- About us
- About colleges
-
Corporate services
- Corporate services
- Mental health and wellbeing
- Data Protection/GDPR
-
Employment Services - college workforce
- Employment Services - college workforce
- Employment: How we support members
- Introduction & Employment Helpline
- Absence & Sickness Management
- Contracts and T&Cs
- Disciplinary, Capability & Grievance
- Employment Briefings Library
- Equality, Diversity & Inclusion
- General Employee Relations & HR Issues
- Holiday/annual leave related
- Industrial Relations
- ONS reclassification related guidance
- Pay & Pensions
- Recruitment
- Redundancy, Restructuring & TUPE
- Safeguarding/Prevent
- Workforce Benchmarking, Surveys & Research
-
Governance
- Governance
- Governance: How we support members
- Governance Timeline
- Representation
- AoC National Chairs' Council
- National Governance Professionals' Group
- Code of Good Governance
- External Governance Reviews
- Resources
- Governors Inductions
- Student Governor Inductions
- Student Governor Support Hub
- Guidance
- Hot Topics
- Governance Briefings
- Archive
-
Projects
- Projects
- Get Involved!
- Resources
- Contact the Projects Team
- Apprenticeship Workforce Development (AWD) Programme
- Creating a Greener London – Sustainable Construction Skills
- The 5Rs Approach to GCSE Maths Resits
- Creative Arts in FE 2024 – developing student voice through creativity
- DfE Multiply Capability Support Programme
- Digital Roles Across Non-digital Industries
- GCSE Resits Hub Project
- Pears Foundation Youth Social Action Programme: Phase 2
- T Level and T Level Foundation Year Provider Support Programme
- T Level Professional Development (TLPD) Offer
- The Valuing Enrichment Project
- Creative Writing in FE Anthology 2021/2022
- Resources/Guidance
- Sustainability & Climate Action Hub
- Partnerships
- Honours Nomination
- Brexit
- Ofsted Inspection Support
- Recruitment and consultancy
-
Events and training
- Events and training
- Events
- AoC Annual Conference and Exhibition 2024
- T Level and T Level Foundation Year Events
- Events and training: How we support members
- Network Meetings
- Previous Events and Webinars
- In-House Training
- Senior Leadership Development Programme
- Introducing AoC's Early Career and Experienced Managers' Programme
- Sponsorship and Exhibition Opportunities
- Funding and finance
-
Policy
- Policy
- Meet the Policy Team
- Policy: How we support members
- Policy Areas
- Policy Briefings
- Submissions
- Policy Papers & Reports
- AoC Strategy Groups
-
AoC Reference Groups
- AoC Reference Groups
- 14-16 Reference Group
- 16-18 Reference Group
- Adults (inc. ESOL) Reference Group
- Apprenticeship Reference Group
- EDI Reference Group
- HE Reference Group
- HR Reference Group
- International Reference Group
- Mental Health Reference Group
- SEND Reference Group
- Sustainability & Climate Change Reference Group
- Technology Reference Group
- WorldSkills Reference Group
- Opportunity England
-
Research unit
- Research unit
- Surveys
- MiDES Benchmarking
- Research Further
-
Research projects
- Research projects
- Investigating the impact of the apprenticeship levy on training outcomes - January 2024
- Forecasting the cost of the English HE funding system - November 2023
- Local skills improvement plans: a review of their impact and opportunities for the future
- The educational provision for 14 to 16-year-olds in further education in England
- Staying with the troublemakers: A celebration of research in FE
- Strengthening governance arrangements in the English post-16 skills system
- Data Sources
- Think Further - thought leadership in FE
-
News, campaigns and parliament
- News, campaigns and parliament
- Post-election hub
- General and mayoral election resources
-
Comms advice and resources for colleges
- Comms advice and resources for colleges
- Media relations: 10 ways to build effective relationships with the media
- How to choose a PR agency
- Legal considerations for communications and media work
- How to plan for a new build
- Crisis communications: your go-to guide
- How to handle photo consent for media and marketing
- How to evaluate a PR and media campaign
- How to react to regulation, funding and restructuring issues
- How to react quickly and effectively to the media
- Working with the media: a complete guide
- How to write a compelling case study
- How to write for the web
- College communications, marketing and campaigns community
- AoC Newsroom
- AoC Blogs
- Work in Parliament
- AoC Campaigns
- Briefings
- Communications, media, marketing and research: How we support members
-
Equality, diversity and inclusion
- Equality, diversity and inclusion
- Equality, diversity and inclusion blogs
- AoC’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Charter
- AoC’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Charter for further education sector organisations
- AoC’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Charter signatories
- Diversity in Leadership
- Black FE Leadership Group and AoC partnership agreement
- AoC's Equity Exchange
- Equality, diversity and inclusion: how we support members
- Equality, diversity and inclusion case studies
- ETF Inclusive Leadership Coaching Programme
- Equality, diversity and inclusion briefings
- Home
- News, campaigns and parliament
- AoC Blogs
- Skills Minister's update on T Levels
Skills Minister's update on T Levels
In these unprecedented times, we are all being challenged and are having to adapt to ever-changing circumstances. I’ve been heartened to see some of the amazing things Further Education colleges have been doing to support their students, staff and local communities up and down the country. From virtual lessons to manufacturing and donating equipment to hospitals, the resilience and community spirit I have seen has been truly inspiring.
