This morning the government launched their long awaited Institute for Apprenticeships consultation.

With a January 31 deadline, you have less than four weeks to give your view on the Draft Strategic Guidance to the Institute for Apprenticeships.

Key functions for the Institute for Apprenticeship, which will be launched in April:

Standards development and approval
Currently the government manage the standards development and approval process. This will be taken on by the Institute.
> Ensure as swift a process for approving standards as possible
> Take on Government’s current role of quality assurance of standards
> Ensure that standards and assessment plans have been examined by ‘an independent third party’ before they can be approved
> Proactive support to employers who are developing standards and assessment plans to be a priority
> Take into account the Department for Education’s development of technical education routes  to ensure there is no duplication

Quality assurance of apprenticeship assessments
The Institute will play a role in checking quality and consistency of assessments offered by different assessment organisations against the same standard
> The Institute will be the external quality assurance (EQA) organisation in instances where alternatives (processes developed by employer groups, a Professional Body or Ofqual.
> The strategy states: “The Institute should consider how best to ensure that effective and high-quality EQA processes are available and are applied to all end-point assessments. It will need to satisfy itself that all options will ensure consistent assessment and require a high standard from all apprentices.”

Apprenticeship certification
This month the Skills Funding Agency took on responsibility for the certification of standards.
> The Strategy says the Institute will need to “assist in this oversight role, setting the parameters for the SFA to operate within, designing the certificate and ensuring the overall integrity and quality of the system. We will write to the Institute separately on the specific tasks we would like it to carry out in relation to certification.”

Funding advice
The Institute will provide the government with advice and assistance on apprenticeship funding, including:
> allocating individual apprenticeship standards to funding bands, both for new standards and in the context of Technical Education route reviews
> the current allocation of existing frameworks to funding bands and the effectiveness of additional support payments, such as those for younger apprentices
> how the allocation of apprenticeship standards to funding bands might be undertaken in the future

Policing the system
> “We would expect the Institute – through the way in which it fulfils its statutory duties – to discourage behaviour seeking to make a profit by delivering services that are not necessary and do not add value, and work to ensure the system as a whole is fair and consistent with the principles of the reforms.”

Other functions
> Annual reporting and success criteria. “The Institute may find it helpful to set out a number of success criteria to help them measure their progress, and the progress of the system overall, which can be supported by data and evidence”
> Review of Apprenticeship standards. “While there is flexibility and it is up to Institute to decide how it carries out these reviews, we would expect them to be comprehensive, including details of completions, destinations and progression, wage uplift, and feedback from providers, apprentices, assessment organisations and employers in particular. We would also expect that they check how the standard fits with the latest version of the relevant occupational map. The Institute should also consider how well the system as a whole is delivering successful apprenticeships which respond to the skills needs outlined in the industrial strategy and wider Government priorities like social mobility.”
> “Assisting with certain elements of the registers of training providers and assessment organisations” – although “the SFA will maintain responsibility for administration” of the register
> Working with partners, including  Ofsted, Ofqual, SFA, HEFCE and QAA and, in future, the Office for Students in a “leadership role in the context of apprenticeships”. Also working “with the devolved administrations to ensure the needs of employers who work across boarders are considered when standards are developed”.
> “Perhaps” setting up an ‘Apprenticeship Panel’ which reports directly to the Institute Board, “to ensure that Apprentices have an opportunity to have their say about the education and training they receive during their apprenticeships, and the chance to improve the experience of those who come after them.”

FE college principals have again fared poorly in the Queen’s honours list, with only three being recognised for their contributions in a “disappointing” outcome for the sector. 

Dr Sue Pember, former top skills civil servant who is now director of policy at membership organisation for adult education providers Holex (pictured above), said that although it was “fantastic news” for those who received an honour, it remained “disappointing that there were so few FE staff recognised this time”.

She told FE Week: “Going forward we should try to ensure that more are nominated. We have many fantastic and worthy staff whose work should be acknowledged and it is on us to encourage senior staff and governors to put forward names of those who go way past the call of duty. 

She added: “We need to collectively pro-active and, when we see good work, think about the nomination systems and follow the process.”

Mike Robbins, principal of Bridgwater and Taunton College, will receive an OBE and two sixth form college principals will receive an MBE, Steve Frampton at Portsmouth Sixth Form College and Mary Quinn at Stourport High School and Sixth Form College.

Mark Malcomson, who leads the adult education provider City Lit since May 2011, came out on top with a CBE for his work – but the sector saw no knighthoods or damehoods at all.

