Author: Pippa Allen-Kinross

Ofsted has been left red-faced after carrying out the wrong kind of monitoring visit and incorrectly publishing a report, before quickly deleting it. Inspectors visited Wiltshire Council’s adult and community learning service on July 7 this year, after the provision was given a grade three rating by Ofsted in December 2017. A letter detailing the […]

An extra 400,000 people taking level three qualifications this year, and a corresponding fall at level two, can be largely attributed to the decision to ‘re-level’ a popular first aid course. The Emergency First Aid at Work qualification has been reclassified from level two after a “review” of the qualification from the First Aid Awarding […]

The FE sector is waiting anxiously to hear its fate after the date of the next Budget was announced. Chancellor Philip Hammond (pictured) announced today that he will be setting out the government’s approach to spending for the next year on Monday, October 29.  The Budget is normally announced in November, but will be earlier […]

Colleges look set to be hit by an increase of more than 40 per cent in the pension contributions they pay for teaching staff. The Association of Colleges confirmed that provisional figures suggest employer pension contributions will rise from 16.48 per cent to 23.6 per cent next September. The increase affects all members of the […]

Labour has done little to shine a light on the party’s plans for FE policy as the shadow education minister stopped short of going into any details on the subject during her speech at the party’s conference. The hotly awaited address from Angela Rayner did not include any new policy announcements about FE and skills, […]

London South East Colleges has hosted the highest echelons of Ofsted after the inspectorate’s chair chose its Bromley Campus for his landmark lecture.  Amanda Spielman, the education watchdog’s chief inspector, and chair of its board Professor Julius Weinberg were given a tour of the college before Professor Weinberg gave a speech reflecting on his first year at the helm. FE Week took the […]

An independent learning provider has been given a grade three rating across the board in its first Ofsted inspection as the results for five more early monitoring visits of apprenticeship providers have been published.  The only full Ofsted inspection published this week saw Encompass Consultancy gaining a ‘requires improvement’ judgement in every possible category.  The […]

The government has coughed up the full £5.4 million Ofsted requested to visit all new apprenticeship providers as its crackdown on poor provision continues. In an exclusive interview with FE Week, Paul Joyce (pictured), the inspectorate’s deputy director for FE and skills, said the amount was nothing less than what was requested and will be provided from now until the end of […]