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Universities Minister wants more higher education courses at colleges

Universities Minister David Willetts wants FE colleges to offer more higher education courses. He has given the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), Skills Funding Agency (SFA), FE colleges and Local Enterprise Partnerships (Leps) until the autumn to identify “cold spots” across the country where there is a lack of higher education provision. The […]

Former deputy Lorna Fitzjohn to replace Coffey in Ofsted FE lead role

Ofsted’s former deputy director of further education and skills has been given the director’s role after Matthew Coffey was promoted, the watchdog has announced. Lorna Fitzjohn previously served as deputy director for FE and was more recently director for the West Midlands, a job she will continue with alongside her new role. She has also […]

Pilot scheme for FE English GCSE teaching enhancement course to start in mid-April

A pilot scheme will soon be launched for a training course preparing FE lecturers for a massive expansion in the number of students needing to learn English GCSE. The Department for Education (DfE), Education and Training Foundation (ETF), and Association of Centres for Excellence in Teacher Training (ACETT) confirmed before Christmas they were developing an […]

Hancock unveils 77 new tech levels

Skills minister Matthew Hancock used a speech to a jobs and skills forum in London to announce 77 new tech level qualifications, taking the total on offer to 217. Mr Hancock addressed delegates at the European Jobs and Skills Summit —which was organised by the Institute for Public Policy Research and JP Morgan, and held […]

Mixed reaction to new requirement for learner outcome data in individual learner records

Sector leaders gave a mixed welcome to new requirements for providers to collect data on what happens to learners after they finish courses. The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) has published a second version of its guide to data collection requirements for individual learner records (ILR) for 2014/15. It includes a new requirement to complete five […]

New organisation given control of WorldSkills UK and the Skills Show

Control over WorldSkills UK and the Skills Show has been pulled together under a single organisation. Find a Future, which will be funded by the Skills Funding Agency (SFA), the European Social Fund, and commercial sponsorship, was launched today (April 1). The not-for-profit organisation has taken control of WorldSkills UK from the SFA and the […]

Joshua is apprentice of year for creative and cultural industries

Community arts apprentice Joshua Gould has been named as Creative Cultural Skills’ Apprentice of the Year 2014. Level 3 apprentice Joshua, aged 18, works for Unit Twenty Three — a Norfolk-based arts organisation that runs events and provides office space for young artists. He was selected for the award given out by Creative and Cultural […]

Lambeth College staff to strike over hours and pay

Staff at Lambeth College will go on strike tomorrow (Tuesday) over proposed changes to pay and conditions, the University and College Union (UCU) has announced. It comes after 95 per cent of staff who voted in a ballot backed industrial action following a dispute over plans to change contracts, and in particular, clauses about working […]

Bright puts up to 20 members of staff on ‘gardening leave’

Troubled provider Bright Assessing has allegedly put several members of its staff on “gardening leave”. FE Week has seen a letter which it is understood the Warwickshire-based provider’s chief executive Krissy Charles-Jones (pictured) handed to up to 20 members of staff on March 26. It said the short term outlook for the firm “looks challenging” […]