FE Week Reporter | FE Week

Lead contractors ‘top-slice’ more than £175 million

Lead providers charged more than £175 million in management fees to subcontractors in the 2011/12 academic year, an analysis by FE Week suggests. A Skills Funding Agency (SFA) spreadsheet published on the agency website suggests that contract holders took an average “top-slice” of 23 per cent from subcontractors. It also suggests that subcontractors earned about […]

Education Funding Agency to delete ‘erroneous reports’

Errors have been found in data and management information reports published by the Education Funding Agency (EFA). The reports, which give local authorities an overview of the 16 to 19 provision in their area, incorrectly included adult learners in further education. A spokesperson for the EFA told FE Week that Qualification Success Rates (QSR) should […]

Government to pilot ‘traineeships’

The Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, announced today that the goverment will be piloting a new pre-apprenticeship scheme, known as a ‘traineeship’. In his speech at the CBI Jobs Summit Mr Clegg said: “The teenagers who aren’t ready for an apprenticeship, say. These were the children most let down by the previous system. Now, as we […]

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Local Government Association critical of skills mismatches

England is failing young people by training them for jobs that don’t exist, while not providing them with the skills for areas where there is work, according to a report from the Local Government Association (LGA). Hidden Talents argues that there is a mismatch between the jobs that young people are qualifying for and those […]

Pre-apprenticeships offer the sector a NEET solution

It’s not going to shock you to the core when I say young people often leave school ill-equipped for the workplace. I’m staying clear of schools’ bashing because schools are under all sorts of pressures, and it can be difficult to understand the employment needs of a fast moving economic environment, when you’re predominantly schools’ […]

Richard Review opens call for evidence

The Richard Review into apprenticeships officially opened its call for evidence yesterday. Doug Richard, who was appointed by the government to lead an independent review into apprenticeships, said he didn’t want to critique the current system, but wanted to look to the future. The entrepreneur and star of the TV series Dragon’s Den said that he would not be the […]

Are Ofsted inspecting the waves or the sea?

Last week, a students’ union representative at a large college described to me a wonderful teacher who in every internal observation inspired students and observers alike, and was an amazing teacher for the students throughout the year. Come the last Ofsted inspection, after the build-up of pressures and mounting apprehension, the part of his teaching […]

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