Annual WorkforceDiversity Profile 2007/08 by Lifelong Learning UK

An analysis of further education colleges in England

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Contents Foreword

Executive summary

Introduction Report structure How to use this report Staff Individualised Record â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Backfillingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; process and staff returns Definition of reporting categories

Findings: national profile and overall characteristics of the workforce Occupational groups Qualifications Working patterns Type of contract Workforce recruitment and leavers

Section 1: Age profile of the workforce Overall age profile Occupational groups Leadership and management Qualifications Working patterns Type of contract Workforce recruitment and leavers

Section 2: Disability profile of the workforce Overall disability profile Occupational groups Leadership and management Qualifications Working patterns Type of contract Workforce recruitment and leavers

Prepared for: Lifelong Learning UK Prepared by: LSN

15 15 16 16 17 18

21 22 24 25 27 28

29 30 30 31 32 33 34 35

37 38 40 40 41 42 43 43

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Section 3: Ethnicity profile of the workforce Overall ethnicity profile Occupational groups Leadership and management Qualifications Working patterns Type of contract Workforce recruitment and leavers

Section 4: Gender profile of the workforce Overall gender profile Occupational groups Leadership and management Qualification levels Working patterns Type of contract Workforce recruitment and leavers Annual pay

45 46 48 49 50 52 52 53

55 56 57 59 59 60 61 62 63

Conclusions

Recommendations

References

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Overview Figure 1 Total number of staff returns in further education colleges – England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 Figure 2 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by occupational groups – England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 Figure 3 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by qualification levels – England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 Figure 4 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by working patterns – England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 Figure 5 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by types of contract – England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 Figure 6 Recruitment and leaver rates for the further education college workforce – England, 2005/06 to 2007/08

Age groups Figure 1-1 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by age groups – England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 Figure 1-2 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by occupational groups and age groups – England, 2007/08 Figure 1-3 Total proportion of senior managers and other managers in the further education college workforce by age groups – England, 2007/08 Figure 1-4 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by qualification levels and age groups – England, 2007/08 Figure 1-5 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by working patterns and age groups – England, 2007/08 Figure 1-6 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by types of contracts and age groups – England, 2007/08 Figure 1-7 Total proportion of recruitment by age groups – England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 Figure 1-8 Total proportion of leavers by age groups – England, 2005/06 to 2007/08

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Disability Figure 2-1 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by disabilities –England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 Figure 2-2 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by occupational groups and disclosed disability status – England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 Figure 2-3 Total proportion of senior managers and other managers in the further education college workforce by declared disability status – England, 2007/08 Figure 2-4 Total proportion of staff in the further education workforce by qualification levels and disclosed disability status – England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 Figure 2-5 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by working patterns and disclosed disability status – England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 Figure 2-6 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by types of contract and disclosed disability status – England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 Figure 2-7 Total proportion of recruitment by disclosed disability status – England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 Figure 2-8 Total proportion of leavers by disclosed disability status – England, 2005/06 to 2007/08

Ethnicity Figure 3-1 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by ethnicity – England, 2007/08 Figure 3-2 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by ethnicity (black and minority ethnic and white) – England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 Figure 3-3 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by ethnicity – England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 Figure 3-4 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by occupational groups and ethnicity – England, 2007/08 Figure 3-5 Total proportion of senior managers and other managers in the further education college workforce by ethnicity – England, 2007/08 Figure 3-6 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by qualification levels and ethnicity – England, 2007/08 Figure 3-7 Total proportion of managers in the further education college workforce by qualification levels and ethnicity – England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 Figure 3-8 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by working patterns and ethnicity – England, 2007/08 Figure 3-9 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by types of contracts and ethnicity – England, 2007/08 Figure 3-10 Total proportion of recruitment by ethnicity – England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 Figure 3-11 Total proportion of leavers by ethnicity – England, 2005/06 to 2007/08

Gender Figure 4-1 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by gender – England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 Figure 4-2 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by gender and age groups – England, 2007/08 Figure 4-3 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by occupational groups and gender – England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 Figure 4-4 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by occupational groups, working patterns and gender – England, 2007/08 Figure 4-5 Total proportion of senior managers and other managers in the further education college workforce by gender – England, 2007/08 Figure 4-6 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by qualification levels and gender – England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 Figure 4-7 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by working patterns and gender – England, 2007/08 Figure 4-8 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by types of contract and gender – England, 2007/08 Figure 4-9 Total proportion of recruitment by gender – England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 Figure 4-10 Total proportion of leavers by gender – England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 Figure 4-11 Average annual pay full time further education staff across all occupational groups by gender – England 2005/6-2007/8 Figure 4-12 Average annual pay full time further education staff across all occupational groups by region and gender – England 2007/8 Figure 4-13 Average full-time further education pay by occupational groups and gender –England, 2007/08

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Foreword I am delighted to present the Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/8. It is the most comprehensive collection of equality-related workforce data and provides colleges, representative bodies and policy makers with a more informed basis for workforce planning. Priority 4 of the Workforce Strategy for the Further Education Sector in England 2007-2012 sets out the case that equality and diversity should be at the heart of everything we do. Workforce diversity drives creativity and innovation; an understanding of the diverse needs of learners across the further education sector will ensure that our workforce can inspire learners of all backgrounds to achieve to their full potential. Reliable information about the workforce in any sector can support succession planning, policy development, impact measurement, and decision making at a national, local and organisational level. We know that if we are able to deliver an analysis of workforce data back to our employers in an accessible manner, it enables them to predict the specific needs of their workforce to respond appropriately in meeting the needs of diverse learners. The publication of this report supports the Workforce Strategy for the Further Education Sector in England 2007-2012, and underlines the importance of understanding the workforce and using data to plan and improve services offered by the sector. We are pleased to have expanded the scope of our analysis this year to include qualification levels among specific groups, gender pay difference and the profile of staff within leadership and management roles. This report provides an analysis of trends across age, disability, ethnicity and gender in order to address workforce under-representation, development, progression and succession planning.

In the last year, many employers will have accessed workforce data through the Online Analytical Portal (OLAP), launched in February 2009. The OLAP portal can now be used to compare â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;general populationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; data from the census and labour force statistics data held at a regional and local authority level, which will allow benchmarking the staff profile against the general population. The addition of the Dashboard reporting feature enables quicker access to information surrounding the the staff individualised record data via pre-defined reports. For further information on OLAP and Dashboard reporting, read the guidance document hosted on the consultation portal: https://sirdatacollection.lluk.org/consultation/sites/de fault/files/OLAP_guidance.pdf We welcome your comments and suggestions on how to improve and develop the intelligence presented here and warmly encourage you to provide feedback to us at equalityanddiversity@lluk.org.

Sue Dutton Chief Executive Lifelong Learning UK

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Executive summary This report provides a national and regional description of the key characteristics and changing trends observed across the further education college workforce in England from 2005/06 to 2007/08. It is the third Annual Workforce Diversity Profile report published by Lifelong Learning UK and provides an updated analysis of the further education college workforce, which was originally presented in the Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2006/07. As in last year’s report the results are based on a series of analyses carried out using the Staff Individualised Record database, which is a comprehensive record of staff statistics in further education colleges in England. The collation of returns submitted by further education colleges provide information on a range of workforce features, including staff characteristics and qualifications, details about employment positions held and other features of the labour market. Colleges are required to submit records on an annual basis, and the results presented in this report are therefore based on the three most recent years when full datasets were available: 2005/06, 2006/07 and 2007/08. The key objective of this report is to examine the profile of the target workforce according to four equality strands: • age • disability • ethnicity • gender. It also aims to measure how the diversity of the workforce has developed according to the equality and diversity strands identified. An in-depth look at each strand explores: • occupational groups • leadership and management roles • qualification levels • working patterns • type of contract • recruitment and leaver rates. Recruitment and leaver activity across the workforce are analysed to identify the profile of the workforce shifting in and out of colleges and highlight particular developments in recruitment or departure trends that could affect the future diversification of the sector. The main findings of the analyses are summarised according to the key themes of the report: age, disability, ethnicity and gender. The report begins with an opening summary of the overall trends and characteristics of the further education college workforce to establish baseline information as outlined below.

National overview and overall characteristics of the workforce • In 2007/08 approximately 263,200 staff returns were submitted in the Staff Individualised Record database. Since 2006/07 there has been a 15.2 per cent increase in staff return numbers. • Although there has been a rise in staff numbers in the college sector in recent years, the further education learner population has registered a contrary trend. Between 2006/07 and 2007/08 the number of learners in further education fell by 6.9 per cent (LSC, 2008).1

Learners in further education represented those attending provision in colleges of further education (including sixth form colleges) and in a range of other organisations, known as ‘external institutions’. The majority of provision however was supplied by further education colleges and therefore the trends presented are comparable to trends observed in the Staff Individualised Record database.

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Overall, the workforce in further education colleges has grown significantly faster in the last year than the national average employment growth rate of 0.8 per cent (ONS, 2008). It will be important to monitor developments in the sector during the next few years to determine the impact of the current economic climate on employment in the further education college workforce. • Teaching staff dominated the college workforce compared to the other occupational groups, and in 2007/08 they represented 52.9 per cent of the workforce. Since 2005/06 this percentage has remained unchanged. The second largest group of staff worked in service roles. • In 2007/08, 6.7 per cent of staff were in management positions. Approximately 4 per cent of these staff were senior managers and the remaining were identified as ‘other managers’. • Staff in further education colleges were relatively highly qualified, with 44.2 per cent in 2007/08 holding NQF Level 6/7/8 qualifications (e.g. first degrees or above). • There was a higher proportion of staff in further education colleges working in part time positions than working full time. In 2007/08 these rates were 58.6 per cent and 41.4 per cent respectively. • Nearly 70 per cent of staff in colleges were on permanent contracts, which were the most common contract type across the workforce. Since 2005/06 the proportion has remained relatively unchanged. • The proportion of fixed-term staff has fallen drastically through the last three reported years and in 2007/08 they represented 16.2 per cent of all staff.

Age • The age profile of staff in further education colleges was higher than the age profile of the general workforce across England (i.e. covering all labour market sectors). More than a third of staff in further education colleges were aged 50 years and over while the Labour Force Survey data showed that the national average rate of workers 50 years and over was 22.4 per cent (ONS, 2008). • Staff in the youngest and the two oldest age bands (e.g. under-25 year olds, 60-64 and 65 and over) represented the smallest staff groups across all three reported years. • A higher proportion of staff aged between 50 and 59 years was registered as managers than staff of any other age group. They were also more likely to be in senior positions. • A higher proportion of staff across all age groups had a qualification at NQF Level 6/7/8 than any other qualifications. • There was a significant increase in the proportion of staff in part time contracts when moving from the 55–59 age group to the 60-64 age group. • The majority of staff across all age groups was employed on permanent contracts except for the youngest and oldest age groups who were more likely to be employed on a fixed term or casual basis. • The largest proportion of staff recruited to colleges was aged under 25 years (14.8 per cent in 2007/08). In 2006/07, staff aged under 25 years represented one of the largest groups in the leaver cohort (12.4 per cent). However since then, the proportion of leavers in this age band had dropped (10.5 per cent) and the age profile of leavers appeared to be more evenly distributed with no specific age group registering significant percentages.

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Disability • The number of staff with a declared disability across the further education college workforce was underrepresented. Less than 3 per cent of staff in further education colleges had a declared disability in 2007/08. This is significantly lower than the average disability status of the general population in England of 17.9 per cent (ONS, 2009)2 and the general further education learner population, which in the same year registered 14.4 per cent (LSC, 2007). • Staff with a declared disability demonstrated a similar occupational profile to those staff without a declared disability: 52.8 per cent of staff with a declared disability were in teaching roles compared with 52.7 per cent of staff without a declared disability. (Note: only 2.7 per cent of further education college staff had a declared disability therefore the percentage results presented by occupational role and other categories are based on significantly less staff than those staff without a declared disability). • Across the management roles in further education colleges there was no major difference in the representation of staff with and without a declared disability, in either senior or other manager positions. • The qualification profile of staff with and without a declared disability was similar. The majority of staff in both cohorts was educated to NQF Level 6/7/8. • The proportion of staff with a declared disability working full time had dropped since 2005/06 (45.1 per cent to 43.4 per cent in 2007/08). A similar trend was observed in the proportion of staff without a declared disability (45.1 per cent to 41.8 per cent). There had been a general shift to part time positions for both cohorts. • Staff with declared disabilities were more likely to be employed on permanent contracts within the further education college workforce than those staff without a declared disability. Approximately three-quarters of staff with a declared disability were in permanent positions in 2007/08 (74.3 per cent), which was more than the 69.8 per cent registered for staff without a declared disability also working on a permanent basis. • Recruitment of staff with declared disabilities continued to be extremely low throughout the years. Only 2.1 per cent of staff newly recruited to the further education college workforce had a declared disability. The majority of leavers had no declared disabilities.

Ethnicity • In 2007/08, 84.3 per cent of the further education college workforce was from a white ethnic group. Black and minority ethnic staff represented 8.5 per cent (i.e. 3.4 per cent Asian, 2.9 per cent black, 1.3 per cent Chinese/other and 0.8 per cent mixed). Due to rounding effects to one decimal point, the sum of the minority ethnic groups black, mixed, Chinese/other and Asian equals 8.4 per cent. • Black and minority ethnic group representation across the college sector was slightly lower than the ethnic profile of the general population where 10.6 per cent of the population in England were from a minority ethnic group (ONS, 2009). • The differences in representation of minority ethnic groups between the college staff population and learner population was significant – in 2007/08, 20.9 per cent of the further education learner population was from black and minority ethnic groups.

2 Population estimates are based on Annual Population Survey statistics which are compiled from the main Labour Force Survey, together with additional interviews in England, Wales and Scotland. They represent the working-age population which is defined as males aged between 16 and 64 and females aged between 16 and 59.

• There were no significant differences in ethnic representation between white and black and minority ethnic groups across different role types. For example, in 2007/08, 52.5 per cent of staff from white ethnic groups were in teaching roles, compared to 51.4 per cent of Asian staff and 52.6 per cent of staff from black ethnic groups. • Staff from black and minority ethnic backgrounds were less likely to be in senior management positions than those with white ethnic profiles (4.0 per cent compared to 1.8 per cent in 2007/08). • All black and minority ethnic groups appeared to be better qualified than their white counterparts. For example, while 43.7 per cent of white staff held an NVQ Level 6/7/8 qualification, 55.0 per cent of Asian and 52.8 per cent of Chinese/other held the same qualification. • Staff from white ethnic groups registered the highest proportion of staff in permanent contracts. The Chinese/other ethnic cohort was recorded as having the largest proportion of staff employed as casual staff, and on part time contracts. • The ethnicity profile of the further education college workforce recruited between 2005/06 and 2007/08 did not undergo major changes. The representation of staff from black and minority ethnic groups increased slightly from between 0.1 per cent and 0.2 per cent. The proportion of new recruits from white ethnic backgrounds in 2007/08 was 82.1 per cent. • The percentage of staff from black and minority ethnic backgrounds who left their roles seemed to have increased slightly in comparison with previous years. Among black and minority ethnic groups, Asian staff continued to be the group with the highest number of leavers in 2007/08 (4.1 per cent).

