Colleges

Activate Learning and Lincoln College Group drop merger plans

‘I think what we felt with where we are at the moment, given those [previous] mergers, our group services…

Will Nott
Will Nott
Colleges

Conflicting principal views on Eton’s elite sixth form plans

The colleges will be designed to give disadvantaged young people who “have done well in their GCSEs the opportunity…

Will Nott
Will Nott
AEB

Tactical subcontracting deal abandoned in mayoral combined authority

Funding rules state ‘you must not subcontract to meet short-term funding objectives’

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
Ofsted

Ofsted downgrades new provider after ESFA apprentice pay tip-off

Frustration over blurred ESFA and Ofsted roles

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
Apprenticeships, Inclusion

DfE’s ‘bizarre’ BAME apprenticeships strategy

Plans to strengthen ethnic minority representation in campaign imagery and make use of ‘influencers’

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
Colleges, Inclusion

New national leaders announced but diversity concerns remain

The FE commissioner has previously said that the lack of BAME national leaders reflects the small number of of…

Shane Chowen
Shane Chowen


Ofsted

New apprenticeship provider jumps from ‘insufficient’ to Ofsted ‘outstanding’

“Going from the verge of the business going bust to an ‘outstanding’ is an incredible feat”

Will Nott
Will Nott
Skills reform

ESFA to seek bids for national strategic development fund rollout

Other providers can be part of local projects, but bids can only be led by colleges

Shane Chowen
Shane Chowen
News

Universal credit training flexibility extended again

Claimants can undertake training for up to 16 weeks for another year

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
T Levels

What providers need to know about applying to deliver T Levels from 2024

This will be the fifth and final year of T Level rollout

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
Adult education

‘Deteriorated’ finances on the mend at large adult education college, FE Commissioner finds

Fee income dropped by 27% from £10.1m prior to the pandemic to £7.4m in 2020/21

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
Sponsored post

Encourage a winning mindset through our free competition-development programme

A first-time opportunity for educators and students to benefit from WorldSkills UK’s unique skills competition assessment modules based on…

WorldSkills UK
WorldSkills UK

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