Apprenticeships

IfATE promises review of occupational standards

Standards set for review include those where updates are “needed” to support emerging skills

Joshua Stein
Joshua Stein
Colleges

Lawyers urge caution as colleges face £100,000 holiday pay ruling

Some colleges warned the ruling had already had a “significant adverse impact”

Joshua Stein
Joshua Stein
News

‘Astonishing’: Ofqual publishes VTQ entries for first time

But the data is sparse compared to A-levels despite claims of ‘parity’

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
Apprenticeships

Back in business: Employers renew case for level 2 business admin

Employers threaten to launch petition if officials continue to reject apprenticeship proposal

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
Colleges, Higher education

College group becomes first FE institution with permanent degree powers

The Office for Students deemed NCG worthy to award bachelors and masters degrees indefinitely this month

Shane Chowen
Shane Chowen
SEND

Council rapped for failing to meet student’s SEND transport costs

Expert warns ‘most local authorities are trying to cut costs’ through post-16 SEND transport

Billy Camden
Billy Camden


AEB, Colleges, Funding

ESFA to run special AEB allocations review for colleges

Reduced funding given to providers who underperformed the most during Covid

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
AI

ChatGPT: Keegan launches call for evidence on AI in education

Ministers also announced a new taskforce to look at what digital skills are needed for the future

Samantha Booth
Samantha Booth
Long read, Qualifications, Skills reform

Destination defund: the fight to save travel and tourism courses

High-profile workforce shortages in the travel industry haven’t stopped the government’s plans to defund rafts of popular courses. Jessica…

Jessica Hill
Jessica Hill
Ofsted

How Ofsted’s proposed new complaints process will work

No more internal reviews, a direct line to a senior inspector and new complaint routes put forward

Freddie Whittaker
Freddie Whittaker
Colleges

Reclassification among reasons for considerably delayed college accounts

Annual financial statements should be published by January 31, but several are still yet to surface

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
Politics

Former skills minister Andrea Jenkyns to be made a dame

Jenkyns was only skills minister for three months, but is to receive the gong in Boris Johnson’s resignation honours…

Shane Chowen
Shane Chowen

Must read

Colleges, Long read

Colleges on the frontline of a divided nation

As social media algorithms fuel intolerance and binary thinking, college staff increasingly find themselves dealing with the fallout. Jessica…

Jessica Hill
Jessica Hill
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