News

Government to ‘strengthen’ end-point assessment register to exclude ‘rogues’

The government is “strengthening” the approvals process for its register of end-point assessment organisations following an FE Week exposé…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

Treasury, not DfE, holding up apprenticeship fee reduction

  The Department for Education is waiting for the Treasury to let them announce a start date for when…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

ESFA publishes AEB funding rules and extends free courses to workers earning just over £16,000

Adults earning less than the national living wage and who live outside of Mayoral combined authorities with devolution deals…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

ESFA calls for funding rules feedback to make them ‘clearer’

The Education and Skills Funding Agency has asked employers and providers for feedback on the way it provides apprenticeship…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

ESFA in NAO firing line as Ofsted left to expose lack of off-the-job training

On the same day the National Audit Office revealed the government has “limited assurance” the 20 per cent off-the-job-training…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

Let the games begin: competition hots up for TeamUK place at WorldSkills Kazan

Nearly 80 of the UK’s most skilled young people are battling it out in a five-day competition this week…

Fraser Whieldon
Fraser Whieldon


News

Apprenticeship quango boss rejects NAO concern that ‘most valued’ standards are not prioritised

National Audit Office criticism of the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education standards approvals process has been rejected by…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

NAO second report into levy reforms a ‘shame’, says apprenticeships minister

Today’s National Audit Office report into apprenticeships is a “shame” because it only reflects on the past and doesn’t…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

NAO warns apprenticeship budget set to run out after DfE got its forecast wrong

There is “clear risk” that the apprenticeship programme is not financially sustainable after the average cost of training an…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

NAO apprenticeships progress report: The 7 key findings

The National Audit Office has today published its report into whether the government’s apprenticeships programme is providing value for…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

Mental health and careers support cuts exposed

Nearly half of all colleges and schools with sixth forms have had to reduce student mental health and careers…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

College fighting for survival after merger plans collapse at eleventh hour

A college surviving on government bailouts faces an uncertain future after being dumped at the eleventh hour by its…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden

Must read

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
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