Paul Offord | FE Week

Barnardo’s left stranded by non-levy tender

Children’s charity Barnardo’s has been left stranded without an apprenticeship training contract through the controversial non-levy tender. The huge charitable organisation has a proud history of placing young people with barriers to work, who often come from vulnerable backgrounds, with smaller employers, and training them as apprentices. But its chief executive Javed Khan spoke of […]

Ofqual will regulate T-levels, boss insists

Ofqual will play a vital role in regulating T-levels, the chief regulator has said. Sally Collier, who was appointed to the top role at watchdog in April last year, appeared before the education select committee this morning, where she was asked by MPs about the role that Ofqual will play with the new “gold standard” […]

Non levy tender update: First contracts to be awarded from tomorrow

Contracts from the much-delayed non-levy tender will finally be given out from tomorrow, the government has announced. It remains to be seen, however, how long it will take for them all to be distributed. “We said in the notification of award decision letters that we would begin entering into contracts from December 19,” said a […]

Minster launches consultation on college insolvency roll-out

The skills minister is asking for views on how new college insolvency arrangements should be rolled out. An eight-week consultation seeks views from staff at general FE colleges, sixth-form colleges, local authorities, financial institutions and others from across FE, as well as insolvency practitioners. Launched by Anne Milton and the Department for Education, it opened […]

Skills minister personally delays controversial Kensington college merger

A controversial merger between two London colleges has been delayed after an intervention from the skills minister and the FE commissioner, motivated by the ongoing fallout from the Grenfell Tower tragedy. The final vote by Kensington and Chelsea College board of governors either to accept or reject a merger with Ealing, Hammersmith and West London […]

Application window opens for £170 million Institutes of Technology cash

The application window has opened for providers that want to apply for a share of £170m available for new Institutes of Technology status. Education secretary Justine Greening has today invited applications from further education and higher education providers, and employers, through its eTendering portal. It follows an announcement that this would be happening imminently at last […]

Ofsted annual report: Paul Joyce backs campaign for more 16-to-18 cash

Ofsted’s deputy director for further education and skills spoke to FE Week after its annual report was unveiled this morning. Paul Joyce reflected at length on the unease at the way funding cuts are narrowing the learning experience of sixth-form learners, and even backed campaigners asking the government to invest more. The Support Our Sixth-Formers […]

Exclusive: College complains to Ofsted over rating of 14 to 16 provision

A college has complained to Ofsted about a grade three verdict on its 14-to-16 provision, which it claims failed to recognise the special challenges involved with teaching at this age. South Devon College was rated ‘requires improvement’ for this headline field in a report published last week, in which its overall grade dropped from ‘outstanding’ […]

Snow news day: Prankster fakes college shutdown… before it closes for real

A prankster has caused confusion by setting up a fake Twitter account for a college and claiming it had closed for the day because of the freezing conditions. The message was posted three hours ago from an account titled North Warwickshire & Hinckley College, with the handle @HinkleyNorth, saying that all “campuses are closed today […]