Further Education: Raising Skills, Improving Life Chances

Cm. 6768

Author:

H M Government - Department for Education and Skills (DfES)

Publisher:

TSO (The Stationery Office)

Price: £21.25

This Education White Paper, 'Further Education: Raising Skills, Improving Life Chances (Cm. 6768)', sets out the Government's programme of reform for the further education system, focusing on the economic mission of the sector to raise the skills level of young people and adults to achieve productive sustainable employment in a modern competitive economy.

Following on from recent secondary school reforms, the FE policy measures include:

• new incentives for colleges to develop one or more areas of special excellence, with a new higher standard of accreditation (under the programme of Centres of Vocational Excellence or CoVEs), a more direct role for employers and an extension of the National Skills Academies (NSAs) programme;

• a trial programme of learner accounts and a new entitlement to free training and education for the under-25s to gain level 3 qualifications, with the continued roll-out of the Adult Learning Grant to help with maintenance costs for those on low incomes;

• the creation of a single Quality Improvement Agency to oversee a new national strategy to raise the quality of FE provision and promote continuing professional development of teaching staff;

• improvement notices to be issued to colleges judged to be failing requiring the problems to be addressed within a year; and

• a simplified system for planning and funding provision designed to reduce regulatory bureaucracy at all levels, with an enhanced strategic role for the Learning and Skills Council at the regional level, new opportunities for innovative providers to enter the sector with new competitive arrangements and open advertising, and funding geared towards demand, particularly through the Train to Gain programme.

Extent	93 pages	ISBN	9780101676823
Size	A4	Price	£21.25
Format	Paperback	Published	27 Mar 2006
Availability	Colour copy: 3 - 5 days	Delivery	Delivery options and charges