Latest news from FE Week

Let’s not leave ESOL to chance

August typically means exam results and preparation for the new academic year. However, with a new prime minister, this year is looking a little different. With a clear devolution agenda, as seen in the devolution of 16–19 funding, the education sector is rapidly trying to work out what this all means in practice and how it might work.

In theory, this policy shift in policy could help regional leaders to ensure local provision reflects local need. But Greater Lincolnshire’s recent decision to defund all English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) provision from 2027 has shown how local mayors can potentially frustrate national ambitions. This hinders the government’s aim of ensuring better adult English language provision that helps people integrate and contribute to their local communities.

Existing courses cannot replace ESOL

ESOL courses are vital for people to build fulfilling lives as citizens in the UK. So, skills minister Jacqui Smith’s recent call on all devolved authorities to remove the three-year residency rule for access to courses is an important and welcome step for adults learning English as a second language. The first of its kind since adult skills devolution, this order means that everyone can now have access to education from day one.

However, what this doesn’t do is reinstate ESOL provision in Greater Lincolnshire, which is still due to be defunded from next year. As a result, learners who would normally access ESOL will potentially be able to access other courses.

But the alternatives, such as functional skills English and GCSEs, are far from ideal as they’re designed for first-language English speakers. Many learners won’t have sufficient English to access these courses, leaving them without the provision that can unlock their skills or participate in their community.

Making English language learning accessible

The case of Greater Lincolnshire reiterates why national guardrails are urgently needed to ensure that ESOL provision is not left to chance. Many learners already face a postcode lottery; if we want people to be able to play a bigger part in their local communities, they must be able to access quality English language learning, regardless of where they live. The government’s review of national ESOL provision offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to change this, and to make language learning more accessible and relevant to today’s learners.

A national framework

As devolution expands to further regions and with potentially many more responsibilities devolving, it is essential that the ESOL review delivers a national framework for ESOL, establishing guiding principles, clear expectations and accountability for provision. The Bell Foundation’s calls for change outline the roadmap to achieving this and ensuring better and fairer access to ESOL.

A framework for ESOL provision has never been more needed. The number of adult learners attending these classes has increased by nearly two thirds in the last five years alone. Despite this demand, ESOL investment through the adult skills fund and its predecessor funding streams has seen a 25 per cent drop in ESOL funding between 2010-11 and 2023-24 in real terms.

The government must grasp the nettle of how to meet this significant demand for ESOL at all levels. This means understanding ESOL is an investment and a key driver of community cohesion. Learning English enables people to access healthcare, education, public services, and community life. With appropriate provision that unlocks skills, learners, local communities will benefit as a result.

Part of a national framework should also ensure that practice and evidence is accessible to regional and local decisionmakers. Some effective ESOL practice already exists, but devolution has created a fragmented landscape where this isn’t necessarily known about everywhere. There is a clear need for a “what works” mechanism to share successful approaches and evidence as well as highlight where approaches are not working effectively.

As we await more details on how devolution will unfold, a national entitlement to ESOL would ensure that ESOL is valued and that everyone is able to integrate and contribute.

The attendance crisis in FE means engagement needs a rethink

Many colleges in the UK are facing a major problem, with attendance rates continuing to slide. Ofsted and sector bodies have raised concerns that attendance in further education remains below pre-pandemic levels, with disadvantaged learners affected the most. There is a strong link between poor attendance and weaker outcomes, higher drop-out rates and reduced progression into employment or higher education. The problem is that the sector is treating attendance as a compliance issue rather than a systemic problem.

Attendance is not about students being lazy or a lack of motivation. Learners in FE must often balance their work life, family responsibilities and long commutes. For many other students, mental health challenges, financial stress or feeling they don’t belong in the college setting can be barriers.

The Sutton Trust highlights that working-class learners are more likely to take on paid work during college, which will impact their attendance for class. The Association of Colleges highlighted its concerns that increasing numbers of students are missing classes due to engaging in paid work, reflecting wider cost-of-living pressures. Transport challenges, including affordability and accessibility also continue to present barriers to regular attendance, particularly for learners in rural areas.

