Author: FE Week Reporter

UPDATE: 8.17AM Wednesday, July 29 (see foot of story) The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) said it has “no timescale” for the return of its monthly provider payment system which this morning remained shut following the end of a planned five-day closure. The Hub closed on Thursday (July 23) and was due to reopen at 9am […]

The House of Lords Committee on Social Mobility wants to hear young people’s experiences of moving between school and employment and has issued a questionnaire to find out more. The group of peers, chaired by Lady Corston (pictured above — and click here for her exclusive FE Week expert piece), is urging providers to alert learners aged […]

An Oldham training provider has rejected accusations from Ofsted that it was taking on apprentices who did not wish to be trained, but were forced onto the programme by employers. Blue Training UK, previously rated good, was slapped with an inadequate ratings across the headline fields by the education watchdog following a visit last month, with inspectors criticising […]

New scorecards that rate local authorities for their performance in helping young people into employment or training and tracking their status have been welcomed amid a renewed call for careers guidance improvements. The scorecards allows users to compare their local authority against national statistics, which show that across England, 4.7 per cent of 16 to 17-year-olds […]

The Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) and the Association of Colleges (AoC) have welcomed a consultation the government hopes will mark the start of a promised crackdown on fake apprenticeships. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is asking for examples of bogus apprenticeships as it aims to ensure that all use of the title is […]

Female teachers joining the sector are likely to get paid significantly less than their male counterparts, a study by the Education and Training Foundation (ETF) has found. The research, Initial Teacher Education (ITE) Provision in FE and Skills, published today, found a quarter of women coming into FE to teach had a starting salary of […]

The government has committed to report back on its progress in improving digital skills next year in its response to a critical House of Lords select committee report. The House of Lords Select Committee on Digital Skills, chaired by Lady Morgan, published its report called ‘Make or Break: The UK’s Digital Future’ in February. It […]

Governors at New College Nottingham (NCN) and Central College Nottingham (CCN) have voted to merge the two institutions following a review of FE provision in the city by commissioner David Collins. Dr Collins, pictured, launched the review in May following recent grade three Ofsted inspection results for both colleges and financial difficulties which led to a […]

A study of three colleges has shown that sending regular encouraging text messages to learners can dramatically cut dropout rates. The experiment was carried out by the Behavioural Research Centre for Adult Skills and Knowledge (ASK), which was launched last September by social purpose company the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) in partnership with the Department […]