Further Education Consultation
October 2011
The Crafts Council has responded to selected questions from the Department for Business Innovation and Skills consultation ‘New Challenges, New Chances: Next Steps in Implementing the Further Education Reform Programme’. Read our comments below and more about the consultation here.
Section 1. Vision for the FE landscape and shape of the sector
Q1. To what extent should the Government influence the range of structural models for FE and skills delivery?
The Crafts Council is not a teaching institution and does not award training qualifications. However, as the national development agency for contemporary craft we have in-depth knowledge of the training and education needs as well as the skillset of craft learners and professionals, in both education and employment contexts.
We welcome this consultation on Further Education and wider Government initiatives for skills training and provision in the UK, such as the development of craft apprenticeships by the National Skills Academy for Creative and Cultural with support from the Growth and Innovation Fund.
Our comments in this consultation are specific to craft and cover training and employment needs in the contemporary craft sector, with a particular focus on FE provision. We draw on evidence from our programmes and extensive Crafts Council research to investigate craft graduate career paths and portfolio-working in the contemporary craft sector, which entails combining for example teaching and making.
Whilst we believe that FEIs should have the freedom to shape their own curriculums, and should be demand and market driven in response to the needs of users and the local community, we see an overall role for Government in ensuring that provision is of the highest quality, that courses and accreditation are consistent and comparable between providers and that FEIs meet the specific needs of individuals and sectors and are accountable to both. Below we set out our views on the teaching of craft in FE, in summary we believe:
- Cultural and practical learning in schools, including craft, should form an integral part of the National Curriculum and is vital to the take up of creative subjects at FE and HE and ultimately the professional creative industries, which are an important economic driver.
- People wishing to enter the creative industries are currently not well served by careers information and better signposting and guidance to specialist provision is needed to increase awareness of what FE can offer.
- There is a need for increased integration of business skills to match technical and artistic skills in creative courses at all levels, including FE, to equip graduates with the requisite skills for professional practice and enable them to run viable businesses.
- Further work needs to be done to develop and bring to market distance and digital learning for learners at all stages and their trainers.
- Training in professional contexts through work placements or apprenticeships is particularly valuable in enabling students on creative courses, including craft courses, to understand professional sectors. Partnership working with industry can also play an important role in engaging sector bodies and professionals at training level and in ensuring that new entrants to the workplace have the skills to meet employer needs.
Q2. What barriers currently constrain flexibility and responsiveness, in terms of structural development, and how might the Government address these to help the sector to reorganise for the benefit of learners?
We believe that in some cases a focus on accreditation rather than gaining tangible skills has hindered the flexibility and responsiveness of providers to meet the needs of learners. The accreditation of qualifications through NVQs, for example, has been too focussed on gathering evidence of competencies rather than gaining relevant skills. Greater emphasis on skills rather than accreditation in courses might better meet the needs of learners in FE.
In the specific case of craft, many current training schemes also overlook the fact that entry into the craft sector is often as a second career and, by capping the joining age, exclude people with potential to bring manufacturing or service skills, for example, into the sector. Ensuring that learners wishing to take FE courses in creative sectors, including craft, are eligible to do so and have access to the appropriate support would increase take-up and ultimately the diversity of skills in the craft sector as well as respond better to the needs of a range of learners.
In our sector, the majority of professional makers come to practice through HE, around 61 per cent according to recent Crafts Council research, although FE and professional placements are important entry routes. Whilst we strongly advocate the teaching of both in-depth, discipline specific and interdisciplinary craft courses at HE we also advocate entry to the sector through other routes including FE; courses that include business skills and professional experience can be particularly valuable for learners.
The flexibility and responsiveness of FE providers could also be greatly facilitated by better online provision, for both learners and their teachers. We discuss online provision for the craft sector in our response to question 16 below, and these issues are also relevant to training provision more generally.
Q4. Are there particular structural delivery models or case studies that you think it would be helpful to share, via the framework?
