News

Neet numbers at near-decade low as funding worries prompt RPA warning

The number of young people not in education, employment or training (Neet) in England is at its lowest quarterly…

Nick Linford
Nick Linford
News

Concerns emerge providers are claiming 24+ funding they’re not entitled to

Concerns have emerged at the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) that FE and skills providers may have been claiming funding…

Nick Linford
Nick Linford
News

Government U-turn over GCSE entry requirement for early years educator apprenticeship

The government has backed down on its GCSE entry requirement plans for early years educator apprenticeships. It had been…

Nick Linford
Nick Linford
News

Details of long-awaited new Esol quals finalised

Details of long-awaited new English for Speakers of Other Languages (Esol) qualifications due to run from next month have…

Nick Linford
Nick Linford
News

New ad campaign tells youngsters to ‘get in’ to apprenticeships and ‘go far’

The government and top employers have today launched a ‘Get In, Go Far’  TV advertising campaign for apprenticeships as…

Nick Linford
Nick Linford
News

Selective free school head comes under fire from college principal for ‘complete untruth’ over A-level claims

The principal of a London sixth form college has hit back at a nearby head teacher’s claim in the…

Nick Linford
Nick Linford


News

Hunt restates technical institutes plan but questions remain that they would ‘address real issues affecting FE’

Labour’s tech bacc plans and proposals for Institutes of Technical Education were restated in a speech today by Shadow…

Nick Linford
Nick Linford
News

FE Commissioner questions future of cash-strapped college that saw governor resignations over principal’s appointment

The FE Commissioner has questioned the future of a cash-strapped Midland college that saw governors resign after a new principal…

Nick Linford
Nick Linford
News

A-level results day 2014

Students across the country were this morning finding out how they performed in their A-levels and deciding their next…

Nick Linford
Nick Linford
News

Further education colleges outnumber universities in learners’ higher education top 20

Learners have put 12 FE colleges among the UK’s top 20 higher education providers in the 2014 National Student…

Nick Linford
Nick Linford
News

Apprenticeship starters should be no older than 23, says new IPPR report

Apprentices should be no older than 23 at the time of starting their course, a new report from the…

Nick Linford
Nick Linford
News

Darlington College tops minister’s new ‘experimental success measure’

The government has today published for the first time employment and other 19+ learner outcomes for FE and skills…

Nick Linford
Nick Linford

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