NFEC REGIONAL SEMINAR – Midlands
FRIDAY 16th October 2015
James Watt Campus, Birmingham Metropolitan College
There is a separate attendance list available.
1) Welcome and Introduction to the seminar
Kevin Whitehouse welcomed everyone to the seminar on behalf of BMET and NFEC. Introductions were made around the room.
2) Current matters of concern
Kevin Whitehouse mentioned Area Reviews as Birmingham and Solihull will be affected. The economic needs of the areas’ college and training providers and 6th form colleges are being investigated, led by a steering group of LEPs, local authorities, school commissioners and chair of governors of college. They are looking for effective collaboration, more economically viable institutions, greater expertise, to offer more effective provision, which will result in fewer institutions overall.
The timescale is about to start and it is a quick process with potentially the results being made known by the second quarter of next year. Some colleges are already very large e.g. Warwickshire and Newcastle groups of college are now formed. Many small engineering departments have already been closed with the larger functions now existing and seeming to cope better with the large investment costs. Resilience is needed to withstand the cost whilst partnerships and big employer links can help. A National College concept could help with hub and spoke type arrangements to support the use of resources. It will be an interesting time for suppliers and whether the money is still available after this reviews but in theory the hub college should be able to invest in good quality equipment. Suppliers can offer “spoke” colleges the potential for buying better equipment than schools have but which may not be industry standard but will show the required principles to students whilst the “hub” college will have a full range of equipment on offer for use. There are already examples of specialist school being able to do this themselves.
There will be implications on travel arrangements for students from more rural areas. One potential model maybe that higher level students may be required to travel further than those studying on levels 1 and 2 courses. Providers will need to be supportive of each other during this process, whilst needing to remember different markets of full time, employed and apprentices. Evening course demise has already had a knock on effect to CAD/PLC training requirements. FE college funding per student head, especially 18+, is already a lot lower than that of schools and HE. (HE £8500, Schools £5600, 16-17 £4000, 18+ £3800).
NFEC is trying to get a speaker on this topic for National Conference.
3) Updates from Awarding Bodies
Mark Shepherd - EAL, with Jon Mitchell now external quality assurance rather than EV.
F1 in schools has proved popular and there is now a level 1 Foundation certificate in Engineering Technology for participants. There is a new suite of KS4 and 5 qualifications available which will go onto the performance and schools league tables.
A range of VRQs are now available in the apprenticeship framework, all revamped to be e-learning methods and graded by pass/merit/distinction. There are available delivery packs with sample questions etc to support centres. There is a new website with a better user experience and is easy to use. Flexible solutions is offered to give QA and external qualifications to small courses which can include certificates for attendance and achievement as well as bespoke vocational qualifications based on modification of an existing regulation qualifications or by writing a new qualification to meet needs if there are sufficient numbers. EAL are trying to support its centres. If there are any questions please contact Mark on or Jon on
Steve Smith and David Lee - Pearson
Level 2 qualifications are to be developed for 2017. Brian Reid is now the subject advisor for Engineering Technical level. Changes to the Level 3 qualifications are based around the given guidelines with higher mandatory content and external assessment in all certificate/diploma/extended diplomas. External assessment can take the form of pre released tasks, 2 weeks before the candidate undertakes the assessment in a controlled environment. There will be some paper based exams. The specifications will outline what type of assessment is to take place. Sample assessment materials for the externally assessed units of the new Nationals can be found at the link below:
http://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/btec-nationals/engineering-2016.coursematerials.html#filterQuery=category:Pearson-UK:Category%2FSpecification-and-sample-assessments
Stakeholder recognition letters for the new Nationals can be found below:
http://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/btec-nationals/engineering-2016.coursematerials.html#filterQuery=Pearson-UK:Category%2FStakeholder-recognition
Delivery guides and schemes of work can be found below:
http://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/btec-nationals/engineering-2016.coursematerials.html#filterQuery=Pearson-UK:Category%2FTeaching-and-learning-materials
There are events now available to book. Please see the link below to the free online launch events for the new 2016 Nationals:
http://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/btec-nationals/btec-nationals-2016/btec-nationals-2016-launch-events-f2f.html
The revised level 3 construction qualification will be available from September 2017.
