Shared Outcomes Assurance Group minutes: papers 13 June 2022

Foundation and graduate apprenticeships 

This paper has been prepared to inform a SOAG deep dive discussion into how Foundation and Graduate Apprenticeship provision is currently informed by skills planning intelligence and what progress is being made to ensure provision meets demands of the future economy. 

Background 

In 2019, in pursuit of a sustainable funding solution, the Deputy First Minister set out his policy intention to embed Foundation Apprenticeship (FA) and Graduate Apprenticeship (GA) funding into core Further and Higher Education budgets with an associated transfer of key aspects of funding and delivery responsibility from Skills Development Scotland (SDS) to the Scottish Funding Council (SFC). Due to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the change was delayed and happened first in AY 21/22. 

In light of this, and due to continued shared funding and delivery responsibility for FAs in particular, SDS and SFC were tasked with establishing a joint model for programme delivery. This was agreed and implemented, and under current arrangements joint working between the two agencies continues, reporting into the Shared Outcomes Assurance Group (SOAG) on a six-weekly basis. 

Skills planning and apprenticeships 

Apprenticeships are demand-led work-based learning opportunities. They require the involvement of an employer to enable an individual to access the training opportunity and, as such, can be seen as directly responding to the needs of the current and future labour market and offering significant potential for aligned, coherent provision.   

As with all skills and education provision, ensuring that it is responsive to economic need means not only responding to the current labour market requirements or demand, but anticipating areas where workforce gaps will or could arise, both across existing frameworks and in other sectors. This includes areas where skills demand may not be driven by the market itself, such as the transition to net zero or supporting social and wellbeing outcomes. 

The Scottish Government has made specific commitments through the Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan (CESAP) to support further development of Foundation and Graduate Apprenticeships to respond to industry demand in new areas e.g. environmental construction and carbon management. We are also aware of recent calls from specific sectors, through policy teams, for new GA frameworks to be developed in key professions e.g. nursing, planning and social work.  

The SOAG deep dive discussion will focus on a high-level update on progress with SDS and SFC interoperations including; the current process for agreeing GA and FA provision and how development decisions are made and prioritised and demand-assessment and credit allocation. The purpose is to strengthen SG understanding, oversight and assurance and to inform continuous improvement. 

Current provision 

Foundation apprenticeships 

FAs are a work-based learning opportunity that is available to pupils in the senior phase. There are currently 12 FA frameworks at SCQF Level 6 with 3 being piloted across Levels 4 and 5 giving a total of 15 frameworks. The Level 4 and 5 frameworks are part of a pilot which is currently being jointly evaluated by SQA and SDS. 

• Accountancy, SCQF Level 6  

• Automotive, SCQF Level 4   

• Business Skills, SCQF Level 6 

• Civil Engineering, SCQF Level 6 

• Construction, SCQF Level 4 and 5 

• Creative and Digital Media, SCQF Level 6 

• Engineering, SCQF Level 6 

• Financial Services, SCQF Level 6 

• Food and Drink Technologies, SCQF Level 6 

• Hospitality, SCQF Level 4 and 5 

• IT: Hardware and System Support, SCQF Level 6 

• IT: Software Development, Level 6 

• Scientific Technologies, SCQF Level 6 

• Social Services and Healthcare, SCQF Level 6 

• Social Services: Children and Young People, SCQF Level 6 

There are currently up to 5,000 FA opportunities available across Scotland, with 50% of opportunities funded through Scotland’s colleges and the other 50% through Independent Learning Providers (ITPs) and Local Authorities (LAs).  

A recent Review of FAs completed by Education Scotland’s HMIE and published in March 2022 highlighted the successes and some areas for improvement in relation to the FA programme at SCQF Level 6. The Foundation Apprenticeship Enhancement Group (FAEG) has been established to consider the findings, and develop an action plan for improvement.  

The FA Review identified a number of relevant issues in relation to qualification design and programme delivery, including how to involve learning and curriculum providers in the design of the qualification to ensure the workload and difficulty are comparable to other senior phase qualifications, and how to enable FAs to be more effectively embedded within the school timetable and curriculum. 

The starting point for this work will be revisiting and agreeing the purpose and outcomes we are looking to achieve through the FA programme, to ensure that there is a clear strategic policy intent, and to enable us to more effectively identify actions to optimise its performance. The wider Education Reform including the Hayward Review of senior phase qualifications and assessment will provide important context of this work. 

Graduate apprenticeships 

Graduate apprenticeship opportunities and uptake of GAs has grown since their introduction in 2017 from 277 in AY 2017/18 to 1,378 GA opportunities in AY 2021/22. The benefits of GAs are widely recognised as helping to widen access to and participation in HE via vocational routes and pathways, and encouraging the development of closer relationships between universities and industry employers, enabling them to shape provision in addition to developing the skills required by employers. 