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Gender • The further education college workforce was predominantly female, and this trend remained unchanged through the years. In 2007/08 approximately two-thirds of the workforce was female and one-third was male. This profile was different to the national gender profile of the general workforce in which females represented 46.0 per cent and males 54.0 per cent (ONS, 2008). • Disparities in the average annual pay of male and female full-time staff in colleges have existed through the years, with male staff on average earning more than females. In 2007/08 the average annual pay for a male full time staff member was £25,600 while the equivalent pay for female staff working full time was £23,300. The gender gap between pay earned has decreased slightly in recent years and in 2007/08, the difference was measured at 9.9 per cent (equivalent to approximately £2,300). • Female staff were, on average, more likely to be employed in administrative and service staff roles than male college staff. A higher proportion of male staff were in teaching roles (59.4 per cent) compared to 49.2 per cent of female staff in equivalent roles. • Male staff were more likely to be in management roles (7.3 per cent) than females (6.6 per cent of staff). They were twice as likely to be in senior management roles as females (5.3 per cent and 2.8 per cent respectively). • The majority of both female and male staff were qualified to NQF Level 6/7/8. However higher proportions of female staff held lower level qualifications (NQF Level 2 and below) than the male further education college workforce. • Female staff (65.0 per cent) were more likely to be employed part time in colleges than their male colleagues (47.1 per cent). • Male staff were more inclined to work full time in administrative/professional roles (67.8 per cent) than female staff in equivalent roles (55.0 per cent). The majority of female staff in service role occupations was working part time (81.2 per cent) compared to male service staff (51.8 per cent). • There were no gender disparities across the further education college workforce in relation to the types of contract offered across the sector. The majority of male and female staff was on permanent contracts. • The majority of staff recruited to the further education college workforce was female, representing, in 2007/08, 63.0 per cent of all recruited staff. The gender profile of the leaver cohort reflects a similar picture.

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Conclusions and recommendations The analysis of the further education college workforce data indicated that colleges needed to develop further strategies to improve equality and diversity in the sector. Overall there had been some changes in the college staff profile but there is still more to be done to have a workforce that reflects the diversity of our learners. A change in the organisational culture and an ethos that proactively promotes and appreciates diversity are required. The recommendations aim to address key issues highlighted in the main body of the report. They provide a general guidance on how principal stakeholders within the further education college sector can develop strategies to ensure that equality and diversity are embedded across all areas in the organisation. The recommendations have been organised under three key themes that apply to all equality strands: disclosure, data collection and monitoring; recruitment and retention of staff; and leadership and management.

Disclosure, data collection and monitoring Managers, leaders and stakeholders need to: • create a positive workplace environment that is as representative as it can be, taking into account local demographics • encourage staff to disclose their equality information and create a secure culture for disclosure • put into place appropriate strategies to raise awareness of the importance of disclosure • explain how the data is being or will be used to inform policy or strategy • brief human resource and line managers and encourage them to set aside a specific time to talk to new staff about the benefits of disclosing equality data and the reasons for asking this information, clearly explaining issues such as confidentiality and how the data will be stored • develop appropriate methods to collect and monitor equality data accurately, seeking advice and guidance from the sector to improve data collection and monitoring across all equality strands (Data monitoring should cover recruitment, promotion, training and staff leaving) • embed equality and diversity in all college activities (Using appropriate data when measuring the impact of policies, services and functions will help colleges identify areas of improvement and development that meet the diverse needs of all staff) • involve staff and learners from diverse backgrounds when measuring the impact of policies, services and functions to ensure that specific needs and barriers faced by specific groups are considered • ensure monitoring around disability is undertaken on a regular basis or that strategies are in place to encourage staff to disclose a new disability.

Recruitment and retention of staff Managers, leaders and stakeholders need to: • review recruitment policies and marketing materials to explore innovative approaches to attracting people who are under-represented • work closely with local communities, under-represented groups and key organisations to attract staff from diverse backgrounds and needs • encourage applications from disabled people and guarantee interviews to applicants with a declared disability meeting the job requirements • examine retention rates and progression figures to develop suitable training and professional development activities that encourage specific groups of staff to continue working in the sector • consider flexible working arrangements to recruit and retain staff from specific groups (e.g. women, disabled people) • develop recruitment strategies to address gender stereotyping in occupational roles • develop appropriate methods to collect information from staff leaving the sector to identify trends and reasons for leaving • be transparent about staff profiles to encourage under-represented groups to apply for vacancies.

Leadership and management Managers, leaders and stakeholders need to: • ensure that equality and diversity are embedded across all activities in the colleges • promote an organisational culture that encourages staff to appreciate diversity • encourage good relations among staff regardless of their personal characteristics such as race, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief, gender or gender identity • develop leadership and management skills for staff from under-represented groups within the organisation • provide flexible working arrangements to attract under-represented groups and enable staff with diverse needs to progress • share good practice with other organisations in supporting specific groups with specific needs.

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Introduction The Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/8 provides an analysis of the national and regional profiles of the further education college workforce in England. It looks at the workforce according to age, disability, ethnicity and gender and identifies trends in the staff profile over the years 2005/6 to 2007/8. We recognise that the equality data collected does not yet reflect all the strands covered by legislation, namely sexual orientation, gender identity and religion or belief. To address this, Lifelong Learning UK is working together with providers and key stakeholders to develop the way we collect data and the information that we ask of the workforce to ensure it is meaningful and can enhance the outcomes of staff and learners in the further education sector.

Report structure The key aim of this report is to provide an up-to-date national overview of the workforce in further education colleges. A national overview of the main characteristics identified across the further education college workforce is initially presented to establish baseline trends and results. A breakdown of national trends according to the main employment and qualification categories mentioned previously is described in the first section, ‘Findings: national profile of the workforce’. A detailed outline of regional characteristics and trends is presented separately in the accompanying appendices. The results for each strand of analysis (i.e. age, disability, ethnicity and gender) are presented in Sections 1 to 4. A number of appendices accompany this report, providing the supporting data tables as well as refined individual workforce diversity profile reports for the nine regions across England. The appendices include:

Appendix 1 – main report This section provides an outline of the data tables supporting the national results presented in this report.

Appendix 2 – regional profiles At the regional level, staff trends and characteristics varied. This section provides individual workforce profiles across the four equality and diversity strands of the nine regions across England: 1. East Midlands 2. East of England 3. Greater London 4. North East 5. North West 6. South East 7. South West 8. West Midlands 9. Yorkshire and the Humber

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

How to use this report Lifelong Learning UK encourages employers and sector agencies to use this report to inform and direct their own efforts in workforce development planning. For planning and strategic development It is important to prepare strategically for the challenges ahead. This report can help those with planning responsibilities in the sector to reflect critically on their own organisation’s position. It presents a rich supply of data against which human resource staff and others responsible for planning can measure their own figures in a range of criteria against national, and, in some cases, regional benchmarks. Having made comparisons, colleges can start to identify why their findings vary from national figures, what is causing these variations and what the implications are for their workforce development strategy. For benchmarking While sets of data in this record concern further education colleges, colleges may find similar data sets from other sources, such as a local authority, to compare how their staffing reflects their local communities (for example, in terms of race and disability). Further education colleges can now access this information through the OLAP portal: https://sirdatacollection.lluk.org/consultation/sites/default/files/OLAP_guidance.pdf To support equality and diversity monitoring activities The data and analysis provide information for colleges about the level of activity required at a local level, particularly with the promotion and encouragement of staff disclosing equality-related information. The more accurate the information, the better the sector will be in its succession planning, addressing underrepresentation and meeting the needs of local communities and learners.

Staff Individualised Record The analysis and findings presented in this report are based on the further education college workforce data collected via the Staff Individualised Record collection across the years 2005/06, 2006/07 and 2007/08. The Staff Individualised Record is a national database of workforce information that further education colleges submit to Lifelong Learning UK on an annual basis. Lifelong Learning UK has been responsible for collecting the data since 2008: before this, the process was managed by the Learning and Skills Council. The statistics presented in this report represent further education colleges in England only. Across England, further education colleges are required to submit annual returns on their employed workforce, providing a range of details on their staff including profile characteristics and employment status and contract types. Just over 90 per cent of the organisations represented in the 2007/08 datasets are general further education colleges and sixth form colleges (LLUK, 2008b). A full list of the organisation types in the datasets includes: • general further education (FE) colleges (including tertiary education) • sixth form colleges • special colleges – agriculture and horticulture • special colleges – art, design and performing arts • specialist designated colleges • higher education organisation.3

3 This organisation represented a college providing a significant level of further and higher education courses which was therefore identified as a separate college category.

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Since 2005/06, there has been a gradual fall in the number of colleges submitting returns (see Table 1). At the regional level, the trend across the three years has varied – Greater London registered an increase in college submissions while other regions such as the North West and South West noted instead a fall. The decrease in college numbers can be mainly attributed to the college mergers that have occurred across the sector in recent years. However, the fall has had little impact on the size of the further education college workforce which instead shows an increase between 2006/07 and 2007/08 of staff returns by 15.2 per cent. Table 1: Total number of further education colleges included in the Staff Individualised Record datasets by region – England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 Region

2005/06 2006/07 2007/08

East Midlands

East of England

Greater London

North East

North West

South East

South West

West Midlands

Yorkshire and the Humber

380

374

369

TOTAL (further education colleges) Total (staff returns)

238,537 228,517 263,257

Note: The count of colleges includes those included through the backfilling process (see below).

‘Backfilling’ process and staff returns The Staff Individualised Record is based on data returns submitted by further education colleges. Where colleges did not submit data within the specified time limit, data records from the previous year for that college were used instead to fill in the missing details. This process is called ‘backfilling’. Unlike the datasets used for the Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2006/07 report, the analyses for this report were based on backfilled data so the figures presented for 2005/06 and 2006/07 in the previous report will differ from those quoted in this version. In 2007/08, nine per cent of records were backfilled and this rate had remained consistent throughout the past years except for 2006/07. In 2006/07, 23 per cent of the database was based on backfilled data. Currently the data records submitted by colleges are based on the count of staff contracts. In 2007/08 it was estimated that approximately 10 per cent of staff in further education colleges held more than one contract. There was no consistent way of identifying individual staff in the data submitted and so, as a proxy measure, the volume of staff contracts was used to represent the approximate population of the further education workforce. For this reason, the references made throughout this report in relation to staff numbers are actually based on staff contract data.

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Definition of reporting categories The analysis presented in this report concentrates on observing key points and trends of the further education college workforce according to the main equality and diversity strands included in the Staff Individualised Record dataset (i.e. age, disability, ethnicity and gender). Within each strand, an in-depth investigation of trends across key employment and qualification characteristics has been carried out. The breakdowns and categories used within the report are defined below. There were some new categories and labels used in the 2007/08 dataset compared to those published in the 2006/07 report and these are highlighted. Occupational groups The three occupational groups used for reporting last year were: managers,4 teaching staff and all other staff.5 To obtain a more detailed understanding across distinct roles and seniority levels, the analysis in this report took the three occupational groups and separated them into seven categories: • manager • administrative and professional staff • technical staff • word-processing, clerical and secretarial staff • service staff • teaching staff (lecturers, tutors and trainers) • assessors and verifiers (new for 2007/08). Since data on assessors and verifiers was identified separately for the first time in 2007/08, the trends presented for occupational groups are primarily based on the first six categories where data for 2005/06 and 2006/07 was available. Leadership and management (new for 2007/08) For the first time in this series of Annual Workforce Diversity Profile reports, equality and diversity strands were specifically measured across distinct levels of management in 2007/08. Previous research demonstrated the need for more precise data that would facilitate monitoring the career progression of black and minority ethnic groups (NBP, 2005) and female staff within leadership and management positions (WLN, 2009). In response to this demand, a new and separate analysis of management was included in 2007/08. As Lifelong Learning UK continues to collect management data, time series analyses for this cohort of staff will be included in future reporting of results. As a preliminary overview of management across the sector, the 2007/08 results were presented across two categories defined as: • senior managers (representing the roles: college principal, chief executive and director)

4 ‘Manager’ category included: college administrator/manager, centre (sub-college) administrator, finance administration/manager (bursar), librarian, marketing administrator/ manager, computer/database manager, estate/site manager and other administrator/manager. 5 ‘All other staff’ category included: administrative and professional staff, technical staff, word-processing, clerical and secretarial staff and service staff.

• other managers (representing the roles: college administrator/manager, centre (sub-college) administrator, finance administrator/manager (bursar), librarian, marketing administrator/manager, computer/database manager, estate/site manager, ‘other senior management’6 and ‘other administrator/manager’).7 Qualifications (new for 2007/08) In 2007/08, an outline of the qualification levels of the further education college workforce was included across the four reporting strands. The varying qualification categories used and the equivalent types of courses they represented were: • NQF Level 6/7/8 (professional qualifications – first degree, further degree and above) • NQF Level 4/5 (higher technical – up to HND/HNC) • NQF Level 3 (advanced – up to two A-levels/OND/ONC) • NQF Level 2 (intermediate – up to four GCSEs A–C) • NQF Level 1 (foundation – up to four GCSEs D–G) • no formal qualifications. For a detailed explanation of how the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) compares to previous levels (for example National Vocational Qualifications, or NVQs) and the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications, please refer to the National Qualifications Framework factsheet available from the QCDA website (QCDA, 2006). Working patterns The categories used to identify the workforce’s working patterns remained unchanged from previous reports. They were: • full time • part time. The data available did not provide any further details on the types of roles represented by the category ‘other senior management’ so this could not be explored further. 7 As with the category ‘other senior management’, further details of the types of roles represented by the category ‘other administrator/manager‘could not be explored further with the data available. 6

Type of contract The categories used differed slightly from those published previously. In the past, references to contract types were described as ‘permanent staff’ and ‘fixed term/temporary staff’. In this report, four key categories were used instead for presenting the analysis: • permanent staff • fixed-term staff • casual staff (new for 2007/08) • employed through an agency (new for 2007/08) Data on a fifth category, ‘self-employed’, was captured in the database but because of the very small number of staff represented by this status it was not included in the report. In 2007/08, less than 1 per cent of staff was self-employed. Recruitment and leavers The characteristics of staff recruited to further education colleges and those who left their post were investigated across the four equality strands. Recruitment and leaver data was based on data records submitted by colleges each year. ‘Backfilling’ was not applied so figures and trends were based solely on the records provided by colleges. Returns submitted by colleges on recruitment and leavers represented the number of contracts that started or ended in the academic year. These figures were not exclusively representative of new starters and leavers for the further education college sector, but a combination of shifts which included movements within and across colleges. Overall, the data provided a reasonably representative account of recruitment and leaver trends in the further education college workforce.

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Findings:

National profile and overall characteristics of the workforce Key findings • In 2007/08, approximately 263,200 staff returns were submitted in the Staff Individualised Record database. In the last year there has been a 15.2 per cent increase in staff return numbers. • While staff numbers in the college sector noted a rise in recent years, the further education learner population registered a contrary trend. Between 2006/07 and 2007/08 the number of learners in further education fell by 6.9 per cent (LSC, 2008). • Overall, the workforce across the further education college sector has grown in 2007/08 significantly faster (an increase since 2006/07 of 15.2 per cent) than the national average employment growth rate of 0.8 per cent (ONS, 2008). • Between 2005/06 and 2006/07 there was a fall in recruitment and leaver rates; however the following year a rise in activity was recorded. In 2007/08 recruitment levels as a proportion of the total staff returns submitted by colleges represented 23.5 per cent. In the same year the number of leavers as a proportion of the total staff returns submitted was 20.5 per cent. • Teaching staff dominated the college workforce compared with the other occupational groups, and in 2007/08 they represented 52.9 per cent of the workforce. Since 2005/06 this percentage has remained unchanged. The second largest group of staff were in service roles. • In 2007/08, 6.8 per cent of staff were in management positions. Approximately 4 per cent of these staff were senior managers and the remainder were identified as ‘other managers’. • Staff in further education colleges were relatively highly qualified, with 44.2 per cent in 2007/08 holding NQF Level 6/7/8 qualifications (e.g. first degrees or above). • There was a higher proportion of staff in further education colleges working in part time positions than working full time. In 2007/08 these rates were 58.6 per cent and 41.4 per cent respectively. • Nearly 70 per cent of staff in colleges were on permanent contracts, representing the most popular contract type across the workforce. Since 2005/06 the proportion has remained relatively unchanged. • The proportion of fixed term staff fell drastically during the three reported years and in 2007/08 they represented 16.2 per cent of all staff. In 2007/08, approximately 263,200 staff returns were submitted to the Staff Individualised Record database by further education colleges in England. Since 2006/07, there had been a significant increase (15.2 per cent) in the number of staff returns, which was equivalent to just over 34,700 staff. The increase was a change in trend from the previous year’s decline in which, between 2005/06 and 2006/07, returns decreased by 4.2 per cent (a total of 10,000 staff). The 2005/06 and 2006/07 staff figures published in this report differ from those originally presented in the Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2006/07 because of the data backfilling process applied to the datasets across the three reported years. (Please refer to the ‘Introduction’ section of this report for further details of this process and overall data returns account.) Despite the variance in actual staff numbers, the trends and percentage figures reported for 2005/06 and 2006/07 in this report remain consistent to those published previously.

