News

ESFA demands final off-the-job hour data to ‘support the work of audit’

A new field is set to be introduced to individual learner records (ILR) to support government audits of apprenticeship…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

Sixth form college in spat with UTC over ‘inaccurate’ data claims

A row erupted between a university technical college and a sixth form college yesterday over “inaccurate” achievement rate claims….

Fraser Whieldon
Fraser Whieldon
News

Robert Halfon re-elected as education committee chair

Robert Halfon has been re-elected unopposed as the chair of the Parliamentary education committee. The Conservative MP’s re-election was…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

College with ‘failed’ Grenfell-style cladding starts moving students out

A college has begun moving classes and residents out of their tower block as they prepare for a multi-million…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

SFA lost 1,000 staff in just six years

The Skills Funding Agency shed over 1,000 staff when responsible for apprenticeship providers and college financial oversight, before being…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

AoC board set for shake-up to bring in outside experts

A major reorganisation of the board at the Association of Colleges (AoC) will see many of the principals replaced…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden


News

Ofsted watch: ‘Outstanding’ week for sixth form college

A sixth form college was lauded as ‘outstanding’ in a mixed week for FE, which saw one private provider…

Yasemin Craggs Mersinoglu
Yasemin Craggs Mersinoglu
News

Chair follows principal and quits at college with shock £6m deficit

A former deputy FE commissioner has been drafted into a college that is currently investigating an unexpected £6 million…

Yasemin Craggs Mersinoglu
Yasemin Craggs Mersinoglu
News

Parents demand ‘inadequate’ Sheffield film school be reopened

Parents are lobbying the government to restart funding for an arts and media provider that trained mostly high-needs learners….

Fraser Whieldon
Fraser Whieldon
News

T-level cold-spots could prove to be a major DfE headache

An FE Week investigation into T-level cold-spots has found six out of eight college principals in Lincolnshire appear to…

Fraser Whieldon
Fraser Whieldon
News

A fifth of colleges go more than 12 months without publishing minutes

One in five colleges have not published board minutes in over a year, an FE Week investigation has found….

Yasemin Craggs Mersinoglu
Yasemin Craggs Mersinoglu
AEB

Provider challenging ‘flawed’ AEB tender in the high court

Lawyers are set to go to battle at the high court later this month, in the first ever challenge…

Fraser Whieldon
Fraser Whieldon

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