Overview

Apprenticeships are a key component of the growth agenda. The government is keen that more high-quality apprenticeships are created to meet the needs of employers and apprentices, and help drive up growth and productivity across the economy. This survey invites you to comment on apprenticeship standards submitted this month by employer groups before a decision is made on whether to approve them for further development.

How you can help

These short surveys will take no more than ten minutes to complete. Your feedback will help ensure that any apprenticeship standards that are developed meet the training needs of relevant occupations, and that new apprenticeships are viable, high quality, and widely supported. In particular, we are keen to avoid duplicating standards that have already been published or are already in development.

These surveys seek your views on apprenticeship standards at three stages of development:

Proposal stage

  • Whether you support the development of the proposed apprenticeship standards;
  • Whether you think the proposed apprenticeship standards would typically take at least 12 months of training to develop the skills, knowledge and behaviours required for that occupation (required as part of our criteria);

Standard stage

  • Whether these standards are similar to or duplicate existing standards.

End-point assessment (EPA) stage

  • Whether the end-point assessment will confirm that the apprentice has achieved occupational competence

For both occupation proposals and occupation standards, we have introduced new templates for trailblazers to use and this means the drafts are in a different format than before.  The template for standards is designed to ensure that trailblazers work through what knowledge, skills and behaviours (KSBs) are required for full competence in each of the duties.  This means that the drafts include some repetition where a K, S or B relates to more than one duty.  We are currently working through how to best reflect/format this in final published standards for which readability is paramount. We have also piloted an EPA plan template on a small number of submissions during this cycle which we anticipate will lead to greater consistency in the information provided.

Please be assured this survey is anonymous and any information collated would be used in strict confidence.

If you would like to be added to the consultation distribution list please email IFASubmission.CONSULTATION@education.gov.uk

Any current apprenticeship standard consultations are displayed below:

What happens next

Your feedback will be considered as part of the assessment process for new apprenticeship standards and help inform the final approval decision. We publish a full list of standards that are in development or have been approved.