Blog Archives: November 2014

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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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Policy Corner, 17 November 2014

By Andrew Gladstone-Heighton, Policy Leader, Monday 17 November 2014

Andrew Gladstone-Heighton

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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It’s all in the balance

By David Grailey, Chief Executive, Wednesday 12 November 2014

David Grailey

It was great to read earlier this year that parents want to see more practical teaching in schools. To mark its 10th anniversary, the Edge Foundation surveyed over 1,000 parents of secondary aged children to get their views about vocational education. I am pleased to say that there was majority support from the sample with most agreeing that technical degrees combining academic and vocational study are of equal value to traditional academic subjects.

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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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A tipping point for vocational education

By David Grailey, Chief Executive, Tuesday 11 November 2014

David Grailey

Throughout our lives, career decisions can be amongst the most defining and important choices we have to make. These can feel especially daunting for those about to make their initial steps onto the career ladder from Further Education or school. It’s therefore not surprising that when making these important decisions, many young people turn to their parents as the first port of call for advice and guidance.

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Policy Corner - 3 November 2014

By Andrew Gladstone-Heighton, Policy Leader, Monday 03 November 2014

Andrew Gladstone-Heighton

‘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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