The pandemic normalised hybrid learning. Jisc’s FE digital experience data shows learners value digital access to resources, flexibility and convenience, and cost factors (including travel) influence how and when they choose to attend in person.

The current approaches used look to focus on monitoring and sanctions. Colleges are using text alerts, parent calls, disciplinary meetings. While these measures have a place and can work, they are not addressing the root of the problem, which is disengagement. In some cases, they can isolate learners further.

Instead, FE needs to rethink attendance as part of the wider learner experience. Engagement must be seen as belonging, relevance and flexibility, not just putting bums on seats.

What can FE do differently?

Flexible timetabling. Colleges could explore to adapt timetables or have hybrid sessions to fit with work and caring commitments.
Financial support. Essential to ensure that bursaries and hardship funds are easily accessible to reduce economic barriers to attendance.
Belonging and culture. The Education Endowment Foundation notes that learners are more likely to continue when they feel part of a supportive community. Mentoring schemes, peer networks and student voice opportunities will help student engagement in college.
Rethink measurement. Instead of simply tracking attendance, FE should consider looking at engagement in various forms – getting students to participate in online forums, project work or vocational placements.
Support for wellbeing. Recent NHS data shows a significant rise in mental health conditions among 17–19-year-olds, with about one in four experiencing a probable mental disorder. Embedding wellbeing services in colleges is no longer optional if attendance is to be improved.

Why this matters now

The government’s skills agenda relies on FE producing confident, work-ready learners. However, this cannot be achieved if high-quality skills outcomes are undermined with low attendance. Employers are not looking just for qualifications. They require learners with the resilience and commitment that come from engaging fully in education.

Colleges tackling attendance creatively will not only improve outcomes for their learners, they will also enhance their position in a competitive skills landscape.

As someone working in educational leadership, I know that attendance is significantly more than counting who is in the room. It is about creating environments where learners want to be and removing barriers so that they can attend. Engagement should be designed into timetables, teaching and student support. Otherwise, attendance will remain a problem moving forward.

FE needs to move away from treating attendance as a box-ticking exercise. Leaders should see it as a lens through which to understand wider issues of equity, belonging and support. If colleges can adapt and make a change, attendance will rise – not because learners are being forced to be there, but because they want to.

Jewellery academy landlord forces liquidation

A jewellery training provider has collapsed due to debts linked to unpaid rents, leaving more than 250 students in limbo.

British Academy of Jewellery (BAJ), which delivers specialist jewellery design and manufacturing courses, was placed into compulsory liquidation in late July over a debt of £1.3 million.

The training provider owes the unpaid rent to Seventy Nine Camden, an insolvent company linked to its previous owner, for two properties that it occupied.

In a statement yesterday, BAJ’s principal Matthew Williamson and chief operating officer Amir Shaikh called the debts to Seventy Nine Camden “historic liabilities” built up before they joined the business last year.

A judge at central London’s Insolvency Court rejected the directors’ request to reverse the liquidation order on August 13, despite their “significant effort”, they said.

Williamson and Shaikh added: “The directors of BAJ are working with the liquidators, regulators and awarding bodies to attempt to protect students and staff.

“The liquidation of BAJ is unrelated to the quality of the teaching delivery or quality assurance processes of BAJ.

“Thus, we are working at pace to identify a way forward to allow existing students to complete their studies and to enable future cohorts of students to benefit from BAJ’s excellent teaching and industry links.”

The closure is understood to impact about 270 students studying for diplomas in jewellery design and manufacturing in London and Birmingham, including about 50 adult learners on level 3 and 4 courses and up to 220 level 5 learners.

‘Absolutely fuming’

One level 3 learner told FE Week she was “absolutely fuming” after paying for the one-year course, which is supposed to finish next month, with a £5,421 advanced learner loan and a £1,000 upfront fee.