The meager collection of FE leaders echoed the outcome of the Queen’s birthday honours in June, which saw no general FE college principals in England named in the list and no top awards for the sector.

The lack of recognition stood out against 2015’s birthday honours, which saw the principal of City and Islington College, Frank McLoughlin, receive a knighthood.

And last year’s New Year’s honours were also more successful for FE, bringing a knighthood for former FE commissioner Dr David Collins and a CBE for former Association of Colleges chief executive Martin Doel.

This time last year more than 20 sector-related figures received awards and the same number were recognised in June’s birthday honours list – compared to just 12 for the New Year’s list for 2017, despite the number of people being honoured overall (nearly 1,200) remaining unchanged.

The latest honours list follows considerable changes to the machinery of government in the summer, when the Department for Education took over responsibility for FE, skills and higher education.

Hence, these are the first FE honours in nearly 10 years that DfE has compiled on its own for the Cabinet Office.

Another disappointing result for FE was that no junior college staff, such as lecturers, or staff at independent training providers were honoured at all this year.

The New Year’s honours list for 2016 brought prizes for less well known figures across the sector, such as York College’s head of maths Margherita “Miggy” Biller, and Donald Graham, the vocational programme manager at Foxes Academy, a specialist college for 16 to 25-year-olds with learning disabilities in Minehead, who both gained MBEs.

However, governors appear to be skirting this decline, with Professor Mary Dunning, former governor of Tyne Metropolitan College, receiving an OBE for services to further and higher education and the community in the North-East of England this year; and Kenneth Andrew John Barrass, lately chair at Rotherham and North Nottinghamshire College; Jennifer Foote, company secretary and general counsel at The Manchester College (UK LTE Group) and chair of the National Clerks Network; and Sara Kibel, governor at the Westminster Adult Education Service all being awarded MBEs.

A similar situation occurred in the Queen’s birthday honours this year, when Margaret Serna, chair of Lincoln College, received a CBE, while Josie Teasdale, lately chair at Barnsley College, was given an OBE as was Mark White, chair designate of Stockton Riverside College. Keith Brown, College of North East London chair, also got an MBE in June.

There were 69 honours relating specifically to schools in England in the New Year’s honours list for 2017, exactly the same number as there were last year.

Analysis of the 12 honours for FE in England, and full list below

Over the course of this year FE Week produced a whopping 172 pages of content across 10 supplements covering all of the key sector talking points of 2016.

Ranging from the AAC, AoC and AELP conferences, to The Skills Show and EuroSkills, below we have brought all of our supplements into one place for our readers to recap on as we move into 2017.

March 11 – National Apprenticeship Week 2016

National Apprenticeship Week, which this year ran from 14 – 18 March, seemed more pivotal than ever as we embarked on the final year of government-led funding before the levy is launch in April.

This 16-page supplement, sponsored by NCFE, gave us the opportunity to look at what lessons can be learned from the past to inform future decisions.

We therefore concentrated on providing historical context throughout this supplement dedicated to NAW 2016 — which covered the history of apprenticeships, key issues currently facing the sector, and beyond that to the “postmodern”.

March 30 – AAC 2016: Souvenir Supplement

The FE Week Annual Apprenticeship Conference and Exhibition was once again an outstanding event for our sector.

The second ever AAC this year took place during the last three days of National Apprenticeship Week and offered an array of prominent key note speakers from top politicians, civil servants, providers, employers and most importantly apprentices. There were also over 45 in-depth practical workshops for delegates to attend.

This special 28-page souvenir supplement, sponsored by OCR, provides an overview of some of the highlights from AAC 2016 with content on hot topics such as the levy, apprenticeship funding reform, and the controversial as ever Sir Michael Wilshaw.

June 23 – Traineeships – Tracking progress

FE Week first produced supplement on traineeships in July 2013 as the programme got underway and thought three years on was the perfect time to revisit traineeships to take stock.

In this 16-page supplement, sponsored by OCR, we found that while some progress has been made, it is clear there are still questions and challenges around the policy.

June 29 – #AELP2016 Conference

Our fifth ever AELP conference supplement was produced onsite at the end of day one of this year’s conference in June.

With Brexit creating turbulence across Whitehall this was a key date in the FE calendar with scepticism around whether former skills minister Nick Boles would address the conference and if levy plans had been derailed.

Mr Boles thankfully did arrive on time and delivered some welcomed reassurance of the government’s commitments to apprenticeships.

This 16-page supplement, sponsored by OCR, delves deeper into the chatter among delegates and speakers following the monumental moment in British history.

