Skills reform

Two decades of skills policies haven’t improved productivity, says report

Failure to boost lower and intermediate-level skills is harming UK productivity

Shane Chowen
Shane Chowen
Ofsted, RAAC

Ofsted won’t inspect education settings on DfE’s RAAC list

Affected providers ‘will not be selected for inspection during the term’ unless Ofsted has ‘concerns’

Billy Camden
Billy Camden and Freddie Whittaker
Long read, Training Providers

Private equity and training: a complicated relationship explained

The last ten years has seen a gold rush of global private equity (PE) companies seeking to make the…

Jessica Hill
Jessica Hill
Ofsted, T Levels

Q&A: Ofsted’s verdict on T Levels

‘There remain issues we want to see addressed before these are rolled out at scale’

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
Colleges, T Levels

How to buck the low T Level retention trend

We speak to the colleges who were able to retain more than 2 in 3 students

Joshua Stein
Joshua Stein


WorldSkills

EuroSkills 2023: Team UK scoops gold in Gdańsk

Isabelle Barron leads the way with gold in digital construction, as 8 other UK competitors pick up medals

Anviksha Patel
Anviksha Patel
Colleges

Inaugural Good for Me Good for FE awards launch

New awards will showcase impact of local volunteering and fundraising efforts

Shane Chowen
Shane Chowen
Colleges

Lawyers advise colleges to sell surplus assets in next 18 months

There are concerns colleges could otherwise miss out on profits

Joshua Stein
Joshua Stein
Ofsted

Education MPs endorse Sir Martyn Oliver as new Ofsted boss

Oliver said in his application Ofsted has gone from being seen as ‘combative to cold’, and will take a…

Amy Walker
Amy Walker
Apprenticeships

‘Outstanding’ provider exits apprenticeships and bootcamps

‘Market attractiveness’ forces Avado to switch focus to AI

Billy Camden
Billy Camden and Jessica Hill
News

New Lifetime Training leadership plans more redundancies

Around 5% of the provider’s 1,000-strong workforce set to be cut

Billy Camden
Billy Camden

Must read

Colleges, Long read

Alun Francis, chair of the Social Mobility Commission

Deprived areas need vision – not victimhood – to level up, and Social Mobility Commission chair Alun Francis is…

Jessica Hill
Jessica Hill
Long read, Prison education

The prison that’s offering hope for a new life upon release

‘We’re saving people’s lives as well as turning them around’

Jessica Hill
Jessica Hill
Apprenticeships, Politics

Phillipson to exempt young people from level 7 apprenticeships funding axe

Education secretary makes ‘important concession’ amid backlash from other government departments

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
Colleges, FE Commissioner

Weston chair felt powerless over £2.5m payments to former principal

Ex-Weston college chair gives tell-all interview following FE Commissioner probe

Anviksha Patel
Anviksha Patel
Colleges

Weston College governance failure allowed ‘concealment’ of £2.5m payments to former principal

Paul Phillips was paid £1.8m in 2023, including a ‘significant’ six-figure retention payment which his COO son ‘resisted’ paying…

Anviksha Patel
Anviksha Patel
T Levels

NAO reveals enormity of T Level take-up failure

Forecasts missed by 75% and secret DfE estimates show staff and employer shortages could limit places to 48,000 students

Anviksha Patel
Anviksha Patel