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21 May 2007 : Column 1024

Many adults who take night classes will leave work at 5 o’clock or half-past 5 and will come straight into college without a break. They do not even have a chance for an evening meal. They are in the classroom 10 minutes before the class is ready to start because they are so keen to soak up and absorb what is on offer. One of the most inspirational periods of my life and one of the most rewarding aspects of my work as an FE tutor involved delivering adult education. I took a bunch of students down to Stratford to see “The Merchant of Venice”. Those adults had never been to the theatre before. They had never been to the theatre in Sheffield, never mind Stratford-upon-Avon. Can Members imagine how rewarding it is to see adults from working-class communities such as Wath-upon- Dearne—the sons and daughters of coal miners—going down to Stratford and not only enjoying “The Merchant of Venice”, but appreciating it? The whole experience had the potential to transform their lives by providing them with other avenues and forms of fulfilment. That applies not just to future employment opportunities, but to how they enjoy their lives and what they make of that rich experience.

Jeremy Wright: Does the hon. Lady agree that what she is describing very eloquently is education as a second chance—the opportunity to go back and correct what one did not do to one’s satisfaction the first time round? If she agrees with that, would she further agree that it is important that, whatever structure we have for skills training and re-education, we do not focus too much on those who are below the age of 25 to the exclusion of those who are above 25 who need to take advantage of those second chances?

Ms Smith: Indeed. It has to be said that, given the way in which our economy is now structured and moves, it is important that we remember that people need to reskill and move on continuously throughout their lives. In the context of second chances, it is also important to remember that confidence levels among adult returners are often low. FE tutors understand that better than any other deliverers of education in the entire system. They know how to build confidence and they understand that confidence is the key to success in education. The whole experience is a rich one for a tutor.

For me, one of the more enlightening aspects of GCSE work was delivering speaking and listening opportunities to many of the adult students. Unlike 16-year-olds, especially lads, who will deliver the inevitable lectures about football—or, in my case, on the 1993 Sheffield Wednesday-Sheffield United FA cup semi-final—adult learners will offer talks on varied topics ranging from bricklaying to beekeeping. I have even heard a talk on the history of chocolate, which finished with the offer of chocolate to all who had listened. I think that the offer was made to me in the hope of a better grade. That is the way in which adult education works.

Another really rewarding aspect of the work of an adult education tutor is sharing students’ success. When the results come in, they are almost as important to tutors as they are to students. Seeing someone who failed at school and could not cope with school
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learning structures—the chalk-and-talk approach and the constant drilling of knowledge without an opportunity to find alternative learning styles—achieving B and A grades in subjects such as English makes one realise just how valuable further education is. One sees sulky, reticent 16-year-olds being transformed into confident and mature 19-year-olds who are ready to take on the world. Mature students have broken down in tears during their one-to-ones with me because they lacked confidence in taking exams and all their hang ups and problems of the past had returned to them. When one sees such people pulling through, it makes one realise that further education can be transformational.

Mr. Hayes: The hon. Lady speaks with both eloquence and feeling. Does she acknowledge that many of the people she is describing are attracted back into education through non-accredited courses? The Government have focused on accredited level 2 training and non-accredited courses are under threat. How damaging is that to the kind of people she is describing?

Ms Smith: It is entirely true that what we in the trade call small, bite-sized chunks of learning can play a valuable part in building adult returnees’ confidence and capacity so that they can move on to the more formal accredited learning opportunities that FE offers. I understand that the Government’s direction has always been that colleges and other training providers should be encouraged to make such bite-sized chunks of education available as part of a package of progression for individuals from the moment they walk through the door of a learning centre so that they can go on to FE and then formal learning courses.

FE at its best brings out the best. It brings out the full potential of young people and adults, whatever that potential might be. For example, the expectation and culture of maturity associated with FE, through which young people are expected to take responsibility for their behaviour and learning, brings on a 16-year-old who has just left school as an individual more than anything else. There is no patronising in further education, or any sense of drilling things into people. Those in further education are independent learners. Many young people find independent learning valuable and are natural independent learners who are capable of finding their way through the material and concepts on offer. We underestimate the extent to which young people learn in a variety of ways. The best can be brought out of young people by further education, rather than school, because it offers an alternative culture and a different approach to delivering education and learning. It thus creates incentives and motivates people.

