York College
‘apprenticeships’
With statistics this month having shown a rise in the number of unemployed 16 and 17-year-olds not in education, employment or training, Nansi Ellis looks at whether the government’s policy of raising the participation age is working. Statistics this month showed that the number of unemployed 16 and 17-year-olds rose over the last three months […]
Opinion
Nearly eight month since the government raised the participation age, Mark Corney evaluates a policy that will next year mean young people up to the age of 18 — increased from 17 — must remain in education or be in training. No one seems to care about 16 and 17-year-olds. Perhaps the reason is that […]
For many small firms, the thought of taking on more than one or two apprentices at once is overwhelming. But that’s no reason to ignore their views on reforms to the programme, warns John Allan. A year ago we published our apprenticeships manifesto outlining what the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) wanted to see from […]
Further education has a key role to play in promoting diversity, says Toni Fazaeli, who calls for an independent commission to report on current sector practices. Nearly 12 years after the publication of Challenging racism: further education leading the way, and six years after Niace published From compliance to culture change: Disabled staff working in […]
Having left school at 15 to become an apprentice plumber, Charlie Mullins now sits as managing director of Pimlico Plumbers. He outlines his view of the apprenticeship system and how it should be used to tackle youth unemployment. After leaving school at the age of 15, I took on a plumbing apprenticeship and that opportunity […]
The National Minimum Wage for apprentices is set to rise by 5p an-hour to £2.73, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has announced. The 2 per cent rise will come into force on October 1. The move, which was recommended by the Low Pay Commission (LPC) after the government asked how it could […]
News
Further evidence has emerged that the government already favours GCSEs, with Skills Minister Matthew Hancock having described Functional Skills as “stepping stone” qualifications. Functional Skills are set to be dropped as the accompanying qualification for apprenticeships in favour of tougher new maths and English GCSEs from 2017 — but they are still supposed to remain […]
Proposals for apprentices to be successfully graded will pass, merit or distinction for their skills have been rejected, FE Week can reveal. Trailblazer employer groups who have been helping develop new apprenticeship frameworks had been instructed to incorporate the three-grade system for marking successful outcomes. We have agreed that for these occupations the grades of […]
Providers were expected to be hit with adult skills budget cuts this week at an average of between 10 and 15 per cent, the Association of Colleges (AoC) has warned. Allocations are due out this week, providing the first indication of the impact of a 19 per cent two-year adult skills budget cut that was outlined […]
