News

Colleges asked to step in after private firm reveals plans to walk away from £17m contract

The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) is looking for a general FE college to step in after a major private…

Nick Linford
Nick Linford
News

Financial dispute leaves ‘32,000’ paying students at My Distance Learning College in dark over certificates

A Rotherham-based provider has warned that 32,000 paying learners might not get their certificates after a number of awarding…

Nick Linford
Nick Linford
News

ETF action over conflict of interest fears after director’s firm wins contract

The Education and Training Foundation has acted over conflict of interest concerns surrounding interim director Pauline Odulinski after a…

Nick Linford
Nick Linford
News

FE Commissioner pays tribute to new leadership at inadequate Lesoco college

The new leadership team at inadequate-rated South London college Lesoco has been praised by the FE Commissioner, it has…

Nick Linford
Nick Linford
News

Audit office investigates BIS efforts to simplify FE and skills

Efforts to simplify FE funding and bureaucracy by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) are under the National…

Nick Linford
Nick Linford
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

Must read

News

Case dismissed: Marples loses High Court claim against DfE

A judge has dismissed a multi-million-pound claim brought by former training boss Peter Marples and his family against the…

Shane Chowen
Shane Chowen
Skills reform

New law to bar ‘unsuitable’ FE leaders among skills white paper reforms

The government’s post-16 strategy has finally been unveiled

Billy Camden
Billy Camden and Shane Chowen
Qualifications

Revealed: V Levels incoming as axe looms for BTECs

New qualifications set to launch as ‘third route’ between A-levels and T Levels

Shane Chowen
Shane Chowen
Politics, Skills reform

DWP will take over apprenticeships, minister confirms

Shifting adult skills and apprenticeships policy will give “bigger emphasis on skills”, Jacqui Smith claims

Anviksha Patel
Anviksha Patel
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