Climate Change, Sustainability

DfE agrees to publish ‘urgent’ sustainability plan

All settings to have a climate action plan ‘in place by 2025’, DfE assures MPs

Anviksha Patel
Anviksha Patel
Apprenticeships

Ban for ‘rogue’ apprenticeship boss who owes ESFA £2.5m

Investigators couldn’t verify payments from Vista Training Solutions were ‘legitimate expenses’ due to missing accounts

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
Politics

Rigid rules led to £28m tuition fund clawback in first 2 years

‘Most colleges could have spent their allocations several times over if they had been able to target all students…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
Colleges

College’s future secured as £45m redevelopment gets green light

Councillors greenlight refurbishment following arguments that it was ‘blackmailed’ to approve

Anviksha Patel
Anviksha Patel
Apprenticeships

Scandalous apprenticeship provider owner hit with 6-year director’s ban

Matrimonial property also sold for £2.2m as liquidators seek to repay colleges

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
Colleges

Well-known college principal suddenly steps down

East Coast College said Stuart Rimmer left at the end of December, but would not say why

Shane Chowen
Shane Chowen


News

Councils to charge families for post-16 SEND transport to plug black holes

‘Unfair’ plans slammed as cash-strapped LAs look to balance books

Anviksha Patel
Anviksha Patel
News

Ofsted promises to start recording inspection pauses in new era

Pledge comes after watchdog admits it holds no ‘central record of the number of inspections that have been paused’

Lucas Cumiskey
Lucas Cumiskey
Apprenticeships, Politics

Apprenticeship provider boss embroiled in Post Office scandal

Lifetime Training board backs David Smith as he inputs to public inquiry

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
Apprenticeships

Funding boost for popular early years apprenticeship

DfE hopes increase will aid nursery providers in training more staff amid a workforce crisis

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
resits

GCSE maths resit pass rate lower than pre-pandemic

But performance in English re-takes continues to rise

Freddie Whittaker
Freddie Whittaker
RAAC

DfE will repay colleges £4k for RAAC surveys – but there’s a catch

Funding will only be available for surveys carried out over a two-month period last year

Jack Dyson
Jack Dyson

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