This @EducationGovUK operational guidance provides further detailed information on new arrangements and responses to questions for organisations delivering further education including general further education colleges, sixth form colleges, and other providers.
David Hughes, CEO, AoC, said:
Tonights guidance will help colleges to make the right decisions in the best interests of their students, whilst maximising the safety of staff. We are advising every college to make their own decisions on their assessment of priorities, needs, the context in which they operate and individual risk assessments and we are confident that is what the Government wants.
"The guidance makes clear that 1 June is not set as a rigid date for re-opening. It is also clear that there is no expectation that all students will go back this term, and certainly not full-time. The guidance is there to support colleges to help students benefit from some pastoral support, advice or teaching and training face to face in a managed, phased and prioritised way.
"There are also a range of complex practical issues which each college will be navigating. We know, for instance that two weeks may not be sufficient notice for campuses which have been closed and need significant adaptation, cleaning and set-up. There is also the tricky issue of additional costs for colleges when considering transport, modifications and class sizes which we are discussing with officials.
"I am pleased with the hard work which our member colleges are doing with us to develop a framework of principles which embed compliance with safety standards and ensure a safe return for all students and staff.
The guidance relates to the announcement made by the Secretary of State for Education on 18 March 2020 regarding cessation of classroom delivery for most learners due to outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19). It also covers wider areas as announced subsequently. The guidance will be updated and expanded as further information becomes available and in response to questions from colleges and other providers.
On 11 May, the Department for Education published guidance on aphased wider opening of schools, colleges and nurseriesand setting outactions for education and childcare settings to prepare for wider opening. Because the transmission rate of coronavirus (COVID-19) has decreased, we anticipate that with further progress, from the week commencing 1 June at the earliest, more 16-19 learners in key assessment years, in addition to vulnerable learners and the children of critical workers, will be able to attend further education settings. We are therefore asking schools, colleges and childcare providers to plan on this basis.
This means that from the week commencing 1 June at the earliest, sixth-form colleges should offer some face to face contact to learners in year 12, alongside their existing offer to vulnerable learners and the children of critical workers. Further education (FE) colleges should also offer some contact to 16-19 learners who are due to take key examinations and assessments next academic year along with those in priority groups. Further information on what this means in practice is included below, under section 1 on changes to delivery. Special post-16 institutions will work towards a phased return of more children and young people without a focus on specific year groups.
Advertisement
You are using adblocker please support us by whitelisting http://www.fenews.co.uk
A new paper from @FETforL "#FE and #Skills and Shame in Organisational
Has the apprenticeship levy been a success?This week I wanted to talk
The economics of furloughFurlough is a term few of us were aware of un
The focus on face to face contact is for 16 to 19 learners; we appreciate there will be some courses that include learners within a class that are over 19 (for example where learners have dropped out of school and restarted in college), providers may use discretion here within a focus that is clearly on 16 to 19 delivery.
We have been guided by the scientific advice at every stage. The latest scientific advice to government is that:
We want to get allFElearners back into education as soon as the scientific advice allows because it is the best place for them to learn, and because we know how important it is for their mental wellbeing to have social interactions with their peers and teachers.
Guidance onActions for education and childcare settings to prepare for wider opening from 1 June 2020was published by the Department on 11 May. We will provide all educational and childcare settings with further guidance and support to help them to prepare for wider opening over the coming weeks and continue to work closely with the sector.
Guidance forapprentices, employers, training providers and assessment organisationsrelating to the apprenticeships programme in response to the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) is available.
Further information on the financial support that is available for different types of education, early years and childrens social care providers in England is available inCoronavirus (COVID-19): financial support for education, early years and childrens social care. This includes information on access to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) for furloughed workers and the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFAs) response to the Cabinet Offices Procurement Policy Note 02/20.
For colleges in significant financial difficulties, the existing support arrangements remain in place including short term solvency support through emergency funding
We are immensely grateful to providers for the vital role they are playing in supporting the national response to coronavirus (COVID-19). We recognise the significant efforts the vast majority ofFEproviders have taken to shift to delivering remote teaching and learning, and know that many have stayed open to support vulnerable learners and dependents of critical workers.
