Paul Offord | FE Week

AoC defends colleges after new DfE statistics show lack of English and maths progress

The Association of Colleges has sprung to the defence of its members after key performance statistics unveiled today by the Department for Education showed a lack of progress in English and maths among 16 to-18-year-olds. The English and maths progress measures, included in today’s 16 to 18 performance tables for 2016, compares learners’ performance at […]

Lord Nash: Fifth of sixth form colleges have begun official negotiations for acadamy status

A fifth of sixth form colleges have started formal negotiations to convert to academy status, the academies minister has revealed. Lord Nash made the announcement in front of more than 100 delegates at the sixth form college association’s conference in London today. FE Week previously reported that around 70 per cent of SFCs had registered […]

IfA director role like ‘hand grenade with pin removed’, AELP warns

The director of assessment role for the new Institute for Apprenticeships has been likened to “a hand grenade with the pin removed”, by the head of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers. Mark Dawe, chief executive of AELP, said in an exclusive FE Week webinar today he felt sorry for whoever takes on the […]

Ofsted should be congratulated for admitting its mistake

Ofsted should be congratulated for admitting that it got it wrong with the wording of important extracts of its report on Yeovil College. No individual or organisation is flawless by any means, and while Elton John may have said in his famous song that ‘sorry seems to be the hardest word’ – it shouldn’t be. […]

Lammy: Bring back night schools to save adult education

A new parliamentary campaign has been launched by the MP David Lammy to try and counter the sweeping cuts the government is making to adult education, after learner numbers fell by nearly 40 per cent since his time as skills minister. The Labour MP has secured an adjournment debate in the House of Commons on […]

Ofsted makes multiple changes to report after complaints

A senior Ofsted inspector has apologised after the inspectorate accepted multiple challenges to the wording of a report on Yeovil College, which included factual inaccuracies and insulting comments. The words “college leaders have tackled the lack of pride and ambition that existed in the college” appeared on the front page of the ‘good’-rated report, which […]

Wave three area review reports and recommendations published

This afternoon the Department for Education published most of the reports and recommendations for its area reviews in wave three. Download links below: Cumbria further education area review report – wave 3 Black Country further education area review report – wave 3 Coventry and Warwickshire further education area review report – wave 3 North and mid-Hampshire […]

Investigation launched after former SFA senior manager embroiled in alleged Israeli plot

An investigation has been launched into whether the civil service code has been breached, after a former Skills Funding Agency senior manager was embroiled in an alleged Israeli plot to bring down a Conservative minister. Maria Strizzolo has reportedly departed from the agency, where it is understood she was a key adviser to apprenticeships and […]

Qualifications achievement rates dashboard still unavailable after days of problems

The promised new qualifications achievement rates dashboard for apprenticeships, education and training will still be unavailable until at least tomorrow, following almost a week of problems that provoked repeated complaints though online forum FE Connect. The main issue accepted by Skills Funding Agency is that the QAR is incorrectly only including learners as timely, where […]