FE Week Reporter | FE Week

‘Reward college specialisms’ says CBI

Colleges should be rewarded for specialisation, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has said. In its report A better off Britain: improving lives and making growth work for everyone, published today, the employer body also called for more learners to complete level four apprenticeships and vocational qualifications. John Cridland (pictured), director general of the CBI […]

MPs hear young apprenticeship programme comeback call

Apprenticeships for 14 to 16-year-olds should make a comeback, sector experts have told MPs. All eight witnesses appearing before the House of Commons Education Select Committee hearing last week agreed a return for the programme could help prepare young people for the workplace and further training before turning 16. The young apprenticeship, which consisted of […]

Agency review puts 1,600 quals in the funding firing line

Public funding for nearly 700 adult qualifications is to be axed while a further 972 are also at risk following a Skills Funding Agency review, it has been announced. The agency released lists of qualifications with no or low demand — of fewer than 100 funded enrolments a-year — since August 2012, which it said […]

College follows commissioner’s first merger advice

The first of three colleges that FE Commissioner Dr David Collins suggested would struggle to maintain their long-term independence has agreed to a merger. Dr Collins concluded that Devon-based Bicton College, which was visited by the commissioner in March, needed to merge or form a federation with another institution following Skills Funding Agency concern about […]

Strode scores outstanding clean sweep

A Somerset college has scored a clean sweep of outstanding headline ratings in a glowing Ofsted report. Strode College, in Street, became the first college this academic year to achieve a grade one result — and the ninth since the new Common Inspection Framework was introduced in September 2012. It got grade ones in each […]

Local authorities losing Neets track say MPs

Participation in education, employment and training among 16, 17 and 18-year-olds will not improve unless the government tackles problems with young people slipping through the net, a senior MP has warned. During a hearing of the Public Accounts Committee’s inquiry into 16 to 18 participation, chair Margaret Hodge (pictured) warned Department for Education (DfE) Permanent […]

Sixth form college bosses’ £500 ‘incentive’ raises ethics query

Concerns about the “ethical use of funding” have been raised after a sixth form college started advertising £500 incentives in a bid to lure high-achieving learners to its proposed new free school sixth form. New College Pontefract applied to the Department for Education (DfE) last month to set up New College Doncaster, which would open […]

Police on campus after bomb accused in court

The principal of a college at the centre of an alleged bomb plot has sought to reassure staff and learners after a teenager appeared in court charged with possession of a gun and pipe bombs. Newcastle College boss Carole Kitching said it remained a safe place to study after Liam Lyburd, believed to be a […]

DfE borrowing move ‘unfair’ — SFCA

The Department for Education (DfE) has defended its continued refusal to exempt sixth form colleges from VAT after a controversial move to give academies borrowing powers. The borrowing powers of sixth form colleges have long been seen by government as a justification for their continued payment of VAT, but an announcement that academies — and […]