The proportion of apprentices that last year passed the new style ‘standard’ has been revealed as just 46.6 per cent, something the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education said was to be “expected”.

Figures (see below), published this morning by the Department for Education, show that many of the most popular standards had achievement rates below 50 per cent, with some like the adult care worker at level 2 below 40 per cent.

These new ‘standards’ are being phased in to replace frameworks representing 54,590 (18 per cent) of all leavers.

Whereas the old style apprenticeships being phased out by the end of July 2020 represent 82 per cent of all leavers and saw an achievement rate of 68.7 per cent (see table below).

A spokesperson for the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education, said: “As with any reform to qualifications, you would expect to see a fall in achievement rates on the introduction of new curriculum and assessment regimes.

“Moving from continuous assessment under old frameworks to end point assessment (EPA) under standards is what employers wanted to assure themselves of the occupational competence of apprentices.

“It has also been an important part of the reform programme’s drive to improve on quality.

“Providers are having to become familiar with training to the new expectations and that apprentices can expect higher quality, more demanding training and assessment.

“Unlike GCSEs and A levels, where grade boundaries can be manipulated, apprenticeships are about skills and apprentices will be expected to demonstrate the knowledge, skills and behaviours required for the occupation in their final assessment in order to pass.”

It is also understood a significant reason for the low achievement rate for standards has been delays to apprentices completing end-point-assessments (EPA).

If an apprenticeship provider plans to complete the EPA by 31 July 2018, but the apprentice takes longer than planned, they are not included in the 2018/19 achievement rate figures.

To take account of these delays, the ESFA has also published a “new transparency table” for 2018/19,  to include withdrawals and achievements in the three months after year-end.

The DfE said: “We estimate that including these learners would increase the national overall apprenticeship achievement rate by 0.4 percentage points, and that for standards by 3.9 percentage points.”

Government consultations on apprenticeship funding and external quality assurance have both been extended by six weeks.

The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education announced the decision today, stating that they do not believe everyone interested in them will have the chance to respond due to the disruption brought about by the Covid-19 virus.

Their consultation on the proposed new model for setting apprenticeship funding launched on 24 February and was scheduled to close on 6 April, but this has been extended to 18 May at midday.

As FE Week reported at the time of the launch, funding rates for some apprenticeship standards could be cut by almost half under the new proposals.

The institute said today it “remains our intention” to conduct a pilot of the new model and “we will keep under review the most appropriate time to conduct it”.

But the extension to the consultation and delay to the start of the pilot does mean that the rollout of the new model – originally planned for summer 2020 – is unlikely to be met.

“Instead, working closely with the sector, we will ensure that transition to a new process is done so at a time and in a way that minimises unnecessary disruption,” a spokesperson said.

The institute’s consultation on a “simplified and strengthened” model of external quality assurance of apprenticeship assessments got underway on 27 February and was scheduled to close on 9 April, but this has been extended to 21 May.

The plans include dumping employers when it comes to external quality assurance of apprentices – and handing all of it to Ofqual within the next two years.

The only exception would be for integrated degree apprenticeships, which would be overseen by higher education regulator the Office for Students.

Both consultations had planned engagement events but these will now be taking place using a digital platform. The dates and further details of these will be “updated shortly on the consultation pages of the Institute’s website”.

The overall achievement rate for apprenticeships fell last year by 2.2 percentage points to 64.7 per cent. 

National achievement rate tables (NARTs) published this morning by the Department for Education reveal the fall comes after three stable years when just over two thirds of apprentices passed the course (see table above and click here for the documents).

The old style apprenticeships being phased out by the end of July 2020 represent 82 per cent of all leavers and saw an achievement rate of 68.7 per cent.

Whereas the new ‘standards’ being phased in to replace frameworks had an achievement rate of just 46.6 per cent, representing 54,590 (18 per cent) of all leavers (see table below).

The government’s Minimum Level policy, for the purposes of making an intervention, has been set at an achievement rate of 62 per cent for several years.

It is understood a significant reason for the achievement rate fall has been delays to apprentices completing end-point-assessments (EPA) for the new style courses known as ‘standards’.

