Well, it's finally happened.
After eleven months (or in Clegg-speak, "soon") and after a seriously false start a couple of weeks ago, the long-awaited traineeship scheme has been officially launched. And not a moment too soon, considering it's supposed to be operational this August.
Anybody expecting a blaze of fanfares to mark the occasion will have been bitterly disappointed - as we are. We only discovered that Skills Minister Matthew Hancock revealed the traineeship framework yesterday because we've set all our news searches to set off sirens and alarms as soon as the word "traineeship" appears in a news story.
And there it was, in tiny type; "traineeship". Just the one story, mind you - but that's enough to confirm that come August, traineeships are going to be available to everybody our Deputy Prime Minster said they were going to be available to ... no, hang on - just a second ...
Actually, Mr Clegg originally said they'd be put in place to help 16-to-24-year-olds gain work-related skills and attitudes. But looking carefully through the news story itself, we see that no, anybody over the age of 19 will now have to sort themselves out re: skills and attitudes without the aid of a traineeship, because they won't be allowed to take one on.
And that's a bit of a shame, really, because there are an awful lot of people between the ages of 20 and 24 who are desperately in need of help of any kind when it comes to getting themselves work. And from what we can see, it only takes so long before people already on benefits give up on the search for work completely and resign themselves to an existence watching Jeremy Kyle in between their fortnightly visit to the Jobcentre.
Another disturbing aspect of this silent roll-out of the traineeship framework has more to do with the providers - if they don't have an Ofsted Grade One or Two certification, they'll be banned from participating in the scheme. That's a new development, because nowhere in January's traineeship discussion document was there a mention of Grades One or Two.
And this could lead to confusion: a good Ofsted grade is awarded on the basis of something considerably longer-term than the six months each traineeship is set to last. And it's much more on the academic side, rather than the kind of employer engagement traineeships have been designed to provide.
As for what happens should a provider slip down the Ofsted ratings to Grade Three or below - does that mean they suddenly get barred from the scheme ... and as for the participants, tough?
Questions, questions, questions.
Well, August is getting closer. Perhaps we'll find out then.
