There’s something sweet and almost kind,

But he was mean and he was coarse and unrefined,

And now he’s dear and so unsure,

I wonder why I didn’t see it there before.

Spring 2017 will, I am sure, be remembered for the premiere of two blockbusters between which I can’t help but see real parallels. Both long-anticipated remakes of classics from a bygone era and with huge production budgets, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast remake and the government’s apprenticeship levy are now showing across the nation.

Prone to metaphor and symbolism as I am, I see some striking similarities between the plotlines of the classic 18th-century fairy tale - and the Disney films it inspired - and the apprenticeship funding reform co-authored by civil servants and ministers too many to mention.

It’s almost too easy to compare the way in which Belle is treated by her elder siblings in the original story to the way in which the FE sector is positioned relative to the schools and higher education sectors. Let’s just note that while colleges in England reported an overall operating deficit of about £60 million in 2014-15, our jewel-encrusted HE siblings held some £12.3 billion in reserves. Now we’ll move on to consider more interesting plot parallels.

Tale as old as time

While Belle’s siblings asked her merchant father to bring jewellery back from his travels, she asks for a simple rose - as none are available in her part of the world.

Likewise, when we in the further education sector send civil servants and ministers off to the Treasury, our request has become equally simple.

While the details change from spending round to spending round, our underlying request is for the clarity, stability and level of funding required for us to secure our long-term viability - which, for too long, has not been available in our part of the education sector.

One could argue that, like Belle’s father, our parents in government have been left battered and penniless by storms they failed to see coming - leaving them unable to deliver for us the gifts we have requested of them

One could equally argue that, like Belle’s father, our parents in government have been left battered and penniless by storms they failed to see coming - leaving them unable to deliver for us the gifts we have requested of them. Instead of clarity, stability and reasonable funding, we have seen our funding erode and policy change at an unprecedented rate.

The “employer ownership of skills” pilots and associated “industrial partnerships” barely even happened before they were quietly abolished. The area review process delivered more distraction than it did the transformation and consolidation we were promised. Two years on from its first mention, we await real detail on what an “institute of technology” might look like. And, from this month, we must live with the Beast: the apprenticeship levy.

Not unlike Belle’s residence in the Beast’s castle, one could readily see the levy as the result of our governmental parents’ failure to provide for us, as is their duty.

The question still to be answered is whether the further education sector will stand back and watch the levy die or whether, like Belle, we’ll see something in the Beast, fall in love, marry and live happily ever after. I, for one, am falling in love.

The weeks and months to come will pose new challenges for all of us as the levy rocks our world. Technical glitches and delays are inevitable in an implementation this ambitious and on this scale. We will have to wait until 2018, possibly longer, for all the levy-sharing flexibility the government has promised. There will be confusion, unhelpful intermediation and, at times, out-and-out misinformation as actors with different vested interests seek to bend the levy to their will. These are all beastly factors, no doubt.

Put our service to the test

What I also see, though, are genuinely charming qualities that may just provide us with a route to the funding, stability and selfdetermination we crave for our sector.

The most charming quality of all, I would argue, is that the levy is a conversation starter. Even businesses that have long been engaged are reviewing their approach - including the scale, locus and supplier for their apprenticeship programmes. It remains to be seen what effect the levy has on the as-yet-unengaged; what is clear already is that they are thinking and talking about apprenticeships in a way that they haven’t hitherto - and that is a wonderful opportunity for us to sell the benefits of apprenticeships, and our delivery capability.

As important as the levy itself, for me, are the changes to funding and eligibility rules which permit very different types of apprenticeship programmes in larger organisations.

I don’t particularly agree with the any age, any occupation, any level approach - which doesn’t feel a lot like an “apprenticeship” as opposed to “work-based training” - but the chance to engage with clients about a whole-organisation approach to learning and development I find quite charming indeed.

While the risk that we lose market share, funding and, therefore, our viable outlook is a real one, I prefer to be optimistic and focus on the prospect of a fairy-tale ending. If we’re prepared to look beyond the surface, and see what’s sweet and kind in the levy, maybe it will prove to be the charming prince we have been waiting for.

Matt Hamnett is principal of North Hertfordshire College and CEO of Hart Learning Group. He tweets @matt_hamnett