Personal touch

In last week’s FT, no doubt publicising his own book on the subject, Simon Kuper wrote about the influence of statistics on modern thinking, specifically in football.  

For the last five years Michael Lewis’ Moneyball, which the article references, has been required reading for many senior staff at our college. We have used data to drive our successive Ofsted promotions – rising from having ‘no discernable strengths’ to Ofsted’s first Outstanding FE College under the new framework.

 We are now aiming to turn back the clock, and with the stats still tucked neatly in our top pocket are moving in a more personal direction. Away from the ‘Blairism of arbitrary targets.’

In education, superman head or not, only those with pick of the students can rely on statistics in the long term. For others, such as ourselves, training must be tweaked and personalised, constantly monitored so that each of our students leaves us as a success.

 When it comes to sustaining that success, statistics will always be an aid, but an individual touch is equally important.

 

Gill Worgan, Principal and Chief Executive

Enterprise – a pressing issue?

Is it me or is the nation’s new-found fondness for enterprise at risk of becoming a sharp new stick to wield at young people who appear to lack a work ethic?

 

Encouraging enterprising thought in young people is essential and a new national initiative  has many benefits but some of my peers have suggested that students starting this September should also come expecting much longer college terms, a tighter timetable and something described as a downgrading of traditional qualifications.

 

At times it can sound like a dose of national service; with the thinly veiled threat that anyone who fails to meet the grade and secure a good old fashioned job offer at the end had better have a start-up business plan in their back pocket. A sort of boot camp with basic training in getting real, really quick. Stand by your BTECS, you ‘orrible lot!

 

Surely the coming years are about working smarter rather than simply being press-ganged into upping your work rate. New ideas are always welcome, especially in the current circumstances, but would an even more enterprising approach from the top result in more long-term work experience or internships?

 

True, the new realities apply to us all, but all the more reason to take a closer look and move away from one-size-fits-all solutions. To even try and brand enterprise as the new default setting seems unwise. An enterprising ethic in the real sense is not quantifiable; it cannot be bottled and is completely open to interpretation.

 

Is it about following a passion or purely about making a profit? The BBC1’s Apprentice would have you thinking it is about telesales. Period. And some colleges would have you thinking it is all about improving their learner outcome statistics.

 

Tell me about untapped potential, squashed dreams, hidden talents, but profligately clouding enterprise with unrealistic expectations doesn’t help matters.

 

An enterprising spirit is open to interpretation and guarded by the occasional limitation. And let us not be fooled that it is class-free, no matter how many barrow boys to business baron we may know. Young enterprise is the tennis of the business world; everyone can be encouraged to have a go, but only a certain few have the funds to follow through long term.

 

And here in lies the heart of the matter, perhaps. Is it, instead, a new-found self-confidence that Colleges should be delivering as a bolt-on to qualifications? The confidence to cope with different ways of studying if traditional teaching models need to be modified, but also the confidence to embrace new ideas – among them assessing whether self employment is the right choice, right now for every young person.

Smart choice

Ever heard of the German expression Schadenfreude? Turns out it means ‘taking pleasure from the misfortunes of others’. It’s listed close to veal Schnitzel in my German phrase book, which is an unrelated fact except to say that both are doubtless guilty pleasures in the eyes of many.

Speaking as a college principal it would be fair cop to assume I’ve taken more than a sideways glance at the university fees predicament. Not that West Herts College is untouched by this moving financial feast.

Future fees for our foundation degrees validated by the University of Hertfordshire will be priced according to the same principles and stand at £5,800 per annum for these two-year courses from September 2012. Possible options to alleviate matters for those who are financially disadvantaged have yet to be finalised but either way this coming September’s entrants will be the final ones here before a substantial price hike for all.

But if FE is not immune from the worst effects of £9k headline fees, neither is it new to the power of positioning in post-16 education. That the majority of universities are opting for fees at or close to the £9k ceiling ultimately makes perfect business sense, albeit at the expense of the consumer. Services are often judged by their cost – there being no way to try before you by – so what choice do most universities have? Charge less and be judged as inferior or, worst of all, lacking true value? Who can afford to look ordinary in a league of elite players accordingly priced?

There’s also the small matter of universities balancing their books. The government is pushing the need for efficiency savings to reduce the cost of delivery. And who would dismiss this as an option in some of the darker recesses of such a substantial sector.

What I do know only too well as an FE person of some years is the sinking feeling that can accompany a sense of ‘otherness’. Neither a school full of hope nor a university for the elite. Just plain ordinary FE – allegedly. And herein lies an opportunity.

