apprenticeships | FE Week

Public Accounts Committee wants more DfE action on bad apprenticeships

The Department for Education must “weed out” poor apprenticeship provision, the Public Accounts Committee has said. A new report by the group of influential MPs also presses the department to look into whether financial incentives for teacher training deliver value for money, and to increase the number of women studying science, technology, engineering and maths […]

Open letter sees government on defensive before apprenticeship figures announced

The government is on the defensive one day before the latest apprenticeship figures appear, expected to show a continued year-on-year drop. An open letter signed by skills minister Anne Milton, Institute for Apprenticeships boss Sir Gerry Berragan (pictured above) and dozens of senior figures from business schools, businesses and other organisations wants the sector to […]

Queen’s birthday honours 2018: Who got what in FE and skills?

The FE and skills sector is well represented in the Queen’s birthday honours list this year, in which Ofsted’s chief operating officer has been made a Companion of the Order of the Bath. Matthew Coffey, who joined Ofsted in 2007 and was appointed COO in 2014, has made a “huge contribution” to the education watchdog, […]

Another early monitoring report uncovers insufficient progress

Another Ofsted early monitoring visit to an apprenticeship provider has resulted in a verdict of ‘insufficient progress’ in at least one area – but the Department for Education has refused to say whether it will take action. The watchdog’s report into Mears Learning is the fourth of the 11 monitoring reports so far published to […]

72 apprenticeship frameworks with replacement standards to stay until 2020

There are 72 old-style apprenticeship frameworks with direct standard replacements, the government has confirmed – but they’re not going to be switched off until 2020. The list of 72 – which includes 47 different frameworks at multiple levels – was published today by the Education and Skills Funding Agency. It had sought feedback on switching the […]

Windrush scandal official becomes Cabinet Office apprenticeships chief

The immigration enforcement official blamed for the downfall of the former home secretary Amber Rudd has been moved from the Home Office to the Cabinet Office to lead on apprenticeships strategy. The Home Office announced that Hugh Ind “is moving to work at the Cabinet Office where he will take forward the public sector apprenticeships […]

It’s up to colleges and providers to sell apprenticeships to parents

Parents are still sceptical about high-quality technical education. The entire FE sector has a duty to change their minds, writes Anne Milton As exam time approaches and lots of young people will be thinking about their futures, I want to talk directly to colleges and providers about what they should be letting parents know about […]

Apprenticeship provider’s ban lifted after just two months

An apprenticeship provider whose training was branded “not fit for purpose” just two months ago has been allowed to continue recruiting apprentices. Key6 Group was the subject of Ofsted’s first early monitoring report on newcomers to the apprenticeship market, published in March. The inspectorate’s criticism of a provider new to government-funded apprenticeships when it joined […]

Employers clash with Institute for Apprenticeships over FE teacher funding bands

The group developing three long-delayed FE teaching standards is in a bitter stand-off with the Institute for Apprenticeships, claiming the funding bands on offer represent just half what these standards would cost to deliver. The three standards, ranging between levels three and level five, have been in development since 2015. They were recently assigned funding […]