Author: Fraser Whieldon

A specialist college, run by a famous private hospital which has treated the likes of Kate Moss and Robbie Williams, has been hit with not one, but two “inadequate” grades after Ofsted found damning safeguarding issues. This week, the education watchdog has published reports into the residential and educational provision at Priory College Swindon, which […]

The percentage of colleges employing over half of their teaching staff on casual contracts has tripled to 29 per cent, according to a new report. The University and College Union sent a freedom of information (FOI) request to all colleges and surveyed 789 staff working in colleges, adult education and prison education, which revealed many […]

Every college leader in England has joined forces and written to the chancellor and the education secretary, demanding the implementation of the recommendations of the Augar Review. The lobbying effort by 203 principals, representing two million learners annually and 180,000 staff, has been spearheaded by Oldham College principal Alun Francis. He told FE Week the […]

Education secretary Damian Hinds has admitted the government will miss its target of 3 million apprenticeship starts by next year. The target was set in the Conservatives’ 2015 election manifesto, and also included in the party’s 2017 manifesto. While appearing before the Commons Education Select Committee, its chair Robert Halfon repeatedly pressed Hinds on whether […]

A college has announced plans to cut its staff numbers by 10 per cent, months after the FE Commissioner reported it was in a “cash crisis”. Fifty one full-time jobs out of a total of 466 are expected to go at Northumberland College, which was graded as ‘requires improvement’ by Ofsted before merging with Sunderland […]

The race to decide the next Association of Colleges president has taken another turn, after the challenger candidate pulled out – on the last day of voting. Trafford College Group principal Lesley Davies had been the only challenger to incumbent AoC president Steve Frampton. However, owing to “personal reasons”, she has withdrawn. “Due to personal […]

The skills minister has hailed the success of traineeships after research revealed 75 per cent of learners move on to work or further study within a year of completing their programme. It will be a boon for the pre-employment programme, which has been plagued by falling learner numbers and a lack of investment that has […]

Last month, education giant City & Guilds raised a few eyebrows by calling for the creation of a new independent body to oversee skills policy in the UK. Not convinced that a new quango is what the sector needs, FE Week editor Nick Linford sat down with the organisation’s chief executive to see if he […]

The Institute for Apprenticeships has called for the assistance of the government’s exams and HE watchdogs in devising an “optimised” external quality assurance system for apprenticeships. Sir Gerry Berragan, the institute’s chief executive, wrote letters in April to the chief regulator at Ofqual, Sally Collier, and the chief executive of the Office for Students, Nicola […]