Aided and abetted by the hike in HE fees the FE market potentially has the chance to grow without alienating our natural heartlands.

The vast majority of any college’s courses remain unaffected by HE cost increases, a fact that should help FE reposition as the fresh, logical choice rather than being squeezed between schools and universities. They are ordinary courses for all the right reasons: offering real skills for jobs in the real economy. A straight forward choice with straightforwardly priced training that is safely separate from the uncertainty surrounding higher education.

FE’s enduring appeal as the basis for a lifetime in a vocational (skills-based) career is surely its appeal to a new group of people thinking laterally instead of progressing straight on to university. Be this for a formal qualification in the ‘trades’ or a short course to top-up skills. Whether it’s the basis for a long-term future or something more temporary before reassessing more mainstream options in due course.

And the fly in the ointment is? The small matter that FE fees for adults (that’s the cost to anyone 19 or older) are also set to rise. Far less dramatically than HE and certainly to less uproar and disbelief… but increasing nonetheless.

Without government subsidy, the fees have to come much closer to commercial (pay their way) levels. The true price for training of true value, perhaps, but an increase all the same – and another reason to despair at the rising cost of living.

Your local college: here for you when you need it most or just another brick in the wall? Only time will tell – we’ll know what the appeal is come final enrolments in September, but if this is the year to invest what you have wisely it’s still one of the safest bets around. Ask any German, they’ve long championed vocational skills and revered the professionals that have them.

 Gill Worgan, Principal and Chief Executive

Talking nonsense

This time last year with the election approaching at a rate of knots the bickering, interrupting and hand gestures were largely focused on the economy, but policies not too far behind were education and the welfare state. Interesting then that funding has been cut for English for Speakers of Other Languages; surely this will halt education for those affected and put extra long-term pressure on the benefit system.

Britain’s poorest settled communities rely on ESOL courses to give them a realistic start on our shores. The Guardian states that “the lowest levels of participation in education and training after school are experienced by communities of Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Somali heritage, and in particular by the women of these communities.”

Without a grasp of English how can they work, support their children’s education or integrate and play an active part in the society – the Big Society even.

But under proposed cuts to adult education funding only those on active benefits, ie jobseekers allowance or employment support allowance, will receive the full financial support they need to enrol on an ESOL course. The Association of Colleges believes that more than half of current ESOL students would no longer be eligible for funding under the new guidelines, including those who are working low-income jobs. Surely an oversight by the PM when he is calling for everyone in our society to take responsibility for themselves and take weight off of the welfare system. Why should we stop helping someone improve their standard of life just because they are working, sometimes on the very lowest of incomes?

I fully understand the Government’s drive to focus resources on helping people actively seeking work to move hastily into employment and the part those targets have to play in these cuts, but we are a multi-cultural society that has welcomed huge numbers from all over the world to our island and now needs to assist those who have settled in bettering themselves.

ESOL is one specific example of how we are only providing the first step to those who are worst off rather than a continuous scale of assistance in adult education that might actually change lives rather than just squeeze the middle even further.

We are a nation that has always prided itself on education and training, yet we are in danger of cutting huge numbers off from both; and where ESOL is concerned we may even be cutting people off from society.

For many ESOL classes are the cornerstone of life improvement, which is why the take-up has been so huge since the Skills for Life strategy was launched over a decade ago. Sustainable employment and social responsibility were key themes in the PM’s speech on benefits last month, but just because someone is holding down a job at the moment they should not be abandoned with little knowledge of our language. If they are then who is to say that these same adults will not be reliant on the Government in the future? Short sighted responses only fix short term problems and more often than not create more than they solve.

Gill Worgan, Principal and Chief Executive

One size fits who?

University Technical Colleges are, like a phoenix from the flames, suddenly being heralded as the answer to all of our country’s educational woes, but are they really just a blanket solution aimed to appease?

First suggested as part of the 1944 Education Act the promised technical schools never materialised, and now in an educational landscape that, even with its flaws, is more inclusive and all encompassing than ever before the same recommendations have been reinvigorated.

I am always slightly suspicious of any notion that is claimed as the answer to so many problems, and the list of ills that will be cured by UTCs appears to be very long indeed.

UTCs are aiming to restore the status of craft skills in our society and in the same swoop fill the skills gap. They have also garnered support due to their providing of a viable curriculum for the disengaged, a sturdy qualification for vocational subjects and the possibility that they would make a suitable extension of the academy programme.

