Nick Linford | FE Week

EFA pulls Chelmer Training contract after fall from outstanding to inadequate — but questions remain for Ofsted

A provider that plummeted straight from Ofsted outstanding nearly a decade ago to inadequate escaped a visit from inspectors until this year despite recording success rates more than 10 percentage points below the national average in 2010/11, FE Week can reveal. London-based Chelmer Training was given the grade four overall rating this month and was […]

Reed recruitment agency stops re-selling My Distance Learning College courses amid row over 32,000 paying-learner certificates

A major recruitment agency has stopped re-selling courses run by troubled Rotherham-based provider My Distance Learning College (MDLC) amid concerns over the certification of more than 30,000 paying learners. NCFE stopped certificating MDLC claiming it had around £20,000 of “outstanding invoices owing,” while the Cache (Council for Awards in Care, Health and Education) awarding organisation […]

ETF action over conflict of interest fears after director’s firm wins contract

The Education and Training Foundation has acted over conflict of interest concerns surrounding interim director Pauline Odulinski after a £100k contract was awarded to a firm where she worked. The foundation last month gave the contract to develop a learning technologies self-assessment tool to Surrey-based Coralesce — where Mrs Odulinski is employed as a project […]

New ad campaign tells youngsters to ‘get in’ to apprenticeships and ‘go far’

The government and top employers have today launched a ‘Get In, Go Far’ TV advertising campaign for apprenticeships as teenagers up and down the country prepare to collect their GCSE results tomorrow. Existing apprentices are shown taking selfies in their places of work and speaking about their experiences in the adverts, which are also set […]

Financial dispute leaves ‘32,000’ paying students at My Distance Learning College in dark over certificates

A Rotherham-based provider has warned that 32,000 paying learners might not get their certificates after a number of awarding organisations pulled their approval. NCFE (formerly the Northern Council for Further Education) has stopped certificating My Distance Learning College (MDLC) claiming it had “outstanding invoices owing”. And it has also emerged that awarding organisations Cache (Council […]

Free school’s A-levels claims ‘misleading and could be used against less voguish sixth form colleges’

The head teacher of the selective free school London Academy of Excellence, which only accepts learners that achieve at least five As at GCSE, came under fire for comments about A-level performance from a local sixth form college principal. James Kewin takes up the issue. We accept that all providers use performance data in ways […]

Colleges asked to step in after private firm reveals plans to walk away from £17m contract

The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) is looking for a general FE college to step in after a major private provider pulled out early from London’s £17m prison education contract, FE Week can reveal. In the latest example of a college taking on provision where the private sector has waked away from a multimillion pound Skills Funding Agency […]

Cash-strapped college appointed principal without competition to avoid ‘expensive recruitment process’

The FE Commissioner visited Stratford-Upon Avon College after its financial health was rated as inadequate by the Skills Funding Agency. Dr David Collins’ findings questioned the future of the cash-strapped college that saw governors resign after new principal Nicola Mannock was appointed without a competitive application process. She responds to Dr Collins’ report and defends her appointment. […]

Hunt restates technical institutes plan but questions remain that they would ‘address real issues affecting FE’

Labour’s tech bacc plans and proposals for Institutes of Technical Education were restated in a speech today by Shadow Education Secretary Tristram Hunt (pictured) — but he failed to convince at least one general FE college principal that the “real issues the sector is facing” would be adddressed. Mr Hunt, delivering a speech at Microsoft’s London headquarters that […]