Pension reform benefits wealthy bosses as FE overlooked (again) Sector leaders have expressed their disappointment that big FE funding issues, like teacher pay, were overlooked in the budget
AAC 2023: We’re at a pivotal moment to reshape apprenticeships The Annual Apprenticeship Conference 2023 might be over, but from functional skills to social mobility, there’s a lot to do make apprenticeships even better, writes Kirstie Donnelly
Dismay as AEB funding boost excludes key skills shortages – and women The Department for Education has defended its decision to exclude key skills shortage areas from in-year AEB funding increases
The devil lurks in the detail of government’s lifelong loan response Some clarity on the lifelong loan entitlement is welcome, but the debate over access to lifelong learning is far from over, writes Gordon Marsden
Ex-DfE ministers call for ‘apprenticeship levy 2.0’ Familiar faces Greening and Milton, who were education ministers when the apprenticeship levy launched in 2017, have joined calls for major reform
Lifelong loan entitlement: Maintenance loans in and ELQ rule out Students studying higher level courses under the lifelong loan scheme will have access to maintenance loans following years of calls from FE and HE leaders
Limb to chair relaunched Lifelong Education Institute The current chair, former minister Chris Skidmore MP, is standing down at the end of the month to focus on his work on net-zero
SEND plan: less big bang and more damp squib for FE A lack of policies for 16-25 year old students with SEND brings in to question the government’s commitment to improvement, writes Ruth Perry
SEND improvement plan ‘offers no solutions’ to post-16 problems Government finally sets out its next steps for SEND review launched over three years ago