If an apprenticeship provider plans to complete the EPA by 31 July 2018, but the apprentice takes longer than planned, they are not included in the 2018/19 achievement rate figures.

In December the Education and Skills Funding Agency said: “Delays were for various reasons as the standards programme develops from its infancy, such as providers understanding how long new standards take to deliver, assessor capacity issues for some end-point assessment organisations, some providers not planning enough time for end-point assessments, and some apprentices taking longer than planned.”

To take account of these delays, the ESFA has also published a “new transparency table” for 2018/19,  to include withdrawals and achievements in the three months after year-end.

The DfE said: “We estimate that including these learners would increase the national overall apprenticeship achievement rate by 0.4 percentage points, and that for standards by 3.9 percentage points.”

The number of apprenticeship starts in England dropped by 7 per cent in the first half of 2019/20, new government data has revealed.

Provisional figures in the latest individual learner records return show there were 209,900 starts recorded from August 2019 to January 2020 compared to 225,800 in the same period in 2018/19.

For the single month of January, provisional figures show there were 28,200 starts in 2020 compared to 29,100 in the same publication published in 2019, a 3 per cent drop.

The Department for Education pointed out that the individual monthly apprenticeship starts figures are produced for “transparency purposes but are generally less robust for making comparisons given different reporting patterns by providers during the year”.

When comparing the first half of 2019/20 with the same period in 2018/19, starts at level 2 fell by the most – from 84,200 to 68,000, a 19 per cent drop.

At the same time, starts at the higher levels jumped 16 per cent from 42,500 to 49,400.

Starts were also hit hardest for young people: 68,600 people aged 16 to 18 started an apprenticeship between August 2018 and January 2019, but this figure dropped by 12 per cent for the same period in 2019/20 to 60,600.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Apprenticeship starts have fallen but the reforms we introduced mean that apprenticeships are now longer, higher-quality and include more off-the-job training.

“We believe this is the right approach, and we will not sacrifice quality for quantity.”

They added: “We are working with employers of all sizes to make sure more people get the skills they need to get ahead.

“We want to see more people benefitting from apprenticeship opportunities in the future, and we will continue to work with employers and learning providers, particularly given the impact coronavirus will have on our economy.”

Mark Dawe, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, wasn’t as optimistic.

“Sadly we are now in unchartered territory with experts predicting that the country is heading for a deep recession. Fewer jobs will inevitably mean fewer apprenticeship opportunities,” he said.

“Our push in the comprehensive spending review will be for a reversing in the decline in starts for young people and ensuring that there is a strong rung at the foot of the ladder of opportunity for them in the form of more level 2 apprenticeships.

“An immediate priority is to remove apprenticeships for 16 to 18 year olds from levy funding and put them back within mainstream DfE budgets in common with other 16-18 provision.”

The response of the Department for Education to the coronavirus outbreak and the impact of the disease on schools, colleges and training providers will be investigated by an influential committee of MPs.

The parliamentary education committee has launched an inquiry into the impact of COVID-19 on education and children’s services.

It follows criticism of the government’s support for education providers during the pandemic.

The committee will explore the impact on “all aspects of the education sector and children’s social care system and will scrutinise how the Department for Education is dealing with the situation”.

The effect on apprenticeships and other workplace-based education courses will also be probed, as well as the “financial implications of closures for providers, including higher education and independent training providers”.

MPs will also look specifically at the implementation of the critical workers policy, including “how consistently the definition of ‘critical’ work is being applied across the country and how schools [and colleges] are supported to remain open for children of critical workers”.

The effect of cancelling formal exams, including the “fairness of qualifications awarded and pupils’ progression to the next stage of education or employment”, will also be investigated, along with the support for students and families during closures, particularly disadvantaged groups.

Robert Halfon (pictured), the committee’s chair, said: “The education committee recognises that the closure of schools has been a massive decision with huge implications and would like to put on record its thanks to the education secretary and ministers who are having to make tough decisions in very difficult circumstances.”

Halfon added he would “particularly also like to thank all the education professionals – the staff, the teachers, the ancillary staff – who are doing everything possible to continue to educate our children. We recognise that this is in incredibly worrying time for all”.

The Department for Education released new data into the views and experiences of apprenticeships today.

