FE Week Reporter | FE Week

Voc ed on party leaders’ agenda

Vocational education and skills was top of the agenda when top politicians addressed business leaders last week. Prime Minister David Cameron, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Labour leader Ed Miliband all spoke about FE when they addressed the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) annual conference in London on Monday. Mr Cameron praised businesses for […]

Second principal issues safety statement

A second general FE college principal in a fortnight has issued a public safety announcement following a safety scare. Norfolk police are investigating a deliberate chemical spill at College of West Anglia on Friday (November 7) that left 30 students needing treatment and one in hospital. The incident prompted principal David Pomfret to speak out […]

Readers deliver policy demands as parties gear up for election

How the 660 FE Week manifesto survey respondents felt about the five most popular reader-generated policy pledges More than 600 members of the FE sector contributed to FE Week general election manifesto. After selecting 14 key policy ideas with the help of 35 readers, an online survey was launched to determine which pledges should form […]

Skills Show ‘light goes on’

The third national Skills Show kicked off in Birmingham on Thursday (November 13) with have-a-gos, careers advice, skills competitions and the finals of the National Apprenticeship Awards. At a dinner welcoming exhibitors, visitors and VIPs to the show on Wednesday, Skills Show patron Theo Paphitis said he was delighted to be returning for the third […]

Unified CIF ‘not money-saving exercise’

Ofsted’s eight-week consultation on bringing an end to its independent FE and skills inspection regime comes to a close next month. All education inspections would be “harmonised” under the proposed common inspection framework (CIF) for nurseries, schools and colleges from September next year, as revealed exclusively by FE Week at the start of August. It […]

Ofqual boss issues stability plea on Functional Skills

Ofqual boss Glenys Stacey has said qualifications should remain “as stable as possible” as Skills Minister Nick Boles looks at a Functional Skills rebrand. Ms Stacey replied to a letter sent early last month by Mr Boles, in which he said Functional Skills would “continue to be one of the types of qualification that learners […]

Reports of more FE cuts prompt AoC defence

Further education has already taken its “fair share” of cuts, the Association of Colleges (AoC) has warned amid claims another £48bn could be slashed from government budgets. The organisation has called for a review of education spending after warnings in national media that cuts could spiral way above the £25bn suggested by Prime Minister David […]

AoC backs Ofqual plans to scrap QCF regulations

The Association of Colleges (AoC) has backed Ofqual plans to ditch current regulatory arrangements for the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF). A consultation launched in July on the QCF, which was itself launched in 2008, proposed that qualifications should be regulated by Ofqual’s general conditions of recognition. A number of submissions from FE organisations, including […]

College issued warning over ‘hand-to-mouth’ finances

A Midland college has been warned about its “hand-to-mouth” financial situation by FE Commissioner Dr David Collins. Dr Collins visited Birmingham’s 12,000-learner Bournville College (pictured), which has a current Skills Funding Agency (SFA) allocation of £8,495,746, in August after it was issued with a financial notice of concern by the in April. In his report, […]