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‘apprenticeships’

CBI calls for Low Pay Commission-type body for levy rate

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) wants the rate for the government’s planned apprenticeship levy to be controlled by a new independent board with the Low Pay Commission (LPC) as the “blueprint,” FE Week can reveal. It made the proposal as part of its submission to the government consultation on the levy plans, which closed […]

News

Apprentices get minimum wage boost with paypackets of lowest-earning up 20 per cent

Apprentices were today benefiting from a 20 per cent boost to their National Minimum Wage to £3.30 an-hour. Business Secretary Sajid Javid (pictured above) said that the inflation-busting increase, from the old £2.73-an-hour rate, was “the largest in history, making sure that apprenticeships remain an attractive option for young people”. It came as the adult […]

News

New destination data performance measure aims to have ‘bite’ to ‘provoke transformational improvements’

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) today launched a consultation on a new destination data performance measure that will have the “bite” to “provoke transformational improvements”. The government launched the consultation, which will close on December 2, to consider its proposal for an outcome-based success measure to complement the existing qualification achievement success […]

News

Degree apprenticeships – not just because they are ‘free’

With the apprenticeships title having undergone a government consultation aimed at protecting the brand, David Allison looks at what effect, if any, degree apprenticeships might also have on the brand. Degree apprenticeships are the latest extension to the range of options open to young people and offer even more strength to the argument that apprenticeships […]

Opinion

‘Not only a car crash, but a multiple pile-up’ — the FE sector view revisited six months after 2015 survey

The 2015 FE Week and Policy Consortium survey was published on the brink of a general election.  Six months on and the new government has introduced a flood of reforms affecting the FE and skills sector.  But far from showing improvement, this follow-up survey, in which the Policy Consortium revisited 32 of the initial survey […]

News

Government presiding over ‘skills emergency’ and ‘dumbing down apprenticeships,’ Shadow Business Secretary Angela Eagle tells Labour conference

The government is “presiding over a skills emergency which threatens economic growth” while cutting FE funding and “dumbing down apprenticeships”, the new Shadow Business Secretary Angela Eagle warned her party’s conference-goers today. Ms Eagle, who is beginning her third week in the role, raised concerns about the impact of government policy on FE during her […]

News

Sector viewing FE mission as increasingly impossible

Further education’s struggle for survival may not be quite on a par with Tom Cruise battling the Syndicate — that network of dastardly operatives out to establish a new world order following the demise of the IMF. Nevertheless, it looks increasingly like a Mission Impossible to many people in the sector. Well, they do seem […]

Opinion

‘It’s a different way of thinking about how we regulate’ – Ofqual’s Jeremy Benson Q&A on new RQF

The Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF) was unveiled by Ofqual last week and was designed to be more descriptive and less prescriptive than its predecessor, the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF). FE Week spoke to Jeremy Benson (pictured above), Ofqual executive director for vocational qualifications, to find out more about the new framework and what it […]

News

Shakira Martin, vice president, NUS

Shakira Martin’s first brush with national politics came as something of a surprise — in fact, she didn’t even know it had happened. In March last year, Martin was a newly-elected member of the National Union of Students’ FE and society and citizenship zone policy committees attending a work summit. “There was a panel and […]

Profiles