Expression of interest

Title: The Further Education Teachers and Leaders

Survey 2018
Project reference: EOR/SBU/2017/042
Deadline for expressions of interest: 5pm 1st September 2017

Summary
Expressions of interest are sought for designing, testing and (if piloting is successful)
delivering a nationally representative survey of teachers and leaders in Further Education
(FE) colleges. The survey should take place in early 2018 with results available by May
2018.

Background
The Secretary of State for Education has set out her vision for a world-leading Technical
Education system in England. A strong FE sector, able to attract, train and develop
teachers and leaders, is critical to the delivery of that vision. A key priority for securing the
success of the FE sector must be robust and reliable information about its teachers and
leaders. At present, Government only collects and holds very limited information about
those working in the sector; the Department for Education (DfE) is therefore undertaking a
programme of work designed to improve data and evidence on the FE sector a key
element of which is a survey of teachers and leaders in FE colleges.

The composition and quality of the FE profession (both teachers and leaders, including
governors) is a crucial factor in ensuring the success of the Departments reform
programme for technical education. Unlike with the school workforce where a great deal of
information is collected and analysed 1, we know relatively little about those working in the
FE sector and its ability to respond effectively to the reform programme and wider
challenges.

The dynamics of employment in FE may be more complicated than in schools, with many
teachers in the sector working part-time and across multiple institutions/sectors. We have
little information on their background, skills and experiences (i.e. industry/general
qualifications, career histories, experience in industry/teaching, teaching qualifications), and

1
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-workforce-census

Published: August 2017

expectations as professionals. We have very little data on the churn of staff, or on the posts
that colleges find difficult to fill - all of which are likely to impact on providers abilities to
deliver high-quality teaching for learners and ensure that there is effective leadership in
place.

The FE sector is preparing for the introduction of the first T-levels in 2020 2. It is also going
through significant structural change following the recent area review programme and
anticipating the impact of Brexit (both directly on the profession itself, and indirectly in terms
of the ability of FE to recruit suitably-qualified staff from other sectors/industries).

Through collecting data directly from individuals it will be possible to ask questions relating
to attitudes towards teaching in FE, providing a much richer understanding of the
profession, its strengths and the challenges it faces - and deepen our understanding of how
policy interventions can help improve quality and outcomes for learners.

The survey will be developed in 2017. It will require the successful contractor to have
designed and delivered a suitable sampling frame from which to draw the sample (there is
no suitable database to use at present). Further details are provided in the methodology
section. The FE sector is a relatively untested population for Government Social Research,
therefore it is imperative that the survey is fully piloted and cognitively tested, prior to roll
out. The main-stage survey will only be rolled out if piloting is deemed successful and must
take place in early 2018 with results to be available for May 2018. This will then be followed
up with a smaller-scale survey a year later (early 2019) of those who have changed jobs
since the main- stage survey (i.e. those who have joined/left or changed contract within the
sampled colleges) to ask them about the change and reasons for this.

This project will be developed in conjunction with an external Advisory Board, and overseen
by a project Steering Group.

Survey aims
The survey aims to collect data and information on:

- The background, skills and experiences of teachers and leaders in FE colleges,

including their training and qualifications, as well as any prior and current
employment outside of the FE sector.
- Working patterns of teachers and leaders in FE colleges.
- Professional expectations around career progression, CPD etc.
- Pressures and challenges that the teachers and leaders may face which affect their
abilities to teach/lead.
The research questions below are indicative of the types of question we expect to be able
to answer from the data provided:
What does the FE teaching profession look like? How does it differ across colleges,
regions, etc.?
What does the leadership population look like in FE? How does it differ across
colleges, regions, etc.?

2
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/post-16-skills-plan-and-independent-report-on-technical-
education
2
 How do teachers and leaders move into/around/out of the sector? Why?
What are the skills, experiences and qualifications of teachers and leaders in the
FE? How well do teachers feel equipped to respond to changing skills needs?
How do different institutions deploy the workforce differently? How does this relate to
quality ratings and learner outcomes?

Methodology
The successful contractor will work with the Departments Steering Group and external
Advisory Board to design and test the measures, run the survey and produce findings
reports for publication.

Potential contractors are asked to consider and propose methodologies they believe would
be suitable for this project that would yield high response rates and deliver robust data
within the timescales and budget.

Following publication of a DfE findings report (produced by the successful contractor), the
anonymised data will be made publicly available for external researchers and academics to
further interrogate and gain insights into the FE sector.

There is no single database available from which we can draw a sample of teachers or
leaders so contractors will need to consider ways of obtaining this data. Some data is
available via Edubase.

All approximately 330 FE colleges (i.e. General FE Colleges, Sixth Form Colleges and
Specialist colleges) are in scope, within these colleges, teaching staff, leadership staff and
governors are all in scope. Definitions of these will be agreed with the external Advisory
Board.

Timing
Deadline for EOIs 1st September 2017

Invitations to Tender issued 7th September 2017

Deadline for ITT submission 6th October 2017

Potential clarification interviews (to be held in Sheffield)- 16th October 2017

Inception meeting (to be held in Sheffield or London)-18th October

Contract signed 31st October

Survey design (including sampling), testing and piloting- October 2017-January 2018

Mainstage fieldwork (subject to successful piloting)- February March 2018

Analysis- April 2018

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 Results- May 2018

First Report (to cover pilot and main stage survey)- June 2018

Follow-up survey development and testing September 2018-January 2019

Follow-up survey fieldwork February-March 2019

Analysis- April 2019

Results- May 2019

Final report- June 2019

Assessment criteria
Expressions of interest will be assessed against the following criteria:

Understanding of the Departments requirements and the overarching policy context

within which this work is being taken forward
Experience and technical ability of developing high quality survey designs and
measures that are replicable and may be used for time series analysis
A record of success in delivering high response rates with challenging samples
Project management skills and ability to deliver to timescales and within budget.
Strength of proposed methodology.

Scoring:

1. No evidence/very poor

2. Poor evidence

3. Some evidence

4. Good evidence

5. Excellent evidence

Each one of these criteria has equal weighting.

Expressions of interests submitted must be no more than 1000 words anything longer will
be disregarded.

Closing date for EOIs: 5pm 1st September 2017

Send your EOI form to: Sophie.aisbitt@education.gov.uk

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How to submit an expression of interest
You must submit an expression of interest (EOI) in order to be considered to be invited to tender. To
do so, please complete the Expression of Interest Research template found on the Departments
research website. A submission of an EOI does not guarantee an invitation to tender and the
Department does not routinely advise organisations that they have not been successful in being
invited to tender. Feedback is however available on request.

In order to express an interest you must be registered with us and you will need your ID number. If
you need to register then please do so using the online supplier registration form. If you have
already registered and have forgotten your ID number, please send an email to
Enquiries.RBU@education.gov.uk

All contracts are let on the basis of the Departments Terms and Conditions. You are encouraged to
check these before submitting your expression of interest, as these form part of your contractual
obligations.

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