Author: Billy Camden

The indefinite pausing of Ofsted inspections could force an apprenticeship provider to make redundancies, its managing director has told FE Week. Wiser Academy Ltd was suspended from recruiting new apprentices following an early monitoring visit last August which resulted in two ‘insufficient progress’ judgments. Its “frustrated” leader, Crescens George (pictured), said the firm has 30 […]

The requirement for colleges and other training providers to be rated ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted to deliver T-levels will be dropped by the government from 2023. But those with ‘inadequate’ or ‘requires improvement’ grades from the education watchdog will initially only be able to teach the T-level routes introduced in 2020 and 2021. Only […]

Four providers due to teach the first T-levels in just three months’ time have announced they will delay delivery for at least a year due to the coronavirus pandemic. It means the number of colleges, schools and other providers in England in wave one of the rollout of the new post-16 technical qualifications has fallen […]

The names of a further 88 colleges, training providers and schools chosen to deliver T-levels in the third wave of their rollout have been announced today. They will teach the new post-16 technical qualifications from September 2022 in subjects including law, engineering and manufacturing, and legal, finance and accounting. A total of 18 T-levels will […]

The Education and Skills Funding Agency is “considering” reopening its Covid-19 supplier relief after the Cabinet Office announced the scheme will continue until October 31. The Cabinet Office’s Procurement Policy Note (PPN 02/20), which allows public authorities to pay their suppliers in advance of delivering during the coronavirus pandemic, was due to end on July […]

A college in Cheshire that recruits most of its students from areas of “high social and economic deprivation” is celebrating after being rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted. Riverside College, which had its report published today following an 11-day inspection in February, was lauded by the education watchdog for applying a “culture of relentless self-improvement” which “permeates” […]

An influential cross-party group of MPs have raised concerns over the value for money offered by the membership body for university technical colleges, after its cost to the taxpayer reached £3 million. The public accounts committee (PAC) has today published a report following a National Audit Office (NAO) inquiry last year which laid bare the […]

The government should set aside an extra £8.6 billion for a one-off skills package to “reboot” the economy post-Covid-19, according to the Association of Employment and Learning Providers. AELP says a large chunk – £3.6 billion – of the “costed” proposal should be spent on subsidising wages for half a million young apprentices to protect […]