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‘ofqual’

Ofqual reduce £50,000 apprenticeship assessment body fine to £8,595

Ofqual is penalising an end-point assessment organisation to the tune of £8,595 after it admitted to a “series of delivery failings”. The Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEx) will have to pay a £1,000 fine and £7,595 in recovery costs, six months after the exams watchdog first announced it intended to fine the EPAO £50,000. […]

News

Funding ban for new level 3 and below qualifications

The Education and Skills Funding Agency will stop any new qualification at level 3 and below receiving approval for funding from September next year. Officials at the ESFA issued a “moratorium” notice to awarding organisations this week, which will be in place initially for a period of three years. The move is part of the […]

News

AQA to pay out £1.1m for ‘serious breaches’ on exam re-marks

AQA has been fined £350,000 – the largest ever handed out by Ofqual – and will compensate schools and colleges by £740,000 after “serious breaches” of rules over re-marks. The exam board failed to ensure re-marks and moderation were not carried out by the original marker, or by someone with no personal interest in the […]

News

Ofqual chief has three questions for awarding organisations as part of crackdown

Ofqual’s chief regulator has tasked awarding organisations with answering three questions as part of the watchdog’s work on ensuring “public confidence” in qualifications. Addressing the first day of the Federation of Awarding Bodies’ annual conference, Sally Collier said she wanted AOs to “be in the best shape you can be” and it was “the time […]

News

FAB chair to make 5 wishes to education secretary

Federation of Awarding Bodies chair Paul Eeles will make five wishes to education secretary Gavin Williamson at the membership organisation’s annual conference today. His first request will be the return of a dedicated skills and apprenticeships minister. After Anne Milton quit the role ahead of Boris Johnson becoming prime minister, the FE and skills brief […]

News

Ofqual wants to ‘rebuke’ rule-breaking exam boards

Ofqual is proposing to change how it punishes awarding organisations who are non-compliant with new “public rebukes” and fixed penalty notices for those that flout regulations. The exams regulator has launched a consultation to update its Taking Regulatory Action (TRA) policy, which was first published in 2011 and was last revised in 2012. Currently, awarding […]

News

Skills for Care quits official quality assurance role for apprenticeships

Skills for Care is to scrap their adult care external quality assurance service (ACEQUAS) to apprenticeship end-point assessment organisations, FE Week understands. This morning Skills for Care emailed all their partners to say they will cease to deliver their £40 per apprentice EQA service in early September. The email in full: “The Skills for Care […]

News

The new head of the IfATE must address the quality assurance conundrum

It’ll be an overflowing in-tray for Jennifer Coupland, but Tom Bewick believes he knows the most urgent task The chief executive-designate of the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education, Jennifer Coupland, faces a large in-tray. At the Federation of Awarding Bodies we have tried to resist throwing brick-bats at the organisation – preferring instead to […]

Opinion

IfATE delays controversial £40 per apprentice fee

The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education has pushed back its £40 per learner charge for apprenticeship quality assurance to November and committed to reviewing the arrangement in the longer-term. It follows sector criticism of the “unfair” charge, which outraged assessment organisations after they were originally told it would be implemented from September. They had […]

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