A group of students on the level 3 course are also understood to have complained to management about issues with their course during the year, including class sizes, quality of teaching, curriculum planning and the high cost of learning materials.

It is the second time in a year that financial troubles have impacted BAJ students’ learning, with a “precautionary hold” imposed by awarding body Qualifications Scotland last year delaying students’ September start by more than two months.

An information page set up by the Office for Students (OfS), which regulates the higher education sector, said all students must be given the opportunity to continue their course at another university or college or the option to end their studies and receive credit for the attainment to date.

Self-funded students will be handled by the liquidators and those with advanced learner loans will receive written advice from the Student Loans Company, the OfS added.

A spokesperson for the Department for Education said it is working closely with BAJ to support learners but that the department was unable to comment further due to the live nature of the case.

A Qualifications Scotland spokesperson said: “Earlier this year we lifted our precautionary hold on The British Academy of Jewellery which prevented the centre submitting any new candidate registrations.

“This followed the centre providing evidence that the DfE had lifted its suspension on them in September last year.

“Since learning of the liquidation, we have reinstated our hold to prevent any new candidate registrations.

“We know this is a distressing time for any learners affected and we are reviewing the situation closely and considering all available options.”

Long-running finance woes

BAJ and its previous owners have repeatedly faced financial challenges in recent years.

Last year, the company’s representatives were before an Insolvency Court over a £12.9 million debt owed to a commercial lender.

The court action was later abandoned, but the financial challenge resulted in the temporary suspension of new starts by the Department for Education and awarding body Qualifications Scotland.

Originally called Holts Academy, BAJ was bought by adult education training provider Free To Learn – owned by businesswoman Gabriele Gherscovic and run by her husband Gabriel – in 2016.

In 2020, ownership of Free to Learn was handed to Gabriel’s brother Damien Gherscovic, an expert in wood preservation who works for the Argentinian government’s National Institute of Technology.

But after Free to Learn collapsed into insolvency under £7 million in debts in 2024, liquidators decided to sell BAJ back to Damian.

The liquidators originally agreed to a £5 million price tag for BAJ, but didn’t receive scheduled payments and later accepted a heavily discounted £1.5 million.

Seventy Nine Camden – which triggered BAJ’s insolvency – is one of a group of companies that were built up by the jewellery training provider’s former CEO Gabriel Gherscovic before he and his wife were declared personal bankrupt in September 2025. Seventy Nine Camden went insolvent in the same month.

Companies House records show Gabriel Gherscovic used Seventy Nine Camden to buy the former Jewish Museum building in Camden – valued at up to £13 million.

Other companies taken over due to Gherscovic’s bankruptcy include Eighty Four Camden, which owns BAJ’s Camden campus building, taking in £450,000 in rent for the property in 2024-25.

Marc Nardini, the Knight Frank property receivers now in charge of both companies, has not responded to requests for comment.

Technical education needs time to succeed

“There is no single route to achieving your ambitions,” said the new education secretary Lucy Powell, commenting on this summer’s exam results. Increasing numbers of young people appear to agree.

Almost 20,000 students received T Level results this year, an increase of about 65 per cent on 2025. New pathways have widened the offer, while participation has also grown in established T Levels.

That growth deserves recognition, but context matters. T Levels accounted for fewer than 20,000 of the 1.1 million level 3 results issued in England this summer.

As wider reform of post-16 pathways takes shape, they will need to continue growing, but are likely to remain a relatively niche route, at least in the medium term.

This creates a difficult balance. The skills system, along with young people’s choices, are changing. Any new qualification takes time to become established, understood and gain credibility. We can see this with T Levels, and new qualifications types must be given the time they need to embed.

Ofqual chief regulator Sir Ian Bauckham has made the same point, warning that vocational qualifications need time to become understood and credible. History suggests that continuity has too often been missing.

