Earlier this month you may have missed the “100 per cent” opportunity report from the Association of Colleges, which set out a compelling case for a joined-up tertiary education system.

Given the impact of the Augar report bleeding into current skills policy in England, and explicit moves to bring together tertiary regulation and funding for Scotland and Wales, you’d be forgiven for assuming that this was a done deal. You can barely move these days for calls to rebalance the system in favour of further education, or for ministers keen to associate themselves with the skills sector (and detach themselves from the woke world of higher education.

The future of collaboration and co-regulation across colleges, universities, and adult learning providers presented in the 100 per cent report is a compelling one, but (like many other reports) it was perhaps a little light on detail. Today’s “Opportunity England” 2024 policy papers attempt to fill in some of the gaps. These are some of the key asks from the report:

Adult education

Though we’ve grown used to the rhetorical nods to further education colleges and apprenticeships, the wider world of adult education still remains mostly unloved and underappreciated. It is also patchy and inconsistent – funding is devolved to combined authorities, which has led to local flexibilities as to what is state funded via the Adult Education Budget (usually english and maths at level 2, first full qualifications at level 2 and 3 for 19-23 year olds, digital skills at level 1, and some community learning) and what is covered by the lower ESFA grants.

These are the basic building blocks towards developing usable skills, but exist in a world where learner needs are often far more fundamental – basic skills in English, Maths, and English as a second or other language (ESOL) are not always accessible in every part of England, and the flexibility to fit study around caring and work responsibilities is not always there.

Skills shortages

There are acute employer skills demands in health and social care, engineering, digital, and agriculture – some employer-led work has started to sketch out what might be needed in terms of a curriculum, but this has been almost in isolation from the colleges and other providers that would be delivering it. That join up, and a wider perspective on the way qualifications and training fit together, feel like an easy win.

In some ways T levels should have been the magic bullet here – but the decision to require a grade 4 or above in English and maths limits their attractiveness and suitability for those who are looking explicitly for a vocational rather than academic route. And this is before we get to the widespread reported problems in securing the mandatory placements that just about every skills intervention seems to require at the moment.

Apprenticeships

The complaints here are well rehearsed – the current, employer-led, system focuses on in work training (to be clear, there’s nothing wrong with employee training and development, but it’s not providing opportunities for young people) beyond entry level, and with an emphasis on larger employers. The suggestion here is of a topslice on a reformed levy, to support national and local priorities focused on new job starters and young people. AoC also makes the suggestion that a modular approach to apprenticeships could align better with the LLE – and that the current system of external end point assessments is expensive, unwieldy, and adds little of value. Interestingly, there’s also a proposal to fund apprenticeships for 16-18 year olds via study programme funds rather than the levy.

Place-based policy

English devolution regarding skills can best be described as a work in progress, though the general direction of travel is towards more local control of the skills offer via the AEB. AoC suggests the government give all colleges the ability to set 30 per cent of qualifications to meet local employer skills needs (with the remainder devoted to a national offer), and give colleges strategic partner status as anchor institutions.

Higher education

The AoC are already well aware of low awareness and uptake for Higher Technical Qualifications (HTQs) and within the various trials of the modular Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE) offer. It points the finger (correctly) at a lack of financial support for colleges to participate in these programmes and a lack of government communications for either scheme.

The other arm of the HE ask is for “simplified and proportionate regulation” – the OfS’ current activities have “scope for improvement” and there’s long overdue work to be done between OfS, DfE, and ESFA on reducing the data and regulatory burden for colleges who deliver across multiple sectors.