Blog posts for tag:training providers

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Ofsted annual report: Further Education headlines

By Andrew Gladstone-Heighton, Policy Leader, Tuesday 12 January 2016

Andrew Gladstone-Heighton

Every year, Ofsted releases an annual report looking at the key findings and emerging themes from “over 5,000 inspections of schools, colleges and providers of further education and skills.” We've pulled together the key highlights for Further Education from the report for you. Adult Learning

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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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Policy Corner - March 2015

By Andrew Gladstone-Heighton, Policy Leader, Sunday 08 March 2015

Andrew Gladstone-Heighton

Government scraps ‘deterrent’ apprentice rule (p1) – the government has ‘scrapped’ the rule that requires Apprentices to re-sit any English & maths GCSEs they sat more than 5 years before the Apprenticeship start date. The “Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) confirmed it had removed the rule — in place since 2009 — from the latest version of the specification of apprenticeship standards for England (SASE), but individual frameworks will need to be amended to reflect the change.”

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Hard facts back up soft skills

By Lindsay Plumpton, Communications Leader, Monday 02 February 2015

Lindsay Plumpton

A new campaign by employers is backing ‘soft skills’ as a key factor for success in the workplace. Research has shown that transferable skills such as problem solving, initiative, and team work have a clear economic value worth a huge £88bn to the UK economy. Business giants such as McDonald's, Barclays and the CBI are supporting the campaign to promote the value of these skills, underlining how essential they are in terms of young people progressing into work from education.

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Policy Corner - 14 January 2015

By Andrew Gladstone-Heighton, Policy Leader, Wednesday 14 January 2015

Andrew Gladstone-Heighton

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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Supporting your staff into the online space

By Lindsay Plumpton, Communications Leader, Friday 05 December 2014

Lindsay Plumpton

Earlier this year, the Further Education Learning Technology Action Group (FELTAG), made a number of ambitious recommendations to then Skills Minister Matthew Hancock and the sector more broadly regarding the effective use of digital technology in learning, teaching and assessment in Further Education and Skills. At NCFE, we support new technology within education and believe that digital methods can provide a more flexible, learner-centric approach to education, helping us to fit learning to individual needs. What’s more, it can support and empower staff to further strengthen their teaching.

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Upskilling our workforce

By , Wednesday 26 November 2014

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) is encouraging businesses across the UK to invest in workplace training after their Workforce Survey 2014 highlighted that 92% of businesses acknowledged a skills gap in at least one critical area of the organisation. The most common skill shortages include leadership and management, organisation and planning, and computer literacy. By upskilling staff in these key areas, organisations can make their workforce more efficient and productive.

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Diagnosing dementia

By , Wednesday 12 November 2014

The NHS has recently focused more of its attention on the diagnosis of dementia in an effort to tackle the number of people in the UK living with the disease undiagnosed, thought to be around 90,000. More worrying, it’s estimated less than half of the 800,000 people in the UK likely to be suffering from dementia have been formally diagnosed.

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Changes to Apprenticeship grading

By Lindsay Plumpton, Communications Leader, Wednesday 12 November 2014

Lindsay Plumpton

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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The future of lifelong learning

By David Grailey, Chief Executive, Wednesday 12 November 2014

David Grailey

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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