Blog posts for author:David Grailey

As promised earlier this year, I’m pleased to share with you an update on the V Cert resource pilot project. As mentioned in previous newsletters we're already signing up schools to run these qualifications from September. We’re using the time now to test the qualifications and strengthen our resource and support for schools choosing to run NCFE V Certs.

This month, we’ve been celebrating the positive impact of Apprenticeships on individuals, business and the economy, through National Apprenticeship Week. The awareness raising week is co-ordinated by the National Apprenticeship Service and aims to shine a light on the successes of apprentices throughout the country. It seems fitting that David Cameron marked the start of the week by re-affirming the government’s commitment to work-based training, sitting at “the heart of our mission to rebuild the economy".

This month news broke about the proposed Department for Education (DfE) changes to Level 3 qualifications delivered to 16-19 year olds. So I thought it would be a good opportunity to share this news and our own response to this with you. The DfE proposal is that in order for Level 3 qualifications to be counted in league tables, they’ll have to meet a number of requirements, depending on whether they are ‘Applied General’ or ‘Occupational’.

I was interested to see the headline results of the ‘Impact of FE Learning’ study which revealed that a third of men and nearly a third of women who participated in Further Education got a better job as a result. The report from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills found that the primary motive for FE learning was to improve job prospects, or get a new job. Although this news isn’t surprising to those of us who work in this important sector, it’s good to see the message being highlighted – Further Education has employability at its core and has the power to change lives.

Before the half term break, the government announced that it was scrapping its plans to replace GCSEs with an English Baccalaureate. The reversal was announced by Michael Gove, the education secretary alongside other curriculum changes. Since this announcement, the spotlight is now on the future form of GCSEs. Michael Gove told MPs that there is still “a consensus that the system needs to change” to address grade inflation, dumbing down and loss of rigour. From autumn 2015, 'new' GCSE courses are set to be launched in English, maths, the sciences, history and geography.

Business leaders are well known for their criticism that too many young people are leaving school without adequate skills and lacking in important employability skills.  They suggest that young people are leaving education have poor standards of literacy, numeracy, communication and problem solving skills. With nearly a million young people still classed as NEETs it is vital that we work together to ensure their talent and potential is not wasted.  This is why it’s particularly heartening to read about the additional funding that has been secured by sixteen providers from the Apprenticeship Application Support fund run by the Association for Employment and Learning Providers on behalf of the National Apprenticeship Service.

Happy New Year – I hope that you and your families had a good time over the festive season. And as we start 2013, I am delighted to announce that NCFE has been awarded Investors in People Gold Standard. To achieve Investors in People is great, to achieve their Gold Standard reflecting world-class best practice is fantastic. We’re delighted to join the 600 companies in the UK who hold the Gold Standard and believe it really does demonstrate our ambition and commitment to achieving high performance and delivering exceptional customer service.

I’d like to start by wishing you and your school a Happy New Year for 2013. Following on from last month’s newsletter, I can tell you that we’ve already started receiving requests to run the new V Cert qualifications.