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The government and Ofqual have recently confirmed that from September 2015, new GCSEs and A Levels will be taught in schools and colleges across the country. From September 2017, all of these new qualifications will have been implemented. Maths, English language and English literature will be the first new GCSEs to be studied in the next academic year, with other subjects following in 2016. The first results of these new GCSEs will be released in August 2017, reflecting the change to exam timetables specifying that learners will sit exams at the end of their course. Previously learners were able to sit assessments throughout the two-year period.

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Figures recently released by the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) detail a fall in the overall number of new apprentice starts for the second consecutive year. The SFA report showed a fall of nearly 70,000 in the number of new all-age apprentices for 2013-14 compared to the previous year. The 25+ age group bore the brunt of the drop, seeing numbers decrease from 230,300 to 161,600 (-29.8%) this year. The 19-24 age group also contributed to the dip in numbers, with 2.8% less new apprentices this year compared to 2012-13.

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It’s worrying to see that the number of adults in Further Education has dropped considerably due to this demographic now having to self-fund their education and training through borrowing and loans. The number of over-19s in FE fell by over 10% between 2012-13 and 2013-14, according to recent figures published by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

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As we approach 2015’s General Election, ‘Apprenticeships’ is the hot topic that binds all 3 of the big political parties. However, Ofsted FE and Skills Director Lorna Fitzjohn has recently spoken out about young people not being well advised on the benefits of apprenticeships when at school, resulting in the number of apprenticeship starts among young people ‘flatlining’. She claims that careers advice in schools mainly focuses on A-Levels as the preferred option for teenagers due to a lack of understanding in schools about work-based training.

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It was great to catch up with many of you during the AoC conference last month. I hope those of you who attended were able to find a few spare moments during conference’s packed itinerary to drop by the NCFE stand to pick up your education elephant and thumb through our recently published digital Directory of Products and Services. With the end of the calendar year looming, I always find the conference provides a valuable opportunity to reflect with colleagues over the events of the past 12 months and discuss the challenges facing the sector for the following year.

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£142m contractor top-slicing ‘extortionate’ 40% (p1) - Learndirect, the country’s biggest Skills Funding Agency (SFA) contractor, is under scrutiny after charging ‘extortionate’ 40% management fees on its contract value. FE Week has found out this information after new ‘duties’ were introduced on 24 November requiring SFA claimants to declare what they charge their subcontractors. Apparently "Learndirect failed to meet the new duty, but the 40% top-slice was declared in its range of fees."

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Agency review puts 1,600 quals in the funding firing line (p3) – The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) has listed ‘nearly 700’ qualifications it will remove from public funding and a further 972 at risk of losing their fundable status in its Annual Review of Qualifications, published on its website. The Agency has published the lists of qualifications with 100 funded enrolments a year or fewer, with a call for Awarding Organisations who want to keep these qualifications funded to make their case by the 4 December.

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Skills Minister Nick Boles has revealed that new apprenticeship frameworks will no longer have to be graded using pass, merit and distinction. Instead, it will be assessed whether apprenticeships should be graded on a ‘case by case basis’ as a compromise position. The change in direction follows concerns raised by the sector regarding apprenticeship reform. However, it will only be a small number of cases where apprenticeships will be exempt from grading and there will need to be good justification to warrant this exemption.

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As the campaign trails of the 3 major political parties rumble onward to the general election in May, I’m encouraged by the growing emphasis being placed on lifelong learning. Addressing industry leaders at the Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) annual conference earlier this week, Prime Minister David Cameron spoke about the importance of the nation’s workforce engaging in continual education throughout their working lives.

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‘Dramatic changes’ lie ahead with Progress 8 (p6) – The forthcoming changes to school performance tables could lead to ‘hundreds’ of schools facing government intervention. Research by the Fischer Family Trust has measured schools performance in 2013 against the new ‘Progress 8’ target (which measures schools students’ progress across a broader range of 8 subjects); under this regime 325 schools would fail to meet the new minimum standards.

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Blog posts for tag:apprenticeships

Changes to GCSEs and A Levels

Apprenticeship start numbers: The good and the bad.

Supporting adult learners

Call for career advice on apprenticeships

AoC 2014: The highlights

Policy Corner - 9 December 2014

Policy Corner, 17 November 2014

Changes to Apprenticeship grading

The future of lifelong learning

Policy Corner - 3 November 2014

Authors

Lindsay Plumpton

David Grailey

Andrew Gladstone-Heighton

Esme Winch

Michael Lemin

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Blog posts for tag:apprenticeships

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Authors

Lindsay Plumpton

David Grailey

Andrew Gladstone-Heighton

Esme Winch

Michael Lemin

Categories

Archive