1. Aligning the Educational Systems for Economic and Social Growth
Charles Pickford
Director of Employer Partnerships

2. About Foundation Degree Forward - fdf
Mission Statement
To meet the demands of workforce development, business improvement and the knowledge economy, fdf will seek to stimulate, support and sustain employer partnerships with the University and College sector.
Context:
Small operation – 15 field staff – regional and national roles
11 Central staff
Specialist consultants
Funded through the public purse – approx £3.2 million per annum
Operate across the areas of policy, research, practice
Operate in partnership 2

3. New approach
‘If we are to become a leading knowledge based economy we must create new routes into higher education and new forms of provision….We have to develop new higher education opportunities at [the intermediate level], orientated strongly to the employability skills, specialist knowledge and broad understanding needed in the new economy.’
Modernising Higher Education: meeting the global challenge: February 2000 DfES
The recognition that alternatives to traditional campus based education (the holy grail for many 18 year olds, and the associated block teaching grant being the holy grail for many institutions) is, when translated to qualifications, fairly recent. Back in 2000 the department for education and skills recognised that new routes and new forms of higher education were required.
Focus on intermediate level, new economy, employability.
Worth noting that this is not a polarised agenda – Universities and Colleges have the capacity and capability to meet the needs of a broad church of learners. Young, mature, full time, part-time, postgraduate, undergraduate, taught, research led, campus based, work based. The issue is that Universities are predominantly aligned to delivering full time campus based education. 3

4. Leitch Review of Skills
3.56: Concentrating too much on younger age groups could create further longer term problems for the amount and the use of high level skills in our workforce…As the Higher education White Paper stated, new higher education growth should not be ‘more of the same’, based on traditional three year honours degrees. Rather provision should be based on new types of programme offering specific, job-related skills such as Foundation Degrees.
In 2007 Lord Leitch also recognised the need for new types of programme. 4

5. Integration of work based and academic
‘The Foundation Degree will offer a new vocationally-focussed route into higher education. It will be academically rigorous and will provide an accessible and flexible building block for lifelong learning and future career success, drawing together further and higher education and the world of work. It will be designed to be highly valued in the labour market and appeal to a wide range of students, including the most able...For students wishing to continue their learning, there will be the opportunity to progress to an honours degree with only one-and-a-third extra years of study.’
Secretary of State for Education 2003
2003 saw the introduction of the Fd. The first new qualification to enter the English HE system for over 20 years and unique in its defining characteristics.
Did the politicians and civil servants foresee the challenges of building partnerships between employers and universities and colleges?
It can be argued that by its very nature the Foundation degree and related growth of Fd provision brings together collaboration between employers and education providers to unprecedented levels, and importantly now reaches out to learners in the workplace who would not access higher skills and related qualifications by any other means. 5

6. Foundation degrees Employer led
Integrate academic and work based learning
Delivered to meet the needs of the employer and employee
Provides access to HE for work based employee / students 6

7. Professional qualifications
How do Foundation degrees fit with other qualifications?
Level 7
CPD
Professional qualifications
Postgraduate degrees
Honours degree
Yr 3
Yr 2
Yr 1
Level 6
Foundation degree
Level 5
Level 4
Position – Spans (integrates) traditional vocational and academic routes
Fills the skills gap at intermediate level
Progression into
Progression from
Level 3
NVQ3
Advanced Apprenticeship
Advanced Diploma
A - level
Level 2
NVQ2
Apprenticeship
Intermediate Diploma
GCSE A*-C
Level 1
NVQ1
Young Apprenticeship
Foundation Diploma
GCSE D-G

8. Fd provides clear choice
Traditional campus based, subject led higher education OR
Work based, career led higher education
Both are equally valid - this is not a polarising agenda but one of providing appropriate opportunities for different communities of learners

9. Sarah
“…education would lead to life changing outcomes.”
“..I hoped that I could be an example to my children. To show them that if I could do it then so could they.”
“..has prepared me for the next stage of my life by starting me a journey to first recognise and realise my own potential, and then develop the skills to achieve it.”