The Edge Foundation’s Honourable Histories report charts more than 30 years of interventions in further education, during which qualifications, institutions and assessment systems have remained in almost constant flux. It warns that policymakers too often confuse change with genuine reform, leaving learners, parents, employers and providers struggling to keep up.

The lesson for the current reform of 16-19 pathways is clear. Government should retain what works within T Levels and give new arrangements time to embed. Reform should build confidence in technical education, rather than starting another cycle of change before the last one has had a chance to succeed.

T Levels are only one part of a broader technical and vocational landscape. Learners have different ambitions and circumstances, so the aim should be a coherent system offering several credible ways to progress.

The latest GCSE results underline that point. With pass rates among post-16 English and maths resit students remaining low, education secretary Lucy Powell has described the current approach as a “treadmill of failure”. The challenge is not to lower expectations, but to ensure young people have routes through the system that allow them to make progress rather than repeatedly encounter the same barrier.

The government’s focus on reducing the number of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) makes that more urgent. Nearly one million 16 to 24-year-olds across the UK are NEET. The interim Milburn review recognised that education is only part of the solution. Health, transport, employer demand and access to support also shape young people’s prospects.

Apprenticeships offer a different proposition from T Levels, a paid job combining training and assessment. Both routes matter and both face similar challenges, not least the level of demand from employers, but reforming qualifications and assessment will not be enough. Government must also reduce the practical barriers preventing employers from recruiting young people.

At FAB’s Apprenticeship Assessment Conference last month, one of the clearest messages was the need for predictability. Awarding and assessment organisations can adapt to change, but they need clear direction and realistic timescales.

Earlier this month, the level 2 administration assistant apprenticeship became the first reformed assessment plan to go live. It was an important milestone, but also showed how far the wider programme has to travel.

Predictability does not mean resisting reform. It means following through on agreed changes, communicating clearly and giving organisations enough certainty and time to implement them properly.

The same test will apply to V Levels, foundation certificates and occupational certificates. They must do more than give new names to existing choices or serve learners already well supported by the system. They need to provide credible progression into apprenticeships, further training or work.

Awarding organisations turn policy into qualifications that learners can understand, employers can trust and providers can deliver.

The system needs to keep pace with young people’s changing choices. But lasting reform requires more than speed. It requires a clear destination and consistent delivery so everyone knows what to expect.

That balance will be an important part of the conversation at the FAB 2026 conference in November.

City College Norwich appoints 12-month interim CEO

City College Norwich has appointed its chief operating officer Jen Eves as interim CEO for the coming academic year.

Eves, who has been COO at the college since November 2024, is a former senior police officer and local government director.

Her appointment as interim boss from September 1 will follow the departure of current CEO Jerry White, who announced his decision to step down in June. White is moving to a role supporting the Association of Colleges with SEND reform.

The college said Eves will hold the interim CEO role for one academic year and during this time the board will make arrangements for the permanent position.

Details of Eves’ COO replacement appointment will come “in due course”.

The college said the new interim CEO was appointed following a “robust” recruitment and selection process that recognised her work on driving strategic ambitions and developing key support services.

City College Norwich’s chair Marcus Bailey said: “Jen has already demonstrated exceptional leadership during her time at the college and has made a significant contribution as COO.

“We are delighted that she has accepted this appointment and are confident that her expertise, strategic vision and commitment to our values will help guide City College Norwich through the coming year and beyond.”

Eves will take the reins of the three-campus college group that taught about 9,000 students in 2024-25 and retained its ‘good’ overall Ofsted grade in 2024.

The new interim CEO previously worked at the Suffolk Constabulary police force, with her social media profile suggesting that she spent one year as a chief superintendent before moving to West Suffolk Council in 2018.

At the council, she served as assistant director and then director of HR, legal and democratic services, before moving to City College Norwich in 2024.

White’s departure from the college was announced two months ago.

In the 2024-25 academic year he was paid a basic salary of £168,000, pension contributions of £48,000, and did not receive any bonus or benefits in kind.

