This week the Department for Education and Apprenticeships and Skills Minister Robert Halfon set out draft guidance on how the new Institute for Apprenticeships will operate.
3 Million Apprenticeships starts by 2020
The Government has been pushing ahead with its plans to see an increase in the number of people taking Apprenticeships. With an ambitious target of 3 million Apprenticeships starts by 2020 along with major Apprenticeship reform.
“Independent, and with employers at its heart, the Institute for Apprenticeships will be responsible for approving new apprenticeship standards and how apprentices will be assessed to ensure they respond to the needs of business and give learners the skills and experience they need to succeed.”
Draft Guidance
The Department for Education set out the core functions of the New Institute set through legislation:
- Setting quality criteria for the development of apprenticeship standards and assessment plans
- Reviewing, approving or rejecting these
- Ensuring all end-point assessments are quality assured, including quality assuring some itself.
The guidance outlines the ways in which the Institute will report back to government and what other organisations the Institute is expected to work with. What has been made clear is that government will be looking at the Institute to take on a wider responsibility on the Technical Education reform that is also underway.
YEUK’s Response
YEUK welcomes the commitment that both Greening and Halfon has shown to the Apprenticeship agenda and to raising the standards for Apprenticeships. It’s also easy to see why the Institute might take a wider role in Technical Education and seeing a more-joined-up approach to education and skills policy should bode well.
The reforms that are on the table for Further Education and Apprenticeship are substantial. Young people will be the biggest recipient of these reforms, therefore as part of the proposals we would have liked to of seen a recognition of this and a clear call for young people’s voices to be part of the guidance.
Youth Voice
We understand that the Institute will create an “Apprentice Panel” feedback from which will be fed to the board, but there is no place on the board for official youth representation as yet. YEUK Membership is made up of a large number of young people in the UK, our volunteer Ambassadors regularly represent the views of our Youth Members and sit on boards.
YEUK has extensive experience in supporting young people in this way. We believe that done in the right way an Apprentice Panel and representation on the Institute Board can be hugely beneficial and should be much more than a tokenistic response to calls for young people to be involved in the future of skills and training.
Young people will be asked to make quite decisive career decisions at earlier stages of their lives because of these reforms. To see the education system fully engaged with the Apprenticeship and Technical Skills agenda schools will need to have clearer guidance on how they can support students to make the key decisions facing them. Helping young people to develop their confidence and resilience with initiatives such as the YEUK Young Professional Membership will be critical to successful transitioning. It is important that the Department and its Minister make clear the duty upon schools in supporting the industrial strategy and productivity agenda.
Next Steps:
- Read our young members views on apprenticeships
- From an organisation? Find out how we can support your organisation to be more youth friendly with best practice resources
- 16-24? Join us for free to boost your skills and lend your voice
- Read more the Notice of consultation and summary from DfE
- or contribute to the consultation