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Although staff numbers in the sector had shown an initial fall and then risen across the last three reported years, the further education learner population instead registered a contrary trend. Between 2006/07 and 2007/08 the number of learners in further education decreased by 6.9 per cent (LSC, 2008). Overall, the workforce across the further education college sector grew significantly faster in 2007/08 than the national average employment growth rate of 0.8 per cent (ONS, 2008). It will be important to monitor developments in the sector in the next few years to determine the impact of the current economic climate on employment in the further education college workforce. Figure 1 Total number of staff returns in further education colleges â&#x20AC;&#x201C; England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 270,000

Total number of staff

260,000 250,000 240,000 230,000 220,000 210,000

2005/06 238,500

2006/07 228,500

2007/08 263,200

Note: Staff numbers represent the total number of individual contracts accounted for by further education colleges. Please refer to the Introduction section of this report for further details on the methodology for accounting the further education workforce. The following sections provide an outline of the key characteristics of the further education college workforce according to occupational groups, leadership and management, qualification levels, working patterns, types of contract, and recruitment and leavers. These characteristics are further examined from Sections 1 to 4 according to age, disability, ethnicity and gender.

Occupational groups Overall, there were minimal variations in the total proportion of staff across all occupational categories reported on from 2005/06 to 2007/08 (see Figure 2). Note: in 2007/08 an extra occupational category was introduced to represent assessors and verifiers. Staff in these roles represented approximately 1.3 per cent of the total further education college workforce. To ensure consistency in comparing trends across the years, this occupational category was not included in the percentage figures presented in Figure 2. As data on assessor and verifier roles is collected in the upcoming years, this new occupational category will be included in future reporting. 1.3 per cent of records were registered as not known and excluded from the percentage breakdowns. As a result, the 2007/08 figures presented in this report may differ slightly from the figures presented in Lifelong

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Learning UK’s report, Further Education Workforce Data for England: An analysis of the Staff Individualised Record Data 2007-2008, where ‘not known’ records were tabled. The variation between reports is, however, insignificant and for the purposes of a time series analysis the trends are comparable. In relation to the characteristics of the workforce according to the roles of staff, several key points were observed. • Across all three reported years, more than half the further education college workforce were in teaching roles (including lecturers, tutors and trainers). As expected, teaching staff were the most common job role type and in 2007/08, represented 52.9 per cent of the workforce in further education colleges. This percentage result had remained unchanged since 2005/06. • The second largest group of staff in the sector were in service roles. In 2007/08, 15.8 per cent of staff were classified as service staff and this level has remained reasonably similar across the three years. • Staff in word-processing, clerical and secretarial roles represented 10.4 per cent of the college workforce, with a further 7.6 per cent registered in administrative and professional staff jobs. Since 2005/06 the proportion of staff in these roles had fallen slightly. • The proportion of technical staff in further education colleges has remained relatively similar through the years and in 2007/08 they represented 6.4 per cent, which was the same as the 2005/06 results. • In 2007/08, 6.8 per cent of staff were in management positions. Approximately 4 per cent of these were senior managers and the rest were identified as other managers. In this case ‘other manager’ represented various management roles within further education colleges including finance managers and college administrator managers. Figure 2 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by occupational groups – England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08

60 50

52.9

51.3

52.9

40 % 30 20 10 0

15.7 15.9 15.8 10.7 10.8 10.4

8.2 8.6 7.6 6.0 6.5 6.8 Managers

6.4 6.8 6.4 Administrative and professional staff

Technical staff

Word processing, clerical and secretarial staff

Service staff

Teaching staff (Lecturers, Tutors and Trainers)

Note: For 2007/08, 1.3 per cent of total staff occupational group was unknown. For 2005/06 and 2006/07, the number of unknown was negligible (0.01 per cent). The percentage figures presented in the chart were based on known records only.

23 23

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Qualifications In the report, breakdowns of staff qualification levels in further education colleges were presented nationally, and also in more detail across the equality strands (see Sections 1 to 4). Through the years, the information captured on qualification levels across the further education college workforce has been improving, with the number of unknown records declining gradually. In 2007/08, 29.4 per cent of staff returns did not include information on staff qualification levels, which was significantly lower than the previous rate of unknowns of 40.7 per cent. After further investigations into the profile of the ‘unknown’ qualification holders, it was clear that most were working in part time positions (70.8 per cent of all staff returns). This indicated the need for a greater focus on obtaining details of staff in all contract types as the majority of missing details came from part time and casual staff. For the purposes of presenting a representative picture of staff qualification levels across colleges, unknown records were omitted from the analysis. Figure 3 provides an outline for the known qualification levels of further education college staff across the three last reporting years. In relation to the change in qualification levels of staff observed since 2006/07, it appears that the pattern of change is not supported by past trends and might be a result of changes in the data collection in 2007/08. For example, between 2006/07 and 2007/08, the decrease in the proportion of staff with NQF Level 6/7/8 qualifications (from 49.7 per cent to 44.2 per cent) could be attributed to an amendment of qualification categories rather than an actual fall. It is therefore advisable that the qualification data is monitored closely in the future. Please refer to the ‘Introduction’ section for a further overview of the qualification data categories. The main points observed in relation to qualifications are shown below. • Staff in further education colleges were relatively highly qualified, with 44.2 per cent in 2007/08 holding NQF Level 6/7/8 qualifications (e.g. first degrees or above). Overall, colleges had experienced a significant increase in staff with NQF Level 4/5 qualifications (11.2 per cent to 17.2 per cent). • The further education college sector had also registered a general rise in staff with qualifications at NQF Level 3 (15.7 per cent to 17.0 per cent). • The proportion of staff in colleges with qualifications at NQF Level 2 or below was slowly falling, indicating a general improvement in the qualification levels. The proportion of staff with NQF Level 1 and 2 qualifications fell slightly from 12.5 per cent and 4.2 per cent in 2005/06 to 12.0 per cent and 3.6 per cent in 2007/08. • In 2007/08, 6.0 per cent of staff working in colleges had no formal qualifications. They represented a slightly higher proportion of staff than those with NQF Level 1 although this had been falling.

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Figure 3 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by qualification levels – England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08

60 49.7 49.7

44.2

40 % 30 20

15.7 15.9 17.0 12.5 12.7 12.0

17.2 11.2 11.4

10 4.2

4.0

6.6 3.6

NQF Level 1

NQF Level 2

NQF Level 3

NQF Level 4/5

NQF Level 6/7/8

6.4 6.0

No Formal Qualifications

Notes: The proportion of ‘not known’ records for this field was 33.8 per cent in 2005/06, 40.7 per cent in 2006/07 and 29.4 per cent in 2007/08. ‘Not known’ was not included in the above calculation. The percentage figures presented in the chart were based on known records only.

Working patterns Overall, there was a higher proportion of staff in further education colleges working in part time positions than working full time. In 2007/08, 58.6 per cent of staff were employed part time with the remaining 41.4 per cent working in full time contracts. There was a general increase in staff working part time across colleges between 2005/06 and 2008/09 with an equivalent fall in full time employment. More than half (55.6 per cent) of college staff working part time were in teaching roles (see Table 2). This is slightly higher than the 47.1 per cent of full time staff in equivalent roles. Another large proportion of staff worked part time in service staff roles (19.3 per cent) which is significantly higher than the 10.5 per cent of full time staff in the same type of positions. Full time staff tended to be employed more in management roles than staff working part time. For example, in 2007/08, 12.1 per cent of full time staff were either senior managers or carrying out other management positions compared to 3.0 per cent of part time college staff. The working patterns of staff varied across different occupation roles as displayed in Table 2.

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Figure 4 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by working patterns â&#x20AC;&#x201C; England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08

70 60

58.6 55.6

54.8

44.4

45.2

41.4

% 30 20 10 0

Part-time

Full-time

Note: For 2005/06 and 2006/07 there was no information missing for this field. For 2007/08, there was a minor 0.5 per cent of records that were unknown. Table 2 Total number and proportion of staff in the further education workforce by working patterns and occupational profile â&#x20AC;&#x201C; England, 2007/08 Part-time

Full-time

Count

Senior managers

.0%

591

.6%

Other managers

4,561

3.0%

12,302

11.5%

Administrative and professional staff

8,160

5.4%

11,366

10.6%

Technical staff

7,624

5.0%

8,741

8.2%

Word processing, clerical and secretarial staff

15,385

10.2%

11,261

10.5%

Service staff

29,169

19.3%

11,211

10.5%

Assessors and verifiers

2,269

1.5%

1,162

1.1%

Teaching staff (lecturers, tutors and trainers)

84,225

55.6%

50,484

47.1%

Total

151,456

100.0%

107,118

100.0%

Note: For the purposes of the analysis tabled, Assessors and Verifiers have been included in the list as data was available for this role in 2007/08.

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Type of contract Nearly 70 per cent of staff in colleges were on permanent contracts, representing the most popular contract type across the workforce. Since 2005/06, the proportion of permanent staff in colleges remained relatively constant whereas significant changes were noted in the levels of staff on fixed-term contracts or employed through agencies. The proportion of fixed-term staff fell drastically through the three reported years and in 2007/08 they represented 16.2 per cent of all staff (see Figure 5). Teaching staff employed through an agency instead registered a large rise from 3.7 per cent to 7.6 per cent in staff returns. After investigating this trend further, it was concluded that the rise was mainly due to a change in how teaching agency data8 was captured on the Staff Individualised Record database rather than an actual rise in agency staff numbers. Caution is therefore advised when interpreting this specific trend. Figure 5 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by types of contract â&#x20AC;&#x201C; England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08

80 70

68.0

70.6

68.6

60 50 % 40 30 21.2

19.3

16.2 7.0

10 0

7.2

7.6

7.2 3.7

Permanent staff

Fixed term staff

Casual staff

2.8

Teaching staff employed through an agency

Note: For 2005/06 and 2006/07 there were no records with unknown details for this field. For 2007/08, there was a minor 0.4 per cent of staff with unknown contract types. Information on self-employed teaching staff in colleges was collected through this field but because of the low volume and proportion of staff in this category, the data was not presented in this chart, nor in subsequent analyses for this field. From 2005/06 to 2007/08, there were respectively 0.13 per cent, 0.12 per cent and 0.02 per cent of staff registered in the database as selfemployed teaching staff.

Data for staff employed through agencies was submitted into the Staff Individualised Record database by National Protocol.

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Workforce recruitment and leavers Nationally, the overall change in the levels of staff recruitment and leavers across colleges followed a similar change across the years (see Figure 6). Returns submitted by colleges on recruitment and leavers represented the number of contracts that started or ended in the academic year. With the data available it wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t possible to determine the prior location or destination of individuals starting or leaving a contract, so the figures are not exclusively representative of new starters and leavers for the further education college sector, but instead a combination of shifts including movements within and across colleges. Between 2005/06 and 2006/07 there was a fall in recruitment and leaver rates but the following year a rise in activity was recorded. In 2007/08, recruitment levels as a proportion of the total staff returns submitted by colleges represented 23.5 per cent. In the same year, the number of leavers as a proportion of the total staff returns submitted was 20.5 per cent.9 A more detailed analysis of recruitment and leaver trends has been carried out according to regional patterns, and the four key characteristics of age, disability, ethnicity and gender. The key findings of these analyses are presented in the relevant sections of this report. Figure 6 Recruitment and leaver rates for the further education college workforce â&#x20AC;&#x201C; England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 Staff recruited Staff leavers

25%

20%

19.6 18.8

23.5 20.5

18.5

15% 14.0 10%

2005/06

2006/07

2007/08

9 Recruitment and leaver rates were based on non-backfilled data. This was done to accurately represent the actual trend in staff changes across the college sector.

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Section 1:

Age profile of the workforce Key findings • The age profile of staff in further education colleges was older than the age profile of the general workforce across England (including all labour market sectors). More than a third of staff in further education colleges was aged 50 years and over. According to Labour Force Survey statistics, this was higher than the age profile of the general workforce across England where the national average rate of workers 50 years and over was 24.1 per cent. • Staff in the youngest and oldest age bands (e.g. under 25 year olds, 60–64 and 65 and over) represented the smallest staff groups across all three reported years. • A higher proportion of staff aged 50-59 years were registered as managers than any other age group and more likely to be in senior management positions than staff in any other age groups. The proportion of staff aged 60-64 and 65 and over in management roles was significantly lower than most other age groups with 5.6 per cent and 2.1 per cent from each age band in management positions. • A higher proportion of staff across all age groups had a qualification at NQF Level 6/7/8 than any other qualification. • There was a significant increase in the proportion of staff in part time employment when moving from the 55-59 age group to the 60 and over group. • The majority of staff across all age groups were employed on permanent contracts, except for the youngest and oldest age groups who were more likely to be employed on a fixed-term or casual basis. • The largest proportion of staff recruited to colleges were aged under 25 years (14.8 per cent in 2007/08). In 2006/07 staff aged under 25 years represented one of the largest groups in the leaver cohort (12.4 per cent). However, the proportion of leavers in this age band has since dropped (10.5 per cent) and the age profile of leavers appeared to be more evenly distributed in 2008/09 with no age group standing out. This section examines the overall age profile of the workforce and continues to explore the trends and issues that relate to distinctions in age by occupational groups and qualification levels of staff as well employment working patterns, types of contract, and recruitment and leavers. The analysis describes the overall age profile of the further education college workforce, how the profile has changed over the past three years and the distribution of staff of different ages across the different areas mentioned. The 2007/08 report includes an account of trends for staff aged 65+. This age group was previously represented within the age band of 60 years and over. It was timely to include this age group in the report: since October 2006 it has been unlawful for employers to discriminate on the grounds of age and this includes rights to promotion, training and retirement options. The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 now include the statutory right for employees to request working beyond retirement and the government has brought forward the review of the default retirement age from 2011 to 2010. Including a data analysis for this group will identify any trends that may be evident since the implementation of the recent legislation.

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Overall age profile Compared to the national average workforce in England, the age profile of staff in further education colleges was a little older. With more than a third (34.7 per cent) of staff in further education colleges aged 50 years and over, this was significantly higher than the national average of 22.4 per cent (ONS, 2008) for the equivalent age group working across England. Across the three reported years, the distribution of staff within each age band remained relatively consistent, with a notable rise noted only in the proportion of staff aged 60-64 years (see Figure 1-1). Overall, in 2007/08, the largest proportion of college staff were aged 45-49, representing 14.7 per cent of staff in England. The second and third largest cohorts of staff were aged 40-44 (14.4 per cent) and 50-54 (13.6 per cent). Although to a lesser extent, staff aged 55-59 and 35-39 also represented a significant proportion of the further education college workforce with 12.2 per cent and 11.8 per cent respectively. Staff in the youngest and oldest age bands (e.g. under 25 year olds, 60-64 and 65 and over) represented the smallest staff groups across all three reported years. Since 2005/06, the proportion of staff aged under 25 years working in colleges had decreased slightly (7.0 per cent to 6.7 per cent in 2007/08) whereas the oldest staff groups had increased. This was particularly the case for staff 60â&#x20AC;&#x201C;64 years old where in 2007/08, they represented 6.7 per cent of the workforce (up from 5.4 per cent in 2005/06). Figure 1-1 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by age groups â&#x20AC;&#x201C; England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08

16 14 12 10 % 8 6 4 2 0

Under 25

25-29

30-34

35-39

40-44 45-49 Age group

50-54

55-59

60-64 65 and over

Note: The proportion of staff with unknown age records was less than 0.2 per cent across all three years presented. The percentage figures presented in the chart are based on known records only.