He joined the college from Norfolk County Council’s adult education service in 2009 and replaced previous CEO Corrienne Peasgood in 2022.

Colleges given in-year growth funding ‘guarantee’ for 2026-27

Colleges have been given a “guarantee” that the government will meet the cost of in-year growth in 16 to 19 year old student numbers during the 2026-27 academic year.

The Department for Education said it was announcing the decision today, ahead of new enrolments this month, so colleges can “confidently recruit any young person they have a suitable place for” and help reduce the number of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET).

The commitment marks a change from the past two years, when the DfE funded only three-quarters of exceptional in-year growth demands after “unprecedented” increases in student numbers.

Usually, the department tells colleges that in-year growth funding is subject to affordability.

But guidance published today said the DfE is “prioritising funding for growth” in 2026-27 and will meet the cost of funding institutions according to its published methodology.

If the number of additional students, or the resulting growth payments, is higher than forecast, the department will “consider how to meet this pressure from other budgets”.

This could include changes to funding rates for 16 to 19 allocations in the 2027-28 academic year.

Education secretary Lucy Powell said she was determined to back government’s “warm words” on further education “with actions”.

“Results day was proof of the vital work colleges are doing, delivering lifechanging learning to hundreds of thousands of young people across the country,” she said.

“With record numbers receiving T Level results this year, it’s clear demand for high-quality technical education is growing fast.

“But for too long, colleges have only heard warm words from government. I am determined to back them with actions. This guarantee means colleges can offer places to every young person who wants one, driving down the number of young people not in education or training, and giving them the skills, experience and confidence to thrive.”

‘A step in the right direction’

In-year growth provides extra funding to colleges that recruit significantly more students than originally allocated, acting as an exception to lagged funding by offering a partial top-up for additional in-year costs.

Today’s guarantee does not mean colleges will receive full funding for every additional 16 to 19 year old student they enrol this year, as the DfE’s growth formula only provides funding for part of the additional costs.

The DfE aims to notify all colleges receiving growth funding by the end of April 2027, with payments beginning in May.

David Hughes, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, welcomed the move, as colleges expect at least 25,000 extra students to enrol this autumn.

“As a sector, we fight for this funding year after year. This year, it feels like we have been listened to, because the position for 2026-27 is that the DfE is guaranteeing to fully fund the formula they use on in-year student numbers above the lagged numbers,” he said.

“It means that colleges will be able to enrol every learner they can support this year ahead, helping thousands more young people to progress in learning that will help them, ultimately, to find work and reduce the risks of even higher NEET numbers.

“We are predicting at least 25,000 extra students to be enrolled in colleges this autumn and for many colleges, this could easily be hundreds of young people.”

But Hughes said today’s announcement “doesn’t go as far” as the association would like because the government “really should be guaranteeing the full funding of every learner, if it is serious about reducing the NEET numbers”.

“However, it is a step in the right direction and very welcome,” he added.

The funding guarantee comes as colleges face pressure on physical capacity. Leaders recently warned that some institutions will be forced to turn students away because they do not have enough space or staff to accommodate rising demand.

Portfolios confirmed for Lucy Powell’s DfE ministerial team

Portfolios have been confirmed for the reshuffled Department for Education ministers, weeks after Lucy Powell became education secretary.

New specific responsibilities including tackling antisemitism, oversight of special schools and the creation of free schools have been added to ministers’ duties.

Powell was appointed to replace Bridget Phillipson as education secretary on 20 July when Andy Burnham formed his new cabinet.

Early education minister Olivia Bailey was also replaced by journalist-turned-MP Paul Waugh.

The rest of the ministerial team remained largely unchanged with Georgia Gould, Josh MacAlister, and Jacqui Smith retaining their positions.

But their responsibilities have now been broadened or tweaked to reflect policy priorities.

Schools minister Gould’s purview has also broadened, from 18 policy areas to 21.

