Following on from the publication of our consultation response in December, we have published the new guidance to support trailblazers in the development of new and revised standards in line with the new policy.
The new policy is designed to ensure that the apprenticeships programme better recognises the role that degrees and graduate status play in the labour market, and that any degree apprenticeship is a distinctive product that secures the best of an apprenticeship and the best of higher education. The reforms are intended to achieve this by:
- better enabling degree apprenticeships for 'graduate occupations' (by allowing the mandation of a degree for any occupation which is a "degree-level entry" occupation as evidenced by ONS data etc)
- ensuring improved integration of on- and off-the-job training
- requiring full alignment between the degree learning outcomes and the knowledge, skills and behaviours (KSBs) in the apprenticeship standard
- integrating the end-point assessment with the degree
- ensuring assessment by occupational experts
The new policy is being phased in via a transition period until September 2022, during which trailblazers are free to apply either the new or outgoing policy.