Billy Camden | FE Week

Carole Stott to step down as WorldSkills UK chair

Carole Stott will step down as chair of WorldSkills UK in the autumn, after more than five years in the role. The former teacher, who was awarded an MBE in 2012 for services to adult education, has led the board through a period of “extraordinary change” ever since she took on the position in April […]

DfE launches consultation ahead of college campus performance reporting

The government has launched a consultation on proposals to “strengthen” public reporting on performance for colleges which are in groups and have multiple sites. Running for nine weeks, the consultation comes ahead of a new college campus identifier which could pave the way for campus-level inspections at mega-colleges. It seeks views on two proposals. The […]

Learndirect did not get ‘anywhere near’ winning legal battle against Ofsted, judge says

The country’s largest FE provider didn’t get “anywhere near” quashing its now infamous ‘inadequate’ rating during its legal fight with Ofsted, the judge from the case has said. After a seven month wait the Manchester Administrative Court has finally published the detailed judgement following Learndirect’s failed judicial review in early August last year. Mr Justice […]

Ofsted watch: Private providers shine while colleges falter

Private providers fared best out of the whole FE sector this week as three achieved ‘good’ ratings. There wasn’t any cause for celebration for colleges however, as two of them – Stoke-on-Trent and Moulton – were handed critical ‘requires improvement’ and ‘inadequate’ ratings respectively. Starting with the private providers: CSM Consulting Limited rose from ‘requires […]

Labour launches National Education Service consultation

The Labour Party has today launched a consultation on its plans for a National Education Service. Running for 12 weeks, the England-wide consultation is seeking views on the party’s education policies which were officially launched during the general election campaign last year. The NES is Labour’s umbrella term for a raft of pledged reforms, including […]

Launch of apprenticeship levy transfer limited to just one receiving employer

Employers who are gearing up to transfer apprenticeship levy funds to other organisations from next month will only be allowed to handover the cash to one other company, the government has confirmed. From May, large employers who pay the levy will for the first time be allowed to transfer up to 10 per cent of […]

College branded ‘unsafe’ in damning Ofsted report

A Northamptonshire college has been slammed with a grade four by Ofsted for delivering “unsafe” training in “highly dangerous vocational areas” such as construction and equine studies. Moulton College is a specialist land-based college with onsite accommodation that also delivers programmes in animal management, sport and food and drink manufacturing. It was today branded ‘inadequate’ […]

Apprenticeship provider register won’t reopen until September

The register of apprenticeship training providers will not open again until September – nearly a year after the last window closed, the government has revealed. The register has been under review since November, but Rory Kennedy, the Department for Education’s director of apprenticeships, admitted to general surprise at FE Week’s Annual Apprenticeship Conference that it […]

Marsden: Labour would look at devolving apprenticeships and other skills funding

Labour’s proposed National Education Service would look at devolving apprenticeships and other skills funding, and not just the adult education budget, the shadow skills minister has said. Gordon Marsden told the AAC that full devolution of FE is “the way forward in terms of community growth and cohesion”, in his keynote speech on the second […]