Blog posts for tag:Vocational

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Policy Corner - 21 May 2015

By Andrew Gladstone-Heighton, Policy Leader, Thursday 21 May 2015

Andrew Gladstone-Heighton

The Sector speaks in the FE & Skills Survey and funding is key issue (p4/5) - The news for this week is dominated by the findings of the FE Week FE & Skills survey, which finds the key concerns from people in the sector are funding, the volume of change and workload, English and maths and the ‘broad direction of travel for the sector.’ 90% of respondents were concerned about levels of funding, both for individuals and institutions, while 92% were concerned about the pace & volume of changes, and 96% were concerned at perceived levels of external bureaucracy.

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Post-election round-up: How will Schools be affected?

By , Tuesday 19 May 2015

The big news of the past month has of course been the General Election – the surprising outcome of which is continuing to be a hot topic of discussion. I’m sure you’ll agree that a majority Conservative government – and the resulting potential impact on schools – was not what most of us were expecting, whatever your political views. Nicky Morgan’s reappointment as Education Secretary brings some stability, but also a commitment to the Gove reform agenda which will impact heavily on teachers of learners aged 11-19.

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Vocational education following the general election

By , Tuesday 19 May 2015

The big news of the past month has of course been the General Election – the surprising outcome of which is continuing to be a hot topic of discussion. I’m sure you’ll agree that a majority Conservative government – and the resulting potential impact on the FE sector – was not what most of us were expecting, whatever your political views. The full details of the Conservatives’ spending plans will be outlined in a spending review, expected to take place in June. However, we’re likely to see further cuts to adult skills funding, which will continue to have a significant impact on our sector. The loss of Liberal Democrat Vince Cable – a key ally as a champion of FE – is a particularly significant blow. Despite the inevitable cuts, we’ve retained funding for many of our important qualifications, and we’re delighted that so many of you have told us that you want to retain or grow this provision.

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An update on adult skills funding in 2015-16

By David Grailey, Chief Executive, Wednesday 22 April 2015

David Grailey

The cuts to funding for adult skills in 2015-16 have been widely documented in the last month as the Association of Colleges warns that up to 190,000 adult education places will be lost next year. However, the government has stated that although overall funding is being cut, high quality apprenticeships and English and maths are being prioritised to ensure that learners are literate and numerate, with vocational qualifications of prestige.  At NCFE, we have been working hard to ensure that our popular and valued vocational qualifications have their funding protected and we’re pleased to say that we now have almost 100 funded qualifications available for 15-16 with further qualifications pending approval. These qualifications include courses within Health and Social Care such as Level 2 Certificate in the Principles of Dementia Care, Level 2 Certificate in the Principles of the Prevention and Control of Infection in Health Care Settings, as well as substantial qualifications such as Level 1, 2 and 3 Diplomas in Entry to the Uniformed Services and many more.

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General Election - what's in it for schools?

By Andrew Gladstone-Heighton, Policy Leader, Wednesday 22 April 2015

Andrew Gladstone-Heighton

Over the last few weeks the manifestos for the UK national parties have all been released. So we wanted to give you a round-up of the key points potentially impacting schools and secondary education. Of course this is just a snapshot and with many pundits saying that this election is going to close, (some commentators stating a 91% chance of a hung parliament at present) coalition (or supply and confidence) relationships between parties could be highly likely which means many of the points outlines below could be up for negotiation. Conservatives

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Supporting Year 11 achievement

By Kevin Gill, Marketing Projects Leader, Tuesday 21 April 2015

Kev Blog

To have performance points all qualifications must have external assessment…right? Well not quite. Did you know that we also offer a small number of existing non V Cert Level 1 qualifications that are 100% portfolio based? This means that for this year’s Year 11 pupils there is still time to deliver these qualifications for the 2015 performance tables.

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An important milestone for V Certs

By David Grailey, Chief Executive, Monday 20 April 2015

David Grailey

Firstly, welcome back after the Easter break! An important milestone in your annual school calendar, I’m sure. No doubt a busy term lays ahead for you and your school. To support you with the delivery of all NCFE qualifications, we’ll look forward to continuing to support you with our award winning service during this busy time. Last term NCFE also hit a very important milestone. But before I go into that I’d like to give a little bit of context. In September 2013 we saw the first Year 11 pupils begin their V Cert studies with NCFE. As a new range of qualifications designed to respond to the Department for Education (DfE) performance table we were certain of their value to you and your pupils.

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Policy Corner - 17 April 2015

By Andrew Gladstone-Heighton, Policy Leader, Friday 17 April 2015

Andrew Gladstone-Heighton

‘Everybody has A*s – employers want character’ (p10) – John Cridland, Director-General of the business lobbying organisation the CBI, wants schools to do more to develop character – he said in an interview with TES that his members would look "at all elements of a learner’s CV, rather than merely the qualifications, because everybody has A*s." He also called for Ofsted to judge schools on the holistic development of pupils, looking at a students’ ‘whole education’ – which has aligned with recent announcements from Education Secretary Nicky Morgan and Labour’s Tristram Hunt.

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Consumers trust employers delivering Apprenticeships

By , Thursday 26 March 2015

Apprenticeships is the topic on everyone’s lips at the moment, with cross-party pledges to increase the number of young people undertaking Apprenticeships following the General Election, and a successful Apprenticeship Week highlighting the benefits of the scheme to businesses, educational institutions and learners. The evidence supporting Apprenticeships as a viable education path to take continues to grow, as research has shown customers favour businesses with Apprentices over those who don’t use Apprenticeship schemes at all.

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Apprenticeships - the week that was

By David Grailey, Chief Executive, Tuesday 17 March 2015

David Grailey

Last week we celebrated the eighth National Apprenticeship Week, which saw more than 600 events held across the country, shining a national media spotlight on Apprenticeships; a spotlight which was only intensified by the build up to the general election. With a year of change behind us and a great deal of uncertainty still ahead in terms of the future for Apprenticeships, the week provided a welcomed opportunity to take stock and appreciate the true value that Apprenticeships have on the lives of learners, businesses and our economy. Co-ordinated by the National Apprenticeship Service, the week aims to help inspire more young people to become apprentices, whilst encouraging business to unlock the potential of Apprenticeships.

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