News

MP to meet FE Commissioner over ‘disappointing’ college closure plans

An MP has hit out at the proposed closure of a college in his constituency and is set to…

Yasemin Craggs Mersinoglu
Yasemin Craggs Mersinoglu
News

London plans to pull funding for 32 out-of-area colleges

More than 30 colleges based outside London are set to lose millions in funding for delivering training to adults…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

West Kent & Ashford College has debts of over £100m to almost 70 organisations

The second college to enter education administration has debts and liabilities of more than £100 million to over 60…

Fraser Whieldon
Fraser Whieldon
News

Payout given to retiring principal must be paid back

A university has been told to repay £119,000 by its funding body after an investigation found a payout to…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

Gillian Keegan appointed apprenticeships and skills minister

Gillian Keegan has been named as the new apprenticeships and skills minister. She joined the Department for Education as…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

Renewed calls for skills tax credits as budget looms

With the budget less than a month away, and the prime minister confirming the apprenticeship levy needs reform, there…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden


News

WorldSkills bootcamp: what does it take to be a competitor?

As the run-up to WorldSkills 2021 picks up pace, FE Week reporter Fraser Whieldon went behind-the-scenes at a Squad…

Yasemin Craggs Mersinoglu
Yasemin Craggs Mersinoglu
News

College groups struggling to shine as Ofsted visits for first time

More than half of all young learners who enrolled in September at ungraded merged FE colleges now find themselves…

Yasemin Craggs Mersinoglu
Yasemin Craggs Mersinoglu
News

Ofsted watch: Two providers lose ‘outstanding’ grades

One college and one private provider lost their ‘outstanding’ grades in a mixed week for the FE sector. Gateshead…

Yasemin Craggs Mersinoglu
Yasemin Craggs Mersinoglu
News

Could Wolf persuade the PM to revive night schools?

Part-time evening courses were once a route that allowed tens of thousands of adults to retrain. But government funding…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

Ofsted updates report after grades omission fiasco

Ofsted has been forced to revise a published inspection report after being made aware it was missing both apprenticeship…

Yasemin Craggs Mersinoglu
Yasemin Craggs Mersinoglu
News

Government slashes £11m from £20m adult traineeship budget

The Department for Education is to cut the budget for adult traineeships by more than half from August 2020….

Billy Camden
Billy Camden

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