Occupational groups When observing the occupational breakdown of roles within different age groups, particular traits stood out concerning the average age profile of specific posts (see Figure 1-2). For example, staff in colleges aged under 25 years were more likely to be employed in roles classified as service posts or undertaking word-processing, clerical and secretarial duties. Nearly one-third of the college workforce aged under 25 years (30.5 per cent) were service staff, with a further 22.0 per cent in word-processing and secretarial roles. This was significantly

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

higher than the average rates observed for these roles in the older staff cohorts (e.g. on average only between 13.5 per cent and 15.3 per cent of staff aged between 30 and 60 years old were registered as service staff). In terms of management positions across colleges, a higher proportion of staff aged 50 to 59 were registered as managers than staff of any other age group. In 2007/08, 8.6 per cent of 50-54 years olds and 8.1 per cent of 5559 year olds were managers. Since 2005/06 these proportions had increased to some extent, and remained above the average rate of 6.8 per cent measured across all staff age groups. There was a significantly higher proportion of staff aged 65 and over in service roles (20.4 per cent) and wordprocessing roles (14.9 per cent) than the preceding age groups of 60-64 and 55-59 years. A little more than half of staff within each age group (other than the under 25 and 25-29 year olds) were undertaking teaching roles. In general, there was no significant difference in the roles staff of different ages were carrying out apart from those mentioned earlier. Figure 1-2 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by occupational groups and age groups â&#x20AC;&#x201C; England, 2007/08 2.1

100

4.3

5.7

6.3

6.8

7.1

7.4

8.6

8.1

11.3

9.1

7.5

9.8

9.9

9.3

5.9 7.7 9.0

5.6 7.2 8.8

5.5 7.3 9.1

5.2 7.2 8.6

5.5 6.5 8.9

6.1 6.0 10.7

14.9

13.5

15.3

15.2

13.6

14.1

17.1

20.4

55.5

56.9

54.5

54.3

50-54

55-59

60-64

65 and over

70 60

22.0

9.6 13.6

4.1 4.2

15.3

% 50 40

12.9

5.6

30.5

47.1

53.7

57.1

56.0

25-29

30-34

35-39

40-44 45-49 Age group

Managers Technical staff Administrative and professional staff Word processing, clerical and secretarial staff Service staff Teaching staff (Lecturers, Tutors and Trainers)

20 10 0

22.2 Under 25

Leadership and management In 2007/08, data on the different management posts was made available via the Staff Individualised Record database. This sub-section therefore concentrates on observing in more detail whether there were any distinctive differences in the age profile of staff in management positions of different seniority levels. Manager roles were split and presented in two categories: senior managers and other managers.10 Owing to the small volume of managers in the college sector compared to other role types (e.g. teaching staff), the division of this role into further two groups, senior and other management, meant that the percentage figures presented were based on small clusters of staff. Senior managers represented less than one per cent of the total further education college workforce in 2007/08 whereas staff in other management roles represented approximately six per cent. Nevertheless, the distinction of the two management categories highlighted some interesting trends (see Figure 1-3).

Please refer to the Introduction section for further information on what these categories represent.

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

The chart below illustrates that staff aged between 50 and 59 years were more likely to be in senior management positions than staff of any other age group: 5.8 per cent of 55-59 year olds and 5.2 per cent of 5054 year olds were senior managers whereas this profile was significantly lower for the younger age groups (e.g. 1.6 per cent of 30-34 year olds were in senior management positions). It is evident that further education colleges should analyse information about its staff age profile (UNISON, 2006a) and implement strategies to increase the diversity of leadership and management at all levels. Organisations like the Learning and Skills Improvement Service are developing specific initiatives such as an ‘Age Equality Programme’ to support further education colleges in meeting their obligations (LLUK, 2009, p 23; LSIS, 2009). Figure 1-3 Total proportion of senior managers and other managers in the further education college workforce by age groups – England, 2007/08 100

0.5

0.6

1.6

2.4

4.3

3.9

5.2

5.8

4.5

3.4 Senior Managers Other Managers

90 80 70 60 % 50 40 30

99.5

99.4

98.4

97.6

95.7

96.1

Under 25

25-29

30-34

35-39

40-44 45-49 Age group

94.8

94.2

95.5

96.6

50-54

55-59

60-64

65 and over

20 10 0

Qualifications As noted earlier, the highest proportion of staff returns reported a qualification at NQF Level 6/7/8. In line with these trends, a higher proportion of staff across all age groups had a qualification at this level in 2007/08 than any other qualifications. The exception was the under 25 age group, where a slightly higher proportion of staff was stated to be holding an NQF Level 3 qualification (28.2 per cent) than a NQF Level 6/7/8 qualification (27.1 per cent). A predominantly higher proportion of staff aged under 25 years had an NQF Level 2 qualification (22.8 per cent) than staff in older age groups; perhaps staff within older age groups had had more time and/or opportunity to take part in further study at a higher level. Staff aged 60 years and over were more likely to hold no formal qualifications than younger age groups. In 2007/08, 11.9 per cent of 60-64 year olds and 19.0 per cent of staff aged 65 years and over had no formal qualifications while 30-34 year olds registered the smallest proportion of staff with no formal qualifications (3.1 per cent). Across the years, the qualification levels of staff of different ages changed in a similar pattern. All age groups saw significant falls in the proportion of staff with NQF Level 6/7/8 and subsequent increases in those with NQF Level 4/5 from 2005/06. For example, in 2005/06, 53.9 per cent and 52.8 per cent of 50-54 and 55-59 year olds were qualified to NQF Level 6/7/8. By 2007/08, 46.6 per cent and 47.4 per cent of staff from the respective age groups held equivalent qualifications. The proportion of staff in these age groups with NQF

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Level 4/5 qualifications instead increased drastically across the three years from 11.0 per cent and 11.2 per cent to 17.9 per cent and 17.3 per cent. Similar changes were noted across all other age groups. Note: some of these trends may be attributed to changes in the categorisation of qualifications rather than an actual change in the further education college workforce so caution is advised when interpreting them (please see ‘Findings: national profile and overall characteristics of the workforce’ for further details). Please refer to Appendix 1 for the supporting data tables for this section including data for all three reported years. Figure 1-4 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by qualification levels and age groups – England, 2007/08 100 90 80

6.3 5.7 22.8

70 60 % 50

3.3

3.1

2.4

2.8

10.4

9.8

18.4

17.6

14.5

16.8

28.2

4.1 3.6

5.1 3.8

5.4 3.9

6.2

12.2

13.4

12.4

11.0

17.5

16.9

15.2

14.0

19.1

18.4

17.9

17.3

17.5 18.5

3.2

7.9 3.5

9.9

11.9 4.1

10.6 14.4

9.8

51.1

50.0

44.1

41.0

43.0

25-29

30-34

35-39

40-44 45-49 Age group

4.4

9.9 13.9

17.2

40 30

19.0

No formal qualifications NQF Level 1 NQF Level 2 NQF Level 3 NQF Level 4/5 NQF Level 6/7/8

15.5

46.6

47.4

41.8

37.3

50-54

55-59

60-64

65 and over

20 10 0

27.1 Under 25

Working patterns Across all age groups, the largest proportion of staff were working part time (see Figure 1-5). The instances of part time employment varied to some extent across the age groups with the most noticeable difference noted for staff aged 60 years and over. There was a significant increase in the proportion of staff in part time employment when moving from the 55-59 age group to the 60 and over group. In 2007/08, just over twothirds of staff aged 60-64 years and a majority of staff aged 65 years and over (86.7 per cent) were working part time. These rates had remained consistent across the years. Previous research has indicated that for some older workers working part time is a transition from work to retirement (TAEN, 2008) that offers them ‘greater control over their lives’ (NATFHE, now UCU, p12). On the other hand, although the profile of older workers had remained unchanged through the years, younger age groups had noted small increases in the proportion of staff employed part-time. In particular, part time employment had increased within the age groups 45-49 years (an increase of 4.4 percentage points between 2005/06 and 2007/08) and 50-54 years (an increase of 3.9 percentage points) (see Figure 1-5). Please refer to Appendix 1 for the supporting data tables for this section including data for all three reported years.

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Figure 1-5 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by working patterns and age groups â&#x20AC;&#x201C; England, 2007/08 100 13.3

90 80

40.9

48.2

43.9

39.4

38.9

42.5

45.4

43.8

32.2

59.1

51.8

56.1

60.6

61.1

57.5

54.6

56.2

67.8

86.7

Under 25

25-29

30-34

35-39

40-44 45-49 Age group

50-54

55-59

60-64

65 and over

Full-time Part-time

70 60 % 50 40 30 20 10 0

Type of contract In most cases the majority of staff of different ages were employed as permanent staff (see Figure 1-6) but there were exceptions to this in the youngest and oldest age groups. Whilst the proportion of permanent staff across the age groups 25-64 ranged between 63.8 per cent (noted for 60-64 year olds) and 74.2 per cent (noted for 50-54 year olds), staff aged under 25 instead registered 51.0 per cent of its cohort working on a permanent basis and 39.2 per cent for the age group 65 and over. Staff in these two age groups were more likely to be employed on a fixed-term or casual basis than staff of other ages. In 2007/08, 22.9 per cent and 19.0 per cent of under 25 year olds were fixed-term and casual staff. The equivalent rates for staff aged 65 years and over were 28.0 per cent and 19.8 per cent. Figure 1-6 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by types of contracts and age groups â&#x20AC;&#x201C; England, 2007/08 100

7.0

90 80

19.0

7.9 6.1

7.8 5.5

8.8 5.7

8.1 5.9

7.3 5.3

6.5 5.5

6.6 6.2

17.1

15.9

16.4

15.9

14.6

13.9

14.1

12.9

10.0 17.8

70 60

8.4

19.8

22.9 28.0

% 50 40 30

51.0

69.0

70.8

69.2

70.0

72.8

Under 25

25-29

30-34

35-39

40-44 45-49 Age group

74.2

73.1

63.8

39.2

50-54

55-59

60-64

65 and over

20 10 0

Teaching staff employed through an agency Casual staff Fixed term staff Permanent staff

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Workforce recruitment and leavers The largest proportion of staff recruited to colleges were aged under 25 years. This was the case across all three reported years, although since 2006/07 the proportion of staff recruited from this age group fell. In 2007/08, 14.8 per cent of staff recruited were aged under 25 years. The second and third largest pools of staff recruited to colleges were aged 40-44 years (14.3 per cent) and 35-39 year olds (12.9 per cent). Figure 1-7 illustrates the age profile of staff recruited to colleges across the last three reported years. Over time, the age profile of staff recruited remained fairly consistent, with only visible changes observed for the under 25 year old group (a decrease from 16.1 per cent in 2005/06 to 14.8 per cent in 2007/08) and 60-64 age group (an increase from 3.5 per cent to 4.6 per cent). The increase in the percentage of staff in the 60-64 age group, and the slight increase in the 65 and over group, is a positive sign. An analysis of corporate responses in Europe has shown that high level of job satisfaction, a positive attitude towards the organisation and a strong work ethic are reasons for hiring older workers (Koc-Menard, 2009). Older staff may still require some training and therefore further education colleges should integrate training into any recruitment strategy targeted to this group. Figure 1-7 Total proportion of recruitment by age groups â&#x20AC;&#x201C; England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08

20 18 16 14 12 % 10 8 6 4 2 0

Under 25

25-29

30-34

35-39

40-44 45-49 Age group

50-54

55-59

60-64 65 and over

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

The age profile of those staff leaving employment in a college was more evenly distributed than that observed in recruitment, with no specific age group being significant. In 2007/08 the proportion of leavers across the age groups ranged from 2.7 per cent (for 65 years and over) to 13.6 per cent (for 40-44 year olds). The only key change observed was for the under 25 year group which in 2006/07 represented one of the largest groups in the leaver cohort (12.4 per cent) but by 2007/08, had dropped (10.5 per cent) (see Figure 1-8). Figure 1-8 Total proportion of leavers by age groups â&#x20AC;&#x201C; England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08

16 14 12 10 % 8 6 4 2 0

Under 25

25-29

30-34

35-39

40-44 45-49 Age group

50-54

55-59

60-64 65 and over

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Section 2:

Disability profile of the workforce Key findings • People with declared disabilities are under-represented in the further education college workforce: 2.7 per cent of staff in further education colleges had a declared disability in 2007/08. This was significantly lower than the average disability status of the general population in England of 17.9 per cent (ONS, 2009) and the general further education learner population which in the same year registered 14.4 per cent (LSC, 2008). • Staff with a declared disability demonstrated a very similar occupational profile to staff without a declared disability: 52.8 per cent of staff with a declared disability were in teaching roles compared with 52.7 per cent of staff without a declared disability. Please note that only 2.7 per cent of further education college staff had a declared disability therefore the percentage results presented by occupational role and other categories will be based on a significantly small number of staff compared to those staff without a declared disability. • Across the management roles in further education colleges there was no major difference in the percentage of staff with and without a declared disability in either senior or other manager positions. • The qualification profile of staff with and without a declared disability was similar to staff with no declared disabilities. The majority of staff in both cohorts were educated to NQF Level 6/7/8. • The proportion of staff with a declared disability working full time dropped between 2005/06 (45.1 per cent) and 2007/08 (43.4 per cent). A similar trend was observed in the proportion of staff without a declared disability (45.1 per cent to 41.8 per cent). There was a general shift to part time positions for both cohorts. • Staff with declared disabilities were more likely to be employed as permanent staff within the further education college workforce than staff without a declared disability. Approximately three-quarters of staff with a declared disability were in permanent positions in 2007/08 (74.3 per cent) which was more than the 69.8 per cent of staff without a declared disability also working on a permanent basis. • In 2007/08 only 2.1 per cent of staff recruited to the further education college workforce had a declared disability while the majority of leavers had no declared disabilities. Recruitment of staff with disabilities continued to be extremely low during the three reported years. The second equality and diversity strand summarised in this report is disability. Trends and key characteristics concerning the proportion of staff with a disclosed disability are presented for the years 2005/06, 2006/07 and 2007/08, as well as an in-depth comparative analysis of the employment roles and status of staff with and without a declared disability. Further education colleges were asked to submit in their staff returns to the Staff Individualised Record database information on whether a staff member had a declared disability or not. The data was captured in the database under the categories of ‘yes’, ‘no’ and ‘not known’. Through the years, the disclosure of disability for staff has continued to be low, registering a high level of unknown records compared to data collected for the other three equality and diversity strands in this report (i.e. age, ethnicity and gender). Research in the lifelong learning sector has shown that staff with a declared disability are unlikely to disclose a disability for fear of being discriminated against. A study by NIACE (2008) stated that there were indications that staff did not declare their disabilities because their career progression could be affected. A recent survey of disabled people holding senior management roles across the private, public and voluntary sectors found that people were worried that if their ‘secret’ were discovered by others at work, their careers would be jeopardised (RADAR, 2009).

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

In 2007/08, 9.6 per cent of the further education college workforce had unknown disability status. This was a small improvement on the levels of unknown records collected in previous years and Lifelong Learning UK is committed to continuing to improve these disclosure rates and enhance the sector’s ability to accurately monitor and support the needs of staff in colleges. It is recognised that disabled people are still subject to discrimination. It is therefore the duty of further education colleges to take positive actions to ensure equality of opportunity and treatment for disabled people and non-disabled people (UNISON, 2006b). This report includes a breakdown of the types of disabilities recorded for the further education college workforce in 2007/08. Information on type of disability was captured for the first time in the Staff Individualised Record database for 2007/08, so where details were available, an overview of the various disabilities registered is presented. Currently, disability types are represented by the categories: • physical impairment • mental ill health • learning difficulty • rather not say. Lifelong Learning UK is continually reviewing and monitoring the data collection process and will continue to develop this feature of the database to establish more comprehensive reporting categories.