The Crafts Council runs a suite of professional development programmes for craft makers under the banner of Collective which are designed to be delivered in partnership between creative industries, HE/FE and other bodies. Whilst these courses are intended to be taken after formal training and are not accredited, they demonstrate how essential entrepreneurship and business skills can be delivered to craft makers, enabling them to learn about the diverse contexts and industries in which their skills can be applied. The emphasis on partnership working in Collective has facilitated the development of a national programme, which meets a range of needs and ensures high quality provision across the country. See question 18 for a specific discussion of Hothouse and Portfolio, two of our CPD programmes which sit within Collective.
The Crafts Council also advocates the statutory inclusion of cultural and practical learning on the National Curriculum, as the best means to ensure the take-up of creative courses at FE and HE and ultimately to harness the significant social and economic benefits of the professional creative industries. Our programme for schools Firing Up, discussed in question 15, uses a ‘cluster’ model constructed around the ceramics departments within partner Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), enabling cascade learning by equipping teachers with skills and resources that can be passed on in schools, encouraging reciprocity by delivering insights back into the HEIs and broadening access by working with a wide range of schools. The programme also has the potential to involve FE providers.
Section 5. Teaching, learning and qualifications
Q14. How could a commission on vocational teaching and learning best help the sector improve?
Bodies with specialist knowledge of the creative industries, including the craft sector, play a vital role in identifying and addressing skills needs in these sectors. In recent years there have been a number of changes to skills provision and Sector Skills Councils have been instrumental in delivering a stable and coherent approach.
We welcome this consultation on FE and the Government’s renewed focus on skills provision. However academic qualifications continue to enjoy greater esteem than vocational qualifications, and whilst craft practice requires academic, practical and technical skills in what is termed “intelligent making”, we remain concerned that recent initiatives such as the identification of “priority subjects” in HE and the prioritisation of a core of academic subjects in schools continue to send a message about the relative value of vocational qualifications. A specific commission on vocational learning would have an important role to play in raising the profile of practical qualifications and highlighting their important benefits.
In the specific case of craft, there also remains a need for greater breadth in training offers, as many opportunities focus on the maker becoming a sole trader rather than exploring the value of making and the diverse contexts in which craft skills can be applied, as shown in our Making Value research. A broader focus could lead to an increase in employment opportunities for those working in the sector. There is also a need for further integration of business skills alongside artistic and technical skills at HE/FE level, as discussed in question 17.
As identified in the consultation document (p13) further education and skills in England are delivered by a wide range of organisations, a commission on vocational teaching could also provide the kind of sign-posting and guidance on specialist provision that learners require to make informed decisions on courses, as discussed in question 25.
Q15. How can we best engage the knowledge of learned societies and professional bodies to empower improvement in the FE sector?
The inclusion of formal work placements or apprenticeships in FE courses is an effective means to engage the professional sector in craft training. We advocate the integration of business skills alongside technical and artistic skills in craft training at all levels; ideally training providers would embed these skills in courses, through assessed formal work experience along with ‘Live Projects’ in partnership with industry. This type of training can enable craft students to enter the work place with the requisite skills for employment as well as assisting them to find work, and increase the involvement of the professional sector at training level.
For example, the Crafts Council runs a number of training programmes which demonstrate partnership working with FE/HE and the professional craft sector, although they are intended to be taken post formal training. The Crafts Council’s programme Collective is a suite of professional development programmes designed to be delivered in partnership between creative industries, FE/HE and other bodies. This emphasis on partnership has enabled the Crafts Council to understand and meet a range of needs, build a national programme through regional bodies and ensure that there is high quality provision across the country. The partnerships are based on mutual learning experiences and participants share and use their own skills as well as learning from one another.
Many HEIs also have established links to industry and work in partnerships, however the impact of these collaborations is rarely shared externally and only high profile colleges/ partnerships tend to gain external profile.
