York College
‘apprenticeships’
Too many uncertainties in the new apprenticeship system is fuelling the acute lack of assessment organisations for new standards, according to the boss of their industry body. FE Week research has revealed that more than half (87 out of 162) of the apprenticeship standards approved for delivery by the Skills Funding Agency still do not […]
News
More than a third of the apprenticeship standards that the government has deemed ready for delivery involve no funded qualifications other than a final assessment, exclusive FE Week research has revealed. While the standards have end-point assessments in place, they will not provide apprentices with the chance to accumulate qualifications as they go along – […]
A sixth form college that hadn’t received an inspection for 10 years sank from ‘outstanding’ to ‘requires improvement’ – in a mixed week for FE Ofsted reports. Governors at Holy Cross College, in Manchester, were criticised for their failure to recognise the “significance of the decline in standards” at the SFC. The new report, published […]
The Institute for Apprenticeships is the most popular choice for external quality assurance for apprenticeship standards – even though it was only set up as a “last resort” option for this sort of thing. Of the 162 apprenticeship standards currently approved for delivery, 26 have chosen the IfA as their EQA route, compared with just […]
Do colleges feel picked on? You bet. Funding cuts over the last 10 years and the difficulties in dealing with less money, annual redundancy rounds and adapting to a declining market have led to us being put under the cosh by government and Ofsted in a number of ways, some unfairly. There isn’t a level […]
Opinion
Of course there will be teething troubles as the levy kicks in, but current developments in the apprenticeships arena – the most significant overhaul of the system for more than 30 years – have to be warmly welcomed. Anything that significantly enhances employability, work readiness and job prospects must be good. Many of today’s senior […]
Many of the colleges and training providers that failed to get on the apprenticeship provider register are red-faced. Not just angry but embarrassed, given some simply failed to comprehensively answer the questions in the tender document. The SFA is sticking to its guns, but I suspect a quick reapplication will result in this being a […]
The nation’s second largest city may not have an FE college delivering apprenticeships when the levy launches in April, as none of its colleges has made it onto the new register of apprenticeship training providers. Birmingham Metropolitan College, Bournville College, South and City College and Solihull College were all missing from the list published by […]
Your weekly guide to who’s new, and who’s leaving There have been two new appointments at Askham Bryan College, which specialises in land-based courses. Sandra Burnhill has been appointed executive director of the York college. She joins Askham Bryan from her role as assistant principal at Kirklees College, which she has held since 2009. Beginning […]
Movers and Shakers
