Billy Camden | FE Week

Ofsted watch: Anxious wait for loans learners after private provider’s damning grade four

Learners will face an anxious wait after an independent training provider that’s heavily focused on FE-loan funded provision was given the worst possible Ofsted rating. Activ8 Learning, which is based in York and delivers programmes in early years education for adult learners who fund their courses through advanced learner loans, was today given ‘inadequate’ ratings […]

Unison recommends members reject ‘disappointing’ 1% pay offer

A major public sector union has recommended that its members reject this year’s “disappointing” FE pay offer, and industrial action could be on the cards. Unison released an e-ballot last week asking its members whether they want to accept or reject the Association of Colleges’ offer of a one-per-cent pay increase for college staff made […]

WorldSkills 2017: Team UK strikes gold in Abu Dhabi

Team UK has retained its top-10 position at WorldSkills this year, after our competitors bagged one gold, three silvers, three bronzes, and 13 medallions of excellence in Abu Dhabi. Download out free souvenir supplement covering the journey undertaken by TeamUK for WorldSkills 2017. Click here. Our competitors will be going home with their heads held […]

WorldSkills 2017 – Team UK Souvenir Supplement

In partnership with Pearson, download our free 24 page souvenir supplement from WorldSkills Abu Dhabi 2017. Click here (6mb)

WorldSkills 2017: Team UK’s gold standard show their support before the final hurdle

Anxious, tired and excited – that’s how 34 of the UK’s most talented young people in the skills industry will be feeling tonight after day three of WorldSkills Abu Dhabi, according to past champions. With just one day to go until competitions are over, the pressure is heating up at this year’s global skills event. […]

Somerset Skills & Learning to make major redundancies after AEB debacle

A large community learning provider in Somerset that was hit hard by the adult education budget fiasco is likely to close six centres and make over 50 redundancies in the coming months. Somerset Skills & Learning, which currently teaches around 10,000 students and employs around 200 staff, was left £1 million short of the funding […]

WorldSkills 2017: High praise from first skills minister to visit in eight years

The skills and apprenticeships minister has pledged to bottle the “essence” of WorldSkills Abu Dhabi and “sprinkle it around the UK” in her bid to breakdown the “barriers” our country faces in bridging the skills gap. Anne Milton today became the first UK minister to attend the global competition in eight years, and said all […]

WorldSkills 2017: BAE Systems apprentice aims for gold

Team UK’s Shane Carpenter is hoping the 12 weeks he was allowed off work from Britain’s biggest defence manufacturer to prepare for WorldSkills is enough to bag him a place on the podium at the end of competitions. The 21-year-old IT Network System Administrator, who benefitted from the generosity of BAE Systems during the summer, […]

WorldSkills 2017: General Assembly hands 2021 competition to China

The WorldSkills General Assembly has today officially confirmed that Shanghai will host the 2021 competition. China was the only country in the running for the award, after Switzerland pulled out its bid earlier this year. On the eve of the Abu Dhabi opening ceremony, the General Assembly made it official that Shanghai would host the 46th […]