On-site provision should continue to be offered to vulnerable young people and the children of key workers in accordance with the published definitions, and this should have priority over other learning.
From the week commencing 1 June at the earliest,FEproviders should offer some face to face contact for 16 to 19 learners on the first year of two-year programmes (e.g. a two year vocational course, equivalent to year 12 in schools), alongside the provision they are offering to priority groups.
This will primarily impact schools and colleges, but will also include a small number of Local Authority providers, specialist post-16 institutions and independent training providers.
We understand that there may need to be some flexibility in place due to the variety of learners and courses offered inFEsettings, therefore:
In order to determine what level of attendance is appropriate within any of the options stated above, colleges and other providers should conduct risk assessments in order to understand:
Learners will need to stay within their new class/group wherever possible and we will ask settings to implement a range ofprotective measuresincluding increased cleaning, reducing pinch points (such as at the start and end of day), and utilising outdoor space. Any additional costs arising from wider opening, such as personal protective equipment (PPE) will be funded from existing college budgets. Staff and learners will be eligible for testing if they become ill with coronavirus symptoms, as will members of their households. A negative test will enable learners and staff to get back to their education. A positive test will ensure rapid action to protect their classmates and staff in their setting. Those who are clinically vulnerable, or are living with someone who is, should follow ourprotective measures guidance.
In line with implementing protective measures and reducing contacts, colleges and other providers should limit the attendance of learners in the setting at any one time and keep learners in small groups. They should also consider ways to minimise use of public transport to get to and from theFEprovider at peak times in consultation with local authorities. We will be consulting with sector representatives in order to develop some models of how this could operate, and this will be published along with further guidance for secondary schools and colleges and other providers in the week commencing 18 May.
The Departments guidance onimplementing protective measures in education and childcare settingscontains detailed advice on:
We recognise that for some programmes, online learning will be working effectively with a high degree of learner engagement (while some families may, for example, include family members who are shielding and therefore learners are not able to physically attend). Colleges and other providers will have flexibility to decide the appropriate mix of online and face to face content for each programme, reflecting what will maximise learner engagement as well as supporting more vulnerable learners, and enabling the provider as a whole to minimise transmission risk.
For 16 to 19-year-old learners eligible to return, in balancing on-site and online delivery, colleges may consider the following issues:
Parents whose work is critical to the coronavirus (COVID-19) response include those who work in health and social care, in the education and children sector (including further education) and in other key sectors outlined in thecritical worker list.
We recommend you ask for simple evidence that the parent in question is a critical worker, such as their work ID badge or pay slip. It would be overly burdensome on key sectors at this critical time to ask employers to write a letter on behalf of their employees.
Vulnerable children and young people for the purposes of continued educational provision during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak are those across all year groups who:
More information, including the expectations around attendance and encouraging attendance for different groups of vulnerable young people, can be found inSupporting vulnerable children and young people during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
From the week commencing 1 June at the earliest, we will be asking colleges and other providers to invite increasing numbers of young people to return to on-site provision, alongside priority groups (vulnerable young people and children of critical workers). Special post-16 institutions will work towards a phased return of more young people without a focus on specific year groups. The government has set outguidance on staying alert and safe (social distancing)to help educational settings support safe provision for everyone who attends.
Many colleges and other providers have already taken steps to support vulnerable young people, and the children of critical workers who cannot be supported elsewhere, and we are grateful to providers for the vital role they are playing in supporting the national response to coronavirus.
Specifically, we are asking that colleges and other providers:
continue to provide a safe space and encourage attendance: Being in an educational setting can be an important lifeline for many vulnerable young people, particularly where their needs cannot be met safely at home or where they may be at risk of harm.
There is a continuing expectation now and throughout the period from the week commencing 1 June at the earliest that vulnerable young people regardless of year group will attend educational provision, where it is safe and appropriate for them do so.
From the week commencing 1 June at the earliest, young people in returning year groups including vulnerable young people - are strongly encouraged to attend their educational setting where possible, unless they are ill, or guidance says they should not attend.
