Blog Archives: 2017

Over the summer of 2017, bid writers, providers and specialist contractors met in huddled groups to prepare their submissions for the second attempt at accessing non-levy apprenticeship funding - £650m of funding to be exact. The first attempt earlier in the year was cancelled with comments that it hadn’t been clearly thought through, and with more submissions than expected coming in being mooted, as well as others being used. Subsequently, and after the snap general election, it was relaunched with a very tight deadline of a few weeks, over a period of time when most skills provider staff were due to be taking a well-earned summer rest and recharge of the batteries in time for the start of the new academic year. That was not to be – 10,000 words were required to determine the future of many organisations.

There are many mysteries about the government’s approach to developing ‘T’ levels, the most fundamental of which must be what is meant by the word ‘technical’.  Sometimes it seems to refer to technician level occupations that require sub-degree level qualifications; at other times, it is used interchangeably with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) and at still others seems to mean vocational.  Greater clarity over such a key concept would certainly aid implementation. Less fundamental but even more baffling is the decision that there will be no T levels developed for 4 of the technical routes identified by Lord Sainsbury.  Sainsbury ‘expected’ that these routes would be primarily delivered through apprenticeships though neglected to say why.  Government has had at least 3 formal opportunities to shed light on the issue – in the post-16 skills plan, in the T level action plan, and in the latest consultation paper – but has conspicuously failed to offer any explanation on each occasion.

NCFE partner, Learning Curve Group (LCG), has successfully defended the prestigious ‘Education Business of the Year’ award, winning for the second year running at the EducationInvestor Awards. The awards, hosted by Sir Anthony Seldon, a leading contemporary historian, educationalist, commentator and political author and vice-chancellor of The University of Buckingham, was held at London’s Hilton Park Lane in a glittering affair with over 150 businesses in attendance.

President Trump wants 5 million apprenticeships in the USA by 2020. A trailblazer delegation from the UK visited Washington DC in November this year to find out more and here, Simon Ashworth, Chief Policy Officer at AELP, shares his thoughts and findings on the current approach and future plans for apprenticeships in the USA. I always like to get my thoughts down whilst they are nice and fresh in my mind, so I pen this blog in the back of a taxi on the way from Downtown Washington DC back to Dulles International Airport, before hitting the ‘red-eye’ flight back to Heathrow. Washington is a great city with welcoming people, and I was lucky enough to be on a great delegation party with fifteen senior colleagues from the sector. I’ve not even got back to the UK yet and I’ve already had a plethora of questions about the apprenticeship opportunities in the USA! Is the USA really the ‘land of opportunity’ for providers?

The Chancellor set out his budget that would invest in skills and employment – as well as setting out his vision for the future economy.   There were a number of measures outlined for Education and Skills, so let’s see how they stack up against my pre-budget wish list:

As you’ll be aware, we’ve been waiting for further information from the Department for Education (DfE) regarding technical guidance and the submission windows for qualifications in the 2020 performance tables. We’re committed to transparency and honesty and, in light of new information, we’d like to share with you our plans to get ready for 2020. What the DfE have said

Education Secretary, Justine Greening, recently made her first appearance in front of the Education Select Committee, chaired by one of her former junior ministers, Rob Halfon. Beyond the value of this meeting of minds to policy nerds like myself, it gave us a chance to know Greenings’ mind, and her thoughts of how she feels education is faring on her watch. Quotes are taken directly from the transcript released following the event. What did we learn?

At this critical moment, with so much uncertainty about the future economic and employment prospects of the United Kingdom, we need significant and long term investment commitments across all levels of education and skills policy. More specifically, here’s my 5 point wish list for the Chancellor: To the Chancellor,

Following over a year of media silence, the publication of the T-Level Action Plan provided a welcome insight into progress made and the challenges ahead for implementation of new T-Levels. One of the most striking revelations in the plan is that 4 routes will be delivered through apprenticeships only:

The government’s Action Plan for the implementation of T-Level qualifications created as many, if not more, questions than it has answered. With deadlines looming, the information is still somewhat lacking. Considering the weight of expectation on T-levels in the education system, and the government’s desire to phase them in from 2020, the details on what the T-Levels comprise are sparse. We’ve taken a look at what we know so far and some of the more salient points that we’ve identified as potentially problematic.