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Preparing for a second year of 14 to 16 provision at college

Nine colleges are looking to join the ranks of the existing seven that have been allowed by the Department for Education to recruit 14 to 16-year-olds directly. A year after his own college started direct recruitment, Lee Probert looks at what lessons have been learned.

September 2013 saw our Hull and Goole colleges welcome 100 young people to study their key stage four programme with us, following Professor Alison Wolf’s recommendation that colleges should be allowed to enrol 14 to 16-year-olds directly.

While this cohort of students had a new legal status for us, welcoming them to the colleges built on a long track record of partnership delivery with schools for key stage four provision.

In the two years leading up to launching the HCUK 14 to 16 college we had worked with the local authority to deliver the Energy League, a cohort of full-time 14 to 16-year-olds who transferred from a school as part of a managed closure.

Key to success in setting up this provision has been ensuring an appropriate balance of high quality national curriculum provision as well as a rich vocational diet alongside. Specialist pathways have been offered which complement local enterprise partnership priorities in engineering, construction, sport, health and care, creative and digital media, renewable technologies and logistics.

Across the group of colleges we can offer progression routes through FE and into higher education at undergraduate and post graduate levels. This has proved to be significant in supporting young people and parents to commit to a change in education provider at 14.

A specialist and focused curriculum with good progression routes to further learning and employment has led to us securing a full mixed ability cohort of young people. Young people in our 14 to 16 college are rightly proud to be part of it, having been selected following interview.

The admissions process is individual to each child involving their parent or guardian making an application directly to the colleges. Students have chosen us as much as we’ve chosen them. This stage is critical to ensuring that we have offered places to students who can truly benefit from a college learning environment. It’s not easy to obtain transition information for individual students and therefore this investment in the admissions and initial assessment process is critical.

Investing in dedicated staff whose primary responsibility is to the 14 to 16 college demonstrates our commitment to this as a new and important part of the group as well as ensuring we have the right skills and expertise to work with 14 to 16-year-olds.

Alongside a dedicated senior leader for 14 to 16 provision, we’ve appointed an experienced secondary head teacher, special educational needs coordinator and experienced GCSE teaching staff. This core team works alongside our experienced and industry qualified vocational staff to offer complementary skills and experience to the curriculum offer.

Our 14 to 16 college is based in a dedicated zone offering the students a choice of bustling college life or their own private and safe space. The newly created 14 to 16 zone houses the designated teaching space to support national curriculum delivery as well as their own social space.

Students selected their own informal branded uniform giving them a sense of identity and community within the college. Almost all 100 students have a dedicated mentor who has volunteered to work with them for the duration of their programme. Trained mentors are drawn from college staff in senior leadership, teaching and support roles as well as A-level students. These relationships support progress and achievement as well as provide a point of contact for pastoral support.

There are bespoke policies and procedures as well as new data sets and tracking to become familiar with. Specialist training for staff and a discrete policy framework ensures that each student’s needs are met as well as ensuring that our offer is consistently high quality. Ofsted said we had made significant progress in all areas following our monitoring visit and reflected that we had often exceeded minimum requirements.

As we look forward to the current year 10 moving to year 11, following the obligatory prom night we’ll welcome more than 100 new year 10s to the 14 to 16 colleges in Hull and Goole in September 2014. This reflects our commitment to investing in this new college financially along with leadership time.

Dedicated open evenings, taster events and above all the experience of our students makes this a part of college-life which is here to stay.

What’s the ‘interest rate’ on FE loans now?

When I wrote in FE Week three months ago about the second annual round of FE Loans, the new application process had just opened. A few months on, what’s happening? Where are things heading?

Most notably, moves to extend FE loans ‘downwards’ — both for age and level — have begun, and many preparing for the 2013-14 round saw this as inevitable for several reasons.

A recent consultation by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) makes several proposals. If adopted, loans to cover fees will also apply to 19 to 23-year-olds taking certain kinds of level two learning, in addition to 24+ learners taking level three and four courses.

Funding for HNC and HND would move from the university sector into FE’s orbit, and loans. Part of that reflects concerns over ‘bogus’ colleges and learners; FE arrangements are easier to monitor.

Some providers didn’t engage with that first round, though, since they had few or no learners over 23, and/or little or no learning beyond level two. Some may even have retreated from those ‘older’ and/or ‘higher’ fields.

