Author: Jude Burke

High achieving FE leaders are being sought by the Education and Skills Funding Agency to support other colleges in need of improvement. The National Leaders of FE programme, launched today, is part of a package of support for the sector first announced by education secretary Justine Greening in July which also included a £15 million […]

The government knew apprenticeship starts would drop dramatically after the levy was introduced in May, the education secretary has claimed. Justine Greening was quizzed on the 61 per cent fall in starts since May compared to the same period of time last year, which was revealed in official government statistics earlier this month, during a […]

End-point assessment has hit crisis point – as FE leaders warn that the first wave of learners are reaching the end of their courses without a final test in place. FE Week has crunched the latest government stats and found 790 apprentices started on various standards in 2016/17 without an organisation in place to deliver […]

A cash-strapped London college spent more than £3 million on plans to develop one of its sites that never came to fruition, FE Week has learned. Lambeth College, which has been in such severe financial difficulties that the FE commissioner warned earlier this year it was “no longer sustainable” unless it merged, submitted detailed proposals […]

A sixth-form college has improved its Ofsted rating by one grade to ‘good’, in a mixed week for FE and skills providers. “Leaders and staff” at King George V College in Southport, were praised for developing “a positive culture” and for “delivering high-quality teaching, learning and assessment”, in a report published October 12 and based […]

The student loans system will come under parliamentary scrutiny – an investigation which may include FE. The Treasury select committee’s inquiry into student loans, launched today, will focus on a range of issues including raising the repayment threshold, and how effectively the government is managing the loan book. The initial remit focused on higher education, […]

The ex-chief executive of a training provider and her former colleagues are on trial for allegedly defrauding a college and private provider out of almost £460,000. Joanne Mounter, aged 46, from Willington, Paula Bolan, 45, from Gateshead, and Kym Adrian Norman, 53, from Sunderland, stand accused of fraud by false representation against Sunderland College between […]

The five-per-cent tolerance on the notorious English and maths condition of funding rule will apply “until further notice”, the Department for Education has said today – but exasperated sector leaders want the policy to be scrapped altogether. The rule states that any 16- to 18-year-old student who does not have at least a C, or […]