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24 April 2026

Ofsted boost for college battling ‘financial crisis’

A major college that has been battling a financial crisis has clawed its way up to a ‘good’ Ofsted rating, four years after it tumbled from the top grade to the bottom. City of Liverpool College has experienced a rocky few years since its current principal Elaine Bowker took over in 2011, including two interventions […]

Budget 2017: Colleges to get level three maths funding boost

Colleges will get £600 for every extra student who studies maths at level three under a proposal due to be set out in today’s budget. According to The Daily Telegraph, the chancellor will announce the £177 million incentive as part of a bundle of new education measures. The money for maths skills will cover a […]

Skills Show 2017: Hundreds of apprentices honoured at closing ceremony

Nearly 200 of the UK’s most talented young tradespeople were rewarded with gold, silver and bronze medals at The Skills Show’s closing ceremony tonight – at which a Scottish college emerged as the biggest winner for the third year in a row. Those that finished in the top three positions in 55 different skill areas, […]

Squad UK for WorldSkills Kazan 2019 revealed

Nearly 150 young people have been named in WorldSkills UK’s official Squad, and are one step closer to competing against the globes best skilled young people. The names of those who will begin training with the aim of representing Team UK at WorldSkills Kazan in 2019 were announced tonight at the closing ceremony for The […]

Skills Show 2017: Welcome home Team UK

A welcome home reception was put on for the 34 heroes who made up Team UK and competed in Abu Dhabi last month, on day two of The Skills Show. Hundreds of visitors and VIPs headed to the spotlight stage at Birmingham’s NEC Arena to celebrate and welcome back the team (pictured above) who retained […]

Skills Show 2017: Ministers descend on Birmingham in their droves

An A-list parliamentary cast arrived in Birmingham today to help tackle the “nightmare on skills street” that Britain currently faces at this year’s Skills Show. Early visitors to the NEC arena this morning got the chance to speak with the skills and apprenticeships minister Anne Milton (pictured above), the chair of the education select committee […]

Spielman: Ofsted to begin hunt for ‘scandalous’ apprenticeship providers

Ofsted will conduct early monitoring visits at new providers entering the apprenticeship market to sniff out any “scandalous” attempts to waste public money, the chief inspector has said. In front of hundreds of college leaders at the AoC Conference this afternoon, Amanda Spielman announced new measures to ensure that situations like the Learndirect debacle are […]

AoC Conference: Milton pleas for renewed ‘partnership’ with colleges

Anne Milton wants a refreshed “partnership” between FE and the government to help with the technical education reforms. The skills and apprenticeships minister used her speech at this year’s Association of Colleges conference to plea with sector leaders for closer collaboration after going through past turbulent years that have “put too much distance between us”. […]

Ofsted returns to Learndirect as the provider fights for survival

Ofsted has completed its first monitoring visit at Learndirect, as the provider attempts to improve on its ‘inadequate’ rating before its funding ends next July. The nation’s largest FE provider has been under the microscope ever since it shocked the sector with a grade four that seemingly came out of the blue. FE Week can […]