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15 April 2026

Author: Mark Dawe

Levelling up: Has an optimistic proposal missed the mark on skills training? 

From talk of widespread devolution and the recognition of skills in socio-economic development, the ‘levelling up’ white paper offered an optimistic view on opportunities development but questions remain on the delivery.  It’s clear that skills are being prioritised by the government, with new initiatives through bootcamps and Multiply as well as the boost to traineeships […]

Let’s consider the “hard choices” that will need to be made as the money runs out

At the AELP conference, delegates were polled on the various proposals to deal with increased level 2 starts, reports Mark Dawe Owen Farrell would have been proud of Secretary of State Damian Hinds’ kick for touch when Robert Halfon, chair of the Commons Education Select Committee, challenged him on Wednesday on whether the apprenticeship levy […]

Ofsted figures reveal it is the new private providers letting the sector down

The drop in the percentage of training providers rate good by Ofsted is a direct consequence of the government’s sloppy approach to approving new providers, says Mark Dawe Now that the cat is out of the bag on the true state of levy funding, it is very useful to have Ofsted’s input on where the […]

Functional skills is more relevant to the workplace than scraping a GCSE

It is vital that functional skills count towards the 20 per cent of time required to be learning off the job within an apprenticeship programme, according to Mark Dawe There was no budging the secretary of state at the Conservative party conference on the issue of GCSE resits for English and maths, and you have […]

Level 2 apprenticeships are vital for social justice

The boss of the AELP wants the education select committee to help him get rid of the 20-per-cent off-the-job training rule hated by so many small ITPs The education committee’s inquiry this week into the quality of apprenticeships could not be more timely after the change at the top of the Department for Education. The […]

Reverse the 20% off-the-job apprentice training rule

The 20 per cent rule should be immediately reviewed as a universal requirement, suggests Mark Dawe AELP totally supports the drive to ensure high quality apprenticeships with proper progress in knowledge, skills and behaviour enabling progression from one level to the next. We just don’t believe that the off-the-job element of the programme should necessarily […]

Apprenticeship starts, not completions, are the correct target

Conservative manifesto pledge: Continue with the target of 3m apprenticeship starts by 2020 Mark Dawe argues FOR Fears over quality are misplaced: three million is a modest target, but the right one, claims Mark Dawe The Conservatives were right to retain their 2015 pledge of three million apprenticeship starts by 2020. Even without the subsequent […]

The non-levy procurement pause will be “a slaughter of providers”

Mark Dawe, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, calls for immediate government action to alleviate the pending “horror story” facing providers of apprenticeships with non-levy employers The day the non-levy procurement pause was announced, I remarked to colleagues how appropriate it was that it was Maundy Thursday – the day of […]