Higher Nationals are still being developed and the current version is extended to December 2017, whilst from September 2017 the new versions will be available. It is also possible to create your own bespoke HN programme.
Bryony Leonard is the Pearson lead for Trailblazers. Current qualifications are extended until 31/12/16 for Advance Apprenticeships.
Pearson are the only AO to deliver end point assessment for the Rail Design Technician standard. Traineeships packages now available. Please contact Steve on or Dave on for further guidance.
Darren Quinn – C&G
Please contact Darren for any help on
Level 2 KS4 technical awards in Engineering (1145-20) and level 3 KS5 technical certificates, diplomas and extended diplomas in Engineering (1145-30, 1145-31, 1145-32) are available for teaching from September 2016. The level 3 qualifications carry UCAS points and can be delivered as standalone or as part of the C&G TechBac.
The Aerospace Manufacturing Fitter Trailblazer apprenticeship qualification has been developed by employers including Airbus UK, Rolls Royce, GKN and Augusta Westland. It is a competence qualification, taken as part of the foundation year and in conjunction with the level 2 Diploma in Aerospace and Aviation Engineering (Foundation Knowledge) (4607).
Other apprenticeship standards are underway, at varying rates of development and assessment plans currently being written including:
· Aerospace manufacturing Fitter
· Aerospace manufacturing Electrical, Mechanical and Systems Fitter
· Automotive Control and Technical Support Engineer
· Automotive Manufacturing Engineer
· Automotive Product design and Development Engineer
· Automotive Tool and Die Maker
· Rail Engineering Operative
· Rail Engineering Technician
The Electrical trailblazer (5357) is now running, with an end assessment AM 2 (one retake only permissible) and initial reports are positive.
C&G are starting Employer led boards and are looking for centres to help them broker meetings or help with contacts for all size employers.
Richard Powell - AQA
Please contact Richard on for any information on the following points.
AQA now have 9 level 3 technical qualifications available and have UCAS point accreditation. For Engineering, there are pathways in Power, Design and Mechatronics. For the 720GLH qualification, there are 8 mandatory units, 2 of which are externally examined and 5 are to be centre assessed. There is a crossover between units with a common first year, allowing then for choice in the second year. A 360 GLH version is now also available. A 1080 version is currently being investigated.
AQA staff will visit centres to support and give advice on the running of qualifications. Written assessments and teaching material are also available.
AQA also issue a skills competency certificate for skills such as research when demonstrated during the qualification.
AQA have the only Power qualifications available for apprenticeships. Level 2 is already in place and level 3 should be available from April 2016.
4) Apprenticeship Trailblazer update - Bob Millington
Continuing the regulation and standards of the Trailblazers long term is still an issue. Many initial trailblazers had sound developments throughout backed up with qualifications but there have been other such as welding and automotive maintenance which might not have any qualifications involved at all. So there is different rigour within different apprenticeship training. Gary Griffiths, a retiree from Airbus, has been funded by the Gatsby Foundation to develop a structure which would ensure rigour and Bob is waiting to hear if it is to be accepted across the board.
George Osbourne suggested a levy scheme to keep costs down to Government as they cannot afford 3m apprentices which is required so large companies must pay a levy to help pay for this. Even though 250 employees is the recognised standard, it is not known if a company of 200 employees could be counted as being in scope for paying the levy. It is being suggested that the levy is 0 .5% of turnover or payroll. If the system goes ahead there will be 2 funding systems:- the levy system and for those out of scope, there will be the £2/£1 model as previously discussed. The cap size may lead to some companies needing to employ more apprentices to make advantage of the system for them. 61% of countries have levy system in place and the Autumn Statement may give more information. There are questions as to whether publically funded organisations such as colleges/hospitals will be in scope. The consultation period on the proposed levy scheme is now finished and BIS analysis is now taking place on the returns.
