York College
‘ofqual’
Coronavirus and “unnecessary delays” by the exams regulator have been blamed for disrupting the roll out of free, government-developed, basic IT qualifications for adults. Despite the August launch date for the “entitlement”, which covers fully funded digital skills courses at entry and level 1, qualifications watchdog Ofqual revealed last week it had forced all but […]
News
Awarding organisations are being sought to develop T Levels in areas such as media, animal care, and hair and beauty for the fourth year of the flagship qualification’s rollout. The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) has today published an invitation to tender for suppliers to help design the eight pathways set to start […]
The 68 apprenticeship standards which will have the quality assurance of end-point assessments transferred from the Institute of Apprenticeships and Technical Education to Ofqual in November have been revealed. The standards (see the full list below) all currently use the institute (IfATE) for external quality assurance (EQA), but these duties will be transferred over to […]
The new head of the Skills Network reveals the family and personal influences behind his career to JL Dutaut Mark Dawe is a hard man to pin down. Just 18 months ago, the then boss of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) was opening the FE Week apprenticeships conference with critical comments about subcontracting. “Its […]
Profiles
Two well-known sector leaders have been appointed as the new co-chairs of the Federation of Awarding Bodies. Kirstie Donnelly, chief executive of the City & Guilds Group, and Alan Woods, chief executive of the Vocational Training Charitable Trust (VTCT), will take up the posts at the membership organisation’s next annual general meeting on 8 December. […]
A flexibility that allows apprentices to take their end-point assessment before their functional skills exam is set to be reintroduced, FE Week understands. It follows an investigation by this publication that found thousands of apprentices “stuck in limbo” as awarding bodies struggle to adapt their functional skills assessments in the face of Covid-19. Ministers are […]
Students will still sit one GCSE English and one GCSE maths exam before the summer half term next year, despite a move to push most other exams back by three weeks. The Department for Education has confirmed today that most GCSE and A-level exams will take place three weeks later than usual in 2021, to […]
A former technical qualifications director at the exams watchdog has signalled intention to establish another end-point assessment organisation (EPAO) membership body. Phil Beach, who left Ofqual last month to become chief executive of the Energy and Utility Skills Group – which itself is an EPAO, is sounding out interest for a group “run by EPAOs […]
Schools and colleges can be confident that Ofqual and exam boards have the tools to make summer 2021 exams fair, writes Dame Glenys Stacey Teachers, school and college leaders are working in truly exceptional circumstances with students both in college and at home, and to get them ready for GCSE, AS and A-level exams next […]
Opinion
