level 2 | FE Week

The level 2 qualifications review is deafeningly silent on key problems

The review seems unaware of the sell-by dates of its proposals – and that’s only the beginning, writes Gordon Marsden As a founder member of the Right to Learn group, which advocates for a statutory right to learn throughout life, I was struck by a number of issues as I ploughed my way through the […]

Scrapping smaller level 2 qualifications would be a national disaster

Many of the small qualifications the government wants to scrap are the best stepping stones for vulnerable individuals, warns Adrian Grove The announcement last month of a consultation on technical and academic qualifications at level 2 and below has sent shockwaves across the further education sector. Claims that the current offering is “too crowded”, with […]

DfE’s double standards over level 2 business admin apprenticeship

The Department for Education has been accused of double standards after it launched a recruitment drive for level 2 business administration apprentices on frameworks while refusing to approve an equivalent standard. Old-style apprenticeship frameworks will be fully switched off next year and replaced with standards, which the government constantly lauds as being of “higher quality”. […]

Open University extends free functional skills offer to level 2

A scheme by The Open University to provide free online functional skills courses has been extended to level 2. Pilots offering the English and maths programmes up to level 1 got under way in February and have been accessed by 12,000 people already, according to the university. Funded by the Department for Education’s flexible learning […]