GA frameworks are created in partnership with industry and the Further Education (FE) and Higher Education (HE) sectors and cover key occupational growth areas of the economy, where there is a need for skilled employees. Presently, this includes:  

• Accounting, BA (Hons), SCQF level 10 

• Accounting, Professional Body Qualification, SCQF level 11 

• Business Management (currently includes the Financial Services pathway and will also include Project Management and Business Analysis from 2022), BA (Hons), SCQF Level 10   

• Civil Engineering, Higher Apprenticeship, SCQF Level 8 – this framework is no longer offered and likely to be withdrawn 

• Civil Engineering, BSc or BEng (Hons), SCQF level 10 

• Construction and the Built Environment, BSc or BEng (Hons), SCQF Level 10 

• Cyber Security, BEng (Hons), SCQF Level 10 

• Cyber Security, BEng (Masters), SCQF Level 11 

• Data Science, BSc (Hons), SCQF Level 10 

• Early Learning and Childcare, BA, SCQF Level 9 

• Engineering: Design and Manufacture, BEng (Hons), SCQF Level 10 

• Engineering: Instrumentation, Measurement and Control, BEng (Hons), SCQF Level 10 

• IT: Management and Business, BSc (Hons), SCQF Level 10 

• IT: Software Development, BSc (Hons), SCQF Level 10 

Business Management has continued to be the most popular framework with around 34% of GA uptake in 2020/21. This was followed by Engineering: Design and Manufacture (14%) and IT: Software Development (11%). It is intended to withdraw the Higher Apprenticeship in Civil Engineering at Level 8 as there has been no new learners.  Feedback from providers and employers is that it is no longer required as the L10 framework provides employers with what is required.   

The number of employers with GAs has also increased year-on-year (from around 140 in 2017/18 to 500 in 2020/21). In 2017/18 most businesses employed one or two GAs, but in 2020/21, 35% of employers had multiple GAs and there are now over 30 employers with more than 20 GAs working for them. 

Research undertaken by both SAAB through the Edge Foundation and SDS through Ekos in 2021 showed additional employer demand for GAs.  The EKOS research showed potential demand of c1800 places from current GA employers (for existing frameworks) and additional, though unquantified demand, from employers not currently engaged.  This evidence of increased demand for GA places from employers, particularly those who are already engaged in the programme, is premised on continuation of the current funding model (where the employer doesn’t make any contribution to the cost of training). Employers have cited the number of frameworks and clarity on future funding allocations as a barrier to up-take. Higher Education Institutions tend to be more cautious in their assessments of demand. 

Areas for discussion: 

SDS/SFC Interoperations for FA and GA delivery 

A key deliverable within the Phase 1 milestone plan was to develop an interoperations approach between SDS and SFC to ensure the roles, responsibilities and accountabilities reflecting the transition of funding from SDS to SFC was clear and that the ongoing programme management to maintain performance and the quality of experience for learners and employers was ensured. The aim through the joint agency work and interoperations approach was to support effective collaboration and combine the strengths and resources across staff in both organisations to support FA and GA programme delivery. 

While progress was made in Phase 1, further work is being progressed during Phase 2 to clarify roles, responsibilities and accountabilities across SDS and SFC and the optimum approach for interoperations with the development of clear processes and operating instructions for staff in both agencies.  

The Interoperations plan has seven workstreams with each having a workstream plan: 

• Policy & Governance 

• Evidence & Allocations 

• Programme Management 

• Quality Assurance 

• Development 

• Stakeholder Management 

• Marketing & Communication 

Work progressed during the last period and decisions taken at the Joint Executive Group meeting on 8th June has resulted in four of the seven workstreams ragged green with positive progress. Three remain at amber with work being progressed during the next period; governance, evidence and allocations and development. 

Evidence and allocations 

FA and GA commissioning and allocations have been supported by evidence-based demand statements using both quantitative and qualitative information in previous years.  The process and allocations have been shared with SAAB EEG for endorsement each year.   

For AY21/22 the demand statement process for FA’s included evidence as below: 

• current and future employer demand by sector, framework and college region 

• senior phase pupil numbers by college region 

• opportunity for stakeholder input from those working in skills planning, equalities and directly with employers in SDS 

• external input through ILG’s and SFC were also offered the chance to input in AY21/22 

Allocations are then informed by the demand statement.  For AY21/22 SDS provided increased uplifts in allocations to Local Authority and Independent Learning Provider for regions where volumes were below the demand statement.  This supports greater equity of opportunity.  This was shared with SAAB EEG for information.   

For AY21/22 the demand statement process for GA’s changed from previous years to fully capture employer demand.  Ekos were commissioned to undertake both quantitative and qualitative research on employer demand. This considered: 

• various data sources on employer demand and previous uptake 

• field work with key stakeholders including employer bodies, ILGs, HEIs and SFC on employer demand 

• input from relevant SDS teams including skills planning and employer teams 

• employer survey to all employers currently involved in GA’s plus promoted widely to non- GA employers 

This information was shared with SAAB EEG for information and with SFC to support allocations. 

Following the SAAB EEG meeting it was agreed that SFC would provide an overview of the process and considerations that SFC undertakes to provide college and university allocations and that enables them to meet their statutory obligations.  The purpose of the presentation was to enable SAAB EEG to have a greater understanding of SFC and its statutory duties and how this relates to provision of FA and GA’s.  

Going forward SDS and SFC will look to analyse final allocations for 21/22 to understand how aligned they are to demand statements and share this with SAAB EEG.  For 22/23 SDS and SFC are looking to reflect on the 21/22 process and undertake further work to increase alignment and consider how SFC principles are embedded in the demand statement process.  

Development 

The development workstream has identified a number of areas for greater clarity on SDS / SFC interoperations work including;  

• working with the Scottish Apprenticeship Advisory Group (SAAB) and key stakeholders to support the development of FAs and GAs. SDS, SFC and SG are now represented on all SAAB groups. Meetings are planned with SFC, SDS, SG and SAAB over the next period to ensure that opportunities are maximised for SDS / SFC interoperations approach working with SAAB. 

• working with the Foundation Apprenticeship Enhancement Group (FAEG) to consider the findings of the Education Scotland (ES) review and the development and implementation of programme enhancement plans at a national systems and regional delivery level. The next meeting of FAEG in June will consider further findings from ES stakeholder consultation to support an evidence led approach to enhancement.