If the consultation’s suggestions are adopted, however, they may well apply to courses from August 2015. Thus, many FE providers not much involved with loans may need to re-consider their strategic and operational positions, to plan for this coming year and implementation thereafter.

Having been involved in Learning and Skills Improvement Service support for providers towards the first round of loans, I’m convinced that successful and less successful FE loans ventures depend first and foremost on attitude and mindset within providers. That strongly affects the ‘mood music’ throughout all parts of the organisation, and its community, and that can have big impacts on messages and take-up. Where it’s in a minor key, learners can walk away, and everybody loses.

Those who were doubtful or even hostile had their reasons, of course. But if that restricts or even prevents participation, then there’s a problem for us all.

Loans for many kinds of FE learning aren’t going away (a general election notwithstanding), and indeed, their territory is spreading. So it may be time to embrace the concept more wholeheartedly. Even those with real philosophical doubts should see some real potential advantages.

That can be a ‘tough ask’, whether at the strategic level and/or at the front line. Investing in your post-school education and training just isn’t as strong a tradition or philosophy in Britain as it is elsewhere. Things may be changing, but perhaps not quickly and solidly enough.

One possible new sign of continued hesitations, despite some encouraging statistics, lies in the set of April-May 2014 figures for the new round of 24+ loan applications. Where we might have expected increases compared to the corresponding period last year, through the system settling and building momentum, take-up so far this time looks to be around half of the same period in 2013.

It’s early days and there may be many explanations. But, even given the removal of apprenticeships (which accounted for few applications last time, anyway), the picture so far raises some concerns.

How many learners may have been put off, for whatever reason? What’s been the impact of ‘mindset’?

Perhaps it will indeed turn round, over coming months. Yet, a total loans budget of £129m for 2013-14 was apparently by no means fully used. For this financial year, that’s more than tripled to £398m.

The trend needs to be much more sharply upwards, soon. If not, then the implications for the sector, and the nation, are a worry — and particularly given the shrinking of the adult skills budget, and the proposed ‘double-downwards’ expansion. This income stream matters, and increasingly so.

Finally, here’s a bit of ‘wish-fulfilment’. An earlier BIS consultation considered how loans for higher education could accommodate the beliefs of many Muslims, for whom the conventional ideas of borrowing and interest are unacceptable. The likeliest system to be adopted is one based on the concept of ‘takaful’ — shared benefit and obligation. Simply put, this involves a fund built up by a community, allowing its members to draw on the money contributed. They then contribute back into the fund in turn, as and when possible.

It’s an interesting approach. And, it’s a quite familiar one in some parts of the Western world, especially England: think of the ideals and methods of the early co-operative movement, ‘mutuals’, and friendly societies. Why not?

The BIS consultation suggests that this could also happen for FE loans. A logical question arises: if such a ‘takaful’ system can be used for Muslim learners, both in higher education and FE, why couldn’t it also apply to all learners?

Trade union and business leaders set for agreement over traineeship pay and work experience

Trade union and business leaders are negotiating a joint agreement on traineeships over the issues of pay and work experience quality.

Tom Wilson, director of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) learning and skills organisation Unionlearn, revealed that talks had been held with the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) on the issue.

He tweeted: “Joint @unionlearn agreement between CBI and TUC on @TraineeshipsGov includes need for safety, pay, allowances and quality work experience.”

Both bodies confirmed to FE Week that discussions had taken place on traineeships, which saw 7,400 starts since the programme launched in August up until April according to last month’s Statistical First Release.

Shadow Junior Education Minister Rushanara Ali had told FE Week in March, at which point the had been 3,300 starts, that the take-up on traineeships was “deeply disappointing”.

Around six months earlier, Kwik Fit came under fire from the National Union of Students when it emerged the car servicing firm was advertising for unpaid traineeships of up to 936 hours across five months.

The firm defended the offer, saying learners could finish the programme sooner and could progress to an apprenticeship, but then it pulled the scheme in December having been given a grade three (‘requires improvement’) inspection result from Ofsted with only grade one and two providers able to run traineeships.

However, neither the TUC nor CBI would reveal further details about their agreement on traineeships, nor provide a date for when final negotiations might be completed.

A TUC spokesperson said: “We are working on a joint statement which is near completion, but not yet finalised.”

A CBI spokesperson said: “We have been engaging with the TUC on ways to promote traineeships and we’ll be publishing details in due course.”

