Training providers and employers could soon be allowed to assess their own apprentices under plans being drawn up by the Department for Education. Officials are planning to test several alternatives to the current end-point assessment (EPA) model in a quest to improve apprenticeship achievement rates and reduce costs and administrative burdens. Organisations involved in the department’s “expert apprenticeship training provider” group are expected to be allowed to flex EPA requirements in a trial that could begin this summer term. Other options on the table are to transfer the assessment of “behaviours” from EPAOs to employers, and to cut the size of EPAs by removing the need for all knowledge, skills and behaviours to be assessed. Click here for more.
