FE Week Reporter | FE Week

SFA ‘strongly encourage’ 12 month minimum

Providers are being urged to introduce new apprenticeship duration requirements immediately. The Skills Funding Agency is calling on existing apprentices aged 16-18, where possible, to be given a 12-month minimum programme. It comes after the skills minister John Hayes’ announcement last year of the year-long minimum for teenage apprentices, which will come into effect on […]

Holt heads-up employer-led review of apprenticeships

Social entrepreneur and jeweller Jason Holt is to take charge of an employer-led review into how businesses can be encouraged to hire an apprentice. Mr Holt, chief executive of Holts Group of Companies, will talk to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) about what the government can be doing to reduce bureaucracy and simplify the process […]

Adult Basic Skills qualifications to be scrapped

Basic skills qualifications in numeracy and literacy for adults will cease to be funded for new starts from August. The Department of Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) is no longer funding a centrally held test bank which supports Adult Basic Skills (ABS) qualifications and Key Skills Communication and Application of Number qualifications at Levels 1 […]

Banks ‘invest’ in more than 1,500 apprentices

Three high street banks are launching new apprenticeship schemes to try and help young people launch a career in the financial services sector. HSBC, Barclays and Santander announced they will be creating more than 1,500 places at a financial services sector round table held in Canary Wharf during National Apprenticeship Week. Skills minister John Hayes […]

International lessons on teaching and training

As the dust settles from National Apprenticeship Week 2012, surely all eyes now are on the next big event of the year, the Eurovision Song Contest. Aside – obviously – from Adult Learners’ Week in May. Our recent Eurovision record is almost as good as my ability to link pop culture references to topical issues […]

Childcare supported for at least one more year

A scheme which supports thousands of teenage parents in further education has been reprieved – at least for a year. Care to Learn, which helps parents under 20 who meet the specific requirements claim up to £160-a-week for childcare and related transport cost, was last year put under review by the Department for Education (DfE). […]

WorldSkills UK – The Skills Show launches

If you were one of the many thousands of visitors to WorldSkills London 2011 last October it will come as no surprise as to why we are launching the UK’s first ever national skills event, WorldSkills UK – The Skills Show. Nearly 200,000 people visited WorldSkills London 2011 when the UK hosted it, making it […]

Where next for 14-19 vocational qualifications?

The Department for Education’s recent cull of more than 3,000 vocational qualifications taught in schools sparked a media response that exposed the bitter rift that continues to dog the thinking about our children’s education. The print and broadcast media fastened onto – and belittled – nail technology and fish farming as examples of worthless qualifications. […]

Jason Holt takes charge of employer-led review into SMEs and apprenticeships

Social entrepreneur and jeweller Jason Holt is to head-up an employer-led review into apprenticeships. Mr Holt, CEO of Holts Group of Companies, will speak to the sector about what can be done to encourage small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to hire an apprentice. Skills minister John Hayes announced the appointment earlier today. He said: […]