Fraser Whieldon | FE Week

College students see their petition on funding debated in parliament

Creating a petition signed by tens of thousands of people and a debate attended by as many as 50 MPs is no mean feat, especially when you’re juggling A-levels. But that is just what seven learners at Brockenhurst College did. They set up a petition in October after finding out how funding for their education […]

Ofsted exposes apprenticeship firm for recruiting without ‘integrity’ and breaking funding rules

A new provider has been exposed by Ofsted after inspectors found it failed to recruit apprentices with “integrity” and was in breach of government funding rules. Citrus Training Solutions, based in Pudsey, was paid an early monitoring visit by inspectors in December which resulted in an ‘insufficient’ report being published today. Despite training nearly 200 […]

GLA ploughs ahead with subcontracting fees cap – but DfE still dragging its heels

The Greater London Authority is one step closer to capping management fees when it takes control of the adult education budget next year, but the government is still yet to make a decision for the rest of the country. In a draft rulebook for providers in London, published last month ahead of devolution of the […]

Long-delayed FE teacher apprenticeship standards ready for delivery next week

Three FE teaching apprenticeship standards will be ready for delivery from next week following a successful funding-band appeal against the Institute for Apprenticeships, FE Week understands. The trailblazer group developing the standards had accused the IfA of exceeding its powers after claiming the proposed funding bands were just half what they would cost to deliver. […]

MPs from all sides call for an end to six years of real-term FE funding rate cuts

There was cross-party and unanimous condemnation from dozens of MPs over real-terms cuts to FE funding during a Parliamentary debate, but campaigners want the government to now act. As many as 50 MPs attended Westminster Hall on Monday to debate a petition which has so far attracted over 69,000 signatures by calling for college funding […]

Charity to test new GCSE maths curriculum for controversial resits policy

A maths charity has been awarded £60,000 to investigate the “feasibility” of a new GCSE curriculum in the subject for post-16 resit students. Mathematics in Education and Industry will run a review independent of government, with the aim of developing a curriculum that has a greater focus on applying maths in real-life situations. The project […]

Colleges congratulated as FE funding tops DfE’s correspondence league tables

FE funding was the most popular topic of correspondence from MPs and stakeholders to education ministers in the last eight weeks of 2018. Skills minister Anne Milton revealed the topic had been consistently among the top three at the end of last year at the winter conference of the Sixth Form Colleges Association on Wednesday. […]

Provider integrity at heart of Ofsted’s new Common Inspection Framework

Ofsted will soon focus on providers’ “integrity” during inspections, but its chief inspector has said she cannot turn the education watchdog into a police force. In a speech to launch a consultation on the new inspection process, Amanda Spielman said: “Two words that sum up my ambition for the framework and which underlie everything we […]

College funding to get its day in the sun with House of Commons debate

A petition to increase college funding will get its day in the sun with a debate in the House of Commons. On January 21, MPs, led by Daniel Zeichner, will debate the topic after a student petition reached 69,000 signatures. It reads: “Funding for colleges has been cut by almost 30 per cent from 2009 to […]