York College
‘apprenticeships’
Sector bodies have hit back at Ofsted’s chief inspector for “encouraging government” to restrict course choices made by colleges and employers. One leader said putting restrictions on how firms can spend their cash risks “further reducing training opportunities in lots of workplaces”, while another warned that Whitehall “choosing winners” has a “very chequered history”. The […]
News
Plans for PhD-level apprenticeships have moved a step closer, despite the government’s failing to agree a policy position on the controversial concept. A proposal for the first ever level 8 apprenticeship – the clinical academic professional – has been approved for development. It is not known how long the standard, for the health and science […]
JL Dutaut meets Neil Bentley-Gockmann, the WorldSkills UK CEO whose journey meant leaving behind his community, only better to give back to it Neil Bentley-Gockmann has found his professional “sweet spot”, so the Harvard course in authentic leadership he attended a few years ago would call it. As CEO of WorldSkills UK – the charity […]
Profiles
Skills advisory panels (SAPs) could be given a role in influencing which courses will be prioritised and funded in their area. Little is known about the 36 SAPs, but FE Week understands that the government is working on secondary legislation, an FE Bill, which would change that. The panels were heralded in the Conservatives’ 2017 […]
The first FE provider to receive a grade four under Ofsted’s new inspection regime is closing down. Sixteen jobs are set to be lost and hundreds of learners will be affected after an appeal by independent learning provider Mercia Partnership (UK) Ltd failed to overturn an ‘inadequate’ rating, first published in October. The provider, which […]
The apprenticeships system is “continuing to let women down”, a union has said. The claim came after it was revealed the gender pay gap for apprentices has almost doubled in recent years. Male apprentices at levels 2 and 3 were paid nearly six per cent more than their female counterparts – £7.90 per hour compared […]
A provider of management courses has been declared ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted after it was found learners and their bosses did not know they were on the apprenticeship programme. EQV (UK) has been handed a grade four for its provision to nearly 80 apprentices, who are either on the level 3 team leader or level 5 […]
The Government’s continued failure to deliver on its own apprenticeship take-up target is, in part, a symptom of its failure to properly inform school leavers of the realities of higher education, warns Lawrence Barton The Government is failing to achieve its own targets for the take-up of apprenticeships. Meanwhile, the symbolic target of 50 per cent […]
Opinion
Take-up of bursaries that support young parents while they study has tumbled by over three-fifths in five years – a drop which one union has blamed on a “complex” claiming process. According to Education and Skills Funding Agency data published yesterday, 64 per cent fewer people are using Care to Learn, which is intended to […]
