Author: Billy Camden

Full graded Ofsted inspections will not return until the summer term, the government has announced. But monitoring visits, including to those with grade three and four ratings and new apprenticeship providers, will resume in January. Ofsted said FE providers that do not receive a monitoring visit “may receive support and assurance visits”, which will result […]

Ofsted is not expecting to resume graded inspections in January, the chief inspector has said. Speaking at the launch of the watchdog’s latest annual report, Amanda Spielman said Ofsted needed to “take account of the national situation, and we’ve always said that the timing and form of our return was under review”. I’m not expecting […]

Apprenticeships are the “weakest” area of provision in FE providers, with one in ten judged ‘inadequate’ last year, Ofsted has said. In its annual stocktake of education, the inspectorate reported that of the 120 inspections to include an apprenticeships grade in 2019/20, 3 per cent achieved ‘outstanding’, 50 per cent were ‘good’, and 38 per […]

An MP has hit out at a college group’s decision to close and sell a historic adult education site. Harriett Baldwin, the Conservative MP for West Worcestershire, said she was “shocked” by an announcement made by Warwickshire College Group (WCG) on Friday that it will shut Malvern Hills College by August 2021. It is the […]

The FE Commissioner’s 2019/20 annual report has been published this morning – the last before Richard Atkins steps down from the role next March. Here are six things we learned.   1. Number of colleges entering formal intervention stayed the same Thirteen colleges were referred for FE Commissioner intervention during 2019/20 – same number as […]

One in five colleges will be allowed to keep close to one-third of their allocated adult education budget despite failing to deliver any courses for the funding last year, FE Week can reveal. Figures shared by the Education and Skills Funding Agency show that 33 colleges missed a generous 68 per cent funding performance threshold, […]

A college leader has scooped a prestigious lifetime achievement award at the Pearson Teaching Awards for his transformational work. The “inspirational” teachers and school and college staff to win the awards have been revealed throughout this week on the BBC’s The One Show. Now in its 22nd year, the awards celebrate the best teaching across […]

Talks are under way to replace functional skills exams with “portfolio evidence grading” for apprentices who are unable to sit the tests due to Covid-19 restrictions, FE Week can reveal. Around 30,000 work-based learners, mostly in the health and care sectors, are currently estimated to be stuck in limbo and unable to complete the English […]

Applications to the government’s register of apprenticeship training providers will not reopen until at least April 2021. And when it does restart, there will be a “new service” for firms to apply through. The Education and Skills Funding Agency closed the register to new bids on April 15 to “review our future approach”. Officials have […]