This week saw the dawning of a new era for apprenticeships. Several new dawns, being picky.
Yesterday, the apprenticeship levy juddered and spluttered into life. Will future generations look back on 6 April 2017 as the UK’s first step to becoming - in the words of Robert Halfon - an “apprenticeships and skills nation”? It’s hard to say. In one month, we’ve got enough new dawns to make a working week.
For starters, the newly-created Institute for Apprenticeships (IfA) now “ensures high-quality apprenticeship standards and advises government on funding for each standard”. It was planned for 1 April. But that fell on a Saturday. Instead, the government settled for a grand announcement on Monday - its “first official working day”.
With even worse planning, the new apprenticeship funding system launches on 1 May - a bank holiday. One of the biggest changes in a momentous year, and few will be in office to witness this historic moment.
The proliferation of dates for the diary is a timely reminder of the sheer number of changes to apprenticeships the sector is facing. As FErret points out, we don’t know who will lead the IfA after Peter Lauener’s retirement. Hundreds of providers (not least, every FE college in Birmingham) still don’t know if they’ll be able to deliver apprenticeships to levy-paying firms, having failed to make it on to the register.
Credit to providers who have managed to keep up with all the churn. Let’s hope the Department for Education has done an equally good job of keeping its eye on the ball.
@stephenexley