Partnership working and engagement with the professional craft sector is also crucial to the Crafts Council’s programme for schools. Firing Up, which is a replicable, scalable national programme that aims to reinvigorate ceramics teaching across the country, embedding relationships with Higher Education Institutes and between their technicians, tutors, teachers and school-children to reintroduce pupils to practical work, in this case with clay, and to successful role models from the sector.
Firing Up uses a ‘cluster’ model constructed around the ceramics departments within partner Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), enabling cascade learning by equipping teachers with skills and resources that can be passed on in schools, encouraging reciprocity by delivering insights back into the HEIs and broadening access by working with a wide range of schools. The programme also has the potential to involve FE providers.
Firing Up is supported for three years by The Paul Hamlyn and Esmée Fairbairn Foundations, both of which recognised the potential for scale and replication. At the end of three years, the institutions concerned will have the resources to continue the programme with minimal direct costs and the tool-kit will be available to other HEIs and schools.
Q16. What else needs to be done to stimulate and spread innovation, including embracing the potential of new learning technologies?
Craft makers are innovative and entrepreneurial and are quick to explore, transform and create new materials and processes, they are also increasingly harnessing digital technologies to develop new products and business models, this theme is discussed in detail in our briefing note Craft and the Digital World. The integration of technology and business skills in FE courses alongside in-depth practical learning is extremely valuable in assisting graduates from these courses to develop the skills to become highly qualified makers and to run viable businesses.
Work also needs to be done to develop, trial and bring to market distance and digital learning aids that can deliver the equivalent of current models, while noting that, for a sector which largely works in isolation, the importance of networking via FE, HE and CPD should not be under-estimated. Online networking resources can also provide important opportunities for learners and teachers, such as the Craft Council’s Craft Action Network for educators. National broadband coverage is vital – many craft makers choose to work outside major cities for inspiration and/or for economy and inadequate internet connections are frequently cited as a barrier to use.
It is also important to recognise that skills training in the craft sector, in many cases, does not follow a straight forward trajectory from school age learning through to Higher Education. Rather, makers are lifelong learners commonly building skills throughout their careers, undertaking courses that might be at a lower level in terms of qualification in response to a specific skills requirements. There is a need for funding and support for makers to acquire qualifications for skills at a range of levels, even though earlier qualifications may be of a higher level than subsequent qualifications. Access to online modules to meet specific technical needs also has potential to support skills building at different career stages and ultimately innovation in the sector.
Craft professionals commonly run sole or micro-enterprises, supplementing their incomes with teaching and consultancy, for example. Thus educators and trainers can also be practising makers, the Crafting Futures research found that 41 per cent of recent graduates had experience of teaching in their early careers. The fragmentary nature of the sector means that access to current information for educators and trainers might be best provided online, through downloads with recognised, trusted providers as a sign of quality and to facilitate comparability. This would help those delivering craft training in FE to keep up-to-date with recent developments.
Q17. How do you currently assess the employability skills needed by your local employers – how could this be improved?
In 2010, as part of the wider Creative Graduates, Creative Futures survey, the Crafts Council published Crafting Futures, an in depth research report examining the early careers of crafts graduates from UK higher education. Research found that craft graduates are flexible and entrepreneurial, typically working independently or in micro-businesses. They are particularly valued by employers for their making and technical skills which set them apart from graduates of other creative courses in art, design and media.
Craft graduates were also found to be exceptionally socially mobile with a high percentage stating that they were the first family member to enter HE and with no difference in their success after graduation compared to those from more privileged backgrounds. Networking, collaboration and portfolio-work were identified as particularly important aspects of their careers.
Despite this, new graduates are consistently cited as lacking the basics of business acumen amongst other skills. Ideally, FEIs and HEIs would embed these skills in courses, through assessed formal work experience along with ‘Live Projects’ in partnership with industry, so that new entrants into the workplace are considerably more advanced than employers currently find to be the case.