She will continue overseeing special education needs and disabilities (SEND), and will now also specifically oversee special schools, including independent special schools.

School productivity, the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA), and the relationships and sex and health education (RSHE) review have also been added to her portfolio.

Gould will also now be responsible for student movement, as well as school admissions.

Meanwhile she will lose responsibility for faith schools and school transport, which will fall solely to early education minister Paul Waugh.

MacAlister to deputise for education secretary

Children and families minister Josh MacAlister, a Teach First alumnus and founder of social work charity Frontline, has seen his responsibilities rise from 17 responsibilities to 23.

One of the duties will be to deputise for the education secretary in emergencies. MacAlister continues to hold a couple of post-16 responsibilities.

Tackling antisemitism – into which government has commissioned an independent review – has been added to his brief, along with the creation of new free schools, out-of-school settings, and fostering and regional care cooperatives.

Waugh will be responsible for the same 22 areas his predecessor Bailey oversaw.

As well as early years education and the early years workforce, this includes a diverse range of other areas – including independent schools, illegal schools, faith schools, school uniform, mental health support in schools, intervention in failing schools, and the use of technology and AI in education.

NEET focus

Skills minister Jacqui Smith, who works across both the DfE and Department for Work and Pensions, will also remain responsible for the same areas as before.

However, support for young people aged 16 to 19 who are not in employment, education or training (NEET) – formerly listed as part of “careers advice” – has been made a standalone responsibility.

This reflects the government’s heightened focus on tackling rising NEET figures.

Wording has also been updated to make clear Smith is responsible for vocational qualifications including those “level 3 and below”, meaning she will oversee Burnham’s new pathways for 14 to 16-year-olds.

Meanwhile, the education secretary’s responsibilities remain unchanged from when Phillipson was in the role.

Here’s the full list of each minister’s responsibilities, with new briefs highlighted in bold…

Lucy Powell, education secretary

early years and childcare
children’s social care
teacher quality, recruitment and retention
the school curriculum
school improvement
academies and free schools
further education
apprenticeships and skills
higher education

Georgia Gould, school standards minister

school improvement, intervention and inspection (including links with Ofsted)
regional improvement for standards and excellence (RISE)
special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and high needs
alternative provision
special schools (including independent special schools (ISS))
initial teacher training and incentives
teacher retention including the early career framework and teacher training entitlement
Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA)
school leadership
school governance
teacher pay and pensions
school support staff
core school funding
pupil premium
school productivity
qualifications (including links with Ofqual)
national curriculum
access to sport, arts and music in education, working with other departments
admissions and pupil movement

Josh MacAlister, children’s minister

children’s social care
children in care and children in need
looked-after children
child protection
adoption
kinship care and family justice
fostering and regional care cooperatives
care leavers
children’s social care workforce
unaccompanied asylum-seeking children
single unique identifier for children and use of children’s social care data
child protection, safeguarding and serious incidents
local authority intervention and improvement
family support including the families first programme
tackling antisemitism
prevention of serious violence in schools and post-16 settings
counter extremism in schools and post-16 settings
out-of-school settings
school safeguarding and guidance on keeping children safe in education
creation of new free schools
maintenance and improvement of the education estate
environmental sustainability in the education sectors
deputising for the Secretary of State for Education in emergencies

Paul Waugh, early education minister

early years education including for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)
childcare and the home learning environment
early years workforce
early communication skills and early intervention
Best Start Family Hubs and parenting
breakfast clubs
school food, including free school meals
holiday activities and food (HAF) programme
school attendance, including register of children who are not in school
reception admissions
changes to existing schools
home-to-school transport
mental health support in schools
behaviour, preventing bullying and exclusions in schools
school uniform
young carers
independent schools
illegal schools
faith schools
intervention in failing schools and school improvement
use of data, digital technology and artificial intelligence (AI) in education
use of research, science and evidence at DfE