Many Colleges, including West Herts College, already run high quality vocational programmes, with employer links for post 16 education and offer some provision for 14 and 15 year olds too. So is this labelling of UTCs as our divine saviour a mistimed swipe at Colleges who have themselves recently risen to compete with sixth forms and address the balance at FE?

In my opinion the key to the success of UTCs will be borne of two main facets.

Firstly, the harbouring of genuinely strong links between FE and HE. Universities will need to work closer than ever before with their associate colleges, local or further afield, to instil that ambition in students and ensure they do progress as far as they need to.

Secondly, the reputation of vocational education and apprenticeships needs to be held in as high stead by employers as a degree. Facilities and teaching need to be the best they possibly can be for this to happen, but ultimately the student who progresses into the workplace will mould their employers’ opinions of his/her education. Vocational education and its reputation with employers is improving, but not at anywhere near the rate that it needs to.

But these two make or break issues are equally applicable to FE colleges already offering ‘Outstanding’ vocational education. There is much to be said about opening up real vocational education to 14 and 15 year olds and more still for providing practical education in facilities of the highest order in a wider range of career paths, but I am not convinced that we are quite ready to herald a new dawn just yet.

Building communities

Last week a government-commissioned report recommended buildings used for education should be built from ‘just a handful of template designs’. The report, headed up by Dixons Retail group operations director Sebastian James, goes on to say that due to variable build and design quality there is now ‘a need for every school to pass through an arduous cycle of checks and balances’.

If the previous administration’s Building Schools for the Future programme truly was characterised by countless projects beset with problems, as stated in The Guardian on the back of this report, then yes there is undoubtedly a need to standardise costs.

The report talks of construction work plagued by ‘massive overspends, tragic delays, botched construction projects and needless bureaucracy.’ And who hasn’t heard of building projects falling foul of spiralling costs and tales of the unexpected.

But further reading of said article and Mr James’ report may lead you to believe that the only answer is the imminent neglect of creative architecture in favour of flat pack classrooms and school buildings borrowing a uniform character from beyond the iron curtain circa 1970 – or many parts of Britain for that matter.

To be truly effective, places of learning should also be places of inspiration and as much of this can be down to the physical environment as well as that created by peers and teachers.

Mr James’ report spends a lot of time criticising the Building Schools for Future programme, but falls into the sort of knee-jerk reaction that is so typical of political blame and shame; ironic in a political landscape that has, in recent years, seen the large parties gravitate towards the centre. If this new blend of politics has replaced the Big Idea with honest pragmatism then the call to action should be all about meeting the needs of individual communities, starting with the essentials we all need to feel comfortable and free to be ourselves.

In the mix

In these times of austerity, cuts will be made and very few areas will be spared loss of funding, but herein lays the challenge that has been laid before us. How, with the money that can be found, do we provide our schools with the facilities and environment that can inspire pupils and staff to excel? For colleges add the fact that students will be predominantly young people during the day and almost exclusively adults in the evenings. With a mix of the two at weekends.

How to meet the needs of this mix of individuals – so each can have a sense of community. Some might say that Mr James’ suggestion of a one size fits all approach as a solution to the funding cuts is the coward’s way out. The easy option. I say it’s too good to be true. Like the quote from a builder who can do the job next week no problem. Moreover, his own report acknowledges that in the near future “the vast bulk of schools will require investment and in some cases their needs are very acute.” So surely there is no simple solution. If only every school and college building beyond its working life could simply be demolished and replaced entirely rather than patched up and put back into operation post haste.

West Herts College is lucky enough to have opened its new flagship campus, in Watford town centre, as recently as September. A project that came in on time and below budget. You may think this makes it easy for me to sit up on high and throw in my two penny’s worth, but we are investigating how we can continue with the planned redevelopment of our Hemel Hempstead campus, currently moving at a slower pace than we had previously hoped due to the funding cuts.

And one of the reasons that I’m so determined to progress this final redevelopment (two out of three campuses have been redeveloped) is because of the invigorating effect it has on students. I’m also reassured – just a little – that financial budgets are not the single most important factor when constructing campus communities.

Neighbourhood watch

We had a stop-and-think moment during the planning of our Watford campus when we realised the interior layout of the new building was as significant a project as any the college faced. Indeed, it was integral to all future mainstream success – be that periodic Ofsted ratings or the annual steeple chase towards the highest possible levels of learner achievement and success.