A survey of more than 5,000 apprentices was carried out while around 4,000 employers were also surveyed.

FE Week has pulled out the key findings.

 

Apprentices

 

1. Awareness is on the rise

Understanding that their course or training was part of an apprenticeship has risen to 76 per cent, from 70 and 67 per cent in 2017 and 2015 respectively.

Awareness among level 4+ apprentices has “particularly increased” from 57 per cent in 2015 and 64 per cent in 2017 to 81 per cent in 2018/19

 

2. But satisfaction has fallen

Overall 86 per cent of apprentices were satisfied with their apprenticeship and 7 per cent were dissatisfied. However, satisfaction has decreased, and dissatisfaction has grown, compared to the 2015 and 2017 surveys (89 per cent and five per cent in both years). 

 

3. Just 30% comply with the off-the-job training rule

The survey results found that many apprentices have experienced significantly less training than required by apprenticeship funding rules.

Only 30 per cent of apprentices received formal training equivalent to at least 20 per cent of their working hours, while 50 per cent received either no formal training or an equivalent to less than 10 per cent of their working hours.

Overall, the proportion of apprentices undertaking formal training decreased to 82 per cent from 86 per cent.

 

4. Large majority go into employment

Only four per cent of respondents were unemployed following an apprenticeship although this was higher in apprentices with a disability (nine per cent) and those who had completed for arts and ICT apprenticeships (eight to nine per cent). 

Employers

 

5. Offers mostly go to young people

Employers were more likely to offer, or have ever offered, apprenticeships to those aged under 19 (74 per cent) or between 19-24 (80 per cent) than to those aged 25 plus (53 per cent).

However, the amount offering to those aged 25 and over increased from 46 per cent in 2015 and 2017 while the other proportions remained similar.

 

6. Apprenticeships for existing staff on the rise

The proportion of employers whose apprentice completers were all existing staff prior to the apprenticeship starting has increased to 31 per cent from 27 per cent.

The number of employers who recruited brand new apprentices declined to 64 per cent, down from 69 per cent in 2017.

 

7. Employer satisfaction on the rise

Eighty-five per cent of apprentice employers were satisfied and 63 per cent reported they were very satisfied.

This was a slight increase from 2017, when 84 per cent were satisfied but another drop from 2015 when 87 per cent were.

Overall, five per cent of employers were dissatisfied, a small decline from six per cent two years prior.

 

8. Impact of the levy

Among large employers eligible for the levy, 24 per cent reported that, as a result of the reforms, they had increased or started apprenticeships for existing employees.

In addition, 18 per cent had increased apprenticeships for managers.

 

9. Level 6 and 7 apprenticeships

The apprenticeship levy, or funds in an apprenticeship account, were provided as the most likely reason for employers to offer a level 6 or 7 apprenticeship (24 per cent) – this rose to 42 per cent for employers with 50 or more employees at the site.

Employers offering these were larger in size (67 per cent had 25 or more employees at the site).

Ofqual is “urgently” working out how to calculate grades for students studying vocational and technical qualifications this year, but the “complex landscape” means there is not a “one size fits all” solution.

Last week the government announced that the upcoming summer exams series has been scrapped amid the coronavirus outbreak.

On Friday, it was revealed that teacher assessments will be used to provide calculated grades for A-level and GCSE students this year.

Ofqual, the exams regulator, said today they are “considering” how similar arrangements to those could be applied to vocational and technical qualifications (VTQs), which include tech levels and applied generals, such as BTECs.

Some form of teacher calculated grade, or “other form of estimation based on assessment that has already taken place”, will be “possible in many cases”.

But for other qualifications, it “might be more appropriate to adapt the assessment or delivery arrangements so that everyone can have confidence in the outcome”.

“And for some qualifications that signify occupational competence or award a licence to practise in safety-critical industries, assessment might need to be delayed in order to ensure public safety and meet the needs of employers,” Ofqual continued.

“There are many different types of qualification, awarding organisations, learner groups and assessment approaches, so the landscape is complex and it is clear that one size will not fit all circumstances.”

The exams regulator said it is working with the Department for Education, awarding organisations, other regulators and the wider sector to “develop and publish a clear approach for the different categories of VTQs in the coming days”.

