The Reform think tank published its assessment of the apprenticeship levy and associate training one year on from its introduction concluding that greater clarification of what constituted an apprenticeship, as well as a simpler system of funding and the scrapping of the 3m target were all needed if the original aspirations of quality provision were to be met. Provocatively titled ‘The Great Training Robbery’ the response from the skills sector is here.
The OECD reported on apprenticeship developments in England praising some of the reforms but suggesting that there was still a long way to go, citing the need for strengthening general education in apprenticeships for young people, reviewing current plans for competition in the assessment market, monitoring the use of levy funding and building quality assurance general.
JP Morgan, the German foundation Bertelsmann Stiftung, and the Education Policy Institute (EPI) launched the report Apprenticeship training in England – a cost-effective model for firms?. The report found that companies and apprentices in most sectors could benefit from changes to the current delivery model. These changes include expanding the length of apprenticeships, especially among 16 year-olds and ensuring that training in sectors dominated by low-skilled work is of higher quality – so that it pays off in the long-run for firms and apprentices. Click here for more.