Author: FE Week Reporter

Picking up the pieces of school-leavers’ maths GCSE failings is a heavy burden for the FE and skills sector. It is also one in which Alex Falconer thinks improvements are needed. This year more than 550,00 year 11 pupils in England will complete their GCSEs. Most (86 per cent) will go on to training or […]

The new ‘toughened up’ Ofsted inspection regime looked likely to make 2012/13 an unhappy year for sixth form colleges, but the general result was an improvement in grades, says James Kewin. It is fair to say that the introduction of the new common inspection framework (CIF) in September last year was greeted with a degree […]

A new focus on teaching and learning may well have become the valued hallmark of Ofsted’s current common inspection framework, but, asks Lynne Sedgmore, is there scope for a wider examination of the college offer? Over this past year, mention of Ofsted has generated mixed emotions in many colleges. Some ill-informed remarks have been made, […]

Different delivery environments for vocational learning are a hallmark of many independent training providers — and that’s something that needs proper recognition from inspectors, says Stewart Segal. When the latest common inspection framework (CIF) was introduced, it was clear that inspections in the sector would be very challenging. It was not just the reclassification of […]

  Being under the Ofsted spotlight can be an uncomfortable place, says Denise Brown-Sackey, who turns the inspection tables back on the education watchdog. Are providers fit for purpose — but is Ofsted fit to judge? Being under the Ofsted spotlight can be an uncomfortable place, says Denise Brown-Sackey, who turns the inspection tables back […]

One of the privileges of being vice-chair of the Commission on Adult Vocational Teaching and Learning (CAVTL) was the opportunity to see genuinely world class vocational teaching and learning in action in a whole range of settings — with employers, colleges and training providers, across different sectors of the economy — much of which challenged […]

Ofsted’s criticism of the college sector last year was a bitter pill to swallow and the toughened up common inspection framework offered little hope for sector praise. However, it hasn’t quite worked out like that says Joy Mercer. At this time last year, colleges felt they had not weathered an Ofsted storm but were beached, […]