ALLIFE S Policy and Campaigns Briefing September 2016

ALLIFE’s Policy and Campaigns Briefing September 2016

Dear friends,

Whilst our recent policy and campaigns briefings have focused on academic education, this does not mean that vocational education and on-the-job training have been overlooked by ALLFIE.Far from it.Over the past year we have been using thegovernment’s 2020 Vision for Apprenticeships plan to reboot our campaign to improve the number and quality of apprenticeships opportunities for disabled people.

In this briefing we report on the key issues that need to be addressed, developments to date (including the role ALLFIE has played) and our hopes for the future.

And for some really good news for a change, just as we were going to press we learned that the United Nations has published comprehensive new guidelines (known as a General Comment) clarifying how States parties should understand and implement Article 24 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the right to inclusive education.Much of what the General Comment says mirrors the content of numerous ALLFIE publications!We will be planning some campaign activity around this important development and will tell you more in our next briefing.In the meantime, please do what you can to spread the good news.(For more information about the UNCRPD following the link:

In solidarity,

Simone Aspis, ALLFIE’s Campaigns & Policy Co-ordinator

Contents

The government's 2020 vision for Apprenticeshipspp 2

Disabled People and Apprenticeships – Barriers and Solutions tablepp 3

An update on ALLFIE’s Apprenticeships campaign workpp5

Maynard Taskforce on apprenticeships and people with learning disabilitiespp 6

UN Publishes a General Comment on Article 24pp 8

The government's 2020 vision for Apprenticeships

Today's apprenticeship opportunities, combining formal education with on-the-job training, cover more than 170 industries and 1500 job roles in a huge variety of sectors, from nursing to graphic design, from horticulture to electric vehicle engineering.Each of these apprenticeships must adhere to official approved standards.

The Government’sEnglish Apprenticeships: Our 2020 Vision for Apprenticeshipspaper outlines the government's ambitious plans to create three million more opportunities by 2020 – the key, it believes,togrowing the economy.

Quality will be monitored and maintained by anindependent Apprenticeships Institute, while a new funding systemwill allowemployers to choose and pay for the apprenticeship training and assessment they want through the Digital Apprenticeship Service (DAS).The aim is to make apprenticeships attractiveto both employers and apprentices by putting the former at the heart of the programme's development and offering the latter clear progression routes into employment and/or higher education.

The document explicitly states that the government wants to improve the uptake of apprenticeships by underrepresented communities andpeoplefrom disadvantaged backgrounds, and,more specifically, to increasethe number of BME apprentices by 20%.While this is a very positive move, given that the government has already declared its commitment to halvingthe disability employment gap, we were surprisedto see no mention here of numerical targets for recruiting more disabled apprentices.

Disabled people and apprenticeships

Over the past decade,the percentage of disabled apprentices has fallen: from 11.1% to 8% between 2005/6 and2010/11[1] (Little, 2012) and by a further 7.8% during 2014[2].This comes as no surprise to ALLFIE, whose research has revealed significant barriers to progress.

Issue

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Barrier

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Solution

Mandatory English and maths qualifications / The requirement to obtain GCSE English and maths or an equivalent Functional Skills qualification is unrealistic for some students,who may have other attributes that would be extremely valuable to potential employers. / To replace non-vocational qualifications with work-related assessments designed to establish whether an apprentice has the literacy and numeracy skills required for their role.
Discriminatory occupational standards / In their present form, occupational standards may place disabled people at a substantial disadvantage. / An undertaking to review occupational standards so as to assess their impact on equality of opportunity.
Inadequatevocational training / Apprenticeship providers are not geared up to delivering inclusive vocational courses, and therefore have little knowledge or experience of working with disabled apprentices. / A requirement in law that apprenticeship providers must be trained to deliver totally inclusive vocational courses.Only apprenticeship providers that provide inclusive training to receive state funding.
Lack of appropriate support / Disabled apprentices don't always receive the support or the equipment they need to flourish in apprenticeships. / Ensuring that apprenticeship providers have the necessary resources to arrange independent assessments of apprentices' learning needs, and to provide for these needs if the individual does not want, or is unable to obtain, a direct payment.
Inconsistentsupport
. / Separate funding streams can lead to a lack of consistency in the type of support an apprentice receives, as some of their support workers may be employed by Access to Work while others are paid by their apprenticeship provider. / A single funding stream to cover both apprenticeship training and the demands of the workplace.Offering apprentices the choice of having a direct payment for education support so that they can have the same type of support at all times.

ALLFIE’s apprenticeship campaign work so far..