Traineeships, which combine work experience with maths, English and employability training, were designed to help 16 to 24-year-olds without experience or qualifications into work.

Nine more colleges set to take on 14 to 16-year-olds

Nine more colleges could take on learners from the age of 14 next academic year, FE Week can reveal.

The Education Funding Agency (EFA) has received nine expressions of interest from colleges hoping to start ‘direct recruitment’ of full-time younger learners from September.

Seven colleges already recruit 14 to 16-year-olds having gone through the same process last year.

The policy followed a recommendation of Professor Alison Wolf in her early 2011 government-commissioned review of vocational education for 14 to 19-year-olds.

An EFA spokesperson told FE Week: “Nine colleges have applied to commence direct enrolment of 14 to 16-year-olds to full time programmes in 2014 to 2015.

“We will assess each expression of interest received against the required, published, criteria. Once confirmed we will notify Ofsted of the participating colleges. Ofsted will plan in a monitoring visit of these colleges in the first year of delivery.”

Colleges can recruit directly if they meet certain criteria, including a dedicated 14 to 16 area on the college estate and separate leadership for 14 to 16 education. And EFA funding for 14 and 15-year-old learners is only available to colleges which have been rated as outstanding or good.

The EFA declined to identify the nine colleges, but the seven which began direct recruitment in September were Halesowen College, Middlesbrough College, Leeds City College, Newcastle College Group (at Newcastle College), Accrington and Rossendale College, Hull College Group and Hadlow College.

Of these, Hull and Accrington and Rossendale were both rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted before opening 14 to 16 provision, and the rest were rated ‘good’.

The five colleges which have had their 14 to 16 provision inspected during monitoring visits since last September – Leeds, Hull, NCG, Middlesborough and Accrington and Rossendale – were all rated positively.

Middlesborough College principal Zoe Lewis (above) said: “Middlesbrough College is proud to be one of the first colleges to implement the Wolf reforms and to recruit and 14 and 15-year-olds directly onto the college roll. The college worked in partnership with one local school and with the pupil referral unit in Middlesbrough and enrolled 15 year 10 students and 11 year 11 students in September 2013.

“Like with any new initiative, the college learned a lot in the first term of implementation and in particular around the need for additional welfare and support roles.

“The positive difference we have made to the young people involved has been rather extraordinary. Comments from both students and parents confirm not only the academic improvements but the wider social and behavioural changes in these young people and reaffirm that what we are doing is without a shadow of a doubt, ‘the right thing to do’.

“For 2014/15, we are expanding our offer and are now working with 6 Middlesbrough schools and 1 other local authority school with 25 new year 10 students starting in September following a range of vocational pathways alongside GCSEs.”

Greg Smith

Newcastle College vice principal Greg Smith said: “It has been very positive both for us, as a new area of work, and more importantly for the young people. We have an awards event on Thursday for the 21 learners we worked with this year who have successfully achieved a range of academic and vocational qualifications which were tailored to their needs.

“We have seen them develop and mature as a group and the feedback from parents has been extremely positive. We were also encouraged by positive feedback from an Ofsted monitoring visit in January which found our provision had made either significant or reasonable progress in all areas, which was a great outcome as this was a completely new area for us and at that time had only been running a few months.

“We are now aiming to incrementally increase provision next year and are looking to recruit to 35 places.”

Professor Wolf’s recommendation on direct recruitment was that the Department for Education should, “make explicit the legal right of colleges to enrol students under 16 and ensure that funding procedures make this practically possible.”

She said: “Colleges enrolling students in this age group should be required to offer them a full Key Stage four programme, either alone or in collaboration with schools, and be subject to the same performance monitoring regime (including performance indicators) as schools.”

But the Association of Colleges (AoC) has said that problems with careers advice need to be resolved before the system could work properly.

Joy Mercer, education policy director at the AoC, said: “Colleges are working very closely with partner schools to ensure there is a good offer for 14-year-olds.

“The crucial issue that remains to be resolved is that children and their parents are not receiving the good careers advice and guidance that will encourage them to consider what’s still seen as a very different choice to what’s been on offer for many years.

“Until this is resolved, we’re pleased to see the careful consideration that colleges are giving to ensure students who do enrol at 14 have a very motivating experience which will put them on the path towards qualifications and ultimately a good job.”

You can read an expert piece from Hull College Group deputy chief executive Lee Probert on direct recruitment here.

