FE Week Reporter | FE Week

David Way, chief operating officer, National Apprenticeship Service

At 22, David Way found himself at a crossroads. Having recently completed a Masters degree, he had two job offers on the table – a graduate traineeship at the Department for Employment and an industrial relations role at an engineering firm in Peterborough. He went for the former, he says – somewhat sheepishly – on […]

Apprenticeships: a little bit of advice

It’s a mess. Anyone who thinks the current or proposed system for providing information advice and guidance (IAG) to young people is fit for purpose is either a fool or a knave. Ask young people!! Or ask Lord Browne whose report provided the basis of the new tuition fees regime and had a remarkable amount […]

Innovative curriculum helps progression to apprenticeships

The chance to develop vital skills and experience before starting an Apprenticeship can give would be apprentices a real head start. The National Apprenticeship’s Access to Apprenticeship programme and the Sector Skills Council’s Pre Apprenticeship developments highlight the importance of preparing learners for their Apprenticeship. ‘NCFE Progression to Apprenticeship’ qualifications can be delivered to support […]

Apprenticeships are in need of innovation

The government’s commitment to promoting and funding more Apprenticeships has been welcomed by those who are working hard to tackle youth unemployment. Skills minister John Hayes set out his vision for Apprenticeships, saying that by increasing routes to learning we could “seed opportunities for thousands of Britons and build the economically successful and socially just […]

How do we incentivise the employers?

The key word is already in Apprenticeships. We need to be doing more to ‘entice’ SMEs and other employers to take on Apprentices and even more importantly, offer real Apprenticeships that are based on ‘real’ jobs. In our submission to the BIS Inquiry on Apprenticeships we will be emphasising a number of key points. Firstly […]

The National Audit Office passes judgement on adult apprenticeships

The National Audit Office (NAO) has published its ‘Adult Apprenticeships’ report today, which looks into “whether the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is obtaining value for money from the Apprenticeships programme”. FE Week took a look at some of the key findings in the NAO report. Value for money Adult apprenticeships offer good value […]

The empowering role of apprenticeships

Despite a lot of media coverage of apprenticeships in the last year, not enough has been heard from the apprentices themselves. We know that the Government and employers invest in the apprenticeship programme and that they get a healthy return on their investment. Apprentices also make an investment so it is worth reflecting on the […]

FE Week’s Apprenticeship Week Supplement

Inside our supplement you will find comments from industry experts such as Lynne Sedgmore, executive director of the 157 Group, Graham Hoyle, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) and David Hughes, chief executive of the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE). And that’s not all, we’ve produced a huge technical […]

Safeguarding the definition of apprenticeships

The debate around apprenticeships over the last few months, which has now prompted a Commons select committee inquiry, was originally sparked by FE Week’s coverage of ‘short-course’ apprenticeships and we know that the publication is able to talk knowledgably about the subject, even if we may not always agree with its opinions. However I cannot […]