TIGA, the trade association representing the video games industry, has today published a Parliamentary activity update for the education sector.
Written Answers and Statements:
Skilled Workers: Training
Department for Education
9 November 2021
Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to help ensure that the Government’s skills strategy prioritises training and courses that meet the workforce demands for the future.
Alex Burghart: The department published the ‘Skills for Jobs’ White Paper in January 2021, setting out our blueprint to reform post-16 education and training, focusing on giving people the skills they need in a way that suits them.
The white paper sets out that we are putting employers at the heart of the skills system so that education and training meets their needs. By 2030, almost all technical courses will be on employer-led standards, ensuring that the education and training people receive are directly linked to the skills needed for jobs. This builds on the success of our flagship apprenticeships programme where industry designed standards equip apprentices with the skills employers need and our work on developing new T Levels, which has involved over 250 employers in their design.
It also set out our aim to give employers a central role working with further education colleges, other providers and local stakeholders to develop new Local Skills Improvement Plans as part of the Skills Accelerator, which shape technical skills provision so that it meets local labour market skills needs. These will be launched in a number of trailblazer areas and be led by accredited Chambers of Commerce and other employer representative bodies in collaboration with local providers. We will engage employer and provider groups to ensure we create the most effective models of employer representation before wider rollout.
Following the Wolf Review which found that the content of many qualifications was not valued by employers, the department is streamlining and improving the quality of the post-16 level 3 system. We are strengthening the pathways to progression, creating clearly defined academic and technical routes with qualifications leading to further study, and/or skilled employment. Our proposed landscape – with employers at the heart and a much greater focus on quality – will serve all students better.
We announced in the recent Spending Review that we are investing £3.8 billion in further education and skills, to ensure people can access high-quality training and education that leads to good jobs, addresses current and future skills gaps, boosts productivity, and supports levelling up. This builds on the range of skills policies that we have introduced to improve skills at all levels.
The introduction of T Levels will boost access to high quality technical education for thousands of 16 to 19 year olds, representing a once in a lifetime opportunity to reform technical education in this country, put it on a par with the best in the world and offer young people a real choice of high-quality training that is equal in esteem to traditional academic routes.
We are providing an extra £1.6 billion boost for 16 to 19 year old’s education, including maintaining funding in real terms per student and delivering more hours of teaching for T Levels.
We are committed to supporting more people to benefit from the high-quality training that apprenticeships offer, including those at the start of their career or those looking to retrain, and as my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, set out at the Spending Review, funding for apprenticeships will grow to £2.7 billion by the 2024/25 financial year, delivering the first increase to employer-led apprenticeships funding since the 2019/20 financial year. We are also investing over £550 million by the 2024/25 financial year to make sure adults can upskill to reach their potential, delivering on the National Skills Fund commitment.
Many people lack the basic numeracy skills they need and that is why we have introduced ‘Multiply’, a new £560 million programme to help people improve their basic numeracy skills through free digital training, flexible courses, and tutoring. Launching in spring 2022, the Multiply programme is in addition to the England-wide statutory entitlement for numeracy and will give people who do not have at least a GCSE grade C/4 or equivalent in mathematics access to free, new and flexible courses to improve their maths skills. This will include a new website with bitesize training and online tutorials, as well as flexible courses.
T-Levels
Department for Education
2 November 2021
Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what funding and investment he plans to make available to ensure the success of proposed T-Level qualifications.
Alex Burghart: We have an extensive programme of support in place for T Levels, which will be backed by £500 million per year in revenue funding once fully rolled out. We have already invested over £165 million in capacity building funding to ensure providers can work with employers to deliver Industry Placements. An Employer Incentive Scheme has also been introduced, where employers can receive a £1,000 payment for hosting a T Level industry placement. To ensure that T Level students benefit from high quality facilities and cutting-edge equipment, we have made £268 million capital funding available for T Levels starting in 2020, 2021 and 2022. Every teacher offering T Levels has been able to take advantage of the T Level Professional Development offer, for which we have committed over £15 million in the 2021-22 financial year.
Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what current academic qualifications will lose funding following the proposed introduction of T-Level qualifications.
