Fraser Whieldon | FE Week

Prioritise investment in level 2 qualifications, new report urges

Government ought to invest in upskilling people on to level 2 qualifications or apprenticeships as a priority, a new report has recommended. Close the Gap, a wide-ranging report joint authored by awarding bodies NOCN and City & Guilds, says the investment is necessary to provide a stepping stone to the next level for learners at […]

Cash-strapped college appoints accountant as interim principal

A financially troubled college being looked into by the FE Commissioner has appointed an experienced FE leader and chartered accountant as its interim principal. Diane Dimond, who retired from the Ofsted grade two Petroc College last month after being at the helm since 2015, will take the reins at Richmond-upon-Thames College on 1 October. Her […]

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: EDITION 290

Your weekly guide to who’s new and who’s leaving. Rachel Musson, Chair of audit (designate), Education and Training Foundation Start date: December 2019 Concurrent job: Founder and owner, Positively Resourceful Interesting fact: She has recently returned from a year-long sabbatical taking in over 22 different countries around the world. Peter Latchford, Chair (designate), Education and Training […]

Flagship national college plans to ‘dissolve’ despite DfE bailouts

One of the five government flagship national colleges plans to “dissolve” and hand over its courses to a college and private training provider after failing to recruit enough students, FE Week can reveal. National College Creative Industries was set up in 2016 with £5.5 million of government funding, and despite bailouts to stay afloat is […]

First provider spills the beans on ‘very different’ Ofsted regime

The first FE provider to be inspected under the new Ofsted framework has given it the thumbs-up, but warned: if you’re in it for the money, you’ll be found out. Apprenticeship and adult learning provider Woodspeen Training, based in Huddersfield, had a full inspection last week after Ofsted began using the new framework this month. […]

Ofsted Watch: Rapidly-expanding provider lauded

A rapidly-expanding adult learning provider has been lauded by Ofsted, while one apprenticeship newcomer was censored for making ‘insufficient progress’ in all areas. Best Practice Training & Development Limited made ‘significant progress’ in every area of its early monitoring visit. After earning a funded adult learning contract in October 2017, 1,361 learners had attended courses […]

Second college denied access to higher education register

Newham College of Further Education has become the second college to be refused admission to the Office for Students’ register of higher education providers. The universities regulator said the college had “failed to demonstrate it delivers successful outcomes”. This finding was based on the college’s continuation data – the number of higher education students progressing […]

Colleges still £1.1bn short since 2010 despite chancellor’s boost, IFS finds

Colleges and sixth forms will need an extra £1.1 billion on top of the government’s recently announced spending boost to fully reverse cuts since 2010, new research has found. This increases to £1.4 billion to “ensure that spending on T-levels is additional to an unchanged level of spending per student”, according to the Institute for […]

ESFA seeking views on Brexit readiness among FE providers

Colleges and training providers are being asked how prepared they are for Brexit by the Education and Skills Funding Agency. The latest update from the agency, published today, asks FE providers to complete a survey on their level of “readiness and confidence” ahead of the UK’s planned departure from the EU. “The results from these […]