Billy Camden | FE Week

David Hughes: let’s present a confident and ambitious AoC regions front for colleges

Ahead of David’s first three-day AoC annual conference as chief executive, we discuss the area reviews, our ministers and the need for positivity. “In a way, it being my first conference isn’t particularly important,” he tells me. “What’s more important is that we’ve got a new government and we’ve got a new secretary of state […]

AoC and AELP bosses battle over independent provider quality

The bosses of FE’s two biggest associations have traded verbal blows over the quality of apprenticeships that are delivered by private training providers. David Hughes, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, has claimed that independent providers offer apprentices “not very much” training, mostly assessing them “on the job”. But his comments sparked a war […]

New south London free school ruffles local feathers

Two colleges in south London have hit out at a new 16-19 free school that will offer only vocational courses and GCSE resits opening in their area. The Harris Professional Skills Sixth Form (HPS6F), a standalone free school in Croydon, will offer 170 places for professional skills courses, with another 60 places for students retaking […]

Big win over small schools

I would like to congratulate the Association of Colleges on its important win for the sector. It flexed its muscles through demanding a judicial review, and the DfE was right to respond by dropping plans to fund what would have been another undersized and unneeded sixth form. Our discovery that a further Loxford Trust sixth […]

Editor Asks part two: Apprenticeships minister Robert Halfon on employer ownership, assessment organisations and subcontracting

Last week, I spoke to apprenticeships minister Robert Halfon about the government’s so-called funding U-turn and the apprenticeship levy. Part two of the interview takes in employer ownership, assessment organisations and subcontracting. So, I asked, is employer ownership compatible with social justice? “Absolutely,” he told me. “If you don’t incentivise the employer you then don’t […]

EXCLUSIVE: AoC reaches out-of-court settlement with DfE over sixth form judicial review

The Association of Colleges has agreed to a settlement before the first judicial review against the government in more than a decade – meaning a small sixth form will now not go ahead. The AoC joined with Havering Sixth Form College to launch a high court challenge against the Department for Education’s decision to fund […]

Dip in higher-level courses holding up loan growth requests

The delay in advance learner loans is not down to a lack of resources, but has come about because the Skills Funding Agency is trying to build funding for higher-level qualifications, according to a senior civil servant. Janet Ryland, the SFA’s head of technical and professional education, said that growth requests had been halted by […]

Two more UTCs struggling: one planning to become a secondary, the other facing takeover

A university technical college with low pupil numbers has been ditched by its sponsor for costing too much, while recruitment problems in another has forced it to consider converting into a secondary school. Bright Futures Educational Trust (BFET) is relinquishing sponsorship of Wigan UTC as it can no longer afford the 14-19 institution. The UTC […]

Majority of sixth-form colleges look to academise

Around 70 per cent of sixth-form colleges have registered an interest in converting to an academy with four already launching formal consultations, FE Week has learned. The figure was provided by the Sixth-Form Colleges’ Association, which said around 65 of the country’s 93 SFCs were exploring converting to an academy as “plan A or B” […]