Author: Billy Camden

The education secretary faced questions about this year’s exams fiasco and the reopening of schools and colleges when he appeared in front of the Parliamentary education committee this morning. Gavin Williamson’s appearance in front of MPs follows a hearing last week with leaders from exams regulator Ofqual. Here’s what we learned from him.   1. […]

A union has threatened to “name and shame” colleges that are “not doing enough” to keep staff and students safe from Covid-19. The University and College Union has today launched a new system to allow its members to directly relay their fears about institutions’ “failings”. The union said the action was prompted after it was […]

Staff have been told that they must fill junior executive vacancies with apprentices, as part of a three-month trial in the Department for Education and Education and Skills Funding Agency. Skills minister Gillian Keegan said the change in recruitment policy was to show that “we practise what we preach” when it comes to boosting the […]

Colleges and schools have missed two-thirds of their T Level enrolment targets, with digital proving to be the toughest subject to sell to students, according to early findings from an FE Week survey. But leaders are still celebrating the initial figures, which could increase slightly as recruitment continues in the coming weeks, considering the impact […]

A cash-strapped college is among more than a quarter of training providers to have had a bid for help rejected as part of the Education and Skills Funding Agency’s second Covid-19 supplier relief scheme. The news came as the country’s public spending watchdog revealed that the total estimated cost of the ESFA’s financial support scheme […]

The government is changing the law to allow more redundant apprentices to complete their course. A Statutory Instrument (SI) has today been laid in parliament that will allow the Education and Skills Funding Agency to continue to fund apprentices to complete their training if they are at least 75 per cent of their way through […]

The government has given in to pressure to widen the number of students eligible for 16 to 19 catch-up funding by including those that have already passed their English and maths GCSEs. The change, announced today by the Education and Skills Funding Agency, means that those students who achieved a grade 4, a pass, can […]

The FE sector should judge the quality of their training programmes on the jobs that learners end up in, skills minister Gillian Keegan has said. Her comment comes a day after Association of Colleges boss David Hughes told the education select committee that college funding should shift to be based on outcome for students, rather […]

The volume of apprentices who require more training due to Covid-19 interruptions is starting to “spiral steeply”, providers have warned as they make a fresh plea for extra financial support. In a new submission to the Department for Education, the Association of Employment and Learning Providers has today called on the government to extend funded […]