A flagship careers programme that promotes apprenticeships and T Levels to schools, colleges and parents is under new management.
Contracts for the £3.2 million per year Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge for schools and colleges scheme, known as ASK, are now overseen by the Careers and Enterprise Company (CEC), rather than the Department for Education.
The government said this change would make the programme more efficient by aligning ASK more closely with the CEC’s existing careers education work, such as its national network of 44 careers hubs. CEC said 92 per cent of schools and colleges are now a member of one of its hubs.
Schools and colleges will continue to access ASK activities, like free training about apprenticeships for teachers, “awareness assemblies” about T Levels and how to find apprenticeships sessions for students, through regional delivery organisations.
ASK is run by CXK in the South of England, the Education Development Trust in London, WorkPays in the Midlands and BL Training in the North. They are all supported by Amazing Apprenticeships which has a national contract to create resources and materials for the regional delivery bodies. All of those contracts will continue under the CEC until at least July 2025.
The Department for Education (DfE) said it “continually reviews the effectiveness of careers provision for young people in a bid to simplify the careers landscape”.
DfE added: “To pursue efficiency gains in the management of the [ASK] contracts and to bolster impact, DfE asked the CEC and ASK contractors to novate the signed, extended contracts from DfE to CEC.
“The CEC has a proven track record of improving the readiness of careers leaders and teachers to support young people.”
According to Amazing Apprenticeships, ASK has reached nearly 200,000 parents since it was launched in 2015, along with nearly 45,000 teachers and 2.3 million students.
Anna Morrison, CEO of Amazing Apprenticeships, said working closer with CEC will “ensure even more young people and their families can access high-quality information about apprenticeships and technical education”.
‘We are genuinely excited for the academic year ahead and the collaborative opportunities it will bring,” Morrison added.
The CEC received grant funding totalling £33.5 million in the 2023-24 financial year, according to its latest accounts. It will run the ASK programme from existing budgets.
Oli de Botton, Careers and Enterprise Company’s chief executive, said: “We know how important it is to ensure young people receive meaningful, relevant and inspiring information about apprenticeships and other technical pathways. These routes can be life changing – and it is our job to help young people access them.
“We are really looking forward to working with and continuing to build on the fantastic work of the established regional ASK Delivery Partners to ensure schools and colleges continue to access a rich variety of high-quality activities and resources for their school and college communities.”
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