Overall disability profile Only 2.7 per cent of the further education college workforce had a declared disability in 2007/08. While this percentage figure had remained very low over the three years, the overall trend was a slow increase from 2.3 per cent in 2005/06 to 2.7 per cent in 2007/08. Nationally, approximately 17.9 per cent of the general population in England declared a disability (ONS, 2009), which was significantly higher than the 2.7 per cent accounted for in the college staff population. In comparison to the learner population in further education colleges, the proportion of staff with a declared disability continued to be considerably lower – in 2007/08 14.4 per cent of learners (LSC, 2008) had a disability and/or learning difficulty. Disability across the further education college workforce was therefore severely under-represented. The proportion of staff in colleges that did not have a declared disability remained unchanged over the three years and in 2007/08, they represented 87.7 per cent of staff in colleges. The proportion of unknown disability records gradually decreased each year, and it is expected that in future reporting this proportion will continue to fall. The NIACE report on disabled staff working in lifelong learning (NIACE, 2008) has corroborated that we do not know enough about the reasons for ‘non disclosure’. They suggest that further research is needed into why disclosure in the sector is low.

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Figure 2-1 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by disabilities –England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08

100 87.9%

87.4%

87.7%

80 70 60 % 50 40 30 20 10

9.9% 2.3%

2.5%

10.2%

9.6%

2.7%

Yes

Not known

For the first time in this series of Annual Workforce Diversity Profile reports, information on the type of disabilities registered by staff can be reported on. This data was collected in the Staff Individualised Record database for 2007/08 and the preliminary results generated from the database showed that 17.7 per cent of staff with a declared disability had a physical impairment (see Table 2-1). Detailed information for more than three-quarters of staff however was still not available and the category ‘rather not say’ dominated the list. This category was also used by some colleges to submit entries on staff where they did not know the nature of their disability. Table 2-1: Total count and percentage of staff in the further education college workforce with a disclosed disability – England, 2007/08 Disclosed disability type

Count

Per cent

Physical impairment

1,268

17.7%

200

2.8%

0.8%

Rather not say

5,661

78.8%

Total

7,184

100%

Learning difficulty Mental ill health

The summaries presented in this section outline the results of comparative analyses comparing staff with a declared disability and those without. The aims of the analyses were to observe if there were any significant differences between the occupational and employment profiles of staff with a declared disability and those without which might raise fundamental issues affecting equality and diversity opportunities across the college workforce.

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Occupational groups In 2007/08, staff with a declared disability demonstrated a very similar occupational profile to those staff without a declared disability: 51.8 per cent of staff with a declared disability were in teaching roles compared to 52.7 per cent of staff without a disability. The representation across all other role types was not dissimilar between staff groups and, in particular, the difference noted across management roles was narrowing (see Figure 2-2). In 2005/06, 4.8 per cent of staff with a declared disability were managers compared to 6.3 per cent of staff without a declared disability (a difference of 1.5 percentage points). By 2007/08, 6.9 per cent of staff with a declared disability and 7.1 per cent of staff without a declared disability were in management roles, meaning the gap had reduced to only 0.2 percentage points. Figure 2-2 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by occupational groups and disclosed disability status â&#x20AC;&#x201C; England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 100 90 80

4.8 6.4 7.6

6.3 6.4 8.1

6.7 7.4 9.1

6.8 6.9 8.5

6.9 7.3 8.0

7.1 6.4 7.4

9.9

10.9

11.3

10.9

10.6

16.3

15.6

15.0

15.9

15.4

15.9

55.1

52.7

51.5

51.1

51.8

52.7

Yes

70 60 % 50 40 30

Managers Technical staff Administrative and professional staff Word processing, clerical and secretarial staff Service staff Teaching staff (Lecturers, Tutors and Trainers)

20 10 0

Yes 2005/06

2006/07

No 2007/08

Leadership and management Across the management roles in further education colleges, there was no major difference in the representation of staff with and without a declared disability in either senior or other manager positions (see Figure 2-3). In 2007/08, 3.1 per cent of staff with a declared disability were in senior manager positions. Although this was slightly lower than the 3.7 per cent registered for those without a declared disability, the figure was based on a very small cohort of staff and therefore may be exposed to data anomalies and not sufficiently robust to represent the actual situation. NIACEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s report states that heavy workloads in further education can be a barrier for progression to senior levels for some disabled staff. Long hours and evening and weekend work create demands that they are not sometimes able to meet (NIACE, 2008). As leadership/management programmes that support the development of disabled staff (LLUK, 2009) continue to grow, it is hoped that a cultural change will take place and more people can have the confidence to declare their disabilities. These changes together with the development of data collection processes in the upcoming years will enhance the information available on disability disclosure and senior management positions. We anticipate that future reporting will be able to more reliably measure this situation and help with the implementation of more specific strategies to support disabled staff.

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Figure 2-3 Total proportion of senior managers and other managers in the further education college workforce by declared disability status – England, 2007/08 100

3.1%

3.7%

96.9%

96.3%

Yes

Senior Managers Other Managers

90 80 70 60 % 50 40 30 20 10 0

Qualifications When assessing the levels of qualifications among staff teaching in further education colleges with and without a declared disability, it was found that, on the whole, the qualification profiles of the cohorts were similar. In 2007/08, 45.4 per cent of staff with a declared disability were educated to NQF Level 6/7/8. This was slightly higher than the 44.4 per cent of staff without a declared disability who were educated to the same level. The proportion of staff with a declared disability who had no formal qualifications (5.2 per cent) has been falling through the years – in 2005/06, 6.5 per cent of this staff group held no formal qualification. Between 2005/06 and 2008/09 there was an important increase in the proportion of staff with a declared disability having an NQF Level 4/5 qualification. Originally 11.8 per cent of staff with a declared disability held this qualification level but by 2007/08 this had increased to 17.7 per cent. A similar increase was noted for staff without a declared disability; therefore overall it appears that both cohorts of staff were experiencing the same developments in the varying levels of qualifications held. Qualitative data from NIACE’s study (NIACE, 2008) suggests that some disabled staff find that new requirements regarding teaching qualifications could be a barrier to recruitment and progression. Please refer to Appendix 1 for the data tables for years 2005/06, 2006/07 and 2007/08.

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Figure 2-4 Total proportion of staff in the further education workforce by qualification levels and disclosed disability status â&#x20AC;&#x201C; England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 100

6.5

4.3

4.2

4.0

3.9

12.2

12.3

11.7

12.6

10.9

12.0

16.8

15.6

16.1

15.8

17.0

11.8

11.2

11.1

11.3

17.7

17.1

48.4

50.2

50.8

50.1

45.4

44.4

Yes

60 % 50

6.3

6.0

5.2

5.8 3.6

No formal qualifications NQF Level 1 NQF Level 2 NQF Level 3 NQF Level 4/5 NQF Level 6/7/8

40 30 20 10 0

Yes 2005/06

2006/07

No 2007/08

Working patterns Figure 2-5 illustrates the working patterns of the further education college workforce according to whether they were employed on a full time or part time basis. In 2007/08, 56.6 per cent of staff with a declared disability were working part time compared with 58.2 per cent of staff without a declared disability. Some small variations are evident from the chart in relation to changes in full time employment positions. Overall, the proportion of staff with a declared disability working full time had dropped since 2005/06 (45.1 per cent to 43.4 per cent in 2007/08). The proportion of staff without a declared disability working full time also fell, moving from 45.1 per cent in 2005/06 to 41.8 per cent in 2007/08. There was a general shift to part time positions for both cohorts. Figure 2-5 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by working patterns and disclosed disability status â&#x20AC;&#x201C; England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 100 Full-time Part-time

90 80

45.1

47.1

46.1

43.4

41.8

54.9

52.9

53.9

56.6

58.2

Yes

70 60 % 50 40 30 20 10 0

Yes 2005/06

2006/07

No 2007/08

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Type of contract Staff with declared disabilities were more likely to be employed in permanent contracts within the further education college workforce than staff without a declared disability. Approximately three-quarters of staff with a declared disability (74.3 per cent) were permanent in 2007/08 compared with 69.8 per cent for staff without a declared disability. There was a gradual decline in the proportion of staff with a declared disability working as fixed-term or casual staff members in the further education college sector. The proportion of staff working in these contracts reached a low in 2007/08 of 15.7 per cent and 4.3 per cent respectively. The proportion of staff without a declared disability working fixed term fell from 21.0 per cent in 2005/06 to 16.1 per cent in 2007/08 so there had been a general fall in this type of contract across both staff groups. Figure 2-6 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by types of contract and disclosed disability status â&#x20AC;&#x201C; England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 100 90 80

3.5

5.4

6.9

17.9

21.0

2.1 5.4

2.5

16.5

6.9

5.7 4.3

19.1

15.7

71.5

74.3

Yes

7.6 6.6 16.1

Teaching staff employed through an agency Casual staff Fixed term staff Permanent staff

60 % 50 40 30

73.2

68.6

75.9

Yes

69.8

20 10 0

Yes 2005/06

2006/07

No 2007/08

Workforce recruitment and leavers Recruitment of staff with declared disabilities continued to be extremely low, with the latest figures indicating that only 2.1 per cent of staff recruited to the further education college workforce declared a disability. Staff without a declared disability represented 87.3 per cent of the recruitment cohort in 2007/08 and this rate had increased noticeably from 84.0 per cent in 2005/06. While this suggests that a lot more needs to be done on positively recruiting staff with disabilities, this trend may also be due to lower declaration amongst new entrants; therefore further work in promoting disclosure should also be undertaken. Based on Figure 2-7, it appears that there continues to be a high proportion of unknown information records on the disability status of staff recruited to colleges. In 2007/08, there were unknown records registered for 10.6 per cent of staff recruited that year. Through the years the proportion of unknown records had been gradually falling but it will be important that this trend continues, so the accuracy of reporting needs to be improved for better monitoring of recruitment across disability status.

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Figure 2-7 Total proportion of recruitment by disclosed disability status â&#x20AC;&#x201C; England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08

100 87.3%

84.0%

84.2%

80 70 60 % 50 40 30 20 10

14.2% 1.8%

2.1%

13.7%

10.6%

2.1%

Yes

Not known

The disability profile of the leaver cohort was relatively similar to the recruitment analysis presented above, with the majority of leavers having no declared disabilities (86.7 per cent in 2007/08). There was a small increase in the proportion of leavers with a declared disability from 2.3 per cent in 2005/06 to 2.6 per cent in 2007/08, but there was also a rise in the proportion of leavers without a declared disability. This trend may be primarily attributed to the improvement in data provision (e.g. the reduction in the proportion of unknown records) rather than an actual shift in the profile of the leaver cohort. As the data collected becomes more comprehensive and there are fewer missing details, the sectorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ability to monitor disability in both recruitment and leaver cohorts will be greatly enhanced. Figure 2-8 Total proportion of leavers by disclosed disability status â&#x20AC;&#x201C; England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08

100 85.2%

86.7% 83.6%

80 70 60 % 50 40 30 20 10 0

12.6% 2.3%

2.7%

Yes

13.7%

10.7%

2.6%

Not known

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Section 3:

Ethnicity profile of the workforce Key findings • In 2007/08, 84.3 per cent of the further education college workforce was from a white ethnic group. Black and minority ethnic staff represented 8.5 per cent. Black and minority ethnic group representation across the college sector was slightly lower than the ethnic profile of the general population in which 10.6 per cent of the population in England was from a minority ethnic group (ONS, 2009). • The difference in representation of black and minority ethnic groups between the college staff population and learner population was significant – in 2007/08, 20.9 per cent of the further education learner population was from black and minority ethnic groups (LSC, 2008). • There were no significant differences in ethnic representation across different types of roles. For example, in 2007/08, 52.5 per cent of staff from white ethnic groups were in teaching roles and this was parallel to the 51.4 per cent of Asian staff in the same roles and the 52.6 per cent of staff from black ethnic groups. • Staff from black and minority ethnic backgrounds were less likely to be in senior management than those from white ethnic background (1.8 per cent compared with 4.0 per cent in 2007/08). • A comparison of the different ethnic groups shows that black and minority ethnic groups were better qualified than their white counterparts: 43.7 per cent of white staff held a NQF Level 6/7/8 qualification, as did 55.0 per cent of Asian and 52.8 per cent of Chinese/other staff. • Staff from white ethnic groups registered the highest proportion of staff in permanent contracts. The Chinese/other ethnic cohort were the largest proportion of staff employed as casual staff and in parttime contracts. • The ethnicity profile of the further education college workforce recruited over the last three years has not undergone major changes. The representation of staff from black and minority ethnic groups increased slightly from between 0.1 per cent and 0.2 per cent. The proportion of new recruits from white ethnic backgrounds in 2007/08 was 82.1 per cent. • The percentage of staff from black and minority ethnic backgrounds who left their roles seemed to have increased slightly in comparison with previous years. Among black and minority ethnic groups, Asian staff continued to be the group with the highest level of leavers in 2007/08 (4.1 per cent). A detailed analysis of the further education college workforce according to ethnic groups is summarised in this section. The ethnic profile of the workforce was examined across occupational roles, management levels, qualifications held, working patterns, type of contracts, and recruitment and leaver rates. The findings are highlighted throughout the interpretive summary and charts. The analysis is presented across five ethnic group categories: Asian, black, mixed, Chinese/other and white. The five ethnic groups are defined as: • Asian: Asian or Asian British – Bangladeshi, Asian or Asian British – Indian, Asian or Asian British – Pakistani, Asian or Asian British – any other Asian or Asian British background • black: black or black British – African, black or black British – Caribbean, black or black British – any other black or black British background

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

• mixed: mixed – white and Asian, mixed – white and black African, mixed – white and black Caribbean, mixed – any other mixed background • Chinese/other: Chinese and any other • white: white – British, white – Irish, white – any other white background. In some cases, specific findings are quoted for black and minority ethnic staff. This group included Asian, black, mixed and Chinese/other ethnic groups. Staff returns on this strand where the data was captured on the Staff Individualised Record database registered similar irregularities to those described earlier in Section 3 for disability disclosure rates and there was a high volume of missing ethnicity records. In 2005/06, there were unknown ethnicity records for 9.4 per cent of college staff. In 2007/08 this figure dropped to 7.2 per cent,11 suggesting an overall improvement in the quality of the data registered for monitoring ethnicity. It will be important to ensure that this trend continues to provide a more accurate picture for future reporting. In 2007/08 an additional category titled ‘Prefer not to say’ was included in the field. For the purposes of carrying out a trend analysis across the three reported years, records registered under this category have been included into the ‘Not known’ category.

Overall ethnicity profile In 2007/08, 84.3 per cent of the further education college workforce were from a white ethnic group. Black and minority ethnic staff represented 8.5 per cent of the further education college workforce in the same year and comprised the following ethnic groups: Asian (3.4 per cent), black (2.9 per cent), Chinese/other (1.3 per cent) and mixed (0.8 per cent). Due to rounding effects to one decimal point, the sum of the minority ethnic groups black, mixed, Chinese/other and Asian equals 8.4 per cent. In 2007/08 the ethnic profile of the college staff population did not reflect the learner population attending provision in the colleges: 20.9 per cent (LSC, 2007) of learners in further education were from black and minority ethnic groups which was significantly higher than the rate within the staff cohort. In contrast, the ethnic profile of the further education college workforce on the whole was relatively similar to the profile of the general census population, although the representation of black and minority ethnic groups was slightly lower in the college sector. Annual population survey statistics showed that 10.9 per cent (ONS, 2009) of the general population in England were from black and minority ethnic groups. This was slightly higher than the 8.5 per cent registered in the college sector.

