August 2009
CfA gives you a warm welcome to our August eBriefing. Let’s hope that the sun comes out this month for us to enjoy the relative calm of the remaining summer, before the flurry of the autumn activity and all that it brings. Talking of which, our CfA Conference is in our minds at the moment as we continue with the planning and booking of spaces – which are selling out fast! And we want it to be uppermost in your minds too. See below for how to join us in November. With the GSCE and A level results bubbling in the background, it’s important to recognise the value of vocational training and the value of apprenticeships – we have a Business & Administration example of excellence in Sinead Smith to share with you, as she wins the 2009 National Apprenticeship Award – congratulations Sinead! And, we also have an apprenticeship case study this month for you that looks at successes achieved by Ashleigh Scales in Leeds, to show you what can be achieved. The Business & Administration Young Apprentices at Tameside Council are another perfect example and are featured below. As the summer hols draw to a close we also have a special back to school offer for you. This summer we can offer you a third off all of the CfA's hugely popular Student Handbooks. See below for details. So with that, we’ll leave you to enjoy the rest of the month and look forward to catching up in September. If you would like to comment on any of these stories or have a feature of your own to contribute, please contact Helen Gerlach.
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Friday 27th November 2009 The CfA are pleased to announce that bookings are already being taken for the Conference 2009 ‘Focus on Change’, on Friday 27th November at the NCSL Learning & Conference Centre, Nottingham.
Who needs to attend? If you’re involved in the delivery of Business & Administration skills then this is definitely the conference for you. It’s the ideal opportunity to get together with other like-minded Business & Administration colleagues and to hear about the key developments affecting the Business, Administration & Governance pan-sector. Attendees should include:
For further information about these events, or to book your place, please click here. We look forward to seeing you there! visit the CfA website |
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In order to help you successfully complete your TQS application, please click here to find out more, and register with Uta Sempf for our informative CfA TQS Awareness Day in London, on Wednesday 9th September 2009. |
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A focus on... Sara Vanderheld, Qualifications and Standards Manager
Sara has been a dedicated and proactive member of the team and will be sorely missed as she heads off to Canada to live and work next week after a spot of travelling on the way. Sara project manages government funded projects such as the National Occupational Specialist Standards review and Young Apprenticeships and works closely with Business & Administration Awarding Organisations to support the implementation of the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF). We’d like to thank Sara for her hard work, enthusiasm and professionalism and wish her all the very best in her next ventures. Please send any queries to Kelly Saliba until further notice.
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The LSC has recently announced a temporary extension of the Key Skills relaxation for those who achieved a top grade (A or A*) in the relevant GCSE, or who had achieved a top grade in the earlier GCE ‘O’ levels. The CfA is supporting these greater flexibilities for the Business & Administration Apprenticeship and Advanced Apprenticeship frameworks. This means that providers who have Business & Administration apprentices who achieved these top grades more than five years ago (from the start date of the apprenticeship) do not now need to enter the apprentice for the appropriate Key Skills as listed in the Business & Administration Apprenticeship and Advanced Apprenticeship framework. The full LSC guidance for providers on the extension of the Key Skills relaxation has now been published on the LSC site and can be found by clicking here. Download LSC guidance here |
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NOS review – An update and thanks
As a follow up, there will be a workshop at the end of August looking at the development of the higher levels units of learning, for the higher level qualifications the CfA will be developing. Conceptually, higher levels are not new. However, with the development of the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) there are new technical issues that will need to be discussed and agreed. If you want to be one of the key influencers providing essential input into the QCF, please send your email to Anthony Lapsley, telling us that you’d like to be involved. And if you would still like to be involved in the CfA Standards review – there’s still time. Email Anthony to find out how to be involved. |
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Young Trailblazers in Tameside
The youngsters, who were trained by staff at Skills Solutions, worked in a range of departments throughout the council for two years. Cohort 4 Business Administration Young Apprenticeship group in Tameside held an Achiever's event at Ashton Town Hall which was attended by the apprentices, their parents, work placement managers from Tameside Council and representatives from respective schools with certificates being presented by Jim Taylor, the Executive Director for Children's Services at Tameside Council. All the pupils have something to be proud of - not only did they achieve the core qualifications of NVQ, Technical Certificate and Key Skills, they also gained the Microsoft Digital Literacy qualification, and several also achieved additional NVQ units and higher level of Application of Number Key Skill. For more information, contact Simon Cronin, Press and PR Officer at Greater Manchester Chamber, on 0161 237 4226. Young Trailblazers press release available in full, please click here. Download press release here |
