10 MAY 2024
7 FE & HR News Articles You Might Have Missed This Week - AoC Hikes Membership Fees, Promoting College Benefits, Alternative Ofsted Inspections
As the sunny weather brightens our week, it's easy to miss a few things while soaking up the sun. Here are 7 FE & HR news articles you may have missed from across the week.
AoC hikes large College member fees to £57.7k
Multiple large colleges are reconsidering their Association of Colleges membership after the organisation suddenly upped their fees by more than 20 per cent to £57,700.
At a recent meeting, the AoC board voted to retain the body’s subscription rate at 0.1 per cent of a college’s turnover but decided to increase the membership fee cap, set at £47,700 since 2019, by £10,000.
It means any college earning more than £47.7 million will see their annual fee rise in 2024/25, up to a maximum fee of £57,700.
About 30 of AoC’s 178 general FE college members are set to be impacted by the move, which could increase the membership body’s income by about £200,000, or 3 per cent, depending on member retention. Full article here.
Are you promoting your College benefits?
Benefits, benefits, benefits!!! Don’t hide them, shout about them!
The recent levelling up premium payment scheme announcement is very welcome within FE. However, this doesn’t apply to all subjects and compared to industry, college salaries remain below market rate.
A recent study by Aviva showed that almost one in five (18%) of UK workers feel that there isn’t enough information available to them about their employer’s staff benefits packages. Read the full blog here.
3 in 5 UK employees don't call in sick despite being too ill to work
Almost three in five (59%) UK employees say they haven’t previously taken time off work sick, either due to illness or injury, despite needing to, according to new research from protection and employee benefits provider, MetLife UK.
The research explored employee’s attitudes and behaviours towards the workplace, taking time off, and employee benefits. When asked why employees haven’t called in sick even when they’ve needed to, a third (36%) confirmed they didn’t think there was anyone to cover them, whilst over a quarter (28%) said they didn’t want to miss work, and 16% said they had a deadline to meet. HR Grapevine article.
UCU: Most FE staff back alternative to ‘traumatic’ Ofsted inspections
“Distracting and anxiety-inducing” Ofsted inspections should be axed and replaced by a peer-led model to improve education quality, according to the University and College Union.
A survey of more than 1,000 further education union members found that just one in five believed Ofsted raises standards and nine in ten backed “an alternative model of improvement/challenge”.
Ofsted has come under increasing pressure to reform its inspection regime from all sides of the education sector following the death of headteacher Ruth Perry last year. FE week article.
Workin' 9-to-7 | Are 10-hour days the four-day week solution?
The fight for flexibility continues as countless companies mandate their staff return to the office.
This has largely been met with dissatisfaction, with many employees looking for another job altogether. And alongside the struggle between flexibility and in-office work, some firms are doing something innovative - giving their staff ultra-flexibility in the form of a four-day-week. View article.
Skills minister backs FE lecturer ‘reservist’ trial
New skills minister Luke Hall has backed a proposal to train industry professionals to become “reservist” FE teachers.
The “FE lecturer reservist” trial, which looks to mimic the armed forces reservist model, will initially recruit automotive technicians and engineers across the West Midlands to undertake a short teaching course, and then be called up to support FE colleges while continuing their industry role.
It is designed to address high teacher vacancy rates in further education as well as skills shortages in the automotive sector. FE Week article
Student employers: ‘reform apprenticeship levy to boost youth employment’
The next government should focus on the apprenticeship levy and employability programmes for people from disadvantaged backgrounds to help increase youth employment, an organisation representing graduate employers has said.
According to the Institute of Student Employers (ISE), current legal structures and regulations are hindering employers’ ability to hire graduates and apprentices, despite the need to fill skills gaps across the economy.
The number of 16 to 24-year-olds who are economically inactive has surged since the Covid-19 pandemic, with around 12% of people in this age group estimated to be in this situation at the end of 2023. View article.