Are UTCs another ‘purely political vanity project’ set for the history books?

Hackney University Technical College (UTC) is to shut at the end of 2014/15 because of low recruitment numbers — just 29 out a target of 75 pupils signed up for September. Dr Lynne Sedgmore looks at whether the UTC project as a whole is actually the problem.

I have been working in FE Colleges for 34 years and have seen many, many initiatives come and go — some of value, others purely political vanity projects.

I have never been opposed to FE colleges being rattled and shaken by politicians, learners or stakeholders. It is vital that we constantly prove our worth over and over again — that comes with the territory when in charge of taxpayers’ money.

What does pain me however, is when new ideas are born out of ideology, a limited evidence base and, it seems, an almost wilful determination to prove that FE colleges have failed.

This view seems still to have currency despite the rich evidence that FE is a huge success on many fronts, and has been for many, many years.

In this context I find it sad (though not surprising) that the very day after a commons debate on vocational education, during which the Edge Foundation was praised profusely and MPs queued up to announce a new University Technical College (UTC) in their constituency, we hear that the Hackney UTC is closing down. It will have only been open for three years.

Despite considerable hype in national and local media inspectors had made wide ranging criticisms of its performance and recruitment remained well below target.

This follows poor reports at other UTCs, serious problems of under-recruitment across the country and the Bedfordshire UTC being in such a state that an FE college was brought in to help sort it out.

How should we in FE react to this news when we are constantly being told that UTCs are the new way forward, vastly superior to anything we have ever done or achieved?

What should be our response to the proposals from the Labour Party to open 100 UTCs across the country to solve the problems of technical and vocational education?

Sadly our only option is to grit our teeth and help policy makers dig themselves out of a hole of their own making.

We need to help because at the heart of the UTC proposals is a good idea — that young people can be energised by learning in a setting that demonstrates the relevance of their studies to the world of work; that learning with state of the art technical facilities, from staff with recent industrial experience and with the strong engagement of employers boosts motivation and drives quality.

We know this because it happens every day in FE colleges up and down the country.

These ideas are too important to be allowed to fail simply because impatient politicians, anxious to claim credit for something new, set up fragile institutions that are not always fit for purpose.

In a world of rational policy making we would have to ask why universities should be asked to take the lead in this area when they know little about the teaching of 14 to 18-year-olds; why are UTCs being set up as tiny institutions without the scale to weather variations in recruitment or deliver financial economies; why are they set up as free standing entities without the opportunities for progression upwards or across disciplines; why are they essentially mono-technics, lacking the social and intellectual benefits of learning alongside other students from other sectors?

Alas the answer, as we know only too well, is that policy making in England is far from rational.

FE colleges, built around the same core philosophy as UTCs, were nevertheless not involved in policy formulation and only grudgingly engaged at the implementation stage.

All we can do with this, as with other political playthings is stand by and catch them when they fall.

ETF chief defends handing £1m learning tech contract to Gazelle amid ‘scepticism’ of the organisation

Education and Training Foundation (ETF) chief executive David Russell has spoken out to defend the awarding of a £1m learning technology contract to Gazelle as he acknowledged “scepticism” about the organisation.

The Gazelle Foundation beat three other bidders to win the learning technology contract, due to end by November next year, thanks to the “depth of knowledge and understanding” it displayed, Mr Russell (pictured above) told FE Week.

It comes just weeks after a month-long FE Week investigation into multi-million pound funding of Gazelle by UK colleges resulted in criticism from the University and College Union that public money was being used on “expensive initiatives which have little educational impact”.

It raked in around £3.5m with the group’s five founding colleges having dished out more than £530,000 each, according to figures obtained from Freedom of Information Act. More than 20 current and former member colleges had been asked what they spent on the organisation, which was launched in January 2012 with standard annual membership priced at £35,000.

Gazelle chief executive Fintan Donohue (pictured below) defended the organisation at the time, claiming “enrichment of student experiences and outcomes” was its “overriding goal”.

Nevertheless, ETF chief executive Mr Russell approached FE Week to defend the learning technology contract going to Gazelle.

He said: “I read the papers. I know there is scepticism in some quarters about Gazelle, who will lead the consortium on this delivery work for us. I understand some teachers and lecturers have asked pointed questions about whether Gazelle deliver on their promises, and about whether they always act in the interests of learners.”