AoC’s recent survey revealed that 95% of colleges reported that learners under 19 are continuing to learn. This is due to the commitment, hard work, leadership and innovation that the FE sector has shown. Another great example of this commitment is continuing with the delivery of T Levels in 2020 as planned. I was keen to understand the views of our wave one providers and I was able to speak to some of them myself to hear their perspective first-hand. While some have rightly raised issues, most wanted to continue to deliver the first T Levels this year, and their enthusiasm to do so was great to hear. I know how hard everybody involved has worked, both to help develop T Levels, and to get into a position to deliver them. We do not want that hard work to be wasted and neither do they. I am also determined that learners will not lose out on opportunities due to Covid-19. We owe it to young people to find ways to continue to deliver the courses that they have chosen and that will offer them great career opportunities in the future.
I firmly believe that T Levels are absolutely vital for businesses and the economy of this country. Government is leading the biggest reform to technical education that we have seen in 70 years. Now - more than ever - it will be vital to ensure that we provide a pipeline of skilled young people to help our businesses and economy to recover. Whilst many businesses are focused on making sure they can weather the current situation as best they can, to support future growth our reforms to technical education are vital.
I have seen some incredibly positive examples of the adaptability of our colleges in moving to an online world, conducting interviews, assessments and even open days online. However, I do not underestimate the difficulties and challenges that still lie ahead in continuing with delivery in the current climate. I am determined to ensure that both throughout 2020 and 2021, providers continue to receive the support that they need, and that we also adapt to meet these needs where we can. Now that the final T Level qualification material is available, the department is working hard to provide online support for curriculum planning, as well as implementation planning and industry placement guidance. Provider take up for these online sessions has been encouragingly strong. Lots of work has also been happening behind the scenes on capital and the Capacity and Delivery Fund to support workplace development and we are making sure to keep data and reporting requests to an absolute minimum.
Whilst I know colleges are facing challenges for a variety of reasons, the industry placement element of T Levels is understandably a key area of concern, as the impact of Covid-19 on businesses continues to unfold. Engagement from employers to deliver industry placements will be key and we will continue to offer targeted support to providers in order to make this happen. Before the outbreak, the National Apprenticeship Service had worked with over 16,000 employers as part of their industry placement matching service. We will continue to monitor the regional and industry challenges caused by Covid-19 and will target our support to ensure that businesses are able to offer placements where possible. We have also launched a package of employer support which includes guidance and webinars for employers on industry placements across all industries, which can be accessed here: https://www.employerindustryplacements.co.uk/
Later this year, we will be publishing industry placement delivery guidance providing practical information for providers and employers on high quality placements. We will then be running webinars with our providers to talk them through this guidance, as well as providing clarity on industry placements policy in advance of September.
I am hugely excited about the potential that T Levels have to transform young people’s lives. These qualifications are based on the best international examples of technical education and co-designed with industry leaders. They will ensure that young people really are receiving a high quality technical education which is career-led, enabling them to access great jobs or higher technical education. Our providers are the pioneers driving this new programme forward, showing what can be done; and I extend my thanks to them for their efforts to continue to deliver in September.
Gillian Keegan is the Apprenticeships and skills minister and the MP for Chichester