Author: Billy Camden

The response of the Department for Education to the coronavirus outbreak and the impact of the disease on schools, colleges and training providers will be investigated by an influential committee of MPs. The parliamentary education committee has launched an inquiry into the impact of COVID-19 on education and children’s services. It follows criticism of the […]

Ofqual is “urgently” working out how to calculate grades for students studying vocational and technical qualifications this year, but the “complex landscape” means there is not a “one size fits all” solution. Last week the government announced that the upcoming summer exams series has been scrapped amid the coronavirus outbreak. On Friday, it was revealed […]

The government has this evening released a package of measures that it hopes will help apprenticeship training providers amid the coronavirus pandemic. It also applies to apprentices, employers, end-point assessment organisations and external quality assurance providers. Here are the key points from the guidance:   1. No funding support The government appears to offer no […]

The government’s goal seems to be for the skills sector to “collapse”, a “furious” Mark Dawe has told FE Week after officials failed to provide apprenticeship funding support during the Covid-19 crisis. The Association of Employment and Learning Providers chief executive tonight lambasted the “disgraceful” decision and demanded an urgent meeting with skills minister Gillian […]

Apprenticeships and skills minister Gillian Keegan has today written to independent providers and other non-college stakeholders in an effort to address their concerns following the coronavirus outbreak. Read the letter in full below.   Dear Colleagues, I wanted to write to you and thank you for all of your hard work and continued commitment during […]

The universities regulator has said it will use “any powers available” to prevent institutions from switching students’ offers to unconditional in the wake of the government’s cancellation of this summer’s exam series. Following the announcement last week that GCSE and A-level grades will be based on teacher assessment this year, the Department for Education warned […]

The government has confirmed it will use teacher assessments to provide calculated grades for students this year. The aim is to provide grades to learners before the end of July. They will be “indistinguishable from those provided in other years”, and students will have a chance to resit an exam if they don’t think the […]

The Department for Education has suspended the process for defunding thousands of legacy qualifications at level three and below with low enrolments amid the coronavirus crisis. But for qualifications with no enrolments, officials will continue with that process under an “expanded timeframe”. A consultation on plans to remove funding for more than 5,000 qualifications at […]

On Saturday FE Week hosted a webinar to provide an overview of the latest legislation and guidance from the government regarding the response to the coronavirus pandemic, for the FE and skills sector. Presented by Shane Mann, publisher of FE Week, he was joined by Association of Colleges chief executive David Hughes, Association of Employment […]