Alex Burghart: We will continue to fund high quality qualifications that can be taken alongside, or as alternatives to, T Levels and A levels, where there is a clear need for skills and knowledge that T Levels and A levels cannot provide. We have not pre-judged which subject areas will be funded in future, but our plans for reform published in July listed a number of areas where we see a clear role for academic qualifications to sit alongside A levels. These include performing and creative arts, sport and STEM subjects. Funding approval criteria for academic qualifications to be approved for delivery from 2024 and beyond will be published in 2022.
Digital Technology: Education
Department for Education
1 November 2021
Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to make the teaching of digital skills mandatory.
Baroness Barran: The government recognises the critical importance of digital skills in everyday life and for the wider economy. A new computing curriculum was introduced to schools in England in September 2014. This replaced Information and Communications Technology (ICT), due to widespread views that it was outdated and failed to equip young people with the knowledge and skills they needed.
The new computing curriculum is designed to ensure that all pupils learn the fundamental principles and concepts of computer science, can analyse problems in computational terms, have experience of writing computer programs, can evaluate and apply information technology (including new or unfamiliar technologies), and are responsible, competent and creative users of ICT. This computing curriculum is compulsory for all statemaintained schools, and free schools and academies can use it as an exemplar.
The acquisition of digital skills in the school space is supported by the National Centre for Computing Education (NCCE), backed by a government investment of £84 million. The NCCE has created 500 hours of free, high quality teacher resources, which include cyber security, digital literacy and data science.
From August 2020, the department introduced a new digital entitlement for adults with no or low-level digital skills to undertake digital qualifications, up to level 1, free of charge. Digital skills qualifications funded under the digital entitlement are based on national standards that set out the digital skills people need to get on in life and work. The department has committed to making essential digital skills training more accessible and flexible, building on the innovation in online learning implemented during the COVID-19 outbreak.
The department also supports the provision of basic digital skills training for adults in community settings through the adult education budget.
We are investing £500 million in the implementation of the new T Levels, and to help individuals enhance their digital skills, there are three available under the digital route. All T Level programmes include digital skills that are relevant to the occupations in question, giving employers the confidence that graduates have the level of proficiency needed for employment.
The department is also taking forward an ambitious programme of further education reform through the Further Education White Paper. It is clear digital skills will be a major area of focus.
Vocational Education: Qualifications
Department for Education
29 November 2021
Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that students can continue to study BTEC qualifications in the future.
Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the impact of removing funding for BTEC qualifications.
Alex Burghart: In July 2021 the department set out the qualifications that we intend to fund alongside A levels and T Levels at level 3. We want T Levels to be the core of the new technical offer so that in a fast-moving and high-tech economy we close the gap between what people study and the needs of employers. We are confident T Levels will lead to better progression into work or further study. T Levels offer a broad course content, giving students a thorough understanding of the sector and an occupational specialism to develop the knowledge and skills needed to work in specific occupations. This cannot be matched by qualifications currently available.
T Levels are challenging qualifications developed with 250 leading employers. They have significantly longer teaching hours and include a meaningful nine week industry placement that sets them apart from many current vocational qualifications. We want as many students to benefit as possible.
However, we will continue to fund some BTECs and other Applied General qualifications in future, and these qualifications will continue to play an important role for 16-19 year olds and adults as they do now.
We have been clear that we expect the changes to be generally positive as students will have access to higher quality qualifications in the future, including new T Levels. This will put students in a stronger position to progress onto further study or skilled employment.
News
Thousands more adults set to benefit from new technical skills
Department for Education
13 October 2021
Thousands of working adults will soon benefit from free courses that will help them to rapidly upskill or retrain, as part of the government’s drive to plug skills gaps and boost access to more high-quality training alternatives.
Sixty-five short and modular courses will start to roll out from later this month at 10 Institutes of Technology (IoTs) across England in sought-after STEM subjects. This will include courses such as Artificial Intelligence, Digitisation of Manufacturing, Digital Construction, Agricultural Robotics, and Cyber Security.
The courses will be a blend of classroom and remote online study, and will vary in length from 50 to 138 hours – giving more adults greater flexibility in how and when they learn, so they can fit it around their lives. Swindon and Wiltshire IoT, for instance, will offer five short 50 hour courses across eight weeks.
The programmes will be available to working adults aged 19 and over, with priority given to those employed locally to the IoT, in related industries such as digital or healthcare. The IoTs have worked in partnership with local employers to ensure courses address existing skills gaps, meaning employees from both large and SME businesses will be able to gain in demand new skills or retrain – so they can progress on to higher skilled, higher paid jobs in their area.
