VIEWS & OPINION
Apprenticeship levy: where are all the apprentices? Comment by LOUISE DOYLE, director of online software specialists Mesma
The low volume of apprenticeships (down by 26% compared to 12 months ago) and the increasing gap between the government’s three million target and current levels is concerning for those involved in education and learning provision. I believe the following forces are in play contributing to a slow take-up by the levy-payers.
Managing capacity
The management of the levy more often than not falls within the remit of an HR team: a team not only struggling to find the capacity to develop their own knowledge of apprenticeships, but also required to manage the co-ordinated use of a significant pot of money. So additional resource or time needs to be budgeted to accommodate this, particularly in these early, formative days.
A different approach to decision-making
In some cases, the levy is stymying the capacity of those responsible for recruitment to opt to recruit an apprentice. In the new landscape, this type of decision requires a degree of discussion with whoever controls the central levy fund, either in terms of decision-making, or the processes behind the apprenticeship service - it’s a frustration and is creating a blockage.
Creating an internal market
Unless the employer has an existing strategy to utilise apprenticeships within the organisation, there is a need to build an internal market, where leaders and managers are not only made aware of the levy and the detail associated with employing apprentices but also the detail of how to engage with them.
Return on (apprenticeship) investment
Employers are still struggling to get the best out of apprenticeships, which can add significant value, introduce fresh thinking and new ideas, and secure
future workforce skills. Securing a return on apprenticeship investment requires the capacity to provide good mentoring and investment by an employer together with the time to consider how best to manage an apprentice’s training time, without it impacting on the workloads of other team members.
Finding apprenticeship training providers
It is not unusual for a levy payer to have procured a framework of suitable apprenticeship providers. But this is a resource hungry, time-consuming process and as we head towards the apprenticeship service payments for end-point assessment going directly to the requisite assessment organisations, as opposed to via the training provider, the same is likely to recur next year. And while these procurement processes are being undertaken, any apprenticeship activity has more or less stopped.
Time for standards
It is acknowledged by the Institute for Apprenticeships that the process for developing and approving apprenticeships is too slow. If we are to make significant headway into moving from frameworks to standards this has to be a priority. While the frameworks will remain for some time to come, the standards are broadly, easier to understand and engage with from an employer’s perspective. However, in the main good apprenticeship providers are recognising the value of the standards and making headway to move provision from frameworks to standards where they exist.
Employer providers
New employer providers are, on the one hand having to understand how to get best value from the levy as an employer, while on the other, creating an apprenticeship training provision. The key to success in my view is for employer providers to divorce the two in their thinking, in the early stages.
Tackling sexual violence and harassment in schools Comment by MARK BENTLEY, Online Safety and Safeguarding Manager, London Grid for Learning
The Department for Education (DfE) has launched new guidance for school leaders, safeguarding professionals and governing bodies/proprietors on peer-to-peer sexual violence and sexual harassment. The new report Sexual violence and sexual harassment between children in schools and colleges is also referenced in the proposed Keeping children safe in education document to be updated for September 2018. The guidance stresses that schools absolutely must take all forms of sexual violence and harassment seriously, and explains how abuse exists on a continuum, meaning it is essential that behaviours sometimes considered to be ‘low level’ are treated seriously and should not be allowed to perpetuate. Schools need to take action on a range of issues and the document makes specific reference to behaviours which are often tolerated or treated as minor misdemeanours, such as bra-strap flicking and the careless use of language.
The LGfL DigiSafe team was proud to contribute to the report’s development whilst it was being drafted, and thinks the new DfE document provides clear guidance and helpful case studies to show schools what to do in certain situations. For time short teachers the following summary of the new report taken from Keeping children safe in education is well worth a read:
Schools and colleges should consider the following: • It is more likely that girls will be the victims of sexual violence and more likely that sexual harassment will be perpetrated by boys. Schools and colleges should be aware of the importance of: • making it clear that sexual violence and sexual harassment is not acceptable, will never be tolerated and is not an inevitable part of growing up;
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www.education-today.co.uk
• not tolerating or dismissing sexual violence or sexual harassment as “banter”, “part of growing up”, “just having a laugh” or “boys being boys”; and
• challenging behaviours (which are potentially criminal in nature), such as grabbing others body parts. Dismissing or tolerating such behaviours risks normalising them.
• children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) can be especially vulnerable. Disabled and deaf children are three times more likely to be abused than their peers. Additional barriers can sometimes exist when recognising abuse in SEND children (see paragraph 96 in Part 2 of this guidance).
The report will be updated again in response to the Keeping children safe in education consultation for September 2018. Its release is timely for schools, coming shortly after two other useful documents on similar issues were published, by Childnet and the National Education Union/Feminista respectively: Young people’s experiences of online sexual harassment and It’s just everywhere – a study on sexism and how we tackle it.
Against this background, the publication of clear guidelines from the government on dealing with all levels of sexual violence and harassment can only be welcomed as a very positive step. Have a read and see how you can adapt your policies, procedures and strategic responses to incidents to begin making a change today.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/ attachment_data/file/667862/Sexual_Harassment_and_Sexual_ Violence_-_Advice.pdf
February 2018
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