Billy Camden

  • Provider shuts its doors to hundreds of young engineering apprentices

    A training provider has laid off all 30 staff and shut its door to hundreds of young engineering apprentices, FE Week can reveal. West Yorkshire-based Kirkdale Industrial Training Services Limited (KITS), an Ofsted grade 2 registered charity that is more than 50 years old, informed their staff and the government of the decision to close…

    6.00 Jul. 3rd, 2020 | News

  • DfE to pay employers £750 for every T-level industry placement

    Employers will be offered cash incentives of up to £750 per student on a T-level industry placement from September, the government announced today as part of a “new package of support”. The funding, which will be paid to individual providers to then pass on to businesses, is planned to run just for the 2020/21 academic…

    10.13 Jul. 3rd, 2020 | News

  • Greater London Authority admin for adult education rises to nearly £5m

    The cost of managing and administering the adult education budget for the Greater London Authority has shot up to almost £5 million – including £300,000 for a new learner survey. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan was criticised by college principals last year after he took control of the £311 million AEB for the capital but…

    5.00 Jul. 3rd, 2020 | News

  • DfE publish guidance on fully opening FE to young people and adults from September

    The Department for Education has this morning published guidance on what FE colleges and providers will “need to do” to fully reopen from September. It confirms that the intention is to welcome back all learners, including adults as well as 16 to 19 year olds. Critically, the DfE said there will be “no set requirement”…

    9.46 Jul. 2nd, 2020 | News

  • Answering the call for digital skills excellence

    With the government setting out its plans for infrastructure investment and skills, we need to better prepare for a digital economic future, writes Neil Bentley-Gockmann. As we emerge from the worst stages of the coronavirus and start to deal with the economic and social consequences of having to shut down whole sectors of the economy,…

    8.52 Jul. 2nd, 2020 | Opinion

  • Leicester College takes ‘difficult decision to close’ in local lockdown

    Leicester College is to close from today as part of the country’s first localised lockdown following a flare-up of Covid-19 cases in the area. On Monday evening health secretary Matt Hancock told the House of Commons that the seven day infection rate is 135 cases per 100,000 people in Leicester, which is three times higher…

    9.39 Jul. 1st, 2020 | News

  • Federation of Awarding Bodies chair and vice-chair to step down

    Paul Eeles and Terry Fennell, the chair and vice-chair of the Federation of Awarding Bodies respectively, are to step down from the positions at the end of the year. The pair have each served two terms – seven years – on the board and will officially leave the membership organisation at their next annual general…

    17.37 Jul. 1st, 2020 | News

  • ESFA to force ‘significant’ reductions to FE subcontracting by 2022/23

    The Education and Skills Funding Agency has confirmed it will apply a cap on the volume of subcontracting as it moves to “significantly” reduce the practice in further education. A new externally assessed “standard”, which all providers will need to meet in order to subcontract ESFA funds, is also to be introduced to tackle “poor…

    16.00 Jun. 30th, 2020 | News

  • PM promises ‘every young person’ the ‘chance of an apprenticeship or an in-work placement’

    The prime minister has promised to offer an “opportunity guarantee” that will give “every young person the chance of an apprenticeship or an in-work placement” to boost the economy after Covid-19. But details of how this policy would actually work or how much it would cost are not yet known. Boris Johnson delivered a speech…

    11.52 Jun. 30th, 2020 | News

  • Exam boards to investigate claims of ‘bias’ in teacher-assessed grades

    Exam boards will be expected to investigate claims from students that schools and colleges have not shown “care or integrity” in stamping out “bias” in teacher-assessed grades. In updated draft guidance on appeals for exam boards, Ofqual said while they expect such allegations to be rare, it is an “important safeguard” for pupils in this…

    13.58 Jun. 30th, 2020 | News

  • GCSE and A-level autumn series grades to be based only on exams, Ofqual confirms

    Student grades in this year’s autumn exam series will be based on their performance in the tests alone, not on any non-exam assessment, Ofqual has confirmed. The exams regulator has published its decisions following a consultation on the autumn series, which will allow learners who are not happy with their summer calculated grades to sit…

    13.44 Jun. 30th, 2020 | News