Craft practice also has significant spill-over effects; the problem-solving skills, practical skills and materials knowledge developed through craft practice feed into a range of professions such as engineering, software design and medicine. Our Making Value research found makers work in a far greater range of places, and with more different types of people, than previously realised or recorded. From fashion to film, hospitals to heritage, manufacturing to mental health projects and from retailing to residential courses, the research showed that makers are entrepreneurial and highly motivated in applying their practice across industry sectors and community and education settings.
Training that helps makers to understand the wide range of situations in which their skills can be applied is particularly valuable to both a range of sectors and employers as well as makers themselves. There is a need for business development support for makers in FE/HE or early stage level and for those more established in practice. Recognition and emphasis at FE/HE stage of the wide range of employability skills of craft graduates and professionals will have greater impact in building a stronger more sustainable sector.
Q18. Have you any experience of developing new qualifications to meet a new / emerging need – how did this work?
As above, the Crafts Council is not an education institution and does not provide teaching at course level. However, we run a number of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programmes, although these are not accredited they address both craft practice and business development and we have undertaken extensive research into training needs and CPD in the sector.
The Crafts Council has worked for over 30 years in assisting makers to develop the requisite skills for professional practice; offering training opportunities to makers at all stages of their careers to support the development of business and creative skills in tandem. Our Professional Development Programme, Collective, is a portfolio of five CPD programmes and helps craft makers to develop their work and business skills throughout their careers.
Hothouse and Portfolio, for example, are two of the programmes that sit within Collective and they place specific emphasis on developing the requisite skills for craft practice and partnership working as well as business acumen.
Hothouse brings together emerging makers, HEIs and sector partners for an intense six-month period of professional development designed to promote innovation through reflective learning while delivering some core “hard skills” focussed on entrepreneurship and business – essential for these young sole traders. All partners are chosen for their particular areas of knowledge, ensuring that input is maximised and potential for duplication through overlapping separate initiatives is reduced.
The Hothouse programme is delivered in partnership with industry, the sector and HE partners. This provides a national credible progression route for recent graduates and emerging makers; provides HEIs with examples of successful makers and encourages regional retention as emerging makers become more aware of regional provision from the other sector partners.
Portfolio develops a range of initiatives for craft makers wishing to use their skills and knowledge in other sectors, working with constantly-changing HE, creative industry and industry partners depending on the chosen sector. Following a successful programme in which craft professionals were positioned as creative catalysts in schools, forthcoming Portfolio “test-cases” will give professional craft makers the opportunity to apply their skills within architecture and to experiment with the application of craft knowledge in digital and more broader technology-based industries.
Section 8. Delivering higher education and skills
Q25. What can we do to improve awareness and identity of what further education can offer?
The Crafts Council believes that people wishing to enter the creative industries, including the craft sector, are not well-served by training and careers information, with the exception of highly specialist provision such as that operated by Creative & Cultural Skills. Finding such specialist advice requires sign-posting and guidance, which is not always delivered. There is also a shortage of specialist provision itself. For the craft sector, this means that many people do not recognise craft practice as a viable, long-term career.
Identifying relevant training opportunities, including FE courses, would be greatly facilitated by access to coherent, comparable information on available training, including course frameworks, accreditation and content. There is also a need for clear pathways to accreditation. Sector skills bodies, with specialist knowledge of the creative industries and craft, play an important role in enabling this.
One possible solution is to raise the sector profile in national media. This is valuable but expensive, intermittent and hard to maintain. Another is the consistent provision of role models and ambassadors into schools, FE/HE and community settings (exemplified in the Crafts Council’s current Firing Up project), as a direct and cost-effective way of communicating the potential value of studying a career in the creative industries at FE and HE level. To be effective, this requires time within the school day and teachers with specialist knowledge. Work-experience can also play a role, given a robust frame-work and rigorous monitoring for quality and outputs.
