Billy Camden | FE Week

Uncertain future for 900 learners as Chesterfield provider calls in administrators

A national training provider has called in the administrators – leaving up to 900 learners uncertain about their futures and 54 staff out of work. Slic Training, which has a head office in Chesterfield but delivers training as a subcontractor nationally to seven main providers, went into administration on March 10. The provider has subcontracts […]

What happened during National Apprenticeship Week 2017?

People across the country got involved in National Apprenticeship Week 2017 this week – from Barnsley to Barnet, and Teesside to Truro. Scroll down to see a snapshot of the events that took place to mark the occasion, and download the NCFE NAW2017 supplement for extended NAW 2017 coverage, funding timelines and more. Climb aboard the apprenticeships express […]

Government considers legislation change to protect learners with loans when providers go bust

The government is considering a change in legislation to protect learners left in loans debt after their providers go bust, in a move that would mark an early victory for FE Week’s #SaveOurAdultEducation campaign. We have been demanding justice for hundreds of learners who have recently been left with thousands of pounds of student loans […]

More loans misery as provider goes under

Yet another training provider has gone bust, leaving dozens more blameless learners left with plenty of loans debt but no qualifications to show for it. Focus Training & Development Ltd, a Darlington-based training provider with a £1.5 million allocation from the Skills Funding Agency, went into liquidation on November 29 last year. It closed soon […]

SFA blasted over ‘mystery shopper’ scheme

FE Week readers are up in arms about the Skills Funding Agency’s new mystery shopper scheme to test apprenticeships, because many of them don’t even know when or if they’ll be able to start delivering their own. The SFA announced its new initiative in its online update on March 8, and said it would use […]

National Apprenticeship Week 2017: More than 10,000 back world record attempt through giant careers advice assembly

More than 10,000 young people joined-in for a giant careers advice assembly, through a world record attempt for National Apprenticeship Week 2017. Schools, young people, parents, and employers from across the country tuned in to the event, called ‘The Big Assembly’, from 8.45am to 9.15am this morning. It was introduced by apprenticeships and skills minister Robert […]

Lord Baker: careers advice amendment originally just for UTCs and Studio Schools

Lord Baker hit the headlines last week after he won a major concession in the House of Lords, to force schools to give FE providers access to their pupils. Speaking exclusively with FE Week’s Billy Camden, the former education secretary this week sets out his vision Incredibly, Lord Baker, the architect of the UTC programme, […]

Government silent on adult skills behavioural research centre funding

The government is refusing to say whether more funding will be given to two “pioneering” FE research centres after their start-up grants end shortly. The Behavioural Research Centre for Adult Skills and Knowledge was given £2.9 million by the former Department for Business Innovation and Skills back in 2014, to carry out randomised control trails […]

Banned subcontracting hidden through widespread ‘associate partnerships’

Colleges and training providers are hiding banned subcontracting through the use of so-called ‘associate partnerships’, FE Week can reveal – potentially allowing millions of pounds-worth of public funds to change hands without proper scrutiny. A recent Ofsted report has for the first time listed “training provided by an associate partner” as an arrangement not “sanctioned […]