaign is to turn anecdotal evidence
into hard research. We need to hear from you (on the website
FAQ section) about: |
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Hard-to-fill vacancies |
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Pay scales within your organisation |
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Skills shortages |
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Examples of courses closed or otherwise affected by
staffing problems |
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Quantitative data on learner uptake and success as compared
to other sectors |
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Individuals or organisations that give evidence will have
their anonymity protected, but we do need hard facts if we
are to push with all our might to remove staff shortages and
to raise skill levels.
Staffing, specifically shortages of people and of skills,
is perhaps the biggest issue facing providers today. It figures
prominently in the keynote speech delivered by Dr John Brennan,
Chief Executive of the Association of Colleges, at the first-ever
Engineering and Technology Board conference a few weeks ago.
LSC and the Government say they accept staffing’s impact
and importance but are slow to do much about it. Yet the time
to act is now, if FE is not to be confirmed as Cinderella
of education.
Government aspirations for growth in technology, growth in
apprenticeships, growth in foundation degrees, the introduction
of specialist diplomas, and improvements in teaching, learning
and success rates are all very well. But there’s one
simple step that must be taken if all the rest are to succeed,
and of that we see little sign.
That one simple step is to start paying lecturers and instructors
the salaries which will attract and retain the number of skilled
staff that students have the right to expect.
Your evidence on staffing difficulties will have a ripple
effect, for as well as being fed into NFEC’s own research
and lobbying programme, your hard facts will also be deployed
in research collaborations with key NFEC partners.
Over to you.
NFEC, through its Inspired by Learning consultancy,
offers providers with support on staffing problems that ranges
from short, sharp courses and workshops to interim management
solutions. |
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Industry Insider:
SEMTA's Sir Alan Jones |
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Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies
Alliance (SEMTA) chairman Sir Alan Jones is to be the keynote
speaker heading two crowded days of inside-track briefings and
controversy at NFEC’s Autumn Conference.
Sir Alan, Chairman Emeritus of Toyota UK and Senior
Executive Advisor to Toyota Motor Europe, will give delegates
the lowdown on Skills Academies: who needs them? How will they
mesh with Sector Skills Councils (SSCs)and the learning and
skills providers? And how will Skills Academies improve the
service to engineering?
Other leading industry and sector figures will spell out the
issues and answer your questions. Topics that are included;
Specialist Diploma development, the National Skills Academy
for Manufacturing (NSAM) and You, Sector Skills Councils (SSCs
– How industry sees them, Function Skill update, HE in
FE, and E-Portfolios – What use are they? What can the
Learning and Skills Council do for providers?
Also on the spot: National Assessment Authority (NAA), National
Academy of Sciences (NAS), National Skills Academy for Manufacturing
(NSAM), Learning and Skills Council (LSC), Learning and Skills
Network (LSN), Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA).
The NFEC Autumn National Conference is on Thursday 30 November
and Friday 1 December at the Coventry Hilton Hotel.
Bookings: businessdevelopment@nfec.org.uk
or book online at www.nfec.org.uk |
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NFEC members are already feeling the pinch of reduced
FE and WBL funding and the need for employers to increase their
contributions, in line with the ‘Agenda for Change’
and Foster Review funding reforms due to bite in 2007/08.
As detailed in Requirements of Funding WBL 2005/06, LSC ‘expects
employers with apprentices aged 19 or over to contribute to
the cost of training and the national rates include a 31% reduction
to reflect this assumed contribution’.
Employer contributions are expected to account for 50% of provider
income, and removal or reduction of funding to adult learners
is already hitting some providers very hard.
The more detailed a picture of the impact of funding cuts that
NFEC builds up, the more we can monitor the changes, bring pressure
to bear, and help members to adjust. Please tell us how you
are being affected. Do you find, for example, that funding cuts
are causing: |
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A fall in apprentice take-up |
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Difficulties with provider-employer relations |
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Providers to absorb additional cost |
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Raise fees to employers |
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We also need to know how you are managing the change. Make
contact through the NFEC FAQ function on the website www.nfec.org.uk
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The content for the new Specialist Diploma (SD)
is now complete, and awarding bodies are developing SD for
accreditation by early next year. Lessons, which may be taught
by teachers, lecturers, trainers and employers, will focus
on 'learning by doing'.
Your local LSC and LEA by now will have told DfES which organisations
want to pilot the SD, although it’s still not too late,
the deadline for LEA expressions of interest being 11 December.
