AELP is very sorry to learn of the passing of His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. As many people are saying, the Prince was a marvellous public servant and someone who dedicated so much of his life to the betterment of young people. Our thoughts are with Her Majesty and the Royal Family. I hope that you all enjoyed the Easter break and the glorious weather that came with it – even if some of us where then treated to a day of snow! Because we live in exceptional times,

It’s been a week when we have had a rush of announcements most likely driven by a combination of the Easter break and the local election purdah period. On Wednesday, the ESFA published guidance on AEB reconciliation for 2020-21. This confirms the threshold arrangements which have not been welcomed by some in the college community. I need to stress that there is also a very strong message for ITPs implicit within the guidance based on our conversations with the Agency. For all ESFA funded

This week we have had some great developments which will go a long way to supporting AELP members in their programme delivery. After some alarming misinformation was circulated during an employer webinar last week, Ofqual formally confirmed on Wednesday that teacher assessed grades (TAGs) are permitted for functional skills qualifications probably until the end of the summer and possibly beyond. I will say it again; with 86,000 apprentices currently beyond their planned end dates, there must

It was a fantastic day yesterday both watching and participating in AELP Spring Conference 2021. Firstly, my thanks to our principal sponsors, Learning Curve Group and NCFE, and thanks also for the support from e-learning WMB, Education and Training Foundation, Cognassist, bksb, Ascentis, VTCT and CogniSoft. I’m sure you will agree that the AELP events team did another fabulous job in putting a major online conference together. If you were not able to attend, the recordings of all the

It’s less than a week now until the AELP Spring Conference, sponsored by Learning Curve Group and NCFE, and the timing really couldn’t be better. Just ten days after the return to learning and the recent publication of the white paper and budget announcements, our four event themes – Regulation, Technology, Teaching & Learning and Quality – are so important as we come out of the third lockdown. On regulation, the ESFA will be able to provide an update on the RoATP refresh which has caused some

Technology has been part of learning for over twenty years. The first CD-ROM version of Microsoft’s Encarta was actually released in 1993 and when the online version was ended in 2009, it comprised 62,000 articles. In those days, there were advocates in the education sector who believed that a potential revolution in delivering different styles of learning would quickly gather pace, but progress has been steady rather than spectacular.

The Budget has dominated the whole week with the Treasury choosing to trail the apprenticeship and traineeship announcements last weekend. It was rather cheekily pointed out to me that I could retire happy because I was quoted in the Daily Express! Nice thought but with so much still to do, my dream of retiring to a gite in Provence will have to wait just a while longer! On a more serious note, the reaction to the increased employer incentives for apprenticeships has been interesting and I