Jacqui Smith, skills minister

governance, intervention and accountability of further education colleges
funding for education and training, provision and outcomes for 16- to 19-year-olds
further education financial stability and workforce
access to higher education, participation and lifelong learning entitlement
quality of higher education and the student experience (including the Office for Students)
student finance (including the Student Loans Company)
technical and vocational qualifications (level 3 and below), including T Levels
higher technical education (levels 4 and 5)
careers advice
support for young people aged 16 to 19 not in employment, education or training (NEET)
skills strategy and delivery
technical excellence colleges
international education

Smith’s DWP responsibilities remain unchanged. They are:

Skills England and Industry Training Boards
adult education, including basic skills
apprenticeships, including the growth and skills levy
skills bootcamps
sector skills packages
careers advice and support for young people over the age of 19 not in employment, education or training (NEET)
Youth Guarantee

AI to vet apprenticeship vacancies for discrimination

The Department for Education is developing an artificial intelligence system to vet apprenticeship vacancies for discrimination and decide whether they need to be reviewed by a human before they are published.

The proposed “recruit an apprentice AI vacancy quality assurance API” will use a large language model to assess vacancies for potential breaches of the Equality Act 2010, alongside checks for spelling and grammar, missing information, inconsistent training associated to the apprenticeship, geographic issues and duplicate adverts.

It is intended to reduce the number of vacancies requiring manual checks, with the DfE projecting a 40 per cent saving in manual review costs.

A notice published by the Cabinet Office, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and Government Digital Service said the system will use GPT-4o via Microsoft’s Azure Enterprise OpenAI service to assess apprenticeship vacancy text.

About 40,000 apprenticeship vacancies are uploaded to the government’s Find an Apprenticeship service each year, with each undergoing a manual review that can take up to 24 hours.

The new system is expected to process between 5,000 and 6,000 draft vacancies a month.

The DfE did not respond to FE Week enquiries about the timeline for launch, how much manual checks currently cost or whether the AI system would reduce staffing.

Stephen Evans, the chief executive of the Learning and Work Institute, said that AI could help to increase the efficiency of checks given the volume of vacancies. The current system was “unlikely to be perfect in any case as people can make mistakes just as AI can”.

However, he added that use of AI “must not come at the cost of accuracy so it’s important to test the system thoroughly before rollout and review and update it thereafter”.

AI to screen for discrimination

The government’s notice said the apprenticeship vacancy model has one specific discrimination check, alongside a check for missing or inconsistent content and nine spelling checks.

AI assigns each vacancy a red, amber or green rating.

All red vacancies – those deemed high risk – will be sent for full human review.

Half of amber vacancies will be reviewed, while only 1 per cent of green vacancies will be randomly sampled.

Vacancies that receive a green rating and are not selected for sampling will proceed automatically to the Find an Apprenticeship service without a further human check.

The DfE said this approach would allow reviewers to concentrate on “higher-risk or ambiguous vacancies”.

Phoebe Moore, professor of management and the futures of work at the University of Essex, said using AI to identify discrimination was an “interesting and potentially progressive innovation”, but that allowing AI to decide which adverts did not need human checks raised questions about whether it could reliably spot discriminatory language.

“Usually AI is critiqued for having discriminatory properties, so I think it’s interesting to flip that on its head and say we’re going to use it to identify discrimination,” she told FE Week.

“But I would question how the system will be trained to spot discrimination. Usually, patterns are what help an algorithm identify something, so what training data is going to be used and how will it deal with vacancies that don’t already fit those patterns?

“You can’t necessarily use a blanket category to identify discrimination because of the specific requirements of each vacancy. You need to understand why a company is asking for particular criteria.

“I think the function will draw attention to the potential for discrimination, rather than automatically pronounce that a vacancy is discriminatory or not. I wouldn’t say the Equality Act allows you to simply make a list of prohibited words, as you might in content moderation. It’s a tricky one.”

The department tested the AI checks against two and a half months of manually reviewed vacancy assessments.

