News

First ever procurement process for adult education budget contracts finally launched

The first ever procurement process for adult education budget contracts has finally been launched by the Skills Funding Agency….

Paul Offord
Paul Offord
News

Ofsted rates Birkenhead Sixth Form College as outstanding in all areas

A sixth form college in the north west has become only the second in the country to be rated…

Jude Burke
Jude Burke
News

IFS calls for minimum public sector workforce apprenticeship target to be scrapped

The new minimum target for public sector bodies to employ at least 2.3 per cent of their workforce as…

Paul Offord
Paul Offord
News

Apprenticeship funding rule requiring 20 per cent off-the-job training ‘not going away’

Help is being offered to the government in an effort to define the minimum 20 per cent off-the-job training…

Paul Offord
Paul Offord
News

Halfon: Careers advice at colleges ‘state of the art’ but schools not good enough

The skills and apprenticeships minster has hailed the “state of the art” careers advice that colleges deliver, but called…

Paul Offord
Paul Offord
News

Parent anger over Daventry UTC closure

An angry parent of a student “devastated” by the news that her university technical college would close in the…

Jude Burke
Jude Burke


News

Institutes of technology £170m windfall going to existing providers

The extra £170 million the government has promised to set aside for a new wave of “prestigious” institutes of…

Alix Robertson
Alix Robertson
News

‘Inadequate’ Gateway SFC pulls back from Leicestershire area review

A struggling sixth form college has pulled out of its ongoing area review, after a special intervention by sixth…

Jude Burke
Jude Burke
News

Ofsted watch: West Cheshire College no longer ‘inadequate’

A mostly encouraging week for FE, with regards to Ofsted reports, saw West Cheshire College shed its inadequate tag….

Jude Burke
Jude Burke
News

Halfon puts lifelong learning back in the spotlight

Lifelong learning is firmly back on the government’s agenda, according to the skills and apprenticeships minister Robert Halfon, who…

Paul Offord
Paul Offord
News

Report shows college struggle with ‘endemic’ sexualised behaviour

Ofsted has blasted a college for “endemic” sexualised behaviour and incidents of sexual assault in a damning new report….

Jude Burke
Jude Burke
News

Large drop in number of standards lacking end-point assessors

The proportion of learners on apprenticeship standards without an approved assessment organisation is dropping rapidly, according to new figures….

Jude Burke
Jude Burke

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