Windsor Learning Partnership
‘apprenticeships’
A membership body which represents 27 further education colleges has called on the government to think again on the future of the Careers Service. The 157 Group has been enthusiastic about proposals for an all-age guidance service. However, it fears proposed changes to the service for young people will deny many the opportunity for a face-to-face […]
News
“I told them to get lost a thousand times,” says Dame Ruth Silver, of the Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) of which she is now chair. Having announced her impending retirement from Lewisham College, she was intending to “have a break and not do anything,” and certainly wasn’t looking for another big challenge. But […]
Profiles
Despite increased criticism in what the Chief Executive of the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) called ‘hot-housing’, many short NVQ and apprenticeship programmes are still being advertised. In June FE Week reported on the rise of 12 week apprentices, and referred to the call centre training provider Synapse. Since then the Synapse website simply states: “Synapse […]
The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) has allocated more than £8m to City & Guilds in order to deliver 25,000 apprenticeships at Asda. The funding will be used to train employees from May 2011 to July 2012, comprising of £736,824 until the end of July 2011 with a further £7.7m between August 2011 and the end […]
The Bureaucracy Busters, rated PG, coming soon to employers and training providers near you? This is the latest in the Coalition’s on-going saga of deregulation and slashing red tape (see front page). For too long vexatious bureaucracy has held back innovation; Whitehall pen-pushers have strangled professional freedoms and a culture of targets has drowned out […]
Opinion
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has announced a package of new measures today that will cut data returns and audit requirements for apprenticeship delivery, despite fraud and the misuse of funding reaching ‘a record high’ (Click here to read the BIS press release). (Click here to read FE Week’s coverage on the increase […]
The National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) and Skills Funding Agency have this week published a statement (click here) saying they are “determined to see that recent rapid expansion of Apprenticeships is not achieved at the expense of quality”. This follows exclusive coverage published by FE Week which detailed training providers delivering 12 Week Apprenticeships (click here) as […]
The Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) says that not enough employers understand the financial benefits of apprenticeships. The body wants the government’s National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) to create a new marketing campaign that emphasises why businesses cannot afford to not invest in apprenticeships. Paul Warner, AELP’s director of employment and skills, said: “To […]
Young people with learning difficulties and disabilities are not receiving adequate support as they progress to further education, according to an Ofsted report published today. The report, called ‘Progression post-16 for learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities’, found that the opportunities for young people to learn beyond school varies dramatically across the country. Ofsted is […]
