Author: Fraser Whieldon

The chair of major high-street employer Ryman, ex-Dragon’s Den star Theo Paphitis, has accused the Institute of Apprenticeships and Technical Education of “damaging” apprenticeship quality. This follows IfATE’s decision to cut funding to the level 3 retail team leader and the level 4 retail manager standards, from £5,000 to £4,000 and £6,000 to £5,000 respectively. […]

The winners of the ninth annual BTEC Awards have been recognised at a ceremony featuring performances, celebrity appearances and a bucket load of vocational talent. Awards were presented to 21 winners in 20 categories, following deliberations by an expert panel of 52 judges, including the managing director of FE Week publisher Lsect, Shane Mann. The […]

Scandal-hit Hadlow College has scored well in its first Ofsted monitoring visit since it went into administration. The college, which became the first provider to fall under the new insolvency regime in May, received three ‘reasonable progress’ ratings. Its last full inspection, in 2010, resulted in a grade one. In its report published today, inspectors […]

A man who left school without being able to read or write and a woman who went from staying in a care home to studying for the operating theatre are among the 12 winners of the 2019 Festival of Learning awards. The winners were selected from more than 250 nominations to receive their prize at […]

Ten more new providers have received temporary bans on recruiting apprentices following early Ofsted inspections that found them making poor progress. Since October 2018, the watchdog has been carrying out monitoring visits at every directly-funded provider which won its own contract to deliver training after April 2017. Any that are found to be making ‘insufficient […]

It’s been a dire week for general FE and specialist colleges, after Ofsted handed two of the former grade three ratings, and two ‘inadequate’ ratings to the latter. Private providers fared better, after nine scored well in their monitoring visits. But there was one bad apple which was hit with a grade four. Peterborough Regional […]

Lakes College has become the latest victim of a sophisticated email scam in which fraudsters posed as its principal. Providers were warned about this kind of targeted “phishing” scam – where an imposter pretends to be a trustworthy source in an electronic communication to trick people into transferring money – by the Education and Skills […]

Outgoing NUS president Shakira Martin talks Fraser Whieldon through her tumultuous two-year incumbency. The president of the National Union of Students has promised to continue to champion further education as she prepares to leave office. In a wide-ranging interview with FE Week, Shakira Martin said she didn’t regret telling opponents to “f**k off”, and has […]