FE Week Reporter | FE Week

Principal of Barnfield College receives knighthood

Peter Birkett, Principal of Barnfield College, has been awarded a knighthood in the Queens Honours List, announced today. He has been awarded the honour ‘for services to the Further Education and Academy Movement’. Other honours for staff in the further education sector include: Maxine Room, Principal of Lewisham College, has been awarded a CBE ‘for services to […]

An ‘outrageous’ mace-use of funds

Bradford College has stood by its decision to spend £24,000 on a decorative mace for its graduation ceremonies. The purchase has been described as a “crass bit of judgement” by the lecturers’ union and “offensive” by a member of College staff. Designed by the upmarket jewellers Fattorini, the mace was approved after the cost was […]

Functional Skills funded for 38 per cent less

Providers delivering in the workplace will receive almost 40 per cent less funding when they are forced to switch from Adult Basic Skills (ABS) Certificates to Functional Skills qualifications in August. The current version of the Learning Aim Reference Application (LARA) shows that while providers receive £505 for each ABS qualification they deliver, under Functional […]

SFA £2.3m website hardly used

The FE Choices website has been viewed by 6,230 people since it launched in January, figures obtained by FE Week reveal. The response from the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) to a Freedom of Information request shows that the website, which allows the public to compare the performance of providers with one another, has been visited […]

Subcontractor hits out at “rip off” management fee

The head of a subcontractor has called the high management fees used by some FE colleges a “rip off”. “The colleges get away with it because they can,” the source, who wished to remain anonymous told FE Week. “Subcontractors simply don’t have the clout to turn around to their local college and say up yours, […]

RTT Group has £3.3m contract terminated

Real-Time Training Ltd, which trades under the name RTT Group, has had its £3.3m contract with the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) terminated. A spokesperson for the SFA told FE Week: “The Agency has taken the decision not to re-contract with RTT for the 2012/13 academic year and has issued notice to terminate the current contract […]

Government announce independent review into the future of apprenticeships

The Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) have announced that Doug Richard, described as an entrepreneur and founder of School for Startups, is to lead an independent review into the future of apprenticeships. The BIS statement say “the review will examine how apprenticeships can continue to best meet the needs of employers, individuals, and the wider […]

AoC says government is not doing enough to address no free lunches

Labour MP David Blunkett said it was “unjustifiable” that more than 100,000 students miss out on a free school meal because of where they study in a Westminster Hall debate this morning. Currently, a 16 to 18 year-old from a disadvantaged background studying in a school sixth form, free school, University Technical College or an […]

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