Craft is also particularly well-suited to showcasing at events where makers can demonstrate their skills. These could be delivered physically or online. The popularity of films showing expert makers at work is well-known and could be harnessed in this respect.
Q26. What are the opportunities to promote alternative progression routes into higher education?
Craft teaching in schools plays a vital role in developing a pipeline to FE/ HE and ultimately to unlocking the economic and social potential of the sector. It enables pupils to develop the requisite skills for craft study in FE/ HE and for professional craft practice and awareness in young people of craft as a viable career. For example, the Crafts Council’s programme Firing-Up, outlined in question 15, aims to reinvigorate ceramics teaching across the country working with Higher Education Institutes, their technicians, tutors and pupils to reintroduce pupils to working with clay and increase the engagement between schools, HEIs and professional makers.
However, we are concerned that recent education initiatives including the framework of the National Curriculum Review; the introduction of the E-Bac; recommendations in the Wolf Review and declining numbers of arts teacher training places in 2011/12, threaten the provision of practical and cultural education in schools, and ultimately take up at FE and HE.
Work placements and craft apprenticeships also have the potential to promote alternative progression routes to FE and HE. However, formal work experience and apprenticeships typically work best in sectors of large-scale employers and even with graduates, access to work experience in the craft sector remains a challenge; the work experience market is very competitive and opportunities are commonly found informally.
Unaccredited work based learning, in the form of work placements, is common – particularly post-degree. The formalisation of work placements would provide structure and recognition for existing training. However, in the case of craft apprenticeships the issue is currently more about supply than demand. A sector composed of sole traders and micro-businesses does not have the capacity or resources to host apprenticeships and interns under current schemes. This is often due to space and time, rather than lack of ability to train or share knowledge. We support the work currently being undertaken by the National Skills Academy for Creative & Cultural into developing apprenticeships for some creative industries including craft sub-sectors.
As above, it is also worth noting that entry to the craft sector, is currently over-whelming through HE courses at graduate level and access to the sector through alternative routes including FE and apprenticeships is poor. Whilst we firmly support the promotion of alternative routes into HE in the craft sector we also believe that entry to professional practice through FE should be encouraged.
Q27. What innovative delivery and business models might be explored and secured to meet the needs of learners and employers in the local community?
The creative industries, including craft, make a significant, direct contribution to the UK economy and can play an important role in creating the right conditions for sustainable economic development, for example by engaging isolated or excluded young people and helping them to find satisfying work. We believe that an active role for FEIs within projects of this type assists with learner recruitment, increases diversity and can provide a platform for discussion with employers.
The Xtravert in Cornwall is a good example of a rural project that does exactly this. Profiled at Assemble 2010: the Crafts Council conference, the project used skateboarding as a hook to engage young people who were previously not in education, employment or training. Developing the young people’s carpentry and business skills over a three month period, it offered employment to the most successful within the Xtravert team. The project’s emphasis was on working with the young people’s existing interests, encouraging the development of focus, motivation and practical skills through craft and it had a direct legacy in the form of a small business established by the young people involved.
The Graffiti*d project at the British Ceramics Biennial provides another example of the potential of craft projects to meet the needs of learners in the community. The project saw a group of 13-16 year old boys working with ceramicist Cj O’Neill to develop public graffiti pieces. The boys, who were excluded from school, used the graffiti to transform ceramic plates into installations which commented on the closure of the Ainsley Pottery in Stoke-on-Trent. In the process, they gained a voice on local issues within their community, whilst developing pride in their work and enthusiasm for work opportunities in the creative industries.
Other community based craft programmes routinely encourage first steps towards work for people with special educational needs or disability, and who suffer from other forms of disadvantage in the workplace. Our research shows what a real difference these first steps can make to quality of life – building the personal and social confidence that leads to FE and work. See the Crafts Council briefing note Craft and Wellbeing for further discussion of the potential of craft to meet community learning and business needs.
