Billy Camden

  • WorldSkills UK LIVE cancelled again – but national skills competitions return

    The country’s biggest skills and careers event has been cancelled for a second year – but national skills competitions are back. WorldSkills UK LIVE, which takes place annually at the NEC in Birmingham, was called off last year owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. The continued uncertainty around large scale events has meant it also cannot…

    0.01 Apr. 19th, 2021 | News

  • Call for new ‘baccalaureate’ to replace A-levels, BTECs, T-Levels and apprenticeships

    A three-year ‘baccalaureate’ should be introduced to replace A-levels, BTECs, T-Levels and apprenticeships, a think tank has said. A new report from EDSK, released today, claims the dominance of A-levels has had a detrimental impact on the prestige of other options, while limiting the breadth of curriculum. It is the second instalment in a two-part…

    0.01 Apr. 16th, 2021 | News

  • Colleges take adult education clawback battle to Downing Street

    Colleges have called on the prime minister to intervene in the government’s “devastating” adult education clawback plans that risk courses being scrapped and redundancies. In a letter today, Association of Colleges chief executive David Hughes tells Boris Johnson that his “ambitious” lifelong learning agenda will be damaged by the Department for Education’s and Treasury’s “dysfunctional”…

    15.15 Apr. 15th, 2021 | News

  • Prison education: Three days of strikes announced

    Education staff at 49 prisons across England will go on three days of strike action in the coming weeks over Covid-19 health and safety concerns. University and College Union members will stage a one-day walkout on 26 April, followed by a two-day strike on 11 and 12 May. The union has warned that further industrial…

    11.46 Apr. 13th, 2021 | News

  • ‘Staggering’ number of college students ‘between one and four months behind’, AoC survey warns

    A “staggering” three quarters of 16 to 18-year-old college students are performing below normal expectations and are between one and four months behind, research suggests. The Association of Colleges has also found that a similar number of adults (69 per cent) are below where they would normally be at this point in the academic year.…

    0.01 Apr. 13th, 2021 | News

  • Colleges will need to do their own funding audits - ESFA rules

    The government body responsible for funding assurance appears to have lost confidence in itself. The Education and Skills Funding Agency is requiring all external auditors to conduct a funding audit this year, before signing off on the annual college financial statements. News of the significant change came buried in the Post-16 Audit Code of Practice…

    20.25 Apr. 1st, 2021 | News

  • Swithenbank’s payoff revealed as auditors confirm financial regulations breached

    The former chief executive of Hull College Group received £219,000 last year, despite only being in post for 67 days.  Payments to Michelle Swithenbank are revealed in the published accounts alongside external auditor findings that a £300,000 three-year deal she signed with a local rugby club breached the college’s financial regulations.  External auditors reveal in…

    9.00 Apr. 2nd, 2021 | News

  • Tripling traineeships: no growth yet, but new providers remain upbeat

    The government has failed to boost radically the number of traineeships in the first half of the year – but providers tasked with tripling the number of starts insist they are up for the challenge. FE Week analysis of the latest Department for Education data shows there were 8,800 starts between August 2020 and January…

    7.00 Apr. 2nd, 2021 | News

  • Cash-strapped college announces merger partner

    A struggling college has announced plans to merge with one of the biggest college groups in the country next year. Greater Brighton Metropolitan College (GB MET) hopes to join Chichester College Group (CCG) in August 2022 following a “robust” selection process overseen by the FE Commissioner’s team. Sue Berelowitz, GB Met’s chair of governors, said…

    12.00 Apr. 1st, 2021 | News

  • First college in England to gain nursing course approval revealed

    The first college in the country to have its own nursing provision approved for direct delivery has been revealed today. South Devon College has gained Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) approval and can now deliver its own nursing associate programme rather than having to partner with a university. The NMC is the regulator for nursing…

    10.00 Apr. 1st, 2021 | News

  • Labour claims 9.4m jobs excluded from flagship lifetime skills guarantee

    Over 9.4 million people are working in sectors excluded from the government’s new adult level 3 offer under its lifetime skills guarantee, analysis by Labour has found on the eve of the scheme’s launch. FE Week was first to reveal that key economic sectors such as retail, hospitality and travel and tourism have been left…

    22.30 Mar. 31st, 2021 | News