I hope that I can entertain the Chamber with another anecdote about my A-level days at night school. In my third year, when I was studying for the Bernard Crick A-level in government and politics, we suffered a serious misfortune in that our lecturer was suspended from his post two or three months before our exams. I will not go into the details of the
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suspension, but we thought that the reasons were pretty paltry. Everyone in the night class got together to visit local dignitaries and politicians and to make a fuss. We secured an offer from a local barrister—I pay tribute to him; he was a Liberal Democrat candidate in the local elections—to the effect that we could set up a Saturday school in the premises of his bridge club so that we could continue our studies with our tutor, in addition to attending the classes at the college.

The students on my course were ready to give such a commitment to their learning. They gave up their Saturday mornings to turn up at the local bridge club and set out their materials on a series of card tables so that they could make the most of the opportunities that were provided for them. We did that all the way through to June and even took a week’s annual leave so that we could have a study school so we could catch up following the disruption that we had suffered. The group’s results were absolutely stupendous. I think that an overwhelming number of us got grade As and secured our places at university because of the commitment that we gave to our education and course. To this day, I remain proud of what we did. We took control of our destiny and learning and ensured that we got what we needed. Again, that is something that further education often cultivates.

All that makes further education especially fit to meet the skills challenge, about which we have heard a great deal in this debate. FE develops the rounded and mature individuals for whom employees are looking. The stats have already been cited, but I will point them out again. We all know that Leitch has said that by 2020 we will need 40 per cent. of adults to be qualified at level 4 and above. However, it has not been mentioned that we will need 95 per cent. of adults to achieve the basic skills of functional literacy and numeracy, and that more than 90 per cent. of adults will need to be qualified at level 2, at least. I congratulate the Government on making it clear that FE provision up to level 2 will be free of charge. That represents a significant contribution towards making sure that we deliver the skilled workers this country requires and the skills we need to compete in a global economy.

Although this is often said, it is worth repeating: our country can survive in the global economy and make the most of the opportunities created by the opening up of markets in China and India only if it meets the skills challenge. The only way to do that will be to work at the high-value end of the employment, job-creation and manufacturing markets.

In my city and constituency, Corus is dedicated to the high-value end of the steel castings market. Corus is now under the ownership of Tata, so I suppose that I should call it that, but old habits die hard. The company has told me that it does not think it could consider moving abroad the Stocksbridge plant in my constituency because the skills that are needed to produce such sophisticated engineering products are available only in such cities as Sheffield. We have to ensure that things stay that way and that further education, higher education and our schools are geared up to continue to deliver such very skilled workers for good, well-paid jobs that are highly satisfactory and rewarding.


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Rollem Patent Products, which is in Ecclesfield, is less well known than Corus. It is dedicated to the production of bespoke engineering products, which are special solutions requested by the customers it attracts. The firm exports all the way across the world, to China and south America.

Most of Ronseal’s products are manufactured in my constituency, and they really do what it says on the tin. It is a chemical engineering company that makes an incredible contribution to the wealth of my constituency, which is higher than average for Britain as a whole. The managing director of Ronseal has told me that the quality of the local provision in our schools and further education college is critical to the future success of the company. We must meet that challenge.

In Sheffield we also have the teaching hospitals and the medical expertise not just of the doctors and nurses, but of the technicians and researchers. We have growing expertise in sports and leisure, and Sheffield is the world climbing and mountaineering centre. We have an engineering company called Gripple which manufacturers the equipment used by our mountaineers. That is a neat example of engineering and sport coming together. For a city like Sheffield, the challenge is to ensure that Gripple, the sports and leisure facilities, the teaching hospitals and the universities continue to get the excellent, highly skilled staff that they need, and the Bill will contribute towards that. It is the natural vehicle to deliver the skilled workers we need.

