News

Lord Agnew to help with FE and skills brief at DfE

Yet another minister in the Department for Education has been given some responsibility for further education. It was announced…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

Welsh college rapped by Ofsted

A Welsh college is to be suspended from recruiting apprentices in England after Ofsted found it making ‘insufficient progress’…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

Commission calls for ‘demoralising’ GCSE English to be replaced

GCSE English in schools should be scrapped and replaced by a new qualification that could be sat at any…

Fraser Whieldon
Fraser Whieldon
News

ESFA suspends another 23 providers from recruiting apprentices

Twenty three more new training providers have received temporary bans on recruiting apprentices following early Ofsted inspections that found…

Fraser Whieldon
Fraser Whieldon
News

College to stay open as usual during ‘mammoth’ 15-day strike

Nottingham College has said it will be open as usual during 15-days of strike action by the University and…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

Banks given £201m to clear college debts during area reviews

Colleges had over £200 million of bank debt paid off by the Treasury during the post-16 area reviews, but…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden


News

New education secretary commits to Stourbridge College sell-off meeting

The education secretary has committed to meeting with principals around Stourbridge to discuss how further education can continue in…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

Principal no-shows TUC fringe event panel but claims UCU pressure unconnected

A college principal embroiled in a bitter dispute with unions has denied withdrawing from a Trades Union Congress event…

Fraser Whieldon
Fraser Whieldon
News

Adult education slumps to lowest since major survey began more than 20 years ago

The government has been told to “wakeup” after research by the Learning and Work Institute found adult participation in…

Fraser Whieldon
Fraser Whieldon
News

Early win for DfE’s £5m apprenticeship marketing campaign

The government’s latest apprenticeship campaign appears to be bearing fruit after the Department for Education claimed the proportion of…

Fraser Whieldon
Fraser Whieldon
News

Ofsted watch: Ex-pro footballer’s provider scores highly in positive week for providers

A provider co-founded by former Crystal Palace football striker Dougie Freedman has been rated ‘outstanding’ in some areas, in…

Fraser Whieldon
Fraser Whieldon
News

ESFA to demand actual off-the-job training hour data for every apprentice

Yet another data field for logging apprentices’ off-the-job training hours will be introduced to individual learner records (ILR) from…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden

Must read

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
Bootcamps, Skills bootcamps

Coding firm caught charging students for free bootcamps

Ed tech provider ‘regretful’ after complaints and promises full refunds as bosses try to sue DfE over non-payments

Billy Camden
Billy Camden and Frances Read