July 14 – FE Week Festival of Skills 2016 Souvenir supplement

This year also marked the inaugural Festival of Skills at Capel Manor College, which FE Week was delighted to host.

This new event is a sister to The Telegraph Festival of Education which in its seventh year attracted over 5,000 festival-goers to Wellington College in June.

The Festival of Skills was an inspiring CPD extravaganza bringing together the best of the sector’s most forward thinking advocates, practitioners of change, policy makers and educators.

This 16-page souvenir supplement, sponsored by City & Guilds, shows the fantastic launch.

September 19 – Tech in FE

In early September the Association for Learning Technology held its annual conference, giving us the perfect time to take a look at all things technology-related for the FE and skills sector.

On the 16 pages we look at some of the many ways that colleges and other providers are working together to create innovative tech solutions to the challenges facing the sector. This supplement was sponsored by Tribal.

November 3 – Area reviews: rebuild for resilience

It had been just over a year since the area reviews of post-16 launched, aiming to move towards “fewer, often larger, more resilient and efficient providers”.

Our reporter Jude Burke has followed the process all the way with great interest – from the first reports of lengthy delays during wave one, to the FE commissioner Sir David Collins’ promise to MPs this month that all reviews were on track to finish on time by next March.

In November many of the earlier reviews had reached the implementation phase – and the government had at last published its long-awaited implementation guidance – providing a good moment to focus on the work ahead for colleges.

Sponsored by the Learning Curve Group, this 16-page supplement reflects on the sweeping changes.

November 25 – AoC Annual Conference 2016

The annual AoC conference was as anticipated as ever, this year bringing a feeling of renewed energy in the FE sector.

The AoC’s new chief executive David Hughes undoubtedly added to this feeling of revitalisation. He kicked off the conference on a positive note, and despite acknowledging the challenges brought by the recent “blizzard of changes”, reassured delegates in his speech that he has “a lot of hope”.

This 16-page supplement, sponsored by NOCN, includes everything on offer at the conference, including education secretary Justine Greening, skills minister Robert Halfon, new FE commissioner Richard Atkins, TV star Ruby Wax, among much more.

November 25 – The Skills Show 2016

While the policy focused AoC conference wrapped up in November, just down the road at Birmingham’s NEC The Skills Show kicked off its fifth annual event.

This was the chance for everyone to see policy put into action as the country’s best apprentices and learners battled in the national WorldSkills UK skills competitions.

There was also an abundance of careers advice from leading employers such as Dyson and Jaguar Land Rover on offer, as well as the chance to have a go at more than 50 different skills, and the opportunity to speak to past WorldSkills UK competitors.

This 16-page supplement, sponsored by Learning Curve Group, gives an insight into the country’s biggest careers event.

December 5 – EuroSkills 2016 | celebrating Team UK’s success

We signed off our supplement haul for 2016 with a week in Gothenburg for EuroSkills 2016.

FE Week reporter Billy Camden has followed Team UK since they were announced in May, with the journey culminating in the European skills finals in Sweden.

Around 500 young people aged 18 to 25, from 28 different countries competed in 44 different skill areas from stonemasonry to hairdressing.

Team UK did themselves more than proud by taking home an impressive medal haul of two gold, one silver, and two bronze medals.

This 16-page supplement completed onsite in Sweden and sponsored by Smart Assessor, takes you from the start to finish of Team UK’s successful journey.

FE Week continues to bring you all the important news, analysis and comment, pressing the government on key unanswered questions and often being first to many of the most important developments.

In 2016 we’ve published a whopping 972 news stories, covering everything from the latest on apprenticeship reforms to the highs and lows of providers performance.

We have also profiled 16 of the sectors key figures, including apprenticeship champion of the year Neil Cain, Neil Carmichael, chair of the Education Select Committee, and Nadhim Zahawi, the former PM’s apprenticeship adviser.

FE Week has shared 209 expert opinions on the whirlwind of changes that 2016 has brought and also celebrated the weird and the wonderful among student experiences in our campus section.  

Finally, we have produced 10 supplements this year on a wide range of topics, such as traineeships, technology and EuroSkills 2016.

Check out our highest hitting stories from the year here:

Rank 1 – Exclusive: Principal’s salary doubles to over £330k

In March, exclusive FE Week analysis of Skills Funding Agency data revealed that the salary of Sunaina Mann, principal and chief executive officer of Nescot, had more than doubled from 2013/14 to 2014/15 – making her the highest paid college principal in England.

Her wage leapt from £150,000 for 2013/14 to £300,000 for 2014/15, the third year of Nescot’s involvement in the Saudi Arabian Colleges of Excellence programme.

