Engineering update - October 2019

The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (the Institute) have launched the consultation on the content of the technical qualification for the first of the three T Level pathways for Engineering and Manufacturing. The consultations on the remaining two pathways will commence on 3 December 2019 until 7 January 2020.

The technical qualification content and consultation-response document can be found at this location. I have also attached the consultation document for ease of reference as well.

While this is not the most popular pathway, the consultation does contain information on the core element that will be taught across all three pathways in the first year of delivery.

First delivery of these qualifications (all three pathways) will be in September 2022 and the tender for the awarding organisations to deliver this will be launched in Spring 2020.

Pearson will be submitting a response as an interested party in developing the technical qualification and we would encourage you to submit a response (even if it is only to some questions). In past consultations, the Institute responded that 75% of respondents agreed with the indicative content (without mentioning that they only received four responses). As many responses as we can submit will help.

If you want to feed into the Pearson response, please contact Bryony Leonard, Sector Manager - Engineering & Manufacturing via e-mail.

The Level 4 Apprenticeship Standard in Engineering Manufacturing Technician has been approved with conditions by the Institute. We are waiting for the employer group to submit a revised version of the assessment plan, in order for this to be approved for delivery.  It is anticipated that this will be approved for delivery (with a predicted funding band of £21k) before the end of this year.

Find more information on this standard

We have some new qualifications approved for delivery to meet the mandatory qualification requirements of some of the new Apprenticeship standards:

• Level 2 Engineering Operations (Knowledge), to meet the knowledge qualification requirements of the Engineering Operative Standard. 

  View the qualification specification

• Level 2 Manufacturing (Knowledge and Skills), to meet the mandatory qualification requirements of the Lean Manufacturing Operative Standard. 

  View the qualification specification

• Level 2 Machining (Foundation Knowledge), to meet the foundation mandatory knowledge qualification requirements of the Machinist pathway within the Engineering Technician Standard. 

  View the qualification specification

• Level 3 Machining (Development Knowledge), to meet the development mandatory knowledge qualification requirements of the Machinist pathway within the Engineering Technician Standard.  

           View the qualification specification

The Institute have announced a review of around 57 Apprenticeship standards in the Engineering and Manufacturing sector.  The consultation commences on 16 October 2019, with a closing date of 8 January 2020. The outcomes of the consultation, along with timelines for changes, will be published in Winter 2020/21.

The standards that are being consulted on, along with the consultation questions, can be found here. Again, we would encourage you to respond as fully as you can for as many standards as you can to ensure the changes made to the standards are in the best interest of all employers and apprentices within the Engineering and Manufacturing sector.

Should you wish to feed into the response from Pearson or have any specific queries regarding this consultation and review, please contact Bryony Leonard.