As we have heard, there are 4 million students in further education colleges, the vast majority of whom are adults studying part-time. That point is often overlooked. There are more 16 to 18-year-olds in colleges than in school sixth forms. Colleges deliver more than 800,000 vocational qualifications every year and provide 44 per cent. of entrants to higher education. They deliver 11 per cent. of higher education provision. They are already proven deliverers of higher education opportunities. Nearly 300,000 college students are over 60. That is a tribute to the capacity of human beings to study at every stage of life. The importance of further education is illustrated by those facts. FE has taken on the lion’s share of post-16 education delivery, and long may that continue.

I welcome the proposals in the Bill to restructure the Learning and Skills Council, particularly the requirement that the new learning and skills councils consult more closely with employers. They should also consult more with schools, parents and young people. We need a more co-ordinated strategic approach to what is delivered in further education if FE is to move from its excellent base to meet the challenges that the Bill requires of it.

I would welcome the Minister’s comments on how local learning and skills councils are responding to the needs of employers. We feel the need to move forward, but how far? In my view, based on the experience of Sheffield, we need to move some way. We have had serious engagement with employers in Sheffield, but I still do not think that we have forged the important links with employers that will change FE and make it more responsive to their needs. However, we will at some stage have to say to employers “Put up or shut up”, because they too must engage seriously with the system and demonstrate their commitment, not
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necessarily always in terms of resource but in terms of expertise to ensure that FE is able to deliver what employers say they need.

Mr. Brian Binley (Northampton, South) (Con): I have been listening intently to the hon. Lady, from whom we have heard sound common sense, as I would expect from someone who comes from Sheffield. The responsibility of employers is part of the equation that the Bill does not cover. Does the hon. Lady agree that it is employers’ responsibility to become much more involved and that employing organisations should play an active role in achieving that objective?

Ms Smith: Indeed, and in its own way the Education and Inspections Act 2006 tries to do the same in relation to our schools. If we want employers to be formally involved with the work of our schools, we should say the same in respect of FE colleges. One of the things that is overlooked in the Bill is the power to form trusts or charitable arrangements for the involvement of outside bodies in the delivery of further education. The involvement of employers is central to that.

If the learning and skills council works properly, it must provide leadership. My experience as a cabinet member was that the quality of input from the LSC in Sheffield and more broadly, in south Yorkshire, and the degree to which it responded to local need was critical in determining whether post-14 or post-16 provision developed and progressed. That has been the case for some time. My experience leads me to believe that the time has come to regionalise the LSC and to require it in legislation to respond more closely to the needs of the city, the district and the region. If local strategic partnerships are fulfilling their proper role, they too can play an important part in making sure that the LSC at regional level responds to what a district or a metropolitan area needs in order to raise the skills levels of young people and adults.

In relation to the powers proposed for the LSC, the power to incorporate and dissolve will rightly be devolved from the Secretary of State to the LSC. If we were truly radical, we would go further and put in place regionally elected structures to enable learning and skills councils to be accountable to elected representatives. For me, that is the way to ensure that the devolution of power envisaged by the Bill achieves its fullest potential. Regionally elected bodies to which the LSC could be accountable would be the clincher, ensuring that the Bill worked to its maximum effect. We are where we are on that, but I am sure we will return to the matter. That debate is by no means dead and gone.

The powers suggested in the Bill for the LSC to intervene when colleges are coasting or underperforming are entirely appropriate. That power already exists for local authorities in relation to our schools. The 2006 Act gave local authorities more power to intervene more quickly when schools are seen to be coasting or underperforming. That is absolutely right. The role of the elected representative in the local authority is to be the champion of parents and young people, ensuring that what is delivered for young people is of the highest standard and is always excellent.

We do not have the same mechanism in relation to further education, however. The move towards giving the LSC more powers to intervene is a step in the right
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direction. I return to my previous point: if the learning and skills councils were accountable to an elected body, I would be absolutely confident about the measure. Nevertheless, it is a welcome first step.

