News

Teen apprenticeship numbers could be hit by making employers pay, National Audit Office warns

Government plans to make employers pay for up to a third of the training for 16 to 18 apprenticeships…

FE Week Reporter
FE Week Reporter
News

Police investigate after college website hacked to promote Islamic militants

A college website inadvertently gave its support to the militant group Islamic State (ISIS) after it was hacked, prompting…

FE Week Reporter
FE Week Reporter
News

New awarding body steps in to certificate 500 of the more than 30,000 paying learners left stranded

A troubled provider which has been struggling to get courses certificated has been approved by a new awarding body…

FE Week Reporter
FE Week Reporter
News

Colleges to step in as school plans to scrap its sixth form provision

Local colleges are ready to take on A-level students from a school sixth form set to close because of…

FE Week Reporter
FE Week Reporter
News

The north continues to dominate as DfE release names of colleges that can recruit full-time 14 to 15-year-olds

A further nine colleges have been given permission to recruit full-time 14 to 15-year-olds this September, the second year…

FE Week Reporter
FE Week Reporter
News

Skills Minister speaks at ceremony launching first new FE college for over 20 years

Skills Minister Nick Boles visited Essex to mark the “milestone” transformation of Prospects Learning Foundation in to the first…

FE Week Reporter
FE Week Reporter


News

Sector concern after Skills Funding Agency list a further 174 qualifications facing the axe

The government has been warned by FE sector leaders against making “simplistic decisions” that could limit funding to qualifications for…

FE Week Reporter
FE Week Reporter
News

Math teacher training fund divides opinion after colleges with notice of financial concern are barred

A new maths teacher training fund which will exclude the most cash-strapped colleges doesn’t add up, according to the…

FE Week Reporter
FE Week Reporter
News

FE loan applications show no sign of a late summer rush

Two FE bodies have warned that the low take-up of 24+ loans shows the scheme should not be extended until…

FE Week Reporter
FE Week Reporter
News

AoC and AELP unite in warning BIS FE loan extension plan could hit learner numbers

The proposed expansion of the FE loans system to cover to cover level two qualifications and also younger learners could…

Nick Linford
Nick Linford
News

Reed recruitment agency stops re-selling My Distance Learning College courses amid row over 32,000 paying-learner certificates

A major recruitment agency has stopped re-selling courses run by troubled Rotherham-based provider My Distance Learning College (MDLC) amid…

Nick Linford
Nick Linford
News

EFA pulls Chelmer Training contract after fall from outstanding to inadequate — but questions remain for Ofsted

A provider that plummeted straight from Ofsted outstanding nearly a decade ago to inadequate escaped a visit from inspectors…

Nick Linford
Nick Linford

Must read

Colleges, Long read

Resilient Ricketts: How Brooklands was saved from going broke

The story of a college’s fight for survival after a subcontracting scandal left it on the brink of insolvency

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
Politics

Exit interview: Why Robert Halfon quit ‘the best job in government’

Halfon tells FE Week he ‘did all he could’ after leaving skills minister role

Shane Chowen
Shane Chowen
Apprenticeships

National apprenticeship achievement rate rises to 54%

Slight increase leaves sector way off government target

Billy Camden
Billy Camden and Shane Chowen
Apprenticeships

Apprenticeship growth pilot cash would reach just 15 ITPs

Providers need to start at least 15 apprentices on the chosen standards to be eligible for extra funding

Shane Chowen
Shane Chowen
Apprenticeships

Treasury announces £3k top-up for 13 ‘growth sector’ apprenticeships

Training providers will have to deliver a minimum number of starts to access the cash

Shane Chowen
Shane Chowen
Apprenticeships, Politics

DfE set to surrender £60m apprenticeship cash in 2023-24

Just 2% of total ring-fenced budget expected to be handed back to Treasury

Billy Camden
Billy Camden