Author: Fraser Whieldon

Organisations with their sights set on the future of assessment have been invited to apply to a £1 million fund, supported by NCFE. The Assessment Innovation Fund is being made available for two pilots on an initial 12-month basis, with up to £100,000 being up for grabs for organisations such as providers, qualification developers, and […]

The Department for Education is ditching the multi-million pound ‘Fire It Up’ campaign meant to boost apprenticeship numbers, amid the lowest levels of take-up by young people since at least the 1980s. An update from the Education and Skills Funding Agency today revealed the government will instead focus on promoting every option available to people […]

The Institute for Fiscal Studies has echoed calls for extra college funding to abate an “immense” resourcing challenge caused by a boom in student numbers, falling apprenticeship places and insufficient funding. A new IFS briefing on further education and sixth form spending in England, published today, reveals FE and sixth form colleges’ funding per 16-18-year-old […]

A college has promised a “wholesale” review of A-level grades it handed out for certain subjects this summer, after students protested their results were unfairly changed. Havering Sixth Form College, part of New City College London, has found grades in certain subjects such as maths and humanities were changed more than others so will be […]

Schools minister Nick Gibb and the leadership of exams regulator Ofqual will face questions from MPs at an education committee hearing on this summer’s results and plans for 2022. The committee has announced today that Gibb will appear alongside Ofqual’s interim chief regulator Simon Lebus and interim chair Ian Bauckham. It comes as Lebus, who has […]

Students and parents have picketed a London sixth form over accusations the college leadership unfairly altered their A-level grades. The protesters claim grades handed to students at Havering Sixth Form College were not those set by teachers and were instead changed down by senior managers at the college’s parent group, New City College London. Protest […]

Labour has warned cutting off public funding for BTECs could entrench inequalities in exam results, especially affecting students with free school meals or special educational needs. Ofqual equalities analysis of spring and summer 2021’s results for applied general, like BTEC, and other vocational performance table qualifications, shows students on free school meals were on average […]

Adults across England are today finding out whether they have stepped closer to their dream careers or finally passed their exams after multiple attempts. FE Week has decided this year to dedicate its coverage of level 2 results day today to learners who have passed their English, maths or vocational assessments later in life than […]