“We are working as quickly as possible to develop an approach which enables learners to get the qualifications they deserve and that they need to progress,” they added.

The aim for GCSE and A-levels is to provide grades to learners before the end of July. FE Week has asked if this goal also applies to VTQs.

The government has this evening released a package of measures that it hopes will help apprenticeship training providers amid the coronavirus pandemic.

It also applies to apprentices, employers, end-point assessment organisations and external quality assurance providers.

Here are the key points from the guidance:

 

1. No funding support

The government appears to offer no funding support for apprenticeship training providers during the crisis.

Its guidance says providers will only continue to be paid “retrospectively for the training they have delivered and can evidence”.

Government policy “does not allow payment for services in advance of delivery,” it claimed.

The ESFA added that it “reserves the right to recover funding which was claimed for and paid to the training provider, but for which the training provider was found not to be eligible”.

 

2. Face-to-face end-point assessments can be rescheduled or ‘modified’

End-point assessment organisations and external quality assurance providers are encouraged to engage and agree where remote assessment can replace face-to-face assessment, or where a simulated environment is to be used.

Apprentices who are deemed ready for assessment, and cannot be assessed due to COVID-19 related issues, will be able to have their EPA rescheduled. Where there is a “specified time limit for EPA post gateway”, a further pause of 12 weeks is allowable.

Apprentices whose gateway is being delayed are allowed a break in learning, with an extension to the assessment timeframe.

 

3. Breaks in learning rule softened – but providers still won’t be paid

Funding rules currently state that a break in learning must be initiated by the apprentice.

The government will now allow employers and training providers, temporarily, to also report and initiate a break in learning where the interruption is greater than four weeks.

Training providers will not receive payments for learners who are on breaks in learning.

 

4. Go to Treasury if you’re struggling financially

The guidance states that where the COVID-19 outbreak results in loss of income due to ceased or reduced delivery of training, training providers “should consider their eligibility and apply for the wide range of financial support that HM Treasury has already announced for businesses”.

 

5. Apprentices made redundant to find a new employer within 12 weeks

Where apprentices are furloughed (granted a leave of absence) or placed on unpaid leave, employers and training providers have been urged to consider whether a break in learning would be appropriate.

Where apprentices are made redundant, it is the DfE’s ambition that they will be supported to find alternative employment, and continue their apprenticeship within 12 weeks.

The training provider “must support the apprentice to find another employer” where redundancies take place.

In instances where a significant number of apprentices are made redundant, the ESFA said it will attempt to provide “exceptional practical support to the apprentices and training providers to secure alternative employers for the individuals”.

 

6. ‘Distance learning’ encouraged

The government is “encouraging and supporting employers, and training and assessment providers, to make use of distance-learning tools wherever possible and practicable to do so”.

 

7. Arrangements for disrupted training delivery in March

Where training has been delivered this month, but a break in learning has begun, or is expected to start before the end of March, to ensure payment for these apprentices, training providers have been told to:

    include these learners in their March ILR submission as on programme

    record, retain and submit evidence in the usual way

    record a break in learning in their April ILR submission

    ensure that these learners are not recorded as permanently withdrawn from their apprenticeship, by entering the ‘Completion status’ field of the ILR as ‘6’, denoting that the learner has temporarily withdrawn from learning due to an agreed break in learning

The DfE makes clear that training, which cannot be delivered in March, but for which the training provider receives payment, should be delivered within the “remainder of the apprenticeship, and the previously agreed total cost of the apprenticeship, before the planned end-date”.

Where the training is not completed, the ESFA “reserves the right to recover payment”.

 

8. Employers urged not to pause or stop payments to providers for March

During March, levy-paying employers “should not use the apprenticeship service to ‘pause’ or ‘stop’ payments to the training provider, where some training has been delivered in March”, the DfE says.

Doing so will result in the training provider not receiving any payment for these apprentices.

 

9. Arrangements for April and beyond

For a break in learning greater than four weeks that begins on or after 1 April, the apprenticeship should be ‘paused’ by the employer through the apprenticeship service at the point the break in learning begins.

The employer should “not ‘stop’ the apprenticeship through the apprenticeship service as this will prevent it resuming subsequently”.