Institute for Apprenticeships to "deliver the skills employers need"
06 January 2017
Employers must continue to control the content and assessment of apprenticeships according to draft government guidance intended to give 'strategic advice' to the Institute for Apprenticeships.
The draft strategic guidance put out for consultation this month, proposes how the institute should carry out its functions which come into effect from April 2017.
The guidance puts employers firmly at the forefront of apprenticeship standards development although the importance of input from professional bodies, sector experts, providers, assessment organisations and apprentices themselves is acknowledged. It also sets out a series of 'core principles' which all apprenticeships must follow.
The guidance confirms the Institute’s main functions:
- to set quality criteria for the development of apprenticeship standards and assessment plans
- to review, then approve or reject them
- to advise on the maximum level of government funding available for standards
- to ensure arrangements are in place to quality assure all end point assessments.
Under the measures set out in the Technical and Further Education Bill, the Institute for Apprenticeships remit will expand to encompass all technical education, delivering reforms across both apprenticeships-based and college-based routes from April 2018. The strategic guidance makes clear that the Institute should be making preparations to assume this additional role and transition to the framework of technical education routes.
The DfE recognises that moving from existing systems to the Institute will be "challenging" but believes that an independent organisation led by employers will deliver the best results.