Jude Burke | FE Week

Halfon questions costly employer perspectives survey

The chair of the influential Commons education select committee has questioned the worth of the employer perspectives survey, which cost the taxpayer almost three quarters of a million pounds in 2016. Even the Confederation for British Industry has refused to defend it, after its price ballooned by around £235,000 in just six years. The survey, […]

Massive £1bn FE loans underspend revealed

A massive 58 per cent of FE loans funding – amounting to almost £1 billion – has not been spent since 2013, FE Week can reveal. This shocking figure, revealed by a Freedom of Information request, has been branded a “systemic failure” that could unravel the government’s plans to upskill the nation in a post-Brexit […]

New RoATP window opens on Monday

The register of apprenticeship training providers will open for a third time starting on Monday, FE Week can reveal, and the window will last for one month. An email from the Department for Education said applications would “reopen for applications on Monday, 25 September”. “This reopening will close on Friday, 27 October,” it continued. “This opening […]

Ofqual considers special treatment for new AOs

New apprenticeship exam bodies are next in line for special treatment, after Ofqual hinted that it’s considering a lighter regulatory touch for those that fall under its remit. But established awarding organisations groaning under the weight of increased regulation have begun to complain about double standards. The exams regulator is about to take charge of […]

‘Collusion’ banned in tough new EPA guidance

The government has fired a warning shot at organisations seeking to undermine the independence of final apprenticeship exams with the release of new guidance this month that specifically prohibits “collusion”. The Education and Skills Funding Agency has acted after an FE Week investigation earlier this year found employers in three sectors preparing to exploit a […]

Ofsted watch: Major retailer ‘requires improvement’

A major retailer has failed to improve its in-house apprenticeship provision beyond a grade three, in a less than positive week for the sector. Halfords, which delivers training to its own apprentices in retail, management and warehousing, was rated as ‘requires improvement’ across the board in a report published September 13 and based on an […]

MP blasts stalled merger as a ‘hostile takeover’

An MP is demanding urgent action from both the education secretary and the FE commissioner over fears that their local college might be forced into a “hostile takeover”. A merger suggested in the area reviews between Barnfield College and Central Bedfordshire College seemed to have fallen by the wayside after “regrettable” comments by the latter’s […]

Is Gibb to blame for functional skills reform?

The government, apparently under the influence of the schools minster Nick Gibb, is ploughing ahead with reforms to functional skills in English that run contrary to the advice it has received. The public consultation on reforming the English and numeracy qualifications, which are set to be introduced in September 2019, opened earlier this week, but […]

Sixth form colleges’ cash crisis exposed

Two sixth-form colleges have such severe financial problems that their very futures are threatened, after shocking reports were published this month. Advisers for the sixth-form college commissioner Peter Mucklow visited St Mary’s Sixth Form College, in Blackburn, and Brooke House Sixth Form College, in London, in March after both were hit with financial notices to […]