FE Week also conducted an investigation into the colege’s involvement in Saudi Arabia, where it runs a female college in Jeddah.

Rank 2 – Ofsted boss tells MPs all 16 to 19-year-olds should be taught in schools

In March former chief inspector of Ofsted Sir Michael Wilshaw caused controversy by saying that all 16 to 19 year olds should be educated in schools, in an oral evidence session of the Education Committee.

During the parliamentary session he said that “16 to 19 should be done in school”, adding that for vulnerable learners the broad nature of FE institutions could mean they “get lost” and “drop out”.

In contrast, he said, schools coming together in groups made for a “really great opportunity” to deliver vocational education. Amongst these groups he included UTCs, which have seen a number of problems with recruitment this year.

Rank 3 – Department for Education taking over FE, skills and higher education

In July, following the government reshuffle that placed Justine Greening as the new education secretary, it was announced that the Department for Education would take over responsibility for FE, skills and higher education – previously handled by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Number 10 released a statement saying that “bringing these responsibilities together will mean that the government can take a comprehensive, end-to-end view of skills and education, supporting people from early years through to postgraduate study and work”.

Amongst the DfE’s new responsibilities would be “delivering more apprenticeships through a fundamental change in the UK’s approach to skills in the workplace”.

The change was received positively by the sector, with the Association of Employment and Learning Providers for example saying that having “apprenticeships and traineeships under one roof” could be “a very positive move”.

Rank 4 – Exeter College is the best college in the country, according to FE Week’s new league table

In November, exclusive FE Week research produced our first ever ranking table, which placed Exeter College top of the list.

The Ofsted ‘outstanding’ college had previously been led by the new FE commissioner Richard Atkins from 2002 until he retired in March this year, and scored full marks in the FE Week tables.

It was followed closely by Kendal College, Selby College and Eastleigh College.

The FE Week ratings were based on four measures: 2016/17 adult apprenticeships allocations as a percentage of all adult funding, employer and learner satisfaction scores, and destination data (specifically a college’s success at getting unemployed learners into work).

Rank 5 – Skills white paper to propose academic and vocational divide

May brought another exclusive from FE Week, after we gained access to a leaked report plan which detailed the developments that could be expected from a delayed skills white paper – the first of its kind in a decade.

FE Week revealed that the paper would separate academic and vocational provision, making 16 year olds choose between academic courses that set a path to university and 15 new ‘professional and technical routes’ in work.

The paper reflected the recommendations of an independent panel set up by the government to look into reforms to technical and professional education, which was led by Lord Sainsbury.

Rank 6 – Hotly anticipated apprenticeship levy funding update released

In August FE Week reported on the much anticipated information update from the government on the apprenticeship levy.  

The guidance revealed that nearly all employers would only have to contribute 10 per cent to the cost of an apprenticeship when the levy comes into play in April 2017.

It explained that the government would pay 90 per cent of the costs for the 98 per cent of employers with annual wage bills below £3m, who will not be paying the levy.

Other announcements in the release included a 10 per cent monthly top-up for levy paying employers, and details of a nee register of apprenticeship training providers.

Rank 7 – Apprentice minimum wage rate rising by 10 pence an hour

National Apprenticeship Week got off to a flying start back in March when business secretary Sajid Javid announced the national minimum wage rate for apprentices would increase from £3.30 to £3.40 from October 1.

On the first day of NAW, Mr Javid explained that the Low Pay Commission’s 2016 report made the recommendation for the apprenticeship increase, and the government would abide by all other recommendations on the National Minium Wage, including that the adult hourly national minimum wage rate for 21 to 24-year-olds should increase from £6.70 to £6.95.

Rank 8 – Exclusive: Cornwall College principal Amarjit Basi resigns

Back in July, FE Week was first to reveal that a college plagued with funding problems would part ways with their principal.

FE Week was exclusively sent a statement from Philip Rees, the chair of governors at Cornwall College, saying that principal Amarjit Basi had resigned.

Cornwall College’s funding troubles during Mr Basi’s tenure included receiving a notice of financial concern from the Skills Funding Agency, followed by the University and College Union calling on Mr Basi to take a pay cut to show solidarity with up to 60 staff set to lose their jobs through cutbacks at the college.

Mr Basi, who had been principal and chief executive of The Cornwall College Group since 2013, left his post on July 31.

Rank 9 – Choose academic or technical route at 16 – radical government plans reveal

Shockwaves were sent through the FE sector in July when former skills minister Nick Boles announced plans for a radical overhaul to the post-16 vocational qualification system by replacing 20,000 courses with “15 high-quality routes”, as FE Week had exclusively revealed two months before.