10. “I feel sure that the degree will improve my career prospects and open up new opportunities. I used to suffer from a lack of confidence – I feel that the course has now given me much more confidence in my abilities and I take on new challenges with a more ‘can do’ attitude.” Kathy Coveney, Tesco Compliance Manager 10

11. National growth in Foundation degree student numbers

12. HEIs and FECs in England involved with Fd provision
Academic year
% of Pre-92 HEIs
% of Post-92 HEIs
% of FECs
26%
46%
12%
25%
57%
22%
71%
41%
38%
80%
65%
44%
85%
68%
Source: Foundation degrees: key statistics to (HEFCE 2008), Table 3 12

13. Sectoral profile of Fd provision

14. Type of institution delivering
Fd courses

15. Who teaches Foundation degree students?

16. Underpinning fdf strategies
In depth analysis of employers needs
National Fd Framework Specifications
Characterising work based learning by sector and setting
Developing employer led consortia
Establishing networks of specialist providers
Accreditation of employer based training
Developing blended learning solutions
Redesigning the curriculum to support progression from and in the workplace
Information Advice and Guidance
Reaching the SME business community
ICT consortia
Programme specifications
Understanding those learning outcomes that are best developed in the work place and in the classroom or both.
ICT, Retail, Travel, Utilities, Health, Care, Bio-pharma, - Role of SSCs
Fostering collaboration between institutions
EBTA
Blended learning versus distance learning
Don’t make apprentices fit the University curriculum – change the curriculum to meet apprentices needs
Paucity of balanced IAG and the strength of University marketing departments 16

17. Employer led consortia
ICT and Telecoms
Retail
Travel and Tourism
Utilities
Bio-pharmacy
Aircraft Maintenance

18. Characteristics of employer led consortia
Recognised business need
Commitment from HE providers
Existing solutions not fit for purpose
Look beyond self interest
Organisational and individual capacity
Leadership and ambition
Not wedded to historical practice
Pragmatic and solutions driven
Looking to meet current and future needs

19. Employer Based Training Accreditation – The ebta service
Fully captures higher level workplace training
Provides HE credits and / or incorporation into an HE award
Delivered via highly skilled facilitators
119 engagements with employers
Provides a methodology for institutions
Community of practice (30+ institutions)

20. Booths
‘By formally recognising the knowledge that our managers already had…, underpinning their knowledge with formal learning, comparing Booths’ business practices with other retailers and considering current industry initiatives our aim was to increase the awareness, motivation and confidence of our managers’.
Therese Edmunds – Training Manager

21. Booths
‘The accreditation process in which fdf and EBTA have played a significantly supportive and guiding role has added value to Booths’ existing programmes as well as providing a route onto the Fd, blending different learning philosophies and building on existing processes and structures in a highly cost effective manner.’
Therese Edmunds – Training Manager

22. 22

23. Jobs of the Future
It is clear that as a knowledge economy, the UK will increasingly compete based on the commercial value of its ideas and the higher-level skills of its people
As key drivers of social mobility, education, skills and lifelong learning give people the tools they need to progress
Source Jobs of the Future, Cabinet Office, Sept 09

24. What next
For individuals, skills are the currency from the economies of the past to the economies of the future
How do we stimulate and then respond to demand from individuals to raise their skills?
What is the role for Universities and Colleges?

25. Non-participation in higher education 1
No single agency has the widening of participation in HE across the life course as its core mission
There is untapped need for professional information, advice and guidance for adults across the life course
The 'potentially recruitable' usually see little need to participate in HE
The potential benefits of HE need to be made more apparent to this group

26. Non-participation in higher education 2
HE experiences within social networks shape the perceptions of 'potentially recruitable' adults across and within generations
Identification with 'people like me' in HE in terms of education, social and employment background influences decision-making across and within generations

27. Non-participation in higher education 3
There is an appetite for high quality, work-based and employer-supported provision, and for recognised qualifications that offer adults tangible returns
Fuller et al. (2008) Non-Participation in higher education. TLRP
If more employers were to make this sort of provision available, the latent employee demand (6 Million adults with Level 3 qualifications) could be released

28. Director of Employer Partnerships
Charles Pickford
Director of Employer Partnerships