FE Week Reporter | FE Week

Colleges break ranks and praise Ofsted

Inspectors this week received praise from two of England’s largest colleges, despite new data confirming a sharp rise in the number of institutions receiving poor grades. The principals of South Thames College, in south west London, and Leeds City College said they had been impressed with the fairness of recent inspection visits in which both […]

SFA to have a rethink

A functional skills convention was held by the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) and the Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) last week. A representative for the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) said at the convention they would be ‘looking again’ at the funding rates for functional skills. The event was designed to support, […]

A new era of 16-19 funding per learner

In October, institutions and other stakeholders were asked for their views on options for significant changes to the way 16-19 education and training is funded. From the wide-ranging responses received (almost 700 in total) the majority agreed with the overarching principles of simplification of the 16-19 funding formula proposed in the consultation document. But many […]

Department for Education shuns its own funding consultation

The government is ignoring concerns from colleges, parents and learners about plans to fund education providers on a “per student” basis. The reforms will affect all provision for 16 to 19-year-olds and replace the current funding system, which pays for the enrolment and achievement of qualifications individually. However, a Department for Education (DfE) public consultation […]

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LGA skills mismatch report is, to put it politely, inadequate

The publication of the recent LGA report on a so-called ‘Skills Mismatch’ in further education is deeply disappointing. It represents a backward step to outdated and discredited approaches to labour market planning and threatens to undermine moves towards a more fruitful strategic co-operation between colleges and local authorities which we in the 157 group have […]

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