News

FAB warns of ‘conflict of interest’ arising from Skills Bill legislation

Plans to hand the government’s apprenticeships quango new powers over technical qualifications are a “retrograde step” and introduce a…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

Two more struggling UTCs join multi-academy trusts

Another two university technical colleges are being absorbed into multi-academy trusts and expanding their age ranges after facing possible…

Fraser Whieldon
Fraser Whieldon
News

Queen’s Birthday Honours 2021: Who received what in FE?

The next FE commissioner and the author of the landmark post-18 education review are among those receiving gongs in…

Fraser Whieldon
Fraser Whieldon
News

ITPs will be included in catch-up plans, DfE confirms

Independent training providers can rest assured they will be eligible for the government’s latest catch-up funding, it has been…

Fraser Whieldon
Fraser Whieldon
News

Board member quits in protest over sink or swim tech venture at Capital City College Group

Two governors have resigned and union tension has flared at one of England’s largest college groups after it announced…

Fraser Whieldon
Fraser Whieldon
News

Uproar as DfE researchers to ban jobless bootcamp applicants…at random

Training providers have been left livid and refusing to sign contracts after the Department for Education revealed their researchers…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden


News

Applications open for new £18m higher technical qualifications expansion fund

Colleges and universities are being invited to bid for a slice of a new £18 million fund to expand…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

20,000 students ‘shocked’ as UCAS glitch rejects university offers

Tens of thousands of students faced more stress this morning as a glitch in UCAS’s system automatically rejected their…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
Ofsted

Colleges must share sexual abuse records for future Ofsted inspections

Colleges will have to share their records and analysis of sexual abuse when Ofsted comes knocking in the future….

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

Teacher-assessed qualifications to be excluded from achievement rates – again

Provider-level qualification achievement rates (QARs) will include only some courses in 2020/21, the Education and Skills Funding Agency has…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

Government should fund apprentice wages for SMEs, says Halfon

The government should pay apprentice wages and fund their full cost of training “for at least a year” if…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
Skills reform

Universal credit rules hold people back from training, warns report

Universal credit rules are excluding people from training and must be scrapped if the government is serious about its…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden

Must read

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
Adult education, ITPs

Mayors dump adult education cuts on independent training providers

Up to two-thirds axed from devolved procured budgets

Josh Mellor
Josh Mellor