And so it was we came to be in the presence of a community scientist, someone intimately familiar with the nuances of happy living in large public spaces like college campuses with upwards of 2,000 people interacting at any one time.

Golden rule number one: we typically have deep, empathetic relationships with between ten and 15 people in our daily lives (that’s including family and personal friends before we even get to work). Beyond this, there is a limit of 35 with whom it is convenient to share resources. The stats go on but suffice to say that students don’t relate to many more people than those in their tutorial group. So to talk of a coherent single ‘campus community’ is a non starter. The solution: build neighbourhoods within a campus ‘city’ where students can grow in confidence before exploring the wider metropolis.

Golden rule number two: territories need to be signalled by boundaries – whether hard, fixed or permeable. This is as true for the perimeter of the campus as it is of the less obvious divides between the subject neighbourhoods within.

Golden rule number three: A main point of entry is essential – and everyone passing through this must feel ‘welcome and worthy’ – whatever their age, background and study interest.

Our dose of simplicity was to say, let’s make it all something of a cross between a contemporary shopping centre (I use the word loosely) and a modern museum or gallery, with likeminded subjects and facilities grouped together in an ambience that inspires by being intuitive and open; an inviting retail space for younger people, with a more serious atmosphere in the evenings for adults. That and great coffee roasted on the premises, plus professional facilities to rival those at the most sought after employers.

The nature of this approach is that the finer points of detail are a work in progress. Only by living in it can you know what will work best. It is about a sense of pride, freedom and responsibility. That house proud attitude that is a positive cousin of the broken window theory. Students benefit from outstanding facilities and thrive in a modern and welcoming environment. If you don’t believe me then pop in and see for yourself.

Gill Worgan, Principal and Chief Executive

Big Society in the global village

The philosophy of the Big Society can be traced back to the rhetoric of Conservative MP Jesse Norman which found its natural discourse in his book on the topic late last year. With its simple white front cover stamped with bold black type it has the feel of a nineteenth-century political tract. It is indeed a reflective work but not without some very direct calls to action.

Entitled The Big Society… The Anatomy of the New Politics, it could arguably herald from any limb of the mainstream body politic – as is often said – but by the same token it is all the more pragmatic for this. One very practical call to arms is for communities to grow into wise crowds, with loosely affiliated groups coming together to achieve more as a team than separately. The whole being greater than the sum of the parts… as the well known sentiment has it.

What came first the cliché or the common sense? No matter. Not least because I had the benefit of experiencing a wise crowd in action only last week when Watford put on a collective professional face for a delegation of investors from a north east province of China.

Communicating via translators meant all messages had to be succinct and simple. But perhaps it was body language that played the greatest part in convincing our guests that Watford had something special to offer. Cue a collective front from Watford Borough Council and the Chamber of Commerce, Brasier Freeth property surveyors, Regus office facilitators – plus West Herts College and Watford Grammar School for Girls.

As members of Watford’s cross-sector Business Advisory Group for the past two years, the College is now acclimatised to sharing projects and platforms with the town’s business community. And yet how often do grammar schools and FE colleges stand together? Both Watford grammar schools are top performing and now with an Outstanding FE college too we were able to simplify matters and explain to our guests that Watford is Number One for academic study and skills for working life. A powerful message in any language and not something easily lost in translation.

What’s more, the conjoining of academic and vocational education for the greater good didn’t so much elicit a sharp clap of thunder as herald the unseasonal heat wave that has been bathing Watford ever since. That and nothing but approving nods from the assembled Chinese officials, all of whom had already expressed great pride in the collective educational attainment – and provision – across their coastal province which combines rich natural resources on land and sea as well as thriving sectors across tourism, agriculture, industry and mining.

For their part, our co-presenters from Watford were able to outline upcoming capital investment in the town’s infrastructure, our industrial heritage and modern profile, plus the abundance of professional services and the lure of an area networked by transport links nationally and internationally.

Phew… and all that before 11am on a Monday morning. I see from its dictionary definition that the term ‘wise’ includes such powers as prudence, discretion and generally being sensible. So quite what will come of this particular instance of a wise crowd in Watford has yet to be seen. Tours of our new campus and the Grammar School were arranged at short notice for the following day. And what better time to have a brand new campus designed exclusively around vocational skills for the next generation of Watford’s workers and business leaders?

Perhaps it takes a visitor’s eyes to open up our own to the opportunities on our doorstep. Time to wise up?

 

Gill Worgan, Principal and Chief Executive