The future of apprenticeships in England: implementation plan
Tue Oct 29 14:30:00 UTC 2013
The Department for Education, and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), released their plan for the future of apprenticeships in England.
Headlines from the publication announced on 28 October 2013 include:
- Going forward, apprenticeships will be based on standards designed by employers to meet the needs of the sector.
- Government will set up a number of mandatory criteria that all new standards will have to meet.
- Independent holistic end of apprenticeship assessment will be introduced to confirm competency, ensure consistency, and increase confidence and value with a focus on the outcome.
- Grading will be introduced to stretch, challenge and encourage learners to strive for excellence.
- Duration will be a minimum of one year.
- Off-the-job training will be a requirement at a suggested minimum of 20%.
- Plans to gradually step up the English and maths requirements within apprenticeships are outlined.
- There will be a phased implementation approach, starting immediately with a pilot of eight ‘trailblazing’ occupational sectors. The full implementation timeline is laid out in the BIS, but they are targeting a full transition to these new standards by 2017/18. Once rollout is completed, funding will be dependent on following apprenticeships based on these new standards. A full funding announcement is expected later in the year.
For more details, please read the full report on the BIS website.
Since the announcement, we’ve put together an FAQ document. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any additional questions you may have.
