Author: Billy Camden

Last September Ofsted began inspecting apprenticeship providers using their new framework.  Out went the Common Inspection Framework (CIF), in which inspector judgements relied heavily on achievement rates. In came the Education Inspection Framework (EIF), in which judgements focus far more on the appropriateness of the curriculum.  Six months into the EIF, FE Week took a […]

The government is consulting on plans to dump employers when it comes to external quality assurance of apprentices – and hand all of it to Ofqual within the next two years. The only exception would be for integrated degree apprenticeships, which would be overseen by higher education regulator the Office for Students. The move would […]

The number of apprenticeship starts in England plunged by 12 per cent in December, according to government figures published this morning. Provisional figures for December 2019, when compared to the same publication last February, reveal a fall of 1,900 in a single month. The analysis by FE Week shows starts for those under the age […]

The education secretary Gavin Williamson is launching a new £9 million “collaboration” fund in a bid to improve governance and leadership at colleges which aren’t “getting it right”. Bids of up to £500,000 can be submitted by groups of colleges to “share good practice and expertise”, but they will be required to stump up an […]

The remits of the new ministerial team at the Department for Education have been confirmed following Boris Johnson’s post-Brexit reshuffle. For FE, the new line-up includes the first dedicated apprenticeships and skills minister since Anne Milton’s resignation last July. Gavin Williamson remains as education secretary. Here is your guide to the ministers and their responsibilities. […]

All apprenticeship starts will be managed through the government’s digital apprenticeship service from 1 November 2020, the Education and Skills Funding Agency announced today. The transition will bring an end to provider funding allocations, secured through a procurement process, being used to train apprentices with small non-levy paying businesses. Contract extensions for the allocations will […]

A Blackburn-based catholic sixth form college is no longer “sustainable” due to falling student numbers, the FE commissioner has claimed. St Mary’s College, which is the smallest sixth form college in England, received two visits from Richard Atkins’ team in 2019 and has now been placed in “supervised status”. It was first warned four years […]

Funding rates for some apprenticeship standards could be cut by almost half under new proposals being put forward by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education. A consultation on plans for a “more transparent” system for setting apprenticeship funding rates for standards, based on “independent evidence”, was launched today. But the institute also published an […]