Author: Billy Camden

OCR will pay schools and colleges nearly £15,000 in compensation after becoming the second exam board to breach rules over exam re-marks – but the organisation has avoided a fine. Ofqual, the exams regulator, has revealed that OCR failed to ensure reviews of marking were conducted by the original marker, or by someone without a […]

Extensive strikes due to start at Nottingham College today were called off at the eleventh hour after leaders offered a new deal – including reinstating pay for staff who previously signed up to “inferior” contracts. Members of the University and College Union had been due to walk out for a further 14 days this month, […]

Ofsted is launching research into FE subcontracting – off the back of government plans for a radical overhaul of these rules amid high-profile cases of “deliberate” fraud. Inspectors will carry out pre-arranged visits this autumn to a variety of subcontractors that have contracts with providers who have been recently inspected. At the same time, Ofsted […]

A sixth form college principal and governing body failed to identify its “now terminal” financial position, the Department for Education has revealed today in an FE Commissioner report dated June 2019. Richard Atkins’ team was sent into Cheadle and Marple Sixth Form College after leaders asked the government for emergency funding to enable it to […]

A sector leader has called for an investigation into whether sex discrimination lies behind some of the controversial apprenticeship funding rates. Mark Dawe, boss of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, told his organisation’s autumn conference this week that training firms are dropping the adult care worker standard “left, right and centre” as they […]

The co-founders of a disgraced apprenticeship provider currently under police investigation are yet to be interviewed by officers, more than a year after inquiries began. In October 2018 the government terminated its multi-million pound skills funding contracts with Aspire Achieve Advance, better known as 3aaa, after allegations of fraud. The case was referred to Derbyshire […]

Small employers are likely to be capped on the number of apprentices they can employ, as part of the government’s plan to enable all providers to access funding for non-levy payers from January. Keith Smith, the director of apprenticeships at the Education and Skills Funding Agency, announced today that every firm on the register of […]

A record high proportion of Ofsted-inspected colleges are now rated ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’, FE Week can reveal. Our analysis of inspection grades shows an impressive 78 per cent of all general FE colleges have been placed in the top two categories as of August 31, 2019, up from 76 per cent in 2017/18. It is […]