If there is one thing Ian Ashman finds it hard to forgive the government for, it is cutting £160 million from courses in English for speakers of other languages (Esol) since 2008.
But the former Hackney Community College principal, who took on the ambassadorial role of president of the Association of Colleges (AoC) this summer, is not a man to harbour grudges. Instead, he points to the success of a hard-fought Esol campaign resulting in former prime minister David Cameron announcing a £20 million injection of cash in January to teach Muslim women English.
While most critics saw the money as a palliative measure rather than a significant boost, Ashman felt it as the first essential step on the road to recovery, focusing instead on the importance of “inclusion”. As he told the BBC at the time, some had expressed the idea that people were “reluctant to learn English”, a scenario he didn’t recognise.
“We [at Hackney College] have a waiting list of 300 people, over 70 per cent of them women, wanting to study English language,” he tells TES. “It’s actually the cuts in the budget that are preventing that from happening. There is a need for Muslim women to learn English to create a cohesive society.”
Austerity ‘breathing space’
Prime minister Theresa May, who has pledged to work for a fairer, more cohesive society, should listen. And if she eases off austerity as promised, Ashman says, “let us use it for a breathing space and gather the necessary evidence for the best way forward”.
If Ashman has learned anything in his 23 years in further education, it is to play the long game and base arguments on clear evidence. Like any decent ambassador, he comes equipped with a good command of the facts and a strong sense of diplomacy.
There are three specific areas in his work, in addition to Esol, where evidence speaks volumes, not only for Hackney and the other East London colleges but for FE across the UK. These are: the training of 70,000 “Games Maker” volunteers for the 2012 London Olympics; the strength and capacity of colleges to deliver the skills necessary for higher-level apprenticeships; and - the achievement he is most proud of - a successful ongoing fight against the sharp increase in mental illness among FE students.
‘FE colleges are the place to deliver high-level skills for apprentices’
Alongside his new AoC duties, Ashman holds the part-time role of merger adviser for the alliance between Hackney and Tower Hamlets colleges. He has been chair of the AoC London region since 2010 and is a member of the London Enterprise Panel skills and employment working group. In this capacity, he led the training for the 2012 Games volunteers. A formal evaluation revealed for the first time the crucial role London colleges played in the Olympics legacy, getting 12,000 people into work, half in permanent roles.
“We proved local government, the Department for Work and Pensions and colleges could work very effectively together,” he says. “And that influence is still there; as we found with the Rio Games, officials came round to us when the opportunities arose.” He is also very proud of the fact that 50 Hackney College alumni were among the participants in the Rio 2016 Olympics. There were 20 more in the Paralympics, including swimmer and gold medallist Ellie Simmonds.
With higher apprenticeships, Ashman is confident that the evidence favours training provided by colleges. Hackney was a leader in the early days of foundation degrees, covering everything from brewing and carpentry to childcare and plumbing. “FE colleges really are the place for delivering higher skills needed for these apprentices,” he says.
As AoC members this month focused on what should be included in their submission to the government’s autumn spending review, Ashman cites a number of priorities: skills for higher apprenticeships, capital spending, the skills challenge post-Brexit and better support for 16-18 reforms around English and maths resits.
Post-Brexit funding gap
Brexit is a particular concern, as London had been due to receive more than £500 million from the European Social Fund. There are also uncertainties around student status and the impact on colleges. “More significant”, he says, “is the status of EU staff. Will they be allowed to stay? Shortage areas such as science benefit notably from our being in Europe.”
That said, Ashman is ever the pragmatist and points to real opportunities. The demand for home-grown skills will be significant if Brexit really means Brexit and migrant numbers are cut. “For colleges, if Brexit is 2020 then we need to start planning now.”
This puts pressure on the spending review to come up with real answers, even if the cash is not immediately available, because so much that has been planned is now coming to a head, he insists.
After the first waves of area reviews, designed to result in “fewer, larger, more resilient and efficient” providers, Ashman believes the focus should now be on implementation. “What sort of support will be given? What makes a good merger? We need advisory support,” he says, and suggests a “cadre of advisers bring informed support where needed”.
Politicians and policymakers who argue against calls for more sustained investment will have a difficult time with Ashman - diplomatic though he will remain. A classic example, on which successive government ministers seeking cheap apprenticeships have fallen foul, is the issue of structured work placements for college students. “You have to have proper funding of work experience places if you are to link them to skills needs, which I would put at £500 a place,” he says.
But, ever the man who sees the glass as half-full, Ashman believes the message about FE’s wide-ranging benefits is finally being heard. “I think they are willing to listen,” he says.