Separately, over 100 further and higher education providers have also been awarded a share of £18 million to invest in new equipment, such as virtual reality goggles, therapeutic play equipment for children, and air quality testing equipment that will support them to offer more higher technical training. The funding will also help them to boost links with local businesses in key sectors such as digital, construction and healthcare – so employers can tap into the talented workforce they need for the jobs of the future.
Minister for Further and Higher Education Michelle Donelan said:
‘Making sure more people can train and develop at any stage of their life to secure high skilled, high paid jobs is at the heart of our plans.
‘These fantastic new courses will open up more training alternatives for adults, address skills gaps in our economy and level up opportunities across the country.
‘We are also investing up to £18 million to support over 100 further and higher education providers to expand the higher technical training on offer to their local communities.’
The government’s network of Institutes of Technology – collaborations between leading employers, further education colleges and universities – specialise in delivering high-quality Higher Technical Education and training in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects, such as digital, advanced manufacturing and engineering, providing employers with the skilled workforce they need.
A total of £6.4 million is being invested to support IoTs to offer the free courses, which will support up to 4,000 working adults to get on the path to a new, rewarding career and will plug local skills shortages.
The Black Country and Marches Institute of Technology will be running courses for the medical technology and engineering sectors, including one on Anaesthetic and Operating Theatre Equipment. This will enable someone already working in medical engineering to gain new skills in using, calibrating and maintaining anaesthetic and operating theatre equipment – opening up new options for progression in their workplaces.
Principal and CEO of Dudley College of Technology Neil Thomas said:
‘As lead partner of the Black Country and Marches Institute of Technology, Dudley College is really excited to be a part of this project. The aim of the IoT is to provide employers and local residents with new opportunities for higher level training, and initiatives like this give us the chance to develop training solutions that really meet the needs of local employers.
‘The industry relevant course content and the accessible, business-friendly delivery model are what employers have been asking for. Under the pilot the IoT is supporting the MedTech and Advanced Engineering Sectors, and we’ve already got staff signing up from employers like Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust.’
Vice Principal of The Bedford College Group Georgina Ager said:
‘In order to prepare for delivery of Higher Technical Qualifications we are investing in staff training and upskilling. We have undertaken workforce planning exercises to model staffing skills gaps we may face in the future. Where gaps exist, we are investing in staff to upskill and retrain to ensure our staff have the most up to date industry and academic knowledge to deliver the Higher Technical Qualifications.
In addition, we are ensuring that our facilities are in line with industry standards in order to ensure our learners and our employer partners can access and train on equipment relevant to the current industry standards.’
Boosting the uptake and quality of Higher Technical Qualifications – that sit between A levels and degrees – and supporting adults to study more flexibly throughout their lives is a key part of the government’s landmark reforms to post-16 education and training.
A major review of higher technical education revealed these qualifications can unlock the skills employers need and lead to well paid jobs. However, it also shows that the quality of qualifications on offer at further and higher education providers can be variable and it can be hard for students and employers to find the ones that are right for them.
From September 2022, the government will start rolling out newly approved Higher Technical Qualifications, beginning with Digital, and followed by Construction and Health in 2023. A full suite of qualifications will be available by 2025.
Higher Technical Qualifications will provide a natural progression route for both young people taking T Levels or A levels, and adults looking to upskill or retrain – enabling them to take the next step up and gain higher technical skills in key subjects like STEM.
Salary boosts for new maths, science and computing teachers
Department for Education
6 October 2021
Teachers in the early years of their careers will be able to get a salary boost of up to £3,000 tax-free to teach maths, physics, chemistry and computing.
This will support recruitment and retention of specialist teachers in these subjects and in the schools and areas that need them most.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the package. It will be available to eligible teachers in the first five years of their careers, and is backed by a commitment of £60 million in funding.
International evidence indicates premiums that deliver a 10 per cent increase in pay could reduce leavers from among early career teachers in shortage subjects by 30 per cent.
Further details will be announced in due course.
The Education Secretary also confirmed he would be working across the education sector, including with Ofsted, schools and colleges, local authorities, teachers, parents and students on maximising attendance.