Author: Jude Burke

Skills Minister Nick Boles ducked a question about delays to the first skills white paper in more than 10 years — after Labour’s Gordon Marsden raised the issue in parliament. The exchange, during House of Commons business, innovation and skills questions, came after FE Week exclusively revealed last week that the first skills white paper […]

Three more colleges have had concerns raised over their finances, alongside Wakefield council’s adult education provision, according to the latest reports from the FE Commissioner. The reports for Telford College of Arts and Technology (TCAT), Richmond upon Thames College (RUTC), Warrington Collegiate, and Wakefield District Council were published on April 21, following visits by the […]

Three more college link-ups have been announced as the Skills Minister Nick Boles warned against colleges rushing into mergers ahead of their area reviews. The latest potential mergers, involving three general FE colleges, two sixth form colleges (SFCs) and a university, add to the 15 previously reported by FE Week as being on the cards […]

The Birmingham and Solihull area review was a waste of time and money, according to the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), which claims the six-month process has resulted only in “limited change”. The review, which involved four general FE colleges and three sixth form colleges (SFCs), only recommended one merger — between Bournville College, […]

Former apprentices will be obliged to go back into schools to promote apprenticeships, through a new “commitment” set to be imposed on them by the government. Skills Minister Nick Boles revealed the plan at a parliamentary sub-committee on education, skills and the economy (ESE) on Wednesday (April 27). He told MPs that the government planned […]

A debt-laden college will close two campuses, including a former sixth form college (SFC), and stop providing A-levels. Central Sussex College announced on April 15 it would be closing its Haywards Heath campus, formerly Haywards Heath SFC, in 2017 due to “too high” debt and falling student numbers. It will also move a “small number” […]

The principal of Barnfield College has vowed it will be ‘outstanding’ within two years — after its Ofsted rating improved one grade from its previous ‘inadequate’ report. Tim Eyton-Jones described the new report out this month as fair and accurate. But he told FE Week the grade three across-the-board verdict would be treated as a […]

Bury College has launched a consultation on its proposed merger with the University of Bolton. The move was first revealed in an article by FE Week on April 7 — after our analysis found that at least 15 mergers involving 28 FE colleges and three sixth form colleges were planned for August. A consultation on […]

A college in Cornwall has become the first to be rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted since the introduction of the Common Inspection Framework (CIF) in September. The education watchdog’s report on Truro and Penwith College (TPC), published today, was full of praise for the college, rating it grade one ‘outstanding’ overall. Ofsted returned the highest possible […]