There are still worries of how 3 million apprentices by 2020 will be achieved in careers which will help the UK economy. It is doubtful that an administration or an IT system is available to achieve this.
It is unknown what happens for companies who have plants in England, Scotland and Wales. It is thought that large Engineering companies may not want any of their levy money funding any other career pathway than engineering. There will be grants available for taking on apprentices so there is concern that companies will do this to get their money back from the levy system but not really have a job at the end for an apprentice so the apprentice is made redundant at the end. It is all still supposed to be in place by September 2017, and SASE must have to be kept in place until all Trailblazers are ready.
The EEF and Wolverhampton College have worked together on the pilot for Automotive Mechatronics and Andy Lee and Malcolm Hindle gave feedback on this. The first feedback on initial synoptic tests is due shortly. Lessons have been learned from the Gateway process. Discussions took place on mandatory content which is 10 units in total so there is a recommended pathway but employers can change this if they wish to. GLHs can be extended if required by companies so it could be several models for different employers for the same pathway in theory. There have been demands on timetabling and resources / equipment, whilst trying to keep up with changes and there are still many unknowns on assessment models coming up. They have tried to front load some of the units but these will now need to be revised before assessment takes place. Some GLHs for modules are well out, some are too high, whilst others are too low.
A tour of the College facilities took place.
5 ) Training requirements for HS2 - Clair Mowbray, Skills Employment Team HS2, National College for High Speed Rail
HS2 is being seen as a catalyst for growth across Britain, how to get regeneration across the whole of the country whilst increasing the capacity of the rail network. It is the equivalent of building a 12 lane motorway to move freight. It will improve connectivity between 8 of the largest cities, London to Birmingham, through to Leeds or Manchester. Construction will take 20 years; it will start in London in 2017 and be operational in 2026 for phase 1, 2032 for phase 2. There will be 24 600 permanent construction jobs with over 100 000 jobs being created in total.
It is hoped to inspire a new set of engineers about transport and its required infrastructure. There will be 18 trains per hour once open in London carrying 300 000 people per day. 1/4 of the length of phase 1 will be underground. Stations will need to be hi tech as well as the trains to take the required speed of throughput of passengers.
It is going to require a huge capacity of workforce and what skills they will require is currently being focussed on. Initially, there are to be 10 000 jobs, 2 000 of these being apprentices giving a sustainable job opportunity during 16 years of construction. It is wanted to increase the number of females entering into the industry as currently this stands at only 4% of the workforce. There will be 8 500 FTE on average throughout the build, with 34 000 as a monthly workforce at its peak. It will require the largest excavation and archaeological dig in this country with the associated environment and tree issues associated with this.
There will need to be a higher level of technicians at level 4 than is currently available (16%). There are 2 000 Railway engineers coming up for retirement but only 500 new applicants coming into the profession. The sector is needing to work with new and existing training providers to help with the training requirements and to create new qualifications which meet the needs.
The National Rail College is part of a BIS initiative, which will train people to upskill to level 4 and above, working with only 19+, whilst other providers will cover the rest of the training requirements. It will be an industry led curriculum, covering operations and digital technologies and all associated rail specific requirements. It is wanted to persuade a diverse range of people to come forward to transform the industry. There will be 2 hubs, in Birmingham and in Doncaster opening in 2017. The Birmingham hub is located by Aston University. Examples of their qualifications are higher apprenticeships and Foundation Degrees, based on high speed rail. There is one management team to cover both college hubs.
The core curriculum will cover a basic knowledge of HS2, leadership, management and commercial awareness on a 12 week course. All Engineers will need a breadth and depth of knowledge in all topics such as digital focus, generic and rail focussed engineering principles. There will then be 8 specialist pathways. They are looking to form a hub and spoke model, which could involve employers, colleges or other facilities. There are many opportunities to get involved as there are challenges with who is going to teach this, with the appropriate skills and getting people from industry involved. They are looking for college provision at levels 1, 2 and 3, as well as for specific courses.