WALES’POST-16 EDUCATION PLAN REVEALED
The Welsh Government has published its plan to get post-16 education back up and running in Wales. Education Minister Kirsty Williams has outlined three phases which will run until March 2021. Speaking yesterday afternoon, she also identified the groups of young people who have been most affected by the coronavirus pandemic and therefore in most need of support. The full plan is 24 pages long, but here Will Hayward lists the key points
Who is the plan aimed at?
The plan is aimed at education for learners aged 16 and over, including further and higher education, apprenticeships, employability and adult learning.
Who are the priority groups?
There are 32 groups who have been identified as the focus of this plan, and they include:
■ A-level students in Year 13 who need to prepare for higher education in the autumn term;
■ learners who do not have access to the equipment, connectivity or skills to access online learning;
■ those learning through the medium of Welsh who cannot access the range of Welsh-medium learning and resources required;
■ apprentices who cannot continue their full programme of learning due to workplace closures; and
■ international students in lockdown in Wales.
What are the stages of the plan?
There are three stages of the plan: ■ Rescue (March-June this year): “Making sure providers have security of funding and immediate arrangements for continuity of learning are in place.”
■ Review (May-September this year): “Planning for potential changes to provision, funding and learning delivery for autumn 2020 and beyond.”
■ Renew (September 2020-March 2021): “Putting revised arrangements in place for the academic year 2020-21 and evaluating the impacts of Covid-19.”
So what does that actually mean in practice?
The plan does not contain many specifics. There is no “when the R rate hits X we will open all colleges”, for instance. Instead it attempts to provide a framework for what the Welsh Government will do to help learners and providers.
■ Rescue phase: According to the Welsh Government, the rescue phase: “is already well under way, and has centred on the shift to online delivery, with associated work to ensure stability of funding for providers and learners.
“For learners, the most significant impact is the cancellation of A-levels and GCSEs and arrangements for awarding vocational qualifications. Since education providers in Wales closed for face-to-face learning on March 20, colleges and universities have moved to remote learning, delivering online lectures, tutorials and reviews, as well as ensuring support for more vulnerable learners continues.”
■ Review phase: The review phase plans for potential changes this autumn and has a list of assumptions.
These include:
■ While some learners may return to face-to-face learning during the summer term 2020, many will not;
■ many, if not all, learners will need practical and emotional support to reintegrate into learning after prolonged isolation;
■ we are likely to see redundancies and/or reduced starts in apprenticeships, although as yet this is difficult to predict or quantify;
■ higher and further education institutions are likely to see a significant fall in international and EU student numbers and the possibility of increased deferment, with a consequential serious financial impact; and
■ there are likely to be “cycles of social distancing” that providers and students will need to prepare for.
The plan states: “The Welsh Government itself will need to ensure that an experienced team is in place to support communications and policy around Covid-19; and will start to plan ahead for longer-term impacts on planning, funding, performance measures, work-based learning commissioning, Seren, and projects or activities which have been postponed during the rescue period.”
■ Renew phase: The renew phase will put arrangements in place for the remainder of the academic year 2020-21.
For this phase, the Welsh Government says it wants to “review our mediumand longer-term approaches” to post16 education.
This includes:
■ Quicker and more transparent decision-making by the Welsh Government, including direct responses to provider queries and requests;
■ frequent and clear communications with the sector and with stakeholders such as Qualifications Wales and NUS Wales;
■ reduced bureaucracy;
■ institutions’ rapid responses to community needs, including providing their premises for field hospitals, producing personal protective equipment and volunteering by staff and learners;
■ opportunities to strengthen communication with learners and support them to become more resilient and independent; and
■ increased online learning delivery ■ A-level learners in Year 13 who and support, accelerating the sector’s need to prepare for progression into response to the Welsh Government’s higher education in the autumn term; “Digital 2030” vision. ■ Learners progressing from Years Ms Williams said: “This plan will 11-13 into further education, apprenticeships complement our continuity of learning and other routes; learners plan for schools, ‘Stay Safe. Stay Learning,’ who have specific place-based but recognises the greater levels of requirements that cannot currently be autonomy and diversity of education met (such as work placements, laboratory and training provided by the post-16 or studio work, art/performing sector. Our colleges, universities and arts shows, realistic working environments); training providers are critical to the including those who need to national response to the coronavirus complete vocational learning/assessments and the rebuilding of the before they can progress; economy.” ■ learners who do not have access to She also the equipment, connectivity or skills announced to access online learning; that £1.3m ■ learners who become disengaged of capital while not in face-to-face learning; funding, ■ learners on employability programmes who are unable to progress part of into sustained employment; the ■ those learning through the medium Sêr of Welsh who cannot access the range of Welsh-medium learning and resources required;
■ apprentices who cannot continue their full programme of learning due to workplace closure;
■ learners with additional learning needs (including those due to progress into and out of post-16 learning);
■ vulnerable learners in all settings;
■ more able and talented learners who need continued stretch and challenge, including the Seren cohort;
■ learners adjusting to returning to face-to-face learning, including those who have received estimated grades and may need additional support to “step up” to the next level;
■ HE and FE students in healthcare and allied professions who may volunteer to work in the NHS, and those who will graduate early to bolster the healthcare workforce; and
■ international students in lockdown in Wales.
Cymru programme, will be used to invite applications from Welsh universities to submit novel research proposals that could contribute to or boost the advancement of research that impacts Covid-19.
Groups the Welsh Government has identified as most affected by Covid-19: Current learners Prospective learners
and other individuals
■ Learners in FE and adult learning who would have been starting courses during the 2020 summer term (mainly adult/part-time);
■ learners needing enhanced support, advice and guidance to switch programme or provider because they have not made the right choice for them;
■ new apprentices unable to start on programmes;
■ prospective higher education students who may receive low or unconditional offers which may not be in their best interest;
■ new higher education students making the transition to higher education in novel circumstances;
■ unemployed and economically inactive adults and young people who cannot be referred on to face-to-face employability provision;
■ those made redundant/unable to obtain work as a result of Covid-19 employer closures and restrictions, particularly by those in low-paid jobs; those with lower skills levels; those who have more “fragile” terms of employment; and younger workers; and
■ furloughed employees aiming to reskill or upskill.
Learning providers
■ Practitioners required to develop and deliver online/remote learning in Welsh and English, and to manage delivery of practical assessments for learners who cannot be awarded calculated results;
■ practitioners with constraints around online delivery (such as capability, using online learning platforms, language preferences);
■ staff experiencing their own difficulties around illness, caring responsibilities and mental health;
■ sector leaders and staff who need guidance, funding stability and support for decision-making;
■ learning providers which are engaging in community and civic responses to Covid-19 through their premises, staff and students;
■ sector leaders and staff who need to plan to support “returning” vocational learners in summer or autumn 2020 as well as new starters; and
■ sector leaders and staff who need to develop new approaches to engage with learners returning to or progressing into post-16 learning in all mediums. Others
■ Parents/carers of learners who are in the post-16 sector or planning to progress into the post-16 sector;
■ Employers needing to defer recruitment of apprentices; and
■ Employers needing to upskill their workforce to cope with economic changes (including those who may be impacted by reassigned government funding resulting from Covid-19).