Plans for new awarding body

A group of the largest colleges are planning to band together to form their own awarding body and cut the growing costs of exam fees. http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6055187 The initiative by the 157 Group has also been chosen by the Government as one of the pathfinder projects to encourage the creation of new social enterprises and employee-led mutuals. Lynne Sedgmore, chief executive of the group of said its 28 members had already discussed plans to form a new awarding body when the Cabinet Office invited them to join its scheme to encourage entrepreneurialism in the private sector. She said: “Adopting an employee-led mutual approach to awarding qualifications will enable significant financial efficiencies, through shared services and by keeping public sector funds within the FE sector, rather than feeding surpluses into private stakeholder profits.” The group’s members alone paid between £50 million and £100 million to exam bodies each year. The colleges have issued an invitation to awarding bodies to join a partnership with them, with a deadline of September 9. The group expects to develop new qualifications initially, avoiding competition with existing exam boards, but could eventually offer a full line-up of vocational qualifications, A-levels and GCSEs. The 157 Group is a membership organisation that represents 28 large, regionally influential Further Education colleges in England. Jill Lanning Chief Executive Federation of Awarding bodies http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6056983