Apprenticeships plan set out

It will also ensure that apprenticeships deliver relevant, up-to-date skills.

The new independent public body will be an employer-led regulator responsible for ensuring that apprenticeships in England are of high quality.

According to the IFA’s operational plan, Driving the quality of apprenticeships in England, which has just been published, the institute’s core business will be to become the guardian of quality for apprenticeship standards and assessment plans. Its initial focus will be on becoming world class at regulating their content and advising on the amount of funding that each should be allocated.

The new independent public body is designed to ensure the highest standards for apprenticeships and support the Government’s plan to create three million apprenticeships by 2020. The plan outlines the institute’s aims and approach to quality.

The operational plan provides details of the institute’s policies and functions and how it will:
    •    regulate the quality of apprenticeship proposals, standards and assessment plans;
    •    collaborate with partners;
    •    lead reforms to technical education;
    •    and implement the new system.

The institute is developing and maintaining apprenticeship standards and assessment plans, and will review and approve them. It will maintain a public database of these standards and give advice on government funding as well as having a role in quality assurance. The Government’s plans include expanding the Institute’s remit to encompass technical education in England from 2018, set out in the Post-16 Skills Plan.

In the foreword to the plan, Antony Jenkins, chair of the IFA, said,‘Why an Institute for Apprenticeships? For too long this country has under-invested in skills and subsequently we’ve lost the support, and the confidence, of employers and apprentices along the way.
‘This time, it’s different. This time, we have the funding in place, a broad agenda of skills-reform offering the opportunity to achieve comprehensive and coherent change, and employers embedded within the decision-making structure of the institute.’

He added, ‘The Institute’s aims and approach to improving quality are outlined in this document. We believe these are straightforward, direct and powerful, but the mechanisms for their delivery can be complex. We do not underestimate the work ahead and there’s a lot more we need to do to deliver. This is just the beginning.