He added: “They [Gazelle and its partners] won the contract because their bid was convincing in the depth of knowledge and understanding it displayed; dynamic and innovative; pedagogy-focused not technology-focused; and above all with learner benefit at its heart.

“This programme will provide support across the education and training sector, including colleges, private training providers and others (it is not aimed at any particular group of providers).

“Gazelle will be assisted by its consortium partners — the Association of Colleges (AoC), Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) , 157 Group, and National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), together with a wider steering group that they are convening to oversee the programme.” [The rest of Mr Russell’s statement can be read here]

Gazelle has also previously been awarded five ETF contracts, totalling £168k, for work including strategic consultation on learning companies, and two stages of strategic consultation on vocational education training, technology in teaching and higher level apprenticeships.

However, its latest ETF contract is easily the biggest it has won yet, at £1m.

Mr Donohue said: “The ETF’s learning technology programme will give a boost to innovation and the sharing of best practice across the sector.

“By coordinating input from teachers and leaders across all of the education and training sector, employers and the technology industry around the emerging themes for development, Gazelle hopes it can contribute to the success of the programme.

“The Feltag [Further Education Learning Technology Action Group] report makes the challenge for our sector clear. The ETF has a clear vision on what they want from the programme and we are pleased to be working very closely with them to deliver their requirements. We look forward to bringing all our energy and networks together to help the ETF achieve its vision in the year ahead.”

Jenny Williams, ETF director of vocational education and training, said the contract drew on Feltag findings and recommendations of the Commission on Adult Vocational Teaching and Learning.

She said: “A suite of innovation and action research projects will sit at the heart of the programme, and communities of practice will enable the spread of learning from these projects through local and regional networks.

“The projects will be inclusive and innovative, engaging with staff and organisations right across the education and training sector, and involving both learners and employers in their design, delivery and review.”

A Gazelle spokesperson told FE Week: “An initial advisory group has been convened that already includes representatives from the 157 Group, AoC and AELP. This is being extended to bring in the widest possible representation of colleges and training providers from across the sector.

“Expert advice is being sought from organisations such as NFER and Coralesce, and the programme will engage with a range of technology organisations and entrepreneurs.

“A more detailed prospectus and overview of the project and partners will be produced in the coming weeks.”

Warwickshire College’s Madelyn McAlpine a World Cup winner just like German stars

The name of Warwickshire College’s Madelyn McAlpine can be listed with World Cup-winning German stars such as Mesut Ozil, Philipp Lahm and Manuel Neuer.

The PR and communications officer also proved World Cup winner, when it came to the FE Week prediction fundraiser in aid of the Helena Kennedy Foundation (HKF).

With Germany crowned champions and Argentina the losing finalists after a 1-0 scoreline last night, she had correctly guessed first and second — and even picked the Netherlands and Brazil in her top four (although unfortunately she had Brazil, who actually came fourth, in third).

Nearly 200 people submitted their top four, in order, and Madelyn came closest to getting them all right.

Her predictive powers earned her a year’s free subscription to the newspaper, along with an FE Week mug.

“I thought Germany would be up there as they are always so consistent and their club teams are top quality,” said Madelyn (pictured right).

“I watched the final at home with my partner, John. It would have been good to see Argentina win as Aguero, Zabaleta and DeMichelis all play for my team, Manchester City, but Germany were definitely the best team in the tournament.”

A further five entrants will also be getting their hands on FE Week mugs having selected Germany as winners.

Among them was Richard Huish College enterprise manager Gavin Whitworth, Social Enterprise Kent’s National Skills Partnership management information officer Chris Smith, and Blackpool and The Fylde College senior management, information and funding officer (funding and curriculum development) Kevin Chadwick.

But the HKF proved the ultimate winner.

It will be receiving a cheque for £250 from FE Week after nearly 200 people gave their predictions. The HKF exists to overcome social injustice by providing financial bursaries, mentoring and support to disadvantaged students from the further and adult education sectors, enabling them to complete their studies in higher education.

Baroness Kennedy QC (pictured below), who correctly predicted the identity of two of the last four teams, said: “I should like to thank FE Week enormously for having a bit of fun and raising some money for my foundation.

“Clearly, if I ever stop being a human rights barrister, I will not find employment as a football pundit based on my own predictions of who would win.”

Madelyn added: “It’s great news about the donation as that’s why I took part — and I got Japan and Honduras in the workplace sweepstake so knew I was onto a loser with those.”

