Thirteen colleges across England will receive funding
totalling £1.8 million to help drive up standards,
Apprenticeships and Skills Minister announced today
(Wednesday 20 March).
Successful colleges
from the second round of the Strategic College Improvement
Fund (SCIF) will receive a total of £1.8 million
between them from the overall £15m fund.
The SCIF was launched in June 2018, and 63 colleges across
England have been successful in securing funding to work
with a high performing ‘partnering’ college to share their
knowledge and expertise to help tackle issues – such as
raising the standard of teaching or boosting learner
attendance and retention.
, Apprenticeships and
Skills Minister said:
Our colleges have a vital role to play in making sure
people of all ages and backgrounds get the chance to
learn new skills and go on to have successful careers.
The Strategic College Improvement Fund is designed to
help support colleges to improve and make sure their
students receive the high quality education they deserve.
I’m thrilled to announce the second round of colleges to
receive funding from the scheme. We’ve seen great success
so far and I look forward to hearing how they are all
progressing.
Teresa Kelly, Deputy FE Commissioner said:
I am really pleased that another group of colleges have
been awarded a SCIF grant. The initiative is proving to
be very popular across the sector and we are beginning to
see the real benefits to students that can result from
colleges learning from each other through the development
of best practice.
Many colleges have fed back to me that they consider that
the SCIF initiative is proving to be so successful as it
is harnessing what is best in teaching, learning and
assessment and enabling teaching staff to enhance the
quality of their practice in a wide variety of settings.
Bill Watkin, Chief Executive, Sixth Form Colleges
Association, said:
The Strategic College Improvement Fund has proven to be a
well-structured and well-funded programme that has
encouraged and facilitated system leadership in the
college sector and has enabled colleges to share their
strengths and to learn from each other as they continue
to raise standards. I hope that this will experience will
be repeated and that colleges will continue to benefit
from this support in the future.
David Corke, Director of Policy at the Association of
Colleges, said:
Colleges have really valued the opportunity to share
successful practice through previous rounds of the
Strategic College Improvement Fund and this is
contributing to driving improvement within our sector.
All colleges which identify areas for improvement can
benefit from quality improvement peer network and the
learning should then be shared widely in the sector.
A recent
report showed the SCIF has been welcomed by the
sector, and the SCIF’s peer-to-peer support model received
overwhelming support from the colleges that took part in
the pilot phase. Colleges reported several positives
including how the scheme helped them boost the quality of
teaching and learning, strengthened their collaborative
working approaches, raised aspirations and supported
college-wide improvements in culture and leadership.
The fund is playing a vital role alongside the Government’s
National Leaders of Further Education (NLFEs) programme
helping to share best practice and boost standards
throughout the further education sector, so more people can
access high quality education and training.
