Purpose: The partnership which underpins degree apprenticeships is a tripartite collaboration between apprentices, employers and universities. This study aims to investigate the lived experiences and reflections of the apprentices at the centre, to inform effective collaboration. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative, longitudinal study,…

During the 25 years since Incorporation, when further education (FE) colleges were taken out of local government control, FE in England has been shaped by processes of marketisation to become a competitive national sector that has increasingly diverged from the more 'collaborative system logic' of the other three countries of the UK. However,…

This article provides a response to the other contributions in this special issue and explores the range and scale of the opportunities for policy learning across the four UK nations. It addresses the importance of locating FE and skills policy within wider national policy contexts, national choices between markets and systems and the wider…

This article offers an early assessment of the extent and scope of participation by higher education institutions (HEIs) in Degree Apprenticeship (DA) provision for meeting the broader workforce development objectives of the UK Government. While the take-up of DAs by HEIs and businesses has been undeniably lower than the publicly declared…

This article considers the implications of a 'managed' approach to skills policy in Scotland, in which Government policy and the role of national institutional frameworks can be seen to be influential, and which contrasts with the more marketised approach which has been a central aspect of policy in England. A number of themes within these…

This publication provides a quality framework to provide a structure for external review of Modern Apprenticeship off-the-job training.? The indicators in this framework are arranged under three key principles, addressing five questions which Education Scotland is adopting for evaluation purposes. These are underpinned by a wider principle on the…