Providers are expected to follow the process set out on encouraging, enabling and monitoring attendance and following up on non-attendance, seeSupporting vulnerable children and young people during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
Section 15 below is a collection of examples from providers who are successfully engaging vulnerable young people. It is intended to provide an opportunity for colleges and other providers to learn from each others emerging practice and develop their approach to engaging vulnerable learners in education.
Colleges and other providers should continue to comply with theKeeping children safe in education statutory guidance. There is further information on safeguarding inCoronavirus (COVID-19): safeguarding in schools, colleges and other providers.
Young people up to the age of 25 withEHCplans in colleges and other providers should, like their peers, go back to college and other providers if they are in the target year groups, and where medical advice suggests they are notclinically extremely vulnerableto coronavirus.
For all young people withEHCplans , we would encourage colleges, other providers and local authorities to assure themselves that risk assessments remain current (seeSENDRisk Assessment Guidance). Colleges and other providers should encourage any learners to return to education settings, if the provider judges that this would be beneficial, for example where it is no longer sustainable for a student to be at home week-round.
We encourage colleges and other providers to pay particular attention to learners withEHCplans who are about to make a transition to another setting or to adult life, including those starting or finishing a supported internship. These learners may need some form of face to face transition, even if they are not attending their usual place of education.
We recognise that as some young people withSEND, whether they have anEHCplan or not, will need careful preparation for their return (for example, social stories to help with the transition, or routes round the college marked in Braille or with other meaningful symbols to maintain social distancing). The increase in attendance for those withEHCplans in target year groups may be gradual and take place over a period of time.
Special post-16 institutions will work towards a phased return of more children and young people without a focus on specific year groups. More details will be published shortly.
Coronavirus (COVID-19) may make it more difficult for a local authority or health commissioning body to secure or arrange all the elements of the specified special educational and health provision in anEHCplan as required by section 42 of the Children and Families Act 2014. Due to the unprecedented circumstances presented by coronavirus (COVID-19), the section 42 duty has been temporarily modified, so that local authorities and health commissioning bodies can discharge this duty by using their reasonable endeavours. We have publisheddetailed guidance on these temporary legislative changes.
The duty on education settings including colleges and other providers to co-operate with the local authority in the performance of itsSENDduties remains in place. Close working and communication between all parties is a central element in ensuring that young people do receive appropriate provision.
Colleges, other providers, social workers, local authorities and other professionals will want to work together to ensure adequate and appropriate arrangements are in place to keep in touch with vulnerable young people (whether they are attending provision, or not attending for an agreed or non-agreed reason).
Local authorities have the key day-to-day responsibility for delivery of children and young peoples social care. Social workers and Virtual School Heads (VSH) will continue to work with vulnerable young people in this difficult period.
Where vulnerable young people with a social worker do not take up their place in educational settings or discontinue attendance, the provider should notify their social worker.
If there are challenges contacting and engaging looked after children, providers should discuss concerns with their local virtual school heads (VSH) in the first instance.
Colleges and other providers are encouraged to share their lists of vulnerable young people who should be attending provision with their local authority.
It is particularly important for college and provider staff to work with and support childrens social workers and the local authorityVSHfor looked-after and previously looked-after children.
Colleges and other providers should continue to have regard to statutory safeguarding guidance on inter-agency working, set out inWorking Together to Safeguard Children. Providers should also refer toKeeping Children Safe in Education 2019andCoronavirus (Covid-19): safeguarding in schools, colleges and other providers.
Many learners will be feeling uncertain and anxious and it is vital that they can still access the mental health support they need. Providers will need to consider their learners mental health and wellbeing and identify learners who may need additional support.
All NHS mental health trusts are setting up 24/7 helplines and seeking to use digital and virtual channels to continue delivering support during the pandemic.
Social connections, alongside exercise, sleep, a healthy diet and routine, are important protective factors for mental health. Resources to promote and support mental wellbeing are included in the list ofonline resourceswe have published to help children and young people to learn at home.
Public Health England have also publishedmore extensive guidanceon supporting children and young peoples mental health and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is providing 5m of additional funding for mental health charities (to support adults and children).
