In this month's issue

CfA's Response to Leitch

The Government’s Leitch implementation plan was recently published and has significant implications for Business & Administration learners, training providers and colleges, over the next few years. The Government has broadly accepted Leitch's recommendations to move to a demand-led system and signed up to his ambitious targets for increased numbers of learners.

The CfA has been lobbying hard for Business & Administration and we have started work on taking a more coherent approach to the Business & Administration skills that employers will need in the future, and how qualifications need to change to reflect these needs.

Over the next few months we will continue to talk to ministers and civil servants to ensure that they understand how important Business & Administration is to the UK, and why it needs to make up a big part of the Leitch reforms.

To read the Leitch Implementation Plan in full, please click here

CfA Launches Business Skills Academy

CfA is currently leading an initiative to establish a Business Skills Academy in the South West of England, as the first stage in the process of setting up a National Skills Academy.

The Academy will offer high quality training in Administration, Customer Services and Management, responding to the needs of employers in the Region. Currently CfA is working with employers, colleges and private training providers and it is hoped that the Academy Board will be in place by early September 2007. The first learners will be enrolled before the end of December.

For further information about the Business Skills Academy and how you can get involved, please contact Rob Jefferson.

Email Rob

OCR's Revised NVQs in Business & Administration

OCR (Oxford Cambridge and RSA Examinations) has now released its revised NVQs in Business & Administration. These NVQs, which have been updated in line with the incremental changes the CfA made to the National Occupational Standards, became available to centres on 1st August 2007.

Their qualification documentation has been fully revised to incorporate the current thinking and to meet the needs of their customers. The qualifications reflect today’s working environment and they will equip learners with the up-to-date skills that are so essential in their working lives.

For immediate access, you can download their qualification material from their website at www.ocr.org.uk. In addition, OCR are sending out electronic copies of the material on CD-Rom to all our centres currently delivering the Business & Administration NVQs.

For further details, including how to register as an OCR centre, please call OCR’s Customer Contact Centre on 024 76 851509.

EDI Level 1 Award in Disability Awareness

The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) applies to all employers and everyone who provides a service to the public (except the Armed Forces). It is a law designed to end discrimination against disabled people.

A number of public bodies were recently targeted by The Disability Rights Commission for failing to provide evidence of a disability equality scheme and could face legal action. (Download article)

With this in mind, Education Development International (EDI) have developed a new Level 1 Award to help employers meet legal responsibilities. EDI is currently the only Awarding Body to offer this qualification, which has been designed to assist organisations in complying with current legislation on disability and to highlight the barriers and attitudes which disabled people face every day.

This exclusive award from EDI is a quick and cost-effective method of ensuring your organisation and staff are complying with current legislation.

The qualification is assessed by one multiple choice, paper-based test consisting of 15 questions (also available online from September) and costs only £18 per candidate, including registration, certification and end test. The award can be offered as a one-day course (including the multiple choice test) by EDI Registered Centres.

“Train the Trainer” days will be held in September to advise centres on delivery of the course. Please register your interest for these events with the EDI Customer Service team on 08707 202 909 or email customerservice@ediplc.com.

To find out more about this qualification, please click here.

Diploma in Retail Update

CfA are working in partnership with Skillsmart Retail, Skills for Logistics and Skillfast-UK to develop a Diploma in Retail for 14-19 yr olds. The development of this diploma is part of one of the largest educational reforms in England since the introduction of GCSEs and it will be available as National Entitlement within England, by 2013.

All learning providers of Business & Administration qualifications are being invited to take part in the Diploma in Retail skills consultation. The Diploma Development Partnership (DDP) is keen to gain information about Business & Administration skills in the context of Retail.

If you are keen to take part in this consultation, please click here. All feedback must be submitted by Monday 20th August.

Go to survey

BAF Diploma Update

Following 12 months of development, the Diploma Development Partnership (DDP) for Business, Administration and Finance have published outputs from their content development work to date. The following documents are now available for viewing:

BAF Line of Learning Statement - Outline of topics and content as recommended by employers, HE, colleges, schools, Education & Business Partnerships (EBPs), Awarding Bodies and Professional Bodies.

BAF Criteria - Technical document to be used by Awarding Bodies to develop Diploma qualifications to levels 3.

Specialist Learning - Outlines subjects and topics learners may wish to study in
order to add depth or breadth to their Diploma learning programme.

Companion Document - Additional information to support Awarding Bodies in qualification development.

To download these documents, please click here to visit the BAF Diploma website.

Governance NOS Consultation

The CfA are currently updating the Governance National Occupational Standards (NOS) to reflect the changes made to the Companies Act in 2006.

The Governance NOS are aimed at various roles within a Governing Body such as Chair, CEO, Company Secretary, Executive Director and Non-Executive Director.

If you would like to comment on the proposed changes to the NOS, please email Kerrie Fuller for a consultation pack which contains the NOS and a feedback form to complete.

Email Kerrie

Last Chance to Book for September Events

CfA September events are selling out fast. If you have not yet attended the ‘Changes to the Business & Administration Standards’ or the ‘Assessor Master Class’ events, make sure you secure your place soon.

Some places are still available in London, Glasgow, Newcastle and Leeds, with limited places still available for the ‘Assessor Master Class’ in Birmingham.


Click here to read more about the Changes to the Business & Administration event
Click here to read more about the Assessor Masterclass


To book a place, please visit the CfA online shop at www.cfa.uk.com/shop_online.html. In line with our environmental policy, we will not be using booking forms. However, you can still select to be invoiced - you do not have to pay by credit card.

For further events information, please email events@cfa.uk.com

New Teaching Standards Regulations

New Teaching Standards regulations are due to come into force in England on 1st September 2007, following parliamentary approval. The regulations will cover FE Teachers' qualifications and FE Teachers' CPD. To view the draft ITT regulations and CPD regulations simply visit the Lifelong Learning (LLUK) website at www.lifelonglearninguk.org.

Further guidance will be issued in September by the DIUS (Department for Innovation, Universities and Schools) and LLUK will soon be issuing revised guidance on teacher roles.

To find out more, please click here.

To subscribe to the CfA eBriefing, please email tracie.jaiswal@cfa.uk.com

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