apprenticeship standards | FE Week

Apprenticeship standards left in limbo by IfA red tape

Thirteen separate apprenticeship standards with approved assessment plans have been left in limbo for two or more months because their costs still haven’t been agreed, FE Week can reveal. It is understood that the holdup is the result of various new lengthy and complicated processes which came into force when the Institute for Apprenticeships introduced […]

Institute for Apprenticeships remains the favourite option for EQA

The Institute for Apprenticeships continues to be the dominant external quality assurance (EQA) provider of choice for most Trailblazer groups – even though it describes itself as the “option of last resort”. As a result, concerns are deepening across the sector that the government’s own EQA regulator is regulating itself, a situation that Graham Hasting-Evans, managing […]

More than half of apprenticeship standards still have no assessor

Too many uncertainties in the new apprenticeship system is fuelling the acute lack of assessment organisations for new standards, according to the boss of their industry body. FE Week research has revealed that more than half (87 out of 162) of the apprenticeship standards approved for delivery by the Skills Funding Agency still do not […]

No funded qualifications for over a third of approved standards

More than a third of the apprenticeship standards that the government has deemed ready for delivery involve no funded qualifications other than a final assessment, exclusive FE Week research has revealed. While the standards have end-point assessments in place, they will not provide apprentices with the chance to accumulate qualifications as they go along – […]

Apprenticeships: what are Ofsted inspectors looking for?

Apprenticeships are not vehicles to validate employees’ existing skills – our inspectors want to see that apprentices are learning something new, says Christopher Jones A sign outside a shop in my local market town reads: ‘the only constant in life is change’. I usually ignore such nuggets of wisdom, but this one stuck with me. […]

Why not give Ofqual more power over apprenticeship standards?

The assessment community is calling for Ofqual’s role in apprenticeships to be extended – which shows something is badly wrong, says Gemma Gathercole When I first started working for OCR way back in 2005, there was a single body responsible for both the content of qualifications and their regulation: the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority. It […]

Employers blasted for ignoring apprenticeships they developed

Employers including the private healthcare giant Bupa have been criticised for not employing anyone on apprenticeships they developed, after FE Week found three dental standards which have had no learners in 18 months. Analysis of latest government data shows that three apprenticeship standards – dental laboratory assistant, dental practice manager, and dental technician – were […]

We need a proper framework for apprenticeships

With just weeks to go before the apprenticeship levy and the apprenticeship standards come on line, we are in urgent need of a proper regulatory framework, says Graham Hasting-Evans The government has made it clear the Institute for Apprenticeships is to be a regulatory body for two critical parts of our new skills system. But […]

Large drop in number of standards lacking end-point assessors

The proportion of learners on apprenticeship standards without an approved assessment organisation is dropping rapidly, according to new figures. Statistics published in October showed 42 per cent of all starts (1,790 out of 4,240) until July had no assessment organisation to choose from – a situation that former top skills civil servant Dr Sue Pember […]