Jude Burke | FE Week

Smith review calls for rethink on GCSE maths resit policy

The government’s controversial policy on post-16 GCSE resits should be rethought, according to the author of a new government-commissioned review out today. However, Professor Sir Adrian Smith’s plea was quickly rejected by the Department for Education. Prof Smith made the recommendation in his long-awaited review of post-16 mathematics, first announced in the March 2016 budget, […]

Mystery surrounds late Learndirect performance breach

The nation’s largest FE provider has finally been hit with a serious performance breach notice, a month after its apprenticeship achievement rates plummeted below minimum standards. But some in the sector are wondering why the notice did not appear earlier – or why it was only eventually included in the government’s notices of concern list […]

DfE confirms £267m underspend of 16-19 budget in last two years

A whopping £130 million per year has gone unspent in 16 to 19 funding for each of the past two years. The budgetary underspend – attributed to low student numbers – was revealed in a parliamentary question, answered by skills minister Anne Milton, from former shadow schools minister Nic Dakin. Mr Dakin asked how much […]

All three Tees Valley area review merger proposals fall through

All three mergers proposed by the Tees Valley area review have now fallen through. News of the breakdown in talks between Middlesbrough College and Redcar and Cleveland College came in a newly published FE commissioner report. This failure means that of the 39 firm recommendations for mergers made in the first three waves of the […]

Corbyn demands end of FE loans in new Labour push

The government will be pressured by Labour in the coming months to scrap advanced learner loans, its leader Jeremy Corbyn has told FE Week. And the party confirmed it will also look into ending historical FE loan debts, in a welcome boost to our #SaveOurAdultEducation campaign demanding action for learners left with huge debts and […]

New minister backs construction industry’s double levy

The construction industry will not be released from the “double whammy” of levy charges it currently pays, the new skills minister has revealed. The government will continue to back the Construction Industry Training Board, which is part-funded by its own levy on employers in the sector – even though the Confederation of British Industry […]

Ofsted watch: Independent provider slumps two grades to inadequate

An independent training provider has slumped two grades to inadequate, in an otherwise mostly positive week for FE and skills providers. Matrix Training and Development Limited was awarded grade four across the board in a report, published July 5 and based on an inspection carried out in May. Leaders were slammed for failing to provide […]

Employers already experiencing work placement ‘fatigue’, DfE commissioned research reveals

Research commissioned by the Department for Education has found that employers may already be experiencing work placement ‘fatigue’ – even before the government’s reforms to technical education have kicked in. The report, published today by the Learning and Work Institute and published this morning, addressed one of the key issues in the development of the […]

Top skills civil servant talks tough on apprenticeship reforms

The major recent reforms to the UK’s apprenticeship system are still at a very early stage, so the talk by Keith Smith, one of the country’s top skills civil servants, to the Association of Employment Learning Providers’ annual conference was eagerly anticipated to say the least. And while the director of funding and programmes at […]