Skip to content
11 April 2026

Author: Jude Burke

Rule change could price assessors out of running apprenticeship exams

It might not be financially viable for awarding bodies to run end-point assessment exams, after it emerged that they will be forced to base their costs on deals negotiated with employers without their say-so. New rules coming into force in May will set the cost of final apprenticeship exams at a fifth of the overall […]

Colleges welcome new apprenticeship subcontracting rules

Colleges are using the new subcontracting rules to regain some of the ground lost to independent training providers accused of nicking their lunch, FE Week can reveal. Just a third of apprenticeship funding is currently allocated to colleges – and a significant proportion of that is actually delivered by independent training providers acting as subcontractors. […]

Emily Hicks, Festival of Learning 2016 Patron’s Award winner

As entries open for this year’s Festival of Learning awards, we hear from the winner of the 2016 Patron’s Award, Emily Hicks, on how she came to be nominated. As a primary carer for her bipolar mum since the age of 11, and struggling with confidence-sapping dyslexia, Emily Hicks was not set fair for an […]

Employers in three sectors to grade their own apprentices

Employers in the retail, hospitality and travel sectors are actively preparing to exploit a loophole that will allow them to grade their own apprentices, FE Week can exclusively reveal. Our findings have caused concerns that the independence of end-point assessments is being seriously compromised. The rules, which will be upheld by the new Institute for […]

Ofsted watch: No overall-improvement recognised in tough week for FE

A major adult and community learning provider has fallen to ‘inadequate’, in a week of reports on FE and skills providers that either returned the same or a lesser overall grade. Essex County Council was found to have serious problems with the teaching of English and maths, as well as having insufficient safeguarding arrangements in a […]

Ofsted watch: Outstanding rating highlight of positive week for FE

The new year’s first outstanding Ofsted verdict for an FE provider was handed out this week, with two independent learning providers also retaining their ‘good’ grades. Birkenhead Sixth Form College was given the highest possible rating across the board from the education watchdog, in a glowing report published Monday (January 30). It was just the […]

DfE silent on FE commissioner intervention reports

A stop appears to have been put on publication of FE commissioner intervention reports, despite growing numbers of failing colleges. What’s more, there is no sign of the FE commissioner’s 2015/16 annual report, even though previous reports have been published in November or December. The last intervention report, into City of Liverpool College, was published […]

Carlisle College becomes NCG fifth FE college member

NCG has confirmed it will absorb yet another provider in the north following months of talks. Further consolidation is also on the cards for London’s colleges, with two mergers involving five institutions moving forward. Carlisle College is to become the fifth FE college member of NCG, when it joins the group in April. The college […]