11 In 2007/08, an additional category titled ‘Prefer not to say’ was included in the field. For the purposes of carrying out a trend analysis across the three reported years, records registered under this category were aggregated into the ‘Not known’ category. In 2007/08, 0.7 per cent of records were recorded as ‘Prefer not to say’.

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Figure 3-1 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by ethnicity – England, 2007/08

Not known, 7.2% Black and minority ethnic, 8.5% White, 9.4%

Mixed, 0.8%

Black, 2.9%

Chinese/other, 1.3%

White Not known Asian Black Mixed Chinese/other

Asian, 3.4%

Note: Due to rounding effects to one decimal point, the sum of the minority ethnic groups black, mixed, Chinese/other and Asian equals 8.4 per cent. In 2007/08, 0.7 per cent of records were recorded as ‘Prefer not to say’. For the purposes of reporting, these records have been included in the ‘Not known’ category. Overall, the proportion of black and minority ethnic staff in the college workforce has gradually increased from the initial rates registered in 2005/06 of 7.8 per cent and 8.0 per cent in 2006/07 (see Figure 3-2) and the proportion of staff from white ethnic groups has been consistently falling. This proportion reached its lowest level in 2006/07 where they represented 82.6 per cent of the further education college workforce. Figure 3-2 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by ethnicity (black and minority ethnic and white) – England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 90

82.8%

82.6%

2005/06 2006/07 2007/08

84.3%

80 70 60 %

50 40 30 20 10 0

7.8%

8.0%

9.4%

8.5%

Black and minority ethnic

White

9.4%

7.2%

Not known

Figure 3-3 provides a more detailed outline of the trends across the various ethnic groups. On the whole, across the three years, the proportionate representation of the various black and minority ethnic groups remained relatively unchanged, with only minor changes noted (e.g. an increase or decrease of 0.1 to 0.3 percentage points)

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Figure 3-3 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by ethnicity â&#x20AC;&#x201C; England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 90

82.8 82.6 84.3

2005/06 2006/07 2007/08

70 60 %

50 40 30 20 10 0

9.4 9.4 7.2 3.1 3.1 3.4

2.7 2.7

Asian

Black

2.9

0.7 0.7 0.8

1.4 1.4 1.3

Chinese/ other

Mixed

White

Not known

Occupational groups While the ethnic profile of all occupational groups showed that there was a low representation of black and minority ethnic groups within the different ethnic groups (e.g. Asian, white, black, mixed etc.), there were no significant differences in incidences of the role types (see Figure 3-4). For example, in 2007/08, 52.5 per cent of staff from white ethnic groups were in teaching roles and this was parallel to the 51.4 per cent of Asian staff in the same roles and the 52.6 per cent of staff from black ethnic groups. In manager roles, while 7.2 per cent of staff from white ethnic groups were employed in these roles, between 4.0 per cent and 6.2 per cent of staff from black and minority ethnic groups were in equivalent job types. Although these levels had remained consistent over the three years, it will be important to monitor this distribution to ensure that management opportunities are accessed equally across all ethnic groups so that the differences in rates are minimised (Priority 3, Theme 9 of the Implementation of the Workforce Development, LLUK 2009).

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Figure 3-4 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by occupational groups and ethnicity â&#x20AC;&#x201C; England, 2007/08 100 90 80 70 60

6.2 5.3 8.1 9.6

4.0 6.5 6.3 9.2

17.0

18.1

16.6

51.4

52.6

Asian

Black

6.2 6.5 7.0 11.9

5.8 6.8 7.2

7.2 6.5 7.7

10.4

10.5

16.1

15.7

57.4

53.6

52.5

Chinese/other

Mixed

White

% 50 40 30

Managers Technical staff Administrative and professional staff Word processing clerical and secretarial staff Service staff Teaching staff (Lecturers, Tutors and Trainers)

20 10 0

Leadership and management Figure 3-5 illustrates the management profiles of staff from white and minority ethnic groups. It is evident that staff from white ethnic profiles are more likely to be in senior management roles than those from minority ethnic backgrounds. In 2007/08, 4.0 per cent of staff from white backgrounds were in senior management roles compared to only 1.8 per cent of staff from minority ethnic groups. Figure 3-5 Total proportion of senior managers and other managers in the further education college workforce by ethnicity â&#x20AC;&#x201C; England, 2007/08 100

1.8%

4.0%

98.2%

96.0%

Black and minority ethnic

White

Senior Managers Other Managers

90 80 70 60 % 50 40 30 20 10 0

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Qualifications In 2007/08, NQF Level 6/7/8 was the highest level of qualification across the different ethnic groups followed by NQF Level 4/5 and NQF Level 3. Only a small proportion of further education college staff held lowest level qualifications such as NQF Level 1 or no qualification at all. A comparison among the different ethnic groups suggested that black and minority ethnic groups were better qualified than their white counterparts. For example, while 43.7 per cent of white staff held a Level 6/7/8 qualification, 55.0 per cent of Asian and 52.8 per cent of Chinese/other staff held the same qualification. These findings echo data from Lindley’s research (Lindley, 2009) which found that not only were UK immigrants and minority ethnic groups better educated in terms of their highest national vocational qualification; non-white men were more likely to be ‘over-educated’ (p84) than their white counterparts. Dex and Lindley (2009) found similar trends in a different study. The proportion of staff from white ethnic groups that held a lower level qualification was slightly higher than that of other minority ethnic groups. In most cases, 10 per cent or less of staff across the different minority ethnic groups were qualified to Level 2 in comparison with 12.2 per cent of staff from white backgrounds. The ethnic groups with the highest proportion of staff with Level 3 qualifications were from white and mixed ethnic groups (both 17.4 per cent) (see Figure 3-6). 18.2 per cent of staff from black ethnic groups held a Level 4/5 qualification, the highest percentage among all ethnic groups for this level. These trends may be accounted for by the fact that some black and minority ethnic groups aim to be better qualified than staff from white backgrounds in order to compensate for the lack of UK labour market experience (Sicherman, cited in Lindley, 2009). For those born in the UK the literature reveals that they have on average higher qualifications than their parents (Simpson et al, 2006), and this is a feature of most minority groups’ experience across generations. As Platt states ‘educational achievement is clearly crucial to minority group success’ (Platt, 2005, p.4). There were some changes over the three reported years. Perhaps the most important was that the proportion of staff with NQF Level 6/7/8 qualifications seemed to have fallen slightly across all ethnic groups. For example the percentage of white staff qualified to NQF Level 6/7/8 decreased from 49.5 per cent and 49.4 per cent in 2005/6 and 2006/07 respectively, to 43.7 per cent in 2007/08. Likewise in 2005/06 the proportion of Chinese/other and Asian staff holding the same qualification decreased from 59.0 per cent and 58.3 per cent, to 52.8 per cent and 55 per cent in 2007/08. Please refer to Appendix 1 for a summary of the data tables. There was a significant increase in the proportion of further education college staff with NQF Level 4/5 qualifications. Although black ethnic groups represented the highest proportion of staff holding these qualifications, the number of white staff with the same qualification appeared to have increased significantly (from 11.3 per cent in 2005/06 and 2006/07, to 17.2 per cent in 2007/08).

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Figure 3-6 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by qualification levels and ethnicity â&#x20AC;&#x201C; England, 2007/08 100 90 80

5.3 2.5 8.9 13.7

12.0

12.7

70 14.5

5.8 3.6 12.2

5.8 3.9 9.2

6.8 2.8 9.0

7.2 4.2 10.0

17.4

16.7

18.2

% 50

16.3

17.2

No formal qualifications NQF Level 1 NQF Level 2 NQF Level 3 NQF Level 4/5 NQF Level 6/7/8

40 30

55.0

47.8

52.8

47.3

43.7

Asian

Black

Chinese/other

Mixed

White

20 10 0

Figure 3-7 shows the qualification levels of black and minority ethnic managers and white managers. Compared with staff from white ethnic groups, managers from black and minority ethnic groups had a higher proportion of NQF Level 6/7/8 (61.8 per cent had this qualification compared to 53.1 per cent of white staff). The proportional difference between black and minority ethnic staff and white staff across other types of qualifications was not as significant. Figure 3-7 Total proportion of managers in the further education college workforce by qualification levels and ethnicity â&#x20AC;&#x201C; England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 2.6 2.2

2.8 2.3

3.1 1.6

2.7 2.0

4.2

2.0

8.4

1.8

9.0

10.0

8.2

9.2

9.1

12.2

8.5 8.9

13.0

8.8

10.4

100

11.1

10.3 11.2

3.8

13.8

15.2 18.0

No formal qualifications NQF Level 1 NQF Level 2 NQF Level 3 NQF Level 4/5 NQF Level 6/7/8

% 50 40 30

67.4

62.7

67.5

61.0

61.8

53.1

20 10 0

Black and White minority ethnic 2005/06

Black and White minority ethnic 2006/07

Black and White minority ethnic 2007/08

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Working patterns The incidences of part time and full time employment across the different ethnic groups did not differ significantly as displayed in Figure 3-8 (see Appendix 1 Ethnic profile for data tables showing trends between 2005/06 and 2007/08). The key findings observed included: • Chinese/other and mixed ethnic groups continued to have the highest proportion of staff in part-time contracts (62.1 per cent and 61.8 per cent in 2007/08). Both ethnic groups continued to record the highest rates of part time employment since 2005/06 compared to other ethnic groups. • College staff from black ethnic groups tended to be employed more in full time positions than part time compared to other ethnic groups. In 2007/08, 45.8 per cent of staff from black ethnic groups were employed full time and this trend was consistent during the three years. • In 2007/08 there was a slight increase in the proportion of staff in part time work and a decrease in the proportion of full time staff across all the reported ethnic groups. Figure 3-8 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by working patterns and ethnicity – England, 2007/08 100 Full-time Part-time

90 80

39.3

45.8

37.9

38.2

42.2

60.7

54.2

62.1

61.8

57.8

Asian

Black

Chinese/other

Mixed

White

70 60 % 50 40 30 20 10 0

Type of contract The most noticeable trends that we can draw from the data on types of contracts are below. • In 2007/08 staff from white ethnic groups were more likely to be in permanent roles than black and minority ethnic groups (see Figure 3-9): 68.1 per cent of staff from black ethnic groups were in permanent positions in 2007/08 which was the highest rate registered across black and minority ethnic groups. • The largest proportion of staff employed as casual staff was recorded for the Chinese/other ethnic cohort and this was steady across the three years (e.g. 6.5 per cent of staff in this ethnic group were working on a casual basis in 2005/06 compared to 7.8 per cent in 2006/07 and 2007/08).

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Figure 3-9 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by types of contracts and ethnicity â&#x20AC;&#x201C; England, 2007/08 100 90 80 70

13.5

10.9

11.5

12.0

5.5

6.6

7.8

7.2

17.0

18.8

17.3

14.4

7.5 6.4 15.7

Teaching staff employed through an agency Casual staff Fixed term staff Permanent staff

60 % 50 40 30

63.8

68.1

63.7

62.0

70.4

Asian

Black

Chinese/other

Mixed

White

20 10 0

Workforce recruitment and leavers The ethnicity profile of the further education college workforce recruited over the last three years had not undergone major changes (see Figure 3-10). The highest proportion of staff recruited were from white ethnic backgrounds. This group represented 82.1 per cent of all recruited staff in 2007/08, a much higher figure than in previous years (77.0 per cent in 2005/6; 76.4 per cent in 2006/07). Recruitment of staff from all minority ethnic groups (Asian, black, Chinese/others and mixed) had remained relatively unchanged since 2005/06. Figure 3-10 shows that these ethnic groups experienced very small increases of between 0.1 and 0.3 percentage points between 2005/06 and 2007/08. It is encouraging to see that, overall, there was a fall in the proportion of staff recruited with unknown ethnicity records; between 2006/07 and 2007/08 the proportion fell significantly from 13.5 per cent to 7.2 per cent.

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Figure 3-10 Total proportion of recruitment by ethnicity – England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08

100 90 77.0 76.4

82.1

70 60 % 50 40 30 20 10 0

12.9 13.5 4.1 4.0

4.3

Asian

3.4 3.5

3.5

Black

1.6 1.6

1.7

Chinese/ other

1.0 1.0

7.2

1.3

Mixed

White

Not known

The highest percentage of leavers were staff from white ethnic groups, reflecting again the profile of the overall further education college workforce and general population in England. Among black and minority ethnic groups, Asian staff continued to be the group with the highest level of leavers (4.1 per cent in 2007/08). The percentage of staff from black ethnic backgrounds that left the sector seemed to have increased slightly in comparison with previous years (see Figure 3-11). It is expected that projects like the Black Leadership Initiative’ (Network for Black Professionals) will help to retain and improve career development opportunities for black and minority ethnic staff, a priority of the Workforce Strategy for further education sector in England, 2007–2012 (see Priority 3, Theme 9 in LLUK, 2009). Figure 3-11 Total proportion of leavers by ethnicity – England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08

100 90

80.9 78.2 82.5

80 70 60 % 50 40 30 20 10 0

9.9 11.7 6.8 3.7 3.0 4.1

Asian

3.1 2.6

Black

3.5

1.6 3.6

1.9

Chinese/ other

0.8 0.8

1.1

Mixed

White

Not known

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Section 4:

Gender profile of the workforce Key findings • The further education college workforce is predominantly female, and this trend has remained unchanged through the years. In 2007/08, approximately two-thirds of the workforce was female and one third male. This profile was different to the national gender profile of the general workforce in which, according to Labour Force Survey statistics for 2007/08, females represented 46.0 per cent and males 54.0 per cent (ONS, 2008). • Female staff were more likely to be employed in administrative and service staff roles than male college staff. A higher proportion of male staff were in teaching roles (59.4 per cent) than female staff (49.2 per cent). Male staff had a higher rate of incidence in management roles (7.3 per cent) compared to females (6.6 per cent of staff). • Across the management group, males were twice as likely to be in senior management roles as females (5.3 per cent and 2.8 per cent respectively). • The majority of both female and male staff were qualified with NQF Level 6/7/8. However, higher proportions of female staff held lower level of qualifications (NQF Level 2 and below) than the male staff which may be explained by a higher proportion of women occupying non-technical roles. • Female staff (65.0 per cent) were more likely to be employed in colleges on a part time basis than their male colleagues (47.1 per cent). • Male staff were more inclined to work full time in administrative/professional roles (67.8 per cent) than female staff in equivalent roles (55.0 per cent). The majority of female staff in service role occupations were working part time (81.2 per cent) compared to male service staff (51.8 per cent). • There were no gender disparities across the further education college workforce in relation to the types of contract offered across the sector. The majority of male and female staff were permanent. • The majority of staff recruited to the further education college workforce were female, representing in 2007/08, 63.0 per cent of all recruited staff. The gender profile of the leaver cohort reflected a similar picture. • Disparities in the average annual pay of male and female full time staff in colleges continued through the reportedyears, with male staff on average earning more than females. • In 2007/08 the average annual pay for a male full time staff member was £25,600, whereas the equivalent pay for female staff working full time was £23,300. The pay gender gap had decreased slightly in the last two years and in 2007/08 the difference was measured at 9.9 per cent (equivalent to approximately £2,300). This section of the report presents a detailed overview of the gender profile of the further education college workforce. As in previous sections, the results of the analyses have been presented across occupational roles, leadership and management positions, qualifications, working patterns, type of contract, and recruitment and leaver activities; there is also an outline of annual pay data according to gender. Annual pay was a supplementary section to the previous Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2006/07 report. The data presented for ‘annual pay’ is based on 2007/08 records and the results highlight key variations between the average pay of full time staff across genders, regions and according to different occupational groups. In Lifelong Learning UK’s Further Education Workforce Data for England: an analysis of the Staff Individualised Record Data 2007/08, an analysis of the annual pay for college staff across a number of areas not specific to gender is presented, so please refer to this report for further information on pay trends across the further education college sector.