Mr. Hayes: I am intrigued by the hon. Lady’s support for the measure. She must be one of the very few people who supports it, given the debate in the Lords and outside this place. She said that it is a step in the right direction. Which destination is she aiming towards, however—even greater powers for the LSC to intervene in all aspects of colleges’ lives?

Ms Smith: No. I thought that I had made myself clear. My point about the measure being a step in the right direction is that, ultimately, I would like the LSC to be accountable to an elected body. There is currently no real accountability for further education other than with the governing body. That is not always sufficient to deliver effective action when colleges are seen to be underperforming or coasting. The measure is welcome as a first step towards recognising that although most college governing bodies are very good, they do not always provide such a check, and the accountability necessary to ensure the highest standards.

Mr. Stewart Jackson: I am puzzled by the hon. Lady’s argument. She seems rightly to be lauding local education authorities’ ability to intervene directly and quickly on schools, but not further education colleges. Does she share Opposition Members’ concern that a fairly aloof regional learning and skills council may get into a dispute or encounter a legal problem if it takes presumptive action in respect of mergers, closures or disciplinary action, especially if there is no local accountability via that learning and skills council, which is a regional body?

Ms Smith: If Opposition Members wish to table amendments relating to colleges’ accountability to local authorities, I am sure that they will do so. My only point is this: at the moment, when FE colleges start to stray and fail to deliver, very little can be done to bring them to account. When the governing body is too weak or ineffectual to act, very little can be done. In such a situation, a college may start to spiral downwards and its numbers begin to fall, and confidence in that institution will begin to fail. I do not want that to happen again. I have seen it happen in Sheffield, where we are still rebuilding. Indeed, that is being done very well under the current leadership, but I do not want to see Sheffield college go through the process again. From a pragmatic point of view, I am glad to see in the legislation some kind of mechanism for holding colleges to account.

The removal of principals is part and parcel of that argument. We cannot have a situation in which poor performance goes unchecked. Indeed, an earlier speaker referred to a case in which no account was taken of poor performance by a principal. I could give my own example. The lecturer whom I mentioned earlier who was removed from their post went to an appeal panel run by the governing body, which had dismissed him and then recommended an inquiry on the leadership of the college. That inquiry never took
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place. That is not really good enough. If governing bodies are not robust enough to deliver what we need, something should be in place to ensure that that weakness is remedied.

Just as I welcome the measures relating to the LSC, I welcome the approach taken on another important point that has not received much attention in this debate—the duty placed on the LSC to promote diversity in provision. For me, that is the absolutely critical point with regard to the clauses on the LSC. Training providers of various kinds are already operating at post-16 level, where we have sixth forms, sixth-form colleges and further education. In Sheffield, however, we do not have enough sixth forms. We have just six in a city of 27 secondary schools. All those sixth forms are concentrated in the south-west of the city. I tell a lie, actually: two more sixth forms have opened in the past year in deprived areas because of the opening of two city academies. We now have eight sixth forms, but they are concentrated in one part of the city. In effect, a number of students do not have access to sixth-form education or the choice of pursuing either further education or sixth-form education that many young people have in many other parts of the country.

Kelvin Hopkins: If my hon. Friend has a shortage of sixth forms in Sheffield, would it not be sensible for consideration to be given to setting up a sixth-form college that provides an enormous variety of courses, the best quality teaching and optimum class sizes, based on all the economies of scale involved? How would we generate such a college under the present arrangements? Could we not ask the Government to do that?

Ms Smith: Whether there is a sixth-form college or sixth forms attached to a range of schools is an open question. My key point is that we need choice for young people. I do not believe that many parts of the country—particularly to the north of my city, in Sheffield, Hillsborough—have that choice at that moment. When most young people reach 14 or 15, they either have a clear preference for a more independent learning environment in going on to their level 3 or even level 2 courses at 16, or they require the more pastoral, protected environment of a sixth form. It is very important that we do not close down the ability to choose one of those very different learning environments. Many young people would benefit from a mix of both; those who enjoy the pastoral environment offered by a sixth form may also enjoy receiving some of their provision at the local FE college.


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