Her performance was far better than FE sector leaders who between them failed to even pick Germany as winners.

The best predictions came from Association of Employment and Learning Providers chief executive Stewart Segal (below left) and Shadow Skills Minister Liam Byrne (below right).

They both guessed that Argentina would be the losing finalists, and also correctly predicted a further two of the last four (both opting for Brazil and Germany — but both mistakenly thinking they’d come first and fourth, respectively).

HKF founder and chair Dr Ann Limb OBE, who also picked two of the last four teams, said: “What have Liam Byrne and Stewart Segal got that I haven’t? The ability to predict Argentina would come second in the World Cup when I had Germany as runners up instead — that explains a lot in my life.

“Huge thanks to everyone who took part and to FE Week for doing this for the HKF students.”

New family learning group set for FE members

A new national forum for family learning which met this month for the first time looks set for membership from FE sector bodies.

The National Family Learning Forum, launched by the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (Niace), met for the first time on July 2 in London.

It was formed to look at boosting family learning, and representatives from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, local authorities and family learning providers, including the Esmee Fairburn Foundation, Campaign for Learning and Booktrust, were at its fist meeting.

The Association of Colleges (AoC) and Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) were not invited, but a Niace spokesperson said “one of the outcomes of the meeting was the agreement to extend the membership to other national organisations with a role in family learning. This includes representatives of the AoC and AELP”.

An AoC spokesperson declined to comment on whether it had received an invitation to join since the meeting. However, she said: “We’d like to be involved and for FE to have some input into this.”

An AELP spokesperson said: “Discussions have taken place with Niace on how we might contribute to the work of the forum and we are happy to contribute in any way.”

The group was formed in response to a Niace report published in October, called Family Learning Works, that outlined how family education programmes improved child and adult numeracy, literacy and other key skills.

Carol Taylor (pictured right), chair of the forum and deputy chief executive of Niace, said: “There was a great deal of enthusiasm around the table [at the July 2 meeting] for the establishment of a national forum to bring family learning providers, practitioners, researchers and policy makers together to develop this extremely important and effective way of developing skills and attainment of adults, children and families.”

Family programmes aim to encourage family members to learn together, providing learning to both adults and children and provide progression for the adult to other learning.

They are usually delivered by teachers from FE colleges, local authorities, or charities at primary schools.

England won’t join European apprenticeship body, says Skills Minister Matthew Hancock

Skills Minister Matthew Hancock has ruled out joining a European apprenticeship development body, despite his counterparts in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland saying it could have benefits.

Responding to a written question from Democratic Unionist Party MP Nigel Dodds, Mr Hancock said England would not be joining the European Alliance for Apprenticeships.

However, governments in the devolved nations have all expressed interest in joining the European Commission-managed body, launched in July last year.

Mr Hancock said: “The UK recognises the value of learning from others by keeping abreast of developments in Europe and internationally.

“However, we believe that this can be achieved through less bureaucratic routes than a European Alliance for Apprenticeships.

“In England, we do not propose to participate but the devolved administrations are free to do so if they believe that the Alliance is the appropriate framework for sharing best practice.”

The European Alliance for Apprenticeships aims to bring together public authorities, providers, youth representatives and other body to promote apprenticeships, assist in apprenticeship reform programmes and maximise use of funding and resources.

Twenty one European Union member states have so far committed to the group, including Germany, Netherlands, Spain and Austria. Businesses across the EU have also pledged support, including Tesco, Nestle, Siemens and Scottish Power.

The Northern Irish Department for Employment and Learning announced its strategy for apprenticeships last month, which included a commitment to ensure apprenticeships were transferable between countries and explore the possibilities for international placements.

Its Employment and Learning Minister, Dr Stephen Farry, said: “It is envisaged that the European Alliance for Apprenticeships may offer the potential to share best practice, benchmark provision and develop networks for the purpose of supporting placements and exchanges of apprenticeships across Europe.”

Dr Farry, FE Week understands, has had discussions with the European Commission over joining the alliance.

A Welsh government spokesperson said: “We are currently considering whether we should join the European Alliance for Apprenticeships and a decision will be made very shortly.”

A Scottish government spokesperson said: “We are currently looking at whether the European Apprenticeship Alliance would be a helpful addition to our programmes supporting more people into work.”

She added that an independent Scottish government would also adopt the European Youth Guarantee where young people are guaranteed a job or further training after four months of unemployment.