Author: Fraser Whieldon

Ofsted has today published further details about how their phased return to normal inspection activity of FE providers will work from January. As announced last week, graded full and short inspections will remain suspended until the summer. But monitoring visits will return from the New Year and the watchdog will introduce ‘support and assurance’ visits […]

Ofsted published its annual report for 2019/20 last week, and while chief inspector Amanda Spielman chose not to use any of her speech to talk about the sector, deputy director for FE and skills Paul Joyce was on hand to catch us up on developments. Here are four key points from FE Week’s interview with […]

Marius Ardelean found himself without a job and with little prospect of finding another after Covid-19 struck. But he is now about to start a new career after retraining through a long-running skills programme that is finally getting its time in the sun. The 34-year-old (pictured top) had quit his job at the British Museum […]

College staff should receive a 1 per cent pay rise this year, the Association of Colleges has recommended in a move that has outraged trade unions. In a statement published today, the membership body said it was “disappointing and regrettable that the sector is unable to afford a better offer at this time” but that […]

FE providers should attempt to deliver the same amount of teaching and work to self-isolating students that they would receive onsite, new government guidance has said. The Department for Education has today outlined new guidelines on remote learning in further education during the coronavirus pandemic. It states that for students who have been advised to […]

GCSE and A-level students sitting exams next year will be given more generous grading, advance notice of some topics and “exam aids” owing to the disruption caused by Covid-19. They will also be offered a “second chance” to sit papers if they miss any through illness or self-isolation and in “extreme cases” where a student […]

A “radical” shake-up of the “overly complicated” high needs FE system is required, following a quadrupling in the number of learners with special educational needs and disabilities, new research has found. The Association of Colleges, specialist providers’ organisation Natspec, and the Local Government Association (LGA) have today released a joint report into the planning, commissioning, […]

Ofsted has today published its annual stocktake of education for the 2019/20 academic year, which saw inspection activity largely disrupted due to the Covid-19 pandemic. FE Week has the key findings for the FE and skills sector.   Inspections of newly-merged colleges found a third ‘required improvement’  Ofsted inspected 26 of the 46 colleges formed […]