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Overall gender profile The further education college workforce is predominantly female, and this trend has remained unchanged through the years (see Figure 4-1). In 2007/08 women represented nearly two-thirds of the workforce (63.9 per cent); just over one-third of the workforce was male (36.1 per cent). Compared to the gender profile of general workforce across England, the college sector had a significantly higher representation of female staff than males. In 2007/08, less than half (46.0 per cent) of the national workforce was female (ONS, 2008). The staff population was more similar to the further education learner population, but even there the proportion of female staff was slightly higher than the learner rate of 58.5 per cent (LSC, 2008). These rates had remained the same across the years: the gender ratio (female: male) has been steadily almost 2:1. That is, on average, there were two female staff members for every male staff member. It is important to note that until 2006/07 the Staff Individualised Record database was designed to collect data in two gender categories: male and female. In 2007/08 the category ‘prefer not to say’ was included and for the first time 421 people (0.2 per cent) selected not to disclose their gender. In the absence of a transgender category, ‘prefer not to say’ is currently the only option for college staff who do not fit into traditional gender categories. We recognise that there are several issues in relation to collection of the data that merit discussion and are not reflected in this report. Figure 4-1 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by gender – England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 70

63.5%

63.4%

2005/06 2006/07 2007/08

63.9%

60 50 36.5%

36.6%

36.1%

% 30 20 10 0

Female

Male

Note: In 2007/08, 0.2 per cent of records were registered under the category ‘Prefer not to say’. This category has been excluded from the table above as it was only specific to 2007/08. Within the age groups, the age spread of female and male staff was very similar, with only marginal differences noted (see Figure 4-2). The most significant difference noted between male and female staff populations was across the 60-64 age band, with 9.6 per cent of male college staff compared to 5.2 per cent of female in the equivalent age band. There was also a noticeable disparity across the 55-59 year old cohort, where 14.2 per cent were male and 11.1 per cent female.

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

In contrast to the trends observed above, there was a slightly higher proportion of females aged 40-44 in the college workforce (15.4 per cent) compared to male staff (12.6 per cent). Figure 4-2 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by gender and age groups â&#x20AC;&#x201C; England, 2007/08 Gender Female

Male 65 and over

60-64

55-59

50-54

45-49

40-44

35-39

30-34

25-29

Age group

65 and over

Under 25

Under 25 20

Occupational groups The occupational profile of male and female staff in colleges varied, with particular differences observed across certain roles. Figure 4-3 shows the share of occupational roles across the male and female workforce for 2007/08. Firstly, it appeared that a higher proportion of male staff were in teaching roles (59.4 per cent) compared to 49.2 per cent of female staff. Female staff, instead, were on average more likely to be employed in administrative and service staff roles than male college staff. For example, in 2007/08, 17.2 per cent of the female workforce were service staff, but only 13.3 per cent of the male college workforce. When we examined in more detail the working patterns of staff of different genders in service roles (and other occupational groups, see Figure 4-3), prominent variations were observed. The majority of female staff in service role occupations were working part time (81.2 per cent) compared to male service staff (51.8 per cent). In relation to word-processing/secretarial positions and administrative/professional roles, 13.8 per cent and a further 9.0 per cent of the workforce were female compared to 4.5 per cent and 5.3 per cent male staff. In relation to word-processing roles, there did not appear to be a difference between the working patterns of genders, but there were in administrative/professional roles (see Figure 4-3). Male staff were more inclined to work full time in this occupation (67.8 per cent) than female staff in equivalent roles (55.0 per cent). A higher proportion of the male workforce were technical staff (10.3 per cent) than of the female workforce (4.2 per cent). There was a clear difference in the working patterns of technical staff of different genders: the majority of males in this profession were working full time (69.9 per cent) but less than a third (30.4 per cent) of female technical staff.

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Male staff were also more likely to be in management roles (7.3 per cent) than female (6.6 per cent of staff). As in other occupational groups, female staff in management roles were also more likely to work part time than their male counterparts. In 2007/08, one third (33.3 per cent) of female managers were working part time compared to 15.6 per cent of male managers. Gender differences across management positions are explored further in the next section on leadership and management (see Figure 4-4). Figure 4-3 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by occupational groups and gender â&#x20AC;&#x201C; England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 100

5.6

9.7

10.1

14.4

4.4

14.6

11.1

7.3 10.3 5.3

6.0

4.5

13.8

4.4

13.3 17.0

6.6 4.2 9.0

7.2

4.3

10.6 5.6

80 70

6.2

6.8

4.0

13.3

13.8 17.2

17.2

% 50 40 30

49.3

59.2

47.7

57.6

49.2

Male

Female

59.4

Managers Technical staff Administrative and professional staff Word processing clerical and secretarial staff Service staff Teaching staff (Lecturers, Tutors and Trainers)

20 10 0

Female Male 2005/06

Female 2006/07

Male 2007/08

Figure 4-4 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by occupational groups, working patterns and gender â&#x20AC;&#x201C; England, 2007/08 100

Full-time Part-time

18.8

90 66.7

84.4

55.0

67.8

30.4

69.9

41.6

45.8

48.2

31.1

46.8

51.8

68.9

53.2

70 60 % 50 40 45.0

30 20 10 0

33.3

69.6 32.2

54.2 30.1

81.2

58.4

15.6 Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Managers Administrative Technical Word processing, Service Teaching staff and professional staff clerical and staff (Lecturers, Tutors staff secretarial and Trainers) staff

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Leadership and management The 2007/08 data available on management positions showed that there was a difference between genders (see Figure 4-5). Deem et al’s study reported more than nine years ago that ‘senior management in further education remains more men’s work than women’s’ (Deem et al, 2000, p231). It appears that little had changed since then. Of the female workforce in management positions, 2.8 per cent were senior managers and the remaining 97.2 per cent were in other management type roles. The percentage of females in senior management positions was visibly less than the 5.3 per cent of male managers in these roles. Recent research carried out by the Women’s Leadership Network recognised that women, particularly from black and minority ethnic backgrounds, are still under-represented in senior positions (WLN, 2009). The further education college sector has the challenge to create more opportunities for women to access higher managerial positions, especially when they are more likely to hold part time jobs (see sub-section working patterns, figure 4-7). Research in this area has already highlighted how women in the UK ‘are often penalised for part time jobs as they rarely provide career paths and often under-utilise women’s skills as they are located in a narrow range of low skilled, low paid occupations’ (Tomlinson and Gardiner, 2009, p674). The analysis of the further education college sector corroborates these findings. Figure 4-3, referred to earlier, shows that female staff were more likely to occupy administrative and service staff positions than male colleagues. Figure 4-5 Total proportion of senior managers and other managers in the further education college workforce by gender – England, 2007/08 100

2.8%

5.3%

97.2%

94.7%

Female

Male

Senior Managers Other Managers

90 80 70 60 % 50 40 30 20 10 0

Qualification levels Interestingly, there were some variations noted in the qualification levels of the female and male further education college workforce. While the majority of both female and male staff were qualified with an NQF Level 6/7/8 (42.2 per cent and 47.7 per cent respectively), a different pattern was observed across staff with lower level qualifications. More male staff held an NQF Level 4/5 (19.5 per cent) than NQF Level 3 (15.3 per cent), whereas within the female workforce a higher proportion held an NQF Level 3 (18.0 per cent) than an NQF Level 4/5 (15.9 per cent). Based on Figure 4-6, it appears that higher proportions of female staff held

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

lower levels of qualifications (e.g. NQF Level 2 and below) than the male college workforce. A likely explanation is that women tended to occupy non-technical roles in the further education college sector as shown earlier in Figure 4-3 and were not expected to hold higher qualifications to be employed in administrative and service positions. Through the years, the proportion of female and male staff with an NQF Level 4/5 increased, and in turn, the proportion of staff from both genders with higher end qualifications (e.g. NQF Level 6 and above) fell. Figure 4-6 Total proportion of staff across all occupational roles in the further education college workforce by qualification levels and gender â&#x20AC;&#x201C; England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 100 90

4.7

14.8

3.4

8.4

4.4

3.3

8.7

15.0

13.7

80 70

16.9

9.7

13.9

3.8

3.2

8.7

13.9

14.0

15.3 18.0

16.9

13.9

9.9

19.5 15.9

NQF Level 1 NQF Level 2 NQF Level 3 NQF Level 4/5 NQF Level 6/7/8 No formal qualifications

% 50 40 30

47.3

54.0

47.4

53.8

42.2

47.7

6.4 Female

6.3 Male

6.1 Female

5.7 Male

20 10 0

6.6 6.6 Female Male 2005/06

2006/07

2007/08

Working patterns Female staff in general were more likely to be employed in colleges on a part time basis than their male colleagues. In 2007/08, nearly two-thirds (65.2 per cent) of the female college workforce were employed part time. This was significantly higher than the 47.1 per cent of male staff working at the same pattern (see Figure 4-7). Through the years, there was a fall in the proportion of staff working full time and a rise in those working part time across both genders. There was a shift of three percentage points between 2005/06 and 2007/08 in both male and female staff working full time and part time.

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Figure 4-7 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by working patterns and gender â&#x20AC;&#x201C; England, 2007/08 100 Full-time Part-time

90 80

37.8

55.9

38.6

56.6

34.8

52.9

62.2

44.1

61.4

43.4

65.2

47.1

Male

Female

70 60 % 50 40 30 20 10 0

Female Male 2005/06

Female 2006/07

Male 2007/08

Type of contract There were no gender disparities across the further education college workforce in relation to the various types of contracts offered across the sector (see Figure 4-8). Both the majority of male, and female, staff were on permanent contracts in 2007/08 (69.7 per cent and 69.5 per cent). Since 2005/06 the proportion of male and female permanent staff has increased across the sector. The second most popular type of contract across both gender cohorts were fixed-term contracts, with 15.5 per cent of male staff and 16.7 per cent of female staff employed on this basis. Over the years, the proportion of staff of both genders in these roles fell and there was a shift into permanent contracts instead. The proportion of casual staff from both genders remained similar and consistent across the three reported years. Figure 4-8 Total proportion of staff in the further education college workforce by types of contract and gender â&#x20AC;&#x201C; England, 2007/08 100

3.6

3.7

2.8

7.0

7.1

7.2

7.4

22.1

19.8

20.1

18.0

67.3

69.4

70.0

7.7 7.2

16.7

15.5

71.8

68.5

69.7

Male

Female

Teaching staff employed through an agency Casual staff Fixed term staff Permanent staff

60 % 50 40 30 20 10 0

Female Male 2005/06

Female 2006/07

Male 2007/08

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Workforce recruitment and leavers The gender profile of staff recruited to the further education college workforce was similar to the overall gender profile of the workforce. That is, the majority of staff recruited were female; representing, in 2007/08, 63.0 per cent of all recruited staff (while males represented 37.0 per cent). There were no substantial changes in this recruitment profile through the years (see Figure 4-9). Figure 4-9 Total proportion of recruitment by gender â&#x20AC;&#x201C; England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08

70 62.8%

62.2%

63.0%

60 50 37.2%

37.8%

37.0%

% 30 20 10 0

Female

Male

The gender profile of the leaver cohort reflected a similar picture to that described above. A higher proportion of leavers were female (63.6 per cent in 2007/08) than male (36.4 per cent) but since female staff dominate the college workforce, these trends of recruitment and leaver activity are expected to be significantly higher for female staff. Figure 4-10 Total proportion of leavers by gender â&#x20AC;&#x201C; England, 2005/06 to 2007/08 70

63.5%

62.9%

2005/06 2006/07 2007/08

63.6%

60 50 36.5%

37.1%

% 30 20 10 0

Female

Male

36.4%

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Annual pay As stated at the beginning of the gender section, the following analysis on gender and pay is a new part of the Workforce Diversity Profile report series. The data is based on the Staff Individualised Record database which includes information on the annual pay of the further education college workforce. Colleges were asked to select a pay band, for example ‘£3,000-£3,999’, for each member of staff. By assessing a numeric value to the midpoint of each band (£3,500 for ‘£3,000 – £3,999’, etc.), it is possible to roughly calculate average pay for staff, once outlying values (i.e. ‘zero’) were filtered out. Average pay is therefore the key measure used for reporting pay in this instance. The Staff Individualised Record provided the annual pay for the tax year, so for the 2007/08 collection, this would cover the period 6 April 2007 to 5 April 2008. Hence this was the actual pay received by an individual contract for that particular tax year, not the annual pay, so for example, if a full time member of staff started part way through the tax year, then their annual pay might show as being less than their annual pay. In addition, where staff received no pay for the 2007/08 tax year, i.e. if they started working for a college after 5 April 2008, an entry of ‘001’ (£0 to £1,999) was recorded in this field. For this reason, ‘001’ is filtered out of the analysis. It was also necessary to focus only on full time contracts, as the ‘fraction of full time’ for part time contracts varies enormously, and within it the rates of pay; to the extent that it becomes difficult to draw a meaningful comparison. The results of the analysis are summarised in the following subsections. It concentrates on analysing trends across the years, 2005/06, 2006/07 and 2007/08, and within the different regions and occupational groups. To help contextualise the findings in this section of the report, it is important to understand the occupational grouping structure used within the Staff Individualised Record. Colleges classify each staff member into 1 of 59 occupational categories, which are then grouped into eight broad categories for reporting purposes. Before proceeding, it needs to be noted that if the majority of staff from a particular gender were working in the low paid occupations within a broad group, then their average annual pay across the broad occupational group as well as the average pay for that gender overall will be affected. It is evident from Figure 4-11 that disparities in the average pay of male and female full time staff in colleges existed during the three years, with male staff on average earning more than females. In 2007/08 the average annual pay for a male full time staff member was £25,600, whereas the equivalent pay for female staff working full time was £23,300. The gender gap between pay earned decreased slightly over the last two reported years, and in 2007/08 the difference was measured at 9.9 per cent (equivalent to approximately £2,300).

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Figure 4-11 Average annual pay full time further education staff across all occupational groups by gender – England 2005/6-2007/8 Male Female

£26

£25,602

£25 £24,870 Thousands

£24

£24,347 £23,335

£23 £22

£22,435 £21,983

£21 £20

2005/06

2006/07

2007/08

Across all regions, male full time staff in colleges on average earned more than female staff (see Figure 4-12). The difference in pay earned between genders however varied across regions and the key trends noted were as follows. • In London, the annual pay of both male and female college staff was higher than staff working in other regions. While the higher pay in this region was not unexpected due to the London weighting allowance12, there was a difference between the average pay of male and female staff. In 2007/08 the average pay of a male full time college staff member was nearly £31,000, while the average pay for a female staff member was £29,100. • The largest difference noted between genders in terms of full time pay was recorded in the East Midlands. Male full time staff on average earned approximately 11 per cent more than their female colleagues. Male staff earned £26,600, which was just over £2,700 more per year than female staff in the region. • The South East, South West and West Midlands also noted prominent differences in the average pay between genders in 2007/08. Male full time staff earned approximately 10 per cent more than female staff in all three regions. • The smallest gender gap in annual pay was in the North East, where the average pay for full time male college staff was £24,300 compared to £23,800 (a difference of 2.0 per cent). Overall this region had the lowest pay for male and female staff in England. • East of England, Greater London and the North West noted gender differences in annual pay of between 6.0 and 8.5 per cent.

‘London Weighting is an allowance paid to those who work in London in the public sector. Traditionally its purpose has been to compensate London workers for the additional costs of working in the capital.’(London Assembly, 2002, p.1)

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Figure 4-12 Average annual pay full time further education staff across all occupational groups by region and gender – England 2007/8 Female Male

£32 £30

Thousands

£28 £26 £24 £22 £20

East East of Greater Midlands England London

North East

North West

South East

South West

West Yorkshire Midlands and the Humber

Across the different occupational groups within a college there were variations in the average annual pay of male and female staff. For example, the average pay of a male full time manager was 6.8 per cent higher than a female full time manager. In 2007/08 the average pay of a male senior manager was approximately £58,700, whereas a female manager was £55,000. The largest disparity between genders in relation to average annual pay was recorded across the ‘other manager’13 positions. Male staff employed as ‘other managers’ on average earned £35,900 whereas female staff in equivalent roles earned £30,000.