Digital support includes:
Mental health is also covered in theinterim safeguarding guidance, and the principles inKeeping children safe in education(KCSIE) continue to apply. Below are some suggestions as to how providers have supported their learners with their mental health:
We are expecting residential further education providers to keep their residential provision open where necessary, and decisions will have to happen on a case by case basis. It is especially important that residential providers remain open to those who have particular needs that cannot be accommodated safely at home, and those who do not have suitable alternative accommodation.
In collaboration with Public Health England and Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), we have producedguidance on isolation for residential educational settings, including further education providers with residential accommodation and residential special colleges. This contains advice on managing the setting in the case of self-isolation or infection.
We recognise that the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak carries financial implications for many providers, and we are working to make changes where we can. We set out below the flexibilities we are introducing to support grant funded providers to continue to deliver learning.
To help manage the financial implications, we can confirm that the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) will continue to pay grant funded providers their scheduled monthly profiled payments for the remainder of the 2019/20 funding year.
ESFAallocations for 2020/21 have been confirmed, and payments will be made in line with the national profile which will be confirmed in the relevant 2020/21 Funding Rules.
As we will use data from the 2019/20 academic year to calculate 16 to 19 allocations for 2021/22, theESFAmay need to apply a different approach to a number of elements within 16 to 19 funding. Where appropriate we will therefore use alternative data sources to calculate allocations for 2021/22 to ensure as far as possible that there is not a disproportionate impact on funding.
If learners are unable to complete their study programme as a result of coronavirus (COVID-19) and are recorded as withdrawn in end-year data this could impact on the retention factor used to calculate 16 to 19 allocations for 2021/22. We will therefore review the data we use to calculate this as the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) becomes clearer.
We currently use the profile of recruitment throughout the year to determine the lagged student numbers used in 16 to 19 allocations. For providers who recruit learners later in the year rather than purely at the beginning of the academic year, and whose enrolment of new learners in the summer term will have ceased, we will determine a way to ensure this does not have an unfairly detrimental impact on future allocations. For example, we could still apply the current approach of identifying what proportion of student numbers were recruited after we take the initial data return in the autumn but use full year data from 2018/19.
Three elements within the 16 to 19 funding formula use students prior attainment in English and/or maths, namely:
We anticipate that these will continue to be calculated as now following the alternative plans that have now been published to award grades to students in the absence of GCSE exams this summer, and so providers will still be allocated additional funding for young people with low prior attainment in GCSE English or maths. As further details are published for how the replacement for exams will work, we will consider these elements in more detail.
Allocations have been made to providers who will be delivering the first wave of T levels in 2020 to 2021 based on planned T level student numbers. We have already published the approach for applying a tolerance where enrolment of T level students is below the planned number.
Due to the lagged student number approach, where the level of T level students recruited means the tolerance would be implemented, only the numbers above the tolerance would be converted to a full-time band 5 student. Read more about the tolerance in theHow T levels will be funded in 2020 to 2021guidance.
We will monitor the suitability of this approach over the coming months as we get nearer to the introduction of T levels.
The unprecedented impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) has meant that it is currently extremely difficult for providers to continue to organise and deliver industry placements through the Capacity and Delivery Fund (CDF).
Given these exceptional and unprecedented circumstances, providers will not be penalised for missing specificCDFindustry placement targets this academic year. Funding will not be clawed back if providers can demonstrate how the funding has and will continue to support your work on industry placement delivery. We want to make sure that providers are able to maximise the activity that they are able to carry out during this period to continue to support the delivery of placements, and to prepare to deliver placements in 2020 to 2021. Activities we would expect to continue to go ahead:
We will ask for evidence of this through the usual autumnCDFmonitoring process in order to minimise reporting burdens, and we will still look to claw back funding under the usual arrangements should providers fail to demonstrate they have continued to support the delivery of industry placements. Providers must avoid the risk of double funding. We will seek to claw back funding should providers furlough staff involved in these activities.
We expect further education institutions to continue to support students who are eligible for, and usually receive, free meals in further education, or are newly eligible, whether they are continuing to attend the provider or are studying remotely due to coronavirus (COVID-19) related issues. Read further guidance onfree meals in further education funded institutions for 2019 to 2020.
