News

London college merger called off at last minute

A planned merger between two London colleges has been called off at the last minute, FE Week can reveal….

Jude Burke
Jude Burke
News

DfE quick to rebuff ‘evidence’ of employers calling for changes to off-the-job rule

A plea for flexibility in apprenticeship off-the-job training requirements has been swiftly rebutted by the Department for Education. In…

Jude Burke
Jude Burke
News

Exclusive: IfA turns to headhunters after failing to recruit a permanent CEO

The Institute for Apprenticeships has failed to appoint a permanent chief executive, FE Week can reveal. A job advert…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

Lords launch inquiry into the state of technical education

The House of Lords has called for an inquiry into whether or not FE and vocational training is funded…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

Government’s new crackdown on illegally low wages for apprentices

Rogue employers who illegally underpay apprentices have been threatened with severe jail sentences, under a new government crackdown on…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

Blackburn College students fume over two-week results delay

Degree students left waiting for overdue results from a Lancashire college have branded the delay “cruel” and are demanding…

Jude Burke
Jude Burke


News

Exclusive: Government inaction as employers leave apprentices half a million pounds out of pocket

It’s likely that no-one has been fined or prosecuted for illegally underpaying apprentices, an FE Week investigation exposing the…

Paul Offord
Paul Offord
News

Tendering launch time for Institutes of Technology revealed

Tenders for developing the government’s new Institutes of Technology have been put off until the autumn, skills and apprenticeships…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

Ofsted watch: Three providers branded ‘inadequate’

Three providers have been branded ‘inadequate’ in a tough week for the FE and skills sector. Land-based provider Easton…

Jude Burke
Jude Burke
News

Investigation update: Confusion as government refuses to say if all provider’s funding pulled

The future of a provider caught offering banned inducements to an employer remains in limbo, after the government refused…

Paul Offord
Paul Offord
News

Minister announces T-levels delay

The first T-levels will be delayed until September 2020 – a year later than planned – the government has announced…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

T-levels crisis: DfE report warns single awarding organisation ‘unviable’

The T-levels crisis has deepened after a new report claimed Lord Sainsbury’s recommendation to have one awarding organisation per…

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