Billy Camden | FE Week

The ‘Forgotten Third’ deserve the dignity of a new type of qualification

In spite of decades of curriculum and qualifications reform, a third of 16-year-olds in England are not awarded a ‘standard pass’ at their English Language GCSE. It’s high time the qualification was scrapped, argues Roy Blatchford, Chair of the Forgotten Third Commission, and replaced with one we can all be proud of. It is a […]

Banks given £201m to clear college debts during area reviews

Colleges had over £200 million of bank debt paid off by the Treasury during the post-16 area reviews, but civil servants say it is “too early” to determine the programme’s success. An ‘Area review: end of programme report’ was published by the Department for Education this afternoon to provide a “factual record” of the implementation […]

College to stay open as usual during ‘mammoth’ 15-day strike

Nottingham College has said it will be open as usual during 15-days of strike action by the University and College Union, including two full weeks of industrial action. College staff will be on picket lines from Wednesday 11 September to Friday 11 October after members voted to stage a one-day walkout which will escalate to […]

New education secretary commits to Stourbridge College sell-off meeting

The education secretary has committed to meeting with principals around Stourbridge to discuss how further education can continue in the area – after its only general FE college was sold off. Cash-strapped Birmingham Metropolitan College controversially announced in May that it would sell off and close Stourbridge College in a desperate bid to ease a […]

Wake up call to reverse cuts in lifelong learning

For more than twenty years Learning and Work Institute has been surveying adults to ask if they are taking part in learning. Never has the figure been lower. Just 35% of adults are taking part in learning or have recently done so. Given that our definition of learning is a deliberately broad one – not […]

ESFA to demand actual off-the-job training hour data for every apprentice

Yet another data field for logging apprentices’ off-the-job training hours will be introduced to individual learner records (ILR) from next August. It follows high-profile concern from the National Audit Office and Public Accounts Committee about non-compliance with the unpopular rule going unchallenged. The Education and Skills Funding Agency revealed today that a mandatory “off-the-Job training […]

Large employers lose access to £96 million of apprenticeship funding in just two months

Employers lost access to £44 million of their apprenticeship levy funds in July, and £52 million in August, the government has revealed. It means that a total of £133 million has expired from employers’ levy accounts to date. However, it is important to remember that the levy policy was designed so that large employers wouldn’t […]

Nearly 300 jobs lost as college group officially downsizes

One of England’s largest college groups is officially closing down its two private training providers – meaning nearly 300 jobs will be lost by the end of October. NCG has this morning confirmed that, following a consultation, Rathbone Training and Intraining are in the process of winding down their delivery operations. Around 4,500 learners were […]

College calls in the police after principal targeted by ‘ethical hacker’

Police have been called in after a college’s principal was targeted in a malicious hack in which fraudsters allegedly doctored internal emails to include a racist word and then sent the emails to the media, staff and a local councillor. FE Week was one recipient from someone who called themselves an “ethical hacker” and had […]