Jude Burke | FE Week

Institutes of Technology hit by mystery delays

The Institutes of Technology have already fallen behind schedule, and providers who applied to open one still don’t know if they have been successful. According to the original competition invitation, applicants should have been notified by early May whether their bids for a share of £170 million had made it to stage two. But no […]

Ofsted watch: An encouraging week for FE and skills

An adult and community learning provider has boosted its grade to ‘good’ in a positive week for the FE and skills sector, as two providers received glowing reports following monitoring visits of their apprenticeship provision. Hackney London Borough Council was rated grade two across the board, up from its previous ‘requires improvement’ rating, in a […]

Care leavers earn £1,000 apprenticeship bursary

Young care leavers starting an apprenticeship from August will receive a one-off bursary of £1,000. It’s one of a number of “minor adjustments” to guidance on apprenticeship funding from August 1, announced by the Department for Education on Thursday. Other changes include a doubling in the number of funding bands from 15 to 30, and […]

ESFA switches from intervention to prevention

The Education and Skills Funding Agency is switching its strategy from intervention to prevention, ahead of the introduction of the FE insolvency regime later this year. The change has been revealed in series of job adverts for members of a new provider market oversight team at the agency, out today. “The prevention strategy seeks to […]

Extra £500 per learner through maths teaching pilot

Providers in some of the most disadvantaged areas of the country will be given an extra £500 per learner for post-16 maths teaching, in a pilot announced today by the Education and Skills Funding Agency. It will test three different approaches to using the funding, to assess which is most effective at improving results for […]

Apprenticeship starts show biggest drop in six months

Apprenticeship starts were down a massive 40 per cent in February on the same period in 2017, the latest provisional government statistics have revealed. There were 21,800 starts reported for the month, compared with February 2017’s provisional total of 36,400, according to the Education and Skills Funding Agency’s monthly apprenticeship statistics update, published this morning. […]

MP joining 2 day Hull College strike starting tomorrow

Striking staff Hull College will be joined on the picket line by their local MP Emma Hardy tomorrow as they walk out for a second time in an ongoing row about job cuts. Members of the University and College Union are protesting plans to slash 231 jobs at the college, which is currently subject to […]

Institute for Apprenticeships appoints new board members

The Institute for Apprenticeships has appointed two new members to join its board, six months after one former member, Sir Gerry Berragan, was promoted to become its chief executive. Jessica Leigh Jones and Professor Malcolm Press will join the board from June 1, according to an announcement from the Department for Education today. Ms Jones is […]

Struggling Epping Forest College racks up another financial notice

An Essex college has received a second financial notice to improve in under six months by the Education and Skills Funding Agency. The notice for Epping Forest College, for financial control, was published today alongside an inspection notice to improve for Moulton College, which Ofsted rated ‘inadequate’ last month. EFC’s notice, dated March 23, was […]