AEB, Devolution, Funding

AEB funding rates boosted by 5% in Liverpool

Increase is aimed to help providers cope with rising costs and inflation

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

ChatGPT: Exam boards publish AI guidance

JCQ tells schools and colleges to make pupils do some coursework ‘under direct supervision’ amid cheating fears

Samantha Booth
Samantha Booth
Colleges, DfE

Revealed: Funding split for final stage of FE capital transformation fund

DfE allocates £286m in capital transformation fund cash to 146 colleges

Jason Noble
Jason Noble
Apprenticeships, Training Providers

Scores of jobs set to be lost at England’s largest apprenticeship provider

‘Strategic review’ of Lifetime Training’s cost base ‘directs resources towards areas of highest demand’

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
Prison education

MoJ to ramp up HMP Academies in prisons

At least 17 new prisons identified for employer-led work programmes

Jason Noble
Jason Noble
UTCs

‘Inadequate’ UTC issued with termination warning notice

DfE to consider funding termination for University Collegiate School in Bolt

Jason Noble
Jason Noble


Adult education, Devolution

West Midlands reveals ‘bold’ plan to boost level 3 training

Proposals include upping its low income threshold, free courses for West Midlands FE staff and reviewing learner support funding

Shane Chowen
Shane Chowen
Ofsted

Overwhelmed learners drop out at ‘inadequate’ provider

Ofsted reports concerns over a lack of off-the-job training at Bestland Solutions Ltd

Jason Noble
Jason Noble
skills

Flex on UKSPF skills funding ‘welcome’ but timing questioned

Levelling Up department allows use of UKSPF skills funding to be used from April 2023 instead of April 2024

Jason Noble
Jason Noble
News

DfE’s transgender guidance will include colleges

Long-awaited draft guidance will be released and consulted on ‘later in the spring’

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
Long read

College group offloads MAT amid compliance review

Multiple internal and external investigations and a complete relationship breakdown contribute to sponsor change

Jessica Hill
Jessica Hill
Skills bootcamps, Skills reform

HGV driver hopefuls left in the dark as DfE ends bootcamp contract

Learners waited a year for training due to dispute over financially ‘unviable’ flagship scheme

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