York College
‘apprenticeships’
The managing director of the Federation of Industry Sector Skills and Standards (FISSS) has stepped down with immediate effect, FE Week can reveal. Mark Froud has left the federation, which represents the 21 sector skills councils across England, after six years at the helm. In an email seen by FE Week, the FISSS independent chair […]
News
Ofqual has ruled itself out of delivering the apprenticeship external quality assurance service for the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education. Sally Collier, the chief executive of the exams regulator, told the Commons education committee during an accountability hearing this morning that her organisation would like to expand its role in monitoring apprenticeship end-point assessment […]
The division responsible for running and promoting apprenticeships within the Department for Education employs the lowest proportion of apprentices across the whole department. Of the 519 people working within the DfE’s Higher and Further Education office, fewer than 10, which is less than 1 per cent, are apprentices. It is not clear the exact number […]
The Education and Skills Funding Agency has reminded providers to conduct prior learning assessments when taking on apprentices, and warned they will be audited to ensure price reductions are being made. New guidance on the rule was published today, and follows the launch of a tender by the agency in February to find a researcher […]
The FE Commissioner is pushing for a mega merger in Cornwall to secure the future of Cornwall College, which is currently surviving on government bailouts. FE Week exclusively revealed the existence of a mysterious and confidential review of further education in Cornwall back in November, after it was requested by Cornwall Council. It put pressure […]
National Apprenticeship Week gives us an opportunity to consider where our system is going wrong and to devise an ambitious plan to combat in-work poverty, says Andy Norman There remains fundamental confusion as to what apprenticeships are and who they should be for. Within the context of rising in-work poverty alongside persistent skills shortages, we […]
Opinion
Universities showed off their apprenticeship delivery skills this week, as one was rated ‘outstanding’ while another was judged to be ‘good’ by Ofsted. It wasn’t so positive for independent providers however, as two were rated ‘requires improvement’ and another was judged to be making ‘insufficient progress’ in its early monitoring visit. Teeside University was the […]
The National Audit Office findings into the apprenticeship reform repeated a number of well-reported issues and concerns, ranging from the fall in starts to an insufficient budget in the longer term. Surprisingly, they failed to say anything about the farce of small employers being turned away because: 1. Non-levy funding had already run out or 2. Non-levy funding remains unavailable. 1. Non-levy funding […]
Anne Milton initially seemed in good spirits when I began our interview at a coffee shop at the University for East London’s (UEL) Docklands campus. It was the morning of the third day of National Apprenticeships Week and she’d just finished meeting apprentices at an informal breakfast. Despite the event not entirely going to plan (a falling roof tile that very narrowly missed the […]
