FE Week Reporter | FE Week

Stockport goes from grade one to four

A 9,000-learner college in Greater Manchester has plummeted from an outstanding Ofsted rating to inadequate. Stockport College achieved the highest possible rating six years ago, but fell to grade four this month following a visit by the education watchdog last month. The college, which has a current Skills Funding Agency allocation of £8.1m, was hit […]

‘Good quality’ college projects rejected by SFA

The Skills Funding Agency was forced to reject several “good quality” college projects to avoid an overspend in its 2014-15 capital budget, it has been claimed. Chief executive of the Association of Colleges Martin Doel complained about the agency decisions in a letter to Skills Minister Matthew Hancock (pictured right). Mr Doel claimed the projects […]

Apprenticeship award winners

Top apprentices were celebrated during the 10th annual National Apprenticeship Awards at the Skills Show last Thursday. Apprentices from across the country received awards recognising their achievements at intermed iate, advanced and higher levels, and for championing apprenticeships. The ceremony, held at the LG Arena in Birmingham, was hosted by Tim Campbell, winner of the […]

Gill Alton, principal, Rotherham College of Arts and Technology

Rotherham College of Arts and Technology had never been graded higher than a level three by Ofsted inspectors before Gillian Alton arrived. But the institution achieved its first good inspection result this summer, three years after she was appointed principal. “It’s just fantastic news that it’s now good,” says Doncaster-born Alton. Given that the college […]

Last piece of Elmfield sold off to NCG

The last piece of troubled provider Elmfield has been sold off after the company went into administration last month. Fifty staff who had delivered the provider’s apprenticeships for supermarket giant Morrisons have been taken on by NCG (formerly Newcastle College Group) to see out the contract. It had already taken on the contract for new […]

Challenges and opportunities for colleges

Association of Colleges chief executive Martin Doel takes time out of his busy conference preparation schedule to tell FE Week what he thinks are the five main challenges and the five main opportunities for colleges in the coming year. CHALLENGES 1. Overlapping change programmes “It’s overlapping simultaneous change programmes conducted at high pace, […]

Stepping stone qualifications not ruled out by government

The government has declined to rule out a new GCSE “stepping stone” qualification for struggling apprentices. The Department for Education (DfE) last month said new English and maths GCSEs would be incorporated into apprenticeships from 2017. They are set to replace functional skills, which will be scrapped. But FE leaders warned that vocational learners who […]

Information Authority board scrapped by BIS

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has scrapped the Information Authority (IA) board. It was announced on November 11 that decision making on what FE and skills data should be collected would shift to senior figures at BIS and the Skills Funding Agency (SFA), rendering the IA board redundant. But sector leaders have […]

Lack of progress on ‘bullying’

A Peterborough-based provider made “insufficient progress” in protecting the welfare of its learners and preventing bullying and abuse, Ofsted has found. The education watchdog slapped the National Farriery Training Agency (NFTA) with a grade four inspection result in February after finding evidence of “bullying” and “abuse” of farriery apprentices. Inspectors said learners’ on-the-job supervisors, or […]