York College
‘apprenticeships’
The Sixth Form Colleges Association is preparing to launch a campaign calling for a huge increase in the 16 to 18 base rate, just a week after the Association of Colleges will demand an initially smaller rise in their own campaign. The Raise the Rate campaign will call for the funding base rate for all […]
News
The buyer of apprenticeship giant Aspire Achieve Advance will have to pay £500,000 in “deal fees” by the end of 2018. FE Week revealed last week that the crisis-hit training provider, commonly known as 3aaa, has put itself up for sale in the midst of a government investigation into the company. A sales document, seen […]
The boss of Aspire Achieve Advance has contacted the apprenticeship giant’s clients to “reassure” them that he’s taking the business forward as “new management”, even though he’s held a top leadership role there for over two years. Richard Irons (pictured), who joined the company known as 3aaa in mid-2016 as its chief operating officer, was […]
Poor-performing apprenticeship providers should be kicked off the government’s register – not just barred from taking on new starts, the education select committee has urged. It made the call in its new report, ‘The apprenticeships ladder of opportunity: quality not quantity’, published today, based on the findings of its recent inquiry. The report outlines a […]
Allowing employers and apprentices to give “smiley faces” as reviews of training providers is a better indicator of quality than “tick box” inspections, according to the skills minister. Anne Milton was speaking in favour of the Education and Skills Funding Agency’s new service, which will allow employers to score training providers in an online review […]
Ofsted delayed inspecting the beleaguered Aspire Achieve Advance for years despite its achievement rates plummeting when apprentice numbers nearly quadrupled and severe safeguarding concerns were brought forward by a whistleblower. An FE Week investigation has uncovered the serious failing by the education watchdog, which has now come under fire from chair of the influential Public […]
The rushed timeframe ahead of next year’s devolution of the adult education budget means providers will struggle to “hit the ground running” next August and may lead to “market instability”, an expert has said. The warning comes as the first combined authorities are gearing up to start their tender process this month, with contracts due […]
The skills minister has highlighted the “risks” associated with degree apprenticeships after her predecessor evangelised about how they are his “two favourite words”. Anne Milton and Robert Halfon engaged in a heated exchange about the high level qualifications during a fringe event at the Conservative party conference. Mr Halfon, now chair of the education select […]
An employer group that won an appeal over the Institute for Apprenticeships’ handling of funding rate recommendations is still waiting for a final decision, FE Week can reveal. We reported in May that the education and training trailblazer group had rejected the IfA’s recommendations for the three FE teaching standards it is developing. The group lodged an appeal against the […]
