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Apprenticeship reforms ‘not in long grass’ — Boles (p3) – The Skills Minister is under pressure as it was confirmed this week the government has gone back to the drawing board with plans to route apprenticeship funding through employers. Boles has had a tough week, he was in front of the Education Select Committee following the publication for the government’s plans for Apprenticeship funding, where he admitted that time was running out for the funding reforms, and that any announcement might be delayed until after the General Election (which, as you all should know by now, is 7 May).

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Government say less is more as qualifications fall (47) – the overall number of qualifications being awarded has fallen by 7%, linked to cuts to funding for qualifications that the government said did not offer ‘quality education.’ 654,100 fewer vocational qualifications were awarded in 2013-14 than in 2012-13, and there was a drop of 10.7% of adults undertaking Further Education, with the government stating that "we feel the rigour and relevance of vocational qualifications is more important than numbers [achieved] alone." The government wish to focus on those qualifications 'which deliver most benefit to learners and are of the most value to employers.’

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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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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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‘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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More than one angle on GCSE grading (p7) Last week saw the announcement of the new GCSE grading system, which will support the introduction of new qualifications starting in 2015. The current A to G scale will be replaced with a 9-1 numerical system, with grade 4 being equivalent to a grade C, grade 7 to a grade A and the new ‘uber-grade’ 9 given to strictly controlled group of top performers.

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The past fortnight has seen the 2 major political parties hold their final annual conference before the General Election in May 2015. At each event, the parties set out their policy plans and goals if they were to lead a majority government post General Election. These plans were articulated through a range of keynote speeches by significant Cabinet and Shadow Cabinet leads, as well as through fringe events, where key decision makers and corporate interests could discuss particular policy matters in a more intimate setting.

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Blog posts for tag:funding

Policy Corner - 29 January 2015

Policy Corner - 14 January 2015

Apprenticeship start numbers: The good and the bad.

Supporting adult learners

AoC 2014: The highlights

Policy Corner - 9 December 2014

Policy Corner, 17 November 2014

Policy Corner - 3 November 2014

Policy Corner - 9 October 2014

Increase in apprenticeship numbers remains cross party consensus

Authors

Lindsay Plumpton

David Grailey

Andrew Gladstone-Heighton

Esme Winch

Michael Lemin

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Blog posts for tag:funding

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Authors

Lindsay Plumpton

David Grailey

Andrew Gladstone-Heighton

Esme Winch

Michael Lemin

Categories

Archive