Billy Camden | FE Week

Who is the first chair of the skills and productivity board?

An executive vice president at international broadcaster Sky has been appointed as chair of the Department for Education’s new skills and productivity board. Education secretary Gavin Williamson today announced that Stephen van Rooyen (pictured) will lead the group to provide “expert advice” on how courses and qualifications should align to the skills that employers need […]

Confirmed: DfE sets out plan for Ofsted to take on degree apprenticeships

Ofsted will be handed powers to inspect level 6 and 7 apprenticeships from 1 April 2021, education secretary Gavin Williamson has announced. As revealed by FE Week earlier this month, the education watchdog will soon become the regulator for all apprenticeships for the first time. Until now, Ofsted’s remit has only extended up to level […]

What Ofsted found during their pilots of autumn visits

Pilots of Ofsted’s autumn visits suggest that the FE and skills sector is more than rising to the challenges of these highly unusual times, writes Paul Joyce In July we announced that we would be carrying out visits across all the areas we inspect this Autumn – schools, further education and skills, early years and […]

Tripling traineeships: Large colleges refuse to rise to the challenge

More than two-thirds of colleges in England chose not to run any traineeship programmes in 2018/19, FE Week can reveal. The news comes as some of the largest college groups say they have no intention to deliver the pre-employment scheme despite a significant funding rate increase and an extra £111 million to triple starts this […]

‘Worrying’: University groups voice concerns over Ofsted inspections

Handing Ofsted powers to inspect degree apprenticeships is “worrying and unnecessary”, a university membership organisation has said. MillionPlus, which represents 24 “modern” universities, has expressed concern at the watchdog’s expertise to inspect the provision and called for inspectors to have mandatory HE academic employment experience in order to review university-based provision. It comes after FE […]

Colleges exempt from new Covid rules on adult indoor sport

New restrictions on adult indoor sports and five-a-side football will not apply to colleges if the activity is part of “education or training provision”, the government has confirmed. However, colleges have been told that indoor student-led sport during lunchtime, break or free periods “should be limited to groups of six or less”. All adult indoor […]

A university learning experience is very different to what a typical inspector will be familiar with

Ofsted doesn’t ‘get’ higher education, says Greg Walker, and is not the right regulator for degree apprenticeship courses. Inspectors don’t understand how they work – or how they are delivered Degree apprenticeships have been a significant success of the government’s aim to improve productivity and skills. They have been embraced by modern universities with long […]

College lobby boss keen on extension to break from Ofsted inspections

Full Ofsted inspections shouldn’t restart until April 2021 at the earliest, the chief executive of the Association of Colleges has said. David Hughes tweeted today that the respite period should possibly even extend to next September while the inspectorate and sector decides “what adaptations might be needed to take into account Covid disruptions”. Ofsted’s normal […]

Apprenticeships will become unprofitable if ineligible costs excluded from funding bands

The Institute for Apprenticeship and Technical Education’s new funding band proposals are a step forward, but still need to address the thorny issue of ineligible costs, writes Simon Ashworth Consulting on funding rates for apprenticeships is a perennial but necessary hand grenade that will always prompt a lively debate. But let’s credit the Institute for […]