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As a final year student, my main concern is to get a good grade and secure a graduate job. One of the most paradoxical situations students face is how to gain experience, if nobody is ready to give you a job in the first place! Hence, it is interesting to see the significant growth in government initiatives and the increase in investment in apprenticeships, in order to encourage students aged between 16 and 19, to gain relevant work experience and develop employability skills. The government’s achievement in starting 2 million apprenticeships since 2010 plays a pivotal role in the employability of high school students and graduates. With the ultimate aim to support the long-term economic plan, the scheme essentially bridges the gap between education and practical skills, by increasing employer participation and encouraging the youth to start developing technical skills at an early age.

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Bank of BIS launches emergency College loans (p1) – FE colleges that are in financial difficulty have a new line of support following the announcement of ‘Emergency Loans’ from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). Rules for ‘exceptional financial support,’ released by BIS on the 4th December, outline the availability of ‘short term loans with up to 3 months repayment and longer term loans to be repaid within a year. A college applying for a loan is open to the risk of intervention from the FE Commissioner, and are provided ‘where a general FE college declares that it is encountering financial weaknesses which it cannot resolve from its own resources or through its usual borrowing facilities.’

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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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The Further Education Learning Technology Action Group (FELTAG) have recently made some recommendations on using technology in education, one of which being that every publicly-funded learning programme from 2015-16 includes a 10% wholly-online component, with incentives to increase this to 50% by 2017-18. Both the SFA and Ofsted have responded to this recommendation with a slightly different approach.

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The government have reinforced the promotion of tolerance and respect in British schools recently, stating these are key British values. The guidance document released by the government at the end of November, entitled ‘Promoting fundamental British values as part of SMSC in schools,’ comes after a number of statements made by members of the government, following concerns around an Islamist takeover in Birmingham schools earlier this year.

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Christmas is here and we have a new performance table list from the DfE. This means we’ve now received confirmation from the Department for Education (DfE) on which qualifications will feature in the 2017 Key Stage 4 performance tables.

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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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Schools

Colleges

Training Providers

Employers

Learners

NCFE is a national Awarding Organisation

Blog Archives: December 2014

Bridging the gaps: Increasing Apprenticeships in the UK

Policy Corner - 15 December 2014

Apprenticeship start numbers: The good and the bad.

Supporting adult learners

Is the future of education digital?

Respect and tolerance vital in schools

NCFE V Certs and the 2017 Performance tables

Call for career advice on apprenticeships

AoC 2014: The highlights

Policy Corner - 9 December 2014

Authors

Lindsay Plumpton

David Grailey

Andrew Gladstone-Heighton

Esme Winch

Michael Lemin

Categories

Archive

Blog Archives: December 2014

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Authors

Lindsay Plumpton

David Grailey

Andrew Gladstone-Heighton

Esme Winch

Michael Lemin

Categories

Archive