Windsor Learning Partnership
‘ofqual’
An end-point assessment organisation claims that the Education and Skills Funding Agency will allow it to subcontract apprenticeship exams – even though the agency is in the middle of a significant crackdown on similar arrangements. SSL Assessment Services Partnerships is currently approved to deliver EPA for the level three team leader standard, and is listed […]
News
The country’s exams regulator has begun an investigation into “direct claim status” in an attempt to tackle qualifications malpractice in FE. Last year, Ofqual launched an inquiry into qualifications fraud in the private security sector after a sting by the BBC found staff at Ashley Commerce College, in Ilford, were prepared to sit exams for […]
Employer groups have complained about the “inordinately long time” it has taken to develop the new apprenticeship standards, some of which were first published over two years ago but are still unready for delivery. FE Week analysis has found that 16 apprenticeship standards published on the gov.uk website between April 2014 and March 2015 have […]
In an embarrassing U-turn, the National Skills Academy for Food and Drink has dropped controversial plans for mandatory vetting of apprenticeship qualifications. The body, which leads the food and drink apprenticeship trailblazer group, recently announced that any awarding organisation wanting to develop their own versions of qualifications included in food and drink standards must submit […]
Tendering for the external quality assurance of apprenticeships has finally been launched by the Institute for Apprenticeships – three months after it was originally supposed to go live. The opportunity to apply to deliver EQA services on behalf of the IfA was posted on the gov.uk contracts finder website last night, with a closing date of […]
End-point assessment has been a huge source of anxiety for providers across the sector this year, amid a growing scandal over the glaring lack of apprentice assessment organisations approved to deliver the new tests. Every apprenticeship standard approved for delivery must now include an EPA carried out by an independent organisation listed on the government’s […]
To avoid a conflict of interest, it would seem logical for Ofqual to take over external quality assurance for the Institute for Apprenticeships, but this would put off many organisations wanting to offer end-point assessment, says Simon Martin Apprenticeship standards are intended to drive forward the workforce skills that UK employers have identified for competitiveness […]
Opinion
Your weekly guide to who’s new and who’s leaving Tim Ward has been appointed chief executive of the Third Sector National Learning Alliance. The TSNLA supports voluntary, community and social enterprise learning providers and plays a role on the national stage in shaping wider education policies. Mr Ward, who was a founding member of the […]
Movers and Shakers
A former university vice-chancellor has been appointed as the new chair of education watchdog Ofsted. Professor Julius Weinberg will replace the current interim chair James Kempton, education secretary Justine Greening announced today. She said Professor Weinberg, who will now step down from his current role as Ofqual’s deputy chair, brings a “wide range of experience […]