13 Other managers represent the roles: college administrator/manager, centre (sub_college) administrator, finance administrator/manager (bursar), librarian, marketing administrator/manager, computer/database manager, estate/site manager, ‘other senior management’ and ‘other administrator/manager’. Please refer to the ‘Introduction’ section for further details on the occupational groups.

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

The smallest variation between male and female annual pay was noted within the cohort of staff doing wordprocessing, clerical and secretarial roles. Less than one per cent difference was registered between the pay of males (£15,610) and females (£15,707). Minor variations were also noted in teaching roles with the average pay of a male member of staff being £27,800 and a female being £27,100. Figure 4-13 Average full-time further education pay by occupational groups and gender –England, 2007/08 Female average pay Male average pay

£70 £60

Thousands

£50 £40 £30 £20 £10 £0

Senior Other manager managers

Admin. Technical Word Service and staff processing, staff professional clerical and staff secretarial staff

Teaching Assessor/ staff verifier

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Conclusions This report is based on the Staff Individualised Record Database, a powerful tool that helps to collate and store the staff records of further education institutions. The value of the Staff Individualised Record database is determined by the number of further education colleges that submit their returns and this number has increased in recent years. The report provides significant information about the nature and trends of the further education college workforce. The data will assist colleges to benchmark their progress in relation to equality and diversity, inform future planning and set equality targets as part of their equality schemes. Lifelong Learning UK is committed to equality and diversity and will continue to produce this kind of analysis to assist colleges in meeting their legal duties. Overall the analysis of workforce data indicates that there have been some changes in the further education college staff profile, including a rise in staff numbers in recent years. However teaching staff continued to represent the highest proportion of college occupational groups. While staff in the youngest and oldest age bands represented the smallest staff groups across all three reported years, the youngest age band (under 25 years old) also registered the largest proportion of staff recruited. These figures indicate that positive changes are taking place. Some colleges are implementing strategies to address under-representation of young people in the further education college workforce but there is still little evidence to show that the 60-64 and 65 and over age bands are being targeted in recruitment strategies. In general the business case for recruiting older people has been reported elsewhere (Koc-Menard, 2009). High levels of job satisfaction and a strong work ethic are the most prominent attributes that older workers can offer. The further education college sector would benefit from promoting flexible job and training opportunities for these age groups. Staff with a declared disability are under-represented in the further education workforce and recruitment figures have continued to be low throughout the three years. It is clear from the data that colleges should develop more specific recruitment strategies to employ disabled people. The fact that staff with a declared disability represented a significantly lower figure than the national average workforce across England also indicates that more needs to be done to encourage disclosure. Further research is required to understand why people do not feel confident to disclose their disabilities. There is an indication that staff do not declare their disabilities because their career progression could be affected (NIACE, 2008) or jeopardised (RADAR, 2009). The report shows that no major differences in relation to managerial roles and qualifications were found when comparing staff with a declared disability with staff without a declared disability. However, this was not the case for female and male staff. Male staff were twice as likely to be in senior management roles as females. This trend and the fact that females were more likely to be employed on a part time basis than their male colleagues might indicate that there are not enough opportunities for female staff to take on managerial roles on part time or flexible basis. The further education college workforce is predominantly female but women were more likely to be employed in administrative and service staff roles than male colleagues. A higher proportion of male staff than female were in teaching roles. Although it was evident that the majority of staff recruited in 2007/08 were female, the focus should be to increase their representation in teaching and managerial roles. Flexible working arrangements can facilitate womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s participation in senior roles and can potentially be the mechanism to reduce the gender pay gap (Anderson et al cited in Tomlinson and Gardener, 2009).

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

The representation of black and minority ethnic groups in the further education college sector was slightly lower (8.5 per cent) than in the overall workforce sector in England (10.9 per cent). Again, as with disabled staff, issues of disclosure should be considered. It is encouraging to observe that there was a fall in the proportion of staff recruited with unknown ethnicity records (from 13.5 per cent in 2006/07 to 7.2 per cent in 2007/08). In order to increase the representation of black and minority ethnic groups in the sector, colleges need to work more on their strategies to encourage staff to disclose their ethnicity information. Like female staff, the report shows that staff from minority ethnic backgrounds were less likely to be in senior management than white staff. There is a clear indication that it is not the lack of appropriate qualifications that hinders progression to higher management roles. Black and minority ethnic groups seemed to be better qualified than their white counterparts, and therefore more progression opportunities for these particular groups should be created in the sector. It is a priority of the Workforce Strategy for FE 2007â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2012 to improve the career development opportunities of black and minority ethnic staff and projects like the Black Leadership Initiative (Network for Black Professionals) are trying to achieve this objective. The report suggests that colleges need to develop further strategies to improve equality and diversity in the sector. As pointed out in the 2006/07 Annual Workforce Diversity Profile report â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;we need a workforce which embraces the talents of all and one that broadly reflects the increasing diversity of our learnersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; (LLUK, 2008a). In order to achieve this goal, it is important to change the organisational culture of the further education college sector and adopt an ethos that proactively promotes and appreciates diversity. The recommendations outlined in the next section aim to address key issues highlighted in the main body of the report and assist principal stakeholders within the further education college sector in developing strategies to ensure that equality and diversity are embedded across all areas in the organisation.

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Recommendations The recommendations support the implementation of the equality and diversity strategic themes of the Workforce Strategy for the Further Education Sector in England (themes 2, 3, 5 and 9).14 They are designed to build on further support and activities that colleges need to implement to tackle diversity in the work place. They will also assist colleges to fulfil their new legal responsibilities in meeting equalities legislation.

Disclosure, data collection and monitoring Key messages from the report highlight the characteristics of the groups that are being recruited and are underrepresented. It is clear that the representation of staff with a declared disability, and black and minority ethnic groups is lower than the national workforce average. The figures do not only suggest that colleges need to improve their recruitment strategies to address under-representation of these groups, but that disclosure issues have not yet been sufficiently tackled. This report provides data that will allow colleges to benchmark and monitor key equality information. This will only be possible if appropriate data collection methods and systems are in place. Managers, leaders and stakeholders need to: • create a positive workplace environment that is as representative as it can be and takes into account local demographics • encourage staff to disclose their equality information: create a secure culture for disclosure • put in place appropriate strategies to raise awareness of the importance of disclosure • explain how the data is being or will be used to inform policy or strategy • brief human resource and line managers and encourage them to set aside a specific time to talk to new staff about the benefits of disclosing equality data and the reasons for asking this information, clearly explaining issues such as confidentiality and how the data will be stored • develop appropriate methods to collect and monitor equality data accurately; seeking advice and guidance from the sector to improve data collection and monitoring across all equality strands (data monitoring should cover recruitment, promotion, training and staff leaving) • embed equality and diversity in all the activities in the colleges (using appropriate data when measuring the impact of policies, services and functions will help colleges to identify areas of improvement and development that meet the diverse needs of all the staff) • involve staff and learners from diverse backgrounds when measuring the impact of policies, services and functions to ensure that specific needs and barriers faced by specific groups are considered • ensure monitoring around disability is undertaken on a regular basis or that strategies are in place to encourage to disclose a new disability.

Workforce Strategy for the Further Education Sector in England Priority 1: Understanding the nature of the workforce: Theme 2: Using data to understand the workforce and improve future planning. Theme 3: Using data to understand workforce diversity and target actions. Theme 5: Increasing the diversity of the workforce at all levels. Priority 3: Retaining and developing the modern, professionalised workforce: Theme 9: Ensuring appropriate leadership and management development exists at all levels throughout the organisation.

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Recruitment and retention of staff Findings from the data indicate that the largest group in the leaver cohort in 2006/07 was aged under 25 years. In 2007/08 the under 25 year olds constituted the largest proportion of staff recruited in the further education college sector. Recruitment strategies should also be developed to target staff in the older age bands who, together with the youngest band, represented the smallest staff groups in the further education college sector. Attention should be paid to the recruitment and retention of staff with a declared disability, and staff from black and minority ethnic backgrounds. Recruitment of staff with a declared disability had continued to be low over the years. Recruitment of Asian, black, Chinese/others and mixed groups had remained relatively unchanged since 2005/06 suggesting that more could to be done to recruit staff from these groups. Female staff constituted the majority of staff recruited to the further education college workforce in 2007/08 (63.0 per cent of all recruited staff) although they were more predominant in specific roles (e.g. administrative). The data indicated that the challenge is to change stereotypes in gender roles by developing more targeted recruitment strategies to increase female representation in teaching and managerial jobs. A successful recruitment and retention strategy should be linked to appropriate training plans and progression routes that address the needs of staff from particular groups (staff in younger age bands, older age bands, black and minority ethnic groups, women and disabled people). Managers, leaders and stakeholders need to: • review recruitment policies and marketing materials to explore innovative approaches to attracting people who are under-represented • work closely with local communities, under-represented groups and key organisations to attract staff from diverse backgrounds and needs • encourage applications from disabled people and guarantee interviews to applicants with a declared disability who meet the job requirements • examine retention rates and progression figures to develop suitable training and professional development activities that encourage specific groups of staff to continue working in the sector • consider flexible working arrangements to recruit and retain staff from specific groups (e.g. women, disabled people) • develop recruitment strategies to address gender stereotyping in occupational roles • develop appropriate methods to collect information from staff leaving the sector to identify trends and reasons for leaving • be transparent about staff profile to encourage under-represented groups to apply for vacancies.

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

Leadership and management Data from the report suggested that further education colleges should implement strategies to increase the diversity of leadership and management at all levels. Findings from the data analysis revealed that staff from black and minority ethnic backgrounds were less likely to be in senior management roles than their white counterparts. Similarly, the percentage of female staff in senior management positions was visibly less than the male. The percentage of staff with a declared disability in senior management positions was lower than the percentage registered for those without a declared disability. Staff between 50 and 59 years were more likely to be in senior management positions than staff of any other age group Managers, leaders and stakeholders need to: • ensure that equality and diversity are embedded across all activities in the colleges • promote an organisational culture that encourages staff to appreciate diversity • encourage good relations among staff regardless of their personal characteristics such as race, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief and gender or gender identity • develop leadership and management skills for staff from under-represented groups within the organisation • provide flexible working arrangements to attract under-represented groups and enable staff with diverse needs to progress • share good practice with other organisations in supporting specific groups with specific needs.

Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2007/08

References Deem, R; Ozga, J and Prichard, C (2000) ‘Managing Further Education: is it still men’s work too?’ Journal of Further and Higher Education, Vol 24, 2, pp 231–50 Dex, S & Lindley, JK (2007) Labour market job matching for UK minority ethnic groups. University of Sheffield, Department of Economics, Sheffield Economics Research Paper Series 2007003 Koc-Menard, S (2009) ‘Training Strategies for an aging workforce’ Industrial and Commercial Training. Vol 41, 6, pp334-38 Lindley, J (2009) ‘The over-education of UK immigrants and minority ethnic groups: Evidence from the Labour Force Survey’ Economics of Education Review. 28, pp. 80-89 LLUK (2008a) Annual Workforce Diversity Profile 2006/2007. Lifelong Learning UK, London LLUK (2008b) Further education workforce data for England: An Analysis of the Staff Individualised Record Data 2007-08. Lifelong Learning UK, London LLUK (2009) Implementing the Workforce Strategy for the Further Education sector in England, 2007-2012. A Guide for Learning Providers. Revised version 2009–10. Lifelong Learning UK, London London Assembly (2002) Report of the London weighting advisory panel Available from http://www.london.gov.uk/assembly/reports/econsd/lonweight.pdf (accessed 15 January 2010) LSC (2007) FE Learner Numbers by Learning Difficulty or Disability Available from http://www.lsc.gov.uk/providers/Data/statistics/learner/KeyFacts.htm (accessed 6 January 2010) LSC (2008) Statistical First Release: ILR/SFR15 Further education, Work based learning, Train to Gain and Adult safeguard learning – Learner numbers in England – October 2007 [online] Available from http://readingroom.lsc.gov.uk/Lsc/National/nat-ilrsfr15final-apr08.pdf (accessed 6 January 2010) LSIS (2009) ‘Age equality and the FE and skills sector – How are we doing?’ Learning and Skills Improvement Service News, 4 May [online] Available from www.lsis.org.uk (accessed 30 November 2009) NATFHE (no date) Challenging age discrimination: NATFHE policy document. [online] Available from www.ucu.org.uk/media/pdf/6/g/agediscrim_1.pdf (accessed 8 October 2009) NIACE (2008) From compliance to culture change. Disabled staff working in lifelong learning. Final report NBP (2005) Black leadership initiative and senior leadership development participant tracking project. Network for Black Professionals [online] Available from www.nbm.org.uk/files/file_manager/20/Factsheet3.pdf (accessed 8 October 2009) ONS (2008), LFS: In employment: UK: All aged 16+: 000s: SA: Annual = 4 quarter average [online] Available from www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/tsdtables1.asp?vlnk=lms (accessed 6 January 2010). ONS (2009), Annual Population Survey: % and number of working age by various breakdowns [online] Available from www.nomisweb.co.uk/Default.asp (accessed 6 January 2010) Platt, L (2005) Making education count: the effects of ethnicity and qualifications on intergenerational social class mobility. University of Essex. [online] Available from http://www.thesra.org.uk/documents/pdfs/making_education_count_paper.pdf (accessed 15 January 2010)

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QCDA (2006) The National Qualifications Framework Factsheet. [online] Available from http://www.qcda.gov.uk/5967.aspx (accessed 5 January 2010) RADAR (2009) Doing Seniority Differently. A Study of high fliers living with ill-health, injury or disability. Interim Report. RADAR. The Disability Network. [online] Available from www.radar.org.uk/radarwebsite/tabid/4/default.aspx (accessed 10 November 2009) Simpson, L; Purdam, K; Tajar, A; Fieldhouse, E; Gavalas, V; Tranmer, M; Pritchard, J and D. Dorling (2006) Ethnic minority populations and the labour market: an analysis of the 1991 and 2001. Research Report 333 Census Department for Work and Pensions. [online] Available from http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/rports20052006/Report333.pdf (accessed 15 January 2010) TAEN (2008) Key Facts. Age, Demographics and Employment. The Age and Employment Network. [online] Available from http://taen.org.uk/esf/resources/publications (accessed 12 November 2009) Tomlinson, J and Gardiner, J (2009) ‘Organisational approaches to flexible working. Perspectives of equality and diversity managers in the UK’ Equal Opportunities International. Vol. 28, 8, pp.671-686 UNISON (2006a) Joint Agreement on Guidance for Age Equality in Employment in Further Education between the Association of Colleges (AoC) and Association for College Management (ACM), Association of Teachers & Lecturers (ATL), GMB, University of College Union (UCU), Transport & General Workers’ Union (TGWU), UNISON. 1 September 2006 [online] Available from www.ucu.org.uk/index.cfm?articleid=1831 (accessed 10 November 2009) UNISON (2006b) Joint Agreement on Guidance for Disability Equality in Employment in Further Education Colleges between the Association of Colleges (AoC) and Association for College Management (ACM), Association of Teachers & Lecturers (ATL), Transport & General Workers’ Union (TGWU), UNISON. 4 December 2006. [online] Available from www.unison.org.uk/education/further/pages_view.asp?did=1146 (accessed 10 November 2009) WLN (2009) Women still under-represented at the top. The Women’s Leadership Network. Available from www.wlnfe.org.uk/downloads/2009-02WLNgenderResearch.pdf (accessed 8 October 2009)

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