Earlier this year, we used the passage of the Enterprise Bill through Parliament as a vehicle to campaign for changing existing apprenticeships policy.As the Bill included public sector apprenticeship targets, weenlisted the support of MPs to highlight the fact that regulated Apprenticeships Standards should comply with the Equality Act provisions.

Kevin Brennan and Bill Esterson ofthe Labour party ShadowBusiness, Innovation and Skills(BIS) team agreed to take forward ourfour key amendments to the apprenticeship clauses of the Bill.

• Public sector organisations to be set targets for recruiting disabled apprentices.
• The government to encourage employers to take positive action in the recruitment of disabled apprentices.
• The Secretary of State to periodically review and revise apprenticeship standards to remove any unnecessary barriers which haveprevented, or could prevent,disabled individuals from successfully completing their apprenticeships.
• The Institute of Apprenticeships to have due regard to the equality implications oftheir role and functions, including the regulation and approval of apprenticeships standards and the need to encourage and expand opportunities for apprenticeships.

We did not expect Conservative support for these amendments, so we were delightedwhen Conservative MPs Flick Drummond, Craig Tracey, Richard Fuller and Jo Churchill made some very useful interventions about the barriers that disabled people face ingeneral, and in particular the negative impact of themaths and English minimum requirement standards.

Following further lobbying by ALLFIE,Richard Fullerarranged for us to meet Nick Boles, the thenMinister for Skills.This meetingwas extremely useful.Afterwards, we were pleased to hear that Nick Boles had agreedto look into the possibility of relaxing the rules for disabled apprentices with specific difficulties.In particular,he thought that numeracy and literacy examinations could be contextualised around the needs of the work place and, where necessary, exemptions from the GCSE / Functional Maths and English Language requirements could be considered for qualifying disabled apprentices.

Maynard Taskforce on apprenticeships and people with learning disabilities

June 2016 brought another encouraging development when Nick Boles and Justin Tomlinson, Minister for Disabled People, commissioned an independent taskforce to investigate ways of making apprenticeships more accessible for people with learning difficulties or disabilities (LDD).Chaired by Paul Maynard, MP,the panel comprised senior officials from BIS and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), as well as parliamentarians,representatives from employers, learning providers anddisability organisations.

ALLFIE submitted written evidence to this body, which delivered its findings in July.

Besides revisiting the recommendations of the 2012 Peter Little report, the taskforce recommendations cover three core themes: improved communication strategies to promote the development of more apprenticeship opportunities, a review of the reasonable adjustments system (including maths and English requirements) and the implementation of a pilot to test the new funding system.

There were 14 recommendations in total, and the government has accepted them all ( a bit.ly).In particular, we were very pleased to read that some of the issues we have highlighted through our campaign work are now being addressed, as outlined below.Below we have highlighted some of the key recommendations from the Taskforce:

Taskforce Recommendation

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Government’s actions

Maths and English requirements
Lower the standard for people with LDD to just below GCSE level.
Introduce work-based assessments of apprentices' competence in maths and English in lieu of stand-alone qualifications. / BIS will work with stakeholders to develop a fair and robust way of determining which disabled apprentices should benefit from reasonable adjustments made around the maths and English standards requirements.
Funding of apprenticeship opportunities and support for individual apprentices
BIS and DWP to consider joining up funding streams, for example Access to Work and Additional Learning Support, so that the application is seamless from an apprentice / employer / provider perspective.
To pilot an apprenticeship programme involving public, private and voluntary organisations to try out a funding model that takes the needs of disabled apprentices into account. / BIS will develop a pilot to investigate how the new funding model could be flexed to incentivise employers to recruit more apprentices with LDD.It is intended that this will be in place from April 2017.

One serious omission we noted is the lack of a recommendation that Education, Health and Care Plans should include provision for disabled young people to draw down support whilst undertaking apprenticeship opportunities, something we campaigned for when the Children and Families' Bill was going through parliament.We are also concerned by the lack of detail in the government's plans and hope that this will be remedied soon.

In the meantime, following the cabinet reshuffle, Robert Halfon has been appointed as the new Minister of State for Skills.Mr Halfon, who is disabled himself, has already demonstrated his commitment to inclusion by employing his own apprentices in his constituency office and setting up aParliamentary Academy to encourage other MPs to follow his example.We intend to be in touch with him soon.Watch this space!

GOOD NEWS!!! UN General Comment on Article 24 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

ALLFIE welcomes the United Nation Convention for Persons with Disabilities’clarification of Article 24 and we are delighted to see that it incorporates many of the suggestions we made in our response to the call for submissions (

It is very clear from the General Commenttext that the UN believes that by continuing to have education policies that increase, rather than reduce, segregated education provision, governments are in breach of their obligations to move swiftly towards the development of a general inclusive education system that welcomes all learners regardless of ability and background.