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Summer Offer - A third off all books
The student handbooks, at Levels 1,2 & 3, provide in-depth information based on the Business & Administration 2007 National Occupational Standards which will continue to be studied by students until 2012. Since their publication in 2007, these handbooks have become an invaluable resource to candidates and centres offering Business & Administration. Each chapter of the handbooks at each level has been carefully developed in line with the Standards and is designed not only to provide support to learners working towards NVQs, SVQs, Apprenticeships, Technical Certificates and other related vocational qualifications but also to help their trainers and assessors. To get your copies of the Student Handbook please click here to visit the CfA online shop. |
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Apprenticeships on the up – by 277%
According to Government figures, nearly 49,000 over-25s joined apprenticeship schemes this year. Read on to find out more. This item was first featured on Personneltoday.com
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National Apprenticeship winner - Sinead Smith
You can read more about Sinead’s achievements here and once again, we congratulate her on doing so well. For all future apprenticeship enquiries with CfA, please contact Kelly Saliba. |
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Ashleigh Scales was a pupil at Temple Moor Science College and attended the Young Apprenticeship Programme delivered by Leeds City Council, Jobs & Skills Service, in partnership with the Leeds Young Apprenticeship Partnership. She chose to study Business & Administration alongside attending school for her core curriculum subjects. To find out more, and to see how somebody you know could benefit from this please click here. As our current contact, Sara Vanderheld will be leaving the CfA, please contact any YA |
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EDI Business Administration and Practice In September 2009, EDI is launching a new suite of QCF Business Administration and Practice qualifications which are available at Level 1 (Award and Certificate), Level 2 (Award, Certificate and Diploma) and Level 3 (Award, Certificate and Diploma). They are aimed at those seeking work in administration and those already working in organisations who wish to develop their administration skills. They are designed to cater for the wide range and diversity of job roles where competence in business administration is vital. They also reflect the range and depth of competence in business skills, required by individuals working in all organisations. More specialised units like Text Production and Audio Transcription have been integrated into the suite with all Certificates and Diplomas containing ICT units imported from e-Skills covering areas including word processing, spreadsheets, presentation software and databases. If you would like more information about the new EDI Business Administration and Practice suite, please contact the EDI Customer Enquiries Team or 08707 202 909. Email EDI or call 08707 202 909 |
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A:Yes, The CfA is supporting these greater flexibilities for the Business & Administration Apprenticeship and Advanced Apprenticeship frameworks. Providers who have Business & Administration apprentices who had achieved these top grades more than five years ago (from the start date of the apprenticeship), do not need to enter the apprentice for the appropriate Key Skills, as listed in the Business & Administration Apprenticeship and Advanced Apprenticeship framework. For more information please click here.
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To subscribe to the CfA eBriefing, please email Helen Gerlach. The CfA is not responsible for the content of any external links from this newsletter. The Council for Administration is a registered charity, No 1095 809. |
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The new Training Quality Standard (TQS) is becoming increasingly important to training providers, both for the generation of new business and to become commercially competitive in the promotion and delivery of work-based training.
This month, our ‘Focus on…’ looks at Sara Vanderheld who has been one of our Standards & Quality Managers at the CfA for just over two years as part of the CfA Development team.
As we come to the end of the CfA standards review (currently in week nine) and focusing on the Business & Administration NOS, we’d like to say a big “thank you” to all those participants who have provided valuable help and support to the review. We couldn’t have got this far without you!
A group of teenagers has blazed a trail by becoming the first group to train as Business Administration Young Apprentices at Tameside Council. 
This summer, the CfA’s Student handbooks are available from just £7.73! Whether you are a student or a centre looking to provide texts for candidates this outstanding summer offer shouldn’t be missed.
If you would like to submit information to the CfA eBriefing, please contact Helen Gerlach on 020 7091 9620.
© CfA 2009
