Author: Billy Camden

The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) has been forced into hastily finding “interim” arrangements for its apprenticeship external quality assurance service for April. Open Awards has held the contract to monitor end-point assessment organisations on the institute’s behalf since August 2017, but this deal comes to an end in March.  A procurement was […]

The chancellor was urged to show that he does love colleges today after representatives from a campaign group calling for more FE funding delivered him a Valentine’s card. FE unions joined the Association of Colleges in paying a visit to the Treasury to hand-deliver the card which aimed to raise the profile of the Love […]

The awarding organisations that will develop, deliver and award the first three T-levels have been revealed by the government. Following a competitive tender, NCFE has been awarded a contract to deliver the education and childcare pathway, and Pearson has been awarded contracts to deliver T-levels in design, surveying and planning as well digital production, design […]

A provider that received over £16 million in three years from college subcontracting deals has been exposed by Ofsted for delivering ‘insufficient’ apprenticeships which exclude employers and lack scrutiny. FE Week revealed in November the mysterious way in which SCL Security Ltd has operated as a subcontractor for many years, delivering hundreds of apprenticeships for […]

The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education is to start charging for its apprenticeship external quality assurance service. News of the move comes just days after FE Week revealed the “ridiculous variability” in approved external quality assurance charges, which were criticised by sector leaders for ranging from a free service to £179 per apprentice. The […]

Leaders of a studio school in Liverpool are “strongly considering” closing their institution next year, after poor recruitment affected its financial viability. Studio@Deyes has a capacity of 300 but just 196 students, and accounts show it ended the last academic year with a deficit of almost £600,000. Twenty-one studio schools have closed to-date, and a […]

A cross-party letter has been signed by 164 MPs and handed to the chancellor demanding an above inflation increase to FE funding in the upcoming spending review. Co-authored by Conservative MP Richard Graham and Labour MP Nic Dakin, the letter tells Phillip Hammond that “while government policy has protected the incomes of schools and universities, […]

Around £470 million has now been allocated by the government to cover the costs of implementing post-area review changes for colleges. The figure, which is 65 per cent of the £726 million on offer, was revealed in the latest Education and Skills Funding Agency progress report on the restructuring facility, which closed in September. It […]

GCSEs and A-levels should be scrapped and replaced with one “holistic baccalaureate” for 18-year-olds which recognises academic and technical skills and personal development, a senior Conservative MP has said. Robert Halfon, a former skills minister who chairs the parliamentary education committee, wants to mimic the international baccalaureate, which requires students to sit subjects from six […]