Billy Camden | FE Week

Apprentice feedback tool kicked into the long grass

A tool that allows apprentices to give feedback on their training provider via text has been delayed again and will not be launched for at least another year, if ever. The Education and Skills Funding Agency’s Digital Service has been developing the feature for a number of years and its launch was originally set for […]

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: EDITION 343

Your weekly guide to who’s new and who’s leaving. Andrew Gedge, Deputy principal, SMB Group (Stephenson College and Brooksby Melton College) Start date: February 2021 Previous job: Assistant principal, College of West Anglia Interesting fact: He once managed to help successfully land a medical helicopter in the middle of a very busy college campus with […]

Pearson launches ‘major’ consultation into the future of exams amid calls for end to GCSEs

The exam board Pearson has launched a “major” consultation into the future of exams, following calls for GCSEs to be scrapped. Former education secretaries Damian Hinds, Baroness Morris and Lord Blunkett will sit on an expert panel to advise and steer a research project looking at assessment and qualifications for young people aged between 14 […]

Association of Apprentices launches to support trainees and boost retention

An Association of Apprentices has been launched in an effort to help boost the number of the work-based trainees staying on and completing their course. The new support network for apprentices was founded by the government’s apprenticeship ambassador Jason Holt, former Lord Mayor of the City of London Sir Peter Estlin and a co-founder of […]

Re-apply – again! Anger as ESFA tells providers to make fresh RoATP application

Training providers were left “appalled” this week after the Education and Skills Funding Agency made the “ridiculous” decision that all who are on RoATP will need to re-apply yet again. “They just don’t get what we are going through, do they?” was how one managing director of an independent provider reacted, while a college principal […]

AoC warns there is still ‘not enough detail’ for colleges to plan new level 3 adult offer

The head of the Association of Colleges is “worried” there will be a slow start to the new flagship level 3 adult offer despite pleas from the education secretary for his members to embrace it. David Hughes has warned that colleges “still don’t have enough detail” to fully plan their offer, even though it is […]

Ofsted parks new provider monitoring visits

New provider monitoring visits have been delayed indefinitely by Ofsted. The inspectorate previously said it would restart the visits from January face-to-face but later announced they would be conducted remotely until at least the February half-term in light of the third national lockdown. The virtual monitoring visits to providers that are new to delivering apprenticeships […]

Covid-related death of college lecturer investigated

The death of a college lecturer who died after contracting Covid-19 is being investigated by the government’s agency that polices workplace safety. Donna Coleman, who worked with vulnerable students at Burnley College according to the University and College Union of which she was a member, passed away last month aged 42. In a press release […]

All apprenticeship providers told to reapply to RoATP yet again

All providers on the government’s register of apprenticeship training providers (RoATP) will need to reapply yet again over the course of the next year as plans for another “refresh” are unveiled. The Education and Skills Funding Agency published further details today about the next phase of register which has been closed to new applicants since […]