Colleges and other providers will continue to receive from theESFAallocations of high needs place funding (at 6,000 per place per annum) for the remainder of the academic year 2019 to 2020.
Local authorities will also continue to receive their high needs funding for the financial year beginning April 2020, and should continue to pay high needs top-up funding to colleges, special post-16 institutions and other providers at the rates they have determined. This will ensure that the institutions employment and payment of staff supporting students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) can continue. If placements for the summer term, and top-up funding, were anticipated but have not yet been agreed, the local authority should consider funding the institution on the basis of previous patterns of placements and commissioning, so as to make sure that the staff can remain in employment and be available for when the special provision is needed. Staff in institutions who support vulnerable students should also be available for redeployment if their services are needed elsewhere, or they can provide support in different ways. Co-ordination between institutions, and with local authorities, will be important in arranging this.
For providers funded through a contract for service forAEBand Advanced Learner Loans Bursary, we will remove the financial year controls set out in thefunding and performance management rules for 2019 to 2020.
This means we will pay any over delivery in the August 2019 to March 2020 period by utilising the April 2020 to August 2020 period funding, up to the full 12 month contract value. The commitment to fund delivery up to 103% of adult skills and 110% of traineeships contract values will still apply over the full funding year.
The 2019-20funding claims guidancerequires providers with the allocations listed below to complete a year-end forecast funding claim:
As part of theESFAs coronavirus response, theESFAwill now not require your organisation to complete a year-end claims forecast due in June 2020.
For 2019 to 2020 only, theESFAwill not carry out the final reconciliation for grant funded providers in receipt ofESFAfundedAEB(adult skills, community learning, learner and learning support and 19 to 24 traineeships) and the advanced learner loans bursary fund. These providers will be funded in line with the current agreement schedule with no clawback.
Providers must:
Where it is not possible to deliver online, for example where learning requires physical access to specialist equipment or materials, providers should keep and provide records of where this applies and keep evidence of efforts made to remain in contact with learners and prepare them for a return to learning in the future.
However, there will be exceptions for grant funded providers who had already forecast significant under-delivery in their mid-year returns forESFAfundedAEBand/or advanced learner loans bursary fund, in advance of the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19).ESFAwill contact affected providers to discuss their forecasts and potential clawback. We also reserve the right to clawback funds where it can be demonstrated that a grant funded provider has not sought to continue delivery wherever possible online or otherwise, either directly or forESFAfundedAEBthrough their existing subcontractors.
When planningESFAfundedAEBallocations for 2021 to 2022, we will consider how we set a fair baseline given our default position would have been to use funded delivery in 2019 to 2020.
With regard to advanced learner loans, the Student Loans Company (SLC) will continue to make scheduled fee payments to all providers with a loans facility. Providers must continue to inform theSLCif and when a learners circumstances change.
From 1 August 2019, theAEBis apportioned between theESFAand 6 mayoral combined authorities (MCAs) and the Greater London Authority (GLA) and theESFAis no longer accountable for administeringAEBin those devolved areas. The MCA orGLAwill be responsible for agreeing arrangements with their providers in respect of devolvedAEB.
It is our priority to support learners and providers to continue with their learning online during this period, ensuring that where breaks in learning are required, learners are able to resume their classroom learning and continue to a successful completion, while maintaining quality.
ESFAfundedAEBand advanced learner loans (including bursary fund) funding rules for 2019 to 2020 already make provision for breaks in learning for a range of circumstances.
You and the learner can agree to suspend learning while the learner takes a break. This allows the learner to continue later with the same eligibility that applied when they first started their learning.
We are extending the current breaks in learning rules forESFAfundedAEBand advanced learner loans to:
Where some learning aims have been delivered, this should be evidenced in the usual way. However, where a break in learning is now beginning or expected, providers should include these learners in their individualised learner record (ILR) submission and record breaks in learning as starting on the date of the last learning activity for the aim. It is likely that these aims will have been suspended knowing that it will be reviewed at stages over the coming months. Under no circumstances should the current planned end date be changed.
Excerpt from:
Maintaining education and skills training provision: further education providers - FE News