The release of the ‘Post-16 Skills Plan‘ coincided with Lord Sainsbury’s ‘Report of the Independent Panel on Technical Education’, which recommended each route has a ‘common core’ which will include English, maths and digital skills as well as a “specialisation towards a skilled occupation or set of occupations.”

The plans stated the government’s ambition for 16 year-olds to be take one of two choices: “the academic or the technical option”.

Rank 10 – Nescot College board learn husband to principal was paid £177,000

FE Week exclusively revealed in May that the husband of the highest-paid FE principal in the country – Sunaina Mann – was paid almost £200,000 in a contract that was not declared to college governors for 18 months.

FE Week had previously revealed that Ms Mann, the principal of North East Surrey College of Technology, received a salary of £363,000 in 2015 – more than double what she had earned the previous year.

We then found that her husband, Jaswinder Singh Mann, was also employed as a consultant by Nescot to work on its controversial partnership in Saudi Arabia, the Jeddah Female College.

The arrangement means that the couple gained £775,000 in total from Nescot over the course of two years.

This year brought a wealth of interesting developments for FE Week to cover – from a new government to long-awaited details on apprenticeship reforms and the outcomes of a number of area reviews.

But none of this would have been the same without FE Week’s brilliant cartoonist Bill Houston to capture the key events, and we have gathered his work below for readers to review some of 2016’s top moments in FE.

Nick Boles featured most often in what turned out to be his final year as skills minster, making seven animated appearances. 

But he was soon succeeded by the new minister for apprenticeships and skills, Robert Halfon, who was so pleased with his first FE Week caricature that he requested a copy to hang in his office. 

Other FE figures who featured three times or more in cartoons this year included David Hughes, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, and his predecessor Martin Doel; Mark Dawe, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers; former FE commissioner Sir David Collins; Peter Lauener, chief executive of the Skills Funding Agency and Education Funding Agency, and shadow chief executive of the Institute for Apprenticeships; and the prime minister herself, Theresa May.

Bill was also quick on the draw at the Association of Colleges conference this November, where he could be found meeting delegates and sketching dozens of familiar sector faces (pictured above).

And FE Week’s December portrayal of a magical Sir Michael Wilshaw, his third and final appearance in the paper this year before retiring from his role as Ofsted’s chief inspector, even made it onto a delicious cake to celebrate his time in office. 

Scroll to the bottom of the article to cast your vote. 

RT @Ofsted_MCoffey: Thank you for the cake for Sir Michaels retirement @FEWeek @NickLinford @Outinthemhills pic.twitter.com/0a4xYXPIpR

— Ofsted (@Ofstednews) December 21, 2016

Rediscover our year in cartoons here:

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The Education Funding Agency has announced that the national base funding rates of £4,000 per full time student aged 16 to 17 and £3,300 for 18 year olds will remain unchanged for the academic year 2017 to 2018.

The update will come as a disappointment to the Association of Colleges, which has been lobbying the government to increase the funding rate.

In its Autumn Statement Submission in October the AoC published 20 recommendations, with the funding rate third on its list.

It said: “The national base rate for 16 and 17-year-olds (currently £4,000) should be increased so that it provides the necessary funds for high-quality education.”

But in today’s (December 21) letter from the EFA to providers, Peter Mucklow, national director for young people, wrote: “The national base rates of £4,000 per full time student aged 16 to 17 and £3,300 for 18 year olds are maintained for academic year 2017 to 2018 as are the part time funding rates.

“This is in line with the commitment made in the 2015 Spending Review.”

The letter also covered traineeships. Mr Mucklow wrote: “We will continue to ensure that funding supports institutions growing traineeship numbers.

“If you have exceptional growth in traineeships in academic year 2016 to 2017, please submit a business case using our online enquiry form after the R06 data window closes. We will then review cases in March 2017 and inform you of the result in April 2017.”

He added: “We will confirm the deadline and criteria for business cases in late January 2017 via our e-bulletin.”

A spokesperson for the Association of Employment and Learning Providers said: ‘It’s good to see the EFA’s commitment to support growth in traineeships. 

“However we have said to ministers that the whole funding system for the programme needs review because growth has generally been modest. 

“Uncertainty surrounding the programme’s long-term future with devolution on the horizon is also holding back provider investment in it.”

Mr Mucklow also confirmed that the EFA will be moving forward with plans to phase out Formula Protection Funding, with 2020/21 the final year it is payable.