Author: Billy Camden

Exam boards have today published guidance for how schools and colleges are expected to award grades this summer. The guidance includes key dates setting out the process. Here’s what you need to know:   22 March to 22 April: Entry amendments window open for centres     31 March: Additional assessment materials (sets of questions, […]

Ministers have been warned over a “Wild West” grading system this summer with MPs demanding concessions to ensure a “level playing field” for students. The education select committee has warned Gavin Williamson his exams replacement plan risks being “too inconsistent”. Robert Halfon, the committee’s chair, said this was down to a lack of standardised assessments […]

The Department for Education has admitted that a “completion” of a course on its Skills Toolkit may simply represent that a user has accessed learning materials. Officials have also publicly confessed for the first time that they have no idea whether users of the free online content, which has cost almost £1 million to put […]

More than two in five apprentices on standards failed to successfully complete their qualification last year. National achievement rate tables (NARTs) published this morning by the Department for Education show that the overall rate for all apprenticeships fell from 64.8 per cent in 2018/19 to 64.2 per cent in 2019/20. The data shows that apprentices […]

Schools and colleges have lost financial records, students’ coursework and Covid-19 testing data during a recent “spike” in cyber attacks targeting the education sector. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), part of GCHQ, yesterday published an alert warning colleges and other education settings to take further precautions to protect themselves against ransomware following “an increased […]

The Office for Statistics Regulation has reprimanded the Department for Education over the data published for its new Skills Toolkit. The body, an arm of the UK Statistics Authority, wrote to the DfE’s chief statistician Neil McIvor earlier this month to raise issues with the figures. OSR deputy director for regulation Mary Gregory expresses concern […]

The skills minister stands accused of issuing misleading information about the new level 3 adult offer after FE Week analysis found the majority are too small to be classed as full level 3 qualifications. Of the 387 courses included in the scheme for 24-year-old learners and above, 207 (53 per cent) are not in the […]

College leaders have endorsed a move by the Education and Skills Funding Agency to rebuild relationships with annual “strategic conversations”. The new meetings, which will get under way next month, have been described by principals as “helpful” and “much better than the current poor, reactive approach” taken by the ESFA. David Hughes, chief executive of […]

The cap on apprenticeship starts for small employers will be reset to zero next month, the Education and Skills Funding Agency has announced. It means that any non-levy paying business can start up to 10 new apprentices from 1 April 2021 regardless of the number they currently employ. The cap will be kept under review […]