Author: FE Week Reporter

The FE sector is a “fragile” state, Education Secretary Nicky Morgan (pictured),  has conceded. She made the comments during a meeting of the House of Commons Education SelectCcommittee on Wednesday (September 9), during which she faced a grilling from MPs over her department’s policies. The issue of funding in the FE sector was first mentioned […]

A review of the costs of running FE institutions has been branded a “waste of time” and in need of “further work”. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, Department for Education and The Treasury have published a 17-slide presentation on their joint review of FE costs, which was commissioned in February and was carried […]

The chief executive of one of the country’s leading awarding organisations has resigned, it was announced today. Mark Dawe, chief executive of OCR, will leave the company at the end of the month after successfully overseeing the completion of marking in this year’s summer exams. Mr Dawe, a former principal and chief executive at Hertfordshire’s […]

A new group for FE practitioners aimed at helping them “meet the spirit” of the Further Education Learning Technology Action Group (Feltag) was launched at this year’s Association for Learning Technology (ALT) conference. The Feltag Special Interest Group is a forum for teachers, lecturers, learning technologists and others working directly with learners, to discuss the […]

The system of prison learning contracting will come under the spotlight in a review ordered by Justice Secretary Michael Gove. The former Education Secretary wants the inquiry to, in part, look at how the Offender Learning and Skills Service (Olass) — currently contracted to three general FE colleges and one independent learning provider — operates. […]

Sector leaders have warned that the government’s post-16 education and training area review plans are “fundamentally flawed” because they concentrate too much on general FE and sixth form colleges (SFCs). The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and Department for Education (DfE) unveiled plans this morning for reviews for Birmingham and Solihull, Greater Manchester, and […]

The impact on post-16 funding of plans to allow summer-born children to enter reception after their fifth birthday will be examined before changes are made, the government has confirmed. A Department for Education spokesperson told FE Week that issues around post-16 funding would form part of the consultation on proposals to change the admissions code to accommodate […]

Twenty two general FE colleges will be involved in the first round of post-16 education and training area reviews announced by the government this morning. The future of a further 16 sixth form colleges (SFCs) will also be assessed as part of the reviews taking place in Birmingham and Solihull, Greater Manchester, and Sheffield city region. […]