For discrimination specifically, it recorded a 100 per cent true positive rate and a 0 per cent false negative rate for discrimination in that historical testing – meaning it identified all cases spotted by human reviewers.

However, the model also produced a 16 per cent false positive rate, meaning it flagged some vacancies as potentially discriminatory when human reviewers had not identified an issue.

The DfE said false negatives were of greater concern because they could result in a problematic vacancy being published, while false positives mainly created additional work for human reviewers.

Human in the loop

Officials have classified false negatives and hallucinations as moderate risks.

The department said its model could hallucinate – producing a factually incorrect classification or recommendation – but a “human in the loop” would minimise the impact.

It also acknowledged that identifying fraudulent or malicious vacancies was “inherently challenging” because of the “subjective nature of judgment” and might require information outside the vacancy itself, such as financial or Companies House checks. It described this risk as unavoidable.

A spokesperson for the Equality and Human Rights Commission said: “Under the Equality Act 2010, all public bodies – including the Department for Education – must make sure their policies promote equal opportunities, good relations and don’t lead to unlawful discrimination.

“While artificial intelligence can help transform public services for the better, improving delivery and reducing costs, public bodies must take steps to prevent AI from perpetuating bias and discrimination.”

‘AI is not infallible’

AI is increasingly being adopted across various government departments, according to a House of Commons Library report.

The DfE is experimenting with another AI tool to assist teachers by pooling government documents such as curriculum guidance and lesson plans, and the department could soon use artificial intelligence to draft responses to as much as 80 per cent of its external correspondence.

Evans said: “Ultimately AI is not infallible, only as good as its design, and will need ongoing updating based on expert human input. Both the department and users of the service must have the chance to feed back and the government should take action if AI is missing things or getting things wrong.”

Chichester CEO missing in action for eight months

Chichester College Group is keeping tight-lipped over the long-term absence of its chief executive, who remains away from his post as the new academic year begins.

Andrew Green, who has held the top job since 2021, has not been working at the group since December last year.

The college has refused to explain the reasons for his eight-month absence or say when or if he will return.

Green has remained active online, promoting an executive leadership coaching business he co-founded and attending events for Culture Shift CIO, a charity that he chairs.

But he remains missing from the college as the 2026-27 academic year gets underway.

A college spokesperson told FE Week it had a policy not to comment on individual matters, including for the accountable officer of the organisation.

“As an employer, we owe all employees a duty of privacy regarding any leave of absence,” they said.

The spokesperson confirmed that the group’s deputy chief executive, Vicki Illingworth, continues to undertake the statutory duties of the chief executive and accounting officer.

“Appropriate arrangements remain in place to ensure that the group continues to operate effectively and deliver high-quality services to the communities it serves,” they added.

Mysteriously absent

Chichester College Group teaches close to 23,000 students and employs 2,400 staff across nine campuses. It received £126 million last year, £97 million of which from public funding body grants, according to its 2025 accounts.

Green took over from Shelagh Legrave in 2021, when she left to become FE Commissioner.

He first joined Chichester College in 2010 as deputy principal, and became executive principal at the institution in 2017 following a merger with Crawley College (formerly Central Sussex College).

Green also served as interim chief executive of Greater Brighton Metropolitan College in 2020, before it merged with Chichester College Group in 2022.

The group’s latest accounts show that Green was paid a basic salary of £180,000 in 2025, with £4,000 in benefits in kind and £52,000 in pension contribution.

Green has been missing from the college since December 3, when Illingworth became interim accounting officer and began to lead governing board meetings on his behalf.

Illingworth explained in an all-staff email on December 10 that Green had taken a “leave of absence” and she would cover his duties until further notice.

A source close to the college said staff have not been told the reasons for Green’s absence.

Another senior leader at the group, chief commercial officer Dan Power, also took a period of leave this year before mutually agreeing with the college to stand down at the end of June.

The Department for Education and FE Commissioner’s office declined to comment.

Green also declined to comment.