York College
‘apprenticeships’
Skills Minister Nick Boles has admitted that a string of key apprenticeship reform announcements will be further delayed following Brexit. The government was due to provide further funding information for apprenticeship reforms by the end of this month, with the long-awaited Sainsbury review report setting out new technical professional education (TPE) routes into work, and […]
News
The Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) has picked up a new member that quit rival organisation the Association of Colleges (AoC). FE Week revealed last September that Burton & South Derbyshire College was leaving the AoC, although no comment was provided at the time to explain its reasons for doing this. It has […]
Paul Joyce explains what Ofsted inspectors are looking for from traineeships — beyond high quality English and maths provision. With a greater emphasis being placed on apprenticeships and vocational education, it can sometimes be easy to forget about traineeships and the important role they play in preparing many learners for their next steps. There is […]
Opinion
The government has been accused of “distorting the market” against independent training providers with its post-area review support package for colleges by a sector leader. Mark Dawe, the new boss of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, has now demanded a “level playing field” for public and private providers alike, on the eve of […]
Traineeships aren’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination — as our recent stories exposing their success rate failings to apprenticeships demonstrated. But they still appear to have the full support of the government, which is prepared to invest large sums to boost starts. The findings from our freedom of information request suggest a distinct […]
AoC blames programme design after analysis shows they’re responsible for barely a quarter of starts AELP claims independent training providers best placed to make a success of under-fire scheme Barely a quarter of traineeship starts over the past three years were with colleges, analysis by FE Week has revealed. This startlingly low figure, which was […]
The government plans to slash the amount smaller firms will have to pay towards the cost of apprenticeships training after the levy launch. Employers of all sizes currently have to pay a third of training costs with the Skills Funding Agency agrees to covering the rest, under the pilot for new apprenticeships. That means a […]
Five months of tough challenges culminated this week for the final of the fifth annual Brathay Apprenticeship Challenge, writes Billy Camden. Nine apprentices from the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) have had their skills tested to the limit since February to be named the country’s team of the year. They fought off tough competition […]
Bulletin
Shadow Skills Minister Gordon Marsden reflects on his fears for the future of apprenticeships if Britain pulls out of the European Union (EU). I am firmly in favour of Britain staying in the EU, not least because of all the uncertainty and instability that leaving would cause FE. I haven’t seen the financial forecasts that […]
