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‘apprenticeships’

Why create a barrier to apprenticeships?

Teresa Frith compares different visions for the future of apprenticeships. The Husbands Review of apprenticeships is, at first glance, wife of the Richard Review. It also takes what, by all measures, is a successful government-supported initiative and seeks to introduce radical change. It would be a brave person who claimed there is nothing wrong with […]

Opinion

Major challenges ahead to make Labours plans into reality

Steve Besley offers a Policy Watch perspective on Labour’s proposals on apprenticeships. We’ve had world class qualifications for the academic system, now we have a call for “a universal gold standard for apprenticeships”. This would be based on a level three threshold with minimum durations, dedicated time for off the job training and greater employer […]

Opinion

How much involvement do employers really want?

Rob Wye warns Labour’s plans for more employer-involvement in apprenticeship schemes could actually put many businesses off taking on trainees. The Husbands Review of Vocational Education and Training aims to “address historic weaknesses in skills development and training to improve the country’s competitiveness”. It identifies issues that have hindered the quality and quantity of apprenticeships […]

Opinion

Charge for 16 to 18 training not ruled out

Skills Minister Matthew Hancock (pictured, right) has refused to rule out the possibility that employers may have to pay towards the cost of training for 16 to 18-year-old apprentices. In a webinar from the Department for Education, and in partnership with FE Week, the minister spoke to an online audience of around 500 about the […]

News

Miliband sent ‘back to drawing board’

Labour leader Ed Miliband has been told to “go back to the drawing board” with his plans to create 125,000 apprentices. The proposals — in which companies would be forced to train a “local” apprentice for every foreign worker they take on — were branded “illegal” by Skills Minister Matthew Hancock, who further questioned Labour’s […]

News

24+ loan applications up 46 per cent a-month

Nearly 16,000 people applied for the 24+ Advanced Learning Loan in August, up 46 per cent on the number of applications made in the previous month (10,772). Data Service figures further revealed just under half of the 34,700 loans applications since the programme launched in April were submitted in last month alone (15,725). Boston College […]

News

Mixed welcome for older apprenticeships ‘policy shift’

An apparent shift in FE funding policy that could see a rise in the number of 24+ apprentices has received a mixed welcome. In March last year the agency said, in its 2012/13 final allocations methodology briefing note, that it would “not award any growth” for older apprenticeships. But an agency spokesperson confirmed to FE […]

News

Labour conference fringe event

Download your free copy of the FE Week 16-page Labour conference fringe event supplement on the future of apprenticeships, in partnership with Pearson. Click here to download (15mb) Introduction Welcome to this FE Week supplement on the Labour Party conference fringe, where FE Week ran its own event. This was our first foray into the […]

Supplements

New social partnership needed for apprentices

Wider agreement between the Government, employers, learners and learning providers is needed to ensure apprenticeships set people up for long and fulfilling careers, explains David Hughes from the Labour Party Conference. We all know apprentices are a good thing, don’t we? Sitting on the panel at the FE Week fringe event last night on the […]

News, Opinion