Author: FE Week Reporter

London-based construction training charity Building Lives claims 180 people currently on pre-employment training schemes face missing out on starting apprenticeships after the industry training board pulled £2m of future funding. Sian Workman, interim managing director of the registered charity, said the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) told it on February 27 that it would no […]

Two colleges have been granted permission to open their own free schools in the latest wave of 49 free schools given the go-ahead by the government. New College Swindon’s bid to open a school and sixth form in Swindon and New College Pontefract’s plans to open a 1,200 learner sixth form centre in Doncaster were […]

The government has rejected an employer and provider suggested proposal that traineeship learners should be offered a financial incentive for taking part. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) revealed how the idea of payment for trainees emerged from the sector in its first year evaluation of the scheme (pictured top right), published on Wednesday […]

Finance problems figured prominently in the two latest college inspection reports from FE Commissioner Dr David Collins (pictured above left). The reports by Dr Collins on Greenwich Community College and 11,000-learner Central Sussex College were both published on Monday (March 9), following visits in early January. The commissioner was particularly critical of the South East London […]

The FE Commissioner has recommended that Lancashire Adult Learning (LAL) should offload its skills programmes after he was sent in to inspect over a grade four Ofsted result. The report by Dr David Collins (pictured) on LAL, which has around 7,000 students including 5,300 community learners, was published on Monday (March 9. It recommended that […]

The Association of Colleges (AoC) has told Chancellor George Osborne (pictured) there is “no scope” for further reductions to FE funding in its submission for the 2015/16 Budget. The AoC’s submission makes 10 suggestions for the Treasury to consider in its planning for the next financial year — five for 16 to 19 education and […]

The inaugural FE Week Annual Apprenticeship Conference went with such a bang, how could we not do it again next year? Hundreds of delegates from across England and across the spectrum of FE and skills organisations — from providers to awarding organisations, and from government officials to MPs, and more besides — descended upon the […]

The Education Funding Agency (EFA) has promised extra cash to support a struggling college’s improvement strategy, following a visit from the sixth form commissioner. Hartlepool Sixth Form College will use the extra £22,000 to support professional staff development after commissioner Peter Mucklow (pictured) found not enough students were completing their courses, teaching was not “consistently […]

An Association of Colleges (AoC) report has called for “radical reforms” to the way FE provision is inspected, saying it should be separated from school inspections. The 26-page discussion paper, commissioned by the AoC and produced by FE consultant Mick Fletcher (pictured), recommended self-regulation for adult provision and “a slimmed down” Ofsted process for learners […]