FE Week Reporter | FE Week

Ofsted inspections – why are the grades dropping?

The decrease in colleges’ Ofsted grades has been well documented in FE Week. In 2009-2010, about a quarter of colleges that were previously judged to be good or outstanding saw their grade decline. Sir Michael Wilshaw, the head of Ofsted, has been vocal in his concerns, claiming that colleges were “using the complexity of FE […]

Data management – abuse or inadequacy?

The recent FE Week headline about the leaked Tenon report once again brings to the fore accusations of manipulating data in order to boost success rates. Originally highlighted by Geoff Russell’s infamous ‘cease and desist’ letter whilst Chief Executive of the LSC in December 2009, it’s also the reason we developed our ADaM software, allowing […]

Green light for another 15 UTCs

A further 15 University Technical Colleges (UTCs) are to be funded by the government and rolled out over the next two years. The announcement will nearly double their number to 34. The government is investing £8 to £10 million for each UTC to help them get started, including building costs, and will then give the […]

Penny Wycherley, principal and CEO, Great Yarmouth College

“By any standards, it was a dysfunctional childhood,” says Penny Wycherley, principal of Great Yarmouth College, of her early life. Born in Stoke, and raised in Oxford, where her father ran a successful chain of electrical shops, Wycherley was educated an independent school, where she jokes the only thing she learned was “how to carry […]

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Geoff Hall receives knighthood

The chair of the information authority was knighted at Buckingham Palace last week. Geoff Hall – principal of New College Nottingham until July 2011 – was one of 27 people to receive the order in the New Year’s Honours List 2012. Sir Hall received the knighthood with his wife, Lady Hall, daughter, son and older […]

Franklin College receives “inadequate” Ofsted grade

Franklin College has been judged as “inadequate” by Ofsted under new pilot inspection guidelines. The sixth form college in Grimsby, which received a grade 2 in 2008, has been criticised for “not driving improvements with urgency”. An inspection report published by Ofsted yesterday says the leadership and management of the college requires improvement, and that strategic priorities need […]

Stafford College receives “inadequate” Ofsted grade

Stafford College has been rated “inadequate” in a recent Ofsted inspection. The college, which received a grade 2 in 2009, is said to have “uninspiring” lessons which are not planned properly and fail to challenge learners. “Teachers know their subjects well but the quality of lessons across the college varies too much,” the report reads. […]

SFA interim chief executive to be revealed later today

The new interim chief executive of the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) will be announced later today. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) say the appointment will be revealed at midday “once staff have been told.” FE Week understands that Verity Bullough, Kim Thorneywork and Marinos Paphitis are the shortlisted candidates. Geoff Russell, the […]