News

BAE given £35m SFA contract despite not tendering

A £35m IT contract with the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) has been awarded to BAE Systems — despite the…

FE Week Reporter
FE Week Reporter
News

Warning against ‘one size fits all’ inspections as Ofsted considers FE and skills merger with schools and early years

Ofsted proposals to merge the FE and skills inspection regime with schools and early years have drawn warnings from the…

FE Week Reporter
FE Week Reporter
News

EXCLUSIVE: Ofsted FE and skills inspections face merger with schools and early years

Ofsted’s FE and skills inspection regime could be scrapped as the watchdog looks at a huge merger shake-up including…

Nick Linford
Nick Linford
News

Trade union and business leaders issue joint agreement over traineeship pay and work experience as programme marks one-year anniversary

Trade union and business leaders have today issued a joint agreement on traineeships over pay and work experience quality…

Nick Linford
Nick Linford
News

Government Q&A on apprenticeship funding reform fails to ease concerns

Concerns about proposed new apprenticeship funding models remain despite an update on reform plans from the Department for Business,…

FE Week Reporter
FE Week Reporter
News

Free schools allowed to join ranks of the Sixth Form Colleges’ Association

Free schools could be allowed to join the Sixth Form Colleges’ Association (SFCA) after its governing council voted in…

Nick Linford
Nick Linford


News

Pressure mounts for answers over Warwickshire College principal Mariane Cavalli’s departure

A Midland college is under growing pressure to go public over the departure of its former principal after she unexpectedly…

FE Week Reporter
FE Week Reporter
News

What can FE and skills expect of Nick Boles?

With just over a fortnight gone since Grantham and Stamford MP Nick Boles became the new Skills Minister, the sector…

FE Week Reporter
FE Week Reporter
News

Mariane Cavalli to leave Warwickshire College next month after unexplained temporary absence

Warwickshire College principal Mariane Cavalli will leave her post at the end of August, the college has announced. Her…

FE Week Reporter
FE Week Reporter
News

New sector leadership thinktank appoints chief executive

A new sector leadership thinktank has appointed former National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (Niace) policy director Mark Ravenhall…

FE Week Reporter
FE Week Reporter
News

Tech bacc could help one in four, says Skills Minister Boles

New Skills Minister Nick Boles said he hoped one in four young people would study for the government’s flagship…

FE Week Reporter
FE Week Reporter
News

Union questions move to keep ‘supportive’ Gazelle report out of public domain

A decision to keep an allegedly positive report about the under-fire Gazelle Colleges Group under-wraps has been questioned by…

FE Week Reporter
FE Week Reporter

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