Government may pay firms to hire apprentices

http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6082639

Great story in today's TES, increased government support for the apprenticeship programme.

TQS

BIS announcement on Training Quality Standard
19/04/11
The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills has taken a decision to withdraw its funding of the Training Quality Standard. The Skills Funding Agency is therefore working with the certification bodies to wind down the accreditation process in light of the withdrawal of funding.

COVE and TQS are examples of standards achieved through the hard work of dedicated teams, the symbols and status mean quality and gives learners and employers access to what they want. The standards are advertised vigorously on a national level to promote quality and once an employer starts to understand that the name and symbol means quality provision, from a quality organisation the standards are withdrawn. To be replaced by....... here we go again.

Return on Investment

According to research commissioned by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), apprenticeships generate £40 in the economy over a student's lifetime for every £1 spent by the government.

Specification of Apprenticeship Standards for England (SASE)

As we are all aware, the beginning of April brings forth the changes relating to the Apprenticeship standards. I read this thought provoking article today and wanted to share.

Chris Kirk, head of apprenticeships at City & Guilds, says that the issue is with the terminology used in the government documentation for Sase – using the phrase "off the job" to describe guided learning, whereas it actual means "away from your workstation". Only 30 per cent of the 280 hours have to be spent away from everyday duties. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has clarified its definition of guided learning as "traditional classroom learning; e-learning; distance learning; coaching; mentoring; feedback; collaborative/networked learning with peers; guided study; planning and review".

Well done Osborne

"Osborne creates extra 50,000 apprenticeships". The government will spend £180 million on 40,000 apprenticeships for young unemployed people and 10,000 higher apprenticeships over the next four years, to meet the UK's skills shortage. This is in addition to the extra 75,000 places announced last year. John Hayes, the skills minister, said that this would take the total to more than 430,000, a new record.

This is what we are all about, opportunities for more to achieve more.

The IFL debate

I would love to hear the views of others with regard to the ongoing debate about IFL membership. I have asked many of my staff their viewpoint as to should we remain members or should we boycott? Many differing points if view all lead into the one key aspect of "what value do we get as members?" £68 per year, why?
I wish I had the answer to the question but as it seems to be compulsory, what option do we have?
Is it hidden tax, or is there going to be value for money?
Please post your views.

The Employability Challenge

What makes one person employable and another not can be very specific set of skills determined by the role and the individual expectations and needs of the organisation, so naturally defining employability skills can be a challenge. One set of competencies, behaviours and skills will fit with one organisation - but when you change the organisation you're moving the goal posts. Of course employability skills aren’t just what you need to do get an interview and succeed – they change as you progress through different phases in your career. To state the obvious, employability skills are an area of significant challenge for the UK.


UKCES have started to chunk the employability elephant, aiming to stimulate discussion rather than present a sizable steak to chew and digest.

Employability Skills: A Research and Policy Briefing