ALLFIE IS planning a range of campaigning activities with the aim of putting pressure on the Government to produce education policies that are compatible with its Article 24 obligations.In the meantime, we have put together a table highlighting the correlation between the UNCRPD statement and ALLFIE's long-held views, and the disconnect with current government policy:

Issue / CRPD General Comment No 4 / ALLFIE's position / Governmentpolicy
Working towards full inclusion / Requires a transformation in culture, policy and practice so that disabled and non-disabled learners' learning and their attainments are recognised and valued within the general education system.Inclusion covers both education and student life. / All barriers (including cultural ones) are removed from the mainstream education system so that all learners’ talents are equally valued.Inclusion covers both education and student life. / No clear policy.
Overall aim of an education policy / To develop an inclusive education system over a period of time with an implicit aim of ending segregation. / To develop an inclusive education system over a period of time with an explicit aim of ending segregation. / To develop a market where parents and disabled learners can state a preference forsegregated education or mainstream schooling.
The legal right of disabled learners to follow mainstream courses in mainstream education settings / Disabled learners have a right to inclusive education and reasonable accommodations should be made within the general education system. / Disabled learners have the right to whatever support they need to participate mainstream education. / Under the Children's and Families Act (CFA) 2014 a disabled pupil’s entitlement to a mainstream placement can be denied where no reasonable stepscan be taken to promote their inclusion or where if itmight 'impede the efficient education of others'or the efficientUnder the Equality Act 2010 use of resources. Reasonable adjustmentsare made within the context of education institutions’, academy chains’ and LAs’ resources.
The right of disabled learners to individualised support / Disabled learners have a right to an individual education plan setting out what support they need to access mainstream courses and participate fully in student life. / Disabled learners are entitled to the support and equipment they need to access mainstream education. / Disabled students' entitlement to support comes via the C&FA 2014 or education providers' reasonable adjustments duties under the Equality Act 2010.Only learners with an Education, Health and Care plan have a legal entitlement to support.
Accessibility of buildings and infrastructure / All new education buildings and infrastructure must meet Universal Design standards.Existing buildings should be progressively upgraded to meet these standards. / Education coursesmust take place in buildings that are fully accessible for all students.New buildings must incorporate inclusive design principles. / The government's baseline specifications formainstream school buildings and infrastructure are inadequate, and not enough funding is provided to put things right.Funding for special schools is more generous and the baseline specifications are more acceptable.
Accessibility and inclusivity of all mainstream curricula / Mainstream education provides mainstream courses that are fully accessible in terms of methods of delivery, provision of appropriate materials and differentiation of content.
The curriculum challenges disablism and stereotyping whilst providing disabled learners with self-advocacy and political skills to engage fully in life. / The curriculum must be accessible for all and differentiated so that disabled and non-disabled learners are able to participate in any mainstream course. / Learners' entitlement to access mainstream courses comes from the CFA 2014andeducation providers' duties to make reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010.
There is no clear and consistent approach to the support that learners receive to ensure they can access mainstream courses.For example, colleges rarely considercourse differentiation as a reasonable adjustment for learners with learning difficulties.There is also noDepartment for Education (DfE)requirementaround theneed to incorporate disability equality in the school curriculum..
Inclusivity of education assessments and accreditations / Standardised assessments must be replaced by more flexible methods of assessing and certificating the achievements of disabled learners to put them on an equal footing with their non-disabled peers. / We must have in place a system that allows everyone’s different achievements to be equally valued by using a wide range of assessment methods. / OFQUAL’s regulated qualifications offer limited flexibility with regard to assessment methods, time completion and interpretation of competences.
Assessment arrangements in higher education are more flexible.
Training / The majority of staff working in education must have training in inclusive education practice.
Support is given to families, school support groups and the wider community to increase their understanding of disability with a view to creating more inclusive societies. / Disability equality training to be made compulsory for all education professionals and staff. / There is no requirement or provision for disability equality training.DfE- sponsored materials focus on how education staff can work with individuals with specific SEND rather than on how to develop inclusive education practice.
The involvement of disabled people and their allies (i.e.children and parents organisations) in planning for inclusive education / Students and, where appropriate, their families or carers should be involved in the development of inclusive education plans. / Nothing about us without us! / Focus on what disabled young people and their parents or carers want from particular services as part of theLocal Offer without any legal requirement to comply with their requests.

-ends-

1

[1] Little, P. (2012) “Creating an inclusive apprenticeship offer”

[2]BIS. (2014) ‘Equality duty: progress’ report.