To take part in the first pilot teaching (2008), you will
have to be involved in a delivery consortium and apply to
the DfES Diploma Gateway.
The DfES Gateway is how the readiness of schools and consortia
to offer the SD is assessed, and the introduction of Functional
Skills is central to the SD/Gateway system www.qca.org.uk/functionalskills
To find out more, contact your local authority information
or follow the link. Find out more at www.dfes.gov.uk/14-19
or e-mail ask.gateway@ dfes.gsi.gov.uk
NFEC is represented on the SD Engineering Diploma Development
Partnership working parties, as well as upon those for the
manufacturing diploma www.engineeringdiploma.com
or www.dfes.gov.uk/14-19
For more on diploma development, please contact Emma Dickinson
on edickinson@automotiveskills.org.uk; Diploma
in Engineering details, www.engineeeringdiploma.com
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Partnering NFEC:
EAL MD Ann Watson |
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NFEC and EAL joint ventures include promoting the
PEO NVQ as well as developing PEO case studies/support materials,
and identifying nationally-applicable models of good practice.
With 76% of the market for engineering and technology
NVQs and SVQs at Levels 1-5, EAL argues that it is the lead
awarding body for its sector in the UK.
Firmly grounded in the engineering industry, EAL built a reputation
for developing quality products to meet identified needs by
working closely with industry, training providers and other
key partners. EAL also offers Vocationally-Related Qualifications
(VRQs) at Levels 1-3, to give candidates a blend of academic
knowledge and practical skills as they shape their careers.
Key Skills (and their Scottish equivalent, Core Skills,) and
Technical Certificates required by apprentices are also provided,
making EAL the ideal one-stop shop if you’re delivering
apprenticeships www.eal.org.uk
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Edexcel presents its new BTEC Nationals Level 3 this winter,
and is offering regional morning and afternoon briefings (breakfast
or lunch included) throughout the month, details on:
www1.edexcel.org.uk/btecbriefings
Ground covered will include progression
routes for students and updates on all re-accredited BTEC Nationals
Ken Boston, QCA Chief Executive, is the keynote speaker at an
Edexcel conference, “The Vocational Landscape for 2006
and Beyond”, in Birmingham on 7 November:
www1.edexcel.org.uk/vlandscape
For Ken Boston, the vocational landscape is littered
with overlapping qualifications. “The current National
Qualifications Framework,” the QCA boss says, “isn’t
really a framework at all” but “a bucket full of
5800 qualifications, tipped into it over many years.”
NQF is 16 pages of qualifications listed in 8-point type. So
great is the duplication and overlap that the framework can’t
be drawn in a single diagram or as a ladder, and contains qualifications
that have conflicting content, the same content offered at different
levels, and different content under different names.
QCA has already found that it could prune tourism qualifications
by three-quarters from 600 to just over 150, without cutting
out any content at all.
Ken Boston now wants to take the secateurs to NQF, clearing
away the undergrowth to make way for a simple, rational and
demand-led organising structure for units and qualifications.
This NQF, he argues, could support lifelong learners in the
accumulation and transfer of credit achievement.
NQF should be “navigable” Ken Boston says. “If
you start off doing a qualification - a BTEC qualification -
where is that going to navigate you to, what are the options
you have available?” There should be no more dead ends,
“all learning counting, every unit leading somewhere”.
Visit the members’ section of the NFEC website www.nfec.org.uk
and find Edexcel’s update to the NFEC National Council
on the rationalising of qualifications. |
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Susan Scurlock, Project Director of Primary Engineer,
reminds us that the first National Final of Primary Engineer,
sponsored by Yorkshire Forward, takes place at the Eureka Science
Museum, Halifax, on 2 December.
If you would like to attend call 01254 720650
or e-mail final@primaryengineer.com
NFEC supports Primary Engineer www.primaryengineer.com
a Primary Liaison Project under which Secondary Design and Technology
teachers are trained in the key skills, knowledge and understanding
required by Primary Teachers to deliver effective Design and
Technology education for four–to-eleven-year–olds
and to make for more effective transition from Primary to Secondary
school. |
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NFEC National Council member Claire Donovan reports
that EEF, DfES and the Caterpillar Foundation are launching
a new website to encourage employers to offer safe, successful
workplace visits.
www.safevisits.org.uk
takes the company through necessary steps such as how to carry
out a risk assessment. |
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