As I start my eleventh week at AELP (not that I am counting), you will be unsurprised that much of our focus of late has been around readiness, namely provider and employer readiness as part of the ramp up of activity to be ready for the start of the apprenticeship reforms on 1May.
As we enter into April, the formal start of the reforms are less than a month away and despite lots of activity there are still numerous challenges for providers and employers to navigate through, the outcome of the procurement activity for non-levy delivery being a significant question and an area we get asked about with unsurprisingly regularity.
Outside of the fervent activity around provider and employer readiness a significant challenge remains over the advent of end point assessment, not only for the currently fully released 161 apprenticeships standards, but the other standards coming down the assembly line in various states of development. In my own mind this challenge has fallen down the pecking order, but undoubtedly has the potential to torpedo the reforms if the sector doesn’t move quickly to rectify the issue.
Despite calls from many in the sector (AELP included) to move to a model where standards are not released for delivery until the process is fully released, including a robust end point assessment solution this has so far fallen on deaf ears by decision makers. When it comes to end point assessment it is important to acknowledge the significant difference between delivery coverage and delivery readiness. Many strides have been made to ensure coverage has increased significantly for the standards currently released for delivery, however readiness remains a significant and a growing area of concern.
Having a list of approved assessment organisations on the Register of Apprentice Assessment Organisations is one thing, but for providers and employers to be able to buy and access an assessment product and also know the price is clearly quite another.
At AELP’s Spring Conference in Coventry last week I was lucky enough to by the nominated facilitator to NCFE’s workshop on “Navigating End Point Assessment”. Fortunately for me my job was relatively easy as the workshop was delivered in a most enthusiastic and detailed fashion by NCFE’s very own Charlie Freeman and Mike Boswell. In what is an uncertain time for the FE sector, how refreshing it was to hear NCFE’s latest offer around end point assessment.
In what is a challenging new world for providers and employers what I heard last week was an offer which is transparent, uncomplicated and which represents value for money, with the average price of all EPAs offered to date being less than the perceived 20% of the funding benchmark which resurfaced in March’s edition of the SFA’s performance management and funding rules. There is still clearly much work to still do, but at least we are all making steps towards where we need to get to. Definitely one to keep an eye on though…
