Author: Billy Camden

Two colleges rejoiced this week as they stepped up to grade two, but there was no cause for celebration at an adult and community learning provider rated ‘inadequate’. As reported by FE Week on Wednesday, Chelmsford College and Craven College rose to from grade three to two. It means just under three quarters of colleges […]

The government has had to pump an extra £16 million into the adult education budget to appease a group of training providers who threatened legal action over last year’s controversial tender. The original procurement had total pot of around £110 million to use this academic year. The process culminated in widespread fury when the results […]

Ofqual will begin auditing awarding organisations’ on the “control” they have over their individual providers, after finding evidence it has reduced in recent years. The exams watchdog wrote to AOs today explaining the decision has been made due to concerns over “direct claim status”. It is now asking all bodies to review their “arrangements with […]

Stoke-on-Trent College is almost £16 million in the red and received more than £500,000 in exceptional financial support in December alone, while it awaits the outcome of a £21.9 million application to the government restructuring facility. In the meantime, it is “reliant on the continued availability of bank loans (in respect of which covenants have […]

Tonight the T Level public consultation closes after running for 10 weeks and seeking answers to 45 questions. It sought opinions on the planned implementation of the new post-16 technical qualifications, which the government claims will set a new “gold standard” in training, set to emerge from 2020. Businesses and training providers had the chance to […]

The Department for Education has today published a research report exploring quality of teaching and leadership in FE. ‘Teaching, leadership and governance in further education’ examines whether the sector can cope with the reforms it is currently undergoing. Professor David Greatbatch from Durham University and Dr Sue Tate from the University of the West of […]

Ten colleges which once held contracts to deliver apprenticeships with small employers were not awarded funding in the recent non-levy tender. The figure, revealed by academies minister Lord Agnew in an answer to a parliamentary question yesterday, comes amid political campaigns to overturn the decision from high-profile unsuccessful colleges such as Exeter. Lord Agnew explained […]

The £170 million funding pot for new Institutes of Technology will not enable them to have a significant impact on the skills system, the FE commissioner has told a parliamentary hearing. Richard Atkins (pictured above) was asked about the role of the government’s new project during a House of Lords economic committee hearing on the […]

Off-the-job technical qualifications can now be included in apprenticeships, the Institute for Apprenticeships has officially announced, confirming a significant U-turn which FE Week revealed last week. It is one of a number of reforms from the IfA to make the approval of new apprenticeship standards “faster and better”, after skills minister Anne Milton admitted that […]