News

‘Morally wrong’ – says former top BIS official over unknown apprenticeship end-point assessments

A former civil servant at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), has challenged the head of the…

Alix Robertson
Alix Robertson
News

Director of apprenticeship levy says new provider register will be a level playing field to ‘let the employer choose’

The government’s director of levy implementation has sought to reassure AELP delegates over the new register of apprenticeship providers,…

Jude Burke
Jude Burke
News

Union calls for casual staff to be made permanent after two years

Casual staff who have been working at an FE provider for at least two years should be made permanent,…

Paul Offord
Paul Offord
News

Skills minister announces “little delay” to publishing apprenticeship reform detail

Skills Minister Nick Boles has admitted that a string of key apprenticeship reform announcements will be further delayed following…

Paul Offord
Paul Offord
News

Pat Glass appointed shadow education secretary in Corbyn team shake-up

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has appointed former shadow education minister Pat Glass as shadow education secretary following the resignation…

Jude Burke
Jude Burke
News

Burton & South Derbyshire College joins AELP after quitting AoC

The Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) has picked up a new member that quit rival organisation the…

Paul Offord
Paul Offord


News

AELP boss accuses government of distorting market against ITPs

The government has been accused of “distorting the market” against independent training providers with its post-area review support package…

Jude Burke
Jude Burke
News

English and maths are not the only inspection consideration, Ofsted insists

English and maths judgements do not exert an “overriding influence” on Ofsted’s college inspections, despite a recent spate of…

Alix Robertson
Alix Robertson
News

Sheffield area review recommends two new mergers

The Sheffield City area review has completed proposing just two mergers, almost nine months after it started. Dearne Valley…

Jude Burke
Jude Burke
News

Boles pleads for Manchester colleges to be more ‘ambitious’

The skills minister Nick Boles wants the colleges involved in the Greater Manchester area review to try and be…

Alix Robertson
Alix Robertson
News

Darlington College goes from inadequate to good Ofsted rating

Darlington College has recovered to an Ofsted ‘good’ rating a little over a year after it was branded ‘inadequate’….

Alix Robertson
Alix Robertson
News

Colleges’ failure to deliver with traineeships exposed

AoC blames programme design after analysis shows they’re responsible for barely a quarter of starts AELP claims independent training…

Jude Burke
Jude Burke

Must read

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
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