Author: Billy Camden

Staff that have been furloughed by training providers must return to work if they want to receive supplier relief from the Department for Education. Guidance released this afternoon confirmed that providers are not eligible for the support if they are using the government’s coronavirus job retention scheme, as this would be double funding. The DfE […]

A list of 70 apprenticeship standards where permission has been granted to carry out end-point assessments remotely during the coronavirus pandemic has been released. It includes the likes the level 3 bus and coach engineering technician, the level 3 gas network craftsperson and the level 5 marine pilot (in full below). The Institute for Apprenticeships […]

The annual FE learner satisfaction survey has been axed for 2019/20 due to the Covid-19 outbreak. The decision was taken by the Department for Education mid-survey – as providers began gathering views (predominantly via an online survey) from 9 March and had until 26 June. “As the demand increases for statistics and data to measure […]

The government has relaxed the requirement for level 2 apprentices to achieve their functional skills qualification. This morning, Ofqual confirmed that students due to take functional skills assessments this summer would receive a calculated grade in most cases due to Covid-19. The Department for Education said that in light of this guidance, and the fact that […]

Functional skills students can be moderated via “adapted assessment” such as online tests this summer, but only where teacher calculation is impossible, Ofqual has said today. It has also extended the regulation end date for legacy functional skills qualifications from 31 August 2020 to 31 December 2020, to allow learners to complete them if them […]

Awarding organisations will be left to decide which of the thousands of BTECs and other technical qualifications can be graded by teacher calculations this summer. Ofqual revealed today that it will not provide a definitive list of those that can be graded the same as cancelled A-level and GCSE exams. The exams regulator has launched […]

Ofqual has today published a consultation on how it proposes to award vocational and technical qualifications this summer. Here’s what you need to know   The new framework’s ‘key principles’ Ofqual is proposing a new “extraordinary regulatory framework” to let awarding organisations deliver results “using approaches that would not be allowed in ordinary circumstances”. It […]

Freddie Whittaker meets Rebecca Long-Bailey, Labour’s new shadow education secretary The lack of an “overarching message” from Labour on its flagship national education service (NES) was one of the reasons it lost the last general election, says the new shadow education secretary. But Rebecca Long-Bailey says the “fantastic” policy will survive and be developed by […]

Colleges are calling on Ofqual to relax plans for ranking GCSE students within each grade this summer, as doing so for hundreds across different campuses would be “impractical”. A number that spoke to FE Week expressed fear that it would produce “inaccurate” results and put thousands of learners at a “disadvantage”. The exams regulator is […]