Adult education, Long read

Inside the evergreen sanctuary of Fircroft adult residential college

Inspired by Denmark’s folk high schools, Birmingham’s Fircroft College still provides a home-from-home for people with addiction and mental…

Jessica Hill
Jessica Hill
Colleges

WCG sells contentious campus after High Court win 

The proceeds will be used to pay off debts from an ongoing government funding audit

Josh Mellor
Josh Mellor
Colleges

DfE appoints three new FE national leaders

Principals of ‘outstanding’ colleges have been enlisted to help other colleges improve

FE Week Reporter
FE Week Reporter
SEND

SEND deficits to be kept off council balance sheets for two more years

SEND deficit ‘statutory override’ protecting potentially scores of councils from insolvency extended to 2028

Freddie Whittaker
Freddie Whittaker
Apprenticeships

DfE agrees ‘transitional period’ for new off the job policy

Four-month grace period for 39 apprenticeships with revised off-the-job training hours follows sector concerns

Anviksha Patel
Anviksha Patel
Apprenticeships, Assessment

Ofqual publishes ‘flexible’ apprenticeship assessment rules

Watchdog sets out how it will do away with end point assessment and monitor training providers marking their own…

Shane Chowen
Shane Chowen


Colleges

Sixth form strike looms over pay ‘harmonisation’

The union calls the proposed pay freeze ‘levelling down’

Josh Mellor
Josh Mellor
LSIPs

New ERBs needed following devolution shake-up

£6.3 million available for 39 ERBs next year

Anviksha Patel
Anviksha Patel
Colleges

Exam picket line over cuts at ‘second chances’ sixth form

The sixth form’s new management say cutting A-Levels will improve its ‘inadequate’ achievement rate

Josh Mellor
Josh Mellor
Colleges

Principal pay surges past £200k for 71 colleges

Analysis shows highest paid bosses in the college sector

Josh Mellor
Josh Mellor
Colleges, SEND

FE Commissioner: Beware of ‘hero’ principals and ‘dominant’ chairs

Natspec’s annual conference also hears that the future of post-19 EHCPs ‘has not been agreed’ ahead of major SEND…

Shane Chowen
Shane Chowen
Adult education

‘Wonderful’: DfE simplifies residency rules for adult learners

New residency rules come into effect from August 1

Anviksha Patel
Anviksha Patel

Must read

News

Case dismissed: Marples loses High Court claim against DfE

A judge has dismissed a multi-million-pound claim brought by former training boss Peter Marples and his family against the…

Shane Chowen
Shane Chowen
Skills reform

New law to bar ‘unsuitable’ FE leaders among skills white paper reforms

The government’s post-16 strategy has finally been unveiled

Billy Camden
Billy Camden and Shane Chowen
Qualifications

Revealed: V Levels incoming as axe looms for BTECs

New qualifications set to launch as ‘third route’ between A-levels and T Levels

Shane Chowen
Shane Chowen
Politics, Skills reform

DWP will take over apprenticeships, minister confirms

Shifting adult skills and apprenticeships policy will give “bigger emphasis on skills”, Jacqui Smith claims

Anviksha Patel
Anviksha Patel
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