Nick Linford | FE Week

Ofsted boss Sir Michael aims annual report fire at skills gap armed with nearly 180 FE and skills inspection results

Ofsted chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw today launches the 2014/15 annual report armed with the results of nearly 180 FE and skills inspections. The education watchdog’s preview commentary on today’s launch contained little for FE and skills, focusing largely on school matters, but a spokesperson told FE Week that one of the issues Sir Michael would […]

OCR 30th November

Association of Colleges president John Widdowson and social mobility tsar Alan Milburn to address FE issues in Parliamentary hearings

Association of Colleges president John Widdowson is due to tell MPs about how well the FE sector delivers higher education tomorrow. He will speak on the quality of higher education in a Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) Select Committee session. It will come a day before Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission chair Alan Milburn […]

Will 19+ learners buy in to Chancellor George Osborne’s FE loans extension?

Chancellor George Osborne’s extension of the FE loans system from those aged 24 and above to the 19 to 23 age group was a source of uncertainty for government officials — but Mike Farmer explains how he sees it working out. What do we already know about FE loans? The key message is that the […]

Al Coates, business development manager, Tribal Group

With retirement beckoning, it’s a time of reflection for Tribal business development manager Al Coates. But despite 41 colourful years in FE, the humble grandfather-of-two was a difficult subject to tie down for a profile interview. York-based Coates had been unsure whether his story was an interesting one, before others — not least his equally […]

Ofsted inspectors report Marine Society College of the Sea ‘progress’ with new subcontractor

A new subcontractor has helped grade-four distance learning provider Marine Society College of the Sea (MSCS) win Ofsted approval while FE Commissioner Dr David Collins has drawn a line under his involvement. Dr Collins visited Lambeth-based MSCS in December last year and called for a new subcontractor after education watchdog inspectors had branded it inadequate […]

‘Extreme challenge’ from FE Commissioner’s team helps put New College Nottingham on road to recovery

By the time FE Commissioner Dr David Collins had identified the historic “deterioration in New College Nottingham’s (NCN’s) financial position,” actions to rectify the situation were already in place and working. Dawn Whitemore explains how the college has successfully continued with efforts to balance the books. A year ago, I found myself in the unenviable position […]

Queen’s Anniversary Prizes handed out to four FE colleges

Four FE colleges, handpicked on the advice of Prime Minister David Cameron, have shared the honour of winning Queen’s Anniversary Prizes, writes Rebecca Jones. Four FE colleges were among 21 educational organisations to be awarded Queen’s Anniversary Prizes for higher and further education excellence in the 2014-16 round. The prize-winning colleges were announced at St […]

Chancellor George Osborne’s FE funding protection ‘a cut in real terms’ — Shadow Skills Minister Gordon Marsden

Shadow Skills Minister Gordon Marsden was a key speaker in an Opposition Day debate last week as he aired FE funding concerns, and Wednesday’s Budget did nothing to ease those concerns, as he explains. On Wednesday we saw the broad campaign I and others have put on government on FE funding, not least in our […]