Skillsmart welcomes the announcement by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) that agreement had been reached with ASDA to run a workplace training pilot for 1000 employees following the accreditation of the companyís in-house training programme.
Nigel Broome, Chief Executive of Skillsmart said ìThis is very positive development and a major step forward by the LSC in meeting the needs of large employers, who have for some time argued that in-house training was sufficiently robust to be accredited. The principle is one that Skillsmart have actively been promoting on behalf of retailers since the organisations inception in 2002, and is one of the key tenets of our Skills and Qualifications Strategy for Retailî.
Continuing, Nigel stated that he believes ìThe significance of the announcement should not be underestimated particularly given the positive development of funding being provided for the over 25ís. This is a bold move by the LSC and one that should be actively supported particularly as it will in time, open the door for other large employers to enter into similar arrangements and to receive funding and accreditation for their in-house training whether through the NVQ programme or alternatives such as the Certificate in Retail Skillsî.
Skillsmart will continue to press for further changes and the adoption of its Skills and Qualifications Strategy, which is in the final consultation stage. In particular, efforts will be made along with other members of the Skills for Business Network to introduce greater flexibility into qualification frameworks, to allow for alternative and more appropriate forms of delivery, to reduce the levels of bureaucracy associated with funding and to provide learning opportunities appropriate to the individual and their employers ñ effectively moving away from the one size fits all approach that is currently in place.
ASDA pilot heralds changes in the funding of work based learning
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