Fraser Whieldon | FE Week

One in five providers concerned about procurement process for devolved AEB

A fifth of providers believe adult education budget tenders run by devolved authorities need to be improved, with one saying bidding was a “nightmare”, according to new Association of Employment and Learning Providers research. Ahead of their autumn conference in Manchester today, the AELP surveyed 93 providers on devolved AEB procurement after the budget was […]

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: EDITION 293

Your weekly guide to who’s new and who’s leaving. Emily Giles, Trustee, Prisoners’ Education Trust Start date: September 2019 Concurrent job: Policy and communications lead, Adfam UK Interesting fact: She is currently researching the impact of austerity on reoffending for her Cambridge MSt in Criminology and Penology. Dr Paul Phillips CBE, Trustee, Prisoners’ Education Trust Start […]

More UTCs to recruit from year 7 as trust softens stance on entry age

Two more university technical colleges have ditched their 14 to 19-year-old intakes to recruit from 11, with predictions that many more will follow. UTCs in Plymouth and Wolverhampton have been granted permission to open to 11-year-olds from next September. They join The Leigh UTC in Dartford, Kent, which opened a feeder school on its site […]

Providers risk handing back £38m in next 20 years if they quit T-levels

Colleges will have to keep on running T-levels for at least 20 years if they want to avoid handing back millions in capital funding. A pot of £38 million has been made available to colleges and schools to help build new classrooms and refurbish buildings in readiness for the introduction of the new technical qualifications […]

Let’s work together to agree where the inappropriate spending line is drawn

Since FE Week successfully fought to reveal the £150,000 expenses by the principal at Highbury College, the sector reaction has been split. One college principal told me: “The alcohol, lobster, executive transport, any form of first class travel. The list goes on. It’s inexcusable. It needed to be exposed. “Signed off or not, it’s an […]

Sixth form staff march across Westminster to protest for fairer college funding

“We want the Department for Education to love our colleges” was the message from sixth form staff marching across Westminster to hand officials a £700 million invoice today. After 25 colleges voted to take strike action today, staff turned up in their hundreds in Westminster to sign the invoice they say represented the funding shortfall […]

Record number of apprenticeships to be probed in engineering route review

Fifty nine apprenticeship standards in engineering and manufacturing will be reviewed by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education in its largest ever route review. Recommendations from this, the fifth such review, will be published in the winter of 2020/21; and there will be a public consultation running for 12 weeks from today until 8 […]

Union to present £700m sixth form college invoice to DfE

Sixth form college staff will march on the Department for Education tomorrow and hand officials an invoice for £700 million – the amount they believe is still needed for the post-16 sector. Up to 200 National Education Union members from 25 sixth form colleges will head to the department’s London offices. The NEU says the […]

‘Significant concerns’ over Hartlepool College’s financial sustainability

There are “significant concerns” about Hartlepool College of Further Education’s financial sustainability, according to one of three FE Commissioner reports published today. Richard Atkins’ team’s intervention into the college reveals “financial uncertainties put the student experience and opportunities for learners at risk”. Hartlepool has generated an operating deficit for the past two financial years and […]